Sindhu in quarters

Macau: Defending champion PV Sindhu reached the quarter finals of the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold here on Thursday. Sindhu defeated Indonesia's Lindaweni Fanetri 21-17 21-18. In the men's, HS Prannoy and B Sai Praneeth also entered the last-eight stage.

Dibaba best

Monaco: American decathlete Ashton Eaton was named the IAAF's male athlete of the year on Thursday after breaking the world record to win the world title. Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia won the women's award after breaking the 1500 metres world record in July in Monaco with a time of three minutes 50.07 seconds.

Meanwhile, Sebastian Coe is stepping down from his ambassadorial role with Nike, the IAAF president said on Thursday. Coe has worked as a paid ambassador for the sportswear firm but faced repeated questions about a potential conflict of interest.

Lahiri deal

Bangalore: Anirban Lahiri signed a deal to become the brand ambassador for the Hinduja Global Solutions Limited. The three-year-contract was signed, here, on Thursday.

France decision

 Paris: Away fans will be banned from top football matches in France until mid-December with the country in a state of emergency following the Paris attacks and because of the forthcoming Climate Summit in the capital.

Mixed day

Dharamsala: Rajasthan won their second national title when their youth boys dethroned Maharashtra A 3-2 in the 77th Junior and Youth National Table Tennis Championships here on Friday. The youth girls title went to North Bengal when they defeated Bengal 3-2 in an equally enthralling final to re-launch themselves on the national scene. However, Bengal made amends in the junior boys final to lift the trophy, beating 3-2 in another close encounter.

SLC elections

Colombo: Arjuna Ranatunga will contest for the vice-president's post in the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) election to be held on January 3. "I will contest the post of vice-president with an eye to the future. Because I did not serve in the executive committee for two years I could not run to be President this time," Ranatunga said on Thursday.