SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS

The following are the top/expected stories at 2105 hours:

EXPECTED STORIES: Updated Report of Denmark Open Badminton

Reports of Vijay Hazare Trophy across country

STORIES ON THE WIRE:

SPO-GANGULY-INDOPAK Indo-Pak bilateral ties subject to approval from PMs of both countries: Ganguly

Kolkata, Oct 17 (PTI) BCCI president-elect Sourav Ganguly has said that resumption of bilateral cricket ties with Pakistan is subject to approval from India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his counterpart Imran Khan.

SPO-TENDULKAR-LD GANGULY Tendulkar expects good innings from Ganguly as BCCI President

Mumbai, Oct 17 (PTI) Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar is expecting Sourav Ganguly to play his role as BCCI President as passionately as he played the game during his extremely successful career.

SPO-IND-PRACTICE Focus on Kuldeep as Team India sans Kohli, Rohit sweat it out at optional practice

Ranchi, Oct 17 (PTI) Skipper Virat Kohli and opener Rohit Sharma skipped the optional practice session but spinner Kuldeep Yadav looked to hone his batting skills ahead of India's third and final Test against South Africa here on Thursday.

SPO-BANGLA-SQUAD Al-Amin back in Bangladesh squad India T20s series

Dhaka, Oct 17 (PTI) Left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny and pacer Al-Amin Hossain were recalled as Bangladesh on Thursday announced a 15-member squad for next month's three-game T20I series against India.

SPO-SQUASH Mahesh Mangaonkar goes down to Yuen in final

Chennai, Oct 17 (PTI) India's Mahesh Mangaonkar went down in a five-game thriller to top-seed Ivan Yuen of Malaysia

in the men's final of the HCL SRFI Indian tour squash championship (Chennai leg) here on Thursday.

SPO-ISL-GANGULY

BCCI president-elect Ganguly is also face of ISL Kolkata, Oct 17 (PTI) Sourav Ganguly, the next boss of Indian cricket, has also been made the "face" of the upcoming ISL, the country's franchise-based, glamorous football event.

SPO-IND-ELGAR

You get to know yourself quite a lot in India: Elgar Ranchi, Oct 17 (PTI) South Africa opener Dean Elgar says he got "stretched" as a cricketer and learned a lot more about himself during what has been a humbling India tour, part of which included visiting "smaller places and staying in hotels" not that good.

SPO-BOX-NIKHAT

Nikhat Zareen writes to Rijiju, demands trial bout against Mary Kom New Delhi, Oct 17 (PTI) Former junior world champion boxer Nikhat Zareen has written to Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju, demanding a trial bout against the celebrated M C Mary Kom before India's squad for next year's Olympic Qualifiers is decided.

SPO-BOX-BINDRA

Bindra backs Zareen's demand for a trial against Mary Kom New Delhi, Oct 17 (PTI) India's only individual Olympic gold medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra on Thursday backed Nikhat Zareen's demand for a trial bout against celebrated boxer M C Mary Kom before India's squad for next year's Olympic Qualifiers is decided.

SPO-HAZARE-PLATE

Puducherry seal lone quarterfinal spot from Plate Group Dehradun, Oct 17 (PTI) Medium pacer Ashith Rajiv returned with a four-wicket haul as Puducherry sailed past Assam by five wickets to seal a quarterfinal spot in the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Thursday.

SPO-BAD-IND

Sindhu, Sameer knocked out of Denmark Open Odense, Oct 17 (PTI) World Champion P V Sindhu yet again struggled to buck the trend of early exits as she was knocked out of the Denmark Open after a straight-game loss against An Se Young in the second round, here on Thursday.

SPO-LARA-KOHLI

Indian pace attack reminds me of Windies of old: Lara By Nikhil Bapat

Mumbai, Oct 17 (PTI) West Indian batting great Brian Lara on Thursday praised the current Indian pace attack, which reminded him of the deadly West Indian attacks of yore.

SPO-BCCI-TRAINING-NCA Dravid supervises training of aspiring cricketers from 16 countries at NCA

New Delhi, Oct 17 (PTI) National Cricket Academy (NCA) Director Rahul Dravid is supervising a training programme of boys and girls from 16 Commonwealth countries, organised by the BCCI in conjunction with external affairs and sports ministries.

SPO-MARKRAM "Frustrated" Markram punches object, injures wrist to be ruled out of 3rd Test

Ranchi, Oct 17 (PTI) A "frustrated" South African batsman Aiden Markram was on Thursday ruled out of the third and final Test against India, having sustained a wrist injury after punching a solid object.