Squash to pitch for Oly inclusion
Tokyo: World Squash Federation President N. Ramachandran and his team will make a presentation on Friday to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics organising committee for consideration of the racquet sport in the Summer Games. Two Japanese teenage squash players Satomi Watanabe (last year’s US junior open U-17 winner) and Ryunosuke Tsukue (Japan’s youngest national champion), who have also shown significant prowess on the international stage, will be part of the team boasting the likes of Malaysian star Nicol David, the champion player who began her 10th successive year as women’s world number one. Squash, together with seven other sports, will make its presentation following the recent International Olympic Committee (IOC) offer to the 2020 Games hosts to nominate additional sports for the programme.
India 156th in FIFA rankings
New Delhi: The Indian football team continued to languish at 156th in the latest FIFA rankings as world champions Germany dropped to number three, with beaten finalist Argentina still holding on to the numero uno spot. India dropped a whopping 15 places in the rankings issued last month, following reverses against Oman and lowly Guam in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. The south east Asian nation has 160 points in its kitty. India share the position with Kyrgyzstan. National coach Stephen Constantine’s side’s next assignment is the World Cup preliminary joint qualification match against Asia’s top ranked team Iran in Bangalore on September 8. The match against Iran will be preceded by an international friendly against Nepal on August 31. Elsewhere, Belgium toppled Germany to climb to the number two spot. The top three is followed by Colombia, Brazil, Portugal and Romania. England, Wales and Copa America winner Chile complete the top-10.
lahiri could be dark horse at WGC
Akron (Ohio): Anirban lahiri could be the dark horse when the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone tees off this week at the Firestone Golf and Country Club. lahiri, who has played all the Majors and WGC events this year, has been slowly getting into form as his tied-fifth place in the European Masters showed last fortnight. lahiri plays the first round with Victor Dubuisson of France, who has had two top-10s in Majors last year and was also runner-up at WGC Matchplay. But the Indian golfer got the better of the hugely touted Frenchman when he beat him in singles on the last and a day earlier. He combined with Siddikur to beat Dubuisson and Joost luiten in foursomes.
laxmi returns to grand welcome
Guwahati: A girl student of a special children school in Guwahati has made India proud by winning a gold medal in Soft Ball and a silver medal in 50 m race in the Special Olympics World Summer Games in los Angeles. laxmi Kumari of Asha Special Children School, Narangi Army Cantonment, was given a grand welcome at the lokpriya Gopinath Bordalai International Airport on Thursday on her return by her fans and admirers for her victory in the Games held from July 20 to August 2, said a defence spokesman. In the past, she has won one gold medal in Badminton Singles, one silver medal in Badminton Doubles and a silver medal in Badminton Mixed Doubles in the Special Olympics held at New Castle, Australia in December 2013.
Joshna wins, Harinder, Mahesh out
Melbourne: India’s Joshna Chinappa continued her good form and reached the quarterfinal in the women’s competition but it was curtains for her male compatriots Harinder Singh and Mahesh Mangaonkar at the Australian Open Squash tournament on Thursday. Despite losing the first game, Joshna, seeded sixth hardly broke sweat to get the better of Megan Craig of New Zealand 5-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-8. But a tough test awaits Joshna in her next next match as she takes on top seed Annie Au of Hong Kong. However, it turned out to be a disappointing day for India in the men’s section as both Harinder and Mahesh failed to get past the second hurdle. While Mahesh lost to Steve Finitsis of Australia 11-7, 11-4, 9-11, 9-11, 7-11, Harinder was shown the door by Malaysian Nafizwan Adnan 4-11, 11-7, 4-11, 15-13, 9-11.
Indian runners to train in Kenya
Mumbai: Six Indian distance runners are all set to travel to Kenya for a five-week training at Iten as part of the joint initiative by SAI, Procam International and Global Sports Communication. Their trip is part of the Elite Distance Running Programme aimed at grassroot development. The six athletes are brother-sister duo Abishek and Phoolan Pal (Uttar Pradesh), Harshad Mhatre (Maharashtra), Murli Gavit (Gujarat), Priti lamba (Haryana) and Sangeeta Yadav (Uttar Pradesh).