Disappointing start for Lahiri in FedEx Cup, may miss cut
A hole out for an eagle from 90 feet was one of Anirban Lahiri’s few bright spots on yet another day of missed putts, as he carded five-over 75 in the Northern Trust 2017, the first of the FedEx Cup play-offs. Lahiri’s 75 placed him 110th and in danger of missing the cut. Though he was 61st starting the week and should stay on for the next event, too.
Lahiri is the first Indian to figure in the FedEx-Cup play-offs. He qualified last year but skipped it. The leader was Russell Henley, who found his form at the right time with a 64 after a series of notso-good results. Henley, unfamiliar with the course like most others in this field, took a conservative and it worked by getting him eight birdies. It was his secondlowest score of the year.
AITA GETS RECOGNITION
The sports ministry has granted recognition to the All India Tennis Association (AITA) almost a year after the tennis body’s renewal as a National Sports Federation (NSF) was put on hold due to non-compliance with the contentious Sports Code.
The ministry had on Thursday sent a communication in this regard to the AITA, which elected a new president early this year after Anil Khanna was forced to quit in 2016. Threatened with de-recognition, AITA had elected senior bureaucrat Praveen Mahajan as the new chief of the body at its executive committee meeting on December 1 last year. However, the government insisted that AITA hold proper election, hence, a SGM was held on February 3 in Pune and Mahajan was elected president till 2020.
NEERAJ INJURED
Top Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra suffered a groin injury while taking part in the Diamond League Meetings finals, which led him to skip his last two rounds of the competition in Zurich. The 19-year-old Indian junior world record holder did not attempt his fifth and final throws due to the injury and his first round effort of 83.80m fetched him a seventh place finish in a strong eight-man field in Zurich last night. He fouled his second round throw and came up with 83.39m in the third.
“During the third round throw, I had a groin injury. I tried for the fourth throw but (because of the pain) I stopped at the run-up,” said Chopra.