Saina seals semifinal spot at ABC
wuhan (china): Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal continued her consistent run in international circuit, reaching yet another semifinal at the $200,000 Asia Badminton Championship here on Friday. In a battle of long rallies, the 26-year-old Indian held her nerves in tricky situations to eke out a 21-16, 21-19 win over former World Champion Shixian Wang of China in the women's singles quarterfinal that lasted 56 minutes. The World No. 8 Indian, who had registered semifinal finishes in the Swiss Grand Prix Gold, India Super Series and Malaysia Super Series Premier Open before skipping the Singapore Open, will take on the winner of the match between Japan's Nozomi Okuhara and China's Yihan Wang. Saina, who had lost the last two meetings with Wang, tried to be patient during the energy-sapping rallies but many times she failed to control the shuttle and lost point.
Indian women team in Archery WC final
shanghai: Indian women recurve team shocked top seed Germany 5-3 to set up a gold medal clash with Chinese Taipei in the first stage of Archery World Cup at the Yuanshen Stadium here on Friday. India also remained in medal hunt in the men's team and mixed pair in the recurve section but it was a forgettable outing for the compound archers who will return empty-handed after failing to progress to any medal round. The trio of Deepika Kumari, laishram Bombayla Devi and laxmirani Majhi bounced back from their disappointing run in the individual events on Thursday to down their German opponents. Seventh seed Chinese Taipei thrashed higher-ranked Russia 6-0 in the other semifinal. All the recurve medals events will be held Sunday, while on Saturday will be the compound finals.
Two Indian Judokas in race for Rio Qualification
new delhi: Indian judokas Avtar Singh and Thoudam Kalpana Devi have a good chance of qualifying for the Rio Olympics after their impressive performances in the recently-concluded Asian Championship in Tashkent. According to a media release issued by the Judo Federation of India, in the revised world rankings to be published at the end of May, both Avtar and Kalpana will climb up the ladder and be within qualification ambit. Avtar performed well in the below 90kg category, reaching the third round but lost the bronze medal bout. He finished 5th and is expected to get anything between 80 to 90 points, which will improve his world rankings. The final list of the Olympic Games qualified players will be released in the last week of May by the International Judo Federation.
Serena's absence blows Madrid tourney open
madrid: In the absence of world number one Serena Williams, who withdrew from the tournament on Friday after suffering with flu, a whole host of players will be targeting victory at the WTA Madrid Open. Williams has played just three tournaments all season, losing in the final of the Australian Open and at Indian Wells. With the world's dominant player missing for so much of the season, 16 different women have already lifted WTA titles this year, with Sloane Stephens, Victoria Azarenka and Angelique Kerber the only multiple winners.