Gowda, Tintu to lead India at Worlds
New Delhi: Commonwealth Games gold medal winner Vikas Gowda and ace athlete Tintu luka will lead the Indian challenge at the IAAF World Championships, where the country will present competition in nine disciplines. The Athletics Federation of India has announced a 17-member Indian team for the prestigious event, to be held in Beijing from August 22-30. The selection of the Indian team, comprising 10 women and 7 men, was based on the qualification standard set by the IAAF for all the events, which includes the individual as well as relay events. The Indian athletes had qualified for 10 events but Rajinder Singh who qualified in the men’s javelin throw event, will not be able to make it to Beijing due to injury.
Paes, Wawrinka progress in Ohio
Cincinnati: leander Paes and Stanislas Wawrinka overcame a sluggish start to beat Kevin Anderson and Jeremy Chardy in the opening round of the Western and Southern Open, the ATP Masters event, here. The unseeded Indo-Swiss pair dispatched the South African-French combo 1-6, 6-1, 10-6 to make it to the second round. Paes and singles World No. 5 Wawrinka are contesting their second tournament together, having reached the quarter-finals at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Paris last October. They now face eighth seeds Canada’s Vasek Pospisil and local boy Jack Sock.
Titans beat U Mumba in PKl
Pune: Telugu Titans beat U Mumba 46-25 to finish their campaign with a win in the Pro Kabaddi league here on Tuesday as favourites tested their bench strength. U Mumba finished on top with 50 points after the end of the match which was of academic interest. It was the superb all-round display from Pradeep Kumar, who had six raiding and three defence points. He had splendid support from Rohit Baliyan 8 (7 raid and 1 bonus) and Prashant Rai 9 (8 raid and 1 bonus) points.
Blatter hits bacjk at Chung
Paris: FIFA president Sepp Blatter has slammed comments by Chung Mong-Joon, a candidate to take over football’s world body calling it a corrupt organisation. Blatter said he was disturbed by the South Korean industrialist’s outspoken comments at a press conference in Paris on Monday where he officially launched his candidacy. Chung went on the attack against Blatter and UEFA leader Michel Platini, his rival in the FIFA race. “The real reason FIFA has become such a corrupt organisation is because the same person (Blatter) has been running it for 40 years. Absolute power corrupts absolutely,” Chung said. “It is disturbing, to say the least, to hear Dr. Chung Mong-Joon describe FIFA as ‘a corrupt organisation’,” Blatter said in reply.
Athletic end 31-year title drought
Barcelona: Athletic Bilbao ended a 31-year trophy drought with a 1-1 draw at Barcelona on Monday, claiming the Spanish Super Cup with a 5-1 aggregate victory over the reigning European champions. After Bilbao’s stunning 4-0 win in Friday’s first leg, Barcelona threatened a comeback when lionel Messi put the hosts ahead a minute before halftime. But their hopes of an improbable turnaround diminished when Gerard Pique earned a rash red card for screaming in the face of a line judge in the 56th. That helped Bilbao withstand the onslaught before Aritz Aduriz netted the equalizer in the 74th.