Parth Salunkhe settled for bronze as pressure of making finals triggers a 7, when needing 10

Nitin Sharma is an Assistant Editor with the sports team of The Indian Express. Based out of Chandigarh, Nitin works with the print sports desk while also breaking news stories for the online sports team. A Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award recipient for the year 2017 for his story 'Harmans of Moga', Nitin has also been a two-time recipient of the UNFPA-supported Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity for the years 2022 and 2023 respectively.
Nitin mainly covers Olympics sports disciplines with his main interests in shooting, boxing, wrestling, athletics and much more. The last 17 years with The Indian Express has seen him unearthing stories across India from as far as Andaman and Nicobar to the North East. Nitin also covers cricket apart from women's cricket with a keen interest. Nitin has covered events like the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the 2011 ODI World Cup, 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2017 AIBA World Youth Boxing Championships.
An alumnus of School of Communication Studies, Panjab University, from where he completed his Masters in Mass Communications degree, Nitin has been an avid quizzer too. A Guru Nanak Dev University Colour holder, Nitin's interest in quizzing began in the town of Talwara Township, a small town near the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border. When not reporting, Nitin's interests lie in discovering new treks in the mountains or spending time near the river Beas at his hometown. ... Read More

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Hindustan Times

4 hours ago

• Hindustan Times

Habz, Stark light up Diamond League as Girma banishes Paris blues

Unheralded Azzedine Habz and Grace Stark lit up a drama-loaded Diamond League meet in Paris on Friday, snatching the limelight with two outstanding performances that put a raft of higher-profile athletes in the shade. HT Image Paris proved to be the perfect testing ground as athletes continue to fine-tune their form ahead of September's world championships in Tokyo. Habz sent the partisan crowd into raptures by becoming the sixth fastest man over 1500m of all time, riding the coattails of two pacemakers to clock 3:27.49 for a meet record and new French best. In a shockingly fast race, Kenya's Phanuel Kipkosgei Koech set a world junior record in second, while 11 of the next 12 athletes all timed personal bests, including national records for the Netherlands, Belgium and South Africa. "It's incredible, there's no other word for it," said the 31-year-old Morocco-born Habz, twice a minor medallist at European indoors. "It's truly a dream come true. To succeed in a race like this in Paris is even stronger." There were a rash of further meet records in perfect, hot conditions at Stade Charlety. American Stark clocked 12.21sec in the 100m hurdles to go joint fifth fastest of all time, holding off Nigeria's 2022 world champion and world record holder Tobi Amusan. "I wanted to break that 12.3 so bad!" Stark said. "It feels that I can have a party. "And then, I just need to keep working, taking it race by race, stay focused and stay quiet." Dominican Republic's Marileidy Paulino made no mistake in the women's 400m although she had to pull out all stops down the home straight to outpace Bahraini rival Salwa Eid Naser. Paulino, gold medallist at last year's Paris Olympics and the 2023 worlds in Budapest, made it three victories in a row at Charlety in 48.81sec, four-hundredths ahead of Naser. American Rai Benjamin also racked up a meet record of 46.93sec in the 400m hurdles, making easy work of the victory in the absence of Norwegian arch-rival Karsten Warholm and Brazilian Alison Dos Santos. "Sub-47 is impressive. I just ran smart and ran for the win," said Benjamin. Ethiopia's Lamecha Girma lit up the 2023 edition of the Meeting de Paris by smashing the previous world record (7:52.11) for the 3,000m steeplechase. There was disaster at the Paris Olympics, however, after Girma fell heavily in the last lap of the Stade de France track. But he made a winning return to Stade Charlety, winning in 8:07.01 after admitting he had overcome a sense of dread. "This is a big thing for me today, especially after the Paris Olympics," Girma said. "It feels it was a long time ago, so this was very important for me. This is a very big achievement, so I am very happy." "I was a little scared at first getting into the race. Now that the race is finished I feel much better." Morocco's Sofiane El Bakkali is the two-time Olympic steeplechase champion, but he opted to race the 5,000m in Paris alongside the Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha, who claimed his 11th Diamond League victory in 12:47.84. Kenya's Faith Cherotich ran a world lead of 8:53.37 in the women's steeplechase, holding off Uganda's Peruth Chemutai. Australia's Nicola Olyslagers, a two-time world indoor champion who has won twice in Paris (2021, 2023), won the women's high jump with a best of 2.00m. Ukraine's Yaroslava Mahuchikh, the world and Olympic champion who set the current world record of 2.10 metres at last year's Diamond League meet in Paris, finished second with 1.97m on countback from another Australian, Eleanor Patterson. Grant Holloway, the three-time world champion and Olympic gold medallist making his return to action after a disastrous opening outing in China, could only finish fifth in the 110m hurdles, albeit in a season's best of 13.11sec. It was his US teammate Trey Cunningham who won in a personal best of 13.00sec, ahead of Dylan Beard, also in a PB of 13.02sec, while Jason Joseph set a Swiss record of 13.07 for third. And Spain's Mohamed Attaoui picked an inside line to outpace the American duo of Josh Hoey and Bryce Hoppel in what he called a "brutal" 800m in a season's best of 1:42.73. lp/ea

News18

7 hours ago

• News18

Indian Hockey Players To Get A Monthly Stipend From Sports Ministry

Last Updated: Indian hockey players selected for national camps will receive a Rs 25,000 monthly allowance. The decision, costing Rs 20 lakh per month, was approved by the sports ministry. For the first time, Indian hockey players selected for the men's and women's national camps will receive a Rs 25,000 monthly out-of-pocket allowance, a decision sanctioned by the sports ministry after consistent requests from the sport's governing body. Eighty players (40 men and 40 women) are set to benefit from this allowance, which is extended to athletes in the developmental group of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme. The decision was made during the Mission Olympic Cell's monthly meeting on Thursday. This allowance will cost the government Rs 20 lakh per month, while core group athletes receive Rs 50,000 per month. 'The allowance was being requested by Hockey India for some time, and we have decided to accept the demand. The players have performed reasonably well, and it is on merit," Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya informed reporters in an informal interaction. Hockey India will need to submit a list of players every month to facilitate the disbursement of funds. 'The list will consider form and fitness, and names might change depending on these factors," a sports ministry source explained. Currently, hockey players earn salaries from their respective departments and organisations, although a proposal for a graded contract system by Hockey India has been under consideration for the past few years. Their additional source of income comes from prize money for strong international performances in events like the Olympics and the Asian Games. The men's team has secured two consecutive bronze medals in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and the subsequent Paris Games last year. The women's team finished fourth in Tokyo but did not qualify for the Paris event. Both teams are currently competing in the FIH Pro League's European leg, where the results have not been particularly encouraging so far. The MOC also approved financial proposals amounting to Rs 4.28 crore during the meeting. A significant portion of the funds — Rs 1.38 crore — will be allocated to tennis players such as Saketh Myneni, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, and three women players. 'Several proposals for assistance from para-athletes were also approved. Additionally, a few additions were made to the TOPS developmental group. The core group remains unchanged for now," a Sports Authority of India (SAI) official stated. The ministry has also decided to enhance its talent identification process with an app that will allow talented youngsters to upload their performances for evaluation by regional talent identification panels of the SAI. 'If found promising at first glance, the youngster will be invited to Khelo India Regional Centres where their potential will be assessed. This will broaden our talent identification mechanism, which is currently limited to age group competitions," Mandaviya said. 'It will ensure that we can reach the remotest corners of the country to find promising athletes. This is all part of the National Sports Repository System," he added. With PTI inputs.

Indian Express

8 hours ago

• Indian Express

Neeraj Chopra Paris Diamond League 2025 Live Updates: Neeraj vs Weber showdown again, javelin throw to start at 1.12 am IST

Neeraj Chopra Paris Diamond League 2025 Match Result Live Updates: India's javelin star Neeraj Chopra will be back in action as he competes in the Paris leg of the Diamond League and will be hoping to get the better of Germany's Julian Weber, who had trumped him the last time they met at the Doha event in May. In Doha, Neeraj had finally breached the 90m mark but Weber had upstaged the Indian's 90.23m throw with 91.06m with his last throw and claimed the top spot on the podium. Neeraj will look to one up him this time around in a stacked field which also consists of Anderson Peters of Grenada. At the Janusz Kusocinski Memorial a week later, in chilly conditions not ideal for throwing, Neeraj struggled for most of the event but Weber was operating in a zone that no one else in the field was. While the Indian star did manage to come up with 84.14m with his last throw (and extended his run of finishing in the top two to 22 events since June 2021), Weber threw thrice beyond 85m while no one else managed to even once. Last year, Neeraj had missed the Paris Diamond League in order to prepare for the Olympics where he snapped up silver with a throw of 89.45m. He last competed in the Paris DL in 2017 as a junior world champion and finished fifth with a throw of 84.67m. India's Neeraj Chopra in action during the Men's Javelin Throw in Doha (Reuters) Neeraj Chopra at Paris Diamond League: Javelin star set for another battle with Julian Weber In his Instagram post at the end of the 2024 season, Neeraj Chopra – reflecting on a year that wasn't up to his high standards but still saw him keep his place on the Olympic podium and continue his streak of top-two finishes – wrote about his learnings and setbacks. 'While I couldn't meet my own expectations, I feel this was a season in which I learned a lot. I am now determined to return, fully fit and ready to go.' One of the replies to that post came from Julian Weber, who had finished a disappointing 6th at Paris 2024. The German wrote: 'Such a great season bro, next year 90m will be easy for us.' And followed that with a muscle flex emoji.