Lovlina settles for bronze medal
set free and he found Liverpool’s lively Philippe Coutinho in Argentina’s penalty area.
Coutinho checked inside and lined up a shot but a diving tackle by Otamendi smothered the scoring chance. Juventus midfielder Paulo Dybala linked up well with Messi behind striker Gonzalo Higuain and fired just wide moments before Mercado’s goal. Brazil had several chances to score in the second half with Manchester City’s Jesus and Willian both hitting either post in a flurry in Argentina’s goalmouth in the 62nd minute.
Willian was a constant threat with his searing pace and one of his pinpoint crosses almost led to another goal chance for Jesus.
Messi was sent tumbling by Rafinha late in the game which earned the Brazilian substitute a yellow card.
Jesus failed to finish the match when he was carried off after collecting an elbow in the face in a challenge in the final minutes.
Indian boxer Lovlina Boroghain (75kg) settled for a bronze medal at the President’s Cup after losing in the semifinals in Astana, Kazakhstan today.
Lovlina lost to Kazakhstan’s Shakimova in the last-four stage.
Earlier, Nation’s Cup goldmedallist Neeraj (51kg) lost in the quarterfinals to Kazakh Shekerebekova.
The tournament features both men’s and women’s competition with close to 150 boxers vying for the top honours. India’s Yuki Bhambri and veteran Leander Paes were knocked out of their respective ATP Challenger Tour events, today.
Competing in the singles event of the Surbiton Challenger in Great Britain, Yuki went down fighting 6-7(6) 6-2 5-7 to fifth seed German Dustin Brown, ranked 76 in the world, in the second round.
Brown is Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan’s partner in the doubles event and they are up against top seeded pair of Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi and Marcus Daniell in the quarterfinals.
They had overcome Britain’s Ken and Neal Skupski 7-6(5) 6-7(3) 11-9 in a gruelling opening round match of the Euro 127000 grass court event.
Still competing on clay courts at Prostejov in Czech Republic, top seeds Paes and David Marrero lost their doubles semifinal match 3-6 4-6 to third seeds Roman Jebavey and Hans Podlipinik-Castillo. Acknowledging the Grand Slam feat of Rohan Bopanna, the All India Tennis Association (AITA) has decided to send his name to the government for this year’s Arjuna award. Bopanna won his maiden Grand Slam title by winning the mixed doubled trophy at the French Open with Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski. The Saudi Arabian Football Federation has apologised