Messi joins Argentina training
london: Lionel Messi joined up with his Argentina team-mates as they trained at Manchester City ahead of their World Cup warm-up against Italy. Messi's side are based at the Football Academy of Premier League leaders City while they prepare for the friendly at Eastlands on Friday. The Barcelona forward arrived to start working with the rest of the squad on Tuesday and was present at a training session open to media in the afternoon. Also present but not participating was City striker Sergio Aguero, who has been sidelined with a knee injury recently. Another City player, defender Nicolas Otamendi, was involved along with the likes of Gonzalo Higuain, Angel Di Maria, Javier Mascherano and Marcos Rojo.
Yuki qualifies for Miami Masters
miami: Yuki Bhambri made it to the Miami Masters, his second consecutive ATP 1000 series main draw, following a 7-5, 6-2 win over Sweden's Elias Ymer in the second and final qualifying round. It was the second meeting between the 25-year-old Indian and World No 133 Ymer, who had beaten Yuki in the first clash in 2015 at Aptos. The Indian Davis Cupper had qualified for the Indian Wells Masters and had shocked World No 12 Lucas Pouille in the second round. In his first round, Yuki has drawn Lucky Loser Mirza Basic, the world number 75 from Bosnia.
Bengal hammer Maharashtra 5-1
kolkata: Continuing their rampaging run, defending champions Bengal routed Maharahstra 5-1 for their second successive victory in the Santosh Trophy, the national football championship, here on Wednesday. Leander Dharmai scored for Maharashtra against the run of play in the eighth minute as the visitors led the first-half at Sailen Manna Sports Complex in Howrah Maidan. A regrouped Bengal returned strongly in the second half as the record 32-time champions pumped in a flurry of goals through Monotosh Chakladar (55th), Jiten Murmu (62nd), Bidyasagar Singh (79th and 82nd) and Rajan Barman (89th) to complete a stunning victory. Bengal, who had blanked Manipur in their opening fixture on March 19, now sit atop the the group A table with six points, followed by Kerala who have three points from one match. The hosts will now shift base to Kolkata to take on Chandigarh after a four days' break.
UTT 2 WILL BE PLAYED IN PUNE, DELHI & KOLKATA
mumbai: The second edition of the CEAT UTT will be held in Pune, Delhi and Kolkata, in line with the TTFI and 11Sports' vision to take the sport of table tennis to different cities every year and steadily popularise it across the country. The 18-day long popular event that attracts some of the world's best players has upped the stakes by offering a total purse of Rs 3 crore, with the champions taking home Rs 1 crore, the runners-up Rs 75 lakh and the two losing semifinalists Rs 50 lakh each. The remaining Rs 25 lakh will be given to the top individual performers. The CEAT UTT will begin on June 14th at the Balewadi Indoor Stadium in Pune before moving to Delhi's Thyagaraj stadium on June 20 for the second leg; the bandwagon will then shift to Kolkata's Netaji Indoor Stadium on June 26, where the grand finale will also be held on July 1. The inaugural edition had been held in Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai.