India look to wrap up test series
Bhubaneswar: Back to winning ways, a confident Indian men's hockey team would look to seal the four-match Test series against Japan when they lock horns in the third game at the Kalinga Stadium here on Thursday. After a 1-1 draw in the series opener, India won the second game 2-0 on Tuesday. India scored two field goals through SK Uthappa and Dharamvir Singh to register their first win in the series. Skipper Sardar Singh, who stole the show in the midfield, will look to continue his impressive work. India are working towards World league semi-final in Belgium from June 20.
Arhens takes charge of team
New Delhi: German Mathias Ahrens has been appointed the new chief coach of the Indian women's hockey team. The team was without a coach since the departure of Neil Hawgood of Australia in November 2014. Hockey India (HI) had appointed Anthony Thornton in January but the New Zealander failed to turn up. "We appointed Ahrens because Thornton failed to turn up. He had some health issues and underwent a surgery after which he was advised six months of rest, causing the delay in his arrival. However, we could not wait as we have to go ahead with our plans," HI president Narinder Batra said. The Indian team will take part in the Hockey World league semi-finals in Belgium next month for the chance of qualifying for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
TTFI not to hire coach for Rio
New Delhi: The Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) has decided against hiring a foreign coach for the Rio Olympics, a move that will adversely affect the players' preparation, especially the women's team, for the Summer Games in August next year. While top male players like Sharath Kamal, Soumyajit Ghosh and Harmeet Desai play for clubs in Europe; their female counterparts are the ones who miss out on foreign exposure. The women usually get to train with foreign coaches at camps ahead of multi-sporting events like Olympics and Asian Games but that won't be the case this time around. TTFI has done away with the practice of appointing a head coach, at least for Rio, and instead will call two coaches from either China or Korea to work with the junior teams.
SAI set to appoint 119 coaches
New Delhi: Sports Authority of India (SAI) is all set to appoint more than 100 coaches on contract basis across the country to augment their availability in select disciplines. Continuing with its mandate of development and promotion of sports in the country, SAI has invited applications from eligible candidates for engagement as coaches on contract basis for an initial period of one year. As part of the initiative, coaches will be appointed for two separate zones, one for the SAI North-Eastern Centers Imphal and Guwahati (covering Arunachal Pradesh, Assam Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Sikkim) and others for the rest of the country. As part of the initiative, 116 coaches will be appointed in 24 disciplines, which include boxing, archery, football, Wrestling and Weight lifting.
Yuki in quarter-finals
Karshi (Uzbekistan): Yuki Bhambri fought off early resistance from laurynas Grigelis to move to the singles quarter-finals of the ATP Karshi Challenger even as Saketh Myneni was ousted after a second-round defeat here on Wednesday. Eighth seed Yuki beat his unseeded lithuanian opponent 7-6 (2) 6-1 in the second round of the $50,000 hard court tournament. In an hour and 19 minute contest, Yuki saved seven of the eight breakpoints he faced and that was key in his win. The second set was one-way traffic with Yuki breaking his rival twice. Yuki had beaten Grigelis at the last year's US Open qualifiers too. later in the day, Yuki and Menendez-Maceiras reached the doubles semi-finals with a shock 3-6 6-4 10-7 win over third seed Indian pair of Myneni and Divij Sharan.
Manju’s asiad silver downgraded
New Delhi: The silver medal won by Indian athlete Manju Bala at the Incheon Asian Games has been downgraded to bronze after a Chinese participant, then charged with a doping offence, was on Wednesday reinstated as the gold medallist of the women's hammer throw event. Chinese hammer thrower Zhang Wenxiu will now be handed back the gold as she has successfully overturned a doping ban after the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld her appeal, saying that her positive case resulted from contaminated food. Zhang had come up with a best throw of 77.33 in the women's hammer throw event of the Incheon Asian Games on September 28 last year but was later disqualified and stripped of the gold medal after a pre-competition test showed traces of the prohibited substance zeranol in her sample. Another Chinese Wang Zheng (74.16m), who initially bagged silver, was awarded the gold, while Manju's (60.47m) original bronze was upgraded to silver.
Praag seeks support in South korea
Seoul (South Korea): FIFA presidential candidate Michael van Praag has visited South Korea's soccer leaders seeking support for his challenge to Sepp Blatter.