Mary Kom resigns as boxing's national observer

Agencies
December 1, 2017

New Delhi, Dec 1: Five-time world champion M C Mary Kom has resigned as the national observer for Indian boxing after Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore made it clear that active sportspersons will not be considered for the position.

"I resigned as national observer 10 days ago after having a word with Mr Rathore. I had been requested to take up the position, it was not something I had asked for," Mary Kom, who claimed her fifth Asian Championships gold medal last month, said today.

"I had inquired about the rule on not having active athletes as observers with the then Sports Secretary Injeti Srinivas when it was offered to me," she explained, reacting to insinuation that her appointment smacked of conflict of interest given that she is still an active national camper.

"But at that time, I was told that I should nonetheless accept the position. I did so on insistence of the Ministry and I don't want unnecessary controversies about something that I had not asked for."

The 35-year-old Olympic bronze-medallist was among 12 national observers appointed by the then Sports Minister Vijay Goel in March.

The list also includes the likes of Olympic-gold- medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra, double Olympic-medallist Sushil Kumar and former Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Akhil Kumar among others.

Of these, Sushil and Mary Kom are still active in their respective sports. Akhil, on the other hand, is no longer a part of the national camp after giving up amateur boxing.

He has already rejected the conflict of interest charge, saying that he is neither a beneficiary of government schemes nor a part of the national camp.

"I was never interested in this but accepted the position because I had been requested. I have my hands full with a lot of things. I am happy to let it go and have no complaints," said Mary Kom.

The decorated boxer is also a Rajya Sabha MP and is in contention for the Commonwealth and Asian Games next year.

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Agencies
February 4,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 4: Yashasvi Jaiswal and Divyaansh Saxena guided India to a comfortable ten wickets win over Pakistan in the ICC U19 World Cup semifinal at Senwes Park on Tuesday and progressed to the final of the tournament.

Chasing 173, Indian openers Jaiswal and Saxena played cautiously and stitched an unbeaten partnership of 176 runs.

The duo built the highest opening partnership of the tournament's history. Jaiswal, the left-handed batsman, scored his maiden century of the tournament as he amassed unbeaten 105 runs studded with eight fours and four sixes.

Saxena scored 59* off 99 balls including six fours. India chased down the total in 35.2 overs. This is the first time in the history of the U19 World Cup that a team won a knockout match by ten wickets.

Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat.

Opener Haider Ali and skipper Rohail Nazir's half-centuries guided the side to a respectable total of 172. Ali played a knock of 56 runs while Nazir accumulated 62 runs including six boundaries.

Pakistan did not have a good start as they lost Mohammad Hurair (4) in the second over. Fahad Munir, came to bat at number three, failed to score a single run and was departed by Ravi Bishnoi on a duck in ninth over.

Apart from Ali and Nazir, Mohammad Haris was the only batsman to score runs in double digits. He played an innings of 21 runs off 15 balls. Indian bowlers showed a spirited performance as they bowled out arch-rival in 43.1 overs.

Pacers Karthik Tyagi and Sushant Mishra bagged two and three wickets respectively. Spinner Ravi Bishnoi clinched two scalps and conceded 46 runs in his ten overs.

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Agencies
May 25,2020

Chandigarh, May 25: Legendary former hockey player Balbir Singh Senior died in a private hospital on Monday, his family said.

He was 96 years old. His condition was critical for nearly a fortnight.

He was undergoing treatment at Fortis Mohali and was in a "semi-comatose condition".

He was hospitalised on May 8 with high fever and breathing trouble. His COVID-19 test came negative.

Balbir was part of the Indian teams that won gold at the 1948 London Olympics, Helsinki 1952 and Melbourne 1956. His record for most individual goals scored in an Olympic men's hockey final remains unbeaten.

Balbir had set this record when he scored five goals in India's 6-1 win over Netherlands in the gold medal match of the 1952 Games.

He was the head coach of the Indian team for the 1975 men's World Cup, which India won and the 1971 men's World Cup, where India earned a bronze medal. He was also conferred with the prestigious Padma Shri in 1957.

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News Network
March 28,2020

Milan, Mar 28: Juventus star Paulo Dybala revealed how he "struggled to breathe" after contracting coronavirus which has killed over 9,000 people in Italy.

The Argentine international announced last Saturday he was one of three Juventus players to catch the virus along with Daniele Rugani and Blaise Matuidi, who both had no symptoms.

"I feel better now after some strong symptoms," the 26-year-old Dybala told JTV channel.

"A couple of days ago I was not well, I felt heavy and after five minutes of movement I had to stop because I was struggling to breathe.

"Now I can move and walk to start trying to train, because when I tried in the past few days I started to shake too much.

"I gasped for air and as a result I couldn't do anything, after five minutes I was already very tired, I felt the body heavy and my muscles hurt.

"Now I'm fine. My fiancee Oriana (Sabatini) has also overcome the symptoms."

Dybala has scored 13 goals in all competitions this season, including in league leader's Juventus's last game against Inter Milan before Serie A and all sport in Italy was suspended.

"The goal against Inter was the greatest emotion, (Aaron) Ramsey provided the perfect assist - it's a pity that there was no public," added Dybala.

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