Thursday, September 12, 2013

India Receives Surpise Defeat From Afghanistan - South Asian Federation Championship

Afghanistan was already one goal up before half-time, with Sanjar Ahmadi doubling the lead in the second half.

The fiercely competitive match was watched by an estimated 5,000 fans at the Dasharath Stadium in Kathmandu.

Afghanistan has only recently re-emerged on the world football scene after decades of war and insurgency.

There were scenes of celebration and joy on the streets of Kabul, where people crammed into restaurants and cafes to watch the final.

The Afghan team suffered a humiliating 4-0 loss to India when the two sides met in the 2011 final in Delhi.

India, ranked 145th in the world compared to Afghanistan's 139th, has won the event six times.

The defending champions missed several good opportunities, says BBC Nepali's Surendra Phuyal in Kathmandu.

They did their best to dominate and equalise, but the Afghan defence and its goalkeeper proved too smart for the Indian forwards, our correspondent says.

After the match ended, the Afghan players danced on the pitch in celebration with the Afghan flag draped on their shoulders.

"You can't imagine how big this moment is for our country, our fans, our team and me," Afghan coach Yousef Kargar said.

"We have proved that we belong in the world of football. Our team has improved a lot over the last few years and I am sure we will get better in the years to come."

Celebratory gunfire rang out around the Afghan capital.

Although not banned, football was severely restricted in Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban from 1996 to 2001.

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Monday, September 2, 2013

Paes-Radek Stepanek, Sania Mirza-Jie Zheng enters US Open quarterfinals

New York: Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek, fought their way into the men's doubles quarterfinals while Sania Mirza and Jie Zheng hardly broke a sweat to book a berth in the women's doubles last-eight stage, here on Sunday.

Paes and his Czech partner, seeded fourth, had to battle for two hours and 12 minutes to overcome 14th seeded veteran French pair of Michael Llodra and Nicolas Mahut 7-5 4-6 6-3.

Up next for Paes and Stepanek could be India's Divij Sharan and his Taipei partner Yen-Hsun Lu. The duo defeated the Israeli team of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram 6-4 5-7 7-6 (2) in a hard-fought contest.

Divij and Lu have a tough match on hand as they face Pakistan's Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and the Netherlands' Jean-Julien Rojer, a combination that is seeded fifth in the season's final Grand Slam.

Sania and China's Zheng, seeded 10th, took out sixth seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and Kveta Peschke of Czech Republic 6-2 6-3 in one hour and 12 minutes.

Sania and Zheng never faced a break point in the entire match and broke their rivals twice in each set to move to the last-eight.

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