‘Indo-Pak Express’ to be back on Tour
New Delhi: The much-popular Indo-Pak pairing of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi will be back after six years when it competes at the Acapulco ATP 500 event but as of now it's an one-off arrangement since their combined ranking won't let them enter bigger tournaments together. It will be first time that Bopanna and Aisam, known as ‘Indo-Pak Express' will play together since they last competed at the ATP 250 event in Shenzen in 2014.
Manika, Sreeja advance into final round
Doha: Star paddler Manika Batra and young Sreeja Akula moved to the final round of the women's singles qualifiers at the WTT Contender after winning their respective matches. The world number 150, Sreeja prevailed over world number 74 Vega Paulina before she sent packing 87th-ranked Orawan Paranang 11-5, 11-5, 11-6 in the third round. While Manika got the better of Irina Ciobanu 11-7, 15-13, 11-8 comfortably in the third round of women's singles qualifiers and will face Ganna Gaponova in the last round.
Hat-trick of defeats for India women
Dusseldorf: The Indian women's hockey team's defence resisted well but formidable Germany walked away with a 2-0 win in the third game, taking an unassailable 3-0 lead in the four-match series, here. Sonja Zimmermann (26') and Franzisca Hauke (42') scored the goals for Germany, who won their third consecutive match on Monday. The fourth match of the series will be played on Thursday.
smriti slips 2 places in ODI rankings
Dubai: Indian opener Smriti Mandhana slipped two places to sixth among batters but Jhulan Goswami retained her fifth spot among bowlers in the latest ICC women's ODI Players' rankings issued on Tuesday. England opener Tammy Beaumont has rocketed five places to grab the top position after an excellent display in the three-match series against New Zealand. She has overtaken the likes of Stafanie Taylor and Amy Satterthwaite to top the list and now leads Australia captain Meg Lanning by 16 points.
Stimac names 35 probables for friendlies
New Delhi: National football coach Igor Stimac on Tuesday named 10 new players in his 35-member list of probables for India's back-to-back international friendlies against Oman and the UAE to be played in Dubai on March 25 and 29 respectively. The final list of 28 players will be announced after the ISL final on March 13. The players will then assemble for a preparatory camp in Dubai from March 15.
Mary, Panghal among 13 in quarters
New Delhi: Six-time world champion M C Mary Kom and Asian Games Gold-medallist Amit Panghal were among 13 Indian boxers who made the quarterfinals of Boxam International Tournament on Tuesday, leaving them just win away from securing medals at the event. While 12 of them either got byes or benefitted from the small size of their respective draws, Commonwealth Games Bronze-medallist Mohammed Hussamuddin (57kg) defeated local hope Joan Manuel Torres in his opening bout on Tuesday.
Sania returns with win in Doha
Doha: Sania Mirza made a winning return to the WTA circuit as she and her Slovenian partner Andreja Klepac beat Ukrainians Nadiia Kichenok and Lyudmyla Kichenok to reach the doubles quarterfinals of the Qatar Total Open here. The Indo-Slovenian pair won 6-4, 6-7(5), 10-5 against the duo of Kichenok and Kichenok in the opening round of the WTA 500 tournament Monday night.
Federer out of Miami Open
Miami: Roger Federer is withdrawing from this month's Miami Open so he can spend extra time preparing to “work his way back out on tour,” his agent told AP. The 20-time Grand Slam champion has not competed in more than a year. He is scheduled to make his return to the tour next week in a hard-court tournament at Doha, Qatar.