A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
India and Pakistan are set to renew their rivalry in the six-nation Kabaddi Masters Dubai which will get underway at the Al Wasl Sports Club here from June 22 to 30.
India are clubbed with Pakistan with new comers Kenya in group A, while group B features Iran, Republic of Korea and Argentina with top two teams making the semifinals.
India will be going up against strong contenders with kabaddi maestros Iran and Republic of Korea successfully proving their prowess in the Asian Games and Kabaddi World Cup.
Republic of Korea had beaten India in the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup opener, fuelling India's bid for retribution this time.
"Kabaddi Masters Dubai 2018 will give us the chance to go up against the best teams and will go all out to gun for the trophy," India coach Srinivas Reddy said.
"A tournament of this stature does well to bring nations together," Muhammad Sarwar Secretary General Pakistan kabaddi Federation said.
Yuki back in 80s, Prajnesh touches career-best rank of 169
Top-ranked Indian singles player Yuki Bhambri jumped nine places to 84 while Prajnesh Gunneswaran touched a career-best rank of 169 after climbing 14 spots on the ranking ladder.
Yuki had crashed out in the first round of the French Open but made quarterfinals at the Surbiton Challenger to gain 30 points from the two events.
The left-handed Prajnesh, who missed out on playing his maiden Grand Slam as 'lucky loser' at Roland Garros, has had a good first half of the season, winning his maiden singles Challenger trophy apart from an ITF Futures title.
The 28-year-old has also qualified for his maiden ATP World Tour event in Stuttgart.
Ramkumar Ramanathan lost seven places to be 128 and young Sumit Nagal dropped to 234 after losing 14 places.
Arjun Kadhe was the next best Indian at number 360.
In the doubles, Rohan Bopanna was the leader of the pack at number 22 (+2) and was followed by Divij Sharan (43, -2), Leander Paes (59, -3) and Purav Raja (77, -12).
Vishnu Vardhan broke into the doubles top-100 for the first time in his career after gaining two places to get to 99.
In the WTA rankings, Ankita Raina continued to be India's number one player at 203 (+5) and was followed by Karman Kaur Thandi (262, +2), Pranjala Yadlapalli (393, +32) and Rutuja Bhosale (403, -3).
Errani doping suspension increased to 10 months by CAS
Italian tennis player Sara Errani's ban for an anti-doping violation has been increased from two to 10 months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the Swiss-based tribunal said.
The 2012 French Open runner-up tested positive for letrozole - a substance used in the treatment of breast cancer -- in an out-of-competition test in February 2017.
CAS said it accepted that the source of letrozole was "medication taken by her mother that found its way into the family meal prepared by the Athlete's mother and eaten by the entire family."
But it said that Errani was guilty of a "light degree of fault" which justified a 10-month ban.
Errani, winner of five Grand Slam doubles titles and ranked 75th in the singles standings, was initially banned for two months by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) in August 2017 and her results from Feb. 16 to June 7 that year were declared void.
The CAS decision followed appeals by the Italian anti-doping agency, which asked for a longer ban, and Errani, who asked for her voided results to be reinstated.
She will now have to serve the remaining eight months for the ban.
Two Indians enter final, Gaurav settles for bronze in Russian boxing tourney
Two Indian boxers advanced to the finals but Gaurav Bidhuri (56kg) settled for a bronze medal after going down in the last-four stage of the Umakhanov Memorial Tournament in Kaspiysk, Russia.
World Championships bronze-medalist Bidhuri lost to Kazakhstan's Siroshiddin Abdullayev in a split 2-3 decision, rounding off a fine campaign in his comeback tournament after being out due to a back injury.
Advancing to the final were Brijesh Yadav (81kg) and Virender Kumar (91kg).
While Yadav out-punched local favourite Abdulla Nazhmudinov, Kumar got the better of Azerbaijan's Gulguseyn Agazade to make the summit clashes scheduled for Tuesday.
Among the Indian women, only Saweety Boora (75kg) has made the final.
World youth champion Shashi Chopra (57kg), former Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist Pinki Jangra (51kg) and Pavitra (60kg) had lost their respective semifinal bouts to settle for bronze medals.
Spanish Moto3 teenage rider dies after crash
Promising young Spanish Moto3 rider Andreas Perez has died from injuries sustained in a crash in Barcelona over the weekend.
The 14-year-old was racing in the second Repsol Moto3 FIM CEV event of the day for his team Reale Avintia at the Circuit Barcelona Catalunya on Sunday when he crashed on turn number five at the course, before being struck by riders behind him.
After being immediately attended to on the scene, Perez was transferred to Sant Pau Hospital in Barcelona with serious brain injuries, however was later pronounced dead.
Perez made his Moto3 debut last year after impressing in the battle for the European Talent Cup, before permanently joining Reale Avintia this season.
"We have lost a great rider, but moreover a great person and we will miss him a lot," read a team statement. "The team and all its sponsors want to offer all their support and wishes to Andreas's family in these extremely difficult moments."
Perez's death is the third in as many years at the Catalonian track, following that of Enric Sauri in the 24 Hours of Catalonia race last year and Moto2 rider Luis Salom in 2016.
ICC provisionally suspend Zimbabwe official Ikope
Zimbabwe Cricket director Enock Ikope has been provisionally suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and charged with three counts of breaching the organisation's anti-corruption code, the governing body said.
Ikope, chairman of the Harare Metropolitan Cricket Association (HMCA) since 2015, is the second official from HMCA's board to be penalised by the ICC after Rajan Nayer was banned from all cricket activities for 20 years in March.
Nayer, who was the treasurer and marketing director of HMCA, accepted charges relating to offering Zimbabwe captain Graeme Cremer $30,000 to fix an international match last year and was banned.
Ikope has been charged under ICC's Article 2.4.6 and Article 2.4.7, which includes offences such as refusing to co-operate, delaying and obstruction of an investigation into possible corruption by the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU).
It is unclear if Ikope's charges stem from the same incident as Nayer's.
"Mr Ikope has 14 days from June 11, 2018 to respond to the charges. The ICC will not make any further comment in respect of these charges at this stage," the ICC said in a statement.
