Roger braving old injury before Swiss Open
BASEL: Roger Federer has revealed that he has been suffering with a hand injury since the summer, but said the problem is no longer a worry as he heads into his home Swiss Open starting Monday. The 20-time Grand Slam winner told Germany’s Sonntag Zeitung of the problem which began when he trained for the grasscourt season.
“I hurt my hand training at the start of the grass season,” Federer said. “It’s had more consequences than I thought. I dragged this pain for about three months. (Sometimes) I felt pain during the first 10 minutes of a match warm-up. But now I can let go of my forehand normally without thinking of it.”
ANAND DRAWS
ISLEOFMAN: Former world champion Viswanathan Anand struggled for the second straight day as he was held to a draw by Robert Hess of the United States in the second round of Isle of Man International Chess tournament on Monday. Anand was on the verge of losing to 13-year old Raunak Sadhwani in the first round on Sunday and had to dig out some fine manoeuvres to stay in the game.
AUSTRALIA CRUISE
ABUDHABI: D’Arcy Short smacked an unbeaten half-century as Australia cruised to a sevenwicket win over United Arab Emirates in a lone T20 international in Abu Dhabi on Monday. Short struck eight boundaries as he finished 68 not out off 53 balls to help Australia chase down an 118-run target in 16.1 overs after UAE were restricted to 117-6. Short overcame the loss of skipper Aaron Finch (one) and Chris Lynn (20) as Australia tuned up for their three-match T20 series against Pakistan starting in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. The other two matches will be played in Dubai on Friday and Sunday.
EX-FOOTBALLER DEAD
NEW DELHI: Samir Bose, the former Delhi state captain and secretary of Hindustan FC, died on Monday. He was 75 and was ailing for some time. A bachelor, Bose was a midfielder and played for Raisina Sporting Union.
NEHRU HOCKEY
NEW DELHI: Jalandhar’s Government Senior Secondary School will take on Jharkhand’s SS High School in the first semi-final, while Lucknow’s Guru Gobind Singh Sports College will face Sirsa’s SPS International School in the other semi-final of the Nehru sub-junior hockey tournament being played here. The Jalandhar side sealed a lastfour spot with a 3-2 win over Bhopal’s Ankur Higher Secondary School on Monday.