Rituparna, Srikanth reach final
New Delhi: Junior national champion Rituparna Das and Thailand Grand Prix gold winner K Srikanth stunned defending champions Sayali Gokhale and Parupalli Kashyap to reach the finals of women’s and men’s singles competitions respectively in the 78th ATS Senior National Championship here on Sunday. Rituparna came from behind to upset seventh seed Sayali Gokhale 13-21, 21-13, 21-14, while K Srikanth got the better of top seed P Kashyap 21-14, 21-19 in 37 minutes at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here. Rituparna will now face second seed and pre-tournament favourite P V Sindhu, who defeated third seed Arundhati Pantawane 21-17, 21-14, while Srikanth will face off second seed RMV Gurusaidutt in the finals. The semifinal encounter against defending champion Kashyap and challenger Srikanth was expected to be the highlight of the day.
Mehta wins Kolkata Open Snooker
Kolkata: India’s professional snooker player Aditya Mehta successfully defended his title at the second Kolkata Open Invitational Championship, defeating Kamal Chawla 6-2 in the summit clash here on Sunday. Fresh from his historic final appearance at the Indian Open ranking event in Delhi, Mehta started off well and completely dominated the first session to grab a 4-0 lead. In the second session, Chawla narrowed down the lead by winning the next two frames but Mehta’s fine potting skills and safety play did not allow his opponent to do much as the Mumbaikar stretched his lead to 5-2. In the last frame, Mehta went out of place after making the initial break of 31 points which provided his opponent a chance to make a comeback into the game but Chawla failed to capitalise on it and fumbled after constructing a break of 34.
Bindra on 3rd in 10m Air Rifle
New Delhi: 2008 Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra was running on third in the qualification round of the men’s 10 meter Air Rifle event at the 57th National Shooting Championship here on Sunday. Ravi Kumar of Air Force was leading the qualification with on 624 points while Sanjeev Rajput of Navy was on second with 622.5 followed by Bindra of Punjab on 622.3 points. The qualification round of 10 meter Air Rifle event at Dr Karni Singh Shooting Ranges will continue tomorrow and the final round will be held on Tuesday. Pratik Borse of Maharashtra was leading on 612.6 points in the youth category of men’s 10m Rifle, followed by Anil Kumar of Madhya Pradesh with 604.5 and Maharashtra’s Amit Aanantwad was third on 604.4. Chain Singh of Army was leading in the 50m 3 Position Rifle with 1159 points, followed by Army team-mates Surendra Singh Rathore (1156) and Kapil Rana (1150). Navdeep Singh Rathore of Madhya Pradesh topped the junior men’s 50m 3 Position Rifle with a score of 1121 followed by Shubham Malik of Air Force with 1120 points and Shubhankar Pramanick of West Bengal with a score of 1116 points.
Ind can qualify for 2022 WC: sachin
Kolkata: Sachin Tendulkar found himself in a slightly different territory on Sunday as he pitched for football, saying that with the 2017 Under-17 World Cup coming to the country, qualifying for the 2022 senior main event is a realistic target. “2022 sounds like a realistic target. We are hosting the 2017 World Cup, so it sounds realistic... I would like to believe that,” Tendulkar said during an event of the Indian leg of the FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour. “We need to focus on the process. We cannot look to go directly to the 100th floor. We have got to start from the first floor and gradually climb up the building,” he added. “To participate in a big tournament like World Cup is something that does not happen overnight. It’s a journey and for a journey to happen, there’s a process. As I mentioned, the platform has to be provided to the young talent.”
U-17 WC will inspire kids: Ganguly
Kolkata: A self-confessed football fan, Sourav Ganguly hoped Indian football would get a huge boost by hosting the Under-17 World Cup in 2017. “I’m sure the 2017 World Cup will give a big push to the sport. It will bring young kids back to the fields. I know cricket attracts a lot of kids who want to be like Sachin or nowadays Virat Kohli,” the former India captain said. “U-17 World Cup 2017 will bring a lot of young boys. It’s a fantastic sport. The passion and the excitement the sport can generate is unbelievable,” he said on the sidelines of FIFA World Cup’s India leg tour. “I’m sure all of us will agree that the sport has taken a beating in Kolkata and India. It needs a massive push to bring it back to where it was. Kolkata will remain always the heart of football. We all want to see the game go back to where it was.”
Adebayor gives Tottenham 3-2 win
Southampton: Emmanuel Adebayor continued his Tottenham renaissance on Sunday, scoring twice to clinch a 3-2 victory at Southampton in Tim Sherwood’s first Premier league match in temporary charge of the london club. Frozen out by Andre Villas-Boas, who was fired on Monday, Adebayor has quickly repaid the faith Sherwood has shown in him. After scoring in Tottenham’s league Cup loss to West Ham on Wednesday, Adebayor kept his place in the starting lineup and secured the victory that puts his seventh-place team just six points behind leader liverpool. After Adam lallana put Southampton in front, Adebayor volleyed Tottenham level in the 25th minute on his first league start of the season. Tottenham went in front through Jos Hooiveld’s own goal and, after Rickie lambert tapped in a Southampton equalizer, Adebayor slotted in the winner. PNS/Agencies