Saina has it easy in Round I

Jakarta: Defending champion Saina Nehwal was off to a flying start at the Indonesian Open Super Series, beating Bulgaria’s Linda Zecheri in straight games in her opening match on Wednesday. The fourth-seeded Saina took just 29 minutes to get past the unseeded Zechiri 21-12, 21-10 in a lopsided contest. Saina will next face another unseeded Bulgarian, Petya Nedelcheva.

Chess meet

New Delhi: Indians made a disappointing start in the inaugural AAI Grandmaster chess tournament with both Parimarjan Negi and Krishnan Sasikiran losing their opening matches on the opening day of the competition. Negi went down to top seed Fabiano Caruana of Italy in 47 moves while Sasikiran was outplayed by Wesley So of Philippines in 38 moves before the time control.

Bindra point

New Delhi: Abhinav Bindra Wednesday said that his struggle to book a quota place for next year’s London Olympics was actually a blessing. “It’s good that I struggled. Had I booked a place last year and relaxed, I would not have known the reality. Now I know how tough it would be,” Bindra said.

List pruned

Pune: Chief coach Armando Colaco on Wednesday pruned the national camp dropping seven players. While injured players like Arindam Bhattacharya, Gurwinder Singh, Anthony Pereira, Francis Fernandes have been sent back, Thoi Singh, Subhas Singh and Lalazamwala have also been released from the camp.

PFC academy

Pune: I-League side Pune FC is all set to launch their football academy, to be named Peninsula Pune Football Club Academy, next month. The academy, to be launched on July 18, will be headed by Pune FC head of youth development Ranjan Choudhary.

New coach

London: Andre Villas-Boas became the seventh manager of the Roman Abramovich era at Chelsea on Wednesday as the 33-year-old, who resigned from Porto on Tuesday, agreed to a three-year contract at the west London club.

Afridi view

Karachi: Within weeks of announcing retirement from international cricket, former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi on Wednesday said he would try making a comeback to the national team as soon as “conditions improve in the team management and administration.”

Afridi left for England on Wednesday to play for Hampshire insisting that his international career was still not over. “I still have lot of top cricket left in me but it all depends on the circumstances,” he added.

PCB move

Lahore: The Pakistan Cricket Board Wednesday constituted a two-member committee to probe charges of indiscipline against suspended national selector Mohammed Illyas.

Agencies