Golfer Anirban Lahiri qualifies for Tokyo Olympics
New Delhi, June 22: Seasoned pro Anirban Lahiri qualified for his second successive Olympic appearance after finishing as the best-placed Indian golfer in the final Tokyo Games Rankings for men released on Tuesday. The Indian made the cut at the 60th spot, the last available quota in the Games rankings. India was eligible for one spot and Lahiri was the highest-placed in the latest official world golf rankings at the 340th position. “Best surprise I have got in a while. @Tokyo2020 can’t believe I will have the opportunity once again to represent the tricolor,” Lahiri tweeted. Golf was brought back into the Olympics in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games for the first time since the 1904 edition. (PTI)
Ramkumar advances, Prajnesh out of Wimbledon Qualifiers
London, June 22: Ramkumar Ramanathan advanced to the second round of the Wimbledon Qualifiers but Prajnesh Gunneswaran, who was under-prepared due to a left-wrest injury, bowed out here on Tuesday. Ramkumar beat Slovakia’s 13th seed Jozef Kovalik 6-3 6-0 in exactly one hour in his first round. Prajnesh, though, lost in straight sets to British wild card Arthur Fery, who is not ranked even inside top-1000. The left-handed Indian, ranked 148, lost 1-6 6-7(5) to his 18-year-old rival, who is ranked as low as 1038. Ankita Raina will be in action in the women’s singles qualifying event, later Tuesday. (PTI)
Hyderabad FC sign young winger Abdul Rabeeh
Hyderabad, June 22: Hyderabad FC (HFC) have signed young winger Abdul Rabeeh AK for the upcoming Indian Super League (ISL) season, the club announced on Tuesday. The 20-year-old from Malappuram becomes the second new addition to the club this season. Rabeeh has featured in the All India Football Federation (AIFF) Youth Leagues at the U-16 and U-18 levels, apart from the 2nd Division League. He spent the 2020/21 season with Luca SC, Malappuram, playing a crucial role for his side in the Kerala Premier League, where he was zeroed in upon by the HFC scouts. A versatile winger, who can also function as a full-back, Rabeeh joins as a developmental player. (IANS)
Top-seed Kvitova beats Piter at Bad Homburg Open, to face Li
Bad Homburg (Germany) June 22: Top-seeded Petra Kvitova had to dig deep to reach the second round of the Bad Homburg Open in beating Polish qualifier Katarzyna Piter 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. Kvitova lost serve three times but hit 10 aces while prevailing against 135th-ranked Piter in just under two hours at the Wimbledon warmup. Two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova, who’s ranked 12th, will next play American Ann Li, who eased past Germany’s Anna Zaja 6-0, 6-4. Another American, Jessica Pegula, also had little difficulty as she got past French player Amandine Hesse 6-2, 6-1 to face Czech player Katerina Siniakova. Also, there were wins for Aliz Cornet, Laura Siegemund, Sara Sorribes Tormo and Anna Blinkova. Simona Halep pulled out of the grass-court tournament shortly before it started in the town near Frankfurt. (AP)
Four Indians to take part in Asian Rapid Chess tournament
Chennai, June 22: Four Indian players, including Vidit Gujrathi and D Gukesh, will take part in the Asian Rapid online chess tournament to be held from June 26 to July 4. The 16-player tournament will feature world No.1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway, Anish Giri of the Netherlands, Wesley So of the USA, Levon Aronian of Armenia and Ding Liren of China among others. The Asian Rapid event will have a USD 100,000 prize pot and is the seventh leg of the prestigious ATP-style season of online chess organised by the Play Magnus Group. All the games will be played on the chess24.com playzone. (PTI)
Russian hurdler cleared of doping, family medication blamed
Monaco, June 22: Russian former world champion hurdler Sergei Shubenkov was cleared on Tuesday in a “genuinely exceptional” doping case that was prosecuted in secret ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. Shubenkov’s positive test resulted from his unintentional ingestion of residue from medication being used to treat a family member, track and field’s Athletics Integrity Unit said in announcing the verdict of an independent tribunal. The 2015 world champion in 110 meters hurdles tested positive for “a low concentration” of a diuretic called acetazolamide in December. The AIU said it made a thorough investigation of the athlete’s explanation,” and the tribunal ruled Shubenkov bore no fault or negligence.” (AP)
Former Indian athletics team coach Yuri passes away
New Delhi, June 22: Former Indian athletics coach Yuri Ogorodnik, who was sacked for his alleged involvement in the infamous 2011 dope scandal, has died at his native place in Ukraine, the national federation said on Tuesday. He was 84. He was associated with Indian athletics for nearly two decades since the early 2000s, training the Indian athletes during his multiple stints. Ogorodnik was booted out in July 2011 after six top Indian athletes, including 2010 Commonwealth and Asian Games 4x400m relay gold-winning team members Ashwini Akkunji, Sini Jose and Mandeep Kaur, tested positive for a banned steroid. He was brought back as coach in 2015 to train the Indian athletes for the 2016 Olympics, after which he left the country for good. (PTI)
Neeraj wins in Karlstad GP in Sweden despite below-par throw
NEW DELHI, June 22: Olympic-bound star Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra produced a below-par effort of 80.96m but still won his event in the Karlstad Grand Prix in Sweden on Tuesday. Chopra began with a throw of 79.07m before hurling the iron spear to 80.96m. His next three attempts were fouls before coming up with a final throw of 77.48m in a mediocre field. On June 10, he had come up with a best effort of 83.18m to win an event in Lisbon, Portugal in his first international competition after more than a year. (PTI)