Lee doping hearing starts in Amsterdam

AMSTERDAM: Malaysian ace Lee Chong Wei's long-awaited doping hearing opened before a three-member Badminton World Federation panel Saturday in Amsterdam, a BWF official said, where the former world number one has vowed to clear his name.

"The hearing is starting" at a hotel near Schiphol International Airport, the official, who declined to be named, said.

Lee's London-based lawyer Mike Morgan refused to comment before the hearing started behind closed doors, with the press being barred access to the hotel.

The BWF also declined to comment, with the federation's Gayle Alleyne telling: "At the appropriate time, BWF will communicate as required."

However, the official said no verdict was expected on Saturday, as the panel needed several days to reach a finding and write their report.

"It's a highly technical issue," the official added.

Last month two-time Olympic silver medallist Lee told the Malaysian-based Star newspaper he hoped the hearing would clear his name and allow him to compete in the 2016 Olympic Games.

"Please pray for me and wish me well (for the hearing session). All I want is to clear my name and return to Badminton," Lee recently tweeted.

Lee, 32, tested positive for the banned anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone at last year's World Championships in Copenhagen, where he lost to China's Chen Long in the final.

If found guilty, he could face a career-ending two-year ban.

One of Malaysia's most popular sports stars, Lee said he received dexamethasone during stem cell treatment for a thigh injury in July last year.

He has maintained that he would retire if he were banned for two years.

Lee has the support of the Badminton Association of Malaysia, with the BWF saying Lee was suspended "due to an apparent anti-doping regulation violation" while the panel considers whether he committed an offence.

Lee has also voiced fears he would never realize his dream of becoming world and Olympic champion.

Despite topping the rankings for years and reaching three world championship finals and two Olympic finals, Lee has never won either of Badminton's two major titles.

He has dropped to 17th on the latest BWF rankings, with his main rival Chen in top spot.

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'Relaxed' Lee Chong Wei arrives for doping case hearing

AMSTERDAM: A calm looking former World No.1 badminton star Lee Chong Wei arrived early for his doping violation hearing that began here on Saturday at Sheraton Hotel amidst tight security.

Dressed in a blue suit, a calm looking Chong Wei arrived accompanied by Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) general manager Kenny Goh for the hearing in front of a three-member independent panel from Badminton World Federation (BWF).

The waiting media at the hotel to follow the hearing was ordered out of the premises by security personnel upon strict orders from BWF.

Chong Wei smiled and waved before he was whisked into the hearing room.

Last month, two-time Olympic silver medallist Lee said he hoped the hearing would clear his name and allow him to compete in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

Lee, 32, tested positive for the banned anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone at last year's World Championships in Copenhagen, where he lost to China's Chen Long in the final.

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India's campaign ends in Singapore Open with Kashyap's loss

SINGAPORE: India's campaign in the Singapore Open Super Series badminton tournament ended on Saturday as Parupalli Kashyap conceded a one game advantage to go down to Hong Kong's Hu Yun in the semifinals of the men's singles.

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The world No. 15 Indian lost 22-20, 11-21, 14-21 to Yun, ranked 13th, in a contest that lasted 58 minutes at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in the $300,000 event.

After this match, Yun has taken a 3-1 lead in career meetings against Kashyap.

The 28-year-old shuttler from Hyderabad started off with a bang, opening up a 3-0 lead and then extending it to 12-4. He kept on maintaining a healthy edge and was comfortably cruising at 19-15.

But just when Kashyap thought of wrapping up the game with ease, Yun fought back with four straight points to make it 19-19.

At 20-20, a cautious Kashyap held on to his nerves and scored two quick points to win the first game.

In the second game, Kashyap completely ran out of steam as he lagged behind from the very beginning and could never catch up with his opponent, who simply stole the game 21-11, to take it to the decider.

The third game turned out to be no different for Kashyap. Breaking away at 1-1, Yun simple surged ahead once again and always maintained a massive lead, even as Kashyap fell far behind and never looked in contention, losing tamely in the end.

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PM Modi, French President Francois Hollande presented cricket jerseys

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Francois Hollande have been presented with cricket jerseys with their names emblazoned on it.

"Q: T20 Cricket in France? A: Oui. Surprise for PM @narendramodi & Prez @fhollande at Elysee Palace banquet," External Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said in a tweet on Saturday.

Akbaruddin also shared images of the two leaders posing with their respective jerseys, both of which said number 1.

Modi's jersey read: "France Cricket N. Modi 1", while Hollande's said: "France Cricket F. Hollande 1".

"Bharat aur France -- ek aur ek gyarah," Akbaruddin said. (India and France -- one and one make eleven.)

Modi arrived in France on Thursday on the first leg of his three-nation tour, which will also take him to Germany and Canada.

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Karthik gets the better of Beshukov in Dubai Open

DUBAI: Young India chess player Rajarishi Karthik defeated Grandmaster Sergei Beshukov of Russia to earn his career best result in the fifth round of Dubai International Open chess tournament here.

Playing with the black pieces, Karthik equalized easily out of an English opening and just when his experienced opponent was exerting pressure, the Indian found a deep hole in his plan and capitalized on an optical blunder to win handsomely in just 30 moves.

Karthik moved to three points with this victory.

However, the higher ranked Indians had a forgettable day on the lone double round day and a lot of hard work lies ahead of all of them to make a comeback.

The highest rated Indian in the fray and a former winner of this tournament - Abhijeet Gupta could not find his form yet again, despite enjoying a great advantage against compatriot and BPCL- teammate S Kidambi.

The game that started with the Knights-Tango ended in a draw, leaving Gupta with just three points and in a very unfamiliar situation in the event post the half-way stage.

The way back for the Indian star is to win a couple of games on the trot and then hope to do his best in the last two rounds.

Grandmaster Sahaj Grover, who suffered from a Laptop-crashing right at the beginning of the tournament, also proved that without the most wanted gazette, even a Grandmaster is sometimes helpless.

Playing the black side of a Benoni against compatriot Abhishek Kulkarki, Grover lost out a Benoni opening and remained on 2.5 points out of his five games.

The best placed Indian GM S Arun Prasad also lost his game against Yuriy Kuzubov of Ukraine. While for the Ukrainian, it was fourth straight victory after a shocking first round defeat, it did not serve Prasad's call as he was tamed out of a level position out of an English opening.

The hero of the previous round, India's Sameer Kathmale also met his nemesis in Tamas Banusz of Hungary. Sayantan Das lost to Eltaj Safarli of Azerbaijan, while Italian Daniele Vocaturo proved too strong for R R Laxman.

Meanwhile, at the top of the tables as many as five players emerged as co-leaders on 4.5 points each. They are David Howell of England, Nils Grandelius of Sweden, Vladimir Fedoseev of Russia, Alexander Shabalov of United States and Andrei Istratescu of France.

The race for the Dubai Open crown is wide open past the half-way stage, but Indians currently lag far behind.

Important and Indian results round 5 (Indians unless specified): Nils Grandelius (Swe, 4.5) drew with David Howell (Eng, 4.5); Vladimir Fedoseev (Rus, 4.5) beat Yuri Solodovnichenko (Ukr, 4); S Arun Prasad (3) lost to Yuriy Kuzubov (Ukr, 4); Sayantan Das (3) lost to Eltaj Safarli (Aze, 4); Daniele Vocaturo (Ita, 4) beat R R Laxman (3); Tamas Banusz (Hun, 4) beat Sameer Kathmale (3); Gaioz Nigalidze (Geo, 4) beat Aniruddha Deshpande (3); Eesha Karavade (2.5) lost to Tigran Petrosian (Arm, 3.5); Abhijeet Gupta (3) drew with S Kidambi (3); Alexandr Fier (Bra, 3.5) beat Nr Visakh (2.5); Mehar Chinna Reddy (2.5) lost to Aleksandr Rakhmanov (Rus, 3.5); Nr Vignesh (2.5) lost to Peter Prohaszka (Hun, 3.5); Abhishek Kelkar (3.5) beat Sahaj Grover (2.5); Abdulla Khayala (Aze, 2.5) lost to Murali Karthikeyan (3.5); Sagar Shah (3) drew with Nino Maisuradze (Geo, 3); Rakesh Kulkarni (2.5) lost to Pascua Haridas (Phi, 3.5); Manuel Petrosyan (Arm, 3.5) beat L N Ram Aravind (2.5); K Rathnakaran (3.5) beat Myrat Babaliyev (Tkm, 2.5); Sergei Beshukov (Rus, 2) lost to Rajarishi Karthi (3); Siva Mahadevan (2) lost to S Vijayalakshmi (3); Isaev Jamshed (Tjk, 3) beat Vinakay Kulkarni (2);Zeinab Mamedjarova (Aze, 2.5) beat Amruta Mokal (1.5); Abdulla Al-Hamed (Uae, 2) beat Akshay V Halagannavar (1).

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Parupalli Kashyap enters Singapore Open semifinals

SINGAPORE: Indian ace Parupalli Kashyap continued his impressive form, advancing to the semifinals of Singapore Open Super Series badminton tournament but young HS Prannoy was left ruing his luck as a foot injury saw him concede his quarterfinal match on Friday.

Commonwealth Games champion Kashyap brushed aside France's Brice Leverdez 21-6, 21-17 in 30 minutes to set up a semifinal clash with Hong Kong's Hu Yun on Saturday.

Prannoy, on the other hand, could not take the court after his foot injury -- suffered during his giant-killing act against Denmark's Jan Jorgensen on Thursday -- aggravated on Friday and he had to give a walkover to Japan's Kento Momota in another quarterfinal match.

Kashyap hardly broke any sweat against Brice as he dished out a game which the French could not negotiate. The Indian opened up a 6-1 lead early on and did not allow the Frenchman to come closer to him.

Kashyap was at his dominating best in the opening game as from 9-6, he registered 12 straight points to leave Brice completely clueless.

In the second game, Kashyap once again took a 4-1 lead early on and kept his nose ahead, despite a fighting Brice who could only manage to reduce the gap to 7-9 at one stage. The Indian never lost the grip from the match and sealed the issue comfortably in the end.

Kashyap has a 1-2 head-to-head record against his semifinal opponent Hu Yun but the Indian can take heart from the fact that he had defeated the Hong Kong shuttler during the 2013 BWF World Championships.

Prannoy, who hogged the limelight yesterday after his second successive win over world number two Jorgensen, could just watch from the sidelines after he was left with a swollen feet due to the injury suffered yesterday.

"It just happened during the second game yesterday. Bad luck. Doctors have said I should be fine in 4-5 days. So hoping to recover as early as possible," Prannoy, who is ranked world number 14, said.

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Brook to defend IBF welterweight title against English rival

LONDON: Kell Brook will defend his IBF welterweight belt against Frankie Gavin in an all-English world title fight in London on May 30.

It will be Brook's second title defense, after stopping Jo Jo Dan in four rounds last month.

The 29-year-old Gavin lost a split decision against European welterweight champion Leonard Bundu last year for his first defeat as a professional.

Brook had wanted to take on Amir Khan in his next fight. Khan, though, has chosen a fight against Chris Algieri.

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Sameer Kathmale beats Jaan Ehlvest in Dubai Open

DUBAI (UAE): International Master Sameer Kathmale caused a flutter by defeating highly-regarded Jaan Ehlvest in the fourth round of Dubai International Open chess tournament on Friday.

Playing the white side of a Ruy Lopez, Kathmale punished Estonian-turned American Ehlvest for entering unwarranted complications out of an equal position once the queens got traded.

The Indian was precise in his technique after Ehlvest sacrificed two pieces for a rook and pawn in the endgame and converted his material advantage in to a full point after 58 moves.

The victory took Kathmale to three points out of a possible four and he has emerged as one of the best performing Indians in this $50000 prize money tournament.

Fancied Indian Grandmaster and former champion here, Abhijeet Gupta suffered a shock defeat at the hands of experienced Alexander Shabalov of United States.

Gupta faced a highly original plan by the American in a Sicilian Najdorf game and though he equalised out of the opening, Shabalov had a nagging edge. In the middle game however, Gupta could not handle the attack on his king and eventually lost a piece to go down.

Grandmaster Sahaj Grover enjoyed a winning advantage against compatriot Mehar Chenna Reddy but a blunder in the middle game cost the former dearly as Reddy escaped with a draw. It was on the 34th move out of a Sicilian Rauzer, that Grover missed his chance and drew 10 moves later.

Meanwhile at the top of the tables, top seed David Howell of England maintained a clean slate winning his fourth game on the trot. On the receiving end was Sergey Volkov of Russia who was outdone with the black pieces.

Howell, along with Yuri Solodovnichenko of Ukraine and Nils Grandelius of Sweden share the lead with a clean slate and they followed by a pack of nine players with 3.5 points each.

Indian Grandmasters S Arun Prasad and R R Laxman along with Sayantan Das, Aniruddha Deshpandey and Kathmale are among those who have three points apiece while Gupta and Grover fell behind in the standings on 2.5 points each. There are five rounds still remaining in the tournament that features 39 Grandmasters vying for the first prize of $12000.

Among other Indians in the fray, L N Ram Aravind drew with International Master K Rathnakaran to continue to with his impressive show and reached 2.5 points. Also reaching the same score was GM S Kidambi at the expense of Zeinab Mamedjarova of Azerbaijan and Eesha Karavade who defeated her former Pune city-mate Amruta Mokal.

Important and Indian results round 4 (Indians unless specified): David Howell (Eng, 4) beat Sergey Volkov (Rus, 3); Nils Grandelius (Swe, 4) beat Gaioz Nigalidze (Geo, 3); Yuri Solodovnichenko (Ukr, 4) beat Gadir Guseinov (Aze, 3); Alexander Shabalov (Usa, 3.5) beat Abhijeet Gupta (2.5); Aleksandr Rakhmanov (Rus, 2.5) drew with Nr Vignesh (2.5); Peter Prohaszka (Hun, 2.5) drew with Abhishek Kelkar (2.5); S Vijayalakshmi (2) lost to Daniele Vocaturo (Ita, 3); Sameer Kathmale (3) beat Jaan Ehlvest (Usa, 2); Sahaj Grover (2.5) drew with Mehar Chinna Reddy (2.5); Nabil Saleh (Uae, 2) lost to S Arun Prasad (3); Murali Karthikeyan (2.5) drew with Rakesh Kulkarni (2.5); Mikhail Kuznetsov (Rus, 2.5) drew with Sagar Shah (2.5); Mohannad Farhan (Jor, 2) lost to Sayantan Das (3); Imed Abdelnabbi (Egy, 2) lost to Aniruddha Deshpande (3); L N Ram Aravind (2.5) drew with K Rathnakaran (2.5); R R Laxman (3) beat Saeed Ishaq (Uae, 2); Sundararajan Kidambi (2.5) beat Zeinab Mamedjarova (Aze, 1.5); Amruta Mokal (1.5) lost to Eesha Karavade (2.5); Nr Visakh (2.5) beat Jobannie Tabada (Phi, 1.5); Akshay V Halagannavar (1) lost to Firouzja Alireza (Iri, 2); Rajarishi Karthi (2) beat Elmejbri Ali (Lib, 1); Faisal Ali (Uae, 1) lost to Siva Mahadevan (2); Vinayak Kulkarni (2) beat Abdulla Al-Hamed (Uae, 1); Al Yaghshi M. Hisham (Syr, 2) beat Harikrishnan Samyuktha (1).

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Santoso on course for Singapore Open double

SINGAPORE: Indonesia's Simon Santoso stayed on course to win the first ever consecutive Singapore Open badminton titles as he cruised into the semifinals on Friday.

The unseeded Santoso, now the hot favourite in a field bereft of big names, took just over half-an-hour to beat Thailand's Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk 21-10, 21-19.

With all the men's singles seeds gone, Lee Chong Wei awaiting his fate in a doping case and Lin Dan opting out, Santoso has a golden chance to defend his crown.

In Saturday's semifinals, he will play Japanese world number 10 Kento Momota, who profited from a walkover from India's HS Prannoy.

"For tomorrow, it's definitely not easy. Momota is a resilient player and tomorrow he will definitely work very hard," said the 38th-ranked Santoso.

Hong Kong's Hu Yun, who shocked Chinese top seed Chen Long in the second round, will play Parupalli Kashyap of India in the semifinals.

In the women's singles, the Chinese were made to work hard for their semifinal spots with Wang Shixian and Wang Yihan taking more than an hour to win through.

Second seed Wang Shixian fought hard to beat Akane Yamaguchi 21-18, 21-18, while fourth-seeded Wang Yihan took more than an hour to overcome Ratchanok Intanon 10-21, 21-19, 21-12.

"Perhaps it was the draft (from the air conditioning), I wasn't in control and made more mistakes," said Wang Yihan, when asked about dropping the first game.

"My opponent was more prepared, because every time I play with her, it's not easy. Especially when the time is stretched out, it gets more difficult."

Wang Shixian will play compatriot Sun Yu in the semifinals, while Wang Yihan will face Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan for a place in the title match on Sunday.

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IBF champion Brook set for all British title fight against Gavin

LONDON: International Boxing Federation welterweight champion Kell Brook said on Friday he felt invincible ahead of his all-British title bout against Frankie Gavin in London on May 30.

The 28-year-old Brook, who has long sought a fight with compatriot Amir Khan, enjoyed a successful inaugural title defence against Jo Jo Dan in the champion's home town of Sheffield, northern England, last month.

Khan will instead take on Chris Algieri as he looks to continue on a path he hopes will lead to a bout with the unbeaten Floyd Mayweather, set to take on Manny Pacquiao in a long-awaited welterweight title clash in Las Vegas on May 2.

Brook, meanwhile was in buoyant mood ahead of his clash with Gavin: "I never expected to be out again so quickly but I can't wait.

"I respect Frankie for stepping up, he has called for this fight for a long time and after he was given a final eliminator against Tim Bradley it made sense for him to take the challenge.

"I feel like I'm unbeatable right now and Gavin isn't going to be able to cope with my speed and power on fight night."

Brook saw off Romanian boxer Dan with a fourth-round stoppage but an undaunted Gavin said: "These are the fights you want to be part of and are where I belong.

"I've dreamt of a world title and I will be 100 percent ready physically and mentally for Kell Brook.

"Of course it's going to be tough but I believe Kell is beatable and I've always felt that I have got the skills and the team to cause an upset."

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