Kumble was impeccable as coach: CoA
mumbai: Vinod Rai, head of the Committee of Administrators (CoA), on Saturday hailed Anil Kumble for his "impeccable" role as India coach and said they will ensure cohesion in the team. Rai played down the rift between Kohli and Kumble. "If two persons are thrown together for 24 by 7, there will be difference of professional opinion, so what's thereIJ His contract was for one year, there were perception, professional issues. He is more mature person, he decided that look, ok, fair enough. It is the captain who has to play on the field isn't it ultimately," Rai said after a meeting of COA.
Paes wins Aegon Ilkley Challenger
Ilkley (Great Britain): Veteran tennis star leander Paes warmed up for the Wimbledon championships by winning the Aegon Ilkley Challenger trophy with Canadian partner Adil Shamasdin, following a come-from-behind win over Brydan Klien and Joe Salisbury, here on Sautrday. Top seeded Paes and Shamasdin rallied to beat the local wild card pair 2-6, 6-2, 10-8 in the summit clash of the Euro 127,000 grass court event. It is third title of the season for Paes on the ATP Challenger Tour and second with Shamasdin. The 45-year-old Indian had won the Tallahassee Challenger with American partner Scott lipksy in April.
gnspf to mentor 20 new shooters
Pune: The Gagan Narang Sports Promotion Foundation (GNSPF) unveiled its ambitious plan, ‘The Project leap' to train and turn 20 young and talented shooters from different parts of the country into international champions. Founded and driven by Olympic medallist Gagan Narang, the selected shooters will be mentored by top international coaches and will receive training at state of the art facilities including sports science support for a full year. "We identified 55 prospective shooters and put them through an elaborate evaluation process to select the 20 best ones among them," Gagan explained. Since its inception in 2011, GNSPF has produced a few champions, including Pooja Ghatkar, Mahima Turhi Aggarwal, Apurvi Chandela, Heena Sidhu and Rahi Sarnobat who have trained at the Academy.
Indian men held by Turkey; Women bow out
Khanty Mansiysk (Russia): Krishnan Sasikiran proved to be the saviour as Indian men were held 2-2 by Turkey while the Indian eves suffered a 1-3 loss against Russia in the sixth round of World teams' chess championships here. While the Indians dominated the proceedings for the major part of the match the end was good for the Turkish team as they maintained their unbeatable run. Grandmaster B Adhiban ran out of steam as he lost to Yilmaz Mustafa on the second board while Vidit Gujarathi was held to a draw by Solak Dragan on the top board. Mohamad Batuhan Dastan held Parimarjan Negi on the fourth board and Sasikiran won in a highly complex game against Can Emre.
Sri lanka coach Ford resigns
Colombo: Sri lanka's Head Coach Graham Ford has resigned from his position, Sri lanka Cricket (SlC) head Thilanga Sumathipala said on Saturday. The South African has had many differences of opinion with the SlC's local team managements during the unsuccessful campaign in the Champions Trophy held in England. Ford succeeded Australian Trevor Bayliss in 2016 when Bayliss took over the current England position as head coach. Sri lanka continued its run with bad luck hit foreign head coaches. They have had as many as 9 permanent and interim coaches since 2011. It was rumored that Ford and SlC's new Circket Manager, the former world cup winning team member Asanka Gurusinha did not see eye to eye on many issues leading to a conflict.