Women’s hockey team for bay cup
New Delhi: India on Tuesday named a 18-member women’s hockey team to be led by midfielder Ritu Rani for the Hawke’s Bay Cup to be played in New Zealand from the April 11th to 19. Besides India, the tournament will also feature Argentina, Australia, China, Japan, Korea, USA and hosts New Zealand. While Ritu will continue to lead the Indian eves, defender Deepika has been named as the vice-captain. India will open their campaign against China on April 11. Training under the watchful eyes of High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans, the Indian eves will be aiming to put up an improved show ahead of the all important Hockey World league Semi-final in Belgium. Team: Goalkeeper: Savita, Rajni Etimarpu; Defenders: Deep Grace Ekka, Deepika, Sunita lakra, Sushila Chanu, M N Ponnamma, Monika; Midfielders: Ritu Rani, Namita Toppo, lilima Minz, liliy Chanu, Navjot Kaur, Sondarya Yendala; Forwards: Vandana Katariya, Rani, Poonam Rani, Anuradha Thockchom.
sejwal to compete in dubai
New Delhi: Asian Games bronze-winning swimmer Sandeep Sejwal will be India’s top medal hope in the second Dubai International Aquatics Championship which begins from Wednesday. Sejwal, who won two gold and three silver medals in the previous edition of the event, left for the Championship in the wee hours. Sejwal has been in good form and bagged four gold medals at the National Games in Kerala earlier this year. The Championship in Dubai is, however, his first international outing since the Asian Games in Incheon last year. Sejwal became only the third Indian in the last 28 years to grab a medal at the Asian Games, when he clinched the 50m breaststroke bronze.
harika bows out of worlds
Sochi: Grandmaster Dronavalli Harika missed out on winning opportunities and boweed out of the World Women’s Chess Championship after losing the 10-minute tiebreaker against Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine in the semifinals here on Tuesday. Harika missed her chances in the first game of the second set of tie-break games and then was outplayed in the second game to lose 0.5-1.5 in 10-minute chess. In the other semifinal, Natalija Pogonina of Russia prevailed over Sweden’s Pia Cramling in the rapid tie-break games itself.
No British football team at Rio
london: Britain will not have soccer teams at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro because the English Football Association failed to gain support from the other three federations. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are against united British teams, saying they risk their independence within FIFA. The English FA have confirmed that the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish associations were informed of the decision to scrap plans for a British team on Monday. FIFA vice president Jim Boyce had said the organization would not sanction a Britain team without the support of all four federations. Britain had men’s and women’s teams at the london Olympics in 2012, but that was regarded as a one-time only deal.
rio 2016 tickets go on sale
Rio de Janeiro: Nearly 7.5 million tickets are available to fans, but none for football games in Sao Paulo because the city and local Olympic organisers were not able to reach a deal ahead of the opening of the sales. Sao Paulo officials are still analysing the costs of hosting the tournament and can’t guarantee the city’s participation. Fans can choose which events they want to watch and a random draw in June will determine who gets the tickets. About 70 percent of the tickets are reserved for Brazilians.
itf considers 5th set tiebreak
london: Davis Cup organizers are considering whether to introduce a fifth-set tiebreaker. The International Tennis Federation says the rule change is being discussed by the Davis Cup committee. No timeline was given for when a decision would be reached. leonardo Mayer of Argentina and Joao Souza of Brazil were involved in the longest Davis Cup singles match ever this month. The match lasted 6 hours, 42 minutes, forcing the best-of-five series to be extended to a fourth day. The fifth set alone lasted 2 hours, 30 minutes before Mayer clinched a 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5), 5-7, 5-7, 15-13 victory.
uefa, eca reach new deal
Geneva: The European Club Association (ECA) said on Tuesday it renewed a working accord through May 2022 which guarantees clubs at least 200 million euros ($214 million) from UEFA’s 2020 European Championship income. The current deal is for a flat fee of 150 million euros ($161 million) for Euro 2016. The new deal tops the $209 million that FIFA agreed to with the ECA two weeks ago to share among clubs worldwide from each of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Including other considerations, UEFA is likely to give even more than the promised $214 million in 2020.
mo farah to feature in doha
london: london Olympic gold medallist Mo Farah is set to start the new Diamond league season in Doha on May 15. It will be the first time for the 32-year-old British distance runner to compete in the capital city of Qatar.