Saina to skip Singapore
Singapore: Olympic bronze-medallist Saina Nehwal has withdrawn from $300,000 Singapore Open Super Series badminton tournament to recharge her batteries after competing at the highest level for the last few weeks. The Indian ace had a hectic last month as she competed at the All England Championship, India Open Super Series and Malaysia Open Super Series Premier. The 25-year-old reached the finals at Birmingham and New Delhi, before finishing as a semifinalist in Kuala lumpur last week following her narrow defeat to China’s li Xuerui. P V Sindhu will also not be available for Singapore Open as she has just started her training after a stress injury kept her out of the court last month. In Saina’s absence, it will be new sensation K. Srikanth who will lead the Indian challenge when the main draw gets underway at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Wednesday.
100-yr-old woman sets record
Tokyo: A 100-year-old Japanese woman has become the world’s first centenarian to complete a 1,500-metre freestyle swim. Mieko Nagaoka, from Yamaguchi Prefecture, took just under an hour and 16 minutes to finish the race in a 25-meter pool. She was the sole competitor in the 100 - 104-year-old category at a short course pool in Ehime, western Japan on Saturday. Her time is expected to be recognised by Guinness World Records after she submits an application to the international swimming federation, Japan Times reported.
Harika wins bronze at Worlds
Sochi: Indian Grandmaster Dronavalli Harika won the bronze medal along with Swedish Grandmaster Pia Cramling by virtue of making it to the semifinals of World Women’s chess championship here. Harika lost to the eventual winner Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine in the semifinals. Muzychuk bagged the title after defeating Russian Natalija Pogonina 2.5-1.5 in the four-game final. She had earlier defeated top seeded Indian GM Koneru Humpy in the quarters.
Milan U-10 team ‘racially abused’
Milan: AC Milan has slammed alleged racism towards one of its youth teams as “simply unacceptable.” Black players of Milan’s under-10 team were allegedly subject to heckling and racist abuse during Sunday’s 4-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Universal Cup. Milan says it does “not want to magnify the issue” and “truly hopes that these reports aren’t true or that it was simply a sporadic incident.”
Rio spot a tough road by NRAI
New Delhi: Indian shooters aiming for glory at next year’s Rio Olympics will be required to take part in seven selection trials, following which the average final scores and merit points will be taken into consideration to select the team for the multi-sport extravaganza. The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has decided to broadbase its selection criteria in order to provide a level-playing field to all shooters and not just the core ones for 2015. This means shooters appearing in top international events and also the ones who are not shooting globally, will be competing at the same platform. The selection policy was finalised by technical committee.
Schweinsteiger injured
Munich: Bayern Munich midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger could miss the German Cup quarterfinal against Bayer leverkusen on Wednesday because of an ankle injury. Schweinsteiger was injured in Bayern’s 1-0 Bundesliga victory over Borussia Dortmund on Saturday. Bayern said a decision on whether Schweinsteiger can play in leverkusen will be made on Tuesday. The cup holder is already without wingers Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben and midfielder David Alaba, as well as backup goalkeeper Tom Starke. But defender Holger Badstuber could return to the squad for Wednesday’s match.
narain keen to make a mark
New Delhi: Top Indian racing driver Narain Karthikeyan is all set for his second season in the Japan-based Super Formula Japan series, beginning at the legendary Suzuka Circuit on April 18. The former Grand Prix driver is looking forward to make a mark at the historic venue —where he qualified second last year — and
establish himself as a consistent frontrunner in the fastest motor racing championship outside of Formula 1. The 38-year-old had a mixed opening season with a sixth place finish at Fuji Speedway his best. “I am really excited to be back in Japan for season two — there was a lot of learning in the first year as Japanese circuits and conditions are extremely unique and experience plays a huge role in overall result,” said Karthikeyan.
Ghosal gets past world no.7
El Gouna (Egypt): India’s top male squash player Saurav Ghosal pulled off a thriller against world no.7 Tarek Momen to enter the pre-quarterfinals of the $150,000 El Gouna International tournament here. Ghosal, who has slipped out world’s top-20, somehow found a way to get past the Egyptian 12-10, 11-1, 7-11 12-14, 11-9.