Bopanna-Qureshi stretched
Sydney: Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi recorded their first win after re-joining forces as they overcame a spirited challenge from Jean-Julien Roger and Horia Tecau in the first round of the ATP Apia International, here on Tuesday. The third seeded Indo-Pak pair recorded a hard-fought 7-6(5) 6-7(2) 10-3 win over the unseeded Dutch-Romanian team in one hour and 41 minutes. They next face Treat Huey from Philippines and Briton Dominic Inglot, who ousted Spaniards Pablo Andujar and David Marrero 6-4 6-3 in their opening round of the USD 511,825 hard court event. Bopanna and Qureshi had suffered a first round exit at last week’s Chennai Open in their first match of the season.
Mattek-Sands upsets Radwanska
Sydney: American qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands dumped top seed and defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska out of the Sydney International on Tuesday. Mattek-Sands, ranked 48, upset the world number five 7-5, 6-2 in just over 90 minutes to disrupt Radwanska’s lead-up to next week’s Australian Open in Melbourne. Radwanska’s defeat was the first time since 1998 that the women’s titleholder has lost her opening match in Sydney. “She was really playing aggressive today. It didn’t matter if it was my first serve, second serve, or anything, she was really going 100 percent for every ball,” Radwanska said. Former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova is the highest seed left in the draw after ousting American Christina McHale for the loss of just one game. Kvitova will next play Czech lucie Safarova, who eliminated Danish sixth seed Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 7-6 (9/7).
AFI finalises trials for CWG, Asiads
Mumbai: Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has fixed the National Inter-State championships at lucknow in June and the Federation Cup championships at Patiala in August as the selection trials for this year’s Commonwealth and Asian Games respectively. The inter-state event is to be hosted by the Uttar Pradesh association from June 18-22 ahead of the CWG in Glasgow, Scotland from July 21 to August 4. Federation Cup athletics is slated from August 16-19 prior to the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea from September 28-October 5.
Athletics league styleIJ
New Delhi: Aimed at raising the profile of track and field sports in the country, Athletics Federation of India (AFI) is mulling on launching an ambitious big prize money franchised-based league, which will have Olympic and world champions. The AFI Executive Committee, in its recent meeting, discussed the possibility of starting a cash-rich competition to be named Indian Athletics league (IAl), with a sports management firm presenting a blueprint. Though the finer details are yet to be finalised, the proposed
IAl will be a franchised-based competition on the lines of IPl. It will also have some similarities with the prestigious 14-leg Diamond league Series organised by the world governing body IAAF each year. AFI Executive Committee took the decision to hold the proposed IAl in the first half of August if the sponsors and necessary funds are available. A top source in the AFI said that the budget for the proposed league would be pegged at around 100 crore. “It’s early stages now. We discussed the feasibility of the league in the Executive Committee meeting as we want to raise the profile of athletics in the country. We decided that if the necessary funds and the sponsors are coming, then we can hold the league in August,” the source said.
PNS/Agencies