Chennai City beat East Bengal in I-league, stay on top of table
KOLKATA: East Bengal lost 1-2 to Chennai City in the I-league here on Tuesday, the home team’s Spanish coach Alejandro Menendez Garcia being unhinged by four of his compatriots who lined up for the visitors. This was East Bengal’s first loss in the league this term and it came in their first home game.
The year began with Chennai City defeating Mohun Bagan, a result which led to coach Sanjoy Sen resigning. Time will tell what impact this result has on their rivals across the Maidan.
A free-kick from Sandro Rodriguez in the second minute of first-half stoppage time put the visitors ahead. East Bengal equalised during a 10-minute spell of domination in the 52nd minute through Enrique Tirado who slotted into an empty goal after Surabuddin Mollick’s delivery had Chennai City’s backline focusing on Johnny Acosta who missed ignoring the Mexican who did not.
The match-winner came in the 89th minute from a penalty converted by Nestor Jesus. The penalty was awarded because East Bengal goalie Raksit Dagar fouled Pravitto Raju after a ball from Ajitkumar Kamaraj found him the clear. After four games, Chennai City lead the standings on 10 points while EB stay on six.
KASHYAP QUALIFIES
HONG KONG: Parupalli Kashyap defeated Taiwan’s Hsu Jen Hao 21-7, 12-21, 21-18 and mixed doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa beat Wang Chi-lin and Lee Chia Hsin (Taiwan) 21-16, 19-21, 21-14 in qualifying games at the Hong Kong Open badminton.
SONA, LA PEGASUS WIN
NEWDELHI: Sona Polo beat Sahara Warriors by 6 goals to 5 and LA Pegasus Polo beat Hyderabad Chaughan by 8 goals to 6 in the Sir Pratap Singh Cup (14 Goal) Polo.
TELUGU TITANS WIN
MUMBAI: Telugu Titans defeated Puneri Paltans 28-25 in an interzonal clash of the sixth edition of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL).
MRF CHALLENGE
DUBAI: The seventh edition of MRF Challenge will begin at the Dubai Autodrome from Thursday. It will comprise three rounds, in Dubai (Nov 15-17), Bahrain (Dec 6-8) and Chennai (Feb 8-10, 2019).