‘Difficult to feel sorry for Alonso’
New Delhi: Fernando Alonso’s much talked about return to Mclaren after five frustrating seasons at Ferrari seems to have backfired so far but former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard doesn’t feel sorry for the multi million pound worth Spaniard. Having missed the season opener at Melbourne, Alonso retired in Malaysia and toiled to finish 12th in Shanghai yesterday as Mclaren continue to struggle in the early days of their engine partnership with Honda. “I find it to difficult to feel sorry about multi million pound racing drivers. I find it much easier to feel sorry for people struggling with hardship in life. You make your choices, you get on with it,” Coulthard, now a well known F1 pundit, said when asked about Alonso’s travails at Mclaren.
Heena misses out on finals berth
Changwon (Korea): Former world number one Heena Sidhu narrowly missed out on a berth in the finals of women’s 10m air pistol event on day four of competition at the ISSF World Cup (Rifle/Pistol) here on Monday. Heena was tied with five other shooters on a score of 385 out of a maximum 400, after the end of the qualification round where each shooter had to shoot 40 shots each. However, she missed out on making the final after having shot 11 inner tens, which was the less than those who qualified. Four shooters with 385 progressed to the eight-woman final with higher inner tens. Heena’s compatriots in the women’s 10m air pistol, Shweta Chaudhry finished 34th in qualification with a score of 378, while Annu Raj Singh ended her World Cup campaign in 55th position with a score of 375 after 40 shots.
Sitwala stuns Advani, claims title
Beijing: Indian cuiests dominated the event, which had three world champions — Advani, C Praprut and Peter Gilchrist — in the fray, as defending champion Sourav Kothari also clinched the bronze medal along with Thailand’s Praprut. But it was Sitwala who emerged the champion after beating Advani 6-3 in the final. Hungry for success after he went down to Advani 0-5 in the National Billiards final two months back, Sitwala raced to 3-0 in the best-of-11 frame final. But Advani replied with a break to make it 5-1 and the 12-time world champion won two more frames without letting Sitwala come on the table as the score read 5-3. In the ninth frame, Advani missed a relatively easy shot on 98 and Sitwala seized the opportunity to make a 101 unfinished break to clinch the title.
Paris council approves 2024 Oly bid
Paris: Paris took a decisive step toward a bid for the 2024 Olympics on Monday when the city council approved a resolution in favor of bringing the games back to the French capital for the first time in 100 years. The bid, which is expected to receive the final go-ahead from the national government by the end of June, is supported by French President Francois Hollande, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and the Paris region. The mayor’s resolution was adopted by a show of hands and followed by a round of applause, despite opposition from the Green Party members. Bernard lapasset, who heads the French Committee for International Sport and is expected to lead the Paris bid, that Hollande will meet with IOC president Thomas Bach on Thursday during his state visit to Switzerland. Paris last hosted the Olympics in 1924 and mounted unsuccessful bids for the 1992, 2008 and 2012 Games. The city has until Sept. 15 to submit its candidacy to the International Olympic Committee. Boston, Rome and Hamburg, Germany, are the declared 2024 candidates so far. Other potential contenders include Budapest, Hungary; Baku, Azerbaijan; Istanbul, Turkey; and Doha, Qatar. The main construction requirements for the bid include an aquatics center, Olympic village and media center.
Collage group in quarter-finals
New Delhi: Riding on an 81-run knock by Saurabh Dhariwal, Collage Group beat Youngster Cricket Club by 84 runs to enter quarter-finals of 25th All-India Om Nath Sood Memorial Cricket Tournament here on Monday.