Page 2048 - Sports
Modi launches Khelo India Games
Inaugurating the revamped Khelo India School Games here on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it was the first step towards making the country a strong contender at the Olympic level.
FIFA confirms record number of World Cup ticket requests
World football's governing body FIFA on Wednesday closed its initial phase of ticket requests for the upcoming World Cup in Russia, with a record 4.9 million applications recorded since early December
Anu Kumar wins first gold in Khelo India Games
Anu Kumar of Uttarakhand grabbed the first gold medal of the Khelo India School Games (KISG), as Tamil Nadu won two of the six gold medals on offer on the opening day of the athletics programme here on Wednesday.
Kumar wins 1st gold, TN on top on Day 1 of Khelo India Games
Anu Kumar of Uttarakhand grabbed the first gold medal of the Khelo India School Games as Tamil Nadu bagged two of the six yellow metals on offer on the opening day of the athletics competition here today. While Tamil Nadu athletes took two gold medals, the rest were shared between Uttarakhand, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here. Anu Kumar, who trains at the Sports College Raipur and is a past 800m silver medallist for India at the World School Games in France, won the 1,500m final comfortably in 4:04.77 seconds. An established middle distance star, Uttarakhand's Kumar has in the past run below four minutes. He is aiming for 800m-1500m double. Kumar dominated the race, pushing B Mathesh of Tamil Nadu and Sandeep Kumar of Uttar Pradesh to silver and bronze medals. The girls' 1500m saw Kathiriya Shraddha of Gujarat cross the finishing line first, but following a protest from one team, she was disqualified as the judges deemed her ...
Khelo India Games will highlight country's sporting talent: PM
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today declared the inaugural Khelo India School Games open and said the event will highlight the country's sporting talent and its potential to the world. Modi declared open the KISG at a colourful opening ceremony at the Indira Gandhi Stadium here. The ceremony showcased the rich 'Guru-Shishya' tradition of the country in grand style. Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister said sports should occupy a central place in the lives of the country's youth. "Sports is an important means of personality development and Khelo India is not a programme, it's a mission. The Games will highlight India's young sporting talent and showcase India's sports potential," Modi said. "Khelo India is not only about winning medals. It is an effort to give strength to a mass movement for playing more. We want to focus on every aspect that would make sports more popular across the nation," he added. Modi urged the youth to take up to sports actively as it is an
Khelo India School Games flagged off
Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially launched the first Khelo India School Games at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium here on Wednesday.The Khelo India programme has been introduced to revive the sports culture in the country at grassroots level and make India a sporting nation.In keeping with Prime Minister Modi's vision, Khelo India is expected to help scout young talent from the schools in various disciplines and groom them as future sports champions.Talented players identified in priority sports disciplines at various levels will be provided annual financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh per annum for eight years.The 'Khelo India' programme, was initially launched by former Sports Minister Vijay Goel but was later revamped by his successor Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sport, Col. (Retired) Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.Over the coming nine days, Under-17 players will vie for 199 gold medals, 199 silver medals and 275 bronze medals in across 16 disciplines: Archery, Athletics, ...
After maiden Ranji title, Vidarbha win 1st Cooch Behar Trophy
After winning their maiden Ranji Trophy earlier this season, Vidarbha recorded another first by winning the U-19 Cooch Behar Trophy here today. Emulating the impressive performance of the senior side, the U-19 team beat Madhya Pradesh on the basis of first innings lead in the final. Captain and opener Atharva Taide led from the front as he struck 320 (483b, 34x4, 1x6) to power Vidarbha to a massive 614 in reply to Madhya Pradesh's first inning total of 289 all out. With a mammoth 325-run lead, Vidarbha ensured they did not bat again and reduced the Madhya Pradesh side to 176 for 7 in their second innings. Vidarbhas Darshan Nalkande took four wickets in the first innings while PR Rekhade took three in the second innings. Vidarbha had finished second in the league stage with three wins and as many draws. They beat Karnataka by nine wickets in the quarter-finals before pipping Punjab on first innings lead in the semifinals.
Kohli hints at playing Rahane at No.4 in Proteas ODIs
Indian skipper Virat Kohli on Wednesday hinted at playing batsman Ajinkya Rahane at number four spot in the upcoming six-match ODI series against South Africa, beginning at the Kingsmead here tomorrow.Speaking on the eve of the match, Kohli revealed that they are still looking to solidify the number four position and felt that Rahane is a strong candidate for the same."We had said earlier that Ajinkya will be looked at as a third opener, but that situation can change because he has batted at No. 4 in a World Cup before. These conditions are such that you get to play fast bowling throughout the innings so he becomes a strong candidate for No. 4. Other than that we have Shreyas (Iyer), Manish (Pandey), Kedar (Jadhav) can play No. 5 and 6, Hardik (Pandya) is there, and MS (Dhoni) is obviously there. We have kept all these options open, we don't want to be one-dimensional. It depends whose technique is more suited to what spot," he said.Reflecting on the current squad, Kohli insisted that
Vidarbha clinch Cooch Behar U19 trophy
After winning their maiden Ranji Trophy title earlier this season, Vidarbha cricketers continued their excellent run to clinch their maiden Cooch Behar Under19 Trophy on Wednesday.
Saina, Sindhu win; Prannoy bows out
Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu advanced to the second round while H S Prannoy made an early exit after playing with corns on his feet in the USD 350,000 India Open Super 500 badminton tournament here today. With BWF making it mandatory for top shuttlers to play 12 tournaments in a year, World No. 10 Prannoy took the court against compatriot Shreyansh Jaiswal despite developing foot corns and handed over the opening round match to his younger colleague 4-21 6-21 within 13 minutes. In the women's singles, Indonesia Masters finalist Saina got across Denmark's Sofie Holmboe Dahl 21-15 21-9, while defending champion Sindhu dumped another Danish girl Natalia Koch Rohde 21-10 21-13. Saina will face Denmark's Line Hjmark Kjaersfeldt, while Sindhu will take on Bulgaria's Linda Zetchiri next. Playing his first tournament of the new season after missing the Indonesia Masters due to a minor injury, second seed Kidambi Srikanth overcame Malaysia's Lee Cheuk Yiu 21-17 21-18 to set up a ..
Putin sorry for not 'shielding' athletes from doping scandal
President Vladimir Putin told Russian Olympic athletes today that he was sorry his government had not protected them from the fallout of a doping scandal. Speaking to athletes set to take part in the Pyeongchang Games, the Kremlin leader also denounced as "strange" the exclusion of many Russian athletes from the upcoming Winter Olympics over doping. "Forgive us for not having been able to shield you from this," Putin said, adding that the scandal had contributed to "very difficult conditions" for athletes. The International Olympic Committee banned Russia from the 2018 Olympics after a report on a vast, Moscow-backed doping scheme in previous Games. Only 169 of Russia's athletes have been allowed to take part in the Games under a neutral flag as an "Olympic Athlete from Russia". "For us certain things are truly strange," Putin said in televised remarks. "I wish you luck," Putin said, adding he wanted them to be "courageous". "Hundreds of thousands, millions of fans who ..
Two golfers qualify for National Finals
City golfers Nilesh Jatia and Sunil Surana qualified for the National Finals of MercedesTrophy 2018 on day one of the Kolkata leg qualifier at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club here today. Nilesh and Sunil clinched the qualification spots by carding a net score of 71 and 73.8 respectively. The MercedesTrophy 2018 has so far seen 22 qualifiers, including today's, who will be competing in the National Finals to be played at the Oxford Golf Resort in Pune from April 4-6.
Core squad for 2019 World Cup is more or less sorted out: Kohli
With around 15 months to go for the 2019 cricket World Cup, India skipper Virat Kohli on Wednesday asserted that barring the No. 4 spot, the core of the squad is more or less sorted out for the quadrennial tournament in England.
Putin sorry for not 'shielding' Russia athletes from doping
President Vladimir Putin told Russian Olympic athletes today that he was sorry his government had not protected them from the fallout of a doping scandal. Speaking to athletes set to take part in the Pyeongchang Games, the Kremlin leader also denounced as "strange" the exclusion of many Russian athletes from the upcoming Winter Olympics over doping. "Forgive us for not having been able to shield you from this," Putin said, adding that the scandal had contributed to "very difficult conditions" for athletes. The International Olympic Committee banned Russia from the 2018 Olympics after a report on a vast, Moscow-backed doping scheme in previous Games. Only 169 of Russia's athletes have been allowed to take part in the Games under a neutral flag as an "Olympic Athlete from Russia". "For us certain things are truly strange," Putin said in televised remarks. "I wish you luck," Putin said, adding he wanted them to be "courageous". "Hundreds of thousands, millions of fans who ..
Abhijeet crushes highly-rated Vassily Ivanchuk
Grandmaster and former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta showed his mettle and crushed highly rated former World Championship challenger Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine in the eighth round of Gibraltar Masters now underway here. It was a slow start for Abhijeet but he has now come in the thick of things. This was the third 2700 above rated player that Abhijeet faced in the last three rounds. The Indian had drawn with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France in the sixth and then had signed truce with David Navara of Czech Republic. S P Sethuraman also reached the impressive tally of six points and in the process ended the second GM norm hunt of talented R Praggnanandhaa who went down in a keenly contested game. With just two rounds to go in the world's richest open, Hikaru Nakamura of United States, Richard Rapport of Hungary, Daniil Dubov of Russia and Vachier-Lagrave emerged as the co- leaders on 6.5 points apiece. Abhijeet shares the fifth spot in an elite company that boasts
Golfers Nilesh, Sunil qualify for Mercedes Trophy National Finals
City golfers Nilesh Jatia (handicap category 0-18) and Sunil Surana (handicap category 19-24) qualified for the National Finals of Mercedes Trophy on Day 1 of the Kolkata leg qualifier played here on Wednesday.
ATK struggling because of change in coaching staff: Ganguly
Two-time Indian Super League (ISL) champions ATK co-owner Sourav Ganguly on Wednesday blamed the change in coaching staff for the team's poor run of form this season, adding they failed to get the combination right.
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The current U-19 team much more confident than 2008 lot: Kohli
India captain Virat Kohli today backed the national U-19 squad to win the World Cup final against Australia and said he will be closely tracking the title clash on Saturday. "It feels amazing (to see them do well). I interacted with them before they left and its a lovely bunch of boys. Compared to our lot (when India won in 2008 under Kohli), the confidence levels are somewhere else which is a great sign," said Kohli ahead of the first ODI against South Africa tomorrow. "Youll see many people making a strong statement for themselves much earlier than we all did. Theyve done amazingly well and the semifinal (against Pakistan) was an amazing game." Kohli said the boys look set to win a record fourth U-19 world title. "Playing such a high pressure game (against Pakistan), they really stood up and thats what you want to see. You want to see people standing up when its needed the most. I want to wish them all the very best for the final. "Well all be following very keenly ...
Conditions make Rahane strong No. 4 candidate for WC: Kohli
Indian skipper Virat Kohli today said the experimentation in the middler order will continue for some more time though the conditions make Ajinkya Rahane a strong No. 4 candidate for the World Cup in England next year. He also said that there is already a core group of players in place, and only the number four spot really needs to be sorted out. South Africa take on India in the first of the six-match ODI series in Durban on Thursday. The Indian team had an optional practice session on Wednesday, with Kohli and pace bowlers taking a day off. "We have explored many options in the last few months. We dont have too many series and too much time left before the World Cup, so we want to explore all the options before the World Cup," Kohli told reporters here today. "I had said earlier that Ajinkya Rahane would be looked at as a third opener but that situation can change because he has batted at No. 4 in a World Cup (in 2015) before. These conditions are such that you get to .