Krejcikova, Siniakova advance to French Open doubles final
Paris, June 11: Barbora Krejcikova will try this weekend to become the first woman to sweep Roland Garros titles since Mary Pierce in 2000. Krejcikova and fellow Czech Katerina Siniakova advanced to the doubles final with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Magda Linette of Poland and Bernarda Pera of the United States. Krejcikova also made it to the singles final by beating Maria Sakkari 7-5, 4-6, 9-7 after saving a match point on Thursday. She will be up against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia in Saturday’s title match. The second doubles semifinal is pitting Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the United States and Iga Swiatek of Poland against Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu and Nadia Podoroska of Argentina. (PTI)
Sports Ministry not to send delegation to Tokyo games
NEW DELHI, June 11: The Sports Ministry on Friday said it has decided against sending its delegation to Tokyo Olympics to accommodate “maximum” support staff, including coaches and physios, for the athletes competing in the Summer Games. A total of 100 Indian athletes have so far qualified and another 25 to 35 might make the cut for the delayed Tokyo Olympics scheduled from July 23 to August 8. “The Ministry has decided to depute maximum additional support staff such as coaches, doctors, physiotherapists, to optimise the performance of the athletes,” the Ministry said in a statement. As per the norms, the number of officials travelling to Olympics cannot be more than one-third of the athletes’ contingent. The Indian contingent for the Tokyo Olympics is expected to be around 190, including over 100 athletes. (PTI)
Rijiju launches athlete injury management system
NEW DELHI, June 11: Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Friday launched an ambitious initiative to provide world class treatment and rehabilitation to elite athletes injured during competition or training. The Centralised Athlete Injury Management System (CAIMS) aims to provide inputs on prevention, diagnosis and high quality treatment and rehabilitation to athletes on time and maintain records for mapping their injury via an Online Athlete Management System. This system, to be run by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) in collaboration with the leading medical experts of the country, will be applied initially to the developmental group of athletes for the 2024 Paris Olympics and will broaden to others later on. (PTI)
Kerala Blasters sign Anil Gaonkar
PANAJI, June 11: Vasco SC player Anil Gaonkar has signed a two-year deal with Kerala Blasters FC and will soon join Indian Super League side for pre-season matches. Living in the rural most areas of the coastal state, Gaonkar shot to fame with his performance for Vasco SC during the Goa Premier League. “I was very happy and surprised when my coach Micky Fernandes informed me that Kerala Blasters FC want to sign me for the upcoming season of ISL,” Gaonkar told PTI. Gaonkar has been with the Vasco FC for the last four years and has represented the state in U-20 tournaments. (PTI)
SAI sacks foreign wrestling coach
NEW DELHI, June 11: The Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Friday announced that it has relieved Georgian wrestling coach Temo Kazarashvili for non-performance since none of the Greco Roman wrestlers could qualify for the Tokyo Games. India had hired Kazarashvili in February 2019 to train country’s Greco Roman wrestlers at the national camp in Sonepat till Olympics. While four men’s free style wrestler and as many women made the cut for the Games but the country could not get even a single quota in Greco Roman style. Wrestling Federation of India had also sacked Iran’s Hossein Karimi (free style) and American Andrew Cook (women) mid-way into their terms, saying it had become difficult to deal with their tantrums. (PTI)
Lahiri tied 31 at Palmetto C’ship
Congaree Maintenance (USA), June 11: India’s Anirban Lahiri, Satoshi Kodaira of Japan and Chinese Taipei’s C.T. Pan carded matching scores of two-under 69 to be among those in a share of 31st position after the first round of Palmetto Championship on Thursday. But it was Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat, who shot his lowest score in nearly two years with a 4-under 67, to be the top Asian player as he moved into a share of seventh place after first day. World No. 1 Dustin Johnson established himself in second position on the leaderboard alongwith Doc Redman after carding six-under 65. Wes Roach was on top with seven-under 64. All three are Americans. (IANS)
27 face punishment for hosting ‘unprofessional’ ultramarathon
Beijing, June 11: Twenty-seven people, including several senior municipal government officials, faced disciplinary punishment or criminal charges after being held responsible for hosting an “unprofessional” ultramarathon race in Gansu province last month in which 21 runners died, local authorities announced on Friday. A 100-kilometre cross-country mountain race in the north-western province of Gansu turned deadly on May 22 as freezing rains, high winds and hail suddenly hit the competitors. Twenty-one people, including China’s well known ultra-marathon runner Liang Jing, were killed in the tragedy. “Non-standard and unprofessional event operations led to the accident,” read the investigation report announced at a press conference held in Lanzhou, capital of Gansu province. A total of 172 people participated in the mountain marathon. While eight sustained minor injuries, 151 were confirmed safe. Most competitors were wearing thin shorts and T-shirts, according to media reports. Baiyin ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) secretary Su Jun and Baiyin mayor Zhang Xuchen are among those who have been given disciplinary punishment, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Zhang Wenling was sacked as the magistrate of the Jingtai County, while Jingtai party secretary Li Zuobi, who has died after the mishap, was exempted from punishment. The tragedy was caused by a sudden change in weather and the province had set up an investigation team to look further into the cause of the incident, Zhang Xuchen had said. The tragedy had evoked public anger on Chinese social media, with criticism mainly directed at the Baiyin government for lack of contingency planning. (PTI)