Yogeshwar comes to Bajrang’s help
New Delhi: Wrestler Bajrang Kumar’s scuttled trip to the USA for a crucial competition was brought back on track by Olympic bronze-medallist Yogeshwar Dutt, who convinced SAI officials here on Friday to sanction his expenses for the Dave Schultz Memorial International Tournament in Colorado Springs. Miffed at the treatment meted out to his “younger brother” Bajrang, Yogeshwar met Sports Authority of India Director General Jiji Thomson and SAI’s Teams Division head Rajinder Singh at the SAI headquarters. He requested them to sanction Bajrang’s travel, boarding and lodging expenses for the all-important fortnight-long training-cum-competition programme. After his meeting with SAI officials in the afternoon, Thomson gave the go ahead for SAI to fund Bajrang’s expenses for the tournament. Bajrang has decided to leave on January 21 from the capital to join his other eight freestyle teammates, who had left on Wednesday accompanied by chief national coach Vinod Kumar. “I have sanctioned his trip. He can leave for the US whenever he wants to. Yogeshwar and Bajrang met me today at my office and after a discussion with Rajinder Singh, I ordered that his funds should be immediately released,” Thomson said.
United, Sporting register wins
Kochi: A second half strike from Baldeep Singh saw United SC beat Pune FC 1-0 in a Group A encounter of the 35th Federation Cup at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Friday. It was a must-win game for both sides but in the end the Kolkata side triumphed to remain in contention for a semi-final place. The first half saw very little goalmouth action as neither side created too many openings. United SC’s best chance of the half fell to Dhananchandra Singh who couldn’t hit the target despite getting a free header from an Eric Brown cross.
Srikanth out of Malaysia Open
Kuala lumpur: National champion K Srikanth’s dream run came to an end after he suffered a straight-game defeat against fourth seed Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia in the quarterfinals of the Malaysia Super Series Premier here on Friday. The world number 38 Indian, who had notched up victories against higher-ranked Yun Hu of Hong Kong and Korea’s Wan Ho Sun in the last two rounds, went down 10-21 15-21 against Sugiarto, a silver medallist at the World Junior Championships in Incheon. The 20-year-old Indian, who was crowned the National Championship in New Delhi, could not pose much of a challenge to Sugiarto in the opening game as after 3-3, the Indonesian broke off and kept extending his lead to eventually pocket the game comfortably. In the second game too, Sugiarto managed to hold an upper hand all throughout.
No Azlan Shah Cup for India
New Delhi: The Indian hockey team will not participate in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup to be held in Malaysia from March 13-23 as it will be busy preparing for the World Cup in Europe. “India will not participate at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. Our high performance director Roelant Oltmans and chief coach Terry Walsh have decided that we need to prepare keeping the World Cup in mind,” Hockey India Secretary General Narinder Batra told reporters here. The World Cup will be held at the Hague, Netherlands, from May 31 to June 15. “Our team will be playing a tournament in Europe as a build up for the World Cup. Our players need to acclimatise to the European conditions before the World Cup starts. PNS/Agencies