Korea Open: Kashyap, Sourabh out in first round

Gwangju (Korea)

India’s campaign ended early at the Korea Open badminton tournament with Parupalli Kashyap and Sourabh Verma crashing out on the opening day of the men’s singles event here on Wednesday. A former world No. 6, Kashyap lost 17-21 21-13 8-21 to eighth-seeded Lee Dong Keun of Korea in a match that lasted an hour and 19 minutes. Verma, who had clinched the Dutch Open this year, went down 13-21 21-12 18-21 against Finland’s Eetu Heino in a 50-minute clash. Kashyap and Verma will be representing Chennai Smashers and Ahmedabad Smash Masters, respectively, in the Premier Badminton League starting on December 12. 

Pune 

PKL: Pune, Bengaluru register thrilling wins 

Puneri Paltan staged a superb comeback to beat Haryana Steelers 35-33 in a thrilling Pro Kabaddi League match here on Wednesday. This was Pune’s third successive victory over Haryana in this competition. It was a contest of contrasting halves as Haryana dominated the opening period to open up a 15-point lead. But Pune looked a transformed unit after the break and bridged the gap to win an edge-of-the-seat thriller. In the second match of the day, Bengaluru Bulls beat Telugu Titans 34-26. It was a neck-and-neck affair from the start to finish. With scores tied at 25-25 with a couple of minutes to go, Bengaluru earned an all-out that tilted the scale in their favour.

Tokyo

IOC weighs boxing’s Olympics future

Top International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials will from Friday weigh the future of boxing as an Olympics event at a meeting in Tokyo expected to be dominated by concerns over the sport’s governance. IOC holds a two-day gathering in the 2020 Summer Games host city after its president said he was “extremely worried about the governance of the International Boxing Association”.  Thomas Bach said earlier this year that a report handed to IOC in April “still lacks execution and substance in some areas” and that his organisation “retains the right to exclude boxing from Tokyo 2020”.   

Kolkata

ISL: ATK, Goa share the spoils in tense battle           

There was no revenge, either for Manuel Lanzarote or Sergio Lobera, as ATK and FC Goa were involved in an engaging stalemate in an Indian Super League (ISL) clash here on Wednesday. The match was billed as a revenge battle between ATK captain Lanzarote and his former coach at FC Goa. Both spectacularly fell out during their time in Goa, but neither could exact revenge and prove a point. The visitors, who started the match on the front foot, had their attack prowess nullified by a resolute ATK defence. The hosts threatened more as the game wore on but a winner remained elusive for both teams, despite the battle getting heated at times with both battling for full points. — Agencies