Sports Shorts: Nita Ambani presents medals at Winter Olympics

A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Saturday.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Nita Ambani today presented medals to the top two finishers of the Alpine Skiing team event at the Winter Olympics.

Ambani gave away the gold and silver medals to Switzerland and Austrian teams.

Switzerland won the inaugural Alpine Skiing team event by defeating Austria 3-1 at Jeongseon Alpine Centre.

Ambani is India’s first woman IOC member. She is also a member of two important global commissions of the IOC, including the Olympic Channel.

Vikas, Amit enter final at Strandja Memorial Boxing

Former Asian Games gold-medallist Vikas Krishan (75kg) and the fast-rising Amit Panghal (49kg) advanced to the finals with tactically contrasting wins in the Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament for men and women in Sofia.

Amit, a gold-medallist at last month's India Open, defeated Russia's Soian Artysh to make the summit clash where he will be up against Morocco's Said Mordaji.

Vikas, on the other hand, defeated China's Tuohetaerbieke Tanglatiha in his semifinal contest. The former World Championships bronze-medallist produced another calculated performance, continuing a fine comeback from a hand injury.

The seasoned boxer was savage with his uppercuts and hardly committed any defensive errors to thrash out a facile win.

However, last edition's silver-medallist Mohammed Hussamuddin ended with a bronze this time after going down to Russian Shakhrier Ahmedov in a fiercely-contested semifinal bout.

In a fast-paced slugfest, Amit, also an Asian Championship bronze-medallist, showed commendable ring craft to dodge his sprightly rival's attacks. The Indian connected well on counter-attack and didn't give Artysh a clear shot despite his perilously low guard.

Hussamuddin, on the other hand, was the one launching into his opponent. The Indian boxed with a deep cut above his left eye, sustained in the second round, but did not let that come in the way of a spirited performance.

Hussamuddin's injury needed attention twice in the final round and he went down in a split verdict.

Earlier, Asian Championships bronze-medallist Seema Poonia (+81kg) entered the finals, while two other women boxers settled for bronze medals.

In the final session late last night, Seema, who got a bye into the semifinals, defeated Bulgarian Mihaela Nikolova 5-0 to make the summit clash along with M C Mary Kom (48kg).

Settling for bronze medals in the women's draw were World Championships silver-medallist Saweety Boora (75kg), former world and Asian champion L Sarita Devi (60kg), Bhagyabati Kachari (81kg), and M Meena Kumari Devi (54kg).

Dudu at 'four' ground as East Bengal crush Chennai 7-1

East Bengal's title aspirations got a major boost as the Kolkata giants recorded the biggest victory of the season with a 7-1 rout of Chennai City in an I-League encounter, riding on Dudu Omagbemi's four-goal burst.

Dudu scored in the 32nd, 49th, 56th and 61st minute respectively, including season's first hat-trick with East Bengal climbed upto second position with 29 points from 16 games -- two behind NEROCA, who are still on top with 31 points from 17 games.

Minerva however are also on 29 points but have played a match less than East Bengal.

After Saturday's victory, East Bengal have opened up the league but much of the credit would go to Gokulam FC, who defeated both NEROCA and Minerva to give Khalid Jamil's men, some much-needed breathing space. With 29 goals and a difference of 13, East Bengal also have done their chances a world of good if it comes to a photo finish.

In what was a must-win game, East Bengal were spectacular right from the start against a sloppy Chennai defence as they went three-nil up in little over half an hour's play that included an own goal from Dharmaraj Ravanan (23rd).

Mahmoud Al Amna (20th minute) drew the first blood in what was a big defence let down as the Syrian was seen scoring from a third attempt in a tussle with goalkeeper Kabir T. The Chennai defence was caught napping as Al Amna's first two shots were blocked by Thaufiq but he got a third time lucky to chip it into the open net.

It was goal glut in the second-half when Dudu completed his hat-trick and went on to fire in his fourth, before substitute Gabriel Fernandes completed the rout with his 84th minute strike.

Mashoor Thangalakath (59th) scored the solitary goal for Chennai City as the southern outfit coached by V Soundarajan found themselves staring at relegation.

If the first goal was not enough, Chennai City's defence once again let them down when Ravanan found his own net in an effort to clear the ball from Brandon Vanlalremdika.

It was time for Dudu to make his presence felt, beginning with the easiest of the goals when he found himself in front of an open net as he slotted it in, before giving a relaxed pose to the crowd.

One hoped Chennai to regroup after trailing by three goals at half time but there seemed to be no respite from the goals and the Nigerian continued his onslaught.

It's his combination with Al Amna again that yielded a goal as Dudu finished with a flourish from his powerful right footer for his brace of the day.

Thangalakath produced the sixth goal of the match and it was some respite for Chennai as he scored from a lovely cross in by Jean-Michel Joachim.

It was time for the first hat-trick of the season, when Dudu was set up by Ansumana Kromah who combined well with Al-Amna to break the defence and nick a pass to the Nigerian to do the rest.

Making his first appearance at home count, Gabriel joined East Bengal's party with a stunner in the closing stage of the match. The Goan capitalised a long ball for Kromah who laid it off for Gabriel outside the box and he shot a curling one into the right corner behind Kabir as Chennai completely lost the plot.

Onyeama Frincis saves Churchill from defeat

Debutant Onyeama Frincis' stoppage time goal helped Churchill Brothers hold Gokulam Kerala FC to a 1-1 draw in their I-League match in Vasco.

After a barren first half, Gokulam scored through Henry Kisekka in the 72nd minute. But Churchill, who failed to trouble the rival defence for most part of the match, restored parity in the stoppage time through Frincis (90+3).

The draw kept Churchill above the relegation zone as they now have 17 points from 16 matches and moved to eight place above Chennai City. Gokulam Kerala take their tally to 20 points from 16 matches.

In-form Gokulam Kerala looked the better of the two sides in the first half as they controlled the midfield and posed a constant threat to the home side.

Churchill lacked urgency in their attack and received a set back midway in the first half when their captain Osagie Monday got injured and was replaced by Pawan Kumar. But their defence did well to deny Henry Kisekka who posed a constant threat whenever he received the ball inside the box.

After suffering three successive defeats, Churchill replaced two foreigner strikers, bringing in Onyeama Frincis Okechukwu and Jeancy Zunapio Siyo in place of Kalu Ogba and Mechac Koffi to change their fortunes but they failed to creat impact upfront. The only time they came close to scoring was in the 10th minute when Frincis sent a low cross into the box but Jeancy Zunapiao Siyo was late to connect it.

Gokulam continued to dominate after the break also as they made inroads with steady flow of passes. Churchill committed a lot of mispasses that helped the visitors in their attacks.

Arjun Jayaraj nearly succeeded in finding the net in the 58th minute when he tried to chip the ball over the onrushing keeper Bilal Khan. Eventually, the ball hit the keeper's face and rebounded into play.

Henry Kisekka finally broke the deadlock in the 72nd minute when he ran down to the left channel, dodged past a couple of rival defenders and found the net with a deft placement.

Arjun Jayaraj could have increased the lead few minutes later when his header hit the cross bar off a cross from the right by Thaivalappil Irshad.

Churchill, who made an all-out effort in the dying minutes, managed to restore parity in the stoppage time when debutant Onyeama Frincis made a solo run inside the box before slotting the ball into the net.