No stopping Vijender Singh, claims 12th successive professional win
Dubai: Indian boxing star Vijender Singh demolished Ghana's former Commonwealth champion Charles Adamu to claim his 12th successive win and ensure that his four-year unbeaten streak in the professional circuit remained intact, here on Friday.
The 34-year-old former Olympic bronze-medallist, who holds the WBO Asia Pacific and Oriental super middleweight belts, prevailed in a unanimous verdict in an eight-round contest against the 42-year-old Adamu.
The Indian's right hand was just too precise and powerful to handle for Adamu, who looked intimidated, kept a shell guard, and was thrown off-balance more than once.
"It was a good fight, Charles Adamu is a good fighter but I was fully prepared to tackle his punches and landed my punches perfectly on him. It's great to be here in Dubai and to get this win. It was really exciting," Vijender said after the bout.
I wanted to finish this fight in three-four rounds, it wet into late rounds but I am happy with how I performed," said the boxer from Bhiwani.
The Ghanian also copped a point deduction in the fourth round for excessive bending. To Adamu's credit, he fought through despite the onslaught and ensured that the bout went the full distance.
Adamu came into this fight with an experience of 47 bouts, of which he had won 33 (26 knockouts). The Ghanian is also an Olympian and won a bronze medal for his country in the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur during his amateur days. But Adamu's wealth of experience didn't seem enough against an opponent, who was quicker and more powerful.
"I tried my best. I had made strategies after watching his videos but he was quite tough. I never expected him to be this good. I wish him the best for his coming bouts," Adamu said.
Vijender, who is promoted by Hall of Famer Bob Arum's Top Rank Promotions in the USA and IOS Boxing in India, is hoping to fight for a world title next year.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Rain lashes parts of Bengal as severe cyclone 'Dana' moves closer to coast
Kolkata (PTI): Several districts of West Bengal received moderate to heavy rain on Thursday morning, as severe cyclonic storm 'Dana' inched closer to the state’s coast and that of neighbouring Odisha, the IMD said.
The cyclonic storm is likely to make landfall between Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamra Port in Odisha early Friday with wind speeds of up to 120 kilometres per hour (kmph), it said.
The weather system lay 280 km southeast of Paradip (Odisha) and 370 km south-southeast of Sagar Island (West Bengal) at 2.30 am, the IMD said in a bulletin.
The cyclonic storm is set to bring heavy rainfall in several south Bengal districts, including Kolkata.
Advising fishermen not to venture into the sea, the Met Department said gale wind with speeds reaching 90-100 kmph gusting to 110 kmph is prevailing over northwest Bay of Bengal.
It warned that the wind speed over the area is likely to increase gradually to
100-110 kmph gusting to 120 kmph till Friday morning, and decrease thereafter.
The coastal districts of Bengal are experiencing moderate to heavy rain and gusty winds since the early hours of Thursday, while Kolkata woke up to an overcast sky and intermittent showers.
The bulletin warned of heavy to very heavy rainfall with extremely heavy downpour in isolated places in the south Bengal districts of North and South 24 Parganas, Purba and Paschim Medinipur, Jhargram, Kolkata, Howrah and Hooghly districts on Thursday and Friday.
Public transportation to and from Kolkata's suburbs may get affected from the evening, as Eastern and South Eastern railways cancelled a large number of trains on Thursday and Friday, in view of the cyclone.
More than 170 express and passenger trains running through South Eastern Railway (SER) jurisdiction have been cancelled, an official said.
The trains cancelled were scheduled to depart from their originating stations between October 23 and October 27, he said.
The Kolkata-headquartered SER zone is spread across West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand.
Besides, the Eastern Railway (ER) will not operate any EMU local train from Sealdah station on its south and Hasnabad sections from 8 pm on Thursday till 10 am on Friday, the official said.
The ER also cancelled 68 suburban trains on the Howrah division on Friday morning, he said.
The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) said it is on high alert and has mobilised vessels and aircraft to respond swiftly to any contingency over the Bay of Bengal.
Meanwhile, the NDRF said it has deployed several teams across south Bengal to tackle any emergency situation.
Ferry services in the Sunderbans area spread over North and South 24 Parganas districts and also across river Hooghly in Kolkata and adjoining areas will remain cancelled in view of the impending inclement weather, officials said.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has also opened a control room at its headquarters here, and cancelled the leaves of all essential staff.
