Bopanna-qureshi win title
Dubai: Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi on Saturday won their first ATP title after re-union as they beat Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic in the doubles final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships here. The second seeded ‘Indo-Pak Express’ duo beat their top seeded opponents Nestor of Canada and Zimonjic (Serbia) 6-4 6-3 in the summit clash that lasted one hour and eight minutes. Sunday’s win was a sort of a revenge for Bopanna and Qureshi who lost to the same opponents in the final of the Sydney International in January. This was the five title overall for Bopanna and Qureshi together and first after they re-united at the beginning of the season. They played with different partners for two seasons.
Arvind reaches semifinals
Mulheim an der Ruhr: Senior Indian shuttler Arvind Bhat advanced to the semifinals of the $120,000 German Open Grand Prix Gold after registering a straight-game victory over Danish 14th seed Viktor Axelsen here. The two-time former national champion, Arvind thrashed the 14th seeded Danish 21-17, 21-14 in a 35-minute men’s singles quarterfinal match and will be taking on 15th seed Tien Chen Chou of Chinese Taipei at the RWE-Sporthalle here. World No.24 Tien Chen Chou has beaten Arvind twice in the past but their last encounter was two years ago in Canada. And given the Indian’s current form, it would surely be an exciting semifinal match. The 34-year-old from Bangalore has been in good form in this tournament as he produced some exciting performances to stun higher ranked players, including world number 10 Hun Yu of Hong Kong. In the first game, Arvind erased a four-point deficit from 8-12 to claw back and then reeled off four straight points at 15-15 to march ahead. In the second game, the Indian didn’t give any chance to the Danish shuttler to make any comeback as he lead from the start and held his fort.
Eng lose from jaws of victory
North Sound: West Indies defeated England by 15 runs in the first one-day international after the visitors squandered an excellent platform that had put them in position to take the lead in the three-match series. Replying to the home side’s competitive total of 269 for six, England were restricted to 254 for six after cruising along merrily at 180 for two in the 37th over. Michael lumb’s fluent 106 on ODI debut, only the second England player after Dennis Amiss to achieve the feat, and an opening partnership of 96 with fellow first-timer Moeen Ali (44), seemed to ensure that most of the hard work was done in pursuit of a morale-boosting victory following the harrowing tour of Australia. But just as in the West Indies innings, when the home side plundered 116 runs off the last ten overs, England lost their way in the home stretch, losing four wickets for 31 runs. “If you look at both innings, we were brilliant for 40 overs and then struggled,” said England captain Stuart Broad.
South Africa colts win U-19 WC
Dubai: South Africa lifted the ICC U-19 World Cup defeating Pakistan by six wickets in a low-scoring final encounter here on Saturday. Batting first, Pakistan were bowled out for a paltry 131 in 44.3 overs with right arm medium pacer Corbin Bosch grabbing four for 15 in 7.3 overs. In reply, South Africa chased down the target in 42.1 overs with Aiden Markram (66) and Greg Oldfield (40) being the chief contributors. Earlier in the day, Pakistan were reeling at 72 for seven when Zafar Gohar (22) and Amad Butt (37) added 45 runs for the eighth wicket stand to take the team total past 100-run mark. Most of the top order batsmen like captain Sami Aslam (16), Imam-ul-Haq (12) and Hasan Raza (2) (15) were guilty of playing poor shots. Once the top order was blown away, it was difficult for the middle and lower order to repair and also build a substancial score on a big day. The pressure was telling and Pakistan wilted under it.
Rangdajied upset Bengaluru 3-2
Shillong: Bottom-placed Rangdajied United FC stunned table toppers Bengaluru FC 3-2 in a major upset of the I-league at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Saturday. Steven Dias drew first blood for the home team 15 minutes after the first whistle was blown. lalnunpuia doubled the score 16 minutes later while their new striker on loan Ranti Martins netted the winner in the 76th minute of the match to hand new coach Herring Shangpliang a winning start. Dias made no mistake in converting a shot he took just outside the box to find its way into the net in the far left corner leaving Bengaluru FC keeper Pawan Kumar failing to cover. The home team doubled the lead in the 31st minute when lalnunpuia headed home a Steven Dias cross from inside the box. Bengaluru FC struck back with skipper Sunil Chettri and Sean Rooney scoring within 15 minutes of resumption to draw level.
Mohun Bagan hold East Bengal 1-1
Kolkata: City giants Mohun Bagan held arch-rivals East Bengal to a 1-1 draw in their high-profile return derby match of the I-league at Yuba Bharati Krirangan here on Saturday. East Bengal went ahead with a James Moga header in the 39th minute while Bagan restored parity in the 67th minute when C S Sabeeth headed home from a drop ball from opponent keeper Gurpreet Singh. Both now have 20 points each. East Bengal have played 14 games while Mohun Bagan had four more games. While Bagan’s goal machine Odafa Okolie was still nursing with a hamstring injury forcing coach Karim Bencherifa to try out with new striking line of Ram Malik and substitute Manish Bhargav, Armando Colaco had tough time to have replacement for Uga Okpara and Edeh Chidi in the first eleven.
Don’t see talented offies: bhajji
New Delhi: Senior off-spinner and Punjab captain Harbhajan Singh on Saturday lamented serious dearth of quality tweakers in the domestic circuit. “Well, I played a lot of domestic matches this season but frankly speaking I haven’t seen any great talent emerging. There are not too many young bowlers who are ready to give it a tweak and could spin the ball on any surface,” Harbhajan told reporters on Saturday. Harbhajan is fine with spinners using variations but he would like every bowler to have a stock delivery. “Whether you hold the ball cross-seam or seam-up, you have to bowl off-spinners. That’s your job. Each bowler needs to possess a stock delivery. Kapil Dev in earlier days or Dale Steyn now have an outswinger which is their stock ball. Similarly for an off-spinner, it’s their off-break,” Harbhajan said.