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DIBRUGARH, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14
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Indian judokas target 10 gold medals NF Railway construction beat Alipurduar
A file photo Virender Yadav said she is hopeful that her players would do well. "Weve some good youngsters in the line-up and we hope to do well here. As for the Olympics, its very tough and the two women judokas have the best chance to qualify," womens coach Virender Yadav told PTI. Angom Anita Chanu (57kg), Huidrom Sunibala Devi (63kg),
Pooja (70kg) and Aruna (78kg) are the other members of the women team, which is a mix of youth and experience. There will be six disciplines in mens section with Punjab Polices Avtar Singh, a member of the Glasgow CWG team, ready to lead the pack in the 90kg section. Bhupinder Singh (60kg), Jasleen Singh Saini (66kg), Manjeet
Nandal (73kg), Karanjit Singh Maan (81kg) and Shubham Kumar (100kg) comprise the mens team. In the last edition of the South Asian Games, there were less number of disciplines and India had topped the medals tally with five gold and a bronze. Squad: Men: Bhupinder Singh (60kg), Jasleen Singh Saini (66kg), Manjeet Nandal (73kg), Karanjit Singh Maan (81kg), Avtar Singh (90kg), Shubham Kumar (100kg). Women: Laishram Sushila Devi (48kg), Th Kalpana Devi (52kg), Angom Anita Chanu (57kg), Huidrom Sunibala Devi (63kg), Pooja (70kg), Aruna (78kg). Coaches: Vladimir Kichatov, Rameshwar Dutt Mudgil and Virender Singh. Manager: Dhananjay Bhonsale.
India eye series win in Vizag PTI Visakhapatnam, Feb 13 : Buoyed by an overwhelming victory in the previous game, a resilient India would look to continue the momentum and seal off their second successive T20 series win when they take on Sri Lanka in the third and final Twenty20 International, here tomorrow.
letting the Sri Lankan batsmen dominate. Moreover, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's captaincy was impressive and all his experiments, be it reshuffling of the batting order or bowling tactics, paid off. India not only mastered the conditions but also executed their plans to perfection.
India shrugged off their embarrassing defeat in opening T20 match in Pune with a commanding show in Ranchi, where they outclassed the island nation by 69 runs to level the series.
The flying start that openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma provided India, gave Dhoni a chance to experiment with the batting order. The move to send Hardik Pandya ahead of himself and Yuvraj Singh worked well as the young batsman came up with a fiery cameo.
The Indian batsmen had struggled to cope with the 'green' track in Pune but adjusted well on a slow strip at Ranchi, where they did not put a foot wrong. The bowlers, too, were in complete control, never
In Australia, Pandya did not get an opportunity to show his batting prowess but he certainly made an impression in
MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh Ranchi last night. It required a lot of muscle power and accurate shot selection to get runs and Pandya did a decent job. However, Yuvraj Singh, who came to bat at number seven, did not get enough time and was out for a duck. It will be good if the elegant left-
hander get some time to spend in the middle before the next month's World Twenty20. Dhoni has conceded that it will be difficult to send him up the order since the top-four are doing extremely well but showed intent of giving Yuvraj more chances to bat for longer period.
Duliajan veteran XI win Sports Reporter Dibrugarh, Feb. 13: Duliajan veteran XI beta Anupam Sangha by 34 runs in the Sarat Sonowal Veteran Cricket tournament organized by Dibrugarh District Sports Association at DDSA stadium here today. Put into bat, Duliajan
Veteran XI scored 147 in 19.1 overs before being bowled out. Somen Dev top scored with 62 off 39 balls with seven boundaries and two sixes. Sanjib Das contributed 48 off 26 balls smashing three boundaries and three maximums. For Anupam Sangha,
Pakistan's women boxers look up to Mary Kom as their role model
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AGENCIES Shillong, Feb 13 : Three Pakistani women boxers Khoushleem Bano, Rukhsana Parveen and Sofia Javed - are on the verge of scripting history on Indian soil, when they step into the ring for the very first time. Three Pakistani women boxers - Khoushleem Bano, Rukhsana Parveen and Sofia Javed - are on the verge of scripting history on Indian soil, when they step into the ring for the very first time in an international event at the 12th South Asian Games on Saturday. The three pugilists credited the biographical sports film on five-time world champion and Indian boxing icon Mary Kom
as the biggest influence which has inspired them to take up a career in boxing. "We have been watching Mary Kom and it (movie) has really influenced us," the trio, donning their tracksuits with the Pakistani flag embroidered on it, told IANS. However, the young Pakistani boxers admitted that it was not an easy journey for them initially, when they informed their family and friends about their decision to take up boxing. "There are a lot of anti-groups who don't accept us. Initially, even our family and friends were not happy with us. But now everyone is supporting, be it our government or the boxing federation," Khoushleem said.
Dilip Chetri bagged four for 15 in 4 overs and Simanta Sharma took three for 27 in 3 overs. Sevok Das took two wickets. In reply, Anupam Sangha were bundled out for 113 in 20 overs. Rintu Moni Sharma scored 22 off 30 balls with three bound-
aries. Pralay Das contributed 16 off 20 balls. Rupen Buragohain and Romen Barman took three wickets each conceding 11 and 30 runs respectively. Somen Dev was adjudged man of the match. Tomorrow, Pioneer Club will play Evergreen Club.
Sports Reporter Dibrugarh, Feb. 13: North East Frontier Railway Construction defeated Alipurduar Division by 47 runs in the NF Railway Inter Divisional Cricket Tournament organized by Tinsukia Railway Divisional Sports Club at TDSA stadium in Tinsukia today. Opting to bat, NF Railway construction scored 297 for 8 in 40 overs. Parvez Aziz top scored with 113 off 86 balls and R.K Yadav scored 88 off 78 balls. Abhay Rai contributed 38. For Alipurduar, Sanjib
NF Railway construction winning moment Ojha scalped four for 27 while Amit Das took three for 52 runs. In reply, Alipurduar man-
aged to score 250 for loss of six in 40 overs. Jaydip Nath remained unbeaten on 126 off 25 balls. Gautam Srinu scored 35
and Pappu Das contributed 25 runs. Parag Das took two wickets for NF Railway construction.
Khawaja ton dominates for Australia AGENCIES Wellington, Feb. 13: Usman Khawaja continued his domination of New Zealand bowling with another century as Australia went to lunch on day two of the first Test in Wellington on Saturday at 238-3. Australia held a first innings lead of 55 with seven wickets in hand after New Zealand were rolled for 183. Khawaja was 115 not out in the third consecutive Test in which he has scored a century against New Zealand. Adam Voges put his reprieve from an umpiring blunder late on the first day behind him as he moved to 40.
Usman Khawaja Australia resumed the day at 147-3 and added 91 runs in the morning session with Khawaja progressing from his overnight 57 in a near chanceless innings. There were two strong leg-before-wicket shouts
by spinner Mark Craig against the left-hander but both were rejected. The first, when he was in the 90s, was dismissed with the ball drifting down leg side and the second, which New Zealand reviewed, showed the ball would
have grazed the outside of leg stump and the not-out decision remained. Between the two appeals, Khawaja pulled Craig to the square-leg boundary for four to reach his century and celebrated by kissing the badge on his helmet before saluting the crowd with his bat. It was one of 21 fours so far in Khawaja's 178-ball innings. Khawaja now has four Test centuries and they have all been compiled in his last six innings. He hit centuries in Brisbane and Perth when New Zealand toured Australia last November and added another against the West Indies in the Boxing Day Test.
Indian shooters reign supreme with clean sweep PTI Guwahati, Feb 13 : Indian shooters ruled the roost for the fourth successive day as they made a clean sweep of all the six gold medals on offer in the 12th South Asian Games here today. Omkar Singh (men's 10m air pistol), Rahi Sarnobat (women's 25m pistol) and Anjum Moudgil (women's 50m rifle 3 positions) grabbed a gold each while India also bagged the top spot in all the three team events to simply outshine their rivals at the Kahilipara Shooting Range here. The home country's domination was such that in the three individual events of the day, India swept all the three medals in two while winning a gold and a bronze in the remaining one. Pakistan's Kaleemullah (men's 10m air pistol) was the lone non-Indian to get a medal today. He won a silver. With today's show, the starstudded Indian team, which have six Rio Olympics bound shooters, has so far
collected 18 gold, 8 silver and 8 bronze in four days. Two days are left in the competition. The day also saw Olympics bound Gurpreet Singh coming up with a disappointing performance in men's 10m air pistol as he finished sixth in the event won by compatriot Omkar who shot a total of 198.8 to clinch the gold. Another Indian, Jitendra Vibhute, bagged the bronze. Omkar, Gurpreet and Jitendra then took the team gold in men's 10m air pistol event with a total score of 1735. Pakistan (1700) and Sri Lanka (1663) took the silver and bronze respectively. In the women's 25m pistol final, Sarnobat won the gold medal match against compatriot Annuraj Singh with eight points to two while Anisa Sayyed took the bronze by prevailing over Farhat Nasreen of Pakistan. India took the team event gold with Sarnobat, Anisa and Annuraj scoring a total of 1741. Sri Lanka (1654)
Indian shooters reign supreme and Pakistan (1631) got the silver and bronze respectively. There was a tough fight for the gold in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions between Moudgil and Elizabeth Susan Koshy. Moudgil was the better of the two in the kneeling position but Koshy made up the deficit with a strong show in the prone. But, Moudgil took control in the standing position and had taken such a huge lead, that
even a very poor shot of 8.0 in the gold medal deciding round could not stop her from grabbing the top spot with a total of 452.2. Koshy was second with a total of 451.9 while another Indian Lajja Gauswami took the bronze. Moudgil, Koshy and Gauswami then shot down the gold in the team event with a total score of 1726. Sri Lanka (1686) and Pakistan (1656) won the silver and bronze respectively.
World Cup record against India in our mind: Waqar PTI Karachi, Feb 13 : Pakistan's head coach Waqar Younis is confident that his new-look team would be able to break the jinx of not winning against India in major ICC events when they lock horns in the upcoming World T20, which begins right after the Asia Cup T20. Pakistan play India, first on February 27 at the Asia Cup in Dhaka, and on March 19 in Dharamsala at the World T20. They could also clash in
the knockout stages of the two tournaments. "Yes, it is at the back of the mind that we don't seem to do well against India in these big events, especially the ICC World Cups. We have a young team and in familiar conditions they can upset any team if they play consistently well," Waqar told PTI from Sydney. The former fast bowler, who is yet to go to Dubai to watch the Pakistan Super League matches, said India would pose a serious challenge to Pa-
kistan in the coming events because they had a settled T20 squad. "It will depend on the pitches we encounter in these two events but India is a well-balanced side and I am preparing the players for tough matches," he said. Waqar was coach when India beat Pakistan in the 2011 World Cup semifinals in Mohali and then again in the 2015 World Cup opener in Australia. Pakistan have never beaten India in a World Cup match.
"As a player and coach the ambition is there to end this jinx but, in T20 format, it is all about confidence and how you read the pitch and how you play on that particular day," he added. He admitted that a string of poor performances in ODIs and T20s against England and recently in New Zealand was not good for the morale of the side. "The selectors have made some changes and while I was consulted as always the final decision
is theirs. We have a young team and I would like to see more consistency from them," Waqar said. He said the experience of playing in two major events before big crowds would help in the development of the younger players. Pakistan dropped three of their regular batsmen in Ahmed Shehzad, Muhammad Rizwan and Sohaib Maqsood and also xperienced pacer Umar Gul for the two events. Five players in the squad
- Khurrum Manzoor, Babar Azam, Ifthikar Ahmed, Rumman Raees and Muhammad Nawaz are yet to represent Pakistan in T20 internationals. Waqar said India had the advantage of playing at home in the World T20. "But whenever the two teams play against each other it always boils down to the pressures and how players react on the day to the expectations from them," Waqar said.
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PTI Shillong, Feb 13 : Spearheaded by the experienced duo Laishram Sushila Devi and Thoudam Kalpana Devi, defending champions India will target 10 out of 12 gold medals on offer when judo gets underway in the 12th South Asian Games here. Glasgow Commonwealth Games silver and bronze medallists -Sushila Devi and Kalpana Devi -- who are Indias two Rio Olympic hopefuls, will look to rule on the mat in the 48kg and 52kg categories respectively when the three-day event gets underway at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Complex. The 12member Indian team is coached by the Kazakhstans Vladimir Kichatov, who took charge in August last year. Womens coach