Yuki wins,Saketh is ousted

Melbourne: Yuki Bhambri advanced to the second round of the Australian Open Qualifiers even as his fellow Davis Cupper Saketh Myneni suffered a tame defeat.The 534th ranked Yuki conjured up a 6-1, 6-4 win against Stefan Kozlov, ranked as high as 116. Myneni lost 0-6, 2-6 against Germany’s Peter Gojowczyk.

Paes show

Auckland: Leander Paes and his new partner Andre Sa shocked the top-seeded pair of Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi 7-6(3), 6-3 in the ASB Classic, to make it to the quarter finals. It was the first match of the Indo-Brazilian pair. 

Table tennis

Calcutta: Indranil Chattopadhyay and Mousumi Banerjee won the men's and women's titles in the state and inter-district table tennis championship on Wednesday. Biman Patra and Neha Sadhukhan were the boys' and girls' winners.

Barca hurdle

Barcelona: Barcelona’s hopes of offering talisman and all-time top scorer Lionel Messi an improved contract face a stumbling block because of the expenditure caps imposed by La Liga. Messi earns a reported 22 million euros ($23.1 million) per year after tax from Barca.

Demise

New Delhi: Senior sports journalist Ramu Sharma passed away after prolonged illness on Tuesday. He was 81.

Twin centuries

Calcutta: Centuries by Dibya and Sayan Biswas put Bengal in a commanding position at close on the third day in the Vijay Merchant (U-16) semi-final against Haryana in Gwalior, according to information received here.
Brief scores: Bengal 152 & 359/2 (Dibya 123 batting, S. Biswas 161 batting, D. Neogi 54). Haryana 116 (N. Pajni 64; F. Haq 3/18, Karan 3/29).

Seth shines

Calcutta: Pacer Kanishk Seth’s three wickets helped Assam reach 155 for six against Bengal on the opening day of the Cooch Behar Trophy (U-19) semi-final at Kalyani on Wednesday.
Brief scores: Assam 155/6 (K. Seth 3/38) vs Bengal.

Lanka squad

Colombo: Sri Lanka named uncapped all-rounder Thikshila de Silva in a 15-member squad for the three T20 Internationals against South Africa.

Staff Reporter & Agencies