BOXING
Asian U-22 & Youth Boxing: India pugilists confirm record 43 medals
Astana (Kazakhstan): Akash Gorkha, Vishvanath Suresh, Nikhil and Preet Malik advanced to the U-22 men’s finals as Indian boxers confirmed an unprecedented 43 medals across categories at the ASBC Asian U-22 & Youth Boxing Championships here on Saturday.
Senior national champion Akash extended his dominating run in the 60kg category with a 5-0 win over Ilyasov Sayat of Uzbekistan in the semi-finals.
Reigning youth world champion Vishvanath (48kg) won 5-2 against Baricuatro Bryan of Philippines after the bout was reviewed.
The other two semi-finalists, Nikhil (57kg) and Preet (67kg) also won their bouts with a similar 5-2 scoreline after a review against Mongolia’s Dorjnyambuu Ganbold and Almaz Orozbekov of Kyrgyzstan respectively.
Meanwhile, it was a heartbreak for M Jadumani Singh (51kg), Ajay Kumar (63.5kg), Ankush (71kg), Dhruv Singh (80kg), Jugnoo (86kg) and Yuvraj (92kg) as they ended their campaigns with bronze medals following their losses in the U-22 semis.
Nine women boxers, including Olympic-bound Preeti (54kg), will be in action in the U-22 semi-finals.
The U-22 finals will be played on Tuesday.
In the youth women’s semi-finals played on Friday night, reigning junior world champion Nisha (52kg) and Asian youth champion Nikita Chand (60kg) along with five other boxers entered the finals.
Lakshay Rathi (92+kg), Annu (48kg), Yatri Patel (57kg), Parthavi Grewal (66kg), Akansha Phalaswal (70kg) and Nirjhara Bana (+81kg) were defeated and ended their campaigns with bronze medals in the youth category.
The youth finals will now have 14 Indian pugilists with seven each in both men’s and women’s category fighting for the gold. The finals for the youth category will be played on Monday.
Overall, Indian boxers have secured 43 medals in the prestigious tournament, which has been witnessing high-voltage action with the presence of 390-plus boxers from more than 24 countries, including strong boxing nations such as China, India, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan fighting for the medals across 25 weight categories.
-PTI
AICF President Nitin Narang | Photo Credit: AICF President Nitin Narang
CHESS
New AICF President Nitin Narang rolls out an INR 65 Cr budget to grow country’s chess ecosystem
Recently elected AICF President Nitin Narang rolled out a massive budget of INR 65 Cr to propel chess in the nation.
At the AICF general body meeting, key initiatives were discussed aimed at strengthening the Indian chess ecosystem by providing financial and institutional support for pro as well as grassroots level players.
Several proposals including a chess development fund, introducing strong financial backing with player contracts and coaching at all levels, financially supporting district and state associations, setting up a state-of-the-art National Chess Arena (NCA) for elite-level training and an AICF Rating system specifically for India are some of the initiatives discussed.
CRICKET
MCA appoints Lalchand Rajput as advisor for T20 Mumbai League
The Mumbai Cricket Association on Saturday announced former India cricketer Lalchand Rajput as the advisor for the T20 Mumbai League, which is scheduled to start tentatively on May 27.
The first edition of the T20 Mumbai League was held in 2018 and the second in 2019 but the tournament was shelved thereon. Both the editions featured eight teams each.
Along with the appointment of Rajput in a bid to revive the tournament, the MCA also appointed the former India and Mumbai pacer Raju Kulkarni as the chairman of its Cricket Improvement Committee (CIC).
Kulkarni, who played three Tests and 10 ODIs for India between 1986-87, is also the incumbent chairman of Mumbai’s men’s U-23 and senior selection committee.
Sahil Kukreja, a former Mumbai player, and ex India cricketer Preeti Dimri are the other two members of the CIC.
MCA also announced the appointment of former India captain Diana Edulji as the advisor for women’s cricket as well as former Mumbai skipper and chief selector Milind Rege as the advisor for men’s cricket.
HOCKEY
Haryana, Madhya Pradesh win in National Women’s Hockey League
Ranchi: Haryana and Madhya Pradesh beat Bengal and Maharashtra respectively at the National Women’s Hockey League 2024 (Phase 1) here on Saturday.
While Haryana defeated Bengal 4-3 in a thriller to register their third consecutive win, Madhya Pradesh got the better of Maharashtra 2-1 in another match.
In the opening match of the day, Bengal was off the blocks and running in no time with Silbiya Nag (2nd minute) converting a penalty corner early in the game.
Selestina Horo (19th) then doubled their lead with a penalty corner conversion in the second quarter.
Haryana captain Neelam (20th) quickly retaliated with a penalty corner conversion to reduce the deficit as Bengal led 2-1 at halftime.
Nandni (41st) converted another penalty corner for Haryana to level the scores before Shashi Khasa (43rd) converted yet another penalty corner to help Haryana take the lead.
Pinki (46th) scored a field goal early in the final quarter to take Haryana to a 4-2 lead.
Shanti Horo (51st) scored a field goal for Bengal to create a possibility of a comeback but Haryana held onto their lead to emerge winners.
In the day’s second showdown, Madhya Pradesh defeated Maharashtra 2-1.
After a quiet first half without any goals, Madhya Pradesh broke the deadlock late in the third quarter with a field goal from Aanchal Sahu (45th) to take the lead.
Maharashtra captain Ashwini Kolekar (50th) scored a field goal in just under five minutes into the final quarter to level the scores.
However, Swati (54th) put Madhya Pradesh back in the lead with a field goal.
Thereafter, Madhya Pradesh played a tight defence game to retain their one-goal lead.
Later in the day, Mizoram will take on Manipur, while Jharkhand will lock horns with Odisha.
GOLF
Chawrasia slips to tied 24 at Maekyung Open
Seoul: SSP Chawrasia carded a sloppy 2-over 73 to slip down to tied 24th at the GS Caltex Maekyung Open here on Saturday.
In the third round of the Asian Tour event, he is now 1-under 212 and 10 behind leader Junghwan Lee after being tied 13th a day earlier.
Other Indian player Ajeetesh Sandhu who made the cut was tied 51 after 74 on the par-71 course.
Lee birdied three of the last five holes to take the third-round lead to give himself a chance of improving upon his joint second place finish here last year.
The Korean, whose nickname is ‘Ironman’ because of his strong iron play, carded a five-under-par 66 to lead on 11-under at the Namseoul Country Club by a shot from Thailand’s Chonlatit Chuenboonngam, the leader at the start of the day, who returned a 70.
Canadian Richard T Lee (69) and Hongtaek Kim (71) from Korea are another two strokes back – in the sixth event of the Asian Tour’s season.
This year’s Asian Tour Qualifying School winner Kristoffer Broberg (71) from Sweden and Korean Kyungnam Kang (73) are an additional two shots behind.
The 32-year-old Lee started the day three behind the leader Chonlatit and trailed the Thai for much of the day.
However, Chonlatit, who had a two-shot lead after nine, made a costly double bogey on the par-four 16th – where he left a chip short and failed to get up and down – while Lee was able to take to the front thanks to birdies on 14, 15 and 17.
TENNIS
Indian over-50 finishes runner-up in world championship
NEW DELHI: Nitten Kirrtane went down fighting in three sets to Davide Gregianin as India lost 1-2 to Italy in the final of the Fred Perry Cup ITF tennis masters over-50 world championship in Mexico City on Friday.
Nitten was beaten 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 by Gregianin after Lorenzo Pennisi had given a strong start for Italy with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Jagdish Tanwar.
The Italians gave a walkover in the inconsequential doubles to speed up their celebrations.
It was a commendable performance by the Indian team as it won all its matches in the league phase against Turkey, France and Canada before beating Britain in the semifinals.
The results: Men’s over-50 (final): Italy bt India 2-1 (Lorenzo Pennisi bt Jagdish Tanwar 6-1, 6-1; Davide Gregianin bt Nitten Kirrtane 2-6, 7-5, 6-4; Andrea Caldarelli & Andrea Monti lost to Ajit Sail & Nitten Kirrtane w.o.).
NEW DELHI: Sriram Balaji and Andre Begemann beat second seeds Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler 6-1, 6-4 in the doubles semifinals of the €205,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Cagliari, Italy, on Saturday.
In the final, the Indo-German pair will play Boris Arias and Federico Zeballos of Bolivia.
The results: €205,000 Challenger, Cagliari, Italy Doubles (semifinals): Sriram Balaji & Andre Begemann (Ger) bt Alexander Erler & Lucas Miedler (Aut) 6-1, 6-4. $15,000 ITF men, Monastir, Tunisia Singles (semifinals): Stuart Parker (GBR) bt Karan Singh 7-6(5), 6-3. $15,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia – Singles (semifinals): Mariia Tkacheva bt Vaishnavi Adkar 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.
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