Raonic to join Nadal, Murray,Wawrinka at Queen’s Club C’ships
London: Canada’s Milos Raonic on Tuesday confirmed his participation in the Queen’s Club tennis Championships, starting from June 19, which will also include British tennis aceAndy Murray, Spain’s Rafael Nadal and Swiss Stan Wawrinka. Raonic, fifth in the ATP rankings and runner-up last year at Wimbledon and Queen’s Club, will be looking for his first title in 2017 here, reports Efe. The Canadian tennis player, who in 2016 fell to Murray (6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3, said he wants to take it one step further this year and win the title, adding that the Queen’s Club Championships is a great tournament. The London competition, considered as a prelude to Wimbledon, has been named by players as the best of ATP World Tour 500 series for the fourth consecutive year. (IANS)
Bopanna at 23rd spot, Sania at seventh in latest rankings
New Delhi: Ace Indian doubles player Rohan Bopanna continues to be at the 23rd spot in the latest Tennis rankings for men’s double while Sania Mirza enjoys the seventh spot in the rankings for women doubles. On the other hand, Leander Paes fell one spot to be at the 57th position while Divij Sharan and Purav Raja are at 58th and 62nd position respectively. In the singles’ rankings, Ramkumar Ramnathan moved eight places ahead and is at 269th spot while Yuki Bhambhari, making a jump of 34 position, is now at the 307th spot. Saket Mineni slided 26 position down to be at 309 and Prajnesh Gunneswaran, after an improvement of 17 places, has climbed up to 325th postion. (UNI)
Germany’s Ozil, Gomez and Draxler to miss England friendly
DORTMUND: Germany will be without injured midfielder Mesut Ozil, winger Julian Draxler and forward Mario Gomez when they host England in a friendly international tomorrow, coach Joachim Loew said. Loew said the trio were nursing minor injuries and would need a few days to recover with the world champions taking on Azerbaijan in a World Cup qualifier in Baku on Sunday. “Those who will not play tomorrow are Ozil, who has some muscle problems. Julian Draxler has the same injury, an upper thigh muscle,” Loew said today. “Mario Gomez has an adductor muscle injury and may need a few days.” Gomez’s absence is especially disappointing with the striker having netted in his last three Bundesliga games for VfL Wolfsburg and appearing to have rediscovered his form. Germany are already without injured keeper Manuel Neuer, with Loew having called up Kevin Trapp as a replacement. (Agencies)
Courtois keen to stay at Chelsea
London: Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has dismissed speculation about a possible move to Real Madrid, insisting that he will continue at his present club. Real Madrid are reportedly considering a move to acquire the services of the Belgium international should the ongoing talks with Manchester United custodian David De Gea fall through. “I don’t see myself at Real Madrid. I see myself at Chelsea, the club that six years ago saw me playing in Belgium and gave me the opportunity to sign for them,” he was quoted as saying by the Guardian on Tuesday. “They also allowed me to be three years at Atlético (Madrid), which helped me to be the keeper that I am now.” Chelsea are enjoying an excellent run this season. They have opened up a 10-point gap at the top of the English Premier League (EPL) standings and have reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup. (IANS)
Rohit, Parthiv to lead India ‘Blue’ and ‘Red’ teams
Mumbai: Batsman Rohit Sharma and wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel were on Tuesday named captains of the India ‘Blue and India ‘Red teams respectively for the D.B. Deodhar Trophy 50-over domestic cricket tournament. Among other big names, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has been included in India ‘Blue’, while opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan has found his place in India ‘Red’ for the tournament, to be held in Vizag from March 25 to 29. As the Vijay Hazare Trophy holders, Tamil Nadu are in the three-team competition. Several young India players and hopefuls like Ambati Rayudu, Shahbaz Nadeem Shardul Thakur (for India ‘Blue’) and Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Axar Patel and Dhawal Kulkarni (for India ‘Red’) will feature in the tournament. The squads: India ‘Blue’: Rohit Sharma (captain), Mandeep Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Ambati Rayudu, Manoj Tiwary, Rishabh Pant (wk), Deepak Hooda, Harbhajan Singh, Krunal Pandya, Shahbaz Nadeem, Siddarth Kaul, Shardul Thakur, Prasidh Krishna, Pankaj Rao. India ‘Red’: Parthiv Patel (captain & wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Manish Pandey, Mayank Agarwal, Kedar Jadhav, Ishank Jaggi, Gurkeerat Mann, Axar Patel, Akshay Karnewar, Ashok Dinda, Kulwant Khejroliya, Dhawal Kulkarni, Govinda Poddar. (IANS)
