IBl from Sept 30 to Oct 15
New Delhi: The second edition of the Indian Badminton league (IBl) will be held from September 30 to October 15, the IBl Governing Council said on Monday. The governing council has decided to allow franchisees to increase the team strength from 11 in the first year to 13 players. Each franchisee can pick two more players — Indian or foreign — which will further intensify the competition. “Badminton competition at the 2014 Asian Games gets over on the 29th of September, 2014. Players can directly fly-in from Incheon for the league,” said the Badminton Association of India President and IBl Governing Council Chairman, Dr Akhilesh Das Gupta.
IOA panel to pick boxers for EVENTS
New Delhi: With Indian Boxing Federation’s return to the fold of its international body likely to take time, the Indian Olympic Association is set to constitute a committee to pick the teams for the upcoming Commonwealth and Asian Games, a top IOA official said. “The CWG (July 23-August 3) and Asiad (Sept 19-Oct 4) are a few months away and deadline for sending final list of participants will be approaching. But the situation is fluid now as we don’t know how long it takes for the boxing issue to be resolved,” the official said. “So, we have decided to form a committee to pick teams for the CWG and Asian Games. It may be done during the April 3 Executive Committee meeting or a few days later. We have to do it fast,” he said.
Delhi lose 10-0 to punjab
Chennai: Ajit Pandit and Harmanpreet Singh netted three goals each as title contenders Punjab overwhelmed Delhi 10-0 in the league phase of the Division-A of the Hockey India National Junior hockey tournament here on Monday. Shamsher Singh, Baljinder Singh, Parvinder Singh and Arshdeep Singh were the other players to score for Punjab. Uttar Pradesh downed Jharkhand 4-2 and Haryana toyed with Madhya Pradesh for a seven-nil verdict. Chandigarh did not turn up for their match against host Tamil Nadu. Steel Plant and Services won the final matches in the Division-B to get promotion to Division A for 2015 season. In Division-B final this evening, Steel Plant defeated Manipur 5-1 through Janma Mahji(3) and Santosh Baxla(2). Mantosh Singh scored the consolation goal for Manipur. In the Hardliners match earlier on Monday, Services got past Bengal by 3-1.
Ravi Kumar pushed to 2nd place
Nagpur: Competing in a higher weight category, Commonwealth Games gold medallist K Ravi Kumar was today pushed to second place by S Sathish Kumar of Railways in men’s 77kg in the 66th Men and 29th Women Senior National Weightlifting Championships here on Monday. Ravi Kumar, who was taking part in the Senior Nationals after a long injury lay-off, had won gold in the 69kg category in the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games. On the third day of the Championships at the District Sports Complex here, Sathish bagged all the three gold on offer in men’s 77kg with efforts of 145kg in snatch, 177kg in clean and jerk and 322kg in total lift.
Pune FC face Tampines Rovers
Pune: Seeking their first-ever win on the continental stage, Pune FC host Singapore’s Tampines Rovers in a must-win group match of the AFC Cup here Tuesday. Despite taking the lead in first half, Pune FC went down 1-3 to the same opponents in the previous round a couple of weeks ago and thus will seek revenge at this turn-over stage of the competition.