Rathika loses close final in NSW Open squash
Sydney, Nov 9: India’s Rathika Suthanthira Seelan lost a fiercely-contested final to Canadian top seed Iman Shaheen over five games in the NSW Open squash tournament here on Sunday. The 24-year-old Rathika, second seed and world No. 180, rallied to win the third and fourth games in what was her fourth PSA final to take the Challenger event title-round down to the wire. However, the Canadian edged her out in the decider to seal a hard-fought 11-8, 11-3, 4-11, 10-12, 12-10 in 61 minutes. Earlier on Saturday, Rathika stormed into her fourth PSA final with straight-games win over New Zealand’s sixth seed Emma Merson. Meanwhile, in Springfield (US), fifth seed and world No. 51 Veer Chotrani beat American world No. 32 and third seed Timothy Brownell 11-8, 11-8, 11-4 in the semifinals of the St James Expression Open, a PSA Copper event. Chotrani will meet Mexican top seed Leonel Cardenas in the final. (PTI)
Rajasthan Royals likely to trade Samson for Jadeja and Sam Curran
New Delhi, Nov 9: Rajasthan Royals are likely to trade their captain Sanju Samson for star Chennai Super Kings all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran ahead of the Indian Premier League 2026. Samson has spent a majority of his IPL career with the Royals whom he has also led since being named their full-time captain in IPL 2021. A senior official from five-time IPL winners Chennai Super Kings confirmed to PTI that the franchise is interested in roping in the 30-year-old Samson, who has also been a regular member of the Indian T20I side. Samson has represented RR, the winners of the inaugural IPL in 2008, for 11 years and after the conclusion of this year’s edition, the wicketkeeper-batter had admitted that he was looking for a change and wanted to be released by the franchise. For the trade off to proceed, both RR and CSK will be required to provide expression of interest to the IPL governing council and once the players provide their written consents, the two teams will have to work out the final agreement, which also would be ratified by the governing body. (PTI)
Young batter Hasan Nawaz released from Pak squad after poor form
Lahore, Nov 9: Pakistan’s upcoming batter Hasan Nawaz was on Sunday released from the national one-day and T20 squads for the bilateral series against Sri Lanka and the Tri-series because of poor form. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Sunday that Hasan Nawaz has been told to go and play in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy first class tournament. The PCB said opener Fakhar Zaman will replace Hasan in the T20 squad for the Tri-series with Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe from November 17. There will, however, be no replacement for Hasan in the ODI squad for the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka starting on November 11 in Rawalpindi as Abdul Samad is playing for the Pakistan Shaheens in the Asia Cup rising stars. (PTI)
