Bopanna-Coetzee in semi-finals Rohan Bopanna and Jeff Coetzee prevailed in a marathon super tie-breaker to upset third seeds Mark Lopez and Tommy Robredo and reach the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour event in Marseille. The unseeded Indo-South African pair won 4-6 6-1 21-19 and will now take on the top seeds Julian Knowle of Austria and Robert Lindstedt of Sweden. In the ATP Challenger event in Belgrade,Somdev Devvarman and Prakash Amritraj lost in singles and doubles respectively. Devvarman lost 6-3 6-7 (6) 3-6 to local wild card Filip Krajinovic,while Amritraj and James Cerretani lost their semi-final 2-6 6-3 7-10 to the Dustin Brown and Martin Slanar. Boxers want Talkatora access Vijender Singh and other Indian boxers gearing up for next months Commonwealth Championships want to practice at the renovated Talkatora Stadium at least a week before the event,although the IBF is expected to get access only two days before the tournament. In my view,we should be here in Delhi at least five-six days before the tournament to get a hang of the conditions and also get familiar with the stadium, said Vijender. Gajjar in quarters Rohan Gajjar is the only Indian surviving in the singles event of the $10,000 ITF Futures event in Giza,Egypt as the fifth seed advanced to the quarter-finals. Gajjar beat Duncan Mugabe of Uganda 6-3 7-5 in the second round. He will take on second seed and local favourite Karim Maamoun in the last-eight stage. Ngog scores in Liverpool win Former European champions Juventus and Liverpool won their first games in this seasons Europa League. While Liverpool only beat Unirea Urziceni 1-0 with a late goal from David Ngog,Brazilian striker Amauri scored a header in each half as Juve recovered from a goal down to beat Ajax 2-1. Atletico Madrid drew 1-1 with Galatasaray,Athletic Bilbao drew 1-1 with Anderlecht,Villarreal drew 2-2 with Wolfsburg,and Valencia lost 1-0 at FC Brugge. India out of AFC Challenge Cup Defending champions India suffered a solitary goal defeat at the hands of Turkmenistan to crash out of the AFC Challenge Cup in Colombo. The Indian under-23 side let in a 23rd-minute penalty goal by striker Karadanov Mamedaly. Meanwhile,AFC president Mohamed Bin Hammam asked the AIFF to ensure that national players do not play in state leagues. The main obstacle in development of Indian football is an unusual mixing between national and state football. The AIFF should separate these two as a first step, Bin Hammam said. Chikka wins All-India Amateur Teenager Chikkarangappa dominated the final of the matchplay championship at the LG All-India Amateur to become the youngest champion of the national amateur championship. The final at the Oxford Golf & Country Club saw Chikka triumph over Delhi lad Bhanupratap Singh 5&4. This was Chikkas second win this season on the amateur tour.
