Shooter ‘misbehaved with woman’
New Delhi: A junior shooter has been suspended by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) for misbehaving with a woman in the hotel staff during a training camp in Italy recently. The 17-year old, who was preparing for the ongoing World Shotgun Championships in Lima, Peru, along with his team mates, has been withdrawn from the event. The incident comes just a couple of months after the NRAI handed two shooters one-year and six-month bans respectively for mentally harassing a female shooter even though they were absolved of charges of sexual harassment. (PTI)
Sindhu exits, others advance in Japan
Tokyo: World No. 12 shuttler PV Sindhu lost her second round tie while compatriots HS Prannoy, K Srikanth and Ajay Jayaram advanced to the quarterfinals of the Japan Open Super Series here on Thursday. Sindhu had a poor outing against Japanese qualifier Akane Yamaguchi as she was beaten in straight games. The World No. 145 beat Sindhu 21-6, 21-17 to move into the women’s singles quarterfinals. Jayaram had a tough second round men’s singles outing against local qualifier Yuichi Ikeda but eventually won in three games. The Mumbai lad won 21-13, 11-21, 21-18 in his first ever match against Ikeda. Srikanth also entered the last eight easily overcoming another local qualifier Kazuteru Kozai 21-12, 21-16 in their first ever encounter and will take on Japanese seventh seed and World No.5 Kenichi Tago next. Youth Olympics silver medallist Prannoy caused an upset by beating World No. 6 Danish shuttler Jan O Jorgensen in three tough games. The Kerala shuttler came out victorious 21-14, 13-21, 21-17 to enter the last eight. However, Mumbai’s Anand Pawar went down to World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia 21-12, 21-16. The Indian men’s doubles action also came to an end with the defeat of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy, who lost to Xiaolong Liu and Zihan Qiu of China. The fourth-seeded Chinese pair won 21-17, 21-16 in 36 minutes in the second round. (IANS)
Women grapplers fail to impress
Budapest: Last year’s bronze medallist Geeta Phogat crashed out in the first round of the 59kg category at the World Wrestling Championships and a similar fate awaited Pooja Dhanda (55kg) and Geetika Jakhar (63kg) in their opening bouts here on Thursday. Geeta, who won a bronze medal in the 55kg division last year, was tamed by Olympic bronze medallist Yuliya Ratkevich of Azerbaijan through a fall to dent India’s hopes early on Day 4 of the event. Pooja, who pipped last year’s bronze medallist Babita Kumari at trials for this this event, was routed 0-8 by Ukraine’s Iryna Husyak in her first bout in the 55kg section. (PTI)
Murray to have back surgery, may miss rest of season
LONDON: Andy Murray is to undergo minor back surgery and may be sidelined for the rest of the season, the BBC reported on Thursday. The 26-year-old missed this year’s French Open due to a back injury but recovered to become the first British man to win Wimbledon for 77 years. He lost his US Open title in a quarter-final defeat this month to Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka. Murray, the world number three, has qualified for the season-ending World Tour finals in London in November but may be forced to miss the tournament. (Reuters)
Bayern’s Goetze to return to training
BERLIN: Bayern Munich midfielder Mario Goetze has recovered from the ankle injury he picked up three weeks ago and is expected to join team mates in training in the coming days, the treble winners said on Thursday. Goetze, brought in from Borussia Dortmund, has yet to put in a run at Bayern, following a muscle injury in Dortmund’s Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid. After recovering in August, he sustained an ankle injury in Bayern’s Super Cup win over Chelsea last month. “The plan is to integrate him into team training in the coming days,” Bayern said in a statement. Holding midfielder Javi Martinez, who underwent groin surgery earlier this month, will need a bit longer before returning to action, Bayern said. Bayern, who beat CSKA Moscow 3-0 in their Champions League Group D opener on Tuesday, take on fellow Champions League competitors Schalke 04 on Saturday. Bayern trail leaders Borussia Dortmund by two points. (Reuters)