Mumbai: Two-time Asian Games gold medallist Anup Kumar was on Tuesday named India’s captain for the forthcoming Kabaddi World Cup.

The tournament will be played in Ahmedabad, beginning October 7 to 22.

Indian cricket legend Kapil Dev unveiled the team jersey at the event here, according to a release.

A 14-member squad for the event was named by Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI) President Mridul Bhadauria.

India’s coach Balwan Singh said in the release: “Our aim is to have a balanced team composition for the upcoming World Cup. We are expecting the tournament to be more competitive than ever this year. It will be the biggest challenge that the Indian team has faced in recent times.”

Anup Kumar said: “I am extremely honoured to lead the country for the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup. It’s every sportsperson’s dream to represent their country at a global stage. I’m proud of my team and we will all work towards bringing honour to India.”

The Kabaddi World Cup will bring nations of diverse geographies — the US, England, Australia, Iran, Poland, Thailand, Bangladesh, South Korea, Japan, Argentina, Kenya and hosts India — together fighting it out for the top prize.

The squad:

Anup Kumar (captain), Ajay Thakur, Deepak Hooda, Dharmaraj Cheralathan, Jasvir Singh, Kiran Parmar, Manjeet Chhilar, Mohit Chhilar, Nitin Tomar, Pardeep Narwal, Rahul Chaudhuri, Sanbdeep Narwal, Surinder Nada, Surjeet.

(IANS)

Gurgaon: Dalip Singh Rana, better known by his ‘The Great Khali’ moniker, will organise two professional wrestling matches in Haryana next month.

Adressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Rana said that a professional wrestling bout will be organised at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium here on October 8 while a similar show would be held in Panipat on October 12.

He disclosed that 15 international fighters and 35 Indian wrestlers will feature in the two events.

HaryanaGymnastics Association chief Suraj Pal Ammu said on the occasion that the state government will not charge entertainment tax from the former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) wrestler.

Originally hailing from Himachal Pradesh, Rana, an officer in the Punjab Police, was a bodybuilder before becoming a professional wrestler and had won the Mr. India title in 1997 and 1998.

(IANS)

Sepang: Young racer Shahan Ali Mohsin has become the first Indian to win the Asian Karting Championship.

The 12-year-old from Agra put up a valiant show during the final weekend after missing two days of track time due to a bout of food poisoning and staved off a strong challenge from his main rival Hayden Haikal to clinch the title here on Sunday.

He will now be hoping for a repeat in the JK Tyre National Rotax Max Karting Championship as well, with the final round scheduled on September 25.

Shahan was not completely fit as he fought the infection which surfaced early on Thursday. He was severely dehydrated and his participation in the event became a major question mark while his rivals pounded the track throughout Thursday and Friday during practice sessions.

He showed immense determination and hit the track on Saturday, even though he was not fully fit. Right from the first practice session, he was in the running for the top three spots albeit missing a few tenths from outright benchmark.

However, he almost magically put it together in qualifying — taking pole position by over two-tenths of a second (0.2 sec) — a dominating showing given the drivers from second to fifth positions were separated by just five-hundredth of a second (0.05 sec).

Shahan, who is leading the micro-max category of the JK Tyre National Rotax Max Karting Championship back home, carried his good form, coming into the weekend, with a five point lead in the Micro Max championship table over his title rival Hayden Haikal. Therefore it was critical to have a clean weekend with no risks and no surprises and finish ahead of Hayden in all sessions which included two heat races, a pre-final and the final.

In the two heat races, Shahan kept his composure despite a few brushes with Amer Harris, who was not in championship contention but was fighting aggressively for the win.

Shahan had the bigger picture in mind and did not want to push his luck and risk a ‘Did Not Finish’. He drove with composure and finished second in both the heats ahead of Hayden who finished third in both the races.

Starting second in the pre-finals, Shahan once again engaged in a fierce competition with Amer, with both the racers passing each other for the lead multiple times with Shahan eventually settling for second with Haikal finishing four seconds behind.

With Shahan holding a slight advantage over his rivals, the championship battle was now set to go down to the wire. Amer, Hayden and Shahan were engaged in a three-way fight, with places being switched between the two championship contenders while Amer led at the front but not far away.

Eventually Shahan settled for third with Hayden finishing second this time around; with the top three finishing within 0.2 seconds. Numbers were crunched and at the end of it – Shahan emerged four points ahead thanks to his consistent performance over the weekend which handed him the title.

“It is really unbelievable. I was in a seriously bad shape just two days back and could not even think of driving a kart, let alone fight for the Asian Championship title,” Shahan said.

“The strength I got from having both my parents alongside me throughout was incredible and I still do not know how I managed to walk, get into the kart and get pole position in qualifying. I surprised even myself a little bit. Everything after that was a blur and thanks to Wai Leong and the entire Top Kart team for a superb setup and excellent strategy which helped us secure the title with the least amount of risk”, he added.

(IANS)

New Delhi: Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, has wished the very best to the athletes representing India at the Rio 2016 Paralympics, starting from 7th September.

“The people of India will be enthusiastically cheering for our athletes representing India at the Rio 2016 Paralympics, starting 7th September.

We all wish our contingent for the Rio 2016 Paralympics the very best. I am sure our athletes will give their best & make us proud”, the Prime Minister said.

New Delhi: The All India Tennis Association (AITA) named Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna along with Saketh Myneni in the team for the Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie against Spain.

The match will be held at the R.K. Khanna Tennis Stadium here from September 16-18.

Paes and Bopanna, with a long history of acrimonious relations between them, paired up for the Rio Olympics earlier this month only to be beaten in the first round.

The AITA selection committee retained all the four players that beat South Korea 4-1 in July.

Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan are expected to play the singles matches while Paes-Bopanna will do the doubles duty.

Myneni and Ramanathan won their respective first leg singles matches against South Korea while Paes and Bopanna won the doubles match.

The team:

Saketh Myneni

Ramkumar Ramanathan

Rohan Bopanna

Leander Paes

Reserve:

Prajnesh Gunneswaran

Sumit Nagal

Non Playing Captain: Anand Amritraj

Coach: Zeeshan Ali

(IANS)

Colombo: Sri Lankan opening batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan on Thursday announced his decision to retire from One Day cricket.

He will quit after the third One-Day match against Australia in Dambulla on Sunday.

Sri Lanka Cricket has decided to dedicate the third One-Day to honour the batsman.

A former One-Day captain, Dilshan made his debut in the one day team in 1999 against Zimbabwe.

The 39-year-old has played 329 matches scoring 10,248 runs and is the fourth Sri Lankan and the 11th overall to pass 10,000 One-Day runs.

Dilshan is the second Sri Lankan to have 3 One-Day centuries above 150. He is the second Sri Lankan and fifth overall to achieve hundreds in all 3 formats of the game.

He is most famous for his improvised shot over the wicketkeeper’s head called “Dilscoop”.

“I together with my committee wish to extend our sincere appreciation and wish him the very best in his future endeavours,” Thilanga Sumathipala, Sri Lanka Cricket president, said in a statement on Thursday.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: Marathon runner O P Jaisha Monday alleged that Indian officials did not arrange for water and energy drinks during her race in the Rio Olympics run under scorching heat despite designated stations being given for the country, a claim denied by Athletics Federation of India.

“It was very hot there. I ran in scorching heat. There was no water for us, neither recovery drinks nor food. Only once in 8km did we get water (from Rio organisers) which did not help at all. All the countries had their stalls at every 2km but our country’s stall was empty,” said Jaisha who finished 89th in Rio Olympics women’s marathon event with a below-par timing of 2:47:19.

Jaisha collapsed at the finish line after completing the race and had to be rushed to a hospital where her coach Nikolai Snesarev got into an altercation with one of doctors and ended up being detained for half a day by local police.

“We are supposed to be given drinks by our technical officials, it’s the rule. We cannot take water from any other team. I saw the Indian board there but there was nothing. I had a lot of problem, I fainted after the race. I was administered glucose, I thought I would die,” she recalled.

The runner claimed that she got no response from officials when she asked why water was not provided to her at the stalls.

“I asked officials why there was no water for us but I got no response. I don’t know what they were doing. There were lot of people in the Indian athletics contingent, anybody could have done this job. I don’t know where they were. I was in very bad shape. My coach was blamed for misbehaving with doctor but he was told Jaisha has almost died, what could he have done?” she asked.

Refuting Jaisha’s claim, AFI said that it was she who refused to avail the option of having energy drinks.

“Each team is allowed to keep their own personalised drinks on the booths, marked in a colour as per the choice of the team and athlete. Accordingly, as per the rule, on the night ahead of women’s marathon race, Indian team manager carried 16 empty bottles, eight each for Jaisha and Kavita Raut and visited the duo and their coach Nikolai Snesarev in their room,” the AFI said in a statement.

“The team manager asked them to provide their choice of personalised drink which would then be sealed in their presence and handed over to the organisers for installing them on the booth along with a placard as per the requirement of the athlete.

“In this case, the two athletes, Ms Jaisha and Ms Raut declined the offer and informed the Indian team manager that they didn’t require personalised drink, and if at all they required it during the race, they would use the drinks available at the water booth and refreshment booth provided by the organisers,” the AFI said.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: The Sports Ministry on Monday announced that Rio Olympics medallists, shuttler P V Sindhu and wrestler Sakshi Malik, will receive the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award along with gymnast Dipa Karmakar and shooter Jitu Rai.

Considered as the country’s highest sporting honour, the Khel Ratna award is conferred on a sportsperson for outstanding performance over a period of four years. The award comprises a cash prize of Rs 7.5 lakh along with a medal and a citation.

Dipa’s coach Bisheshwar Nandi has been selected for the Dronacharya award along side Team India skipper Virat Kohli’s coach Raj Kumar Sharma, athletics coach Nagapuri Ramesh and boxing coach Sagar Mal Dhayal.

Sindhu’s coach Pullela Gopichand received the coveted award in 2009 while Sakshi’s coach Kuldeep Singh has been overlooked for the award.

The Dronacharya awards for lifetime will be awarded to veteran swimming coach S Pradeep Kumar and wrestling coach Mahabir Singh. The award comprises a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh each with a medal and a citation.

Star cricketer Ajinkya Rahane will be conferred on with the Arjuna Award alongside archer Rajat Chauhan, athlete Lalita Babar, cueist Sourav Kothari, boxer Shiva Thapa, footballer Subrata Paul, hockey stars V R Raghunath and Rani Rampal, shooters Gurpreet Singh, Apurvi Chandela, paddler Somyajit Ghosh, wrestlers Vinesh Phohat, Amit Kumar, Para-athletes Sandeep Singh Maan and Virender Singh.

The award constitutes a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh and medal and a citation.

Athlete Satti Geetha will be conferred the Dhayan Chand award along with hockey player Sylvanus Dung Dung and rower Rajendra Pralhad Shelke. The award comprises a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh, a medal and a citation

President Pranab Mukherjee will give away the awards at Rashtrapati Bhavan on August 29, which is celebrated as the National Sports Day.

(IANS)

Rio de Janeiro: Narsingh Yadav’s dream of competing at the ongoing Rio Olympics has come to an end with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upholding the World Anti Doping Agency’s (WADA) appeal against the clean chit given to him in a doping violation case.

The ad hoc division of the CAS, which met here on Thursday to hear the WADA’s appeal against the clearance to Narsingh by the National Anti Doping Agency (NADA), also slapped a four-year ban on the Mumbai wrestler.

“WADA filed an urgent application before the CAS ad hoc division to challenge the decision of NADA India to exonerate Narsingh Yadav following two positive anti-doping tests with methandienone on June 25 and July 5. The athlete asserted that he was the victim of sabotage (food/drink tampering) by another person. WADA requested that a four-year period of ineligibility be imposed on the athlete,” the CAS said in a statement.

“The CAS panel did not accept the argument of the athlete that he was the victim of sabotage and noted that there was no evidence that he bore no fault, nor that the anti-doping rule violation was not intentional. Therefore the standard four-year period of ineligibility was imposed by the panel,” the statement added.

“It is very sad and unfortunate. We were hopeful until the last proceeding of the CAS that he will get through which unfortunately did not happen,” Indian Chef de Mission Rakesh Gupta told IANS after the hearing.

“It is really very sad because he had a real potential to clinch a medal.”

Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh called for a probe by the Central Bureau Of Investigation (CBI) into the whole affair.

“This should not happen to any sportsperson in the future. I demand a CBI probe into the entire issue so that this episode is not repeated in the future,” Brijbhushan told a television news channel.

“We feel sorry for Narsingh, this should not hapen to any athlete.”

Narsingh was embroiled in a doping controversy in the run up to the Olympics, but was cleared by the NADA ahead of the Games.

But the WADA decided to appeal to the CAS against the NADA’s clearance to Narsingh just two days before the star grappler was scheduled to compete at the Games.

“The CAS panel in charge of this matter heard the parties and their representatives today. The parties were informed that the application was upheld, that Narsingh Yadav was sanctioned with a four-year ineligibility period starting today and that any period of provisional suspension or ineligibility effectively served by the athlete before the entry into force of this award shall be credited against the total period of ineligibility to be served,” the CAS stated.

“Furthermore, all competitive results obtained by Narsingh Yadav from and including 25 June 2016 shall be disqualified, with all resulting consequences (including forfeiture of medals, points and prizes).”

With the CAS announcing its verdict, Narsingh’s campaign at the ongoing Rio Olympics has ended before it could start.

According to the official website of the Rio Games, the Mumbai grappler was scheduled to start his Olympic campaign against Zelimkhan Khadjiev of France in the qualification round of the men’s 74 kg Freestyle category on Friday.

The 26-year-old grappler also underwent his weigh-in on Thursday.

The CAS decision is a continuation of a long ordeal for Narsingh, who was preferred over double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar to take part in the Olympics by the WFI that led to a major legal battle between the two wrestlers.

Narsingh, who bagged the quota with a bronze medal finish in last year’s World Championships, won the legal battle, but then ran into trouble over alleged doping offences.

He first returned positive for a banned steroid following a dope test on June 25 by NADA, before being cleared on August 1.

The WFI also communicated to the world’s apex wrestling body, the United World Wrestling (UWW) that NADA has cleared Narsingh of all the doping-related charges and the 26-year-old would be re-included in the team for the 74kg competition.

The UWW gave the green light to Narsingh for participation on August 3. However, Narsingh’s route had to clear the final WADA hurdle to compete, which reviewed the NADA panel verdict and challenged it at CAS for further deliberation.

Narsingh had claimed of a conspiracy to frame him and had filed a police report in this regard, although he refrained from naming anyone.

The WFI chief had backed Narsingh’s claims and had asserted that a conspiracy was hatched to stop the wrestler from participating in the Olympics and this needs to be exposed in order to secure future generations of sportspersons.

(IANS)