Flawless Chowrasia tied eighth after three rounds
Torino (Italy): Playing flawless golf, SSP Chowrasia brought in a six-under 66 to go up from tied 44th to tied eighth at the end of the third round of the 71st Italian Open here. Chowrasia, who won two co-sanctioned titles on European and Asian Tours, moved to nine-under 207 for 54 holes. Shiv Kapur (68) also moved to tied 33rd at six-under 210. Chowrasia had three birdies on either side of the course and no bogeys. So far he has had 14 birdies, three bogeys and one double bogey. Meanwhile, Hennie Otto of South Africa pulled two strokes ahead after three rounds. Otto posted a one under 71 to move to 16-under and into two shot lead over Scotland’s Richie Ramsay in second spot. Stephen Gallacher needs to win or finish second (alongside no more than one other player) to take the last of available spots on Paul McGinley’s European Team and he is just four shots behind Ramsay with 18 holes of the qualification campaign to go before McGinley completes his 12-man team with three Captains Picks next Tuesday. Gallacher cared a three under 69 to move to ten under and will have to get past Bernd Wiesberger (-13), Ross Fisher and Lee Slattery (both-11) if he is to turn his Ryder Cup dream into reality. (PTI)
Indian men face SL, women to play Thailand in Asian Games openers
New Delhi: India men will face Sri Lanka in their tournament opener while the eves will be up against Thailand in their first match of the hockey competition at the 17th Asian Games to be held in Incheon, South Korea from September 19 to October 4. The Sardar Singh-led Indian men’s hockey team will open the Asian Games campaign against the island nation on September 21 while the eves will play their first match the next day on September 22. In the men’s competition, India are placed in Pool B along side arch rivals Pakistan, Oman, China and Sri Lanka. After Sri Lanka, the Indian men’s team will face Oman on September 23 followed by mout-watering clash against Pakistan on September 25 and China on September 27. On the other hand, the Indian women’s Team will have face China in their second game on September 24 before clashing against Malaysia in their last pool match on September 26. Indian men’s team chief coach Terry Walsh feels now with the draw out his wards will be in a much better position to prepare themselves for the continental event. (PTI)
World Cup will decide who’s number one, says Clarke
Harare: Next year’s Cricket World Cup will decide the kings of the 50-over game whatever happens in the race to top the ICC world rankings between now and then, according to Australia captain Michael Clarke. Australia top the rankings going into Sunday’s triangular series match against Zimbabwe in Harare but, depending on results, could be overhauled this week by India or South Africa, who they face on Tuesday. Clarke believes that the definitive ruling on the best one-day side will not come until Australia and New Zealand host the World Cup from Feb. 14-March 29 next year. ‘Whoever wins that tournament will be seen as the number one one-day team in the world,’ Clarke told the Cricket Australia website in Zimbabwe. ‘That’s the way I’ve always looked at one-day rankings. I guess you love being number one in any form of the game but … you get a great indicator who is the number one team in the world in six months time playing in a World Cup. ‘That’s what dictates it.’ Australia, who won the World Cup in 1987, 1999, 2003 and 2007, recently lost their brief grip on the number one test ranking to the Proteas. (Reuters)
Oliveira finishes fourth at British GP in MotoGP
Silverstone: Mahindra rider Miguel Oliveira missed a second top-three podium finish of the season by just five hundredths of a second at the British Grand Prix in Moto3 category of the MotoGP championship, here on Sunday. Oliveira, who finished fourth, was just 0.123 of a second behind race winner Alex Rins’s Honda. They had left the rest of the pack trailing in their battle to the flag. Oliveira was up to fifth by the mid-point of the race, with a group of more than 15 bikes jostling for position. On lap 11 of the 17-lap race he took the lead. From there the elite of the smallest class battled over every inch of the 5.9-km Silverstone circuit, crossing the line all but four abreast. Second official Mahindra team rider Andrea Migno had qualified 21st in his first GP with the team, but retired while running in the top 20 in the early stages after a minor spill. “Emotions are difficult after a race like this, as I can’t help but be very, very disappointed for me and the team to have missed out on the podium. However, it was a great race – a lot of fun. The bike was going well and we were right there, so I can be happy for that,” Oliveira said. (PTI)
Not interested in playing county cricket: Ishant
New Delhi: Cheteshwar Pujara will be playing for Derbyshire this season while Varun Aaron is also keen on plying his trade in the county circuit but Ishant Sharma, the seniormost bowler of the Indian Test team is not at all keen on playing in England. Would you be interested in playing in county cricket, “No, I am not interested,” was a curt reply from the lanky pacer, who was not allowed to give an elaborate answer by the organisers of the event, at a promotional function relating to bikes, here on Sunday. One of the heroes of India’s Lord’s Test win, Ishant was asked which among Lord’s (2014) and Perth (2008) was a more satisfying effort according to him, there was another terse reply with any elaboration. “There can’t be any comparisons between the two performances.” While the 25-year-old, who has 178 wickets from 58 Test matches was keen on answering a few questions, a member of the organising team was constantly stopping him from answering cricket-related queries. How disappointed was he after being thrashed by England in the Test series, the seamer replied,”No team wants to lose a contest. We played hard enough but they played better cricket than us.” When someone sneaked in a question about how “cool” Dhoni is on the field, Ishant said,”You guys have seen him (Dhoni). (PTI)