L Sarita Devi (64kg) and Sonia Lather (57kg) advanced to the semifinals and assured themselves of medals at the Asian women's Boxing Championships.
Kiren Rijiju, the Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports led the tributes for the champion pugilist.
Vikas Krishan returned to amateur fold in December last and having qualified for the Tokyo Games, will head back to the pro circuit in the USA, most likely next month.
The Indian women's boxing team won one gold, three silver and six bronze medals at the Asian Championship in Dubai, ensuring that all 10 weight categories featured an Indian medallist.
Pleasantly surprised after Barack Obama mentioned her name in his speech on Indian achievers, Indian woman boxer M C Mary Kom said she was happy to know that the US President acknowledged her performances.
Asian Games gold-winning former boxer Dingko Singh has recovered from COVID-19, testing negative for the deadly virus on Friday over a month after the cancer-stricken legend was hospitalised in Imphal. Back at his home, but in isolation for the next fortnight, Singh spoke about the ordeal he endured, including five positive tests since his hospitalisation in the last week of May.
India bagged as many as 21 medals at the Spanish Para Badminton International in Cartagena, Spain.
Indian boxers training in Italy for next month's Olympic qualifiers were given the option of flying out early due to the novel Coronavirus threat in that country but the team has decided to stay put as its training base in Assisi is "far" from the epicentre of the outbreak.
Pinki Rani replaced an injured M C Mary Kom, while Priyanka Choudhary came in for the suspended Sarita Dev in the Indian squad announced for the Women's World Boxing Championships to be held at Jeju, South Korea from November 13 to 25.
'I started as a kabaddi player but that's a team sport and credit is shared. Boxing attracted me because it's an individual sport'
It was a moment of pride for Olympian boxer MC Mary Kom as she took oath as a Rajya Sabha MP in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Forced on the back foot after being slammed for appointing Salman Khan as goodwill ambassador of India's Olympic contingent, the IOA said, on Sunday, it would also rope in icons from music, cricket, and other sports to motivate the athletes.
From the boxing ring to the shooting range to the athletics arena, it was India shining on the penultimate day of the 21st Commonwealth Games where the country claimed its biggest single-day haul of the ongoing edition, ensnaring eight gold medals across five disciplines.
An Olympic quota place pocketed, Indian boxer Shiva Thapa (56kg) ended his campaign with a silver medal after losing in the final of the Asian/Oceania Qualifying Tournament Qian'an, China on Friday. The 22-year-old Assamese, who is a World Championship bronze-medallist, went down 0-3 to Thailand's Chatchai Butdee in the summit clash. Butdee is the reigning Asian champion. Shiva had booked his ticket to Rio de Janeiro by making the finals yesterday after beating Kazakhstan's Kairat Yeraliyev. Meanwhile, it was a heartbreak once again for L Devendro Singh (49kg), who missed a second opportunity to qualify for the Olympics. The Commonwealth silver-medallist, who lost in the semifinals a day prior, went down in the box-off for the Olympic slot on Friday.
The Indian boxers' campaign in the Asian Olympic Qualifiers was off to a disappointing start with all three in action, on Saturday, including former Commonwealth Games champion Manoj Kumar (64kg), bowing out with opening round losses in Qian'an, China.
Olympic bronze medallist M C Mary Kom is still smarting about the last-minute postponement of the Asian Games trials, alleging that the ad-hoc body members have "disrespected her achievements" by not bothering to inform her about their decision.
Mary Kom said she merely left it on the federation and did not pressurise it to rule in her favour.
A resolute Vikas Krishan (69kg) and Simranjit Kaur (60kg) advanced to the finals with impressive victories but the legendary M C Mary Kom (51kg) and world number one Amit Panghal (52kg) settled for bronze medals at the Asian/Oceanian Olympic Qualifiers, in Amman, on Tuesday. Also ending with bronze medals were Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) and Pooja Rani (75kg). All the six boxers have already secured their tickets to the Olympic Games by making the semi-finals but Krishan and Kaur will come back with at least silver medals after entering the finals.
Nieva said boxers in all the five Olympic categories for women will be picked after selection bouts over two days.
Amit Panghal holds the numero uno position with 420 points, according to the list released by the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Boxing Task Force
Badminton Association of India (BAI) President Dr. Akhilesh Das Gupta announced a reward of Rs. 50 lakhs for P V Sindhu after she settled for a historic silver medal at the Rio Olympics. BAI also announced a reward of Rs. 10 lakhs for Dronacharya awardee coach Pullella Gopichand who trained Sindhu to achieve this feat. The World No. 10 lost to Spain's Carolina Marin by 21-19, 12-21, 15-21 in the thrilling final match held at Riocentro. This is India's first silver Medal in Badminton.
Former Asian Games gold medallist Vikas Krishan took a pounding from second seed Bektemir Melikuziev of Uzbekistan in the quarter-finals of the men's middleweight (75 kg) and bowed out of the Rio Olympic Games on Monday night.
Olympic bronze-medallist and five-time world champion M C Mary Kom on Sunday denied reports that she made disparaging remarks against fellow male boxers like Shiva Thapa and Manoj Kumar during a meeting of the national observers in New Delhi.
'I dedicate this medal to my country for praying for me, for supporting me. My coaches, federation, my sponsors, they have also helped me a lot.
'I will try my best to win gold at the Olympics. You can be assured that I will put in more than 100 per cent to achieve it.'
The 34-year-old, a five-time World champion and an Olympic bronze-medallist, struggled to connect clean punches against her taller rival and was even warned once for excessive bending.
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.
It turned out to be a largely disappointing day for Indian boxers at the Asian Games with former World Championship bronze-medallist Vikas Krishan (75kg) being the only one to advance, making the quarter-final, while three others fell by the wayside.
Do you think the IOA has done the right thing in apponting Salman as the brand ambassador which they clam is to the motivate the athletes and also increase awareness of Olympic sports in the country? Or do you think the appointment is just a gimmick?
Olympic bronze-medallist M C Mary Kom set her Asian Games campaign rolling in style as she out-punched Korea's Kim Yeji to enter the quarter-finals along with two other Indian women boxers in Incheon on Saturday.
For the Dronacharya awards, the BFI has finalised the names of national women's coach Mohammed Ali Qamar and assistant coach Chhote Lal Yadav.
The fear of COVID-19 pandemic has made way for a fierce desire to compete in star Indian boxer M C Mary Kom's mind as she gears up for her first tournament in a year next week, having recovered from the muscle loss triggered by a recent bout of dengue.
India's nine Olympic-bound boxers will travel abroad for a three-week training stint after getting a few days' break following a record-shattering medal haul by the country's pugilists at the recently-concluded Asian Championships in Dubai.
Sanjeet Kumar won a gold medal in the 91 kg weight category at the Asian Boxing Championships.
The pugilist from Manipur said she also drew inspiration from action movies of Jackie Chan.
Bajrang Punia had won gold medals at the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games last year.
Images from the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, at the National Stadium, on Friday.
As boxer Nikhat Zareen prepares to head to her first World Championships in the 51 kg category, she feels she has plenty in her armoury to go the distance.
Asian Games bronze medallist Pooja Rani (75kg) entered the pre-quarter-finals in the AIBA World Women's Boxing Championships with a hard-fought victory over Ukraine's Mariya Borutsa, in Astana, on Friday.
Five-time world champion and London Olympics bronze-medallist woman boxer MC Mary Kom is eyeing a comeback to the ring at this year's Asian championship in Vietnam before deciding her future course of action.
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