Was desperate to pay homage: Amit
NEWDELHI:“IT hurt a little bit more because I belong to the armed forces,” said Indian boxer Amit Panghal as he dedicated his gold medal at the prestigious Strandja Memorial Tournament to the 40 CRPF personnel who lost their lives in Pulwama terror attack.
The Asian Games gold-medallist claimed a second consecutive top finish at one of Europe’s oldest boxing competitions when he defeated Kazakhstan’s Temirtas Zhussupov in the summit clash in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Tuesday. He was India’s lone male boxer to grab a medal at the event.
The 23-year-old Naib Subedar in the Indian Army said the Pulwama attack was on his mind through the tournament.
Panghal said, “Main khud army se hun, dard isliye thoda zyada tha (It hurt a little bit more because I belong to the armed forces). I was desperate for a medal because I wanted to dedicate it to the heroes who lost their lives in Pulwama. This was my mindset the moment I got to know of the attack after landing here.”
SOURABH, KASHYAP, AJAY IN SECOND ROUND
BARCELONA: Newly-crowned national champion Sourabh Verma, Parupalli Kashyap and Ajay Jayaram advanced to the men’s singles second round after winning their respective matches at the $150,000 Barcelona Spain Masters here on Wednesday.
Sourabh beat Spain’s Luís Enrique Penalver 21-15, 21-16 in 33 minutes. He will clash with either Brazil’s Ygor Coelho or Ren Pengbo of China, who had defeated Lakshya Sen 21-8, 21-12.
Kashyap defeated Wong Wing Ki Vincent of Hong Kong 27-25, 21-18 in a 53-minute battle, while Ajay eked out a 18-21, 21-16, 21-17 victory over Malaysia’s Cheam June Wei in another match.
Ajay will face former world No 1 and top seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark, while Kashyap is likely to meet another Dane Jan O Jorgensen in the next round at the BWF World Tour Super 300 event.
ARCHERY OFFICIALS TO ASSESS SITUATION
NEWDELHI: A delegation of World Archery, led by its Secretary General Tom Dielen, is visiting the country next week to assess the Archery Association of India’s (AAI) situation after a controversial election which is yet to be recognised. The delegation will be at the national capital on February 25 and 26. They will meet the newly-elected office bearers of the AAI and officials of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and Sports Ministry.
MOHUN BAGAN WRITE TO AFC SECRETARY
KOLKATA: Mohun Bagan have written to Asian Football Confederation (AFC) general secretary Paul Windsor seeking his intervention to get the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to share the roadmap readied by the AFC and FIFA. The letter states that repeated efforts to get the AIFF to do that has not helped.