Shooters eye Rio berths
New Delhi: India’s rifle, pistol as well as shotgun shooters will have another opportunity to add to the country’s five Olympic quota places as they gear up to compete at the ISSF World Championships in Gabala, Azerbaijan, where 34 berths for the Rio Games will be up for grabs. So far, five Indian shooters have won quotas for the Rio Games (Abhinav Bindra, Gagan Narang, Jitu Rai, Apurvi Chandela and Gurpreet Singh). The tournament in Gabala starts from today. The tournament will be a chance for shooters such as Heena Sidhu, Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Vijay Kumar, Ayonika Paul, Chain Singh, Ankur Mittal and Mohd Asab to win a few more Rio Olympic quotas for the country. There will be three quotas each in air pistol men and women’s events. Similar will be the number of quotas on offer in air rifle men and women.
India thump France 4-1
New Delhi: Gurjinder Singh was on the mark for India in the lagging department of penalty corners as he converted two to help India extend their winning streak in the Europe tour and beat hosts France 4-1 in the second match of the trip at the Wattigies Sports Centre. Gurjinder (14th minute, 44th) scored twice while Mohammad Amir Khan (30th) and Rupinder Pal Singh (52nd) found the net for India. For the hosts Baumgarten scored the lone goal in the 21st minute.
Indian jrs to leave for Wimbledon
New Delhi: The junior tennis players will aim to repeat last year’s good performance as they leave on Thursday to compete in England’s national grass court tournament, where India bagged two titles in 2014. Sacchitt Sharma and Shashank Theertha will compete in the boys competition while Mahak Jain and Prinkle Singh will vie for top honours in the girls event, to be held from August 10-15. All the four players had qualified for prestigious tournament after ending finalists at the 2015 Road to Wimbledon Qualifiers. Mahak and Prinkle are in Czech Republic for the ITF World Junior Tennis Finals and will reach london directly from there. The boys will leave along with girls coach Ankita Bhambri while boys coach Vishal Uppal will join the Indian contingent from the USA, according to an AITA press release.
Chandhok, Mahindra to end ties
New Delhi: Karun Chandhok and Mahindra Racing have decided to part ways after a “disappointing” inaugural season of the FIA Formula E Championship, in which the sole Indian outfit on the grid finished a below par eighth out of 10 teams. The team is expected to announce a brand new line-up for season two on August 10, the opening day of the official pre-season testing to take place at Donington Park.
Titans crush Bengal Warriors
Hyderabad: A stupendous team effort helped Telugu Titans record the biggest win in the second season of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi, beating Bengal Warriors 44-28 at the Gachibowli stadium on Wednesday. The Titans with this win take their tally to 34 points to maintain the second position on the table. The Warriors remain seventh on the table above Puneri Paltan. Wednesday’s loss weakened the Warriors’ chances of a revival in the league.