India's Nikhat Zareen Wins Gold At Women's World Boxing Championships

ISTANBUL, May 19: India's Nikhat Zareen won the gold medal in the 52kg category at the Women's World Championship with a win over Thailand's Jitpong Jutamas in the fly-weight final in Istanbul, Turkey on Thursday. Nikhat thus becomes only the fifth Indian women's boxer after Mary Kom, Sarita Devi, Jenny RL and Lekha KC to win a gold at the World Championships.

The 25-year-old Zareen is a former junior youth world champion. Against her Thai opponent in the final, Nikhat fought with brilliance and brought home the gold medal. The judges scored the bout 30-27, 29-28, 29-28, 30-27, 29-28 in the Indian's favour.

Zareen was in top form as she used her technical acumen and covered to court well to outwit her nimble-footed opponent. Nikhat managed to impress all the judges in the first round as she landed far more punches than the Thai boxer. The second round was tighter and Jitpong clinched it 3-2. Needing to get just one judge on her side in the final round, Nikhat went all in and slammed the door on her opponent to eventually record a 5-0 unanimous decision in her favour.

The Nizamabad (Telangana)-born boxer became the only fifth Indian woman to secure gold medal at the World Boxing Championships after record six-time champion Mary Kom (2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2018), Sarita Devi (2006), Jenny RL (2006) and Lekha KC (2006).

It was also India's first gold medal since boxing great Mary Kom won it in 2018.

Nikhat got off to a lively start and hit some sharp punches to quickly take the upper hand in the opening three minutes against confident Jutamas, who came into the match defeating the three-time World Championships medallist Kazakhstan's Zhaina Shekerbekova.

The 25-year-old Indian took full advantage of her long reach and maintained her dominance against the Thai boxer, whom she had beaten in the 2019 Thailand Open semi-final—the only meeting between the two, enroute her silver medal finish.

However, Jutamas tried to fight back in the second round with a counter-attacking display but hardly managed to cause any trouble for the swift-moving Nikhat, who looked in complete control.

Hitting straight and clear punches, strength proved to be a key factor as Nikhat threw caution to the wind in the final round and kept attacking relentlessly before securing the gold quite comfortably.

"Winning a medal at the world's is always a dream and Nikhat could achieve it so early is extremely commendable. We, at BFI, are proud that our boxers have not only made all of us proud but each of their boxing journeys is inspiring for the upcoming generations," BFI President Ajay Singh said.

"On behalf of the Boxing Federation of India, I congratulate Nikhat and bronze medal winners Parveen and Manisha as well as the coaches and support staff for this achievement. Our eight boxers qualified for the quarter-finals which was joint most and shows the strength of Indian boxing," he added.

With Manisha (57kg) and Parveen (63kg) signing off with bronze medals after their semi-finals finish, Indian contingent concluded its campaign with three medals at the world's biggest boxing event, which witnessed exciting competition in presence of record 310 boxers from 73 countries and also marked the 20th anniversary of the Women's World Championships.

Out of 12 participating Indian boxers, eight made it to the quarter-finals in this year's tournament—the joint highest alongside Turkey.

With the addition of three medals in Istanbul, India's overall medal tally has gone up to 39, including 10 gold, eight silver and 21 bronze, in the 12 editions of the prestigious event—third highest after Russia (60) and China (50).

Thomas Cup: Indian Men's Badminton Team Makes History With First-Ever Gold

BANGKOK, May 15: In one of the most memorable moments for Indian sports, the men's badminton team beat 14-time champions and holders Indonesia in the final on Sunday to win a maiden gold medal at Thomas Cup.

First-time finalists India produced a stunning performance in the final to blank Indonesia 3-0 and script history. It all started with 20-year-old Lakshya Sen beating Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Anthony Ginting. Doubles stars Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty then gave India a 2-0 lead by beating Mohammad Ahsan and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo 18-21, 23-21, 21-19. And finally, Kidambi Srikanth sealed India's historic win by outclassing Jonatan Christie 21-15, 23-21.

It was the first time that India had even reached the final at Thomas Cup, but showed nerves of steel throughout in the final.

Lakshya Sen and doubles pairing of Rankireddy-Shetty both came back after losing their respective opening games.

In fact, Sen had been drubbed 8-21 in the opening game against Ginting. But he came back strongly to win the second game 21-17.

The Indian then put on a procession in the third, wowing all with the cat-like reflexes and stubborn defence to win game 21-16.

Rankireddy and Shetty then had the unenviable task of going up against Ahsan and Sukamuljo. The Indonesian pair won the opening game 21-18.

They then had a big lead in the second game but Rankireddy-Shetty came back from the dead, saving four match points to win the second game 23-21.

The decider was a hotly-contested affair with little to separate the two teams but in the end, the Indians kept their nerves to give the team a 2-0 lead.

Then came Srikanth's turn, The shuttler had been in top form throughout the tournament and once again came to the party.

He took just 19 minutes to wrap up the first game against Christie. Srikanth was coasting in the second game, leading 11-8 at the mid-break interval.

The Indonesian, however, came back strongly to open up a 16-13 lead but Srikanth kept plugging away and refused to give up.

Srikanth then saved a game point at 20-21 before closing out the game and the match to give India a memorable win.

Siddharth Singh breaks into the Top 10 rankings of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

NEW DELHI, May 10: Siddharth Singh is India’s pioneer in the field of MMA and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He has trained under numerous professional fighters in the UK.

Siddharth is the only Indian player who possesses an unmatched 7th rank in the world in ACBJJ which stands for Absolute Championship of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

It is one of the greatest tournaments of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in the world. He had this dream to make Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) known in India, so he quit his job in the UK for it.

He observed a lack of proper MMA gyms in India so he started his training center called Crosstrain Fight Club in Delhi, NCR, and wants to turn it into a global brand in the sports world.

He has represented India at many international tournaments and currently holds the incomparable record of being the only brown belt BJJ player in India. He has nine times been the Indian BJJ and Submission Grappling Champion.

He is also India’s only ADCC Taiwan, British BJJ, and South Asian Grappling Champion. He is also a Muay Thai Khan 9 grader instructor which makes him a beast. Recently he won silver in AJP Tour Dubai International Pro in the 69kg category.

Gujarat Titans defeat Lucknow Super Giants To Seal IPL 2022 Play-off Berth

PUNE, May 10: Gujarat Titans returned to winning ways after back-to-back losses and became the first team to seal their place in the play-offs by defeating Lucknow Super Giants by 62 runs in an Indian Premier League match in Pune on Tuesday.

Even though LSG did a decent job with the ball to restrict GT to 144 for 4 after being asked to bowl, the KL Rahul-led side flopped with the bat as they were bowled out for 82 in 13.5 overs. Rashid Khan (4/24) starred with the ball for GT, while Yash Dayal (2/24) and R Sai Kishore (2/7) picked up two wickets each.

Earlier, opening batter Shubman Gill hit a fine half-century but LSG produced a disciplined bowling effort to restrict GT to the modest score. Gill remained not out on 63 off 49 balls with the help of seven fours but lacked support from the other end. He was left stranded as GT's next highest scorer was David Miller (26).

Avesh Khan (2/26) picked up two wickets for LSG, while Mohsin Khan (1/18) and Jason Holder (1/44) scalped one apiece.

GT sealed their play-off berth, reaching 18 points from 12 games. The defeat snapped LSG's five-match winning streak but they are still comfortably placed in the second spot with 16 points and need just a win to book their last-four berth.

FIFA Confirms Replay for Abandoned Brazil-Argentina World Cup Qualifier

ZURICH, May 10: FIFA on Monday confirmed the abandoned 2022 World Cup qualifier between Brazil and Argentina will be replayed, after rejecting appeals from both national federations.

Brazilian health officials stormed the pitch seven minutes into the clash on September 5 between the South American giants in Sao Paulo, stopping the match and triggering a melee involving team officials and players.

According to Brazil’s National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA), four Argentine players based at English clubs at the time should have been placed in “immediate quarantine" for breaching Covid-19 protocols.

FIFA in February ordered a replay and banned Cristian Romero and then club-mate Giovani Lo Celso of Tottenham, and Aston Villa’s Emiliano Martinez and Emiliano Buendia for two matches.

World football’s governing body also handed a series of fines to the two national football federations, prompting both to lodge appeals.

FIFA’s disciplinary committee upheld the 50,000 Swiss franc ($50,342) fines imposed on both as a result of the abandonment.

However, it reduced a separate 500,000 Swiss franc fine given to the Brazilian FA to 250,000 Swiss francs, and halved the Argentine FA’s initial fine of 200,000 Swiss francs.

Argentina’s football association said it would “request today the grounds for both decisions" before appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against its second fine and the decision to re-play the match.

Brazil and Argentina have already qualified for the World Cup in Qatar later this year