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Sports News
New Delhi March 16:
Hockey-player-turned-boxer Amandeep Singh (49kg) out-punched Malaysian M Redzuan while Jai Bhagwan (60kg) didn't even step inside the ring to make the finals as a record six Indians assured themselves of at least a silver in the fifth Commonwealth Championships here today.
Good news started trickling in early in the day for India when Asian Championship silver medallist Jai got a walkover into the finals after his English opponent Danny Philips was found medically unfit in the weigh-in this morning. Jai will face Bahamian Valention Knowles in the final tomorrow.
The man who did go to the ring did not disappoint the home fans either. Amandeep, a gold medallist from the January South Asian Games in Dhaka, thrashed Malaysian M Redzuan 7-1 in a lopsided bout to enter the final. He will now face Kenya's Peter Mungai, who notched up a 7-0 win over Botswana's Bathusi Mogajane.
With world number one Vijender Singh (75kg), Asian champion Suranjoy Singh (52kg), World Cup bronze medallist Dinesh Kumar (81kg) and Asian bronze medallist Paramjeet Samota already through to the finals, the Indian team is in contention for lifting the team championship as well.
In the only bout to feature a local favourite today, Amandeep fought from long range to get past his opponent, who was aggressive throughout. A few jabs earned Amandeep a crucial 3-0 lead in the opening round and though he couldn't add to the tally in the next three minutes, the Indian ensured that none of his opponent's wild swings could get to him.
"My opponent was slightly slow and that helped my cause," the 23-year-old Punjab boxer said after the bout. In the final three minutes, Amandeep landed a couple of powerful hooks to increase the lead, adding to Redzuan's frustration, who was penalised two points for bending excessively.
"The plan was to take a good lead in the opening round and guard that. We wanted to be safer in the second round because a tall boxer like Amandeep is an easy prey for wild swings by shorter boxers. So he likes to fight from long range," said national coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu. "Amandeep is again facing a southpaw in the final tomorrow," he added.
Looking ahead at tomorrow's final, Sandhu said the performance of his wards has surpassed his expectations "But finals are not going to be a cakewalk. They are tough but hopefully our boys will do well. They are very motivated," he said. Meanwhile, Englishman Ian Weaver, who beat Commonwealth Games gold medallist Akhil Kumar in the 56kg quarterfinals, eked out another shocker by ousting Olympic bronze medallist Bruno Julie of Malaysia from the event.
Baby-faced Weaver, a 20-year-old participating in his first senior international tournament, defeated Julie 12-3. The swift-moving Englishman scored with his precise jabs and forced Julie, who likes to fight with an open guard, to cover up with his aggressive approach.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
March 16,2
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New Delhi March 15:
World number one Vijender Singh (75kg) packed a powerful punch quite literally, while Asian champion Suranjoy Singh also notched up an emphatic win as four Indian boxers sailed into the finals on an all-win day for the hosts at the fifth Commonwealth Boxing Championships here today.
Olympic and World Championship bronze-medallist Vijender led Tanzanian Selemani Kidunda 10-1 before landing a power-packed right hook that left his rival with a head injury, prompting the referee to award the bout to the Indian.
Suranjoy was equally dominating in his triumph over Welshman Andrew Selby although the 4-0 victory margin does not reflect the Manipuri's hold on the bout. World Cup bronze-medallist Dinesh Kumar (81kg), competing in his first Commonwealth Championships, was the the third Indian boxer to score an easy win and enter the final.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
March 15,2
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Sakhir March 15:
Karun Chadhok's F1 debut didn't last even two laps but Vitantonio Liuzzi's ninth place finish earned Force India two invaluable points from the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix here.
While the best Karun could have achieved was to complete the race, Adrian Sutil's 10th place on the starting grid had raised Force India hopes for a good finish.
The German driver, however, dropped out of point race after an opening lap scramble to eventually finish 12th and it was his Italian teammate Liuzzi who took the onus on himself to ensure that the Vijay Mallya-owned outfit gained something from the season opener. In contrast, Hispania driver Karun's Formula One debut was a bllink-and-miss affair with the Indian forced into an early exit by a bump in the circuit.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
March 15,2
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New Delhi March 14:
Australia won the Hockey World Cup for the second term beating Germany 2-1 in a closely fought final at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium here.
Germany's dream of lifting their third consecutive World Cup title came down crashing with the loss as the Australians found themselves third time lucky after having lost the last two consecutive finals. Australia also broke their 24-year jinx to win the Hockey World Cup after Luke Doerner slammed home a penalty-corner winner. Australia had then beaten hosts England 2-1 in the final at Willesden (London).
Win against Germany was also Australia's first in the World Cup in 16 years. Earlier in the day, the Netherlands beat England 4-3 for third place. In the keenly contested final, Edward Ockenden gave Australia the lead in the sixth minute and Doerner doubled it from a penalty corner at the stroke of an hour. Moritz Furste (48th) scored the only German goal from a penalty corner.
Australia were desperate to win the title and they made their intentions clear right from the start as they took 13 shots on target as compared to Germany's five. Eckenden, who didn't have an impressive World Cup, struck when it mattered the most as he netted from a goal mouth melee as the German defence was caught napping. Germany paid a heavy price for not converting the numerous penalty corner chances that came their way.
Earlier in the day, the Dutch made an epic comeback to beat European champions 4-3 in a thrilling encounter. The Dutch were trailing 1-3, but they came back strongly and slammed in three goals in 19 minutes. The Dutch opened the scoring through their dependable play maker Teun de Nooijer in the 22nd minute, giving the finishing touch to a pass from Robert van der Horst.
England, who largely dominated the first half, fought back with strikes from Alastair Brogdon (23rd minute) and two penalty-corner conversions from Ashley Jackson (30th, 34th). The Netherlands hit back in the 48th minute with a penalty-corner conversion from Taeke Taekama, his eighth goal in the tournament. For the next few minutes, the Dutch gave a harrowing time to the England defence as they skilfully stepped up the attack.
Klaas Vermeulen (55th) equalised with an opportunistic goal from a goalmouth melee. And with three minutes to go, Roger Hofman sneaked one past goalkeeper James Fair for the winning goal to send the crowd into raptures.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
March 14,2
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New Delhi March 14:
After becoming the only player to have won the World Cup both as a player and coach, Australian hockey legend Ric Charlesworth gave some words of advice to the Indian team to regain their lost glory.
The former India technical director Charlesworth feels the hosts have improved in their style of play under coach Jose Brasa but need to formulate three things in order to become a potent force in world hockey again.
"According to me India need to do three things. First set long term goals, then play as many international matches as possible and thirdly, privatise the game because India has plenty of resources," he told reporters. "They have very good players in the team but need to work on defence. The Indian game fits well with ours but they need organisation in the structure," Charlesworth said.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
March 14,2
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Chandigarh March 13:
Later in the day while addressing the students in 40th annual sports prize distribution function organized at Dashmesh Auditorium of Guru Nanak Dev University, Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal informed that the sports policy of Punjab government would be announced immediately after the on going budget session of Punjab Vidhan Sabha.
He said that the proposed sports policy was comprehensive and each aspect including promotion of sports, creation of world class sports infrastructure, nurturing of talent from early age and provision of recruitment of sports persons in different government departments to retain the talent within state.
The Deputy Chief Minister said that the state government after granting recognition to Kabaddi was now all set to host world Kabaddi Championship from next month in the 10 districts of the state. He said that teams from 10 countries like Canada, America, UK, Pakistan and Iran etc would vie for record prize money of Rs. 1 crore for winner, Rs. 51 Lakh for runner up and 25 Lakh for second runner up.
Reiterating his commitment to create quality sports infrastructure in the state, Mr. Badal said that the state government has decided to setup three state level institutes of sports on the pattern of national institute of sports. Mr. Badal also gave away cash prizes to the tune of Rs. 25 Lakh to 370 budding players who brought laurel to the university.
Prominent amongst others who attended these functions included Mr. Rajmohinder Singh Majitha, Member Parliament, Dr. Ajaib Singh Brar, Vice Chancellor, Dr. Inderjit Singh, Registrar, Prof. Kanwaljit Singh, Director Sports and Dr. Daljit Singh, Principal Khalsa College.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
March 13,2
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New Delhi March 13:
Sports minister MS Gill, expressed disappointment over the controversial referral system introduced in the hockey World Cup for the first time and said the FIH needs to have more representation from Asia in the management of the sport world over.
Gill said with the International Hockey Federation earning half of their revenues from India, the nation should have greater say in the affairs of world hockey. "I feel Asia should have more participation in the management of hockey and in the referral system. I have already told this to FIH president (Leandro) Negre," Gill said during a luncheon meeting organised by the Sports Ministry for reporters covering the World Cup.
"FIH's main earning comes from India. India contributes 50 per cent of FIH's revenue. The Netherlands comes next. World hockey has to have India and Pakistan in the management of the game. "I had discussions with Mr Negre and he is keen that Indian hockey should come up once again. He is keen that India should host more international tournaments," Gill added. The sports minister also expressed satisfaction with the home team's performance in the megaevent, saying as long as the players and coaches give their 100 per cent he has no issues.
"As long as the players are giving their best I am happy. As a sports minister, my focus now is on the Commonwealth Games, and then the Asian Games, 2012 London Olympics is also not far away. The players have to train hard, play as a team without any irritation or infighting. They have to be disciplined, dedicated and give their best," Gill said. "The same goes for the coaches. Their job is to do their very best with the team. As long as they are doing it, I am content," he said.
Gill said barring a few issues, he was happy with the way the World Cup has progressed so far. "More or less, it has been a good tournament in a world class stadium built in just 14 months time. It encourages us to conduct more hockey events in future. "We have noticed a few little shortcomings and glitches but they will be taken care of. It is a new stadium and the tournament is a good learning experience for us," he said.
The sports minister also apologised to the media, who were restricted from covering the national team's practice session at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in the run up to the World Cup on the pretext of security. "We rapidly got the stadium ready and security surrounding the tournament was a worldwide concern. The tournament organisers, the Delhi Police and the participating teams all had their concerns. So I am sorry if any inconvenience is caused to anyone," Gill said.
FIH had, on Thursday, issued a new deadline to Hockey India to sort out its affiliation issues and conduct the much-awaited elections by May 31 and the sports minister too said that he was in favour of free and fair polls at the earliest. "HI elections are purely an internal matter but off course it has to be done and there is no doubt about it. From the beginning, I said that I want fair and clean elections acceptable to India.
"The three formula for this is clean electoral role, independent presiding officer, not from the parent body or the Indian Olympic Association and thirdly secret ballot," Gill said. On the India-Pakistan encounter, which the home team won 4-1 in the opening day of the tournament on February 28, Gill said, "There were on and off breaks in sporting ties between the two countries, so the match was a special occasion. The entire world wants to see India-Pakistan hockey.
On the country's preparedness for this year's Commonwealth Games, the Minister said, "In January, the hockey stadium was given to the country and in the next month the shooting range, which is the best in the world. "By May most of the venues will be complete. But there were some issues with the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium which forced us to push its deadline to early June," he said.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
March 13,2
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New Delhi March 13:
Indian boxer Jai Bhagwan thrashed Botswana's Oratile Segokgo 16-0 to reach the 60 kg quarterfinals, while Balwinder Beniwal went down 5-14 to Richarno Colin of Mauritius in the 64 kg bout on the opening day of the XXX Energy Drink Commonwealth boxing championship at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium here.
Jai Bhagwan was on an attacking mode right from the start and led 7-0 in the first round and stretched it to 12-0 in the second. Balwinder, 19, participating in his first major championship, made a cautious start against Olympian pugilist Colin. Colin took a 4-1 lead in the first round and made it 9-2 in the second. Meanwhile, security measures have kept the spectators out of the tournament.
The results: 56 kg: Michael Roberts (Sco) bt Revocatus Shomari (Tan) 12-3, M.D.K. Wanniarachchi (SL) bt Dayne Williams (NZ) 14-1; 60 kg: Josh Taylor (Sco) bt John Colin (Mri) 6-1; Jai Bhagwan (Ind) bt Oratile Segokgo (Bot) 16-0, Darren Edwards (Wal) bt Naser M. Mafuru (Tan) 18-0, Danny Phillips (Eng) bt Muhamad Ridwan (Sin) 9-1; 64 kg: Black Moses Mathenge (Ken) bt Valention Knowles (Bah) 8-2, Richarno Colin (Mri) bt Balwinder Beniwal (Ind) 14-5; Joseph M. Waselage (Tan) bt Bowyn Morgan (NZ) 10-3.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
March 13,2
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New Delhi March 13:
India went down 2-4 to Argentina to finish eighth while Spain took the fifth place getting past Korea 2-0 in classification matches of the Hockey World Cup here.
The victory against Asian Champions Korea handed Olympic silver medallists Spain a direct entry to the Champions Trophy later this year. New Zealand took the ninth spot after a thrilling 5-4 victory in sudden death over South Africa at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium here.
India failed to make their chances count and would be disappointed with their loss to Argentina as they dominated the first half but with no success. It was Argentina who opened the scoring through Tomas Innocente Argento (28th minute) to go 1-0 up in the first half. India scored the equaliser through Sandeep Singh's (42nd) penalty stroke before Argentina's three-goal burst in three minutes took the game away from the hosts.
Lucas Martin Vila (43rd, 45th) first converted a penalty corner and then scored a field goal. Facundo Callioni (46th) joined the party to make it 4-1 for Argentina. Shivendra Singh (49th) pulled one back but it was too little and too late. Argentina thus maintained their superior record against India in the World Cup. They have now beaten India five times in eight meetings.
India had finished 11th in the previous World Cup at Monchengladbach and they improved their position by three rungs, but would be disappointed as they had hoped for a far better finish at home. The only win for the hosts came in their opening match against arch-rivals Pakistan. Nevertheless, it was India's best finish in 16 years. India came fifth in 1982 and 1994, and have only slipped thereafter. They finished ninth in 1998 and 10th in 2002.
In the play-off for the fifth-sixth place, Pablo Amat struck a brace in the first session. The Koreans tried to come back in the second half, but the Spanish defence proved too strong. In the thriller between New Zealand and South Africa, the two teams finished 4-4 at the end of the regulation time and were 4-4 in the shootout. In the sudden death, New Zealand goalkeeper Kyle Pontifex, who has been in good form in the tournament, stopped Lloyd Madsen's strike. Black Sticks captain Dean Couzins then scored from the spot to give his side victory.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
March 13,2
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New Delhi March 13:
Prabhjot Singh's dismal performance at the World Cup was further marred when the veteran striker showed his middle finger to an agitated section of the crowd that booed him after India went down 2-4 to Argentina here.
Just as the Indian team came out of the pitch to address mediapersons, an irate section of the crowd hurled abuses at Prabhjot and captain Rajpal and the former responded by showing his middle finger in front of the cameras. Security personnel had to be rushed in to take control of the situation, but before they could pacify the crowd, Prabhjot had given his reply.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
March 13,2
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