Five-time world champion M C Mary Kom had an unlikely training partner on Thursday when Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore donned the punching mitts and sparred with her.
Debutant boxer Amit Panghal (49kg) continued his sensational run to make the final with a hard-fought win but an injured Vikas Krishan (75kg) had to settle for bronze after being declared medically unfit for his semifinal at the 18th Asian Games, in Jakarta, on Friday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
Commonwealth Games gold medalist and ace marksman Samresh Jung won gold while Olympic medallist Vijay Kumar settled for a bronze in 25 meter standard pistol event at the 57th National Shooting Championship at Dr Karni Singh Ranges in New Delhi on Saturday.
'You could have an additional pool of 15,000-odd qualified and competent doctors.'
Khumukcham Sanjita Chanu and Saikhom Mirabai Chanu bagged a gold and silver, respectively, in women's 48kg weightlifting in a display of overwhelming domination to open India's medal account on the opening day of the competition in the 20th Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Thursday.
Indian boxers bagged three gold and one silver medal in the third Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune on Friday.
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.
Dipika Pallikal and Joshana Chinappa both the glamorous Chennai girls are let their racquets speak.
Vikas Krishan (75kg) became the third Indian boxer to enter the quarter-finals of the World Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Baku and be just one win away from booking a berth in the Rio Games this August.
India have won the men's table tennis gold beating Nigeria 3-0 in the final
Weightlifter Gururaja Poojary said he hasn't done too badly for himself as he reflected on the silver medal around his neck that opened India's medal count in the 21st Commonwealth Games.
Mary Kom would look to go one step closer towards her sixth gold when she takes the ring in the 48kg semifinals, in New Delhi, on Thursday.
A day after winning the gold in the 50 metre freestyle category, India's Virdhawal Khade on Monday swam to a silver medal in the 50m butterfly event at the International Schwimmfest in Darmstadt, Germany.
Weightlifter Laishram Monika Devi failed a dope test and pulled out of the Indian contingent for the Beijing Olympics.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday.
Asian champion Pooja Rani (75kg) and the seasoned Vikas Krishan (69kg) became the first set of Indian boxers to qualify for this year's Tokyo Olympics by advancing to the semi-finals of the continental qualifiers, in Amma, on Sunday. While fourth-seeded Rani notched up a facile 5-0 win over Thailand's Pornnipa Chutee, Krishan endured a tough one against third-seeded Japanese Sewonrets Okazawa before also prevailing in a unanimous verdict against the Asian silver-medallist.
Vinesh wins bronze, Pooja in line for second medal
Today, when you check into a hotel, be sure to expect more than just a helpful bell-boy and a smiling concierge. As it is, the category of business travellers has been growing at a healthy clip. However, the rise of low-cost airlines and the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi has now given the entire travelling space a shot in the arm.
Indian grapplers took due advantage of the thin participation and bagged two gold medals in the wrestling event at the third Commonwealth Youth Games in Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex at Balewadi on Tuesday.
World Champion Mirabai Chanu's participation at the Asian Games appears doubtful
Bajrang Punia's bid to become only the second Indian to win a gold medal at the World Championship fell flat, as a tactically superior Takuto Otoguro stunned the Indian in the 65kg final, in Budapest, on Monday.
Fighting for an Olympic ticket on the unfamiliar legal turf, Sushil Kumar's glorious wrestling career may meet an unceremonious end when the Delhi High Court pronounces its verdict on Monday on who gets to board the flight to Rio between him and Narsingh Yadav. An unfavourable verdict for Sushil may not be the end on the legal front as he can still challenge the ruling in the Supreme Court. But it could well signal the end of the road for perhaps the greatest Indian Olympian, who won two back-to-back medals. With less than two months left for the Olympics, starting August 5, future look bleak for the unassuming grappler from Haryana whose injuries played a part in the entire sequence of events leading up to Monday. The Delhi High Court, in its last hearing on Thursday, gave clear indications that it was likely to give a judgement in favour of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) in the tiff over selection trials in the men's 74kg freestyle category. The Delhi High court had observed that it did not find "any statutory mandate" to hold trials before the Olympics.
Against a requirement of 30,000 hotel rooms, only about 11,000 hotel rooms in star category are available in the Capital to host the players and officials among others during the 2010 Games. However, the urban development ministry, the nodal ministry for facilitating Games-related infrastructure, is hopeful of meeting the target.
Commonwealth Games silver-medallist Mandeep Jangra took just over a minute to force his rival out of the contest with a bloodied face and book a pre-quarterfinal berth in the Asian Boxing Championships in Bangkok.
After days of speculation on her fitness, former Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Geeta Phogat was on Monday declared fit to take part in the Pro Wrestling League.
Riding on her stupendous performance at the prestigious All England Championship, India's ace shuttler Saina Nehwal has regained the world number two spot again in the latest rankings released by the Badminton World Federation.
He became the first Indian pugilist to qualify for next year's Beijing Olympics after he defeated European silver medallist Shahin Imranov to advance to the quarter-finals of the World Boxing Championships in Chicago.
Deepa Malik became the first Indian woman para-athlete and the oldest to be conferred the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award
'It is important to keep new tricks in your bag to win at the biggest event of world sports.'
Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal started her campaign on a positive note, advancing to the second round of the women's singles competition but it was curtains for Parupalli Kashyap and K Srikanth in the men's singles category of the All England championship in London.
Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi urged the government to reinstate hockey and football in the priority list after the recent success of the two teams in international tournaments.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
Boxer Vikas Krishan prefers US Pro bouts to National camp in Patiala
Men joined the gold quest through Gaurav Solanki (52kg) and Vikas Krishan (75kg) as the team rejoiced its best ever medal haul at the mega-event on Saturday.
Asian Games medallists Vikas Krishan (75kg) and Satish Kumar (+91kg) were among the five Indian boxers who entered the finals, on Friday, while three others settled for bronze medals in what is turning out to be India's best ever performance inside the ring at the Commonwealth Games.
Indians continued their strong show at the fifth Commonwealth Youth Games, winning five medals, including two gold, on the second day of competition in Apia, Samoa, on Tuesday. Weightlifter Deepak Lather (boys' 62kg category) and javelin thrower Mohd Hadish won a gold each in their respective events, while Jisna Mathew won a silver in the girls' 400 metres.
An obsession with being 'neat, tidy and stylish' almost led her to archery, says world champion and Commonwealth Games gold-medallist weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, who feels a chance meeting with her eventual coach changed her career plans.
Commonwealth Games gold medallist Akhil Kumar and three of his compatriots entered the semi-finals of the Asian Boxing Championships at Ulan Bator in Mongolia on Wednesday.
Nikhat from Telengana was handed the fourth spot in the 51 kg category which already has the six-time World Champion MC Mary Kom, RSPB's Jyoti Gulia and Haryana's Ritu Grewal as other contenders.
