Category: SPORTS

New Delhi, Nov 18 (DIN NEWS) Five-time champion M C Mary Kom punched her way into the 48kg quarterfinals while another veteran Sarita Devi made an early exit after losing a hard-fought 60kg bout in the AIBA Women’s World Championships here on Sunday. Chasing a historic sixth gold and first medal since 2010, the 35-year-old Mary Kom registered a convincing 5-0 win over Aigerim Kessenayeva of Kazakhstan in her opening bout of the tournament. The 36-year-old Sarita, who won a gold in the 2006 edition when it was also held…

India, despite missing their talismanic striker Sunil Chhetri, will fancy their chances when they take on hosts Jordan in an international football friendly here on Saturday.   The match at the Jordan capital is in preparation for the AFC Asian Cup, scheduled to be held in January-February next year. India are ranked 97th while Jordan are placed 112th in the FIFA rankings. Even though they will be without Chhetri, the country’s all-time leading scorer, Stephen Constantine’s men will take confidence from their goalless stalemate in their previous friendly against higher-ranked…

Mike Hussey, who has a fair idea about the current crop of India players, feels that all-rounder Hardik Pandya’s absence will “hurt” the visitors in the upcoming Test series against Australia. The series starts on December 6 in Adelaide. Pandya is undergoing rehabilitation after suffering a lower-back injury during the Asia Cup in Dubai last September. “I think Hardik is a wonderful talent and I am sure his game style would have been suited to the Australian conditions. Add to that, the balance he offers the team with his all-round…

Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed is confident leg-spinner Yasir Shah and medium pacer Mohammad Abbas can combine to tame “tough” New Zealand in the first Test starting in Abu Dhabi Friday.The fast-rising Abbas took 17 wickets in a two-match Test series, including a ten-wicket haul at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, as Pakistan beat Australia 1-0 last month.Abbas, who made his debut last year, has 59 wickets from his first 10 Tests and will be backed by the spin duo of Yasir and Bilal Asif. Sarfraz said he expects more…

Indian chess great Viswanathan Anand sees signs of greatness in Nihal Sarin but says it’s a long journey ahead for the impressive 14-year-old since there has been a trend of players struggling to replicate success as they age.Sarin did exceedingly well by forcing a draw with five-time World Champion Anand in the eighth round of the Tata Steel Chess Rapid tournament here.Currently ranked world number one in the U14 category, Sarin finished the rapid section of the tournament with just three points with six draws and three defeats but impressed…

India’s stand-in captain Rohit Sharma said it was important for Shikhar Dhawan to return to form ahead of the crucial tour of Australia, which will be a completely “different ball game”. Dhawan, who struggled throughout the preceding ODI series against West Indies, returned to form with a smashing 92 off 62 balls to help India beat the visitors by six wickets in the final T20 and complete a 3-0 series sweep.Dhawan and young Rishabh Pant (53 off 25) stitched 130 runs off 80 balls for the third wicket on Sunday to…

David Miller and Faf du Plessis plundered centuries in a 252-run stand to power South Africa to 320-5 in the third and final one-dayer against Australia here on Sunday.The pair came together at 55-3 in the 16th over with Miller swatting 139 for his fifth limited-overs century and du Plessis smashing 125 — his 10th one-day ton.Mitchell Starc, with 2-57, was the best of the Australian bowlers who were ruthlessly taken apart in the later overs.The series is all square with the Proteas winning the opening game by six wickets…

Ahead of their second home game against Neroca FC, Real Kashmir FC Saturday said they expect a tough match and would not like to get carried away by the incredible local support and positive results in previous games.”The support from Kashmiris in the last game was great and hopefully we can get the same again tomorrow. The players had a lot of excitement in the first home game and we got good results in the last two games and I think we will like to keep it going. But, we…

The unavailability of Australian batting stalwarts Steve Smith and David Warner has made India the front-runners to win the upcoming four-Test series Down Under, feels former stylish left-hander Vinod Kambli.Impressed with Virat Kohli’s imperious form with the bat, Kambli also showered praise on the India skipper, who turned 30 on Monday and is breaking record after record, saying he is hungry for runs and gives 110 per cent on the field.”Our chances are bright. We are going to win the series (in Australia). These two batsmen (Smith and Warner) are…