SPORTS

Saina Nehwal, on Thursday (March 25), gloriously entered the quarterfinals of the ongoing Orleans Masters 2021 tournament after a convincing win against Marie Batomene. Nehwal lost the first game 18-21 to her French opponent but bounced back to secure a win by reestablishing her command in the last two games.

The former World No.1 badminton, Saina Nehwal, paved her way into the second round of the tournament after a dominating 21-9, 21-5 win against Irish counterpart Rachael Darragh on Wednesday.

The Indian fourth seed, who is also a London Olympics bronze medallist, will now face either France's Yaelle Hoyaux or Malaysia's Iris Wang in the next round at the at Palais des Sports in France.

Seasoned professional Yuki Bhambri will lead the challenge of Delhi Binny’s Brigade, in the Tennis Premier League 3.0, which will be played in Mumbai later this year with the support of AITA and MSLTA.

Yuki was picked for Rs 4.20 lakh after the base prize for Grade A players was set at Rs 2.5 lakh during the auction conducted at the Celebration Sports Club in Mumbai. Also finding a place in the team, co-owned by Sneh Patel and actor producer Divya Khosla Kumar, was Manish Suresh Kumar, while the women’s slot was filled by Thailand’s Peangtarn Plipuech, ranked 294 in the world.

The enhanced TPL 3.0 will have participation from five international women players, who are Samantha Murray Sharan from Great Britain, ranked 206, Diana Marcinkevica of Latvia, ranked 262, Sabina Sharipova of Uzbekistan, ranked 317, Valeriya Strakhova of Ukraine, ranked 379 and Sofia Shapatava of Georgia, ranked 388, besides Peangtarn.

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) on Tuesday nominated Olympians Gurbachan Singh Randhawa and PT Usha as chairpersons of senior and junior selection committees, respectively.

Announcing the members of selection committees, Adille J Sumariwalla, AFI President, said, "AFI is proud to have so many legendary athletes who are always willing to help the federation in all its important decisions. The role of each and every member of the selection committee is very important and hence, we have included former athletes who have plenty of experience for this important role."

The AFI president Sumariwalla, secretary Ravinder Chaudhry, chief coach P Radha Krishnan Nair and chairman- Planning Committee Lalit Bhanot will be ex-officio members of the committees.

India captain Virat Kohli posed with the team's ODI jersey ahead of the three-match series against England starting in Pune on Tuesday. Kohli will lead the team after having successfully led India to a 3-1 series win in the Tests and a 3-2 win in the five-match T20I series that concluded on Saturday. All three ODIs of the series will be played in Pune with the final two games scheduled for March 26 and 28. Ahead of the series, Kohli said at the pre-match conference on Monday that Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan will continue to open for India in ODIs.

Kohli had promoted himself to the openers' slot in the fifth T20I in Ahmedabad and that lead to questions on whether Kohli will be seen opening for India regularly in white-ball cricket.

On Monday Kohli said the move to open the batting isn't guaranteed in all games.

The Kolkata Knight Riders are set to kickstart their training camp for the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Before sweating it out at the camp, the players have begun checking-in for a week-long mandatory quarantine.

The KKR on Sunday took to social media to share pictures of its players who have already arrived at the team hotel. The likes of Dinesh Karthik, assistant coach Abhishek Nayar, pacer Kamlesh Nagarkoti and batsman Rahul Tripathi were the first to have arrived.

“IT’S QUARANTIME and the #Knights are checking in for the season! The beginning of the camp is just around the corner...#KKR #HaiTaiyaar #IPL2021,” read the caption of KKR's latest post on Instagram.