Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday

Spaniard Fernando Alonso escaped injury when he crashed during an Indianapolis 500 practice run on Wednesday after his car lost traction in the middle of Turn 3 and made contact with the wall three times.

The double Formula One world champion's No. 66 McLaren Racing Chevrolet slid into the wall on the exit of Turn 3 before skidding across the track and into the interior barrier and striking the outside barrier again.

When his car came to a stop, the 37-year-old managed to get out unassisted and was later checked, cleared and released from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's Infield Medical Center.

"It was understeer on the car, and even if I lifted the throttle on the entry of the corner, it was not enough, and I lost completely the front aero," Alonso said.

"The wall came too close and too quickly. Unfortunately, it happened today. We will lose a little bit of running time again. I'm sorry for the team, but we will learn and hopefully we will come back stronger tomorrow."

Before the crash, Alonso had recorded 46 laps, with a best of 225.433 mph.

Alonso on May 26 will try to join Graham Hill as the second driver to achieve the "Triple Crown of Motorsport" by adding an Indy 500 win to his triumphs at the Monaco Grand Prix and 24 Hours of Le Mans.

It will mark the second time Alonso has taken part in the race, which he led in 2017 before retiring with an engine problem.

Kynan finishes 15th as men's trap team misses year's third World Cup final

Indian shooters Kynan Chenai and Prithviraj Tondaiman lost the plot after leading on day one of qualifications, finishing 15th and 33rd, respectively, in the men's trap event of the ISSF World Cup in Changwon on Thursday.

The Indians thus missed out on yet another International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup stage final this year after they lost their way in the final three rounds.

Kynan shot rounds of 24, 24 and 22 to finish with 119 points, needing at least 122 to make the finals. Prithviraj shot 118 while the third Indian in the team, Zoravar Singh Sandhu shot 116 to end in 64th place.

Kynan had shot scores of 123 and 122 in the year's first two World Cup stages to finish 10th and seventh respectively, and he missed out in the the South Korean city as well.

Lakshay Sheoran also registered a score of 116 in the non-competition MQS (Minimum Qualification Score) section.

Andreas Makri of Cyprus won gold in the event beating Matthew John Coward-Holley 6-5 in a final round shoot-off after being tied at 45 shots apiece in the 50-shot final.

Olympic golf champion Park wants to defend her title in Tokyo

Former World No 1 Park In-bee has said she wants to defend her Olympic crown at next year's Summer Games in Tokyo after initially having doubts over whether she would compete.

Park, seven-times a major champion, won the gold medal for South Korea in Rio by five strokes from New Zealand's Lydia Ko to become the first Olympic women's golf champion in 116 years.

"When the Rio Olympics ended, I thought the next Olympics four years later were too far off," Park told reporters ahead of this week's Doosan Match Play Championship in Chuncheon.

"I doubted whether I could be still active until then. But as the next Olympics is getting closer, I think it is worth a try."

Park, 30, regained the number one spot in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) rankings in April this year but is now in sixth place.

The top 15 players in the rankings automatically qualify for the Olympics with a limit of four golfers per country. Park is the third-highest ranked South Korean behind world number one Ko Jin-young and number three Park Sung-hyun.

"I know making it to the national team is harder than winning the Olympic gold," Park added.

"I must be very happy and pleased to have a chance to play at the Olympics and defend my title."

The Olympics get underway in Tokyo on July 24 next year.