Hyderabad, November 9
Clinical India notched up another resounding win to humble a hapless Sri Lankan side by six wickets and clinch the five-match series in the third One-day International.

If the bowlers, led by Umesh Yadav (4-53) and Akshar Patel (3-40), set up the win by restricting the visitors to 242 all out on a good batting track, then the Shikhar Dhawan (91 off 79 balls) inspired batting line-up did its job to make the opponents look ordinary yet again.

Earlier in overcast conditions, Mahela Jayawardene struck a fluent century to wage a lone battle as the Islanders managed a respectable score of 242 all out in 48.2 overs after being reduced to seven for two and 158 for seven.

In reply, India capitalised on a 62-run opening stand between Ajinkya Rahane (31) and Dhawan and skipper Virat Kohli's sublime 53 to canter to their target in 44.1 overs at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium at Uppal.

Rahane was finally scalped by Thisara Perera in the 12th over after the opener tried to fiddle with a rising delivery, giving away a simple catch at first slip.

Dhawan carried on the good work alongwith with last match centurion Ambati Rayudu (35) as the duo stitched another 69-run partnership to put the hosts in a comfortable position.

The left-handed Dhawan reached his 2000-run mark in ODIs at the start of the 23rd over and soon hit a six to register his 11th fifty.

Rayudu though lost his wicket post a silly mix-up when the former Hyderabad player was left stranded at the non-striker’s end as an Angelo Mathews and Kumar Sangakkara combination did the rest.

But Dhawan (283 runs in 3 innings) continued to be the top-scorer in the series so far as the left-hander enthralled the crowd with eight fours and a six to make India's win look like a stroll in the park.

Skipper Kohli (53 runs —32nd ODI fifty) also joined the party to ably guide the Men in Blue in Mahendra Singh Dhoni's absence.

The Delhi dasher, who became the fastest player to register 6000 runs in 144 ODIs, played to the galleries after displaying a few wristy flicks that brought memories of VVS Laxman back in the minds of one and all.

India took the batting powerplay come the 33rd over as the Dhawan-Kohli combination managed a 70-run stand to help hasten the proceedings.

Dhawan was finally caught behind off Nuwan Kulasekara in what seemd like an umpiring misjudgment as from the replays one could only see the ball brushing the helmet en route to the wicketkeeper.

Kohli also departed while trying to heave a six but was caught at long-on off Tillakaratne Dilshan. — Agencies 

5 batsmen who have scored 12,000-plus ODI runs — Mahela Jayawardene (left) became the fifth. Jayawardene got to this mark in 426 matches, making him the slowest to this milestone. All the others took less than 400 ODIs. 17 hundreds have been scored by Jayawardene. He equalled T Dilshan, becoming the third-highest century-maker for Lanka. On the overall list, he went past Gilchrist and joined Kallis and Haynes on 17 hundreds

136 innings in which Virat Kohli (left) reached 6000 ODI runs — the fastest ever. This happened when he was batting on 48. However, H Amla, who has currently scored 4790 runs from only 95 ODIs, looks all set to break this record. Virat said, “I knew I had to get to 50 to get 6000, but I did not know how much faster I was from the great man (Viv Richards). I am trying to do whatever I can on the field for the boys.” 

0bilateral ODI series India have lost against Sri Lanka at home. They have now won eight, and drawn one. 15 times Lanka have lost to India after batting first and being bowled out for 250 or less. They have only won once. From the same situation, India have beaten Lanka twice, and lost seven times 

Scoreboard

Sri Lanka

Perera c Saha b Yadav 4

Dilshan c Rahane b Rayudu 53

Sangakkara c Ashwin b Yadav 0

Jayawardene st Saha b Ashwin 118

Mathews c Kohli b Patel 10

Priyanjan c Yadav b Patel 2

de Silva c Dhawan b Patel 2

Perera c sub (Binny) b Yadav 1

Prasanna b Yadav 29

Kulasekara c Rahane b Kulkarn i 7

Gamage not out 0

Extras (lb 3, w 11, nb 2) 16

Total (ll out; 48.2 ov) 242

Fall of wickets: 1-5 2-7 3-112 
4-144 5-148 6-154 7-158 8-225 9-238 10-242

Bowling

Yadav 9-0-53-4

Kulkarni 9.2-0-58-1

Ishant 4-1-14-0

Patel 10-1-40-3

Ashwin 10-0-43-1

Raina 3-0-15-0

Rayudu 3-0-16-1

India

Rahane c Jayawardene b Perera 31

Dhawan c Sanga b Kulasekara 91

Rayudu run out (Mathews/Sanga) 35

Kohli c Gamage b Dilshan 53

Raina not out 18

Saha not out 6

Extras (lb 2, w 8, nb 1) 11

Total (4 wkts; 44.1 ov) 245

Fall of wickets: 1-62 2-131 3-201 4-236

Bowling

Kulasekara 8-0-37-1

Gamage 60-0-50-0

Prasanna 9-0-43-0

Perera 7-0-33-1

de Silva 5-0-45-0

Mathews 3-0-17-0

Dilshan 4-0-10-1

Priyanjan 2.1-1-8-0

MoM: Jayawardene

Sochi, November 9
World chess champion “Magnificant” Magnus Carlsen outplayed Viswanathan Anand in 35 moves in the second game in the world title match held in Russia.

The 23-year-old World champion from Norway tore down Anand's Berlin defence by swinging the game to first to queen side and from there to the king's side.

Contributing to Carlsen's comfort was Anand making a blunder in the end with h5 allowing Carlsen to take his queen to b7. Along with his rook on e7, Anand decided to call it quits.

Playing white, Carlsen opened with the Ruy Lopez line with e4 to which Anand replied with e5. On the seventh move, the champion went in for an early trading of his white bishop for black's queen side knight and in the process disturbed Anand's pawn structure.

Usually white will not go in for trading of pieces at this stage in the Ruy Lopez-Berlin variation. Carlsen played his moves fast with a view of developing his pieces fast — the fundamental lesson for all chess players.

On move 11, Carlsen played a4 so as to create a weak queen rook pawn for Anand. Undeterred Anand played a5 which in turn opened up the files for his two bishops.

Simplifying the position in the next move, Carlsen went in for trading pieces — his knight for Anand's black bishop — and to shift the play to centre of the board.

He brought his queen side rook into play moving it a3 to be ready for an attack. At this position, all his pieces were ready for action with the field clear for forward movement and ready for a long grind.

Tweeted grandmaster Nigel Short: “I would be starting to get nervous with all these pieces heading in the direction of my king.” Continuing his march of pieces to the king's side, Carlsen moved his queen to h5, knight to f5 and the rook to g3 squares to mount an attack on Anand's king.

Though there was no major threat for Anand's king, the piece mobilisation was sort of a psychological attack at the Indian. In order simplify the position, Anand traded his white bishop for Carlsen's knight and the champion in turn took Anand’s knight for his black bishop.

At the end of 22nd move, both the players had their two rooks, queen and seven pawns. However Carlsen had an active position as against Anand who was facing a slow death. With this victory, Carlsen leads Anand with 1.5 - 0.5 points. — PTI

Dubai, November 9
The representatives of ICC Board today expressed their deep disappointment at West Indies team's decision of abandoning their India tour midway, stating that a repeat of this kind from any team or players may lead cancellation of their T20 contracts with their franchises.

Top WI players like Dwayne Bravo, Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Darren Sammy freelance as T20 specialists for various private leagues across the globe.

According to a release issued by ICC, it states, “In a show of solidarity, all Member Boards collectively expressed the view that they consider such player action to be extremely disruptive, damaging and unacceptable.

“Players, who behave in a similar manner in the future will not only risk breaching the disciplinary rules of the relevant Member Board and being sanctioned accordingly, but may also put in jeopardy their ability to conclude future contractual arrangements with domestic franchises or clubs in other jurisdictions.” ICC chairman N Srinivasan, said: “It was undoubtedly a sad chapter in our sport. It damaged cricket's integrity and reputation, as well as affecting confidence within the cricket community, especially that of the fans. The ICC Board was determined to address this situation and ensure such incidents never happen again.”

“The ICC is working with the concerned Members towards finding a positive resolution and is confident that there will be constructive outcomes for our game.” The meeting was also attended by WICB chief Dave Cameron. The members felt that the action of the West Indies players have caused “irrevocable damage” to the sport.

“Putting aside the legitimacy or otherwise of any grievances of parties involved (and which are now the subject of a domestic Task Force probe), the ICC and all Member Boards noted that players abandoning tours have the potential to cause irrevocable damage to the sport in the jurisdiction of the relevant Member Board concerned, as well as enormous financial damage, which might adversely affect the financial viability of the sport itself,” it states. — Agencies

Abu Dhabi, november 9
Ahmed Shehzad struck his third Test century as Pakistan completely dominated the opening day of the first Test against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi to reach 269 for one and stay on course for a mammoth first-innings total on Sunday.

Shehzad added 178 runs with opening partner Mohammad Hafeez (96) and 91 with Azhar Ali in an unbroken second-wicket stand to frustrate the visitors who used seven bowlers and took just one wicket all day.

Shehzad hit 14 fours in his unbeaten 126 and Azhar was 46 not out as Pakistan, who completed a 2-0 series victory over Australia at the same venue last week, look to continue their rich vein of form in the three-match series against New Zealand.

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq opted to bat first and after pacemen Trent Boult and Tim Southee had sent down the first eight overs, New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum introduced spin from both ends.

The ploy nearly paid dividends when Shehzad, on 16, came charging down the track against off-spinner Mark Craig and misjudged the flight but BJ Watling fumbled behind the stumps and could not collect the ball, allowing the batsman to scurry home. India-born leg-spinner Ish Sodhi was unlucky when Hafeez's outside edge found Ross Taylor in the slips but a TV replay suggested the ball might have bounced before being caught.

Hafeez pulled Southee to bring up his fifty after lunch and Shehzad took two off Sodhi to complete his half-century. All-rounder Corey Anderson denied Hafeez a century, deceiving him with a clever change of pace and the batsman gave return catch to the bowler. Hafeez's composed 137-ball knock contained 10 fours.

Brief Scores: Pakistan 269 for 1 (Shehzad 126*, Hafeez 96) v New Zealand

— Agencies

New Delhi, November 9
Ace golfer Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia clinched his third Asian Tour title at the Panasonic Open as he pipped compatriot Rahil Gangjee and Sri Lankan Mithun Perera on the first extra hole in what turned out to be an exciting end.

Chowrasia rolled in a 15-footer birdie in extra time to cap a sensational comeback as he was five shots off the lead during the start of the day at the $300,000 event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI).

With his trademark short game in full display at the Delhi Golf Club, Chowrasia returned with the day's low score of six-under-par 66 highlighted by eight birdies to finish on 12-under-par 276.

“I worked very hard for this win because I wanted to boost my confidence. It is three years since I last won and I will take a lot of positives from the win,” said the 36-year-old Chowrasia, who won his first Asian Tour title at the 2008 Indian Masters, on the same venue.

“I've lost in two play-offs before but it never crossed my mind. I was focussed on making the birdie putt in the play-off. I always had the belief that I could win on the Asian Tour again and I did,” he smiled. After turning in 35, Chowrasia fired five birdies that included three in a row from the 15th hole which was the turning point in the thrilling final round which saw the lead exchange hands on numerous occasions. “At the start of the day, I was thinking that if I could shoot a four or five-under, I will have a chance to win. I was confident I could catch the leader. I played very well on the back nine and the hat-trick of birdies proved to be the turning point,” Chowrasia explained.

Gangjee battled tooth-and-nail after a poor front nine 37 but was in contention again following an eagle on 14. After dropping a shot on 16, he held his cool to birdie the last for a 71 to join the play-off. — Agencies

The story of a greenskeeper’s son

It is not unusual for a son of a greenskeeper to be called by different names. The who’s who of the town alight from their swanky cars and cast a glance around for a caddie boy, often a teenager, who would trail them throughout the course, towing their golf kit. They call them with different names, each having their own favourite of calling their boy

Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia’s story too began like this. His father worked as the greenskeeper at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club in Kolkata. Chowrasia picked up golf at the age of 10 while accompanying his father. The self-taught golfer, having excellent short game, was gradually nicknamed as ‘Chip-putt-sia’. Some lovingly call him ‘Chow’, others still call him SSP

After turning pro in 1997, he won eight titles on the Indian Tour and finished second twice in the Indian Open. In February 2008, he won the inaugural Indian Masters

After Jeev Milkha and Arjun Atwal, he became the third Indian golfer to win on the European Tour (2008 Indian Masters). He was the only player to achieve sub-par rounds on all four days. Three years later, Chowrasia won his second European Tour event winning the 2011 Avantha Masters in New Delhi 

SSP titles

European Tour wins

2008 Indian Masters

2011 Avantha Masters

Asian Tour wins

2008 Indian Masters

2011 Avantha Masters

2014 Panasonic Open

Indian Golf Tour wins

2001 Singhania Open

2003 HT Pro Golf, Tata Open, Hero Honda Open, NGC Open

2005 Singhania Open, Tata Open

2006 Singhania Open, Tata Open, Hindu Open

Perth, November 9
Akashdeep Singh scored twice as the Indian men’s hockey team stunned world champions Australia 3-1 in the fourth and final Test to register a historic 3-1 series win over the mighty Kookaburras in their home on Sunday.

Akashdeep pumped in two field goals in the 13th and 43rd minutes for the visitors, while SK Uthappa (53rd) was the other goal-getter for India. Australia’s lone goal was scored by Tom Craig (36th).

The Sardar Singh-led Indian side broke the deadlock in the 13th minute with a opportunistic goal from Akashdeep, who scored from a rebound after VR Raghunath’s flick from a penalty corner was saved by the Australian goalkeeper.

India managed to hold on to the lead till the 35th minute, when Craig equalised for Australia.

Strengthened by the return of regular skipper Sardar Singh, who was playing in his 200th international match, the Indians started the third quarter on an aggressive note and their efforts bore fruit when they extended their lead in the 43rd minute through yet another field effort from Akashdeep, who guided home a Kothajit Singh pass.

Australia tried hard but India looked the better team on display and made the scoreline 3-1 when Uthappa scored a brilliant field goal for the Indians.

The hosts pressed hard for goals in the last five minutes but Indian goalkeeper and vice-captain PR Sreejesh stood tall to deny any danger to his citadel. — PTI

Chandigarh, November 9
The national team’s surprising series win over world champions Australia has got the Indian hockey fans buzzing.

No doubt it is a commendable win — after losing 4-0 in the first match, India made a strong comeback and their performance kept improving as the series progressed.

But it is important to not blow this achievement out of proportion and not forget the real purpose of this series.

For both India and Australia, the Test series was a part of a developmental process. Both the teams, in the midst of a transition, tried out new players and strategies, therefore the results were secondary.

“We don’t care about the score, it’s about how we’re playing. There are lots of things we’ve got to work on,” Australia coach Graham Reid had said after the first match. It was also his first match in charge since succeeding Ric Charlesworth.

Therefore, to understand this win, it is important to look at the two teams. While India, who took a squad of 21, tested out inexperienced players like Lalit Upadhyay and SK Uthappa, they still played their key players such as Sardar Singh and VK Raghunath.

Australia, however, were without most of their established players such as Jamie Dwyer, Simon Orchard, Glenn Turner, Mark Knowles, Matthew Swann and Kieran Govers. And, five Australians — Matthew Dawson, Dylan Wotherspoon, Tom Craig, Leon Hayward and Flynn Ogilvie — made their debuts in this series.

“This kind of a series is more about trying out new guys, finding out their strengths and weaknesses and then working on them afterwards,” said Rajpal Singh, former India captain.

“These matches help the youngsters overcome the fear of playing for India. The results don’t really matter as such.”

However, Rajpal added that coming off their Asian Games win, it was important for India to have a positive result in Australia. “They needed this win. It will make them believe that they can compete at the world level as well and not just at the Asian level. It will boost their confidence, especially with the Champions Trophy approaching.”

India and Australia resumed this bilateral series after a long gap, and Rajpal stressed on the need for India to play more series like this.

“We need to play the big teams more often. It will help us face these teams without fear. And getting a result like this… Beating the big boys of hockey — Australia, Germany and Holland — is always uplifting.”

“The series win will help this Indian team, especially the youngsters, realise that the Australians are not unbeatable. So, in the big tournaments, they will not lose their composure against these teams,” he added.

Jalandhar, November 9
Indian Oil beat Punjab & Sind Bank 5-2 in the final of the 31th Surjit Hockey Tournament at the Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium on Sunday. The team won the title for the 4th time to pocket the prize money of Rs 5 lakhs.

Both the teams could not make intense attacks and kept on playing in a defensive manner till the 22nd minute. In the 23rd minute, Indian Oil got a penalty corner, but they failed to score. A second failure followed immediately when Olympian Deepak Thakur missed another opportunity in the same minute. In the 25th minute, Prabhdeep Singh of Punjab & Sind Bank tried to snatch the ball, following which he was shown the green card and expelled for two minutes from the game.

However, in the 26th minute, Olympian Prabhjot Singh fired the first goal for the bankers for a 1-0 lead.

However, adding fuel to their attacks in the second half, Roshan Minz of Indian Oil scored another goal to make it 2-0. This was followed by Inderjit Singh sounding the board in the 40th minute through a field goal moving the score up to 3-0.

But the team missed a penalty corner in the 42nd minute. The bankers too missed a golden opportunity when Onkar Singh came in to block a straight hit made by Ajit Pandit.

The bankers maintained their empty score account when they kept missing excellent scoring opportunities till the 55th minute, when Manjinder Singh fielded a goal into Indian Oil’s den to make it 3-1 . Without losing much time, Ajit Pandit took the score to 3-2 by scoring another goal in the 57th minute.

Margao, November 9
FC Goa played out a goalless draw against Mumbai FC in a closely-contested Indian Super League fixture at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here today.

The draw takes Mumbai FC to 10 points from seven matches, keeping them in the fifth place, while FC Goa continued to occupy the bottom spot of the league table with five points at the halfway stage of the tournament. FC Goa made two changes in their playing eleven, bringing in Bikramjit Singh and Tolgay Ozbey in place of Jewel Raza and Ranty Martins.

Goa had better ball possession with fluent short passes, but their moves fizzled out once they reached the rival box as they failed to get past the strong Mumbai FC defence. FC Goa had their first chance to surge ahead when a move from the left saw Mandar Rao lay a pass to Bikramjit, whose shot missed the target narrowly.

Ludhiana, November 9
Royal Kings USA stunned the World Kabaddi League leaders Khalsa Warriors 61-58 here today. This was the second time Royal Kings, who are struggling at the seventh spot among eight team, beat Khalsa Warriors.

Khalsa Warriors, assured of a berth in the semifinals, looked set for another easy win today, but the spirited Royal Kings USA were not to be denied today.

In the opening quarter, both the raid and stop lines of Royal Kings USA were strong for a one point lead (16-15) in the quarter.

The second quarter began on a fast pace with the scoreboard moving quickly. The stop line of Royal Kings USA performed excellently as stoppers Jaskaran Singh and Harkirat Singh nailed down opponent raider to earn valuable points.

In the second match, Vancouver Lions overpowered Punjab Thunders 65-58 to keep their hopes of making last four stage alive.

London, November 9
Japan’s Kei Nishikori made a stunning start to what will surely be the first of many appearances at the ATP World Tour Finals with a 6-4 6-4 win over home favourite Andy Murray on Sunday.

The opening group match of the elite season-ender began slowly but once world number five Nishikori found his range he dominated the twice grand slam champion in front of a sell-out crowd at the spectacular 02 Arena. U.S. Open runner-up Nishikori battled back from dropping serve in the fifth game of the opening set to break world number six Murray twice — the second time when the Scot netted an ambitious drop shot to gift his opponent the set.

With plenty of Japanese flags fluttering in the cavernous arena, debutant Nishikori quickly forged ahead at the start of the second set, catching Murray miles behind the baseline with a cute drop shot to break on the way to a 3-0 lead. Murray scrapped and scraped his way through his next service game when Nishikori failed to take three chances for a 4-0 lead, one of which, a missed forehand down the line, was a glaring error from the Japanese.

The 24-year-old Nishikori refused to loosen his grip and held for a 4-1 lead. But then he made errors — twice the Japanese player netted volleys in the seventh game and suddenly the set was back on serve. But Nishikori gathered himself and sealed a first victory over Murray in four attempts when the Briton hit a backhand long. — Reuters

Sao Paulo, November 9
Germany’s Nico Rosberg won the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday to end team mate Lewis Hamilton’s run of five successive victories and cut the Briton’s championship lead to 17 points with one race remaining. Hamilton was second, 1.4 seconds behind, with Mercedes setting a Formula One record of 11 one-two finishes in a season with their 30 podium finishes in 2014 also a record.

The final race at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina circuit on Nov. 23 will offer double points for the first time — 50 for the winner — but Hamilton now needs only a second-place finish to wrap up his second title. Hamilton has 334 points to Rosberg’s 317.

The team also equalled the record held by Ferrari and McLaren of 15 wins in a season, with Rosberg now on five to his British rival’s 10.

Brazilian Felipe Massa returned to the podium in front of his cheering home crowd with third place for Williams, 41 seconds behind despite a stop/go penalty for speeding in pitlane.

Mercedes-engined cars filled the four top slots, with McLaren’s Jenson Button fourth, and Red Bull’s quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel fifth. — Reuters

Shimla, November 9
The Shimla Bicentennial Group (SBG), a group of city residents, organised the Shimla Football League (SFL) in an effort to revive the roots of Durand Cup at its birthplace, the Annandale ground. The 127-year-old tournament, which concluded in Margao on Saturday, is the country’s oldest football tournament. Salgaocar beat Pune 1-0 to lift the title for the third time.

In Shimla, four school teams played friendly matches at the Bishop Cotton School (BCS) on Sunday, the highlight being the final match between BCS and St. Edwards. Hosts BCS trounced St. Edwards 3-1 in the final. Central Tibetan School, Chhota Shimla, and Rashtriya Military School, Chail, were the other participating teams.

Dr Ravinder K Dhiman, SBG’s founder president, said: “If all goes well, the Durand Cup would be held here in the near future.” District Shimla Football Association (DSFA) president Prithvi Vikram Sen said, “It is the revival of the affair that began in 1888, especially when Shimla is celebrating its bicentennial this year.”

BRIEFLY

Dipika Pallikal to skip World Teams for World singles
New Delhi: Squash player Dipika Pallikal would be skipping next month's World Team Championships in Canada to be fully-prepared for the singles World Championships to be held in the same month. “Winning medals at both the Games (CWG and Asiad) will always be my biggest achievement. I missed out on the professional circuit and as a result, my ranking has slipped to 16th,” Dipika said. The team event is scheduled from Dec. 1 to 6 in Canada, while the singles event is set to be held from Dec 15 to 20 in Egypt.

Oz get home in T20 series decider against SA
Sydney: Australia won a thrilling final T20I against South Africa by two wickets with one ball to spare to take the series. Cameron White steered the Australians home with an unbeaten 41 off 31 balls to pip the Proteas in a tense decider. The Australians had restricted the South Africans to 145/6 off their 20 overs after winning the toss, but needed 19.5 overs to get the winning run off White. Australia took the series 2-1 after losing the opener in Adelaide then claiming the next in Melbourne and winning in Sydney. Brief Scores: Australia: 146/8 (White 41*, Peterson 3-28) bt South Africa: 145/6 (Hendricks 49, de Kock 48, Faulkner 3-28) by 2 wkts.

Chandran maintains test was unjustified
New Delhi: Sacked he might have been by the SAI but Dr PSM Chandran still maintains that the pregnancy test conducted on the World Championships-bound boxers was “unjustified”. “According to me the pregnancy tests were unwarranted and unjustified as the rules did not mandate such pregnancy tests,” Chandran said.

Lahiri signs off with mixed emotions in Shanghai
Shanghai: Anirban Lahiri wrapped up his challenge at Asia's richest tournament with a two-under-par 70 amid challenging conditions at the $8.5 million WGC-HSBC Champions. Lahiri's four-day total of even-par 288 saw him finish tied for 28th place.

Anantjeet leads skeet team to gold at Asian C’ship
New Delhi: Anantjeet Naruka’s brilliant shooting helped the junior men’s skeet team bag India’s fifth gold medal at the fourth Asian Shotgun Championship in Al Ain, UAE. Anantjeet shot a total of 114 in the final round to also clinch an individual silver medal, while compatriots Karam Sukhbir and Angad Bajwa both shot 113 to go into a shoot-off for the individual bronze along with a Kuwaiti opponent, at the end of which Karam emerged triumphant.

Kvitova seals Fed Cup title for Czech Republic
Prague: World No. 4 Petra Kvitova sealed the Fed Cup title for the Czech Republic by beating Angelique Kerber 7-6 4-6 6-4 to give her country an unbeatable 3-0 lead over Germany in the final on Sunday. Kvitova came from behind in the first and final sets of the three-hour match, outlasting the 10th-ranked German player and leading the Czechs to their third success in the premier team tournament in women’s tennis in the last four years.

Cool Kroos scores first Real goal in five-star win
Madrid: Toni Kroos netted his first for Real Madrid and was hailed as the best player on the pitch by his coach as the hosts tore apart Rayo Vallecano 5-1 in La Liga on Saturday to extend their winning streak to 13 games. Wales winger Gareth Bale netted the opener in his first start after injury when he swept in a Kroos cross after 10 minutes to put Real on track for a victory which puts them on 27 points from 11 games, two more than Barcelona in second. Sergio Ramos knocked in from a corner after 40 minutes. Cristiano Ronaldo as ever was on the scoresheet, wrapping up the win with a tame effort which slipped through the hands of goalkeeper Cristian Alvarez.

North London nightmare as Arsenal and Spurs lose
London: Swansea City came storming back from a goal down to sink Arsenal 2-1 while Tottenham Hotspur’s misery continued with a 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Stoke City, making it a nightmare Sunday for north London. Alexis Sanchez struck his sixth league goal in four games to give Arsenal the lead at Swansea but Gylfi Sigurdsson and Bafetimbi Gomis replied to hand Arsene Wenger’s team their second EPL defeat of the season. — Agencies