India need singles player to ease pressure on Somdev: Amritraj
New Delhi: Former player Anand Amritraj, who was appointed Davis Cup captain last month, stressed on the importance of developing a good second singles player who can ease the pressure on India’s top player Somdev Devvarman. “We always had great doubles players but singles is our problem. Somdev in the top-100 but we need to have a player who is in top 150-200. A second singles player is important for us to make the World Group. Otherwise, Somdev will be under a lot of pressure,” Amritraj told reporters here on Friday. “We have some good young players. I met them during Maharashtra Tennis League in January, so I know who I’ll be working with. They are ranked around 250-300 but they need to improve their ranking by another 100-spot, which is not inconceivable. Players such as Sanam Singh or Yuki Bhambri are definitely top-200 players,” said Amritraj, whose first assignment will be the January 31-February 2 Asia/Oceania First Round tie. (PTI)
Manoj, Manpreet enter World Boxing Championship pre-quarters
Almaty (Kazakhstan): Indian boxers continued to pack a mighty punch at the World Championships as Manoj Kumar (64kg) and Manpreet Singh (91kg) entered the pre-quarterfinals with contrasting wins in their respective second-round bouts here on Friday. While Asian Games silver-medallist Manpreet clinched a comprehensive victory over Seychelles’ Keddy Agnes, sixth seed and Commonwealth Games champion Manoj got the better of 2011 European champion Fatih Keles of Turkey. Both Manoj and Manpreet had got first-round byes. Manpreet won 3-0 in the overall analysis with the round-by-round break-up being 30-27 30-27 30-27. Manoj, on the other hand, fought through a see-saw battle even though he too emerged 3-0 victorious at the end of the bout. Saturday will be a busy day for the Indian contingent with as many as four boxers set to be in action. Thokchom Nanao Singh (49kg) will take on Scotland’s Aqeel Ahmed after getting a first-round bye. Next up, reigning Asian champion Shiva Thapa, seeded fourth, will fight it out with Filipino Mario Fernandez in the 56kg second round. Shiva also got a bye in the opening round. Soon after, former Olympic and World Championships bronze-medallist Vijender Singh (75kg) will be up against reigning European champion Jason Quigley of Ireland. In the evening session, national champion Satish Kumar (+91kg) wil take on Tajikistan’s Mirodzhidin Karimov in the opening round. (PTI)
Gangjee best Indian at 15th in Macau
Macau: Rahil Gangjee overcame a miserable start to knock down as many as five birdies over last 10 holes to become the best-placed Indian at the halfway stage of the Macau Open here on Friday. The 35-year-old, two over after first two holes, finally ended at four-under for the day and was two-under for 36 holes with rounds of 73 and 67 and was placed tied 15th. As many as 10 Indians made the cut, but Jeev Milkha Singh and Jyoti Randhawa surprisingly missed out. South African Ernie Els charged into contention with a brilliant six-under 65 to trail halfway leader Siddikur of Bangladesh by one shot. (PTI)
Manipur emerge overall champion at 24th National Sepaktakraw
Kohima: Manipur emerged as the overall champions of the 24th National Sepaktakraw Championship here on Friday. On the last day of the championship, Manipur clinched another gold in the men’s event to get four gold out of the six to be the overall champions. Manipur won gold medals in the men and women’s team and regu events. Host Nagaland, with one gold, two silver and a bronze, were placed second in the overall championship. Nagaland won gold in women’s double event, silver medals in men’s doubles and women’s team event and bronze in men’s team event to be the second position holders of the championship. Assam won a silver in women’s regu event, a bronze each in women’s team event and men’s regu event. (PTI)