Pirates beat Titans 43-36 in PKl
Hyderabad: Patna Pirates handed Telugu Titans their fifth straight defeat with a 43-36 win in the Vivo Pro Kabaddi league here on Thursday. It was Patna's star raider Pardeep Narwal who led the charge and scored 12 points. He was ably supported by Monu Goyat who scored 10 points. Although Rahul Chaudhari sparked back into life and scored 12 points for Titans, it wasn't enough as Patna ran out comfortable winners. Patna jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first two minutes as both Narwal and Goyat scored raid points. Nilesh Salunke opened Titans' account in the third minute as they trailed 1- 3. It was an even contest for the first seven minutes as both teams were tied at 6-6. It was Pirates' second win over Titans in the ongoing edition and they continued the domination with an all-round display. In what was the last match of the Hyderabad leg, the Titans could not rise to the occasion and slumped to yet another defeat, leaving them a lot to do in the league.
Bhambri stuns Monfils in Citi Open
Washington: India's Yuki Bhambri produced one of the best performances of his career and stunned World No 22 and defending champion Gael Monfils in a tough three-setter to enter the third round of the ATP Citi Open, here. Bhambri, who had qualified for the main draw of the ATP 500 tournament, took one hour and 51 minutes to register the 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 upset win over the sixth-seeded Frenchman to enter the round of 16. Bhambri will next be up against Guido Pella of Argentina. Pella, who had shown the door to another Indian Ramkumar Ramanathan in the opening round, defeated Mischa Zverev of Germany 6-7(5), 7-6(2), 6-3 in the second round.
Prannoy, Sourabh in q/f of NZ Open
Auckland: HS Prannoy on Thursday advanced to the quarterfinals of the New Zealand Open with a straight-game win over Hong Kong's Wei Nan in the men's singles competition of the Grand Prix Gold event here. Fourth seed Prannoy, who had clinched the US Open last month, defeated 10th seed Wei Nan 21-18, 21-19 in a 46-minute match, to set up a clash with 11th seed lin Yu Hsien of Chinese Taipei. Former National champion and seventh seed Sourabh Verma also reached the quarters after emerging victorious in an all-Indian pre-quarterfinal battle against Parupalli Kashyap. The 24-year-old from Dhar prevailed over Kashyap 21-18, 13-21, 21-16 in a close match that last an hour and four minutes at the North Shore Events Centre here.
Sharapova withdraws due to injury
San Francisco: Five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova withdrew from the WTA Bank of the West Classic just before her scheduled second-round match on Wednesday with a left arm injury, tournament officials announced. "We're sad to announce that @mariasharapova has withdrawn after doctor's advice regarding her left arm," a post on the tournament's Twitter feed said. Sharapova played her first US match in more than two years on Monday, defeating American Jennifer Brady 6-1, 4-6, 6-0 in an opening-round match at the hardcourt event in Stanford, California. Agencies