Star shuttlers Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will look to regain their competitive edge as they spearhead the Indian challenge at the Thailand Open Super 500 tournament, beginning here on Tuesday. The top seeded Indian pair found it a tad difficult to negotiate the variety of serves dished out by the Indonesians and Chinese at the Thomas Cup. Both shuttlers will look to address the slight drop in their level this week when they begin their campaign against Malaysia’s Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub Azriyn and Tan Wee Kiong. India’s top player in singles, HS Prannoy, a world championships and Asian Games bronze medallist, too will have to find his best footing after being troubled by health issues this season. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
14 May,2024 06:36 AM IST | Bangkok | PTIAfter six Indian grapplers secured Olympic quotas, Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Sanjay Singh has said that the federation will decide which wrestler will be participating at the 2024 Paris Games, “not the Indian Olympic Association (IOA)” He said that the fresh trials will be conducted to pick the final squad for the showpiece event. “Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) will decide which wrestler will participate in the Paris Olympics, not IOA, and there will be fresh trials as well, WFI president Sanjay Singh told IANS. Earlier, there were reports that IOA will take a final call on wrestlers but the WFI has cleared, “we have got approval/authority/recognition from the UWW [United World Wrestling]. And it will be our duty to pick the team. How can IOA take that call?” In the recently concluded World Qualifiers in Istanbul, which was the final Paris Olympics qualifying event for wrestlers, Aman Sehrawat and Nisha Dahiya took India’s number of quotas to six in wrestling. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
14 May,2024 06:34 AM IST | New Delhi | IANSP Shyaamnikhil became India’s 85th Grandmaster by completing his third and final GM norm in the just-concluded Dubai Police Masters chess tournament, ending a 12-year-wait for the player who took to the sport as an eight-year-old. Shyaamnikhil needed just one win and eight draws to complete the long-overdue GM title which he achieved in the tournament. The 31-year-old conjured the requisite 2500 ELO rating points, the minimum requirement to be a GM, way back in 2012 with two Grandmaster norms but for the third one, he had to wait for 12 years. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
14 May,2024 06:34 AM IST | Dubai | PTIGrandmaster R Praggnanandhaa proved himself better than his peers and finished clear fourth while Magnus Carlsen came up with a rousing 8/9 performance on the final day to seal his place at the top of the tables in the Superbet rapid and blitz tournament, a part of the grand chess tour. Leading by a huge 2.5 points margin going into the last day with nine rounds of blitz still remaining, Wei Yi of China had to be content with a second place finish after a below par 5 points in the last nine games. Carlsen won by a whisker getting past Yi in the closing stages of the tournament. The World No. 1 was visibly tired after nine games yesterday followed by another four games in an event that he played online. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
14 May,2024 06:32 AM IST | Warsaw | PTIA year after the MotoGP India made a spectacular debut at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida, there are reports that the second edition of event is in jeopardy due to various reasons. While some reports claim that vendors, including Dorna—the exclusive commercial rights holder to the MotoGP World Championship—have not been paid, others claim that the paperwork for the second edition is not yet in order and that the September 20-22 race could instead be awarded to first-timers Kazhakhstan. However, sources close to the development have told mid-day that these are just rumours. “Among the biggest stakeholders in MotoGP Bharat is the Uttar Pradesh government and they are very serious about it. However, with the entire nation in election mode, no major decision in the state can be taken till these elections are over. So, everything will fall into place around the first week of June,” said a source. “Last year too there were a series of news reports, claiming uncertainty regarding that the inaugural edition of the MotoGP in India. However, contrary to this, MotoGP Bharat was held amidst huge fanfare.” Team VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi stormed to victory on his Ducati at MotoGP Bharat 2023. Interestingly, while the UP government had committed R8 crore for the upgradation of the BIC Stadium track last year, that figure has been increased by R2 crore this year. A total of R10 crore has been allocated from the UP state budget for the fiscal year 2024-25 towards marketing and promotion of MotoGP Bharat.
14 May,2024 06:28 AM IST | Mumbai | A CorrespondentAmateur Riders Club (ARC) beat hosts Bombay Gymkhana 5-4 in a nail-biting Volvo Bombay Gymkhana Arena Polo Championship 2024 match at the Gymkhana ground on Sunday night. This polo event was revived after almost 139 years. The Bombay Gymkhana Polo Challenge Cup was founded in 1882 and the inaugural edition was won by the Central India Horse team. The ARC team comprised Neil Malaney (one goal), Sunny Patel (4 goals) and Mitesh Mehta while Bombay Gymkhana fielded Lt Gen Arun K Sahni, Col Asish Samantaray (4 goals) and Lt Col Gautam. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
14 May,2024 06:21 AM IST | Mumbai | AgenciesDon Bosco (Matunga) emerged the boys U-15 champions in the Joe Fernandis Memorial hockey tournament at Astro Park, Bandra, on Sunday. In a keenly-contested summit clash, the Bosco boys beat their arch-rivals St Stanislaus (Bandra) by a solitary goal. Daksh Gaikwad netted the all-important winning goal for Bosco. In the semi-finals, Don Bosco beat Children’s Academy (Malad) 3-0, while St Stanislaus got the better of Dr Antonio D’Silva (Dadar) 3-1. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
14 May,2024 06:19 AM IST | Mumbai | AgenciesFormer internationals Aparna Popat and Mangrish Palekar clinched double crowns at the GD Birla Memorial Masters Badminton Tournament, organised by Badminton 45, managed by Badminton Gurukul, and hosted by Bombay Gymkhana. Aparna Popat teamed up with Naheed Divecha to defeat Preet Kaur and Priya Ambekar 21-8, 21-9 in the women’s combination 75+ doubles final. She then partnered Ayaz Bilwla to get the better of Rajesh D’Souza and Divecha 21-9, 21-15 to win the mixed combination 80+ title. Palekar and Vikrant Patwardhan scored a straight game win over Bilawala and Shaiilesh Daga to win the men’s doubles 45+ title, but he and partner Deepak Jaitly had a fight on their hands and had to rally from the loss of the first game before defeating Abhidnya Sawant and Rajesh Bhanushali 19-21, 21-9, 21-6 in the men’s combination 45+ final. Manoj Nachanekar justified his top billing among the professionals, winning the singles title and then partnered Rahul Bhuwad for the doubles crown. Bombay Gymkhana won the Team Championship defeating Chembur Gymkhana 2-0. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
14 May,2024 06:17 AM IST | Mumbai | AgenciesReigning world champion Nikhat Zareen (52kg) made a rampaging start to her campaign with a convincing 5-0 win over Kazakhstan's Rakhymberdi Zhansaya on the opening day of the Elorda Cup boxing tournament here on Monday. Minakshi (48kg) and Anamika (50kg) also made winning starts to their campaign. Also Read: Dilip Vengsarkar urges young players to focus on playing Test cricket While Minakshi progressed to the next round with a 4-1 victory over Gassymova Roxana of Kazakhstan, Anamika defeated Zhumabayeva Arailym with a referee stop the contest (RSC) win in the first round. Fellow Indians Ishmeet Singh (75kg) and Sonia (54kg), however, bowed out after losing 0-5 against Kazakhstan's Armanuly Armat and China's Chang Yuan respectively. Six-time Asian Championships medallist Shiva Thapa (63.5kg), Sanjay (80kg) and Gaurav Chauhan (92+) will be in action on Tuesday alongside three other Indian boxers. The Boxing Federation of India has sent a 21-member squad for the prestigious tournament which has been witnessing the participation of pugilists from strong boxing nations such as Kazakhstan, China, India, Japan and Uzbekistan. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.
13 May,2024 10:36 PM IST | Astana | PTIStar Indian javelin throwers Neeraj Chopra and Kishore Jena have been given direct entry into the Federation Cup finals on May 15, having already bettered the minimum qualification mark of 75m multiple times in their careers. Olympic and world champion Chopra is coming off a fairly good outing at the Doha Diamond League last week where he finished second with a throw of 88.38m. Asian Games silver-winner Jena's Diamond League debut, however, ended in disappointment as he was eliminated after three rounds with 76.31m being his best. DP Manu, who finished sixth in the 2023 World Championships and who is looking to qualify for the upcoming Paris Olympics by breaching the 85.50m mark, will also compete directly in the Federation Cup finals. "All those who have crossed 75m will not compete in the qualifying round on Tuesday. There are nine of them from among those who had made entries, including Neeraj and Jena. They will directly compete in the final on Wednesday," Indian athletics head coach Radhakrishnan Nair said, quoting the Athletics Federation of India's qualification rules. "The remaining who have below 75m mark will compete in the qualifying round and the top three will join the nine above-75m throwers in the final." The AFI is quite looking forward to 26-year-old Chopra's first home competitive outing in three years. "The AFI is not at all surprised at Neeraj taking part in the Federation Cup. His participation in domestic event is no doubt a very good thing for Indian athletics," a top official of the AFI told PTI. Also Read: Homecoming! Neeraj Chopra to return to Indian tracks for first time in 3 years at Federation Cup It is learnt that the AFI wanted Chopra to compete in a domestic event after he won gold in Tokyo Olympics and before the Paris Games. He did not take part in any domestic event in 2022 and 2023 as he was training or competing abroad. His last domestic event was the Federation Cup in March 2021. It is learnt that Chopra has reached India from Doha but will land here only on Tuesday. Asian Games medallist Jena is arriving later on Monday. Nair played down the injury to men's 4x400m relay squad member Rajesh Ramesh who pulled out midway during the second leg of the first round qualifying heat in Bahamas earlier this month. Ramesh was replaced by Arokia Rajiv, who was also not fully fit, in the second round of the Olympic qualifying heat and the Indian team booked a Paris ticket. "Ramesh's injury is not a hamstring pull, it's related to tendon in thigh. So, it is not a major injury. He is expected to start training in 10-15 days. Rajiv will also be alright soon," Nair said. "There should not be any problem in Olympics preparation." A total of 19 track and field athletes have qualified for Paris and Nair said the team will train in Spala in Poland for four weeks before travelling to Paris for the Olympics. Track and field events starting on August 1. "The team will train in Spala before Olympics and we will reach Paris three or four days before the competition starts," he said. Indian athletes have trained in Spala many times in the past. Nair also said the AFI is still hopeful of the mixed 4x400m relay team's Paris qualification despite its failure in Bahamas during the World Relays. Only two slots remain up for grabs. "Our mixed 4x400m team will take part in the Asian Relays (May 20-21 in Bangkok) and we can qualify for Paris if we run below 3 minutes 14 seconds and we feel can do that." Meanwhile, it is learnt that the AFI will shortly come out with a strategic plan with the target of winning multiple medals in the 2036 Olympics. The target is irrespective of India winning the right to host the Games.
13 May,2024 02:32 PM IST | Bhubaneswar | mid-day online correspondentNovak Djokovic described his shock third-round elimination from the Rome Open by outsider Alejandro Tabilo on Sunday as “concerning”, two days after he was hit on the head by a bottle which he said has caused nausea and dizzy spells. Djokovic’s bid for a record-extending 41st Masters 1000 title was ended in just over an hour by Chilean Tabilo, who is ranked 32nd in the world and claimed his first win over a Top 10 opponent, 6-2, 6-3. The 24-time Grand Slam winner said that his subdued performance on a court where he has won six titles might have been due to the blow suffered while greeting fans on Friday. Djokovic also said that he would have scans to “see what’s going on” before the French Open after admitting to having headaches, nausea and dizziness on Friday night. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
13 May,2024 06:37 AM IST | Rome | AFPADVERTISEMENT
