NRAI CHIEF lAUDS GAGAN NARANG
New Delhi: Gagan Narang has been dubbed the "powerhouse" of Indian shooting by the Nation Rifle Association of India (NRAI), a day after he earned the country its third Rio Olympics quota place in the sport with a bronze medal at the ISSF World Cup in Fort Benning, USA. Battling injuries and a dip in form for some time, the 32-year-old Narang showed glimpses of his old self en route to clinching the bronze medal in the men's 50m rifle prone event. "Gagan Narang is a powerhouse of Indian shooting, and he has proved it again by earning India its third quota place for the Rio Olympics," NRAI President Raninder Singh said.
Narrow miss for Annu, Heena
New Delhi: Indian shooters Annu Raj Singh and Heena Sidhu narrowly missed out on qualifying for the finals of the 10m air pistol event, finishing 11th and 12th respectively, at the ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Cup in Fort Benning, USA on Saturday. Annu Raj shot 381 over four series with 10x and Heena, too, scored as many with 8 x. The top-8 qualifies for the final and the eighth-placed shooter in the event, Korea's Kwak Jung Hye, shot 382 with 9 x.
Kush Kumar goes out in qf
New Delhi: Kush Kumar, the reigning national junior champion, did well to reach the quarterfinals in the USD 10,000 las Vegas open squash tournament being held in Nevada, USA. Having had to go through the qualifying rounds, the Indian did well to cross two rounds to reach the main draw. He beat a Pakistan player Syed Hamzah Bhukari 3-2 first and then led 2-0 against New Zealand's Alex Grayson before the latter retired. In the main draw, Kumar showed his fighting qualities in ousting the eighth seed Alex Ingham of England 11-9, 11-8, 11-7. Up against the third seed Chris Gordon of USA next in the quarters, the Indian succumbed 3-11, 9-11, 5-11.
10 Indian jr paddlers reach top 16
Bangkok: It was another good day for Indian paddlers as 10 of them reached the pre-quarterfinals of the Thailand Open junior and sub-junior table tennis tournament on Saturday. In the junior boys section, lalrin Puia and Utkarsh Gupta moved into the pre-quarterfinals after winning their first round matches against Tawan Metanee (Thailand) and Chan Yee Shun (Hong Kong) respectively.Amongst the junior girls, four secured pre-quarterfinal berths. While Sreeja Akula gained a bye, Archana Kamath, Shruti Amrute and Maria Rony advanced winning their first round matches. In the cadet girls section, Selena Selvakumar, Archana Kamath, Varuni Jaiswal and Srushti Haengadi entered the pre-quarterfinals.
Marquez at pole in French Moto GP
le Mans, France: Two-time defending champion Marc Marquez rode a powerful final lap to clinch pole position at the French Moto Grand Prix on Saturday. Marquez was more than half a second faster than Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge lorenzo, who will complete the front row of the grid for Sundays' race at le Mans. It was the Spaniard's third pole of the season on his Honda and the 25th of his career in the top category. Points leader Valentino Rossi was more than a second slower than Marquez and will start Sunday's race from seventh.
Peter Tallberg of Finland dies at 77
laussane: longtime IOC member Peter Tallberg of Finland has died after a battle against cancer, the International Olympic Committee said Saturday. He was 77. IOC President Thomas Bach described Tallberg as "my first teacher at the IOC" and said "the athletes of the world and all those who love sport owe him a huge debt." Tallberg was a sailor who competed in five Olympics between 1960 and 1980, with his best result a fourth-place finish in the Star class in 1964 at Tokyo. He became an IOC member in 1976, and was the founding chairman of its athletes' commission. The Olympic flag at the IOC headquarters in lausanne will be flown at half-mast in Tallberg's honor for three days.
Yuki ends as runner-up
Samarkand (Uzbekistan): Yuki Bhambri will have to wait for his first singles Challenger title of the season as he ended runner-up at the Samarkand ATP event, following defeat against
Russian top seed Teymuraz Gabashvili, here on Saturday.Seventh seed Yuki lost the summit clash 3-6, 1-6 to world number 82 Gabashvili, who had defeated the Indian youngster at the Karshi Challenger also, last week. Such was the dominance of 29-year-old Gabashvili, who won his
second straight singles title, that Yuki did not get a single break chance. However, the 55 points he earned, is likely to make him India's number one singles player in the ATP ranking chart.
li Na's life story to become a film Cannes: Chinese filmmaker Peter Ho-Sun Chan is making a movie about li Na, the country's biggest tennis star. Chan's production company We Pictures said in a statement Saturday that the film will be based on li's autobiography "li Na: My life" and will be released in 2016. li is one of China's best known athletes and became the first Asian tennis player to win a Grand Slam tournament when she captured the French Open in 2011. Chan says "li Na had an impossible dream and found a way to turn it into reality.
Agencies