India to host men's Series Finals
Lausanne: India will host one of the men's FIH Hockey Series Finals from June 6 to 16, a tournament from where two teams will make the cut for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics qualifiers. The top two teams from each FIH Series Finals will secure a place in the Tokyo Olympics' qualification events. Besides hosts India, other teams include Japan, Mexico, Polland, Russia, South Africa, USA. One more team is yet to be confirmed. The venue for the India-leg of Hockey Series Final is also be finalised later. The Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur and Le Touquet (France) will host the other two legs of the men's competition. The women's competition will be hosted by Ireland (June 8 to 16), Japan (June 15 to 23) and Valencia (June 19 to 27). The Indian women will feature in the Japan leg of the Hockey Series Finals which will also have Chile, Fiji, hosts Japan, Mexico, Poland, Russia and Uruguay.
Lahiri, Kapur to lead in Panasonic Open
New Delhi: Leading Indian golfers Anirban Lahiri, Shiv Kapur and SSP Chawrasia will vie for top honours at the the eighth Panasonic Open India, which will tee-off at the Delhi Golf Club here from Thursday. The highly-rated event will also see a strong international field comprising players from 17 other countries. Sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI), the Panasonic Open India will once again offer a prize purse of $400,000 when it returns to its regular venue. Kapur, who is the defending champion, topped the inaugural Panasonic Swing ranking with total points of 2922.90 last year, thanks largely to his victory at the Panasonic Open India, which was his first Asian Tour victory on home soil and second win in 2017. Kapur will spearhead the elite field alongside compatriots Chiragh Kumar and Viraj Madappa as well as two-time Asian Tour winners Jazz Janewattananond and Panuphol Pittayarat of Thailand.
Shubhankar eyes WGC-HSBC title
Shanghai: Shubhankar Sharma is determined to become only the second Asian player ever to claim the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in just his debut appearance as he feels he has got the game to be counted among the best. The $ 10 million event starts at the Sheshan International Golf Club on Thursday. "I'm playing this event for the first time...It's obviously going to be a very exciting week as only the best players in the world will be here and I'm part of them," Sharma said. Sharma's best finish at a WGC event was in Mexico early in the year where he led for two rounds before settling for an eventual tied-ninth place. Compatriot Gaganjeet Bhullar, who has also enjoyed a standout season so far, is ready to stamp his mark at the Shanghai showpiece. Bhullar is the only Indian to have won nine times on the Asian Tour.
Zaheer, RP Singh to play in T10 League
Mumbai: Retired pacers Zaheer Khan and R P Singh are among the Indian cricketers, who have signed up to compete in the second T10 League starting November 21. Joining Zaheer and Singh are Praveen Kumar, S Badrinath, and Reetinder Singh Sodhi, the organisers of the event said in a statement. One of India's most successful fast bowlers, Zaheer spearheaded the country's pace attack for many years including at the 2011 World Cup and has over 600 international wickets across all formats. Singh was a part of the Indian team that won the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa where he emerged as second-highest wicket-taker in the competition. Badrinath is regarded as one of the most successful first-class cricketers. Earlier, Virender Sehwag was named the T10 Cricket League icon along with Shahid Afridi.
Yuki, Ramkumar to miss Bengaluru Open
Bengaluru: India's top two singles players, Yuki Bhambri and Ramkumar Ramanathan, will not be seen in action at the $ 150,000 Bengaluru Open — one of the biggest Challenger tournaments in the country due to different reasons. Surprisingly, Yuki has preferred a smaller ($ 50,000) Challenger tournament in Kobe, Japan in the same week while Ramkumar has to attend a mandatory ATP educative programme in London, which talks about several issues including anti-doping. With both of them missing, in-form Prajnesh will be India's biggest hope and the only one to make it to the singles main draw of the tournament, scheduled to be held at KSLTA from November 12 to 17.
