A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Friday
Jamshedpur FC played out their third goalless draw in a row, this time against defending champions ATK at home in the Indian Super League on Friday.
Jamshedpur's Jerry Mawhmingthanga and ATK's Bipin Singh and Njazi Kuqi all missed chances but visiting goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen and his home side counterpart Subrata Paul were superb on the day.
It was a cagey game that left managers ATK and Jamshedpur coaches Teddy Sheringham and Steve Coppell winless so far in the fourth season of the ISL.
It took almost half an hour for the first meaningful attack of the day as Tom Thorpe lost the ball to Jamshedpur's Kervens Belfort, whose shot rebounded and eventually fell to team-mate Jerry. The youngster's stinging shot hit the side-netting. It was just the attack needed to add a spark to the proceedings.
ATK then had the ball in the net via Hitesh Sharma but the enterprising midfielder was ruled offside. The premature celebration led to more frustration for the Kolkata side.
Jerry was at it again when he took a low shot at the near post where former Premier League goalkeeper Jaaskelainen was there to effect an excellent save.
ATK certainly lost some creativity in the midfield when they lost Eugeneson Lyngdoh to injury before half-time.
ATK's Prabir Das swung in a dangerous ball towards Robin Singh whose flick would have found Bipin, but this time it was Paul's chance to shine with some brilliant anticipation.
There were no efforts in the last 10 minutes from either side. Both are winless this season. ATK now travel to Chennai and Jamshedpur will make the trip to Delhi.
Atwal stays in lead, Chawrasia, Kapur move up
Arjun Atwal of India stayed in the lead at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open after shooting a one- under-par 70 in the second round.
SSP Chawrasia added a bogey free 67 to get to six-under and T-13, while Shiv Kapur made a smart move up with a 69 and he is now T-25.
The only other Indians making the cut were Shubhankar Sharma (72) at T-37 and Gaganjeet Bhullar (71) at T-54th.
Honey Baisoya, Ajeetesh Sandhu, Rahil Gangjee, Khalin Joshi, S Chikkarangappa, Chiragh Kumar, Himmat Rai and Sujjan Singh missed the cut, which fell at one-under 141.
Minerva beat newcomers NEROCA 2-1
Minerva Punjab beat debutants NEROCA FC 2-1 in a thrilling I-League match in Ludhiana.
After Felix Chidi (18th minute) put Neroca FC in the lead but Chencho (24th) and Lago (45+2) scored to secure all three points for the hosts.
Manipur side NEROCA started the match with high pace and intensity which bothered Minerva's defence for much of the first 20 minutes.
Minerva goalkeeper Arshdeep had to pull up his socks in the third minute itself when he dived to his left to save a brilliantly taken curling shot.
Chencho had a good chance in the 16th minute but NEROCA captain and goalkeeper Lalit Thapa somehow thwarted it.
Meanwhile, Minerva's back four stood firm until the 18th minute when a superb solo run by Chidi resulted to the first goal of the match.
NEROCA did not get much time to celebrate as Minerva struck back six minutes later through Chencho who beat his marker on the left corner of the penalty box and then hit the ball in the far right corner of the goal.
Just as the first half was about to end, Lago Bei found the net from Abhishek's cross. Lago took a touch and then slotted the ball into the left corner from four yards out. This vital goal just before half-time changed everything.
The second half was more about Minerva sitting back to allow NEROCA attack and hitting them on the counter.
With this victory, Minerva went atop the league table with four points from two matches.
Saurav Ghosal jumps to No.16 in world squash rankings
India's Saurav Ghosal jumped five places in the world squash rankings to move to No.16 as per the latest list released.
There are two Indians in the women's top 20 with Joshna Chinnappa at 15 and Dipika Pallikal-Karthik at 20.
Ghosal made the biggest jump of five rungs from 21 he was placed last month, said a SRFI press release.
Among the rest, Harinder Pal Sandhu also made major strides, jumping to 52 from 69 he was in the previous month.
Currently he is the second highest ranked among Indian men behind Ghosal. Vikram Malhotra who had held that position has slid to 69 and four rungs below him is Mahesh Mangaonkar.
