Rafael Nadal breezed to a straight sets victory over 16-year-old Darwin Blanch to reach the Madrid Open second round on Thursday as he began his farewell appearance in the Spanish capital. The 37-year-old said this week he was not fully fit, but demolished his American opponent 6-1, 6-0 in one hour and three minutes as he continues his comeback from injury. Also Read: Klopp feels possible successor Slot will have ‘best job in world’ Nadal, a 22-time Grand Slam champion, is expecting 2024 to be his final season in tennis and this his last appearance at the Madrid Open. He made his first competitive appearance since January at the Barcelona Open last week, where he was defeated in the second round by Alex de Minaur. The Australian will be Nadal’s second round opponent in Madrid too as the Spaniard tries to find form and fitness ahead of Rome and then the French Open, where he is the record 14-time winner. “For me it has always been a pleasure to play in front of you all,” said Nadal. Despite the ease of his victory, Nadal said it did not mean anything in terms of his prospects of competing at his beloved Roland Garros. “I’m not a results based guy, I’m a realist about what happens, I was playing against a player with good potential but who makes huge amounts of errors,” Nadal told reporters. 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
27 April,2024 08:05 AM IST | Madrid | AFPContinuing her spirited progress post motherhood, former World No. 1 archer Deepika Kumari eliminated Korean Jeon Hunyoung to storm into the semi-final, while compound archers continued to shine to assure India a fourth medal in the World Cup Stage 1 here on Friday. Also Read: SC issues showcause notice to AIFF president Deepika, the three-time Olympian, who has slipped to World No. 142 and qualified as 30th seed in the rankings round, overcame a 1-3 deficit to defeat Jeon 6-4 (27-28, 27-27, 29-28, 29-27, 28-28) in the women’s recurve individual quarter-final. 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
27 April,2024 07:55 AM IST | Shanghai | PTIAdrian Newey, widely regarded as the greatest Formula 1 designer and a chief architect of Red Bull’s title dominance, is set to leave the world champions in the aftermath of the Christian Horner controversy, media reports claimed on Thursday. Also Read: Nethra secures India’s 2nd Oly quota in sailing Newey, 65, has been with Red Bull since 2005 and has played a key role in all of the team’s 13 world titles—seven drivers and six constructors—since 2010. 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
27 April,2024 07:45 AM IST | Paris | AFPNethra Kumanan on Friday secured India’s second Paris Olympics quota in sailing, claiming it under the Emerging Nations Program banner at the Last Chance Regatta, an Olympic qualifier, in Hyeres, France. Also Read: The Kym-nastics way of doing things Nethra, who has competed in the Tokyo Games three years ago, was competing in the women’s dinghy (ILCA 6). 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
27 April,2024 07:40 AM IST | New Delhi | PTIIn a bid to make the country a gymnastics force, Kym Dowdell, member and former vice-president, International Gymnastics Federation Technical Committee, is in Mumbai to put in place a competitive framework for Indian gymnastics, which can act as springboard for the nation’s great LEAP of faith to gymnastics glory. Dowdell stressed putting down a multi-pronged base, from where India can start producing gymnasts of calibre. She spoke to the press on Friday at Worli’s LEAP Gymnastics facility. LEAP is a JSW Group initiative. Dowdell said, “The newly developed competitive framework aims to increase participation, performance levels and assist new clubs to develop a gymnastic curriculum. We have something called the compulsories, which is about progressive development and consistent evaluation for all gymnasts in competition. The optional program will allow Indian gymnasts to further develop and demonstrate their skills in optional routines at three different grades. The final high-performance program is for the development of high-performance gymnasts who at an appropriate time, transition from either the compulsory or optional grades to high-performance.” Also Read: Phil Maange More! A gymnast demonstrates a ring routine at the LEAP facility Dowdell spoke about the “massive Indian population, which itself is a good base and a rich resource for gymnasts. We also develop coaches and judges programmes in this framework. As you produce more gymnasts, you also need more coaches to keep pace. You need trained judges for competition. This is looking at the whole picture, a holistic approach.” The Brisbane professional added, “when you increase participation in gymnastics, talent will rise naturally through the system. One will not need to go out and select that, it will happen naturally.” As gymnasts training at the LEAP centre demonstrated their skills on the rings, balance beam, the vault and did ground routines, Dowdell underscored the wisdom of patience and taking small steps towards the larger goal. She stated that India has to look at, “becoming a strong gymnastics nation in Asia first and then, aim for global glory.”
27 April,2024 07:35 AM IST | Mumbai | Hemal AsharThe Indian trio of Tarundeep Rai, Dhiraj Bommadevara and Pravin Jadhav set up a gold medal clash with Olympic champions Korea after storming into the men’s team recurve final of the Archery World Cup Stage 1 here on Thursday. It came a day after India were assured of at least two medals in the compound competition after both the men’s and women’s teams made the finals. The Indian recurve team, which qualified behind reigning world and Olympic champions South Korea, sailed past Italy 5-1 (55-54, 55-55, 56-55) in the last-four stage. India will be up against the South Korea’s Tokyo Olympics gold medal-winning trio of Kim Woojin, Lee Woo Seok and Kim Je Deok in the final slated for Sunday. Also Read: With Olympics in mind, Yuki Bhambri rejoins childhood coach Aditya Sachdev The top-seeded Korean trio defeated their Chinese Taipei rivals Tan Chih-Chun, Lin Zih-Siang and Tai Yu-Hsuan in straight sets 6-0 (57-50, 58-56, 58-54). In the compound event, former world youth champion Priyansh and reigning Asian Games gold-medallist Jyothi Surekha Vennam advanced to their respective individual semi-finals to also remain in the hunt for a medal. The Indian women’s team of Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat and Bhajan Kaur, which got the sixth rank in the qualifiers, managed a below-par show and lost a 3-1 lead to go down to Mexico in its opening clash. Later, World Cup gold-medallist Jyothi, who is seeded second, downed teammate Avneet Kaur 143-142 in a tight finish to make the semis in the compound competition. Priyansh, who is seeded 14th, downed Batuhan Akcaoglu of Turkey to set up a last-four clash against Nick Kappers of the USA. 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
26 April,2024 08:15 AM IST | Shanghai | PTITo make sure that he is ready for the Paris Olympics if an opportunity comes knocking, India’s top player Yuki Bhambri (below) has rejoined forces with childhood coach Aditya Sachdeva. Also Read: Babuta breaks air rifle world record World No. 2 Rohan Bopanna, being a Top 10 player, will have the choice of choosing his partner at the Paris Games and Yuki, who is the next best Indian on the ATP ranking chart at No 56, wants to be ready for the Games in best possible manner. Renowned coach Sachdeva, who spent a major part of his coaching career in National Capital, had moved to Roundglass Sport in Chandigarh in February 2021. Till Yuki was an active singles player, he had trained with Stephen Koon in Bangkok. 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
26 April,2024 08:10 AM IST | New Delhi | PTIArjun Babuta (below) breached the existing finals world record (FWR) in men’s 10m air rifle on way to a commanding win in the ongoing Olympic Selection Trials (OST) 1&2 for Rifle and Pistol at the Karni Singh Range here on Thursday. Also Read: ‘It will be a big match’ Babuta, the 25-year-old Paris Olympics quota winner, shone with a sensational tally of 254.0 in the OST T1 final. The score was 0.3 above the mark set by fellow finalist and India teammate Divyansh Singh Panwar at the Cairo World Cup earlier this year. Also registering wins in their respective OST T1 final matches were Nancy (women’s 10m air rifle), Varun Tomar (men’s 100m air pistol) and Rhythm Sangwan (women’s 10m air pistol). Babuta’s score-sheet had two perfect 10.9s, besides 13 shots which were 10.6 and above. His lowest score of 10.0 came on the 21st shot, by which time he had already established a huge lead over the field, winning by 2.8 points in the end over 2022 world champion Rudrankksh Patil (251.2). Sri Karthik Sabari Raj (229.6) was third. Nancy’s tally of 253.4, missed the world mark by 0.6, but it was sufficient to ward off quota holder Mehuli Ghosh by 0.7 points (252.7). 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
26 April,2024 08:05 AM IST | New Delhi | PTIIndian chess prodigy D Gukesh on Thursday thanked the legendary Viswanathan Anand for playing a huge role in shaping his career, saying “I wouldn’t have been close to what I am now if it wasn’t for him.” The 17-year-old Grandmaster scripted history on Monday by winning the Candidates Chess Tournament in Toronto to become the youngest ever challenger to the world title, beating a record created by the legendary Garry Kasparov 40 years ago. The triumph paved the way for Gukesh’s clash against reigning world champion Ding Liren of China later this year. Also Read: Cricketer Guy Whittall injured by leopard Ding Liren Speaking about his much-anticipated clash against Liren, Gukesh said, “The biggest challenge against Ding would be how I prepare myself and being in the right state of mind since it will be a big match. There are a lot of expectations and a lot at stake. I have full belief in myself and will be going in with the same strategy. Hopefully, it will work out well.” Hundreds of students from the Velammal Vidyalaya, the school where Gukesh studies, lined up at the airport at least one hour before his flight landed to greet him. His mother Padma, who is a microbiologist, was at the airport to receive him. India to bid for World C’ship hosting rights Newly-elected All India Chess Federation (AICF) secretary Dev Patel on Thursday said the country will bid for the hosting rights of this year’s much-anticipated World Championship clash between D Gukesh and defending champion Ding Liren of China. The dates and venue for the world championship, which will be held in the last quarter of the year, are yet to be finalised. “We are open to discussion with FIDE, the apex chess body, and we are certain that the best world championship will be held in India,” Patel, who is only 24 and heads the Gujarat Chess Association, told PTI.
26 April,2024 08:00 AM IST | Chennai | PTIFormer German tennis star Boris Becker has been discharged from bankruptcy by a London court following a deal with his debtors, the 56-year-old’s German lawyer said on Thursday. Also Read: Mbappe brace takes PSG to brink of title “As a result of an agreement with his insolvency administrators, Boris Becker’s bankruptcy, which began in 2017, was legally terminated by a decision by the High Court in London yesterday,” Becker’s Berlin-based lawyer said in a statement sent to AFP. 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
26 April,2024 07:50 AM IST | Berlin | AgenciesFrench Open organisers have their “fingers crossed” that Rafael Nadal will be able to play this year’s event, tournament director Amelie Mauresmo said on Thursday. Also Read: Ten Hag delighted with United’s come-from-behind win Nadal, the record 14-time Roland Garros champion, said on Wednesday he would only play the clay-court Grand Slam this year if he felt “capable enough to compete”. “We’re keeping our fingers crossed for him, but also for us because we want to welcome him here to Roland Garros,” Mauresmo told a press conference. 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
26 April,2024 07:30 AM IST | Paris | AFPADVERTISEMENT
