US off to strong start in Fed Cup defence

ASHEVILLE,UNITEDSTATES: Defending Fed Cup champs US were one point from advancing to the semifinals after a comfortable victory for Venus Williams. Venus needed an hour and 19 minutes to beat Dutch opponent Arantxa Rus 6-1, 6-4. CoCo Vandeweghe beat Richel Hogenkamp 4-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-3. They were both cheered by Serena, who was poised to make her own return on Sunday.

RAILWAYS CHAMPS

RANCHI: Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) lifted the 8th Senior National Women’s Hockey title, thrashing Madhya Pradesh 4-0 in the final. India forward Vandana Katariya scored a hat-trick as the RSPB remained unbeaten throughout the championship. Priyanka Wankhede completed the tally.

BFC FOR MALDIVES

NEW DELHI: Bengaluru FC left for Maldives to play their AFC Cup first-leg play-off match against TC Sports Club on February 13 despite a government advisory not to travel to the island nation because of the prevailing political turmoil there. Last week, the Ministry of External Affairs had asked Indian nationals to defer travel to Maldives. According to reports, the MEA had also written to the Bengaluru FC head of operations Srinivas Murthy, advising to defer the trip to Male.

GHOSAL WINS TITLE

MUMBAI: Top seed Saurav Ghosal rallied to beat second seed Nicolas Mueller 11-9 5-11 6-11 11-7 12-10 and clinch the Indian Open Squash title. Ghosal, ranked 14th in the world, won in a no-holdsbarred 67-minute final against the much taller Swiss ranked 33rd in the world.