India lose to Spain 1-4
MADRID: The Indian women's hockey team suffered a 1-4 defeat against hosts Spain in the fourth game to trail 1-2 in the five-match series. lola Riera (10', 34') continued her fine form with a double strike while the other goals came from lucia Jimenez (19') and Carmen Cano (37'). India's only goal of the match was scored by Udita in the 22nd minute. While Spain beat India 3-0 in the opener, the second game between the two sides finished with a 1-1 draw. The visitors bounced back with a 3-2 win in the third match before being outplayed in the fourth game played on Saturday.The two teams will play their fifth and final match on Monday.
Jayaram loses IN US Open SEMIS
fullerton: Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram suffered a straight-game loss to The Netherlands' Mark Caljouw in the semifinals of the $ 150,000 US Open BWF World Tour Super 300 tournament here. The 30-year-old Indian lost 13-21, 21-23 to sixth seed Mark in the men's singles semifinals that lasted 36 minutes at the Fullerton Titan Gym. The Dutch shuttler quickly jumped to a 11-3 lead at the breather and kept his nose ahead after the break to pocket the first game. In the second game, Mark once again grabbed a 11-7 lead at the interval but Jayaram fought back to turn the tables at 13-12 and again held a slender 18-16 lead at one stage. However, Mark kept breathing down his neck and eventually sealed the contest to reach the finals.
Manika stuns World No 18 in UTT
pune: Table tennis sensation Manika Batra on Sunday shocked World No 18 Sofia Polcanova in a thrilling duel to give Dabang Smashers TTC an early lead against Warriors TTC in the Ceat Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) here on Sunday. The sizeable weekend crowd that had turned up at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi to cheer the CWG star got their money's worth as the 23-year-old upstaged the Austrian, ranked 62 spots higher 2-1 (11-10, 5-11, 11-10). Two of the three games were decided by the 'golden point' with the 80th-ranked Indian serving on both occasions to squeeze in the winners. Manika had won a record four medals at the Gold Coast Games including two Gold.
beaten Felix eyes Tokyo Olympics
marseille: 11-time world champion and six-time Olympic Gold medallist, Alleyson Felix finished third over 400m at a meeting in Marseille on Saturday before insisting that she hasn't given up on matching Usain Bolt's record of eight Olympic titles in Tokyo in 2020. American star Felix was beaten on Saturday by Italy's libiana Grenot. "It wasn't a great evening for me. I hope to do better but this year is very different," said 32-year-old Felix, who won a total of nine Olympic medals. "I'm a long way off my best form but I am going home now to work." Felix, the 200m champion at the 2012 Olympics in london and Silver medallist over 400m in Rio in 2016, has her eyes set on another title when the 2020 Games roll around in Japan in two years' time. "In team but especially in the individual events, I hope to be a champion in Tokyo.”