‘Committee for Bharat Ratna’
lucknow: 'Flying Sikh' Milkha Singh called for setting up of a committee to suggest names of sportspersons to honour them with the Bharat Ratna. "A committee should be set up to suggest names after assessing the sportspersons involved in different sports on the basis of their performances for honouring them with Bharat Ratna," Milkha, who was here to attend a programme, told reporters. "Preference should be given to Olympic sports as they are played by more countries and so the competition is also more," he said. Milkha said iconic cricketer Tendulkar, who was named for the Bharat Ratna on the day of his retirement last month, should be made the sports minister. "Sachin Tendulkar should be made the sports minister of the country as he has massive experience and he can understand better than anyone else how to encourage sports in the country," he said. Milkha re-iterated that hockey wizard Dhyanchand should have been honoured with Bharat Ratna before Tendulkar. Earlier, addressing the the 21st foundation day of Seth M R Jaipuria school, Milkha rued at the lack of quality athletes despite the country having good facilities.
Olympian shooters lead in rifle
New Delhi: Olympic shooter Sanjeev Rajput finished on the top position in the qualification round of 50m Rifle Prone men's event, while another Olympian Anjali Bhagwat was in second spot in the 10m Rifle women's event at the 57th National Shooting Championship here on Thursday. Ahead of the finals tomorrow, Sanjeev of Navy was leading with a score of 671.1, followed by two Army men -- Sushil Ghale on 616.6 points and Pankaj Gurung on 616.3 -- in the qualification round of 50m Rifle Prone. Rakesh Manpat of Karnataka shot identical score of 615.9 to be in the fourth position at the Karni Singh shooting ranges here. In Air Rifle women's 10 meter range event, Apurvi Chandela of Rajasthan was leading with 415.2 points, with Anjali Bhagwat of Maharashtra behind her on 414.7, followed by Punjab's Kiranjeet Kaur on a score of 414.6. Apurvi is also on the first position in the junior women category of 10m Air Rifle event. Tamil Nadu's S Praveena was on second place with 414.3 points and Shalini Chahar of Uttar Pradesh was on third with a score of 413.4.
‘Vanishing spray to be used at WC’
Marrakech (Morocco): FIFA president Sepp Blatter says the vanishing spray being used to designate distances for free kicks will be used at next year's World Cup in Brazil. The spray, which was developed in Argentina and Brazil, is currently being used at the Club World Cup in Morocco. Blatter says "we started using it in all (our) competitions this year and at the World Cup we will definitely keep on the same path." Blatter was "skeptical at first but after talking to referees who used this system, they were all happy with it." Coaches at the Club World Cup have also expressed content with the technology that allows the referee to mark the line where the defensive wall should be before a free kick is taken.
Iniesta's barca contract until 2018
Barcelona: Barcelona president Sandro Rosell says Andres Iniesta has agreed to extend his contract for three more seasons until June 2018. Rosell says "it's confirmed, we have shaken hands and that's good enough, especially with a person like Andres." The 29-year-old Iniesta came up through Barcelona's youth teams and has helped it win three Champions league titles and six Spanish league titles. Rosell says that Iniesta will likely sign his new contract on Monday. Rosell also says that Barcelona is "more than delighted" to hand over documents related to the signing of Neymar to the judge who is considering a lawsuit regarding the Brazilian's cost to the club.
Spain end year as No 1 in fifa rank
Zurich: Spain top the year-end FIFA rankings for the sixth straight year, since starting its run of major tournament wins at the 2008 European Championship. The 2010 World Cup winner lead Germany, Argentina and Colombia at the head of an unchanged top 10. Just 30 national team matches were played in the past month to affect the calculations. The United States remains the best-placed CONCACAF team at No. 15. Ivory Coast leads Africa at No. 17. Bosnia-Herzegovina rise two places to No. 19, pushing No. 21 Mexico down one. Iran still lead Asian confederation teams and rise 12 to No. 33. FIFA says No. 18 Ukraine made the biggest rankings rise in 2013, up 29 places. Ukraine failed to qualify for the WC, losing a playoff to No. 20 France.
Mehta wins two matches on trot
Kolkata: Indian pro Aditya Mehta registered back-to-back wins to remain on course for title in the 2nd Kolkata Open National Invitation Snooker Championship. Fresh from finishing second in the Indian Open, Mehta posted 115 points clearance in the opening frame against laxman Rawat in the last session match of the day. He continued with his form in next two frames as well and made it 3-0 win over Rawat. Rawat had come close to make it 1-1 in the second frame but missed the crucial blue and Aditya closed the proceedings by winning that frame 72-61 before wrapping it up by winning the third 70-24. Earlier local favourite Sourav Kothari was unlucky to lose to Faisal Khan despite recovering from being down by two frames. Faisal dominated in the first two frames and played many good shots to carry the match towards his side but in the third frame Sourav contested really hard to curtail Faisal and mark a dent in his winning streak. Another home challenger Brijesh Damani's match against Delhi's Sundeep Gulati swung like a pendulum with both the players winning the alternate frames. Gulati had chances in the fourth frame to close the proceedings but Brijesh ended the game and forced the decider to be laid on the green baize.