Sports ministry cold shoulders Leander
NEW DELHI: Elite athletes preparing for the Tokyo Olympics, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games will receive a stipend of ~50,000 per month to meet their expenses, sports minister RVS Rathore announced on Friday.
The government has selected 152 elite athletes under the Target Olympic Podium scheme. All the athletes will get benefit from this decision. The stipend will be paid with effect from September 1. However, Leander Paes and Saketh Myneni have been left out from the initial list of tennis players, who have been chosen .
Sports ministry sources said that among the tennis players who have been chosen for allowance are Yuki Bhambri, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Rohan Bopanna and youngster Sumit Nagal. Three women players, Sania Mirza, Prarthana Thombare and Karman Kaur Thandi, have also been included.
RAIN RUINS THIRD DAY
KANPUR: Heavy rain played spoilsport on the penultimate day of the four-day Duleep Trophy match between India Red and India Green at the Green Park here on Friday.
Only 34 deliveries were bowled on Friday before rain forced everyone to go back to the pavilion. India Blue were 232 for three when the umpires called off the day’s play due to a wet outfield.
MCGILL HAS IT EASY
NEWDELHI :Defending champion Anthony McGill started strongly and finished even stronger, beating Iran’s Hossein Vafaei 4-1 on Day 4 of the Indian Open Snooker at Visakhapatnam on Friday.
The Scotsman started in brilliantly, taking an unassailable 89-0 lead in the first frame, and though Vafaei came up with a break of 70 to take the second frame, McGill polished off the next three frames with two halfcentury breaks to win the contest.