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Here are all the key updates from January 3, Wednesday:
Puneri Paltan keep winning; Jaipur Pink Panthers beat Steelers
UP Yoddhas lost a third game in a row in their home leg of PKL season 10, as they ran into the Puneri Paltan juggernaut, and lost without even claiming the solitary point on offer, in a game that ended 40-31 to the table-toppers.
Jaipur Pink Panthers condemned the Haryana Steelers to their second straight loss in a 45-34 scoreline, as the league's top three begin to run away from the rest of the chasing pack.
Vandana Katariya ruled out of Olympic qualifiers
Experienced forward Vandana Katariya has been ruled out of the Olympic qualifiers that begin on January 13. She will be replaced by youngster Baljeet Kaur while Nikki Pradhan has replaced Vandana as the vice captain of the side.
It is a blow for India to lose their most experienced player in a tournament where handling pressure at the latter stages, with three spots at the Paris Olympics up for grabs for the eight teams who will be in Ranchi. However, as India showed during the Women's Asian Champions Trophy which concluded a couple of months ago, they are not a side wholly dependent on just Vandana for their goals.
Sangita Kumari scored 6 goals in that tournament, while Salima Tete added 5 more. Vandana had scored four times during that tournament, but India also had multiple goals from Lalremsiami, Deepika Kumari, Navneet Kaur and Neha Goyal. So while Vandana's absence is a setback for Janneke Schopman's side, it is not quite a terminal blow.
India are now not quite the side of a few years ago that were completely bereft of goals if they lost just one Rani Rampal. The squad depth that Schopman had emphasized during and before the Asian Games has come to the fore now, and despite losing arguably their best player, India will still be considered as one of the favourites to book their place in Paris.
On Juan Ferrando's sacking by Mohun Bagan SG
Anirudh Menon
Ferrando's departure is a strange one. To sack the man who led your team to the title the previous season might have been understandable if the team had then gone on to tank the next (this club management has previous on that); but it's been far from that for Bagan. Yes, they've lost three straight matches in the league but two of those were narrow losses and all three were against teams in the top four. They'd looked incoherent and rather distracted looking on the field at times during these matches - but considering their injury record and the lopsided squad (meaning square pegs were inserted in very round holes), it was also a bit understandable. Even then, only Odisha have scored more than the 19 goals Bagan have scored in 10 games.
You'd think it would be strange to replace him with Habas - the man who'd been sacked by the same management in rather ignominious manner two years ago for Ferrando, and then hired back last season as technical director - but that bit fits the pattern of the management reverting to the one constant they've known in their career in football. Habas won them the title as head coach of Atletico de Kolkata and then as ATK Mohun Bagan and is a known entity for the suits in charge.
Of course, Habas' football is unabashedly defensive and ultra-pragmatic, but if Ferrando had been hired for expansive, possession-based football that hadn't worked out either. It was their defensive prowess and the clutch finishing of Dimi Petratos that won them the ISL last season. This time around, they may have scored 19 goals this season, but they'd also shipped 14 goals (only NorthEast United in the top half have conceded more): and many of their goals seemed to stem from moments of individual moments. Add to this the fact that the Salt Lake turned on first the players and then the coach... it still, though, feels harsh to not provide Ferrando the time to right the ship with a fuller complement of his squad at his disposal from next month onwards.
WFI's ad-hoc panel assures it will host sub junior and junior Nationals in Gwalior
The ad-hoc panel governing the Wrestling Federation of India [WFI] has announced that they will conduct the U-15 and U-20 nationals within six weeks' time. The statement comes on a day when junior wrestlers thronged to New Delhi's Jantar Mantar in protest against Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia and the lack of wrestling activities in the country.
Neither the national camps nor the junior nationals have been held since January 2023, due to the year-long protests by India's top wrestlers.
Bhupender Singh Bajwa, chairman of the three-member panel, said, "The (ad-hoc) committee acknowledges the concerns raised by the young wrestlers (during the protest) and is committed to address the issues. The Committee is planning to organise the national championships for the U-15 and U-20 categories within the next six weeks at LNIPE, Gwalior."
#WATCH | Young wrestlers hold protests against Olympic-winning wrestlers Sakshee Malikkh, Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia, at Delhi's Jantar Mantar pic.twitter.com/5yHVsksKp8
- ANI (@ANI) January 3, 2024
Mohun Bagan sack Juan Ferrando; replace with Antonio Habas
Mohun Bagan SG have sacked Juan Ferrando as head coach, replacing him with former boss Antonio Habas. Ferrano had replaced Habas as coach early on in the 2021-22 season. This comes on the back of three straight defeats in the ISL over the past fortnight: a 1-0 loss to Kerala Blasters on December 27, a 4-1 hammering at the hands of Goa on December 23 and a chaotic 2-1 loss at Mumbai City.
In the Blasters and Goa matches, home matches both, there had been loud murmurs of discontent amongst the Bagan faithful at the Salt Lake stadium. Those three, though, had been their first losses of the season. Earlier, they had been knocked out of the AFC Cup as they finished behind fellow ISL side Odisha and Bangladesh side Bashundhara Kings.
Ferrando won the ISL with Bagan last season, as well as the 2023 Durand Cup. His replacement, Habas is ISL's most successful manager, having won ISL with ATK and then ATK Mohun Bagan.
Sakshi Malik speaks
Sakshi Malik has claimed that former WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh's goons are threatening her family. She also said that protesting wrestlers will accept the newly-elected WFI if Sanjay Singh is kept away from the body.
"For past two-three days, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh's goons have become active. My mother is getting threats through phone calls. People are calling and saying that a case will be registered against someone in my family," Sakshi was quoted by the PTI.
"We don't have any issues with the new federation except one man, Sanjay Singh. We don't have any issue if the new body comes back without Sanjay Singh. We do not have any issue with the ad-hoc committee as well," Malik told reporters.
"You have seen how Sanjay Singh has been behaving. I don't want Sanjay Singh's interference in the federation," she added.
"I can only make a request. If the ministry says he won't come back it will be better. Everybody saw the kind of power abuse by Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh after the WFI elections. He announced junior nationals at his home without much deliberation."
Sakshi had announced her retirement from the sport on December 21 in protest against the election of Sanjay Singh as WFI president.
- Sakshee Malikkh (@SakshiMalik) January 3, 2024
What's coming up?
PKL action continues with Haryana Steelers taking on Jaipur Pink Panthers followed by UP Yoddhas's match against Puneri Paltan.
Updates from Indian football as the men's team prepares for the upcoming AFC Asian Cup.
More updates from Indian wrestling as suspended WFI president Sanjay Singh defies the Sports Ministry.
What happened yesterday?
PKL: Dabang Delhi extend unbeaten run to four games, defeat Gujarat Giants
Bajrang Punia, Antim Panghal to miss Zagreb Open
You can check all the details of yesterday's news events here