S P O T L I G H T

Sampras, Voltchkov move up
LONDON, July 5 (Reuters) — Belarussian Vladimir Voltchkov became the first qualifier since John McEnroe in 1977 to reach a Wimbledon men’s semifinal today when he squeezed past Zimbabwe’s Byron Black 7-6 7-6 6-4. Neither Voltchkov nor Black played anything like inspired tennis, squandering leads and swooping service breaks regularly and each finding it difficult to serve out a set. Voltchkov will now meet defending champion and top seed Pete Sampras of the USA who beat compatriot Jan-Michael Gambill 6-4 6-7 (7-4) 6-4 6-4 to reach the men’s semifinals. USA’s Andre Agassi and Australian Patrick Rafter had earlier powered into last 4.

Akash test-fired
BALASORE, July 5 (PTI) — The indigenously built multi-target surface-to-air missile Akash was successfully test-fired from the iterim test range (ITR) at Chandipur near here today.