TENNIS
Pune Open ATP Challenger: Nagal loses in second round
Qualifier Dominik Palan beat Sumit Nagal 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the pre-quarterfinals of the Pune Open ATP Challenger tennis tournament at the Balewadi Stadium on Wednesday.
Even though the Indian challenge was wiped out in the second round of singles, a number of Indian players and teams progressed to the doubles quarterfinals.
- Team Sportstar
Dubai Open: Ramkumar loses in opening round in doubles
Ramkumar Ramanathan in partnership with Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan was beaten 6-4, 3-6, [10-5] by Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen of Belgium in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the ATP500 tennis tournament in Dubai.
- Team Sportstar
SAI, DLTA to organise age group events on Women’s Day
The Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA) will organise a tennis tournament for women and girls in the under-12 and 16 age groups to celebrate the Women’s Day in New Delhi on March 10.
It will be a one-day event and matches will have a simple super tie-break format. Matches are scheduled to be played from 10 a.m. on the clay courts of the Dhyan Chand National Stadium, India Gate.
Coach Chandra Bhushan will be the tournament director and Kulwant Singh, the referee.
- Team Sportstar
FOOTBALL
RoundGlass Punjab FC one win away from I-League title after beating Churchill Brothers
RoundGlass Punjab FC (RGPFC) is just one win away from securing the I-League title after they notched up a 3-1 victory over Churchill Brothers FC here on Wednesday.
The overseas attacking trio of Luka Majcen, Chencho Gylteshen and Juan scored for the winners, while Martin Chaves scored the consolation goal for the side from Goa.
RGPFC went in attack from the kick off, putting pressure on the Churchill Brothers defence. They had two half chances to open the scoring but could not capitalise with Brandon scuffing his shot and Luka’s header falling safely for the keeper.
Churchill Brothers also had their chance to score in the half but Emmanuel Yaghir’s shot was saved by RGPFC keeper Kiran Kumar Limbu.
All pressure of RGPFC showed result in the 27th minute with a wonderful team goal. Brandon Vanlalremdika received the ball from midfield in the left wing who found Chencho Gylteshen inside the box.
Chencho deflected the ball towards the path of Luka Majcen who coolly finished past the Churchill keeper, taking his tally for the season to 13 goals.
RGPFC scored their second goal ten minutes into the second half. Chencho received the ball near the penalty box and skipped past two defenders before expertly finishing past Churchill keeper Nora Fernandes, aided by a deflection of Churchill captain Momo Sisse.
The combination of Luka, Juan Mera and Chencho created and scored the third goal for the hosts in the 79th minute when Luka found Chencho on the left wing and he squared in a pass to Juan Mera whose right footed flick rolled past the Churchill keeper to score his 9th goal of the season.
Churchill Brothers did find one goal back through Martin Chaves in the 83rd minute. Sharif Mohammad found Emmanuel Yaghir and the forward’s cross was met well by Martin Chaves who finished past Kiran Kumar making it a consolation for the away side.
RGPFC will face Rajasthan United FC on March 4.
PTI