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Indian Sports Highlights, December 27: Kerala Blasters beat Mohun Bagan; WFI Ad-Hoc committee formed

Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat have been exempted from selection trials for the Asian Games. Raj K Raj/Hindustan Times via Getty Images

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Here are all the key updates from December 27, Wednesday:


PKL: Tamil Thalaivas lose again; Jaipur, Delhi play out tie

Jaipur Pink Panthers were involved in their second tie of this PKL season as their match against Dabang Delhi finished 32-32.

In the second match of the day, the home team Tamil Thalaivas fought valiantly but fell to another loss, this time by a close margin as Gujarat Giants ran out 33-30 winners.


ISL: Kerala Blasters edge past Mohun Bagan in battle of the bigwigs

Mohun Bagan Super Giant lost their third game in a row, as Kerala Blasters won their third game in a row to go top of the ISL. The Blasters went three points clear of FC Goa, but Manolo Marquez's side have three game in hand.

Dimitrios Diamantakos scored the only goal of the game early in the first half, a stunning strike into the roof of the net.

Relive the game with Anirudh Menon's live blog , here.


Ad-hoc committee formed to oversee WFI's activities

The Indian Olympic Association has appointed a three-member ad-hoc committee, headed by Bhupinder Singh Bajwa, to oversee the activities of the now-suspended Wrestling Federation of India [WFI]. The two other members are former India hockey captain and Olympic gold medallist MM Somaya and former badminton player Manjusha Kanwar. Bajwa, the president of the wushu association of India, was also the head of the ad-hoc committee formed by the IOA in April to run the affairs of WFI and to conduct its elections.

The Sports Ministry suspended the WFI on Sunday, three days after it elected new office bearers with Brij Bhushan Singh loyalist Sanjay Singh as president, and also asked IOA to constitute an ad-hoc panel to manage the affairs of the sports body. Since the elections, the WFI has been suspended, Sakshi Malik announced her retirement and Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat have returned their national awards.

The ad-hoc committee will now be in-charge of all of the WFI's operations, which include athlete selection, submitting entries for athletes to participate in international events, organizing sports activities, handling bank accounts, managing the website, and other related responsibilities.

Speaking to PTI, Bajwa said, "This is an Olympic year, we must start preparing from now. We will conduct all senior and junior championships soon, along with camps, to maximize our chances of winning medals in the (Paris) Olympics. Our goal is to achieve the maximum number of medals in the Olympics for our country, as this is one of the most popular games in India and has significant potential."


Dipa Karmakar to compete at Senior Artistic Gymnastics Nationals for the first time in eight years

Dipa Karmakar, the first Indian female gymnast to compete at the Olympic, has thrown her hat in the ring for next week's Senior Artistic Gymnastics National Championships to be held in Bhubaneswar. This will be the first she competes in the Nationals in eight years.

The 30-year-old from Agartala was not selected for the Asian Games despite topping the trials as she didn't meet SAI's selection criteria of players needing to score equivalent to the eighth ranked gymnast in the last Asian Games. It was since then she couldn't participate in any event following her 21-month suspension due to a doping violation.

Speaking to PTI, her coach Bisweswar Nandi remained optimistic of Dipa's chances of qualifying for the Paris Olympics. "She is gradually reaching her 100 per cent and will compete in few international events next year. Of course, she will have to do well in the selection trials to be in the Indian team," he said of Dipa, how is still recovering from a nagging knee injury.

Besides Dipa, the Nationals will also feature the likes of Tokyo Olympian Pranati Nayak, Yogeshwar Singh, Rakesh Patra, Tapan Mohanty, Saif Tamboli, Gaurav Kumar among others.


What's on today?

  • A huge clash in the ISL sees Mohun Bagan Super Giant host Kerala Blasters.

  • PKL action continues in Chennai as Jaipur Pink Panthers take on Dabang Delhi, while the home team Tamil Thalaivas take on Gujarat Giants.

  • The second day of the first Test match between South Africa and India will begin with KL Rahul resuming on 70* having taken the visitors to 208/8 on Day 1.

  • More possible updates from Indian wrestling as the WFI stands suspended by the Sports Ministry.


What happened yesterday?

  • Vinesh Phogat returned her Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award as a mark of protest against the lack of action taken against the issues plaguing Indian wrestling.

  • Roy Krishna scored the only goal of the game as Odisha FC went up to third in the ISL standings with a 1-0 win over Punjab FC.

  • PKL: Puneri Paltan secured another convincing win as they brushed aside Patna Pirates 46-28.

You can check all the details of yesterday's news events here.