Defender Mahipal Narwal rescued leaders Patna Pirates to script a come from behind win against Bengaluru Bulls in Season 3 of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi here today.
     Trailing under the onslaught of the Bengaluru Bulls for almost 30 minutes of the fast paced encounter, Narwal and co scored at will in the second half to first bridge the half-time gap of 11-20 to inflict an all-out over the losers to turn the match.
      And just when the fate of Patna Pirates seemed to be hanging by a slender thread, Narwal drew upon all his experience to trap rival Surjeet Narwal once and substitute Deepak Dahiya twice to prevent any slip up in the dying minutes. To his credit Surjeet with 14 raid points and a tackle point to add went down fighting like a true soldier. The win, their eighth in nine matches takes Patna Pirates to 43 points while with their sixth loss the Bengaluru Bulls lie seventh with just 13 points, with the consolation point they got today for less than 7-point loss.
     The ...

Patna Pirates fightback to stay unbeaten

PTI Automatic

Mohun Bagan and Shillong Lajong FC played out a 1-1 draw in the Hero I-league encounter that took place at the Barasat stadium here today.
      Lajong Youngster Chinglensana gave his team the lead in the first half and Jeje equalised in the second half for Mohun Bagan.
      Shillong Lajong FC started of the first half very brightly. Lajong seemed to come into this game with the intent to get nothing but three points. Lajong earned the first free kick of the match as early as 4 minutes just a few yards outside the box. Uilliams lined it up for himself but his shot was ineffective as it did not clear the wall.
       Lajong who were the visiting team played good football throughout the first half and held good possession of the ball. Lajong midfielder Penn Orji had good opportunities to give his team the lead as he was presented with couple of good chances but his shot lacked accuracy. The home team, Mohun Bagan who were almost non-existent in the first fifteen minutes of the match ...

Mohun Bagan top table after draw with Shillong Lajong

Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza today said it is too early to take a call on who she would partner in mixed doubles at the Rio Olympic Games.
     The confident Sania though believed the best possible team should be fielded in the multi-sport extravaganza.
     "Who knows who is going to be healthy and who won't be healthy. The most important thing people should know is that the best team should be put forward. Now, I don't think is the right time to take that call," Sania told reporters at the launch of Adidas PureBOOST X, a running shoe made for women.
     Ahead of the 2012 London Olympics, there was a controversy over selection of the Indian doubles team.
     Asked about her preparation for Rio Games, Sania said she is at the moment focused on tournaments preceding the mega event.
     "I just played a final on Sunday so I am not preparing at this very point because I have been playing six weeks in a row. I was in three different countries in the last three days, and I fly back to .

Time not right to make a call on Rio Games partner: Sania

Delhi Waveriders crushed Kalinga Lancers 6-0 to storm into the semifinals of the Hockey India League here today.
      The semifinals and finals will be played at the Astro Turf Hockey Stadium in Ranchi over the weekend.
      The first quarter started with Delhi Waveriders making many circle penetrations. The response to the early attack also came from the Kalinga Lancers when a shot from the away team striker closely missed the goal. Kalinga Lancer's defense was looking strong as they started predicting the home team's moves and didn't allow them to hold possession of the ball.
      The away team started to put their strides into the match with attacking moves but none of them converted into a goal. Delhi tried to make counter attacking moves but the Lancers defense held strong.
      The second quarter started with the Delhi Waveriders looking to make inroads in the do-or-die battle and the first opportunity came in the 18th minute and Rupinder Pal Singh converted the penalty ...

Waveriders wallop Lancers to reach semifinals

The Delhi and District Cricket Association today refused to implement the Justice Lodha Committee's recommendations which could have direct ramifications on the functioning of BCCI's state units.
     The managing committee of DDCA met here to review and deliberate on various observations of the Lodha Committee, and was not quite convinced about most of the major recommendations calling for sweeping reforms in the BCCI's governing structure.
     The DDCA is not on the same page with Lodha panel on major issues like elections and terms of office bearers, DDCA office bearers simultaneously holding a post in BCCI, proxy voting and conflict of interest among others.
     On the issue of one person holding one post, the DDCA, in a statement signed by vice-presidents Chetan Chauhan and CK Khanna, said: "We the managing committee of DDCA feel that it is the freedom of concerned state associations, to decide (whether) the appointment of office bearers would affect/restrict administrative ...

DDCA shoots down Lodha panel recommendations

India today began their campaign Badminton Asia Team Championships in style with both men's and women's teams posting victories against their Singapore rivals to make it to the quarterfinals.
     Indian men made a clean sweep of their five-match tie against Singapore, who had lost to China two days ago. India, China and Singapore are part of Group A.
     Despite the absence of star player Saina Nehwal, the Indian women registered a comprehensive 5-0 win against Singapore and also entered the quarter finals as the Singapore team lost to Japan earlier.
     Each tie comprises three singles and two doubles matches.
     India's rising shuttler Srikanth scored a comfortable 21-16, 12-21, 21-13 win over his Singapore rival Zi Liang Derek Wong in the first Singles match.
      The Singaporean tried to make matters difficult for Srikanth, but the world number nine bounced back to have the last laugh.
      It was almost a one-sided affair for Ajay Jayaram in the second singles against ...

Indian men and women beat Singapore to quarters

Woman of the Turf, ridden by Mohammed Hesnain, won the K. Srinivasan memorial cup, the prime event of the races here today.
	The winner, owned by M.A.M Ramasamy Chettiar of Chettinad Charitable Turst, was trained by B.Suresh, who ended the day with a tally of 4 winners.
	Jockeys C. Umesh and Mohammed Hesnain rode two winners each.
	Two favourites obliged punters in a call of seven events.

Woman of Turf triumphs

Wicketkeeper Sanju Samson and pacer Avishkar Salvi shone in their side Bharat Petroleum's six-wicket win over State Bank of Travancore on the third day of the 12th IDBI Federal Life Insurance DY Patil T20 Cup today.
     Salvi ran through the State Bank of Travancore's line-up with a five-wicket haul to help bowl them out for 139. Riding on Samson's 60, BPCL chased down the target in 18.3 overs.
     In the other matches ONGC scored a thrilling one-run win over Mumbai Customs, DY Patil (B) beat Canara Bank by eight wickets and CAG got the better of Future Group by five wickets.
	There are no matches tomorrow.
	Brief scores:
	Group A: ONGC 167-7 in 20 overs (Milind Kumar 40, Tanmay Srivastav 36, Rahul Terwatia 33 not out; Ankush Jaiswal 2-17, Ankur Singh 2-38) beat Mumbai Customs 166-6 in 20 overs (Asad Pathan 59, Parag Khanapurkar 36; Ankit Singh 2-41, Rahul Terwatia 2-39) by one run.
	Group D: State Bank of Travancore 139 in 20 overs (Tejas CM 49, Raiphi Vincent Gomez 26; Avishkar ...

Salvi, Samson star in BPCL's win

Indian football captain Sunil Chhetri has joined as the mentor and brand ambassador of a nation-wide talent hunt programme to pick 15 youngsters in the 8-14 age group for a comprehensive five-year residential schooling in Kolhapur, western Maharashtra.
     Under the programme titled 'DreamChasers' and started by three retired army personnel, youngsters would be provided top-class coaching and technical expertise by Sporting Clube de Portugal, for whose reserve side Chhetri had played for a while in 2012-13.
     The talent hunt will be held in 15 venues and 10 cities, after kicking off here in April, to cover Navi Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Kolhapur (all in Maharashtra), Baroda, Gandhinagar (Gujarat), Kerala, Delhi, Kolkatta and Guwahati, it was announced at a media conference here today.
     The selected lot would be nurtured and would undergo professional training until the age of 18 at the residential training centre of Proforce  -- housed at the Dr Cyrus Poonawala International School 

Chhetri joins forces with talent hunt programme

Mumbai made their first Ranji Trophy final in three seasons even though they were denied an outright win with fighting centuries from Madhya Pradesh wicket-keeper batsman Naman Ojha and Harpreet Singh on day five of the semifinal here today.
     Madhya Pradesh, who needed to chase a mammoth 571-run target in little more than four sessions, ended their second innings at 361 for five with the game ending in a draw and Mumbai entering the final on the basis of first innings lead.
     They meet Saurashtra in the final to played in Pune from February 24.
     Madhya Pradesh, starting the day at 99/2, went on to frustrate the Mumbai bowlers for 109 overs, putting a much improved effort than the first innings where they managed 227 to Mumbai's 371.
     Ojha (113), who started the day on 14, ended up hitting his 15th first-class ton and the first this season. His 185 ball effort comprised 13 fours and a six.
     He shared a 159-run stand with Harpreet (105), who brought up his second ...

Mumbai march into final despite hundreds from Ojha, Harpreet

Anirban Lahiri will be back on the tee box after a week's gap, as he gets set for a debut at the famous Riviera Country Club, where he plays in the USD 6.8 million Northern Trust Open.
     Lahiri, who is ranked 49th in the world, came onto the PGA Tour as a Web.Com Tour graduate. A T-28 finish in the CareerBuilder Challenge was followed by a missed cut and then T-31 at Phoenix Open.
     The starry field in Northern Trust Open includes six of the top eight players in the World - Jordan Spieth (No. 1), Rory McIlroy (No. 3), Rickie Fowler (No. 4), Bubba Watson (No. 6), Justin Rose (No. 7) and Dustin Johnson (No. 8).
     Lahiri, who hit the spotlight last year with two European Tour wins, including the Hero Indian Open, in three weeks went on to log a tied fifth at PGA Championships and also made the Presidents Cup team.
     "It was a great year, but now I need to build on it," said Lahiri, who will play his first two rounds with Cameron Tringale and Jason Gore.
     Added Lahiri, ...

Lahiri set for debut at famous Riviera Country Club

Saketh Myneni tamed big-hitting Matthew Barton while Ankita Raina knocked out error-prone second seed Marina Melnikova to reach the Delhi Open singles quarterfinals, here today.
     Fourth seed Myneni played smartly to dispatch his Australian rival 6-3 6-4 in the men's singles second round of the USD 50,000 ATP Challenger event.
     Myneni served well, which always has been his strength, and had a tight grip over the contest that was over in one hour at DLTA.
     The Aussie matched Myneni in terms of power but Myneni had better control over his strokes as he went about his business calmly. He broke Barton in the sixth game of the first set and ninth of the second to seal the match.
     "I knew he had big ground strokes and I need to play in his zone. I had to be intelligent. I tried to be aggressive from the start. I played high percentage tennis. It's never easy at this level," Myneni said.
     The tall Indian said he wants to improve his ranking so that he can be in reckoning ..

Saketh, Ankita in singles quarters of Delhi Open

Indian Super League champions Chennaiyin FC have appointed Syed Sabir Pasha as their assistant coach and grassroots head after mutually parting ways with Vivek Nagul.
     The 43-year-old represented Tamil Nadu in the Santosh Trophy, finishing top scorer in two editions and also played for Indian Bank.
     Pasha made several appearances for the Indian national team with his best moment coming in the 1995 South Asian Games in Chennai where his goal helped India secure the gold, which also happens to be the country's last title in this tournament.
     He holds an AFC A coaching license and has been the head coach of Indian Bank, Tamil Nadu and the India under-19 national team.
     "We would like to thank Vivek for his contribution during the first two seasons and wish him the very best for the future. We welcome Sabir and I am confident that the first team and the club's grassroots program will benefit from his experience," said Chennaiyin FC co-owner Mrs Vita Dani.
     Pasha said, .

Chennaiyin FC appoint Sabir Pasha as assistant coach

High on confidence after a dominating show in the South Asian Games, a 17-strong Indian athletics team, comprising the likes of sprinter Dutee Chand and shot-putter Omprakash Kharana, today left for the Asian Indoor Championships in Doha starting February 19.
     The team for the Continental Indoor Championships, including 9 men and 8 women athletes, is a blend of experience and promising youngsters.
     Led by Asian champion in long jump Mayookha Johny, the reigning champion in the men's shot put Omprakash Kharana, and the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games record-holder in high jump Tejaswin Shankar, the Indian team will be participating in a total of 12 events at the Aspire Academy Sports complex.
     India won just one gold medal from four participants in the previous edition which was held in Hangzhou, China.
     This time, the Indian athletes will be competing in six events for men (800m, 3000m, high jump, long jump, triple jump and shot put) and six events for women (60m, 60mH, .

After SAG high, Indian athletes head for Asian Indoor C'ships

A star-studded Indian contingent, including the likes of in-form SSP Chawrasia and veteran Jeev Milkha Singh, will tee off at the inaugural USD 3 million Maybank Championship Malaysia, here tomorrow.
     With Anirban Lahiri busy on the PGA Tour, the highest ranked Indian in the field is Chawrasia, who has had a good start to the season and finished tied fifth 10 days ago in Myanmar.
     The week before that he made the cut at Singapore Open and signed off with a 67 on last day and in January, he played the EurAsia Cup with distinction and won one of Asia's points against a strong European team.
     "I have had a good feeling this season. I began well in EurAsia Cup, where I won a point and came close in singles (against Chris Wood). At Singapore I struggled on a couple of holes and they cost me a lot, but in Myanmar, despite the greens I played well. So, I hope I can carry on the good work," said Chawrasia, who plays with Prom Meesaswat and David Horsey in the second group from the 

Chawrasia hopes to build on current form, Jeev eyes revival

Mobile phone manufacturers Micromax has bagged the title sponsorship rights for the Asia Cup Twenty20 Tournament 2016, which will be held in Bangladesh from February 24 to March 6.
     The tournament is a -cursor to the World T20, which will be held in March, in India.
     Commenting on the Micromax becoming title sponsor of the event Asian Cricket Council President Thilanga Sumathipala said, "ACC is delighted to have Micromax as Title Sponsor of the event and we look forward to working together to deliver a successful event.

Micromax to be title sponsors of Asia Cup

The Indian women's cricket team took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka with a six-wicket win in the second match here today.
     Opting to bat first, Sri Lanka could manage only 178 for nine in the allotted 50 overs at the JSCA International Stadium Complex.
     18-year-old Deepti Sharma was the wrecker in chief, picking up four for 23 with her medium pace bowling, to set up the home side's win.
     Skipper Mithali Raj then remained unbeaten on 53 to guide her team home with as many as 41 balls to spare. India were 179 for four in 43.1 overs when the winning run was scored.
     Raj, who struck four boundaries in her 80-ball knock, was supported by opener Smriti Mandhana (46), who narrowly missed out on her fourth successive fifty-plus score, and Harmanpreet Kaur (41).
     Mandhana hit four boundaries and a six in her run-a-ball innings, while Kaur found the fence six times while facing 61 balls.
     Chasing a modest total, India were off to 

India beat Lanka by 6 wickets, take 2-0 lead0

The D Y Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai has brightened its prospects of hosting Under-17 World Cup football matches next year, with the head of a FIFA delegation today calling it a "high quality" arena.
     "We think this is a fantastic stadium, as you can see it is of high quality. One colleague of mine was saying, with a few amendments this could be a big World Cup-level stadium. We are satisfied and happy to be here," said FIFA's Jaime Yarza after inspecting the stadium picked as one of the six venues to host matches in the mega-event next year.
     He is in India to oversee preparations for the U-17 World Cup.
     The delegation is led by Yarza - FIFA's head of events - and it would now travel to three other cities - New Delhi, Kolkata and Guwahati - after having visited Kochi and Goa earlier.
    	"We need to do some construction work and renovations for dressing rooms, various areas, doping, technical rooms and medical - all this is in the plans. We have come here today, (we) ...

D Y Patil Stadium comparable to those in USA, Europe: FIFA

Indian tennis star Mahesh Bhupathi insists that his consistent presence on the pro circuit should not be considered preparations for the Rio Olympics since all he is trying to get is his rhythm after recovering from a knee injury.
     Bhupathi is competing at the Delhi Open, an ATP Challenger circuit event, with country's top singles player Yuki Bhambri. It raised speculation that he may have planned a comeback for the Olympic Games since he had hardly played in the last two years.
     The 41-year-old though sought to scotch the speculation and said that if he stops enjoying the game next week, he will stop playing tennis.
     "Olympics is not on my mind at all. I am just enjoying out there. I am feeling healthy. I was injured so I was not playing. I have Protected Ranking now, so I am playing," Bhupathi told PTI in an exclusive interaction.
     "As long as I enjoy, I will play. As soon as I stop enjoying, I will stop playing. If (next week) in Dubai I feel I am not playing well ..

Focus is not on Olympics but getting rhythm back: Bhupathi

Over 2,500 students from 62 agricultural universities across the country will display their talent in sprint and games at the 16th All India Inter-Agricltural Unversities Sports and Games 2016 meet, beginning here from February 22.
     Besides, 13 athletic events, there will be seven and five different games in men and women categories respectively during the five-day meet, the host Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) vice-chancellor, Dr K Ramasamy, told reporters here today.
     Stating that 85 athletes and players, including 37 women, will represent TNAU, which was runners up in the last meet held at Jorhat, in the meet, Ramasamy said that TNAU, which was runner four times, was  talking all out efforts to be champions in this meet.
	Considering the security of the participants, particularly women, the university will be losed for five days and the players will be accommodated in the hostels, he said.
	The event, sponsored by Indian Council of Agricultural Research, will have 

All India Inter-Agri Varsity sport meet

India sailed into the quarterfinals of Badminton Asia Team Championship with a comprehensive 5-0 victory over Singapore here today.
     India, thus, made a strong comeback after suffering a defeat to China in their first Group A tie on Monday.
     Each tie comprises three singles and two doubles matches.
     To begin with, Kidambi Srikanth scored a comfortable 21-16, 12-21, 21-13 win over Zi Liang Derek Wong in the first singles match at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium.
     The Singaporean tried to compete but the world number 9 Indian, after losing the second game, bounced back to have the last laugh.
     It turned out to be a one-sided affair for Ajay Jayaram in the second singles against Kean Yew Loh as he went on to score a 21-11, 21-18 victory.
     India's doubles players, too, came up with an impressive performance and won the two matches quite easily. Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy beat Yong Kai Terry Hee-Kean Hean Loh 21-15, 21-14.
     While the duo of Pranaav Jerry Chopra .

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