Paulinho the hero

Madrid: Barcelona snatched a late 2-1 win at Getafe with Paulinho’s strike sending them seven points clear of arch-rivals Real Madrid at the top of La Liga on Saturday. Denis Suarez scored the other goal for Barca.

Sen discharged

Calcutta: Mohun Bagan coach Sanjay Sen was discharged on Saturday by the private hospital where he had a bypass surgery. The 56-year-old underwent the surgery on September 6.

Sardar back

New Delhi: Veteran midfielder Sardar Singh returned to the national team as Hockey India named a strong 18-member squad under the captaincy of Manpreet Singh for the Asia Cup to be held in Dhaka from October 11-22.

Tennis meet

Calcutta: The second-seeded duo of Abhinansu Borthakur and Manoj Sewa defeated the unseeded pair of Raghu Damani and Raghav Khullar 6-2, 6-0 to lift the open doubles title at the ongoing Calcutta Hard Court Tennis Tournament, being held at the Calcutta South Club.

Duleep Trophy

Kanpur: Hanuma Vihari and Deepak Hooda slammed a century each as the Duleep Trophy match between India Blue and India Red ended in a draw on the fourth and final day here.

Brief scores: India Red 383 & 133/5. India Blue 232/3 (H. Vihari 105, D. Hooda 133). Match drawn.

ICC opinion

Calcutta: The ICC on Saturday ruled out an “overnight miraculous” return of international cricket to Pakistan even though it was satisfied with the successful staging of the Independence Cup in Lahore. “Returning full-time international cricket back to Pakistan is not going to be an overnight miracle. It has to take time,” ICC chief executive David Richardson has said.

Sourav upbeat

Calcutta: The Cricket Association of Bengal president Sourav Ganguly sounded confident of a full house at the Eden Gardens during the second India-Australia ODI on September 21. “All the complimentary tickets are gone,” Sourav said. Meanwhile, the CAB, for the first time, has given memberships to 18 women cricketers.