Serbia win U20 World cup
Auckland: Nemanja Maksimovic scored late in extra time to give Serbia a surprise 2-1 win over Brazil on Saturday in the final of the Under-20 World Cup. The match seemed headed for a penalty shootout when Serbia counterattacked in the 117th minute and Stefan Ilic combined with Andrija Zivkovic to put Maksimovic in behind the defense and he calmly slotted his low shot past goalkeeper Jean. This was Serbia’s first title as an independent nation while Brazil were chasing their sixth.
irans bars female entry
Tehran: Iranian authorities denied women ticket holders entry to Friday’s volleyball match between Iran and the United States despite their having the necessary permission, the sport’s association said. The Iranian Volleyball Federation had provided special accreditation to 200 women handpicked to attend the men’s Volleyball World league match in Tehran. The tickets were reserved for “family members of players, supporters of the visiting team and executive officials,” said Reza Hassanikhou, head of security at the sports ministry. But a federation official said the accreditations had not been validated by security services at the arena, meaning the women were barred from entering. Rules prohibiting women’s access to stadiums have been in place since 1979, officially to protect them from obscene behaviour among male fans. President Hassan Rouhani’s government, despite opposition from religious conservatives, has been trying to relax the restrictions.
sushil to fight narsingh
New Delhi: Amidst the dilemma of double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar and Narsingh Yadav fighting each other for a place in the World Championships, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has decided to hold selection trials of the senior grapplers on July 6-7. The World Championships, which is scheduled to be held in las Vegas from September 7-12, will also be the first qualification tournament for the 2016 Rio Olympics. Sushil, who had bagged a bronze and a silver in 66kg Men’s Freestyle category in successive Olympic Games in 2008 Beijing and 2012 london, was forced to move up 74kg division after the world body FIlA re-jigged the weight divisions. In the last one year, Narsingh has won quite a few medals for India in various competitions in the absence of Sushil. The World Championships will provide the largest number of qualification berths with top six wrestlers in each of the 18 Olympic weight categories will qualify their nation for their weight.
‘india will win 10+ medals in rio’
Kolkata: Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal is confident that India’s medal tally in next year’s Rio Olympic Games will go up to 10 plus from six medals, which the country’s athletes bagged at london Olympics in 2012. “Of course this time the number will go up. Earlier, the figure was six, which was the maximum number of medals won so far, but this time the medal tally will go up. It will be 10 plus,” Sonowal said on Saturday. The Minister said that the scheme — Target Olympic Podium (TOP) — has been launched with the objective to win more medals in the Olympics. “That is why we are supporting the medal prospect athletes in whatever possible way. We are extending the best possible support, so that they can play comfortably and as per their merit can achieve the goal,” he said.
batra alleges cash bribe by ioa
New Delhi: The infighting within the IOA took a sensational turn on Saturday with Narinder Batra alleging that N Ramachandran camp offered him a huge sum of money in return for his support during the elections last year, a claim strongly rebutted by the incumbent IOA president. Hockey India president, Batra circulated an e-mail in which he claimed that Ramachandran, through a representative, offered him `1 crore every year till he remains president if he supports his candidature during the IOA elections in February last year. He asked Ramachandran to forward the complaint to the IOA Ethics Commission for action.
praneeth in US Open semis
New York: India’s men singles shuttler B Sai Praneeth along with two other doubles pairs advanced to the semifinals of the $120,000 US Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament here. The 22-year-old from Andhra Pradesh thrashed Hong Kong’s NG Ka long Angus, seeded 12, 21-8, 21-14 in a lop-sided quarterfinals that lasted just 32 minutes at the Suffolk County Community College. The 16th seeded Indian will next meet former World No. 1 and two-time Olympic silver medallist lee Chong Wei of Malaysian. Commonwealth Games silver medallists Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, seeded fourth, also notched up a 21-17, 21-14 win over seventh seeded German pair of Johanna Goliszewski and Carla Nelte in the women’s doubles category.