No medal for luger Keshavan in Sochi
Sochi: Out of contention for a medal, India’s Shiva Keshavan remained at a disappointing 37th spot after third and penultimate round of men’s singles luge competitions in the Sochi Winter Olympic Games here on Sunday. The 32-year-old Indian, who is in his fifth Winter Olympics, clocked a combined 2:44.604 after three rounds to lie at 37th out of 39 lugers in the competition. Keshavan, who is competing under the IOC flag as an Independent Olympic Participant due to the suspension of the Indian Olympic Association, finished 37th in the third round on Sunday, clocking 54.706. He was also on 37th after two rounds the day before. Only one round remains in the competition. The medal winners will be decided according to the combined timings of the four rounds. This could be Keshavan’s worst performance in the Winter Olympics. He had finished 28th in Nagano (Japan) in 1998, 33rd in Salt Lake City (USA) in 2002, 25th in Torino (Italy) in 2006 and 29th in Vancouver (Canada) in 2010. Two other Indians are also competing in the Games. Cross Country skier Nadeem Iqbal will start his competition in 15km Classic run on February 14, while Alpine skier Himanshu Thakur’s Giant Slalom event begins on February 19. (PTI)
Devendro takes gold in boxing
New Delhi: Boxer L Devendro Singh won a gold at the Bocskai Invitation Tournament as India finished with four medals in the event held in Debrecen, Hungary. India won one gold, one silver and two bronze medals in the three-star competition, which concluded on Saturday. Devendro overcame a Kazakh opponent 3-0 to clinch the gold while Manoj Kumar lost out in a close final bout and had to settle for a silver medal. National coach GS Sandhu was satisfied with the performances of the boxers. “The performance of our boxers is quite satisfactory as opponents of Sunil, Sumit and Satish won gold medals. We feel our boxers have done well as this was first competition since the World Boxing Championship in 2013,” said Sandhu. (PTI)
Vinay grabs 6 to skittle Rest of India
Bangalore: Karnataka captain R Vinay Kumar led from the front with a six-wicket haul as the Ranji Trophy champions gained the upperhand over Rest of India on the first day of the Irani Cup match despite a gutsy effort from wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik. At stumps, Karnataka were 35 for one in reply to Rest of India’s modest first innings score of 201, largely due to Vinay’s outstanding figures of 6-47 from 18.4 overs. He was well-complemented by all-rounder Stuart Binny, who took three for 35. Karthik, who has had an ordinary Ranji Trophy season, played a dogged innings of 91 and had a couple of useful late-order partnerships with Amit Mishra (47) and Harbhajan Singh (25), which yielded 67 and 70 runs respectively. Gautam Gambhir (22) disappointed as he was trapped LBW by Binny after having done the hard work of surviving the first hour. (PTI)
Pietersen lost England’s trust, says Strauss
London: Kevin Pietersen’s England career was ended because of a total loss of trust between him and the team’s management, according to former captain Andrew Strauss. The England and Wales Cricket Broad (ECB) announced the end of Pietersen’s association with England last week, citing a need for a new “team ethic and philosophy” after the 5-0 Test series defeat in Australia. The ECB is yet to fully explain its reasons for deciding to jettison Pietersen, but Strauss believes it was the inevitable consequence of a breakdown in trust. “Without trust, the team environment is stillborn,” he wrote in British newspaper the Sunday Times. “It is for this reason that Kevin Pietersen’s international career had to be brought to an end. The media have been searching for a ‘smoking gun’. Everyone is looking for disciplinary problems, bust-ups and character clashes, but they are looking for the wrong thing. The smoking gun is the total absence of trust.” Strauss identified Pietersen’s dismissal as England captain five years ago as the beginning of the breakdown. He also said that efforts to reintegrate the South Africa-born batsman into the team after he was found to have sent derogatory text messages about Strauss to opposition players were “a little like marriage counselling”. (AFP)