Indians eye bronze in Archery WC
Kolkata: Indian pair of Atanu Das and Deepika Kumari faltered against American Olympic medallists Brady Ellison and Khatuna lorig in the mixed section semifinals of the Archery World Cup Stage 3 being held in Medellin, Colombia. The duo from US, who had won the mixed team gold in Shanghai World Cup, took a 39-34 lead in the first end and went on to record a close 150-146 win over the fourth seeded Indian pair on Wednesday. India will now hope for a bronze medal as Das-Deepika will fight it out against the Mexican team of Aida Roman and Juan Rene Serrano, the bronze medallists in Antalya, in the playoffs. Asian Games sliver medallist Tarundeep Rai, who finished last in the qualification round, bounced back to make the third round of the men’s event. Rai overcame a 1-3 deficit to stun no 17 seed Thomas Faucheron of France 6-4 while teammate Jayanta Talukdar was stopped by Brazil’s Marcos Bortoloto.
mixed results in World Squash
New Delhi: Sachika Ingale, Harshit Kaur Jawanda and lakshya Ragavendran advanced to the third round of the girls’ singles while Indian challenge in the boys’ section came to an end on the second day of the World Junior Squash Championships being played in the historic city of Wroclaw. Sachika made short work of Grace Mcervale from Australia to lead the Indian contingent into the third round. With the first game evenly poised at 6-6, Sachika used her delightful drops and boasts to clinch the game and set the tone for the match. Sachika was always in control and asserted her dominance in emphatic style with a comfortable win over Mcervale. Harshit Kaur Jawanda used her speed and aggressive play to maintain the upper hand over Karolina Holinkova of Czech Republic and duly booked her place in Round 3.
HI send-off for Nobbs on Saturday
New Delhi: India’s outgoing chief coach Michael Nobbs will be given a send-off by Hockey India (HI) in Patiala on Saturday, Jiji Thomson, the director general of Sports Authority of India (SAI) said on Thursday. Nobbs, whose contract officially ends at the end of this month, is leaving for Patiala’s National Institute of Sports (NIS) on Friday. Once there he will be conducting coaching classes for “students and hockey coaches”.
fresh signings for lajong
New Delhi: Shillong lajong FC strengthened their squad on Thursday by signing goalkeeper Vinay Singh and defender Robin Gurung for the I-league 2013-14 season. Gurung, who hails from Sikkim, played for ONGC from 2010-13. The 20-year-old defender will look to add depth to the lajong backline. Singh played for I-league champions Churchill Brothers from 2008-11 before joining Salgaocar SC. “Shillong lajong FC welcomes Vinay Singh and Robin Gurung to the home of the Reds,” the club said in a statement.
Good day for Force India
Silverstone: Sahara Force India enjoyed a fruitful first day of the Young Driver Test as Paul di Resta and James Calado set the second and the fourth fastest timings respectively, here. Calado, the British GP2 driver, got the feeling of an F1 car for the first time when he drove in the morning session. His fastest lap time came in 1:33.986, which was fourth best of the day. Paul took over the testing duties in the afternoon session and added 59 laps to 27 of Calado. He briefly held the quickest lap time of the day — a 1m 33.774s on soft tyres — only to see his effort eclipsed by Mclaren’s Kevin Magnussen, who topped the charts at the end of the day.
Pailan Arrows to play in I-league
Kolkata: Ending speculation about the fate of Pailan Arrows, the All India Football Federation said on Thursday its developmental outfit would continue to play in the upcoming I-league. Pailan Arrows’ payment related issues have been solved and the team will be seen in action in the forthcoming season. There are 20 players contracted to play for Pailan Arrows and the AIFF technical committee will select more players to make a total squad of around 30. The technical committee will also be recruiting a new coach to replace Arthur Pappas, who has joined Dempo. Former Mohammedan Sporting coach Sanjoy Sen could be chosen for the top job.
tough field for Indian Rally
Coimbatore: Ace driver Gaurav Gill would look to complete a hat-trick of wins in his modified Mahindra XUV 500 when the third round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship begins here from Saturday. Asia Pacific Championship title contender Gill, along with team-mates lohitt Urs (Bonnie Thomas) and Sunny Sidhu (PVS Murthy), will be competing in the SUV category that was introduced this season. The first two rounds of the championship - the South India Rally and the Rally of Maharashtra had plenty of action with the arrival of new manufacturers, new cars and newly-introduced rally stages and the Coimbatore leg would like to live up to the reputation by providing thrilling spectacle of speed.