Prarthana, Ankita in semifinals

Fifth seed Ankita Raina and National junior champion Prarthana Thombare scripted contrasting victories to storm into the semifinals of the $10,000 ITF Bidar Open here on Thursday.

Producing one of her best displays of the tournament so far, Prarthana outclassed Korea’s Ju-eun Kim 6-0, 6-2 while Ankita prevailed over Thailand’s Varunya Wongtean Chai 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) at the Police Training School courts.

While Ankita and Prarthana enjoyed a wonderful day in the office, it was not to be for compatriot Nidhi Chilumula, who went down fighting to top seed Wing Yau Venise Chan of Hong Kong 2-6, 6-1, 1-6.

In the fourth quarterfinal Yumi Miyazaki of Japan outgunned second-seeded Nungnadda Wannasuk of Thailand 6-2, 7-5.

In the semifinals on Friday, Ankita will meet Chan while Prarthana takes on Miyazaki.
Dishing out an all court game, Prarthana hardly allowed Ju-eun to settle down, maintaining a tight leash on the Koream with her deep ground strokes. After breezing through the opening set in quick time, the Indian just lost two games in the second set before wrappping up a commanding win.

In the other match, Ankita started well against Varunya, taking a 3-0 lead before the latter broke her in the seventh game and went on to level the scores at 4-all. Ankita, however, rallied in the tenth game to win the opener 6-4.

The duo traded a break each in the second set before Varunya marched 6-5 ahead. Ankita hit back in the next game to take set into a tie-break which she pocketed 7-2 to march into the semis.

Results: Singles, quarterfinals: Prarthana Thombare (Ind) bt Ju-eun Kim (Kor) 6-0, 6-2; Ankita Raina (Ind) bt Varunya Wongtean Chai (Tha) 6-4, 7-6 (7-2); Yumi Miyazaki (Jpn) bt Nungnadda Wannasuk (Tha) 6-2, 7-5; Wing Yau Venise Chan (HK) bt Nidhi Chilumula (Ind) 6-2, 1-6, 6-1.

Doubles: Semifinals: Oleksandra Korashvilli (Ukr)/ Rishika Sunkara (Ind) bt Risa Hasegawa/ Misa Kinoshita (Jpn) 1-6, 6-3, 10-5; Nungnadda Wannasuk (Tha)/ Nan-Nan Zhang 4-6, 6-3, 10-6.

Quarterfinals: Oleksandra Korashvilli / Rishika Sunkara bt Napatsakorn Sankaew/ Varunya wongteanchai (Tha) 6-4, 6-2; Risa / Misa K bt Ankita Raina/ Prarthana Thombare (Ind) 6-3, 7-5; Nungnadda W / Nan-Nan Z bt Zainab Ali Sajjad/ Vaniya Dangwal (Ind) 6-2, 6-1; Hae-sung K/ Ju-Eun K bt Arantxa Andrady/ Prerna Bhambri 7-6 (7-0), 7-6 (7-5).

Federer's security tightened after threat

Security was beefed up on Friday as Roger Federer trained for the weekend start of the Shanghai Masters amid a death threat posted online.

The world number one, who arrived in China’s commercial capital this week with his family, was the target of the threatening posting last month.

The Swiss is playing the event for the first time since 2010.

The presumed threat came from an anonymous blogger on a local site and featured a photo-shopped image.

“On October 6, I plan to assassinate Federer for the purpose of tennis extermination,” read the message on baidu.com posted by “Blue Cat Polytheistic Religion Founder 07.”

Chinese media said that protection for players has moved to a higher level at the Qi Zhong arena and the central Shanghai official tournament hotel.

“We hope that it was an oral threat only, and the fan won’t take substantive action,” said tournament official Yang Yibin “We must take it seriously. We have contacted the local police and we will upgrade the level of security for Roger. Meanwhile, we will also protect other players’ security.”

So long, Michael Schumacher

Legions of Michael Schumacher fans will be disappointed with his decision to retire from the sport for a second time. During his peak years with Benetton and Ferrari, he emerged as a ruthless driver and went on to win as many as seven world titles. That is more than anyone ever. There were many who loved that attitude but there were others who didn’t like it. The point is that he had built such a reputation for himself.

When the 43-year-old turned up for Mercedes GP in the 2010 season, the spark was missing. Obviously, his time had passed. In the 2012 season, the best the German achieved is a third place in the European Grand Prix. More than that, he has retired in seven out of the 14 races held in the season so far. In fact, his young compatriot Nico Rosberg has been faster and put up better performances in the last three years they have raced together. And the magical combo of Schumacher and Ross Brawn is not the same anymore.

Schumacher’s strength has been his driving skills: smooth and ruthless, whether in dry track conditions or wet. More importantly, his motivation has willed him on.

While some may have seen it coming, what he said on Thursday while announcing his retirement is interesting. “I’ve had my doubts for quite a while on whether I’d the energy to carry on. I said in 2006 that my battery was empty and now I am in the red zone,” he said at a news conference in Suzuka. “I don’t know if there is time to recharge them. But I’m looking forward to my freedom. It’s without doubt that we did not achieve our goals to develop a world championship fighting car,” he added.

“It’s not in my style to do anything which I’m not 100% convinced about. With today’s decision, I feel released from those doubts. In the end, it’s not my ambition to just drive around but to fight for victories. And the pleasure of driving is nourished by competitiveness,” he was quoted as saying on Formula One’s official website.

With Schumacher’s second retirement, an era has surely ended. He may not have been able to achieve with Mercedes GP what he did for Ferrari or Benetton. But Formula One will go on, as it did after the legendary Ayrton Senna’s tragic death. After the Brazilian, Schumacher went on to become the legend that he is. The German has called time on a wonderful career. Who the next Schumacher will be, or if there will ever be anyone like him, remains to be seen.

CL effect: North squad changed after franchisees cry foul

Was it a case of the left hand not knowing what the right was doing? The selectors of North Zone had picked a squad that caused a sort of tumult in the power circles of Indian cricket. Some franchises instantly objected to the decision and the Board of Control for Cricket in India was forced to intervene.

The problem started with the announcement of the zonal team for the Duleep Trophy, which had initially included players such as Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rajat Bhatia, Harbhajan Singh — all bound for the Champions League Twenty20 in South Africa.

This decision has apparently enraged a few franchises who immediately knocked the BCCI’s doors, demanding that the players involved in the Champions League be relieved from their zonal duties.

The board, it is understood, then advised the selectors not to pick the players of the teams participating in the Twenty20 tournament. The Champions League, minus the qualifiers, will be held between October 13 and 28, while the Duleep Trophy is from October 6 and 25. The players could have played the first Duleep Trophy match from October 6 to 9, but the franchises say the players would have to travel to South Africa early for acclimatisation.

The franchise pressure led to significant changes in the North Zone squad. A zonal selector, however, downplayed the issue.“We had foreseen this situation and selected a few stand-byes. So, it was not a great issue,” he said.

Meanwhile, the new selection committee informally met in Rajkot recently. Sandeep Patil & Co had a few brainstorming sessions during the Challenger Trophy and have decided to visit different venues of the Duleep Trophy games. They will converge again in Chennai during the final.

As of now, the selectors have no idea about their first assignment. They are waiting for a word from the BCCI.

Swimming: Khade, Talasha the fastest

Maharashtra’s Virdhawal Khade and Talasha Prabhu of Goa emerged as the fastest swimmers of the country in the men’s and women’s categorieswinning the 50 metres freestyle events on the fourth day of the Enerzal 66th Senior National Aquatic Championship at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex on Thursday.

Asian medallist, Khade, in the process made the B-entry cut for the Fina World Championship. The Kolhapur swimmer timed 00.22.84 seconds, much better than the B-entry, which is 00:23.11, while A-mark is 00:22.33.

Meanwhile, Talasha became the first woman from Goa to win the fastest race of the championship with a timing of 00:27:76.

Results: Men:200m IM: 1. Aaron Agnel D’ Souza (Kar) 02:07:38, 2. Sandeep Sejwal (RSPB) 02:11:38, 3. Arvind M (Kar) 02:12:95
100m backstroke: 1. MB Balakrishnan (TN) 00:58:97, 2. Rohit R Havaldar (Kar) 01:00:60, 3. Rohit Imoliya (MP) 01:00:73
50m freestyle: 1. Virdhawal Khade (Mah) 00:22:84, 2. Anshul Kothari (Guj) 00:24:04, 3. Arjun J P (RSPB) 00:24:12

Women: 200m IM: 1. Pooja R Alva (Kar) 02:28:30, 2. AV Jayaveena (TN) 02:29:06, 3. VKR Meenakshi (TN) 02:32:25
100m backstroke: 1. Jyotsna Pansare (Mah) 01:07:69, 2. Arti Ghorpade (Mah) 01:08:12, 3. Sony Cyriac (Ker) 01:08:87
50m freestyle: 1. Talasha Prabhu (Goa) 00:27:76, 2. Shivani Kataria (Har) 00:27:81, 3. Aditi Dhumatkar (Mah) 00:27:85
1500m freestyle: 1. Richa Mishra (Pol) 17:46:76, 2. Surabhi Tipre (Kar) 18:03:13, 3. Akansha Vora (Mah) 18:51:67