Nagal enters Tampere Open quarterfinals
New Delhi, July 24: India’s top singles player Sumit Nagal quelled a late challenge from Netherlands’ Max Houkes to advance to the quarterfinals of the Tampere Challenger event while Arjun Kadhe and Vijay Sundar Prashanth lost the doubles quarterfinals of the Zug Open in Switzerland. Serving for the match, Nagal faced multiple break points in game 10 of the second set but came out unscathed to advance to the next round with a 6-2, 6-4 win. He next takes on Argentine Qualifier Nicolas Kicker, who knocked out fifth seed Viktor Durasovic from Norway. Meanwhile, competing at the ATP Challenger event Zug Open, top seeded Indians Kadhe and Prashanth bowed out after losing the quarterfinal 3-6, 4-6 to Polish pair of Szymon Kielan and Filip Pieczonka. They had beaten Czech duo of Jirij Barnat and Filip Duda 6-1 ,6-4 to make the last-eight pairs stage. (PTI)
Vikramaditya to captain India in World Racketlon Championship
New Delhi, July 24: Vikramaditya Chaufla has been named captain of the Indian squad for the World Racketlon Championship to be played in Rotterdam, Netherlands from July 30 to August 3. Racketlon is a combination sport in which the competitors are required to play four racket sports: table tennis, badminton, tennis and squash. Chaufla, a former badminton player, had also led the team at last year’s World Championship. He had won a silver medal in the individual category in the 2022 edition. Besides Chaufla, Krishna B Kotak, Prashant Sen, Nihit Kumar Singh and Suhail Kapur are part of the the Indian squad, announced by the Racketlon India Sports Association. While Raghav Jatia will serve as a reserve. Nidhi Tiwari is the sole Indian competing in the women’s event. (PTI)
Riley Powell edges out Advani for World 6-Red Snooker title
Manama (Bahrain), July 24: Young Welsh sensation Riley Powell gatecrashed Pankaj Advani’s birthday party by denying him a 29th World title with a stunning come-from-behind triumph at the IBSF World 6-Red Snooker Championship, here on Thursday. The 16-year-old prodigy handed Advani, who turned 40 on Thursday, a 5-4 defeat. The teenager had the small gathering spellbound with some amazing potting. Advani, who earlier came through a humdinger (5-4) against fellow Indian Aditya Mehta in the semifinals, couldn’t stop his marauding rival. (PTI)