Sania-McHale pair cruise to semi-finals at Cleveland
Cleveland (US), Aug 27: India’s Sania Mirza and her American partner Christina McHale cruised to the semifinals of Tennis in the Land tournament with a straight set win over Lucie Hradecka and Shuai Zhang here. Mirza and McHale hardly broke a sweat, beating Czech Republic’s Hradecka and her Chinese partner Zhang 6-3, 6-3 in one hour one minute in the women’s doubles quarter-finals on Thursday night. Mirza and McHale will take on Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and American Catherine Harrison in the semi-finals. They are yet to drop a set in the tournament as they had defeated Georgia’s Oksana Kalashnikova and her Romanian partner Andreea Mitu 6-3, 6-2 in the opening round. (PTI)
India’s singles challenge ends in US Open qualifiers
New York, Aug 27: India’s singles challenge came to an end at the US Open qualifiers after Prajnesh Gunneswaran was handed a straight-set defeat by American Christopher Eubanks in the second round here. The world no.156 Indian, who was looking to make his second appearance in the US Open main draws, went down 3-6, 4-6 to Eubanks, ranked 216th, in a 50-minute showdown on Thursday night. (PTI)
Gibraltar get 1st team in a European group stage
Gibraltar, Aug 27: Gibraltar will have a team in the group stage of a European competition for the first time after semi-professional club Lincoln Red Imps reached the third-tier Europa Conference League. Lincoln won 3-1 after extra time at the national stadium in its playoff against visiting Riga of Latvia to go through 4-2 on aggregate. In Friday’s group-stage draw, Lincoln will line up with former European champion Feyenoord plus Tottenham and Roma, both former beaten finalists in the European Cup or Champions League. Lincoln can expect to earn at least 3 million euros ($3.5 million) in UEFA prize money for reaching the group stage. (PTI)
Pulisic uncertain for WC qualifying after COVID
New York Aug 27: Christian Pulisic’s availability for the United States’ opening World Cup qualifier remains unclear following his positive COVID test. The top American player was on the 26-man roster announced on Thursday for the first three qualifiers after missing Chelsea’s match at Arsenal last weekend. The U.S. starts at El Salvador on September 2. (AP)
Tata Motors extend sponsorship of Indian wrestling till 2024 Olympics
New Delhi, Aug 27: The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and Tata Motors, who became national sponsors of the sport in 2018, on Friday announced extension of their partnership till the 2024 Olympics. It was also announced that apart from the scholarships to 60 juniors, 30 talented wrestlers, to be identified by the WFI, will be adopted by Tata Motors. All of their training expenses, exposure trips to foreign countries will be covered under the junior development program and will also be given assistance to manage injuries through physios. (PTI)