India shine in Para Athletics meet
DUBAI, Feb 14: Teenaged high jumpers Praveen Kumar and Nishad Kumar produced their personal best efforts to take a gold each and set new Asian records as the curtains came down on the 12th Fazza International World Para Athletics Grand Prix here. Praveen’s and Nishad’s gold medal-winning efforts were the high points for India who also had three silver and a bronze on Saturday, to end their campaign at the championships with 23 medals. (PTI)
Ankita wins at Phillip Island Trophy
MELBOURNE, Feb 13: : Indian tennis player Ankita Raina recorded her first victory in the singles main draw of a WTA Tour event with a three-set win over Elisabetta Cocciaretto at the Phillip Island Trophy here on Sunday. Ankita came from behind to beat the Italian 5-7 6-1 6-2 in the opening round of the USD 235,238 hard court tournament. (PTI)
Rawat wins 1st 35km race walk
RANCHI, Feb 14: Olympian Manish Rawat of Uttarakhand won the inaugural men’s 35km event on the second and final day of the National Open Race Walking Championships here on Sunday. Rawat beat Tamil Nadu’s Ganapati Krishnan by a comfortable nine-minute margin as he clocked 2:49:12 which was, however, well outside the 2:35:00 qualifying standard for next year’s World Athletics Championships. (PTI)
HI names probable for camp
NEW DELHI, Feb 14: Hockey India on Sunday announced its 25-member core probable group for the senior women’s national coaching camp as part of the team’s preparations for the Tokyo Olympics. After a two-week break following their Argentina tour, the core group assembled at the Sports Authority of India (SAI), Bengaluru and will undergo mandatory quarantine. In January, the 25-member core group had set out on their first tour in over 12 months and despite not registering a win in Argentina, chief coach Sjoerd Marjine was happy with the effort put in by his team against the world number two side. (PTI)
India to bid for Chess Olympiad
New Delhi, Feb 14: The All India Chess Federation (AICF) on Sunday decided to bid for the next available edition of the Olympiad while also announcing starting of a high-profile Indian Chess League this year. The newly elected AICF president Sanjay Kapoor unveiled a blueprint to turn the country into a chess superpower at a press conference after the federation conducted its Annual General Meeting (AGM) here. (PTI)