‘4-nation meet will help us test strength’
mumbai: Indian football team premier defender Sandesh Jhingan is hopeful that the upcoming four-nation tournament in June to be played here would be a good test for the side. The AIFF will be hosting the inaugural edition of the four-nation Intercontinental Cup to be played at the Mumbai Football Arena from June 1 to 10. Apart from India, South Africa, New Zealand and Chinese Taipei will take part in the Quadrangular tournament. "That (the Intercontinental Cup) is really good. Our main priority is to be ready for the Asian Cup and it starts in January. This tournament, along with the teams that are coming in including New Zealand, will be a very good test for us," the 24-year-old defender said. "The more better teams you play, the better you get. It (the tournament) is the right opportunity to test ourselves. We never come across teams like these quite often — New Zealand, South Africa, they are going to play a different kind of football," Jhingan said.
Jayaram, Sourabh eye good run at NZ Open
auckland: After recovering from their respective injuries, Indian shuttlers Ajay Jayaram and Sourabh Verma will look to regain touch and form when they compete at the $150,000 New Zealand Super 300 tournament starting here on Tuesday. Jayaram, who returned to action at the China Masters early this month after recovering from a hamstring injury that took nearly eight months to heal, opens his campaign against fourth seed Hsu Jen Hao from Chinese Taipei. Sourabh, who had suffered an ankle injury after Swiss Open, will make a comeback at the event taking on Australia's Abhinav Manota in the opening round. Singapore Open champion B Sai Praneeth, who had lost to Olympic champion Chen long in the second round of Asia Championship last week, will face Israel's Misha Zilberman, while former national champion Sameer Verma will square up against Indonesian Sony Dwi Kuncoro in another men's singles match.
Aditi logs T-7 in lPGA for best finish
san francisco: Young Indian golfer Aditi Ashok registered her career-best finish on the lPGA with a superb Tied-7 finish at the MEDIHEAl Championship after shooting a three-under 69 in the final round. Aditi, whose previous best finish was T-8 at the Marathon Classic in 2017, finished at 7-under 281 as lydia Ko ended a 22-month winless drought. It was also Aditi's third Top-20 finish this season, following T-19 finish at Hugel-JTBC the previous week and the T-14 at Kia Classic in March. The fine finish also pushed Aditi up to 44th on the lPGA Rankings and she is now 79th in Rolex world rankings. Aditi, who was T-10 after the third round, opened with a bogey on third, but birdies on fourth and fifth ensured a fair start. Another birdie on eighth saw her turn in two-under and on the back nine, she bogeyed 10th and 17th, but birdies on 12th, 15th and 18th ensured a 3-under 69.
We're WADA-compliant now, claims AIBA
lausanne: The International Boxing Association (AIBA) on Monday claimed that it has become WADA-compliant since adopting a revamped anti-doping programme, which was cited as an area of concern by the IOC when it threatened to expel the sport from the 2020 Olympics. "Following the review of the International Boxing Association's Corrective Action Report (CAR), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) concluded that all non-conformities based on the CAR have been addressed appropriately by AIBA," the AIBA said in a statement.