Advani secures World Snooker title
Doha: Ace Indian cueist Pankaj Advani dished out another superb performance to outclass Iran's Amir Sarkhosh in the finals and claim yet another title at the IBSF World Snooker Championship here on Monday. His deadly attacking game coupled with phenomenally tight safety play helped Advani to secure his 18th World Championship title with a 8-2 win over Amir at the Al-Arabi Sports Club. The best-of-15 frame final witnessed Amir pocketing the first frame rather comfortably but Pankaj fought back to take a 5-2 lead going into the 1st session break. He then won the next three frames after the break to seal the game and take home the title.
Batra to run for post of IOA president
New Delhi: International Hockey Federation President Narinder Batra has filed his nominations for the post of the president of the Indian Olympic Association weeks ahead of its General Body Meeting on December 14 here. The upcoming AGM will elect a new set of office bearers for the country's apex sports body. Batra has filed three sets of nomination papers with a proposer and seconder each. IOA secretary general Rajeev Mehta was one of the proposers of Batra while treasurer Anil Khanna was one of the seconders. Khanna was earlier considered as one of the possible candidates for the top job. Interestingly, Batra has also filed another three sets of nomination papers for the post of senior vice-president.
Mumbai beat Tripura to enter Q/F
Mumbai: Mumbai trounced underdogs Tripura by 10 wickets in their Group C Ranji Trophy game on the third and penultimate day here on Monday to storm into the quarter finals of the national tournament. The 41-time champions chased a paltry target of 63 in just 6.2 overs with young find Prithvi Shaw (50 not out) and first innings centurion Jay Bista (13 not out) taking them home. Shaw, who was at his best, laced his 26-ball innings with eight hits to the fence as Mumbai raced to a thumping victory at the Wankhede Stadium. Mumbai bagged seven points, including the bonus point, to leapfrog earlier leaders Andhra Pradesh (19 points) and book a knock-out berth with a tally of 21 points.
Srikanth, Sindhu feted
Mumbai: Ace shuttler Kidambi Srikanth bagged the Sportsman of the Year award at the inaugural edition of Indian Sports Honours held here. Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu was the Sportswoman of the Year award in the individual sport category, a release said here on Monday. Ravichandran Ashwin and women's cricket team skipper Mithali Raj were awarded Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year awards, respectively, in the Team Sport category. The Indian women's cricket team were named as the Team of the Year. While star tennis player Sania Mirza was awarded the Inspirational Honour by the jury, Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra was honoured with the Transformational Contribution to Sport award. Indian Sports Honours is an initiative partnered by India skipper Virat Kohli and Sanjiv Goenka.