Pooja clinches gold, Sakshi silver; Bajrang in 65kg final
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 61 kg 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, who had stunned reigning world champion Petra Olli of Finland to enter the finals of the 65kg, went down 3-8 to Henna Johansson of Sweden in the final.
Among other wrestlers, Bajrang Punia entered the final of 65kg category after winning two bouts on Friday. He defeated Niurhun Skrabin of Belarus (8-6) and Eduard Grigorev of Russia (2-0) in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively. Bajrang will meet Jordan Michael Oliver of USA in the final.
BFI TO BID FOR OLYMPIC QUALIFYING EVENT
NEW DELHI: 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 International Boxing Association (AIBA) in a communication to national federations on Friday invited bids to conduct continental as well as global competitions in 2020. The last date to submit letter of intent is March 31 and the deadline to submit complete bid is June 14.
“We will put the matter in front of the executive committee later this month. We will seek government permission as we will have to give the letter of support in bid document,” said a top Boxing Federation of India (BFI) official. The International Olympic Committee (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. The IOC statement came after Pakistani shooters were denied visa for the recently-concluded ISSF World Cup.
Also, BFI was warned by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) last year as a boxer from Kosovo was denied visa to compete in the Women’s World Championship held in New Delhi in November.
DOUBLES BADMINTON COACH RESIGNS
NEW DELHI: Malaysia’s Tan Kim Her has stepped down from his post as India’s doubles badminton coach, citing personal reasons. The 47-year-old put down his papers one-and-a-half years before his contract ends.