Vandana to lead Indian eves
New Delhi: Forward Vandana Katariya was on Tuesday named as captain of the 18-member Indian women hockey squad for the Asian Champions Trophy, scheduled to be played in Singapore from October 29. Defender Sunita lakra was named as the vice captain of the side as Sushila Chanu, who led the side during the Rio Olympic Games has been omitted. The Indian team has two goalkeepers, five forwards, six mid-fielders and five defenders. The tournament will feature defending Champions Japan, China, Korea and Malaysia apart from India. "The team has been training at SAI, Bhopal over the past three weeks and are looking fresh from a well-deserved break post Rio," said chief coach Neil Hawgood. Vandana feels the tournament will help the team access where they stand.
lanka experiments with pink ball
Colombo: A pink ball was used on Tuesday for the first time in Sri lankan cricketing history when a four-day unofficial day-night Test between Sri lanka A and West Indies A began at the Premadasa Stadium. Asitha Fernando, a 19-year-old right-arm medium pacer bowled the first ball to Rajendra Chandrika, the West Indian A opening batsman. This was the first of three unofficial Tests between the two sides. They will also play three One-day Internationals.
Anand to take on Svidler
Moscow: Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand will meet Russian Peter Svidler in the seventh round of 10th Tal Memorial International chess tournament here. A perfect record with white, a rare slip against Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and some excellent preparation as black just about sums up Anand's enterprising play in the $200000 prize money tournament so far and all he needs now is a good finish to make the podium. With 3.5 points from the first six rounds, Anand will have two games with white pieces out of the last three and he will have to win two games in all likelihood.