Advani in SF of Asian Snooker C’ship
Doha: India's ace cueist Pankaj Advani has reached the medal round making it to the semi-final of the Asian Snooker Championship 2016, which is being played at Doha, Qatar. Advani sailed smoothly to semi-final ousting Syrian player Karam Fatima scoring five frames to nil. But he was grinded well earlier on Friday in last-16 where his compatriot Ishpreet Chadha gave him a tough fight till the last moment of play. Advani was leading 3-1 when Ishpreet replied strong and clinched two frames to set decider. The decider was also not easy but Advani managed to cross that hurdle 66-43. Advani will now take on Kritsanut lertsattayathorn of Thailand in semi-final.
Sporting to lock horns with Salgaocar
Vasco: Having come out of the relegation zone, Salgaocar FC and Sporting Clube de Goa will fight for supremacy as they face-off in their season's last I-league encounter, a Goan Derby, here on Saturday. The previous encounter at Fatorda Stadium resulted in a 1-1 draw. With the top three slots out of reach and both team having already avoided relegation, the match at Tilak Maidan has been rendered inconsequential. For Salgaocar FC, who have 16 points, a win tomorrow will ensure they collect 19 points overall, the same as Sporting Clube de Goa, and will move them to fourth place as they have better head-to-head count. Sporting head coach Costa said, "We always want to finish as high as possible on the table, and now that the third spot is out of reach we would like to maintain our position at fourth."
Nadal in Barcelona semifinals
Barcelona: Eight-time winner Rafael Nadal beat 12th-seeded Fabio Fognini 6-2, 7-6 (1) to advance to the semifinals of the Barcelona Open on Friday, avenging a loss to the Italian at the tournament last year. The top-seeded Spaniard broke Fognini three times to take the first set but had to fight back from 4-2 down to force a tiebreaker, which Nadal won when Fognini's return went wide. Nadal faces his first semifinal on Barcelona's outdoor clay court since he won his eighth title in 2013. He plays either Philipp Kohlschreiber or Andrey Kuznetsov. Also, two-time defending champion Kei Nishikori overcame a lackluster start to beat 11th-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov 7-5, 6-0. The second-seeded Japanese will face Benoit Paire in Saturday's semifinals.
Indian wrestlers fail to book Oly berth
Ulaanbaatar (Mongoli): India's Greco-Roman wrestlers got off to a disappointing start at the 1st OG World Olympic Qualifying tournament on Friday as none of them could make it to the medal round in their respective weight categories here. In the previous tournament last month — Asian Olympic Qualification — Hardeep (98kg) created history by becoming the first Indian Greco-Roman wrestler to secure an Oly berth after 2004 Athens, when Mausam Khatri had made the cut. But Hardeep's qualification failed to inspire others and every one in the fray today went down at the early stages of the competition itself to bow out of the tournament. Now they are left with just one chance to book a ticket to Rio Games at the the last Olympic qualifier — 2nd World Qualification tournament — scheduled to be held at Istanbul. Agencies