The International Olympic Committee is to deliver its verdict on May 22 on whether to keep boxing at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Nieva, director of the Indian men’s and women’s teams and a senior member of the AIBA international federation coaches commission, said he was “worried” about the looming decision.

“I think they will find a way but… in boxing we tend to exaggerate our importance for the Olympic movement,” the Swedish coach told AFP.

“We think that we are so pure, one of the oldest, but for other people who are not into boxing, they see it more from a commercial and political standpoint.

“They don’t want controversies, they don’t want scandals at the Olympics and boxing is giving controversies over and over again,” said Nieva.

The IOC froze boxing’s preparations for next year’s Games to give the sport time to clean up its image after allegations of bout-fixing tainted the 2016 Rio Olympics.

An inquiry into AIBA governance and its anti-doping programme is also being held.

In response, the “right to protest” a referee’s decision is to be re-introduced at the world championships in September.

Nieva said India had been on the receiving end of judging blunders, and highlighted the 49kg final at the Asian Championships in Bangkok when Deepak Singh lost his final to Nodirjon Mirzahmedov of Uzbekistan.

“We felt it was very clear,” Nieva said. India was certain Singh had won, and the coach said this is an example which showed the rules are “meaningless”.

“It’s tough because it is not black and white. It is a grey area when it comes to close bouts.”

At the 2014 Asian Games, India’s Sarita Devi refused to accept her bronze medal and tried to hang it on her Korean rival instead, who won the women’s semi-final on a unanimous decision.

Devi — who dumped the medal on the podium and stormed away in tears — was later banned for a year.

But the 37-year-old, who won bronze at the Asian Championships in Bangkok, feels the experience changed her.

“I have matured a lot in all these years. But I have sacrificed a lot to be still relevant in Indian boxing,” said Devi, who insisted she would try to reach the Olympics if it is still in the contest.

Nieva said that if boxing keeps its place, he was confident that India — the land of the legendary Mary Kom — has a fast-improving pool of boxers with a chance of winning a medal.

India finished the Asian championships with two gold medals, four silver and seven bronze.

Chawrasia’s last victory dates back to 2017 when he last won on home soil. He has only one top-10 finish on the Asian Tour last year and missed the cut in all four events he played in the Middle East since the start of this year.

The 40-year-old, however bounced back by featuring in the weekend rounds in Malaysia and India last month and sees that as a sign of better things to come as he readies himself for the challenge at the Volvo China Open which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

Thailand’s Sadom Kaewkanjana is also hopeful of continuing his lightning start to his rookie season following his breakthrough in Bangladesh earlier this month.

Sadom is the record fastest Qualifying School graduate to win on the Asian Tour. He won his maiden Asian Tour title in what was only his first start on Tour after making the grade at Qualifying School last December.

Playing in the Volvo China Open for the first time as the newest Asian Tour champion, the 20-year-old is confident of taking on a strong field which features over 40 Asian Tour champions and five Order of Merit winners at the Genzon Golf Club.

Asian Tour board member Zhang Lianwei, who won the event in 2003, will continue to feature at the Volvo China Open. The Chinese veteran will be teeing up for the 25th time this week since the event was inaugurated in 1995.

Pochettino’s side made a dismal start as Donny van de Beek put Ajax ahead after just 15 minutes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Tuesday.

Ajax dominated the first half until Pochettino completely changed his game-plan by switching from a 3-5-2 formation to a 4-4-2 system.

Aided by the introduction of Moussa Sissoko for the injured Jan Vertonghen, Tottenham regained a measure of control without ever hurting Ajax with their long-ball barrage.

Pochettino conceded he had blundered with his game-plan, but the Tottenham manager was also angry with the lethargic way his players started the club’s first European Cup semi-final for 57 years.

“Watching now of course I can accept it was a mistake the shape we used. But there were not too many options,” Pochettino told BT Sport.

“I am not happy. But our lack of energy from the beginning made our game difficult. We were a little sloppy.

“It was not the shape that conceded the goal. Our approach to the game was not good. I am the manager so I have responsibility.”

Tottenham were hamstrung by the absence of injured striker Harry Kane and suspended forward Son Heung-min.

But Sissoko’s dynamic contribution and the return of Son for next week’s second leg in Amsterdam give Pochettino hope they can still reach the final.

“After we conceded the goal, 25 to 30 minutes in, we started to be in the game. Moussa Sissoko provided good energy,” he said.

“Second half we pushed them and tried to create chances. It was an even game in the second half.

“We are alive. It’s only 1-0 down. We need to believe we can go there and win the game.”

It remains to be seen whether Vertonghen will be fit for the return after the centre-back appeared to suffer a concussion in a clash with team-mate Toby Alderweireld.

Vertonghen went off for treatment, but was then surprisingly sent back onto the pitch by Tottenham’s medical staff.

He looked groggy and on the verge of throwing up before being helped down the tunnel after signalling he couldn’t continue.

Asked about the severity of Vertonghen’s problem, Pochettino only said: “I didn’t see him. Of course, we will assess him in the next few days.”

Van Dijk succeeded Liverpool team-mate Mohamed Salah in winning the award, voted for by his fellow players and saw off competition from Manchester City striker Raheem Sterling.

But Sterling, 24, was named the Professional Footballers’ Association Young Player of the Year, following on from City colleague Leroy Sane.

Van Dijk joined Liverpool from Southampton for £75 million ($97 million, 87 million euros) in January 2018.

The 27-year-old Dutchman has been an ever-present for Liverpool in their bid to dethrone City as Premier League champions this season, with Sterling’s side one point clear of the Reds at the top of the table with just two games left to play.

Van Dijk has starred in a hugely improved Liverpool defence that has kept 20 clean sheets and conceded a mere 20 goals in the current campaign.

– ‘Unbelievable’ –

“It’s pretty difficult to put into words,” said Van Dijk, the first defender to win the award since Chelsea’s John Terry 14 years ago.

“I think it’s the highest honour you can get as a player to get voted player of the year by the players you play against every week. It’s special. I’m very proud and honoured to receive it.”

Van Dijk, who also has a Champions League semi-final against Barcelona to look forward to this week, added: “If you see the standard of strikers or playmakers we have in the league, it’s unbelievable.”

England international Sterling has been praised both for his on-field performances and a willingness to speak out about football’s continuing problems with racism.

Arsenal Women forward Vivianne Miedema won the Women’s Player of the Year award after scoring 22 times to lead the Gunners to their first title since 2012, with her and Van Dijk completing a Dutch double.

The north London side were crowned champions with a 4-0 win away to Brighton on Sunday.

Miedema was also nominated for the Young Player of the Year award won by Manchester City forward Georgia Stanway.

Miedema said: “I’m obviously really proud to represent my team here. I think we’ve had an amazing year, especially with winning the league today.”

Meanwhile, the PFA’s special achievement award went to Manchester City and England captain Steph Houghton.

The 31-year-old defender is set to skipper the Lionesses at this year’s World Cup in France.

But Houghton has said she could miss the tournament in order to care for her husband, former Liverpool midfielder Stephen Darby, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease last year.

Darby, however, is determined Houghton takes her place in manager Phil Neville’s squad.

Kane headlines a lengthy injury list also including Erik Lamela and Harry Winks for Tuesday’s semi-final, first leg at home to Ajax, while Son is suspended.

But having upset the odds to end Manchester City’s quest for a quadruple of trophies in the quarter-finals, manager Pochettino insisted Spurs’ strength as a collective can overcome Ajax’s talented group of rising stars.

“To be in a Champions League semi-final is something I dreamed about. You need to settle your dreams, to infinity and beyond,” Pochettino said at his pre-match press conference on Monday ahead of Tottenham’s first European Cup semi-final since 1962.

“The chance to play a semi-final for Tottenham has not happened often. We are in a circumstance that is not going to change and we must be ready

“It is impossible to be tired, impossible to not be excited to play. I am sure there is no doubt we will have the energy for 90 minutes.”

However, while Pochettino’s stretched squad were slipping to a sixth defeat in their last 10 Premier League games to West Ham on Saturday, Ajax have had a full week to rest as the entire Dutch league calendar for the weekend was postponed to allow them extra time to prepare.

“The team is good. We are very fit, very eager and very fresh. We can certainly perform at our best,” said Ajax boss Erik ten Hag.

Without Kane, who is not expected to return this season unless Spurs make it to the Champions League final on June 1, Tottenham’s goals have dried up since a thrilling 4-3 defeat in the second leg of their quarter-final at City was enough to progress on away goals.

Christian Eriksen’s late strike to secure a 1-0 victory over Brighton on Tuesday was Spurs’ only goal in their past three games.

Son’s absence means Pochettino is robbed of another goal threat, with Lucas Moura and Fernando Llorente his only striking options.

However, the Argentine said Spurs’ teamwork can compensate for that lack of firepower.

“I think the point is that we arrive where we are now because we were a team and we are going to be a team,” he said.

“I don’t care who is going to score. Always it’s an issue to not have all the players fit, but in front of any name was the team, the collective.”

Four-time European champions Ajax have far more European pedigree than Spurs, but their run to the last four for the first time since 1997 is arguably an even bigger surprise given the financial gulf between the Eredivisie and the Premier League.

But with his youthful side already being broken up with Frenkie de Jong headed to Barcelona next season and captain Matthijs de Ligt attracting interest from Europe’s top leagues, Ten Hag is keen to make the most of this side’s only shot to win the competition.

“It’s amazing that we are in the Champions League semi-finals – nobody could have predicted at the beginning of the season that a Dutch team would end up in the Champions League semi-finals,” he added.

“We have achieved something, but we want to do more. We don’t want to rest on our laurels.”

The 16-member national team (eight men and eight women) will also include the world No 4 mixed doubles pair of Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai and has been placed in a group which also features Japan and Russia.

A total of 31 teams will take part in the biennial competition, 12 in Group 1 (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D) and 19 in Groups 2-4.

Group 1B comprises Indonesia, Denmark and England while Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong are placed in Group 1C. Ten-time champions China are in “group of death” 1D alongside India and Malaysia.

In the round-robin stage each tie will be the best of five and will consist of men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles.

Top two finishers in each group will move into the quarter-finals which will then revert to a knock-out format.

Thailand finished fourth in the last two editions: 2013 in Kuala Lumpur and 2017 on Australia’s Gold Coast.

Ratchanok decided to skip last week’s Asian Championships in Wuhan, China, in order to keep herself fresh for the world mixed team event.

“I believe we can get past the group stage and reach the quarter-finals. Japan will be tough but I’m confident we can beat Russia,” said Ratchanok, who has appeared in every Sudirman Cup since 2011.

Badminton Association of Thailand president Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul expects her team to reach at least the quarter-final stage and hopes for a good draw to help their progress to the latter stages.

“If we don’t have to face China or Japan in the quarter-finals, I believe we can reach the semi-finals and win at least the bronze,” Patama said.

Men’s team: Kantaphon Wangcharoen, Khosit Phetpradab, Sitthikom Thammasin, Dechapol Puavaranukroh, Kittinupong Kerden, Tinn Isriyanet, Kittisak Namdash and Nipitphon Puangphupet

Women’s team: Ratchanok Intanon, Pornpawee Chochuwong, Busanan Ongbamrungphan, Sapsiree Taerattanachai, Jongkolphan Kititharakul, Rawinda Prajongjai, Puttita Supajirakul, and Savitree Amitrapai.

The Thai returned home on Monday after losing his title to the Mexican on points in California on Saturday (Thailand time).

The 32-year-old expressed his regret to Thai fans at not being able to bring the belt back home but promised to reclaim the world title in their third match, likely to be set in the next six months.

“Estrada is really fit and came up with a good game plan,” said Srisaket who will now spend a few weeks on honeymoon with wife Pornpimol. “He moves really fast. If I want to beat him I’ll have to be fitter.”

The 22-year-old from Perth finished at 14-under 270, four strokes ahead of runner-up Kim Sei-young of South Korea.

Lee collected $225,000 in first place prize money and boosted her career earnings to $5.32 million, making her the third highest winning Australian overall in purse money.

In terms of victories only Karrie Webb, with 41, Jan Stephenson (16) and Rachel Hetherington (eight) have more titles by an Aussie.

Lee started her fourth round on Sunday with a one-stroke lead over Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen who stumbled to a five-over 76.

“I was just going to carry on playing my game,” said Lee. “I had a couple of birdies opportunities coming in so I didn’t get riled up.

“I have been hitting it solid and playing solid so this one feels pretty good.”

Kim had one of the best rounds of the day with a 66 but it wasn’t enough to catch Lee. Americans Annie Park, with a 67, and Morgan Pressel tied for third at nine-under, five shots adrift of Lee.

Madsen, who was seeking to become the first from Denmark to win on the Tour, finished in a tie for 13th.

Lee, who was the only player to shoot all four rounds in the 60s, made two birdies on a bogey-free front nine. She rebounded from a bogey at No. 11 with birdies at the 13th and 18th.

The win comes at a time when she is playing some of her best golf. Lee tied for third in Hawaii last week after consecutive second-place finishes in February. She hadn’t won since May of 2018 at the Volvik Championship.

“For the rest of year I want to try and get a couple more wins,” she said.

South Korea’s Amy Yang fired the low round of the day and equalled the low round of the tournament, shooting a bogey-free 64 to finish tied for fifth along with four others, including Park In-bee and world No. 1 Ko Jin-young of South Korea (69).

It was the third time in seven days that the north London side, once renowned for an impregnable defence, had conceded three goals following 3-2 and 3-1 Premier League league defeats by Crystal Palace and Wolves respectively.

Leicester’s Youri Tielemans opened the scoring at the King Power Stadium in the second half and Vardy netted twice for the Foxes after the visitors had defender Ainsley Maitland-Niles dismissed for two bookable offences before half-time.

The winning goals, however, owed little to that dismissal.

Arsenal failed to stop James Maddison’s cross or mark Tielemans as he stole in to head home the first, then were embarrassingly outwitted by a goal-kick from which Vardy poached the second with the help of a rebound off the crossbar.

– Uphill battle –

It left Unai Emery’s men facing an uphill battle to force their way back into the top four, although victory in the Europa League could also secure a Champions League place.

Three defeats in a row, however, have left Emery with a clear picture of the failings that linger from Arsene Wenger’s reign.

Maddison had a curling shot from the edge of the Arsenal penalty area deflected wide early on before Tielemans volleyed off target from a similar position.

Arsenal had shown little attacking threat but, when Maddison squandered possession on 22 minutes, the Gunners built a quick counter-attack from which they could have opened the scoring.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s smart turn and pass fed Alex Iwobi and his cross from the left found Alexandre Lacazette, who volleyed wide under pressure from Harry Maguire.

At the other end, Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno made a superb save to push Wifred Ndidi’s header from a corner over the crossbar.

Then, 13 minutes from the interval, Arsenal were nearly undone by Marx Albrighton’s straightforward ball over the backline.

Vardy beat Sokratis to collect it but lofted a shot over the bar.

Suddenly, though, Leicester were hit by a rapid counter-attack from the visitors, ending with a neat pass from Aubameyang to Iwobi and a good, low save from Kasper Schmeichel to keep out his shot.

The encouragement was short-lived for the Gunners, however, as nine minutes from the break Maitland-Niles, who had already been booked for a barge on Ben Chilwell, went in late on Maddison and collected a second yellow card, followed by the inevitable red.

Arsenal avoided further damage in the final moments of the first half as Tielemans fed Vardy but his shot was well saved at the near post by Leno.

Despite Arsenal’s introduction of an extra defender and Leicester’s of an extra forward at the interval, the opening moments of the second half brought an evenly-matched contest.

That was until the 59th minute, when poor defending allowed Leicester to take the lead.

Albrighton and Maddison were given time to exchange passes before Maddison delivered a cross which Tielemans strolled in between Sokratis and Laurent Koscielny to head home with little resistance.

Emery was warned by referee Michael Oliver after his temper threatened to boil over as Arsenal were angered by some hefty Leicester challenges, notably whem Lucas Torreira was caught by Jonny Evans’s arm as the pair contested a corner.

But the game was up with four minutes remaining as Arsenal’s fallible defence failed to meet a long goal-kick by Schmeichel and Vardy lobbed against the crossbar before heading in the rebound.

The final goal, with the last kick of the game, was even more embarrassing for the Gunners as they allowed Ricardo to stroll past and square for a Vardy tap-in.