Prannoy breaks into top-10 in BWF ranking
New Delhi: Newly-crowned national champion H S Prannoy broke into top-10 by jumping a spot in the latest BWF World rankings released on Thursday. US Open champion Prannoy, who had reached a career-best world number 11 ranking last week, improved a place further to grab the 10th spot. He has been rewarded for his consistent performance this season where he reached the semifinals at Indonesia Open and French Open. Kidambi Srikanth, who has been in rampaging run this season with four titles and five finals, remains static at career-best world No 2, while Singapore Open champion B Sai Praneeth, who skipped the ongoing China Open Premier, slipped a spot to be at the 16th position. Sameer Verma, who is recovering from some fitness issues and skipped the last few tournaments, crashed out of the top 20. Ajay Jayaram, who is recuperating from a knee issue, also slumped a place to be at 23rd spot. In women's singles, Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu remained as World No 2 and World No 11.
Hafeez banned again for illegal bowling action
Dubai: The ICC on Thursday suspended Pakistan off-spinner Mohammad Hafeez from bowling in international cricket with immediate effect after an independent assessment found his action to be illegal. Hafeez, who is currently the world's top-ranked ODI all-rounder, has been suspended from bowling for the third time in three years. "Saddened to know the result of my bowling action from ICC, it would never pull me down, wil (will) never give up, worked so hard to remodelled it & wil (sic) work again twice harder to get better to serve my beloved country Pakistan," Hafeez wrote on his twitter handle. The 37-year-old was reported during the third ODI against Sri Lanka on October 18 in Abu Dhabi and had undergone an independent assessment of his bowling action on 1 November at Loughborough University. However, the assessment revealed that the majority of his deliveries exceeded the 15 degrees level of tolerance permitted under the regulations.
Vinesh, Ritu bag gold at Wrestling Nationals
Indore: Vinesh Phogat and Ritu Phogat bagged the gold medal in their respective weight categories of women's wrestling on the opening day of the National championship here on Thursday. In women's wrestling, bouts were fought in only two weight categories today and in both, the Phogat sisters emerged triumphant. While Commonwealth Games gold medallist Vinesh, representing Railways, finished on the top of the podium after getting the better of Haryana's Manisha in women's 55kg, youngster Ritu bagged the yellow metal in women's 50kg after beating Nirmala. According to the national women's team India coach Kuldeep Malik, both the Phogats performed well to ouster their respective opponents. In Greco-Roman, Harpreet Singh of Punjab defeated Amarnath Yadav of Railways to win the gold medal in 82kg weight division.
elite athletes not bothered by Delhi pollution
New Delhi: International elite athletes, including world champion marathoner Geoffrey Kirui and 10,000m Olympic gold medallist Almaz Ayana on Thursday brushed aside concerns of pollution in the national capital and said they were ready for the Delhi Half Marathon on Sunday. There have been calls to postpone or cancel the event and the Delhi High Court had issued a notice to the race organisers after the Indian Medical Association wrote a letter to the Court in this regard. But the likes of Kenyan Kirui and Ethiopian Ayana have no such concerns and said they were looking forward to the race. The international elite athletes reached India on Wednesday and were introduced to the media on Thursday. "I am feeling all right. Everybody is going to run and I am also going to run. I am not concerned about this (pollution)," Ayana said. Agencies