Vijender clinches fourth successive KO win

March 14, 2016

Liverpool, Mar 14: There was no stopping Indian boxing star Vijender Singh as he notched up his fourth successive knockout professional win by pummelling Hungary’s Alexander Horvath in under three rounds here.

VijenderVijender had little trouble outpunching his opponent, who failed to get up after being thrown off balance by his body blows in the third round of the six-round contest of the middlewight (75kg) category late on Saturday night.

“I don’t know what happened to him. I think he was looking to get out by making an excuse. It’s a good start to the year for me. I am happy to register another knockout win.

“I think this is a great start for me looking ahead to my WBO Asia title bout in India (on June 11) this year,” Vijender said after the bout.

“My target is to win the Asia title in front of my home crowd and looking forward to register two more knockout wins in April before I play in India,” he added.

The 30-year-old Indian, who went into the contest on the back of three successive knockout triumphs, continued to be a cut above his rivals, who talk big but deliver little inside the ring.

The 20-year-old Horvath, with an experience of seven pro fights, had been drinking snake blood to prepare himself but it seemed the bizarre routine helped little in countering the ferocity of India’s first Olympic and World Championships bronze medallist.

Vijender walked into the arena to the trademark beats of popular Bollywood song ‘Singh is King’ and was cheered vociferously by the sizeable Indian community present inside.

The Indian took barely a few seconds to get a measure of his rival and once that was done, Vijender landed some telling jabs to unsettle Horvath, who spat out his gumshield twice in the opening round itself.

Vijender did exceptionally well in commanding the pace of the bout and managed to drain the Hungarian in the second round itself.

Horvath’s body language was sluggish while Vijender executed his counter-attacks with the right mix of confidence and power.

Horvath’s agony ended barely a minute into the third round when Vijender’s body blows brought him to his knees, giving the Indian his fourth knockout triumph.

Vijender will next be seen in action on April 2, the opponent and venue for which would be decided later.

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Agencies
August 1,2020

Colombo, Aug 1: Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has expressed his interest in playing the inaugural edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL), scheduled to start from August 28.

Pathan is among 70 foreign players to have shown interest in playing the LPL, ESPNcricinfo reported.

It is believed that Pathan has taken permission from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to take part in the competition. 

BCCI doesn't allow active players to participate in other T20 leagues but Pathan announced his retirement in January this year.

Former swashbuckling all-rounder Yuvraj Singh also played in a foreign league last year. He played for Maratha Arabians in the T10 League in Abu Dhabi.

According to ESPNcricinfo, Pathan will now be put in a player draft unless one of the five franchises choose him to be a marquee player. The details of the draft, and the franchise owners, are yet to be finalised and announced. 

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is also waiting on some government clearances even as it decides on franchise owners. The five franchises will represent Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Dambulla and Jaffna.

On Monday, SLC Executive Committee granted approval for the tournament.

"The 23 match League will be played on the four international venues of R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium, Rangiri Dambulu International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele International Cricket Stadium and Suriyawewa Mahinda Rajapakse International Cricket Stadium. Five teams named after the cities of Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Dambulla and Jaffna will participate in the League," SLC said in a statement on Monday.

Sri Lanka has controlled the spread of COVID-19 better than many other cricket-playing nations.

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News Network
June 6,2020

New Delhi, Jun 6: Former West Indies pacer Michael Holding has come out in support of MS Dhoni, saying that the wicket-keeper batsman indeed wanted to win the match against England in the 2019 World Cup.

India's performance in the World Cup match against England last year has once again become a matter of debate as all-rounder Ben Stokes in his book titled 'On Fire' questioned the intent of the Indian side.

Stokes also said that Dhoni's intent was questionable as he did not go for big shots when India still had a chance to win the match.

However, Holding said that nowadays people tend to write anything in their books.

"Well, people will write anything in books these days, because people are a lot more free with their opinions and when they are writing books, they need to be making headlines at times," Holding said on his official YouTube channel.

"But, to be honest, a lot of people watching that game perhaps wouldn't have arrived to the same conclusion that Ben Stokes arrived at that India were not trying to win," he added.

Holding did say that it seemed like that India did not have the same intensity as they would have had if the match was a do-or-die match.

"It was not the game that India had to win, but I don't think anyone can say that was a team tactic to lose the game. I watched that game and it appeared to me as if India weren't putting up their 100 per cent, but I realised it was not the case when the expression on MS Dhoni's face told me that he desperately wanted to win, so I do not think it was a team decision to not try to win," the former Windies pacer said.

"But I don't think they went with the same intensity of wanting to win the game, say, if it was a do-or-die situation. If it was, we would have seen a different game," he added.

On his official YouTube channel, Holding also said that no team goes in with a set pattern in terms of chasing targets.

In the round-robin stage match against England in Birmingham, India failed to chase down the massive target of 338 and fell short by 31 runs.

That was the only game that India lost in the premier tournament last year before the semifinal loss against the Kiwis.

India's chasing approach, in particular of wicket-keeper batsman Dhoni, was criticised by many, including the fans at home.

As soon as Stokes mentioned Dhoni's lack of intent in his book 'On Fire', Pakistan fans started saying that India deliberately lost the match to knock out their neighbours.

However, Stokes clarified that he never said India lost deliberately and some people were twisting his words.

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News Network
April 27,2020

Lahore, Apr 27: Pakistan batsman Umar Akmal has been banned from all forms of cricket for three years for failing to report spot-fixing offers, the Pakistan Cricket Board announced Monday.

Umar, who turns 30 next month, pleaded guilty to not reporting the fixing offers which led to his provisional suspension on February 20 this year.

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