Djokovic pulls out of Davis Cup
Bangalore: World No. 1 Novak Djokovic has pulled out of the Davis Cup tie against India owing to fatigue and family commitments, Serbian captain Bogdan Obradovic informed on Monday. “I spoke to Djokovic last night and he said he will not be coming to India. The reason for this being fatigue,” he told reporters here. Besides fatigue, Djokovic has also sought to spend some time with wife Jelena, who is expecting their first child. The 27-year-old Djokovic, who was defeated by 10th seeded Kei Nishikori in the US Open semifinals, is likely to be replaced by Ilija Bozoljac in the Davis Cup World Group playoff tie. The 179th-ranked Bozoljac, who played the Challenger circuit in India in February, is Serbia’s reserve player and is in already in the city. Serbia has also named 61st ranked Dusan lajovic, 108th ranked Filip Krajinovic and doubles specialist Nenad Zimonjic for the tie. Zimonjic is expected to reach Bangalore on Monday.
High-altitude training for KOlkata
New Delhi: Aiming to attain peak fitness ahead of the Indian Super league, Atletico de Kolkata’s footballers are putting in the hard yards in a high-altitude province in Spain, where the likes of luis Garcia, the team’s marquee player, are bracing up for the gruelling event. The training module has been designed to get the players in top physical shape to tackle the demanding ISl scheduled to be held from October 12-December 20. The month-long training is being conducted at los Angeles de San Rafael ground in El Espinar. “This training is our primary measure towards building a team. The decision to train at a higher altitude would put the abilities of players under scrutiny and in the long run benefit the players to match pace and energy when they play in familiar conditions in India,” said Antonio lopez Habas, the team’s head coach.
Indian Open qualifiers from today
Mumbai: A total of 82 cueists, local and out-station, would be taking part in the 4th qualifying round of next month’s Indian Open snooker tournament at the Cricket Club of India billiards hall from Tuesday. Siddharth Parikh, Himanshu Jain, Hasan Badami, Hitesh Kotwani, Prashant Mhatre, Rovin D’Souza, Ishpreet Singh Chadha and Mahesh Jagdale are some of the players from Mumbai who would be seen in action in the five-day qualifiers. The outstation challenge would come from Vipin Premi and Akshay Kumar (both UP); Md Shoaib Khan, Shabaaz Khan and Manish Jain (all from WB); Dhavaj Haria (Gujarat), Nitesh Madaan, Chetan Chhabra and Suyash Moorpana (all Delhi) and S Magesh (TN).
Impasse over Johor Cup over
New Delhi: The uncertainty over India’s participation in the Sultan of Johor Cup men’s junior hockey tournament is over as the Sports Authority of India, after much dilly-dallying, has finally approved the national camp to be held here from September 13 to October 9. India are the defending champions in the Sultan of Johor Cup to be held in Johor Bahru, Malaysia from October 10-20. The 27-day camp, which was hanging in uncertainty, will be held for 33 players and 10 officials at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium here. “Administrative approval of the Competent Authority is hereby accorded to hold the junior men’s national coaching camp of 43 campers, comprising 33 junior men’s probables and 10 officials ... for Sultan of Johor Cup and FIH Junior World 2016,” the SAI informed Hockey India (HI) through a communication dated September 5. HI secretary general Narinder Batra, who was critical of the government’s nodal agency for not approving the camp, thanked SAI for clearing the deck. “Thank you for clearing the camp for junior men from 13 September, 2014,” Batra said in his reply.
AIBA observer at BI polls
New Delhi: Mired in controversies and postponed once, the much-anticipated elections to put in place India’s new boxing federation will be overseen by an observer from the International Boxing Association (AIBA) to ensure that free and fair polls are conducted on September 11. The elections are being conducted by Boxing India, the interim body recognised by AIBA after the national federation was terminated earlier this year following a suspension dating back to 2012.
Tough opening day for shooters
Granada (Spain): Ace marksman Abhinav Bindra belied expectations after failing to qualify for the finals of men’s 10 air rifle event in the 51st ISSF World Championships, his hopes of earning an Olympic quota in this tournament going up in smoke here on Monday. The 2008 Beijing Olympic gold medallist missed the cut as he finished 10th in qualification relay 1. Jitu Rai kept himself in the hunt with a score of 557 in men’s 50-metre pistol. The World Cup and Commonwealth Games gold medallist had a sequence of 94, 94, 93, 90, 95, 91 to be placed 3rd in qualification relay 2. In men’s trap event, the experienced Manavjit Singh Sandhu, also a World Cup winner, recorded scores of 25 each to total 50.