Snooker Nationals: Advani scores easy win over Peter Paul
CHENNAI, Dec 11: Multiple-time world champion and two-time Asian Games gold medallist Pankaj Advani of PSPB recorded breaks of 103, 107 and 134 to register a comfortable 4-0 win over Peter Paul of RSPB in the round-robin league phase of the 90th National Billiards & Snooker Championships here on Monday.His Petroleum Sports Promotion Board teammate Shrikrishna Suryanarayan too began his campaign in men’s snooker in dominant fashion, recording breaks of 52 and 108 in his 4-0 win over Md Tausif of Chhattisgarh.Suryanarayan beat Tausif 69-13 65-44 63-25 109-0 in a lop-sided contest.Defending champion Kamal Chawla beat his RSPB colleague Nitesh Madan 4-1, with a break of 121 being the highlight.Among other matches, Brijesh Damani (PSPB) beat Mayur Garg (Gujarat) 4-1, Laxman Rawat (PSPB) edged out Vijay Nichani (Tamil Nadu) 4-3, Anurag Giri (MP) defeated Tushar Sahay (Gujarat) 4-1 and Shahbaaz Khan (Maharashtra) eased past Dhvaj Haria (PSPB) 4-0. (PTI)
France to host Germany in a friendly ahead of Euros
PARIS, Dec 11: World Cup runner-up France will face Germany in a friendly next March as part of its European Championship preparations.Coach Didier Deschamps’ side take on Julian Nagelsmann’s struggling Germany team on March 23 at Lyon’s Groupama Stadium in its first friendly match leading up to Euro 2024, which will be hosted by Germany from June 14-July 14. Germany’s 2-0 loss to Austria last month capped a year of bad results, with Germany having lost six of the 11 games it played and winning just three. One of those, however, was a 2-1 friendly win over France in Dortmund in September under caretaker coach Rudi Völler. Germany also confirmed a friendly for March 26 against the Netherlands in Frankfurt. (PTI)
Australian Open: Cornet and Cazaux receive wild cards
PARIS, Dec 11: French tennis players Alizé Cornet and Arthur Cazaux have been given wild-card entries for next month’s Australian Open, the French tennis federation said on Monday.The 33-year-old Cornet, who is ranked 116th, will participate in the tournament for the 19th time in her career and make a record-extending 68th consecutive appearance at a major. She reached the quarterfinals for the first time in Melbourne last year – her best achievement at any major.The 21-year-old Cazaux is ranked 130th after climbing from 381st at the start of the year, and he goes into main draw first time at the January 15-28 tournament.Cazaux has shown promise by winning one challenger series title and reaching three other challenger finals in 2023 – losing one of them to three-time major winner Andy Murray on grass at the Nottingham Open in June. (PTI)
