Indian gymnasts to head to Glasgow after London training camp
New Delhi, July 4: India’s artistic gymnastics squad will head to Glasgow on July 20 after completing a three-week training camp in London as part of its preparations for the upcoming Commonwealth Games. The camp, which began on June 29, was funded by the Sports Authority of India under the Target Asian Games Group and TOPS scheme. The women’s squad for the Commonwealth Games comprises Olympian Pranati Nayak, Nishka Agarwal, Eshita Rewale and Protistha Samanta. The men’s squad has Tapan Mohanty, Tapeshwarnath Das, Swatish KP and Yogeshwar Singh. The overseas camp was aimed at fine-tuning the team’s preparations ahead of the Commonwealth Games, with the contingent scheduled to travel directly from London to Glasgow after its conclusion. (PTI)
GM Abhijeet Gupta maintains sole lead in Pune chess tourney
Pune, July 4: Top seed Abhijeet Gupta retained the sole lead after claiming his fourth win, while International Master Aswath S stole the limelight by registering the biggest upset of the day, defeating Belarus Grandmaster Fedorov Alexei in the fifth round of the Pune International Grandmaster Round Robin chess tournament here on Saturday. On the top board, Gupta defeated FIDE Master Advik Agarwal to strengthen his position at the top of the leaderboard with four points, while Aswath’s win took his tally to 3.5 points, moving him into second place in the standings. All five games in Round 5 produced decisive results. (PTI)
Herman Kruis appointed Pak’s national hockey coaching advisor
Lahore, July 4: The Pakistan Hockey Federation on Friday roped in the 70-year-old Dutchman Herman Kruis as their National Hockey Coaching Advisor, just weeks after appointing Olympian Tahir Zaman as the Director of High Performance. Kruis, who has worked in India and the Netherlands previously, will help the PHF in developing young talent and preparing teams for major international events on a two-year contract. “As National Hockey Coaching Advisor, he will guide the PHF in strengthening the entire ecosystem of Pakistan hockey,” the PHF said in a statement. The interim PHF chief Mohyuddin Ahmad Wani said that the appointment of Kruis marks the first step in its comprehensive strategy to revive Pakistan hockey. Wani said Kruis was hired after the PHF had shortlisted eight candidates for the position and carried out a proper evaluation. The governing body has taken these decisions after Pakistan flopped miserably in the FIH Pro League events, losing 15 matches on the trot including twice against India last month in the UK.. (PTI)
AAI interviews Park Chae-soon for recurve head coach’s role
Kolkata, July 4: The Archery Association of India has shortlisted decorated South Korean Park Chae-soon as its new recurve head coach and on Saturday had “advanced talks” to appoint the multiple Olympic gold medal-winning coach to spearhead India’s campaign for the Los Angeles 2028 Games, after negotiations with compatriot Kisik Lee fell through over financial differences. Park, one of the most accomplished coaches in world archery, underwent an one-hour Zoom interview with the AAI top officials and is expected to take charge after the 2026 Asian Games, with the Federation planning a long-term overhaul of the recurve programme. “His one-hour Zoom interview with the Archery Association of India has gone positively and AAI is quite convinced of him. We are contemplating bringing him on board after the Asian Games,” a top official said. During the interaction, Park made it clear that taking charge of India appealed to him because it represented perhaps the biggest challenge of his coaching career. (PTI)
