India end Asian junior boxing campaign with 8 gold medals
New Delhi, (PTI): The girls snared half a dozen of them as India ended its Asian Junior Boxing Championship campaign in Dubai with a whopping eight gold medals besides bagging five silver and six bronze.
Out of the 10 girls in the finals, six ended with gold medals, while four others claimed silver finishes. Among the boys, three were in the finals and two of them signed off with gold medals.
India's tally of gold medals was equal to traditional powerhouse Kazakhstan and just one less than another heavyweight Uzbekistan.
Rohit Chamoli (48kg) and Bharat Joon (+81kg), Vishu Rathee (girls 48kg), and Tanu (girls 52kg) were the early gold-medallists before others joined in late night bouts on Sunday.
Nikita Chand (60kg), Mahi Raghav (63kg), Pranjal Yadav (75kg) and Kirti (+81kg) picked up their yellow metals in the later bouts.
Kirti won against Shugyla Rysebek of Kazakhstan in a 4-1 split decision. Raghav (63kg) also fetched a split 3-2 decision against Algerim Kabdolda of Kazakhstan.
Chand outperformed Assem Tanatar of Kazakhstan, while Yadav defeated another Kazakh in Akzhan in a spilt 4-1 decision.
Rudrika (70kg) went down 1-4 against Uzbek Oysha Toirova and Sanjana (81kg) endured a 0-5 loss against Kazakhstan's Umit Abilkaiyr.
Aanchal Saini (57kg) also went down 0-5 against Ulzhan Sarsenbek of Kazakhstan to end with a silver medal.
India's six bronze medals came after Devika Ghorpade (50kg), Aarzoo (54kg) and Supriya Rawat (66kg) lost in the girls semi-finals while Ashish (54kg), Anshul (57kg) and Ankush (66kg) exited in the boys' last-four stage.
In the last Asian Junior Championships held in 2019 in Fujairah, UAE, India had finished third with 21 medals (six gold, nine silver and six bronze).
At the ongoing edition, the gold medallists in the junior category were awarded with USD 4,000 while USD 2,000 and 1,000 were given to the silver and bronze medal winners respectively.
On Monday, 15 Indian boxers will fight for gold in the youth event.
Nivedita (48kg), Tamanna (50kg), Simran (52kg), Neha (54kg), Preeti (57kg), Preeti Dahiya (60kg), Khushi (63kg), Sneha (66kg), Khushi (75kg), Tanishbir (81kg) will be in action in the women's category.
Among the men, Vishvanath Suresh (48kg), Bishwamitra Chongtham (51kg), Jaydeep Rawat (71kg), Vanshaj (64kg) and Vishal (80kg) will fight their finals.
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Marsh, Markram score half-centuries as LSG make 203/8 against MI
Lucknow, Apr 4 (PTI): Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya scalped his maiden five-wicket haul in T20 cricket in an inspiring bowling performance but Lucknow Super Giants rode on superb half-centuries from Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram to post 203 for 8 in an Indian Premier League match here on Friday.
Pandya returned with magnificent figures of 5/36, taking the wickets of Markram (53 off 38 balls), Nicholas Pooran (12), Rishabh Pant (2), David Miller (27) and Akash Deep (0), putting brakes on LSG's innings after the home team was put in to bat.
LSG were off to a great start with opener Marsh hitting his third half-century in four matches. His 60 came off just 31 balls and was studded with nine fours and two sixes.
With the other opener Markram also in good nick, LSG were 69 for no loss at the end of power play. But MI came back after that with Pandya making crucial bowling changes.
Left-arm wrist spinner Vignesh Puthur, who had starred in MI's win over Chennai Super Kings, was introduced in the seventh over and he gave the breakthrough immediately. He had Marsh caught and bowled, breaking the dangerous-looking opening stand of 76 runs.
Pandya then brought himself into action and had Pooran in the ninth over before getting the prized wicket of LSG captain Pant (2) who got out cheaply once again.
Substitute fielder Corbin Bosch took a fine catch at the mid-off after Pant failed to negotiate a slower ball off Pandya. Pant, who faced six balls, continued his poor form, having scored 0, 15, 2 in his three earlier innings.
LSG were 107 for 3 in 10.4 overs when Pant was out.
Markram, who had been ordinary so far, stood up for his team and held one end together till he was out in the 18th over.
Earlier, Deepak Chahar gave away 15 runs in the second over with Marsh hitting two fours and Markram getting a boundary.
Marsh was on fire as he punished Trent Boult with two clean hits -- one yielding a six and another a four.
The Australian did not spare Mitchell Santner, hitting two fours off the Kiwi bowler and then gave young Indian left-arm pacer Ashwani Kumar, who had starred in MI's previous match, the same treatment.
He hit Kumar for a six and a four in consecutive balls in the sixth over to reach to his fifty off just 27 balls. Kumar bled 23 runs in that over.
MI stalwart and India captain Rohit Sharma, who had struggled in the three matches he had played so far, missed out the match as he was hit on knees at the nets.
Brief scores:
Lucknow Super Giants: 203 for 8 in 20 overs (Mitchell Marsh 60, Aiden Markram 53, Ayush Badoni 30, David Miller 27; Hardik Pandya 5/36).
