Santosh and Rodrigues shine
Tucuman: Both Hero MotoSports Team Rally riders, Joaquim Rodrigues of Portugal and C.S. Santosh of India, kept up the good work from Tuesday in the tricky second stage of the 2017 Dakar. The riders started from the Resistencia bivouac at the crack of dawn with 803 km on the agenda, out of which 275 km comprised of the special timed section. It was always going to be a tough day for the men at the handlebar with temperatures touching the high 40s as the day progressed. Rodrigues, who entered the second special in 16th place after his stupendous opening run, encountered problems when his GPS stopped working, forcing him to slow down to avoid making mistakes. Despite being forced to cut back on pace, Rodrigues rode well enough to drop just six places as he completed the timed section in 2 hour 51 minutes and 53 seconds that put him in 22nd place in the provisional general classifications.
All eyes on Abshero
Mumbai: Ethiopian talent Ayele Abshero will be looking to make a big impact on his first trip to India when the gun goes for the 14th edition of the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon on Sunday 15 January. Abshero, now 26, is a former world junior cross country champion and will be the fastest man on the start line. He can boast of a marathon best of 2:04:23, which was set in 2012 when he won the Dubai Marathon on his spectacular debut over the distance. At the time, it was the fastest ever debut over the distance on a record-legal course. It remains his best but he has run under 2:09:00 three times since then and he will come to Mumbai with the course record of 2:08:35, set in 2016 by Kenya's Gideon Kipketer, very much as his target.
Indian eves win SAFF Championship
Siliguri: A dominant India defeated Bangladesh 3-1 to win their fourth consecutive SAFF Women's Football Championship title at the Kanchenjunga Stadium, on Wednesday. The Indian eves are now unbeaten in 19 matches. India's first goal came in the 12th minute through striker Dangmei Grace, who got a slight touch and the ball slowly rolled into the empty net with rival goalkeeper Sabina Akhtar caught in a dilemma. However, Bangladesh equalised in the 40th minute through Sirat Jahan Shopna as both teams headed into the interval locked at 1-1. India took the lead again in the 60th minute when the irrepressible Bala was pushed inside the box as the referee pointed to the spot and 2016 AIFF Player of the Year, Sasmita Malik gleefully converted the opportunity. Seven minutes later Bangladesh's goalkeeper Sabina misjudged the bounce of a harmless Indumathi shot from long and it rolled in giving India the victory.