Bopanna happy to win Stuttgart Open
Stuttgart: After clinching the men’s doubles title at the Stuttgart Open with Romanian partner Florin Mergea, Indian tennis player Rohan Bopanna said it was the perfect platform to warm-up for the lone grass court Major, Wimbledon, which starts on June 29. “Great feeling winning the title here in Stuttgart,” Bopanna tweeted on Sunday after his win. The fourth seeds took just an hour and 12 minutes to beat Austrian-Brazilian third seeds Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares 5-7, 6-2, 10-7 in the final. “Being the first week on the grass leading up to Wimbledon is always nice. Not only playing on grass but winning a title gives us a lot of confidence,” the 35-year-old Indian said. His partner Mergea was equally excited to win the title. The duo won their first crown together last month at the Madrid Open, which is a clay court tournament.
Brazil football legend Zito dies
Sao Paulo: legendary Brazilian footballer, Jose Ely de Miranda, popularly known as Zito, has died. Zito was a member of Brazil’s World Cup winning side in 1958 and 1962. He breathed his last here on Sunday. He was 82. He played 52 times for Brazil, mostly as a defensive midfielder. He spent his entire club career with Sao Paulo-based club Santos FC, playing 733 games and scoring 57 goals. He won the Copa libertadores football championship in 1962 and 1963 which catapulted him to be one of the most emblematic figures of the club team alongside fellow legend Pele. Zito is also credited with spotting the talents of current Brazil team’s heartthrob Neymar, signing him for Santos in 2003 when he was aged just 11, while he was the chief manager of Santos. Neymar, at present on national duty featuring in the Copa America football tournament in Chile, paid rich tributes to Zito.
Djokovic holds top spot in rankings
london: Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic maintained his No.1 place in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world ranking in singles, released on Monday. Djokovic finished runners-up in the French Open tennis tournament recently. He topped the list with 13,845 points, reports Efe. The rankings underwent no changes this week, as Swiss Roger Federer holding the second place, followed by Scotland’s Andy Murray. French Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka remains at fourth.
AUSTRIAN SWIMMERS WIN MEDAlS
BAKU (Azerbaijan): Austria won a synchronized swimming silver medal at the European Games on Monday, just four days after three members of the team were injured when they were hit by a bus. The incident on Thursday morning left three 15-year-old Austrian swimmers requiring treatment. Vanessa Sahinovic suffered severe spinal injuries that may leave her paralyzed. The Austrians were forced to withdraw from the team event, but sisters Anna-Maria and Eirini-Maria Alexandri battled on to win a surprise silver in the duet competition, overtaking the favored Ukrainian and Spanish pairs in the final round. “Of course this medal is for Vanessa,” said Eirini-Maria Alexandri. “It was very difficult but we had a lot of support from the Austrian Olympic Committee and all over the world.” The sisters also dedicated their silver to another injured girl, luna Pajer, who suffered a broken elbow and is recovering at home.
Swiss prosecutor to address on Wed
Bern (Switzerland): Switzerland’s federal prosecutor will talk about his criminal investigation of FIFA’s 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid contests for the first time on Wednesday. The office of Attorney-General Michael lauber says he will make a statement about the case at a news conference in Bern. lauber’s department raided FIFA headquarters to seize evidence on May 27. On the same day, Swiss authorities raided a Zurich hotel and arrested seven officials linked to FIFA for a separate United States federal investigation of bribery and racketeering. The Swiss case is targeting possible criminal mismanagement and money laundering in bidding campaigns won by Russia and Qatar, respectively. FIFA began the case by filing a criminal complaint last November. lauber’s office is using an investigation report by Michael Garcia.
wipro digitial service partner for lta
Bengaluru: Indian IT bellwether Wipro ltd on Monday announced that it has been appointed as the digital technology services’ partner of the British lawn Tennis Association (lTA) in london for three years. “We will assist lTA in achieving its strategy and vision to build the future of British tennis by enabling its digital transformation,” the city-based company said in a statement here. The london-based lTA, which is the governing body for tennis in Britain, plans to develop a digital map to drive its growth strategy and increase greater participation of the people in the sport.
Kasper to serve as interim head
lausanne (Switzerland): Swiss IOC member Gian-Franco Kasper will serve as interim head of umbrella body SportAccord until a new president is elected.
Marius Vizer resigned as SportAccord president last month after facing a backlash from federations over his attacks on the International Olympic Committee. SportAccord said in a statement that Kasper "exercises the function of an ad-hoc chairman of the council" until elections are held at general assembly expected to take place in November.