EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE DELHI THE HINDU 14 SPORT SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2019 EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE TV PICKS Kerala Blasters blanks New Zealand vs Sindhu and Saina set up a dream final Bangladesh: 2nd ODI, SS Se- lect 1 (SD & HD), 3.30 a.m. NBA: Sony Ten 1 (SD & HD), Lakshya stuns Kashyap, looks for revenge in men’s final against Sourabh Chennaiyin FC 7.30 a.m. Irani Cup: Star Sports 2 (SD & NATL. BADMINTON clinched the trophy twice — Ends 14­game winless run HD), 9.30 a.m. 2011 and 2013. South Africa vs Sri Lanka : ters has climbed to the PRESS TRUST OF INDIA In the men’s event, Laksh­ ISL 1st Test, Sony ESPN (SD & eighth spot. GUWAHATI ya Sen reached his second fi­ HD), 1.30 p.m. Press Trust of India The visitors never really I­League: Star Sports 3, 2 nal with a 21­15, 21­16 win ov­ P.V. Sindhu and Saina Neh­ Kochi got going and were on the p.m. er former winner and 2014 wal won their semifinal in backfoot right from the Pro Volleyball League : contrasting fashion to set up Commonwealth Games Kerala Blasters FC notched Sony Six (SD & HD), 7 p.m. start. a mouth­watering summit champion P. Kashyap in the up only its second win of the ISL: Star Sports 1 (SD & HD), second semifinal. Chennaiyin custodian Ka­ 7.30 p.m. showdown at the 83rd Yo­ Indian Super League season ranjit Singh was called into The 17­year­old Lakshya, nex­Sunrise senior National after a comprehensive 3­0 action twice early in the who had lost in the final to championship. win over Chennaiyin FC at game as Kerala imposed it­ IN BRIEF Sourabh Verma two editions The final will be played on the Jawaharlal Nehru stadi­ self. ago, will look to settle scores Saturday. um here on Friday. Slavisa Stojanovic’s shot in the final. While Sindhu overcame a from the edge of the box challenge from Assam’s pro­ Two­time former cham­ Potlatnik scores brace was saved by Karanjit and mising 19­year­old Ashmita pion Sourabh had earlier de­ Matej Poplatnik scored a he had to be alert to block Chaliha 21­10, 22­20 in the feated Mumbai’s Kaushal brace (23rd, 55th) to put the follow­up effort from Po­ first semifinal, Saina got the Dharmamer 21­14, 21­17 in 44 Blasters in the driving seat platnik as well. better of Nagpur qualifier minutes. and young midfielder Sahal Vaishnavi Bhale, who was Other results: Abdul Samad finished Barcelona extends Out of rhythm part of India’s Uber Cup Mixed doubles (semifinals): things off in the 71st minute John Gregory’s side could Valverde’s contract Rohan Kapoor & Kuhoo Garg bt squad last year, 21­15, 21­14. to score his first­ever ISL not gain a foothold into the MADRID Vighnesh Devlekar & V. Harika goal and end his team’s 14­ Spanish champion Barcelona Saina has beaten Sindhu match and looked woefully 21-15, 21-16; Manu Attri & K. game winless run. announced on Friday it has in their previous two en­ out of rhythm. counters — at the Nagpur Na­ Maneesha bt Shlok Ramchan- On the other hand, Chen­ extended the contract of dran & Mithula 21-18, 21-17. The story remained pret­ tional in 2017 and Gold Coast naiyin saw it nightmare sea­ coach Ernesto Valverde for Women’s doubles: Meghana ty much the same in the se­ Commonwealth Games gold­ son continue after its 12th another season with the Jakkampudi & Poorvisha S. Ram cond half as well. option of one more. medal match in 2018. bt Kuhoo Garg & Anoushka Pa- loss. The result: Kerala Blasters 3 Valverde’s previous contract While Saina has won the rikh 21-13, 21-16; Shikha Gau- It is rooted to the bottom (Matej Poplatnik 23, 55, Sahal would have expired at the National crown in 2006, tam & Ashwini Bhat bt Aparna spot with eight points from Abdul Samad 71) bt Chennaiyin end of this season. AFP Powering through: Saina Nehwal got past Vaishnavi Bhale in straight games. * RITU RAJ KONWAR 2007 and 2018, Sindhu has Balan & K.P. Sruthi 21-19, 24-22. 16 games, while Kerala Blas­ FC 0. du Plessis and bowlers put SA in control Spartans look to bounce back Sri Lanka’s left­arm spinner Embuldeniya takes a five­for in maiden Test A semifinal berth is up for grabs LANKA IN SA out for 259 in the second in­ in a sixth­wicket partnership nings. South Africa was on of 60. But Embuldeniya, who PRO VOLLEYBALL AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE course for a more challenging bowled with impressive con­ DURBAN target with captain du Plessis trol, took Philander’s wicket S. Dipak Ragav Chennai South Africa took three Sri and Philander looking solid to trigger a collapse. Lankan wickets in three overs After 12 days of action in Ko­ to finish strongly on the third SCOREBOARD SOUTH AFRICA VS SRI LANKA, FIRST TEST chi, the Pro­Volleyball band­ day of the first Test here on wagon moves to Chennai for Pelicans overcome Friday. South Africa — 1st innings: 235. Sri Lanka bowling: Lakmal 20- the final three days of league Westbrook triple Sri Lanka — 1st innings: 191. 5-52-0, V. Fernando 17.1-2-71-4, games at the Nehru indoor Sri Lanka, needing 304 to LOS ANGELES South Africa — 2nd innings: D. Rajitha 13-1-54-1, Embuldeniya stadium starting from Satur­ win, was 83 for three at close. Julius Randle (jersey no. 30 Elgar c & b Embuldeniya 35, A. 26-3-66-5, Dhananjaya de Silva day before the semifinals in pic) finished with 33 points The tourists started promis­ 2-0-8-0, O. Fernando 1-0-6-0. Markram c Mendis b Rajitha 28, and final. and 11 rebounds as New ingly with captain Dimuth Ka­ Sri Lanka — 2nd innings: D. Kar- H. Amla c Thirimanne b V. The six­team competition Orleans Pelicans overcame runaratne and Lahiru Thiri­ Fernando 16, T. Bavuma lbw b unaratne lbw b Philander 20, L. has seen three teams com­ another triple double from manne putting on 42 for the Embuldeniya 3, F. du Plessis Thirimanne c du Plessis b Ra- Russell Westbrook to beat first wicket but both were out lbw b V. Fernando 90, Q. de bada 21, O. Fernando (batting) pleting their league fixtures Oklahoma City Thunder in the space of five balls. Ku­ Kock lbw b Embuldeniya 55, V. 28, K. Mendis c de Kock b during the Kochi leg while 131-122 on Thursday. The sal Mendis fell soon after. Philander b Embuldeniya 18, K. Olivier 0, K. Perera (batting) 12; Chennai Spartans, U Mumba Straight talk: Joy Bhattacharya, left, and Ramavtar Singh victory could prove costly for Maharaj b V. Fernando 4, K. Ra- Extras (lb-2): 2; Total (for three Volley and Ahmedabad De­ Jakhar interacted with the media ahead of the Chennai leg. The flurry of wickets ne­ Pelicans as all-star Anthony bada c Dickwella b Embulden- wkts. in 28 overs): 83. fenders have two matches in * R. RAVINDRAN Davis left the game with a gated Sri Lanka’s turnaround iya 0, D. Steyn b V. Fernando 1, Fall of wickets: 1-42, 2-42, hand. after it took the last five South and Spikers, and Hydera­ experience,” Kumara said. shoulder injury at the end of D. Olivier (not out) 2; Extras 3-52. #70929 Home team Spartans will African wickets for just eight bad. the first half. (lb-2, nb-3, w-2): 7; Total (in South Africa bowling: Steyn 4- look to get back to winning runs. Left­arm spinner Lasith 79.1 overs): 259. One good news for the All-Star women’s match Other results: Orlando Magic 0-19-0, Philander 8-3-13-1, Ma- ways when it takes on U 127 bt Charlotte Hornets 89; Embuldeniya, 22, playing in Chennai team will be that Fall of wickets: 1-36, 2-70, 3-77, haraj 4-0-14-0, Rabada 7-1- Mumba on Saturday, espe­ In a bid to promote women’s New York Knicks 106 bt his first Test, took five for 66 4-95, 5-191, 6-251, 7-255, 8- 28-1, Olivier 4-3-3-1, Markram Lasith Embuldeniya... key player Akhin G.S. is fit to cially after squandering a volleyball in India, the or­ Atlanta Hawks 91. AFP as South Africa was bowled 256, 9-256. 1-0-4-0. a dream debut. * AFP play on Saturday. He had two­set lead against Kochi ganisers on Friday an­ twisted his ankle during the nounced an All­Star wo­ Nishikori storms into Blue Spikers in its last league match against Spikers but the quarterfinals match. men’s match to be played on has since recovered accord­ the day of the PVL final (Fe­ ROTTERDAM The team, which has two Master of Universe clinches main event ing to head coach M.H. bruary 22). Japan’s Kei Nishikori carved points thanks to a win Kumara. out a comfortable 6-1, 6-4 MUMBAI Master of Universe rid­ jay Kolse rep. Greenleaf Racing & awalla & Mrs. Natasha A. Poon­ EMPERADO PLATE (1,400m), against Black Hawks Hydera­ “We are home and we are PVL CEO Joy Bhattachar­ win over Latvian Ernests den by Nirmal Jodha claimed the POCO Breeding Pvt Ltd (OPC) & Mr. awalla rep. Villoo Poonawalla Ra­ 6 Cl. IV, rated 20 to 46: bad, will hope to make the looking forward to just going jya said, “It is a milestone Gulbis on Thursday to power Sir Charles Forbes Trophy, the Rajiv S.Ghule.