Chanu returns from injury to bring home gold
NEW DELHI: World champion Indian weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu on Thursday notched up a gold medal at the EGAT Cup in Thailand, making a strong comeback from the lower back injury that kept her out of action for more than half of 2018.
Chanu won the 49kg category gold with an effort of 192kg in the silver-level Olympic qualifying event, the points from which will come in handy when the final rankings for Tokyo 2020 cut are done.
“This is my first international event after recovering from injury. I am feeling 100 per cent fit but since this is first one after injury, it is not the best result,” Chanu said.
DHARMA, AMAN LEAD
HYDERABAD: Bengaluru’s M Dharma and Patna’s Aman Raj moved into joint lead after the second round of the season-opening Golconda Masters Golf Championship here on Thursday. Noida golfer Gaurav Pratap Singh, meanwhile, produced a phenomenal 10-under-61 to shatter the course record at the majestic Hyderabad Golf Club (HGC) and lie at tied fourth.
FIRST TITLE FOR TVESA
AHMEDABAD: A calm and steady Tvesa Malik carded one-over 73 to claim her first title of the season in the third leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour here on Thursday. Tvesa, who started the day with an eight-shot lead, almost doubled that as the rest of the field floundered on a difficult scoring day at the Kensville Golf and Country Club.
PUNJAB IN SEMIS
GWALIOR: Defending champions Punjab along with Railways, Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) and Punjab & Sind Bank entered the semi-finals of the 9th Senior National Hockey Championship on Thursday.
Punjab beat Haryana 3-0 in the first quarter-final . In the second quarter-final, Punjab & Sind Bank (PSB) pipped Air India Sports Promotion Board 3-2. In the third quarter-final, PSPB crushed Mumbai 5-0 while in the final last eight clash, Railways beat Karnataka 5-0.
SOLID START FOR VANI
BALLARAT:INDIA’S Vani Kapoor on Thursday produced a solid twounder 71 on her LPGA debut at the ISPS Handa Vic Open, which is co-sanctioned by Australian LPGA and US LPGA. Vani, shot 71 with birdies on second, fifth and 13th to lie tied 37th.
SAI GRANTED ₹35CR
NEW DELHI: The Sports Ministry has granted ₹35 crores from its National Sports Development Fund to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) for customised training of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) athletes.