Calgary (Canada): Indian shuttlers B Sai Praneeth and Ajay Jayaram reached the singles’ quarterfinals alongwith two women’s doubles pairs, including Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, in the $50,000 Canada Open Grand Prix badminton tournament. The 22-year-old Praneeth, seeded 10, defeated Sri lanka’s Niluka Karunaratne 14-21, 21-15, 21-15 in a 57-minute battle at the Markin MacPhail Centre. The Hyderabad lad, who had risen five places to World No. 33 after reaching the semifinals of the US Open last week, will next take on two-time silver medallist and former World No. 1 lee Chong Wei. Ninth seed Jayaram, who also rose a place to 32nd, prevailed over Indonesia’s Wisnu Yuli Prasetyo 21-12, 17-21, 21-12 in another hard-fought battle and will next meet top seed Marc Zwiebler of Germany. Commonwealth silver-medallist Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, seeded 3rd, who reached the US Open semifinals Grand Prix Gold last week, eked out a 16-21, 21-16, 21-17 win over Netherlands’ Samantha Barning and Iris Tabeling.
Gurbani wins at Royal Springs
Srinagar: Amateur Gurbani Singh played a flawless final round of 3 under 69 to capture the ninth leg of the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour 2015. In the process, she also became the first amateur to win this season. Delhi youngster Vani Kapoor, Kaphurthala golfer Gursimar Badwal and Panchkula’s Amandeep Drall finished tied second with identical scores of 216 after the final round. The final two rounds were played on Thursday at Royal Springs Golf Course due to heavy rainfall on Wednesday. Gurbani Singh struggled a little in the second round, carding 2 over 74. However, the amateur from Delhi quickly turned things around and played a bogey-free round of 3 under 69 to emerge victorious by a big margin of five shots. She carded three birdies on the 5th, 12th and 18th holes to finish with a total score of 211 after 54 holes.
Powell dominates 100m heats
Kingston (Jamaica): Former 100-meter world record-holder Asafa Powell dominated heats in the men’s 100 meters at Jamaica’s trials by recording a time of 9.98 on Thursday. Sprinters Kemar Bailey-Cole and Andrew Fisher both clocked 10.05. Yohan Blake finished with 10.24 after a poor start. The semi-finals and the final will take place on Friday. The coach of world record-holder Usain Bolt decided to withdraw the globe’s top sprinter from the Jamaica meet. His agent, Ricky Simms, says Bolt’s coach apparently “preferred him to train” ahead of Diamond league meets in July. Bolt already has a berth secured in August’s world championships in China.
Chicago: Seattle forward Clint Dempsey was handed a minimum two-year suspension from the U.S. Open Cup on Thursday and a second fine for his conduct toward a referee in a game last week. The penalty announced by a U.S. Soccer Federation panel was in addition to a three-game league ban and fine announced last week by Major league Soccer. The second penalty, issued by the U.S. Open Cup Adjudication and Discipline Panel, covers up to six U.S. Open Cup matches. If the Sounders lose their initial match each year, the penalty would last through 2021. Dempsey was punished for a confrontation with a ref on June 16 in the Sounders’ fourth-round loss to rival Portland, when he grabbed a notebook from the official and tore it after a teammate was given a red card.
london: Double Olympic champion Mo Farah will continue working with Alberto Salazar, saying Friday he was satisfied with the response given by the American long-distance running coach to accusations of doping. “As someone I’ve worked with for many years, I feel I have to believe in Alberto and the evidence he has provided,” Farah said on his Facebook page. Salazar issued a 12,000-word rebuttal of claims against himself and his other star runner, Olympic silver medalist Galen Rupp, in an open letter on the website of the Nike Oregon Project on Wednesday. Salazar, one of the world’s top track coaches, has been accused by American investigative website ProPublica and the BBC of using doping practices for his athletes in Oregon. “Although it’s been a difficult time,” Farah said, “I asked Alberto to respond to the allegations made against him and he has now done so in full.” Farah, the world and Olympic 5,000 and 10,000-meter champion, added that he now wants to “focus on what I do best — training hard to win medals for my country.”
Eastbourne: Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis were ousted from the WTA Aegon International following a semifinal defeat to Caroline Garcia and Katarina Srebotnik. The top seeds lost 5-7, 4-6 to French-Slovak pair in the last-four stage of the $31,000 grass court event, last before Wimbledon.