A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday.
Rifle shooter Chain Singh became the seventh Indian marksman to clinch an Olympic quota place after finishing eighth in the 50m Rifle 3 Position event of the ISSF World Cup in Gabala, Azerbaijan, on Friday.
The Indian men and women's teams made winning starts to their campaign in the 43rd Chess Olympiad, in Batumi, Georgia, on Tuesday.
Asian silver medallist T Nano Singh lifted spirits in the Indian camp after scoring a thumping 21-6 victory over Mamishzade Elvin of Azerbaijan in the first round of the 48kg at the World Boxing Championships in Milan, Italy.
France squeezed a 1-0 victory out of an unconvincing performance in Wednesday's World Cup qualifier in the Faroe Islands while Germany laboured to a 2-0 win in Azerbaijan. Germany lead the group with 19 points from seven games, four more than second-placed Russia who have played six matches.
Commonwealth Games silver-medallist L Devendro Singh (49kg) and Asian Games bronze-medallist Vikas Krishan (75kg) will spearhead a nine-strong Indian team at the AIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, starting June 16, in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Koneru Humpy defeated lowly placed Zeinab Mamedjarova of Azerbaijan to stay in title race as Zhao Xue of China defeated overnight leader and compatriot Yifan Hao to emerge on top after the eighth round of the Is Bank Ataturk women's Grand Prix chess tournament in Istanbul on Tuesday.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown launched a 3.6m pound initiative to develop Indian athletes for the Olympics.
World champion Viswanathan Anand opened his campaign with a thumping win over Grandmaster Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan to take the sole lead after the first round of the 22nd Magistral Ciudad de Linares Chess tournament in Linares.
Lewis Hamilton's Formula One rivals should beware the backlash because the four-times world champion's dip in form will not last long, his former Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg has warned.
Viswanathan Anand's incredible winless streak continues unabated as the World Champion played out yet another draw with Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan to slip to the joint fifth spot in the Bilbao Grand Slam Final in Bilbao, Spain.
Germany defender Nico Schulz scored a late winner as their new-look side snatched a 3-2 win away to the Netherlands in their opening Euro 2020 Group C qualifier on Sunday, an absorbing clash that swung in fortunes from one side to the other.
With Vassily Ivanchuk and Magnus Carlsen eyeing his numero uno tag, World champion Viswanathan Anand, his pre-tournament favourite tag notwithstanding, just cannot afford to lower his guard in the Grand Slam Chess Final Masters starting in Bilbao, Spain, on Monday.
Contrary to the common assumption that Muslims view globalisation as a threat to their society, a new poll has revealed that majority of people adhering to the Islamic faith view the phenomenon positively.Conducted in seven nations with predominantly Muslim populations in different regions of the world, the poll found 63 per cent of the people favouring globalisation for their countries, while only 25 per cent viewing it as bad.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Indian boxers will return empty-handed from the World Championships for the first time in four years after none of their five quarter-finalists made it to the semi-finals in the biennial mega-event, in Almaty, Kazkakhastan, on Wednesday. After the defeats of fourth seed Shiva Thapa (56kg) and sixth seed Manoj Kumar in the afternoon, Vikash Malik (60kg) and Sumit Sangwan (81kg) also lost their quarter-final bouts in the evening session.
World champion Viswanathan Anand crushed Vladimir Kramnik in the blindfold section and romped home with a 1.5-0.5 victory in the crucial eighth round of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid chess tournament, in Nice, France on Monday.
Vinesh wins bronze, Pooja in line for second medal
Swiss-based Sauber have parted company with principal Monisha Kaltenborn, the first woman to run a Formula One outfit, the team's owners said.
Viswanathan Anand's hunt for an elusive win continued as he was held to yet another draw by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan in the sixth round of the Altibox Norway Chess tournament, Stavanger, Norway.
Thirty-two countries, ranging from Finland and Sweden to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Macedonia and Kazakhstan, have declared interest in hosting matches at Euro 2020 which will be staged across the continent.
Indian boxer Gaurav Bidhuri (52kg) is fast making a name for himself at the International Boxing Association's semi-professional World Series of Boxing, churning out three consecutive wins for his franchise Italia Thunder in the ongoing season.
World rapid champion Viswanathan Anand was held to a draw by rising Chinese star Ding Liren in the third round of the Altibox Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger.
Star India grappler Vinesh Phogat won her second consecutive gold in 53kg
World Champion Viswanathan Anand was stunned by Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria in the fourth round of the Bilbao Grand Slam final chess tournament in Bilbao.
World champion Viswanathan Anand thumped Shakhriayar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan to register his second straight rapid game victory in the second round of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess tournament in Nice. With nine rounds still to go, Anand is now sitting pretty at the top in rapid along with Levon Aronian of Armenia on two points each after two wins with black pieces.
Maverick striker Mario Balotelli has been called up by Italy for the first time since the World Cup in June after being included on Sunday in the squad for next weekend's Euro 2016 qualifier at home to Croatia.
World No 3 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, current World Cup winner Levon Aronian and India number two Harikrishna shared the lead with two points apiece.
Force India's feuding team mates met on Thursday to reset their relationship after French rookie Esteban Ocon accused Mexican Sergio Perez of trying to kill him at last weekend's Belgian Grand Prix.
Three rookies are set to make their race debuts and Azarbaijan will make it's Formula One debut even as Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg pose to challenge odds on favourite Lewis Hamilton.
A final round draw was enough for Goa's Ivana Furtado to bag the girls under-eight category gold, while fellow Indians Shalmali Gagare and Prince Bajaj bagged a bronze each in the World Youth Chess Championships in Antalya, Turkey.
International Master D Harika is the second Indian girl to emerge Junior World champion. Koneru Humpy won the crown in 2001.
He became the first Indian pugilist to qualify for next year's Beijing Olympics after he defeated European silver medallist Shahin Imranov to advance to the quarter-finals of the World Boxing Championships in Chicago.
World chess champion Viswanathan Anand asserted his supremacy at the Morelia-Linares tournament for the second time on the trot after settling for a facile draw with Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria in the 14th and final round in Linares. Anand ended this category-21 tournament with 8.5 points and finished a half point clear of nearest rival Magnus Carlsen of Norway who played a draw with Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan in his last game.
It is the diamond in Africa and Russia that is dazzling India these days. India is planning joint ventures with diamond mining companies across Russia, Africa and the CIS nations.
The France-Austria-Britain sequence of races poses a fresh logistical challenge for teams hitherto committed only to back-to-back weekends, with the 21-round season hurrying to the halfway point.
He flew to Dubai from Kerala on Febraury 23, bought a cycle, took a ship to the port city of Bandar Abbas, the capital of Hormozgan province on the southern coast of Iran, before embarking on his cycling odyssey to Russia.
World champion Viswanathan Anand split points with Russian Vladimir Kramnik in the 13th and final round to share the third spot in Group A at the end of the Corus International Chess tournament on Monday.
Unable to break through the solid defenses of Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, World Champion Viswanathan Anand was held to a draw by the Azerbaijani in the second round of the Group 'A' of Corus International Chess tournament in Wijk Aan Zee.
Rude defeats for World champion Viswanthan Anand and fellow Grandmaster Koneru Humpy summed up a pathetic day for the Indians in the first round of Corus Chess tournament.
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