Sonia lather storms into Final
Astana (Kazakhstan): Sonia lather (57kg) stood just one win away from ending India's six-year-old gold medal drought at the AIBA Women's World Boxing Championship as she advanced to final after outpunching Kazakhstan's Aizhan Khojabekova in the last-four stage here on Thursday. The 24-year-old Sonia, who is a 2012 Asian Championships silver-medallist, defeated Khojabekova 3-0 to set up a clash with Italian Alessia Mesiano, who got the better of Bulgaria's Denitsa Eliseeva by a similar margin. The lone Indian left in the fray, Sonia was quick off the blocks against her rather sloppy rival. Combining right hooks with power-packed jabs, Sonia threw Khojabekova off balance on more than one occasion.
Para athlete Saroha wins gold
New Delhi: Indian para athlete and Arjuna Awardee Amit Kumar Saroha from Haryana won the gold medal in men's club throw (F-51) at the recently concluded 2016 French Open Athletics Championship in Paris. The event was held on May 23 and 24. Amit's effort of 26.58m broke the Asian record which he had himself set at last year's World Championships in Doha on way to winning a silver. Amit has already qualified for the 2016 Rio Paralympics scheduled to be held this September, and the 2016 French Open Athletics Championship was part of his preparation for Rio 2016, for which he is one of India's biggest medal prospects.
Joshna in semis, Dipika loses
Hong Kong: Joshna Chinappa defeated Rachael Grinham to secure a place in the semifinals while her India teammate Dipika Pallikal lost in straight games against top seed Joelle King in the PSA HKFC International squash tournament here on Thursday. Joshna won a close first game but went on to win the next one comfortably before losing her way in the third and fourth. The third seed bounced back to win the decider for a 15-13, 11-6, 6-11, 9-11, 11-4 win. She takes on local favourite and second seed Annie Au in the semifinals on Friday. It was not a day to remember for Dipika as she was outplayed by Joelle of New Zealand 8-11, 6-11, 8-11 in the quarterfinals.
Anmol breaks record in girls' 3000m run
Kozhikode: Kerala's distance runner Anmol Thampi bettered the national and meet records in the 3000 metre as the hosts began their campaign in style at 13th National Youth (U18) Athletics championships which began here on Thursday. Thampi clocked a record 10:00.22 seconds, surpassing the national record of 10:08.29 set by S Jadhav of Maharastra in 2013 and the meet record of 10:08.45 set by Aleesha, also of Kerala, in 2015. In the boys 3000m run, Tamil Nadu's Bahadur Patel claimed the gold covering the distance in 8:36.76s. Agencies