McDonald's has ended its longtime Olympic sponsorship dating back to 1976, the International Olympic Committee announced today.
     The US fast food giant has supported the Olympics since the Montreal Games and although the split takes place with immediate effect they will continue to be a sponsor at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang.
     "The IOC and McDonald's have announced that they have mutually agreed to bring their worldwide partnership to an end," an IOC statement confirmed.
     The burger chain, which is cutting its Olympic ties with three years of its contract still to run, was one of the IOC's heavyweight "TOP" partners along with the likes of Coca Cola, Visa, Bridgestone, Panasonic, Toyota and Omega.
     The IOC, giving the reasons behind the divorce, wrote: "In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, we understand that McDonald's is looking to focus on different business priorities."
     McDonald's global chief marketing officer Silvia Lagnado commented: "As .

McDonald's shuts up shop on Olympic support

PTI Automatic

The Basketball Federation of India (BFI) today appointed Zoran Visic as the head coach of the women's basketball team, days before the start of the FIBA Women's Asia Cup from July 23 to 29 here.
     Speaking to reporters here, Visic said the Indian B Division team hopes to meet Lebanon in the final of Asia Cup and he expects India to beat Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan in Group A league matches.
     "We hope to meet the tall and sturdy Lebanese team in the final. We have the ability to beat Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan in league matches," he said.
     Though height of the players is an issue, the Indian side is good at both attacking and defensive game, Visic said.
     "Labanese players have good height, and our problem is with the size little bit, but on the whole, the Indian side is good at attacking and defending," he said.
     India has the 6 foot 11 inch Poonam Chaturvedi in the side.
     "Our problem is height compared to Labanese players who are tall. We have this Poonam girl, but .

BFI appoints Zoran Visic women's team coach

The executive committee of Mohammedan Sporting club has unanimously decided to confer the prestigious Shan-e-Mohammedan on former India footballer Latifuddin Najam at its Iftar Party on June 23.
     The Shan-e-Mohammedan is the Lifetime Achievement Award of Mohammedan Sporting club, which is awarded annually to players for their contribution to football.
     Latifuddin, son of 1952 Helsinki Olympian Syed Khaja Moinuddin, was a useful winger who could play on both flanks.
     "When I started playing I just wanted to be like my father. He was my idol, he always used to tell me whatever you do in your life do with honesty. I think I have him proud along the way." Latifuddin said.
     "I played the game for passion and never think of any awards but today I felt honoured to recieve this award from a club which is closest to my heart." he added.
     Latifuddin began his career at Andhra Pradesh Police team before moving to Kolkata in 1970 with Mohammedan Sporting.
     Having spent a ..

Mohammedan Sporting honours former star

India's H S Prannoy today described his stunning win over Olympic champion Chen Long as one of the best of his career and credited his better fitness for his giant-killing spree at the ongoing Indonesia Super Series Premier at Jakarta.
     World no. 25 Prannoy today shocked two-time All England and World Champion Chen Long 21-18 16-21 21-19 in a men's singles match in 75 minutes to enter the semi-finals. The Indian had stunned former world no. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in straight games yesterday.
     "It was physically very tough today. It was quite tiring towards the end, especially in the last few points I was trying to focus hard. I am happy I could execute my plans well. It is due to my improved fitness and I think it is one of the best matches of my career," Prannoy told PTI over phone from Jakarta.
     Talking about his opponent Chen Long, against whom he has never won in earlier three meetings, Prannoy said: "I hate to play him. He is a sort of player who never gets tired 

One of the best matches of my career, says Prannoy

India's Mahesh Mangaonkar went down fighting to the top seed Ivan Yuen of Malaysia in the quarterfinal of the ILY-Community Trust NZ Southern Open squash tournament, here today.
     The Malaysian, ranked over 35 rungs above the sixth seeded Indian, pocketed the contest 14-12, 11-6, 6-11, 9-11, 11-9.
     In March earlier this year, Mahesh had beaten Ivan in a five-game thriller in the Wimbledon Club Open in England in a match that lasted 107 minutes.
     The essence of the contest was similar this time but a few crucial points eluded the Indian and Ivan ran away with the match.
     In the first round, Mahesh had defeated qualifier Chris Van der Salm of New Zealand 11-7 11-2 11-6.

Mahesh loses in quarters of NZ Southern Open squash

Former captain Aamir Sohail has denied inferring that any foul play was behind Pakistan's shock wins in the ICC Champions Trophy in England.
     Sohail, a former national selector, came under fire after he lashed out Pakistan captain, Sarfraz Ahmed, on a television channel, saying he should not be too smug or over smart.
     "Someone needs to tell Sarfraz... You have done nothing special. These matches have been won for you by someone. There is no need for you to get over smart and smug as we all know what happens and what does not," Sohail had said.
     "If you ask me who has helped win these matches for Sarfraz I will only say God and prayers of people but I will not reveal the names of those helping Sarfraz because of whom matches have been won," he went on.
     However, when he realised that he had gone overboard, Sohail issued a clarification where he said that he lost his cool after learning that Sarfraz had refused to dedicate the victory against Sri Lanka to former captain 

Sohail clarifies comments against Sarfraz

India's men and women chess teams have chances of winning medals in the World Team Championship in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, if they play to potential, the coach R B Ramesh said today.
	The men are seeded sixth while the women are seeded fourth in the 10-team tournament which starts tomorrow and if the players can play to the best of their abilities, a medal is a possibility, Ramesh told PTI.
	Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi will spearhead the Indian challenge in the men's event, along with K Sasikiran who recently won the Capablanca Memorial tournament in Cuba.
	The other members of the team are B Adhiban, Parimarjan Negi and Karthikeyan Murali.
	"The players are raring to go. I expect both the teams to give their best. India has good chances of winning medals in both sections, if we play to potential," Ramesh, who is also captain of the men's squad, said.
     The tournament will also see the return of Parimarjan Negi, who had taken a break from competitive chess to complete higher ...

India can win medal in World Team Chess Championship: Coach

"Simply Clever" won The Billicombai Plate, the main event of the races here toay.
	The winner, owned by M A M Raswamy Chettiar of Chettinad Charitable Trust was ridden by Rajendran S and trained by R Foley.
   	Two favourites obliged in a card of eight races.

"Simply Clever" wins The Billicombai Plate

Talismanic Indian football captain Sunil Chhetri has become the fourth highest international goal scorer among active players worldwide with his 54th strike for the country against Kyrgyzstan.
     The magnificent goal he scored against Kyrgyzstan in India's 1-0 win in the 2019 Asian Cup Qualifiers match in Bengaluru on June 13 has taken him past England striker Wayne Rooney (53 goals in 119 matches). Chhetri was playing in his 94th match.
     Chhetri, who turns 33 on August 3, is currently behind Portugal superstar Cristiano Ronaldo (73 in 139 matches), Argentine maestro Lionel Messi (58 in 118 matches) and American Clint Dempsey (56 in 134 matches).
     Chhetri's strike rate is better than Ronaldo, Messi, Dempsey and Rooney. He has a goal per match ratio of 0.57 as against 0.525 of Ronaldo, 0.49 of Messi, 0.42 of Dempsey and 0.45 of Rooney.
     Only Brazilian superstar Neymar Junior (0.68), Ali Ashfaq (0.68) of Maldives and Edin Dzeko (0.63) of Bosnia have a better strike rate ...

Chhetri's strike rate better than Ronaldo, Messi

There was no stopping Indian shuttler H S Prannoy's giant-killing spree as he stunned World and Olympic Champion Chen Long to enter the semifinals of the Indonesia Super Series Premier along with Kidambi Srikanth, here today.
     A day after he dispatched three-time Olympic silver medallist and World No.3 Lee Chong Wei, Prannoy proved his mettle once again, beating eighth seed Chen Long 21-18 16-21 21-19 in an energy-sapping men's singles match that lasted an hour and 15 minutes.
     Compatriot Srikanth, who was playing on another court, also reached the last four round with a 21-15 21-14 win over Chinese Taipei's Tzu Wei Wang.
     "It was an extremely tough match today. But I was confident of doing well. I guess it is because of better fitness that I could play till the end," Prannoy told PTI.
     "After the India Open and Asia Badminton, I really worked on my fitness under the new coach Mulyo Handoyo, who was the coach of Taufik Hidayat.
     "So the training schedule was ...

Prannoy stuns Chen Long, Srikanth also enters semis

India today bagged five medals, including a gold in the 2017 Asian Junior Wrestling Championships in Taiwan.
     According to information received here, India's female wrestlers pocketed three medals while two came in the male greco-roman division.
     India's gold came in the women's 51kg freestyle category through Puja.
     Besides Puja, Sonu clinched a silver medal in the 44kg category while Manu claimed a bronze in the 59kg division.
     Satish won a silver in the 120kg greco-roman style while Manish claimed a bronze in the 50kg category.

Indian wrestlers bag five medals in Asian Jr Championships

They play Canada in their second pool match of the Hockey World League Semi-Final here tomorrow, but India have already set their sights on Sunday's much-anticipated clash against Pakistan.
     Although India skipper Manpreet Singh tried to downplay the hype surrounding the Pakistan encounter, he said they will be going out all guns blazing to garner full points.
     "We always look at Pakistan as just another team and we always look at earning those three points from the match to advance in the league stage," the midfielder said on the eve of the match against Canada.
     "They (Pakistan) are a good side, but we have had a good start to the tournament. The idea will be to stick to the plans coach draws up before the match against both Canada and Pakistan. The plan will be to bring in more aggression into our
game and aim at finishing on top of the table in the league stage," said an optimistic Manpreet.
     Even though India pocketed a comfortable 4-1 win over lowly Scotland ...

India brace up for Canada with eye on Pakistan clash

The Indian Olympic Association President N Ramachandran today claimed that the government has agreed to consider the possibility of India bidding for the 2032 Olympics' hosting rights.
     Speaking to reporters here after being elected as President of the Tamil Nadu Olympic Association (TNOA), he said, "the government in principle has agreed to look into the possibility of bidding for the Olympics in 2032. It is at a very preliminary stage. We need to get all the approvals."
     Ramachandran said bidding for the mega-event would involve an elaborate process.
	"IOA has to make a proposal and give it to the government. That has to be agreed to by the government. Then the government has to give a sovereign guarantee. Not only from the incumbent government but also from the Leader of the Opposition," he explained.
     "And, the Chief Minister of the State in which the chosen city is located apart from the leader of the opposition have to say yes," he said.
     Ramachandran played down 

Govt. Open to possibility of bidding for 2032 Olympics: IOA

Indian golfers SSP Chawrasia and Rashid Khan grabbed a share of the third spot after turning in steady second-round cards at the Queen's Cup here today.
     Chawrasia, who signed for a bogey-free 68, actually birdied the par-4 ninth hole, but signed for a four.
     Yet he was seven-under 135 and shared third place with Rashid, home hero Prayad Marksaeng and Filipino Angelo Que, all of whom shot 70 each, Juvic Pagunsan (69) and Thai Pasavee Lertivilai (66).
     Thailand's veteran star Thaworn Wiratchant hit a glorious back nine 28 en route to an eight-under-par 63 to snatch the halfway lead. The 50-year-old Thaworn, was one shot ahead of Nicholas Fung of Malaysia who shot 68-68.
     The straight-hitting Chawrasia, winner of the second Hero Indian Open in March this year, was in great nick as he produced an eagle and one birdie at Santiburi Samui Country Club.
     A top-two finish in the USD 500,000 tournament here can push Chawrasia, a six-time Asian Tour winner, into top spot on .

Chawrasia, Rashid Tied-third, two behind leader in Koh Samui

The Badminton Association of India (BAI) today made it clear it will stick to the National Sports Code, which has been adopted in its constitution.
     BAI joint secretary K K Sharma said there had been a discussion on modifying its constitution in accordance with the National Sports Act and added that there was no mention of the Lodha Committee recommendations in the BAI executive committee meeting.
     "Yes there were discussions on how to modify the constitution to incorporate the suggestions made in the National Sports Code but there was no mention of the Lodha Committee. We have already adopted National Sports Code in our constitution and we want to adhere to that," said Sharma.
     "The matter would be discussed again since it is crucial. There will be another meeting on July 30 to take these points forward and further decide on the changes in the constitution that would be required."
     Sharma refuted claims that a lobby was trying to unsettle national coach Pullela ...

BAI to stick to National Sports Code

Viswanathan Anand drew with tournament leader Levon Aronian of Armenia in the eighth and penultimate round of the Altibox Norway chess tournament now drawing to a close here.
     Having done the hard work, Aronian was in no mood to spoil things as white and the Armenian remained cautious while slightly better at some point.
     World Champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway regained his exposure and outwitted his last world championship challenger Sergey Karjakin of Russia in the big news of the day. Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, who was threatening to overtake Carlsen in the rating list, went down to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France.
     In the other two games of the strongest tournament of the year, Hikaru Nakamura of United States signed peace with compatriot Wesley So and the other American Fabiano Caruana played out a draw with Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri.
     With just one round to come, Aronian is sitting pretty on 5.5 points and he is followed by Nakamura who is on five. Anish ...

Anand draws with Aronian in Norway chess tourney

India's Aditi Ashok dropped a late bogey in what was a superb round as she carded three-under 68 to position herself at tied 25th after the first round of the Meijer LPGA Classic golf tournament, here.
     Aditi, who is seeking to rebound from two missed cuts in last three starts, is five shots behind the leader, Canadian Brooke Henderson (63) at Blythefield Country Club.
     Aditi, who attacks par-5s, had three birdies and an eagle, but bogeys on third and 16th saw her finish the day at three-under.
     The start gives Aditi a great chance to improve on her best of the season of tied 42 finish as she progresses through her rookie season on the LPGA.
     Meanwhile, Brooke Henderson stole the show but LPGA Tour rookie Jennifer Ha was making her own noise after a six- under-par 29 on her first nine holes.
     She eventually finished at seven-under par 64 for tied second with five others, including Lexi Thompson, Shanshan Feng and Stacy Lewis. Also in the group was Englishwoman ...

Aditi opens with a round of 68, lies 25th on LPGA

The English love to live in their own world - whether it's life or cricket.
     It doesn't matter if the world is pulling in a different direction as it was evident when the curator refused to remove the artificial matting pitch cover that remained throughout the semifinal of the ICC Champions Trophy between India and Bangladesh.
      For a section of British people, English County Championship matches are still sacrosanct even though only a handful attend those First-Class matches.
     But the International Cricket Council (ICC) got a taste of what a county match means to the Warwickshire groundstaff in charge of maintaining the Edgbaston pitch.
      There is a norm to put a matting (artificial pitch) on a match pitch to protect it from being battered by the boot studs when players run over it.
     However during international matches, the ground belongs to ICC and these kind of pitch matting is not allowed as it could mean that fielders have a chance of getting injured while ...

'County' first: Curator refused to remove matting during semis

Their campaign off to a positive start, an ever-improving India would look to continue their winning momentum when they take on another easy opponent in Canada in their second Pool B match of the Hockey World League Semi-Final here tomorrow.
     For the sixth-ranked India, tomorrow's match would provide them another golden opportunity to enhance their position in Pool B with their second consecutive win ahead of tough games against arch-rivals Pakistan and fourth-ranked Netherlands.
     Just like their opening counter, the Indians are considered as hands down favourites against 11th-ranked Canada, who have some Indian origin players in the squad.
     But Roelant Oltmans' men will have to guard against complacency as a lowly Scotland gave India a run for their money at least in the opening two quarters.
     In their tournament opener, the Indians were slow to get off the blocks and an opportunist Scotland utilised it to their advantage to take an early lead which they held on till .

India aim to continue winning run in HWL semis

India opener Murali Vijay said he is using the time away from the game to work on fitness with his next assignment being the Test series in Sri Lanka next month.
	The Tamil Nadu batsman, who missed the 10th edition of the Indian Premier League, underwent a wrist surgery in London and has since been spending time recuperating and following the rehabilitation programme prescribed to him.
	"I am in the process of recovering. Have a few more days to go. I want to be at my best fitness-wise," Vijay told PTI.
	He is currently working in Chennai with Rajinikanth, a trainer at NCA, and hopes to start batting again in the coming days.
	"I think I am in the right hands. He (Rajinikanth) is one of the best when it comes to rehab work. I am lucky to be working with him at the right time. The aim is to be a fitter cricketer," Vijay said.
	The stylish right-hander is likely to spend some time at the NCA in Bengaluru where his recovery would be assessed.
	With India slated to tour Sri Lanka for a ...

Vijay confident of being fit in time for Sri Lanka series

India's SSP Chawrasia virtually threw away a shot but still managed a share of the lead with four others at the midway stage of the Queen's Cup here today.
     Chawrasia, who signed for a bogey-free 68, actually birdied the par-4 ninth hole, but signed for a four.
     Yet he was seven-under 135 and shared the lead with fellow Indian, Rashid Khan, home hero Prayad Marksaeng and Filipino Angelo Que, all of whom shot 70 each, and Juvic Pagunsan (69).
     The straight-hitting Chawrasia, winner of the second Hero Indian Open in March this year, was in great nick as he produced an eagle and one birdie at Santiburi Samui Country Club.
     A top-two finish in the USD 500,000 tournament here can push Chawrasia, a six-time Asian Tour winner, into top spot on the Merit list, which he has said is one of his goals for the year.
     Chawrasia said, "I'm playing good, it's good going. I'm happy. The last two weeks, I've played well in England and Sweden except for the last round. I'm here and ..

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