Just days after Sanjita Chanu’s dope failure rocked Indian weightlifting comes the news that another star weightlifter, reigning world champion Mirabai Chanu, has pulled out of the Asian Games owing to a lower back injury. Mirabai was one of the country’s brightest medal hopes at the Jakarta-Palembang Asiad. The Gold Coast CWG gold medallist informed about her decision in a letter to the Indian weightlifting federation (IWLF). “I would like to inform the federation that I was injured and now I have started training from last week. I want to focus more on World Championships to be held in November 2018 in Ashgabat because that is a qualifying event for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. I am not ready for the Asian Games, so I withdraw my name from the Asian Games,” Mirabai wrote to IWLF secretary general Sahdev Yadav.
Anand fourth in rapid chess
Five times world champion Viswanathan Anand had a mixed opening day with a win, a loss and a draw in the St. Louis rapid and blitz chess event that got underway at St Louis (US). Starting off with a brilliant victory over Hikaru Nakamura of United States, Anand missed the thread against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France in the second round and then settled for a draw with Sergey Karjakin of Russia to end the day on three points out of a possible six.
Jayaram loses in final
Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram lost to Indonesian Shesar Hiren Rhustavito in straight games in the final of the Vietnam Open at Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday. World No.79 Rhustavito defeated No.93 Jayaram 21-14, 21-10 in 28 minutes to win the title at the Nguyen Du Cultural Sports Club. In the first game, Jayaram and Rhustavito fought well till the mid-game interval. But Rhustavito raced to 21-14 victory with a dominating show after the break. The Indonesian kept up the momentum as he took a 14-5 lead to make the win a mere formality. Jayaram surrendered at 10-21 in the second game.
Archer Verma confident of winning two medals
Top Indian archer Abhishek Verma is still confident of clinching two medals in the Asian Games, the same number he won in the last edition, despite the compound section he competed in will not have individual events this time. The 29-year-old Verma won two medals - one in individual and the other in team event - Incheon Asian Games in 2014 out of India's total of four, all from the compound section. The recurve archers had returned empty handed. With two World Cup gold medals and one silver in World Cup Final, Verma is the top medal prospect in these Asian Games beginning August
Chandimal returns to Lanka T20 squad after ban
Sri Lanka skipper Dinesh Chandimal returned to their Twenty20 squad after serving an international ban for breaching the spirit of the game. Chandimal was included in a 15-member squad for the one-off T20 that will round off South Africa's tour of the island nation, Sri Lanka Cricket said in a statement. The 28-year-old missed the two-Test series, which Sri Lanka won, and was out of the first four one-day internationals. The fifth and final ODI was on Sunday, but Chandimal was not included in the squad for that match. Chandimal was banned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) along with coach Chandika Hathurusingha and manager Asanka Gurusinha for refusing to take to the field for two hours during the second Test against the West Indies in June. It was shortly after Chandimal was accused of tampering with the ball. The Sri Lanka captain was subsequently banned from the third Test against the West Indies and given a fine equal to his match fees. He was later banned for another two Tests and four ODIs after pleading guilty to violating the spirit of the game.
