‘Sports helps you become a fighter’
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday called for promotion of sports in the country, saying that this can go a long way in helping national integration. Digitally launching the Reliance Foundation Youth Sports initiative, which claims to India's largest multi-city school and college sports competition, Modi said youngsters should take to sports to become strong individuals. "Sports should be an integral part of our everyday life. Some people think that sports is important only for physical well-being, I feel sports is important for overall development of an individual. "We are a large and diverse nation. Sports can be a great means of national integration," Modi said after interacting with kids from around the country via video-conferencing. "From sports, we learn sportsman spirit and that acts as a lubricant in our social life. More than winning, sports helps you learn to deal with defeats. Sports helps you become a fighter," he said. "Sports teaches you not to lose heart after defeats," he added.
Patna down Pune to top table
Mumbai: Patna Pirates subdued a fighting Puneri Paltan 31-28 to shoot to the top of the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi league table here on Saturday. Pardeep Narwal did the star turn for Pirates with his brilliant raiding that got him 12 touch points while Bhajirao Hodage kept their defense tight and came up with five tackle points including a super tackle. Pune were kept in the hunt by captain Deepak Hooda (8 raid points) and Ajay Thakur (6 raid points) along with defender Somvir Shekar (3 tackle points). The victory, ninth from 12 games, lifted Pirates to the top of the table with 47 points in their kitty while dumping Pune to the fifth spot with 32 points from as many games. After level chugging in the first ten minutes of play, Pirates upped the tempo and led their rivals 10-4 with seven minutes left for half time and then were in front 15-10 at the end of 20 minutes.
Ramkumar enters semifinals
Binghamton (USA): Egged on by a partisan Indian crowd, Ramkumar Ramanathan wriggled out of a pressure match against Brydan Klein to move to the semifinals of the ATP Challenger tournament, here. The 21-year-old Indian battled past his British opponent 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 6-2 and booked a last-four berth in the $50,000 hard court event. After an intense battle in the first two sets, Ramkumar broke early in the third and staved off three break points in the second game to pull away. That lead stayed with him throughout and he served out the match in the seventh. It took 214-ranked Ramkumar two hours and 36 minutes to subdue his opponent, ranked 260 in the ATP singles list.
Bolt eases to victory
london: Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt promised he will be physically ready for next month's Rio Olympics -- on the night Kendra Harrison broke the 28-year-old 100 metres hurdles world record. Bolt, running at the track where he achieved the individual Olympic sprint double and the 4x100m relay for the second time four years ago in london, was the star attraction on day one of the Anniversary Games in front of 40,000 people at the Olympic stadium and he did not disappoint in the men's 200m. Brushing aside any concerns about the hamstring injury which forced him to withdraw from his country's Olympic trials in Kingston earlier this month, Bolt ran a solid time of 19.89sec in his first competitive 200m of this season. Panama's Alonso Edward ran a season's best of 20.04sec while Adam Gemili produced a 2016 best of 20.07sec.