Lakshya, Tanvi lead Indian challenge at US Open
Fullerton, June 22: Seasoned campaigner Lakshya Sen and rising star Tanvi Sharma will lead India’s challenge at the US Open Super 300 badminton tournament beginning here on Tuesday. India will have a sizeable presence across the singles draws, including former world championships silver-medallist Kidambi Srikanth and a seven-strong women’s team. World No. 14 and Paris Olympics semifinalist Sen has been seeded second and drawn to face Belgium’s Julien Carraggi in the opening round. Placed in the opposite half of the draw is top seed and world No. 6 Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei, who headlines the men’s singles field. Former world championships silver-medallist Srikanth is the other seeded Indian in men’s singles. Seeded fifth, he will open against Chinese Taipei’s Liao Jhuo-Fu. In women’s singles, India have a strong presence with seven players in the main draw, led by fifth seed Tanvi and sixth seed Devika Sihag, ranked 32nd and 34th in the world respectively. Three Indians are placed in the top half of the draw, while four, including Tanvi and Devika, feature in the bottom half. In women’s doubles, Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will be India’s lone representatives in the main draw. There are no Indians in the men’s doubles main draw. (PTI)
Pritam bags jr world title in 10m air rifle; Women’s team win bronze
Suhl (Germany), June 22: Teenager Pritam Kendre struck gold in the men’s 10m air rifle competition as India’s impressive run at the ISSF Junior World Championship showed no signs of slowing down here. India also bagged a bronze in the women’s 25m pistol team event, taking their medal tally to 11, including five gold. Competing in only his second international tournament, the 16-year-old shot 251.3 in the eight-man final to finish ahead of Neutral athlete Timofei Aleinikov and Norway’s Jens Oestli, giving India another gold at the prestigious junior event, here on Sunday. Later, India picked up a bronze in the women’s 25m pistol team event through Anjali Bhagwat, Parisha Gupta and Nithila Christopher, who combined for 1713 (43x). Teams of Neutral athletes claimed the gold and silver medals. (PTI)
Stokes, Atkinson get clean chit in nightclub incident case
London, June 22: England cricket captain Ben Stokes and teammate Gus Atkinson were cleared Monday by the sport’s independent oversight panel relating to a nightclub incident after the team’s win against New Zealand this month. Stokes and Atkinson already were due to return for the team’s third Test match – after being left out of the second Test against New Zealand – starting Thursday after getting written warnings from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). The independent Cricket Regulator said Monday “no further action will be taken against either player.” Stokes and Atkinson broke a midnight curfew after victory in the first Test and were in a London nightclub when a team security official was reportedly struck by a rugby player from English club Saracens. (AP)
Suthar gets maiden five-for in County Cricket
Taunton, June 22: India’s newest spin bowling star Manav Suthar got his maiden five-wicket haul for Warwickshire in an English County Championship game against Somerset. Suthar, who was contracted to play two red ball games for the ‘Bears’, had a match-haul of seven wickets with 5 for 100 in 46.5 overs in Somerset’s second innings. In the first innings, Suthar took 2 for 50 in 18 overs after taking four wickets (two in each innings) against Yorkshire on his County debut. Suthar made his Test debut against Afghanistan earlier this month. (PTI)
