5 women boxers enter Asian Youth Championship semis

New Delhi: Five Indian women assured themselves of medals after advancing to the semifinals of the Asian Boxing Championships. Besides making the medal round, Anamika (51kg) and Astha Pahwa (75kg) also brightened their chances of qualifying for this year’s Youth Olympic Games in Argentina. While Anamika defeated Mongolia’s Mungunsaran Balsan, Astha got the better of China’s Xiyue Wang. Both the boxers won with unanimous verdicts. However, Junior World Championships gold medallist Sakshi Choudhary (57kg) and Jony (60kg) missed out on a medal as well as the opportunity to make the cut for the Youth Olympics. While Sakshi was beaten by Thailand’s Panpatchara Somnuek, Jony lost 2-3 to Kazakhstan’s Mariya Gladkova. In other weight categories, Lalita (69kg) defeated Vietnam’s Thi Giang Tran, while Divya Pawar (54kg) sailed past China’s Xueqing Cao. Nitu Ghanghas (48kg) defeated China’s Zhifei Hu to make semis.

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CHITTAGONG

Bangla cricketer in custody for possessing drugs

A Bangladeshi court sent a female cricketer to two-days’ police custody after she was arrested with 14,000 pills of popular drug yaba, as methamphetamine is widely known in Asia. Police said Mukta, a student of a state-run university who plays in the Dhaka Premier League, admitted that she sourced the drug from Cox’s Bazar to sell it in Dhaka in association with some others.

Kolkata

BCCI dismisses PCB’s claim of not honouring ‘contract’  

The Indian cricket board (BCCI) on Monday dismissed Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) claim of an alleged MoU between the two nations to play a bilateral series, saying only a “statement of intent was inked in April 2014. “It was a statement of intent. I don’t blame them (PCB) for sticking to the letter. But it is not a contract,” BCCI’s acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary said on the sidelines of the five-day International Cricket Council (ICC) meet here on Monday. India and Pakistan haven’t played a bilateral series December 2012.

New Delhi

Sania to become mother  

Sania Mirza and her cricketer husband Shoaib Malik are expecting their first child in the month of October this year. The couple celebrated their eighth marriage anniversary a few days back on April 12. The 31-year-old Indian tennis superstar, who is out of action due to a jumper knee issue since October 2017, tweeted a picture suggesting that she is pregnant. — Agencies