Guru, Pranaav-Ashwini in main draw
Sydney: Commonwealth Games bronze medallist RMV Gurusaidutt and mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Ashwini Ponnappa reached the main draw of the $750,000 Australian Open badminton tournament here on Tuesday. Guru, who had to endure a series of serious injuries of late, started his campaign with a bang as he brushed aside Malaysia’s Ai Wei Jian 21-13, 21-9 in the opening match, before prevailing over Japan’s Kazumasa Sakai 21-15, 21-8 in the second clash of the qualifiers. Pranaav and Ashwini, too, made a positive start to their campaign in mixed doubles as they beat German combo of Mark lamsfuss and Isabel Herttrich 21-19, 21-17 in the first round. The Indian pair then defeated local shuttlers Cham Chen and Susan Wang 21-14, 21-6 to make it to the main draw.
kapur qualifies for us open
Surrey: Shiv Kapur grabbed a spot in the US Open for the second year running through the International Sectional Qualifiers at Walton Heath, here on Tuesday. Playing two rounds on the same day, Kapur totalled 10-under 134 for to finish one shot behind medallist Alexander levy of France, who earned his a debut appearance at the US Open. He shot 67-67 in the two rounds. Jeev Milkha Singh, however missed out, finishing two shots away from getting into a play-off. Jeev carded 69 and 72. A total of 11 spots were available from the qualfiers, where 82 players started off. Kapur will join his friend and colleague Anirban lahiri in the second Major of the year a Chambers Bay from June 18 to 21. This will be Kapur’s fourth appearance in a Major and he has come through a qualifier each time. He has twice played at British Open (Hoylake 2006 and Muirfield 2013) after gaining spots in qualifiers and for US Open in 2014 (Pinehurst) and now 2015 in Chambers Bay.
CS Santosh wins fmsci award
Bangalore: Top cross-country biker C S Santosh, who became the first Indian to take part in the famous Dakar Rally, was chosen as the Motor Sport Man of the Year at the annual FMSCI awards here. The Bangalore-based racer was awarded with the Raymond Gautam Singhania Rolling Trophy and a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh for for his impressive show in the Dakar Rally. Santosh had finished overall 36th in the world’s toughest cross-country rally. The Motor Sport Star of the Future award went to 17-year-old Arjun Maini for his promising performance on the European F4 and F3 circuits. The lifetime Achievement Award went to Vijay Mallya for his contribution to motorsport in India.
Montoya earns $2.4m in win
Indianapolis: Juan Pablo Montoya was all smiles at the victory banquet Monday night where he celebrated his second Indy 500 win in three tries. Montoya earned $2,449,055 for his win. His earnings were part of a $13,397,315 overall purse. The check amounts were announced at the annual victory dinner Monday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Runner-up Will Power earned $792,555, and Charlie Kimball, who finished third, earned $564,055. Montoya’s victory comes 15 years after his Indy 500 win in 2000. He left IndyCar for Formula One and later struggled in NASCAR for seven years before making a return to IndyCar in 2014.
15-yr-old dies after baseball hit
Bemidji (Minnesota): Police say a 15-year-old baseball player has died after being struck by a ball in the northern Minnesota city of Bemidji. The president of the Bemidji Youth Baseball league, Bruce Dahlin, tells KSTP-TV that Zacharie Schaubhut lived in Des Moines, Iowa, but was living with his grandparents for the summer so he could play baseball in Bemidji. Police say the incident happened just before 12:30 p.m. lSunday at the Bemidji High School baseball field. Police say Zacharie was pitching and was struck by a ball that a batter hit. He died later at a hospital.
Russia cuts wc budget by $70m
Moscow: The Russian government has cut its budget for the 2018 World Cup by more than $70 million. When Russia won the bid to host the event, its economy was booming. But under the pressure of Western sanctions and low oil prices, the economy has suffered over the past year and concerns are high about the financial burden of the World Cup. The government website says the budget will be cut by 3.6 billion rubles ($71 million) to 660.5 billion rubles ($13.2 billion). The savings is to come from lowering expenditures of electrical-infrastructure improvements connected with the competition. last week, Russian authorities said they wanted to use prisoner labor to help prepare for the World Cup.