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SPORT

HYDERABAD

THE HINDU

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2016

Sitwalas reign
continues
COLOMBO: Reigning Asian bil-

liards champion Dhruv Sitwala


successfully defended his title
at the Asian billiards championship, beating compatriot B.
Bhaskar 6-2 in the final, here on
Tuesday.
In the final, Sitwala was leading 32 at interval before he
won three frames in a row.
PTI

Karun misses ton; Mumbai in command


CRICKET / The Ranji Trophy champion is 299 runs ahead with nine wickets in hand after day three
G. VISWANATH
MUMBAI: There was a dramatic

Arnav Tevatia
finishes runner-up
CHENNAI: Indias Arnav Tevatia,

finished runner-up losing to Pakistans Muhammad Huzaifa


Ibrahim 11-8, 11-8, 11-8 in the under-11 final of the Qatar Junior
Open squash tournament in
Doha.
Abhay Singh took the third
spot in the under-19 section after beating Hong Kongs Lai
Cheuk Nam Matthew 5-11, 11-9,
13-11, 11-5.

Bhambri advances
NEW DELHI: Top seed Yuki Bham-

bri won his first singles match


on the professional circuit in
five months as he beat Peter
Gojowczyk of Germany 6-2,
4-6, 7-5 in the first round of the
$50,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Zhuhai, China, on
Tuesday.
Bhambri converted seven of
17 breakpoints, as against five of
13 by his opponent. Fifth seed
Saketh Myneni continued to be
in irrepressible form as he outplayed Li Zhe of China 6-1, 6-4.
Both Bhambri and Myneni, who
play the doubles together this
week, stayed on a collision
course and will need to win
their next round to meet each
other in the quarterfinals.
Ramkumar Ramanathan lost
both his singles and doubles
matches. He was beaten 7-6(5),
7-5 by third seed Jordan
Thompson of Australia and,
partnering Thomas Fabbiano
of Italy, was beaten by fourth
seeds Bai Yan of China and Riccardo Ghedin of Italy.
The results: $50,000 Challenger
men, Zhuhai, China: First round:
Yuki Bhambri bt Peter Gojowczyk
(Ger) 6-2, 4-6, 7-5; Saketh Myneni bt
Li Zhe (Chn) 6-1, 6-4; Jordan Thompson (Aus) bt Ramkumar Ramanathan
7-6(5), 7-5.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Ti
Chen (Tpe) & Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan
bt Roman Jebavy & Jan Satral (Cze)
6-2, 6-2; Bai Yan (Chn) & Riccardo
Ghedin (Ita) bt Thomas Fabbiano (Ita)
& Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4, 7-6(3).

Perez nets winner


MADRID: A second-half goal by

Paraguay attacking midfielder


Hernan Perez gave Espanyol a
2-1 win against Rayo Vallecano
in the Spanish league on Monday.
Midfielder Abraham Gonzalez opened the scoring for Espanyol when he latched powerfully onto Marco Asensios
cross in the 12th minute.
Tiago Bebe Dias equalized
in the 67th after controlling a
pass from Armenias Aras Ozbiliz, beating midfielder Pape
Diop and firing a well-struck
shot past goalkeeper Pau Lopez.
Perez won the match for the
host with a powerful shot past
goalkeeper Yoel Rodriguez in
the 77th.
The result : Espanyol 2 (Gonzalez
12, Perez 77) bt Rayo Vallecano 1 (Correia 67). Agencies

Ronaldo leads
race for European
Golden Shoe
MADRID: Spanish football giant

Real Madrids Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo is leading the race for the European
Golden Shoe with 27 goals.
The award is presented each
season to the leading goal
scorer in league matches from
the top division of every European national league, reports
Efe.
Ronaldo increased his credit
after the four goals he scored
against Celta Vigo on Saturday
during a La Liga game that Madrid won 7-1. IANS

Davis Cup: India


to play Korea
NEW DELHI: India will play Korea

in the Asia-Oceania Davis Cup


Group-1 second round match at
home from July 15 to 17.
While India had a bye in the
first round, Korea beat New
Zealand 3-1 to move into the
second and final round, the
winner of which will make it to
the World Group play-off.
The other match in the zone
will be between China and
Uzbekistan.
India had lost to the Czech
Republic 1-3 in the World
Group play-off last season, after
having beaten New Zealand in
the zone.
Korea has a 6-4 win-loss record against India, which had
beaten host Korea in 2014 in the
last meeting. Special
Correspondent
CM
YK

| 21

PERCENTAGE GAME: Rest of India's Karun Nair combined patience with judicious shot selection to top

score with 94. PHOTO: VIVEK BENDRE

moment when Siddhesh Lad


pulled off an electrifying reflex
catch at short cover at the
stroke of lunch on Tuesday to
send back the Rest of India captain Naman Ojha. It turned out
to be the biggest breakthrough
for the Ranji Trophy winner
Mumbai as it established a firm
stranglehold on the third day of
the five-day Irani Cup match at
the Brabourne Stadium.
Thanks to the good work by
its bowlers, notably seamer
Abhishek Nayar, off-spinner
Jay Bista and left-arm spinner
Iqbal Abdulla, Mumbai shot out
Rest for 306 and took a first innings lead of 297.
If Lads spectacular effort
caused excitement in the Mumbai ranks, Karnatakas Karun
Nair who took strike at the
fall of the third wicket at 110
made sure that his team would
not cave-in soon.
For four and a half hours, he
showed the value of patience
and cautious shot selection as
he compiled a fourth half-century in the tournament. In the
previous three occasions for
Karnataka, Karun had made 92
(in 2014) and 59 and 80 (in
2015).
Trying to farm the strike and

get towards his first century,


Karun (192b, 11x4) slashed at
Dhawal Kulkarni, operating
with the second new ball, and
offered a straight forward catch
to Shreyas Iyer at deep point.
Rest recovered to an extent
through the sixth-wicket partnership of 59 runs between Karun and Sheldon Jackson before
the Saurashtra right-hander
jumped out and was bowled
neck and crop by a viciouslyturning off-break. Soon, Bista
foxed Stuart Binny with anoth-

IRANI CUP
er big off-break, and his captain
and wicketkeeper Aditya Tare
effected a fine leg-side stumping.
Mumbai then countered an
unlikely tough customer in Saurashtra left-arm seamer Jaydev
Unadkat for nearly two hours.
The second new ball, claimed
in the 87th over, eventually did
the trick as Abhishek induced a
nick that landed safely into the
big hands of Suryakumar Yadav
at second slip. Karun and Unadkat added 91 runs for the eighth
wicket.
An ailing Ankit Rajpoot did
not bat and Rests first innings
folded up at the fall of Karun a
few minutes before the conclusion of play.
In the last five minutes, the

AMOL KARHADKAR
home teams left-handed opener Akhil Herwadkar was flummoxed by a delivery from offspinner Jayant Yadav that hastened off the pitch and found its
way to hit the stumps.
The match has, perhaps, lost
relevance in terms of a contest,
with Mumbai up by 299 runs
with nine wickets in hand.
The scores:
Mumbai 1st innings: 603.
Rest of India 1st innings: Faiz
Fazal c Tare b Thakur 28, K.S. Bharat c
Lad b Abhishek 16, Jayant Yadav c Bista b Abhishek 46, Sudip Chatterjee c &
b Abdulla 23, Karun Nair c Shreyas b
Kulkarni 94, Naman Ojha c Lad b Abdulla 2, Sheldon Jackson b Bista 37,
Stuart Binny st. Tare b Bista 1, Jaydev
Unadkat c Suryakumar b Abhishek 48,
Krishna Das (not out) 1, Ankit Rajpoot
(absent hurt), Extras (b-4, lb-6):10;
Total (in 99.5 overs): 306.
Fall of wickets: 1-29, 2-55, 3-110,
4-126, 5-128, 6-187, 7-201, 8-292,
9-306.
Mumbai bowling: Dhawal Kulkarni 18.5-2-43-1, Balwinder Singh Sandhu (jr) 11-1-41-0, Shardul Thakur 21-461-1, Abhishek Nayar 19-6-35-3, Iqbal
Abdulla 16-2-62-2, Jay Bista 13-1-52-2,
Suryakumar Yadav 1-0-2-0.
Mumbai 2nd innings: Akhil
Herwadkar b Jayant 1, Jay Bista (not
out) 1; Total (for one wkt. in 0.4 overs)
2.
Fall of wicket: 1-2.
Rest of India bowling: Jayant Yadav 0.4-0-2-1.

BASKETBALL

FOOTBALL

ONGC, IOB are the


teams to beat

Consolation win for Mizoram

ASHWIN ACHAL

NAGPUR: Mizoram improved dra-

PANJIM: ONGC (Dehradun) and

Indian Overseas Bank (Tamil


Nadu) will start as favourites in
the mens section of the 30th
Federation Cup basketball
tournament,
which
commences at the Shyama Prasad
Mukherjee Indoor Stadium
here on Wednesday.
The six-day tournament features the champion clubs from
the top eight States from the
previous senior National championship, and the organisers
are confident the event will
boost the profile of the sport
here.
India international Vishesh
Bhriguvanshi, forward Yadwinder Singh and experienced
centre Murali Krishna the
trio had powered Uttarakhand
to the final of the senior Nationals earlier this year will do
duty for ONGC.
IOB, meanwhile, will bank on
its State players. The athletic
Prasanna Venkatesh, sharpshooter Pratham Singh and
highly-rated big man Aravind

Annadurai form a formidable


core. All the players are in
good form, so we are confident
of doing well. Our biggest challenge will come from ONGC,
Venkatesh said here on
Tuesday.
Ludhiana Basketball Academy, which counts NBA aspirant
Satnam Singh as one of its
wards, Army Red and Bhiwani
Club are some of the other units
which are capable of going all
the way.
Among the women, Kerala
stands out. P.S. Jeena and P.S.
Neenumol both players possess the most pleasing of jumpshot actions will look to impress, along with the prolific
Stephy Nixon, who is a dominant force in the paint.
The teams: Men: ONGC (Dehradun), Bhiwani Club (Haryana), Vijaya
Bank (Karnataka), Ludhiana Basketball Academy (Punjab), Indian Overseas Bank (Tamil Nadu), Army Red
(Services), Kerala Police, Northwestern Railway, DBO Goa.
Women: Chhattisgarh, Kerala,
Maharashtra, Telangana, Delhi, South
East Central Railway (Bilaspur), Tamil
Nadu, Karnataka, Goa.

M.R. PRAVEEN CHANDRAN

matically in the second half to


score a consolation 2-1 win over
Services in a Pool A match of the
70th Santosh Trophy football
championship here on Tuesday.
In another match in the same
group, Jammu & Kashmir ended
its campaign on a high note, defeating former champion Railways 2-1.
However, Mizorams win had
no impact on the final group
standings as Services had already topped the group by virtue
of having beaten Maharashtra
earlier. Having ensured the top
spot in the group, Services tested
its bench strength.
However, the changes did not
have the desired effect as the defending champion was far from
convincing in attack.
The midfield struggled to create chances for strikers Arjun
Tudu and Sarajit Singh. But Services went ahead off the first
genuine chance it created at the
rival half.
A quick move opened up the
Mizo defence and Bibake Thapa,
who was poised to score, was
hacked down by Lal Rinzuala
Khiangte in the 22nd minute.

Playing today
Tamil Nadu vs Punjab
Assam vs West Bengal

M.S. Dawngliana of Mizoram takes on Arashpreet Singh (right)


of Services in their Pool A match. PHOTO: S. SUDARSHAN
The resultant penalty was converted by Arjun Tudu in the 23rd
minute.
The introduction of Malsawmfela and Ruben Zosangpuia
in the second half gave a much
needed fillip to the Mizo attack.
Playing with a lot of energy and
determination, Mizoram caught
Services off guard.
Dawngliana equalised for Mizoram in the 49th minute with a
sublime finish as Lalkhapuimawia arrowed in a precise cross

from the left flank.


The equaliser galvanised the
Mizo side and the Services goal
came under sustained pressure.
A fine move from the right flank
resulted in the second goal when
Lalrosanga darted in and centred
the ball. Dawngliana missed the
first attempt and the ball came to
an unmarked Lalkhapuimawia,
who founde net in the 59th.
Mizoram had another chance,
but Services goalkeeper Shibin
Raj made a reflex save to deny

Laldanmawia in the 65th minute.


Thereafter, there were few
chances as Services slowed
down the game by holding on to
the ball. Altamash Syed snatched
a late winner as J&K upset former champion Railways 2-1.
Shahnwaz Bashir (38) put J&K
ahead, but Anil Kisku (61) found
the equaliser in the second half.
The results: Mizoram 2 (Dawngliana 49, Lalkhapuimawia 59) bt Services 1 (Arjun Tudu 23); Jammu &
Kashmir 2 (Shahnwaz Bashir 38, Altamash Syed 85) bt Railways 1 (Anil Kisku 61).

Points Table
Services: 4-3-1-0-9
Maharashtra: 4-3-1-0-9
Mizoram: 4-2-1-1-7
J&K 4-1-3-0-3
Railways: 4-0-3-1-1

(read as played, won, lost, draw


and points):

SHOOTING

Indian men fare below


par in rifle 3P
NEW DELHI: Gagan Narang shot

1159 and missed the final by one


point in mens rifle 3-position
event in the shooting World
Cup that concluded in Bangkok
on Tuesday.
Gagan placed 10th following
scores of 382 in kneeling, 389 in
prone and 379 in standing position. Chain Singh was two
points away in 11th position,
while Sanjeev Rajput tumbled
to the 23rd spot with a total of
1148 in a field of 41.
Thanks to the gold in 50metre free pistol by Jitu Rai, In-

dia was joint third with Brazil,


Denmark and Germany among
16 teams that managed to win at
least a medal.
China topped the table with
12 medals five gold, three silver and four bronze while US
was a distant second with a gold
and a silver.
The result: Men: 50m rifle 3-position: 1. Matthew Emmons (US)
458.6 (1169); 2. Serhiy Kulish (Ukr)
456.8 (1160); 3. Cao Yifei (Chn) 445.6
(1169); 10. Gagan Narang 1159; 11.
Chain Singh 1157; 23. Sanjeev Rajput
1148.

Nagpur to host
three Kings XI
games
MUMBAI: Nagpur has been con-

firmed as the second home venue for Kings XI Punjab for the
ninth edition of the Indian Premier League, to be played from
April 9 to May 29.
The Hindu understands that
the Vidarbha Cricket Associations Stadium in Jamtha, on
the outskirts of the Orange
City, will host three of Kings
XIs seven home games during
the 2016 edition. The decision
has been communicated to the
Kings XI Punjab officials, who
had requested the switch.
Meanwhile, the newlylaunched Rajkot franchise, Gujarat Lions, is likely to play two
or three of its home games at
the Holkar Stadium in Indore.
The decision is likely to be finalised in a week.
Nagpur will thus host IPL
games after six years. In 2010,
the city had hosted three home
games of Deccan Chargers, the
erstwhile Hyderabad franchise.

Jr. Davis Cup,


Fed Cup teams
NEW DELHI: The top three players

in the under-16 boys and girls


sections, in the latest ranking
list, were selected to represent
the country in the Asia-Oceania
Junior Davis Cup and Junior
Fed Cup tennis tournaments at
the DLTA complex here in
April.
Adil Kalyanpur and Sathwika
Sama will spearhead the Indian
challenge in the boys and girls
sections respectively. They
will be supported by Siddhant
Banthia and Megh Bhargav Patel in the boys event, and Mahak Jain and Shivani Ingle in the
girls event.
The fourth and fifth players
in the ranking list have been
taken as the reserves.
The boys are scheduled to assemble for a training camp a
week before the event to be
played from April 4. The girls
event will be held the following
week.
The teams for the AsiaOceania World under-14 events
to be held in Nonthaburi, Thailand, for a fortnight from April
18, will be announced later,
based on the performances in
the two back-to-back tournaments in Vietnam.
The teams:
Boys: Adil Kalyanpur, Siddhant
Banthia, Megh Bhargav Patel. Reserves: Suresh Dhakshineshwar, Abhimanyu Vannem Reddy. Captain:
Vishaal Uppal.
Girls: Sathwika Sama, Mahak Jain,
Shivani Ingle. Reserves: Vaidehi
Chaudhari, Sabhyata Nihalani. Captain: Ankita Bhambri.

ENGAGEMENTS
At Hyderabad
Football: A-Division Rahim league
championship, SCR vs TSRTC,
Gymkhana Ground, 4 p.m.

Bengaluru FC will not be intimidated


SHREEDUTTA CHIDANANDA
BENGALURU: Bengaluru FC har-

bours no feelings of inferiority


as it comes up against the might
of Malaysias Johor Darul Tazim in the Group H AFC Cup
game here on Wednesday. Johor, the reigning champion, is
on a run of six straight wins in
all competitions, including an
8-1 rout of Ayeyawady United
in its last AFC Cup game a fortnight ago.
BFC, however, will derive
encouragement from its previous encounter, in the first qualifying round of the AFC Champions League last year. On that

occasion, Johor needed extra


time at home to squeeze 2-1 past
the Indian outfit.
Theyre a good side but not
unbeatable, the BFC head
coach Ashley Westwood said at
the Sree Kanteerava Stadium
here on the eve of the game.
Obviously, theyve got the
finances to buy some good
players. But were not going into this game to make up the
numbers. Were not playing
Manchester United or Arsenal.
Were playing a decent Asian
side and we feel were one as
well.
For BFC, which is involved in

a close title race domestically,


this is a fifth game in 15 days,
with a lot of travel and little
time for rest.
This fixture comes too early
for the recovering Eugeneson
Lyngdoh, while Curtis Osano
and C.K. Vineeth will undergo
late fitness tests.
After one round of AFC Cup
matches, BFC sits third in
Group H, having lost 2-1 at Lao
Toyota. Johors head coach, Roberto Carlos Mario Gomez, was
hopeful of a good result Our
target is to defend our crown.
We will not settle for anything
less than a win here.

Bengaluru FC players stretch it out at the Sree Kanteerava


Stadium on Tuesday. PHOTO: V. SREENIVASA MURTHY

REGIONAL ROUND-UP
Easy for AOC Centre
HYDERABAD: AOC Centre

scored a 4-1 win over Bharat


Dynamics Ltd in the ADivision Rahim league
football championship at
AOC Ground here.
For the winners, Prem netted
a brace and Amit Taranga
and Lal John struck once
each while Anuj reduced the
margin for the losers.
The results:
AGORC 3 (Talat Mirza, Ali,
Khaleel) bt DMRL 1 (V. Janak).
AOC Centre 4 (Prem 2, Amit
Tarang, Lal John) bt BDL 1 (Anuj).

Five-wicket
win for RBI
Reserve Bank of India scored
a five-wicket win over
CCMB in the A-Institution
one-day league cricket

championship here on
Tuesday.
The scores:
High Court 159 for five in 20 overs
(K. Rajeshwar Reddy 50) bt
Canara Bank 108 for eight in 20
overs (Praveen 38).
CCMB 120 in 22.5 overs lost to RBI
122 for five in 18.5 overs (Ravi 47,
Purushotham three for 18).
AICC 153 in 28.3 overs (Vijay 40,
Prabhu Kiran 65, Chandrasekhar
three for 44) bt FCI 141 for seven
in 30 overs (Gajanan 48 not out,
Satish three for 24).

Girija Rout
comes up with
another century
VISAKHAPATNAM: East Coast

Railways Girija Rout scored


his second century (103,
10x4, 2x6) in the interRailway league phase

tournament as his team beat


North East Railway by four
wickets with two balls to
spare on Monday.
Diesel Loco Works, Varanasi
coasted to an eight-wicket
win over Eastern Railway
after leg-spinner Karn
Sharma showed his class,
bagging six wickets to
restrict ER to 153.
Fourth win
This was DLWs fourth
straight win, leaving it
needing a win over Rail
Wagon Factory, Bengaluru,
in Wednesdays last round
matches to emerge winner.
RWF can upset DLWs
calculations, as it has three
wins and a tied match in its
account.
On Monday, it beat South
Eastern Railway buy five

wickets with V. Chelva Raj


scoring a century (114, 16x4).
The scores:
North East Railway 244 for eight
in 50 overs (Prasanth Awasthi 62,
Ashish Yadav 49, Shiv Rathi 49)
lost to East Coast Railway 248 for
six in 49.4 overs (Girija Rout 103,
M.S. Deepak Kumar 48, Abhishek
Yadav 33).
South Eastern Railway 258 for
seven in 50 overs (Rahul Sen 78,
Depobam Biswas 58, Avinash
Kumar 28, Prasanna Patel three
for 58) lost Rail Wheel Factory
262 for five in 44.5 overs (V.
Chelva Raj 114, R. Jonathan 59,
Shoiab Manager 34).
Eastern Railway 153 in 40.2 overs
(Anup Sammadhar 54, Karan
Sharma six for 39) lost to Diesel
Loco Works, Varanasi 159 for two
in 24.5 overs (Fiaz Ahmed 63 n.o.,
Sufiyan Khan 52 n.o.).

ALL-ENGLAND BADMINTON

Super Dans best still to come, says Gade


BIRMINGHAM: The best of Lin

Dan, twice an Olympic mens


singles gold medallist and this
week seeking a sixth All-England Open title at the age of 32,
is still to come, according to Peter Gade.

Danish former All-England


champion Gade is the longest
lasting top level player of the
modern era.
Greatest legend
If Gade is right, the worlds

oldest tournament, which


starts in Birmingham on
Wednesday, could see one of its
greatest legends parading his
unique skills in all their unpredictable brilliance once more.
We have still to see the best

of Lin Dan, Gade reckoned.


He will come alive in a different way for the Olympics.
But whether he will open up
now and see his best this week,
we dont know. Lin Dan still has
ambition, Gade said. AFP
HY-HY

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