Jasmine ensures medal in intl boxing
Castellon, March 4: Haryana’s Jasmine made a dazzling start to her senior international career and sent star USA boxer Andrea Medina packing 5-0 to enter the 57-kg semi-finals on the second day at the Boxam International Tournament in Castellon, Spain. Jasmine, who was scouted during an open challenge before participating at the national camp last year, showed glimpses of her skillset during her maiden bout at the senior international stage as the lanky boxer blanked Medina, a silver medallist in recently-concluded Strandja Memorial Tournament, to advance to the semi-finals. (PTI)
Sania ousted from Qatar Total Open
Doha, March 4: Sania Mirza’s first tournament in more than a year ended with a semifinal defeat as she was ousted from the Qatar Total Open along with her partner Andreja Klepac, here on Thursday. Sania and her Slovenian partner lost 5-7 6-2 5-10 to America’s Nicole Melichar and Dutch player Demi Schuurs in one hour and 28 minutes. Playing against players, who are ranked 11 and 12 in the world was tough but it was a decent outing for Sania, who recovered from COVID-19 recently, and her partner. It was first tournament for the Indian since last February. Sania and Klepac split USD 10000 and earned 185 ranking points each. Since Sania was not defending much points, it will help her improve her ranking. Sania will break back into top-200 and is expected to climb to the 177th spot from the current 254. (PTI)
Liverpool to play Leipzig in Budapest
Nyon, March 4: Liverpool and Leipzig are going to Budapest for a second time in the Champions League round of 16 next week. UEFA confirmed on Thursday that Liverpool’s home second-leg game will also be at Puskas Arena in the Hungarian capital next Wednesday. The Puskas Arena — which is a European Championship venue at the end of this season — has become UEFA’s main neutral venue during the COVID-19 pandemic. Leipzig’s home game in the first leg was also played in the empty stadium in Budapest on Feb. 16 because of travel restrictions between England and Germany. Liverpool won 2-0. It also hosted Borussia Mönchengladbach vs. Manchester City in the Champions League, and Wolfsberger vs. Tottenham in the Europa League last month. It will stage Molde vs. Granada in the Europa League on March 18. (AP)
WTT Contender: Paddler Sharath loses in pre-quarters
Doha, March 4: The Indian challenge came to an end at World Table Tennis (WTT) Contender Doha on Thursday with the defeat of Achanta Sharath Kamal in the men’s singles pre-quarterfinals. World No.32 Sharath lost to world No.7 Lin Yun-Ju of Chinese Taipei 6-11, 4-11, 8-11. Sharath, who was playing his first international tournament after a year’s break due to the coronavirus pandemic, couldn’t gain momentum despite showing good resistance in the latter part of the match against the higher-ranked Yun-Ju. With Sharath’s loss, the Indian challenge came to an end in the tournament. (IANS)
Neeraj in line for bronze, four other Indians fade in Rome event
Rome, March 4: India’s Greco Roman wrestler Neeraj kept himself in contention of a bronze medal in the 63kg but four of his compatriots faded on the opening day of the UWW Ranking Series event here on Thursday. Neeraj began by losing his quarterfinal 1-4 to Sultan Aseetuly but since the Kazakshtan’s wrestler reached the final, he got a repechage round. Making the most of the chance, Neeraj defeated Russia’s Aleksei Tadykin 7-3 to book himself a slot in the bronze play-off, in which he will clash with America’s Samuel lee Jones. Gaurav Duhoon though squandered his opportunity when he lost his repechage round in the 67kg as he lost to Turkey’s Murat Firat by technical superiority. Arjun Halakurki defeated Andre Ricardo Cardoso Oliveira Silva from Portugal by technical superiority after losing his first two 55kg bouts in similar fashion. Manish was ousted from the 60kg competition after his quarterfinal defeat against America’s Ildar Hafizov by technical superiority. In the 87kg, Sunil Kumar faded in the Qualification round, losing to Russia’s Bekkhan Ozdoev by technical superiority. (PTI)
Indian women’s hockey team ends Germany tour with 1-2 defeat
Dusseldorf, March 4: The Indian women’s hockey team ended its tour of Germany with yet another defeat, going down 1-2 in the fourth and final match here on Thursday. Naomi Heyn (29th) Charlotte Stapenhorst (37th) scored for the world number three side before Lalremsiami (51st) pulled one back for the visitors late in the game. It was India’s fourth defeat in as many matches as the team stayed winless in the tour. After rain delayed the start of proceedings, Germany found a lively tempo to their attack and earned a penalty corner with just ten minutes on the clock. Savita and her defence stood firm to see off the threat. India, too, were awarded a PC just minutes later. But Germany’s defensive line ensured that the score remained goalless after the first quarter. With barely a minute left before the end of the second quarter, Heyn put the hosts in the lead with a brilliant field goal. Germany continued to push forward after the interval and got their second PC. India once again showed good composure in defence but the German side steadily started to build a series of attacks. (PTI)