Indian team bag Nadal for IPTl-2
Dubai: Spanish legend Rafael Nadal will play for the Indian side in the second edition of the International Premier Tennis league (IPTl), where Japan Warriors will be the new franchise in the competition, scheduled to begin on December 2. Charismatic Roger Federer had played for the Indian team in the inaugural edition but this time the Swiss star has gone to the UAE Roayls as the players draft was held here on Sunday. Micromax Indian aces retained home stars Sania Mirza and Rohan
Bopanna apart from Frenchmen Gael Monfils and Fabrice Santoro. India’s men’s doubles star leander Paes was picked by new team Japan Warriors and he has Russian diva Maria Sharapova, home star
and world number four Kei Nishikori, Marat Safin, Vasek Pospisil, Daniela Hantuchova and lucas Pouille as his teammates.
Bolt wins in 200m return
Kingston (jamaica): World 100 and 200-meter record-holder Usain Bolt competed in his first 200-meter race in 20 months, posting an easy victory with a time of 20.20 seconds on home soil in Jamaica. Bolt raced unchallenged off the curve at the UTech Classic event in Kingston and cruised down the homestretch for the win over Oly teammate Nesta Carter, who finished second in 20.60 on Saturday. Bolt was disappointed he failed to run under 20 seconds — his world record is 19.19 seconds — and said he would have to look at the video to see how he can gain more speed. Bolt’s next race is a 100m in Rio on April 19, as he gears up for the Beijing World Championships.
lajong , Royal play out 1-1 draw
Shillong: lajong FC and Royal Wahingdoh played out an entertaining 1-1 draw in the Hero I-league here on Sunday. Youngster Nim Dorjee Tamang scored for lajong while Kim scored the late equaliser for Royal Wahingdoh at the JN Stadium.
Royal Wahingdoh started the match with Kim on the bench. Royal Wahingdoh had a few chances at goal but most of their shots were long rangers which did not disturb lajong custodian Rehenesh much.
lajong however were resilient in defence and not allowing Royals to score the equaliser. But in the end, Kim scored the equaliser in the final minute of extra time after heading the ball in the back of the net courtesy a cross from Naoba.
Rathnakaran beats Kovchan
Dubai: International Master K Rathnakaran continued with his fine form as he defeated Grandmaster Alexander Kovchan of Ukraine to jump to joint ninth spot after the end of the sixth round of Dubai International Open chess tournament here on Sunday.
After winning the important game today with black pieces, Rathnakaran emerged as the best performing Indian in the fray thus far and moved to 4.5 points out of a possible six games. Rathnakaran played his pet French defense with black pieces and caught Kovchan napping in a better position. The Indian had sacrificed a piece for two pawns in the middle game and was rewarded for his brave move when Kovchan lost track and lost two pieces in tandem.
Brijbhushan re-elected as president
New Delhi: Brijbhushan Sharan Singh was on Sunday re-elected unopposed as president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) for a four-year term here. In fact, all the office bearers and members of the executive committee have been elected unopposed. The elections of the office bearers and executive members of WFI for the next four-year term were held today at the Constitutional Club Of India. According to a WFI statement, the polls were conducted under the supervision of a retired judge of Allahabad High Court, Justice S R Singh. Brijbhushan, who is a Bhartiya Janta Party MP from Gonda in Uttar Pradesh, was elected unopposed as WFI chief during the last term in 2012 also, as no other candidate had filed a nomination for the post.
Momota wins singapore open title
Singapore: Japanese Kento Momota was crowned champion in the $300,000 Singapore Open Superseries badminton men’s singles event on Sunday, winning his first Superseries final. The Japanese World No.10 beat Hong Kong’s Hu Yun (No. 13) 21-17, 16-21, 21-15. This makes the 20-year-old the first shuttler in Japanese history to win a men’s singles title at a Superseries event.