Panama edges Paraguay 1-0 to qualify for Women’s World Cup
Hamilton, Feb 23: Panama claimed the 32nd and final place at this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand with a 1-0 playoff win over Paraguay on Thursday. Substitute Lineth Cedeno headed the winning goal in the 75th minute to send Panama to its first World Cup, where it play in Group F with Brazil, Jamaica and France. Panama is the third team to qualify for the World Cup from a 10-team intercontinental playoff tournament held over the last week in New Zealand. Haiti and Portugal also qualified for the first time. The match was tight and there were few shots on goal in the first half until Panama goalkeeper Yenith Bailey saved Jessica Martinez’s curling free kick in stoppage time. Again, the keepers weren’t tested in the second half until Marta Cox lofted in a long cross from the right with 15 minutes remaining and Cedeno headed powerfully inside the right post Panama now has lost only two of its last 13 matches and has won its last five against South American opponents. Before Thursday’s match, head coach Ignacio Quintana said his players “want Panama to celebrate and to bring joy to our country.” Australia and New Zealand will co-host the World Cup from July 20 to August 20. (AP)
Jharkhand, Haryana in national women hockey semi-finals
Kakinada (AP), Feb 23: Jharkhand, Haryana, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh emerged victorious in their quarter-final matches of the 13th Hockey India Senior Women National Championship here on Thursday. Jharkhand defeated Punjab 2-0 to secure a place in the last-four, with Alka Dungdung (48th) and Albela Rani Toppo (52nd) scoring late goals. Haryana defeated Bengal 5-0 with Devika Sen (4th, 34th) and Amandeep Kaur (9th, 60th) scoring a brace each, while Monika Sihag scored in the 51st minute. The match between Maharashtra and Odisha went down to the wire with the former defeating the defending champions 5-4 in penalty shootout. Both teams had earlier scored a goal each in regulation time with Janhabi Pradhan (36th) scoring for Odisha and Ashwini Kolekar (37th) negating it for Maharashtra. Madhya Pradesh thrashed Karnataka 6-0, with Diksha Tiwari (10th, 39th), Anjali Gautam (12th), Preeti Dubey (35th, 41st), and Aishwarya Chavan (53rd finding the target. The semi-finals will be played on Saturday. (PTI)
Ukraine to boycott World C’ships over Russian, Belarusian boxers’ inclusion
New Delhi, Feb 23: The Boxing Federation of Ukraine (FBU) has announced that they will boycott the Women’s and Men’s World championships in 2023 over the inclusion of Russian and Belarusian pugilists, who have been allowed to compete with national flags and anthems. The amateur women’s world championships is slated to take place from March 15-26 in New Delhi while the men’s championships will be held in Tashkent in the month of May. “Our answer is clear: our athletes and representatives of the boxing federation of Ukraine do not perform where the representatives of the aggressor countries will perform – these are Russia and Belarus,” vice president of FBU, Oleg Ilchenko told country’s public broadcaster Suspline on Wednesday. The boxing governing body has allowed boxers from Russia and Belarus to compete with their national flags and anthems, which contravened the resolutions passed by the IOC in February and December 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine has now joined a number of countries that have already announced their decision to boycott the World Cup. The boxing federations of nine countries — USA, Poland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Sweden and Canada — have boycotted the women’s event while several have also pulled out of the men’s tournament. Ilchenko also said that the national team will boycott the 2024 Olympics if boxers from Russia or Belarus will compete there. (IANS)