Hockey
Ahrens is Indian women’s hockey team coach
The Indian women hockey team’s long wait for a chief coach is finally over as Mathias Ahrens of Canada formally took over the reins of the side on Wednesday.
The position was lying vacant for more than five months after Australian Neil Hawgood resigned last November. Ahrens’ first assignment with the Indian women’s team will be the Hockey World League semi-finals to be held in Antwerp, Belgium from June 20 to July 5.PTI
Athletics
Manju’s silver in Asian Games to be downgraded to bronze
The silver medal won by Indian athlete Manju Bala (right) at the Incheon Asian Games has been downgraded to bronze after a Chinese participant, then charged with a doping offence, was on Wednesday reinstated as the gold medallist of the women’s hammer throw event.
Chinese hammer thrower Zhang Wenxiu will now be handed back the gold as she has successfully overturned a doping ban after the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld her appeal, saying that her positive case resulted from contaminated food.
Chinese athlete Wang Zheng (74.16m), who initially bagged silver, was awarded the gold then, while Manju’s (60.47m) original bronze was upgraded to silver.PTI
Gowda, Seema recommended for Khel Ratna
Commonwealth Games gold medallist discus thrower Vikas Gowda has been recommended for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna for the second time along with his female counterpart and CWG silver winner Seema Punia (above) by the Athletics Federation of India this year. Para-athletes H N Girisha and Devendra Jhajharia have also been recommended for the Khel Ratna. The AFI has also recommended quartermiler M R Poovamma, triple jumper Arpinder Singh, middle distance runner O P Jaisha and Seema for the Arjuna Award.PTI
Wrestling
Geeta wins bronze in Asian Wrestling C’ships
Geeta Phogat (below) bagged a bronze in the women’s freestyle 58kg category, while Hitender Beniwal lost his bronze-medal play-off bout in the Men’s 125kg division of the Senior Asian Wrestling Championship in Doha.
Geeta defeated Thi Loan Nguyen of Vietnam by fall verdict in the bronze medal play-off, to settle for the third position on Wednesday, according to the Wrestling Federation of India.PTI
Skating
India wins seven gold medals in speed skating
India grabbed 14 medals, including seven gold, in the Hong Kong International Speed Skating Championship, which had China, Bangladesh and Hong Kong participating. India won five silver and two bronze medals in the event that was organised by Doon Yuen from Checkers Sports Club in Hong Kong.
Eleven-year-old Kushi Shah was the star performer when she won the gold in three races held over three distances — 250, 500 and 1000 metres.PTI
Table tennis
TTFI not to hire coach for Rio
The Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) has decided against hiring a foreign coach for the Rio Olympics, a move that will adversely affect the players’ preparation, especially the women’s team, for the Summer Games in August next year.
While top male players like Sharath Kamal, Soumyajit Ghosh and Harmeet Desai play for clubs in Europe, their female counterparts miss out on foreign exposure.
The women usually get to train with foreign coaches at camps ahead of multi-sporting events like Olympics and Asian Games but that won’t be the case this time around. TTFI has done away with the practice of appointing a head coach, at least for Rio, and instead will call two coaches from either China or Korea to work with the junior teams.PTI
Tennis
Yuki advances to quarters in Karshi
Yuki Bhambri fought off early resistance from Laurynas Grigelis to move to the singles quarterfinals of the ATP Karshi Challenger and Saketh Myneni was ousted after a second-round defeat here on Wednesday.
Eighth seed Yuki beat his unseeded Lithuanian opponent 7-6 (2), 6-1 in the second round of the hard court tournament.
However, Saketh bowed out after suffering a 6-7(12), 2-6 defeat against third seed Spaniard Adrian Menendez-Maceiras in one hour and 33 minutes.
Later in the day, Yuki and Menendez-Maceiras reached the doubles semi-finals with a shock 3-6, 6-4, 10-7 win over third seed Indian pair of Myneni and Divij Sharan.PTI
Bopanna, Sania advance in Madrid
Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea defeated Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-4, 4-6, 10-5 in the Round of 16 at the Madrid Open tennis tournament on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis entered the women's doubles quarter-finals with a straight sets win, while compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi bit the dust with a first round loss in the men's doubles in the tournament.
In the second round, top seeds Sania and Martina, who had got a first round bye, took just an hour to defeat Slovakian-Romanian combo of Janette Husarova and Raluca Olaru 6-2, 6-3 on Tuesday evening.
The South African-French pair of Kevin Anderson and Jeremy Chardy beat the Indian-Austrian wildcard combination of Bhupathi and Nick Kyrgios 7-5, 6-3.IANS
Football
Focus will win Paris the title, says Blanc
Paris Saint-Germain need focus and concentration to win a third straight Ligue 1 title, their coach Laurent Blanc (above) said as the injury-hit team prepare to host in-form Brittany side Guingamp on Friday. "It's all about concentration and determination to win the ball back. Our current form is due to the focussed concentration the team is achieving," Blanc said.
Gregory van der Wiel is suspended, David Luiz has a foot injury and Serge Aurier a thigh problem as Guingamp come to Paris in the week their coach Jocelyn Gourvennec was shortlisted as manager of the year due to the club's run to the last-16 of the Europa League.AFP
