Vijender invites Delhi CM for title fight
New Delhi: Star pugilist Vijender Singh on Friday discussed the scope of professional boxing in India with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and accorded him a formal invitation for his WBO Asia Title fight in the capital on June 11. Vijender was accompanied to the Delhi Secretariat by his promoter Neerav Tomar, MD, IOS Boxing Promotions. Vijender said, "It was an honour for me to meet Delhi Chief Minister Mr. Arvind Kejriwal and I personally invited him for my WBO Asia Title fight scheduled to be held in the capital on 11th June. "We discussed the scope of professional boxing in India and he assured me of his help and support for which I am very grateful. "I look forward for Mr. Kejriwal to come and watch me live in the Capital on 11 June. I am happy to know that Mr. Kejriwal is following my professional fights."
Saurav climbs to World No 18
Chennai: India's leading men's player Saurav Ghosal improved by a rung to 18 in the April rankings released by the PSA while the highest ranked Indian Joshna Chinappa remained on 14. Dipika Pallikal went down a place to 19 and the third Indian woman was Sachika Ingale, who rose to her career high of 81. In the men's section, Mahesh Mangaonkar, improving with each outing lately jumped to 58 from his previous 65. Harinder Pal Sandhu, nursing a hamstring injury has dropped to 71 but the overseas Indian Vikram Malhotra made a huge leap from 125 to 92 now.
Mohun Bagan gear up to take on EB
Siliguri: Still smarting from their shock defeat against Aizawl FC, defending champions Mohun Bagan will look to bring their campaign back on track when they face arch-rivals East Bengal in the I-league derby at the Kanchenjunga Stadium here on Saturday. Placed at the top, Mohun Bagan (25) are three points clear of second placed Bengaluru FC while East Bengal have 20 points. Having played 11 matches, the green-and-maroon suffered their first defeat of the season when they lost to debutants Aizawl FC in Mizoram. Joel Sunday (3') opened the scoring before Cornell Glen (24') equalised but lalchhawnkima (54') scored from the spot to hand Mohun Bagan the first defeat of the 2015/16 I-league campaign in a match which they played sans Jeje lalpekhula, Pronay Halder, Pritam Kotal and Haitian Sony Norde who went for their national commitments. Norde is back but did not practice today and is a doubtful starter for the much-anticipated return leg derby.
Solid start for lahiri, lies tied 32
Houston (USA): Anirban lahiri got off to a fine start with a three-under 69 in the first round of the Shell Houston Open here. lahiri, who makes his second appearance at the Masters next week, had five birdies against two bogeys and was lying tied 32 on a low-scoring opening day. Also shooting 69 were three-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler, Charl Schwartzel, Patrick Reed and Angel Cabrera. Sitting on top of the leaderboard was three-time PGA Tour winner Charley Hoffman, who has nine birdies in his 18 holes and just one bogey for a card of eight-under 64 that gave him a one-shot lead over four others, including Dustin Johnson, Morgan Hoffman, Scott Brown and Roberto Castro.
Nishikori beats Monfils in Miami Open
Miami: Japan's Kei Nishikori advanced to the semi-finals of the Miami Open tennis tournament with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) victory over Gael Monfils, who squandered five match points late in the contest. The Japanese No.6 seed nearly paid dearly for his poor play on serve in the opening set and his unforced errors in critical moments of the third set on Thursday. Monfils, meanwhile, suffered physically in the hot South Florida conditions but fought back valiantly late in the third set before losing the match in a heartbreaking fashion.