AT A GLANCE

Daily roundup: Zverev stunned, Barca get new coach

TENNIS-FRENCHOPEN/ Spain's Fernando Verdasco shakes the hand of Germany's Alexander Zverev after winning their first round match at the French Open | Reuters

Verdasco stuns Zverev in four sets

All shook up. That summed up ninth-seed Alexander Zverev after a dizzying 6-4 3-6 6-4 6-2 defeat by Fernando Verdasco. Because, not since 1957, when Elvis Presley's hit of that name was the most played tune on US jukeboxes, had an Italian Open champion been brought to his knees just days later in the first round at Roland Garros. The match-up scheduled on Monday was halted by darkness when the two players tied 1-1. However, the ninth-seeded Zverev would rather blame his poor performance on court for his humiliating loss than the interruption. "I played absolute shit," he said. "It's quite simple. You sometimes play bad. It's just... this is our sport. There are no regrets. I mean, what can you do? In Rome I played fantastic, I won the tournament. Here I played bad, I lost first round. That's the way it goes."

FC Barcelona confirm Valverde as new head coach

Catalan football giants FC Barcelona confirmed that former Athletic Club Bilbao head coach Ernesto Valverde has agreed on an initial two season contract as the successor to Luis Enrique, who leaves after nine trophies in three seasons in charge. The appointment on Monday of the 53-year-old, who also played for Barcelona in the late 1980s, came less than a week after Valverde announced his departure from Athletic where he had spent the past four seasons. As well as leading Athletic in two separate spells, Valverde also had a successful term with Barcelona's local rivals, Espanyol, as well as with Valencia and Villarreal. He also coached Greek club, Olympiacos in two successful spells leading the Greek side to three league titles and two cups. The Basque coach can expect to be thrown straight in the deep end in his new job as Barcelona's first competitive games in the coming season with be the two leg Spanish Supercup which sees the Cup winners take on their eternal rivals and this season's La Liga champions.

Frenchman Hamou kicked out of French Open

Maxime Hamou was banished from the French Open after the French player kissed and cuddled a TV journalist following his first-round exit, the French tennis federation (FFT) said. "The management of the tournament has deciced to revoke Maxime Hamou's accreditation following his reprehensible behaviour with a journalist yesterday," the FFT said in statement. Footage of the interview showed Hamou pulling the female journalist close before kissing her on the side of the head. As the reporter looked embarrassed and tried to push him away, he kissed her again. After answering a question he kissed her a third time, and pulled her towards him while she tried to peel his hand off her chest.

India embarrasses Bangladesh in warm-up tie

India rode on an all-round show to thrash Bangladesh by 240 runs in an International Cricket Council (ICC) Champions Trophy warm-up match at The Oval. Put into bat, opener Shikhar Dhawan (60) and wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik (94 retired hurt) put on a 100-run stand for the third wicket before all-rounder Hardik Pandya smashed a 54-ball unbeaten 80 to propel India to a mammoth 324/7. In reply, Bangladesh failed to get going against the Indian new ball duo of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav, who shared six wickets between them, to skittle them out for a paltry 84 in just 23.5 overs. Karthik struck eight boundaries and a six in his 77-ball knock to push his case for a berth in the playing XI for the high-pressure opening match against Pakistan on Sunday. Pandya too came good towards the later part of the innings, with a flashy half century, comprising six boundaries and four sixes that helped India cross the 300-run mark while Ravindra Jadeja (32) also played a handy knock. Chasing the mammoth score, only three Bangladeshi batsmen—Mushfiqur Rahim (13), Mehedi Hasan Miraz (24) and Sunzamul Islam (18 not out)—managed to reach double figures.

IFA sends letter to AIFF, asks for another meeting

The Indian Football Association (IFA), the state's parent football body, has written to the All India Football Federation (AIFF) urging another round of meetings with two city clubs ahead of the June 7 meeting at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) headquarters in Kuala Lumpur involving all stakeholders. A top source in the know confirmed that IFA secretary Utpal Ganguli had written to AIFF president Praful Patel for another round of discussions regarding East Bengal and Mohun Bagan's participation in the Indian Super League (ISL) before the roadmap of Indian football is put on the table by AFC in two weeks' time.

Dushyant elected South Asian TT Federation chief

Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) President Dushyant Chautala and his Sri Lankan counterpart Chandana Perera were elected president and secretary general, respectively, of the South Asian Table Tennis Federation (SATTF). Along with them, Mohammad Sibtain of Pakistan, who is the current chairman of the regional body, was elected for another term. Zulaika Ibrahim of Maldives will be the treasurer, a statement said. The other three Indians names figuring among the SATTF's elected list include M.P. Singh, Dhanraj Choudhary and Ganeshan Neelakanta Iyer. All of them will serve their four-year term until 2021. The secretary general of TTFI was elected as vice-president while his predecessor, Choudhary, was elected as adviser and Ganeshan as chairman of the technical committee.

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