1. Vijender Singh beats Maimaitiali to win WBO Oriental Super Middleweight title.
The legend of Vijender Singh continued to grow as the Indian boxing star outslugged his Chinese opponent Zulpikar Maimaitiali in a close bout to retain the WBO Asia Pacific Super Middleweight title in Mumbai on Saturday.
It was double delight for the fans as Singh also snatched the WBO Oriental Super Middleweight title from the Chinese, who is nine years younger to him. It was the 32-year-old Beijing Olympic bronze medallist’s ninth successive win in his professional career.
In front of a partisan crowd, Singh gave an exhibition of his class during the slugfest, and his oodles of experience came in handy during 10 intense rounds. While Singh had commented that ‘Chinese products don’t last long’ but Maimaitiali managed to squeeze every ounce of his opponent’s energy. “I didn’t expect him to fight so well and last the distance,” Singh said after the bout.
Using his height and greater reach to good effect, Singh most of the time had the better of exchanges with his straight ones and hooks landing flush on Maimaitiali, whose blows didn’t have the desired effect. The Chinese southpaw had his guard up most of the times and with a crouched stance, was relying mostly on the uppercuts.
However, he was guilty of trying to hit Singh below the belt with as many as five low blows for which he was promptly warned by the referee. The only round when
Maimaitiali looked a bit assertive was the third one when he tried to chase the Indian, who again showed his fleet-footedness to evade his punches on more than one occasions. A frustrated Maimaitiali, in fact, pushed Singh to the ground, a favour that the Indian duly returned in the very next round.Maimaitiali got the real taste of Singh of yore, when he landed a straight right followed by a left uppercut flush on his face as the crowd roared in approval.
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However, the younger legs of Maimaitiali did help him towards the fag end of the bout as the Indian looked tired. Maimaitiali took the chance to attack but Singh’s tight defence, despite jaded legs, helped him.
In the final round, Maimaitiali landed an uppercut which left the Indian ace with a bloodied nose, but he did manage to hold his own in the end. The bonhomie between the opponents was there to be seen as Maimaitiali hugged Singh and made him wear his cap. PTI
2. Ankur Mittal Wins Gold Medal in Asian Shotgun Championship.
Indian shooter Ankur Mittal clinched the individual as well as the team gold medal in men`s double trap at the 7th Asian Shotgun Championship in Astana, Kazakhstan on Saturday.
Mittal shot 71 in the six-man final to finish at the top of the podium.With scores of Sangram Dahiya (43) and Mohammad Asab (34) added to Mittal`s final total, India managed to bag the top prize in the team event too.
In the individual event, Dahiya finished fourth, while Asab had to be contend with the fifth position.
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Mittal, a World Cup gold medallist, shot 137 in the qualification and was behind topper Dahiya (140) as well as Asab (138).
Mittal had won a gold medal at the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup in Acapulco, Mexico, earlier this year. Before that, he had bagged a silver in season`s inaugural World Cup in New Delhi.
UAE`s Khaled Alkaabi (70) won the silver in men`s double trap event, while Saif Alshamsy (53) finished with the bronze.
3. ONGC beats Bengaluru Hockey and won MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup.
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) capped a fine run by beating surprise finalist Bengaluru Hockey Association (BHA) 4-2 in the final to emerge champion in the 91st All-India MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament here today.
ONGC, after a mixed performance in the round-robin phase, raised its game in the semifinal to knock out defending champion Indian Railways. They continued in the same vein this evening and made their intentions clear from the beginning.Diwakar Ram, one of the key players in the tournament, gave ONGC a flying start by scoring from a penalty corner in just the third minute. With the two teams looking to assert their supremacy and to stay aggressive, there were quite a few quick moves. The Bengaluru team hit back within two minutes of conceding the goal when Rajkumar Pal sent one past the rival custodian to level things.
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The BHA team, which had impressed many on its way to the final, kept attacking, which brought another goal, in the 13th minute through Bijju Yirkal’s field goal.
Mandeep Antil restored parity for ONGC when he got one through from a penalty corner in the 28th minute. The two teams went into the break locked at 2-all. In the second half, the experience of ONGC showed as they raised their game a notch and the third goal came against the run of play when Machaiah scored in the 52nd minute.
He was at it again with a goal in the final minute to end Bengaluru’s fine run. The victorious ONGC team received Rs five lakh prize money while BHA got Rs 2.5 lakh.Murugappa Group executive chairman A Vellayan gave away the prizes in the presence of MCC president Srivatsan Subramaniyam.
Special prizes: Best forward: Jenjen Singh (Bengaluru HA), best mid-fielder: Machaiah (ONGC), best goalkeeper-defender: Diwakar Ram, Most promising player: Sanjay Xalxo (Odisha), man of the final: Rajkumar Pal (BHA).