Champion Boxer Back in Ring

Mary Kom ready for world championship:

Imphal, Sept 2: The world champion MC Mary Kom, the pugilist from Manipur comes back to the boxing ring after a two-year break to add a fourth world title to her bag. The defending 46 kg champion is now ready for her fifth world championship in Ningbo in China in November this year.
Mary, mother of two said it was difficult to sit for more than a year and a half and do nothing. She gave birth to twins a while back and had to keep the boxing gloves away. She said that her secret of success was to maintain her body weight.
“I had to take complete rest, doctors had advised me not to box for some time. Then I had to take care of my sons. It was a difficult period but my husband was very cooperative. At the moment, I am focusing on regaining my fitness and form,” she said.
She was vigorously going through weight training and sparring sessions with her team mates at the Hissar camp for the past month.
Mary Kom hopes that she will be able to enter the ring with full confidence in the Asian Championship, beginning in Guwahati from September 23. The championship will see boxers from 16 Asian nations, including China, South and North Korea, Mongolia and Japan.
Indian boxers will participate in all 13 weight categories. “This will be a test event for me before the world championship in China.” She declared.
Talking about the good performance of Indian boxers in the Beijing Olympics, she said, “We hope in the London Games women’s boxing will be included and we can win a few more medals.”
The boxing champion Mary Kom entered the Limca Books of Records last year. This 22-year-old world-boxing champion from Manipur became India’s first woman pugilist to get the Arjuna Award in 2004. She won the Silver medal in the World Championship in USA in 2001, her first international exposure that spurred her on to greater heights. Mary Kom won gold in the world championship in Turkey in 2002, in Russia in 2005 and in India in 2006.
She once said, “I was initially an all-round athlete, and 400 m race and javelin were my pet events. When Dingko Singh returned from Bangkok Asian games with a gold, I thought I should give it a try”.
After winning her first title and best boxer at the first State Level Invitation Women’s Boxing championship in Manipur in 2000, Mary Kom went to win the gold in the 7th East India Women’s Boxing Championship held in West Bengal and subsequently to win five Indian National Championship from 2000 to 2005.

Source: Assam Tribune

Arjuna Awardee Manipuri

Judoka Tombi Devi does Manipur proud:

Imphal, Sept. 2: Manipur judoka Kh. Tombi Devi has done the state proud once again. She was one of the two sportspersons from the Northeast to take part in the Beijing Olympics. Now she has been conferred the Arjuna Award for the year 2007.
Tombi has added another feather to Mayai Lambi Sports Academy’s cap after being named among the 11 sportspersons selected for the prestigious award.
The 26-year-old soft-spoken judoka was ousted in the first round of the Olympics at Beijing, but she made history by becoming one of the nine Olympians the state has so far seen being honoured with the Arjuna Award. The only other sportsperson from the region to take part in the Beijing Olympics is archer L. Bombayla Devi of Manipur, who had an early exit.
The announcement has come as a matter of pride for the Mayai Lambi Sports Academy here, of which Tombi is a product. The academy specialises in judo coaching, and has groomed several talented judokas.
In fact, Tombi is among the two judokas from the academy, after A. Anita Chanu in 2004, to be honoured with the Arjuna Award.
Mayai Lambi Sports Academy president Th. Bijoy Singh described it a “very joyous and happy moment” for the academy. “It is a great achievement for Tombi as well as for the academy,” he said.
In a short span of 10 years, the academy has witnessed two Arjuna awardees and several more are in the making, he added.
Singh said six judokas, including two boys and four girls, of the academy were now being trained in Patiala for the next South Asian Games.
Manipur Olympic Association president E. Binoykumar Singh said, “The gentle and positive Tombi Devi deserved the Arjuna award and we feel proud of her”.
Devi bagged a gold in the 48-kg category of the Commonwealth Judo Championship in January this year and won another gold in the 21st Bosfors Judo Championship in Turkey last year. She also garnered a silver in the India Cup International Judo Championship held in 2006 in Orissa. Last year she won a bronze medal in the Asian Judo Championship in Kuwait.

Source: The Telegraph

Kh. Tombi links:

Tombi K Devi loses to H Ana in Judo

Tombi Devi out of Olympics in two and half minutes

National sports awards given away

Great feeling to be conferred Arjuna Award

International Challenge Badminton at Guwahati

Indians dominate opening day; smooth sailing for Chetan, Saina:

Guwahati, Dec 3: Indian shuttlers exhibited their supremacy on the opening day of the India International Challenge Badminton Tournament which got under way at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium here on Monday.

Top seeds Chetan Anand and Saina Nehwal of India romped into the next rounds along with other seeded Indians.

Chetan moved into the third round beating Evert Sukamta 21-11, 21-16.

Soumya Pandhye and Misa Ruth of India moved into the semi-finals of women’s doubles after beating Akram Aisha and Basheer Palwasha of Pakistan 21-11, 21-11.

Earlier in the afternoon, Asom Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi inaugurated the mega event.

In his inaugural speech, Gogoi welcomed all the players and officials to Asom and reiterated state government’s stand to promote sports in this part of the country.

Indian Olympic Association vice-president and APCC president Bhubaneshwar Kalita and other officials of Assam Badminton Association were also present on the occasion.

The Chief Minister also felicitated former All England Badminton Champion Pullela Gopichand, Asom shuttlers Oli Deka, Krishna Dekaraja and Arjuna Awardee Sandeep Singh Dhillon.

After the ITF World Junior Ranking Tennis meet, the sports buffs of Guwahati enjoyed the shuttling action of top players of 10 countries under a single roof.

Around 100 players of Asia and Europe are participating in the tournament.

Results of Day One:
Men’s Singles 1st round: Jaishnu Sanyal (Ind) beat Omar Zeeshan (Pak) 21-19, 21-18; Abinshyam Gupta (Ind) beat Paneru Rajendra 21-4, 24-5; V Amar (Ind) beat Azam Roizwam (Pak) 21-16/15-21/21-13; Md Attique (Pak) beat Jibi Verghese (Ind) 21-19, 21-15; Reiw Iam Jovie (Indo) beat Ahsum Habib (Bangla) 21-13, 21-13; Saputra Nandang Arif (Indo) beat Ajit Vijaytilak 21-14, 16-21, 21-18; Saif Uddin (Bangla) beat Sachin Ratti (Ind); Nikhilesh Sharma beat Bishal Pradhan (Nep) 21-16, 22-20; Supra Sagar beat Smola Chemens (Austria) 21-4, 21-4.

Men’s Singles 2nd round: Chetan Anand (Ind) beat Evert Sukamta 21-11, 21-16; Jashnu Sanyal (Ind) beat Abdul Hannan (Bangla) 21-12, 21-14.

Women’s Singles 1st round : Aparna Balan (Ind) beat Aktar Sabha (Bangladesh); Parul Rawat beat Pooja Shrestha (Nepal) 21-6, 21-6; Jawala Gutta (Ind) beat Susmita Gurung (Nepal) 21-9, 21-10; Tholini Jayasinghe (Sri Lanka) beat Abantika Deka (Ind) 21-13, 21-16; Bibari Basumatary (Ind) beat Sara Mohmud (Pak) 21-14, 21-14; Shyali Gokhale (Ind) Uzma Butt (Pak) 21-6, Konika Adhikary (Ban) .

Women’s Doubles 1st round: Aparna Balan & P Jyotsna (Ind) beat Konica Adhikary & Aktar Shabia (Bangla); (Q/F) Soumya Padhye & Misa Ruth (Ind) beat Akram Aisha & Basheer Palwash (Pak) 21-11, 21-11.

Source: The Sentinel