India vs South Africa: Faf du Plessis wants pitch to support spinning

New Delhi, Mar 10: Six-time world champion M C Mary Kom (51kg) and world number one Amit Panghal (52kg) were among three Indian boxers who secured Olympic berths by advancing to semifinals of the Asian Qualifiers here on Monday, taking the total number of the country's Tokyo-bound pugilists to eight.

Second-seeded Mary Kom notched up a comfortable 5-0 win over Philippines' Irish Magno in her quarterfinal bout for a ticket to her second Olympic Games. She won a bronze in the 2012 London Olympics when women's boxing was first introduced at the showpiece.

The 37-year-old will square off against China's Yuan Chang in the semifinals. Chang is a former Youth Olympics champion.

Earlier, world silver-medallist and top seed Panghal edged out familiar foe Carlo Paalam of Philippines in a 4-1 split verdict to be assured of his maiden Olympic appearance and a medal at the qualifiers.

In the last Indian bout of the day, world bronze-medallist Simranjit Kaur (60kg) upstaged second seed Namuun Monkhor of Mongolia 5-0 to secure her first Olympic place.

With this, the number of Indian boxers securing Olympic berths went up to eight after Satish Kumar (+91kg), Pooja Rani (75kg), Vikas Krishan (69kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) and Ashish Kumar (75kg) advanced to the semifinals on Sunday.

"I dedicate my Olympic quota to my uncle Raj Narayan, it's his birthday and he is someone who gives me a lot of courage," said Panghal after his bout.

World bronze-winner and Commonwealth Games silver-medallist Manish Kaushik, however, lost 2-3 to third seed Chinzorig Baatarsukh of Mongolia after an intense battle but is not out of contention for an Olympic berth just yet.

Kaushik has to win the box-off between losing quarterfinalists as the top six boxers will claim Tokyo tickets in the 63kg category. He will face Australia's Commonwealth Games champion Harrison Garside in the box-off. The two clashed in the CWG final in 2018 with Garside ending up on the winning side.

Panghal started India's winning run on Monday by managing to pull off a close win.

The 23-year-old, who is the reigning Asian Games and Asian Championships gold-medallist, had earlier beaten Paalam in the semifinals of the 2018 Asian Games and the quarterfinals of 2019 world championships, which were also split decisions.

"I followed the instructions given by my coaches. I ensured that he didn't get on top of me. I think I was pretty consistent in all three rounds," Panghal said.

Next up for Panghal is China's Jianguan Hu, who stunned world bronze-medallist and fourth seed Kazakh Saken Bibossinov 5-0.

"I have beaten him in the Asian Championships and I know how to get the better of him," Panghal said of his next opponent.

The Haryana lad didn't exactly look at his best during the bout but his trademark counter-attacking game fetched him the desired result against a rival, who is challenging him more with every fresh encounter.

Mary Kom, on the other hand, put out a near-perfect performance against the very spirited Magno. The Manipuri dictated the pace of the bout, drawing from her huge reservoir of experience to put Magno on the backfoot with a very effective counter-attacking strategy.

Simranjjit, also an Asian silver-medallist, will face third seed Shih-Yi Wu of Taiwan in the semifinals after a fine performance against Monkhor. Simranjit's right hand connected accurately all through.

Kaushik, who was up against an Asian Games silver-medallist, started well but lost steam in the face of relentless body shots by Baatarsukh, a two-time podium finisher at the Asian Championships.

Baatarsukh had lost to Kaushik in the second round of the world championships last year and he exacted revenge with an aggressive takedown of the Indian, especially in the final three minutes.

However, former junior world champion Sakshi Chaudhary (57kg) failed to secure an Olympic berth after going down to Korea's Im Aeji in the quarterfinals.

The 19-year-old Chaudhary lost 0-5 to Im, who is also a former world youth champion. Only the semifinalists are entitled to an Olympic berth in the women's 57kg category of the ongoing event.

Her next shot at Tokyo qualification would be the world qualifiers in May, provided she is selected for it.

Dhaka, Jan 23: Left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman, who is part of the Bangladesh squad traveling to Pakistan, posted a cryptic tweet before team's departure which raised a few eyebrows.

On Wednesday evening, Rahman took to Twitter to post a selfie along with his teammates before the team's departure and asked his followers to pray for them, writing: "Heading to Pakistan. Remember us in your prayers."

Bangladesh were earlier reluctant to travel to Pakistan. However, the officials of both the teams met in Dubai and it was after many deliberations, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) agreed to send their team for a cricket series.

Bangladesh will be playing three T20Is, two Tests and an ODI in Pakistan between January and April. The T20I series will be played from January 24-27 in Lahore, followed by the first Test from February 7 to 11.

Bangladesh will then return to Pakistan in April for the one-off ODI which will be played on April 3 and the second Test from April 5-9.

Senior players like Mushfiqur Rahim decided against traveling to Pakistan citing personal reasons. After that, five members of the Bangladesh coaching staff also pulled out of the tour.

Pakistan have also recalled the experienced duo of Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik, along with pacer Shaheen Afridi for the T20I series.

Squads:

Bangladesh: Mahmudullah (Captain), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Naim Sheikh, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Liton Kumer Das, MD Mithun, Afif Hossain Dhrubo, Mahedi Hasan, Aminul Islam Biplob, Mustafizur Rahman, Shafiul Islam, Al-Amin Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Hasan Mahmud.

Pakistan: Babar Azam (captain), Ahsan Ali, Amad Butt, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Musa Khan, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Usman Qadir.

Hamilton, Jan 29: India defeated New Zealand in the third T20 International via Super Over to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series here on Wednesday.

India posted a competitive 179 for five at Seddon Park after being sent into bat. Opener Rohit Sharma top scored for India with a 65-run knock while skipper Virat Kohli contributed 38 runs in team's total.

Later, skipper Kane Williamson smashed a 48-ball 95 but New Zealand faltered in the final over to take the match into the Super Over.

Needing nine runs of the last over, New Zealand lost Williamson and Ross Taylor to finish at 179 for six and tie the match.

In the Super Over, New Zealand scored 17, a target which India overwhelmed in the final ball with Rohit smashing Tim Southee for two consecutive sixes.