Former world and Asian champion L  Sarita Devi (60kg) today advanced to the quarterfinals of the  National Women's Boxing Championships here.
Sarita, who won a bronze medal at the Asian Championships  last year, defeated Tamil Nadu's Muthulakshmi in a bout that  had to be stopped in the opening round itself. Sarita is  competing for All India Police at the event.
Also entering the quarters was President's Cup bronze-  medallist Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) of Assam. Borgohain got the  better of Maharashtra's Almas Shaikh in a unanimous 5-0  verdict.
Railways Sports Promotion Board's boxers had a good day  with Asian Championships quarterfinalist Shiksha (54kg) and  former national champion Pavitra (60kg) entering the quarters.
While Pavitra out-punched Bihar's Shivani Bharti, Shiksha  defeated Rajasthan's Jyoti 5-0.
Results from Morning Session:
Light Fly (45 - 48 KG) : Monika (Har) bt Pallavi (HP) RSC  Round 1; Rebecca Lalinmawii (Miz) bt Puja Ranpal 5:0; Archana  Thapa (Utk) bt Fancy ...

Sarita in quarters of National Boxing Championships

PTI Automatic

Avram Grant says India is doing  the right things in football, days after being tasked with  reviving NorthEast United's fortunes in the ISL, like he did  when he was in charge of Premier League giants Chelsea many  summers ago.
India might seem like an odd destination for a man who  has coached three English Premier League teams  Chelsea FC,  Portsmouth and West Ham  but for Grant it was quite an easy  decision to make.
"It wasn't difficult. I wanted to see football in  different places. I was in Thailand, Serbia, Africa; I enjoyed  very much. I enjoy seeing countries that want to develop and  India wants to develop its football. I think they are doing  the right thing. There is lot to do.
"It's a process but for me I came for short time to see  how it is and share my experience. It's an easy decision,"  said Grant, who last coached the Ghana national team.
The Israeli coach, who took Chelsea to the final of the  UEFA Champions League in 2008, is now technical advisor to  NorthEast ..

India is doing the right thing: Avram Grant

North Korean athletes and officials  will attend the Winter Olympics in South Korea next month, the  two sides said today after their first official talks in more  than two years.
"The North Korean side will dispatch a National Olympic  Committee delegation, athletes, cheerleaders, art performers'  squad, spectators, a Taekwondo demonstration team and a press  corps and the South will provide necessary amenities and  facilities," they said in a joint statement.

'North Korea will send athletes to South's Winter Olympics'

The ignored trio of KL Rahul,  Ajinkya Rahane and Ishant Sharma were part of an optional  practice session at Newlands, even as South Africa coach Ottis  Gibson warned they would continue to torment India with pace.
India lost the first Test by 72 runs within four days,  with Vernon Philander wreaking havoc with his pace and swing.
Parthiv Patel was also part of the small training group.  Assistant coach Sanjay Bangar and bowling coach Bharat Arun  were part of the support team that assisted them through the  session lasting just under 90 minutes.
Rahul and Rahane both batted in the adjoining nets,  alternating between throw-downs and facing throw-downs as well  as net bowlers. Ishant Sharma also bowled. Patel was last to  join in the batting sessions.
There has been a lot of debate over India's team  selection in the first Test. Certainly, South African skipper  Faf du Plessis had expressed surprise at the omission of both  Rahane and Ishant, with Rohit Sharma (21 runs in two ...

Ignored trio trains at Newlands as SA coach fires pace warning

Medium-pacer K Vignesh with a  five-wicket haul and Dinesh Karthiks half-century starred as  Tamil Nadu beat Kerala by 35 runs in the Syed Mushtaq Ali  Trophy South Zone T20 cricket tournament here today.
Tamil Nadu made 184 for 7 in 20 overs and restricted  Kerala 149 for 7 to emerge victor.
It is the team's second consecutive win after beating  Andhra yesterday.
Sent in to bat by Kerala captain Sachin Baby, Tamil Nadu  lost K Bharath Shankar (7) in the third over, caught and  bowled by Sandeep Warrier.
Dinesh Karthik, who hammered a quickfire half-century  against Andhra Pradesh yesterday, continued his good form and  played numerous attractive strokes.
He reached 50 in 28 balls and lashed 20 runs in the next  10 balls he faced to power Tamil Nadu.
Along with the left-handed M S Washington Sundar,  Karthik added 92 runs in quick time as the Kerala bowlers  struggled to contain them.
Karthik looked in impressive touch as he blasted eight  fours and four sixers in his 38-ball 71 to ...

Vignesh, Karthik star as TN beats Kerala

Pakistan's ousted Prime Minister  Nawaz Sharif today lambasted cricketer-turned politician Imran  Khan as a coward for putting the dignity of a family at stake  by proposing marriage to a woman he has been visiting for  spiritual guidance.
Khan, the leader of the Opposition, on Sunday had  confirmed that he had proposed marriage to the woman named  Bushra Maneka but denied reports that he had secretly wed her.
Sharif said Khan was cowardly hiding after putting the  dignity of a family at stake.
"What sort of person he is who hides like a coward while  leaving an innocent family to face rumours," he said.
Khan, 66, was married twice earlier.
Khan had first tied the knot with Jemima Khan on May 16,  1995 that ended in divorce after nine years on June 22, 2004.  His second marriage was with Reham, then a TV anchor, which  continued barely 10 months. Although that marriage was  publicly announced on January 8, 2015, there were reports that  a nikah had also taken place in early November ..

Sharif calls Imran Khan coward

At 44, with 18 Grand Slam titles  and an Olympic medal in his cupboard, Leander Paes is finding  it "tough to set new goals" but still spent his off-season  getting stronger to remain relevant in modern day tennis,  which is being dominated by brute power.
Many of his contemporaries have become coaches and many  of his juniors have already hung racquets but this Indian  legend's hunger for tennis is far from satiated.
"For me the off-season is about skill, endurance,  weights, core, back, reinventing my game because now the game  has become physical. All these boys are 6'3", 6'5". They are  so strong, that your reaction time becomes less because the  ball is being hit so hard.
"Building power means that the serve can be powerful. The  forehand can be stronger. You can come back with a new style  of doubles. So, the off-season for me is more about physical  fitness and also about setting new goals because I am finding  it very tough to set new goals," Paes told PTI in an exclusive  ...

I have achieved everything; it's tough to set new goals: Paes

Arjun Atwal turned to his close  friend Tiger Woods for a word of advice soon after being  appointed captain of Team Asia for the third edition of the  EurAsia Cup.
Woods' experience of playing in the Ryder Cup and being  the vice-captain at events like Ryder Cup and President's Cup,  were what he was looking for and this week that could well be  put into use.
Atwal said, "I was kind of surprised they asked me. To  represent this team is truly an honour. It's a lot of fun. I  got to meet some of the guys that I didn't really know that  well today and everyone is having a great time in the team  room, on the golf course and that's what I want it to be like.  It's been great."
Asked if he sought advise or picked anybody's brains  after being chosen captain, Atwal said, "Yeah, a little, just  to see what to expect in this type of tournament and format.  I pretty much picked Tiger's brain a little bit because we are  really close.
"I saw Davis (Love III) at a range somewhere and I kind  ..

Atwal sought Tiger's advice after being named Asia captain

Solomon Deksisa of Ethiopia and  defending champion Bornes Kitur will be among the major  attractions in the men's and women's elite field respectively,  at the USD 405,000 Tata Mumbai Marathon to be held on January  21.
Four men who have run under 2 hours and seven minutes,  including Deksisa, and five others who have run under 2:09:00,  as well as six women who have gone faster than 2:29:00 will be  on the start line at the 15th edition of the race offering a  top prize of USD 42,000, according to race promoters, Procam  International.
Deksisa, whose personal best of 2:06:22, was clocked  while finishing second at the 2016 Rotterdam Marathon and  ending up third at last October's Toronto Marathon, is the  fastest to have entered for the Mumbai Marathon.
Ethiopia's Chele Dechasa and Abraham Girma, and  Bahrain's Shumi Dechasa, the latter running for his country in  the last two IAAF World Championships marathons, are the three  other men entrants who have run under 2:07:00 in their  .

Solomon Deksisa, Bornes Kitur for Mumbai Marathon

His name has been etched in Indian  football history for scoring the country's first ever World  Cup goal but Jeakson Singh does not feel any additional  pressure to score in the Hero I-League.
"My job as a midfielder is to provide support to the  defence and the forwards as per the situation. If I get a  chance to score I will take it, but there is no pressure on me  to score," said Singh, who is yet to find the net in the I-  League for Indian Arrows.
Asked about his experience playing in the league, the  teenager says it has been full of surprises, and playing with  some of the countries best is a reward in itself.
"The Hero I-League experience has been exciting and full  of pleasant surprises. At the end of the day we are sharing  the pitch with some of the best players of the country and  that in itself is a big accolade for us," he said.
Singh, who scored against Colombia in the FIFA U-17 World  Cup held in October, also feels playing in the league has been  a challenging ...

Feel no pressure to score, says U-17 World Cupper Jeakson

A four-wicket haul by Bengal  pacer Ishan Porel helped India notch up a massive 189-run win  over South Africa in a warm-up match ahead of the U-19 World  Cup here today.
Batting first, India U-19 team scored 332 for 8, riding  on twin half-centuries by Aryan Juyal (86) and Himanshu Rana  (68) here.
In reply, the Proteas were bundled out for 143 with Porel  getting rid of South Africa's top order, claiming four wickets  for 23 runs in his eight overs.
Electing to bat, India started off well with openers  Prithvi Shaw (16) and Manjot Kalra (31) sharing an opening  stand of 54 runs.
However, pacer Akhona Mnyaka got rid of the Indian top  order quickly, dismissing Shaw and Shubman Gill in the span of  two balls. He claimed Kalra's wicket 10 balls later.
Aryan and Himanshu then steadied the Indian innings as  the duo hit eight boundaries and a six each in the 92-ball and  69-ball innings respectively.
Chasing the huge total, the South African batsmen never  settled down, losing wickets at 

India U-19 beat South Africa U-19 by 189 runs in warm-up match

England coach Trevor Bayliss will  step down after the next Ashes series in 2019, he announced  today as the media slammed him over the 4-0 Test thrashing in  Australia.
Bayliss, who was appointed in 2015 to succeed the sacked  Peter Moores, said it would be time for a fresh approach when  his four-year contract comes to an end.
"I'm contracted to September 2019 and that will see me  out," the 55-year-old Australian told the BBC.
"I've always felt that it's time for a change around that  four-year mark. A new voice and a different approach  reinvigorates things."
The broadcaster said Bayliss told England director of  cricket Andrew Strauss of his plans a year ago, but had only  now made it public.
His contract takes him up to the end of the 2019 Ashes  series, when Australia coach Darren Lehmann also plans to call  it quits.
Since former Sri Lanka coach Bayliss took over from  Moores, England's Test results have been mixed, losing 18 and  winning 15.
His announcement follows England's 

England's under-fire Bayliss to step down after 2019 Ashes

Sri Lanka today announced Angelo  Mathews would return as skipper for limited-overs cricket  ahead of the 2019 World Cup, just six months after the  allrounder stepped down from the post.
The move comes as a surprise after Mathews, 30, quit last  July as captain in all three formats of the game following  repeated bouts of injury.
Sri Lanka Cricket president Thilanga Sumathipala said the  board asked Mathews to reconsider following close  consultations with new coach Chandika Hathurusingha and team  selectors.
Mathews said he took a few days to decide before  accepting the captaincy of Sri Lanka's one-day and Twenty20  teams.
"It is a national duty, and we need stability moving into  a World Cup in 18 months," said Mathews.
Dinesh Chandimal remains Sri Lanka's Test captain.
Sumathipala said Mathews was expected to prepare the  squad ahead of the World Cup in England and Wales in 2019.
The returning captain will face his first test this month  when Sri Lanka travel to Bangladesh for a .

Mathews returns as Sri Lanka's limited-overs captain

Thirty players from ten countries,  including India, are to take part in the inaugural edition of  the USD 35,000 Vedanta Indian Squash Open 2018, a Professional  Squash Association event to be held here from February 6-11.
The event, to be held at the NSCI courts in Worli, has  attracted participants from ten countries. Besides the hosts  India, other participating countries include Egypt, France,  Switzerland, Australia, the UK, Malaysia and Kuwait, said a  media release here today.
The tournament, promoted by 5 Sports, is supported by  the PSA, the governing body for professional squash in the  world, and the Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI).
India no. 1 Sourav Ghosal and other top Indian players  including Harinder Pal Sandhu and Mahesh Mangaonkar are set to  take part in the PSA event, the release added.

Vedanta squash meet to be held in Mumbai next month

The plan was to keep Virat Kohli  quiet and South Africa's wrecker-in-chief Vernon Philander  said his team executed it to perfection during the 72-run win  over India in the opening Test here.
"Virat is a good player and an aggressive player. The key  thing is to obviously keep him quiet and to make sure you set  him up for the other one. Initially it was for me to keep him  quiet upfront, and I always knew I had the one coming back,"  said Philander, who took a career-best six for 42.
"It was probably two-and-a-half overs of away-swingers  and then the one back at him (Kohli). It was definitely a plan  to keep him quiet, and also to drag him across to make sure  that when you do bowl the other one, he is on the other side  of the off-stump.
"I was not worried about his DRS review. I knew it was  stone dead," he added, referring to the review asked by Kohli  after onfield umpire ruled him out.
Asked if he had told anything to Kohli after the  dismissal, Philander said: "I never said .

Key thing was to keep Virat quiet, says Philander

Indian all-rounder Yusuf Pathan  was today handed a five-month retrospective suspension for  failing a dope test, a sanction which will end on January 14  after the BCCI accepted his plea that the violation was  inadvertent.
"Mr Yusuf Pathan has been suspended for a doping  violation. Mr Pathan had inadvertently ingested a prohibited  substance, which can be commonly found in cough syrups," the  BCCI said in a statement.
The 35-year-old Pathan had provided a urine sample as  part of the BCCI's anti-doping testing program during a  domestic T20 match between his team Baroda and Tamil Nadu on  March 16 last year.
"His sample was subsequently tested and found to contain  Terbutaline. Terbutaline, a specified substance, is prohibited  both In and Out of Competition in the WADA Prohibited List of  Substances," the BCCI stated.
Pathan, on his part, said he was confident of being  cleared of deliberate usage and vowed to be more careful in  future.
"Competing for India and my home state ...

Pathan gets retrospective suspension for inadvertent dope fail

Martin Guptill was at  his belligerent best as New Zealand thrashed Pakistan by eight  wickets in Nelson today, although captain Kane Williamson  admitted a rain delay had done the hosts a favour.
The second one-day international was evenly poised when  rain forced the players from the field for more than two hours  with New Zealand 64 for two after 14 overs in reply to  Pakistan's 246 for nine.
When play resumed under the Duckworth-Lewis system New  Zealand's target was revised to 151 in 25 overs meaning they  had 11 overs left to make 87.
"Pakistan showed some real resistance at the end and put  some partnerships together which would have been a tricky  total on that surface," Williamson said, adding the rain break  "worked in our favour a little bit".
But the New Zealand skipper also hailed the "brilliant"  partnership involving Guptill and Ross Taylor to get New  Zealand home with seven balls to spare.
Guptill, 31 off 40 at the break, was 86 not out off 71  deliveries at the end. .

Guptill bludgeons New Zealand to rain-affected win

Life on the fast lane is  fraught with perils but India's top endurance biker C S  Santosh says he overcomes the fear of not making it back home  from a race by keeping faith in god.
The 34-year-old is one of the two Indians competing  in the prestigious-but-perilious Dakar Rally, which is  considered the world's toughest off-road race.
He is competing in the bike category for Hero MotoSports  team. The other Indian is KP Aravind who is representing TVS  Racing.
"In a race like this, nothing is guaranteed. I might  start but the first kilometre itself anything can happen. It  is not like a tennis match that after the match I am going  to go home. For me, I don't know if I am going to make home  everyday. So, I keep a lot of faith in the man upstairs  (God)," Santosh told PTI.
"Motorsport is different. You put your life on the line.  I have some belief and faith on the higher power," he added.
Santosh had a near fatal accident in May 2013 during the  third stage of the Abu Dhabi Desert 

Faith in god keeps fear at bay, India's top biker

South Africa's wrecker-in-chief  Vernon Philander said they had planned to keep India skipper  Virat Kohli quiet and the hosts executed the plan to  perfection during their 72-run win in the first Test.
"Virat is a quality player, and the key thing is to keep  him quiet, and make sure that we set him up with the other  one. I always knew I had the one coming back!" said Philander,  who took a career-best six for 42.
"It was probably two-and-a-half overs of away-swingers  and then the one back at him (Kohli). It was definitely a plan  to keep him quiet, and also to drag him across to make sure  that when you do bowl the other one, he is on the other side  of the off-stump."
Asked if he had told anything to Kohli after the  dismissal, Philander said: "Nah, I never said anything to him.  It was just obviously on the spur of the moment  I just tried  to spur my boys on, and that's what we tend to focus on.
"We knew that Virat was a big wicket to get, and getting  him right there and then, 

Plan was to keep Kohli quiet, says Philander

India's top endurance biker C  S Santosh feels that his sport is so tough that life is not  guaranteed and he does not know whether he will go back home  after a day's race.
34-year-old Santosh is one of the two Indians competing  in the 2018 Dakar Rally, considered as the toughest off-road  race in the world.
He is competing in the bike category for Hero MotoSports  team. The other Indian is KP Aravind who is representing TVS  Racing.
"In a race like this, nothing is guaranteed. I might  start but the first kilometre itself anything can happen. It  is not say like a tennis match that after the match I am going  to go home. For me, I don't know I am going to make home  everyday. So, I keep a lot of faith with the man upstairs  (God)," Santosh told PTI.
"Motorsport is different. You put your life on the line.  I have some belief and faith on the higher power," he added.
Santosh had a brush with a near fatal accident in May  2013 during the third stage of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. 

I don't know whether I will go home after a race: Santosh

He walked haltingly but stood  resolutely.
One of the most memorable moments of the first India-  South Africa Test was an injured Dale Steyn limping out to bat  during his team's second innings despite being ruled out of  the series already.
The 34-year-old pacer's comeback from injury in the  ongoing rubber had been ruined by another injury but he was  unwilling to let go of any chance to be a part of the action.
"... I figured, at that point, we probably needed another  20 runs just to feel a little bit more safe. I figured, if I  go out there, I could block," Steyn, who would be using  crutches for the next few days to avoid putting any pressure  on his injured left heel, told Cricket South Africa's official  website after the match.
He had drawn a massive applause from spectators for each  of his blocks during the five-minute unbeaten stay at the  crease which ended when A B de Villiers' all-important wicket  became the last to fall for the hosts.
"It was not that bad but there ..

Page 1977 -