Joshna stuns Wee to reach final
Joshna Chinappa pulled off a huge upset by edging past second seed Sharon Wee to reach the final of the NSC Tour 1 squash tournament on Tuesday, reports PTI from Kuala Lumpur.
Sixth seed Joshna fought gamely for about 50 minutes to carve out a 9-6, 3-9, 1-9, 9-7, 9-2 win against her illustrious Malaysian opponent. In the final, Joshna will take on top seed and world number 18 Jaclyn Hawkes, who beat Louise Crome 5-9, 9-2, 6-9, 9-4, 9-5.
Manjeet Kaur to train in US
Manjeet Kaur will undergo two and a half months vigorous training-cum-coaching in the United States as part of her preparations for the forthcoming Beijing Olympics, reports UNI from Chandigarh. She will train at the famous VS Athletics Track Club in California under famous US sprinter Cedric Hill. The quarter-miler’s trip to the US is being sponsored by Omaxe Ltd, a leading construction company. The company Chairman Rohtas Goyal handed over Rs 34 lakh cheque to Manjeet Kaur.
Sridhar stars for Champs
Sridhar Iyer produced a match-winning spell to guide Mumbai Champs to a 35-run victory over Chandigarh Lions in the ICL’s Edelweiss 20s challenge on Wednesday, reports UNI from Gurgaon.
Brief Scores: Mumbai Champs 160/9 in 20 overs (Astle 42, Paul 30, Khirid 32, Hall 4-9) bt Chandigarh Lions 125/8 in 20 overs (C Sharma 23, S Iyer 2-13).
Yuki enters second round
Yuki Bhambri got off to a good start at the US$ 10,000 ITF men’s tournament as he prevailed over Indonesian Elbert Sie 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 in the first round.
Other results: Harsh Mankad (Ind) bt Bogdan-Victor Leonte (Rom) 6-3, 6-3; Aqeel Khan (Pak) bt Divij Sharan (Ind) 7-5, 6-3; Vijay Kannan (Ind) bt Navdeep Singh (Ind) 2-6, 4-6; Hyun-Woo Nam (Kor) bt Purav Raja (Ind) 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 7-6 (7-3); Vaja Uzakov (Uzb) bt Ranjeet Virali Murugesan (Ind) 3-6, 6-3, 6-0.
Men’s hockey camp put off
The Indian men’s hockey camp for the two-leg Australian tour will begin on March 31 instead of from Tuesday as planned earlier, reports DHNS from Bangalore. The camp will end on April 17 and the team will leave for Australia on April 18. India will play the series in Perth and Darwin, beginning on April 23. The other teams scheduled to participate are Australia, South Korea and China.
Sporting score over Amity
Mohammadan Sporting beat Amity United Football Club, Haryana, 2-0 in the ONGC second Division National football league on Tuesday, reports UNI from Kolhapur.
Anand takes on Ivanchuk
World champion Viswanathan Anand takes on Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine in the ninth round of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid chess tournament, reports PTI from Nice.
Pairings (Round 9): Peter Leko (Hun) vs Sergey Karjakin (Ukr); Alexander Morozevich (Rus) vs Levon Aronian (Arm); Vladimir Kramnik (Rus) vs Magnus Carlsen (Nor); V Anand (Ind) vs Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr); Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze) vs Loek van Wely (Ned); Veselin Topalov (Bul) vs Boris Gelfand (Isr).
Hiddink extends Russian contract
Guus Hiddink signed a new two-year contract on Monday to coach Russia until the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
“Hiddink signed his contract on Monday evening," a spokesman for the Russian Football Union (RFU) said. "It is now official." The initial contract was due to expire this July. Details of the new deal were not disclosed.
