Mary was back in her preferred 48kg category as she overcame the challenge from younger competitors to make it to the Indian team for the marquee continental event, which is to be held from November 2 to November 11 in the Ho Chi Minh City.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
India's chances of advancing to the final suffered a blow after they went down 1-2 to defending champions New Zealand in their penultimate round-robin league match of the 25th Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament at Ipoh in Malaysia. Goals from Ken Russell (28th minute) and Nick Wilson (41st) clinched victory for defending champions New Zealand, who managed to weather the hot and humid conditions better than the Indians, whose only goal came from Mandeep Singh in the 36th minute. Wilson's match-winner resulted from a defensive error committed by the Indians as they failed to clear the ball properly in their own striking circle. New Zealand benefitted from the loose ball in the Indian circle in the 41st minute, when a reverse shot from the goal-line was padded by the Indian goalkeeper and deflected to the middle. Defender Harmanpreet failed to connect in his reflex attempt to push the ball out and Wilson had the easiest task of shooting into the goal for what turned out to be the match-winner for the Black Sticks
2019 became a 'Year to Remember' in Indian sports for trailblazing performances in Olympic disciplines
Manjit Singh came from nowhere to snatch the men's 800m gold for the biggest medal of his life but finals continued to be a riddle for P V Sindhu
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
Neeraj's gold and three other athletics silver medals, along with Saina Nehwal's badminton singles bronze, propelled India's overall medal count to 41 (8 gold, 13 silver, and 20 bronze).
India's Manika Batra and Mouma Das lost 3-0 to Tianwei Feng and Mengyu Yu of Singapore in the women's sinlges final.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Heptathlete Swapna Barman added a dash of heroism to her historic gold medal
Asian Games will be a reality check for India's athletes after the Commonwealth Games high
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap knocked out top seed Lee Hyun Il of Korea in the men's singles opening round of the US Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Anaheim, United States.
India lifted its sagging morale as Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna cruised into the semi-finals while pugilist Vikas Krishan advanced to the quarters on a day the shooters, archers, shuttlers and track and field athletes suffered reverses at the Rio Olympics.
Away from the cricket field, it was a year in which Sania Mirza was unarguably the biggest success story with her staggering 10 titles on the Tour -- two of them Grand Slams.
Ankita Raina and top seeds men's doubles pair of Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan assured India of at least a couple of bronze medals in the tennis competition by progressing to the semifinals at the Asian Games, in Palembang, on Wednesday.
Indian shooters continued to shine at the 17th Asian Games, clinching the bronze medal in men's 10m air pistol team event, but Jitu Rai could not emulate his golden feat and finished fifth after promising much in the earlier part of the individual finals in Incheon on Sunday.
Prem Panicker, a keen follower of the game and one of cricket's finest writers, analysed, debated and dissected the four semi-finalists on the Rediff World Cup Chat on Monday.
