Nagal loses to Wawrinka
Prague: India’s Sumit Nagal gave a mighty scare to three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka by taking off the first set but then wilted under pressure to bow out of the Prague Open in the quarterfinals on Thursday. The 23-year-old Indian bagged the first set 6-2 in stunning fashion after breaking the Swiss heavyweight’s serve to raise hopes of an upset win. But it was not to be as the Indian, ranked 127, was overpowered by the world 17 Wawrinka who won the next two sets 6-0, 6-1 to pocket the match that lasted one hour and 19 minutes and advance to the semifinals. Nagal had also taken a set off another Swiss star and multiple Grand Slam winner Roger Federer in the US Open last year before losing the match. He had entered the quarterfinals of this Euro 137,560 clay court tournament following a 5-7 7-6(4) 6-3 win over lower-ranked local player Kiri Lehecka. (PTI)
Ayaka Takahashi retires
Tokyo: Japanese Olympic badminton champion Ayaka Takahashi has announced her retirement.At a press conference, the 30-year-old shuttler said she had decided to retire as she could not keep her motivation high for another year until the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, reports Xinhua news agency.”After the announcement of the postponement of Tokyo 2020, I thought I could not keep my motivation high enough to go through another tough year. I thought about continuing to play until the end of the Olympic qualification period as well, but I followed my will and decided to finally end my badminton career,” she said.Takahashi will be remembered the most for winning Olympic gold with partner Misaki Matsutomo at Rio 2016.(IANS)