Sports Shorts: Mumbai to host IOC session in 2023

The International Olympic Committee on Saturday awarded India the right to host the IOC Session in Mumbai next year.

Nita Ambani, the Indian representative on the committee, described it as "a significant development for the country's Olympic aspiration".

India will host the session for the first time since 1983. The session will be hosted at the state-of-the-art, brand new Jio World Convention Centre.

Mumbai received a historic 99% of the votes in favour of its bid from the delegates participating in the process, with 75 members endorsing its candidature in the session held at Beijing.

An IOC session is the annual meeting of the members of the IOC, comprising 101 voting members and 45 honorary members.

It discusses and decides on the key activities of the global Olympics movement including adoption or amendment of the Olympic Charter, election of IOC members and office bearers and election of the host city of Olympics.

"The Olympic Movement is back to India after a 40-year wait. I am truly grateful to the International Olympic Committee for entrusting India with the honour of hosting the IOC Session in Mumbai in 2023," said Ambani, the first woman to be elected as an IOC member from India.

"This will be a significant development for India's Olympic aspiration and will herald the start of a new era for Indian sport."

Apart from Ambani, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President Narinder Batra, Sports Minister Anurag Thakur, and India's first individual Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra were part of the Indian delegation.

Indian Pro boxer Chandni goes down to Shin Bo in WBO Asia Pacific title clash

Indian professional boxer Chandni Mehra lost to local favourite Shin Bo Mi Re by a TKO (technical knockout) in the WBO Asia Pacific Title fight in Gangwan-do, Korea on Saturday.

The 20-year-old Indian took the more fancied Shin Bo all the way until the eighth round before the referee stopped the contest.

Both boxers started the fight aggressively with an intent to clearly lay down a marker in the early rounds.

It was Chandni's maiden 10 round fight and was always going to be an uphill task considering the Korean had already had over three 10 rounders prior to this clash.

The Korean was faster with a wider repertoire of combinations that she could throw. She led with a left hook and followed with solid right hooks which almost every time pierced through Chandni's defences.

The Indian was giving a good account of herself in the first six rounds by countering punch for punch while standing and delivering blows after blows.

In the fifth round, Chandni looked to have fallen upon a clear game plan to stay on the outside and work on counters. She had some success but it was quickly negated by the Korean who increased her work rate and target body shots.

The Korean came out all guns blazing early in the eighth round. A left hook followed by a right hook caught Chandni very hard on her chin.

Shin Bo followed it with a few more hooks. Chandni dropped to the canvas. This was her first ever knockdown in her 11-fight Pro career.

A few more seconds into the round, the WBO appointed referee called an end to the fight and declared it in favour of the Korean.

With the loss, Chandni now has a record of eight wins and three losses in her Pro career.

Chandni holds a professional boxing license from the Indian Boxing Council, the National Commission for Professional Boxing in India.