Viresh bags bronze on dull day for India
NEW DELHI : It was disappointing day for India, while Iran stamped their authority in Greco-roman by adding two more gold on the second day of the Junior Asian Wrestling Championships here on Wednesday. Of the five Indians in the fray on Wednesday only Viresh Kundu was successful in winning bronze in 97kg. He fought back strongly to outplay Korea’s Jeongyul Kwon 14-5 to win his first international medal. With this, India’s medals tally swelled to five, four of which were won on Day 1.
JITU RAI DROPPED
NEW DELHI: Commonwealth Games champion in 10m air pistol Jitu Rai is among four shooters dropped from Target Olympic Podium Scheme due to lack of form. Three athletes were also dropped on grounds of below-par performance. Pistol shooter Yashaswini Deswal, Amanpreet Singh and Neeraj Kumar were also dropped from the scheme.
Pistol shooter Heena Sidhu and Anjum Moudgil are among those who will get funding to prepare for the continental event.
CWG gold medallist, table tennis player Manika Batra, has also been sanctioned ~2.4 lakh for training till the Asian Games.
U-17 COACH QUITS
NEWDELHI: Luis Norton de Matos, who coached the Indian team in last year’s FIFA U-17 World Cup, has decided to step down from his post citing personal reasons.
In a letter to the All India Football Federation, Matos expressed his inability to continue owing to a combination of personal issues and an aggravated knee injury that forces him to stay with his family in Portugal.
Matos, who had previously coached the youth team of Benfica, took charge of India’s developmental football teams in 2017 after the AIFF decided to sack German coach Nicolai Adam.
SHUTTLERS SHINE
NEW DELHI: Indian women shuttlers shone bright on the opening day in individual events of the Badminton Asia Junior Championships at Jakarta. Dipti Kutty prevailed over Kazakhstan’s Aisha Zhumabek 21-18, 21-13.
Medha Shashidharan then accounted for Iya Gordeyeva, also from Kazakhstan 21-9, 21-10 and then Kavipriya Selvam put it across Myanmar’s Seng Jar Nan 21-5, 21-8.
JUNIOR HOCKEY
ANTWERP(BELGIUM): The Indian junior men’s hockey team was held to a 1-1 draw by Belgium in its third round robin match of the U-23 Five-nation tournament.
The Indian team had a mixed bag of results in its first two matches as it beat Ireland 5-0 before losing 1-3 to Britain. Striker Md Umar found the back of the net at the stroke of halftime. Soon Syril Frying cancelling out India’s lead.
Meanwhile, the Indian junior women’s team defeated Belgium 2-0 to clinch its third consecutive victory at the Under-23 six-nations tournament.