Kulkarni ruled out of ODI series vs wi
Mumbai: Mumbai pace bowler Dhawal Kulkarni, who earned his maiden national limited-overs call-up just a couple of days back, was on Thursday ruled out of the three-match ODI series against the West Indies after sustaining a foot injury. The selection committee has picked up R Vinay Kumar as Kulkarni’s replacement in the 15-member squad for the upcoming series starting in Kochi on November 21. “Dhawal Kulkarni has sustained a foot injury. The All-India Senior Selection Committee has picked Vinay Kumar as his replacement in the Indian squad for the Star Plus India v West Indies ODI series 2013,” BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel said in a release.
Djoker vs Stepanek in Davis cup opener
Belgrade: With Serbia crippled by injuries and suspensions, all eyes will be on Novak Djokovic to lead his country to its second Davis Cup title against the defending champion Czech Republic. The second-ranked Serb, who is on a 22-match unbeaten run, has to do what he has done numerous times in the past: win both singles matches to give the small Balkan country a chance in the best-of-five series starting Friday. However, Serbia’s chances were hit Thursday when Janko Tipsarevic was ruled out of the final with a heel injury. Serbia will also miss Viktor Troicki, the star of the 2010 Davis Cup home victory over France. Troicki is out because of a 12-month suspension for skipping a blood test in April. Thursday’s pitted Djokovic against Radek Stepanek and Tipsarevic’s replacement, Dusan lajovic, against Tomas Berdych in Friday’s opening singles. The doubles are scheduled for Saturday and reverse singles are Sunday.
Saina, Kashyap crash out of China Open
Shanghai: Indian shuttlers endured a disappointing day at the China Open Super Series Premier with star player Saina Nehwal going down in the women’s singles second round while Parupalli Kashyap crashed out of the men’s singles competition here on Thursday. While Saina lost 21-16, 15-21, 17-21 to unseeded Sun Yu of China, Arundhati Pantawane was defeated 13-21, 10-21 by third seed Wang Yihan, also of China. Kashyap was defeated 11-21, 12-21 by Kento Momota of Japan. Saina, who was hoping to win her first trophy of the season, started off well, coming back from an early 4-1 deficit to dominate the opening game. But it was a completely different story in the second game as Sun opened up a 3-0 lead right at the start and maintained the advantage right till the end to even up the score. Sun will now face top seed li Xuerui in the quarterfinals.
Yuki, Vishnu, Balaji in semifinals
New Delhi: Top seed Yuki Bhambri and Vishnu Vardhan are headed for a possible title clash as they breezed into the semifinals of the ITF Futures event after scoring easy victories against their respective rivals, who failed to play to their potential, here on Thursday. Yuki, ranked 202, overwhelmed Karunuday Singh 6-0, 6-3 in one hour and 18 minutes while Vishnu dumped second seed Jeevan Nedunchezhian 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 19 minutes. Jeevan was very erratic today and his game was full of unforced errors which made the job easy for Vishnu, who was again solid. left-handed Jeevan relies a lot on his forehand but he could not use his most important weapon effectively. Vishnu will now fight it out with third seed N Sriram Balaji, who battled past Taipei’s Jui-Chen Hung 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 in a gruelling two hours and 35 minutes contest.
India submits bid to host FIFA U-17 WC
New Delhi: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has submitted its bid to host the prestigious 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup. “We are happy that we could submit all the necessary bid documents before the deadline,” AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das said. “I am grateful to our President Mr. (Praful) Patel for the initiative taken in following up with the Government in terms of the guarantees required, and ensuring all the guarantees were ready and could be submitted in time,” added Das. I-league CEO Mr.Sunando Dhar submitted the bid documents to FIFA’s Director of Competitions Division Mustapha Fahmy at the FIFA Headquarters in Zurich on Tuesday.
Good start for Bhullar in Australia
Melbourne: Gaganjeet Bhullar tuned himself up nicely for next week’s World Cup with an opening round of two-under 69 that positioned him in tied 12th place at the Talisker Masters on an emotional first day at Royal Melbourne Golf Club. Bhullar’s teammate at the World Cup, Anirban lahiri shot two-over 73 to be tied 55th. Starting from 10th, Bhullar had a bogey on 12th but a birdie on 15th and a dropped shot on 16th meant he turned in one-over.