Hewitt to lead Australia
Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt on Wednesday said he would lead Australia in its Davis Cup tie with Serbia in Belgrade in September.
Hewitt said Australia would be underdogs in the World Group playoff, where he is likely to face Novak Djokovic, who beat him in the fourth round at Wimbledon. “If we can win this tie it will be a remarkable win.”
Toppo to lead
Indian eves
Binita Toppo will lead an 18-member Indian women hockey team in the three-nation tournament to be held in Bra, Italy, from August 1 to 5.
Squad: Binita Toppo (Captain), Suniti Kispotta, Poonam Toppo, Joydeep Kaur, Pushpa Pradhan, Rosalind Ralte, Meenakshi Saini, Amubi Devi, Manorama Devi, Eti Shrivastava, Saundrya Yendala, Poonam Malik, Anuradha Devi, Binita Xess, Lalremruati, Ritu Rani, Kirandeep Kaur, Vandana Kataria.
Officials: Coach: GS Bhangu; Asst Coach: YS Chauhan; Coach-cum-manager: Lal Rampari; Umpire: PS Anupama.
India, Pak in
different groups
India and Pakistan have been drawn in different groups for the seventh men’s Asia Cup hockey tournament to be held here from September 1-9.
International Hockey Federation and the Asian Hockey Federation accommodated Pakistan in the pools after the former champions confirmed their participation, a statement from IHF secretary K Jothikumaran said. The tournament assumes significance as the FIH has agreed to consider it for the world rankings.
Groupings: Pool ‘A’: Pakistan, Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong,Singapore; Pool ‘B’: Korea, India, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
East Bengal head for MUPC
Insisting that his wards are not flying to England just to make up the numbers, coach of East Bengal's under-15 team Swarup Das asserted that the squad would leave its mark in the Nike Manchester United Premier Cup (MUPC) World Finals to be held from August 1-4, reports PTI from New Delhi.
Squad: Amit Shee, Abhishek Das, Pintu Datta, Bhum Oraon, Subhas Sarkar, Rudra Dhar, Ganesh Dey (c), Bibhas Sarkar, Biswajit Natta, Amit Chakraborty, Suprovan Dhar, Pritam Lahiri, Rakesh Roy, Joydev Chakraborty, Ajoy Roy and Budhiram Tudu. Coach: Swarup Das.
First floodlit tie at Lord’s
Lord’s, the traditional home of world cricket, will stage its first floodlit match in September, the MCC said on Friday, reports Reuters from Friday.
Indians finish fifth, eighth
Indian junior girls and boys teams finished fifth and eighth in the 13th Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships in Hoengseong, Korea, reports UNI from New Delhi.
In the girls section Stage II (quarterfinal), India lost to China 0-3 and in the fifth to eighth classification matches, India beat Singapore and Kazakhstan by identical margins of 3-2 to secure fifth position.
In the boys section Stage II, India lost to Korea 0-3 and then lost to Vietnam and Hong Kong by identical margins of 0-3 in the classification matches.
In the cadet boys section Stage II, India lost to Korea ‘1’ team 1-3 and finished joint fifth with Singapore.
Bhutia’s brace in India’s win
Bhaichung Bhutia struck a second successive brace to guide India to a 3-2 win over Portugal’s third division side AC Marinhense in Lisbon on Thursday, reports PTI from New Delhi.
Bhutia scored in the 51st and 75th minute after Sunil Chetri opened India’s account in the 37th minute. Marinhense took the initial lead with a 10th minute strike by Yuran, who also scored in the 60th minute.