India in pre-quarters of World Team Squash
New Delhi: The Indian men’s squash team dished out a dominating performance to notch up a commanding 3-0 win over Finland and enter the pre-quarters of the World Team Championship in Mulhouse, France. After the tight escape against Argentina, the eighth seed Indian team made the bold choice of bringing in Ramit Tandon in place of Harinder Pal Sandhu. The gamble paid rich dividends as Tandon tamed the dangerous Henrik Mustonen in the opening encounter to set India on course for a straight-game win and top the Pool ‘H’.
Dempo SC rope in Billy Mehmet
Panaji: Dempo SC managed to pull yet another surprise from Europe by signing a former West Ham Academy player and ex-Ireland U-21 striker Billy Mehmet for the upcoming season, Dempo SC media officer Abhijit Patil said. Billy Mehmet, who was born in london, is of part English, Irish and Turkish descent. He started his playing career at the West Ham Academy where he was on the radar of several Premier league clubs like Arsenal, Milwall and Norwich. On account of his agility and ball control, he later became a star player at St. Mirren in the Scottish Premier league where he scored record goals in five years.
Punjab to host World Cup Kabaddi
Amritsar: Punjab Government will organise the 4th edition of World Cup Kabaddi (men and women) in November with 25 countries set to vie for a record prize money. Information and Public Relation Minister Bikram Singh Majithia said that strict NADA anti-doping guidelines would be implemented in the tournament and Punjab would seek more participation of countries from Europe, Africa, America and Australia to give Kabaddi a world class status. Majithia said that 11 world class stadiums have already been completed at the cost of Rs 96 crore and nine more stadia would be built by December.
Kulkarni holds Gupta in Golden Sands
Varna: Woman Grandmaster Bhakti Kulkarni got off to a flying start holding seventh seed compatriot Abhijeet Gupta to a hard-fought draw in the first round of Grand Europe Golden Sands chess tournament that got underway here on Tuesday. Bhakti was in fact seen pressing for an advantage but Abhijeet found some fine manoeuvres to force the game into a deadlock. The Indians generally had a good day and another good result was obtained by R Bharathi who defeated International Master Ivaljo Enchev of Bulgaria.
IOA mourns death of former president
New Delhi: Indian Olympic Association on Tuesday mourned the death of its former president Vidya Charan Shukla, saying that sports in the country has lost “an able administrator and guide”. Shukla, a former union minister who had sustained bullet wounds in a Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh on May 25, died this afternoon at a hospital in Gurgaon after suffering from multi-organ failure. He was 84. Shukla is survived by wife and three daughters. Shukla was the IOA president from 1984 to 1987 and was also the former president of the Wrestling Federation of India.
Indians bag BFAME bridge Championships
Ahmedabad: India won the Open and Senior’s titles while Pakistan bagged the women’s crown at 17th Bridge Federation of Asia and Middle East (BFAME) Championship here on Tuesday. This was also Pakistan women’s first BFAME title since the championship started in 1981 while this was ninth success for India. PNS/Agencies