Sreejesh eagerly awaits pak clash
New Delhi: Indian hockey team’s goalkeeper PR Sreejesh is eagerly waiting for the clash against Pakistan in the Hockey World league (HWl) semi-final which will be played here from June 20 to July 5. “For me our clash against Pakistan will be the most awaited,” said the 27-year-old custodian. “The team in the last few weeks has worked on various combinations and strategies keeping in mind the important tournaments that are lined up in the next 14 months.” India have been placed in Pool A with Australia, France, Pakistan and Poland in the 10-team tournament. The top-4 teams will qualify for the HWl Final to be played in India in November-December. While India will start their campaign against France on June 20, they will take on arch-rivals Pakistan on June 26. “The new way of attacking with 10 and defending with 10 gives me that extra confidence as now I feel my fort has been strengthened. This will give us that extra edge and I am hoping that this will help put the pressure and in the meantime also allow us to score through those half opportunities,” said the Kerala-born.
Bopanna-Mergea move to Quarters
Stuttgart: Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea fought past the pair of Marin Cilic and Frank Moser to make it to the quarterfinals of the Euro 642,070 Mercedes Cup, here on Wednesday. The fourth seed Indo-Romanian pair faced a stiff resistance from the 2014 US Open champion Cilic and Moser before prevailing 6-3, 7-6 (10) in 70 minutes in a tough opening round of the grass court tournament. Courtesy an early break, Bopanna and Mergea raced to a 3-0 lead in the opening set and pocketed it easily. However the second set was an altogether different ball game as Croatia’s Cilic and his German partner fought tooth and nail. There was no break of serve and it was decided via tie-breaker, in which Bopanna and Mergea needed five match points to seal it. Cilic and Moser had a set point but the fourth seeds saved that.
Paes, Nestor bow out in holland
S-Hertogenbosch (The Netherlands): The second seeded pair of leander Paes and Daniel Nestor suffered a shock quarterfinal defeat against the French pair of Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert to crash out of the ATP Topshelf Open. The Indo-Canadian team lost 4-6, 6-7(7). The second seeds could convert none of the four break chances — three in the opening set — in the match. They succeeded in saving five break chances on their serve but the Frenchmen relied on one single break conversion to take the first set and then prevailed in the second-set tie-breaker too.
Becker to seek British citizenship
london: Former German tennis ace Boris Becker has reportedly said he will apply for British citizenship after spending much of his time at Wimbledon since his retirement. Becker currently resides at Wimbledon in England even though he has a house in Germany. He is at present the coach of Novak Djokovic. Djokovic lost in the final of the French Open, going down to No.4 Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka. The 47-year-old German will coach Djokovic at Wimbledon again this season with the Serbian looking to equal his coach’s record of three wins at All England Club.
Rashid Khan eyeing another success
Bengaluru: Young Delhi professional golfer Rashid Khan, representing Jaypee Greens Greater Noida, will try to give his team the best chance to win the fourth louis Philippe Cup, commencing here on Thursday at the Karnataka Golf Association (KGA) course with seven teams in the fray. Rashid Khan, 24, who won the second edition of the louis Philippe Cup representing Delhi, has some serious experience in his team in the form of five-time Asian Tour winner Gaganjeet Bhullar and winner of 2015 The Hemisphere Professional Golf Tour of India Masters, Shamim Khan. Rashid Khan had a superb junior and amateur career which only got better after turning pro in 2010. “Making the cut in my first ever pro tournament at the Hero Indian Open 2010 gave me a lot of confidence. I also registered multiple victories on the PGTI tour including the Surya Nepal Masters in 2011. But the special wins that have really propelled me for greater heights were SAIl SBI Open on my home soil and Chiangmai Classic last year,” he said.