Gay gets one-year doping ban
Colorado Springs: US sprint star Tyson Gay has received a one-year doping ban from the US Anti-Doping Association (USADA) and returned his 2012 london Olympics silver medal to the US Olympic Committee. USADA announced on Friday that the 31-year-old American track star tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid in two random out-of-competition tests and one event doping test in urine samples taken last year by both USADA and the world governing body IAAF. Gay accepted a one-year period of ineligibility that began on June 23 of last year, the day his sample was collected at the US Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Because the random test positives were collected near the date of the meet, they were treated as one violation. While the suspension timing means that Gay can return to competition next month, he will do so too late to take part in Diamond league meets at New York or Eugene, Oregon, or qualify for the US Track and Field Championships at Sacramento, California, on June 26-29.
Chawla settles for bronze
New Delhi: Indian cueist Kamal Chawla settled for a bronze medal after losing his semifinal match to Chuan leong Thor of Malaysia in the Asian Snooker Championship being held in Al Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. Chawla struggled against his Malaysian opponent and lost 2-6 in the semifinals, after a fine run in the tournament. The Indian somehow managed to win two frames in the best of 11 semifinal but that was not enough for him to advance further. This was Chawla's first medal in Asian Championships. Earlier, Chawla had cued past Chen Zifan of China 4-2 in the pre-quarters and then outplayed Malaysian cueist Moh Keen Ho 5-3 in the last-8 encounter to book a semifinal berth.
Thomas & Uber camp from May 7
New Delhi: As part of its preparation for the li Ning BWF Thomas and Uber Cups Finals to be held at the Siri Fort Sports Complex from May 18-25, the Indian team will conduct a special camp from May 7 here under the guidance of chief national coach Pullela Gopichand. A 30-member core team will prepare for the upcoming tournament. Out of those 30, 10 men and 10 women would be picked later in the week. "India is hosting the Thomas/Uber Cup finals for the first time and we want to put our best foot forward. So we decided to make most of the home conditions and hold the camp in New Delhi itself so that the players would get acclimatised to the playing conditions and temperatures here," Badminton Association of India president, Akhilesh Das Gupta said.
India eves lose 2-4 to Belgium
Glasgow: Indian women hockey team fought well before losing 2-4 to Belgium in a classification match of the Champions Challenge 1 tournament, here on Saturday. Belgium captain Charlotte de Vos scored the first goal for her team in the 20th minute. Five minutes later Poonam Rani drew parity for India by converting a penalty corner. Belgium team came back well as Emilie Sinia found the net through a field goal in the 28th minute. Indian team defended well and did not let Belgium score any more goals till the end of the first half. In the second half Indian eves came back strong. Monika neutralised the lead in the 44th minute through a field goal. In the very next minute (45th Minute) louise Versa Vel scored to yet again to put Belgium ahead. In the 60th minute, Sinia scored her second goal to take the game away from the Indians. India next play hosts Scotland for seventh place.
Women paddlers fail advance
Tokyo: India's challenge at the World Table Tennis championships ended after the women paddlers were beaten 1-3 in the quarterfinals by Brazil here on Saturday. K Shamini was unable to come to terms against Gui lin who made use of most of her rival's mistakes at crucial junctions. Shamini, despite taking two games of her opponent of Chinese origin, lost 8-11, 11-7, 5-11, 11-9, 7-11. But Manika, brushing aside the pressure, restored parity beating ligia Silva 13-11, 7-11, 11-4, 12-10. Playing an attacking game Manika kept pushing Silva to the brink. However, Ankita lost her singles to Caroline Kumahara 4-11, 8-11, 11-7, 6-11 without much fight.
renjith in for Arjuna Awards
New Delhi: Triple jumper Renjith Maheswary, who has been stopped from receiving Arjuna Award under controversial circumstances on charges of dope violation last year, has again been recommended by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) for the coveted honour this year. "Sports Ministry's eligibility clause says that any athlete who failed a dope test conducted by a WADA or IOC accredited laboratory will be barred from getting the award. But Maheswary's case relates to a test conducted in 2008 while the NDTl got WADA accreditation in 2009 only," an AFI official said. "So, we have recommended Maheswary's name again for this year's Arjuna Award. let us see what the new government does this time," he said.
Sandeep, Khushbir set records
New Delhi: Sandeep Kumar and Khushbir Kaur set two national records by producing creditable show in the Men's 50km event and Women's 20km event, respectively, on the first day of the IAAF World Race Walking Cup at Taicang, China on Saturday. Sandeep finished 23rd in his event, clocking 3:56:22s to better Basanta Bahadur Rana's earlier national record timing of 3:56:48s set during the 2012 the london Olympics. Sandeep had a personal best of 4:02:19s before this effort. later, India's woman walking star Khushbir erased her own national record in the 20km event, clocking 1:31:40, to finish 35th in the ongoing competition.
IPl GC lauds success of UAE leg
New Delhi: The Indian Premier league's Governing Council today lauded the event's success in the UAE, claiming that the first leg of the tournament fetched "unprecedented success" in terms of fan turnout, television viewership and ticket collections. "The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) today announced the numbers that matter from the 2014 season of Pepsi Indian Premier league UAE-leg. The first part of the Twenty20 extravaganza has witnessed an unprecedented success in terms of fan turnout, television viewership, digital and ticket collections," the organisers said in a statement.