Archer out of Lanka tour, IPL with stress fracture

London
England fast bowler Jofra Archer (in pic) has been ruled out of their upcoming Test tour of Sri Lanka and the Indian Premier League due to an elbow injury. The 24-year-old was injured in England’s first Test against South Africa last month and underwent scans on his elbow on Wednesday, which confirmed he had suffered a low-grade stress fracture. “He will now commence an injury rehabilitation programme with the ECB medical team with a view to be ready for the international summer campaign starting in June against the West Indies in a three-match Test series,” the ECB said. England are scheduled to play two Tests against Sri Lanka next month, with the first starting on March 19.

Thiruvananthapuram
Podium finish for Udayveer, Vijayveer in National trials

Delhi’s Harsh Gupta fired his way to a double gold, coming up trumps in both the men’s and junior 25m pistol T2 events at the National Shooting Trials. Gupta shot 574 with 16 hits in the inner ring to finish ahead of Udayveer Sidhu and Vijayveer Sidhu, who finished second and third, respectively. Chandigarh’s Sidhu twins had 15 and 13 shots in the inner rings, respectively. The three also finished as the top-3 in the same order in the junior category.

Hyderabad
Tai Tzu-ying takes Bengaluru into PBL semis

World No. 2 Tai Tzu-ying and Brice Leverdez dazzled with their performances to take defending champions Bengaluru Raptors into the semifinals of the Premier Badminton League. The Raptors were up against Awadhe Warriors in a must-win tie with both the teams in hunt for the last semifinal spot to join the North Eastern Warriors, Chennai Superstarz and Pune 7 Aces. Tai beat Beiwen 15-12 15-12 while Leverdez defeated Ajay Jayaram 15-9 15-9 to seal the tie. — Agencies