L Sarita Devi and Sonia Lather advances to the semifinals

India’s top singles players Yuki Bhambri and Ramkumar Ramanathan came from behind to win their respective matches at the Australian Open qualifiers but it was end of the road for Sumit Nagal and Prajnesh Gunneswaran.

Ramkumar, seeded 28th, edged out American Bradley Klahn 6-7(8), 7-6(3), 6-2 in his match to set up a second round clash against French man Gleb Sakharov.

Prajnesh made a good start but lost steam as the match progressed, losing 6-1, 1-6, 2-6 to Germany’s Tobias Kamke.

Nagal, who recently played his maiden ATP World Tour event in Pune, went down fighting 6-7 (5), 6-3, 3-6 to Italy’s Alessandro Giannessi.

Sarita, Sonia enter semifinals of National Boxing

Former world champion L Sarita Devi (60kg) and Asian silver-medallist Sonia Lather (57kg) advanced to the semifinals after clinching facile quarterfinal wins in the National Women’s Boxing Championships in Rohtak.

Representing the All India Police, Sarita out-punched Arunachal Pradesh’s Aquillia Dupak in the first round itself to make the medal rounds.

Railway Sports Promotion Board’s Sonia, on the other hand, defeated Uttarakhand’s Kamla Bisht 5-0.

Among other prominent names, former junior world champion Nikhat Zareen (51kg) sailed past Chattisgarh’s Abha to be assured of her second successive medal.

Also entering the semifinals was RSPB’s Pavitra (60kg), a former world championships quarter-finalist, got the better of Manipur’s Chaoba Devi.

Former World Championships silver-medallist Sarju Bala Devi (48kg), competing for Manipur, was also among those entering the medal rounds. She beat Madhya Pradesh’s Deepa Kumari 5-0.

Former Liverpool goalkeeper Lawrence dies, aged 77

Former Liverpool goalkeeper Tommy Lawrence has died aged 77, the Merseyside club said.
The Scot, affectionately known as “The Flying Pig” due to his ability to make spectacular saves despite his size, made 390 appearances for Liverpool between 1957 and 1971.

Lawrence only missed four league matches in six seasons between 1963 and 1969 under manager Bill Shankly as they won the old First Division league title twice and claimed the FA Cup for the first time.

“The thoughts of everybody at the club are with Tommy’s family and friends at this sad time,” Liverpool said in a statement.

He won three caps for Scotland and also played for Tranmere Rovers for three years after leaving Anfield in 1971.

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