Page 12 - Sports

National Sports Awards: Shami, para archer Sheetal draw rousing applause

India's best-performing athletes were on Tuesday conferred with the national sports awards by President Droupadi Murmu in a regal ceremony where cricketer Mohammed Shami and para archer Sheetal Devi walked in to a rapturous applause at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. Shuttlers Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy were chosen for the coveted Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award for a breakout 2023, during which they won their maiden Asian Games gold -- a first for India in badminton --, while also clinching the Asian Championships title and the Indonesia Open Super 1000 title. The duo is currently playing in Malaysia Open Super 1000 and therefore skipped the function. The awards ceremony, usually held on August 29 to commemorate the birth anniversary of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand, was deferred because of the Hangzhou Asian Games from September 23 till October 8 last year. An atmosphere of gaiety pervaded the Rashtrapati Bhawan as 26 athletes and para-athletes were finalised for the

We do not consider Ad-hoc committee: Suspended WFI President Sanjay Singh

In defiance, Singh refused to acknowledge the committee, stating that they are an "autonomous body" and cannot be banned

Franz Beckenbauer, World Cup-winning captain and coach, dies aged 78

Franz Beckenbauer, the German soccer great who helped his country win the World Cup both as player and coach, has died, news agency dpa reported Monday. He was 78. It is with deep sadness that we announce that my husband and our father, Franz Beckenbauer, passed away peacefully in his sleep yesterday, Sunday, surrounded by his family, the family said in a statement to dpa, the German news agency. We ask that we be allowed grieve in peace and spared any questions. The statement did not provide a cause of death. As a player and coach, Beckenbauer did more than most to shape German soccer. He captained West Germany to the World Cup title in 1974. He also coached the national side that won the 1990 World Cup final against Argentina. In recent years the former Bayern Munich great struggled with health problems.

Riyan Parag hits 2nd-fastest century in Ranji Trophy. Check who tops list

Riyan Parag hit the second-fastest century in Ranji Trophy history as he smashed 155 off 86 balls, reaching his hundred in just 56 balls against Chahhtisgarh

Rafael Nadal pulls out of Australian Open 2024 due to muscle tear injury

Rafael Nadal pulled out of the Australian Open 2024 due to a muscle tear

Pujara knocks on the doors of Indian team for England Tests with double ton

Cheteshwar Pujara hit his 17th First-Class double century, the most by any Indian batter. With his knock of 243* against Jharkhand in Ranji Trophy, veteran batter knocked on the doors of Indian team

CM Naveen Patnaik launches sports projects worth Rs 120 crores in Sambalpur

Aligned with Chief Minister's vision, 'Sports for youth, youth for future', these projects have been undertaken under the 5T initiative to benefit people, especially youth of Sambalpur, release said

Police urges court to frame charges against ex-WFI chief in harassment case

Delhi Police on Saturday urged a court here to frame charges against BJP MP and former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh in a case of alleged sexual harassment of women wrestlers. The police opposed the contention of the accused that since some of the alleged incidents took place overseas, they do not fall in the jurisdiction of courts in Delhi, as it concluded arguments on framing charges against Singh. The police submitted before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Priyanka Rajpoot that the incidents of sexual harassment, allegedly committed by Singh, overseas and inside India, including Delhi, are part of the same offence. "Delhi court has jurisdiction to try this case," the police told the judge. The court will further hear the matter on January 20. The city police had filed a charge sheet in the case against Singh, a six-time MP, on June 15, 2023 under sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354-A (sexual harassment), 354-D

Tetris video game defeated: Here's how a 13-year-old did the unthinkable

Willis Gibson triggered a kill screen on level 157, which the gaming world takes as a victory over the game-something along the lines of pushing the software past its limits.

Two gold medals for Pranati Das in National gymnastics Championship

Railways gymnast Pranati Das had a memorable day, clinching gold medals in uneven bars and floor exercise and finishing second in the all-around women's category in the Artistic Gymnastics Senior National Championship here on Thursday. Pranati's team-mate Pranati Nayak also had a fruitful day, winning the vault gold and a bronze in balance beam. Olympian Dipa Karmakar, representing Tripura, bagged three medals, including gold in the all-around category. The 30-year-old star gymnast also bagged silver in vault uneven bars. Odisha's Rakesh Kumar Patra capped the championships with two gold medals -- all-around and rings -- besides silver in parallel bars and bronze in the horizontal bar. Gaurav Kumar of the Services also won four medals, including a gold in floor exercise. He also had silver medals in parallel bars and horizontal bar and bronze in all-around category. Railways' Siddharth Verma finished second in all-around, besides winning gold in vault and silver in pommel horse. .

Beach Games 2024: Govt transformed India's sporting culture, says PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said his government had transformed the entire sports ecosystem in India, due to which a strong sporting culture was developing in the country. The PM's message was read out by an official at the opening ceremony of the 'Beach Games 2024' being organised at Ghoghla beach in Diu, part of the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. "Any nation's progress is often mirrored by its performance in sports. Therefore, it is heartening to see a strong sporting culture developing in India. Our athletes have been making the nation proud through excellence at various international sporting events," Modi said in his written message read out by IAS officer Amit Singla. "Over the last decade, we have transformed the entire ecosystem of sports. Be it identifying and providing opportunities to sporting talent from smaller cities and towns, to building modern sports infrastructure. Further, in the last few years, Indian youngsters are bein

NRI athletes welcome PM Modi's vision for Pravasi Sports through HIPSA

The Prime Minister back in 2019 in a meeting with the sports fraternity, had envisioned and had desired to find a way to conduct Sports competitions for talented Pravasi Bharatiya youth in India

Indian-origin dy director pleads guilty of cheating Singapore Football body

An Indian-origin former deputy director at the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) has pleaded guilty to 15 cheating charges involving supplies to the sporting body through a company he owned. Another 30 similar charges will be taken into consideration for sentencing Rikram Jit Singh Randhir Singh, 43, who exploited his position to ensure that the sporting body's supply contracts were awarded to companies linked to him or his wife. The Singaporean admitted on Wednesday to dishonestly inducing FAS to disburse SGD 609,380, from which he and his wife, Asya Kirin Kames, made a profit of SGD 127,896, according to a report by The Straits Times. Their profits have been seized by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) and will be returned to FAS, the court heard. Rikram joined FAS in December 2010 as a marketing manager and rose through the ranks to become a deputy director in July 2017. FAS is responsible for developing and advancing football in Singapore and is partially

Kishore Jena and DP Manu join Neeraj Chopra in AIU Registered Testing Pool

Asian Games silver medallist javelin thrower Kishore Jena and D P Manu have joined Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra in the Registered Testing Pool (RTP) of Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), the global track and field anti-doping watchdog. Chopra, who is also the reigning world champion and Asian Games gold medallist, has been there in the RTP for some time but Jena and Manu were new additions in the list announced by AIU for the first quarter of 2024, indicating the rise of Indian javelin throwers at the world stage. Jena had finished fifth in the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, where Chopra won gold. Manu had finished sixth. Three Indians had finished in the top six of the javelin throw final in the 2023 World Athletics Championships, a record in itself. Altogether, seven Indians are currently in the RTP of the AIU. Star 3000m steeplechaser Avinash Sable, woman javelin thrower Annu Rani and long jumpers Murali Sreeshankar and Jeswin Aldrin are the other Indians in the ..

Do not recognise ad-hoc panel and ministry suspension: WFI's Sanjay Singh

Indian wrestling teetered on the edge of a deeper crisis with Sanjay Singh, President of the suspended WFI, on Monday declaring that they will soon organise the national championships and insisting that they neither recognise the suspension of their newly-elected body by Sports Ministry nor the ad-hoc panel. Three days after the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) held its polls, the ministry suspended the sports body citing several violations of rules on December 24. On the request of the government, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) then formed a three-member panel, headed by Bhupender Singh Bajwa, to manage the day-to-day affairs of the body. The other members of the committee are former hockey player M M Somaya and ex-shuttler Manjusha Kanwar. The ad-hoc panel announced that it will host the senior national championships in Jaipur from February 2-5. Sanjay, though, remained combative and said they will not co-operate with the ad-hoc panel and will organise the Nationals. "

Gymnast Dipa Karmakar returns to national championship after eight years

Olympian Dipa Karmakar will make her comeback to the tournament after a long gap of eight years as the three-day senior national championship for gymnastics begins here from Tuesday. The three-day tournament will also see Pranati Nayak, also an Olympian, as well as national gymnasts like Yogeshwar Singh, Rakesh Patra, Tapan Mohanty, Saif Tamboli and Gaurav Kumar in action at the Kalinga Stadium. The state is hosting the tournament after successfully conducting the Junior Artistic Gymnastics National Championship recently. Karmakar's coach Bishweshwar Nandi said, "Dipa is taking part in the National Championship after almost eight years. There will be Pranati Das, Pranati Nayak, Aruna Reddy and various other senior athletes taking part as well. So it's a good thing. "I couldn't come to the Junior Nationals, but I would like to see the junior athletes compete against these senior athletes. "I liked the Gymnastics Centre here, and I really wish that it produces a strong contingent in

Nepal's former cricket captain Sandeep Lamichhane convicted of raping minor

Lamichhane is one of the most famous Nepal cricketers having played in leagues all around the world. He was arrested in the same case in January 2023 and released on bail

Australian Open tennis tournament increases prize money by $6.8 million

Australian Open tennis officials have announced an increase in prize money by 10 million Australian dollars (USD 6.8 million) for the upcoming tournament which begins on Jan. 14 at Melbourne Park. Tournament director Craig Tiley said in a statement Friday that the Grand Slam tournament will now offer 86.5 Australian dollars (USD58.4 million) in total prize money. The U.S. Open announced in August that it was increasing its total prize money and player compensation to a record USD 65 million, which is the highest among the four Grand Slam tournaments. We've upped prize money for every round at the Australian Open with the major increases in qualifying and the early rounds of singles and doubles, Tiley said. At Melbourne, first-round qualifiers will receive a 20% increase to 31,250 Australian dollars (about USD 21,000). Men's and women's singles champions will receive $3.15 million Australian dollars each (about $2.15 million). The women's final, where Aryna Sabalenka is the defendi

Protesting wrestlers doing politics, are past their prime: Sanjay Singh

The Union Sports Ministry on Sunday suspended the sport's premier governing body in the country along with all its office-bearers

Gymnast Dipa Karmakar to participate in senior nationals after 8 years gap

Star gymnast Dipa Karmakar will compete at the Senior Artistic Gymnastics National Championships after a gap of eight years in Bhubaneswar next week. The prestigious event will be held here from January 2 to 4. Besides Dipa, the championship will feature the likes of Tokyo Olympian Pranati Nayak, Yogeshwar Singh, Rakesh Patra, Tapan Mohanty, Saif Tamboli, Gaurav Kumar among others. "Dipa will compete at the Senior nationals. The last time she had participated at the domestic event was in 2015. This will be here last nationals," her coach Bisweswar Nandi told PTI. The 30-year-old from Agartala, the first female gymnast from India to compete in the Olympics, was ignored for the Asian Games despite topping the trials as she didn't meet SAI's selection criteria of players needing to score equivalent to the eighth ranked gymnast in the last Asian Games. It was since then she couldn't participate in any event following her 21-month suspension due to a doping violation. Nandi, however,