Colaco stays with East Bengal
Kolkata: East Bengal club authorities on Thursday confirmed that Armando Colaco will continue as the chief coach for the upcoming season putting an end to the impasse during the past few weeks over the Goan coach’s availability. “He wrote to us confirming his availability and stated ‘I’m honoured to remain with East Bengal and I’ll strive hard towards success’,” club’s general secretary Kalyan Majumdar said while displaying Colaco’s e-mail to the reporters in a hurriedly-called press conference. It was just a week back, East Bengal officials had said “Colaco’s chapter was closed” as the club apparently did not give in to the Goan’s long-list of demands including interest of joining an ISl team.
India canters to 2nd straight win
Kathmandu: India thrashed Sri lanka 97-30 to record their second straight win in the 3rd South Asian Basketball Association Championship here on Thursday. India had beaten Bangladesh 95-39 in their opening match on Wednesday. Making full use of his deep bench, Indian head coach Scott Flemming utilised all 12 players yet again, with the result that multiple Indian players scored in double digits. Just like the previous match against Bangladesh, India’s man to man defence restricted their opponents to less than 40 points in the game. In classical textbook fashion, the defence converted into offence with the result that India scored the bulk of their points through easy transition layups. On Friday, India play Nepal in what promises to be a cracker of a contest, especially considering the vociferous home support that the Himalayan nation has enjoyed in this competition.
AIBA approves group to revive IABF
New Delhi: The terminated Indian Amateur Boxing Federation on Thursday got a new lease of life with the International Boxing Association approving the application of Boxing India (The Bout outside the Ring) without specifying the individuals representing the group. ‘Boxing India’ was, however, the name given to the faction led by former Secretary General P K Muralidharan Raja which had claimed support of 26 out of the 35 states and units that make up the IABF. Interestingly, ‘Boxing India’ was also the first to submit a vision document to AIBA after the world body terminated IABF for not holding fresh elections after being suspended in 2012 for possible manipulation in the polls. “The International Boxing Association (AIBA) Executive Committee (EC) has approved the application of Boxing India (The Bout outside the Ring) as provisional new AIBA member for India until ratification by the AIBA Congress, following recommendations by the AIBA Evaluation Committee,” the AIBA said in a statement. Agencies