MC Mary Kom Rubbishes Retirement Talk, Dreams Of Olympic Gold

Agencies
April 18, 2018

New Delhi, Apr 18: India's best-ever boxer Mary Kom said on Tuesday that she has no plans to retire and is determined to defy her critics by winning an elusive Olympic gold. Mary Kom, 35, won gold on debut at the Commonwealth Games in Australia last week, complementing a trophy cabinet packed with five amateur world championship titles and an Olympic bronze from London 2012. But India's most accomplished pugilist, feted at home as "Magnificent Mary", says the best is yet to come and has rubbished suggestions she could be close to hanging up the gloves.

"I have never talked about retirement, they were just rumours. Even I was shocked when I heard about my retirement," Kom told reporters in New Delhi as India's boxing team returned from the Gold Coast with three gold, three silver and three bronze medals.

"An Olympic Gold is what I am still dreaming."

Kom was devastated to miss out on a wildcard entry for the Rio 2016 Olympics and said she was aiming for Olympic gold in Tokyo 2020.

The mother-of-three won a record fifth Asian women's championship title in November last year -- defying critics who suggested Kom was approaching retirement age.

"Who said my age is a factor? Come up and I will show what I can do," she said in jest when asked about boxing in her mid-thirties.

"This (age issue) should be taken out of the mind. I will know when my body will not allow me to carry on."

The veteran fighter and subject of a blockbuster Bollywood film said she was preparing for the Asian Games, world championship and more and "will try my best" as she pursues gold in Tokyo.

Kom conceded she had a busy schedule -- as a professional athlete, parent, gym owner and lawmaker -- but warned her opponents against assuming she had too much on her plate.

"I have taken this challenge to keep fighting at 35 or 36. No one can guarantee winning or losing, but when I train nobody can beat me easily," she said.

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News Network
July 3,2020

Karachi, Jul 3: Pakistan limited overs captain Babar Azam is tired of his constant comparisons with India skipper Virat Kohli and says he would rather be compared to the greats at home.

Babar, six years younger to Kohli, has a long way to go in getting close to Kohli's staggering numbers across formats. The India skipper has 70 hundreds to his name and averages more than 50 in all three formats.

"I would be more happy if you compare to me say a Javed Miandad, Muhammad Yousuf or Younis Khan. Why compare me to Kohli or any Indian player?" asked the 25-year-old, who is in England with the national team, said in an online media interaction on Thursday.

Babar has scored 16 international hundreds and averages more than 50 in ODIs and T20s. In 26 Tests, he has scored 1850 runs at 45.12.

He also said that he is not targeting any English bowler for the series next month.

"I don’t see who the bowler is or his reputation. I just try to play each ball on merit. England no doubt has a top bowling attack and they have advantage of playing at home but this is a challenge I want to score runs in," he said.

Before the squad’s departure for England, Pakistan batting coach Younis Khan said that pacer Joffra Archer will be a handful for the Pakistani batsmen.

Babar said that he would try to play every English bowler on merit but conceded that after getting runs in Australia last year, he was keen to leave his footprint in the coming Test and T20 series in England.

Reminded that some former Test players had already written off Pakistan for the England series, Babar said they were entitled to their opinion.

"But we don’t have a bad team and already we have been enjoying our training. It is good to be back on the field after such a long lay-off. I think we have the bowlers to trouble them like Abbas, Naseem, Shaheen and others while we have some experience in our batting line-up."

Babar said he would love to get a triple century in a Test match.

"When you score a century, you naturally want to go on and convert that into a double or a triple century. This is something I would like to do during the Test series.

"I like to play my natural game but my selection of shots depends on the conditions and bowlers."

Babar also ruled out any problems in the Pakistan dressing room due to the presence of former skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed, who was sacked last year.

But he said that since Muhammad Rizwan had been playing in all formats for Pakistan in recent times, he would be the starting keeper in the Test series ahead of Sarfaraz.

"I think we first have to give Rizwan a proper chance and Sarfaraz is there as back up."

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Agencies
February 13,2020

New Delhi, Feb 13: Sanjiv Chawla, a key accused in the match-fixing scandal involving former South African cricket team captain Hansie Cronje in 2000, was extradited from the UK on Thursday, Delhi Police said.

The 50-year-old British national, accompanied by a crime branch team from London, reached IGI Airport this morning, a senior officer said.

He is likely to be taken to the crime branch office for questioning, he added.

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News Network
February 14,2020

Hamilton, Feb 14: Batting first, India finished at 263 for nine on the opening day of the three-day warm-up game against New Zealand XI here on Friday.

Hanuma Vihari made 101 off 182 balls before retiring, while Cheteshwar Pujara scored 93.

Besides, Ajinkya Rahane (18) was the only other Indian batsmen to register double digit score.

The likes of Prithvi Shaw (0), Mayank Agarwal (1) and Shubman Gill (0) failed to cash in on the opportunity.

Scott Kuggeleijn (3/40) and Ish Sodhi (3/72) shared six wickets between them for New Zealand.

Brief Scores:

India: 263 for 9 in 78.5 overs (Hanuma Vihari 101, Cheteshwar Pujara 93; Scott Kuggeleijn 3/40, Ish Sodhi 3/72).

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