Jakarta, June 18

Indian shuttler HS Prannoy signed off with a semifinals finish at the Indonesia Open Super 1000 after going down in straight games to China's Zhao Jun Peng here today.

World No. 23 Prannoy couldn't find his rhythm and lacked precision in his 16-21 15-21 loss to Jun Peng in 40 minutes. It was their first-ever meeting.

Playing in his second semifinals at the Indonesia Open, Prannoy, who turns 30 next month, fell behind right at the start as he couldn't keep pace with his opponent in the rallies. The left-handed Chinese put a lot of power in his smashes as Prannoy entered the first interval lagging 6-11. The Indian's net play was not as polished and he also lacked his trademark control.

New Delhi, June 19

Days after winning a silver medal and setting a new national record at the Paavo Nurmi Games, Tokyo Olympics champion Neeraj Chopra on Saturday clinched the men's javelin throw gold at the Kuortane Games in Finland.

In the process, he beat the reigning world champion, Anderson Peters of Grenada, for the second time in four days. The 24-year-old threw the javelin to 86.69 metres in his first attempt, which turned out to be the winning distance. Trinidad and Tobago's 2012 Olympics champion Keshorn Walcott was second with a first-round throw of 86.64m. Peters was third with a best throw of 84.75m, which also came in the opening round.

Chopra's second and third attempts were ruled as fouls and he did only three throws. That meant he had a single legal throw and won the competition with it.

New Delhi, June 17

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch a torch relay for the 44th Chess Olympiad being held in Chennai.

The PM will also address the gathering after the launch on June 19 at 5pm at the Indira Gandhi Stadium here.

FIDE, the international chess body, has instituted the Chess Olympiad Torch, an Olympics tradition, for the first time in its history. The event will be held from July 28 to August 10.

Jakarta, June 16

Indian shuttler Sameer Verma ended his campaign at the Indonesia Open Super 1000 tournament with a straight-game loss to world number five Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the second round here on Thursday.

The 27-year-old, a former world no. 11, went down 10-21 13-21 to sixth seeded Lee in a 43-minute men's singles match.

This was Sameer's fifth loss to Lee in seven meetings.

Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy also bowed out of the tournament after losing 16-21 13-21 to top seeds Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan of China in women's doubles competition.

HS Prannoy will face Hong Kong's Ng Ka Long Angus later in the day, while MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila will take on China's Liu Yu Chen and Ou Xuan Yi.

New Delhi, June 15

Indian Premier League-winning captain Hardik Pandya was named the skipper of the Indian team for the two-match T20 International series against Ireland, to be played in Dublin on June 26 and 28.

The only new face in the side is Maharashtra right-hand batter Rahul Tripathi, who was rewarded for his stellar batting during the IPL as he scored more than 400 runs for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Sanju Samson has made a comeback while Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been named the vice-captain of the squad.

New Delhi, June 15

India's premier rallyist Gaurav Gill is all set to return to competitive racing after a gap of two years. Gill will take part in the WRC Safari Rally in Kenya, which starts on June 23.

Gill's last competitive WRC event was the Rally of Turkey, where he won a lot of plaudits despite not winning. Gill will be driving the Skoda Fabia R5 in the Safari Rally.

"I want to make the most of this chance. I have been out of my seat for the last two years and I am glad that I am back," Gill said. "I will give it my all and ensure that I finish obviously because this rally is not all about speed," he added.

Jakarta, June 15

World No. 8 Lakshya Sen crashed out of the Indonesia Open after losing to compatriot HS Prannoy in an all-Indian second-round clash here today.

Sen was comprehensively beaten 21-10 21-9 by Prannoy in a men's singles match that lasted a little over 30 minutes.

Interestingly, this was Prannoy's first-ever win against Sen. The two had faced each other three times before.

World No. 11 Kidambi Srikanth, who was making a comeback after nearly a month, was stunned by 41st-ranked Brice Leverdez of France 21-23 10-21.

In the men's doubles, MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila got the better of the higher-ranked Japanese pair Keiichiro Matsui and Yoshinori Takeuchi 27-25 18-25 21-19.

However, the women's duo of Ashwini Bhat and Shikha Gautam as they lost 9-21 10-21 to China's Zhang Shu Xian and Zheng Yu.