Sports Bar

Somdev Devvarman has drawn South African Kevin Anderson as his first-round opponent in the singles event of the US Open.

Somdev faces Anderson in Rd 1

Somdev Devvarman has drawn South African Kevin Anderson as his first-round opponent in the singles event of the US Open. Anderson,ranked 22 places higher than Somdev had beaten world number 21Sam Querry at the Toronto Masters earlier this month. Sania Mirza is one win away from making the womens singles main draw after scoring a 6-3 6-3 win over Russian Elina Bovina in the second round qualifier. She will next face 188th ranked,Columbias Catalina Castano.

Bhullar tied 18th

Gaganjeet Bhullar carded a steady three-under 69 to be the highest-placed Indian at tied 18th but Shiv Kapur 76 and SSP Chowrasia 77 seemed in danger of missing the cut after the opening round of the Johnnie Walker Championships in Scotland. At one-under 71,Jeev Milkha Singh occupied the tied 48th spot.

Barcelona get Mascherano

Barcelona have agreed a transfer fee with Liverpool for Javier Mascherano and the Argentine midfielder is expected in Spain for a medical this weekend,the clubs said Friday. Barcelona said on their website http://www.fcbarcelona.com the two clubs had agreed on a transfer that would send Mascherano to the Catalan club for four seasons. Spanish media reported the deal was worth around 22 million euros.

Reds,City advance

Liverpool and Manchester City qualified for the Europa League group stage on Thursday along with Italian sides Juventus,Napoli and Palermo. The German trio of Borussia Dortmund,Bayer Leverkusen and Stuttgart also secured spots in Fridays draw,but Celtic,Galatasaray,Fenerbahce,Feyenoord and Aston Villa were all eliminated. Liverpool won 2-1 at Turkish club Trabzonspor after conceding an early goal to go through 3-1 on aggregate,while City defeated Timisoara 2-0 to advance 3-0 on aggregate.

Alonso fastest in practice

Fernando Alonso led the rain-soaked practice for the Belgian Grand Prix on Friday. Alonsos lap of 1 minute,49.032 seconds on a dry Spa circuit was the quickest and 11 seconds quicker than the Ferrari drivers leading morning time,which came in rain. Force India driver Adrian Sutil was second with a lap of 1:49.157,while McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton was third after trailing by just over two-tenths. Overall leader Mark Webber celebrated his 34th birthday with the 18th fastest lap,while Red Bull team mate Sebastian Vettel was sixth,behind Renault driver Robert Kubica and Ferrari driver Felipe Massa.

Chandhok first to test GP track

With his Hispania Racing team deciding not to use him for the third time this season,Karun Chandhok is set to become the first F1 driver to test brand-new Yeongam F1 track in South Korea.The 26 year-old Indian,who drove for HRT in the opening 10 Grands Prix of the season has been included in the September 4-5 event as all Red Bull drivers are busy. Chandhok is also sitting out of this weekends Belgian Grand Prix. The Korean Grand Prix is due to make its debut on Oct. 24.

Surabhi swims to fifth gold

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Maharashtra swimmer Surabhi Tipre bagged her fifth yellow metal in the 64th Senior National Aquatic Championship in Jaipur. She began the fourth day by helping her team win gold in womens 4x100m Freestyle relay event. She then clinched her fifth gold in 1500m Freestyle with a timing of 18:05.73. Rajasthans Srishti Tondon clocked 19:07.97 to finish second. Sushaka Pratap of Karnataka got the bronze with19:28.65.