Gold for Mary Kom, Manisha gets silver in Polish boxing tourney

Agencies
September 16, 2018

New Delhi, Sept 16: The seasoned M C Mary Kom (48kg) collected her third gold medal of the year with a display of tactical brilliance while Manisha (54kg) settled for a silver in the 13th Silesian Open Boxing Tournament for women in Gliwice, Poland.

Five-time world champion Mary Kom, returning to the ring after recovering from some niggles that kept her out of the Asian Games, prevailed 5-0 against Kazakhstan’s Aigerim Kassanayeva to pick up India’s lone senior category gold at the event Saturday.

Her other two gold medals this year came in the inaugural India Open in Delhi and the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast. She also won a silver at the prestigious Strandja Memorial Tournament in Bulgaria.

The 35-year-old former Olympic bronze-medallist was in her elements against a taller opponent, displaying a brilliant counter-attacking strategy. The nimble-footed Indian showed sharp reflexes and did not allow a clear shot to Kassanayeva through the bout.

“Mary was terrific in executing her strategy, it was a flawless performance,” India coach Rafaelle Bergamasco told news agency from Gliwice.

The Manipuri, a 2014 Asian Games gold-medallist, took full advantage of her rival’s hesitation and went full throttle in the final three minutes to strike some good body blows.

Her strong right hand worked well for her and she never allowed the southpaw to settle.

Manisha was next to take the ring against Ukraine’s Ivanna Krupenia.

The Indian went down 2-3 even though she came across as the more aggressive of the two boxers.

“Manisha was very good in the bout and in my opinion, she deserved to win,” said Bergamasco.

India also won four bronze medals in the senior category through former world champion L Sarita Devi (60kg), Ritu Grewal (51kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) and Pooja Rani (81kg).

In the youth competition, Jyoti Gulia (51kg), a former world champion and India’s only boxer to have qualified for next month’s Youth Olympic Games in Argentina, was India’s lone medallist with a gold.

In the junior competition though, the Indian team produced a terrific performance to sign off with 13 medals — six gold, six silver and a bronze.

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News Network
May 2,2020

Melbourne, May 2: After becoming the number one side in Test cricket, Australia's head coach Justin Langer has said that his team has won back the respect of the country.

Australia dethroned India from the top spot in Tests and now the Men in Blue are in the third place.

Langer came in as the coach of Australia after the 2018 ball-tampering scandal and it took him some time to get the side back to winning ways.

Ever since the return of David Warner and Steve Smith, Australia went on to become a commendable side and the results reflect that.

"We have got lots of work to do to become the team we want to be. But over the last couple of years, not only have we performed well on the field, we have performed well off it. We have earned some respect back from other teams around the world but also from Australia," Langer said in an official statement.

"When we started on this journey, there had been a lot of talk about Australia wanting to be No. 1 in the world in all three forms of the game.

We took a different approach. Not once did we talk about being No. 1 ranked in the world. We wanted to be No.1 in our values and process. That is what I am most proud of," he added.

In the latest ICC rankings update, that rates all matches played since May 2019 at 100 per cent and those of the previous two years at 50 per cent, Australia (116) have taken over from India as the top-ranked side in the ICC men's Test team rankings with New Zealand (115) remaining in second place.

India is now third with 114 points. With only two points separating them, this is the second closest the top three teams have been since the Test rankings were launched in 2003.

The closest for the top three teams were in January 2016, when India had led Australia and South Africa by a single point.

Australia has also moved to the top spot in the T20I rankings for the first time in the format.

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Agencies
January 26,2020

New Delhi, Jan 26: The sports fraternity on Sunday extended greetings to the people on the occasion of the 71st Republic Day.

Former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar took to Twitter to write: "Wishing all Indians a very happy Republic Day."
"Rejoice the Glory of India and it's Freedom Fighters on this Republic Day. Wish you a very happy #RepublicDayIndia . Jai Hind !" former batsman VVS Laxman tweeted.

"Wish you all a very happy #RepublicDay2020 from here in New Zealand," Irfan Pathan tweeted.

Boxer Vijender Singh said India is blessed with different religions, societies, cultures and languages.

"INDIA is a nation where humanity has lived since ages.It is a country which is blessed with different religions,societies,cultures & languages all interplaying with each other in harmony. PROUD OF UNITY IN DIVERSITY #RepublicDayIndia #RepublicDay2020," Singh wrote on the micro-blogging site.

Former cricketer Virender Sehwag, wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, wrestler Sushil Kumar and tennis player Sania Mirza also extended their greetings on the occasion.

On this day, 70 years back, India officially adopted its Constitution. Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro is the chief guest at the parade this year.

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News Network
April 7,2020

London, Apr 7: Bowling coach Waqar Younis feels that it was the absence of pacers Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Amir which saw Pakistan getting whitewashed during Australia tour last year.

Amir and Riaz had quit the red-ball format ahead of the matches against Australia in 2019.

"Just before the Australia series, they ditched us and we had the only choice to pick youngsters.

We were the new management and decided to go on with taking in the younger lot and groom them. ESPNcricinfo quoted Younis as saying.

Pakistan was not able to win a single match in Australia as they got defeated both in T20Is and Test series.

"It's not like we have lost a lot, but yes they left us at the wrong time. But anyway, we don't have any grudge against them," Younis added.

"We cannot control players' choice on what they want to play, but then there should be a mechanism so we all are on board. "It's not like I am saying we could have won in Australia but we could have done better than what we have done," he opined.

Amir gave up the red ball format in July in order to manage his workload and extend his white-ball career for Pakistan as well as in T20 leagues around the world, while Riaz took an "indefinite break" from Test cricket in September last year.

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