Lalrinsanga to fight for WBC title
NEW DELHI, Feb 18: Indian professional boxer Lalrinsanga Tlau will take on Ghana’s Eric Quarm for the vacant World Boxing Council Youth World Super Featherweight title on March 6 in a bout that will be held behind closed doors at Aizawl, Mizoram owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 21-year-old Tlau is four-fight old in the professional circuit and has an unbeaten record, which includes two Technical Knockouts. He last competed on January 30 in Mumbai. He has a world ranking of 276 in the 57kg division at present. (PTI)
Narwal in quarters in Montenegro
New delhi, Feb 18: : Asian youth silver-medallist Ankit Narwal (64kg) advanced to the quarter-finals of the 30th Adriatic Pearl Tournament in Budva, Montenegro with a comfortable opening-round win. Ankit registered a resounding 5-0 win over Uzbekistan’s Lazizbel Fattoev and moved to the last-eight stage, where he will face Ukraine’s Ratmir Turchaninov. However, Meitei Sanjarmbam (56kg) and Vishal (75kg) lost their pre-quarterfinal bouts to Ukraine’s Dmytro Todorov and Nurisiom Ismoilov respectively, held on Wednesday. (PTI)
Manika clinches TT singles title
Panchkula, Feb 18: Star paddler Manika Batra clinched her second title by defeating Reeth Rishya 4-2 in the women’s singles final of the Senior National Table Tennis Championships here on Thursday. Commonwealth Games gold medallist Manika, representing Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB), had won her maiden title in 2015 at Hyderabad Nationals and finished a runner-up at Ranchi in 2017 when she lost the final to Sutirtha Mukherjee. The top-ranked Indian in the world made a brilliant comeback after losing the first two games to win the match and title 8-11, 10-12, 11-1, 11-9, 11-5, 11-6. (PTI)
Tokyo Olympics has new president
TOKYO, Feb 18: Seiko Hashimoto appeared in seven Olympics — four Winter Olympics and three Summer Olympics. According to historian Dr Bill Mallon, her seven appearances are the most by any “multi-season” athlete in the games.Hashimoto made even more history on Thursday in Japan, where women are still rare in the boardrooms and positions of political power. The 56-year-old Hashimoto was named as president of the Tokyo Olympic organising committee after a meeting of its male-dominated executive board. She replaces 83-year-old Yoshiro Mori, a former Japanese prime minister who was forced to resign last week after making sexist comments about women. Hashimoto had been serving as the Olympic minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. She also held a portfolio dealing with gender equality and women’s empowerment. (AP)