Short Corner — Chandigarh

Sandeep Kirtane wallops Nigri
Two seeded Germans screamed, vented their anger on a furry yellow sphere and melted in the October heat today. Their opponents, two unseeded Asians, one of them Sandeep Kirtane, did little wrong in sauntering into the quarter-finals of the $ 6250 State Bank of India ITF Satellite Circuit tennis tournament.

Challenger Trophy
Aspirants for places in the national squad, including discards, get a golden opportunity to push forward their claims for recognition when the N K P Salve Challenger Trophy day-night cricket tournament commences tomorrow.

Shruti wins
The top two seeds failed to sprout on the hard courts. Archana Venkatraman of Bangalore and Anna Nefedova of Russia were nipped in the bud in the quarter-final of the UN Mehta ITF’s women’s circuit tournament today. Those who reaped the harvest were Shruti Dhawan, a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Archana and Rushmi Chakravarthi who upset Anna 6-3, 6-1.

Rock Rovers win
Rock Rovers, Chandigarh chalked out an impressive 4-1 win over Himachal Pradesh XI in the second all-India Gold Cup hockey tournament.