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Taking the spotlight this bright morning is the Australian Open, where the indomitable Rohan Bopanna (and Mathew Ebden) starts off his nth Grand Slam campaign and soon we’ll have Sumit Nagal walk out for his second-round singles match after the sensational win over Alexander Bublik on Tuesday. it is a packed day, though, with the India Open badminton on as well as a crucial Olympic women’s hockey qualifier semifinal for India vs Germany and the men’s football team in action in the AFC Asian Cup against giants Uzbekistan.
We have separate, minute-by-minute live blogs for Nagal, the hockey and the football.
This live blog, meanwhile, will be updated throughout the day, so keep checking back for updates and analysis.
Here are the key updates from January 18, Thursday:
Shooting: Jaspal Rana asked to leave range
Well, Jaspal Rana and controversies are back. This time, the former shooter and Manu Bhaker’s personal coach has now claimed that he was asked to leave the Karni Singh shooting range in New Delhi by India’s high performance director Pierre Beauchamp.
Rana told PTI that he had visited the range to oversee Manu’s training as the Commonwealth Games and Youth Olympics gold medallist prepares for the upcoming Paris Olympics. Beauchamp cited the “SOP” (Standard Operating Procedure) put in place by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) and asked him to leave.
“I was standing quite far from where the shooters were practising. But he came and asked me that I can’t stand there, that I need to leave the range, or I will get into trouble with the NRAI,” Rana said.
“I told him to not worry about me. I told him that I am Arjuna Awardee and have been a national coach. But he said you are not a national coach (now), so please leave. My question is who is he to stop me? What is his background?”
In response, the NRAI said the SOPs are to be “adhered to in better interest of the sport”.
“Shooting has won record quotas for the upcoming Olympics. The hard work of athletes and coaches/support staff is supplemented with careful coordination by the High-Performance Director. The shooters and personal coaches are advised to strictly adhere to SOPs during camps/competitions in better interest of the sport,” the NRAI said.
Rana said he would be writing to the NRAI president Kalikesh Singh Deo and will also apprise the Prime Minister’s Office about the matter.
“What does he (Beauchamp) know about Indian shooting? What does he know about shooting? In fact, after he was done with me, he had approached Manu on the firing line and asked her ‘go and tell your coach to leave the range’. Can you imagine?” Rana said.
Australian Open: Sumit Nagal exits in the second round
Nagal won the first set 6-2, but that was about as good as it got for the Indian against China’s Shang Juncheng as he lost the second round tie 6-2, 3-6, 5-7, 4-6.
You can relive the action (and read a comprehensive match report) right here.
Australian Open: Bopanna-Ebden survive first-round scare
Second seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden were made to sweat, but made it to the second round of the Australian Open with a 7-6 4-6 7-6 win over the Australians James Duckworth and Marc Polmans.
Bopanna and Ebden were 0-5 down in the opening set but staged a superb comeback to take the opening set 7-6. In the second and third sets, there was only one break of serve, which came the way of the Australians in the second set.
The third set went to a match tie-break, which Bopanna and Ebden completely dominated to win 10-2.
What’s in store today?
Quite a lot, in fact:
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Women’s Hockey Olympic Qualifier semifinal: India vs Germany – 7.30 PM
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AFC Asian Cup: India vs Uzbekistan – 8 PM
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India take on Uzbekistan in their second AFC Asian Cup match – 8:00 PM
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India take on Germany in the Olympic qualifier semifinal – 7.30 PM
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The India Open has Indian interest via Prannoy vs Rajawat (3.45 PM approx) and Sat-Chi (4.30 PM approx)
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IWL: East Bengal FC take on Odisha FC – 2.00 PM
What happened yesterday?
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India Open: Sat-Chi advance to the second round after a scare; but Ponnappa-Crasto, Srikanth Kidambi, Aakarshi Kashyap are among those who exit in early.
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PKL: Gujarat Giants beat Dabang Delhi while the Jaipur Pink Panthers continued their good form, beating Haryana Steelers by 10 points
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Super Cup: FC Goa beat Bengaluru FC 1-0, Odisha FC put three unanswered past Inter Kashi
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IWL: Kickstart FC beat Sethu FC 1-0
You can check all the details of yesterday’s news events, here.