A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
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.
Bhambri, seeded 15th, overcame Canada's Bradely Schuner 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the opening round and will next take on Spain's Carlos Taberner.
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.
Blasters on fire as Hume hat-trick sinks Delhi Dynamos 3-1
Canadian striker Iain Hume struck a hat-trick as Kerala Blasters won their first game on road beating a hapless Delhi Dynamos 3-1 in a ninth round Indian Super League encounter, in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Hume scored in the 12th, 78th and 83rd minute respectively as Kerala elevated themselves to the sixth position while Dynamos remain at the bottom of the heap after their seventh defeat.
The only goal for Dynamos was scored by Pritam Kotal.
In the 12th minute, Hume drew first blood as Courage made it all happen. He dribbled past Pritam Kotal on the left and got inside the box and went to the byline and squared it in, beating Gabriel Cichero's slide and found Hume's feet. Hume slotted it home.
His silver jubilee strike was when he took the ball from the throw-in in his stride, turned and got inside the box. He slotted it low past the keeper to find the back of the net.
Haryana Hammers outplay Veer Marathas 5-2
Rio Olympics gold medallist Helen Maroulis and Harphool won their bouts in contrasting fashion as Haryana Hammers kicked off their PWL campaign in style by beating new entrants Veer Marathas 5-2, in New Delhi.
Maroulis and Harphool won the fifth and sixth bouts respectively to give runners-up of he last edition an invincible 4-2 lead.
Khetik Tsabolov then rounded up the tie 5-2, overcoming Parveen Rana 10-0 in the last match.
In the high-profile clash of the day, Helen took on Rio Olympics Bronze medalist Marwa Amri of Tunisia in the women’s 57 kg competition. It turned out to be a lopsided affair, with the US wrestler completely dominating her opponent to win the bout 9-1 by pinfall.
The fifth bout of the day between Amit Dhankar and Harphool in the 65 kg turned out to be the most exciting duel of the night. Both the wrestlers were at the top of the game and ended the bout 5-5. However, it was Harphool who was adjudged the winner by virtue of winning the last point of the bout.
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.
Minerva on top of I-League table after 2-1 win over Bagan
Bhutanese striker Chencho Gyeltshen struck twice within a space of seven minutes as Minerva Punjab beat Mohun Bagan 2-1 in an I-League encounter to grab the pole position from East Bengal.
Chencho, known as 'Bhutan's Ronaldo' scored in the 23rd and 30th minute as new chief coach Shankarlal Chakraborty's honeymoon period was over within his second match.
Kingsley Eze pulled one back for Bagan at the Salt Lake Stadium but that surely wasn't enough.
Minerva are now on top of the points tally with 19 from 8 matches while East Bengal are on 18 points having played 9 games.
Mohun Bagan's dreams of winning the league are slowly fading away as they are placed fifth with 13 points from 9 games.
Bagan coach handed Beingaichho Beikhokhei his first start in I-League while goalkeeper Shilton Paul had to sit out this match with an injury, who was replaced by Shibinraj Kunniyil.
Minerva Punjab, on the other hand, went for an extra man in defence as Deepak Devrani earned his place in the starting XI replacing goal-scorer of the previous match Gagandeep Bali.
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.
