Paris, July 26 (IANS) Rain is playing hide and seek here in the French capital as the Opening Ceremony is just a few minutes away, dampening the mood of the crowd present. The French Met Department has predicted the risk of rain showers during the ceremony on Friday evening owing to disturbances approaching the Paris region.

Though the weather was pleasant in the afternoon, now the rain continued to disrupt the proceedings.

Earlier, Mateo-France had stated, “In the morning, light rain occurs under a cloudy sky. An improvement is seen in the afternoon, with the rain fading away.

“The risk of showers during the opening ceremony cannot be ruled out.”

However, the Minister of Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games Amelie Oudea-Castera, had promised on the RMC morning show, “The rain will not spoil the opening ceremony! It will not deteriorate the quality of the show.”

The opening ceremony starts at 11:00 PM IST. The scintillating evening will witness almost 100 boats carrying thousands of athletes sailing along the Seine during the parade of the nations.

Paris 2024 will mark the first time in the history of the Olympic Summer Games that the opening ceremony is held outside a stadium.

–IANS

cs/bsk/

Surat, July 26 (IANS) Hockey Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan secured wins in the women’s category, while Madhya Pradesh registered victory in the men’s category on the fourth day of the 2nd Hockey India Sub Junior Men & Women West Zone Championship 2024 here on Friday.

Hockey Madhya Pradesh took on Maharashtra in the first match of the day in the Women’s category and won 6-0 at Veer Narmad South Gujarat University Hockey Ground. The goal-scorers for Madhya Pradesh were Shivani Barasiya (6’), Begum Sajeda (17’), Nammi Geethasri (19’), Vaishali Rathore (20’, 34’), and Keshar Bhabar (35’).

In the second match of the day, Chhattisgarh outclassed Goans Hockey 12-0. For Chhattisgarh, Damini Khusro (11’), Dubee Rawat (15’, 25’, 32’, 56’), and Pratibha Kumari (27’, 59’) netted the goals.

In the last match of the day in the women’s category, Rajasthan edged out Gujarat 1-0. Anjali Teli (52) scored the lone goal of the match in the fourth and final quarter.

In the men’s category, Madhya Pradesh outplayed Rajasthan 20-1. For Madhya Pradesh, Aashir Aadil Khan (8’, 14’, 20’, 23’, 36’, 50’), Karan Gautam (10’, 18’, 25’, 32’, 33’, 50’, 52’), Ajay Kanojiya (11’), Aditya Raikwar (16’), Ashwani Patel (27’), Rishi Morya (33’, 48’), Jitendra Kahar (48’), and Anil Shukla (55’) were the goal-scorers. For Rajasthan, captain Amit Singh (57’) netted the consolation goal.

–IANS

bsk/

Bengaluru, July 26 (IANS) Vidhatri Urs cruised ahead of the field with a bogey-free 3-under 69 in the second round of the 10th Leg of the Women’s Pro Golf Tour at Prestige Golfshire here on Friday. The newly minted pro, who already has a win in her three pro starts, indicated she was about to add to that as she took a two-shot lead over the up-and-coming professional Jasmine Shekar (74-72), who was searching for her maiden success.

Vidhatri, who shot a 3-over 75 with three bogeys and no birdies on the first day, reversed that with three birdies and no bogeys with Jasmine as her playing partner.

On a day when play was delayed because of rain, Vidhatri parred her first four holes and then found her first birdie on the fifth. She added ten pars after that to be 1-under after 15 holes. She then added birdies on the 16th and the 18th for a steady and superb round of 69. Jasmine had four birdies and four bogeys in her 72 that followed her first-round effort of 74.

Sneha Singh, last year’s Hero Order of Merit winner, had a six-shot improvement on her first-round score of 77. She carded 1-under 71, the only round other than that of Vidhatri that was under par. Sneha was tied third at 2-over 146 and four behind the leader.

Hitaashee Bakshi, the first-round leader slipped back to tied third with a second-round card of 78 with just one birdie against one double and five bogeys. Sneha and HItaashee were tied for third with Khushi (74-74) and Amandeep Drall.

The experienced Amandeep Drall, who slipped after a first-round 72, had four birdies against six bogeys and one double bogey for a second-round 76. Rhea Jha (76-73) was seventh, while Saanvi Somu (78-72) was the top amateur in the eighth spot.

Another amateur Mannat Brar (74-77) was tied for ninth with Neha Tripathi (73-78), who is coming back from an injury.

A total of 27 golfers made the cut at 161 in the Rs.13 lakh event and the prominent players to miss the cut included Durga Nittur.

–IANS

bsk/

Brampton (Canada), July 26 (IANS) Australia’s David Warner is excited to be part of another season with the GT20 Canada as his franchise Brampton Wolves begin their 2024 campaign against Surrey Jaguars on Friday. The Australian great said the GT20 Canada is an opportunity for people in the country to fall in love with the game and allows fans to support some quality cricket.

“I’ve played here before and the importance of it is great. It just gives them an opportunity to support teams and shows how good the cricket actually is, and that the people can come out there and support it is fantastic.

“And it’s not just for the players, it’s for everyone in Canada, in general, to fall in love with our game and the importance of having this tournament will just show that and bring that to light and yeah, I’m really excited to be part of that,” said Warner, who will be leading a squad including fellow Australian international Andrew Tye and 2016 world champion Carlos Brathwaite.

Over the years, the GT20 Canada has become North America’s marquee cricket league and Warner said that it had developed a rousing fanbase.

“The fan base is exciting. I’ve seen a lot of stuff on social media. I’ve had a lot of chats with people who played here previously, and they absolutely love it. So, I think the evolution of it is going to be great,” Warner said.

Having been part of the inaugural edition of the GT20 Canada in 2018, Warner said it was up to veterans such as him to return to the tournament and further enhance the excitement quotient.

“And it’s important for people like me to come back. It’s upon me to try and do my best over here and make it as exciting to watch as possible,” Warner said.

–IANS

ab/bsk/

Paris, July 26 (IANS) The first shot at a medal by the 117-member Indian contingent will come in “far away” Chateauroux, a small town of under 50,000 citizens, approximately 300 kms south of Paris, when India’s 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team pairings of Olympian Elavenil Valarivan and Sandeep Singh and Ramita and Arjun Babuta, take aim on Saturday.

The qualification rounds begin at 12:30 pm Indian Standard Time (IST) and the top four combined scores after each of the two shooters in a team fire 30 shots each, make it to the medal rounds at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre.

The two Indian pairs will be up against it as there are several strong teams in the 28-strong detail including the crack Chinese pairing of Du Lingshu and Han Jiayu, who would be looking to defend the title for their national. Mary Carolynn Tucker of the USA, the silver medallist from Tokyo will be with a new partner in Ryan Kissel, while the hosts France, with Manon Herbulot and Romain Aufrere in their ranks, is also sure to come hard.

Speaking ahead of D-day, Dr. Pierre Beauchamp, the High-Performance Director of the team, said, “The team is in a good space and have been training and preparing hard. I don’t see any reason why we should not have a bright start to the Paris Games.”

The qualification round will be followed by the bronze medal match between the third and fourth-placed teams (2 pm IST) and then the top two meet for the gold.

Air Pistol shooters to also begin campaign

Day One of the shooting competitions will also see four other Indians in action when Manu Bhaker and Rhythm Sangwan and Sarabjot Singh and Arjun Cheema shoot the qualification rounds of the women’s and men’s 10m Air Pistol respectively. Those two finals are lined up for Sunday.

The 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team event will give out the first medals of the Paris Games, where shooting will be making its 28th appearance. A total of 170 men and 170 women athletes will be vying for 15 gold medals across the Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun disciplines, where no country can field more than two athletes/teams per event. There are 12 individual events and three mixed team events, which will start on Saturday and continue till August 5.

India have a squad of 21 shooters at the Paris Games with a total of 26 starts.

–IANS

ab/bsk/