Double gold for Naveen at National Shooting Championship
BHOPAL, Dec 7 : Army Marksmanship Unit shooter Naveen made it a grand double, winning the men’s 10m air pistol individual and team events as the National Championship for pistol events concluded in Bhopal on Thursday.Naveen shot 246.2 in the final to finish ahead of Uttar Pradesh’s Vivek (244.0) and the Navy’s Ujjwal Malik (221.3) at the MP State Shooting Academy range.The trio of Sagar Dangi, Bishal Shrestha and Naveen aggregated 1,742 points to leave the Navy shooters (1,737 points) in second place in the team event. Haryana won the bronze medal.The highest score in qualification was also posted by an Army shooter as Nishant Rawat shot 589 to equal the national record.Naveen shot the same score as four other shooters, but bagged the eighth and final qualifying spot with a score of 581 and by virtue of having more ‘inner 10s’ (25) than the other four. (PTI)
Squash: Senthilkumar, Abhay Singh bow out in second round
TAURANGA (New Zealand), Dec 7: Asian Games gold medallist Abhay Singh and reigning national champion Velavan Senthilkumar bowed out of the New Zealand Open squash tournament in their second round matches here on Thursday.Senthil Kumar went down to World No. 3 Kiwi Paul Coll 7-11, 1-11, 2-11, while Abhay lost to world No. 14 Baptiste Masotti of France 8-11, 5-11, 1-11.The Indian, a world No. 63, had earlier beaten world No. 46 Shahjahan Khan 3-2 in the opening round.Senthil gave a fight to Coll in the fist game but faded quickly in the remaining two games, a pattern world No. 70 Abhay followed against the Frenchman.In his first round match, Abhay, who finished as runner-up to Senthilkumar at the Nationals last month, had scored a 3-2 victory over world No. 54 Andrew Douglas.Meanwhile, world No. 75 Akanksha Salunkhe lost to Malaysian world No. 51 Aira Azman 3-0 in the opening round of the New Zealand Open for women. (PTI)
Snooker: Advani, Chawla, Mehta enter Round of 32
CHENNAI, Dec 7: World champion Pankaj Advani crushed the challenge of Delhi’s Avinash Kumar to move into the men’s 6-Red snooker knockouts in the National Billiards & Snooker Championships here Thursday.PSPB’s Advani, who clinched a record 26th ISBF world title in Doha last month, produced a stellar show to win 4-2, including a break of 47 in the third frame to enter the round of 32 at the Nehru Indoor Stadium.Advani had begun his campaign in style on Wednesday, trumping Sufyan Ahmed of Karnataka 4-0 in a Group A encounter, earning breaks of 41, 44 and 34.Along with Advani, other favourites such as Kamal Chawla (RSPB), Aditya Mehta (PSPB) and S Shrikrishna (PSPB) also reached the round of 32.Dhvaj Haria of PSPB recorded a maximum break of 75 in the final frame of his 4-2 triumph over Abhijit Ranade of Maharashtra as he too entered the last-32 stage.Rakesh Kamaraj is the lone player remaining from Tamil Nadu, and he will take on UP’s Paras Gupta in the round of 32.In women’s 6-Red snooker, in-form Anupama Ramachandran of Tamil Nadu overpowered Renu Bharkatiya of Madhya Pradesh 3-0.TN’s Neena Praveen sailed past Sumitra Raj 3-1 in her final group match. (PTI)
Carlos Queiroz fired as Qatar’s head coach just before Asian Cup
DOHA, Dec 7: Carlos Queiroz was fired as Qatar’s head coach just over a month before the nation hosts the Asian Cup.Queiroz, former coach of Real Madrid, Portugal and Iran, was appointed on a four-year contract in February after Felix Sanchez left the position. Sanchez was in charge at the 2022 World when Qatar, as host, lost all three games.The football federation issued a statement Wednesday saying “Queiroz’s tenure as head coach of the Qatar national team has ended amicably by mutual agreement.” “The QFA expresses its sincere gratitude to coach Queiroz for his unwavering dedication, leadership, and contributions during his tenure as the head coach of the national team.” No official reason was given for the decision, although there were concerns locally over the perceived defensive style of play adopted by Queiroz and his failure to bring young players from the country’s Aspire Academy into the senior roster.Queiroz rejected that speculation. He was in charge for just 11 games, including wins at the start of qualification for the 2026 World Cup in November over Afghanistan and India.Just minutes after news of Queiroz’s departure became official, the QFA announced Spanish coach Marquez Lopez had been hired as a replacement. The former Espanyol boss has also worked in Qatar’s Aspire Academy and leaves Qatar Stars League club Al-Wakrah to take over the national team.Qatar is due to start a training camp in mid-December for the Asian Cup. (PTI)