A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
After stupendous success at the recently-concluded Commonwealth Games, top Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal, P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth made positive starts to their campaign at the Asia Badminton Championship, in Wuhan, on Wednesday.
While Saina and Sindhu registered straight game victories over their respective rivals to enter the second round, Srikanth had to fight it out in his men's singles opener.
Saina, who had clinched a gold medal at Gold Coast, continued her good run as she brushed aside Singapore's Yeo Jia Min 21-12, 21-9 while Sindhu, who had lost to Saina in the CWG final to settle for the silver, defeated Chinese Taipei's Pai Yu Po 21-14, 21-19 in women's singles competition.
Former world no 1 Saina will meet China's Gao Fangjie, while Olympic and world championship silver medallist Sindhu, seeded third, faces another Chinese Chen Xiaoxin next.
Top seed and CWG silver medallist Srikanth eked out a come-from-behind 13-21, 21-16, 21-16 win over Japan's Kenta Nishimoto in men's singles to set up a clash with Hong Kong's Wong Wing Ki Vincent.
However, Sameer Verma's fight against seventh seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei ended with a 21-23, 17-21 loss.
The men's doubles pair of Arjun MR and Ramchandran Shlok and women's combo of Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha S Ram too joined the singles stars in the second round after pulling off thrilling wins in the opening round.
Arjun and Ramchandran had to dig deep into their reservoir before seeing off World championship quarterfinalists Chung Eui Seok and Kim Dukyoung of Korea 25-23, 23-21, while Meghana and Poorvisha held their nerves in pressure situations to beat Singapore's Ong Ren-Ne and Wong Jia Ying Crystal 14-21 22-20 21-17 in a women's doubles encounter.
However, mixed doubles pair of Saurabh Sharma and Anoushka Parikh lost 17-21, 14-21 to Korean combo of Kim Won Ho and Shin Seung Chan.
Another Indian pair of Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewangan also crashed out after losing 11-21, 13-21 to Hong Kong's Lee Chun Hei Reginald and Chau Hoi Wah.
Jeremy wins 2 medals at Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting C'ship
India's Jeremy Lalrinnunga (56 kg) broke two national records to win a silver and a bronze medal at the Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championship at Urgench, Uzbekistan.
Lalrinnunga registered his best total of 250 kg to win the silver in youth section and a bronze medal in the junior section.
The 15-year-old created national records in youth boys and junior men during his lift of 250 kg, the Indian Weightlifting Federation statement read.
Sidhant Gogoi, 14, finished with a bronze medal with a lift of 243 kg in youth boys section.
Earlier, two Indian woman athletes from Odisha won a silver and a bronze medal.
Jhilli Dalabehera (48 kg) clinched the silver medal after lifting 166 kg (73+93), while Sneha Soren (48 kg) lifted 145 kg (63+82) to bag the bronze medal in Youth Girls.
Jacob Vanlaltluanga won a bronze medal in the 62kg youth boys with a total lift of 239 kg (108 kg (Silver medal) in Snatch + 131 kg in Clean and Jerk).
Joshna's good run in Egypt ends with loss in quarters
Joshna Chinappa's campaign at the El Gouna International PSA world series squash event ended with a loss to fourth seed Laura Massaro in the quarterfinals.
The 16th seeded Indian, after beating eight-time world champion Nicol David, went down against Massaro in straight games.
The top English player won 11-4, 11-8, 11-2 in a quarterfinal lasting 23 minutes.
The other Indian in the women's draw, Dipika Pallikal, had lost to Camille Serme in the opening round.
Both Pallikal and Chinappa had secured a doubles silver at the recently concluded Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.
No finals for Indian shooters on day 4 of ISSF World Cup
Indian shooters, including Heena Sidhu, Manu Bhaker and Anish Bhanwala, could not make the finals of their respective events on the fourth day of the ISSF World Cup in Changwon, South Korea.
India have so far won one silver medal courtesy Shahzar Rizvi in the men's 10m air pistol.
In the women's 10m air pistol, Heena was the best-placed Indian at 14th with a score of 574. Mahima Turhi Agrawal and Manu Bhaker shot identical scores of 571 to be placed 27th and 30th respectively post the qualification round.
Belarus' Victoria Chaika won the event.
In the men's 25m rapid fire pistol, both Neeraj Kumar and Anish Bhanwala had a better outing than the first qualification day, their scores of 579 and 578 giving them the 13th and 16th positions respectively.
Korea's Junhong Kim, a former world champion, won the host country's first gold of the competition with a world record score of 38 out of 50 in the finals.
In the mixed trap team event, the first Indian pairing of Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Shreyasi Singh came very close to a finals qualification, eventually shooting a combined 139 out of 150 to finish 10th.
The top six teams made it to the finals and another couple of points would have seen Manav and Shreyasi through.
India's second team in the event, comprising Kynan Chenai and Seema Tomar, shot 134 to end 21st out of 39 teams.
Former Indian athlete Tony Daniel passes away
The Athletic Federation of India (AFI) has condoled the demise of joint secretary and chairman of its technical committee, Dr. Tony Daniel, who passed away at the age of 66.
Expressing grief on the demise of former Indian sprinter Daniel, AFI President Adille J Sumariwalla said, "It is a great loss for AFI. It is very sad. Tony was an experienced member of the AFI family and he will be missed a lot. On behalf of AFI, I would like to express our deepest condolences to his family."
AFI Secretary and a close friend of Daniel CK Valson said, "I spoke to Tony at 7 a.m. this very morning and it is really shocking to me. I have lost a close friend of years. He was always there with me playing a major role in the conduct of all major competitions in India over the years. I will miss him a lot. May God gives strength to his family to bear this great loss."
Daniel, who was a former athlete, felt slight discomfort on Wednesday morning before he was rushed to the hospital, where he breathed his last. He was survived by his wife and daughter.
Born in Ernakulam, Tony represented Kerala State and University on many occasions at the national championships both in junior and senior categories between 1968 and 1972.
He was the State Sprint Champion in 1970 and held the record for many years. One of his district records stood intact for 30 years!
He served as the Secretary of Kerala Athletics Association for eight years and was Executive Vice-President of the Association till his demise. He was associated with the Kerala State Sports Council on various capacities and organised numerous state, university, inter-university, national and international competitions during his life-time.
He was also the Deputy Competition Manager during the Commonwealth Games, Delhi 2010 and Competition Director (Athletics) in South Asian Games, Guwahati 2016. A qualified IAAF technical official and lecturer, Tony officiated in many international championships in various countries.
He also served as the Team Manager of the national squad in last year's World championships in London.
Junior hockey teams start campaign at Youth Olympic Qualifier with big wins
The junior Indian men and women's hockey teams started their campaign at the Youth Olympic Qualifiers with emphatic wins in Bangkok on Wednesday.
The women's team blanked Singapore 14-0 while the men's side beat home team Thailand 25-0.
In their first Pool B match, the women's team opened their account in the second minute via a goal from Sangita Kumari. Three minutes later, Mumtaz doubled the lead with vice-captain Lalremsiami adding to the tally in the seventh minute.
Ishika Chaudhary and Sangita made it 5-0 at the end of the first period.
Singapore had no answers to the pace and skills showed by the Indian team in the second period. Deepika scored the sixth and seventh goal in space of two minutes. Sangita, Lalremsiami and Mumtaz came to the party scoring four more goals between them as at the end of second period India were leading 11-0.
There was no respite for Singapore in the final period as Lalremsiami and Sangita added three goals in the final period with the match ending at 14-0. Sangita ended with six goals (2', 8', 15', 17', 21', 28') to her name while Lalremisiami scored three (7', 17', 21').
Meanwhile, the junior men's team gave no home ground advantage to Thailand. Seven goals in first period and 10 in the second and eight in third left the hosts gasping for breath.
Mohammad Alishan (4', 10', 17', 20', 25', 29') with six goals and Rahul Kumar Rajbhar (2', 12', 18' 22', 23') with five did the bulk of scoring across three periods.
Rabichandra Moirangthem (10', 15', 20', 29') and skipper Vivek Sagar Prasad (7', 9', 27', 28') hit the back of the net four times each. Except for the goalkeeper every member of the squad was on scoring sheet at the end of the regulation time.
The junior men's team will take on Japan in their second pool game tomorrow while the women's team will take on Korea.
The five-day tournament is a qualifying event for Youth Olympic 2018 to be held at Buenos Aires, Argentina which will follow the futuristic Hockey 5's format.
