Young shuttler Riya Mookerjee and a couple of  Indian men's doubles pairs qualified for the main draw of the Yonex Swiss Open here Tuesday.
Mookerjee took half an hour to get the better of Laura Sarosi of Hungary 21-15 21-10 in her qualifying match. She will take on Linda Zetchiri in the first round of the main draw.
In the men's doubles qualifiers, India's Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Chirag Shetty prevailed over Chinese Taipei combo of Lee Fang-chih and Lu Chia-Pin 21-15 17-21 21-19 in a battle that lasted 51 minutes.
Another Indian combination of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Dhruv Kapila, too, registered a hard-fought victory over German pair of Bjarne Geiss and Jan Colin Volker 21-17 19-21 21-18 in a 52-minute match.
However, the mixed doubles duo of B Sumeeth Reddy and Pooja Dandu failed to cross the qualifying hurdle, going down 14-21 18-21 to Chinese Taipei's Lu Ching Yao and Lee Chia Hsin in just 27 minutes.

Mookerjee qualifies for main draw of Swiss Open

PTI Automatic

Indian Super League side Chennaiyin FC are all set for the second leg of their 2019 AFC Cup qualifying playoff tie against Sri Lanka's Colombo FC at The Arena Stadium on Wednesday.
The first leg in Colombo finished 0-0 a week ago, in what was also Chennaiyin's AFC Cup debut.
Several Chennaiyin FC supporters will be making the journey from Chennai to Ahmedabad to show their support, after it was deemed not politically conducive to host a team from Sri Lanka in Tamil Nadu.
The club will be looking after the fans' train journey from Chennai and accommodation in Ahmedabad. A few more supporters are also scheduled to fly into Ahmedabad ahead of the big match.
Head coach John Gregory paid tribute to the unconditional support of the fans in what has been a disappointing season so far, with CFC finishing the 2018-19 ISL season bottom of the table.
"We are going to have our fans come all the way from Chennai for the big match against Colombo. And we will do our best to ensure we give them a ...

Travelling Chennaiyin FC fans to make it home away from home for AFC Cup showdown

Sale of tickets for the opening  match of IPL-12 between defending champion Chennai Super Kings  and Royal Challengers Bangalore to be played on March 23, will  commence on March 16.
Online sales of tickets will be start at 11.30 AM on  March 16 and would continue till the tickets are sold out, a  press release said.
Book My Show (in.bookmyshow.com) is handling CSK's entire  ticketing for home matches.
Counters for sale of tickets will open at TNCA at 11.30  AM on March 16, the release said, adding details of ticket  sales for the remainder of CSK's home matches would be  announced at a later date.
Tickets have been priced at Rs 1,300 (C, D and E lower  tier), Rs 2,500 (C & E upper tier) and hospitality tickets at  Rs 5,000 and Rs 6,500.

Ticket sales for opening IPL-12 match to commence on March 16

Hashim Amla was given compassionate leave on Tuesday to miss South Africa's last two one-day internationals against Sri Lanka, providing what could be a last-ditch opportunity for Reeza Hendricks to stake a claim for a place in the country's World Cup squad.
Proteas team manager Mohammed Moosajee said batsman Amla had asked for leave because his father was critically ill with Hendricks replacing the 35-year-old.
Amla was not selected for the first three matches of the series, all won by South Africa, although selection convener Linda Zondi said at the time he had not been dropped and the selectors wanted to examine all their options ahead of this year's World Cup.
Opening batsman Hendricks had scores of 1, 29 and 4 in the first three matches and his World Cup chances seemed to have disappeared when he was dropped for the last two games.
The 15-man squad appeared to be a likely choice for the global tournament held in England and Wales between May and July.
Sri Lanka will be without ...

Amla sits out final two ODIs for family reasons

All-rounder Hardik Pandya, who was ruled out of the T20 and the ongoing ODI series against Australia due to "lower back stiffness", resumed training Tuesday at the pre-season camp of three-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians.
Hardik was ruled out of the limited overs series against Australia as a precautionary measure and was subsequently replaced by Ravindra Jadeja in the 50-over squad.
The seam bowling all-rounder along with his T20 specialist elder brother Krunal joined the MI camp at the Reliance Corporate Park cricket ground in Ghansoli, a senior franchise official told PTI.
The official informed that Hardik did "strength endurance training" on Tuesday but refused to divulge any further information.
Hardik, who has played 11 Tests, 45 ODIs and 38 T20s, had returned to action during the limited-overs series in New Zealand after being handed a provisional suspension for his sexist remarks a TV chat show.
Hardik possibly would have played a few matches of the Mushtaq Ali T20 had ...

Fit-again Hardik joins Mumbai Indians' pre-tournament camp

Drawing on all four boards, the Indian men played out a 2-2 draw with Azerbaijan in the seventh round of the World Team Chess Championship here Monday.
B Adhiban played a rock-solid game with black pieces on the top board against in-form Arkadij Naiditsch and Surya Shekhar Ganguly was also spot on with black on the third board signing peace with Safarli Eltaj.
S P Sethuraman was the first to end his game against Nidjat Mamedov and it was left to Krishnan Sasikiran to provide the breakthrough.
Sasikiran stood better for the major part of the game but with the clock ticking away decided taking against undue risk and split the point.
The draws means that the Indian men will now hold the third spot on ten points as the English team posted a convincing 2.5-1.5 victory over Egypt. The Russian men also came up with a 2.5-1.5  triumph over United States to inch closer to the gold medal.
With Russia on 12 points, England is now on 11 while the Indian men hold the third spot on ten points. ...

World Team Chess: Indian men draw with Azerbaijan

Indian opener KL Rahul's two impressive knocks in the recently concluded two-match T20 series against Australia helped him climb to fifth in the latest ICC Rankings for T20 batsmen here Tuesday.
Rahul, who made a comeback to international cricket after a brief suspension by the BCCI for his sexist comments on a TV show, scored 47 and 50 in the two matches and gained a spot in the latest rankings.
In the bowlers' list, Kuldeep Yadav, who was rested for two T20 Internationals, dropped a place to fifth.
Pakistan's Babar Azam and Afghanistan's Rashid Khan remained in top positions in batsmen and bowlers' list respectively.
Pakistan (135) enjoys a 13-point lead over second-placed India (122) with England remaining at third place with 121 points.
Leg-spinner Adil Rashid has equalled his career-best third place in the latest rankings. Rashid's five wickets in the series against the West Indies have helped him gain two slots and cross the 700-point mark for the first time in his career during 

ICC T20 Rankings: India stay put, Rahul gains a spot, Kuldeep drops a notch

Reigning champions Indian Oil  from Bengaluru and Punjab and Sind Bank from Jalandhar entered  the final of the 53rd Bombay Gold Cup hockey championship on  Tuesday in contrasting fashion.
Indian Oil outclassed a depleted Bharat Petroleum  Corporation Limited, Mumbai, 7-2 after leading 3-1 at half  time at the MHAL-Mahindra Stadium here.
Later, the Punjab bankmen edged out South Central  Railway 2-1 to earn a shot on Wednesday in the title clash  against Indian Oil.
BPCL clearly missed four key players who had helped  them make the last four by playing in the league phase as they  all had departed after being summoned on Sunday by Hockey  India for the national juniors' camp that started in Bengaluru  on March 11.
In their absence, BPCL were no match for the star  packed Indian Oil with an array of former internationals.
Indian Oil rode roughshod over their rivals and got  their goals through veteran Deepak Thakur, who struck twice,  Sunil Yadav, Armaan Qureshi, Talwinder Singh, ...

Hockey: Indian Oil, PSB enter Gold Cup final

Jurgen Klopp brings Liverpool to Germany to resume their battle against Bayern Munich with the hosts billing Wednesday's Champions League last 16 return leg as an all or nothing showdown.
After a goalless draw at Anfield in the first leg three weeks ago, everything is to play for at Munich's Allianz Arena.
Klopp knows what awaits his Reds in the highly-charged arena where Bayern tend to raise their game and away teams face a barricade of whistles whenever they touch the ball.
"The four goals are all well and good," said Klopp after Liverpool's 4-2 win on Sunday at Burnley, with Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane both scoring twice.
"But what does that have to do with Munich? It will not be so easy to score four goals there as well."
The 51-year-old has a modest record of nine wins, five draws and 16 defeats in 30 games against the Bavarians -- as coach of either Liverpool or former clubs Mainz and Dortmund -- dating back to 2004.
However, in his seven seasons with Dortmund, between 2008 ..

Klopp wary of Allianz Arena return with Liverpool

Last year's runners-up in the  ongoing Bombay Gold Cup tournament, Bharat Petroleum, were hit  hard Tuesday in their semi-finals against reigning champions  Indian Oil by the forced absence of four regular players.
BPCL, champions in 2015, were unable to adequately  fill in the holes left by the quartet in the team and lost  tamely 2-7 to the oilmen at the MHAL-Mahindra Stadium here.
The four - Sudeep Chirmako, Rabichandra Moiranthem,  Shivam Anand and Dinachandra Moiranthem - had guided BPCL into  the semis Sunday before they had to leave for Bengaluru for  the 21-day national juniors' fitness and routine camp.
They were summoned to the camp, along with Pratap  Lakra who was playing for another semi finalist - South  Central Railway - through a communication from Hockey India.
All of them left immediately for the camp that started  on March 11 and is to continue till March 31, according to  sources in the Mumbai Hockey Association Ltd, the tournament's  organisers.
Interestingly, the 

Sudden HI summons to key players upsets BPCL's chances in SF

Former captain Ricky Ponting feels constant scrutiny on Steve Smith and David Warner following their comeback could be "unsettling" for the Australian team during the World Cup in the United Kingdom.
Ponting, who will be part of Australia's support staff during the mega event, said Smith and Warner will have to be prepared for constant criticism from the UK crowd. Their two-year ban for ball-tampering ends later this month and they will feature in the IPL beginning March 23.
"I don't think it is much of a challenge internally around the players. You'd like to think that those guys are having conversations now, so they're not leaving it to the last minute and just be exposed to this thing that could be derailing to a team," Ponting told cricket.com.au.
"I'm sure this would have been talked about at a higher level for a long time - how do we integrate them back in? How do they fit in? How is it all going to be seamless? But the hardest part for those guys is going to be the public ...

Constant scrutiny on Warner and Smith could be unsettling for Australia in World Cup: Ponting

Heading into the SAFF Women's Championship after playing 11 international matches this year, the Indian team kicks off its title defence when it takes on Maldives in their opening Group B clash here Wednesday.
"The matches have helped us prepare in the best possible fashion. The exposure tours helped us to improve on our strengths, while at the same time giving us much needed competitive match timing to work on our shortcomings," head coach Maymol Rocky stated.
Since January 2019, the Indians have played friendly matches in Hong Kong and Indonesia, and the Turkish Women's Cup in Turkey, as well as Gold Cup in Bhubaneswar.
The preparatory process had begun in December last year in Cuttack and the team has been together ever since. All the preparation has been planned keeping in mind the AFC Women's Qualifiers Round 2 (in April), as well as the SAFF Championship.
"I am thankful to the All India Football Federation (AIFF), Sports Authority of India (SAI), the Government of Odisha and all 

Playing so many matches have helped us improve as team: Maymol Rocky

Veteran Tejaswini Sawant of Maharashtra beat Punjab's Anjum Moudgil to win the fourth national selection trial in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions event here Tuesday.
Tejaswini scored a total of 458.0 to finish ahead of Anjum Moudgil, who had 457.1.
Gujarat's Lajja Gauswami was third with 444.5.
Army's Sandeep Singh won the men's 10m air rifle (T4 trial) with a score of 250.0, while Karnataka's Tejas Krishna Prasad (248.4) and Deepak Kumar (227.7) of Indian Air Force were second and third, respectively.
In the men's 25m centre fire pistol, Gurpreet Singh, representing Army, won with 583, while Himachal Pradesh's Vijay Kumar (581) and Haryana's Wazeer Singh Rathee (580) were second and third.

Tejaswini wins women's 50m rifle 3 positions ahead of Moudgil

Emboldened by Australia's remarkable turnaround in the ODI series against India, vice-captain Alex Carey Tuesday said they are "really confident" of entering the ICC World Cup with a squad good enough to play like defending champions.
The five-match series is poised at 2-2, thanks to Australia's back-to-back wins after staring down the barrel at one stage.
"As a player in the Australian cricket side we have been working hard in the last 12-18 months. Some success has started to come our way. We are really confident moving with the squad we take to the World Cup," Clarey said on the eve of the series-deciding game here.
Carey said it will only add to the strength of the side when Steve Smith and David Warner rejoin the side after serving out their bans.
"Those are definitely some big names that might come back into the line. The guys that are in the side are performing well, so it's only healthy for Australian cricket that the guys in the side are playing well and these guys that have .

We are really confident of moving with this squad to World Cup: Carey

BPCL's Devendra Joshi and Madhya  Pradesh's Bharat Sissodia Tuesday scored contrasting wins in  their respective third round matches of the CCI All India Open  Snooker Championship here.
The Mumbai-based cueist Joshi, representing Bharat  Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), rattled up two half century  breaks to outshine his city rival Mayank Bhavsar and win in  three straight frames.
Joshi, after taking the first frame, was in full flow  and constructed breaks of 59 in the second and 55 in the third  to complete the clean sweep and advance to the round of 64.
Earlier, Sissodia showed a remarkable fighting spirit  as he recovered to turn the tables on Arun Kumar of Thane and  notch win after five well-contested frames.
Sissodia lost the first two frames by close margins,  but bounced back in style by compiling a run of 64 to pocket  the third one which was the turning point.
He comfortably won the fourth and fifth frames to  snatch a deserving victory and make it to the fourth ...

CCI snooker: Joshi, Sissodia score contrasting victories

Gaurika Bishnoi will start as one of the strong favourites when the sixth leg of the Hero Women's Pro Golf Tour tees off on Wednesday at the Jaypee Greens.
The sixth leg will carry a purse of Rs. eight lakh and feature 21 professionals and four amateurs.
With the Hero WPG Tour having five different winners in five events held so far, Gaurika, who won her first title of the 2019 season last week, will have to contend with Amandeep Drall.
Amandeep returns to the domestic Tour after a superb Top-20 performance at the NSW Open in Australia. Although she is considered one of the strongest and consistent players on the home Tour, Amandeep is yet to win in her four starts this season.
Neha Tripathi, current leader on the Hero Order of Merit, and Gursimar Badwal have already registered one win each this year and both will be looking at becoming the first multiple winner of 2019.
Ridhima Dilawari will be playing with similar ambitions.
As many as four young amateurs will be in the field, along 

Gaurika to face competition from Amandeep at Hero WPG Tour

The Indian cricket team wanted to show "solidarity" with the country's Army in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack, bowling coach Bharat Arun said Monday, defending the decision to wear camouflage military caps during the third ODI in Ranchi.
All the Indian players came out wearing the caps handed over to them by former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is also an honorary Lieutenant Colonel with the Territorial Army.
"We did what we really felt, we needed to do it for the country, in solidarity with what Army has done for the country. In some we wanted to show we appreciate the cause," Arun said on the eve of the fifth and final ODI.
The gesture was not well received by the Pakistani politicians, who demanded an ICC action, calling it politicisation of the game.
"It's beyond us what PCB is saying, beyond our control. The BCCI has done well to take permission from the ICC," Arun said.
A tinge of patriotism has been added to fifth and final ODI as well as the organisers have covered .

We wanted to show solidarity with Indian Army: Arun

Indian Premier League franchise Rajasthan Royals roped in sportswear brand Alcis Sports as their official multi-year kitting & merchandise partner.
Speaking of the partnership, Ranjit Barthakur, executive chairman, Rajasthan Royals said,"We are delighted to welcome Alcis Sports to the Royals family as our official Kitting & Merchandise Partner. This collaboration marks a beginning of a new journey to strengthen the merchandising arm of the Rajasthan Royals, not just for its players but also its valuable fans."
Commenting on the partnership, Royals Brand Ambassador Shane Warne said:"Alcis brings in a dash of freshness to the Rajasthan Royals brand and stands for everything that clearly defines the attributes of our brand; young, styled with innovation, aspirational and consistent.
"We are very excited about this association and hope to have an exciting journey with Alcis this IPL."
Roshan Baid, MD, Alcis Sports, said:"We are really happy to be associated with Rajasthan Royals, ...

Rajasthan Royals rope in Alcis Sports as merchandise partner

Three-time Indian Premier  League (IPL) champions Mumbai Indians Tuesday kicked off their  pre-season training camp here for the upcoming 12th season of  the coveted T20 tournament.
Among others, all-rounder Hardik Pandya and his elder  brother Krunal have joined the camp, which is currently being  held at the Reliance Corporate Park cricket ground in  Ghansoli, a senior official attached to Mumbai Indians, said.
According to the official, the other players who have  joined the camp are off-spinner Jayant Yadav, leg-spinner  Rahul Chahar, pacer Barinder Sran, Rasikh Salam, Mitchell  McClenaghan and wicket-keeper Ishan Kishan.
It was learnt that the squad will continue its  training program at the New Mumbai facility over the weekend,  and are tentatively scheduled to move to Wankhede Stadium in  Mumbai from March 17.
Led by Rohit Sharma, Mumbai Indians will open their  campaign against Delhi Capitals on March 24 at the Wankhede  stadium.

Mumbai Indians begin pre-season training camp for IPL

Maharashtra and Karnataka set up  the title clash in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy after posting  win in their last respective Super League matches Tuesday,  while Mumbai bowed out of the premier domestic T20 tournament  despite trouncing Uttar Pradesh.
Mumbai defeated Uttar Pradesh by 46 runs in their last  Super League Group B game, but that was not enough for them to  find a place in the finals.
From Group B, it was Karnataka, who made it to the  summit clash after defeating Vidarbha by six wickets.
With this win, Karnataka remained unbeaten in the  Super League stage and topped the table with 16 points.
From the Super League Group A, Maharashtra stormed  into the finals after winning all their four games. They  topped the table with 16 points.
The final of the domestic T20 championship will be  played at the Holkar Stadium here on March 14.
With the two finalists decided now, the Gujarat versus  Bengal final Group A Super League match has been reduced to a  'dead rubber'.
As per the 

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