Ghosal in quarters

Dipika Pallikal scripted a comeback from two games down to notch up a stunning victory over higher-ranked Kasey Brown.

After achieving a career-high world ranking of 17 this week,Saurav Ghosal sizzled at the fifth edition of the Open Banque National Groupe Financier,reaching the quarterfinals of the PSA World Tour International 35 squash tournament. Third seed Ghosal dropped the opening game against Australian qualifier Steven Finitsis. But the Indian recovered to beat the 30-year-old Finitsis 7-11,11-9,11-2,11-5 in the USD 35,000 event. Meanwhile,Dipika Pallikal scripted a comeback from two games down to notch up a stunning victory over higher-ranked Kasey Brown and enter the quarterfinals of the Carol Weymuller Open. The Indian won 6-11 10-12 13-11 11-8 11-9.

Defending champs upset

Betkuchi High School of Assam posted a stunning 1-0 win over defending champions Greenwood School,Nagaland to enter the U-14 final of the Subroto Cup football tournament for the first time. The team from Nagaland held the upper hand for most of the first half but Assam8217;s Birkwdao Daimary scripted an unexpected twist in the script just before half-time with a well-taken corner which eluded Greenwood goalkeeper Pitoka to find the net. Meanwhile,NCC North Eastern Region secured a berth in the second U-14 semifinal with a 1-0 win over St Anthony8217;s School,East Khasi Hills,Meghalaya.

Advani beats White

Pankaj Advani overcame England8217;s Jimmy White in the opening round of the Ruhr Open in Ruhr,Germany. Advani started the match with a couple of misses to allow White to compile a 69 break and take the initial lead in the best-of-seven-frame encounter. Advani then raised his level of snooker with some brilliant long potting to win the next three frames with breaks of 78,55 and 63. White fought back with a 54 break in the fifth frame to be one frame behind Advani at 2-3. However,Advani had too much firepower with some heavy scoring again in the last frame of the match to win it 84-0 and close the match at 4-2.

Presidents Cup: Rd 1 goes to US

The United States needed a par on the final hole to retain the overall lead over the Internationals on the first day of the Presidents Cup after almost throwing away a commanding advantage following a weather delay. Steve Stricker calmly got up and down from a plugged lie in a greenside bunker to par the 18th,sinking a three-footer to secure the decisive point that allowed the Americans to finish the opening fourballs leading by 3-1/2 points to 2-1/2.

Rangdajied,Dempo split points

Rangdajied United made a fine comeback from two-goal deficit to split points with Dempo in a third round match of the I-League. Roberto Mendis Beto gave Dempo the lead in the sixth minute when he curved in a freekick from just the edge of the box before Billy Mehmet scored from a penalty in the added time of the first half. Lalnunpuia and substitute Sandesh Gadkari cancelled out the deficit in the 60th and 80th minutes respectively to give Rangdajied United the first point in the I-League.

Compound archers crash out

India8217;s disappointing performance in the World Archery Championships continued with both the men8217;s and women8217;s compound teams losing in the pre-quarterfinals at Belek,Turkey. The men8217;s compound trio of Rajat Chauhan,Sandeep Kumar and Abhishek Verma,who were seeded 13th,were no match to their fourth seeded opponents from France and lost 176-188. In the women8217;s compound team event,Trisha Deba,Jhano Hansdah and Jyothi Surekha Vennam lost to the USA,the world8217;s top-ranked side,156-172.