India boxing coach Chhote Lal Yadav on Monday said he is not happy with the decisions given by referees during the recently-concluded Tokyo Olympics. Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey defeated Lovlina Borgohain by a unanimous decision of 5-0. All five judges gave decisions in the favour of Turkish pugilist as she stamped her dominance and as a result, Lovlina had to settle for a bronze medal. “I won’t call our boxing performance good but it is okay. At least we won one medal (Lovlina Borgohain). However, I am not happy with the decisions made by referees at the Tokyo Olympics. Those decisions were very controversial,” Yadav told.

At the Games, Mary Kom had faced a shocking defeat — split decision — at the hands of Colombia’s Ingrit Valencia to bow out from the ongoing Tokyo Olympics. Valencia won the match 3-2. Colombia’s pugilist advanced to the quarter-finals of the showpiece event after defeating Mary Kom in the women’s flyweight (48-51kg) category.

Despite clinching the two rounds Mary Kom had to face defeat in the match. After the match, Mary Kom thought she had won since the ace boxer had clinched two rounds after going down in the first essay.

Mary Kom said,” It was manipulated and cheating. I won the first two rounds and then how can I lose the match. I want to apologise to the country. “Before the bout, the official came to me and said you can’t wear your own jersey. In the first match, I wore the same jersey and nobody complained. They should tell us before and check our playing kit. That’s mental harassment. Why did they only say to us, not to any other country?” Mary Kom had told.

India men’s hockey captain Manpreet Singh said that the team is like a family to him and congratulated the rest of the Indian athletes who won medals at the Tokyo Olympics. Manpreet led the team to a bronze, which is India’s first medal in hockey at the Olympics since 1980.

“I would like to thank SAI, IOA because they helped us during our difficult times. They told us only to focus on the tournament and assured us of everything we needed for the Games. I would like to also thank every medal winner, especially Neeraj Chopra,” said Manpreet.

“We are like a family and we know all our likes and dislikes. The upcoming tournaments are very important so we will turn out focus on that now. Maybe Sree (goalkeeper PR Sreejesh) will come back a little late because he needs to spend time with his children,” Manpreet joked. Sreejesh, on the other hand, said that it is women’s goalkeeper Savita Punia who should be called the ‘Great Wall of India’ and congratulated the women’s team for their bronze medal win. The hockey players were among Indian athletes who arrived in New Delhi from Tokyo on Monday to a festive reception. India beat four-time champions Germany 5-4 in a thrilling bronze medal match, securing a first Olympic medal for Indian hockey in 41 years. Simranjeet Singh, Hardik Singh, Harmanpreet Singh and Rupinder Pal Singh scored as India came from 3-1 down in the second quarter to win the match. India were thrashed 1-7 by Australia in their second match of the Olympics. However, they staged a clinical comeback after that, even equalling Australia on points to finish second in the group. They then beat Great Britain 3-1 in the quarter-finals before losing 2-5 to eventual gold medallists Belgium in the semis.

The Indian Olympic Association(IOA) chief Narinder Batra stated that the bar which the Indian contingent has set in Tokyo Olympics cannot go down as it has to go upwards only. India recorded its best-ever haul at the Tokyo 2020 with seven medals (one gold, two silver, and four bronze).

Neeraj Chopra (gold), Bajrang Punia (bronze), Mirabai Chanu (silver), PV Sindhu (bronze), Lovlina Borgohain (bronze), men’s hockey team ( bronze), and Ravi Kumar Dahiya (silver) won medals for the Indian contingent. “The final results were good. Even though our expectations were high, everyone gave their best and on the day those who were good came with a win,” Narinder Batra told reporters on Monday.

“The thing which we have learned from this performance will be corrected from tomorrow. This process will start tomorrow for the next Olympics.”India finished the Games with a ranking of 48. On this, the IOC chief pointed, “This ranking has become the benchmark for team and India should not go below that ever.”

“The bar which has been set cannot go down, it has to go up only,” he added.Batra praised Neeraj Chopra for winning India’s first gold medal in athletics, as he said: “Neeraj’s performance was commendable. It has touched the heart of every Indian and gave a very happy moment to celebrate.”

The first Test between England and India ended in a draw after Day five of the match was abandoned due to rain on Sunday. It was the first match of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 cycle. The start of day five got delayed twice after an early Lunch and Test was taken as rain played a spoilt sport. India needed just 157 runs to win the first Test on day five but no play was possible due to rain. The visitors scored 52 runs after bundling out England in the third session on Saturday.

India got off to a cautious start but eventually lost KL Rahul as Stuart Broad bowled an absolute peach of a delivery to dismiss the Indian batsman.India bundled out England on 303 in the third session after Joe Root’s classy ton in the second innings.

Root played an all-important innings before India fought back as Jasprit Bumrah picked five wickets. It was Bumrah’s second five-wicket haul at Trent Bridge. The England skipper came into bat when the hosts were struggling in the game.

In the second session on Saturday, India picked three wickets but Root kept on scoring at a decent rate to keep England in the game.

Brief Scores: England 183 and 303; India 278 and 52/1 (KL Rahul 26, Cheteshwar Pujara 12*; Stuart Broad 1-18)

Argentina striker Lionel Messi was in tears on Sunday as he attended his final press conference as a Barcelona player to bid farewell to the Spanish club after 21 years. The maverick striker confirmed the end of his long association with FC Barcelona. “This is very difficult, I was not prepared for this. Last year I was convinced to leave, but this year we were, my family and I wanted to continue here, in our house,” Goal.com quoted Messi as saying.

“Today I have to say goodbye, I arrived very young at 13 years old, and after 21 years I am leaving with my wife and three children,” he added. Speaking further, Messi said: “I have no doubts after being away for several years, we will return because I promised my children.” In what came as one of the biggest news in the football world, Messi left FC Barcelona, earlier this week. As per the club, the reason behind the exit is the financial and structural obstacles.

Despite Barcelona and Lionel Messi having reached an agreement and the clear intention of both parties to sign a new contract on Thursday, this cannot happen because of Spanish LaLiga regulations on player registration as per the club statement.

As a result of this situation, Messi shall not be staying on at FC Barcelona. Both parties deeply regret that the wishes of the player and the club will ultimately not be fulfilled, the statement further said.

“FC Barcelona wholeheartedly expresses its gratitude to the player for his contribution to the aggrandisement of the club and wishes him all the very best for the future in his personal and professional life,” it said as per fcbarcelona.com.

Earlier it was reported Messi was all set to sign a new five-year contract with Spanish club Barcelona.

Along with signing a new deal, Messi would also be taking a 50 per cent wage cut, Goal.com had reported.

The Tokyo Olympic Games came to end after a stunning closing ceremony at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium on Sunday. After more than two weeks of thrilling competition with manifold twists and turns, the Olympic flag was ceremonially lowered and handed over by the Governor of Tokyo Yuriko Koike to Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, via the International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach. The Closing Ceremony of the Games, which ran for 17 days saw participation from athletes from over 200 countries.A display of beautiful, luminous colours swirled together to represent the many flags of the world. They formed the Olympic Rings signifying a “timeless symbol of unity.”

“The Olympic spirit is in all of us,” Olympics tweeted. The phrase “ARIGATO” was displayed on the LED screens in the Olympic Stadium, in the same font that was used to spell out “SAYONARA” at the Closing Ceremony of the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games. Once the Games were declared as closed, the Olympic flame was extinguished. “Our deep gratitude and appreciation go to the Organising Committee. Nobody has ever organised postponed Olympic Games before,” said IOC chief Bach. “And now, I have to mark the end of this most challenging Olympic journey to Tokyo: I declare the Games of the 32nd Olympiad closed.” he added.