Yuki, somdev shocked in indore
indore: Ramkumar Ramanathan proved his ascendancy in Indian tennis yet again as he knocked out Yuki Bhambri from the ATP Indore Open even as India's top player Somdev Devvarman also made an early exit, here on Thursday. Ramkumar, who had also shocked Somdev at the Chennai open early this year, overcame the challenge of sixth seed Yuki 7-6 (4), 6-3 to move to the quarterfinals of the $50,000 hard court tournament. The 19-year-old Chennai youngster has been impressive this year, having won four ITF Futures singles title so far. Third seed Somdev, ranked 143rd lost a hard-fought quarter-final 7-6(4), 4-6, 4-6 to Chinese Taipei's liang-Chi Hunag, who is ranked as low as 316, after fighting it out for close to three hours in his second round contest.
SAINA, sindhu, kashyap in qf
ODENSE: P V Sindhu stormed into the quarterfinal of women's singles, while Parupalli Kashyap and K Srikanth made the last-eight stage of men's singles after posting contrasting victories in the Denmark Open Super Series, here on Thursday. Sindhu took just 31 minutes to get the better of Ksenia Polikarpova of Russia 21-17, 21-19. Srikanth defeated Chinese Taipei's Jen Hao Hsu 21-12, 21-15 in 45 minutes while Kashyap fought hard before prevailing over Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka of Indonesia 21-17, 17-21, 22-20 in a contest that lasted 69 minutes. later, Saina made short work of Minatsu Mitani 21-12 21-10 in her second round contest, which lasted just 38 minutes.
Davydenko retires from tennis
MOSCOW: Former third-ranked player Nikolay Davydenko has confirmed his retirement from tennis. Davydenko has not played on the ATP tour since the French Open in May and made his announcement on the sidelines of the Kremlin Cup tournament in Moscow on Thursday. The 33-year-old Russian said a series of injuries in recent years prompted him to retire. He said the injuries “still disturb me and it's hard to fight them,” and that he can't produce “a good result anymore.”
Serbia-albania Clash wrong
geneva: World football boss Sepp Blatter and UEFA president Michel Platini strongly condemned the violent scenes that forced a Serbia-Albania football international to be abandoned. Platini called the politically-charged violence in Belgrade "inexcusable" while Blatter said football "should never be used for political messages". Players from the two sides clashed on Tuesday after a drone carrying a pro-Albanian flag was flown over the Belgrade stadium where the Balkan rivals were playing a qualifier for the 2016 European Championships. later on Wednesday, UEFA announced that it had opened a formal investigation into the events and be dealt with on October 23.
‘Alonso leaving ferrari to win’
MIlAN: Two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso will leave Ferrari at the end of the season in order to win again, according to the Italian team's recently-departed president luca Di Montezemolo. He believes the Spaniard is leaving for two reasons. In an interview on Italian television channel RAI, Montezemolo says Alonso is leaving “because he wants to try another environment” and “because he is at an age where he cannot wait to win again.” No official announcement has been made yet.
hermanpreet hatrick lifts india
johor bahru: Hermanpreet Singh did the star turn with a hat-trick of goals as India enhanced their chances to qualify for the final of the Under-21 Sultan of Johor Cup with a convincing 4-2 win over hosts Malaysia, here on Thursday. In top form after thrashing Pakistan 6-0 yesterday, the Harjeet Singh-led side improved their chances of making it to the final after notching up its third win in four games. India though had some tough moments in the game after the hosts overcame a 2-0 deficit to draw level after half-time. But two late strikes from India saved the day for the Harendra Singh-coached side. India next take on Australia on Saturday and a win against the Kangaroos would seal the team's final berth.
advani to lead cueists in leeds
new delhi: Ace cueist Pankaj Advani will spearhead the strong Indian contingent of 17 men and two women in the World Billiards Championship in leeds, commencing on October 20. Having won a record 10 World titles, Advani will be eyeing another Billiards crown after having pocketed eight in the game. The Bangalorean has also won a World Snooker title and a 6-Red Snooker Championship trophy. Hailed as a child prodigy when he won his first world title at the age of 18 in China in 2003, Advani, now 29, has come a long way to become India's poster boy of cue sports. Giving Advani company in leeds will be some top names from the country including Ashok Shandilya, Alok Kumar, Dhruv Sitwala, Rupesh Shah, Sourav Kothari, Devendra Joshi and Balachandra Bhaskar among others.
mumbai fc sign meldon d’silva
MUMBAI: Mumbai FC have added teenaged defender Meldon D'Silva to their squad, the club announced. The 19-year-old central defender was delighted with the signing. “I am very happy to sign for Mumbai FC. This club has some excellent players along with an excellent coach in Khalid Jamil. I’m looking forward to playing in the I-league and the Federation Cup and want to win every game with this club,” said D'Silva who has played for Dempo SC, Salgaocar Juniors and Wilred leisure SC. He was also part of the Goa team that recently won gold in the lusofonia Games.
Sandhu thumps english Coates
MUMBAI: Asian gold medallist Harinder Pal Sandhu registered a thumping 11-1, 11-5, 11-5 win over English youngster Benjamin on the first day of the main draw at the PSA $10,000 JSW Challenger Squash Circuit here. The 25-year old was in complete control right from the start as he led 8-0 in the first game and conceded only one point in the first game. Sandhu, who was part of the squash team that won the gold medal at Incheon, made it to the quarter-finals with the sterling performance while Dipika Pallikal got a bye in the first round and entered the quarter-finals.