Gutta turns on the heat

New Delhi: Jwala Gutta paired up with V. Diju and Ashwini Popanna, respectively to enter the quarter finals of the mixed and women’s doubles events in the Chinese Taipei Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament Thursday.
The Indian men’s doubles pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas went down 17-21, 18-21 to the Malaysian pair of Teik Chai Gan and Bin Shen Tan in the second round. In men’s singles, 13th seed P. Kashyap lost his third round match against Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia. Chetan Anand, Anup Sridhar and Aditi Mutatkar had crashed out Wednesday.

Sneijder focus

Madrid: The Netherlands midfielder Wesley Sneijder is fully focused on new club Inter Milan after agreeing a move to Italy from Real Madrid, who, he says, had treated him “very badly”. Both clubs have yet to confirm the deal and declined to comment on Thursday, but Spanish and Italian media reported the fee was euros 15 million ($21.4 million) plus another euros 3 million linked to objectives.

Bayern keen

Madrid: Bayern Munich are keen to buy Real Madrid’s Dutch winger Arjen Robben. “We are interested in Robben but no agreement can yet be reported,” spokesman Markus Hoerwick told the club’s website on Thursday.

Dmytro deal

Madrid: Barcelona are confident of closing a deal with Shakhtar Donetsk to sign their central defender Dmytro Chygrynskiy after Friday’s European Super Cup against Ukrain.

Marykom move

New Delhi: Four-time world champion, MC Marykom Thursday signed with the sport foundation set up by Prakash Padukone and Geet Sethi, which will provide the boxer training and financial assistance for the 2012 London Olympics.

Asia in lead

Beijing: China’s Ma Lin and Ma Long helped Asia to a 6-4 lead after the first two days of the inaugural All Star challenge against Europe, which will resume in Turkey in November.

GP roadblock

New Delhi: The 2011 Indian Grand Prix has hit a roadblock with the promoters of the event failing to get government’s nod for remitting the money they owe to UK-based Formula One Administration.

Baljit better

New Delhi: Baljit Singh Thursday said he can see objects within two metres after the successful surgery on his damaged right eye in the US. The injured hockey ’keeper, however said he would have to wait for two-three months more to know whether his vision is completely restored.

Under scanner

London: British police have questioned world No.2 snooker player Stephen Maguire and another professional in connection with claims of irregular betting patterns linked to a tournament, a police spokesman said Thursday. Maguire and Jamie Burnett were questioned by Scotland’s Strathclyde Police before being released.

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