With eyes firmly set on this year's Commonwealth Games, India's ace squash player Saurav Ghosal has decided to cut down on international tournaments to remain injury-free before the October 3-14 quadrennial event in New Delhi.
Tennis star Sania Mirza joined the Swachh Bharat campaign, cleaning a road in Hyderabad before nominating nine persons, including fellow-sportspersons and Bollywood personalities, to join the movement.
Wrestling, hoping to win back its spot in the 2020 Olympics, was reprimanded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) this week for breaking campaigning rules last month, officials said on Friday.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Friday
Saurav Ghosal and Dipika Palikal did India proud by winning the Mixed Doubles title in the Chennai Open Squash tournament on Thursday.
Wimbledon was invaded by thousands of flying ants on Wednesday, causing much annoyance to players, officials and ticket holders alike - but there was little anyone could do to drive out the pests.
Indian Dipika Pallikal's dream run in the Swedish Squash Open came to an end as she lost to Annelize Naude of Netherlands in straight frames in the semi-final in Linkoping.
The annual Tomatina festival in Bunol, Spain was held on Wednesday.
India's Joshna Chinappa crashed out of the US $53,500 WISPA British Open Squash Championship in Manchester after being humbled in the qualifiers by Fiona Moverley of England. World No 35 Joshna lost 12-10, 10-12, 11-7, 11-9 to Moverly, who is ranked 16 places below her, in the first qualifying round of the World Tour Gold event.
Ramy Ashour of Egypt put up an assured performance to tame England's Nick Matthew and win the Punj Lloyd PSA Masters squash tournament at the Bombay Gymkhana, in Mumbai, on Thursday. In a final that was both entertaining and enthralling, the fourth seeded Ashour prevailed 11-6, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9.
Egypt's Ramy Ashour beat compatriot Amr Shabana 11-9, 13-15, 11-8, 11-2 on Wednesday to move into the final of the $152, 000 Punj Lloyd PSA Masters squash tournament. The Egyptian will face England's Nick Matthew in the final. The English fourth seed got the better of compatriot Peter Barker 13-11, 11-6, 11-5 in the second semi-final.
Golf and rugby sevens have been shortlisted for inclusion at the 2016 Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said in Berlin on Thursday. The two were selected from seven candidate sports by the IOC's executive board at a meeting in Berlin and a final vote on their inclusion will be held at the IOC session in Copenhagen in October.
While Tomar informed only about Pakistan's participation, the PTI has learnt that clearance has been put on hold also for wrestlers from Iraq and Afghanistan.
India's Saurav Ghosal went down fighting to English Adrian Grant after earning a surprise place in the quarter-finals of the Santiago Open Squash tournament at Santiago De Compostela in Spain.
India's Joshna Chinappa overcame a stiff challenge from compatriot Dipika Pallikal to set up a title clash with Orla Noom of the Netherlands in the WISPA Challenger-2 event at the Indian Squash Academy in Chennai.
India's total medal count stood at 252 (132 gold, 79 silver, 41 bronze), leaving behind hosts Nepal and Sri Lanka behind. Nepal has won 165 medals (45 gold, 44 silver, 76 bronze) while Sri Lanka have collected 197 medals (36 gold, 68 silver, 93 bronze).
Sania Mirza reacted with delight at her being recommended for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, describing it as the "most amazing" development.
Tiger Woods said on Tuesday he would compete at the 2016 Olympics if golf is added to the Games programme after an absence of more than a 100 years. Golf is vying with rugby, squash, karate, roller sports, baseball and softball and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will announce a shortlist of two sports on Thursday.
Top seed Dipika Pallikal brushed aside the challenge of Nouran El Torky of Egypt to advance to the semi-finals of the 13th World Junior Squash Championships in Chennai on Friday. Playing before a cheering crowd, the Indian beat the fifth seeded Egyptian 11-5, 4-11, 11-8, 11-6 in 37 minutes. She faces 13-year-old fourth seed Nour El Tayeb of Egypt in Saturday's semi-finals.
Strenuous exercise for just half an hour a day can reduce a person's risk of dying from cancer, says a new study.
'If you put me into a daily soap where things invariably go wrong in the family and people are crying, I can't be a part of that set up.'
Basit was called in by Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar to convey India's strong views on the incident, the external affairs ministry said.
India's highest ranked squash player Joshna Chinappa made it to the final qualifying of the main draw in the US $25,9000 Harrow Greenwich Open. She came from behind to get the better of a fighting Alexandra Norman of England 8-11, 13-11, 11-9, 19-21, 11-6 in 64 minutes in Connecticut on Tuesday night.
Serena Williams' bid for the Italian Open was squashed in her first match on Tuesday when the American second seed lost 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 to Swiss Patty Schnyder. French Open champion Ana Ivanovic beat Italian Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 6-4 and seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia had a comfortable 6-3, 6-3 win over Slovak Daniela Hantuchova.
Neha Dhupia finally opened up about her two-year-old romance with squash pro Ritwik Bhattacharya.
The views are stunning, the skies are blue, the forests are lush and, wonder of wonders, thanks to the discipline of the tea estate, even man isn't vile, discover Renu Bahal Wadhwa and T C A Srinivasa Raghavan after a trip to Kerala's breathtakingly beautiful hill retreat.
The Mumbai Sessions court has given permission to Sanjay Dutt to marry his love, Manyata. The court squashed Manyata's former husband Mehraj Shaikh's petition, nullifying his claims that he is legally married to her. It ruled that Manyata was legally divorced from Shaikh.
India's ace squash player Joshna Chinappa lost to top-seed Vanessa Atkinson of the Netherlands in the final of the US $11,100 Liberty Bell Open Championship in Philadelphia, US, on Monday. Fourth-seed Chinappa (world rank 37), who scalped second-seed Jaclyn Hawkes of New Zealand in the semi-finals, was outplayed by Atkinson (ranked 11) 7-11, 7-11, 5-11.
Title contender Pankaj Advani won the clash of bigwigs as he tamed Peter Gilchrist of Singapore 4-1 to enter the semi-finals of the points format competition in the ONGC IBSF World Billiards Championship in Bangalore on Wednesday.
'What Kamala Harris' rise and rise underscores is that our old ways of identifying the Indian-American Diaspora need to change...' 'None of this detracts from her Indian-American identity, which makes us feel as if we are Americans too,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Reader Amit Singhal sent us a picture of Leander Paes from Doha, Qatar.
Heavyweight boxer David Nyika did more than just win his second Commonwealth Games gold medal on Saturday. He shut the parochial Australian crowd up.
The Indian team, comprising Joshana Chinappa, Dipika Pallikal Karthik, Sunayna Kuruvilla and Tanvi Khanna, are assured of at least a silver now and are likely to face Hong Kong in the final.
Chandigarh boy Harinderpal Singh Sandhu caused a major upset, scalping sixth seeded Pakistani Shamsul Islam Khan en route to the quarter-finals of the Chennai Open Professional Squash championship on Thursday. Harinderpal, ranked 143 in the world, had to exert every sinew before winning 12-10, 9-11, 11-1, 13-11 in 39 minutes.
Saurav Ghosal and Siddharth Suchde were the only Indians left in the men's singles event after two of their compatriots, including former national champion Ritwik Bhattacharya, crashed out in the second round of the Asian Squash Championships in Kuwait.
Squash player Dipika Pallikal, who was not selected for the upcoming Asian Championship, failed to get a reprieve from the Delhi high court, which she had moved to quash the selection of the Indian team.
India number two Ritwik Bhattacharya won his maiden $ 15,000 professional squash players association challenger series when he defeated compatriot Saurav Ghosal in a closely fought final in Chennai on Saturday.
The sheer diversity of medal winners was a heartwarming aspect of the Games for India. There were medals from squash, although not gold, there were nine medals from boxing, 12 from wrestling, 16 from shooting and nine from weightlifting.
Following is the schedule of Indian contingent on the seventh day of the Asian Games on Saturday.
'Xi's meeting with Modi in the southern Indian city of Chennai on Friday and Saturday is expected to focus more on the two countries' historical and present differences, and how to move beyond them to realise their cooperation potential'
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