FEDERATION CUP BEGINS TODAY
Cuttack: East Bengal will take on Churchill Brothers in the opening match of the Hero Federation Cup here on Sunday while newly crowned I-league Champions Aizawl FC will lock horns with Chennai City FC later in the day. Aizawl FC, Kingfisher East Bengal, Churchill Brothers FC Goa and Chennai City FC comprise Group A while Mohun Bagan, Shillong lajong, Bengaluru FC and DSK Shivajians make up Group B. Top two teams from each group will progress to the semi- finals which are slated to kick-off on May 14.
KIPCHOGE NARROWlY MISSES 2-HR MARATHON
MONZA (ITAlY): Reigning Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge from Kenya narrowly failed in his attempt to complete the distance under the mythical two-hour mark on Saturday, finishing in a time of 2hr 00min 24sec. KIpchoge failed to finish the distance in 1hr 59min 59sec. In his pursuit of sporting immortality, Kipchoge was seven seconds quicker than the pace of the existing world record of 2:02:57 set by Dennis Kimetto of Kenya at the 2014 Berlin Marathon.
HARMEET BOWS OUT IN SEMIS
Zagreb: India's Harmeet Desai put up a gallant performance before going down to Tristan Flore of France 3-4 in the penultimate round of the 2017 ITTF Challenge, Zagreb Open on Saturday. Harmeet — who had beaten the Frenchman in the Indian Open early this year — could not repeat the win and lost his way conceding a 11-6, 10-12, 11-8, 8-11, 7-11, 11-6, 8-11 defeat. Harmeet who had just broken into the top 100 of the world rankings, had to settle for the bronze medal. In the previous round, Harmeet pulled off a 4-3 win against Quentin Robinot of France. The Indian played confidently and clinched a deserving 11-8, 10-12, 12-14, 11-9, 6-11, 11-4, 11-7 in the last-8 round.
‘NO I-lEAGUE-ISl MERGER FOR 2-3 YEARS’
Mumbai: The All India Football Federation ruled out an immediate merger of the I-league and the Indian Super league, deciding that the former will remain the country's top-tier tournament for the next two-three years. AIFF President Praful Patel heard presentations on the matter from Mohun Bagan and East Bengal in a meeting here on Saturday. "I-league will remain the official league, while the Indian Super league will be expanded into a seven-month long tournament to be played in the weekends. There will be no unified league. We will take a call after two-three years," said an AIFF source. Earlier, it was mooted that ISl will be named the official league with 11 teams, including Bengaluru FC, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan. But the idea did not go down well especially after Aizawl FC won the I-league in a historical feat. The Mizoram outfit threatened fast unto death if they were to be relegated. Agencies