Boxers off to winning start
New Delhi: Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Manoj Kumar (64kg) gave India a perfect start at the Asian Boxing Championships in Amman, Jordan by thrashing local favourite Ibrahim Saleh in the opening round. The 26-year-old Indian, a silver medallist at the recent limassol Boxing Cup in Cyprus, lac Mohamed Dilshan of Sri lanka tomorrow in his pre-quarterfinal bout. In the first round, Manoj surprised the short but strong local lad with his aggressive intent and pace. Making full use of his height, the Indian dominated the proceedings through the bout, never allowing Saleh to play his natural game. By the end of the final round, Manoj had the clear advantage with fatigue setting in on the Jordanian boxer. Manoj entered the round of 16 with the victory.
Woman athlete flunks dope test
New Delhi: A medal-winning woman shot-putter at last month’s 53rd National Interstate Senior Athletics Championship has flunked the dope test, conducted by National Anti Doping Agency (NADA). NADA has not named the athlete but said her blood samples contained banned substance Methylhexaneamine. “The result management process has revealed that a woman athlete (shotput) reported with adverse analytical finding for Methylhexaneamine (MHA) following her urine dope sample collected in the said championship at Chennai. She is also a medal winner in this event,” NADA Director General, Mukul Chatterjee said in a statement.
archery camp now in Aurangabad
Kolkata: Acceding to the demands from the archers, the Archery Association of India (AAI) today decided to shift the national camp out from Army Sports Institute (ASI) in Pune to Sports Authority of India, Aurangabad for remainder of the season. “The archers will now train in Aurangabad till the World Championships in October,” said AAI assistant secretary Gunjan Abrol. The camp has been shifted from ASI after women archers requested change in venue which was marred by suicide of archer Pratima Boro followed by an alleged sexual misconduct case in the facilty. A request to the SAI director general to shift the camp was made on grounds of no separate hostel for women archers.
eccleston’s nod for Pirelli tests
london: Facing a revolt from teams over exploding tires at the British Grand Prix, Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone on Monday gave tire supplier Pirelli the green light to run tests to resolve the problem. Ecclestone said he spoke to International Automobile Federation (FIA) President Jean Todt, who agreed for the tire manufacturer to undertake unrestricted tests on a date yet to be arranged. One possibility would be replacing next month’s young drivers’ test at Silverstone for the tire tests. “(Pirelli) said they’d like to sort it out, but they don’t have a chance to do any testing because of these bloody silly restrictions we have,” Ecclestone said of the FIA ban on in-season testing.
PNS/Agencies