Nadal to miss Asian tourneys
barcelona: World number one Rafael Nadal has announced his withdrawal from upcoming tournaments in Beijing and Shanghai due to the right knee injury that forced him to retire from the US Open earlier this month. Nadal had to pull out during his semi-final against Juan Martin del Potro in New York and also missed Spain's Davis Cup defeat by France last weekend. The 32-year-old said he visited doctors in Barcelona on Monday and has subsequently made the decision to play neither the ATP 500 event in Beijing nor the Masters 1000 in Shanghai. "While the annoyances on my knee are nothing new, we have decided together with my medical and technical team not to participate in the Asian tour to recover the knee the way we have always done," Nadal said on Wednesday. "I'm sorry I can't be with all the fans in China and with the organisers of the Beijing and Shanghai tournaments that have always had a great relationship with me and my team."
Bhullar eyes success in Japan
tokyo: India's Gaganjeet Bhullar will be eyeing his maiden success in Japan when he tees off at the Asia-Pacific Open Golf Championship Diamond Cup which begins here on Thursday. Bhullar, who has had eight Top-10s this season including a win in Fiji, is hoping to get his 10th Asian Tour win as he hopes to build on his fine form at the $ 1.35 million event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour Organization. Other Indians in the field include Rashid Khan, who was 15th last week in South Korea; Ajeetesh Sandhu, whose only Asian Tour win has come in Japan; Chiragh Kumar; Rahil Gangjee, who earlier in the season won in Japan; Take Solutions champion Viraj Madappa; Shiv Kapur; Arjun Atwal, the Asia captain at 2018 EurAsia Cup and amateur Jay Pandya. The 30-year-old Bhullar will be among the top contenders which include Scott Hend of Australia, Shugo Imahira, ranked 86th on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR).
HI announces johar cup squad
new delhi: Hockey India on Wednesday named an 18-member junior men's team for the upcoming Sultan of Johor Cup to be held in Malaysia from October 6-13. The Indian team is scheduled to play five round-robin matches against Malaysia, New Zealand, Japan, Australia and Great Britain. It will play its opening match against host Malaysia on October 6. The top two teams at the end of the round-robin matches will face each other in the final on October 13 whereas the remaining four teams will play classification matches. The tournament will be played in Johor Bahru. The team will be captained by Mandeep Mor, while Shilanand Lakra will shoulder the duties of vice-captain.
Bhanwal wins silver at world c’ship
new delhi: Sajan Bhanwal became the first Indian to win back-to-back medals at the Junior World Wrestling Championship after he secured a Silver in the 77kg Greco Roman category in Trnava, Slovakia. Islam Opiev of Russia proved to be too good for the 20-year-old from a village near Sonipat, winning the bout through technical superiority. The scoreline was 8-0. With Sajan down, Opiev went to work, scoring six additional points from a pair of back-arches, followed by a feet over back exposure to take the 7-0 lead. The action was blown dead, and both wrestlers were brought up to their feet. In the standing position, Opeiv charged Sajan near the edge of the mat and picked up the match-ending eighth point, and the 77kg Gold medal, the report added.
