Pooja clinches gold, Sakshi silver in Bulgaria meet
NEW DELHI: Pooja Dhanda won a gold medal while Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik had to be content with a silver at the Dan Kolov-nikol Petrov tournament in Ruse, Bulgaria on Friday. Sandeep Tomar also finished with silver after losing the men’s 61kg freestyle bout against Nurislam Sanayev of Kazakhstan (10-0). Pooja won gold medal in the 59 kg category after remaining undefeated in the league format of four wrestlers. Sakshi went down 3-8 to Henna Johansson of Sweden in the 65kg final. India’s Vinesh Phogat displayed great form to make the 53kg finals with a win over world silver medallist Sarah Hildebrandt of USA. Playing in her first tournament after moving to the 53kg category, Vinesh defeated the American 4-2.
HIMA FINISHES FOURTH
NEW DELHI: Young quartermiler Hima Das’ trade mark finishing kick was missing as she strolled home at 55.19 secs to come in fourth in her season opening 400m in the third leg of the Indian Grand Prix series held in Sangrur, Punjab.
Kerala’s VK Vismaya won gold at 53.80 secs.
Meanwhile, Rajiv Arokia won the men’s 400m race with a timing of 46.32. National record holder Mohammed Anas who made a start to his season with the Sangrur meet clocked 46.60 and finished second, while with the timing of 46.75, Jeevan K S won the bronze.
BFI TO BID
NEWDELHI:THE Boxing Federation of India (BFI) will approach the government to get necessary clearances in order to bid for the continental qualifying tournament for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.the last date to submit letter of intent is March 31 and the deadline to submit complete bid is June 14.
The IOC recently recommended international federations to ‘neither award nor hold sports events in India until clear written guarantees are given by the Indian government to ensure the entry of all participants in compliance with the Olympic Charter.’
PUNE CITY WIN
PUNE:FC Pune City secured a 2-1 win over Mumbai City FC in their concluding match of this season’s Indian Super League (ISL) here on Saturday. The win saw Pune rise to sixth in the standings with 22 points from 18 games. Mumbai had already confirmed third spot.
DOUBLES COACH QUITS
NEW DELHI: Malaysia’s Tan Kim Her has stepped down as India’s doubles badminton coach, citing personal reasons. The 47-yearold put down his papers before his contract with the BAI was to end after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.