Sania ready for Sunfeast
High on confidence after a successful US hard court season, Sania Mirza says she is keen to prove herself in front of home fans in the upcoming Sunfeast Open. Sania said her improved fitness was a key factor in her recent success and that she was eager to give her best at the USD 170,000 WTA Tour event without any fear of “winning or losing”.
Tania slips to tied fourth spot
Victory eluded Tania Sachdev for a third successive day as she drew with Vietnam’s Ngyen Thi Thanh An in the sixth round to drop to the joint fourth spot in the Asian Womens’ Chess Championship, reports PTI from Tehran.
The draw took the national champion’s tally to four points out of a possible six. Top seed Lufei Ruan of China dented Indian hopes further by defeating WGM Nisha Mohota in a keenly contested game.
Indian squad for IWAS Games
A thirty-member Indian contingent will participate in the IWAS World Games to be held in Taipei, China from September 9 to 20, reports UNI from New Delhi.
The games will feature athletics, weightlifting, swimming, shooting and other sports, which is seen as qualifying event for next year’s Beijing Olympic games.
The Indian team will be led by Asian Championship silver medalist Sachin Chaudhary in weightlifting (90 Kg) and Giriraj Singh in athletics. Apart from them the team will also feature Rajiv Malik in shooting (50M).
Mumbai batsmen make merry
Abhishek Nayar (152) and Prashant Naik (118) joined the run-feast as Mumbai declared their first innings at a mammoth 623 for six wickets — with four batsmen hitting centuries — on day two of the Nissar Trophy cricket tournament against Karachi Urban, reports PTI from Karachi.
And in the the final session, Iqbal Abdullah castled Agha Sabir (14) to reduce the hosts to 30 for one at stumps. Khurram Manzur (14) and Aminur Rehman (0) would resume the hosts’ innings on Monday.
Brief scores: Mumbai: 623/6 in 158 overs decl (S Kukreja 110, A Rahane 143, A Nayar 152, P Naik 118; U Haq 2-135) vs Karachi Urban: 30/1
Davydenko in Davis Cup team
World number four Nikolay Davydenko will lead defending champions Russia in this month's Davis Cup semi-final against Germany in Moscow.
Russia captain Shamil Tarpishchev named a formidable squad which also included former world number one Marat Safin, 11th-ranked Mikhail Youzhny, Dmitry Tursunov and Igor Andreev, for the September 21-23 tie on clay at the Olympic Sports Complex. Sweden take on the United States in the other semi-final.
Flintoff may alter bowling style
England allrounder Andrew Flintoff is to alter his bowling action to help prevent future injuries, reports PTI from London.
“Andrew’s ankle is not right and he is not particularly confident with it. Be assured, we would not play him if there was a danger of it getting worse and there are a few aspects people are working on to hopefully take away the discomfort,” England chairman of selectors David Graveney said.
