Swann all praise for rampaging Viru

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.

Sydney, Mar 4: Teenage Indian batting sensation Shafali Verma on Wednesday rose to the top spot in the ICC women's T20 International rankings, riding on her stellar run at the ongoing World Cup here.

The 16-year-old Verma takes over from New Zealand's Suzie Bates, who had been the top batter since October 2018 after wresting the spot from West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor.

However, Smriti Mandhana has slipped a couple of rungs to sixth in the latest list.

Verma and England spinner Sophie Ecclestone will go into the semifinals of the event as the top ranked batter and bowler respectively. India will take on England on Thursday.

Verma's explosive batting at the top of the order saw her score 161 runs in four innings, including knocks of 47 and 46 against Sri Lanka and New Zealand. It helped her become only the second India batter after Mithali Raj to top the women's T20I batting rankings, according to an ICC statement.

Ecclestone, who took eight wickets in four matches including a best of three for seven against the West Indies, is the first England bowler to be number one since Anya Shrubsole in April 2016 and the first England spinner at the top since Danni Hazell in August 2015.

Among the Indian bowlers, Poonam Yadav is up four places to eighth after a good run in World Cup.

Some valiant performances from Sri Lanka skipper Chamari Athapaththu have seen her move from 18th to 14th spot for batters.

England's Nat Sciver is again in the top 10 and captain Heather Knight in the top 15 for the first time.

South Africa opener Laura Wolvaardt has advanced 23 places to 44th, while Pakistan's Aliya Riaz has gained 24 places and is 48th while New Zealand's Maddy Green is in the top 100 after advancing 28 slots.

In the bowlers' list, leg-spinners Amelia Kerr of New Zealand (up two places to fourth) and Australia's George Wareham (up nine places to 10th) have made significant gains in the latest rankings update.

Other bowlers to advance include new-ball bowler Diana Baig of Pakistan (up 34 places to 13th), Shashikala Siriwardena of Sri Lanka (up seven places to 14th), Anya Shrubsole of England (up five places to 17th), Dane van Niekerk of South Africa (up 12 places to joint-22nd) and Shikha Pandey of India (up 23 places to joint-22nd).

New Zealand captain Sophie Devine is now the sole number one all-rounder after coming into the tournament as a joint number one along with Australia all-rounder Ellyse Perry.

India's Deepti Sharma has advanced nine places to seventh, the first time that she is among the top 10 in the all-rounders' list after also moving up to 53rd among batters.

Australia remain at the top of the T20I team rankings with 290 points and England in second position with 278.

Melbourne, Feb 26: On a high after two easy victories on the trot, including one against defending champion Australia, the Indian women's cricket team will aim to inch closer to a semifinal berth when it takes on New Zealand in the ICC Women's T20 World Cup here on Thursday.

The Indians have hardly broke a sweat in their 17-run and 18-run wins over hosts Australia and Bangladesh in their previous two matches, and they are perched at the top of five-team Group A standings with four points from two matches.

A win against New Zealand on Thursday will take the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side on the threshold of a knock-out stage spot, to be competed among top two teams from Group A and B.

In the two matches so far, the Indian team has been impressive both in batting and bowling.

The 16-year-old sensation Shafali Verma has been the standout batter with a whirlwind 17-ball 39 against Bangladesh, following her 29 against Australia.

One-down Jemimah Rodrigues has also been among the runs with 26 and 34 in the two matches so far.

Only captain Harmanpreet, among the top order batters, has not scored big and she is due big innings.

India is also likely to be bolstered by the return of star opener Smriti Mandhana who missed the match against Bangladesh due to fever.

The middle-order has also done its bit with Deepti Sharma playing a major role against Australia with an unbeaten 49 while Veda Krishnamurthy hit a match-defining 11-ball 20 not out for a late flourish against Bangladesh.

The bowling department has been led admirably by seasoned leg-spinner Poonam Yadav -- seven wickets in the first two matches -- with pacer Shikha Pandey ably supporting her with five scalps so far.

New Zealand, though, have a better head-to-head record against India in recent years, having won the last three matches between the two sides.

Exactly a year back, they had beaten the Indian team 3-0 in a three-match T20 International home series.

India will, however, remember their massive 34-run win against New Zealand in the previous edition of the T20 World Cup in 2018 in the West Indies. Harmanpreet had struck a memorable 103 to lead her side to victory.

New Zealand have some top-class players in their ranks in the form of captain and all-rounder Sophie Devine and top-order batswoman Suzie Bates while pacer Lea Tahuhu and leg-spinner Amelia Kerr will lead the bowling department.

They will go into this match on a high after an easy seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka on Saturday.

Devine had led her side from the front with an unbeaten 75 off 55 balls at the top of the order in that win.

The Teams:

India: Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Shafali Verma, Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Harleen Deol, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Richa Ghosh, Veda Krishnamurthy, Shikha Pandey, Arundhati Reddy, Pooja Vastrakar.

New Zealand: Sophie Devine (capt), Rosemary Mair, Amelia Kerr, Suzie Bates, Lauren Down, Maddy Green, Holly Huddleston, Hayley Jensen, Leigh Kasperek, Jess Kerr, Katey Martin (wk), Katie Perkins, Anna Peterson, Rachel Priest, Lea Tahuhu.