India eyeing 3 gold in Archery WC
Kolkata: Indian men’s and women’s recurve teams have stormed into the finals in the Archery World Cup Stage IV in Wroclaw, Poland. According to information received here, the top seed Indian trio of Tarundeep Rai, Jayanta Talukdar and Atanu Das got the better of China 5-4, while the second seeded women’s team of Deepika Kumari, Bombayla Devi laishram and laxmirani Majhi trounced their opponents from Georgia 6-2 last night to make it to their respective finals. Both the Indian teams will lock horns against their respective opponents from Mexico in the team finals slated for on Saturday. With the compound mixed pair of Abhishek Verma and Purvasha Shende already in the final, India have thus ensured at least three medals from the season-concluding meet. Besides, Deepika will vie for two bronze medals in the recurve individual and mixed pair where she’s been tagged with Talukdar.
Sushil, dutt to skip World C’ships
New Delhi: Star grapplers Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt have decided to skip the FIlA World Wrestling Championships to be held next month in Tashkent, Uzbekistan to avoid injuries and preserve themselves for the upcoming Asian Games. Sushil and Yogeshwar, who won a gold each in men’s 74kg and 65kg freestyle in the recently-concluded Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, will not take part in the world meet to be held from September 4 to 18. Amit Kumar Dahiya and Babita Kumari, who won a gold each in Glasgow in men’s 57kg and women’s 55kg freestyle, will also not take part in the World Championships. Wrestling head coach Vinod Kumar said that India will send a ‘B’ team in the World Championships in view of the Asian Games. “It will be really hectic for Sushil and Yogeshwar to take part in both the World Championships and Asian Games as barely 10 days separate the two events. They have to be kept fighting fit for the Asian Games and avoid injuries. Amit Kumar Dahiya is also not taking part (in World Championships). So basically we are sending a ‘B’ team in the World Championships,” Vinod Kumar said.
India win series 3-0 vs bangladesh
New Delhi: Continuing its dominating performance, Indian men’s hockey defeated Bangladesh 3-1 in the third and final match to clean sweep the series 3-0 in Dhaka on Saturday. India started the match with their attacking game and achieved their first goal in sixth minute through forward Yuvraj Walmiki. After the early success, India tried to create more opportunities in the first half but Bangladeshi defenders managed to restrict the Indian attack. In the second half, India came back with a better plan and managed to earn a penalty in 38th minute. Drag-flicker Gurjinder Singh converted the penalty corner into a beautiful goal to give India a 2-0 lead. Bangladesh fought back hard after conceding two goals and managed to score a goal in 56th minute through Pushkor Khisa Mimu. Indian skipper Vikram Kanth scored the third goal for his team in 57th minute and helped his team to remain unbeaten in the series.
World jr chess in October in Pune
Mumbai: The World Junior Chess Championship, the first stepping stone to future glory, is scheduled from October 5-20 in Pune. A total of 250 players from 65 countries, including 30 which have confirmed their entries till date ahead of the September 5 deadline, would be seen in action in the under 20 tournament, it was announced at a media conference here on Saturday. The event is being hosted jointly by the Maharashtra Chess Association and its Pune affiliate at a five star hotel in Viman Nagar and 1987 winner and five-time world champion Vishwanathan Anand, who was present at the announcement, is the event’s brand ambassador.
Sania, Cara reach semi-final
Montreal: Sania Mirza and Cara Black spanked Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears in just 52 minutes to seal a semifinal berth at the WTA Rogers Cup, here. The fourth seeded Indo-Zimbabwean pair knocked out the sixth seeded American team 6-2 6-1 in the lop-sided quarterfinal contest. Sania and Cara converted six of the 10 break chances in the match in which they won 52 points to 27 of their rivals. They next face formidable second seeded pair of Su-Wei Hsieh from Taipei and Shuai Peng from China. Sania and Cara have not beaten Su-Wei and Shuai in three meetings this season so far. They had lost to them at French Open, Madrid event, and also in the final of the Indian Wells tournament.
Balaji claims 1st ITF singles title
Astana (Kazakhstan): India’s N Sriram Balaji clinched his first ITF Futures singles title of the season when he scored a comfortable straight sets win over liang-Chi Huang in the summit clash, here on Saturday. Playing his second final of the season, 377th ranked Balaji overwhelmed his 282nd-ranked and third seed Chinese Taipei rival 6-3 6-2 in the USD 15,000 event. The fourth seed Indian broke his rival four times in the match while he lost his serve only one time. It is Balaji’s fifth singles title overall, having won two titles last year and two in 2012. The last time he competed in a singles title-clash was in Trichy in March this year. The 24-year-old player from Tamil Nadu had reached the doubles final yesterday with compatriot VM Ranjeet but they had to be content with a runners-up finish on Friday.
Somdev ousted
Aptos (USA): Somdev Devvarman went down fighting against world number 54 Mikhail Kukushkin in the quarter-finals of the USD 100,000 ATP Challenger event here. Somdev, currently ranked 147 after a string of poor performances, lost to the top seeded Kazakhstan player 5-7, 6-4, 2-6 after battling for close to two hours. It was second meeting between the two players and the Indian had emerged winner when they clashed in 2011 in Belgrade, Serbia. Somdev earned 18 ranking points and USD 2,920 as prize money for his effort. Meanwhile, Sanam Singh and Purav Raja advanced to the doubles semifinals of the same tournament with a 7-6(4) 6-2 win over Andrea Collarini from Argentina and Mexico’s Cesar Ramirez. The fourth seeded Indian pair will next play top seeded American-Australian combo of Austin Krajicek and John-Patrick Smith.
Tsonga downs Murray
Toronto: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Andy Murray for the first time in six years with a 7-6 (7/5) 4-6 6-4 win which took him into the Toronto Masters semi-finals. The victory, in just over two and a quarter hours yesterday, marked another disappointment for Murray, who has not won a title since his historic success at Wimbledon 13 months ago. The 27-year-old Tsonga’s highlights this season have been limited to a pair of semi-finals, at Acapulco and Roland Garros. Murray, who led 3-0 in the deciding set, had not played this week since the second round after receiving a walkover when Richard Gasquet withdrew from their scheduled third round.