erves settled, Thombare was remarkably assured, brightening the arena with some sharp shot-making. Her serve also gained strength as the match went on and on more than one occasion the crowd was swooning to some of her shots. Even Paes, who was present for a large part of the match, was visibly impres

Rio -- Indian boxer Manoj Kumar stunned London Olympics bronze-medallist Evaldas Petrauskas in a fiercely-contested opening bout to enter the pre-quarterfinals of the 64kg category.?Manoj, a Commonwealth Games gold-medalist, prevailed 2-1 in a hard-fought battle in which he had to hold his ground against the intense aggression displayed by the Lithuanian Petrauskas in all three rounds. Manoj will next be up against the fifth-seeded Uzbek Fazliddin Gaibnazarov in the pre-quarters, scheduled for Sunday.Evenly-matched on pace and agility, Manoj and Petrauskas were quite distinct in their attacking approach. While Petrauskas, the London Olympics bronze winner in the lightweight 60kg division, aggressively tried to engage the Indian from close range, Manoj preferred to back-peddle and hit from a distance.You dont get time to think as much in the ring, Manoj said after the bout. I was responding to his punching style in the ring, you have to adapt your strategy to how your opponent in the ring is boxing.At the end of the opening three minutes, it was Manojs tactics that found favour with the judges, who awarded the first round to him.In the second round, too, Petrauskas was the more aggressive of the two but Manoj managed to stave off the challenge by sticking to his strategy of keeping a distance and hitting occasional uppercuts to his opponents body.Neither of the boxers were willing to make any change to their strategy in the final three minutes as well, although the desperate attacks launched by Petrauskas did unnerve Manoj to an extent.The pumped-up effort secured Petrauskas the final round, but it was not enough to turn the bout in his favour as Manoj was adjudged the winner.I was happy to have pulled the bout off. I knew he was a hard opponent but I hadnt spent much time studying him, Manoj said. I prefer not to do too much tactical planning away from the ring because if it doesnt come off you arent sure how to respond. So it is best to leave it to the ring.I am confident that the hard work I have put in all these years will work in my favour at the Olympics.The win meant Manoj joined seventh-seed Vikas Krishan (75kg) as the second Indian boxers in the pre-quarters. On Thursday, Shiva Thapa will open his campaign in the bantamweight (56kg) category.Kirk Cousins Jersey . According to a report from the Winnipeg Free Press, the Bombers will name Acting GM Kyle Walters to the post full time. Cris Carter Jersey . The recently retired Stern was elected Friday to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and will be enshrined with the class of 2014 on Aug. http://www.authenticvikingspro.com/Alexander-mattison-vikings-jersey/ . 8 Kansas to a 64-63 win over Texas Tech on Tuesday night. The freshman from Vaughan, Ont. Garrett Bradbury Jersey .ca. Kerry, Just watched the shootout in the Coyotes/Leafs game and I have to ask, why was the James van Riemsdyk goal allowed to count? All of the video replays we were shown on TV were inconclusive about whether the puck had entirely crossed the line or not. Adam Thielen Vikings Jersey . -- Anaheim Ducks defenceman Luca Sbisa will be out at least six weeks with a torn tendon in his right hand.Sania Mirza and Prarthana Thombare lost 6-7 (6), 7-5, 5-7 to Chinas Shuai Peng and Shuai Zhang in the first round of womens doubles at Rio Olympics on Saturday.This was the second disappointing result for Indias tennis contingent following Leander Paes and Rohan Bopannas loss in the mens doubles first round earlier in the day.While Paes and Thombares Olympic campaigns are over, Mirza and Bopanna still have their mixed doubles campaign to look forward to.Watched on by a small but enthusiastic Indian crowd including Sachin Tendulkar, Mirza and Thombare showed gumption and spunk throughout the match. Once her initial nerves settled, Thombare was remarkably assured, brightening the arena with some sharp shot-making. Her serve also gained strength as the match went on and on more than one occasion the crowd was swooning to some of her shots. Even Paes, who was present for a large part of the match, was visibly impressed with Thombare, while Bopanna continually urged her on, chanting Lets go PT repeatedly.Mirza and Thombare will look back on a few missed opportunities that they could have made count on the night. Leading 5-4 in the first, they allowed the Chinese pair to get back into the match and allowed the tiebreaker to slip away..dddddddddddd. In the second set, the Indians took a 5-2 lead, let it slip but then peeled off two straight games to level the match.The final set was a see-saw battle as well with Mirza blasting some of her trademark forehands, sprinkled with some errors. Thombare was broken at 5-5 and the Chinese pair held their nerve to finish the match off.It was a disappointing result but in Thombare India has discovered a player of immense potential who deserves to be given more opportunities to flower on the international circuit.Defending Thombares performance, Mirza said: She has just played against the guys who are in top-50. Dont be so hard on her. We just played a two hour, 44-minute match against the people who are the best in the world. So are the other 15 teams.Mirza will now focus on the mixed doubles campaign where she is expected to enjoy a high seeding with Bopanna. She remained confident of winning a medal in the mixed doubles. India alwayss