Paes, Somdev progress, Divij-Raja bow out
New Delhi: Leander Paes and Somdev Devvarman progressed to the doubles quarterfinals in their respective ATP tournaments but the pair of Divij Sharan and Purav Raja went down fighting on Wednesday. First in action was Paes with his Italian partner Daniele Bracciali at the Thailand Open in Bangkok and the second-seeded pair pipped James Cerretani and Adil Shamasdin, 7-5, 7-6 (4) in the first round of the ATP 250 hard court tournament. Later in the day, Divij Sharan and Purav Raja lost 5-7, 5-7 to the higher-ranked Colombian pairing of Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in their first round. Paes and Bracciali will now fight it out with Cabal and Farah for a place in the semifinals. At the Malaysian Open, Somdev Devvarman and his South African partner Rik De Voest registered an easy 6-3, 6-2 win over Spaniard Pablo Andujar and Victor Hanescu of Romania. They now face the second-seeded French-Serbian team of Julien Benneteau and Nenad Zimonjic. (PTI)
India A, Windies A share honours on Day 1
Mysore: Kraigg Brathwaite (92) and skipper Kirk Edwards (91) narrowly missed out on centuries before India A’s bowlers staged a fightback to keep West Indies A to 264 for five on the opening day of the first unofficial Test here on Wednesday. Windies A batsmen dominated proceedings before late strikes towards the fag end of the day enabled the hosts to pull even. From 211 for two at one stage, the Windies lost three wickets for just 26 runs to be struggling at 237 for five. (PTI)
Hockey: India thrash Pakistan 4-0
Johor Bahru (Malaysia): India pumped in four goals in the second session in a sizzling display of attacking hockey to post a comprehensive 4-0 victory over arch-rivals Pakistan in the Sultan of Johor Cup Under-21 tournament here on Wednesday. The Indians, who completely outplayed their opponents, struck three goals in a space of 11 minutes after the resumption through Sukhmonjit Singh (38th and 46th minutes) and Imran Khan (45th) before Ramandeep Singh fired in his fourth goal of the tournament in the 61st minute. It was an spectacular performance by the Indians in the second half that saw them win by a huge margin over the Pakistanis, who were on equal terms with their neighbours until half time. (PTI)
EB set to miss Sueoka in AFC semi
Kolkata: East Bengal are set to miss their Japanese midfielder Ryuji Sueoka due to a knee injury when they take on Kuwait SC in the AFC Cup away-leg semifinal on October 1. Defending champions Kuwait SC, who are eying a record third title, will also miss defender Yaqoub Al Taher, who picked up a red card in their 5-0 win (12-2 aggregate) over New Radiant SC on Tuesday. As the victorious team members arrived this evening to a hero’s welcome, the Japanese recruit was wheelchair-bound as he made a quiet entry. “We will conduct an MRI tomorrow to know the status of the injury, but he’s all certain to miss the away leg (on October 1),” an East Bengal official said. Besides Sueoka, all other players in the team are fit and the team has no card problem, the official added. East Bengal came back from behind to draw at Semen Padang 1-1 to make the AFC Cup semifinals for the first time with a 2-1 aggregate score. Sueoka, who had scored the only goal in the home leg victory over Padang, was stretchered off in the 43rd minute with an injury after a clash with the Indonesian goalkeeper Jandia Eka Putra. (PTI)
Lewandowski eyes January transfer
BERLIN: Borussia Dortmund striker Robert Lewandowski hopes to join Bayern Munich in January when he will be eligible to sign a new deal. “We still have to wait a bit but I say I think in January I can go,” the 25-year-old told reporters after Tuesday’s 2-0 German Cup second-round win against 1860 Munich. Asked whether that would mean a move to Bayern in January, Lewandowski, with a Dortmund official standing nearby, said: “Yes, because it is then that I can officially sign a new contract.” Dortmund opted not to sell Lewandowski, who joined in 2010 and won consecutive league titles in 2011 and 2012 as well as the German Cup in 2012. (Reuters)