Gopi advances to second roundThe National champion, who led India to the men's team silver in the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games and won an individual bronze after losing in the semifinals to eventual gold medallist Wong Choon Hann of Malaysia, beat Hong 4-15, 15-11, 15-9.MUMBAI: Vinod Sridhar (Tamil Nadu), Ravi Kiran Bhat (Karnataka), Vasudeva Reddy (Andhra Pradesh) and Mustafa Ghouse (Maharashtra) are the four Indians who were awarded wild cards in the US$ 6,250 SBI-ITF men's Satellite Circuit first leg tennis tournament commencing here at MSLTA on October 12.Five other Indians- Davis Cup member Prahlad Srinath, Harsh Mankad, Nitin Kirtane, Sandeep Kirtane and Vijay Kannan - figure in the main draw of 32 as direct entrants.Elf victoriousNAGPUR: ELF-Vengsarkar Cricket Academy, Mumbai retained the Pure Gold Cup beating Kamraj Kesri XI by 186 runs in their third and final league match of the Vidarbha Ranji Cricket Selection Trial Tournament here at the Vidarbha CricketAssociation (VCA) Grounds today.The Mumbai outfit earned 18 points for their two victories over Anant Kelkar XI and Kesri XI and a draw against Pure Gold XI. Pure Gold XI gained 15 points and finished runner-up.Resuming at overnight 145 without loss, Elf Academy declared at 187 losing two wickets. Skipper Ojas Mehta hit his second century of the match. He had scored 115 runs in Elf's first innings.Mehta (100 not out) hit 12 boundaries and two sixes in his inning. Amol Rane scored 80.Facing the victory target of 308 runs, Kesri XI were bundled out at 121. Abhishek Jaywant again grabbed five wickets for 29 runs. Shakti Prasad took three.Thadani winsNEW DELHI: Avinash Thadani of Doon School beat K Sharma in the third round of Junior National Squash Championship at Gymkhana Club here on Thursday, beating K Sharma 2-9, 10-8, 10-8, 1-9, 9-1.In the boys' under-16, sixth seed Sahil Vora of Mumbai was upset by N Gaurav 9-5, 9-2, 7-9, 7-9, 3-9.Others who advanced to the next round includeDeepa Ranjan Paul, Junaid Nathani, S Sethi, R Bhattacharya and Rahul Singh. In the sub-junior section, V Jangra, Anjaa Khan and Y Sinha moved to the next round.In the boys under-14 section second round, R Vora beat Vaibhav Aratuni and Arjun Beb beat M Makbi.Rakesh, Kalra leadPUNE: Last years' runner-up Rakesh Kumar of Indian Navy (IN) and India's number three, Shreeraz Kalra of Lucknow were jointly leading on the opening day of the Blue Diamond Amateur Open Golf championship here on Thursday.Both Kumar and Kalra were one under par-70 points and showed their skill and accuracy. Two strokes behind the leaders were Harmeet Kahlon (Chandigarh), P S Guleria (Delhi) and Amit Luthra (Delhi) gaining one over par-72.Sobers to trainCHENNAI: Sir Garfield Sobers, the legendary West Indian cricketing genius, would arrive here on October 13 to train aspiring youngsters in the age group of 13-19 in the art of spin bowling at the Mac Sport Foundation.The 63-year-old West Indian is coming toIndia for the first time on such an assignment.Shuttlers sign dealMUMBAI: National champions Aparna Popat and Pullela Gopi Chand have signed a one-year deal with sports equipment manufacturer Yonex to endorse their products.Aparna said the kit comprised racquets, bag, shoes and clothing. Agencies
