ARGENTINE LEGEND AIMAR PRAISES U20 FOOTBALL TEAM
NEW DELHI: Days after India U-20 defeated Argentina U-20 in the COTIF Cup, former Argentine great Pablo Aimar, who accompanied the Argentina U-20 team as the technical director, lavished praise on the Indian colts.
Both Aimar and coach Lionel Scaloni had dropped into the Indian camp to have a chat with the Indian players.
“We would be happy and would like to play other Indian age groups teams as well. The U-20 Indian National Team players played well with lot of passion and the players ran a lot during the matches,” Aimar, regarded by many as one of the most elegant Argentine players after Diego Maradona, said.
JAYARAM, DAS IN QF AT VIETNAM OPEN
HO CHI MINH CITY: Indian shuttlers Ajay Jayaram, Rituparna Das and Mithun Manjunath were through to the quarterfinals of the Vietnam Open Tour Super 100 tournament on Thursday.
Jayaram toppled top seeded Brazilian Ygor Coelho 22-20, 21-14 and will next face Canada’s Xiaodong Sheng. Rituparna beat Sung Shuo Yun 21-8, 21-14 to set up a meeting with Thailand’s Phittayaporn Chaiwan. Young Manjunath staved off a stiff challenge from Adulrach Namkul.
U-15 WOMEN’S TEAM DISMANTLE SRI LANKA
THIMPHU: The Indian U-15 women’s national team inflicted an embarrassing 12-0 defeat on Sri Lanka, kick-starting its campaign in the age-group SAFF Championship on a resounding note on Thursday. A dominant performance at the Changlimithang Stadium saw the Indian women score six goals in the first half and as many in the second.
HOCKEY TEAMS QUALIFY FOR YOUTH OLYMPICS
NEW DELHI: The Indian junior men’s and women’s teams have qualified for the Hockey 5’s competition at the Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games to be held from October 6 to 18, International Hockey Federation announced on Thursday.
DJOKO HAPPY TO BEAT POLANSKY, THE CLOCK
TORONTO: Novak Djokovic sent Peter Polansky to a 6-3 6-4 defeat on Wednesday as he powered into the third round at the Toronto Masters before insisting he’s “comfortable” with the controversial ‘shot clock’ innovation. “I actually feel like there is more time now than before because the shot clock starts counting down once the chair umpire calls the score,” Djokovic said.
CHNIA’S PENG HANDED SIX-MONTH BAN
LONDON: China’s former Wimbledon doubles champion Peng Shuai’s season was all but over on Wednesday after she was handed a six-month ban and a $10,000 fine by the Tennis Integrity Unit for breaching the sport’s anti-corruption code by attempting to change her doubles partner after sign-in deadline.
SHARAPOVA STORMS PAST KASATKINA
MONTREAL: Maria Sharapova fired 25 winners past hapless Russian compatriot Daria Kasatkina in a 6-0, 6-2 victory at the rain-hit Montreal WTA event on Wednesday. Sharapova needed just 66 minutes to see off 12th-seeded Kasatkina in a timely display of big-hitting, with the US Open less than a month away.