Sindhu advances to pre-quarters, Saina bows out
Olympic and world championship silver medallist PV Sindhu on Tuesday progressed to the pre-quarterfinals but Saina Nehwal was knocked out after a narrow loss at the USD one million China Open World Tour Super 1000 tournament.
The third-seeded Sindhu, who had clinched the China Open title in 2016, defeated World No. 39 Saena Kawakami of Japan 21-15, 21-13 in the opening round. However, Saina, who was the first Indian to win the China title in 2014, lost 22-20, 8-21, 14-21 to Korea’s Sung Ji Hyun.
SAJAN ENTERS FINAL
India’s Sajan Bhanwal assured himself of at least a silver after advancing to the finals of 77kg Greco-Roman event in the Junior World Wrestling Championship at Trnava, Slovakia. The Haryana wrestler, who had won a gold medal at Junior Asia Championship in July, defeated Ukraine’s Dmytro Gardubei in semi-finals. He will now face Russia’s Islam Opiev in the final. Two other Indians — Vijay and Sagar — will play for bronze.
INDIA LOSE TO SERBIA
NEWDELHI: The India U-19 football team suffered yet another defeat to hosts Serbia, going down 1-3 in the second match during its exposure tour to Europe to prepare for next year’s U-19 Asian Championship. Coach Floyd Pinto’s boys had earlier lost 0-2 in first of the two friendly matches. An early corner by captain Amarjit Singh saw midfielder Jeakson send his header wide. Despite the early pressure, it was the Serbians who adapted well and came out on top with a comfortable win.
TRACK ASIA CUP
NEW DELHI: The Cycling Federation of India (CFI) will be relying on riders from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to make an impact at the Track Asia Cup, a 2020 Tokyo Olympics qualifying event, beginning at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Sports Complex from Friday. The CFI’s high performance director, Amar Singh, is hopeful that young talent from Andaman like Deborah Herold would break the Olympic jinx. The qualification started in July and will end in February 2020. The top-nine teams and 18 individuals in their respective events will make the cut for the Olympics.
SPORTING LEGEND LATIFUDDIN DEAD
KOLKATA: Mohammedan Sporting legend Syed Latifuddin Najam died on Tuesday following a cardiac arrest at his residence in Hyderabad. He was 71. Son of 1952 Helsinki Olympian Jb. Syed Khaja Moinuddin, Latifuddin played for Mohammedan Sporting Club for nine years in the 70s. He formed a lethal strike force in Sporting with the likes of Mohammed Habib, Mir Sajjad and Mohammed Akbar.