Shakhtar part ways with
coach Patrick van Leeuwen
KYIV, Oct 16: Ukrainian champion Shakhtar Donetsk said Monday that Dutch coach Patrick van Leeuwen’s contract has been terminated after just three months in charge.Van Leeuwen, who was appointed in July on a two-year contract, leaves along with his coaching staff after overseeing just 12 games. Shakhtar didn’t give a reason for his departure or name a successor.Shakhtar is third in the Ukrainian league after losing its last domestic game 2-1 to Vorskla Poltava on Sept. 30. Van Leeuwen’s last game in charge was a 3-2 win over Royal Antwerp on Oct. 4 which left Shakhtar third in its Champions League group behind Barcelona and Porto. (AP)
Thompson upsets Zverev in
first round of Japan Open
TOKYO, Oct 16: Jordan Thompson upset ninth-ranked Alexander Zverev 6-3, 6-4 in the opening round of the Japan Open on Monday for his second win over a top-10 opponent this season.The 29-year-old Australian saved four of the five break points he faced to claim his first career win over Zverev after losing their only previous meeting six years ago. He also beat seventh-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas at Indian Wells in March. Thompson will next play either Shanghai Masters semifinalist Ben Shelton or qualifier Taro Daniel.The other three Australians in action Monday all lost as eighth-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime defeated Aleksander Vukic 7-6 (3), 6-7 (2), 6-2, while Mackenzie McDonald beat Max Purcell 7-5, 6-4 and Sebastian Ofner outlasted Christopher O’Connell 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5), 7-5.Fifth-seeded Tommy Paul plays Daniel Altmaier in a late match.Top-seeded Taylor Fritz plays his first-round match against Cameron Norrie on Tuesday, while second-seeded Casper Ruud meets wild-card entry Yosuke Watanuki.Shanghai Masters winner Hubert Hurkacz is also in the draw. He opens against Zhang Zhizhen on Wednesday. (PTI)
‘WFI suspension will not be
lifted till elections are held’
MUMBAI, Oct 16: The United World Wrestling has not set any deadline but will end the suspension of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) conducts free and fair elections and install a democratically elected managing committee, the chief of the global body said on Monday.Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the 141st IOC Session here, Nenad Lalovic, president of the United World Wrestling (UWW) said the suspension will be lifted as soon as the Indian authorities manage to resolve the legal issues and put in place a democratically elected body and inform the names to the global body.“They will have to resolve the legal issues and conduct elections and put in place a democratically elected body. We are not in favour of the suspension continuing for long,” he said, making it clear no special concessions will be given to the WFI considering that the delay in elections is now because the case has reached the Supreme Court.Lalovic said as per his understanding the WFI case will come up for the next hearing in the Supreme Court in November and once the ad-hoc committee appointed by the ministry gets the go-ahead, elections could be conducted after a month, which means the suspension will continue till the end the year at least.He said the reason the UWW suspended WFI was because of a lack of governance. (IANS)