Kolkata, June 8

Sunil Chhetri was once again the man of the moment as he struck a brace to inspire India to a 2-0 win over Cambodia in their opening match of the Asian Cup final qualifying round here today.

Igor Stimac's side were far from their best and failed to make use of their better possession against a weak side. However, the 37-year-old Chhetri returned from an injury layoff to score on either side of the break (13th and 59th minutes).

The double strike brought him back to the third place in the list of highest scorers among active footballers in the world. With 82 goals from 127 matches, Chhetri now sits behind Cristiano Ronaldo (117) and Lionel Messi (86).

Earlier, Hong Kong beat Afghanistan 2-1.

New Delhi, June 8

Rishabh Pant was today appointed the India skipper for the T20 series against South Africa starting tomorrow. The 24-year-old, who captained Delhi Capitals in the IPL in the last two seasons, replaced KL Rahul. The opener was ruled out of the series due to a groin injury. Pant, who was earlier named the vice-captain, will have comeback man Hardik Pandya as his deputy.

India are without Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah for the series. Left-arm unorthodox spinner Kuldeep Yadav too has been ruled out of the series due to a hand injury.

"I think (my stint as DC skipper) will help me a lot," Pant said. "When you keep on doing the same thing over a period of time you tend to improve," he added.

Pant's journey as India skipper will begin at his hometown. "It is a great feeling, especially getting an opportunity like this in your hometown," he said.

New Delhi, June 8

Indian skipper KL Rahul was on Wednesday ruled out of the five-match T20 International series against South Africa due to an injury.

Wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant, who was named as Rahul's deputy, will lead the side.

"KL is out of whole series and Rishabh Pant will lead the team as he is the designated deputy," a senior BCCI source told PTI on Thursday.

It is understood that Ruturaj Gaikwad will open the batting alongside Ishan Kishan in the series-opener on Thursday.

London, June 5

Joe Root made a superb unbeaten century to masterfully guide England to an impressive five-wicket victory over New Zealand on a gloomy fourth morning of the first test at Lord's on Sunday.

Former captain Root became the 14th batsman to pass 10,000 test runs and finished on 115 not out after sharing a sixth-wicket partnership of 120 with Ben Foakes, whose 32 not out was also crucial for England to reach their victory target of 277.

New Zealand's seamers, previously so potent through the test, found no swing on a cold morning and failed to test the batsmen as the pair picked off the runs with little alarm after England had resumed at 216 for five, needing 61 for victory.

England captain Ben Stokes can celebrate victory in his first test in charge and will be targeting a series win when the second of three tests gets underway at Trent Bridge in Nottingham on Friday.

New Delhi, June 4

Swapnil Kusale and Ashi Chouksey drew curtains on India's campaign at the ISSF World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan, with gold in the 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) mixed team competition here today.

The pair beat Ukrainians Serhiy Kulish and Daria Tykhova 16-12 in the gold medal match. This was India's second gold after the trio of Elavenil Valarivan, Shreya Agarwal and Ramita won the women's 10m air rifle team event.

The Indian shooters had also bagged three silvers and finished second in the medals table behind South Korea. It was also Kusale's first gold and third medal in this World Cup. He had earlier won two silver medals in the men's 3P individual and men's team competitions.

In the final, Ukraine opened up a 6-2 lead after the first four single-shot series. But the won six of the next eight series to go 14-10 up. Kulish and Daria then cut the deficit to 12-14 before Kusale and Chouksey claimed a well-deserved victory.

Stavanger, June 4

Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand's winning run in the classical event of the Norway Chess tournament came to an end when he suffered a loss to American Wesley So in the fourth round here today.

The 52-year-old former world champion now shares the lead with Norway's Magnus Carlsen on 8.5 points.

The regular classical game between Anand and So had ended in a draw in 28 moves. The American then beat the Indian GM in 46 moves via the Armageddon (sudden death) game.

Anand had posted wins over France's Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and China's Wang Hao in the first three rounds.

Meanwhile, Carlsen defeated Dutchman Anish Giri to pick up three points and join Anand at the top.

In another decisive game in Round 4, Azerbaijan's Shakhriyar Mamedyarov defeated Hao, while Teimour Radjabov and Topalov won via the Armageddon against Vachier-Lagrave and Norway's Aryan Tari, respectively.

June 4

Cricket matches have become shorter with the advent of the Twenty20 format, but the United Arab Emirates women's Under-19 side recorded a remarkably swift victory on Saturday when they shot out Nepal for eight runs and chased it down in seven balls.

The game, a qualifier for the Under-19 T20 World Cup, ended in no time as UAE seamer Mahika Gaur (5-2) tore through Nepal's batting order before openers Theertha Satish and Lavanya Keny sealed a 10-wicket win in 1.1 overs in Bangi, Malaysia.

Nepal won the toss and chose to bat first but could only last 8.1 overs, with six of their batters perishing without scoring.

In 2017, an Indian state side were bowled out for two runs in an official 50-over match when opener Menka scored one run for the Nagaland women's Under-19s and the other was a wide as they were crushed by Kerala.

New Delhi, June 3

Experienced Indian shooter Anjum Moudgil clinched a silver in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) event as India moved up to the third spot in the medals tally at the ISSF World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan, today.

Moudgil went down 12-16 in the gold medal match to Denmark's Rikke Maeng Ibsen. Moudgil, also a World Championships silver medallist, had on Thursday qualified for the top-eight ranking round with a score of 587 out of 600. That gave her a fourth-place finish in the 60-player field.

Today, she finished second to Ibsen in Stage 2 with 406.5 to the Norwegian's 411.4. She then put up a strong challenge in the final but could not put it across the Dane.

It is her second individual World Cup silver in the event.

The men's 3P trio of Swapnil Kusale, Deepak Kumar and Goldie Gurjar also won a silver in the team competition. They lost the gold medal match 7-17 to Croatia.

Panchkula, June 3

With over 4,700 athletes expected to participate in the Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG), which begin tomorrow, the Tau Devi Lal Stadium here is preparing to host perhaps its biggest-ever sporting event. The event will see a total of 8,500 participants across five venues. The other venues are Ambala, Shahabad, Chandigarh and Delhi.

"The players have been accommodated at various hotels in Panchkula, Zirakpur and Chandigarh. Over 150 buses have been hired for transportation," an official said.

Patiala, June 2

World Championships medallists Amit Panghal and Shiva Thapa claimed their berths in the Indian boxing team for the upcoming Commonwealth Games (CWG) after emerging victorious in the trials held here today.

While Panghal, the 2019 Worlds silver medallist, secured his place in the 51kg division, Thapa clinched the 63.5kg spot in the trials held at the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports.

The other six boxers who made the team include Mohammad Hussamuddin (57kg), Rohit Tokas (67kg), reigning national champion Sumit (75kg), Ashish Kumar (80kg), Sanjeet (92kg) and Chandigarh's Sagar (+92kg).

The CWG will be held in Birmingham from July 28 to August 8.