Prajnesh in third round at Chennai
CHENNAI:THREE Indians led by top seed Prajnesh Gunneswaran powered their way to the third round of the Chennai Open Challenger 80 ATP tennis tournament on Wednesday.
Gunneswaran beat Daniel Altmaier of Germany 6-4, 6-4. Another Indian, 11th seeded Saketh Myneni beat Chennaibased N Vijay Sundar Prashanth 6-4, 6-3 to advance.
Arjun Khade hammered seven aces to upset 13th seed Jose Hernandez-fernandes of the Dominican Republic in two easy sets 6-3, 6-2.
‘SERVE KEY ON INDOOR COURTS IN FED CUP’
ASTANA,KAZAKHSTAN:INDIA Fed Cup coach Ankita Bhambri reckons a good serve will be the key on indoor courts when Ankita Raina and Karman Kaur Thandi fight it out with higher-ranked players in the Fed Cup.
India will begin their campaign at the Asia/oceania Group I against Thailand on Thursday before clashing with formidable hosts Kazakhstan on Friday.
The matches will be played indoors due to the sub-zero temperature in the city. “It is important to serve well (indoor) and reach out to the ball faster. If you start a point well, the chances of ending it well also get better,” Bhambri said.
SPIKERS PIP DEFENDERS IN PRO VOLLEY
KOCHI: Olympic gold medallist David Lee shone bright as Kochi Blue Spikers continued their unbeaten run, edging out Ahmedabad Defenders 3-2 in the Pro Volleyball League.
Lee scored 10 points (seven spikes, two blocks and one serve point) as Kochi beat Ahmedabad 10-15, 15-11, 11-15,15-12, 15-12. Victor Sysoev was the stand-out performer for Ahmedabad with 13 points (11 spikes and two blocks).
MAINI TO RACE AT LE MANS 24 HOURS
NEWDELHI: Arjun Maini will make a shift from open-wheel racing to endurance sports car racing as he joins RLR Msport for the 87th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 15-16 and a full season in the European Le Mans Series. He will share the RLR Msport-prepared ORECA with Bruno Senna and Canadian John Farano in ELMS.
TWO ARCHERS KILLED IN ROAD ACCIDENT
SHAHDOL, MP : Two national archery players from Jharkhand were killed when their car rammed into a truck near Lalpur airstrip in Madhya Pradesh’s Shahdol district, police said. The deceased, identified as Jaspal Singh (19) and Saras Soren (21), had played at the national level archery championships, a police official said, adding that they were residents of Jamshedpur.