Treesa-Gayatri to spearhead Indian challenge at US Open badminton
FORT WORTH, (USA) June 24: Commonwealth Games bronze medal-winning pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will carry India’s medal hopes in the absence of Paris Olympics-bound shuttlers in the US Open BWF World Tour, beginning here on Tuesday.The world No. 24 Indian pair, who finished runner-up in Singapore Open Super 750 in May-June, is seeded second in the women’s doubles draw of the Super 300 tournament.Treesa and Gayatri have got a bye into round of 16 where they will face unseeded pair of Hseih Pei Shan and Hung En-Tzu of Chinese Taipei. With less than a month to go for the Olympics, Paris-bound Indian shuttlers — PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty and Ashwini Ponnappa/Tanisha Crasto — have skipped the tournament.In the men’s singles, Priyanshu Rajawat, eighth seed, is the top Indian in the draw and will open his campaign against Jan Louda of Czech Republic.Ayush Shetty and S Sankar Muthuswamy Subramanian are the two other Indians in the men’s singles.Shetty will face Jia Heng Jason Teh of Singapore while Muthuswamy will open his campaign against a qualifier.Seeded seventh, Malvika Bansod is the top Indian in women’s singles draw and will begin her campaign against Kristin Kuuba of Estonia.Unseeded Tanya Hemanth is the other Indian in the fray in the women’s singles and she will be up against fifth seeded Wen Chi Hsu of Chinese Taipei.In the men’s doubles, Krishna Prasad Garaga and Sai Pratheek K are seeded sixth and will face unseeded pair of Scott Guildea and Paul Reynolds of Ireland in their opening round clash.Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde are the only Indian in fray in the mixed doubles. They will face Alexander Dunn and Julie Macpherson in their opening round contest. (PTI)
Jamshedpur FC extend head coach Khalid Jamil’s contract
JAMSHEDPUR, June 24: Indian Super League side Jamshedpur FC has retained the services of head coach Khalid Jameel for the next two years, the club announced on Monday.An AFC Pro licensed coach, Khalid, who had guided Aizawl FC to the I-League title in 2017, took over as Jamshedpur’s head coach in the middle of the previous season, at a time when the club had won only two out of its 11 games.His appointment brought immediate results, with the club bouncing back to reach the semi-finals of the 2024 Kalinga Super Cup.Under him, Jamshedpur FC notched 11 points with three wins and two draws in his first five ISL games, helping the club stay in the playoff race until the penultimate game of ISL.“We want to win the ISL. Our fans deserve it for the tremendous support they show every time,” said Khalid after signing the extension, which runs until the end of season 2025-26.“We are forming a team that will give their all to achieve this in every training session and match, both players and staff,” added Khalid, who was adjudged Football Players’ Association of India Coach of the Year 2020-21. (PTI)
India announce 11-member squad for Asian Junior squash
NEW DELHI, June 24: An 11-member squad will represent India at the 31st Asian Junior Individual Squash Championships in Islamabad beginning on Tuesday.Nine of the players are seeded in the top-10 in their respective age-group categories in the five-day meet.Shiven Agarwal and Aadya Budhia have got the second seeds in boys’ U-15 and girls’ U-13 sections respectively.
India squad: Boys – U-17: Yusha Nafees (6); U-15: Shiven Agarwal (2), Lokesh Subramani; U-13: Dhruv Bopana.Girls – U-19: Nirupama Dubey (5), Shameena Riaz (8); U-17: Unnati Tripathi (6); U-15: Anika Dubey (8), Diva Shah (9); U-13: Aadya Budhia (2); Goushika M (4). (PTI)