5 Indians in q/f of Youth Women's World Boxing
guwahati: India enjoyed an all-win day at the AIBA Women's Youth World Boxing Championships with five of the country's pugilists advancing to the quarterfinals after contrasting victories here on Tuesday. The fast-rising Ankushita Boro (64kg) led the charge with a facile unanimous triumph over Turkey's Aluc Cagla. Boro is a silver-medallist from the Balkan Youth International Boxing Championship and the International Ahmet Comert Tournament. Also advancing to the quarterfinals were Shashi Chopra (57kg), Jyoti Gulia (51kg), a Golden Glove Tournament gold-medallist, Neetu (48kg) and Sakshi Choudhary (54kg). Gulia, the boxer who opened the proceedings for India this afternoon, defeated Ukraine's Anastasiia lisinska to make the last-eight stage. Chopra, on the other hand, got the better of second seed Taiwan's lin li Wei-Yi to be just one win away from winning a medal.
Advani advances to World Snooker knockouts
Doha: Seventeen-time world champion Pankaj Advani showed no signs of a billiards hangover as he marched through the round robin stage of the snooker event with convincing wins at World Championships here. Advani on Tuesday scored a 4-1 win over Qatar's Khamis Alobaidli to secure a spot in the elimination draw of 64, which commences in two days. Though Advani has as one more match to go in the league stage, his wins so far have confirmed that he is advancing to the business end of the tournament. In the opening match, he whitewashed his Finnish opponent Heikki Niva 4-0 with breaks of 107 and 58. In the second league tie, Advani overcame Irishman Karl Fitzpatrick 4-1 convincingly too, firing in breaks of 108, 46, 45 and 40 in each frame to get closer to the knockouts. Advani had defended his World Billiards title in the 150-up format here on Novemeber 12. It was his 17th world title.
Yuki makes winning start at Bengaluru Open
Bengaluru: India's top men singles player Yuki Bhambri continued his fine show and defeated compatriot Sriram N Balaji in straight sets to make an emphatic start to his campaign at $100,000 Bengaluru Open, here on Tuesday. Yuki, who had won the Pune Challenger last week, lived upto his third seed billing and defeated Balaji 6-3, 6-2 in the relatively easy first round encounter. Yuki had clinched his first title of 2017 on the ATP Challenger Tour after registering a come-from-behind win over compatriot Ramkumar Ramanathan in the final of the KPIT-MSlTA Challenger in Pune. Yuki is currently ranked 122nd in the world after he had registered a win over Frenchman Gael Monfils and pushed Denis Shapovalov and Kevin Anderson to deciding sets in the Davis Cup and Citi Open respectively. He was ranked 474th at the start of the year. But in a major setback for Indian fans, leading contender Saketh Myneni had to withdraw from the tournament owing to a nagging right shoulder injury. He has been replaced by lucky loser Antoine Escoffier.
Ireland pick Malahide to host first ever Test
Dublin: Ireland cricket bosses have chosen Malahide near Dublin to host the country's inaugural Test match against Pakistan next year. The side, who have been playing one-day internationals since 2006, were handed Test status in June, along with Afghanistan, and will make their debut in the five-day format in the May 11-15 match. "We are delighted that Malahide has agreed to host this historic game against Pakistan," Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom said. "Even in its short history of hosting our matches, the club has already given us some wonderful memories, and we trust that May 11 and its ensuing days will provide many more." Malahide chairman Ciaran Keohane said: "Malahide Cricket Club is delighted to host the Inaugural Test Match in Ireland. We are looking forward to welcoming both teams to The Village."