(Football news) In a dramatic turn of events, FIFA has now cleared the Brazilian, Chile, Mexico and Paraguay players who were blocked from selection by their Premier League teams this weekend after Article 5 was invoked by FIFA. The issue started when the clubs did not release their players to red list countries for the latest round of International fixtures, resulting in a five day restriction being imposed on the clubs.

However, after extensive talks with the FA, FIFA, Premier League and the associations of Brazil, Paraguay, Mexico and Chile, article 5 has now been lifted and the players will be available for selection at this weekend’s Premier League fixtures. The resolution was reached on Friday night, less than 12 hours before the first set of this weekend’s matches.

Liverpool will breathe a sigh of relief as Firmino, Fabinho and Alisson are now available for selection against Leeds on Sunday while Manchester City will have Ederson and Gabriel Jesus against Leicester City. Manchester United will have Fred available while Chelsea can now include Thiago Silva in the starting XI. Both Man Utd and Chelsea would also have their Brazilian players available for selection at the opening matches of the Champions League next midweek.

The unanimous agreement by Premier League clubs to prohibit players from travelling to Red List countries was because of a mandatory 10 day quarantine period by the U.K government, which meant an extended period of time before the players are available again. Managers Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer expressed their displeasure at the situation at Friday's press conferences while Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel suggested that the matches should be held at an alternate venue to avoid quarantine.

Raul Jiminez of Wolves, Newcastle’s Miguel Almiron, Raphina from Leeds and Francisco Sierralta of Watford will also be available for selection this weekend.

Also read: Japan will not host the FIFA Club World Cup 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic
 

(Football news) Footballers who did not travel after being called up by Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Paraguay have been banned from participating in club fixtures for the next five days as per FIFA regulations. The likes of Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Wolves and Watford will be affected as a result.

Earlier, the Premier League had stopped players travelling to red list countries, even if it meant they could not represent their countries for the World Cup qualifiers. Under the United Kingdom rules, players travelling to red list countries would be required to isolate for 10 days, resulting in several games missed in the process. As things stand, The Premier League, FA, U.K Government and FIFA are all involved in the discussions while Richard Masters, Chief Executive of the Premier League has communicated to the clubs that a solution is being worked upon.

Chelsea’s Thiago Silva and Manchester United’s Fred will not only miss the weekend’s Premier League fixtures but also the opening match of the Champions League against Zenit St. Petersburg and Young Boys respectively. Liverpool will miss Roberto Firmino, Alisson and Fabinho while Ederson and Gabriel Jesus will be absent for Manchester City. Raul Jiminez of Wolves, Paraguay midfielder Miguel Almiron of Newcastle United and Chile defender Francisco Sierralta of Watford will also miss out.

Unfortunately, the real victims in these unusual circumstances are the players. Neither have the Premier League or the International board taken into account the wishes of the players and whether they would prefer representing their country for the World Cup qualifiers or endure a five day ban for their refusal to travel. When the Brazil vs Argentina World Cup qualifier was suspended because four Premier League players: Emiliano Martínez, Emiliano Buendía, Giovani Lo Celso and Cristian Romero chose to travel and represent their countries, they were made to pay heavy fines by their respective clubs, simply because they chose to represent their country instead of adhering to the Premier League rules.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has been pushing for coronavirus travel exemptions for players to fulfill their international obligations. If the current situation has any chances of changing, giving International teams assurances about player availability in October and November fixtures is the only way to go.

Also read: Brazil vs Argentina abandoned after health officials invade the pitch due to COVID-19 regulations
 

(Football news) In 2018, the World Cup final between France and Croatia was viewed by more than 1.1 billion people around the world, the most watched sporting event by far. It’s what most footballers would describe as the ‘pinnacle’ of their careers, exceeding any achievement at the club level. The football World Cup is only getting bigger, with the 2026 finals that will be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada being the first 48 nation tournament in history.

For many, the concept of the World Cup being held every four years is an outdated model, with many countries such as Saudi Arabia, China, Argentina, Morocco and England eager for a chance to host the tournament on their home soil. The football industry has never been more lucrative than it is today and international football tournaments want a slice of that pie more often.

FIFA is conducting a study on the practicalities of the World Cup being held every two years, which would mean a major international tournament would be held every season. Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, currently serving as FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development is conducting the study that may significantly impact the international game. According to his blueprint, two international breaks should be held in March and October, with groups of four teams playing six qualifying games. He has also proposed a mandatory 25 day rest period for players after international tournaments and less disruptive calendars for the clubs as there are only two breaks in a season.

All that sounds well and good, but how practical is a proposal of this sort? Would it diminish the value of the World Cup as a routine event held every year? How would it influence club football as a month of international tournament combined with a mandatory 25 day break would mean players will be away from their clubs for almost two years before the domestic action begins. Does it spell the end of lucrative pre-season friendlies?

The concept of four teams playing six qualifying games to maintain high quality standards doesn’t take into account that 48 teams will now participate in the tournament. This would mean that to accommodate all the teams in the groups, there would be unchallenging matches between the ‘minnows’ of international football which would contradict the whole point of the format. Moreover, footballers around the world have challenged the concept of one major international tournament every season, criticizing the number of games they are expected to play which would severely impact the quality of matches.

However, there are definitely pros to this concept. For countries where football is ‘developing’ the possibility of hosting a World Cup sooner rather than later will be a major boost to their prospects. Sponsors and broadcasters would relish the opportunity to be involved in the World Cup spectacle every two years and fans would love being entertained by one of the biggest sporting events in the world more often. Currently, the World Cup’s schedule is pre-decided until 2026 and with the Euros set to be held in 2028, no radical changes can take place until 2030 at the earliest.

Football is an evolving sport and traditionalists may be forced to accept that things can never stay as they were, however unappealing they may seem. However, the feasibility of the World Cup being held every two years is still at an early stage and it may or may not happen, but one thing is for sure, international football does need changes to remain as appealing to fans as club fixtures.

Also read: Brazil vs Argentina abandoned after health officials invade the pitch due to COVID-19 regulations

(Athletics news): On August 30 1991, Mike Powell jumped an astonishing 8.95m in the Men’s Long Jump as it was one of the most competitive battles between Powell and Carl Lewis. Carl Lewis at that time was a two time Olympic and World champion in Long Jump, he was the favourite to win for the third time. Until that jump Carl Lewis had set the previous Championship of 8.67m at Rome in 1987 and the World record of Bob Beamon had the World record of 8.90m which was set in 1968.

The 1991 World Championships was held in Tokyo, Japan. In the athletic community, sprint events are the one which gets most of the attention but this time Mike Powell and Carl Lewis made the world focus its attention in Long Jump. The first three jumps saw Lewis taking a huge lead with a jump of 8.83m with Powell in second with a jump of 8.54m. The next three jumps saw both the athletes giving their best to win the Gold. Lewis jumped a wind assisted 8.91m in his fourth attempt, this was the first time a human had jumped over 8.90 since Beamon but it was not considered valid because it was wind aided. Powell jumped 8.95m to shock the world as well as the two time champion,  Lewis then jumped 8.87m in his final jump to mark the perfect finish to the event. Larry Myricks came a distant third with a jump of 8.42m.

The more jaw dropping fact is that Bob Beamon set the Olympic record of 8.90m way back in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico. He couldn’t feel his legs after the results came and collapsed to his knees, this amazing feat gave birth to a new term called Beamonesque which means an athletic feat so superior to what has come before, it is overwhelming. Carl Lewis came closest to breaking the Olympic record when he jumped 8.68m in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and this year’s 2020 Tokyo Olympics Long Jump Gold medallist Juan Miguel Echevarría had recorded a jump of 8.50m which is also the season best.

Beamon’s effort could have won him the gold even after a period of 53 years. Powell's jump is magnificent indeed but one has to understand the kind of impact and the level of Beamon’s jump that demolished the previous records. It brought up questions about how far can humans jump and the possibility of a jump over 9 metres. In the Tokyo Olympics only 8 athletes could jump over the 8m mark thus showing how difficult it is to break the World record and also how Beamon’s jump is nothing short of historic and is one of the most influential events in Athletic history. Prior to Beamon’s jump the Olympic record was 8.12m by Ralph Boston in 1960, the world record was 8.35m which was achieved twice as Ralph did it in 1965 and Igor Ter-Ovanesyan equalled it in 1967.

The Long Jump event since then has not seen anyone threatening the record, only Powell and Beamon have touched the 8.90m mark and Lewis is closest with 8.87m. In the last twenty years, Dwight Phillips has come the closest with a jump of 8.74 in 2009 and the most recent one was by Tajay Gayle in 2019 when he jumped 8.69m. No athlete has ever come close since then, whoever shall break the record needs to leap over fear and self doubt.

Also read: Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce has no intentions of slowing down, posts the third quickest time in history in Women’s 100m
 

(Motorsport news) Formula 1 driver Sergio Perez has been confirmed as Max Verstappen’s partner for the 2022 Formula 1 season. The 31 year old Mexican is Verstappen’s third teammate in three years but has impressed the Red Bull hierarchy to warrant a new contract.

Perez is the only teammate to have won a race since 2018 when the Mexican clinched the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and currently occupies the fourth spot in the championship. With this contract sealed, Red Bull is all set for the new 2022 era which will feature radical rule changes as teams look to adapt to the newer format.

Red Bull have been struggling to find a reliable partner for Max Verstappen since Daniel Ricciardo left the team in 2018. Pierre Gasly only lasted half a season but was let go after unimpressive performances while Alex Albon struggled to keep up with Red Bull’s demands. In an unorthodox decision, Red Bull opted for a driver outside their racing programme and opted for Sergio Perez who impressed with Racing Point.

Unlike his predecessors, Perez has proved to be a more compatible teammate for both Red Bull and Verstappen as the team looks to reduce the gap with Mercedes AMG Racing. His contract extension comes at no surprise with the championship closer than ever this season and Red Bull looking to maintain stability amidst the new Formula 1 regulations.

As this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix draws closer, Mercedes are 12 points ahead of Red Bull in the constructors championship while 8 points separate Hamilton and Verstappen for the drivers title.

Also read: Fernando Alonso extends contract with Formula 1 team Alpine for 2022 season

Tokyo, Aug 23 (Paralympics news): The Tokyo Paralympics opening ceremony will feature the flag of Afghanistan as a "sign of solidarity", International Paralympic Committee chief Andrew Parsons said on Monday even as the country's athletes were forced out of the Games after Taliban's takeover there.

Afghan athletes were forced to withdraw from the Games as all flights out of capital Kabul got cancelled after the Taliban seized control of the strife-torn nation.

Parsons said at a press conference that a representative of the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees will carry the flag into the National Stadium during the opening ceremony on Tuesday.

"We will include the Afghanistan flag in the ceremony in a sign of solidarity and we have invited the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees representative here to act as the flagbearer," said Parsons.

Para-taekwando player Zakia Khudadadi, who became the first female para-athlete to be selected for Afghanistan, was set to compete here along with team-mate Hossain Rasouli.

Parsons added, "It is an act of solidarity. We decided this yesterday in the Board meeting.

"It is important to highlight that as it is a message of solidarity and peace that we send to the world.

"We would like to have them here, unfortunately it is not possible, but they will be here in spirit." The Taliban took over the country's political reins following the withdrawal of American troops and the collapse of the elected government.

Also read: Tendulkar seeks support for Paralympic Games, calls para athletes 'real life heroes'

Afghanistan's only athlete at the Games will be Abbas Karimi, one of the flagbearers for the Refugee Paralympic Team, having fled his home nation in 2013.

Karimi was born in Afghanistan, but at age 16 he left the country without his family to escape the conflict and pursue his dream of becoming an elite athlete.

A swimmer, Karimi was born without arms and began taking to the pool at age 13, having previously been involved in kickboxing.

He first fled to Iran, and then paid smugglers to take him across the border into Turkey.

He spent four years there without documentation, and it was during this period that he was contacted by Mike Ives, a former wrestling coach who had started helping refugee athletes.

Ives told Karimi he would support him if he wanted to move to the United States but the process was complicated as he did not have valid documentation.

Karimi finally settled in Portland in 2016.

"I was a refugee in Turkey, I didn't have any passport to fly with. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees helped me to explain my case and then the USA accepted me as a refugee. When I finally got there, I said this is another opportunity, a second chance," Karimi has said.

A silver medallist (50m butterfly) at the 2017 World Championships in Mexico City, he got into swimming after his brother built a 25-metre pool for the community near their home in Kabul.

The love affair with water began in his childhood as Karimi and his friends would often jump into the river with their clothes on instead of going to school.

News source: PTI 

Tokyo, Aug 3 (Olympics news) Indian wrestler Ravi Dahiya on Tuesday got a good draw as he will open his 57kg campaign in the Tokyo Olympics against Colombia's Tigreros Urbano and going by form, he should not face much difficulty in reaching at least the semifinals.

If Ravi, the 2019 World Championship bronze medallist and reigning Asian champion, wins his opener against the Colombian then he will take on either Algeria's Abdelhak Kherabache or Georgi Valentinov Vangelov from Bulgaria.

In the semifinals, he is likely to face either Serbian top seed Stevan Andria Micic or Japan's Yuki Takahashi, after they were drawn to meet in the opening round.

Also read: Indian wrestler Sonam Malik loses 2-2 to Mongolia’s Bolortuya Khurelkhuu

In the men's freestyle 86kg, Deepak Punia is pitted against Nigeria's Ekerekeme Agiomor, the African championship bronze medallist.

If the 2019 worlds silver medallist wins, he will be up against either China's Zushen Lin or Peru's Edinson Ambrocio Greifo, the 2020 Pan American silver winner.

Meanwhile, the 19-year-old Anshu Malik has got a difficult opener as she has drawn European champion Irina Kurachikina.

Provided she wins, next up for her would be either Rio Olympics silver medallist from Russia, Valeria Koblova, or Mexico's Alma Jane.

News source: PTI

New Delhi, Jul 28 (Sports news) A new book maps down the phenomenal journey of the Olympics through time immemorial - from its genesis to its glory days - with the lore of myth, magic and gallantry in every turn of its long-walked path.

In "The Most Incredible Olympic Stories", Argentinian writer Luciano Wernicke curates the oldest sporting legends - a tale that becomes the narrative of a modern civilisation.

Published by Niyogi Books, it is packed with many powerful tales that often captivate with their elements of surprise, unpredictability, and romance. It is a confluence of history, politics and spirit.

The Olympics has always been a platform of voices, a podium that has always inspired a plurality of narratives, the book says.

It mentions how at the 1968 Mexico edition, African-American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos climbed onto the podium without trainers and dressed completely in black. When the American anthem was played, they raised a fist closed wrapped in a black glove, symbol of unity of the 'Black Power', sending tremors to the White pride.

The idea of using the gloves in the awards ceremony was from the Australian Peter Norman, winner of silver medal in that race. Norman was banned by his country's Olympic authorities and was not allowed to compete in Munich 1972. Smith and Carlos left the Olympic Village, but their message had already been heard by the world. In Moscow, for example, poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko wrote a ballad to honour the African-Americans.

Wernicke worked in the sports media and also taught journalism techniques and text composition at the Círculo de Periodistas Deportivos for about 20 years. In 2019, he was assistant to the Costa Rica's national football team manager, Gustavo Matosas.

He is the author of numerous books on sports such as "The Most Incredible World Cup Stories", "The Most Incredible Football Stories", "Doctor and Champion", and "Duel Never Won" (a comparative biography of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo).

The book tells how the ideal spirit of a game is not only about imposing strict rules, but about keeping room for those rules to be altered, if necessary.

Read also: Sai Praneeth crashes out of Tokyo Olympics after losing against Mark Caljouw

By breaking rules occasionally, sports thus uplifts itself in terms of humanity, it says.

The book mentions several instances to show how right from the very beginning, that has been the case.

"Only single women and girls were allowed to attend Olympia as spectators. Married women were prohibited from witnessing the different sports, under the penalty of death. The only known case of violation of these rules correspond to Callipatria, a woman who disguised herself as a man to see her son Pisidoro in the boxing competition. The judges and spectators discovered the deception, but the woman was forgiven for being a daughter, sister and mother of Olympic champions," it says.

News source: PTI 

Kochi: July 22, 2021: In transfer news Kerala Blasters FC is excited to welcome the signing of midfielder Adrián Nicolás Luna Retamar before the 2021/22 ISL season. The Uruguay attacking midfielder joins Kerala Blasters FC all the way from Melbourne City on a contract which will for two years.

Luna, who played 24 matches for Melbourne city in the A-league last season scoring three goals and four assists, started his stint as a footballer at the youth academies of Club Atletico Progreso, Montevideo Wanderers, and Defensor Sporting in Uruguay. Gradually, he was promoted to Defensor’s U19 and the first team in 2010. Loan spells at Spanish clubs Espanyol, Gimnastic, and CE Sabadell came next for the forward, who then came back to Defensor in 2013. After two more seasons at the Uruguayan club, he moved to Mexico where he played for Tiburones Rojos and Venados FC. In July 2019, Luna joined the Australian outfit Melbourne City, he made it to two seasons in over 51 appearances for the Melbourne club.

He has also represented Uruguay U17 and U-20 international, the 29-year-old has made 19 appearances for his national team across both the age categories. He played in the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2009, and the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2011, scoring a goal each in both the World Cups. In a club career that has been over 11 years, the attacking midfielder has made 336 appearances for all clubs, scoring 47 times along with providing 46 assists.

Also read: Hyderabad FC sign youngster Aniket Jadhav

Kerala Blasters FC’s Sporting Director, Karolis Skinkys said: “Adrián Luna is a player with great calibre, and I am sure that this will make our team stronger. Apart from being a good playmaker and smart operator in tight spaces, I liked that Adrian is a hardworking player who always cares about team performance. So, I would like to welcome Adrian to join the Kerala Blasters family.”

Adrián Luna commented: “Very happy to join Kerala Blasters, the great family with the best fans in the country without a doubt. I am looking forward to training and meeting my teammates and all the technical staff.”

Adrián Luna is the first overseas player this season at Kerala Blasters FC, and is joined by Sanjeev Stalin, Hormipam Ruivah, Vincy Barreto and Harmanjot Khabra.
 

As there is only 24 hours to go, Indian athletes will look forward to bringing back a couple of medals and inspire all of us back at home. India has competed in every Olympics since the start. The Hockey men’s team has been the most successful with five Golds, one Silver and three bronze medals. India is predicted to put up a record performance this Olympics. With international champions in many events competing, Indians will put up a show and try to surpass their London performance. Wrestling has been strong for the country and also shooting. In  Olympic news, tomorrow is the Opening Ceremony and Tokyo will be looking forward to being the host for the Champions.

1948 London Olympics

India participated in the Olympics for the first time as an independent nation. Out of the 79 athletes all of them were men. India won its first medal at the Olympics in men’s hockey, they won the Gold after defeating Great Britain 4-0 in the finals. It was their only medal in that Olympics.

1952 Helsinki

India fielded women athletes for the first time in the Olympics, four female athletes competed as two were in athletics and the other two were in swimming. Arati Saha competed in the 200m breaststroke event and she was the youngest in the team aged 12 years,  Dolly Nazir competed in the 100m Freestyle and 200m Breaststroke. Nilima Ghose was the first Indian woman track athlete, she was 17 years old when she competed in the Olympics and competed in the 100m and 80m hurdles in which she finished 5th. Mary D'Souza Sequeira also participated in the 100m and 200m, she had won a silver in the 100m relay team and bronze in the 200m at the Asian Games 1951 in Delhi. She is also the first double international from India as she had also represented the hockey team in 1953 and 1956.

It was also the first time that India had won two medals in Olympics, Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav won the first individual medal for India as he took the bronze in Men's freestyle bantamweight. The hockey men’s team won its second gold as they easily beat Netherlands 6-1 in the finals. India ended the games with one Gold and one Bronze.

1956 Melbourne

The men’s team achieved a hatrick of Gold medals in Hockey as they defeated arch rival Pakistan 1-0 in the finals. This was Milkha Singh’s first Olympics where he competed in the 200m and 400m. Mary Leela Rao was the Only women competitor from India as she competed in the 100m. The Indian Football team finished a historic fourth as Neville D'Souza finished joint highest goalscorer in the tournament. India finished with one Gold medal in the games.

1960 Rome

The 1960 Olympics will be remembered for Milkha Singh as he came real close to winning a medal in the Men’s 400m. He finished fourth in the final although was leading the race in the start. The men’s hockey started well as they thrashed Denmark 10-0 in their opening match but came up short in the final losing to Pakistan 0-1, this was the first time they had to settle for a silver in the Olympics. India also had no women representation for the second time at the Olympics and finished the games with one Silver medal.



1964 Tokyo

The men’s hockey team won their fourth Gold medal by defeating Pakistan 1-0, the two teams were facing each other in the final for the third consecutive time. There was only one Women competitor this time, Stephie de Souza competed in the 400m and set a national record of 58 seconds. She had won a silver in the 200m at the Tokyo Asian Games in 1958 and was the first Indian woman to run the 100m in 12 seconds. India finished with one Gold medal in the games.

1968 Mexico

The men’s hockey team finished third for the first time. They had lost to Australia in the semifinals 1-2 and in the Bronze medal match defeated West Germany 2-1. No women competitors were there for the third time. They finished the games with one Bronze medal.

Also read: Amid COVID gloom, could it be 'India Shining' in Tokyo? All indications say yes

1972 Munich

The Olympics was known as the Munich Massacre as 8 Palestinian Terrorists killed 11 Israeli athletes, coaches and officials. The games were carried on after the attack as it shocked the entire world. Kamaljeet Sandhu was the lone women athlete from the country as she took part in the 400m, she had earlier won the gold in the 1970 Asian Games and became the first indian woman athlete to win individual gold in Asian Games. The men’s hockey team finished third for the second time. They lost to Pakistan in the semifinals 2-0 and in the Bronze medal match defeated Netherlands 2-1. India finished with one Bronze medal in the Games.

1976 Montreal 

This was the first time that the men's hockey team returned without a single medal in the Olympics. There were no women competitors for the fourth time and the first time the country returned without an Olympic medal.

1980 Moscow

This was the first time P.T Usha competed in the Olympics and the first time Women’s hockey was included in the Olympics. The men’s hockey team won the gold defeating Spain 4-3 in the final. India finished with One gold medal in the Games.

1996 Atlanta

After 44 years India finally won an Individual Olympic medal as Leander Paes won the bronze in Tennis in Men’s Singles. This was also the first medal after the Gold in men’s hockey in 1980. India finished with one Bronze medal in the Games.

2000 Sydney

History was created in Sydney as Karnam Malleshwari won the Bronze in the 69 kg women’s weightlifting category. She became the first woman from India to win an Olympic medal. India finished with one Bronze medal in the Games.



2004 Athens

A new milestone was created in the Games as India won its first Individual Silver in the Olympics. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore finished second in Men’s Shooting in Double trap as this was the only medal in the games. India finished with one Silver medal in the Games.

2008 Olympics

This was the first time India won multiple medals in a single Games. Abhinav Bindra won the first individual Gold for India at the Olympics in Men's 10 m air rifle and the first Gold medal after the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Vijender Singh won the Bronze in the Middleweight 75 kg men’s boxing, Sushil kumar took the third medal in Men's freestyle 66 kg wrestling. India finished the games with one Gold and two Bronze medals.

2012 London

This is India’s best Olympic performance till date with 6 medals. Vijay Kumar won the Silver in Men's 25 m rapid fire pistol, Sushil Kumar won the Silver men's freestyle 66 kg wrestling and became the only Indian Olympian to win two individual medals. Mary Kom won the Bronze in the women's flyweight Boxing, Saina Nehwal won India’s first Badminton medal a Bronze in the women's singles. Yogeshwar Dutt also won a Bronze in the men's freestyle 60 kg wrestling and Gagan Narang won a Bronze in men's 10 m air rifle in shooting. India finished with four Bronze and two Silver medals.

2016 Rio de Janeiro

India won two medals in the Rio Olympics 2016, as the men came home empty handed. PV Sindhu became the youngest Indian Olympic medalist by winning the silver medal in women’s singles badminton, Sakshi Malik won the bronze in women's freestyle 58 kg. India finished with two medals in the games with one Silver and one Bronze.

With only 48 hours to go the predictions are going up and the world is waiting for the top athletes to clash with each other and bring the best out of each other. In Olympic news after 57 years Tokyo is ready for yet another Olympic games and will be looking to give us records and performances which will provide us enough motivation until the next one is around the corner. This year’s Olympic Games will be an interesting watch as there will be the introduction of new games, Indians are making waves in many sports this time. Youngsters are in large numbers in each event from the country. They will have a chance to deliver for their country and will look to carry the flag till the end. Last year's Olympics in Rio 2016 saw the women bringing the medals home as the men came home empty handed, this time we have a large team and a representation in most of the events. We will be looking at a better or an all time best performance by the team.

Fencing Sabre

C.A Bhavani Devi has become the first in Indian history to qualify for the olympics  in fencing. Her first International competition was when was just 14 years old and two years later she won the Bronze medal in the Asian Championship in the Philippines. She is also the first Indian to win a gold in Commonwealth Fencing Championship in Canberra in the sabre event. Her path paves the way for millions of aspiring athletes, she has set the track and inspired many by qualifying for the Olympics. It will be a huge victory if she manages a podium finish, as she and the sport will get nationwide attention. Like boxing started a few years ago, just a little spark is needed for the games to grow. She will start her campaign on July 26 and will look to slash through fear and  pressure.

Equestrian

Fouaad Mirza is the First Indian in 20 years to qualify at the Olympics in Equestrian. In the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games he won two silvers, one each in individual and team event. He is only the third Indian Equestrian to compete at the Olympics. He is being trained by Sandra Auffarth who  won the Silver Medal at London Olympics 2012 in the individual event, his family has been involved in Horse Riding for the past 8 generations. He qualified after finishing on top in the South East Asia and Oceania Qualifiers in 2019. Athletes like these can do the sport much favour by winning in international stages, and there is no stage bigger than the Olympics. The events will start from the 30th of July.

Judo

Women’s 48kg Extra Lightweight

Sushila Devi Likmabam will be India's lone participant in Judo at Tokyo 2020. She won the Silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2014 at Glasgow and later won the Gold in the 2019 Commonwealth Judo Championship. She qualified through the continental quotas as she has a ranking of 46 on the Olympic Games Quota. Winning a medal would get media attention on the deserved sport and help in bringing in more athletes for the sport. Last year too we only had a single participant in judo that was Avtar Singh, there needs to be more awareness about the sport. Sushila will be looking to repeat her Commonwealth heroics and increase India's medal prospects. The Judo matches start from July 24.

Rowing

Men’s lightweight double sculls

Arjun Jat and Arvind Singh

India has been participating in Rowing since the 2000 Sydney Olympics and has sent athletes ever since. In 2016 the country saw its best performance in rowing with Dattu Baban Bhokanal finishing 13th in the Men's Single Sculls. The sport deserves to get more value than it has in the present, Arjun  Jat and Arvind Singh first won their medal in the 2019 Asian championship where they came in second. Both will be making their debut in Tokyo and  will be looking to pull off an upset. The rowing event starts from July 24th and will go on till 29th of July.

Sailing

Women’s Laser Radial

Nethra Kumanan  is the first Indian woman sailor to qualify for the Olympics. She was also the first Indian woman to win a World Cup medal in Sailing when she won the Bronze medal at the 2020 Sailing World Cup in Miami, USA. She qualified in the Massanah Championships while finishing on top. Sailing so far has seen 10 sailors represent in the Olympics, in a country of over 1 billion in population our representation should be a lot more. Other events have seen many representations in the Olympics. She will look to break various records at Tokyo and come back sailing with a medal. The Four sailors making their debut in Tokyo. The sailing event will start from 25th of July and will go on till the 1st of August.

Men’s

Laser Standard

Vishnu Saravanan started  turning heads by winning multiple medals at the junior national stages, he was the youth national champion in 2016. He won the senior National Championship in 2018 and the very next year continued his winning run by winning the bronze in laser under 21 World Cup in Croatia. He will be looking to bring his form in Tokyo and sail against the wind. He secured his place in the games by coming second in the Mussanah Championships.

49er team

KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar won their first medal when they won bronze in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. They finished on top in the Mussanah Championships to secure their place in the Tokyo Olympics. They will be in action starting from July 27 and will be interesting to see how events unfold. All the sailors qualified through the same championship and will try to do the same in the games.

Interesting Fact: The 10 second barrier in the Olympics was broken for the first time in the 1968 Mexico Olympics by Jim Hines.

Nicholasville (US), Jul 19 (Golf news) Olympic-bound Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri fired a stellar seven-under 65 to finish tied third at the Barbasol Championship here for his best result of the season, a timely boost ahead of the Tokyo Games.

Lahiri, 34, made eight birdies, including four over his closing five holes, at Keene Trace Golf Club here on Sunday to end his week on 20-under 268, one stroke behind the playoff duo of Seamus Power and J T Poston.

Ireland's Power went on to earn his first PGA TOUR title following a six-hole playoff.

It was a welcome return to form for Lahiri, who had struggled with COVID-19 in April.

His third career top-three finish on the PGA TOUR moved him up from 129th to 108th on the FedExCup standings. The top-125 will qualify for the lucrative FedExCup Playoffs in August and retain their TOUR cards for next season.

"I think all week, I've played a little better than the scores I've shot. I've been a little disappointed with my scrambling and just my score hasn't been as good as I would have liked it to be.

"I'm not playing next week, off to Tokyo, so I wanted to make sure that I get the most out of this week. I've done whatever I could given the circumstances," said Lahiri, who has featured on the PGA TOUR since 2016.

His week's cards of 68, 67, 68 and 65 marked the first time he has shot in the 60s in all four rounds of a tournament since finishing tied 10th in the 2018 Mayakoba Classic in Mexico.

Also read: Olympic-bound golfer Lahiri moves to T-10 at Barbasol Championship

Lahiri was especially delighted with his ball-striking.

After an opening birdie on the third hole from eight feet, Lahiri rattled home a 32-foot conversion at the next before finishing strongly with six more birdies on his homeward stretch against a lone bogey on 13.

"Yeah, I really needed those," said Lahiri of his strong finish.

"I really enjoyed it. The golf course obviously is set up for a ton of birdies and eagles, so you better be flag hunting and rolling it good. All in all, a great week," said the Indian, a former two-time International Team member of the Presidents Cup.

The Indian will now head to Tokyo at the end of this week for the men’s golf competition from July 29 to August 1 where he is determined to challenge for a podium finish against a stellar line-up featuring newly crowned Open champion Collin Morikawa, World no.1 Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Xander Schaufffele, Rory McIlroy and local hero Hideki Matsuyama.

"It's exciting to be wearing the Tricolours. It's always a really, really special thing to represent India. Every opportunity that I get, I'm going to grab it with both hands, and hopefully I can go with this form to Tokyo and keep making these birdies because I'm going to need them," said Lahiri, who finished 57th in a field of 60 in 2016 Rio Olympics.

"It would mean everything (to win a medal). I think it would change the way golf is perceived in India. I think it would change the kind of support we get from corporates and the government.

Japan's Satoshi Kodaira closed with a 68 to finish tied 20th while China's Bobby Bai, who Monday qualified for his first PGA TOUR start on US soil, settled for a share of 42nd place after a final round 73.

News source: PTI 

The Colony, Jul 5 (Golf news) Indian golfer Aditi Ashok carded a one-under 71 in the final round to sign off tied 47th at the Volunteers of America Classic here.

Aditi, who has qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, dropped her second double bogey of the week on the Par-4 12th but hung on with birdies on 15th and 17th to take her total to three-under 285.

The 23-year-old from Bengaluru (71-71-69-72) had five birdies, the most she has had in a single round this week, but she also dropped four bogeys and a double bogey.

Jin Young Ko, who just got herself a new house in Texas, about half an hour from the golf course, added a Trophy to it by winning the Volunteers of America Classic, a week after losing her No. 1 world ranking.

Ko carded 2-under 69 and finished at 16-under 268 for her eighth career LPGA victory. She remains at No. 2 in the world.

Also read: Golfer Bhullar rises to T-21 at Irish Open, Sharma 57th

The South Korean closed with seven straight pars for a one-shot victory over Matilda Castren of Finland at Old American Golf Club.

Ko's father celebrated his birthday on Tuesday and she capped a great week with a win.

Gaby Lopez of Mexico closed with a 65, making her only bogey on the final hole. She finished alone in third, two shots behind.

Esther Henseleit of Germany was within two shots with five holes to play. But she made two doubles in the round and closed with 72 and tied for fourth with Ana Belac (68) and Emma Talley (63).

News source: PTI 

In Olympics news, Toronto, Jul 5 (The Conversation) An important debate is brewing about free speech at the Olympics. After years of the International Olympic Committee restricting the free expression of athletes at the Games, some prominent athletes are calling for the unlimited right to speak freely — including the right to protest.

The advocates include Canadian decathlete Damien Warner, an Olympic bronze medallist in 2016, who has said: “If there’s something on their mind, then athletes should be allowed to speak.” The IOC, he said, is “on the wrong side of history.” The US Olympic and Paralympic Olympic Advisory Committee takes a similar view.

In response, the IOC has relaxed its Rule 50 on “advertising, demonstrations and propaganda” to allow free speech in interviews and meetings, but has stood firm on the prohibitions against “political” statements on the field of play and during ceremonies. The committee threatens to punish any athlete who disobeys.

The IOC Athletes’ Commission supports Rule 50, saying it believes “the focus at the Olympic Games must remain on athletes’ performances, sport and the international unity and harmony that the Olympic Movement seeks to advance.” But another of the recommendations from the Athletes’ Commission, following a survey and consultation process, was to “increase opportunities for athletes’ expression during the Games.” "The feedback was that they didn’t want it to interfere with the competition itself, so ensuring that the competition itself was protected,” explained Rosie MacLennan, a double gold medallist in the trampoline and chair of Canadian Olympic Committee Athletes Commission.

In worldwide polling, Rule 50 has won the support of the majority of athletes for this position. The Canadian Olympic Committee Athletes Commission has reported that 80 per cent of surveyed athletes supported the rule.

The push for free speech is an artefact of growing athlete activism in recent years in response to racism in European soccer, the unrelenting police violence against Black people and other minorities in countries like the United States and Chinese human rights violations in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong.

At the 2019 Pan American Games in Peru, two American athletes, fencer Race Imboden and hammer thrower Gwen Berry, conducted silent protests against “racism, gun control, mistreatment of immigrants, and a president who spreads hate” back home.

For many years, Rule 50 completely prohibited critical athletes’ statements or demonstrations at games — and sporting bodies compelled their athletes to comply and athletes went along with it.

The style was epitomised by basketball superstar Michael Jordan, who famously avoided political statements “because Republicans buy shoes too.” When the Canadian skier Laurie Graham likened herself to a cruise missile flying down the hill to a World Cup victory, I asked her not to use a metaphor of death and destruction for a peaceful activity like sport. She quickly agreed, which thrilled me. But then she said that she didn’t want to get in trouble with her sponsors, who told her to avoid controversy.

As a competitor in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics who wrote a widely syndicated student newspaper column from the Olympic Village, I fully support the right to free speech. I have always believed that athletes should take responsibility for the circumstances and sports in which they are involved and they cannot do that without the right to speak out.

Athletes should be able to wear personal signifiers, such as Indigenous sashes or rainbow fingernail polish, both of which have been allowed or banned from competitions and ceremonies at different times.

Free speech is an internationally established human right. It’s not something that should be conferred or denied by a vote. The majority should never be able to silence the minority.

I still subscribe to John Stuart Mills’ admonition that “if all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.” The intercultural education cherished by the Olympic Movement would be enhanced by completely free speech. We can’t be hectoring others about what we believe, but we do need to be honest about who we are.

I’ve spoken in China about athletes’ rights. While few agreed with me, no one was shocked. They listened. So did I. The IOC should embrace and support such interactions and tell authoritarian hosts that this is what the Olympics are about.

If some athletes still decide to protest in Tokyo or at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and are punished, that punishment will become the issue. I would be horrified by a repeat of 1968, when the IOC expelled U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos from the Mexico Olympics for protesting against poverty and racism from the victory podium — in effect banning them for upholding the Olympic aspirations.

With all the challenges facing Tokyo and Beijing, it’s unlikely that Rule 50 will be reconsidered before both Games take place. But the issue won’t go away, and I would like to think the final restrictions will be abolished by the Paris Olympics in 2024.

Also read: My ambition is to fulfill my father’s dream of winning an Olympic medal - Indian boxer Gaurav Bidhuri

In the meantime, athletes like MacLennan, who regularly consults Canadian athletes, should take advantage of the opening provided by the IOC consultation to push for ongoing athlete engagement and athlete-centered reforms on an international basis — including much more significant athlete voice and vote on decision-making bodies.

Once in-person meetings resume, athletes should revive the former practice of open meetings in the Olympic Village where they can introduce and discuss the issues most on their minds — including the geo-political issues that buffet the Games.

If there was genuine opportunity for athletes to become involved in sport governance and public policy, there would be far less reason for them to demonstrate.

Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games, always saw the Olympics as a pedagogical project and athletes as the self-actualizing subjects of their activity and learning. If athletes are to learn, they need to learn to deal with political and intercultural issues and when and how to speak out.

The IOC should embrace free speech as a contribution to its highest goals. 

News source: PTI

Ranchi, Jul 3 (Sports news) Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Saturday announced a cash award of Rs 50 lakh for star archer Deepika Kumari who had grabbed a hat-trick of gold medals as India made an unprecedented clean sweep at the World Cup Stage 3 in Paris last month for a perfect build-up to Tokyo Olympics in less than a month's time.

The chief minister also declared cash awards of Rs 2 crore for winning gold in Tokyo Olympics Games to be held from July 23 and August 8, Rs one crore for winning silver and Rs 75 lakh for bronze for the Jharkhand players.

For archers Ankita Bhakat and Komalika Bari, Soren announced a cash reward of Rs 20 lakh each while for coach Purnima Mahto Rs 12 lakh.

For Nikki Pradhan and Salima Tete who have been selected in the Indian Hockey team for Olympics, Soren announced Rs 5 lakh each.

"Chief Minister announced cash awards for our champions.

Also read: Badminton coach Gopichand hoping rich haul of medals from 'very different' Tokyo Olympics

Deepika - Rs 50 lakhs, Anikta and Komalika - Rs 20 lakh each, Salima and Nikki - Rs 5 lakh each & Coach Purnima Mahto Rs 12 lakhs.

"CM also announced cash rewards for winning Olympic medals - Gold- Rs 2 crore, silver - Rs one crore & Bronze- Rs 75 lakhs," Chief Minister's office said.

The CM also interacted with the players and Dronacharya awardee Punima Mahato virtually.

Star Indian archer Deepika Kumari last month had regained the number one position in global rankings following her hat- trick of gold medals at the World Cup Stage 3 here.

The 27-year-old from Ranchi, who had achieved the top spot for the first time in 2012, had claimed gold medals in three recurve events -- women's individual, team and mixed pair.

"This is going to take Deepika to the number one spot in the world rankings on Monday," World Archery had tweeted on its official handle after Deepika's gold rush.

Deepika first combined with Ankita Bhakat and Komalika Bari to notch up the women's recurve team gold with a comfortable win over Mexico.

Nikki Pradhan and Salima Tete - two Jharkhand girls will be part of India's 16-member women's hockey squad for the Tokyo Olympics Games to be held from July 23 and August 8 and Jharkhand had termed it a "proud moment" for state.

Jharkhand is known for producing world-class women archers and female hockey players.

"Proud moment for us as our girls Nikki Pradhan and Salima Tete make it to the final 16. Best wishes to Team India and our girls from Jharkhand. May the team comes out in bright flying colours," chief minister Soren had earlier tweeted.

Pradhan hails from Hesal village in tribal heartland Khunti, about 65 km from state capital, Ranchi.

Though she picked up hockey stick at a tender age, she finetuned her skills at Bariatu Girls' Hockey Centre, Ranchi which has also produced former India hockey captain Asunta Lakra.

Indian Women's Hockey Team midfielder Pradhan, 27, earlier became the first hockey player from Jharkhand to participate in the Olympic Games when she played for India at the Rio Games.

While Nikki is a seasoned midfielder in the Indian squad, Indian women's hockey team's young midfielder Salima Tete having debuted for India in early 2017 against Belarus was touted to be the next big thing in Indian hockey.

Tete, 19, hails from a small hamlet in Simdega district, Jharkhand and has since proved her potential in the Indian team.

News source: PTI 

Kolkata, Jun 30 (Sports news) Three-time World Cup silver medallist Jyothi Surekha Vennam has been recommended for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, the country's highest sporting honour, by the Archery Association of India (AAI).

The AAI also recommended legendary coach and Olympian Limba Ram for Dronacharya (Lifetime) Award.

The national federation also recommended Asian Games team silver medallist Muskan Kirar for the Arjuna Award and renowned compound archery coach Lokesh Chand Pal for the Dronacharya Award this year.

"Last year, the recurve archers got the National Awards so this time we have picked from the compound section," a top AAI official told PTI.

The 24-year-old Jyothi had won an individual World Championship bronze medal in Den Bosch, the Netherlands in 2019.

That was her second medal at the World Championships. She had won a team silver in Mexico in 2017, following which she was awarded the coveted Arjuna Award.

Overall, she has two World Cup silver and four bronze medals. She was also a silver medallist in the season-ending World Cup Final in 2018 in the mixed pair event with Abhishek Verma.

Jyothi is also a two-time Asian Games medallist -- a team bronze in 2014 and silver in 2018 with Muskan.

The national federation has also nominated Abhishek Verma's childhood coach Lokesh Chand Pal for the Dronacharya Award.

It was Pal who had brought a 13-year-old Verma to archery before making him world champion in 2015 -- the first Indian to do so in the compound section.

Verma achieved the feat again, winning the World Cup Stage 3 gold medal in Paris on Saturday.

The 49-year-old Indian archery legend Limba Ram has been battling a neurological disease in recent years.

He had a successful stint as India chief coach since 2009 and under him, India won several medals, including three gold medals at the 2010 New Delhi Commonwealth Games.

Under him, India occupied the world number one ranking in men's recurve section, while ace archer Deepika Kumari also rose to the top spot for the first time in her career ahead of the 2012 London Olympics.

Limba had won several international medals during his decorated career and was conferred with the Arjuna Award in 1991 and Padma Shri in 2012. News source: PTI

The word ‘world class’ is a term loosely used by sports enthusiasts around the world, especially on social media. Athletes who have barely begun their careers are overhyped by the media and fans alike as the next (insert legendary player here). However, every once in a while a generational athlete rewrites the history books and sets the standards of excellence for generations to come. Without a shadow of a doubt, Deepika Kumari is one such individual who can truly be deemed the best in the world at archery games.

The 27 year old regained the number one position in the global rankings after winning not one, not two but THREE gold medals at the World Cup for the very first time ahead of Elena Osipova and Mackenzie Brown. With this, the archer from Ranchi has won an impressive total of nine gold, twelve silver and seven bronze medals at the World Cup.

Deepika Kumari’s successful World Cup campaign started with a comfortable win over Mexico, where Ankita Bhakat and Komalika Bari combined with the world number 1 to win the women’s recurve team gold. Deepika also showed her fighting spirit when she teamed up with her husband Atanu Das as the pair overturned a 0-2 deficit to win gold with a score of 5-3 against Netherlands Sjef van den Berg and Gabriela Schloesser. Finally, Deepika blew away 17th ranked Russian Elena Osipova to win her third gold medal.

As India continues its pursuit of winning the first Olympic gold medal, Deepika Kumari will be the only female archer in India’s team full of men at the biggest sporting event in the world. All eyes will be on the world number 1 and it would not be a far fetched possibility for the archer from Ranchi to fulfill her lifelong dream and bring home gold from Tokyo.

Paris, Jun 28 Star Indian archer Deepika Kumari on Monday regained the number one position in global rankings following her hat-trick of gold medals at the World Cup Stage 3 here.

The 27-year-old from Ranchi, who had achieved the top spot for the first time in 2012, on Sunday claimed gold medals in three recurve events -- women's individual, team and mixed pair.

"This is going to take Deepika to the number one spot in the world rankings on Monday," World Archery had tweeted on its official handle after Deepika's gold rush.

Deepika first combined with Ankita Bhakat and Komalika Bari to notch up the women's recurve team gold with a comfortable win over Mexico.

She then paired up with husband Atanu Das and the couple from a 0-2 deficit to down the Netherland's Sjef van den Berg and Gabriela Schloesser 5-3 for the gold medal.

The Ranchi archer then blanked 17th ranked Russian Elena Osipova 6-0 to cap a perfect three out of three in the recurve women's section, her fourth individual World Cup gold medal.

Overall, she has nine gold, 12 silver and seven bronze medals in the World Cup.

"This is the first time I've won all three medals in a World Cup. I'm really happy but at the same time, I've to continue improving as we have some very, very important competitions lined up," Deepika had told PTI after her triumphs.

Deepika had become only the second Indian woman after Dola Banerjee to grab the numero uno status in June, 2012 after claiming her first individual recurve World Cup gold medal at Antalya, Turkey.

She will be the only Indian woman archer to represent the country at the Tokyo Olympics next month. News source PTI

Kolkata, Jun 27 Deepika Kumari would neither cling to the ghost of the past nor she wants to peep into the future, rather the ace Indian archer wants to maintain zen-like focus in the remaining 26 days ahead of Tokyo Olympics to prepare in the best possible manner. Deepika has yet again raised hopes of a good show in the Games by grabbing a hat-trick of gold medals in India's unprecedented sweep at the World Cup Stage 3 in Paris on Sunday.

The former world number one, who has been India's best medal bet in archery, had faltered in both her previous appearances but she is hoping to deliver this time, having gained experience.

"It's very important to live in the present without thinking too much about the future. I just have 26 days left. That's all. It's about giving my best now," Deepika told PTI from Paris after her stupendous performance.

Asked if her previous experiences would help, she said, "It helps but every match is different. I can't say there will be less pressure this time. Everyone has a fear factor but it's about handling the situation on the given day." Often let down by her mental game, she said: "I'm working on a few things mentally. It was about doing it right and executing well." All the 27-year-old wants is that she does not face any hurdles as she begins her final preparations. The athletes are required to undergo COVID-19 tests daily, seven days before leaving for the Games.

"We are not aware of the schedule yet, everything comes at the last minute. We have no issue with the testing, we just hope that our practice does not get hampered and there's less distractions," the world number three, said.

Deepika had secured her Tokyo Games ticket in 2019.

India on Sunday won the women's individual, women's team and mixed pair events with Deepika a constant in each of them, playing back-to-back four matches in less than five hours.

Just a week back, the fancied Indian women's archers faced a lot of flak for a shock opening round loss to Colombia to miss the Olympic team qualification.

The monkey was off their back and it was a mix of carefree and relaxed shooting that did the trick for them to get the unprecedented result, Deepika said.

"We were demoralised after losing to Colombia. It (the Olympic Qualifier) took all our energies so everyone was relaxed.

"Honestly, there was no pressure at all in the World Cup. We had nothing to lose, we just had to give our best and it helped," she said.

The trio of Deepika, and the inexperienced duo of Ankita Bhakat and Komalika Bari defeated Mexico 5-1 without dropping a set to open India's gold rush on the final day.

"Maybe we were over-focused (for the Olympic Qualifier). Sometimes it affects your performances. We made small mistakes and could not control," she said.

Deepika boosted the team's morale and told her teammates to look forward as the next Olympics would be round the corner.

"I just told them that we can learn from the mistakes, and work mentally. They have a lot of time left. Next Olympics is only in three years. It will feel, the Olympics will come anytime after this. So it's better to get out of it and look forward, and prepare well for the next tournament," Deepika said.

Absence of Korea and other Asian heavyweights China and Chinese Taipei did make the job easy for the Indians, Deepika conceded.

"It's not that we had a cakewalk. They do give some tough competition so it was about dealing with yourself," she concluded. News source PTI

Paris, Jun 25 The Indian women's recurve archery team, which failed to book an Olympic quota in the Qualifier, bounced back strongly to storm into the final of the World Cup Stage 3 here on Friday.

The fancied trio of Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat and Komalika Bari had lost to lower-ranked Colombia on Sunday to miss the Olympic team qualification, but on Friday they just dropped a set before defeating sixth-ranked France 6-2 in the semi-finals.

World Cup Stage 3 is not an Olympic qualifying tournament.

The trio, who had won the first stage of the World Cup in Guatemala City in April, will face Mexico on Sunday in a repeat of the first stage final. World No. 3 Deepika will be in the hunt for a hat-trick of gold medals.

Deepika had earlier advanced to the mixed pair final with husband Atanu Das, while she is also in the semi-final of the recurve individual section.

The second-seeded Indian women's team, which got a bye in the second round, started off by beating 15th seed Spain in straight sets, before ousting seventh seed Turkey by an identical 6-0 margin in the quarterfinals.

In the last-four stage, the trio shot 57, 57, 54, 57 to beat the French team of Lisa Barbelin, Audrey Adiceom and Angeline Cohendet.

The Indian men's team of Das, Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav, who were ranked eighth in the qualifications, lost its last-eight match to top seed Germany in a dramatic shoot-off.

The Indians squandered a 2-0 lead but their opponents Moritz Wieser, Maximillian Weckmueller and Florian Unruh won the second and third sets to lead 4-2 before the match headed to shoot-off with Das, Rai and Jadhav winning the fourth set by two points.

The Germans shot three 9s as against 8, 9 and 9 by the Indian trio to seal the win by one point.

Meanwhile, the compound men's and women's teams came a cropper and made early exits, leaving Abhishek Verma the lone archer in medal fray in that category.

Verma had earlier reached the individual semis where he will face Anton Bulaev of Russia on Saturday.

Women's team of Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Saanchi Dhalla and Akshita made the first round exit, going down to French team of Renaudin Tiphaine, Lola Grandjean and Sandra Herve.

The men's team also could not overcome the French hurdle, losing 25-29 in the shootoff after both were locked at 233-all. News source PTI 

Paris, Jun 25 The Indian women's recurve archery team, which failed to book an Olympic quota in the Final Qualifier here, was back to their best form to storm into the final of the World Cup Stage 3 on Friday.

The fancied trio of Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat and Komalika Bari had lost to lower-ranked Colombia on Sunday to miss the Olympic team qualification, but on Friday they just dropped a set before defeating sixth-ranked France 6-2 in the semi-finals.

World Cup Stage 3 is not an Olympic qualifying tournament.

The trio, who had won the first stage of the World Cup in Guatemala City in April, will face Mexico on Sunday in a repeat of the first stage final. World No. 3 Deepika will be in the hunt for a hat-trick of gold medals.

Deepika had earlier advanced to the mixed pair final with her husband Atanu Das, while she is also in the semi-final of the recurve individual section.

The second-seeded Indian women's team, who got a bye in the second round, started off by beating 15th seed Spain in straight sets, before ousting seventh seed Turkey by an identical 6-0 margin in the quarterfinals.

In the last-four stage, the trio shot 57, 57, 54, 57 to beat the French team of Lisa Barbelin, Audrey Adiceom and Angeline Cohendet.

The Indian men's team of Das, Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav, who were ranked eighth in the qualifications, lost its last-eight match to top seed Germany in a dramatic shoot-off.

The Indians squandered a 2-0 lead but their opponents Moritz Wieser, Maximillian Weckmueller and Florian Unruh won the second and third sets to lead 4-2 before the match headed to shoot-off with Das, Rai and Jadhav winning the fourth set by two points.

The Germans shot three 9s as against 8, 9 and 9 by the Indian trio to seal the win by one point. News source PTI

Paris, Jun 23 Indian archer Deepika Kumari stayed in hunt for her second successive gold by moving to the women's recurve individual semi-finals of the World Cup Stage 3 here on Wednesday.

The world number three, who had won the World Cup Stage 1 in Guatemala City in April this year, overwhelmed 2012 London Olympics silver medalist Aida Roman of Mexico 6-0.

Shrugging off her disastrous show in Sunday's Final Olympic Qualifier team event, Deepika reigned supreme with scores of 29, 28 and 28 that included four perfect 10s with two closest to the centre (X) to knock out the veteran Mexican.

The second seed Deepika has another Mexican challenger in sixth seed Ana Vazquez.

Rest of the Indians, including World Cup stage one champion Atanu Das, made early exits as the 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medalist remained the only hope in the individual recurve section.

Following her disastrous show in the Final Olympic Qualifier team event, Deepika shot consistently as she began her elimination round by blanking Elena Tonetta of Italy 6-0.

Ankita Bhakat also joined Deepika in the last-16, defeating Angeline Cohendet of France 7-1, while teenager Komalika Bari lost to Ines De Velasco of Spain 4-6.

In the pre-quarters, Deepika bounced back from being 1-3 to defeat Charline Schwarz of Germany in a hard-fought five setter 7-3, while left-handed Ankita made an exit, going down to Russian Elena Osipova 2-6.

In the men's individual events, Das lost to Jack Willimas of USA 5-6 (8-9) in the shootoff, while Pravin Jadhav lost to Patrick Houston of Great Britain 2-6 in the pre-quarters.

Veteran Army archer Tarundeep Rai made a last-32 exit, losing to Nicholas D'Amour of Virgin Islands in shootoff 5-6 (9-10).

Earlier, Abhishek Verma and Jyothi Surekha Vennam emerged the best placed Indians with their respective 11th and 15th place finishes in the qualification round of men's and women's compound sections.

In their first international competition in about two years, the Indian compound archers appeared rusty.

The two-time World Cup champion Verma logged 706 points. Aman Saini was next best at 21st place (704) and was followed by Rajat Chauhan's lowly 42nd (697) place finish.

The trio tallied 2107 points to take the sixth place to set up an opening round clash against 11th placed Sweden.

Indian compound women's team finished sixth with 2066 points and it will face 11th ranked France in the opening round elimination match.

Individually, Jyothi shot 695 points to take 15th place while Saanchi Dhalla (690) and Akshita (681) occupied the 22nd and 32nd places respectively.

In the mixed pair event, Verma and Jyothi are placed ninth and will get a bye into the last-16 where they will face eighth-ranked Russia.

The Indian compound archers had last competed in the Asian Championships in Bangkok in November 2019 where the duo of Verma and Vennam had upset Chinese Taipei to clinch a gold medal.

The compound team was forced to withdraw from the season-opening first stage of the World Cup in Guatemala after its coach's "false positive" report of COVID-19. News source PTI

Paris, Jun 22 The Indian women's recurve team bounced back strongly after the disappointment of missing out on an Olympic quota to finish second behind Mexico in the qualification round of the Archery World Cup Stage 3, here on Tuesday.

The troika of world number three Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat and Komalika Bari, who had made a shock second round exit in the final Olympic Qualifier on Sunday, accumulated 1986 points to qualify for the pre-quarterfinals.

Incidentally, Mexico and India had an identical top-two finish in Sunday's qualification round before the Indian trio were eliminated by Colombia in straight sets.

The second-seeded Indian women's team will face the winners of the tie between Spain and Sweden in the last-16.

Deepika was back in her elements after Sunday's debacle as she led by two points against her Mexican opponent Alejandra Valencia at the halfway mark before missing the pole position by six points.

Deepika shot 674 to occupy the second spot behind Alejandra to advance directly into the last-32 as second seed.

Left-handed Ankita was the second best Indian in the qualification round, shooting 664 to take the fifth position and join Deepika in last-32. 19-year-old Komalika finished 19th with 648 points. News source PTI 

In the latest motorsport news, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won a dramatic race against rival Lewis Hamilton at the Le Castellet to register his third win of the season out of seven races. Verstappen is now 13 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the race for the drivers title ahead of back to back races in Austria, the home turf of Red Bull.

Motorsport team Red Bull has displayed a series of impressive performances this season, having won for the third successive time, the other two being in Monaco and Baku. The Dutch driver endured a difficult start to the race, going off the track turning into turn 1, resulting in Hamilton taking the lead.

However, Verstappen regained his lead as Lewis Hamilton went into the pits on lap 20, which made Red Bull’s Sergio Perez as the new race leader. The Mexican went into his first pit stop on lap 25, resulting in Verstappen being back in the first position and Hamilton following the Dutchman, one second behind.

What changed the race was the second pit stop by Max Verstappen in lap 32, who resumed in the fourth position and 25 seconds behind Lewis Hamilton, but the second pit stop paid off and the Red Bull driver edged past Lewis Hamilton in the last lap of the race to win the French Grand Prix.

Paris, Jun 19 On a high after winning a World Cup gold in the first stage, Indian women's recurve trio of Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat and Komalika Bari will start as firm favourites to grab the team's quota from the final Tokyo 2020 Qualifier here on Sunday.

Paris represents the final opportunity for India to upgrade their single women's quota place to team invitations in Japan as India would look to qualify a second and third recurve archers to join the Deepika who is all set for her third successive Olympics.

All they would have to achieve is finish among the top-three in a field of 28 teams which include heavyweights Colombia, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Turkey and Mexico, which gave India a stiff challenge in the World Cup final in Guatemala City.

Less than two months after they lost the final in an intense shootoff in the first stage of the World Cup, the Mexican team of London Olympics silver medalist Aida Roman, Alejandra Valencia and Ana Vazquez will again stand in their way.

Of the 28 teams, four teams will be eliminated from the qualification round while the top-eight will directly make the quarterfinals as world number three Deepika along with southpaw Ankita and teenager Komalika would look to start well.

In their last attempt, Indian women's team had failed to qualify, losing to Belarus 2-6 at the World Championships in Den Bosch, the Netherlands two years ago, while the men's team had secured the first quota.

Since then India made a solitary change with Ankita making the cut to the team and it worked well as they won the World Cup first stage -- the women's team's first gold medal since Wroclaw-2014.

In the women's section, India so far have an individual quota secured from the Continental Qualification during the Bangkok Asian Championships in November 2019 as India number one Deepika is already bound for her third successive Olympics.

So the pressure will be evident for the less experienced duo of Ankita and Komalika.

"Of course we are under pressure," 19-year-old Komalika said after Friday's practice session.

Incidentally, at the same Stade Charléty, Deepika had clinched one of her four World Cup Final silver medals in 2013 and the former world number one is confident of a good show.

"Technically, we all are up there but all it takes is to shoot with a calm, uncluttered mind, without doubting your abilities," Deepika told PTI.

"A bit of pressure is good to bring out your best. We are confident of making it." So far, Belarus, China, Chinese Taipei, Great Britain, Germany, Korea, Russia, Ukraine and hosts Japan have already qualified for the Olympics slated from July 23.

Qualification round: 12.30pm IST. News source PTI

Kolkata, Jun 18 The 10-day quarantine period in Paris did wonders for team bonding, feels seasoned Deepika Kumari as Indian women's archery team gets ready for their final Tokyo Olympic qualifier event on Sunday.

The world number three Deepika, who has already qualified for Olympics in the individual recurve category, has a different challenge this time though.

As the senior-most archer, she has to bring out the best from her team, comprising teenager Komalika Bari and fast-improving Ankita Bhakat -- the only change to the team that missed out on the team quota from the World Championships in 2019.

"Normally, I stay aloof and take time to gel with the juniors but during this quarantine in Vichy, we would spend hours together after practice," the senior-most Indian archer told PTI from Paris, ahead of their women's team Final Qualifier for Tokyo Olympics on Sunday.

"Transparency hona chaiye team game mein (transparency is key to team's success) and I think it is helping us tremendously. I'm happy with the team coordination. We understand each other very well now." "As a senior-most member of the team, the priority for me is to remain confident all the time so that it rubs off on them. Acha karna hai aur karwana bhi hai (I've to do well myself and also help bring out the best from them). It's my duty," Deepika, who is bound for her third successive Olympics, said.

The women's team checked in ahead of the men's and compound teams and entered a bio-secure bubble in Vichy, about 400kms from the venue Stade Charlety in Paris but they were allowed to practice.

"It's their first time and it's natural for them to be nervous. I don't want my team to miss out after one poor round. My role will always be to push them and take them to a zone so that they can give their best for qualification," Deepika, who recently turned 27, said.

The Indian women's recurve team of Deepika Laishram Bombayla Devi and Komalika had slumped to a 2-6 loss against lower-ranked Belarus to crash out of the Tokyo 2020 quota race at the World Archery Championships in Den Bosch, the Netherlands two years ago.

Since then India made a solitary change with Ankita making the cut and it worked wonders as they won a dramatic final against Mexico at the first stage of the World Cup in Guatemala City in April. It was Indian women's team's first gold medal since Wroclaw-2014.

"She (Ankita) is showing a lot of maturity in shooting, she has improved a lot score wise too. We just have to fine-tune a few aspects in her mental game and we have started working on it," Deepika said.

On her Jharkhand teammate Komalika, Deepika said: "She is young and fearless. If she gets the right kind of coaching and mental training, she can go all the way." "There will always be a bit of pressure on us, it's normal. In fact, a bit of pressure is good to bring out your best. You should not be overconfident. Rest we will see how it goes during the actual match. accordingly we will handle it there.

"There has been a lot of improvement. We are shooting consistently well and confident of qualifying," she said.

Incidentally, it's in the same venue of Paris that Deepika had clinched a World Cup Final silver eight years ago.

"Yes, I remember every bit of it and certainly it will boost my confidence," she signed off. News source PTI

Chennai, Jun 17 Young Indian footballer Shubho Paul on Thursday said being selected in FC Bayern's world squad (Under-19) is a dream-come-true moment for him and he is keen to learn the popular club's style of play.

"I am at a loss for words. I had never thought about it. It was my dream to be associated with a team like Bayern Munich. A dream come true for me...," he said at a virtual media interaction on his official selection in FC Bayern World Squad.

"I like the FC Bayern Munich way of playing. I want to learn the aspects of that style of play from the club's coaches," he added.

However, Paul who was to travel to Mexico where the squad of 15 was to train for some time before flying to Germany, would not be doing so now owing to the COVID-19 pandemic induced restrictions.

According to Bayern Munich officials, including Klaus Augenthaler, head coach of the FC Bayern World Squad (Under-19), Paul won't be able to travel to Mexico but would remain in touch with the club's coaches.

"He can't travel to Mexico because of the COVID situation. We will stay in touch with him. In August, we hope he can travel to Munich. We hope we can see him face to face and train with him. The club will support him," Augenthaler, a FC Bayern legend and World Cup winner, said.

He praised the 17-year old Indian. Asked what they saw in Paul which made the club rope him in, Augenthaler said "Definitely, we saw the quality he has. He is talented. The thing is he should not put himself under pressure. He has to learn a lot." Paul, who is the captain of I-League team Sudeva FC, was picked by the German giants after a process wherein players from around the world were selected and the list was narrowed down to 64, to 35 and finally to 15.

The world squad (U-19) will play matches against local teams, including the FC Bayern Under-19 side.

Meanwhile, Matthias Brosamer, head of sports in China, Japan and Korea of FC Bayern, said the club was making efforts to develop football in India and the selection of Paul in the Under-19 world squad was a step in that direction.

"We are aiming to find the right partner to develop football in India. Of course, Shubho (Paul) is the first step. We are looking forward to developing talents here. We are also here to learn from every country... every country is different in football," he added.

Paul has been at Sudeva FC since he was 12 and the club officials including Anuj Gupta, president and co-founder and Vijay Hakari, vice-president and co-founder, praised the youngster and his single-minded focus which had brought him to this level. News source PTI

New Delhi, Jun 13 Selected in FC Bayern's world squad (U-19), Sudeva FC captain Shubho Paul was a bit surprised but the young Indian footballer is determined to make the country proud when he goes to Germany for training.

The 17-year-old forward was selected from U-19 players from around the world through video footage analysis by FC Bayern legend and 1990 World Cup winner Klaus Augenthaler.

"I was surprised to see my name there. But it's really an amazing feeling. I need to make my nation proud, once I go there (in Germany)," Paul told the official AIFF website.

"I want to play in such a manner that they should look at my game and think that a good player has come out of India. Ultimately, I would love to make it to both the Bayern and India senior teams." Paul will now travel to Mexico, where the squad of 15 will train for 13 days, before flying off to Germany. The world squad (U-19) will play matches against local teams, including the FC Bayern U-19 side.

Paul said the German giants had insisted on full match footages in order to get a better analysis. At first, 100 players from around the world were selected and the list was narrowed down to 64, to 35 and finally to 15.

"Once I was selected in the 100s list, we had different kinds of assessment over video calls with the coaches from the club. Then finally, when they announced the list of 15 players that will train and play in Germany," the player from Bengal said.

Paul, a product of Sudeva FC academy since he was 12, was handed the captain's armband when the club made it to the 2020-21 I-League season.

While being nurtured in the club's academy, he also played for the junior national sides, where he won the SAFF U-15 Championship in 2019, scoring three goals.

He followed that up with a stellar performance in India's AFC U-16 Championship Qualification campaign, netting two goals in three matches.

"Sudeva helped me a lot. I've been at the academy since I was 12, and have learnt all the basics from there. I also learnt a lot from Bibiano Fernandes sir (former national U-16 team coach)," he signed off. New source PTI

UFC 263 is one of those non-missable cards put together by the promotion that includes superstars clashing against each other to settle a score and some fan favorites coming back to the octagon for an absolute war!

Let's have a look at the complete fight card below:



The banger of a main card starts in the light heavyweight (205 lbs) division where Scottish star Paul Craig takes on ‘Sweet Dreams’ Jamahal Hill. Followed by Jiu-Jitsu master Demian Maia who faces Chicago’s very own Belal Muhammad.

That’s brings us to the 3 marquee fights of the evening:

Leon Edwards vs Nate Diaz

Deiveson Figueiredo vs Brandon Moreno

Israel Adesanya vs Marvin Vettori

Let's start off with the welterweight (170 lbs) fight – Leon ‘Rocky’ Edwards welcoming Nate Diaz back to the octagon after almost 19 months.

The contest is highly anticipated to be one of the best of the card and the UFC have bent the rules by making this the first non-title, non-main event 5 round fight. Originally slated at UFC 262, Diaz and Edwards were all guns blazing till Diaz pulled out due to an injury.

The pair was left intact to compete at UFC 263.

on an 8 fight win streak, Englishman Leon Edwards will look to come forward and dominate Diaz from the bell. Diaz on the other hand, gets better and dangerous in the later rounds. Putting Diaz away too, isn’t the easiest task and Leon will certainly have his hands full on this one.

Fan favorite Diaz has been getting big money fights lately and his fight with Jorge Masvidal for the BMF belt created a stir in the MMA world.

Stylistically, a brilliant match up. Leon is looking to rake up another win and climb towards the belt while Diaz is looking at a win to earn another money fight.

Crystal Ball Prediction: Leon Edwards gets his hand raised.

The co-main event is a grudge match in the Flyweight (125 lbs) division between champion Deiveson Figueiredo and Mexico’s Brandon Moreno is going to be stellar. The hyper vs the calm. The champ vs the challenger. There are so many ways to look at this contest.

Hard hitting Figueiredo has promised a quick finish but the Mexican cannot be put out easily, especially after what we saw in their first encounter.

Moreno stepped in on 18 days’ notice to fight for the title and put up a Fight of the Night performance versus an extremely pumped Figueiredo. The fight eventually ended in a draw and it was just about time the rematch would take place.

Both fighters have had full camps and are extremely confident of taking home the W.

Crystal Ball Prediction: Figueiredo gets his hand raised.

The main event of the evening is for the Middleweight (185 lbs) championship between the champion, Israel Adesanya and Italy’s own, Marvin Vettori.

The pair met earlier in 2018 at the same venue (Gila River Arena) where Israel Adesanya got a split decision victory over Vettori, a decision that Vettori still feels wasn’t fair. This time the Italian Dream looks to shut the critics and settle the score with his arch rival, Israel Adesanya.

From Adesanya’s point of view, a few top fighters saying ‘No’ has given the opportunity to Vettori. Adesanya also feels Vettori hasn’t fought a legit contender in order to get a title shot. But with Costa and Whittaker out of the picture for a few months, a hyped Vettori answered the call and rose up to the occasion.

Will the Italian Dream shock the world and become Italy’s first UFC champion? Or will Israel prove why he is the best Middleweight to walk planet earth?

Crystal Ball Prediction: Israel Adesanya gets his hand raised.

Make your predictions on the top 3 fights and get a chance to win some cool merchandise from Monster Energy.
It's easy:

1) Make Your predictions

2) Use the hashtags: #SpogoUFC, #MonsterUFC and #SomeshMonster on Twitter and Instagram

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And you’re set!

To watch the live action, tune into Sony Ten this Sunday 13/June at 07:30 am and get a piece of adrenaline!



About the author

Somesh Kamra is a professional mixed martial artist specializing in Muay Thai. He has designed many effective training programs for Superhuman Gym and the Police Academy. His knowledge of hand to hand combat is unbeaten and has been a success story for many students. Somesh Kamra is educated from the University of Gold's Gym in the field of physical fitness that includes strength training, plyometrics & cardiovascular training for muscular conditioning.

He works closely with the UFC for India and serves as the panelist for the TV Show – The Ultimate Guide to UFC and Pit Stop on Sony Sports Network.

Somesh runs India’s first combat podcast – The Fighting G.O.A.T produced exclusively by the IVM Podcast Network.

Instagram: Somesh.Kamra 

Twitter: Somesh_Kamra 

Kolkata, Apr 26 For 13 years, a World Cup individual medal eluded India's number one in men's archery, Atanu Das. However, it all changed on Sunday in faraway Guatemala City thanks to his archer wife Deepika Kumari, whose inspiring words and bigger sporting feats pushed Das to go the extra mile and show the world that he is second to none. On the final day of the competition, Das converted his maiden World Cup medal into gold with utmost precision, less than a year after getting married to the former world number one. "She (Deepika) deserves most of the credit for my transformation," Das told PTI from Guatemala City, moments after he defeated Spaniard Daniel Castro in the men's final. It was a golden treble for India's star archery couple, 'Dee-Das'. Deepika won her first individual gold after three years, and a team gold for the first time since 2014. The real turnaround came for Das who had struggled to get an individual medal at the highest level since making his debut in 2008. "Seeing her perform best at the highest level, sometimes, I would get mentally depressed to cope up. I would keep working hard and ask myself 'when would my turn come?'," Das said. He had lost the bronze play-off to Kim Woojin in Antalya World Cup in 2016, in his previous best performance. "I would feel bad that I'm not able to match her standards till now. Deepika would get really angry the moment she would see me upset." Trailing 2-4, Das stepped up in the fourth set, shooting 28 and in the decider he was a class apart, drilling three perfect 10s to seal the issue 6-2. He celebrated his first ever World Cup individual gold with a punch in the air. "She would always say 'mera time pehle aaya hai, tera baad mein ayega (I peaked earlier, your time will also come... You just keep working hard," he said. These inspiring words from Deepika, who had won the Commonwealth Games gold at a young age of 15, would really motivate Das. "I would always wonder how she's able to achieve so much from such a young age. What was her mental state, how did she prepare. All those questions would fill in my mind. "It was about those small, small things which I've learnt from her. So it's Deepika who has played most part in my first gold medal," Das said. However, it was not love at first sight for the two archers who know each other for about 12 years now. The relationship was yet to blossom even until Rio Olympics 2016, in which both of them participated together. "There were misunderstandings, communication gap between us," Das said. It was only one year after the Rio Olympics, when they became close to each other, in an alien land not very far from Guatemala City in the central American continent. After the Indian recurve team's heavy defeat in the 2017 World Championships in Mexico City, which led to a lot of soul-searching, they got attracted to each other. "We went shopping together and bonded well. All our misunderstandings, doubts and differences were ironed out," Das recalled dating her in Mexico City. "Nobody proposed as such, it was just a mutual feel and happened during our stint in Mexico City. We started thinking when we will be able to win again and we started planning our shooting." They had initially postponed their marriage to keep the focus firmly on the Tokyo Olympics. But after the Games got postponed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they had to alter their plans, tying the knot in a quiet ceremony in Deepika's hometown, Ranchi, on June 30 last year. When the camp was shut during the lockdown last year, they created a small range in their apartment and would shoot together, just to keep their "mind in sync". "Rest of the time, it was all about mental preparation. We knew, technically we're up there and it was all about handling those crucial pressure moments, where we would falter by some millimetres." Having slipped to nine from being world number one in 2012, Deepika has also showed maturity during the stage one of World Cup, as she overcame two intriguing shoot-offs to seal the team and individual gold. After shooting a 10 to clinch the team final shoot-off against Mexico, it went down to the wire against USA's eighth seed Mackenzie Brown in the individual final after they were locked five-all. In the shoot-off, both of them shot 9s but Deepika was declared winner as her shot was about one centimetre out of the 10-ring to the right, while Brown's arrow went left and further out in the nine. "We are mostly focusing on mental preparation these days with yoga, meditation and visualisation programmes, it's helping us a lot," Das said. This is Indian recurve archers' best ever show in a World Cup, even as it came in a depleted field as Asian heavyweights like Korea, China and Chinese Taipei stayed away, citing safety concerns. "In today's day and age, the rankings don't matter. The competition had the reigning world number one Brady Elison but he got knocked out early," Das pointed out. Incidentally, the best compliment for Das came from none other than the reigning world number one. "He came up to me and said 'well done'... It's really motivating," Das signed off. News Source : PTI

Guatemala City, Apr 26 Indian archery's star couple Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das led the show with two individual gold medals as the country capped its best ever performance in a World Cup, claiming three golds and a bronze in the tournament's first stage here. Former world number one Deepika claimed her career's third individual World Cup gold to add to the team's triumph, while her husband Das grabbed his first ever World Cup individual medal in style winning the men's recurve individual final. The two are now automatically qualified for this season's most-coveted Archery World Cup Final. "We travel together, train together, compete together and win together," Das, who got married to Deepika in June last year after a two-year courtship, said after claiming the gold medal on Sunday. "She knows what I like, and I know what she likes." This was the best ever World Cup finish by India's recurve archers with two individual and one team gold medals in their return to the top International calendar year event after almost two years. Also, this was India's best ever individual recurve men's result since Jayanta Talukdar triumphed in Croatia way back in 2009. India started with the women's trio of Deepika, Ankita Bhakat and Komalika Bari winning the first team gold after seven years. They scripted a stunning turnaround to down fancied Mexico 5-4 (27-26) in an intriguing shoot-off. The performance rubbed off on the mixed pair of Das and Bhakat as they bagged a bronze, upsetting top seeds USA 6-2 with yet another fightback at the Sports Complex Los Arcos here. But the icing on the cake came in the individual events later in the day Deepika and Das bagged two individual golds in their respective events. Former world number one Deepika, who was seeded third, stayed calm in an intense shoot-off to edge out USA's eighth seed Mackenzie Brown 6-5 (9-9) by hitting closer to the centre. In the semi-final she had defeated her Mexican rival Alejandra Valencia 7-3. This was Deepika's third career stage win and first since Salt Lake City 2018. World number six Deepika was 3-1 up after two sets but saw that lead vanish after Brown evened the match with a 29 in the third and a 28 in the fourth. The two-time Olympian, however, held her ground in the fifth, shooting a 29 and displaying the kind of resilience she's oft been accused of lacking. "The most difficult part was the heart beat sound, which made me really nervous," she said, mimicking it for emphasis. "It's been a long time since I shot in the finals," she said. "It feels great and, at the same time, I'm happy and nervous. It gives me confidence and pushes me to give better performances." But the best show came from her husband Das when he outclassed Spanish World Cup debutant Daniel Castro 6-4. Das' previous best in the individual section has been a fourth place finish in Antalya 2016 where he lost to Kim Woojin in the bronze playoff. Trailing after three sets in the final against Castro, Das flicked a switch. He closed with a 29 and a 30 -- shooting his last 10 before his opponent had finished, putting the match out of reach and sealed the issue with a punch in the air. "It feels amazing. It's like dreams are coming true. I have worked for so many years and now this is paying off. This is my first title and I'm very happy," Das said. On his perfect last set to take gold, he said, "I just gave my best and was present. I didn't think about the future or the past, just present." "It's beautiful. It's a big boost for me ahead of the Olympics. I'm working in the right way," Das, who will be shooting in his second Olympics at Tokyo, signed off. News Source : PTI

Guatemala City, Apr 22 India's top archery couple Atanu Das and Deepika Kumari battled windy conditions to storm into their respective semi-finals in the recurve section of the Archery World Cup stage 1 here on Thursday. Atanu and Deepika later in the day, will shoot in the recurve mixed pair quarterfinals. In the team events they have already made into the last-eight of three events. Defying severe winds at the Sports Complex Los Arcos here, Das defeated his Candian rival Eric Peters 6-4 to set up a semifinal clash with Angel Alvarado of Mexico. Qualified straight to the round of 32 after finishing second in the rankings round, Das defeated Oscar Ticas of El Salvador 6-4 first up before ousting his teammate Pravin Jadhav by an identical scoreline to make the last-four. Deepika, who qualified as number three seed, downed German archer Michelle Kroppen as she will next face Alejandra Valencia of Mexico in the last four. Deepika had earlier defeated Kelsey Lard of the USA 6-0 in round two and overcame London Olympics silver medalist Aida Roman of Mexico in the shootoff 6-5 (10-9). However there was heartbreak in store for Ankita Bhakat as the second seed Indian lost to Alejanra 6-2 in the last eight. News Source : PTI

Guatemala City, Apr 21 Indian recurve archers had a blazing start on their return to the World Cup after nearly two years as the women's team topped the qualifications with Ankita Bhakat and Deepika Kumari's super show in the opening stage here.Atanu Das grabbed the second spot behind world number one Brady Elison to propel the men's team to a third place finish, as India have qualified straight to quarterfinals in the men's and women's team event besides mixed section where Das and Deepika will be in action together for the first time after their marriage last year."Mixed team, you know, I like very much. If I get to play with Deepika then it’s awesome. We’re a couple you know and then we’d be the first couple to play in the Olympics. So it’s fun," Das, who last won a mixed pair bronze with Deepika at the Asian Championships, told PTI.Das and Deepika, who have won many international medals together in the past, will take on France in the mixed team quarterfinals, while the top-seed women's team will face hosts Guatemala in the last-eight. The men's team, on the other hand, will take on the winners of Spain and Guatemala in their last eight clash.India were playing in the World Cup circuit for the first time after their appearance in the Stage 4 in Berlin in July 2019 and the Asian Championship in Bangkok in November 2019 was their last international appearance, albeit under the aegis of 'World Archery' after the national federation was suspended."It’s been a while since we played any International tournaments because of COVID-19... So it’s a very good tournament, very good weather, and I really enjoyed shooting," said Das.The tournament serves as a preparation for the Tokyo Olympics in less than 100 days and the Indian men's team which has qualified will look to make the most of it.The jet-lagged Indians showed little sign of rustiness as Deepika led with 339 points at the halfway mark -- four ahead of eventual topper Ana Vazquez and Bhakat.But the former world number one fell off the pace in the back end, having to rush her last arrows as she along with Ankita slotted in second and third places with 673 and 671 points respectively.Reigning under-18 world champion Komalika Bari took the 12th place with 659 points as the Indian women's team comfortably grabbed the pole position, 14 points clear of Mexico to seal its last-eight place.India number one Das finished 14 points behind USA's Elison who dominated the qualification round to finish with 694 points, his second-highest ranking round score of his career.A winner of two silver and one bronze medals at the Olympics, Ellison led Das by four points at the halfway break but made rapid progress in the back end to breach the psychological 690-barrier.Pravin Jadhav (15th) and B Dhiraj (20th) made up for their third team rankings on a day senior most archer Tarundeep Rai finished 22nd with a poor show of 663 points.The recurve archers were fighting it out solely as the federation withdrew the compound team boasting the Asian champions duo of Abhishek Verma and Jyothi Surekha on the eve of their departure after their coach had tested "positive" for COVID-19.The next day, it came to light that the coach had a "false positive" report at Sonepat but the damage had been done by then.Delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Tuesday’s qualification round at the Sports Complex Los Arcos welcomed the start of the 15th season of the international circuit.More than 18 months have passed since the most recent Archery World Cup Final took place in Moscow. News Source : PTI

According to a press release by AIBA, AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships is three days down. The event is the first global boxing event to take place in Poland.

The competition has featured bouts in almost all of the weight categories, with three women and two men divisions as exceptions. Boxers in the men’s flyweight (52kg), women’s bantamweight (54kg), women’s featherweight (57kg) and women’s lightweight (60kg) sailed already to the quarter-finals. 

A total of 121 bouts were contested during the first three competition days at Kielce. Altogether 414 boxers including 140 women and 270 men hailing from 52 different nations are attending the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships. 293 are still in contention, determined to make it to the podium.

Uzbekistan displayed perfect performances on the first 3 days

The Uzbeks came with 18 boxers to the event and all of them have strong medal expectations. The Uzbek head coach Hamid Tangribergenov picked strong women and men sides, following the sparring events in Yangiabad.

The Uzbek boxers bagged many medals at the Fujairah 2019 ASBC Asian Junior Boxing Championships and also the Ulaanbaatar 2019 ASBC Asian Youth Boxing Championships. Their brilliant run continued in Kielce. All of them knocked out tough rivals and made their nation proud but their main mission is not accomplished yet.

Cuba’s welterweight (69kg) boxer Dany Lafos had two sensational contests

The Cuban youth squad contested last time at the Pavlyukov Youth Memorial Tournament in Russia in 2019. The Cubans resumed to the international arena in Kielce and their Dany Lafos gave the fans a treat in the preliminary rounds. The boxer had a thrilling battle against Mexico’s Marco Verde in the welterweight (69kg) division, but he won with impressive stamina on Day 1. His next game was also a scintillating one, clashing against Czech Republic’s Milos Beranek.

Uktamova vs. Khanam - The highlight of the third day 

The third day of the competition featured 52 preliminary contests and including, Uzbekistan’s Nigina Uktamova and India’s Arshi Khanam who made the bout of the session. Nigina Uktamova, the defending ASBC Asian Women’s Junior Champion and her counterpart, India’s Arshi Khanam hit dozens of punches within nine minutes in the bantamweight (54kg). The unbeaten Uzbek girl looked in sensational momentum, especially from the second round and knocked out the tough Khanam.

Jordan’s KO amazing success

Over 85% of the contests have been determined by points in the initial 3 days but by the end of Day 3, one of Asia’s highly talented boxers knocked out his opponent.  Anas Alsadi from Jordan was hot favorite against UAE's Hyadra Nehayan in the light welterweight (64kg) prior to the game, but the KO was amazing in their meeting. Alsadi’s stunning right-hand hook got Nehayan perfectly and the Arabian boxer collapsed to the canvas. The referee announced the Jordanian’s KO success which was the maiden at the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships.

Iceland's Debut

Iceland had never attended any of the past AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships. However, this time one of their boxers was chosen to contest in this elite level of youth event. Emin Kadri Eminsson clinched the Boxam Junior Tournament held in Spain nearly three years ago and he landed in the city following a successful preparation. Iceland only has nearly 100 boxers on the island but he showcased their mettle and fighting skills in spite of his close defeat to Ecuador’s Piero Prieto.
 

What an exciting main card it was for UFC Fight Night – Vettori vs Holland also known as Vegas 23. We had a week off after UFC 260 only to be welcomed back with yet another exciting fight card by the UFC. It was the 30th event at the APEX Centre Las Vegas only to be behind the iconic MGM Grand to host the most live UFC events (43).

Let’s have a look at what went down at UFC Vegas 23 with the results stated below:



I had 66% accuracy on my predictions this time around. Mike Perry didn’t do as expected and fell short to Daniel Rodriguez’s strategy.
Rodriguez camped at the BMF Ranch with Donald Cerrone at his native Albuquerque, New Mexico and the difference was evident from his previous fight versus Nicolas Dalby. Rodriguez started off with a few leg kicks and immediately got his range figured within the first minute of the fight. Perry was finding it difficult to find his range and the few haymakers he threw were way off target. Rodriguez used his jab perfectly and timed the cross to perfection. So much so it broke Perry’s nose in Round 2. Even though Perry landed a body lock takedown in Round 2, the offense by Rodriguez was too much and the judges had it in favour of Rodriguez.

Round 3 started off badly for Perry as he looked visibly damaged coming out of his corner. It started no differently where Perry was the aggressor and made some wild swings only to miss Rodriguez completely. Rodriguez by now has read Perry perfectly and is cracking him with his one-two’s easily. Perry is slowly fading away but his heart isn’t giving up. Perry lands a few solid leg kicks only to be countered beautifully with a Rodriguez combination. Rodriguez does try a take down to fluster Perry and quickly pushes him towards the fence.At the end of round 3, there was no surprise that Daniel ‘D-Rod’ Rodriguez showed his true potential in a full camp.

Mackenzie Dern proved to be a handful for Nina Ansaroff now Nunes as she dismantled her clean in Round 1 itself. The fight was slated to be the return of rank 5 Nina Nunes versus the ranked 11 Mackenzie Dern. It was a classic striker versus grappler contest till the bell went off. Nina was returning to the octagon after 2 years and wanted to carry on the momentum of her life partner Amanda Nunes. As the bell went off Dern was aggressive to take the centre and land some immediate strikes that caught Nina off guard. Dern, known to be a BJJ specialist, has been camping with veteran striking and MMA coach Jason Parillo and the striking technique of Dern is immediately seen as a massive improvement. Dern throws a leg kick followed by a punch and immediately goes for the takedown that she secures very easily. Dern continues to ground n pound Nina and sets up the arm bar. Even though Nina is tough and holds on to it pretty tight, she’s dealing with a world class black belt BJJ fighter. Dern doesn’t rush in but strategically isolates Nina’s arm for a perfect arm bar. Dern ended this with 12 seconds to go in the very first round skyrocketing her in the women's strawweight rankings. A Performance of the Night bonus for Dern for that slick arm bar.

And now… to the main event of the evening – Italy’s own Marvin Vettori taking on Kevin ‘Trailblazer’ Holland.

For those of you who didn’t know, Kevin Holland accepted this fight on 9 days’ notice as the original opponent Darren Till was forced out due to a broken collar bone. Holland was coming off a gruelling 5 round battle with Derek Brunson not even a month back making him the tied for the fastest turnaround between two consecutive main events. Surely seems like a companys man!

The brash talking happy Holland went back to his old ways of being serious and grim before the fight as he knew he was stepping up to a betting favorite and if he had to pull this one off, he would need to give it his 100%. Vettori on the other hand was taking a lesser experienced opponent to save the main event. Another company's man in my eyes. The back and forth war between the two warriors was gruelling to watch. Holland went 10 rounds in a span of three weeks over two main events but unfortunately didn’t secure a victory in either. Vettori had the perfect strategy of taking advantage of Holland’s weakness (ie: the takedowns) and showed a gaping loophole in Holland’s game. Whilst Holland landed more significant strikes (37) compared to Vettori’s 24, it was the 11 takedowns that gave a clear unanimous decision to Italy’s own Marvin Vettori.

Camping at Kings MMA with Rafael Cordeiro and training partners like Kelvin Gastelum has clearly worked for Vettori as he looks to make his way to the top and have a rematch against the champion Israel Adesanya. Standing in Vettori’s way is obviously, former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker that takes on Vettori’s team mate Kelvin Gastelum in the coming Fight Night with Paulo Costa hanging in the wings somewhere.

It's an exciting time to be a fan of the sport and the UFC.

Tune in to more of the UFC action only on SPOGO News and do not forget to tune into my latest podcast – The Fighting G.O.A.T available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts via the IVM Podcast Network.
 
About the author



Somesh Kamra is a professional mixed martial artist specializing in Muay Thai. He has designed many effective training programs for Superhuman Gym and the Police Academy. His knowledge of hand to hand combat is unbeaten and has been a success story for many students. Somesh Kamra is educated from the University of Gold's Gym in the field of physical fitness that includes strength training, plyometrics & cardiovascular training for muscular conditioning. He works closely with the UFC for India and serves as the panelist for the TV Show – The Ultimate Guide to UFC and Pit Stop on Sony Sports Network. 

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New Delhi, Mar 2 (PTI) The much-popular Indo-Pak pairing of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi will be back after six years when it competes at the Acapulco ATP 500 event in Mexico from March 15. It will be first time that Bopanna and Aisam, known as 'Indo-Pak Express' will play together since they last competed at the ATP 250 event in Shenzen in 2014. The 2010 season turned out be breakthrough for Bopanna and Aisam as they reached the US Open final together, losing to great Bryan brothers. Bopanna even became world number three in that phase, touching his career-high rank in 2010. Their pairing generated huge interest in both the countries given the rivalry between the Asian neighbours. Since the 2012 was the Olympic year, Bopanna broke partnership with Aisam and chose to pair with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi for that season so that they could prepare for the London Games. They rejoined forces in 2014 before parting ways again. Now, both 40-year-old Bopanna and Aisam will be together again, albeit the arrangement as of now, is only for one tournament. "Right now we are just getting together to play in Mexico. So far we have not spoken about future," Aisam told PTI. Asked if it could well be a long-term arrangement, Aisam said, "Hopefully, it goes well and we can maybe play more tournaments in future as well." The 40-year-old Pakistani tennis icon said they were actually trying to enter the Dubai Duty Free Championships together but could not. "We spent a lot of time together in Australia. We spoke about if we could get in Dubai. He was looking for a partner and I am also looking for a partner for the rest of the year. So we thought let's team up for Dubai Open, unfortunately we did not get in. Our combined ranking was not good enough. "But we got into Acapulco. I am super excited. Hopefully, we will play well together and hit it off. Maybe then we can decide and talk of playing few more tournaments together, but right it's one off tournament. "I don't know what his plans are for 2021, if he is committed to play with someone or noit. We will see how things go." Bopanna and Aisam had begun the 'Stop War, Start Tennis' campaign to spread the peace message. They wore T-shirts that had slogan 'Stop War Start Tennis' printed and were acknowledged for the effort, winning the prestigious 'Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year' award.

La Quinta (California), Jan 23 (PTI) Anirban Lahiri made small errors but paid a big price for it as he missed the cut at the American Express Championships, here.

The Indian ace, who was the Asian Tour number one in 2015 before getting to the PGA Tour, made some clubbing errors on an unusually tough day at the Nicklaus Tournament course, which usually plays easier of the two facilities in use this week.

Following up on a solid 68 on Stadium Course, Lahiri carded one-over 73 at Nicklaus Course and missed the cut by one shot.

Korea's Sungjae Im of Korea rode a hot putter to seize a one-shot lead with 7-under 65 at PGA West Stadium Course. The 22-year-old rising star is 11-under 133 for 36 holes. Countryman Si Woo Kim (68) is 12-under 134 among five players chasing him.

"Definitely a tough day. Actually I didn't play that bad. Made a couple of errors in clubbing like on the ninth hole I found the water with my second shot. I was probably was in between clubs," Lahiri said.

"It was really a tough day with the wind swirling around and was quite cold. In all honesty I thought the Nicklaus Tournament course that we played today was actually playing harder than the stadium.

"Greens were rock hard and you know it was it was just a difficult day. I saw a stat that showed it actually played half a shot harder and that doesnt surprise me," said Lahiri.

Chasing Sungjae Im are Si Woo Kim, American Tony Finau (66), Mexico's Abraham Ancer (65), Nick Taylor of Canada (66) and overnight leader Brandon Haggy of the US (70) joined Kim on 134.

"The double bogey on eighth really hurt again. I hit the wrong club off the tee with an eight instead of seven and went to the back bunker and there was no sand. It's just one of those things. It was difficult to hit the ball close today. The conditions were not easy." "I made a few small mistakes that cost me two-three shots. But other than that I didn't really play bad so I'm very bummed. I won't say I'm angry because I definitely didn't play bad enough to not be playing the weekend. Lahiri will now play at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines next week.