CHESS

SOFIA MASTERS INTERNATIONAL

Round I (Friday) — Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 1) bt Gata Kamsky (US,0) Krishnan Sasikiran (Ind, 0.5) drew Michael Adams (Eng, 0.5) Veselin Topalov (Bul, 0) lost to Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu (Rom, 1).

FOOTBALL

PREMIER LEAGUE

Thursday — Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Jermain Defoe 67) Blackburn Rovers 1 (Benny McCarthy 32).

SPANISH KING’S CUP

Semi-final second-leg, Thursday — Getafe 4 (Francisco Casquero 38, Daniel Guiza 43, 73, Angel Vivar Dorado 71) Barcelona 0. Getafe win 6-5 on aggregate Sevilla 2 (Duda 3, Ernesto Chevanton 34) Deportivo Coruna 0. Sevilla win 5-0 on aggregate.

GOLF

USPGA Players Championship

Ponte Vedra Beach, Round I, Thursday — 67 Rory Sabbatini (RSA), Phil Mickelson (US) 68 Chris DiMarco (US) 69 Peter Lonard (Aus) 70 Tom Lehman (US), Rod Pampling (Aus), Carl Pettersson (Swe), Jason Gore (US) 71 Nathan Green (Aus), Jeff Quinney (US), K.J. Choi (Kor), Rich Beem (US), Brian Davis (GBR), Retief Goosen (RSA), Jim Furyk (US), J.P. Hayes (US).

GURGAON MASTERS

Round I (after 18 holes, Thursday) — 66 Ranjit Singh 68 Jyoti Randhawa, Richard Backwell 69 C. Muniyappa, Gaurav Diwan 70 Amardip Singh Malik, Mukesh Kumar, DS Kullar, Himmat Rai, Vijay Kumar 71 Md Salim, Naman Dawar, Harendra Gupta, SSP Chowrasia, Digvijay Singh 72 Randhir Ghotra, Gaurav Ghei, Shamim Khan, M Dharma, Gurbaaz Mann, Shiv Kapur Round II — 132 Jyoti Randhawa 68 64 137 Gaurav Diwan 69 68 138 Richard Backwell 68 70 140 SSP Chowrasia 71 69, Vijay Kumar 70 70, Ranjit Singh 66 74 141 Mukesh Kumar 70 71, Himmat Rai 70 71, Digvijay Singh 71 70, Gaurav Ghei 72 69 143 Shiv Kapur 72 71, R Srinivas 73 70 144 Ali Sher 73 71, Chiragh Kumar 73 71, Gagnjeet Bhullar 75 69.

HOCKEY

SULTAN AZLAN SHAH cup

Ipoh, Semi-finals (Friday) — Australia 6 (Desmond Abbot 9th, 69th, Andrew Smith 22nd, Liam Deyoung 37th, Eli Matheson 51st and Grant Schubert 60th) Korea 2 (Jeong Yun Sang 11th, Lee Sung Min 57th) India 1 (Shivendra Singh 13th) Malaysia 2 (Ahmed Tajuddin 11th, Kelwinder Singh 40th).

TENNIS

ATP ROME MASTERS

Round III (Thursday) — Rafael Nadal (2, Esp) bt Mikhail Youzhny (15, Rus) 6-2, 6-2 Novak Djokovic (5, Ser) bt Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp) 6-2, 7-5 Tommy Robredo (7, Esp) bt Gilles Simon (Fra) 6-2, 6-2 Nikolay Davydenko (4, Rus) bt Potito Starace (Ita) 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 Tomas Berdych (12, Cze) bt Jose Acasuso (Arg) 6-1, 6-2 Fernando Gonzalez (6, Chi) bt Nicolas Massu (Chi) 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-4 Filippo Volandri (Ita) bt Roger Federer (1, Sui) 6-2, 6-4 Juan Ignacio Chela (Arg) bt Andy Roddick (3, US) 6-0, 6-4.

WTA GERMAN OPEN

Round III (Thursday) — Jelena Jankovic (5, Ser) bt Peng Shuai (Chn) 6-1, 6-7 (3), 2-3 (Peng retired) Dinara Safina (8, Rus) bt Lucie Safarova (Cze) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 Patty Schnyder (15, Sui) bt Martina Hingis (4, Sui) 6-4, 6-0 Nadia Petrova (7, Rus) bt Elena Dementieva (10, Rus) 6-3, 6-3 Svetlana Kuznetsova (3, Rus) bt Martina Mueller (Ger) 6-3, 6-2 Ana Ivanovic (12, Ser) bt Alona Bondarenko (Ukr) 6-3, 5-0 (Bondarenko retired).

WTA PRAGUE OPEN

Round II (Thursday) — Victoria Azarenka (Blr) bt Nathalie Dechy (5, Fra) 7-6 (3), 6-1 Dominika Cibulkova (Svk) bt Andrea Hlavackova (Cze) 6-1, 6-3 Akiko Morigami (6, Jpn) bt Milagros Sequera (Ven) 6-1, 6-3 Camille Pin (Fra) bt Yvonne Meusburger (Aut) 6-4, 6-4.