Durand Cup: Bengaluru FC start their campaign in style

Kolkata: Former ISL champions Bengaluru FC (BFC) today registered a 2-0 win over Kerala Blasters to make a brilliant start to their campaign in the Durand Cup football tournament here. Namgyal Bhutia (45th) and Leon Augustine (71st) turned out to be the heroes for the Naushad Moosa-coached side even as Kerala Blasters were eight men down by the end of the dramatic clash at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan (VYBK).

Warangal

Athletics: Abhishek, Parul win maiden 5,000m race

Railways’ runners Abhishek Paul and Parul Chaudhary won the men and women’s 5,000 metres titles respectively on the opening day of the 60th national open athletics championships at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here today. Abhishek timed 4:16.35 seconds, while Parul clocked 15:59.69s to grab gold. In the women’s pole vault, Tamil Nadu’s Pavithra Venkatesh won the gold, clearing the bar at 3.90m while Railways’ Mariya Jaison (3.80m) and Krishna Rachan (3.60m) took silver and bronze.

Sao Paulo

Brazilian soccer great Pele leaves intensive care

Retired Brazilian soccer star Pele was moved out of intensive care as he continues to recover from surgery to remove a tumor from his colon. The 80-year-old was in good clinical condition and will remain “from now on recovering in his room” at Albert Einstein Hospital, the Sao Paulo facility said in a statement on Tuesday.

London

Sandgren defaults after striking line judge with ball

Tennys Sandgren was defaulted from a tournament on Tuesday when the American accidentally struck a line judge with a ball after himself being hit in the groin. Sandgren, ranked 103rd in the world and top seed at the ATP Challenger event in Cary, North Carolina, doubled over after being struck by a ball bounced to him by a ball boy as he prepared to serve in the second game of the match against Christopher Eubanks.

Islamabad

Afghan women soccer players enter Pakistan

Members of Afghanistan’s women soccer team and their families arrived in Pakistan after fleeing their country in the wake of the Taliban’s takeover, local media said today. It was unclear how many Afghan women players and their family members were allowed to enter in Pakistan. agencies