Greco-Roman wrestlers make quick exit in Worlds

NEW DELHI: India’s Greco-Roman wrestlers got off to a poor start at the World Wrestling Championships with all the four in the fray today losing their opening round bouts. Yogesh (71kg), Gurpreet Singh (75kg), Ravinder Khatri (85kg) and Hardeep (98kg) crashed out of the tournament following meek defeats. None of them got a chance of figuring in repechage as their respective opponents lost in the subsequent rounds. Yogesh went down to Takeshi Izumi of Japan 1-3 while Gurpreet lost 1-5 to Mindia Tsulukidze of Georgia. Khatri was trounced 8-0 by Viktor Lorincz of Hungary and Vilius Laurinaitis of Lithuania beat Hardeep 5-2. 

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Abu Dhabi
Harika bounces back after three draws

After three consecutive draws, Indian Grandmaster Harika Dronavalli bounced back with a win over CM Suleymanli Aydin of Azerbaijan in the seventh round of the Masters tournament of the Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival. 

Potchefstroom
India A batsmen falter, concede first innings lead

The India A batsmen faltered against South Africa A spinners to concede a 46-run first innings lead from a comfortable position on Day Three of the second and final unofficial Test.

Brief Scores: South Africa A: 322 and 138/4 (Stephen Cook 55*, Andile Phehlukwayo 29); India A: 276 (R Samarth 77, S Chatterjee 46, S Iyer 65, S Nadeem 36; Dane Piedt 4/70, Shaun von Berg 2/84, Dane Paterson 3/48). 

St. Antigua
Gayle, Samuels in Windies ODI squad 

Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels have been included in the 15-member ODI squad for the series in England. Sunil Narine and Darren Bravo have declined to be considered for ODIs in England. West Indies will begin the ODI leg of the tour with a match against Ireland on September 13 in Stormont. 

Dhaka
Australia cancel warm-up match in Fatullah 

Australia have cancelled the only warm-up match of their two-Test tour of Bangladesh due to poor conditions at the ground. The two-day match at Fatullah, slated to start Tuesday, had been in doubt since heavy rain partially flooded part of the field.

Brisbane
Pacquiao-Horn rematch confirmed for Brisbane 

Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao’s rematch with Australian Jeff Horn has been confirmed for Brisbane later this year, the city’s mayor said on Monday. Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk had earlier threatened to pull funding without confirmation from the Pacquiao camp but said he had been reassured at a meeting with promoters on Monday. The fight is expected to be held in November at the same stadium where a packed crowd of 50,000 saw former schoolteacher Horn upset Pacquiao for the WBO welterweight belt in an unanimous 12-round decision last month.

Barcelona
Froome new Vuelta leader after coming third in Stage 3

Chris Froome became the new leader of the Vuelta A Espana on Monday after finishing third in the mountainous Stage 3 as Italian Vincenzo Nibali snatched the stage win in the final 400m of the race in the Pyrenees in Andorra. Froome, who is bidding to become the first rider to do a double of the Tour de France and the Vuelta in 39 years, set the stage alight with a vicious pace on the final climb of the 158.5km stage, chaperoned by teammate Gianni Moscon, although he was eventually caught on the descent. The Briton takes a two-second lead in the general classification over Spaniard David de la Cruz, Irishman Nicolas Roche and American Tejay Van Garderen, while Nibali, who won the Vuelta in 2010, is fifth, 10 seconds behind Froome. — Reuters