Jitu fails to qualify for 10m Air Pistol finals in World Cup

New Delhi

Jitu Rai failed to qualify for the finals of the men’s 10m Air Pistol in the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup (Rifle/Pistol) being held at the Olympic Shooting Range in Munich. Tejaswini Sawant, in the women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions event, fought hard but eventually finished two points behind the final qualifying mark. Rai finished 10th overall while Tejaswini secured the 15th position. Rai was in the hunt till the last four shots, but two 9s in the 57th and 58th shots proved crucial in the end. Olympians Prakash Nanjappa and Anmol Jain finished with an identical score of 576 to be placed at the 34th and 36th positions, respectively. 

New delhi

Bhajji wants Zaheer as bowling coach

Veteran Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has tipped former left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan for the role of the national team’s fast bowling coach. Taking to micro blogging website Twitter, Harbhajan wrote that Zaheer was the “best option” to take over the reins of the Indian national team in the capacity of the bowling coach. Zaheer, who retired from international and first class cricket in 2015, had earlier hinted that he could continue to contribute to the game through coaching.  

Melbourne 

Sangakkara to bid adieu to first class cricket 

Kumar Sangakkara has announced that he will quit first-class cricket in September at the end of England’s county championship season. Although his T20 commitments will take him through to 2018, he has declared that his time in the longer format is almost over.  

Nurnberg 

Sania, Shevdova crash out of Nurnberg WTA event 

Sania Mizra and Yaroslava Shvedova crashed out of the Nurnberg WTA event following a shock first round defeat against Chia-Jung Chuang and Misaki Doi. The duo lost 5-7 2-6 to the unheralded Taipei-Japanese pair in just one hour and 19 minutes in the opening round of the $250,000 claycourt event.

Geneva 

Paes-Lipsky pair in second round of Geneva Open 

Leander Paes and Scott Lipsky progressed to the second round of the ATP Geneva Open while Purav Raja and Divij Sharan crashed out of the Lyon event. The Paes-Lipsky pair squandered many chances in the opening set but regrouped in time to tame Tommy Robredo and David Marrero 6-7 (3) 7-6(3) 10-4. — Agencies