India clinch 10 medals at USA pickleball meet
MUMBAI, April 22: Stavya Bhasin, Dhiren Patel and Hemal Jain won a gold each in their respective categories as India returned with 10 medals from the US Open Pickleball Championship.Overall, India won three gold, three silver and four bronze medals in the tournament held in Florida from April 14-20.Bhasin won the gold in junior singles, Patel finished first in the men’s singles 5.0 and Jain grabbed the top prize in the men’s singles 3.5 category.Bhasin also won a silver in men’s doubles 5.0 and a bronze each in the junior men’s doubles and junior mixed doubles to have a haul of four medals.Ronav Motiani returned with two silver medals – one each in men’s doubles 5.0 and junior singles – as well as a bronze in the junior men’s doubles category.In men’s singles 5.0, Himanshu Dewaskar’s bronze took India’s medals tally into double digits.Pickleball is a paddle sport played on a court similar to badminton, using a solid paddle and a plastic ball with holes.Players volley the ball over the net, aiming to score points by landing it within the opposing court. (PTI)
WC winner Cannavaro gets coaching job at Udinese
UDINE, (Italy) April 22: Fabio Cannavaro, captain of the Italy squad that won the 2006 World Cup, was given his first Serie A coaching job on Monday at relegation-threatened Udinese.Cannavaro becomes Udinese’s third coach this season. He replaces the fired Gabriele Cioffi, who had taken over from Andrea Sottil in October.Cannavaro was given a contract for the final six matches of the season. His brother, Paolo, will be his number one assistant.The move comes after a 1-0 loss at Hellas Verona on Saturday left Udinese one spot above the drop zone and level on points with 18th-place Frosinone.Udinese has been in the top division uninterrupted since 1995. While Cannavaro has coached several clubs in China and the Middle East, his only managerial experience in Italy came with Benevento in Serie B for part of last season.A former center back, Cannavaro won the Ballon d’Or after helping Italy beat France in the 2006 World Cup final. (AP)
Bhavesh, Simranpreet win second 25m Pistol Olympic selection trials
NEW DELHI, April 22: Bhavesh Shekhawat and Simranpreet Kaur Brar emerged winners in the men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol (RFP) and women’s 25m pistol OST T2 trials respectively at the first-ever Olympic Selection Trials (OST) for Rifle and Pistol at the Dr.Karni Singh Shooting ranges here on Monday.Bhavesh shot 34 in the RFP final, comfortably holding off OST T1 winner Anish Bhanwala (29), to extend his good form in the trials. Vijayveer Sidhu was third with 22-hits.Adarsh Singh (17) and Ankur Goel (13) finished fourth and fifth.In the women’s pistol, Simranpreet continued her good run in the trials, firing 37-hits in the 10 series of five-shots each, to emerge triumphant. She too held off OST T1 winner and Olympian Manu Bhaker who signed-off with 35-hits on the day.Esha Singh with 30-hits took third and the final podium points available.Rhythm Sangwan (24), the second quota holder in the event, finished fourth while Abhidnya Patil (16) was fifth. (PTI)
El Gouna Squash: Ramit Tandon bows out in third round
NEW DELHI, April 22: India’s Ramit Tandon’s impressive run at the El Gouna International Open squash tournament came to an end as he went down in straight games to Peruvian world No 3 Diego Elias in the third round of El Gouna International Open in Egypt.The Indian was no match for former world number 1 Elias, who dispatched Ramit 11-2, 11-4, 11-2 in 35 minutes in the USD 198,000 PSA Platinum event on Sunday.The Indian world No 40, who is preparing for next month’s World Championships in Egypt, had upset French world No 11 Victor Crouin in the second round after brushing aside Egyptian world No 62 Aly Hussein in his opener. (PTI)