Crans-sur-Sierre: India’s Jeev Milkha Singh and Shiv Kapur made a strong start to their Omega European Masters campaign with an identical three-under 68 to be placed tied 19th after the first round at Golf Course Crans-Sur-Sierre.

Aiming to impress international team captain Greg Norman to be one of his wildcard picks for the President’s Cup, Jeev fired four birdies against a lone bogey to make a strong claim for Tuesday’s President’s Cup selection. He started on his back nine and picked up birdies at the 11th, 15th and 17th, dropping a stroke at the 13th hole.Compatriot Shiv, who is also on a mission to retain his European Tour card, sunk four birdies and a bogey in the first round to finish 113th.

Jai, Nanao up

New Delhi: Jai Bhagbeat Ireland’s Eric Donovan to enter the pre-quarters on Friday after Thokchom Nanao Singh pummelled Azerbaijan’s Elvin Mamishzade in his opening bout at the World Boxing Championships in Milan.While Jai (60kg) beat his rival 11-6, Nanao (48kg) demolished Mamishzade 21-6 to make it to the second round of the mega-event.

Women lose

Ningbo: D. Harika and Eesha Karvade’s resistance could not save India from a 1-3 defeat against title favourite China in the third round of the World Women’s Team Chess Championship . IM Tania Sachdev lost her third game to Zhao Xue on the second board. Mary Ann Gomes was the other Indian to lose.

Geet wins

Leeds: Geet Sethi continued his fine run at the 2009 World Professional Billiards Championship with an empathetic 1247-185 win over Austria’s Michael Kreuziger on the second day of the event . Other Indians — Dhruv Sitwala, B. Bhaskar and Rupesh Shah have made it to the quarter finals.

Archery

Calcutta: The Indian recurve archers finished third in the team qualification round on Day III of the 45th World Archery Championship at Ulsan, Korea, Friday. The Indian trio of Mangal Singh Champia, Jayanta Talukdar and Rahul Banerjee cobbled together a total of 4006 points to finish behind Korea (4122) and France (4026). The Korean team surpassed its 2003 world record to set a new mark with 4122 points. Individually, Champia ended seventh overall with a total of 1345 points. Talukdar was 13th with 1340 and Banerjee was 32nd with 1321 in a field of 115 archers.

Fixing charge

London: Renault will face charges of fixing last year’s Singapore Grand Prix by staging a crash that helped Spaniard Fernando Alonso win, Formula One’s governing body said Friday.

The International Automobile Federation (FIA) said in a statement that Renault representatives had been summoned to a meeting of its World Motor Sport Council in Paris on September 21

Call for Bagan

Calcutta: Amarendra Sharan, the former Additional Solicitor General of India and the All India Football Federation (AIFF) arbitrator, will meet the Mohun Bagan officials next Wednesday to find a quick solution to the Bhaichung Bhutia issue.