Page 2139 - Sports

Bhambri downs Polansky; to face Baghdatis in Oz Open 1st round

Continuing his good form from the last season, Yuki Bhambri today qualified for the Australian Open with a come-from-behind win but Ramkumar Ramanathan missed out on his maiden Grand Slam appearance. The 25-year old Bhambri overcame a first set lapse to tame Canadian Peter Polansky 1-6 6-3 6-3 in the third and final qualifying round in one hour and 55 minutes. He will take on Cyprus' seasoned star Marcos Baghdatis, who was a finalist here in 2006. It will be third Australian Open men's singles main draw for Bhambri who had lost in the first round in 2015 and 2016 to Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych respectively. Meanwhile, Ramkumar had a break chance in the fifth game of the decider but could not convert and eventually lost his third round match 4-6 6-4 4-6 to Canadian Vasek Pospisil. At Grand Slams, it is Ramkumar's best show, reaching the final qualifying round. Bhambri, who was junior world number one, had won Australian Open boys singles tile here in 2009 and has played .

4500 people participate in Bhubaneswar Half Marathon

Around 4500 people participated in the 3rd edition of Tata Steel Bhubaneswar Half Marathon held here today. Preenu Yadav and Ramesh Kumar won the 21.1 kilometre half marathon in the female and male category respectively, bagging prize money of Rs 1,00,000 each. The only professional half marathon (21.1 km) run of the city organised by the steel major in association with Odisha's Sports and Youth Services Department, was flagged off by Governor S C Jamir. The half marathon started from Kalinga stadium. Odisha chief secretary A P Padhi joined the event as chief guest and felicitated winners of various categories.

Hero Team's Mena 17th, Santosh 40th at Dakar Rally

Hero MotoSports Team Rally's Oriol Mena and C.S. Santosh finished 17th and 40th, respectively, after the seventh stage of the Dakar Rally here.

Nadal, Djokovic, favourites at Australian Open, says Federer

After last year's inspirational five-set victory against Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open final, tennis great Roger Federer looked cool, calm and confident when he addressed the media on Sunday, just one day before the 2018 tournament gets underway.

I-League: Minerva beat Lajong to bolster lead

Minerva Punjab FC increased their lead at the top of the points table with a 1-0 win over Shillong Lajong FC in an I-League football match here on Sunday.

Team Europe retain EurAsia Cup title

Team Europe dominated the singles matches to earn a hard-fought 14-10 victory over Team Asia and retain their title at the EurAsia Cup golf tournament here on Sunday.

Nic Pothas shuns Sri Lanka tour of Bangladesh

Sri Lanka departed for Bangladesh without fielding coach Nic Pothas after he refused to be a part of the touring team over a dispute with the management. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) sources said Pothas, who acted as Sri Lanka's national coach since July last year, wanted him appointed as assistant coach to Chandika Hathurusinghe. However, SLC refused to do so. Apparently Angelo Mathews, who returned as the ODI and T20 skipper, did not see eye to eye with Pothas. Pothas acted as the Head Coach when Graham Ford unexpectedly quit the Sri Lanka set up following the team's early exit at the Champions Trophy. Under Pothas' charge Sri Lanka beat Pakistan 2-0 in the UAE but lost a ODI series to Zimbabwe at home. During his stint, Sri Lanka also suffered defeat in the Tests, ODIs and T20Is against India. He was originally contracted as the fielding coach in 2016 and the two year contract will run out this year.

Centurion Test: South Africa all out for 335

The South African team were bowled out for 335 in their first innings on Day 2 of the second Test at the SuperSport Park here on Sunday.Resuming their innings at 269 for six wickets, the home team was bowled out just before lunch, with Ravichandran Ashwin claiming four wickets for 113 runs.Faf du Plessis (63) spearheaded the South African attack today, helping his team cross the 300 mark.Ishant Sharma chipped in with three wickets, while Mohammed Shami claimed one.Earlier on Saturday, the Proteas got off to a decent start with openers Dean Elgar (31) and Aiden Markram (94) tackling the Indian bowlers well.Markram, who was dismissed six runs shy of his third century, became the second-fastest South African to score 500 runs after five test matches.Hashim Amla (82) consolidated South Africa's innings along with Markram and kept the scoreboard ticking until the latter fell at the team's score of 148.Following Markram's wicket, A.B. de Villiers (20) chipped in and along with Amla took the

Ishant's twin strike limits South Africa to 335

Ishant Sharma's double strike helped India bowl out South Africa for 335 just before lunch on day two of the second Test here. Out to play one before the break, India made four runs with Murali Vijay putting a loosener from spinner Keshav Maharaj past the extra cover. R Ashwin finished with 4-113 and Ishant Sharma took 3-46 as the Proteas lost their last seven wickets for 89 runs. At the break, Vijay was batting on four while KL Rahul was yet to face a ball. The hosts, surprisingly, opened the bowling with Maharaj. Starting from overnight 269/6, Faf du Plessis (63) and Maharaj (18) took their 7th wicket stand to 31 runs. India wasted their last DRS review early in the day as Jasprit Bumrah (0-60) looked for an early LBW call against Maharaj. Mohammed Shami (1-58) bowled a lively spell and got the breakthrough with Maharaj caught behind in the 99th over for his 100th wicket in 29th Test. India made a double howler in the 104th over. First, Kagiso Rabada (on 1) was dropped .

Leipzig stun Schalke 3-1 in Bundesliga

Fifth-placed RB Leipzig returned to winning ways beating second-placed Schalke 3-1 at home as they moved to the second spot in the Bundesliga football championship.

Finch ton helps Australia to big total in 1st England ODI

An Aaron Finch century was the cornerstone of an imposing Australian total in the first one- day international against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground today. After being sent in to bat by England captain Eoin Morgan, the home side posted 304 for eight from their 50 overs. Finch's century was backed by fifties from Mitchell Marsh and Marcus Stoinis as Australia recovered from a shaky start in which the tourists finally managed to get bogeyman Steve Smith cheaply. Fresh from scoring three centuries as Australia won the Ashes 4-0, Smith looked in commanding touch again as he scored at better than a run a ball, but was caught behind from the bowling of spinner Adil Rashid for just 23. Dangerman David Warner lasted just five balls -- and one of those was a dropped catch -- in making two. But burly opener Finch filled the void with a dashing hundred, his ninth in one-day internationals and fourth against England. Finch set the tone when he hit two of the first three ..

A look into blind sports: visually impaired show stomach for

The whistle blows and two teenage girls, dressed in the white judo uniforms, lunge forward -- eager to knock the other out. Eventually, one of them manages to pin down the other. It seems like a standard bout, except that both girls cannot see each other. This is one of many awe-inspiring sights at the recently concluded Usha Sports Championships for the Blind 2018, where over 400 participants, including 99 female from 18 states competed in Kabaddi, Judo and Powerlifting events. Working effortlessly to make these national level championships possible is A David, General Secretary of the Indian Blind Sports Association (IBSA). "I am very happy to see these kids compete with each other, argue with the referee for every point conceded because that shows their burning desire to win. That is encouragement enough for us to set up such events," David told PTI. This is a landmark year for the Championships as IBSA launched a long-term programme with special thrust on promoting ..

Controversial Tomic fails to qualify for Australian Open

Australian tennis player Bernard Tomic will miss his home Grand Slam for the first time in a decade after failing to qualify on Sunday.

Europe dominate singles to retain EurAsia Cup

Team Europe finally found their rhythm as they steamrolled Team Asia in the singles today to win the EurAsia Cup golf tournament for the second time in three editions. Winning eight singles and halving another one, Europe emerged 8 to 3 winners in singles to complete a 14-10 triumph at the Glenmarie Golf and Country Club. Asia and Europe were Tied 10-10 in the first edition and then Europe outplayed Asia 18 to 5 in 2016. For Europe, the unbeaten players were Tommy Fleetwood and Tyrell Hatton, who won all three matches, while Yuta Ikeda with three wins in three matches and Li Haotong with 2 points from three matches were unbeaten. Beginning one point behind Team Asia, Europe racked up three quick wins through Alex Noren (4&2 against Nicholas Fung), Rafa Cabrera-Bello (4&3 against Gavin Green) and Tommy Fleetwood (2&1 against SSP Chawrasia) to move ahead and were then interrupted only by Poom Saksansin's shock defeat of Paul Casey 1-up. Later on, Europe kept

U19 World Cup: India wins first game by 100 runs

The Men in Blue are off to a great start in their ICC Under-19 World Cup 2018 campaign, as the Indian team on Sunday beat Australia by 100 runs, here at the Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui.Defending a total of 328/7, the youngsters bowled out Australia for 228, registering their first victory.India picked up wickets at regular intervals, with Shivam Mavi and Kamlesh Nagarkoti taking three wickets each.Abhishek Sharma and Anukul Roy scalped a victim each.For Australia, opening batsman Jack Edwards (73) was the highest run-scorer. He also picked up four wickets for 65 runs.Indian captain Prithvi Shaw had earlier won the toss and decided to bat first.The openers, Shaw and Manjot Kalra led India's surge from the front.Both the batsmen, however, started cautiously, playing out the first six overs for just 27 runs.It was a six from Shaw which opened the floodgates for India.After that, both the players changed their gear and took on the Aussie bowling attack as India crossed the 50-run mark in ...

Young talent, team's consistency make Chhetri hopeful

The emergence of young talent under coach Stephen Constantine's rotation policy and the Indian football team's consistency in recent times make skipper Sunil Chhetri hopeful of a smooth build-up to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. "We have been consistent and have a fairly impressive phase, but we need to keep challenging ourselves," Chhetri said during a chat. India qualified for the Asian Cup by beating Macau in the qualifiers last October. "A lot of youngsters have got their chances and it's nice to see so many of them wanting to make the most of it. It isn't my place to pick individuals out. We've all got to keep our heads down and work hard," the country's all-time highest scorer said. The last time India played in the continental tournament was in 2011, when they were knocked out in the first round after being thrashed by much-superior South Korea, Australia and Bahrain. Chhetri, though, managed to score a couple of goals in India's disastrous showing. The 33-year-old ...

Delhi's Rishabh Pant smashes 32 ball ton

Delhi' s wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant smashed an unbeaten 116 off just 38 deliveries here at the Feroz Shah Kotla Ground on Sunday against Himachal in a North Zone T20 League fixture, leading his team to a thumping 10-wicket victory.Pant who reached the triple figure mark in just 32 balls, became the second-fastest batsman in T20 history to score a century. His knock included 12 sixes and eight fours.The record for the fastest century still lies with Windies legend Chris Gayle who scored a 100 off 30 deliveries for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) against Pune Warriors in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match, back in 2013.After restricting Himachal to 144-7, the Delhi duo of Pant and Gautam Gambhir (30*), chased down the target in just 11.4 overs.Nikhil Gangta (40) was the top scorer for Himachal.Pant, who batted with a phenomenal strike rate of 305.26, also took four catches behind the wicket.

I'm not 100 percent: Federer plays down Australian Open title hopes

Just a day after being announced as the favourite to win 2018s first grand slam Australian Open, Swiss maestro Roger Federer has shocked his fans by saying that he is not 100 percent, while going into the tournament.According to News.com.au, the 36-year-old tennis ace has said that his aspirations are different to last season, when he contrived a miracle win despite a supposedly horrendous draw.He said, "This year I hope to win the first few rounds and get rolling hopefully, whereas last year I was just hoping to win. It (2017) was more of a 'let's see what happens' kind of tournament, maybe similar to what Novak Djokovic or Stan Wawrinka or others are going through this year. It's like, let's just see what happens. I'm not at 100 per cent, but you never know in a week's time what's going to be happening."The former world number one also noted that you need to give yourself a chance even if the draw is difficult and also said that the last year's Australian Open was his the ...

Yuki Bhambri qualifies for Australian Open main draw

Continuing his good form from the last season, Indian tennis player Yuki Bhambri has qualified for the Australian Open with a come-from-behind win against Canada's Peter Polansky.In his third and final qualifying match, the 25-year-old player struggled with his serve in the opening set before Polanksy pocketed the set with ease. But he bounced back in the remaining two sets and won the match 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 in one hour and 55 minutes.The final set followed a similar pattern and Bhambri grabbed the only break point that came his way to book his berth in the main draw of this year's first grand slam.Bhambri had earlier played in the men's draw in 2015 and 2016. Bhambri had lost to Andy Murray in 2015 and was knocked off by Tomas Berdych in the first round in 2016.Meanwhile, another Indian player Ramkumar Ramanathan lost a three-setter to world No. 109 Vasek Pospisil (Canada) in the final round of qualifying.World No. 139 Ramkumar came back to win the second set but eventually lost 4-6, ...

Mena breaks into top-20 after stage 7, Santosh placed 40th

Oriol Mena finished the stage seven of Dakar Rally in the 17 position to break into top-20 while his Hero MotoSports Team Rally team-mate CS Santosh finished 39th for an overall ranking of 40. After a rest day at La Paz, the Dakar Rally went on the road again with the first Marathon stage kicking off from La Paz to Uyuni. A change in software was required for the riders as the landscape changed from sandy dunes to lot of off-piste, river beds and harder ground and the stages become longer and faster from here on. Both Mena and Santosh tackled the stage with a steady head and arrived at the Uyuni bivouac safely, though deprived of any assistance from the team for the overnight halt as per the regulations of the marathon stage. Stage 8 will see the rally move through to Tupiza for the second leg of the marathon stage, which will test the riders with the longest special stage of the rally, covering nearly 500 kms, including a high altitude dune crossing. Tupiza will be the .