Sanchez-Vicario to visit India
NEW DELHI: The French Tennis Federation, the French Open organisers, in association with AITA on Wednesday announced the third Indian edition of Rendez-Vous à Roland-Garros. The tournament aims to promote young talent and clay-court tennis in India.
Thrice Roland Garros winner Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario will visit India for the finals in April. Speaking on her visit, SanchezVicario said, “Such initiatives help us grow the talent map for tennis across the world and I am very impressed with the Indian talent I am seeing today in the global circuit.” Prior to the Masters taking place in New Delhi in April; the tournament will now witness qualifier rounds in March in Pune and Kolkata. HARIKA ENTERS SEMIS, ASSURED OF BRONZE TEHRAN: Harika Dronavalli’s dream run in the Women’s World Chess championship in Tehran continued as she entered the semifinal of the tournament by overcoming Nana Dzagnidze in a tie-break encounter. Harika will now face China’s Tan Zhongyi in the semis. In the last edition at Sochi, Harika had won a bronze havi ng lost in the semis.
The closest India have come close to producing a woman world champion was in 2011 when Koneru Humpy squared off against world No 1 Hou Yifan from China but lost.
TOP ATHLETES FOR NEW DELHI MARATHON
NEWDELHI: Top Indian marathoners, including Olympians Thanackal Gopi and Kheta Ram, will take part in the second edition of New Delhi Marathon on February 26.
The race will be flagged off from Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium by Sachin Tendulkar. Ethiopian long distance running legend Haile Gebrselassie will grace the marathon and encourage the participants. The Athletics Federation of India has granted the race the status of National Marathon which will continue for the next few years. GAURAV WINS, SHIVA LOSES INSOFIA NEW DELHI: The Indian boxers’ campaign was off to a mixed start with one win and two losses on the opening day of the 68th Strandja Memorial Tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria. Gaurav Chaudhary (91kg) was the lone winner for India on the first day of competitions, defeating local favourite Hayat Rasim to make the last-eight stage. However, prominent to bow out early was World Championships bronzemedallist Shiva Thapa. The 23-year-old lost to England’s Callum French. NISHIKORI SHOCKED IN FIRST ROUND RIODEJANEIRO: Top seed Kei Nishikori crashed out of the Rio de Janeiro Open on Tuesday after suffering a 6-4, 6-3, first-round loss to Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci.
Bellucci meets compatriot Thiago Monteiro, who beat Portugal’s Gastao Eliasa 2-6 7-6(4) 6-4, in the next round.