‘MESSI SHOULD PLAY FOR REAL’

FC Barcelona icon Lionel Messi’s former agent has said that the Argentine superstar was slated to join bitter rivals Real Madrid when he was just 13 years old. Horacio Gaggioli, who lived in Messi’s home town of Rosario in Argentina, had set up the budding superstar’s trial with the Catalan giants. “Due to life circumstances, I went to live in Barcelona and I brought him to Barca for a trial. But I was about to live in Madrid,” Gaggioli was quoted as saying by ESPNFC on Saturday. “If that had happened, I would have taken him to Madrid for a trial. That’s life, those are the details.

Star Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth defeated fourth seed Shi Yuqi of China to reach the final of the Australia Open Superseries badminton tournament here on Saturday.

The Guntur player took only 37 minutes to outplay his Chinese opponent 21-10, 21-14.

The 24-year-old Indian shuttler dominated the proceedings right from the start and finished off in straight games to reach the summit clash.

Srikanth has now reached his third consecutive final. He finished runner-up at the Singapore Open before winning the Indonesia Open title last week.

He will face Chen Long of China in the final. Chen defeated Lee Hyun Il of South Korea in a tough three-game battle in the other semi-final.

The World No.6 Chinese was