Rosberg looks to pressure Hamilton at Monaco GP
Monaco: Nico Rosberg would love to take the spotlight away from lewis Hamilton at this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix with a third straight win on his favorite track. While Hamilton has just announced a new three-year deal with Mercedes on Wednesday, Rosberg will return to Monaco - where he grew up - full of confidence after his victory at the Spanish Grand Prix. It was amid the heat and sharp bends of last year’s Monaco GP where relations between the teenage friends and go-karting rivals started turning frosty, with Hamilton infuriated by what he perceived as Rosberg’s deliberate attempt to thwart him in qualifying. The Monaco qualifying spat set the agenda for a bitter squabble that rumbled on all season — reaching crisis point at the Belgian GP— as Rosberg challenged Hamilton for the title until the last race of the season.
Saina seeded second in Aus Open
Sydney: Defending champion Saina Nehwal has been seeded second in the women’s singles competition of the $750,000 Australian Open Super Series badminton tournament that will get underway here on Tuesday. Olympic bronze medallist, Saina had outclassed Spaniard Carolina Marin to clinch her first Super Series crown in 20 months, after coming out on top in the Denmark Open in October 2012. Three Indians will compete in the men’s singles competition with World No. 4 Kidambi Srikanth, who has been seeded fourth, taking on Danish Hans-Kristian Vittinghus in his opening match. Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap will face Chinese sixth seed Wang Zhengming in a tough match, while Indonesia Masters winner, H S Prannoy will open against China’s Tian Houwei.
IOA offers Kerala to host South Asian Games in Nov-Dec
New Delhi: The Indian Olympic Association has offered Kerala to host the 12th South Asian Games (SAG) in November-December after Assam and Meghalaya governments did not show interest in staging the regional multi-sporting event. The IOA, in its Annual General Meeting in December last year, had decided to offer Assam and Meghalaya to host the SAG in Guwahati and Shillong but it is learnt that the two northeastern states have not responded positively to it. With time running out to stage the event, which has been postponed a few times in the past, the IOA, after consultation with the Sports Ministry, has asked the Kerala government whether it wants to host the SAG or not.
Ministry issues guidelines to SAI after Kerala tragedy
New Delhi: The Sports Ministry has asked the Sports Authority of India (SAI) to set up a 24-hour helpline among implementing other corrective measures for well being of the trainees in the wake of suicide attempt by four girl athletes at SAI’s Alappuzha centre. The corrective actions have been formulated by the Ministry after examining the report submitted by SAI DG Injeti Srinivas on the controversial incident. As per the recommendations, SAI should empanel counselling psychologists to visit its centers once in a fortnight or once in a month, as may be required, for the purpose of group counselling as well as one-on-one counselling. All girls hostels must compulsorily have a full-time lady warden and all centers should preferably be run at least by Assistant Director level officers. The release further added that a two-day module on sports psychology should be prepared in consultation with AIIMS and introduced in all SAI centers.