Advani leaves for UK
New Delhi: Pankaj Advani on Tuesday set off on a long English journey to tame the ‘big boys’ of world snooker and claim the only major trophy missing from his cabinet — The UK Championship at Crucible — a tournament which he described as the “battle for survival”.
The ‘smiling assassin’, as he is famously known as, would be seen again reigning supreme on the green baize after his recent exploits on the Pro Circuit, when he will play in the UK Championship qualifiers, scheduled from April 3 to 14, to seek an entry into the main draw of the highly-competitive tournament from April 20-May 6 in Sheffield. “I am ready for the big battle. I am very excited playing my first World Professional Snooker Championship. I am leaving ten days earlier so as to get acclimatised to the conditions. The championship has a different format to what we experienced in the last nine months. It will be a test of your endurance, test of your ability and battle for survival,” Advani said before leaving for the Championship from Bangalore.
Indians take centrestage in asia
Chiangmai (Thailand): As the Asian Tour celebrates its 10th anniversary, a new wave of exciting and talented youngsters are taking their place on the centrestage. Anirban lahiri set the trend with a win at the SAIl-SBI Open and that was immediately followed by Gaganjeet Bhullar coming in second at the Avantha Masters and then Thailand’s Kiradech Aphinbarnrat grabbed the Maybank Malaysian open last week. There is a whole bunch of Indians in the field. Apart from lahiri and Bhullar, there are other winners like S S P Chowrasia, Himmat Rai, Digvijay Singh, Jyoti Randhawa, Shiv Kapur, C Muniyappa besides young Rashid Khan and Sujjan Singh.
Bangalore 10K run on May 19
Bangalore: More than 24,000 people are expected to participate in eight events on race day when the TCS World 10K Bangalore 2013 is flagged off from the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here May 19. A strategic tie-up with one of the world’s leading elite athlete management agencies, to encourage the serious runners from the corporate world, colleges and universities, course record bonuses and many novel initiatives to enhance the running experience of every participant will herald the event. These initiatives were announced by N. Ganapathy Subramaniam, executive vice-president of Emerging Businesses along with event partners at a press conference here Monday with Kannada movie star Puneet Rajkumar.
Indonesia name Davis Cup squad
Bangalore: The National Tennis Association of Indonesia on Tuesday named the squad for the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group I relegation tie against India to be played at KSlTA Stadium here from April 5 to 7. The Indonesian squad will reach the city on March 31 and start training from April 1, while the Indian players will start arriving here from March 30. Both India and Indonesia square off after losing their previous ties. A depleted Indian team, hit by the absence of top players, lost to South Korea 1-4 in February, while Indonesia suffered a 0-5 whitewash at the hands of Japan. India, however, with the return of their key players Somdev Devvarman and Yuki Bhambri, besides double ace leander Paes, firmly start as favourites against Indonesia, which had lost all five earlier ties against India. Hendri Susilo Pramono will be Indonesia’s non-playing captain. The squad: Christopher Rungkat, Elbert Sie, Wisnu Adi Nugroho and David Agung Susanto. PNS/Agencies