Apurvi Chandela wins gold in shooting Nationals

Pune

Reigning CWG gold medallist Apurvi Chandela did an encore in the women’s 10M Air Rifle event on the concluding day of the 58th National Shooting Championships at the Balewadi Shooting Range. Apurvi comfortably won gold over second-placed Lajja Gauswami of Gujarat, finishing with a final round score of 207.2. Army marksman Gurpreet Singh also bagged his second gold medal of the Championships after winning the 25M Centre Fire Pistol event with a final round score of 586. Gurpreet had earlier won the Team Gold in the 25M Rapid Fire Pistol event. Pemba Tamang won the silver shooting a total of 584 while Samaresh Jung (CISF) came in third with 583. In the men’s 50M Rifle 3 Positions event, Satyendra Singh of the Army won the gold with a final round score of 454, while Sanjeev Rajput (Haryana) won silver shooting 445.8. Rajput was crowned Champion of Champions Rifle and was presented with a cash prize of Rs 50,000. In the team events, Pooja Ghatkar, Anjali Bhagwat and Tejaswini Sawant of Maharashtra, combined for the gold with an overall score of 1240.2 in the women’s 10M Air Rifle.

Karachi
Would take up Champions Trophy issue with FIH: PHF

The Pakistan Hockey Federation has said it would take up the issue of behaviour of tournament director at the recent Champions Trophy in India with the International Hockey Federation (FIH). PHF secretary Rana Mujahid told reporters in Lahore after the Congress of the federation that it was decided to take up the controversial issue that occurred after the semifinal against India at the FIH level. “We are going to approach the FIH and discuss these issues with them at the forthcoming Executive Board meeting,” Mujahid, a former Olympian, said. He said that it was disappointing for the PHF that after pressure exerted by Hockey India officials the tournament director had reversed his decision of not taking any disciplinary action against the Pakistani players for their celebrations after the win over India.

Karachi
IPL franchisees don’t want to risk Pak players’ security

The chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Shaharyar Khan has admitted that participation of the country’s players in the IPL is not possible due to security concerns of the T20 event’s franchisees. Khan said that the Indian board officials had told him clearly that they had no role to play in Pakistani players not taking part in the IPL since 2009. “The Indian board has said that the franchisees want to have Pakistani crowd-pullers like Shahid Afridi but they don’t for fear of security,” he told reporters. “The concern of the franchisees is that the majority of the crowds in India are not favourable to Pakistani players and they fear security issues if Pakistani players take part in the IPL,” he said. — Agencies

Mumbai
Leander Paes undergoes dope test

Leander Paes (in pic) underwent a routine dope test conducted by National Anti-doping Agency (NADA) officials on Wednesday. “I had early morning visitors...Thanks WADA for keeping my sport clean!!!,” the 41-year-old wrote on Facebook. He also posted a picture with him sitting in front of the medical apparatus like syringes. Paes, son of sports medicine specialist Vece Paes, said that the NADA officials who conducted the test were once students of his father. “My dad had trained the boys who came to do my NADA testing today. Great guys, thanks.” For the new season, Paes will be teaming up with South African Raven Klaasen, who will be his 99th men’s doubles partner. He will also partner Martina Hingis, his 24th mixed doubles partner.

Rajahmundry (AP)
Karnataka girls win maiden sub-junior national crown

The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board Academy boys retained their title in the sub-junior section after beating Telangana 3-1 in the final of the 76th Cadet and Sub-Junior National Table Tennis Championships. But it was the Karnataka girls who won several hearts as they came from behind to beat Tamil Nadu 3-2 and win their maiden crown in the sub-junior category.

Patna
Rituparna retains junior national badminton title

Rituparna Das retained the U-19 girls’ title while unseeded Harshil Dhani pulled off an upset to clinch the U-19 boys’ title in the 39th junior National badminton Championship. Rituparna defeated Ruthvika Shivani 21-19 21-19, while in the boys’ final, Aditya Joshi of Air India looked offcolour and surrendered before teammate Dhani. Dhani beat top-seeded Joshi 21-16 21-13.

Stockholm
Ibra unhappy at coming 2nd on list of Swedish greats

Zlatan Ibrahimovic (in pic) has dismissed his second-place finish on a list of Sweden’s all-time sporting greats behind tennis master Bjorn Borg. “Thank you but to finish second is like finishing last,” he said. The 33-year-old Paris St Germain striker was second in the list of 150 Swedish sportspeople, created by the Dagens Nyheter newspaper as part of their 150th-anniversary celebrations. Asked where he would have put himself in the rankings, Ibra said: “On that list I would have been number one, two, three, four and five, with due respect to the others.” Instead, the newspaper jury selected Borg, who won 11 Grand Slam tournaments in a stellar career that Ibrahimovic acknowledged. “Bjorn Borg is a cool person and a living legend,” said Ibra. — Agencies