Sports Shorts: Sania-Cara advance to French Open pre-quarters

Sania Mirza crashed out of the mixed doubles event of the French Open with Horia Teacu after a stupendous start but managed to reach the pre-quarterfinals of the women's doubles.

Sania first took court for a women's doubles contest and along with partner Cara Black dispatched the unseeded combine of Gabriela Dabrowski and Alicja Rosolska 6-1, 6-2 in the second round.

The fifth seed Indo-Zimbabwean pair needed just 59 minutes to move to the pre-quarterfinals.

Sania then paired with her Romanian partner Tecau but suffered a shock 6-1, 4-6, 7-10 defeat at the hands of Timea Babos from Hungry and American Eric Butorac to bow out of the mixed doubles.

India's challenge though is still alive in the event as Rohan Bopanna and his second seeded Slovakian partner Katarina Srebotnik reached the quarter-finals.

They had to work hard to beat Cara Black and Robert Farah 6-3, 3-6, 10-7 in their second round contest.

Bopanna and Katarina will lock horns with eighth seeded team of Julia Goerges from Germany and seasoned Nenad Zimonjic from Serbia.

In the women's doubles match early in the day, Sania and Cara faced only one breakpoint in the lop-sided contest and broke their rivals four times. The fifth seeds won 57 points to 37 of their rivals.

They are now up against Serbia's Jelena Jankovic and Russian Alisa Kleybanova, who got a walkover from Sharon Fichman and A Pavlyuchenkova.

Owing to his run of poor form, Asian Games gold medallist Ronjan Sodhi has failed to break into the 30-member Indian squad for the upcoming Commonwealth Games, which will see top shooters such as Abhinav Bindra and Vijay Kumar gunning for podium finishes.

The National Rifle Association of India's selection committee picked the shotgun team that has 10 shooters competing in six events.

The rifle/pistol team for the event, to be held in Glasgow from July 23 to August 3, was selected last month.

The shooters were chosen on the basis of scores in the selection trials held earlier this month at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Almaty.

The team also has recent ISSF World Cup winner Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Heena Sidhu and London Olympics bronze medalist Gagan Narang.

In the last Commonwealth Games at home, Indian shooters won 14 gold, 11 silver and five bronze medals. Shooting alone contributed 30 out of 101 medals won by India.

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Justin Rose's honesty cost him a chance to play the weekend at the Memorial Tournament after a self-called penalty on Friday left him one stroke outside the cutline.

Rose, who will defend his US Open title in two weeks, struck the ball twice while chipping out of the rough at the par-three 12th at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.

The Englishman dropped his club as soon as he realized his ball made contact with the club during his follow-through.

Television replays proved inconclusive, but Rose docked himself one stroke anyway, rendering birdies at the final two holes of little use.

He shot 72 for a one-over 145, missing the cut by a stroke.

Earlier this month, Rose was the subject of an usual ruling at the Players Championship. He was originally penalized two strokes because his ball moved very slightly just off the back of the 18th green after he had placed his wedge behind it.

However, the penalty was rescinded the next day as officials subsequently decided the ball did not move enough to be visible to the naked eye, but only through a close-up television replay.

Fellow European Rory McIlroy also called a penalty stroke on himself for a double-hit on Friday.

McIlroy's incident occurred during a bunker shot at the 15th hole. The first round leader went on to shoot 78 to fall nine strokes behind halfway pacesetter Paul Casey.

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The National Basketball Association said on Friday that it has reached an agreement with the estranged wife of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling to sell the team, opening a new chapter for the franchise after 33 years under Sterling.

Sterling, 80, was banned for life by the NBA for racist remarks in a private conversation that were recorded secretly and leaked to the media while the Clippers were playing in the NBA playoffs. The news brought shame on the league, sponsors cut ties with the team and players considered a boycott.

Also on Friday, Sterling sued the NBA and league Commissioner Adam Silver in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles for at least $1 billion.

As a result of the settlement, the league canceled its Tuesday hearing to terminate Sterling's ownership, avoiding a vote by NBA owners to consider removing one of their own.

In his lawsuit, Sterling says he was unaware he was being recorded and was caught in a jealous quarrel with a "lover." He alleges Silver and the NBA forced him to sell the Clippers using a recording illegal under California law as evidence.

Sterling also says in the suit the NBA did not respond to his query on Friday if the hearing had been canceled following the sale of the Clippers.

NBA executive vice president and general counsel Rick Buchanan called Sterling's lawsuit baseless and said Sterling did not have any recourse since his wife had sold the team.

"There was no 'forced sale' of his team by the NBA - which means his antitrust and conversion claims are completely invalid," Buchanan said in a statement.

Sterling's attorney, Maxwell Blecher, said he had no comment on the NBA's move to tentatively approve the $2 billion sale of the Clippers by Shelly Sterling to former Microsoft Corp chief executive officer Steve Ballmer.

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Shiv Kapur landed five birdies against just one bogey to make amends for the patchy first round as he carded 68 at the Nordea Masters in Malmo.

Kapur, who looked on his way out with a card of 76 on first day putted way better than the first day on his way to 68, which made sure he was in action over the weekend.

He was tied 43rd at the end of the second, while Jeev Milkha Singh overcame a major lapse with four bogeys in a row from sixth to ninth and then had yet another bogey on 14th, he looked for an early exit at three-over.

He birdied the last two holes to claw his way back and make only his second cut in seven starts.

At the top Spaniard Alvaro Quiros landed two eagles in a round of 67 to get into a three-way lead with Frenchman Victor Dubuisson and England's Eddie Pepperell at the halfway mark.

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American Olympic silver medallist Galen Rupp ran the year's fastest 10,000 metres to break his national record at the opening session of the Prefontaine Classic Diamond League meeting on Friday.

With British Olympic gold medallist and training partner Mo Farah cheering him on, Rupp powered home in 26 minutes, 44.36 seconds to defeat Kenyan world bronze medallist Paul Tanui by five seconds at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field, his home track.

Only Ethiopian world record holder Kenenisa Bekele has run faster (26:25.97) on American soil.

"I surprised myself a little bit to run that fast," said the 28-year-old Rupp, who bettered the U.S. record of 26:48.00 he set at Brussels in 2011.

"I wasn't thinking about the time until a quarter mile to go, the last lap," the Oregon native added.

Kenyan Olympic champion and world record holder David Rudisha returns from a year-long knee injury to face a high quality 800 metres field to highlight Saturday's action.

Shiv Kapur landed five birdies against just one bogey to make amends for the patchy first round as he carded 68 at the Nordea Masters in Malmo.

Kapur, who looked on his way out with a card of 76 on first day putted way better than the first day on his way to 68, which made sure he was in action over the weekend.

He was tied 43rd at the end of the second, while Jeev Milkha Singh overcame a major lapse with four bogeys in a row from sixth to ninth and then had yet another bogey on 14th, he looked for an early exit at three-over.

He birdied the last two holes to claw his way back and make only his second cut in seven starts.

At the top Spaniard Alvaro Quiros landed two eagles in a round of 67 to get into a three-way lead with Frenchman Victor Dubuisson and England's Eddie Pepperell at the halfway mark.

On a day dominated by the strong winds at PGA Sweden National, big-hitting Qurios eagled the par five 11th hole – his second after starting on the tenth tee – and also made a three on the first hole, added to birdies on the 15th and 18th holes, to move to six under par.

Dubuisson, returning from a shoulder injury, earlier set the pace with a round of 69, while Pepperell recovered from a double bogey on the par three fourth hole with two birdies on the back nine, including the finishing hole, to retain a share of the lead.

World No 2 Henrik Stenson delighted the home fans when he moved to the top of the leaderboard on seven under par with consecutive birdies on the 14th and 15th hole.

But he finished with a round of 70 and at five under par he is only one shot back going into the weekend. He is tied fourth alongside compatriot Jens Dantorp (73), Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee  (70), Welshman Bradley Dredge (70) and Scottish pair Stephen Gallacher (72) and Chris Doak (69).