Sindhu advances to pre-quarters, Saina bows out
CHANGZHOU: 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 at the Olympic Sports Center Xincheng Gymnasium. 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. Men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy beat Chinese Taipei’s Liao Min Chun and Su Ching Heng 13-21, 21-13, 21-12 to enter the second round.
SAJAN ADVANCES
NEWDELHI: 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 summit clash. Besides Sajan, two other Indians -- Vijay and Sagar had entered the semi-finals in the 55kg and 63kg categories respectively. However, they couldn’t make it to the finals and would play for bronze in their respective categories.
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. India started off on the positive foot, putting some pressure on the Serbians. 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.
WINNING START
CULIACAN,MEXICO: Diego Maradona won big in his Mexican coaching debut Monday, as the Argentine legend’s new club, Dorados, routed fellow second-division side Cafetaleros 4-1. Maradona has raised eyebrows with his decision to coach the struggling team from Culiacan, Sinaloa, in the heart of Mexican drug cartel country. But he was all smiles as Ecuadoran forward Vinicio Angulo -- wearing Maradona’s old number 10 -- scored a hat-trick to give the new coach the win.