Six-time world champion M C Mary Kom (51kg) qualified for Tokyo Olympics by advancing to the semi-final with a comfortable win over Philippines' Irish Magno, at the Asia/Oceania Qualifiers in Amman, on Monday. World number one Amit Panghal (52kg) qualified for his maiden Olympic Games, while Manish Kaushik (63kg) remained in the hunt for a Tokyo ticket despite losing his quarter-final bout.
'Vijender is a power puncher, he is a smart boxer as well.' Lee Beard, Vijender Singh's trainer, highlights why the Indian boxer is the favourite for Saturday's double title clash.
Continental champion Shiva Thapa (56kg) was barely tested as he advanced to the quarter-finals but it was curtains for comeback-man Akhil Kumar (60kg) after he lost an edge-of-the-seat last-16 bout on a bitter-sweet day for Indian boxing in the 17th Asian Games.
Cricket was the first to hit the restart button in Indian sports with the IPL, albeit on foreign shores of UAE, in a strict bio-secure bubble.
India's star boxer Vijender Singh does not want to carry the baggage of last year's maiden defeat on the professional circuit as he returns to the ring.
Shiva Thapa and Vikas Krishan will be among India's best bets to better both the colour and number of medals at the 19th World Boxing Championships, starting in Hamburg on Friday.
A source close to the team said the top members of the coaching staff are among those who have tested positive.
Nikhat Zareen, Manisha Moun and Parveen Hooda, who brought honour to the country at the women's World Boxing Championships 2022, were felicitated by Sports Minister Anurag Thakur.
'I've got a huge Indian homecoming to look forward to this summer so it's vital I get pasy next opponent in Bolton.'
It is the the biggest fight of his emergent professional career, but Indian boxing star Vijender Singh said the WBO Asia title contest against Kerry Hope is no huge deal for him and he is taking it as just another stepping stone in the circuit. The 30-year-old dasher, who is unbeaten in the professional arena, has won all his bouts via konckouts. Eyeing a seventh knockout in what is meant to be a 10-round contest, Vijender said his approach to the contest is no different from the one he had for his previous bouts.
Vijender Singh would be eyeing a third successive knockout victory but the task seems easier said than done against an experienced and aggressive Samet Hyuseinov when the two square off in the star Indian boxer's maiden six-round professional contest in Manchester on Saturday.
'Shooting is number one.' 'Archery, wrestling, badminton and boxing.' 'These are the five where we stand the best chance of winning a medal.'
Vijender and Losan will square off on March 19 in a super middle-weight (76kg) showdown in Goa
Indian professional boxer Neeraj Goyat notched up a Technical Knockout win over Congo's Bebe Rico Tshibangu in the Amir Khan-supported Super Boxing League's Crypto Fight Night in Dubai.
Rediff.com recaptures these and other exciting sporting moments from the week gone by....
Tokyo-bound AFI medical commission chairman AK Mendiratta dies of COVID-19.
Indian boxing's national observer Akhil Kumar sees nothing wrong in leaving out national chief coaches from the Commonwealth Games contingent but what irks him is the higher pay and greater importance given to the foreigners in the support staff.
Debutant Akash Kumar (54kg) signed off with a bronze medal in the AIBA men's World Boxing Championships after losing to Kazakhstan teenager Makhmud Sabyrkhan in the semi-finals, in Belgrade, on Thursday.
As we celebrate International Women's day on March 8, meet the Indian sportswomen who have made the nation proud with their superlative performances in the sporting arena.
The chairman of the International Boxing Association (AIBA) ad-hoc committee Kishan Narsi has reiterated in an e-mail communication that Boxing India stands provisionally suspended after the derecognised national body in a notification had scheduled its Annual General Meeting in Guwahati on October 3.
Six-time World champion M C Mary Kom's (51kg) pursuit of a second Olympic medal ended in the pre-quarterfinals of the Tokyo Games as she went down to 2016 edition's bronze-medallist Ingrit Valencia in a fiercely-fought showdown.
Captain Rani Rampal's clinical strike helped India beat South Africa 1-0 to seal their place in the semi-finals of the women's hockey event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, on Tuesday.
Asian silver-medallist Sumit Sangwan (91kg) and former junior World champion Nikhat Zareen (51kg) were among eight Indian boxers to make the finals, while five others settled for bronze medals in the 56th Belgrade International Tournament in Serbia.
India's best medal hope, five-time World boxing champion M C Mary Kom lived up to expectations as she beat Zhaina Shekerbekova of Kazakhstan to win the gold medal in the flyweight category (48-51kgs) at the Asian Games, in Incheon, on Wednesday.
High on confidence after two knock-out wins, star Indian boxer Vijender Singh will face his most experienced opponent so far when he squares off against Bulgarian Samet Hyuseinov in his third professional bout at the Manchester Arena on December 19.
The coveted Olympic medal eluded him yet again, but, far from being bogged down, boxer Vikas Krishan says he is now aiming to become the first Indian to clinch two medals at the World Championships irrespective of whether a national federation takes shape or not.
India's cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the lone Indian sportsman to figure on Forbes' list of the world's 100 highest paid athletes.
Sakshi Chaudhary prevailed in a split verdict against the Asian Games bronze-medallist in an engrossing second-round bout after both the boxers got opening-round byes.
Why did Vikas Krishan give his opponent a walkover in an Asian Championship semi-final?
It was a watchful start by the experienced Indian as she took her time to get a measure of her aggressive opponent.
The Sports Ministry on Saturday suspended Wrestling Federation of India's (WFI) assistant secretary Vinod Tomar, a fallout of the grapplers' allegations of sexual harassment and corruption against the sports body's chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
Besides legendary boxer MC Mary Kom and wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, the panel includes archer Dola Banerjee and Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF) president and IOA treasurer Sahdev Yadav.
Athletes and officials from eight disciplines of archery, badminton, table tennis, hockey, judo, gymnastics, swimming and weightlifting landed in Tokyo
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
The 49-year-old Italian has been with the Indian team since 2017. He was confined to the IG Stadium in the national capital for the past two months owing to the national lockdown to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It's a dip that India can probably relate to given that the country went from two gold, three silver and four bronze in Guangzhou 2010 to a mere two bronze at Incheon 2014.
It was a stunning loss for Panghal, who had won a gold medal in the Cologne World Cup a couple of months back. The 23-year-old ended up paying for his rather weak defence in the bout against Escobar.
Shiva Thapa will next face Nader Odah of Kuwait in the quarter-finals on Tuesday.
'It has made things easier for me in terms of planning for Olympics'
Five-time world champion M C Mary Kom and Asian Games bronze-medallist L Sarita Devi failed to qualify for the Olympics after they went down in their respective second round bouts of the AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Saturday.
