Nitin, Haddin win straight-set matches to enter quarter-finals

NEW DELHI: Talented youngster Nitin Kumar Sinha outsmarted Faisal Qamar while Bawa Haddin used his experience to tame bighitting Jayesh Pungliya to progress to the men’s singles quarter-finals of the Fenesta National Tennis Championship.

Nitin, who also represents Indian Air force, outplayed eighth seed and Indian Navy’s Faisal 6-3, 6-2 while second seed Bawa outclassed Pungliya 7-5, 6-4 in the second round at the DLTA Complex. Faisal could not find a weapon to break Nitin’s all-round game as his over-reliance on backhand slices was not enough.

GOLD IN WUSHU WORLDS

KAZAN: Pooja Kadian claimed gold medal in the women’s sanda event in the 75kg group of the World Wushu Championship. Besides gold, the Indian team also collected four bronze medals. The Indian Olympic Association tweeted that it was India’s first gold in Wushu Worlds.

SHARAPOVA LOSES

BEIJING: World number two Simona Halep beat Maria Sharapova 6-2, 6-2 in the China Open third round for her first win over the Russian in eight attempts.

Halep, who lost to Sharapova in the first round of the US Open, took advantage of an error-prone display to hand the Russian her first straight-sets defeat of the season in one hour and 12 mins.

SANIA, BOPANNA WIN

Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna progressed to the quarterfinal stages of the women’s and men’s doubles events at China Open.

Sania Mirza and her partner Peng Shuai defeated the BelgianDutch pair of Elise Mertens and Demi Schuurs 7-5, 6-2. Rohan Bopanna and partner Pablo Cuevas beat Chinese pair of Mao-xin Gong and Ze Zhang by 6-0, 6-4.

HARYANA STEELERS WIN

CHENNAI: Haryana Steelers posted a 41-30 win over U Mumba in Vivo Pro Kabaddi League. Deepak Dahiya, Vikas Kandola and Wazir Singh combined to score 23 points for Haryana while Anup Kumar scored 10 for U Mumba. KOLKATA: Jadon Sancho reached on Tuesday and trained with the England squad here on Wednesday.

The Borussia Dortmund player will be available for England’s games in Group F.

Asked about the possibility of Sancho staying for the knockout rounds, England’s media manager Amy Heart said “as of now we are not looking beyond the group stage.”

EXPERIENCED BUNCH

Along with Sancho, England have players such as Angelo Gomes, Rhian Brewster and Phil Foden, who have senior team experience with clubs such as Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool.