OPPN LEADER ARREST: PM IN GEORGIA QUITS

Ankit in quarters

Tbilisi, Feb. 18: Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia announced his resignation Thursday following a court ruling that ordered the arrest of a man who leads the exSoviet nation's top opposition party. Gakharia said in a statement he was stepping down because of disagreements within his own team over the decision to arrest Nika Melia, chairman of the United National Movement opposition party.

A Tbilisi court on Wednesday ruled to place Melia, who is accused of organising “mass violence” during antigovernment protests in 2019, in pre-trial detention after he reused to pay an increased bail fee of $12,000.

If convicted, Melia faces nine years in prison.

New Delhi: Asian youth silvermedallist Ankit Narwal (64kg) advanced to the quarterfinals of the 30th Adriatic Pearl Tournament in Budva, Montenegro with a comfortable opening-round win. Ankit registered a resounding 5-0 win over Uzbekistan’s Lazizbel Fattoev and moved to the last-eight stage, where he will face Ukraine’s Ratmir Turchaninov. However, Meitei Sanjarmbam (56kg) and Vishal (75kg) lost their pre-quarterfinal bouts to Ukraine’s Dmytro Todorov and Nurisiom Ismoilov respectively, held on Wednesday. Arundhati Choudhary (69kg), Babyrojisana Chanu (51kg) and Vinka (60kg) are in contention among the women and four male boxers — Arambam Naoba Singh (52kg), Sumit (69kg), Vishal Gupta (91kg), Jugnoo (91+ kg) — will be competing in the quarters. —