Pooja ousted, no Olympic quota for Indian women boxers

May 23, 2016

Astana (Kazakhstan), May 23: Indian women boxers failed to secure a single Olympic quota berth at the AIBA World Championships after Pooja Rani (75kg) bowed out of the event with a second-round defeat even as three of her compatriots advanced to the quarterfinals of the non-Olympic categories, here today.

PoojaPooja, faced with 2012 world champion Savannah Marshall of Britain, went down 0-3 in a lopsided contest to end India's quest for Rio quota berths in the event.

Marshall is also the reigning Commonwealth Games gold medallist. Earlier, five-time champion M C Mary Kom (51kg) and L Sarita Devi (60kg) had also exited after losing in the second round of an event where 12 slots in three Olympic categories are up for grabs. Women boxers made their Olympic debut in the 2012 London Games where India's sole representative Mary Kom had won a bronze medal.

However, in the non-Olympic categories, Nikhat Zareen (54kg), Sonia Lather (57kg) and Saweety (81kg) advanced to the quarterfinals with contrasting victories.

Zareen was the first to take the ring today against Canada's Erica Adeji. The former junior world champion Indian was in her elements from the beginning itself and was hardly stretched before notching up a 3-0 victory.

She will next face third-seeded Chinese Piaopiao Liu in the last-eight stage. Next up was Saweety, who had to endure an exhausting contest against Belarus' Victoriya Kebikava before winning 2-1.

In a battle between two slow-moving boxers, Saweety managed to grab the edge by mounting attacks early on. By the third round, both the boxers seemed exhausted by the slog.

Kebikava managed to gather herself for a final-round attack but Saweety had done enough by then to ensure that the judges ruled in her favour.

She will now face Hungary's Maria Kovacs, who defeated Uzbekistan's Melieva Ezozakhon in her pre-quarterfinal bout.

Later in the evening session, Sonia Lather also advanced to the quarterfinals with a comprehensive 3-0 triumph over Germany's Nomin Deutsch.

In a lopsided contest, the Indian seemed way ahead of her rival in ring-craft and accuracy of punches as she won the bout by a unanimous decision.

She will now be up against second seed Aneta Rygielska in the last-eight stage. However, the day ended on a disappointing note for India when Pooja was knocked out of the event. The Asian Games bronze-medallist was hardly a match for Marshall, who back-paddled smoothly and attacked at will.

Pooja, on the other hand, was lax in counter-attack and struggled to connect powerfully against a swift-moving Marshall.

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News Network
January 30,2020

Hamilton, Jan 30: Caught unaware about the Super Over scenario, Rohit Sharma took five minutes to “find” his abdomen guard after the third T20 International against New Zealand had ended in a tie on Wednesday.

The India vice-captain said the team had almost given up with New Zealand going great guns at one point.

“Everything was packed. All my stuff was inside my bag. I had to get it out. It literally took me five minutes to find my abdomen guard because I didn’t know where it was,” Rohit said.

“I mean we never thought it would go to the Super Over, the way they were batting at one point. It looked like they could easily win the game,” he added.

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News Network
March 28,2020

Milan, Mar 28: Juventus star Paulo Dybala revealed how he "struggled to breathe" after contracting coronavirus which has killed over 9,000 people in Italy.

The Argentine international announced last Saturday he was one of three Juventus players to catch the virus along with Daniele Rugani and Blaise Matuidi, who both had no symptoms.

"I feel better now after some strong symptoms," the 26-year-old Dybala told JTV channel.

"A couple of days ago I was not well, I felt heavy and after five minutes of movement I had to stop because I was struggling to breathe.

"Now I can move and walk to start trying to train, because when I tried in the past few days I started to shake too much.

"I gasped for air and as a result I couldn't do anything, after five minutes I was already very tired, I felt the body heavy and my muscles hurt.

"Now I'm fine. My fiancee Oriana (Sabatini) has also overcome the symptoms."

Dybala has scored 13 goals in all competitions this season, including in league leader's Juventus's last game against Inter Milan before Serie A and all sport in Italy was suspended.

"The goal against Inter was the greatest emotion, (Aaron) Ramsey provided the perfect assist - it's a pity that there was no public," added Dybala.

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News Network
June 13,2020

Melbourne, Jun 13: Former Australia wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist and current opener David Warner have expressed gratitude to two Indian students for helping people in the country during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gilchrist thanked Sharon Varghese, an Indian student who did her Bachelors in Nursing from the University of Wollongong.

Varghese has been was working on the frontline along with other health care workers to look after the residents of aged-care during the global health crisis.

"She gave up her time to work as an aged-care worker throughout that time. Sharon, I want to say congratulations on the selfless act and for wanting to thank people in Australia because you have enjoyed three and a half years living here. And that’s wonderful to hear," Gilchrist said in a video message.

"Just want to let you know, all of Australia, all of India and more importantly, your family will be so very proud of your efforts."

In another short video, Warner thanked Queensland-based Indian student, Shreyas Sheth.

"Namaste. I am here to say thank you to Shreyas Sheth who is doing selfless work to help others during the COVID crisis. Shreyas is doing his Masters in Computer Science at the University of Queensland and he has been part of University’s outreach program, preparing and delivering food packets to students in need right now," Warner said in the video.

"So I just want to say ‘good on ya’. I am sure your mum and dad and India are proud of you. Keep up the great work."

The videos were shared by Austrade India official twitter account, which have hit almost 10 thousand views in last one week.

Apart from the two cricketers, another Social Media Influencer Amy Aela also sent her thank you note to Liya, an Indian student from Griffith university for her work in providing mental health support to communities in Australia during the pandemic.

"Liya I just want to thank you...we definately need more people like you...just remember that Australia is so so proud of you, India is proud of you..please keep up the good work," Aela said.

Former Australian footballer Craig Foster also sent his thank you message to another Indian origin nurse Arushi from Deakin University. More than 100,000 Indian students are studying in Australia, currently making them one of the biggest cohorts of international students in the country.

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