3 records at nat’l aquatics c’ships
Thiruvananthapuram: Sandeep Sejwal and Sajan Prakash of Railways and Gujarat’s Maana Patel set new records in their respective events on the opening day of the 67th national Aquatics Championship here. Sejwal set new mark in the 200 m breaststroke while Prakash’s feat came in 400 m freestyle in the men’s category yesterday. Teenager Maana broke the national record in women’s 100 m backstroke at the B R Ambedkar International Aquatic Complex. Sejwal achieved the target in 2 minutes, 15.22 seconds improving his own existing record of 2:15.77 minutes in the category. Prakash finished the mark in 3 minute and 58.51 seconds breaking the record of Sangvekhar while Maana set the new mark in 1:06.58 minutes. In the category of relays, Railways team comprising Sanu Debnath, Rahul RC, Sajan Prakash and Aaron Agnel D’Souza beat Karnataka and Services.
Tipsarevic to play chennai open
Chennai: Defending champion Janko Tipsarevic along with world number 8 Stanislas Wawrinka, Mikhail Youzhny (15) and Fabio Fognini (16) will compete in the 19th edition of the Aircel Chennai Open, starting December 30 here. A total of 21 players from the draw released here on Thursday are ATP ranked between eight and 89, in addition to four qualifiers and three wild cards for the India’s only ATP World Tour tennis event. Marcel Granollers (38), Edouard Roger-Vasselin (52), Roberto Bautista Agut (59), Guillermo Garcia-lopez (63), Pablo Carreno Busta (65), Yen-Hsun lu (66) are in the middle of the draw list. Dudi Sela (72), Benjamin Becker (78), lukas lacko (81), Albert Ramos (82), Jiri Vesely (84), Julian Reister (85), Aljaz Bedene (88) and Tim Smyczek (89) are also in the list. The prize money for the international tennis Open here between Dec 30, 2013 and January 5, 2014 is 4,50,000 USD. Qualifying matches will be on Dec 28 and 29, while the men’s main draw would be between Dec 30 and Jan 5, 2014.
Paul joins Rangdajied United
New Delhi: India goalkeeper Subrata Paul, who is set to join Danish top tier side FC Vestsjaelland, has joined Shillong-based I-league side Rangdajied United on loan for a short stint as he wants to keep himself fit by playing competitive football before leaving for Denmark. Paul, who is expected to leave for Denmark in the first week of January to join FC Vestsjaelland, has signed up with Rangdajied United till December 31 on loan from IMG-Reliance. “I have signed with Rangdajied as I want to keep myself fit by playing in the I-league. What will I do in the one month (before leaving for Denmark)IJ I don’t want to remain sitting idle,” he said.
Injured Ribery to miss derby
Munich: Bayern Munich winger and Ballon d’Or candidate Franck Ribery has a cracked rib and will miss Saturday’s Bundesliga derby at Borussia Dortmund. Bayern says Ribery could also miss next week’s Champions league game at CSKA Moscow. Ribery’s 10th rib was cracked in France’s 3-0 victory over Ukraine on Tuesday that qualified the French for next year’s World Cup in Brazil. Bayern’s injury list includes Bastian Schweinsteiger, Xherdan Shaqiri, Claudio Pizarro and Holger Badstuber.
‘Toughest anti-doping for Sochi’
Seoul: IOC President Thomas Bach says the Winter Olympics in Sochi will feature “the toughest anti-doping program we’ve ever had at the Olympic Games.” Bach spoke Thursday during a visit to Seoul to review preparations by the South Korean city of Pyeongchang for the 2018 Winter Games. The 2014 Olympics will be held in Sochi from Feb. 7-23. Bach says “both with regards to quantity as well as quality this will be the toughest anti-doping program we’ve ever had at the Olympic Games. He praised Pyeongchang organizers.