Bindra claims third gold
New Delhi: Ace Indian shooter Abhinav Bindra added another gold at the Inter Shoot Tri series Shooting and became the first individual to win three gold medals in the event being held at Hague, Netherlands. Beijing Olympics gold medallist Bindra was in roaring form as he clinched the yellow metal in the Air Pistol event yesterday. In a lively competition, which had the current Olympic Champion Alin George Moldoveanu, Bindra shot 209.0 and 209.3 in the two finals to outclass the field by 3.3 and 2.4 points respectively. Interestingly, Bindra had topped the qualifiers on Friday in the second competition with a total of 627.7, 6.6 better than the second placed Moldoveanu. In the first competition on Thursday, Bindra had qualified in the eighth place with 613.3, but beat the top qualifier Peter Hellenbrand of Holland in a strong climax as he wound up with the last two shots of 10.6 and 10.8. He did the same on third day by 10.7 and 10.7.
Neena wins gold in 10km walk
Kochi: Hosts Kerala's K T Neena triumphed on her maiden appearance in 10km race walk to win the gold medal in the junior girls' section at the second National Open Race Walking Championships, here on Sunday. After an early morning start of the men's 50km walk, a total of 11 junior girls took the course around 7:15 am for the 10km race. last year's runner-up Priyanka started on a perfect note and maintained the lead until 7km when Neena decided to increase her pace. She overtook the Punjab girl at the turning point. There was no looking back for Neena after that as she went on to clock 51:27s in her first attempt to win the race. Priyanka retained her last year's position clocking 52:03s while another Keralite A M Binsy finished third with 54:56s for a bronze medal. The junior boys' 10km race walk witnessed high drama when Haryana lad Vijay, taking part under AFI banner, was informed of his disqualification immediately after finishing the race on top (44:56s).
Advani, Mehta lose in Gdynia Open
New Delhi: Top Indian cueists Pankaj Advani and Aditya Mehta crashed out of the Gdynia Open after suffering defeats in the fifth round of the snooker tournament in Poland. Eight-time world champion Advani from Bangalore lost 2-4 to Alex Borg, while Mehta went down 1-4 to Tom Ford, who put in breaks of 56, 85 and 55 in the first, second and fourth frames to wrap up the match. India's leading snooker professional, Advani had pocketed the second and fifth frames but Borg put on display fine potting skills with breaks of 57 and 62 to seal the issue in his favour. In the other match, fully aware of Indian Open finalist Mehta's prowess, Ford reigned supreme on the green baize and did not allow his opponent to deploy his safety play into the game. Gdynia Open was the leg 8 of the European Tour.
‘luka will win gold at Glasgow CWG’
Mumbai: legendary athlete P T Usha on Sunday expressed hope that her student Tintu luka would win gold medal in the 800 metres at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this year. "Tintu is doing very well. We are trying to get her more outside exposure. For her, this year is very important. I want her to time under 1 min 59 seconds because last time at the CWG, she didn't do well. This year she should get the gold and not just any medal as she is in a good form," Usha told reporters here at the KOOH Sports Speedstar season 2 event. The CWG will be held in Glasgow, Scotland from July 21 to August 4, while the Asian Games are scheduled in Incheon, South Korea from September 28 to October 5. The 49-year old said she has identified a few events in Europe for Tintu to compete. "I have selected some competition from May onwards in Europe. Qualifying for Olympics and world athletics, it is not so easy. Running with Indian athletes, you cannot qualify. She got only two races last year, how she will be able to qualifyIJ
Verona draw 2-2 against Juventus
Rome: Hellas Verona scored a late equalizer as it came from two goals down to draw 2-2 at home to Serie A leader Juventus on Sunday. The two-time defending champion remained nine points ahead of Roma, which drew 0-0 at bitter rival lazio in the capital derby. Carlos Tevez scored twice in the first half for Juventus to take his tally to 13 for the season. But luca Toni reinforced his bid for a World Cup spot when he reduced the deficit with his 11th goal in 20 matches and Gomez Taleb levelled deep in stoppage time. Earlier, Bologna inched away from the relegation zone following a surprise 2-1 win at high-flying Torino. Elsewhere, it was: Sampdoria 1, Cagliari 0; Parma 0, Catania 0; and livorno 0, Genoa 1.
Bayern, Dortmund win in Bundesliga
Berlin: Front runners Bayern Munich, maintaining their winning ways, clinched a Bavarian derby while Dortmund sealed their second straight victory with a goal festival over Bremen in Bundesliga. Bayern, with a 2-0 win, extended their unbeaten record to 45 games as resilient Nuremberg failed to get more out of their bright start Saturday, reports Xinhua. The hosts caught a lively start when Daniel Ginczek tested Bayern custodian Manuel Neuer before Hiroshi Kiyotake's sideways scissors kick rattled the bar. The German giants seemed impressed as Josip Drmic nearly broke the deadlock but it was again Neuer who denied the opener. However, instead of celebrating an opener against the league leaders, Nuremberg were punished as Mario Mandzukic opened the scoring against the run of the game at the 18th minute. The Croatian international made use of David Alaba's cross to volley home from seven metres into the top left corner. PNS/Agencies