Sakshi Malik Arrives, Grand Reception Awaits in Rohtak
India’s bronze medallist from the Rio Olympics, Sakshi Malik arrived in New Delhi late on Tuesday night with preparations made for a grand reception planned in Bahadurgarh and her village Mokhra Khas in Rohtak district.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who was earlier scheduled to honour her at her village, will felicitate her at Bahadurgarh at Jhajjar district, a senior officer of the State’s Sports and Youth Affairs Department said.
Meanwhile, giving details of the grand reception planned for Sakshi, Jagdeep Singh said, “Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar will travel to Bahadurgarh to honour her. Cash award of Rs 2.5 crore for her bronze medal effort is also likely to be given to her at Bahadurgarh itself.”
Sindhu Receives Rs 3 Crore Cheque from Andhra Pradesh Govt.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu handed over a cheque for Rs three crore to Olympic silver medal-winning shuttler P V Sindhu. He also presented a cheque for Rs 50 lakh to Sindhu’s coach Pullela Gopichand and Rs 25 lakh to badminton player Kidambi Srikanth, who also competed in Rio.
The state government had announced a cash reward of Rs 3 crore to Sindhu, a 1000-square yard residential plot in the state’s new capital city Amaravati and also offered a Group-1 officer job of her choice in the state government. The Chief Minister announced that Gopichand would be given 15 acres of land in the proposed Sports City in Amaravati for setting up a world class badminton academy.
SAI, NADA Officials Involved in Narsingh Sabotage: WFI
Refusing to budge from its stand, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) floated a new theory, alleging that some junior officials of SAI and NADA are responsible for Narsingh Yadav being handed a four-year ban for doping.
WFI President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh said, “We got to know some things there (at Rio de Janeiro) during the CAS hearing. When world body (WADA) had asked NADA why dope tests were conducted on Narsingh in such short span of time, NADA had revealed that on July 4, a written complaint was sent to them by a junior SAI Sonepat official (Ramesh) that some drug abuse was going on in the centre.”
“On the basis of that complain, the dope tests were conducted again. The people who had spiked his food/drinks were not sure whether it was done properly (on June 23 & 24) before the first test on June 25, so they did it again before sending the complaint letter to NADA team on July 4 for conducting another test,” Singh told reporters.
Bowlers Dominate First Day of Duleep Trophy Tie
Bowlers dominated with the pink ball with as many as 17 wickets falling on the opening day of the Duleep Trophy clash between India Red and India Green at the Greater Noida Sports Complex on Tuesday.
At stumps, India Green were on 116/7 in their first innings, trailing India Red’s first innings total by 45 runs. Sourabh Tiwary (27 not out) and Ashok Dinda (8 n.o.) were in the middle at the close of play.
Suresh Raina was the highest scorer for the Greens with 35 runs off 56 balls including five hits to the fence.
Left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav and fast bowlers Nathu Singh were the pick of the bowlers among the Reds with three wickets each. Yadav had figures of 3/26 off 13 overs while Nathu returned 3/32 off seven overs.
Men’s Hockey Team Slips in FIH Rankings
The Indian men’s hockey team slipped one place to occupy sixth in the FIH rankings after their lackluster show in Rio Olympics while their female counterparts surprisingly gained one position to be at 12th in the latest charts released.
The Indian men’s side crashed out of the Olympics in the quarterfinals by losing to eventual runners-up team Belgium 1-3 while the women’s team failed to get past the group stage. Roelant Oltman-coached side went into the Olympics as fifth in the rankings but two wins, two losses and a draw in the group stage and a defeat to Belgium in the last-eight stage saw them pushed down to sixth in the latest rankings.
Australia’s Kookaburras -- who finished in sixth place in Rio -- remain in first place, but newly crowned Olympic champions Argentina earned enough points to move up five places to second.
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