Top Sports India News Stories of 23rd October 2008

Daily news summary

Ankita sails to 2nd round of Lagos ITF tennis
Ankita Bhambri reigned over 8th seeded Russian Elena Chalova by 6-2, 6-2 advancing to the 2nd round of USD 25,000 ITF tennis event in Lagos. Ankita will now take on S African Surina De Beer, who defeated Dutch qualifier Bouwiena Boer 6-0, 6-1. It was a good day for Ankita, who teamed up with sister Sanaa to beat Italian Vivienne Vierin and South African Lisa Marsahall 6-4, 6-3 in the doubles. The 4th seeded Indian pair Rushmi Chakravarthi and Isha Lakhani also advanced to the 2nd round defeating Britain's Jodie Williams and Serbian Bojana Jovanovski 6-2, 6-3.

Davydenko in ATP Chennai Open tennis
World No.6 and Russia No.1, Nikolay Davydenko will participate in the $450,000 ATP Chennai Open to be held in Chennai from Jan 5-11.Davydenko is fondly known as 'The Iron Man' for making most appearances in an ATP calendar year, has 14 ATP titles to his name. His biggest achievement till date was at Miami Masters 2008. He defeated Rafael Nadal in the final becoming the World No.1. Davydenko said, “I am very excited to play at the Chennai Open. The tournament has become very popular on the circuit. This is also my first visit to India. So I am looking forward to playing there.” Narayanan, President, Tamil Nadu Tennis Association (TNTA) said that it is heartening to note that a top-10 player has confirmed his participation so early for Chennai Open.We are confident that the enthusiastic crowds of Chennai will have a treat watching Davydenko live in action.

Cricket sets Sania’s pulse racing
Sania Mirza might be a tennis star,but it's cricket that sets her pulse racing. So her happiness is very obvious over India's historic win against Australia. She finds Sachin's milestone of becoming the leading Test scorer motivating. Sania, who is in Delhi for treatment of her chronic wrist injury, said that she thoroughly enjoyed India's 320-run record win at Mohali Tuesday. The 21-year-old says she is recovering well from her wrist injury. Sania said, "It has been tough mentally for me. It was painful not to play at the U.S. open as I have always done well there. But I am a person who likes to take positives from every situation. But I have not set a date for myself to return on the circuit. Hopefully, I should be back for the Hong Kong event."

Shalini enters national tennis quarters
Top seeded Shalini Sahoo beat her former partner Arantxa Andrady by 6-0, 6-2, at the DSCL women's tennis nationals to enter quarter-finals.The 19 year old dominated the game against the Andrady qualifier with whom she had trained at Delhi’s Siri Fort Academy. Shalini said,"I am satisfied with my game. Though being acquainted with her play helped me, I could not have taken anything for granted as it is almost a year since I left the academy." Shalini in her next match would clash with Sowjanya Bavishetti of Andhra Pradesh.

Shaun Marsh to replace injured Jacques against India
Australian opener Shaun Marsh will replace injured Phil Jacques in the squad for the remaining of the Border-Gavaskar Test series in India. Cricket Australia's national selection panel Chairman Andrew Hilditch announced that Shaun has been selected as he has opened the batting for Australia in the ODI arena against W Indies and has shown great potential. Jaques has returned home to seek specialist advice for a back injury. Australia trail the 4 match series 1-0 and will face India in the 3rd Test in New Delhi from Oct 29.

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