Bhupathi-lidstedt, somdev out
New Delhi: The top seeded pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Robert lindstedt made a shock first round exit from the Thailand Open while Somdev Devvarman crashed out of the Malaysian Open. The Indo-Sweden pair of Bhupathi and lindstedt lost 6-2 3-6 8-10 to Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain and Paolo lorenzi of Italy in just 59 minutes. It was Bhupathi’s first tournament after US Open, where he was knocked in the first round along with German partner Philipp Petzschner. The Indian challenge is still alive in the tournament as leander Paes is also playing in the doubles event. Paes and his Italian partner Daniele Bracciali have been seeded second and they will open their campaign against James Cerretani and Adil Shamasdin. Meanwhile, in Kuala lumpur, Somdev lost his first round match to fellow qualifier Matteo Viola in straight sets. The Indian lost 3-6 3-6 to his lower-ranked Italian rival after one hour and 15 minutes. While Somdev is ranked 98, Viola is 140 on the ATP ranking charts. It was first meeting between the two players.
Sindhu receives Arjuna award
New Delhi: Rising shuttler P V Sindhu was conferred with the prestigious Arjuna Award by Sports Minister Jitendra Singh here on Tuesday. Sindhu had missed the opportunity to receive the award from President Pranab Mukhejee at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on August 31 as she was busy playing in the final of the Indian Badminton league (IBl). Jitendra Singh today presented the shuttler with a statuette, citation and a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh during the governing body meeting of Sports Authority of India.
Sethuraman back in contention
Kocaeli (Turkey): Grandmaster S P Sethuraman came back into the reckoning with a thumping victory over Antonios Pavlidis of Greece in the 10th round of the World Junior Chess Championship here. Playing the white side of a King’s Indian defense, Sethuraman went for the blood in the Saemisch variation and launched a direct assault with a pawn roller resulting in tremendous pressure. Pavlidis cracked when he ran out of useful moves and called it a day after 30 moves. Sethuraman took his tally to seven points out of 10 games here and given the fact that he has played the tougher opponents, he can now train his sight for a podium finish for which some more victories are needed in the rounds to come.
TN claim overall title
Kochi: Tamil Nadu clinched the overall title ahead of hosts Kerala in the 25th National Inter-Zonal Junior Athletics Championships, which concluded on Tuesday. With 440.5 points in their kitty, Tamil Nadu finished on top ahead of second-placed Kerala (378) at the Maharaja College Stadium. Tamil Nadu bagged 28 gold, 23 silver and 17 bronze medals. In the girls’ category, Kerala, riding on a superb final day performance climbed to the top spot with 257 points. Young Gayathry Sivakumar set a new national record in girls’ under-14 high jump with an effort of 1.59m.
Honey Baisoya is rd one leader
Panchkula: Honey Baisoya of Delhi shot a splendid eight-under-64 to take the honours in round one of the PGTI Players Championship presented by Panchkula Golf Club here on Tuesday. Delhi’s Manav Jaini, Rajiv Datar of Pune and Chikkarangappa S of Bangalore were two strokes behind Baisoya in joint second place.
Neha leads on Day one
New Delhi: Kolkata golfer Neha Tripathi finally seemed to have rediscovered her touch to lead the field with level par score on the first day of the 11th leg of Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour 2013 here on Tuesday. Trailing Neha by a stroke was Delhi’s Vani Kapoor, while in-form veteran golfer Smriti Mehra was placed third with a total score of two over 74 after the first round. PNS/Agencies