Page 2108 - Sports
Paes and Sharan save match point to make pre-quarters
Veteran Leander Paes and Purav Raja fought off a match point to shock formidable fifth seeds Bruno Soares and Jamie Murray and progress to the men's doubles third round at the Australian Open here today. The unseeded Indians overcame the Brazilian-Briton team 7-6(3) 5-7 7-6(6) after battling hard for close to three hours. Left-handed Murray, world number 9 in doubles and Soares, number 10, were one of the most consistent performers in the 2017 season but it was Raja who stood out with his superlative net play today. It was a tight contest from the beginning and after splitting the first two sets, the third set was locked 5-5 in the tie-breaker when Murray earned his side a match point on his second serve. Raja, though came serving extremely well to not only save that match point but also earned a match point for the Indians with excellent hands at the net. Soares served down a match point and Raja delivered a stunning backhand return winner to seal the issue. Paes and ...
Australian Open: Federer, Djokovic eye pre-quarterfinal berths
World number two Roger Federer and Serbian tennis maestro Novak Djokovic will aim to book their place in the pre-quarterfinals of the Australian Open when they play their respective third rounds of the men's singles event here on Saturday.While Federer will take on 29th seed Richard Gasquet of France, Djokovic will square off with 21st seed Albert Ramos Vinolas of Spain.Earlier, 19-time Grand Slam champion Federer stormed into the third round of the first major of the season after defeating Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff in straight sets at the Melbourne Park.The reigning Australia Open winner swept aside Struff 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 in their last-64 clash.Former world number one Djokovic, on the other hand, survived an early scare from France's Gael Monfils to storm into the round of 32 of the season-opening Grand Slam for the 11th time.The 14th seed, who is bidding to clinch his sixth Australian Open title, went down in the first set, but he rebounded strongly to eventually outplay Monfils ...
Halep survives marathon to join Pliskova in last 16
World number one Simona Halep saved three match points to survive a titanic struggle and make the last 16 at the Australian Open Saturday where she joined Karolina Pliskova and Caroline Garcia. With the temperatures a manageable 26 Celsius (79 Farenheit) at Melbourne Park after two days of oven-like conditions, the Romanian looked out for the count against American Lauren Davis. But she finally got over the line 4-6, 6-4, 15-13 in a gruelling 3hr 44min on Rod Laver Arena to make the fourth round in a contest that took its toll. "I'm almost dead," the tenacious Romanian said after the incredible battle, in which Davis lost a toenail and Halep served for the match four times. "The feeling in my muscles is gone and I don't feel my ankle anymore," she added. Davis is ranked just 76 in the world and was knocked out in the first round of all four Grand Slams last year, but you would never have known it. Halep, a former quarter-finalist at Melbourne Park who slumped out in the .
India down hosts New Zealand in Four-Nations hockey
A structured defence and clinical attack saw India beat hosts New Zealand 3-1 in the final round robin match of the double-leg Four Nations Invitational Hockey Tournament at Blake Park here today. India will play the final tomorrow against Belgium, who beat Japan 4-1. It was Indias young brigade Harmanpreet Singh (2), Dilpreet Singh (12) and Mandeep Singh (47) who scored after the team had suffered a 0-2 loss against Belgium in their previous match. Indias mantra today was to play aggressive and thats exactly what they did right from the start. Their first breakthrough came as early as the second minute of the match when a circle entry fetched them a PC created by Mandeep Singh. It was Harmanpreet Singh who stepped up for the drag flick and he was impeccable and fierce as he improvised the injection to flick the ball past New Zealand goal keeper Richard Joyce. The early goal undoubtedly put the Black Sticks on the backfoot. The next few minutes saw India hold their ...
Blind Cricket World Cup: India face arch-rival Pak in finals
Defending champions India will aim to retain Blind Cricket World Cup trophy when they take on arch-rival Pakistan in the summit clash here at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Saturday.Earlier, India continued their rich vein of form as they defeated Bangladesh by seven wickets at the MCC Ground in Ajman to book their place in the finals of the fifth edition of the tournament.Pakistan, on the other hand, had qualified for the finals after thrashing Sri Lanka by 156 runs in the semi-finals of the tournament on Wednesday.Going into the finals, India have an upper-hand as they had already beaten their arch-rivals Pakistan by seven wickets in the group stages.After opting to bat first, Pakistan had posted a competitive target of 282 for eight in their stipulated 40 overs.In reply, India comfortably chased down the target in just 34.5 overs, with Haryana's Deepak Malik (B3 - blind level 3) scoring the highest runs of 79 off 71 balls.India, who are considered as the favourites to retain their .
Australian Open: Paes-Raja battle into pre-quarters
The unseeded Indian pair of Leander Paes and Purav Raja bounced back from a set down to book their place in the pre-quarterfinals of the men's doubles event of the Australian Open here on Saturday.After winning the first set, Paes and Raja went down in the second before they rebounded strongly to eventually prevail the English-Brazilian duo of fifth seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares 7-6 (3), 5-7, 7-6 (6) in a clash that lasted two hours and 54 minutes.Despite Paes and Raja struck eight winners less than their opponents' 19, the Indian pair won the first set, which also saw Murray-Soares making five double faults.In the second set, the two teams were more or less evenly matched, but Paes and Raja's failed to convert five break points to lose the set.The match was then forced into a tiebreaker in the third set, where Paes and Raja saved a match point at 5-6 before bringing up one of their own to win the match.The Indian duo will now take on Colombian duo of Juan Sebastian Cabal and ...
Lyon to captain PM XI against England
Australia Test spinner Nathan Lyon will captain the Prime Minister's XI against England in a Twenty20 match in Canberra next month, Cricket Australia said Saturday. Lyon played a leading role in Australia's 4-0 Ashes Test series win over England, playing in all five Tests and capturing 21 wickets at 29.23. Lyon is Australia's most successful off-spinner with 290 Test wickets. "It's a tremendous honour to be selected to captain the Prime Minister's XI and captain alongside the likes of past greats including Brett Lee, Michael Hussey and Ricky Ponting," Lyon said. Former Test wicket-keeper Brad Haddin will coach the PM XI for the match at Manuka Oval on February 2. Cricket Australia also confirmed that the match will become a T20 double-header, with the ICC's 15th-ranked Hong Kong to take on an ACT XI at Manuka Oval on the same day.
Pele resting at home, not in hospital: Spokesperson
Brazilian football legend Pele is resting at home according to his spokesperson, who dismissed reports he had been taken to hospital with exhaustion.
Kartik Jindal, Malvika Bansod excel in senior ranking badminton tournament
Teen sports stars Kartik Jindal and Malvika Bansod delivered a stellar performance in the ongoing Dr Akhilesh Das Gupta Memorial All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament here on Friday.The 19-year-old Jindal, hailing from Haryana, made it to the men's singles final with a 21-9, 21-6 victory over Delhi's Aakash Yadav.The 17-year-old Malvika from Nagpur, eased into the women's singles semifinal by recording a 21-18, 21-17 win over Air India's Bhavya Rishi.Vaishnavi Bhale from Nagpur also fought her way into the women's singles final by defeating Chhatisgarh's Aakarshi Kashyap 21-14, 10-21, 21-16.Vaishnavi and Jindal's run to the final has not been easy as the duo had to toil hard to enter quarters upstaging 15th seed Kanika Kanwal of Railways and 11th seed Vijetha NVS from Telangana respectively.Madhya Pradesh's Pratul Joshi pulled off a stunning 24-22, 21-19 victory over Delhi's Swamaraj Bora while West Bengal's Arintap Dasgupta beat Railways' Neeraj Vashisth 21-12, 21-10 in other
Bharat, Sai Satya book quarters berths in junior ranking badminton tournament
Haryana boy Bharat and Pondicherry's Sai Satya Sarvesh Yakala have booked their quarterfinal spots in the boys under-15 category of the All India Sub Junior Ranking Badminton tournament.The duo was the first to book their quarterfinal spots in the tournament held at the Chandrashekhar Patil Stadium courts on Friday.8th seed Bharat made it to the 21-19, 21-12 victory over 11th seed Lokesh Reddy of Telangana while Sai Satya defeated Krishnanshu Panwar 21-12, 21-15.The tournament is being held in two age groups Under-15 and Under-13 spread over four categories in each age group: boys singles, boys doubles, girls singles and girls doubles.Around 776 players are participating in the tournament.The finals will be held on Sunday.
iSports, education means to empower the youth: J-K minister
Jammu and Kashmir Sports Minister Imran Raza Ansari today said education, skill building and sports were means to empower the youth and the state government was making targeted efforts towards it. He said this during a discussion in the Legislative Assembly on 'Demand for Grants of Technical Education, Information Technology, Youth Services and Sports and allied departments'. "Interventions that are being made, whether it be sports, skill development, technical education or information technology, are aimed at youth welfare by facilitating skill development, encouraging entrepreneurship, besides promoting sports and cultural exchanges," the minister said. He also informed that for promotion of youth services and sports, the state government has taken various steps to create world class sports facilities. The minister informed that several competitions were held in the state and 85,955 players from Jammu and 1,38,540 from Kashmir, besides1,878 players participated in the .
ISL: Doungel's hat-trick floors Chennaiyin
Seiminlen Doungel became the first Indian footballer to score a hat-trick in the ongoing Hero Indian Super League (ISL) as NorthEast United FC stunned Chennaiyin FC 3-1 here on Friday.
Navy's Sub Lieutenant to walk on Rajpath for last time this R-Day
After participating in every Republic Day parade for the last 29 years, Indian Navy's Sub Lieutenant Ramesh Chand is all set to march down Rajpath one last time.While people receive the honour of walking down Rajpath twice or maximum thrice, but in his 29 years, he led the Band of the Indian Navy for 20 years.He will retire in April 2018 after serving the Navy for 37 years.Chand told the reporters that he believes things have improved in the Indian Navy in the past few years.He also hoped that the Navy contingent this year will be adjudged the best as it is a good team.
Russia loses handball medal after 3 players fail drug tests
Russia has been stripped of a European handball medal after three players were banned for doping. The European Handball Federation says the three all tested positive while playing for Russia at last year's European women's under-19 championship in Slovenia, where Russia won silver. The EHF sentenced Antonina Skorobogatchenko, Maria Duvakina and Maria Dudina to 20-month bans after they all tested positive for meldonium, a heart-boosting substance banned in 2016. The federation says in a statement that the bans were shorter than the standard four years because "the panel noted that the players did not knowingly intend to cheat" and "the players also admitted the violation promptly." None of the three were on the Russian women's team which won Olympic gold in 2016.
Australia Open: Ostapenko bows out, Wozniacki sails into pre-quarters
World number seven Jelena Ostapenko was knocked out by Estonia's Anett Kontaveit in the third round of the Australian Open here on Friday.World number 33 Kontaveit, who reached the last 16 of the tournament for the first time, defeated the French Open winner 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.The Estonian will now play Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro on Sunday.Elsewhere, second seed Caroline Wozniacki cruised into the round of 16 with a straight-set win over Dutch player Kiki Bertens.Wozniacki defeated Bertens 6-4, 6-3 in an hour-and-26-minute match.The Danish player will now meet Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova.
World Cup games will not be played outside Qatar - organisers
Qatar will host every game of the 2022 World Cup, the country's senior tournament organiser insisted today, amid speculation the Gulf political crisis would force the emirate to relocate matches. Hassan Al-Thawadi, secretary-general of Qatar's World Cup organising committee, also maintained that preparations for the tournament were on schedule, despite the ongoing and increasingly bitter eight-month crisis. "Qatar is the sole host country of the 2022 World Cup and will host the 64 matches of the tournament across eight planned venues," Thawadi told AFP in a statement. He was responding to a recent media claim that the 2022 matches could be played elsewhere in the region, specifically Iran, because of political and economic uncertainties. Last June, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut all ties with Qatar over Doha's alleged ties to Islamist extremists and a warming relationship with Iran, Saudi's great regional rival. Qatar denies all the accusations, but the ...
TN men down Punjab in Senior National Basketball
Tamil Nadu men registered a third straight win, beating a strong Punjab team 88-74 in a Group 'B' match of the 68th Senior National Basketball Championship here today. The host trailed by one point after the first quarter but bounced back well to march ahead. Justin Gnanaraj was the top-scorer for Tamil Nadu, with 17 points. NBA player Satnam Singh was in fine fettle, scoring 26 points for Punjab. Earlier in the day, defending champion Kerala defeated Chhattisgarh 76-62 today in a women's Group 'A' match. The fancied Kerala women, who had suffered a reverse at the hands of Karnataka yesterday, faced stiff resistance from the Chhattisgarh girls. The first quarter saw the two teams locked at 15-all before Kerala nosed ahead in the second, by seven points. Though their rivals tried hard, they couldn't quite bridge the gap and went down by six points. The formidable Railways team crushed Rajasthan 91-38 in a Group 'B' encounter with Madhu Kumari logging 24 points. Karnataka ...
Goa FA beats Chennai Customs
Goa FA edged out Chennai Customs 5-4 (via tie-breakers) in the Don Bosco-Fr McFerran Trophy All India Football tournament here today. After the match ended goalless, the Goa side won on penalties with Clive Miranda, Kunal Kundaikar, Snedden Rodrigues, Clifton Fernandes and Sehubert D'Costa scoring. Sriram, Akash, Karthick and Rajeev Kottan found the back of the net for Customs. Chennai FC takes on Cannanore Spirited Youths Club in tomorrow's match.
Doungel hat-trick helps NorthEast beat Chennaiyin 3-1
Seiminlen Doungel scored the first ever hat-trick for NorthEast United as the hosts outplayed Chennaiyin FC 3-1 in an entertaining Indian Super League match here today. Doungel scored in the 42nd, 46th and 68th minutes to hand NorthEast United their biggest win in this edition of the ISL. The 24-year-old player from Manipur also became the first Indian player to score a hat-trick this edition. Anirudh Thapa pulled one back for the Chennaiyin in the 79th minute but buy then the match at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium had tilted heavily in favour of the Northeastern side. Despite today's win, their second victory at home and third overall so far, NorthEast United remained at ninth spot in the 10-team league table with 10 points from 10 matches. Chennaiyin also remained at second spot with 20 points from 11 matches. NorthEast United had lost 0-3 against Chennaiyin FC in Chennai earlier in their first-leg clash but Doungel turned the tables on their rivals with a ...
Vinesh beats Ritu in UP Dangal's 4-3 win over Veer Marathas
UP Dangal's icon player Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia posted commanding wins to help UP Dangal beat Veer Marathas 4-3 in the Pro Wrestling League at the Siri Fort Indoor Stadium here today. After Vinesh put her team 3-1 up in the tie, Bajrang, the Commonwealth champion, beat compatriot Amit Dhankar 7-2 in the 65 kg category to help UP continue their unbeaten run in the tournament. Marathas' defeat all but doused their hopes of making it to the knock-out stages. In the clash between sisters, the fourth bout of the day, Vinesh played with great determination to overcome a stiff challenge from her elder sister Ritu Phogat 4-0 in the 50 kg women's competition. The win was Vinesh's fourth successive victory in the tournament. Earlier, Veer Marathas won the toss and blocked Uzbekistans Bekzod Abdurakhmonov while UP Dangal opted to keep Marwa Amri out of the equation. In the first bout of the day, UP Dangal's Nithin Rathi made a great comeback to register a 7-4 victory over ..