CLTA, CHANDIGARH: An important international tennis tournament, ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors (Grade-4) for boys and girls under-18 years is being conducted by Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association (CLTA) in its Tennis Stadium, Sector-10, Chandigarh, from March 1 to 6, 2021. The Qualifying matches for this event will be played on 27th and 28th February, 2021 in CLTA. Highly ranked boys and girls from 8 countries including India are participating in this prestigious tournament. These countries are Belgium; France; Great Britain; Nepal; Russia: Spain; United State of America and India.

AHEMEDABAD: India took a slender 33-run first-innings lead against England as they were bowled for 145 in 53.2 overs in the first session of the second day of the third Test here on Thursday. England captain, at best a part-time spinner, took a staggering career-best figures of five wickets for eight runs -- his first five-wicket haul in first-class cricket -- to hasten India's demise.

AHMEDABAD: Despite getting bowled out for just 112 in their first innings of the third Test, England are hopeful of giving India a target of at least 150 on "a wicket where batting fourth will be extremely difficult".

MADRID:FC Barcelona kept their slim title hopes alive after a brace from Lionel Messi and one from Jordi Alba gave them a 3-0 win at home to Elche, which leaves them five points behind La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid.

CHANDIGARH: With a haul of three gold, four silver and six bronze medals Services Sports Control Board emerged champions in Greco Roman Style by logging 190 points in the Tata Motors 65th Senior Greco Roman Style National Wrestling Championship being organized in Lovely Professional University in Jalandhar today.

BTHINDA: Central University of Punjab, Bathinda (CUPB) under the patronage of Vice Chancellor Prof. Raghavendra P. Tiwari commenced the 9th Annual Sports Meet on Wednesday at CUPB Ghudda Campus. This programme is being organized as a part of various activities to be conducted under eight-day celebrations to mark the 12th Foundation Day of the university. Along with major sports & athletics gaming events, the special highlight of this Mega Sporting Event is Indigenous Games of Punjab such as Pithu Garam, Kabaddi, Kokla Chapaki, Rassa Kassi, Stapoo, Gilli Danda, Gitta etc.

PANCHKULA(Haryana): Gnanasekaran Sathiyan’s perseverance paid the dividends. What he narrowly missed at Cuttack two years ago, the world No. 37 and second-seeded Petroleum paddler made it up in the UTT 82nd National Table Tennis Championships at the Tau Devi Lal Indoor Stadium here today.

NEW DELHI: Member of Parliament and former star cricketer Gautam Gambhir has strongly opposed the idea of resumption of cricket between India and Pakistan until Islamabad stops cross-border terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir.

KOLKATA: Mason Robertson scored a brace as Real Kashmir came from a goal down to beat Aizawl 3-1 in the I-League at the VYBK Stadium on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI: India's men's football team will play two international friendlies in March against Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in what will be their first assignment since November 2019, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) said on Tuesday. The matches will be played in Dubai with India facing Oman on March 25 and the UAE on March 29.

AUCKLAND: Commentator Simon Doull said that it may have not mattered if New Zealand batsman Devon Conway's unbeaten 99 against Australia in the first T20I had come before the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction. Conway went unsold at the auction and four days later, his innings helped New Zealand beat Australia by 53 runs in Christchurch.

SYDNEY: Naomi Osaka climbed one spot to second in the latest women's WTA rankings released after the Australian Open. The 23-year-old Japanese won her fourth Grand Slam title and second at the Rod Laver Arena.

Snehit upsets seeds on way to semis in National TT

SINGAPORE: India's Ramkumar Ramanathan on Monday was knocked out of the Singapore Open ATP 250 tournament in the first round. Ramanathan lost to American-born Japanese player Taro Daniel 3-6, 7-6(3), 3-6 in a hard-fought first round match.

NEW DELHI: Arundhati Choudhary (69kg) and Naorem Babyrojisana Chanu (51kg) won gold as India's women contingent ended the 30th Adriatic Pearl boxing tournament with five golds, three silvers and two bronze in addition to three male boxers winning bronze.

NEW DELHI: Unbeaten Indian pro boxer Vijender Singh will return to the ring for the first time in over a year. While the bout is confirmed to be set to take place in India, its dates or Vijender's opponent is yet to be revealed.

MELBOURNE: Tennis world No.1 Novak Djokovic could be set for a period on the sidelines after his ninth Australian Open win due to a tear in his abdominal muscle he suffered during the tournament. After the final against Daniil Medvedev, Djokovic revealed the nature of the injury that he had suffered during a third round match in Melbourne.

NEW DELHI: 22 Rahul Tewatia was told that he had been selected for the Indian team by his Haryana teammate Yuzvendra Chahal and the all-rounder wondered whether to take the news seriously at first. Tewatia, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav all received call-ups to the Indian T20I team that will face England in five matches starting on March 12.

PANCHKULA: Anthony Amalraj’s stars, aided by the inexperience of Soumyadeep Sarkar, played a big role in the ninth seed’s passage into the Round of 32 in the UTT 82nd National Table Tennis Championships at the Tau Devi Lal Indoor Stadium in Sector 3 here today.

JAMSHER(Jalandhar Cantt): With an aim to further boosting sports among youngsters and encourage them to excel different sports, MLA Pargat Singh today distributed sports kits to 100 budding Football players at Jamsher Football ground, where young players are being trained by the Youth Fotball Club (YFC), Rurkan Kalan.

SYDNEY:Former Australia captain Michael Clarke has hinted that batsman Steve Smith might pull out of the Indian Premier League 2021 citing injury after being picked for a relatively small amount at the auction.

KARACHI: A player taking part in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2021 has tested positive for Covid-19 while another player and an official of a team have been placed under quarantine for breaching the bio-secure environment (BSE).

NEW DELHI:A year after it last played an international match, the Indian men's hockey team will travel to Europe for a 17-day tour to play two matches each against Germany and Britain.

MELBOURNE:Japan's Naomi Osaka faces American Jennifer Brady in the final of the Australian Open later on Saturday as she aims to win her fourth Grand Slam title.

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's Dhammika Prasad has retired from international cricket. Prasad, 37, last played for Sri Lanka in a Test match against the West Indies in October 2014.

ENGALURU:India junior women's hockey team defender Gagandeep Kaur is aiming to make the cut for the senior national team before she finishes her stint with juniors this year.

NEW DELHI: The Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Friday announced that it has extended the Olympic qualification period till June 15. This came after the postponement of the Malaysia Open Super 750 and Singapore Open Super 500 tournaments, both of which were listed as part of the qualification cycles.

MELBOURNE: India's Ankita Raina and her Russian partner Kamilla Rakhimova on Friday won the Phillip Island Trophy WTA 250 tennis tournament in Melbourne. The pair beat Russia's Anna Blinkova and Anastasia Potapova 2-6, 6-4, 10-7. This is Ankita's first title on the WTA tour.

MELBOURNE: India's Ankita Raina and her Russian partner Kamilla Rakhimova on Friday won the Phillip Island Trophy WTA 250 tennis tournament in Melbourne. The pair beat Russia's Anna Blinkova and Anastasia Potapova 2-6, 6-4, 10-7. This is Ankita's first title on the WTA tour.

CHENNAI: The Indian Premier League (IPL) mini-auction on Thursday provided a few ageing Indian cricketers, discarded by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) recently, a fresh lease of life and a few crores to boot.

CHENNAI: Punjab Kings on Thursday brought onboard nine new players at the IPL mini auction. With a heavy mix of talent up for grabs at the auction, Punjab Kings fought hard, taking calculated risks to get the players of their choice.

PANCHKULA (HARYANA): Manika Batra earned her second crown when she defeated Reeth Rishya 4-2 in the women’s singles final of the UTT 82nd Senior National Table Tennis Championships at the Tau Devi Lal Indoor Stadium in Sector 3 here today.

AHMEDABAD: Om Prakash Chouhan of Mhow didn’t have the best of days on the golf course on Thursday but he still continued to enjoy a substantial lead for the third consecutive day at the Gujarat Open Golf Championship 2021 Presented by Gujarat Tourism being played at the Kalhaar Blues and Greens Golf Club in Ahmedabad.

PANCHKULA:Manika Batra avenged her defeat against Archana Kamath to move into the semifinals of the UTT 82nd Senior National Table Tennis Championships at the Tau Devi Lal Indoor Stadium in Sector 3 here today. Manika won 4-3.