Seongnam (Korea): Ajeetesh Sandhu slipped into tied second spot despite dropping three shots in the second round of the 37th GS Caltex Maekyung Open Golf Championship here Friday. The Indian golfer, who carded four-under 67 on the opening day, shot an even par 71 on the second to be three-under for 36 holes. Sandhu trailed Korean Dongha Lee (68), while Heungchul Joo (70) joined him in second position. It was a good day for the Indians as Shiv Kapur, despite carding one-over 72, moved up from tied seventh to tied fifth, while Gaganjeet Bhullar (72-70) and S Chikkarangappa (72-70) were tied ninth as four Indians figured in top 10. Arjun Atwal (75-73) just about squeezed inside the cut line with a birdie on his closing hole, the ninth, after a roller-coaster ride.
Smoke over Neymar’s arrival in French capital
Paris: An almost fit-again Neymar is expected to arrive Friday here from Rio, some 40 days ahead of the World Cup finals in Russia, French daily ‘L’Equipe’ reported. According to the daily, Neymar has been walking without crutches for two weeks but the star striker had said last week from Rio that he would not play before a final medical, May 17, two days ahead of his club’s last match of the season. PSG coach Unai Emery admitted Thursday he had not spoken to Neymar for ‘some weeks’ but would like him to be present for the side’s last Ligue 1 game.
Tsitsipas maintains his form, stuns Anderson
Estoril (Portugal): Rising Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas continued his excellent form on clay by beating Estoril Open tennis tournament’s top seed Kevin Anderson 6-7(3-7), 6-3, 6-3 here Thursday to reach the quarterfinals. World No. 44 Tsitsipas beat three top-20 players, including Dominic Thiem, en route to the Barcelona Open final last week, where he lost to Rafael Nadal. A double fault by Anderson gave Tsitsipas two match points and he needed just one to seal the issue. “It was really tough, with tricky conditions,” World No.8 Anderson said. “But he (Tsitsipas) was just too good today (Thursday).” Tsitsipas will next face Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena, who knocked out Britain’s Cameron Norrie 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(7/1).
Putin wants ‘strong’ Russian performance
Sochi (Russia): Russian President Vladimir Putin said he wanted to see ‘strong-willed, no-compromise’ soccer from his country’s team at next month’s World Cup. The host nation go into the tournament with no victories from their last five friendlies. They had failed to win a game at the 2016 European Championship or 2014 World Cup. “We all hope our players will give themselves fully to the game, will play at full strength, will display the strong-willed, no-compromise soccer which fans value and love,” Putin said while hosting FIFA president Gianni Infantino late Thursday evening here. Russia play their group A games against Saudi Arabia (June 14), Egypt (June 19) and Uruguay (June 25). Putin also said Russia was ‘practically finished’ with preparations for the tournament, which takes place across 11 cities.
British MPs to investigate sale of Wembley Stadium
London: The House of Commons will investigate the sale of Wembley Stadium by the English Football Association (FA) in a one-off evidence session, July 18, the digital, culture, media and sport committee (DCMS) said here, Friday. The FA confirmed last week that it is negotiating to sell the stadium to US billionaire Shahid Khan and British media said the deal could be worth up to one billion pounds ($1.36 billion). The money from the sale of Wembley would allow the governing body to reinvest in the English game’s grassroots. “Wembley is the home of English football,” Damian Collins, chairman of DCMS, said in a statement. “There should be some public scrutiny of any decision to sell the stadium and how proceeds could be invested.”
Russian walkers banned
Moscow: The governing body of world athletics (IAAF) has suspended five Russian race walkers from competition pending further investigation of their participation in a training camp with banned for life coach, Viktor Chegin. The decision to revoke the neutral status of Klavdiya Afanasyeva, Olga Eliseeva, Yuliya Lipanova, Sergey Sharypov and Sergey Shirobokov means they will not be eligible to compete at the race walking team championships in China later this week, the IAAF said in a statement, Friday. Agencies
Agencies
