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Vijender Singh offers to return title, wants peace with China

Agencies
August 6, 2017

Mumbai, Aug 6: Boxer, Vijender Singh has offered to return his WBO Oriental Super Middleweight title to Chinese Zulpikar Maimaitiali in lieu of peace at the Indo-China border.

Vijender, a double champion in pro boxing, has urged India and China to maintain peace at the border.

The 31-year-old Olympic bronze medallist grew in stature last night by not just outslugging Maimaitiali in a close bout to annex the dual WBO Asia Pacific Super Middleweight and WBO Oriental Super Middleweight title, but by also urging for peace.

"To India-China friendship (I dedicate my title), because the tension on the border is not good because I see on social media, news, it keeps getting on and on and that's not good. I give this title to people, peace, it's all about friendship, Hindi-Chini bhai bhai," Vijender said during a media interaction.

Vijender's comments came in the backdrop of the stand-off between India and China.

He won the thrilling 10-round bout by one of the closest unanimous decisions 96-93 95-94 95-94 to maintain his unbeaten streak at the professional boxing.The bonhomie between the two boxers was evident as Zulpikar hugged Vijender and made him wear his cap. Vijender also returned the gesture by offering his belt to the Chinese boxer.

Vijender said, "He (Zulpikar) gave me that cap, he said I asked him for the cap and he gave it to me, I simply gave him the belt but he couldn't understand it."The Beijing Games bronze medallist admitted that he did not expect the fight to go down the wire.

"The fight was really good, I didn't expect (it will go all the way), it was 10 rounds, at times the Chinese products last a little long, it was an amazing fight and fun! The fight was tough and a lot of blood oozed out, but finally win was ours, it was nice," he said.

During the fight, the southpaw hit Vijender below the belt and the Indian said that he was disturbed by it.

"As you have seen, 3-4 times he (Zulpikar) hit below the belt and that disturbed me, that was a foul and the refree gave him a warning.

"It's painful and it disturbed your game, you have planned in the mind and when you get that kind of below the belt punches, that distracts you. He is young kid, strong kid, but it's all about winning," said Vijender, who was floored on numerous occasions.

Asked if he was confident of winning, the Indian said, "I am a positive person and I never think of losing, it's all about scoring and rounds, the first six rounds were so good, my coach (Lee Beard) was saying it's going round to round and winning every round (was important)."

Vijender also said he wants to challenge for the world championship soon."Just pray for me, one day I will be a world champion. I would like to thank everyone who came for this fight. It was great to see you all," he signed off.

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Agencies
July 28,2020

New Delhi, Jul 28: 'Your character stood out for me than the number of runs you scored," said India skipper Virat Kohli while explaining his decision to give opening Mayank Agarwal a Test debut in the 2018-19 Australia series.

Mayank Agarwal had made his Test debut against Australia in the third Test of the four-match series.

Playing the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Agarwal managed to register a half-century in his very first innings in the longest format.

"I had seen you play for RCB, even then you played international bowlers with conviction and you would take them on. You were performing in first-class matches in a dominating way. That is something always stood out with you, I would say your character stood out for me than the number of runs. I knew you would be fearless without having any baggage," Kohli told Mayank Agarwal in a video posted on the official website of BCCI.

In the longest format of the game, Agarwal has managed to score 974 runs from 11 matches at an average of 57.29 with three centuries as an opening batsman.

The Indian skipper also explained as to what makes him notice in a player and added that it is important that guys in the team look to face new challenges and emerge triumphantly.

"For me, the biggest marker is how a person approaches the game, so for example when you opened and we made Vihari open with you. The first opportunity we presented Vihari to open the batting, he said yes to it and that matters me to the most," Kohli said.

"I opened in my first series for India, I said yes to this opportunity and things worked out fine for me. So, a guy who wants to get into tough situations will come out either holding his head high or learning from his mistakes," he added.

Kohli and Mayank would soon be seen in action for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab respectively in the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting from September 19 in the UAE.

The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar keep on growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar called time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli currently has 70 centuries across all formats.

At present, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings. Kohli has so far played 86 Tests, scoring 7,240 runs with 27 centuries at an average of 53.62.

His knock of 254 against South Africa at Pune in 2019 remains his highest Test score to date. When it comes to ODIs, the current Indian skipper has played 248 matches and has 43 centuries.

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News Network
February 18,2020

New Delhi, Feb 18: Skipper Virat Kohli has become the first Indian to reach the 50M followers mark on social media platform Instagram. Kohli, who is breaking cricketing records with each passing match, has a great social media following.

The 31-year old has so far made 930 posts on the platform and his social media posts continue to enthrall fans worldwide. Overall, Instagram's official account has the most number of followers and it is followed by Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, who has 200M followers.

In terms of Indians with most number of followers, Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra is on the second spot with 49.9 followers while Deepika Padukone is on the third place with 44.1 followers.

Last year, Kohli had become the most successful Indian Test captain, surpassing Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Currently, Kohli is in action against New Zealand and his side would take on the hosts in the two-match Test series, slated to commence from February 21.

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Agencies
June 23,2020

Belgrade, June 23: Novak Djokovic tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday after taking part in a tennis exhibition series he organized in Serbia and Croatia.

The top-ranked Serb is the fourth player to test positive for the virus after first playing in Belgrade and then again last weekend in Zadar, Croatia.

His wife also tested positive. “The moment we arrived in Belgrade we went to be tested. My result is positive, just as Jelena's, while the results of our children are negative," Djokovic said in a statement.

Djokovic has been criticized for organizing the tournament and bringing in players from other countries amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Viktor Troicki said Tuesday that he and his pregnant wife have both been diagnosed with the virus, while Grigor Dimitrov, a three-time Grand Slam semifinalist from Bulgaria, said Sunday he tested positive.

Borna Coric played Dimitrov on Saturday in Zadar and said Monday he has also tested positive. There were no social distancing measures observed at the matches in either country and Djokovic and other players were seen hugging each other and partying in night clubs and restaurants after the matches.

 “Everything we did in the past month, we did with a pure heart and sincere intentions,” Djokovic said.

“Our tournament meant to unite and share a message of solidarity and compassion throughout the region.” Djokovic, who has previously said he was against taking a vaccine for the virus even if it became mandatory to travel, was the face behind the Adria Tour, a series of exhibition events that started in the Serbian capital and then moved to Zadar.

He left Croatia after the final was canceled and was tested in Belgrade. The statement said Djokovic was showing no symptoms.

Despite the positive test, Djokovic defended the exhibition series. “It was all born with a philanthropic idea, to direct all raised funds towards people in need and it warmed my heart to see how everybody strongly responded to this,” Djokovic said.

"We organized the tournament at the moment when the virus has weakened, believing that the conditions for hosting the Tour had been met. “Unfortunately, this virus is still present, and it is a new reality that we are still learning to cope and live with.”

Djokovic said he will remain in self-isolation for 14 days and also apologized to anyone who became infected as a result of the series. Organizers of the Adria Tour said the third stage of the event, scheduled to held next week in Bosnia, has been cancelled.

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