Punjab win despite Sakshi's heroics
New Delhi: New Delhi: Punjab Royals registered a superb 5-2 victory over Delhi Sultans despite the home team skipper Sakshi Malik and her fiancé Satyawart Kadian's heroics in the second edition of the Pro Wrestling league here today. Punjab took the upper hand with an early 3-0 lead but Satyawart and Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi managed to keep Delhi Sultans hopes alive with back-to-back wins. However, Azerbaijan's star wrestler Togrul Zasgarov dashed the home team's hopes as he wrapped up the tie in Punjab's favour in just 30 seconds for a rather comfortable victory, with the last bout of the evening still remaining. For Delhi, Praveen Rana failed to live up to the expectations, going down to a lesser known opponent Jitender, despite gaining an early lead, to hand over the advantage to the Punjab team. In the end, Punjab extended the margin of victory, winning the final encounter also with ease. The highlight of the evening was the keenly fought battle between the two Punjab's Jitender and Praveen Rana of Delhi in which the former registered a come-from-behind victory.
10-men Bagan pip Churchill Brothers
Barasat: Former champions Mohun Bagan rode on a Balwant Singh first-half strike and held their nerves after being reduced to 10 men to secure a hard-fought 1-0 win over Churchill Brothers in their 10th I-league opener here today. After some half-hearted attempts, Mohun Bagan's 'lucky charm' Balwant, returning from an injury, gave them the lead with his 28th minute header against the only Goan team in the league. Down to 10 men in the second-half, the threat of conceding remained till the last minute with some swift freekicks, but Mohun Bagan returned lucky to earn full three points in their opening match. Meanwhile, in New Delhi, The much-anticipated battle between the two Hero I-league newcomers, Chennai City FC and Minerva Punjab FC, failed to provide a winner as it finished 0-0 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Sunday.
Advani wins Kolkata 0pen
Kolkata: Ace cueist Pankaj Advani downed two-time defending champion Aditya Mehta 5-1 in a flawless display to clinch the third Kolkata Open National Invitational Snooker Championship, here on Sunday. The 16-time world champion was off to a sedate start before clinching the issue by posting a break of 101 in the sixth game en route to a 75-56 (60), 76-19 (67), 87-47 (14), 73-17, 0-101 (101), 116-0 (101) win. "love to play international tournament here, BRC brings out my best. looking forward to playing more games here in future" Advani, who missed the first two editions here, said at the Bengal Rowing Club here after winning a prize purse of Rs 1.25 lakh. Advani led 4-0 at the break. After the break, Mehta thundered to a 101-0 but it was too little as Advani produced his best in the sixth game to win his maiden title with an identical break of 101.