Sports Shorts: Yuki beats Ramkumar to qualify for Indian Wells

A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday.

Yuki beats Ramkumar to qualify for Indian Wells

Yuki Bhambri outsmarted Ramkumar Ramanathan in the battle of top Indians to qualify for the Indian Wells ATP Masters event, his first 1000 series tournament in nine years.

Yuki, seeded ninth in the qualifiers, prevailed 6-4, 6-2 in the second and final qualifying round to make it to the season's first Master series event. Yuki now leads head-to-head record 3-1 against the 22-year-old Ramkumar.

The last time 25-year-old Yuki played at a Masters event was in 2009 at Miami.

In his opening round in the main draw, Yuki will fight it out with fellow qualifier Nicolas Mahut, ranked 101, and if he manages to cross the first hurdle he will be up against world number 12 Lucas Pouille from France.

Seema Punia to be dope-tested

Discus thrower Seema Punia will be subjected to an out-of-competition dope test before the Commonwealth Games as she could not be tested during the 22nd Federation Cup National Senior Athletics Championships.

The NADA officials reached here the next day on March 6 but by that time Punia had left for home.

The NADA has now asked the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) to contact her and provide a location where she can be tested. The AFI has done so and the NADA officials are travelling to Sonipat to collect her urine sample.

"We have sent NADA the details of the location in Haryana where their officials can collect her dope sample," an official at the national camp.

"NADA officials reached here late by a day. To be fair to her, Seema is not bound to wait for the NADA to come. She is not at fault," the official added.

With her gold-winning effort, Seema had also achieved the AFI norms of 59.00m for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. It was Seema's best mark in two years and she was competing in her first competition of the year.

The 34-year-old Haryana thrower has been a regular in Commonwealth Games since 2006 and has always been on the podium -- winning a silver (60.56m) in Melbourne, a bronze at Delhi 2010 Games and a silver in 2014 Glasgow.

Tamil Nadu's pole vaulter Subramani Siva, who broke his own national record with an effort of 5.15m, was also not tested on the opening day.

His sample was collected the next day, within the mandatory 24 hours to constitute an in-competition test which was required to ratify the national record.

Meanwhile, the Commonwealth Games-bound Indian athletes are not likely to be tested again by the NADA before their departure for Gold Coast, as all the gold and silver winners have provided their dope samples during the ongoing championships.

The team will be picked by the AFI selection committee and will be announced tomorrow after completing formalities with the government.

Indian women suffer first defeat in hockey tour of South Korea

The Indian women's hockey team suffered its first defeat on the tour of South Korea after they lost 1-2 against the hosts in a hard-fought third game of the five-match series, in Seoul.

Two goals in the first quarter from South Korea's Seul Ki Cheon (12th minute) and Yurim Lee (14th) sealed the win for the hosts at the Jinchun National Athletic Centre.

India, however, did not give up without a fight a pulled a goal back through Lalremsiami in the 16th minute.

Despite the loss, India continue to lead the series 2-1 following victories in the first two games.

Earlier in the day, India looked to continue their winning momentum and were quick off the blocks to put some pressure on South Korea's midfield.

However, the South Koreans matched their rivals equally as the opening 10 minutes of the first quarter witnessed tough tussle between both the teams for supremacy.

But it was South Korea who took the lead when Seul Ki Cheon converted a penalty corner in the 12th minute.

If that was not enough, the Indian defense was beaten once again two minutes later when Yurim Lee scored from another penalty corner.

Trailing by two goals, India took the field in the second quarter looking to make a comeback and were instantly rewarded when foward Lalremsiami found the back of the net in the 16th minute to pull one back for the visitors.

The Indian team then took control of the match and looked threatening but the South Korean defenders stuck to their task as the visitors wasted a number of chances.

South Korean goalkeeper Heabin Jung also made a couple of fine saves to deny India equaliser before half-time.

In the third quarter South Korea had the better chances of scoring as they earned three penalty Corners but failed to convert a single one with Rajani Etimarpu standing tall in front of the Indian goal.

It was important for India to create significant goal-scoring chances in the final quarter if they were to find the equaliser and expectedly the visitors kept piling up the pressure on South Korea and in the process earned two penalty corners in the last four minutes of the match.

But the chances went wasted as South Korean goalkeeper Heabin Jung made two brilliant saves to deny India the all-important equaliser.

India will play their fourth match of series against South Korea on Friday.