India campaign ends as Pranaav-Sikki lose
TOKYO: India’s campaign ended at the Japan Open Superseries after the mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy suffered a narrow loss in the semi-finals. Pranaav and Sikki squandered the opening game advantage to go down 21-14, 15-21, 19-21 to the local pair of Takuro Hoki and Sayaka Hirota. During the 60-minute battle, the Indian pair fought hard, managing a 7-4 lead early on which was erased by the Japanese combo quickly at 9-9.
INDIA A TEAMS LEAVE FOR AHL
NEW DELHI: The India-A men’s and women’s teams left on Saturday for the Australian Hockey League (AHL), to begin on September 28 in Perth. Ahead of the leagues that will see 10 teams, including defending champions Victoria fight for top honours, the men’s squad was based at Sports Authority of India (SAI), Bangalore while the women trained at the SAI centre in Bhopal. The India-A men’s team skipper Vikas Dahiya said, “I think we have a very good mix of players with many of us who have played together for more than four years. There is a great understanding among the players and we have undergone good preparations for the challenge in Australia,” said Dahiya.
HONOUR FOR MARY KOM
NEW DELHI: M C Mary Kom has become the first Indian to be picked as the International Boxing Association’s (AIBA) representative for the IOC Athletes’ Forum scheduled in November. The 33-year-old has been invited to attend the 8th International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Athletes’ Forum in Lausanne from November 11 to 13.
WARRIORS BEAT BULLS
NEWDELHI: Bengal Warriors survived a second half scare as they beat Bengaluru Bulls 33-29 in PKL. Maninder Singh made a crucial super raid in the dying minutes of the match as Warriors held on to a narrow win. Harish Naik scored 11 raid points for Bulls. Surjeet Singh scored six points whereas Maninder ended with nine points for Warriors. Warriors are second in Zone B with 58 points from 17 matches.