Rohan falters
Dubai: India’s Rohan Bopanna and his Polish partner Marcin Matkowski lost to Horia Tecau and Jean-Julien Rojer 6-4, 3-6, 3-10 in the doubles final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships here on Saturday. Andy Murray won his first title of 2017 with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over unseeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.
Nadal in final
Acapulco: Rafael Nadal continues reached the final of the Mexican Open on Friday night here, with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Marin Cilic of Croatia. Nadal’s opponent will be American Sam Querry. The 29-year-old dropped the first set against Nick Kyrgios of Australia, but held on to win the next two for a 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 victory.
Real romp
Barcelona: Real Madrid romped to a 4-1 win at tiny Eibar on Saturday, provisionally returning to the top of La Liga, despite the absence of Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo. Karim Benzema (2), James Rodriguez and Marco Asensio were the scorers for Real.
Rory leads
Mexico City: Rory McIlroy fired a second-round 65 to grab the lead in the WGC-Mexico Championship here. The Northern Irishman vaulted into a two-shot lead ahead of five-time Major winner Phil Mickelson, American Justin Thomas and England’s Ross Fisher. McIlroy reached a total of nine-under 133 at the Chapultepec Golf Club for his first 36 hole lead on the USPGA Tour since the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla.
Dutee case
New Delhi: Sprinter Dutee Chand’s 100m national record, set in Almaty that helped her qualify for the Rio Olympics, was not ratified, by the Athletics Federation of India, sources said. It is now learnt that there were issues over the status of the dope testing laboratory there and hence these records were not ratified.
CoA stance
Singapore: The implementation of Justice R.M. Lodha panel recommendations in the BCCI will be complete in “the next four-to-five months”, said Vinod Rai, head of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators. “We would want to ensure the structure and system, as decided by the court, are put into place at the earliest,” Rai said.
Spot-fixing
Karachi: Disgraced Pakistan players Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif on Saturday admitted to breach of discipline but not spot-fixing in their detailed replies to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The two players filed their response to the show-cause notices issued to them by the PCB through their lawyers.
CAB League
Calcutta: Akash Ghatak hit 238 as Wari Athletic made 466 against Belgachia United Club on the second day of a CAB three-day senior division league match on Saturday. In reply, Belgachia were all out for 164 in their first innings. Following on, they were 53 for one in their second essay.
