Kashyap, Prannoy put up strong show to advance to Round Three

AUCKLAND: Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap and US Open winner HS Prannoy progressed through to the third round of the New Zealand Grand Prix Gold in Auckland after registering victories in their respective matches in the men’s singles event on Wednesday. 15-seeded Kashyap secured an easy win over local shuttler Oscar Guo 21-9, 21-8 in a one-sided contest that lasted for just 25 minutes. Prannoy, ranked fourth, on the other hand registered a straight-game win over Indonesia’s Firman Abdul Kholik 23-21, 21-18 in 53 minutes. Other Indian shuttlers Siril Verma and Sourabh Verma also progressed to the next round, while Sahil Sipani and Neeraj Vashist made exit from the USD 120,000 event.

GULIA WINS BRONZE NEWDELHI:India began their campaign in the Junior World Wrestling championships on a positive note with Veer Dev Gulia bagging a bronze medal while Deepak Punia entering the bronze medal play-off round in Tampere, Finland. In the men’s 74kg freestyle category, Gulia finished third after getting the better of Yamasaki Yajuro of Japan 8-5 in the bronze medal play-off bout on the opening day of the competition last night.

FINANCIAL AID FOR CHITRA FROM KERALA THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:Athlete P U Chitra, whose exclusion from the Indian squad for the upcoming World Athletics Championships triggered a controversy, would get a monthly scholarship of Rs 10,000 besides allowance for training, Kerala Government said. A state cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan here also decided to employ in its services Indian footballer C K Vineeth, who lost his central government job recently due to lack of attendance.

Chitra, hailing from a financially backward family in Mundoor in Palakkad, would also be given a daily allowance of Rs 500 to meet her training and food expenses in addition to the scholarship, the statement said.