australia Open: Sindhu, Srikanth, Prannoy advance to round of 16; Lakshya retires mid-way

Indian badminton ace PV Sindhu advanced into the second round of the Australia Open after registering wins in their respective singles matches at the State Sports Centre, here on Wednesday. Sindhu, who has been struggling for form this year, defeated compatriot Ashmita Chaliha 21-18, 21-13 to make the women's singles round of 16.She will face another compatriot Aakarshi Kashyap, who made it to the second round with a 21-15, 21-17 win over Malaysia's world No. 34 Goh Jin Wei.

In the men's singles, Srikanth beat world No. 14 Japanese shuttler Kenta Nishimoto of Japan 21-18, 21-7. He will play Su Li Yang of Chinese Taipei in the second round on Thursday.

Prannoy, India's highest-ranked singles shuttler, fended off a challenge from world No. 15 Lee Cheuk Yiu from Hong Kong to win 21-18, 16-21, 21-15.The world no. 9 Indian will next take on Chi- nese Taipei's Chi Yu Jen. Meanwhile, the 2021 world championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen retired mid-way into his first-round match against countryman Kiran George.

Mithun Manjunath, however, registered a shock 21-19, 21-19 straightgames win over former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore. Priyanshu Rajawat also advanced to the second round after beating local shuttler Nathan Tang 21-12, 21-16 in 33 minutes and set up a second round clash against Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei. India's challenge in the mixed doubles ended after BS Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa and Rohan Kapoor and N Sikki Reddy lost their respective opening round matches. Reddy and Ashwini lost to the Japanese pair of Hiroki Midorikawa and Natsu Saito 13-21, 12-21 while Rohan and Sikki were beaten by Korean pair Seo Seungjae and Chae Yujung 14-21, 18-21.

England, Australia docked points, fined for slow overrate during men's Ashes 2023

Dubai: England and Australia were on Wednesday docked crucial ICC World Test Championship points and hit with fines for maintaining a slow over-rate during the the recently-concluded men's Ashes 2023. Under the revised regulations, they were fined five percent of their match fee and one WTC point for every over short.According to ICC, Australia have been docked 10 WTC points from the recently-concluded Ashes series for a slow over-rate in the fourth Test at Old Trafford, while England lost 19 points combined for falling behind in four of the five Tests. Notably, teams earn 12 points for a Test win, four points for a draw and no points for a loss in the WTC. Typically, a team needs to bowl 90 overs in a day.England fell two overs short in the first Test at Edgbaston, nine in the second Test at Lord's, three in the fourth Test at Old Trafford, and five in the last and final Test at The Oval.