Sindhu in semis, gurusaidutt out
New Delhi: Top seed P V Sindhu stormed into the semifinals of the women’s singles event of the Malaysia Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament with a straight-game win over Hera Desi of Indonesia in Kuala lumpur on Thursday. Sindhu, needed just 37 minutes to get the better of her seventh seeded opponent 21-17 21-17 in a quarterfinal clash. However in the men’s singles, 11th seed R M V Gurusaidutt’s campaign ended in the quarterfinals as he conceded his match against Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin of Malaysia. The Indian retired in the second game which he was trailing 2-5. The Malaysian had won the first game 21-19.
Kashyap out of top 10 in BWF list
New Delhi: Parupalli Kashyap dropped out of men’s singles top-10 while P V Sindhu rose two places to reach a career-best of No.13 in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings released on Thursday. Kashyap, who had achieved a career-high of World No.6 last week, dropped five places to be ranked 11.
Somdev for Khel Ratna award
New Delhi: Somdev Devvarman might have led a players’ rebellion against the national tennis federation but AITA has recommended his name for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award for the year 2013. Somdev has achieved some great results on the ATP tour as well as in the multi-discipline games for India after turning a pro. He won the singles gold in 2010 Commonwealth Games and gold in both singles and doubles in the Guangzhou Asian Games the same year.
tough test for Indian paddlers
New Delhi: India will face stiff competition from teams like Singapore and England in the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship here but the host paddlers have the right blend of experience and talent to finish on the podium, feels chief national coach Bhawani Mukherjee. The coach pinned his hopes on regular stalwarts like K Shamini and Mouma Das with able support from local girl Neha Aggarwal who has been in fine form this season after she took Delhi to team title at the Raipur Nationals early this year.
Mahindra look for encore
New Delhi: Following its best-ever results in the opening two races of Moto GP in Qatar and the USA, Team Mahindra will look to build on its performance as the European season begins at Jerez this weekend. Mahindra’s new riders and the brand-new Mahindra MGP3O machine have not only achieved double points in the two season-opening ‘flyaways’ but also recorded the marque’s first top-five finish.
Sheikh Salman is new AFC prez
Kuala lumpur: Bahrain’s Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa was voted the new president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on Thursday. Salman beat UAE rival Yousef Al Serkal and Thailand’s Worawi Makudi in the first round of voting when he gathered 33 of the 46 ballots to amass the necessary two-thirds majority. Sheikh Salman is president of the Bahrain Football Association. PNS/Agencies