Narainpur (Chhattisgarh), May 13 (IANS) Punjab and Uttar Pradesh emerged victorious in their respective matches against Manipur and Ladakh in the Group C matches of the Swami Vivekananda Men’s U20 National Football Championship at the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama Ground on Tuesday.An early goal gave Punjab the victory against Manipur, in the first match of the day, by a 1-0 margin.Punjab captain Harmandeep Singh broke through down the left, entered the box with pace, and dinked the ball over a sliding goalkeeper to put his side in the lead in the 12th minute. Manipur piled the pressure on Punjab in the later stages of the game, but the latter held on to the victory and three points.Punjab remained third in Group C with three points from two matches. They are tied on the same number of points with Sikkim, but the latter have played one game less.In the second match of the day, Uttar Pradesh won a high-scoring game against Ladakh, defeating the union territory 4-2. Uttar Pradesh led 2-1 at half-time.Pravesh Kumar scored (8’, 44’, 56’) a hat-trick for Uttar Pradesh while Mohsin Khan (48’) added the fourth. Akash Tirkey (40’) and Imran Ali (86’) were the two scorers for Ladakh. Uttar Pradesh, with this win, climb to the top of Group C, having garnered six points from their two matches so far.On Monday, Maharashtra and Tripura began their campaign on the right foot with wins against Himachal Pradesh and Jharkhand, respectively in their opening games of Group D.While Tripura defeated Jharkhand 1-0 in the first match, Maharashtra overcame Himachal Pradesh 2-0. Maharashtra and Tripura occupy the respective first two spots in the group while Jharkhand and Himachal are on negative goal differences. Mizoram are yet to play in the five-team group.–IANSaaa/ab
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Rome, May 13 (IANS) Alcaraz advanced to the quarterfinals at the Italian Open for the first time, securing a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 victory against Karen Khachanov at the Campo Centrale on Tuesday.
With his two-hour, 29-minute win, Alcaraz has now reached the quarterfinal stage at all nine Masters 1000 events. The 22-year-old is the first Spaniard to make the last eight in Rome since record 10-time champion Rafael Nadal in 2021.Alcaraz struggled to find his rhythm in the opening few games but appeared to flick a switch. He reeled off five straight games featuring some classy shot making and seemed to be riding that wave to victory when he pulled off three sublime clean winners to break for 3-2 in the second set.Khachanov did not let himself be shaken by the prospect of another straight-sets defeat. The 23rd seed continued to keep his errors to a minimum, which allowed him to capitalise on a lapse in Alcaraz’s level, reel off four straight games and force a deciding set, ATP reports.In the third set, Alcaraz soon forged a 4-1 lead but Khachanov refused to lay down in his bid for his maiden Top 3 win on clay. Alcaraz rediscovered his touch in time to escape with the win, breaking Khachanov’s serve in the 12th game to seal victory.The Spaniard will take on fifth seed Jack Draper in the semifinals after the Briton rallied past Corentin Moutet 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.Alcaraz is eyeing the chance to reclaim the No. 2 ATP Ranking this week and guarantee himself the second seeding at Roland Garros. At the same time, Draper also has a chance to move to a career-high No. 4 and secure the crucial fourth seeding at the year’s second major.Alcaraz can secure a return to World No. 2 and the second seed spot in Paris by reaching the semi-finals in Rome.–IANSbc/
Miyazaki, May 13 (IANS) Zara Anand was the top Indian at Tied-12th after the first round of the Queen Sirikit Cup here in Japan. Zara, one of the most promising amateurs in India, shot 1-over 73 with three birdies against four bogeys in the round. Two of those bogeys came on the 14th and the 18th.The other two Indians in the prestigious competition are Heena Kang (76) at T-21 and Mannat Brar (77), who had an off day and was T-25. Heena had two birdies, four bogeys and a double bogey while Mannat had two birdies, five bogeys and a double bogey.The Indians as a team were lying tied-seventh with the two top individual scores giving them a total of 5-over 149.Hosts Japan made an encouraging start in their quest to end a home jinx in the Queen Sirikit Cup. They progressed well with three-under-par 69s from Aira Nagasawa and Anna Iwanaga and went into the lead after the opening round of the 45th edition of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Ladies Golf Team Championship.With an aggregate score of six-under 138 in the 13-nation event the Japanese will head into Wednesday’s second round with a one-stroke lead from defending champions Korea.There is then a four-shot gap back to Thailand in third on 143. They are followed by China (146), Hong Kong, China and Singapore (both 147), India and Vietnam (both 149), Australia and Indonesia (both 150), Chinese Taipei and Malaysia (both 151) and the Philippines (158).In the individual standings, Nagasawa and Iwanaga were joined at the top of the leaderboard by Korean Oh Soo-min, 10th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and bidding to retain the low individual award she claimed in New Zealand last year.Several of the pre-event favourites struggled to find their range. There were 75s from Zhou Shiyuan and Xu Ying, both of whom boast victories on the China LPGA Tour, and 76s for Thai Achiraya Sriwong and Japan’s Mamika Shinchi, both in the top-50 in the WAGR.Australian Sarah Hammett, the individual runner-up last year, signed for an 83, which included a triple-bogey eight at the par-five 16th.–IANSbc/ab
Northamptonshire, May 13 (IANS) Northamptonshire will be without the services of Ashton Agar for the Vitality Blast after the Australia spinner was ruled out with a calf strain.
After a successful stint last season, Agar was set to come back to Wantage Road with the aim of going one step further than the quarter-finals that the Steelbacks achieved last year, but the injury has now prevented the Australian from returning.“I’m extremely disappointed to be missing this year’s Vitality Blast with Northamptonshire,” Agar said.“I loved my time there last season, it’s a fantastic club with great people and I’ll be watching and supporting the boys from Perth.” He added.Northamptonshire confirmed that an overseas replacement for the 2025 Vitality Blast will be announced shortly.“We’re all very disappointed for Ashton, but we wish him well in his recovery,” head coach Darren Lehmann said.During his stint last summer, Agar mainly impressed with the bat, achieving of a strike rate of just over 190 from his six innings.The Australian played a key role during the busy final fixtures, striking a destructive 31 off 14 in the rain-affected game against Durham, as well as the winning runs in the Steelbacks historic win against Lancashire Lightning at Old Trafford.Along with his efforts with bat and ball, Agar’s experience proved important for the squad, with the Steelbacks winning four of the final five group games that he featured in.There is also uncertainty surrounding the availability of South African batter Matthew Breetzke for the start of the Blast, due to the disruption of the IPL 2025. Although Breetzke hasn’t featured in a game this season, he is contracted to the Lucknow Super Giants and is expected to return to India for the rescheduled conclusion of the tournament.–IANSab/
London, May 13 (IANS) England Cricket is ready to usher in a new era under new skipper Harry Brook who assumed duty across all formats after a string of poor performances across ICC tournaments.
After hosting Zimbabwe for a one-off Test match starting May 22 at the Trent Bridge Cricket Ground, England will contest three One Day Internationals (ODIs) and three T20I’s against the West Indies. The ODI series gets underway with the opening match on Wednesday 29 May at Edgbaston.Across both the T20 and ODI squads, England have selected five players who were supposed to be playing for their respective franchises in the Indian Premier League 2025 which begins on Saturday, May 17. Jos Buttler (Gujarat Titans), Jofra Archer (Rajasthan Royals), Will Jacks (Mumbai Indians) Jacob Bethell (Royal Challengers Bengaluru) are included in both squads.Phil Salt (Royal Challengers Bengaluru) won’t be playing the 50-over game but will report for the T20 series starting on June 6. With the final scheduled to be played on June 3, his participation could be possible.Hampshire all-rounder Liam Dawson returns to the T20I squad for the first time since September 2022. The left-arm spinner, known for his versatility, will be looking to add to his 11 T20 caps.Nottinghamshire left-arm seamer Luke Wood also returns to the England T20 set-up, having last featured in September 2023. Lancashire spinner Tom Hartley has been included in the ODI squad. He last represented England in this format against Ireland in September 2023.Surrey batting all-rounder Jacks has been named in both squads, marking a return to the England set-up.ODI Squad:Harry Brook (c), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Tom Banton, Jacob Bethell, Jos Buttler, Brydon Carse, Ben Duckett, Tom Hartley, Will Jacks, Saqib Mahmood. Matthew Potts, Jamie Overton, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jamie SmithT20 Squad:Harry Brook (c), Rehan Ahmed, Tom Banton, Jacob Bethell, Jos Buttler, Brydon Carse, Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Saqib Mahmood, Matthew Potts, Jamie Overton, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Luke Wood–IANSaaa/
New Delhi, May 13 (IANS) The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has announced that the National Selection Trials 3 and 4 in Rifle and Pistol events for Group ‘A’ shooters will be held from June 24 to 30 at the Trishul Shooting Range at the Maharana Pratap Sports College in Dehradun.These trials will help in shaping the Indian team for the 16th Asian Shooting Championships 2025 in Kazakhstan in August and ISSF World Cup in China and Egypt later in the year.The country’s elite rifle and pistol shooters come into this selection phase following an encouraging run in the double-legged South American ISSF World Cup tour, which marked the beginning of the new international calendar. Across both legs in Argentina and Peru, Indian shooters reached 32 finals, including mixed-team medal rounds, and brought home a total of 15 medals, six of them gold.As per the selection Criteria, only eligible shooters in Group “A” will be allowed to participate. The National Selection Trials 3 & 4 will cover all Olympic Rifle and Pistol events and will be limited to a select group of top-ranked shooters. This includes 50 slots each for 10m Air Rifle (Men & Women) and 10m Air Pistol (Men & Women), 30 slots each for 50m Rifle 3 Positions (Men & Women), 20 slots for 25m Rapid Fire Pistol (Men), and 30 slots for 25m Sport Pistol (Women).The first day of the trials, on June 25, will see the qualifying round and finals of 10 M Air Rifle Men, 25 M Pistol Women and 50 M 3-P Women of T3, which will be followed by the T4 qualifying and finals of the same events the next day.Earlier, NRAI announced a 22-member (rpt 22-member) squad for the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup stage for Rifle/Pistol in Munich, Germany, scheduled in the first week of June, with Paris Olympic bronze medallist Swapnil Kusale and reigning Asian Games champion Palak back in the mix.–IANSbc/bsk/
Incheon, May 13 (IANS) Diksha Dagar continues to be in the Top-10 of the Ladies European Tour’s Order of Merit, at the end of the Aramco Korea Championships.
The 24-year-old, who is now in her sixth year as a professional, has twice won on the Ladies European Tour, and multiple times on her home Tour, the Women’s Pro Golf Tour. Barring once in 2020, Diksha has always been in the Top-60 of the LET, with the best two finishes being 14th place in 2019, the year she won her maiden LET title, and third place in 2023, the year she had her second LET success.After a modest 2024, when she was 29th in the LET list, Diksha began in style with a runner-up finish, losing a play-off in the season-opener in Morocco. Of the eight events this season, one was cancelled in Australia, due to weather and Diksha has played all others.Other than the second place at Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco, Diksha was also T-11th at NSW Open in Australia, T-8 in Joburg Open and T-9 in Women’s South African Open.Pranavi Urs has also managed to keep her play at a good level. After being the top Indian in her rookie season in 2024 at T-17 with five Top-10s, she is 38th this year and right behind her rookie Avani Prashanth, who has also given a good account of herself in her first full season outside India.Other Indians on the LET have been Aditi Ashok, who plays mostly on the LPGA but makes occasional appearances on LET and Tvesa Malik. Hitaashee Bakshi, Sneha Singh and Amandeep Drall have conditional status with limited starts available to them on the Tour.The next event for the Indian women professionals will be the Dutch Ladies Open, where seven Indians will tee up as the Tour moves to Europe.–IANSbc/
Patna, May 13 (IANS) Shourya Ambure is just 15 but already knows a thing or two about the right amount of effort to exert in competition. In a reflection of her maturity in accepting coach Ajit Kulkarni’s recommendation of not stretching herself in the quest of a Khelo India Youth Games record, she did enough to win 100m Hurdles gold on Monday.At the end of what has been a long season for Shourya Ambure, she scored a facile victory in the final on the opening day of Athletics competitions in Khelo India Youth Games 2025 Bihar. She loved returning to the Patliputra Sports Complex where she had first drawn national attention by winning the crown in the National Youth Championships in March.“At that time, my Board exams were on, and I skipped two papers to take part in the Nationals because it was a qualification event for the Asian Championship. I hadn’t done much training back then, but I believed I could do better,” she recalled of her last visit to Patna when she won gold in a time of 14.55 seconds.Between the two signposts that she marked in Patna in the span of two months, 15-year-old Shourya made the nation proud at the Asian Youth Championship in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, where she clocked a personal best time of 13.80 seconds and won a bronze medal. She did not push herself in search of another personal best on Monday.Making her Khelo India Youth Games debut, she recorded a time of 14.33 seconds in the heats. Having felt a tightening of the hamstring and got a massage before the final, she secured gold in 14.11 seconds, well clear of Sonali Das (West Bengal) and Vishnu Shree NS (Kerala).“I wanted to do better but I’m happy with my performance. I clocked a decent time tonight. I’m only 15 and have a lot of time in the U18 to break the National Youth Record,” she said referring to the 13.70-second mark set by Tamil Nadu’s PM Thabitha back in 2019. “My coach, who has been guiding me for 10 years, told me to just run and enjoy the race.”Shourya Ambure is the product of a long-term vision that coach Ajit Kulkarni and her parents Rupali and Avinash Ambure, IPS officers holding high ranks in Maharashtra Police, have shared. “I started competing in the 80m hurdles in U14 category and continued the same until under-16. I was used to running 80-meter hurdle races. This was only my fourth race in the 100m Hurdles.”“Now, my goal is to win medals at the Youth Commonwealth Games and Youth Asian Games,” Shourya Ambure said.–IANSbc/ab
New Delhi, May 13 (IANS) The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has remained tight-lipped about the participation…
New Delhi, May 13 (IANS) Aavya Anan of Bihar, the youngest gymnast at the Khelo India Youth Games 2025, Bihar, decided to turn things, quite literally, upside down. Aavya’s journey in gymnastics began with this peculiar habit: the little girl loved standing on her head, legs in the air, flipping and arching with joy in her living room.It is interesting to hear the youngest Khelo India gymnast speak about finding her calling. “I didn’t know Gymnastics is a sport,” Aavya giggles. “I just liked staying upside down. My parents saw me doing arches and flips while I used to watch dance shows on television at home, and decided to introduce me to Gymnastics”Aavya’s name means the first rays of the sun, and her mother believes that her daughter will shine on the Indian gymnastics firmament someday. A class 4 student, she has been training for just 18 months at the Rising Youth Gymnastics Academy in Patna, under the watchful eyes of coach Roshan Yadav. She won two gold medals and a silver medal in the 2025 State Championships.“This is my first Khelo India Games and I’m keen on giving my best. I’m not thinking about defeating others, but I’m just focused on giving my best and not being nervous. If I don’t win a medal now, I’ll win the next time,” Aavya said with the quiet confidence of a mature athlete. She is competing in Artistic Gymnastics events here.Coach Roshan Yadav, a former gymnast, believes she’s a prodigy. “She is very talented, and her body structure is built for gymnastics. She picks things up really quickly, trains long hours with great endurance,” he said. “Despite being so young, she will give the more experienced gymnasts a run for their money.”Her determination is matched by the unwavering support of her parents, who stand out in a region where sports are often overlooked in favour of academics. “If my family hadn’t supported me, I wouldn’t be here. Many girls don’t get this chance. But my mom and dad told me, ‘Do what you like. Make your own name,” Aavya added.Roshan is himself a product of the Khelo India Scheme and has been a trainee at the SAI National Centre of Excellence in Kolkata. He has now returned to Bihar and opened a Gymnastics centre. “I wanted to raise the standard of Gymnastics in Bihar. My name is Roshan, and with Aavya, Bihar will shine brighter in Gymnastics.”At the moment, the nine-year-old is paving a path for every little girl who dares to stand on her head and look at the world differently. Aavya’s dream is simple yet powerful: “I want to be known as a Gymnastics girl! Not just in Bihar, but all over India.”–IANSbsk/