Samet Hyuseinov has promised to send Vijender Singh back to India 'beaten and broken' come December 19 but the Indian boxing star merely breaks into laughter at the very mention of the threat, saying he would respond in kind inside the ring. Speaking to PTI from Manchester, Vijender (75kg) said he has increased his sparring sessions ahead of his third bout and is focusing on endurance and power. "How do you respond to such threats? I can only laugh, let him say what he feels like. He has all the freedom to say what he wants. But I talk only in the ring and in a language he will understand quite well," the former Olympic World Championships bronze-medallist said.
The Russian beat Bulgaria's Vaselin Topalov via the tie-breaker in the re-unification match.
Sonia Lather (57kg) stood just one win away from ending India's six-year-old gold medal drought at the AIBA Women's World Boxing Championship as she advanced to final after outpunching Kazakhstan's Aizhan Khojabekova in the last-four stage in Astana, Kazakhstan on Thursday. The 24-year-old Sonia, who is a 2012 Asian Championships silver-medallist, defeated Khojabekova 3-0 to set up a clash with Italian Alessia Mesiano, who got the better of Bulgaria's Denitsa Eliseeva by a similar margin. The lone Indian left in the fray, Sonia was quick off the blocks against her rather sloppy rival. Combining right hooks with power-packed jabs, Sonia threw Khojabekova off balance on more than one occasion. Khojabekova was mostly clueless when it came to defending herself and her feeble attempts at attack were blocked or evaded effortlessly by the quick-thinking Haryana girl. In the end, it was hardly a surprise that judges ruled unanimously in Sonia's favour.
Levski Sofia fans force players to remove shirts after derby defeat
Defending champion Ajay jayaram reached the quarter-finals of the Dutch Open Grand Prix badminton tournament after notching up an easy straight game win over Norway's Marius Myhre in the men's singles competition, in Almere, Netherlands, on Thursday.
India beat Finland to secure a quarter-final berth in the men's second division at the World Table Tennis Championships.
hampion Rafael Nadal and top-ranked Novak Djokovic turned in impressive displays to reach the Monte Carlo Masters quarter-finals on Thursday. Nadal, chasing a record-extending 12th Monte Carlo title, broke Grigor Dimitrov's serve on four occasions to defeat the Bulgarian 6-4 6-1.
The World junior champ drew with top seed Sokolov in the fifth and penultimate round of the Essent International Chess tournament.
The Indian world junior champion beat Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria in the second round of the Crown group of Essent chess tournament.
Images from Day 2 of the 2020 US Open in New York
Viswanathan Anand emerged clear third after the 11th round of the World chess championship.
The Indian GM is now only 0.5 points behind the combined leader Alexander Morozevich at Amber chess
Edmund, playing in his first Grand Glam quarter-final, showed no nerves as he blazed away with his fearsome forehand to subdue a nervy Dimitrov.
World number five Juan Martin del Potro began his 2014 season with a win, albeit a scrappy one over Frenchman Nicolas Mahut to advance to the quarter-finals of the Sydney International on Wednesday.
The Indian ace upset eighth seed Petya Nedeltcheva of Bulgaria in the Swiss Open badminton tournament.
Nick Kyrgios's Australian Open ended with a gallant fourth round defeat by an inspired Grigor Dimitrov on Sunday but the maverick talent leaves Melbourne Park after winning over a nation.
Grigor Dimitrov dismantled 11th seed David Goffin 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in their Australian Open quarter-final on Wednesday to advance to his second grand slam semi-final.
Surya Shekhar Ganguly failed to finish among the prizes by a whisker, going down to Vladimir Akopian in the final round of Gibtele.com Masters chess tournament.
The victory will also help him cross the magical 2800 Elo barrier for the first time in his career.
The Haryana-boxer, one of only four Indians with a world championships medal to his credit, launched very few attacks but managed to connect just enough straights to get the judges' nod.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Friday
The Indian ace beat Veselin Topalov 2.5-1.5 in the final to successfully defend the 19th Magistral Ciudad de Leon title.
Kramnik leads the field in the Mtel Masters chess, with Anand, Topalov, Polgar and Adams close behind after two rounds.
Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov edged second seed Andy Murray in a semi-final clash at the Acapulco International that finished in the early hours of Saturday morning to set up a title showdown against South Africa's Kevin Anderson.
India's impressive show at the World Wrestling Championships continued as Bajrang bagged a bronze medal in the 60kg freestyle category with an overwhelming 9-2 win over Mangolia's Nyam-Ochir Enkhsaikhan, in Budapest on Tuesday.
Viswanathan Anand thrashed Hungary's Peter Leko in the 12th game of the World Chess Championship on Wednesday.
Former world champion Viswanathan Anand played out a thrilling draw with Anish Giri of Holland but bowed out of contention to win the Candidates after the 13th and penultimate round, which concluded in Moscow.
'I feel like I'm rested enough. I've had... not the toughest matches. I can look at this quarter-final (on Wednesday against Milos Raonic) in a totally relaxed fashion'
The owner of Bulgarian premier league soccer club Lokomotiv Plovdiv was killed after they beat OFK Belgrade in the UEFA Cup second qualification round.
Get a special return fare of Rs 14,650 from Mumbai to one city in the following European countries.
Viswanathan Anand was held to a draw by Sergei Tiviakov in the 11th round.
It was not the best of birthdays for five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand as he went down to Hikaru Nakamura of United States in the third round of London Chess Classic chess tournament.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
P Harikrishna jumped in to sole lead at Ciudad de Pamplona Chess tournament with a win over GM Laurent Fresinet
Grandmaster Koneru Humpy beat Ekaterina Kovalevskaya of Russia in the second game to push the match into tie-breaker.
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