Sports Shorts: ATP apologises for Next Gen 'sexist' draw ceremony

A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Monday

The ATP has apologised after the draw ceremony for the Next Gen Finals on Sunday was branded a "disgrace" after female models revealed groupings with letters hidden under their clothing.

The letters A or B were placed on various parts of the bodies of the eight models involved in the draw in Milan, where the flagship tournament for ATP players aged 21 and under begins on Tuesday.

Players were then asked to choose a model in order to discover which group they had been placed in.

One model revealed her letter by lifting up her dress to flash her thigh, while another took off a jacket to expose the letter B on her back.

Former Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo took to Twitter on Monday to brand the draw spectacle a "disgrace". Judy Murray, mother to former world number one Andy, described it as "awful".

In a joint statement with sponsors Red Bull the ATP said it "deeply regretted" the ceremony.

"The ATP and Red Bull apologize for the offence caused by the draw ceremony for the Next Gen ATP Finals," the statement said. "The intention was to integrate Milan's rich heritage as one of the fashion capitals of the world.

"However, our execution of the proceedings was in poor taste and unacceptable. We deeply regret this and will ensure that there is no repeat of anything like it in the future."

The inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals was created to revitalise tennis to a new generation of fans and will showcase the young players expected to be winning the game's big prizes, once the current golden generation have hung up their rackets.

A raft of innovations, including shot clocks, electronic line calling and shortened sets, will be tested out.

Rather than offer a glimpse of the future, however, the glitzy draw ceremony has been accused of taking the sexism debate back to the 1970s.

French player Alize Cornet wrote on Twitter: "Good job @ATPWorldTour Supposed to be a futurist event right? #backtozero"

The five-day tournament, being held at the Fiera Milano convention centre, is being run in conjunction with the ATP and the Italian Tennis Federation.

Indian women hockey team ranked 10th in world after triumph

The Indian women's hockey team on Monday broke into the top-10 in the FIH world rankings following their Asia Cup title triumph in Japan.

The India team gained two places in the ranking table to be placed at the 10th spot behind Korea and ahead of Spain.

European champions Netherlands top the charts, maintaining their position, and are followed by England and Pan American Cup champions Argentina.

USA have dropped down to seventh, with 2017 Oceania Cup winners Australia replacing them in fourth position. New Zealand and Germany also leapfrogged USA, taking up the fifth and sixth position respectively.

Chile made considerable gains, moving up five positions from 20th to 15th after they picked up the silver medal in this year's Pan American Cup.

Along with Chile, the CzechRepublic (now 19) and Singapore (35) were amongst the biggest risers, all moving up five positions.

The India's men's team has maintained the sixth position in the latest rankings.

Meanwhile, Hockey India on Monday announced a cash award of Rs 1 lakh each to the 18-member squad which won the Asia Cup in Kakamigahara, Japan.

Coach Harendra Singh will also gets Rs 1 lakh and members of the support staff Rs 50,000 each. India last won the Women's Asia Cup in 2004 when the event took place in New Delhi.

The team remained unbeaten in the tournament, scoring 28 goals and conceding five.

Satyendra wins gold, India finish with 20 medals

India ended the Commonwealth Shooting Championships with a rich haul of 20 medals after Satyendra Singh and Sanjeev Rajput won a gold and a silver respectively in the men's 50m rifle 3 positions event on Monday.

The Indian squad won a total of six gold, seven silver and seven bronze medals during the competition.

Apart from Satyendra and Rajput, India's Chain Singh also qualified for the eight-man final of the 3 Positions event on the final day of the competition in Gold Coast.

Satyendra qualified in second place with a total of 1162 with a best of 394 out of 400 in the Prone position, while veteran Rajput qualified in third place with 1158 and Chain Singh was fourth with the same score but lesser inner 10s.

In the final, Satyendra was quickest of the blocks while Rajput chased him close throughout the length of the 45-shot final.

Satyendra eventually prevailed, finishing with 454.2 to Rajput's 453.3.

However, Chain Singh, who was in third place in the initial stages of the final, raising hopes of an Indian clean sweep, was eventually overtaken by Australian Dane Sampson.

Sampson, who won the men's Rifle Prone gold earlier in the competition, held on to secure the bronze medal.

In the men's Trap event at the Shotgun ranges, Birendeep Sodhi was the lone Indian to qualify for the six-man final round. He shot 118 out of 125 to qualify in fifth place and finished fourth eventually.