Saina through to quarters of Swiss Open
Basel: India’s ace shuttler Saina Nehwal stormed into the quarterfinals of the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament with a straight game win over of Petya Nedelcheva of Bulgaria here. Saina, who is the defending champion and top seed here, took exactly half an hour to get the better of Nedelcheva 21-15 21-10 in the pre-quarterfinals of the women’s singles event late last night. By virtue of this win, Saina, who reclaimed World No 2 position on Thursday, took a 6-2 head-to-head lead over 23rd ranked Nedelcheva. Saina will next face sixth seeded Tzu Ying Tai of Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinal later today. Barring Saina, curtains fell on India’s challenge in the tournament as all other shuttlers from the country made early exits.
Barcelona, PSG to meet in Champions league
london: Paris Saint-Germain’s new-found status among the European elite will face its first real test after the French club was drawn Friday against Barcelona in the Champions league quarterfinals. Barcelona avoided leading rivals Real Madrid and Bayern Munich in Friday’s draw but could be given a stern challenge from PSG, which has again become a force in Europe after heavy spending from its wealthy Qatari owners since 2011. The three Spanish qualifiers for the last eight were kept apart, with nine-time champion Madrid taking on Galatasaray and Malaga facing Borussia Dortmund. The other quarterfinal is between Bayern Munich and Juventus, both repeat winners of the continent’s top club competition. The first legs will take place on April 2-3, with the return matches the following week.
Prayag beat Saprissa to enter IFA Shield final
Kalyani (WB): Prayag United sailed into the final of the 117th IFA Shield for the second time in a row with a 2-1 win over Costa Rican outfit Deportivo Saprissa at the Municipal Stadium here on Friday. Prayag surged ahead as striker Md Rafique slotted home in 26th minute from a corner kick effort, but Saprissa forward Jonathan equalised a minute later. The first semifinal match went into extra time after the teams were locked 1-1 in the scheduled 90 minutes of play. During extra time, substitute Keyne Vincent scored the winner in 97th minute following a cross from Rafique, who excelled on the pitch for some defence splitting throughs and was adjudged Man of the Match.
Vettel fastest as Red Bull dominate practice
Melbourne: World champion Sebastian Vettel took up where he left off last season as Red Bull dominated opening practice on Friday ahead of the weekend’s season-opening Australian Formula One Grand Prix. Vettel -- bidding for a fourth consecutive world drivers’ crown — posted the fastest times in both practice sessions, settling with a best of one minute 25.908 seconds in the afternoon to stake his claim for Sunday’s Melbourne race. Australian Mark Webber completed an emphatic one-two for the champion Red Bull team as main title rivals Ferrari and Mclaren struggled. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, edged out by Vettel in last year’s championship, finished 0.840 secs behind Vettel’s fastest lap, while last season’s Melbourne winner Jenson Button was well down in 11th place in his Mclaren.
Talwar annihilates Sethi in Snooker Masters
New Delhi: Former national 8-Ball Pool champion, Sumit Talwar produced one of the best performances of his career to annihilate Hitesh Sethi 3-0 in the RKG Snooker Masters North Zone championship, here on Friday. Chandigarh’s Talwar produced an hour of sublime quality to crush Delhi’s Sethi 53-11 42-17 62-17 at the Megapool Snooker Academy in Dwarka. Potting the ball all around the table with consummate ease, the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games quarterfinalist was simply ununstoppable as he recorded one of his most emphatic victories in the domestic circuit. However, there was disappointment in store for the Megapool Academy’s Manmeet Bhatia as he went down 0-3 against Railways’ Pushpinder Singh.
Neha wins 2nd title in Women’s Pro Tour 2013
Chandigarh: Continuing with her scorching form, Neha Tripathi clinched her second title of the season when she returned a card of three over 75 in the final round of the fifth leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour, here on Friday. The Kolkata girl, with an aggregate of 224, was three shots ahead of runner-up Smriti Mehra. Neha carded three birdies on the second, fourth and 13th along with six bogeys on the fifth, sixth, 12th, 14th, 15th and 18th holes. PNS/Agencies