Ghosal enters quarterfinals
Montreal: After achieving a career-high ranking of world number 17 this week, India’s Saurav Ghosal sizzled at the fifth edition of Open Banque National Groupe Financier, reaching the quarterfinals of the PSA World Tour International 35 squash tournament here. Third seed Ghosal dropped the opening game against Australian qualifier Steven Finitsis. But the Indian recovered well to beat the 30-year-old Finitsis, ranked 41 places lower, 7-11, 11-9, 11-2, 11-5 in a 57-minute match in the USD 35,000 event.
Pallikal stuns Kasey, in qtrs
New York: India’s squash player Dipika Pallikal scripted a memorable come back from two games down to notch up a stunning victory over higher-ranked Kasey Brown and enter the quarterfinals of the Carol Weymuller Open here on Friday. The Indian star played one of the best games of her life as she recovered from two games down and also saved a match-ball in the third to upset the Australian eighth seed 6-11, 10-12, 13-11, 11-8, 11-9 in the opening round of the Gold 50 event, celebrating its 40th anniversary at The Heights Casino in Brooklyn.
archers’ flop show continue New Delhi: India’s disappointing performance in the World Archery Championships continued with both the men’s and women’s compound teams losing in the pre-quarterfinals at Belek, Turkey on Friday. The men’s compound trio of Rajat Chauhan, Sandeep Kumar and Abhishek Verma, who were seeded 13th, were no match to their fourth seeded opponents from France and lost 176:188 in the pre-quarterfinals at the Papillon Sports Center.
Assam enters maiden final
New Delhi: The rain-soaked ground at the Ambedkar Stadium here witnessed history on Friday as Betkuchi High School of Assam posted a stunning 1-0 win over defending champions Greenwood School, Nagaland to enter the U-14 final of the Subroto Cup football tournament for the first time. The team from Nagaland held the upper hand for most of the first half but Assam’s Birkwdao Daimary scripted an unexpected twist in the script just before half-time with a well-taken corner to find the net. Meanwhile, NCC (North Eastern Region) secured a berth in the second U-14 semifinal with a 1-0 win over St Anthony’s School, East Khasi Hills, Meghalaya.
Gangjee, Kapur make cut
Tamsui (Chinese Taipei): With conditions continuing to be tough on the second day, only two Indians Rahil Gangjee (73-74) and Shiv Kapur (73-76) made the cut for weekend at the US$600,000 Mercuries Taiwan Masters.
Gurbani wins by 11 strokes
New Delhi: Delhi’s Gurbani Singh clinched Usha Chandigarh ladies and Junior girls golf championship despite a five-over 77 final round as she comfortably beat closest rival Gursimar Badwal by 11 strokes, here today. Gurbani, the pre-tournament favourite, led right through the three day competition as she was the only golfer to card a sub-par round on Day 2 of the tournament. Gursimar finished second with a total score of 231. Gurbani had her worst day of the tournament, finishing with a score of five over 77, to end with a cumulative score of 220. It however proved to be more than sufficient in the end and was also the equal best score of the day.
HC asks to consider plea
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday asked the Centre to consider a sportsman’s plea that he should be selected for Arjuna awards on the basis of his achievements in the game of Ten Pin Bowling. Justice V K Jain disposed of a plea while asking Shaik Abdul Hameed, champion in 2002 CommonWealth Games, to place his representation before the concerned authority and also asked the government to look into his plea for framing the guidelines to confer Arjuna awards to various sports persons. Hameed, in his plea filed through advocate Vasundhara Pathak Masoodi, claimed he was nominated twice — in the year 2005 and 2012 for Arjuna awards by Ten Pin Bowling Federation. PNS/Agencies