Sunday's seven-race card at Mahalaxmi features the Kailashpat Singhania Trophy for Class II horses as the main event. The Karthik-trained Azrinaz, runner up to Shambala who later set blazing fractions for the HPSL Indian 2000 Guineas, shapes as the best bet of the afternoon as she is advantageously placed at the weights compared to her older rivals. First race at 2 pm.Selections: Kazakh Plate (Class V; 2000m)Silver Braid 1, Beyond Stars 2, Marlboro Man 3. Also Read: Hockey India League: Delhi SG Pipers go down to Bengal Tigers Kailashpat Singhania Trophy (Class II; 1400m)Azrinaz 1, Ataash 2, Rambler 3. Dr IC Nagree Trophy (Class III; 1800m)Booster Shot 1, Ardakan 2, Bugatti 3. Lt Col Govind Singh (VRC) Cup (For 3y, Maidens; 1000m)Surrealist , Ministry Of Time 2, Don Julio 3. Indian Air Force Trophy (For 5y&o, Class IV; 1200m)Liam 1, Cordelia 2, The General 3. Ravishankar Gupta Salver (Class IV; 1400m)Amadeo 1, Axlrod 2, Baleno 3. A Hoyt Plate (Class V; 1000m)Trillionaire 1, Superluminal 2, Lightning Blaze 3. Best bet: Azrinaz (2-5)Upsets: Beat The Heat (4-5) & Ananya (7-6) Today's poolsSuper jackpot pool: 2,3,4,5,6,7Jackpot pool: 3,4,5,6,7Treble pool: 4,5,6Tanala pool: All races.
05 January,2025 08:10 AM IST | Mumbai | Prakash GosaviA brace of goals by Jugraj Singh helped Bengal Tigers beat Delhi SG Pipers 4-1 and hand them their first outright defeat of the season in the ongoing Hockey India League (HIL) at the Birsa Munda Stadium here on Saturday. Also Read: No. 1 Sabalenka sweeps into Brisbane final Jugraj (17th, 38th) converted two penalty corners, while Sukhjeet Singh (1st) and Abhishek (47th) struck from field play for Shrachi Rarh Bengal Tigers. Delhi’s lone goal was scored from a penalty corner by Gareth Furlong in the 53rd minute. In Delhi’s previous two matches, both of which went to the shootouts, they won the first while losing the second. The win, their third straight, propelled Bengal Tigers to the top of the points table. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
05 January,2025 08:08 AM IST | Rourkela | IANSWorld No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka brushed aside Russian teenage sensation Mirra Andreeva to storm into the final of the Brisbane International on Saturday, as men’s defending champion Grigor Dimitrov retired with soreness. Also Read: Gauff, Swiatek to fight for United Cup glory Sabalenka broke Andreeva once in the first set and twice in the second to win 6-3, 6-2 in an ominous display just over a week before she launches her Australian Open defence. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
05 January,2025 08:06 AM IST | Brisbane | AFPCoco Gauff and Iga Swiatek are on a collision course for United Cup glory after the USA and Poland won their respective semi-finals on Saturday in Sydney. Swiatek beat Elena Rybakina to help last year’s runners-up Poland see off Kazakhstan and they were joined in Sunday’s final of the mixed-teams tournament by the Gauff-led United States. “I woke up so late today,” said World No. 3 Gauff, 20, after she dismissed Karolina Muchova 6-1, 6-4 to underline what a threat she will be at the Australian Open starting next week. Also Read: Osaka enters final at Auckland Classic Big-serving Taylor Fritz looked poised to level up the men’s singles match after losing the first set when a hot and bothered Tomas Machac shook hands, sending the Americans through. Five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek played a starring role for Poland in their semi-final against Kazakhstan as she beat Rybakina 7-6 (7/5), 6-4. “This win makes me really proud,” World No. 2 Swiatek said after giving Poland an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie. Hubert Hurkacz put Poland on the way when he beat Alexander Shevchenko 6-3, 6-2 in the men’s singles. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
05 January,2025 08:04 AM IST | Sydney | AFPFormer World No. 1 Naomi Osaka reached her first final since 2022 on Saturday as she swept aside unseeded American Alycia Parks at the Auckland Classic. The four-time Grand Slam champion from Japan won 6-4, 6-2 ahead of the Australian Open starting on January 12 in Melbourne. Also Read: Rahmat century gives Afghanistan new hope Osaka was contesting her first semi-final since 2022, having taken a break from tennis and becoming a mother in 2023. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
05 January,2025 08:01 AM IST | Auckland | AFPFormer World No. 1 Novak Djokovic’s Australian Open preparations suffered a blow on Friday as he was bundled out of the Brisbane International by towering American Reilly Opelka. The 2.11 metre (six feet 11 inches) Opelka served magnificently and returned just as well to stun the 24-time Grand Slam winner 7-6 (8/6), 6-3. Djokovic had gone into the tournament insisting that at 37 he still had the game to trouble the younger players. But Opelka, 27, a former world number 17 who was out of the game for almost two years from 2022-24 following hip and wrist surgeries, dominated the Serb and wrapped up a comfortable win in an hour and 40 minutes. Aryna Sabalenka Opelka came back to the sport in July last year but showed his serve has lost none of its potency in his time away. He served 16 aces and only faced one break point throughout the match. “He’s the greatest player ever,” Opelka said of Djokovic. Meanwhile, World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka stepped up her Australian Open preparations as she overpowered Marie Bouzkova in straight sets to reach the semi-finals. Sabalenka, who has won the last two Grand Slams in Melbourne, beat the Czech player 6-3, 6-4 in 1hr 45mins. She now plays Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva, who defeated Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur 6-4, 7-6 (7/2). “Her movement is really great, she’s trying to get to every ball and make you play an extra shot so that’s really difficult,” Sabalenka said of the 44th-ranked Bouzkova. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
04 January,2025 07:42 AM IST | Brisbane | AFPBeing happy to become a Khel Ratna awardee after a stellar performance at the Paris Olympics 2024, Indian men's hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh said that it is an honour to his journey which he still has plenty more to achieve. Double Olympic-medallist shooter Manu Bhaker, chess world champion D Gukesh, Harmanpreet and Paralympic high jump gold-winner Praveen Kumar were finalised for the 2024 Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award by the sports ministry on Thursday. "(It's the) biggest recognition of my life. It's a big achievement for me. I am really very happy. It think it's the best part of my life that I am getting such a huge award and recognition," the 28-year-old Harmanpreet Kaur, who was India's top goal-scorer in the Paris Games with 10 strikes, told PTI in an interview. Harmanpreet Singh has won many important awards in his career. It includes back-to-back Olympic bronze medals, a Junior World Cup gold in 2016, a Commonwealth Games silver, an Asian Games gold and bronze besides two silver medals in the Champions Trophy. Harmanpreet Singh has also been honoured with the FIH Player of the Year award three times, so far. But the Indian skipper is far from satiated. Also Read: Will it be tough to see Rohit Sharma in Indian jersey beyond Champions Trophy? "Throughout my journey I have learnt a lot, I have seen a lot of ups and downs including wins and losses. But I think you only learn from those experiences. From day one, my mindset has been how to improve myself," said the star player who was born into a family of farmers in Amritsar's Timmowal village and whose international career began in 2014. Indeed a team man, Harmanpreet Singh credited his fellow teammates for helping him shine individually. "Whatever we are achieving we are achieving as a team. The journey has been very fascinating, I am getting individual recognitions and awards but only because of my teammates." "I have enjoyed my journey a lot till date. I have put on a lot of hard work and I am happy with what I have achieved till date," he said. Harmanpreet Singh is now eyeing a medal in the World Cup which will be held in Belgium next year. "My main target of course will be the World Cup because it's been long that we haven't won a medal in World Cup. But it's not like that you have achieved everything in life," he said. "We have won back-to-back medals in Olympics but our next target would be to win the gold and win all major tournaments. It's a step by step process and we would like to achieve our targets as a team," he said. Although the retirement stage is still a few years shy, the Indian skipper made it clear that he would always remain associated with the game even after drawing curtains on his career. "World Cup, Asian Games and Olympics gold medals which are missing. The hunger is still there and when I retire, I would like to pass on that (drive) to the new kids because you can't stay away from hockey. Hockey is always in our heart and will remain there," he said. "Whenever the calls comes to me in any capacity, I will be there to give back to the game," he said. Harmanpreet is currently leading Punjab's Soorma Hockey Club at the ongoing Hockey India League in Rourkela. Soorma Hockey Club has so far played two matches, winning one and losing one. "It is going to be tough for every team initially to gel together and get that understanding, build connections. We lost yesterday's match but we did a lot of good things in that. "We can improve our combinations. We will analyse what mistakes we did. It's just the start of the league, long way to go," he said of the event that has been restarted after a seven-year gap. (With PTI Inputs)
03 January,2025 10:12 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondentIndia's first gold medallist in Paralympic Games, Murlikant Rajaram Petkar was on Thursday elated by the news that the Sports Ministry has recommended him for the Arjuna Award in the Lifetime category and said his lone remaining wish has been fulfilled. Petkar won a gold medal in men's 50m freestyle swimming in the 1972 Paralympic Games in Heidelberg, Germany, becoming the first Indian to bag an individual gold medal in the Olympics or Paralympic Games. However, his achievement went unnoticed and unrewarded for decades as para-sports did not get much recognition in those times and were not considered for the Arjuna Award, the top sports award before the Khel Ratna was introduced in 1991-92. On Thursday, Petkar was nominated for the Arjuna Award in the Lifetime category by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sport, 52 years after he should have received it following his brilliant triumph in the Paralympic Games, which came with a couple of world records. The 80-year-old Petkar decided not to dwell on the delay in getting the award but instead expressed his delight at the government finally recognising his achievements. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi conferred the Padma Shri award on Petkar in 2018 and the Arjuna Award in the lifetime category is the second recognition from the present government. "This was my only wish left (to be fulfilled). Before today, this was the only regret, this one was left and now I got this fulfilled too and I am very happy about that. I did not get it earlier, that is right but now I am happy to get it. It always feels good to be recognised. Whatever happens is for the good, it is God's wish," Murlikant Petkar told IANS over the phone from Pune where he spends his retired life with his son, Arjun. "We thank the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indian Army, Sports Authority of India, the Maharashtra government, and all those who supported us over the years," said both Murlikant Petkar and his son Arjun. Arjun also thanked filmmaker Kabir Khan for making a biopic on Murlikant Petkar, Chandu Champion, which highlighted his life story and made it part of popular culture. "I am just really, really happy that this is happening with Murlikant Petkar because the one thing that I did feel which in a certain way I also represented at the beginning of the film is that he felt let down by the country. When I met him, he was not the kind of person who would complain. But you could make out that there's a man who's feeling why didn't I get the recognition that was due to me? And I'm so glad that after over 50 years he's getting that recognition...," Kabir Khan told ANI on Friday. This year, the government awarded Khel Ratna to para-athlete Praveen Kumar, who won the gold medal in the high jump in the 2024 Paralympic Games, along with World Chess Champion D. Gukesh, Paris Olympic Games double bronze medallist shooter Manu Bhaker and two-time Olympic bronze medallist hockey star Harmanpreet Singh. In the list of 32 shortlisted for the Arjuna Award, there are 17 para-sportspersons including javelin thrower Navdeep, Sachin Khilari, Dharambir, archer Rakesh, para-shuttlers Nitish Kumar, Thulasimathi Murugesan, Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivanand Manisha Ramadass. Asked about his dream for para-sportspersons in the country, Murlikant Petkar said he would like to see India win 50 medals in the Paralympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028. "The PCI (Paralympic Committee of India) had set a target of 25 medals for Paris and we won 29 medals. Now I have given a target of 50 medals. I will be even happier if that happens," said Petkar. (With agency inputs)
03 January,2025 04:47 PM IST | New Delhi | IANSNovak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka were in ominous form ahead of the Australian Open, (starting on January 12) as both powered into the Brisbane International quarter-finals on Thursday. Djokovic cruised past fellow veteran Gael Monfils 6-3, 6-3 in 72 minutes. Djokovic and Monfils played an entertaining match, but the 37-year-old Serb was always in control as he notched his 20th straight win over the Frenchman. Former world number one Djokovic plays giant American Reilly Opelka in the last eight. In the women’s draw, World No. 1 Sabalenka — who is aiming to win the Australian Open for the third time in a row — beat Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva 7-6 (7-2), 6-4. India’s Rithivik ousted Meanwhile, Rithivik Choudary Bollipalli, the latest Indian to make steady progress on the ATP doubles circuit, on Thursday made a pre-quarterfinal exit here along with partner Robin Haase. The Indo-Dutch team lost 4-6, 2-6 to Australians Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler in 65 minutes. Bollipalli is set to make his Major debut in Melbourne. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
03 January,2025 08:10 AM IST | Brisbane | AFPThe quartet of shooter Manu Bhaker, chess world champion D Gukesh, men's hockey captain Harmanpreet Singh and para-athlete Praveen Kumar were on Thursday named recipients of this year's Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award -- the country's highest sporting honour. The 22-year-old Bhaker became independent India's first athlete to win two medals in a single edition of the Olympics with her bronze-winning show in the 10m air pistol individual and 10m air pistol mixed team events in August. In the same Games, Hamranpreet led the Indian hockey team to its second consecutive bronze medal. The 18-year-old Gukesh, on the other hand, became the youngest ever World champion while also helping the Indian team win a historic gold in the Chess Olympiad last year. The fourth recipient will be para high-jumper Praveen, who was crowned the T64 champion in the Paris Paralympics. The T64 classification is for athletes who have one or both legs missing below the knee and rely on a prosthetic leg for running. "The awardees will receive their awards from the President of India at a specially organised function at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 17th January, 2025 (Friday) at 1100 hours," the sports ministry said in a press release. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
02 January,2025 03:05 PM IST | Mumbai | PTIIndian Grandmasters Arjun Erigaisi and World Champions D Gukesh retained their fourth and fifth spot respectively in the chess rankings released on Wednesday. Erigiasi, who became the second Indian after the legendary Viswanathan Anand and 16th worldwide to reach the ELO rating of 2800, continues to have 2801 rating points for the fourth spot. While Gukesh, 18, who defeated Ding Liren of China to win the World Championships title last month, is at fifth with 2783 points. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
02 January,2025 08:39 AM IST | New Delhi | PTIADVERTISEMENT
