Speaking exclusively to Aruneel Sadadekar/Rediff.com, the Haryana-based wrestler shed light on the latest reports of Asgarov testing positive and Sakshi Malik's bronze medal feat at the Rio Olympics.
IM Elisabeth Paehtz of Germany and GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan won the girls' and boys' title respectively at the World Junior Chess.
Grandmaster Gabriel Sargissian of Armenia won the Abu Dhabi Chess festival, finishing half a point ahead of four rivals.\n
P Harikrishna opted for a quick draw with tournament leader Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan.
Top seeded Shakhriyaz Mamedyarov strengthened his position at the top in the World Jr. chess, maintaining a ghalf point lead.
Pop star Lady Gaga sang John Lennon's Imagine sitting at a flower-covered piano as the inaugural European Games.
Five-time World champion Viswanathan Anand played out an easy draw with black against local star Anish Giri but slipped to joint second spot after the sixth round of Tata Steel Chess tournament, in Wijk Aan Zee, on Saturday.
Commonwealth Games silver-medallist L Devendro Singh (49kg) stormed into the quarter-finals, while the experienced Manoj Kumar (64kg) entered the last-16 stage in the International Boxing Association's World Olympic Qualification tournament after notching comprehensive victories in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday elected Chad, Chile, Lithuania, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia to serve as non-permanent members on the Security Council for two-year terms beginning in January 2014.
In India the female homicide rate in 2016 was 2.8 per cent, higher than the rate in Kenya (2.6), Tanzania (2.5), Azerbaijan (1.8), Jordan (0.8) and Tajikistan (0.4).
Draws ruled the roost in the 8th round as players were only willing to consolidate their position in the Dubai International Chess Championship.
The England captain will not face disciplinary action after telling a newspaper he deliberately got himself booked in a World Cup qualifier against Wales.
She couldn't make the cut through qualifiers but star woman boxer M C Mary Kom's Olympic dream is not quite over yet as India has decided to seek a wildcard entry for her in the Games scheduled from August 5 this year. Mary Kom (51kg) had missed out on qualifying for the Olympics after bowing out in the second round of last month's World Championships -- the second and final qualifying tournament for women for the Games. The 33-year-old was required to make at least the semifinals to be assured of an Olympic berth in the mega-event in Astana, Kazakhstan. "She has been a phenomenal athlete and looking at her overall contribution to the sport, we have decided to request for a wildcard for her. However, her application will be among the many that the International Boxing Association (AIBA) will examine before taking a final decision," Chairman of the ad-hoc committee currently running boxing in India, Kishen Narsi, told PTI. Mary Kom, who is called 'Magnificent Mary' by AIBA, is a five-time world champion besides being a bronze-medallist from the London Olympics. The multiple-time Asian champion could not get an Olympic quota place in either of the two qualifying events for women boxers and is keeping her fingers crossed for a wildcard.
2016 F1 calendar to feature record 21-race campaign
'I think we're still the top three teams. Merc (Mercedes) and Ferrari and us. I think we're still going to be leading the pack for now, so, yeah, hopefully we're deep in that front group and have a chance to stand on that podium'
The world junior champion finished sixth following a draw with Lenier Dominguez of Cuba in the ninth and final round of the Dos Hermanas International Chess tournament.
The Liverpool midfielder fractured the fifth metatarsal in his left foot in the Premier League match against Manchester United.
On Wednesday Wayne Rooney will line up alongside Owen as World Cup qualifying Group Six leaders England tackle Azerbaijan in Newcastle.
GMs S S Ganguly and Harikrishna finished eighth and ninth respectively.
Former Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra will lead the 25-member Indian shooting contingent in the third leg of the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup (Rifle/Pistol), to be held in Munich from May 19 to 26. The Indian team comprises of 17 shooters and eight officials. But with the Rio Games less than three months away, all eyes will be on those shooters, who are selected to represent India at the Olympics. Apart from Abhinav, other Indian shooters in the World Cup team who will also be heading to Rio include the likes of Jitu Rai, Gagan Narang, Chain Singh, Apurvi Chandela and Ayonika Paul, Gurpreet Singh, P N Prakash and Heena Sidhu.
Kasimdzhanov, playing black, easily split points with the second seed in the first game of the World chess championship final.
Top seed GM Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria drew his first game against GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan in the semi-final of the World Chess championship.
Uttar Pradesh accounts for the maxmium dowry deaths -- 11,800 women -- followed by Bihar at 5,992.
Grandmaster B Adhiban finished tied third at the Chess.com Isle of Man International tournament after beating the highly-regarded Michael Adams of England in the ninth and final round, in Isle of Man (UK) on Monday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
They thrashed Azerbaijan 8-0 while England, Croatia, Belgium and the Czech Republic easily won their World Cup qualifying matches.
Rediff.com presents a factbox Antonio Conte who will take over from Guus Hiddink after Euro 2016.
Yogeshwar Dutt's London Olympics bronze medal will not be upgraded to gold after the United World Wrestling (UWW) on Tuesday made it clear that the top-place finisher in men's 60kg freestyle -- Togrul Asgarov - never tested positive for a banned substance. "Contrary to news reports, 2012 Olympic gold medalist Togrul ASGAROV (AZE) has never been in violation of UWW's anti-doping policy," the world body tweeted from its official Twitter handle.
India's latest GM is hoping to improve on his third placing at the last World championship in Goa.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Joining the Bulgarian in the semi-finals of the World Chess Championship are England's Michael Adams, Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan and Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan.
