Federer waits on racquet decision
Gstaad (Switzerland): Roger Federer said that he will spend this week at the Swiss Open testing his new larger racquet and will make a decision later on whether to use it in the run-up to the US Open and beyond. The top seed, who is playing the ATP 250 clay event at altitude for the first time since he won it in 2004, will on Thursday play his opening match after a bye against either German Daniel Brands or longtime friend Marco Chiudinelli. Federer began testing a larger 98-square-inch racquet last week in Hamburg, reaching the semi-finals before losing to number 114 Argentine qualifier Federico Delbonis. He said he needs more time and matches to make a final decision on the prototype model.
I-league clubs to meet AIFF-IMG
Mumbai: Six representatives of the I-league Professional Football Clubs Association will meet officials of All India Football Federation soon over the contentious issue of the proposed IPl-style league, the club owners said on Tuesday. The I-league club owners, eleven of them in attendance and three others giving their consent to the decision taken, met here on Tuesday and agreed to AIFF’s suggestion for an across the table meeting, it was announced.
WBF postpones Syed Modi
New Delhi: The $120,000 India Open Grand Prix Gold, which was scheduled to be held at lucknow in December this year, has been postponed by a month to January next year by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). Since its inception in 2009, the India Open tournament — named after 1982 Commonwealth Games champion Syed Modi from Uttar Pradesh — has been organised in December but the fifth edition will now be held in January. The tournament, which was won by Parupalli Kashyap last year, will now be held from January 21 to 26 instead of December 17 to 22.
Hockey Society e-mail id hacked
New Delhi: The official email address of Jawaharlal Nehru Hockey Tournament Society, one of the oldest body for the sport in the country, has been hacked by an unknown person. The e-mail ID of of JNHT Society nehruhockey64@hotmail.Com was hacked on Monday. “It came to my notice that our e-mail ID has been hacked by somebody yesterday. Somebody is sending fictitious, fake mails from the email in my name asking for money. So, we have closed down that email ID,” JNHT Society secretary Kukoo Walia said. “So nobody should give any importance to any mail sent from this email ID. We will soon change our email address,” he added. After hacking the account, the hacker has sent a mass mail in the name of Walia, asking for financial assistance for the surgery of one of his relative in Spain. Walia said he will file a complaint with the Delhi Police’s cyber crime cell regarding this matter. “I will approach Delhi Police and give a written complaint to them,” he said.
Swiss Open: Delbonis beats Bellucci
GSTAAD (Switzerland): Thomaz Bellucci’s defense of the Swiss Open title ended in the first round on Tuesday when he lost to Federico Delbonis, who beat Roger Federer in Germany last week. Delbonis, an Argentine, won 7-5, 7-6 (2) against Bellucci, a Brazilian, who also took the clay-court title at Swiss ski resort Gstaad in 2009. Delbonis will continue rising in the rankings after victory over Federer in the Hamburg semifinals helped him climb from No. 114 to 65. Federer is top-seeded this week and has a second-round match scheduled on Thursday. Four Spaniards had first-round wins on Tuesday. Eighth-seeded Roberto Bautista eased past Henri laaksonen of Switzerland, 6-2, 6-3; Daniel Gimeno-Traver beat Kenny De Schepper of France, 6-4, 6-4; Guillermo Garcia-lopez beat Adrian Ungur of Romania, 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-1; and Pablo Andujar eliminated Victor Crivoi of Romania, 6-1, 6-2.
F1 set to return to Austria in 2014
Vienna: Formula One racing is set for a return to Austria in 2014 after an 11-year break. The Austrian Grand Prix has been provisionally scheduled for July 6 in Spielberg after Red Bull team officials spoke with F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone. “(Red Bull owner) Dietrich Mateschitz and Bernie Ecclestone have reached an agreement to bring back Formula One racing to (the province of) Styria,” the Austrian-based company behind the F1 team said Tuesday.
Djoker’s book on diet before Open
New York: Novak Djokovic attributes his success in recent years to a change of diet. Now he’ll be sharing his nutrition tips in a book to be released before the US Open. “Serve to Win” is the title of Djokovic’s “nutrition-based performance guide” that is to be published next month. The top-ranked Serbian has won six of his seven Grand Slam tournament championships since adopting a “performance-focused” gluten-free diet in late 2010. In 2011, he took the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. He has since won two more Australian Opens. Djokovic says “finding the right foods for my body has made me lighter, healthier, and more focused.” PNS/Agencies