Divij, Purav in semis in China
Kunming: Divij Sharan and Purav Raja came from behind to win the first round and then got a walk over to progress to the semifinal of the $ 125,000 ATP Challenger tournament here. The third seeded Indian pair carved out a hard fought 4-6, 6-3, 10-7 win over Hsin-Han lee and Hsien-Yin Peng of Chinese Taipei in the opening round. The Indians were supposed to play Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland and Tatsuma Ito of Japan in the quarter finals but Ito pulled out due to a broken tooth, so they advanced to the last-four pair stage. They face winners of the quarter-final match between second seeded Australian pair of Samuel Groth and John-Patrick Smith and Chinese combo of Xin Gao and Zhe li.
Saina, Sindhu retain positions
New Delhi: Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu have retained their respective second and 13th spots in the the Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings released on Thursday. Parupalli Kashyap maintained his 11th position in the men's singles list. Sindhu, who rose two places to reach her career-best No.13 last week, recently lifted her maiden Grand Prix Gold title in Malaysia, but that did not help her gain any position in the list. Meanwhile, R M V Gurusaidutt climbed up a spot to 27 and K Srikanth gained five places to be 47. But Ajay Jayaram, Sourabh Varma and Anand Pawar lost points. Jayaram lost three places to be at 30, while Varma and Pawar, after climbing down a position each, were 36th and 43rd respectively.
Mahesh in Mumbai quarters
Mumbai: Indian hopes in the inaugural CCI PSA Squash Challenger 15 rest solely on the shoulders of Mahesh Mangaonkar after the 19-year-old despatched Jordanian Ahmad Al-Saraj in the opening round of the PSA World Tour Challenger 15 event, here on Thursday. The Mumbai-based teenager won 11-3, 11-6, 11-4. Second seed Mohd Ali Anwar Reda, the world No47 from Cairo, defeated Egyptian qualifier Ahmed Atef 11-3 13-11 11-4. Unseeded Indian Harinder Pal Sandhu took the opening game against Omar Abdel Meguid - but the third-seeded Egyptian soon imposed himself on the match to secure his anticipated win by a 3-11, 11-2, 11-9, 12-10 margin. Wildcard Ravi Dixit took Elvinn Keo the full distance, but the higher-ranked Malaysian ultimately won 11-5, 11-13, 11-2, 8-11, 11-7.
Sania out of Madrid Open
Madrid: Sania Mirza and her American partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands made an early exit from the Madrid Open after losing their second round match in straight sets to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and lucie Safarova. The fifth seed Indo-American pair lost 5-7, 1-6 to the unseeded Russian-Czech pair in one hour and 10 minutes in the second round of the euro 4,033,254 clay court event. Sania and Bethanie could convert just two of the eighth break chances they had against their rivals while dropped their serve on six occasions. Sania and her partner shared 12,000 euro as prize money and earned 140 ranking points each.
AIFF extends deadline to May 15
New Delhi: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has extended the deadline for submitting bids to buy two new I-league clubs ahead of the next season to May 15, even as six companies have bought the Request for Proposal (ROP). The earlier deadline was Friday. GMR Group, UAE-based Indian company Dodsal Group, Jindal Steel West Holdings, Eagles FC, Infrastructure leasing and Financial Services and Trans Stadia were the six business conglomerates to have bought the RFP. AIFF organisers were in Dubai last month to meet expatriate Indians in an attempt to get them to fund a cash injection into Indian football. The AIFF had last month floated a tender notice inviting bids for new clubs to be part of the I-league. The winning bidders will be granted the right to own and operate a new club which will compete in the league each year from 2013 onwards and have the opportunity (if applicable and subject to qualification) to compete in the AFC club competitions.
Abhijit scores 10-under
Kathmandu: Abhijit Chadha carded a superb 10-under 62 to jump to the top of the leaderboard at half-way stage of Surya Nepal Pvt. ltd., Masters 2013 here on Thursday. Chadha was 15-under 129 for the tournament and led by two shots from overnight leader S Chikkarangappa PNS/Agencies