Chettri denied visa to travel for AFC Cup tie
New Delhi: Indian football captain Sunil Chettri and his Churchill Brothers team-mate Balal Arezou from Afghanistan have been denied visas to travel to Singapore to play against that county’s club Warriors FC in an AFC Cup match. A team official said that Chettri, Arezou and club chairman Churchill Alemao have been denied visas by the Singapore Consulate in Mumbai for the Goan side’s AFC Cup match in Singapore scheduled for April 10.
“On Friday the club got a letter from Singapore Consulate in Mumbai that Chettri, Arezou and Alemao will not be granted visas to travel to Singapore. The consulate gave no reason for the rejection. The players and Alemao will re-apply again,” the official said. The other members of the team left for Singapore on Sunday without the two players and club chairman.
Top archers for World Cup Stage
Jamshedpur: The top four men and women archers in the recurve and compound section of the 2nd National Ranking Archery Tournament (NRAT) will represent India in the forthcoming World Cup Stage I and II, an official of the Archery Association of India (AAI) said. Anil Kamineni, Secretary General of AAI, said while the Stage I World Cup will be held at Shanghai, China from May 13, the Second Stage WC will be held in Antalya (Turkey) in June. The Indian team for the Stage III and IV will be selected at the 3rd NRAT to be held in Delhi in June, he said. The Teams: Men Recurve: Rajib Basumatary, Atanu Das, Jayanta Talukdar and Rahul Banerjee. Women Recurve: l Bombayla Devi, Deepika Kumari, Rimil Buriuly and Dola Banerjee.
Men Compound: Kh. Ratan Singh, Rajat Chaouhan, M Gandhi Singh and l Haridas. Women Compund: Trisha Deb, Manjudha Soy, Gangandeep Kaur and P lily Chanu.
Odafe hatrick ends Sporting’s unbeaten run
Mapusa (Goa): Odafe Okolie scored a hatrick as Mohun Bagan thrashed Sporting Clube de Goa 5-1 to end their unbeaten run, in the 23rd round of the I-league played at the Duler Stadium here on Sunday. After a barren first half, Bagan, who enjoyed numerical advantage in the second half after Sporting’s striker Dawson Fernandes was sent off for his second bookable offence, scored through Odafe (52nd, 82nd, 90th) and Tolgay Ozbey (73rd, 80th) while Kalu Ogba pulled one back for Sporting in the 76th minute. The win takes Bagan’s tally to 21 points from 19 matches while Sporting remained on 30 from 23 games. Sporting, who were determined to keep their seven-match winning streak intact, started well.
Kapur ends 4th, Ormsby wins Panasonic Open
New Delhi: Shiv Kapur had the best performance among Indian golfers as he finished fourth at the Panasonic Open which concluded at the Delhi Golf Club here on Sunday. There were seven Indians who finished in the Top-15 as Australian Wade Ormsby won his maiden Asian Tour title with a final round of one-under-par 71 to pip Thailand veteran Boonchu Ruangkit by one stroke and get richer by $54,000. Kapur was in contention till three holes from the finish before he ran into trouble on 16th and 18th and dropped shots on both to drop to fourth, while SSP Chowrasia (68) made a valiant bid only to end up fifth alongside defending champion Digvijay Singh, who carded four sub-par rounds. Shamim Khan, who barely made the cut, continued his great work over the weekend following up his third round 67 with a final round of 69 to be tied eighth, while Rahil Gangjee, with five birdie on the front nine, carded 68 to be tied 10th with local lad Manav Jaini (72) and Siddikur at three-under.
Armstrong asks court to dismiss SCA lawsuit
Austin (Texas): lance Armstrong has asked a Texas court to dismiss a lawsuit by a Dallas promotions company seeking repayment of more than $12 million in bonuses paid for winning the Tour de France. SCA Promotions sued Armstrong and his manager Bill Stapleton in state district court in Dallas in February, claiming Armstrong committed fraud by using performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour seven times. SCA paid Armstrong’s team management company Tailwind Sports for several of those victories, which have been stripped away. The sides have been battling since 2005, when SCA tried to withhold the bonus money. SCA agreed to pay him in a voluntary settlement in 2006. Armstrong’s court filings on Friday argue that settlement is legally binding and includes language that it cannot be appealed. PNS/Agencies