Manoj, Manpreet in pre-quarters
Almaty (Kazakhstan): Indian boxers continued to pack a mighty punch at the World Championships as Manoj Kumar (64kg) and Manpreet Singh (91kg) entered the pre-quarterfinals with contrasting wins in their respective second-round bouts here on Friday. While Asian Games silver-medallist Manpreet clinched a comprehensive victory over Seychelles' Keddy Agnes, sixth seed and Commonwealth Games champion Manoj got the better of 2011 European champion Fatih Keles of Turkey. Both Manoj and Manpreet had got first-round byes. Manpreet won 3-0 in the overall analysis with the round-by-round break-up being 30-27 30-27 30-27. Manoj, on the other hand, fought through a see-saw battle even though he too emerged 3-0 victorious at the end of the bout.
Gangjee best Indian at 15th
Macau: Rahil Gangjee overcame a miserable start to knock down as many as five birdies over last 10 holes to become the best-placed Indian at the halfway stage of the USD 800,000 Venetian Macau Open here on Friday. The 35-year-old from Kolkata, two over after first two holes, finally ended at four-under for the day and was two-under for 36 holes with rounds of 73 and 67 and was placed tied 15th. As many as 10 Indians made the cut, but Jeev Milkha Singh and Jyoti Randhawa surprisingly missed out. Arjun Atwal, returning to Asian Tour after a long hiatus added a 69 to his first round 72 and was tied 25th, alongside Sujjan Singh (70-71) and Anirban lahiri (73-68).
ministry to remunerate Oltmans
New Delhi: The Government of India will appoint Hockey India's Director High Performance Roelant Oltmans as Chief Coordinator and High Performance Director for Indian Hockey. He is all set to be appointed till Rio Olympics 2016 keeping in view all the major events taking place in the next three years. This is the first time that the Government of India has engaged an individual in a High Performance role. Oltmans was firstly hired by Hockey India (HI) as Director High Performance in January this year.
Saha signs for IPl-style league
New Delhi: Former Manchester United and France striker louis Saha today became the first international big star to be roped in for the much-anticipated IPl-style football league to be organised by IMG-Reliance early next year. Saha, who earned 20 caps for France between 2004 to 2012 and won two English Premier league and 2007-08 UEFA Champions league, is the first marquee player revealed by IMG-Reliance for the January 18-March 30 tournament.
archers book two berths
New Delhi: Indian archers booked two berths for the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games based on their tremendous performances in the qualification tournament in the ongoing Youth World Championship at Wuxi (China). The two Indians booked a place each in the men's and women's categories. India is among eight countries to have earned full quota places for the Youth Olympic Games, besides hosts China. Seventeen places in men and women's categories each were allotted to nations across the world. Sulekha Singh was among the top 16 who got direct quota place in recurve women's category.
Debashis Das becomes GM
Bhubaneswar: Twenty-one year old Debashis Das on Friday became the first Grandmaster from Odisha with a win over Anirudha Deshpande in the National Challenger being held in Bhopal. Das, who received his International Master title in 2010, crossed the magical Elo mark of 2500 points to become the 34th GM from the country. The All-Odisha Chess Association announced a Rs 50,000 cash award for Das.
Mohit vs Arjun; shweta vs prerna
New Delhi: Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash and Arjun Kadhe entered the men's singles final of the Fenesta Open National tennis championship here after registering contrasting victories. The two men's singles finalists combined to lift the men's doubles title with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over P C Vignesh and Fariz Mohammed. The women's singles final will see Prerna Bhambri up against top seed Shweta Rana. Earlier in the day, Mohit defeated Nitten Kirtane 6-1, 2-6, 6-2. Arjun had a relatively easy outing beating Chandril Sood 6-2 6-1. Shweta edge past Sharmada Balu 4-6 6-1 6-1, while Prerna knocked out sixth seed C Sai Samhitha 6-2 6-1 comfortably.