Kashyap trips in qualifiers
TOKYO: Indian singles shuttler Parupalli Kashyap failed to qualify for the Japan Open Superseries, starting here on Wednesday, while Satwiksairaj Rankireddy advanced to the main draws in both the men’s and mixed double categories, partnering Chirag Shetty and Ashwini Ponappa.
Kashyap first got past Denmark’s Emil Holst 21-15, 21-14 but lost to Japanese Yu Igarashi 11-21, 21-18, 14-21 in an hour and five minutes in the second qualifying match. Satwik played a total of four matches to qualify for two categories. He and Ashwini defeated Japan’s Hiroki Midorikawa and Natsu Saito 21-13, 21-15 before thrashing Hiroki Okamura and Naru Shinoya 21-18, 21-9.
In the men’s doubles qualifying, Satwik partnered Chirag to beat Hirokatsu Hashimoto and Hiroyuki Saeki 14-21, 22-20, 21-18 before edging past Keiichiro Matsui and Yoshinori Takeuchi.
INDIA WOMEN BEAT BELGIUM BOYS
ANTWERP (BELGIUM): The Indian women’s hockey team ended their Europe Tour on a high after getting the better of the Belgium U-16 men’s team 4-3 in a thrilling encounter here.
For India, Gurjit Kaur (7th and 11th minutes) and captain Rani (13th and 33rd minutes) scored twice to give the visitors their first win of the tour.
A rampant Indian team started the match with enthralling attacking play as they earned a penalty corner in the 7th minute, which was converted by Gurjit to give India lead.
FERDINAND LAUNCHES BOXING CAREER
LONDON: Former England captain Rio Ferdinand said he is launching a new career as a professional boxer two years after retiring from football as a way of channelling his anger.
INDIANS ADD 2 GOLD IN ASIAN INDOOR GAMES
ASHGABAT : India’s impressive show in the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games continued as their athletes added two gold and one bronze. Govindan Laksh-manan and PU Chitra clinched a gold each in men’s 5000m and women’s 1500m races while Dharmender won the bronze in men’s freestyle 70kg belt wrestling as India’s tally swelled to 3 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze. India are now at ninth spot in the medals tally. Hosts Turkmenistan consolidated their top spot with 39 gold, 27 silver and 18 bronze.