Karthik in Champions Trophy squad
India and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) middle-order batsman Manish Pandey was ruled out of the remainder of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the ICC Champions Trophy starting June 1. Seasoned wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik was called as a replacement for the injured Pandey. Karthik, who played for the Gujarat Lions in the Indian Premier League (IPL), amassed 361 runs, which included two brilliant half centuries. Pandey had missed Wednesday's eliminator against Sunrisers Hyderabad due to the injury and would not be a part of the team in Qualifier 2 against Mumbai Indians, dealing a body blow to Gautam Gambhir's wards. Pandey was KKR's mainstay in the otherwise fragile middle-order scoring 396 runs in 13 innings at an average of 49.50. India play arch-rivals Pakistan on June 4 to begin their defence of the Champions Trophy.
Sharapova won't request wildcard for Wimbledon
Former Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova said she will not request a wildcard into this year's championships after failing to gain a high enough ranking for direct entry to the main draw. The 30-year-old Russian, who returned last month from a 15-month doping ban, said on her website she would play in the qualifying event staged the week before. "Because of my improved ranking after the first three tournaments of my return, I will also be playing the qualifying of Wimbledon in Roehampton, and will not be requesting a wildcard into the main draw," Sharapova said on her website.
Ravi Kumar finishes fifth in World Cup shooting
India's Ravi Kumar shot brilliantly throughout the men's 10m air rifle event but still missed out on a podium finish to eventually secure the fifth position at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup (Rifle/Pistol) in Munich. Ravi shot 185.7 in the medal round on the first day of the competition and qualified for the eight-man 24-shot final in fourth place, shooting a high score of 629.1 in the qualification. This was Ravi's second successive World Cup final of the year, having finished eighth in the first ISSF World Cup stage in New Delhi. The event saw the first gold medal of the competition when Russia's rifle ace Sergey Kamenskiy notched up a world record 250.9 at the end of the air rifle final. Fellow Rio Olympics medallist Vladimir Maslennikov won the silver while Vitali Bubnovich of Belarus settled for the bronze. Two other Indians in the fray, Satyendra Singh and Deepak Kumar, shot 623.9 and 617.8 to finish in 46th and 84th place respectively among 129 shooters.
New Zealand beat Indian eves 3-0
The Indian senior women's hockey team put up a fair performance in their 0-3 loss to New Zealand in the penultimate match of the five-match series. India made a strong start with an improvised attack, attempting shot on goal but the Black Sticks defence continued to be too strong to be beaten. Meanwhile, the hosts found an opportunity in the 14th minute with a quick-thinking Rachael McCann who pumped the ball into the goal clinching an early 1-0 lead in the first quarter to put India under pressure. Tessa Jopp fetched the host team their second goal in the 17th minute. New Zealand earned a penalty corner which was successfully converted by Jopp. Down by two goals, the Indian strikers made strong amends trying different variations at converting a goal but could not break the Black Sticks defence. In-form Rachael McCann struck her second goal of the match in the 26th minute to take New Zealand's lead to a comfortable 3-0 at the end of half-time.
Harikrishna loses to Gelfand in Moscow chess meet
Indian Grand Master P. Harikrishna went down to Israeli GM Boris Gelfand in the sixth round of the Moscow FIDE Grand Prix chess tournament. Coming into the day on the back of a splendid win and a day's rest, the World No. 16 Indian, playing with black pieces could not maintain his momentum and despite giving a tough fight in a game that lasted for 52 moves, failed to avert his second loss of the campaign. With three more rounds to go, Harikrishna is currently placed 16th on the leaderboard with a total of 2.5 points in his kitty. The Hyderabadi will now take on the ninth placed Evgeny Tomashevsky of Russia.