New Delhi, July 6 (IANS) Last year’s runners-up Ona Jabeur is enjoying her time at Wimbledon so far after reaching the third round of the tournament with successive straight wins in the opening matches.

Tunisian tennis player said her playing style suits grass courts and she hopes to do well in the ongoing Grand Slam.

“It’s an honour for me, representing my country and my continent. Obviously, there’s a bit of pressure, but it’s a good pressure, a good responsibility to send a positive message. I hope I’m doing it well. I will continue doing that. I hope I can inspire more and more and see more players from my country and my continent being here. I am enjoying every moment, and I love playing on grass so much that my game really suits this beautiful court. I’m just trying to be here, enjoy every moment, enjoy the crowd, the love of the crowd, and prepare like I prepared for the other years,” Jabeur told Star Sports.

Talking about her wish to visit India soon, she said, “I need just 2 million more Indian fans, please, follow me. I need to go, seriously, I need to go to India. I’ve never been there. This is one of the items on my bucket list. My fans in India, I’m looking forward to coming one day. I really love the country and I want to discover it more and more. So when I have time, I really want to go and enjoy it there. It’s coming from the heart, really. And Sania (Mirza) will be there.”

American tennis player and current world no.2 Coco Gauff shared her thoughts on dealing with emotions and expectations coming into Wimbledon.

“Just treating it and enjoying it, honestly. I think there’s always going to be expectations put on me, but I take it as an honour. I think if people expect big things from you, that means you’re doing something right, so hopefully I can continue to do things right,” she said.

Reflecting on her US Open win and aspirations for Wimbledon, she added, “It would mean a lot, especially here at Wimbledon; it’s probably the most prestigious tournament we have, and it would be an honour to maybe hold that trophy. But if not, I would love to at least win another slam to get that feeling again.”

Jabeur will take on Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina in the third-round clash on Saturday while Gauff will lock horns with countrymate Emma Navarro in the round of 16 match on Saturday.

–IANS

ab/

Panipat, July 6 (IANS) Olympic gold medallist javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra’s mother Saroj Devi said she will send a special ‘churma’ (a popular delicacy from Haryana and Rajasthan) for Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the latter requested for it during a recent interaction with the athlete.

“We wish that Neeraj wins the gold medal again and get the opportunity to meet PM Modi again. Yes, this time I’ll send special churma made with ‘desi ghee’, ‘shakkar’ and ‘khand’,” Saroj Devi told IANS.

On Thursday, PM Modi hosted Paris Olympic-bound athletes at his residence to have a conversation with them. During such a chat with Neeraj, PM asked the javelin thrower to bring homemade ‘churma’ for him prepared by his mother.

Neeraj casually greeted the PM, saying, “Namaskar sir, kaise hain?” (Hello sir, how are you?) To which PM Modi replied with a chuckle, “Mai vaisa hi hu” (I am just the same).

PM Modi then joked, “Mera choorma abhi tak aaya nahi” (I haven’t received my churma yet), sparking laughter all around.

With a shy smile, Neeraj replied, “Is baar Haryana wala choorma khilayenge sir, pichli baar Delhi ka cheeni wala khaya tha” (This time I will treat you with churma from Haryana; last time we had the sugary one from Delhi).

The PM eagerly expressed his craving for homemade churma, saying, “Mujhe tumhari maa ke haath ka choorma khana hai” (I want to savour churma made by your mother).

After their humorous banter, PM Modi wished Neeraj all the best for the Paris Olympics, urging him to stay fit and injury-free.

Neeraj’s father Satish Kumar said his son detailed his training and preparations for the Olympics to PM Modi.

“Neeraj told PM that his training is going well and he’ll give his all to clinch the second gold medal for the country,” he said.

“He has missed some of the events in the past due to groin injury but now he has recovered and wants to focus on the Olympics. He wants to better his previous record and win a medal. He is currently training for 6-8 hours daily under the guidance of his coach and physio,” Satish added.

–IANS

ab/

Dusseldorf, July 6 (IANS) Switzerland have perhaps been the best team in the 2024 European Championship after Spain and Germany. The team has proved that they are up for a challenge as they defeated defending champions Italy in the Round of 16.

Ahead of their matchup with England, head coach Murat Yakin has promised that side ‘will cause England problems.’

“England have a lot of quality. We don’t know what they plan to do but we have shown already that we can mix it against big teams – against the defending champions [Italy] and the hosts [Germany]. We will cause England problems,” said Yakin to reporters in the post game press conference.

Switzerland were in Group A and their impressive outing saw them finish with seven points and finish second on goal difference. The side then went on to dominate Italy in their first knockout game with a 2-0 victory.

“I assume that England has enough quality to play well in a quarter-final but we are in good shape and have shown that we are ready to upset big teams. Why not give big England a problem and play our game and see what happens?,” added the Swiss head coach.

Switzerland will be playing their fifth ever major tournament quarter-final. They have been eliminated at this stage in all four of their previous attempts, this is the most any European nation has featured in quarter-finals of major tournaments without ever participating in a semi-final.

The winner of the tie will be facing the winner of the Netherlands vs Turkey quarter-final.

“Everyone is working towards a common goal. We’re happy to be here, living the moment. The mood in the camp is very good. We are developing together,” concluded the 49-year old.

–IANS

aaa/

Silvis (Illinois), July 6 (IANS) England’s Aaron Rai and CT Pan of Chinese Taipei gave the scoreboard at the John Deere Classic a strong Asian flavour as they shared the lead at the midway stage of the PGA TOUR event.

Rai, whose parents have an Indian origin going back to his grandparents, shot another bogey-free round of 8-under 63 to share the lead with Pan going into the weekend at the John Deere Classic. Rai was 65-63 for two rounds and Pan was the same and the duo was 14-under.

The pair lead by two strokes from England’s Harry Hall (66), while Korean star Sungjae Im also powered into contention following a superb 64 to be tied for fourth with five others, including overnight leader Hayden Springer on 130.

A week ago Rai shared the 54-hole lead in Detroit and wound up one shot begin winner, Cam Davis. Rai, who was bogey free in his first round 65 went two shots better and was still without a bogey on his scorecard. He is looking for his maiden PGA Tour win after a lot of close calls.

Rai’s grandparents from both his mother and father’s side have Indian origins. His mother grew up in Kenya, before they migrated to UK, where Aaron was born in Wolverhampton.

The impressive performance at TPC Deere Run will certainly boost Pan’s confidence ahead of the Olympics where he won the bronze medal in Tokyo, beating the likes of Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa and Hideki Matsuyama in a seven-way playoff for the podium finish.

Pan holed out from 32 yards for an eagle en route to a flawless 8-under 63. The 32-year-old Pan, who won the 2019 RBC Heritage for his sole PGA TOUR victory, pitched in for a two on the par-4 14th hole at TPC Deere Run to post his best score of the season, complemented by six earlier birdies.

Pan’s Paris 2024 Olympic Games-bound compatriot Kevin Yu also delivered an impressive 63, improving 57 places for joint 10th. Yu chalked up 10 birdies, seven of which came on the back nine, offset by two bogeys.

Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune carded a second successive 67 to comfortably progress to the weekend rounds in T32 at 134. He is followed by S.H. Kim of Korea, who shot a 69 to sit one shot further back in T39.

Two-time John Deere winner Jordan Spieth made the weekend with 69-67.

–IANS

hs/

New Delhi, July 6 (IANS) The Copa America and the European Championships are nearing the business end of the tournament. Saturday’s fixtures will see the top four sides in both tournaments be confirmed.

All eyes will be on the battle of the heavyweights with Brazil and Uruguay set to clash at the Allegiant Stadium in Nevada. Brazil have had a topsy-turvy start to their tournament with the side finishing second in their group behind Colombia.

Uruguay on the other hand are tied with Argentina as the record winners of the tournament (15 times) with the side being in top form heading into the game having scored nine goals in their three Group stage games.

Colombia have been on a 25-game unbeaten streak and will be hoping to beat Panama in what is expected to be a one-sided encounter.

With Argentina and Canada already set up for the first semi-final of the tournament, the winners of Colombia vs Panama and Brazil vs Uruguay will face each other in the next round.

England will be facing a tough test in their quarter-final matchup against in-form Switzerland. The Three Lions have been struggling to score and just managed to scrape past Slovakia in their Round of 16 game with a 2-1 win after extra-time.

Reports suggest that Southgate may be looking to switch the formation to a back three to take on the swift counter-attacking side.

Netherlands will be full of confidence heading into their game against Turkey having breezed past Romania with a 3-0 win in the Round of 16. The Dutch have not reached the semi-finals of the Euros since 2004. Turkey on the other hand will hope to continue their dream run and make their first semi-final appearance since 2008.

Euro Cup schedule:

Saturday: England vs Switzerland 9:30 PM IST

Sunday: Netherlands vs Turkey 12:30 AM IST

Copa America schedule:

Sunday: Colombia vs Panama 3:30 AM IST

Sunday: Brazil vs Uruguay 6:30 AM IST

–IANS

aaa/