● The crowd had come to watch him and Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt — racing for the first time in 9 months — did not let them down. The world record holder over both 100m and 200m showed he’s still the best as he finished first with 9.91 seconds in the 100m at the Rome Golden Gala event in Italy. He beat Jamaican compatriot Asafa Powell by two hundredths of a second. This was certainly not Bolt at his best but as he said, it is a good comeback and a good start to the season. He’s now looking forward to his next race. So are all his fans.

Silver bout

● Anil Kumar bagged a silver medal in the 60kg Greco-Roman style at the 2011 Senior Asian Wrestling Championship at Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He lost the final bout to Uzbekistan’s Almat Kebispayev. Kumar, who won India a gold in the Greco-Roman 96kg category at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, did well in the initial stages of the meet in Tashkent. He defeated Iran’s Abdolmohammad Papi 3 -1 in the quarterfinal and Kyrgyzstan’s Beishaliev Azia 3-0 in the semifinal. Wishing Kumar the yellow metal next time!

Right moves

● Girish A. Koushik of Mysore has won the under-14 title in the recent Asian Youth Chess Championships held in Subic, the Philippines. The Class VIII student scored an impressive 7.5 points of the possible 9. In the last five years, Koushik has won the World Youth (U-10), Asian Youth (U-14, U-12 and U-8) and Commonwealth Games (U-14) titles. The young star, however, is the happiest with this latest win. One reason he cites is that he played mostly on a hungry stomach. He’s a vegetarian and such food is a rarity in Subic. Keep up the show, Koushik!

Old is gold

● At 46, US veteran boxer Bernard Hopkins has become the oldest person to win a world title. He beat Jean Pascal in a World Boxing Council light heavyweight bout in Montreal and surpassed the previous record held by US heavyweight legend George Foreman. Foreman was 24 days younger than Hopkins when he clinched the title in 1995. Canadian Pascal put up a hard-hitting fight but the decision went in favour of Hopkins, considered one of the greatest middleweights of all times. He’s really going strong.

You can’t get through this week without…

● …catching up with the 2011 French Open, which is the second Grand Slam event of the year. This is the 110th edition of the event and is being held at Roland Garros, Paris. The singles champions last year were Rafael Nadal (in picture right) and Francesca Schiavone. Don’t miss out on the finals on June 5 to see who are the lucky winners this year.