Indian qualifier Prajnesh Gunneswaran achieved the biggest win of his career when he stunningly knocked world number 18 Nikoloz Basilashvili out of the Indian Wells ATP Masters event, continuing his dream run here.
Playing his maiden singles main draw at this level, the Indian left-hander secured a hard-fought 6-4 6(6)-7 7-6(4) victory over the Georgian in two hours 32 minutes.
The world number 97 needed only a single break of serve to take the lead in the match. Prajnesh broke Basilashvili's serve in the fifth game and then held his serve to take the opening set in 31 minutes.
The second and third sets were tightly contested and went into tie breaks with Basilashvili emerging victorious in the former and Prajnesh in the latter to seal a spot in the next round.
"It was definitely a huge match. I think I played well better than I did in the previous round. I had to step up because I was playing a really good player, someone who has been in form and is ranked in the top 20," Prajnesh ...

Prajnesh stuns Basilashvili at Indian Wells, Bopanna too advance

PTI Automatic

A formidable Karnataka continued  their winning streak in the Super League stages of the Syed  Mushtaq Ali trophy after they trounced Delhi by 8 wickets in  Group B match here on Sunday.
Earlier, Karnataka had beaten domestic giants Mumbai  and Uttar Pradesh in their previous two Super League stage  matches of the national T20 tournament.
It was an all-round show from Karnataka where right-  arm medium pacer Koushik V shone with the ball and later  Mayank Agarwal and Karun Nair remained unbeaten as Karnataka  chased the 110-run target with utmost ease.
Karnataka bowlers justified their skipper's decision  to invite Delhi to bat first at the Emerald Heights  International School Ground.
Koushik (4-19) and leg-spinner K C Cariappa (3-15)  wreaked havoc as Delhi was restricted to a meagre 109/9 in  their 20 overs.
Apart from Nitish Rana (37 off 29 balls) and Lalit  Yadav (33 off 40 balls), no other Delhi batsman showed spine  as Koushik and Cariappa rattled their top and middle ...

Mushtaq: K'taka maul Delhi; Bengal, Vidarbha, Maharashtra win

Khizar Raoof of Telangana came  from behind to overcome Karnatakas R Santosh Kumar 3-2 in a  well-contested second round match in the CCI Open All India  Snooker Championship here.
Raoof lost the first two frames but went on to pocket  the next three frames to clinch a 9-55, 20-55, 51-41, 63-55  and 67-37 victory.
Raoof then recovered to defeat Avinash Kumar of Delhi  3-1 (41-62, 64-24, 55-17, 78-17) in the next round.
Mumbai's Nitesh Madan and Kanishk Janjaria smoothly  progressed to the round of 64 in the Rs 12.9 lakh prize-money  tournament played at the Cricket Club of India.
Results (all from Mumbai unless stated otherwise):  Round 2: K Srinu (AP) beat Sahil Karnani 3-1 (65-0, 47-57,  58-10, 66(54)-27); Luv Kukreja (Delhi) beat R Loganathan  (Tamil Nadu) 3-1 (19-61, 61-54, 58-40, 66-44); Khizar Raoof  (Telangana) beat R Santosh Kumar (Karnataka) 3-2 (9-55, 20-55,  51-41, 63-55, 67-37).
Round 3: Kaniskh Janjaria beat Abhishek Bajaj 3-1  (59-27, 62-28, 61-66, 55-39); Asutosh Padhye 

Raoof fights back twice to advance

Paul Stirling and Andy Balbirnie blasted scintillating fifties to guide Ireland to a comprehensive five-wicket win over Afghanistan in the fifth ODI and level the five-match series 2-2, here Sunday.
Stirling hit a strokeful 88-ball 70 laced with seven fours and two sixes, while Balbirnie anchored the Ireland innings, making a 91-ball 68 as the duo added 81 runs to lay the foundation for the chase after Afghanistan posted 216 for six.
Stirling also shared a 57-run opening stand with Porterfield, while Balbirnie forged a 46-run partnership with KJ O'Brien to take the team home, scoring 219 for five in 47.2 overs.
For Aghanistan, Zahir Khan (2/55) took two wickets, while Muheeb Ur Rahman (1/26), Mohammad Nabi (1/47) and Rashid Khan (1/41) scalped one each.
"All the batters are aware how good their spinners are. I just kind of knew my game, we watched a lot of their footage," said Andy Balbirnie, who was adjudged the man of the series.
Earlier put into bat, Asghar Afghan (82) starred in ..

Ireland beat Afghanistan by five wickets, level ODI series

A titanic contest is on the cards as table-toppers Bengaluru FC look to overturn a one-goal deficit against a depleted NorthEast United FC in the decisive second leg semi-final of the Indian Super League (ISL) here Monday.
Bengaluru have fought and won many battles at home but the biggest one awaits them at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium.
With the first leg in Guwahati having ended in a 2-1 win for the Highlanders, a 1-0 victory will be enough to send the Blues through to the final because of the away goal rule.
On the other hand, a draw will favour NorthEast. A 2-1 result for the home team will send the fixture to extra time, while NorthEast scoring more than a goal will need Bengaluru to triumph by two goals or more to secure a spot in the final.
The defeat against NorthEast United meant the Blue's poor run of late has continued with their last five fixtures yielding just the single victory and three defeats.
"We're ready for a big game. We're in a good mood and we have the feeling ...

Bengaluru take on NorthEast United in must-win ISL game

Buoyed by a fine performance from B Adhiban, the Indian men will take on local hopefuls Kazakhstan in the sixth round of the World Teams Chess Championship underway here.
In second place past the half-way stage, the team as a whole has done remarkably well despite the absence of top stars  V Anand, P Harikrishna and Vidit Gujrathi.
While Adhiban has been the mainstay scoring four points out of his five games, Surya Shekhar Ganguly and S P Sethuraman have chipped in with important victories that helped India draw level with teams like China and England.
Top seeds Russia are firmly in front on nine match points out of a possible ten and they are now followed by India and England with seven points each. The United States are not too far behind on six points, a point clear of defending champion China and Iran.
Kazakhstan and Sweden share the seventh spot on four points each while Azerbaijan, is on three.
While it has been a good going for team India, the tougher part comes now. A victory .

World team chess: Indian men to meet Kazakhstan

Bharat Petroleum Corporation  Limited (BPCL) and Punjab and Sind Bank entered the semi  finals of the 53rd All India Bombay Gold Cup hockey  championship here on Sunday.
On Tuesday, Punjab and Sind Bank would meet South  Central Railway in the first semi-final while Bharat Petroleum  would clash with defending champions Indian Oil in the second  semi-final, in a repeat of last years final.
On Sunday, Bharat Petroleum played well and stormed to  a 6-3 victory against a spirited Uttar Pradesh XI in the last  quarter final game.
The highlight of BPCLs win were the double strikes  from Md.
Amir Khan (3rd & 31st minutes) and Gurpreet Singh  (36th & 55th minutes) which put their team firmly in control  and secured their big win.
Tushar Khandkar (15th minute) and Shakir Hussain (60th  minute) scored a goal each to play perfect supporting roles.
Uttar Pradesh struck through a brace from Deepak Yadav  (41st & 57th minutes) and Iktidar Ishrat (37th minute).
Earlier, PSB proved too ...

BPCL, PSB storm into semi-finals

Kavinder Singh Bisht (56kg) struck gold while Shiva Thapa (60kg) and three others claimed silver medals to end a fine Indian campaign at the 38th GeeBee Boxing Tournament in Helsinki, Finland on Sunday.
Signing off with silver medals were three-time Asian medallist Shiva Thapa (60kg), rookie Govind Sahani (49kg), Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist Mohammed Hussamuddin (56kg) and Dinesh Dagar (69kg).
In a rare all-Indian final, a gritty Bisht was up against Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist Hussamuddin in the 56kg summit clash. Both the boxers are from the Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) and the familiarity with each others' techniques was apparent in the intense bout.
But it proved to be Bisht's day and the Navyman overcame a cut sustained above his right eye in the final round to emerge triumphant against his Army rival.
The boxer from Uttarakhand is a world championship quarterfinalist in the flyweight category and this was his maiden international gold after making the jump 

Kavinder fetches gold, 4 silver medals for India at Finland boxing tourney

Indian challenge ended at German Junior Open after women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Varshini Viswanath Sri suffered a straight-game loss at the semifinals in Berlin, Germany on Sunday.
Treesa and Varshini stunned second seeded Denmark's Christine Bush and Amalie Schulz  21-14 21-18 to enter the semifinals.
But the Indian pair lost 16-21 14-21 to third seeded Chinese combination of Guo Lizhi and Li Yijing next to bring the curtains on India's campaign.
Earlier, singles players Meiraba Luwang, Gayatri Gopichand and Vaishnavi Jakka Reddy suffered losses in different rounds of the tournament.
While Meiraba went down fighting 14-21 21-12 16-21 to top seeded Indonesian Syabda Perkasa Belawa in the quarterfinals, Gayatri lost 5-21 17-21 to third seed Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia and Vaishnavi went down 13-21 20-22 to 10th seeded Chinese Han Qianxi in the prequarterfinals.

India challenge ends at German Junior

India's Mahindra Racing endured a nightmarish weekend in the Hong Kong leg of the Formula E Championship as both their drivers were forced to retire after coming into contact with an opponent's crashing car here on Sunday.
Jerome D'Ambrosio, who was leading the drivers' standings till this fifth leg of the season, and Pascal Wehrlein were out of the race few minutes after the start for no fault of theirs.
Dragon Racing's Felipe Nasr crashed into the wall at the second turn of the street circuit and both the Mahindra Racing cars hit the tail from behind.
Nasr's car was already spewing smoke while maneuvering through a maze of vehicles in a chaotic start and it clouded the visibility of the fellow drivers under overcast conditions.
The Harbourfront Street Circuit here has been a happy hunting ground for Mahindra Racing with three podium finishes in the last three seasons but it was fourth time unlucky for the team.
A poor qualification had already put the Mahindra Racing drivers -- ...

Mahindra Racing suffer double retirement in Hong Kong ePrix after collision

Rajiv Sethu of Idemitsu Honda Racing  India team came up with a masterful performance to earn three  more points with a 13th-place finish in the second race of the  opening round of FIM Asia Road Racing Championship at the  Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia.
After gaining seven points Saturday, the Honda Racing  India team took its tally to 10 to be among the top 6 teams of  AP 250 class.
In today's race, there was trouble for Rajiv Sethu from  the first lap.
Despite a great start which took him to 5th spot, he  suffered the collateral damage from the crash of Indonesian  rider duo Irfan Ardiansyah and Rafid Topan before him and  crashed.
Determined to finish the race, the Chennai rider resumed  from back of the pack at 23rd spot and recovered to cross the  finish line at 13th.
"This weekend I really gave it my all. Today I was  totally focused, as I wanted to be in the top bunch right from  the start. While I could do that, but I couldn't save from  Indonesian riders crash ...

Rajiv Sethu earns more points for Honda Racing India in first

Top Indian players like skipper  Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah need to be careful not to get  injured or pick up niggles during the IPL that precedes the  ICC World Cup this year, feels Harbhajan Singh.
Saying the mega event, commencing on May 30 in  England, is still some way off, the former India off spinner  said Kohli's men will go into it with their confidence high by  winning the ongoing ODI series against Australia and becoming  the top ranked team in the world.
"World Cup is still very far. We will have to wait and  watch what happens. But this is a kind of a team which can  lift any major championship. World Cup or any big tournament,  - they can definitely win. They have the team (for it)",  Harbhajan told PTI here on Sunday.
"But they have to be careful. IPL is a tournament in  between where they will be playing a lot of cricket, one game  after the other. That's where fitness will come into play.
"You don't want your key players to get injured
someone like Virat Kohli, ...

Players need to be careful of injuries during IPL: Harbhajan

Shikhar Dhawan ended his prolonged bad patch with a career-best 143 off 115 balls and in Rohit Sharma's company guided India to a commanding 358/9 in the fourth ODI against Australia here Sunday.
India looked a completely different side with opening duo putting on 193 runs on arguably the flattest track on offer during the ongoing series.
While Dhawan got his 16th hundred in ODIs, vice-captain Rohit (95 off 92 balls) missed out on what could have been a very well-deserved 23rd hundred with Australian bowlers looking like lambs for slaughter.
Pat Cummins (5/70 in 10 overs) and Jhye Richardson (3/85 in 9 overs) shared the spoils but were taken to task by the Indian openers for their wayward bowling.
Dhawan, who last reached a three-figure mark against Pakistan in an Asia Cup match in September 2018, was in fluent touch from the onset, hitting 18 fours and three sixes.
It released the pressure on Rohit, who initially was watchful even as Dhawan went after the bowling.
With another ...

Dhawan, Rohit flay Australia as India score 358/9

Scoreboard of the fourth One-day International between India and Australia here Sunday.
India:
Rohit Sharma c Handscomb b Jhye Richardson 95
Shikhar Dhawan b Pat Cummins 143
Lokesh Rahul c Alex Carey b Zampa 26
Virat Kohli c Alex Carey b Jhye Richardson 7
Rishabh Pant c Finch b Pat Cummins 36
Kedar Jadhav c Jhye Richardson b Pat Cummins 10
Vijay Shankar c Maxwell b Pat Cummins 26
Bhuvneshwar Kumar c Alex Carey b Jhye Richardson 1
Kuldeep Yadav batting 1
Yuzvendra Chahal c & b Pat Cummins 0
Jasprit Bumrah batting 6
Extras: (B-1, LB-1, W-5)
Total: 358/9 in 50 overs
Fall of wickets: 193-1, 254-2, 266-3, 296-4, 314-5, 331-6, 344-7, 351-8, 352-9
Bowling: Pat Cummins 10-0-70-5, Jason Behrendorff 10-1-61-0, Jhye Richardson 9-0-85-3, Glenn Maxwell 8-1-61-0, Adam Zampa 10-0-57-1, Aaron Finch 3-0-22-0.

 Scoreboard of the fourth One-day International between India and Australia here Sunday.

A formidable Karnataka continued their  winning streak in the Super League stages of the Syed Mushtaq  Ali trophy after they trounced Delhi by 8 wickets in  Group B  match here on Sunday.
Earlier, Karnataka had beaten domestic giants Mumbai  and Uttar Pradesh in their previous two Super League stage  matches of the national T20 tournament.
It was an all-round show from Karnataka where right-  arm medium pacer Koushik V shone with the ball and later  Mayank Agarwal and Karun Nair remained unbeaten as Karnataka  chased the 110-run target with utmost ease.
Karnataka bowlers justified their skipper's decision  to invite Delhi to bat first at the Emerald Heights  International School Ground.
Koushik (4-19) and leg-spinner K C Cariappa (3-15)  wreaked havoc as Delhi was restricted to a meagre 109/9 in  their 20 overs.
Apart from Nitish Rana (37 off 29 balls) and Lalit  Yadav (33 off 40 balls), no other Delhi batsman showed spine  as Koushik and Cariappa rattled their top and middle ...

Mushtaq: K'taka maul Delhi by 8 wickets; Bengal, Vidarbha win

Indian rookie Diksha Dagar wrote a new chapter in her young career with a maiden Top-5 finish at the New South Wales Open on Sunday.
Left-hander Dagar, who won a pro event while being an amateur last year, turned pro at the start of this year and has been showing fine progress.
Dagar shot one-under 70 on the final day and ended at six-under 278. Her four rounds this week were 72, 67, 69 and 70.
Indian women's golf got another boost as Amandeep Drall recorded her best pro finish outside India with Tied-18th after carding two-under 69 in the final round.
She totalled two-under 282.
Astha Madan, the third Indian who made the cut this week, shot 73 in  the final round for a total of 287 and finished T-36th -- also her best finish on Ladies European Tour.
Dagar has had a great outing in Australia in her maiden year. She was T-30 at the ALPG Qualifyign Tournament, which gave her conditional status and was then T-12 at the Ballarat Icons Pro-AM.
She missed the cut at Vic Open, was T-29 at ...

Rookie Dagar finishes 5th to register best finish of career in NSW Open

Kylian Mbappe said he was left "stunned" by Paris Saint-Germain's gut-wrenching exit from the Champions League in midweek as Manchester United pulled off an improbable comeback in the last 16.
Marcus Rashford's 94th-minute penalty at the Parc des Princes gave United a 3-1 win in France to send the English club through on away goals after becoming the first team in the competition's history to overturn a 2-0 home defeat.
"I'm stunned. I haven't been able to sleep," Mbappe told TF1 in an interview.
"It's difficult, we'd worked so hard to get to this point and we're disappointed. We're going to try and pick ourselves back up."
PSG's game at Nantes this weekend was postponed although they remain well clear of second-placed Lille and all but assured a sixth Ligue 1 title in seven seasons.
Thomas Tuchel's men are also through to the last four of the French Cup, but Mbappe admitted it was hard to look ahead to rest of the season with the pain of Wednesday's defeat still raw.
"Honestly, it's .

'We spoiled the party' - Mbappe agonises over Man Utd defeat

The qualifiers of the second edition of the Hero Super Cup will kick off at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar from March 15.
The teams ranked seventh to 10th in the I-League and Indian Super League (ISL) will compete in the qualifiers to seal a spot in the main draw.
The format of the main tournament and the qualifiers will remain the same as the previous edition. The final round will be a knock-out and will kick off on March 29. It will be played among the top six teams of the I-League and ISL, along with the winners of the four qualifiers.
The final will be played on April 13.
Qualifiers Schedule
March 15 (5pm): FC Pune City vs Hero I-League 10 (Qualifier 1).
March 15 (8.30pm): Kerala Blasters FC vs Indian Arrows (Qualifier 2).
March 16 (5pm): Delhi Dynamos FC vs Hero I-League 9 (Qualifier 3).
March 16 (8.30pm): Chennaiyin FC vs Aizawl FC (Qualifier 4).

Hero Super Cup to kick off from March 15

India's Anirban Lahiri stumbled to his worse card of the ongoing season, a horrendous eight-over 80 to fall to the bottom of the field at 70th place after the third day of the Arnold Palmer Invitational here.
The hard and firm greens took a toll not just on Lahiri but the entire field it seemed as scoring was very difficult.
Lahiri, starting at one-under for 36 holes, plummeted to seven-over, and will now look at a final round to get some confidence back in his scoring a week ahead of the PLAYERS Championships next week at TPC Sawgrass.
The leader was Matt Fitzpatrick, who led a bunch of Europeans dotting the very top of the leaderboard.
On a course, where avoiding bogeys was a tough job, Fitzpatrick did so very well without any dropped shots. He shot a flawless 5-under 67 and led by a shot over Rory McIlroy (66) going into the final round.
Right behind them was a threesome including England's Matt Wallace (69), the 2018 Hero Indian Open winner, who has risen from 151st to 37th in a ..

Lahiri struggles to 80 in round 3 of Palmer Invitational

Hockey India Sunday announced a list of 60 players for a coaching camp for the junior national team.
The 21-day camp will be held from March 11 to 31 at the Sports Authority of India campus.
A total of six goalkeepers, 15 defenders, 18 midfielders and 21 forwards have been called up for the camp.
The list of campers comprises goalkeepers Pawan, Prashant Kumar Chauhan, Akashdeep Singh, Anant Vishwakarma, Rakesh Dahiya and Sahil Kumar Nayak.
The defenders who have been called for the camp include Mandeep Mor, Parampreet Singh, Suman Beck, Pratap Lakra, Sanjay, Dinachandra Singh Moirangthem, Lugun Cyril, Innocent Munda, Rajinder Singh, Princepal Singh, H. Thrishul Ganapathy, Pankaj, Sharda Nand Tiwari, Akashdeep Singh and Moein Ali.
The Midfielders include Vishal Antil, Yashdeep Siwach, Vishnu Kant Singh, Rabichandra Singh Moirangthem, Niraj Kumar Waribam, Akshay Awasthi, Gopi Kumar Sonkar, Gregory Xess, Jaswinder Singh, Rahul Kumar, Geet Singh Thakur, Sukhman Singh, Manish Yadav, Nabin .

Hockey India names 60 junior campers for national camp

A day before taking on Qatar in a friendly match, India U-23 coach Derrick Pereira labelled it as "a perfect opportunity to gauge ourselves before the (AFC) qualifiers".
The match is part of the Indian U-23 team's preparation for the forthcoming AFC U-23 Qualifiers slated to be held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from March 22, where India have been clubbed with hosts Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
"The match against Qatar provides us the opportunity to get a fair idea of where we stand, and where we need to work on. The focus will be more on finding the right combinations, and style of play," Pereira said.
The match will take place at the Aspire Academy ground.
Pereira, a former India International has been working on the fitness as it's going to be one of the crucial factors to churn out a result.
"Fitness is one part that carries paramount importance in modern football. We have to sustain 90 minutes on the pitch, both on the attacking and the defensive front.
"Joel (Carter) is doing a good ...

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