Lakshya cruises into semis
NEWDELHI: Sixth-seeded Lakshya Sen caused one of the major upsets so far in the Badminton Asia Junior Championships when he toppled second-seeded Chinese Li Shifeng 21-14, 21-12 to enter the singles semi-finals in Jakarta on Friday. Lakskya, who ensured himself at least a bronze, will take on Indonesian and fourth seed Ikhsan Leonardo Rumbay Saturday.
However, the men doubles pair of Manjit Singh and Dingko Singh bowed out in the pre-quarters to top-seeded Chinese Di Zijian and Wang Chang 7-21, 15-21.
Employing his net play to good effect and using half-court smashes assiduously, Lakshya put his Chinese rival under pressure, establishing a good lead to win. In the second, it turned out to be a lot easier for Lakshya.
CHEF DE MISSION NAMED
NEW DELHI: Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh was on Friday appointed Chef de Mission of the Indian contingent for the Asian Games in Jakarta. Four deputy Chef de Missions have also been appointed. They are, Raj Kumar Sacheti, Satyavrat Sheoran, Balbir Singh Kushwaha and Dev Kumar Singh.
ARCHERS IN HUNT
BERLIN: Compound mixed pair of Abhishek Verma and Jyothi Surekha Vennam kept India in the hunt for a second medal, advancing to the bronze play-off at the stage four of the Archery World Cup on Friday.
The recurve archers, on the other hand, continued their poor show ahead of the Asian Games, making a quarterfinal exit in the mixed pair event.
The duo of Atanu Das and Deepika Kumari, who qualified as 10th seeds, were blown away by the Chinese Taipei pair of Tan Ya-Ting and Wei Chun-Heng 0-6.
A day after women’s compound team advanced to the final to be assured of a medal, Jyothi partnered Abhishek Verma in a dream run that saw them ousting top seed Netherlands 158-155 in the quarterfinals.
But their run was halted in the semi-finals when they lost narrowly to fourth seed USA pair of Kris Schaff and Paige Pearce Gore.