A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
AFC Gen Secretary wants one league in India from next year
Asian Football Confederation General Secretary Dato' Windsor made it clear that the simultaneous running of the Indian Super League and I-League this season was just a stop-gap arrangement and the two will be merged together.
The merger will give a big boost to Mohun Bagan and East Bengal's hopes to play in the ISL.
"It's not a question of what we are favouring or not. It's in the AFC Constitution that one country should have one league. We just gave provision (for two leagues) for a transition period. That's all," Windsor told reporters at the Saltlake Stadium on the sidelines of the England-Brazil FIFA Under-17 World Cup semifinal in Kolkata.
"There will be one league for sure. For the time being, because of the situation we had to do it (have two leagues this season)," he said.
The ISL and I-League will run simultaneously this season as the All India Football Federation failed to resolve Mohun Bagan and East Bengal’s refusal to give franchise fee required to be in the ISL.
Windsor further spoke highly of Mohun Bagan and East Bengal's contribution to keep India's football alive.
Shiva, Devendro win opening bouts in National Boxing C'ships
Shiva Thapa and L Devendro Singh advanced to the second round as established names made winning starts at the National men's Boxing Championships in Visakhapatnam.
Shiva, a former World Championships bronze-winner and three-time Asian Championships medallist, sailed past Tripura's Naveen Kumar in his opening bout of the lightweight (60kg) category.
Shiva is representing Assam in the Championships, having claimed the gold medal for the state in the last edition of the event.
Devendro, a Commonwealth Games and Asian Championships silver-medallist, got the better of Arunachal Pradesh's Kumar Beyong in his first-round contest of the flyweight (52kg) category.
Three-time King's Cup gold-medallist K Shyam Kumar, competing for the Railways Sports Promotion Board (RSPB), defeated H P Kumar Meitei of Manipur in the first round of the light flyweight (49kg) division.
Prannoy, Praneeth make winning start at French Open
Indian shuttlers H S Prannoy and B Sai Praneeth advanced to the men's singles second round with contrasting wins in the French Open Super Series in Paris on Wednesday.
US Open champion Prannoy, who had reached the quarter-finals at Odense, sent packing Denmark Open finalist Korea's 37-year-old veteran Lee Hyun Il 21-15, 21-17, while Praneeth made amends for his opening round exit last week with a 21-13, 21-23, 21-19 win over Thailand's Khosit Phetpradab.
Praneeth, however, will look to take some tips from Prannoy for his next match as he is likely to take on three- time Olympic silver medallist and current World No 7 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia.
Prannoy, who has beaten the Malaysian twice this season, will face Denmark's Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus next.
Mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy suffered a 15-21, 12-21 loss to fourth seeded Indonesians Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir.
Yuki in quarters of Vietnam Open, Prajnesh in 2nd round
Yuki Bhambri asserted his superiority over Ti Chen yet again as the top Indian eased into the singles quarter-finals of the Vietnam Open while his compatriot Prajnesh Gunneswaran advanced to the second round in the Ho Chi Minh City Challenger event.
Yuki, now ranked 142, outclassed his opponent from Chinese Taipei 6-3, 6-1 in the second round of the $ 50,000 hard court event while Prajnesh dispatched Australia's Marc Polmans 6-4, 6-2 in his opener.
Carrying forward his unbeaten record against Chen, Yuki recorded his fourth straight win over the Taipei player in as many meetings on the Pro Circuit. He first beat him in Shanghai in 2014. Every year since then, Yuki has beaten the 34-year-old at least once in a season.
“I am happy with the performance. I served well and attacked well. I hope to keep improving with every match," Yuki said.
He next faces the Australian eighth seed John Millman, who dispatched Frenchman Antoine Escoffier 6-1, 6-4.
In the doubles, Myneni and Prashanth upset fourth seeded Peter Polansky and Akira Santillan 6-7(4), 6-2, 10-8 to progress to the quarter-finals. Nagal is also playing doubles and has teamed up with local lad Nam Hoang LY.
