Denmark Open: Sindhu loses, Indian campaign over

Odense

Rio Olympics silver medallist PV Sindhu suffered a narrow loss against Sayaka Sato of Japan in the women's singles, drawing curtains on the Indian campaign at Denmark Super Series here today. In a battle of nerves, Sindhu went down fighting 13-21 23-21 18-21 to the World No. 12 in a second-round match that lasted 65 minutes. It was Sindhu's first event after the Olympics, and she return next week for French Open. It was overall a bad day for India as Ajay Jayaram and HS Prannoy also suffered losses in their second-round matches. Jayaram fought hard before going down 21-23 15-21 to Shi Yuqi of China, while Prannoy lost 10-21 20-22 to top seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia. 

New Delhi
India rise to 137 in FIFA rankings, best in six years

The Indian football team on Thursday made an encouraging progress in the latest FIFA rankings, climbing 11 places to 137th in the list. India, who defeated 114th-ranked Puerto Rico in an international friendly in Mumbai last month, have 230 points and are above the likes of Hong Kong, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Thailand in the latest rankings. India, under the tutelage of Stephen Constantine, have reached their best ranking since August 2010.  

Colombo
Contract dispute in Sri Lanka Cricket settled 

Ending a week of uncertainty, Sri Lanka Cricket today said that 17 players have agreed to sign the national contracts. The players were unhappy with the new performance-based contracts which, they claimed, were introduced to reduce their remuneration. Senior players, including captain Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal and Rangana Herath, had intense talks with SLC boss Thilanga Sumathipala over the dispute. Sources said the contracts would be signed day after tomorrow. 

Guwahati
Chennaiyin FC break NorthEast jinks in ISL   

Defending champions Chennaiyin FC broke their Guwahati jinks with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over NorthEast United FC in an absorbing Indian Super League clash here today. Chennaiyin FC had never defeated NorthEast United in four attempts, losing three of them. The defending champions, however, made the amends when Davide Succi shot home the match-winner in the 49th minute of play. 

Bengaluru
Bengaluru to miss keeper Amrinder in AFC Cup final  

Bengaluru FC will be without their first-choice goalkeeper Amrinder Singh when they take on Iraqi club Quwa Al-Jawiya in the AFC Cup final in Doha on November 5. Amrinder picked up his second yellow card of the tournament in the semifinal against Johor Darul Ta’zim on Wednesday. The I-League champs became the first Indian side to reach the AFC final, edging past the Malayisan club 4-2 on aggregate. — Agencies