Kolkata’s hopes on Atletico expertise
Kolkata: Co-owner of Kolkata franchise, Sourav Ganguly on Monday said that Spanish side Atletico Madrid’s keen interest in Indian Super league football tournament would be beneficial for the game in the country in long run. Atletico Madrid, on their website, has already announced the name of the Kolkata team as Atletico de Madrid Kolkata even though the consortium of five entities is yet to do so. “It’s just out of passion... Actually we are happy that they (Atletico Madrid) are putting in a lot of interest. You can see it in some other way like they have jumped up and given the name,” Gangulysaid in the city franchise’s first official media interaction here. “You have to accept that they are one of the best football teams in the world. We have to accept that if they become part of the Indian football, the sport will be benefitted in the end. When a young footballer sees Atletico being the number one team in the la liga ... Spain being the current holders of the World Cup, they will be benefited. Everything gets benefited. It’s a good sign for us that the best side in the world has shown so much of interest in this franchise. I always say the sport has to take over at the end of the day,” Ganguly said. Asked if the Spanish giants would have the last word in the club, Ganguly said, “I’m not saying that. I categorically say that we may or may not go their way but what I’m trying to say is that it’s great to see their interest.”
Advani fails to make c’ship cut
Sheffield (UK): Pankaj Advani’s hopes of making it to the World Snooker Championship were dashed after the ace cueist lost his third-round qualifier against Robbie Williams on Monday. Pankaj, 28, could not stand the English test as Robbie outplayed the Bangalore lad 10-7. leading 7-4 in the best-of-19 frames, Advani lost track after the English pro won 6 frames on the trot. Advani, who has a World Snooker title in his kitty, had only two breaks in the entire match with 17 frames played. Chasing his maiden World title, Williams, 27, has one more hurdle to cross before he makes the cut for the tournament’s main draw, starting from Saturday.
Abhijeet remains joint second
Dubai: Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta kept himself in contention after he settled for a draw with Yuriy Kuzubov of Ukraine in the seventh round of 16th Dubai International open chess tournament here on Sunday. It turned out to be a tough day for the highest rated Indian in Dubai open as Kuzubov was on top for the major part of the game and the draw was achieved only through a reckless repetition of position by the Ukrainian. The lead position remained unchanged as Romain Edouard of France settled for a quick draw with Sebastian Bogner of Switzerland at the top of the tables.
Ad-hoc committee meet on APR 17th
New Delhi: The ad-hoc committee formed by the IOA to run Indian boxing in the wake of the federation’s international termination, will meet for the first time on April 17 to discuss team selections and conduct of national championships among other issues. The six-member committee, headed by Tarlochan Singh, was supposed to hold its first meeting last week but it had to be postponed after one of the members, Kishan Narsi, reported sick. “It is the first meeting and a range of issues will come up for discussion, including the holding of National and Zonal Championships for men, women, youth and juniors. Besides the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games are also drawing closer and team selection would be also on the agenda,” a source said.
Humera clinches judo gold
Karachi: Humera Ashique created history after becoming the first Pakistani woman to clinch gold in an international event in Nepal on Sunday. The 24-year-old judoka took gold at the South Asian Judo Championship in Kathmandu as she defeated a Nepalese athelete to clinch the 48kg event. The lahore-based athlete is happy to realise her dream after training hard at the national camp since November. “I’m just relieved now,” said Humera. “I was so tired of failing to win the ultimate title. But after so many years and hard work I’ve finally managed to win a gold medal. Before leaving for Nepal I told my parents that I’ll succeed. I performed sensibly and outplayed very tough opponents.”
Selectors will take the call: Oza
Mumbai: The AITA secretary Bharat Oza on Monday made it clear that the national selection committee needs to take a call on whether they would like to “go backwards” after veterans Mahesh Bhupathi and leander Paes announced their availability for the Davis Cup tie at home against Serbia. “Our selection committee including captain (Anand Amritraj) and coach (Zeeshan Ali) would decide on whether we need to go backwards or keep faith in the youngsters who did well against South Korea,” Oza said on Monday.
4 boxers get bye at Youth C’ships
New Delhi: Asian silver-medallists Gaurav Solanki (52kg) and Neel Kamal Singh (75kg) were among the fours Indians who were handed first-round byes in the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships, which would double up as a qualifying event for the Youth Olympics, in Sofia, Bulgaria starting on Monday. Manjeet (69kg) and Manju Bombariya (75kg) are the other Indian boxers to get a bye in the mega-tournament, which combines the men’s and women’s competition for the first time. The Indian campaign will be opened by Shyam Kakara (49kg), who will be up against UAE’s Abdulla Almulla.