MANPREET TO LEAD INDIA IN HOCKEY WORLD LEAGUE SEMIS

NEW DELHI: Midfielder Manpreet Singh will lead India in the threenation hockey tournament starting June 1 at Dusseldorf. In the absence of PR Sreejesh, ruled out due to knee injury, the Punjab international will also lead the 18-member squad at the Hockey World League Semifinals at London beginning June 15. With Sreejesh out, Hockey India have selected Akash Chikte and Vikas Dahiya as goalkeepers. The team is training at Bengaluru and will leave for Europe on May 29.

‘KOCHI FIT FOR U-17 WORLD CUP’

KOCHI: The Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium in Kochi was on Thursday declared fit for hosting the FIFA U-17 World Cup. Tournament director of the Local Organising Committee, Javier Ceppi made the announcement after inspecting the works being carried out in the stadium. “We are happy to say that Kochi is a World Cup venue. There would be eight matches to be played in Kochi,” he said.

NADA’S MAJOR INITIATIVE

NEW DELHI: In a major step in its fight against doping, the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) said the country will have its first Athlete Passport Management Unit to handle administrative management of Biological Passports. There are 11 APMUs recognised by WADA all over the world while India does not have one. The NADA said that it will constitute a group of experts in related subjects for Athlete Biological Passport Management.