Jamuna Boro (54kg) gave a flying start to India's campaign in the World Women's Boxing Championships by advancing to the pre-quarterfinals with a facile win on Friday. Boro defeated Mongolia's Michidmaa Erdenedalai 5-0, recovering from a slow start for a resounding victory. The 22-year-old, employed with Assam Rifles, has a tough one next up as she will square off against Algeria's fifth-seeded Ouidad Sfouh in the pre-quarterfinals. Sfouh had won a gold in the 2017 World Championships and was given a first-round bye here. 

Boro, a debutant at the event, took her time to warm up but once she got going, the Assamese pugilist dominated Erdenedalai with her combination punches. 

Her jabs connected particularly well and she also managed to not get distracted by her sprightly rival's grunting. The Indian was unstoppable in the final three minutes of the bout and thoroughly out-punched Erdenedalai. 

On Saturday, former national champion Neeraj (57kg) and Saweety Boora (75kg), a ex-silver-winner at the event, will be in action for India. 

While Neeraj will face China's Qiao Jieru, Saweety will face Mongolia's Myagmarjargal Munkhbat in the opening round. 

The ongoing edition features 224 boxers from 57 countries. 

India's best performance at the showpiece event was back in 2006 when the country won eight medals, including four gold.

India's mixed 4x400m relay team finished 7th in the final at the World Athletics Championships in Doha on Sunday. India's quartet finished with a season best timing of 3:15:77 above their Brazilian counterparts. India began the final from lane 8 with Muhammad Anas Yahiya taking the charge for the side. Muhammad Anas Yahiya gave India a competitive start by remaining close to his Bahrain counterpart. He then passed the baton to Vismaya and India slipped to seventh position in the race with the Polish runner taking the lead. Vismaya passed the baton to Jisna Mathew with Tom Noah finishing the race without much recovery after their slip. Meanwhile, the final exchange of baton saw the Polish team maintain their lead before Michael Cherry strode forward to take the lead and help United States clinch a gold medal with world record timing of 3:09:34.

The Indian mixed 4x400m relay team had qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on Saturday after reaching the finals. The quartet of Muhammed Anas, VK Vismaya, Jisna Mathew and Tom Nirmal Noah clocked 3 minutes 16.14 seconds to finish third in heat number 2 and book a berth in next year's Olympics.

The finalists (top 8) in relay races in the World Championships are automatic qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympics.

Steve Smith dethroned India captain Virat Kohli to reclaim the top spot in ICC Test rankings, released on Tuesday. Kohli was dismissed for a first-ball duck in the second innings of the final Test against the West Indies, which saw him slip to the No.2 spot. Two of the most prolific batsmen in world cricket currently, Steve Smith (904) and Virat Kohli (903) are separated by a single rating point in the latest Test rankings. However, Steve Smith will have a chance to further consolidate his lead when Australia face England in the fourth Test in Manchester, starting from September 4. Following them in the list are Kane Williamson (878), Cheteshwar Pujara (825) and Henry Nicholls (749).

Among the bowlers, Australia's Pat Cummins, who picked four wickets in the Leeds Test against England, continues to lead the rankings with 908 rating points. While premier India fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, after picking a hat-trick in the final Test against the West Indies, has climbed to the third spot with 835 rating points.

Jason Holder retained his top spot among the all-rounders with 472 rating points, followed by Ben Stokes (411) and Shakib Al Hasan (399). Among the Indian cricketers, Ravindra Jadeja is fourth in the list while Ravichandran Ashwin is seventh.

India with their comfortable 2-0 clean sweep over the West Indies in the Test series retained their summit spot among the teams, with 113 rating points. While New Zealand and South Africa are second and third in the list respectively.

Virat Kohli, who led India to a semi-final finish on his first assignment as captain in a 50-over World Cup, has retained the top position in the ICC Test batsmen's rankings, released by the world cricket regulatory body on Tuesday. Virat Kohli is leading the chart with 922 points, just nine points ahead of New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson. With 881 points, Cheteshwar Pujara is the other Indian in top three of the ICC Test batsmen's rankings. In the ICC Test all-rounders' rankings, India's Ravindra Jadeja secured the third spot, behind West Indies' Jason Holder and Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh.

In the Test team rankings, India remained in top position followed by New Zealand (2) and South Africa (3) with England (4) and Australia (5) the others in the top five. In the bowlers' list, Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin are sixth and 10th respectively.

Veteran England pacer James Anderson, who was overtaken by South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada in November last year and subsequently by the present No. 1 Pat Cummins of Australia, is ranked second.

Anderson's fellow England fast bowler Stuart Broad (19th) will be looking to retain a top-20 place, which he maintained since 2009, while Moeen Ali (25th, 621 points) is only 12 points behind his best ever rating points achieved in August 2017.

Captain Joe Root is the highest-ranked batsman on either side in sixth place while Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler are in 26th and 27th places, respectively.

For Ireland, Kevin O'Brien's scores of 40 and 118 on debut against Pakistan and a subsequent half-century against Afghanistan have lifted him to 68th place while Gary Wilson is 140th in the batting table.

Stuart Thompson is their highest-ranked bowler in 64th position with Tim Murtagh just two places behind. Boyd Rankin, who played one Test for England in 2014, would be looking to improve his 106th position.

Two-time champions India after proving their dominance in the league stage will look to brush aside New Zealand and book a final berth when the two sides face-off in the 1st semi-final at the Old Trafford in Manchester on Tuesday. All-round performances and some individual batting prowess saw India top the World Cup 2019 league stage. However, with the No.4 conundrum still unsolved and middle-order woes mounting, India will fancy their chances against an unstable New Zealand. The 2015 World Cup runners-up will be wary of India, specially after registering a slump in performances, during the concluding stage of the preliminary round.

India, whose league stage match against New Zealand was washed out, have suffered just one defeat at this World Cup so far, against England, and ended on top of the 10-team group stage, making them strong favourites to beat the Black Caps.

Opener Rohit Sharma became the first batsman to score five centuries in a single World Cup when he made 103 in a seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka at Headingley on Saturday, while fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah has been the spearhead of a well-balanced bowling attack.

Meanwhile, India captain Virat Kohli is renowned for relishing the big occasion.

But if New Zealand, whose attack is set to feature experienced left-arm quick Trent Boult and fit-again fast bowler Lockie Ferguson -- can find a way through India's top three, they could expose a lengthy tail.

New Zealand, who only qualified for the semi-finals in fourth place on the basis of net run-rate, have lost their last three games -- against Pakistan, holders Australia and England.

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, has been in fine form, making match-winning hundreds against South Africa and the West Indies.

But the rest of the top order have had a largely forgettable World Cup, with the Black Caps losing 13 wickets in the powerplay at just 23.38 each -- the worst record in the competition.

Williamson's 481 tournament runs represent nearly 29 percent of New Zealand's total at this World Cup.

Squads:

India: Lokesh Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (c), Rishabh Pant, MS Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravindra Jadeja, Kedar Jadhav, Kuldeep Yadav, Mayank Agarwal

New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson (c), Ross Taylor, Tom Latham (wk), James Neesham, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult, Henry Nicholls, Tim Southee, Tom Blundell, Ish Sodhi