Somdev to lead challenge

New Delhi: India retained their top four players, including Somdev Dev Varman, for the Davis Cup World Group first round tie against defending champions Serbia from March 4-6, on Saturday. The tie will be held at the Spens Sports Center at the Serbian city of Novi Sad.

Apart from Somdev, Rohan Bopanna and veterans Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi are the other members of the squad. Karan Rastogi and Vishnu Vardhan have been named by the All India Tennis Association (AITA) as the reserve players.

Goran to play

Zagreb: Former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic (39) says he’s returning to ATP competition by playing doubles at the Zagreb Indoors next week. Ivanisevic said on Saturday he will partner Croatia's top-ranked player Marin Cilic in the tournament starting on Monday.

Jeev slips

Bahrain: Jeev Milkha Singh ran into problems on the back stretch of the course yet again and brought home a card of three-over 75 to slip to tied 63rd after the third round of Volvo Champions Golf here on Saturday.

Railways win

Sonepat: Railways mauled Punjab 9-0 to set up a summit clash against Haryana in the first senior women’s national hockey championship, Saturday.

Sasikiran held

Gibraltar: GM K. Sasikiran was held to a draw by Argentine GM Ruben Felgaer in the fourth round of the Gibraltar chess tournament, while GM Deep Sengupta suffered his first defeat of the event here.

Squash meet

New Delhi: The Indian boys came up with a spirited display against their Malaysian counterparts to cruise into the final while the girls suffered a humiliating 0-2 defeat against top seed Hong Kong in the semis of the Asian Junior Team Squash championships currently underway in Colombo.

Takeover

Santander: Indian entrepreneur Ahsan Ali Syed officially took over as owner of the Spanish first division side Racing Santander, he announced Saturday.

Real debut

Madrid: Emmanuel Adebayor looks set to make his debut for Real Madrid on Sunday after being selected in the squad for the Spanish league match at Osasuna.

Torres rejected

Liverpool: Liverpool rejected Fernando Torres’ transfer request on Friday as English Premier League rival Chelsea pursues their star striker.

No joint hosts

Doha: The 2022 World Cup in Qatar will not be jointly hosted by other Gulf nations as requested by Uefa head Michel Platini, AFC president Mohammed Bin Hammam said Saturday.