Serena loses on comeback
abu dhabi: A slow moving Serena Williams suffered defeat on her comeback from a maternity break as French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko powered to victory in the "first to ten points" final set at the Abu Dhabi exhibition tournament here on Saturday. The 36-year-old Williams looked static and far from full fitness just four months after the birth of her first child and Ostapenko, a 20-year-old latvian, won 6-2, 3-6, 10/5. "The first match is always really hard after a break," Williams said. "I was just glad to be here." The former world No.1 who gave birth to a daughter in September is hoping to defend her Australian Open title when the tournament gets underway January 15.
Sakshi, Babita in wrestling team for CWG
lucknow: Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik was on Saturday named in the Indian women's wrestling team for next year's Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia after a selection trail held here. Apart from Sakshi (62kg), other women grapplers who booked their berths for the 2018 Commonwealth Games are Vinesh Phogat (50kg), Babita Kumari (54kg), Pooja Dhanda (57kg), Divya Karan (68 kg) and Kiran (76kg). The selection trial was held in six weight categories at the Sports Authority of India Training Center here. The six freestyle wrestlers will also represent the country in the 2018 Senior Asian Wrestling Championship to be held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
last-gasp goal helps Neroca hold East Bengal 1-1
imphal: Neroca FC scored a last-gasp goal through Nedo Turkovic of Bosnia-Herzegovina to hold heavyweights East Bengal 1-1 and jump to the third spot in the I-league table here on Saturday. Katsumi Yusa gave the visitors the lead in the 12th minute and the Kolkata side were on the verge of sealing a victory before Turkovic struck the equaliser in the 89th minute to the wild cheers of the home supporters at the Khuman lampak Stadium here. Despite the draw, East Bengal are on top of the league table with 14 points from seven matches while I-league newbies Neroca are on third with 11 points from six games. Both teams started on a cautious note and put in more effort to hold their own half. The first half belonged to East Bengal, who outplayed the home side by adopting an aggressive approach.
Anand wins bronze at Blitz Chess Championship
Riyadh: Viswanathan Anand continued his excellent run bagging a bronze in the World Blitz Chess Championship following his gold winning performance in the Rapid section only a couple of days back. After ending the first day of the Blitz category on a disappointing note when he suffered a loss at the hands of Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia, Anand was a class act on the final day as he won against Maxime Vachier-lagrave of France. World Classical champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway proved his mettle as he carved out win after win on the final day. Coming into the final day, Carlsen had seven points from eleven rounds and the champion ended with an overall tally of sixteen points scoring a whopping 9/10 on the final day.
FIR against wrestler Sushil for brawl
New Delhi: Olympic-medallist Sushil Kumar was on Saturday booked by the Delhi Police in connection with his supporters clashing with those of rival wrestler Parveen Rana at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium here, police said. Kumar and his supporters have booked under IPC section 341 (wrongful restraint) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), the latter attracting an imprisonment of up to one year or a monetary fine of Rs 1,000 or both, police officials said.
