Satwik-Chirag, para shuttler nominated for BWF awards

New Delhi

The men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty has been nominated for the Most Improved Player of the Year Award by the Badminton World Federation after a stellar season during which the duo picked up some memorable wins. The young combination had a breakthrough season, claiming their maiden Super 500 title at the Thailand Open before reaching the finals of the French Open this year. India's para shuttler Pramod Bhagat, who has bagged 11 gold, three silver and four bronze this year, was nominated in the Male Para Badminton Player of the Year Award. PV Sindhu, however, didn't find a place in the list of nominees for the Female Player of the Year as she did not win any title barring the World Championships gold this year. 

Mumbai
ISL: Mumbai, Kerala play out 1-1 draw

Mumbai City FC and Kerala Blasters FC played out a 1-1 draw in their Indian Super League encounter. Raphael Messi Bouli (75th min) put Kerala in the lead but Mumbai hit back with an Amine Chermiti strike (77th min) to share the spoils. Mumbai and Kerala are without a win in their last six matches and find themselves at sixth and eighth spot on the table, respectively, with one point separating them.

Greater Noida
IBL: Mary leads Punjab to second straight victory

Punjab Panthers carried too many guns for Bombay Bullets to rake up their second successive 5-2 victory in the Indian Boxing League. The icing on the cake was skipper MC Mary Kom's unanimous win against 2016 Olympics bronze medallist Ingrit Valencia of Colombia. Manoj Kumar's defeat at the hands of Bombay Bullets' Naveen Boora in the 69kg category bout meant that the two captains stepped into the ring with much more than academic interest left in the match. And Mary Kom did enough to impress the judges in each of the three rounds. — Agencies