Chetri hattrick in KC Wizards 5-0 win

NEW DELHI, April 4 (PTI): Indian striker Sunil Chetri continued to sparkle for Kansas City Wizards, scoring a hat-trick in the Major League Soccer team’s 5-0 win over the University of Evansville in a friendly match at St Louis, United States.

Chetri, who scored a goal in his debut for the Wizards in a practice game against University of Tulsa on Thursday, struck thrice in his side’s 5-0 thrashing of University of Evansville.

In more good news for Chetri, he has received his P-1 visa and International Transfer Certificate approval to become an official member of Kansas City Wizards.

The diminutive Indian scored his first goal of the match with a diving flick-on header off a pass by Graham Zusi who netted Wizards’ opening goal.

Chetri then made it 3-0 with a deft finish off a pass from Kyle Brown who broke into the rival box from the right. The Indian, whose speed off and on the ball has impressed the Wizards management, completed his hattrick by finishing smoothly from a one-on-one position with the rival goalkeeper after breaking through the center of the park.

The Wizards completed their 5-0 win with Fuzetti scoring their last goal of the match with a deflected free-kick. Chhetri did not play in the Wizards 2-1 win over AC St. Louis in a friendly match later in the day.

Chetri, who was signed on March 26 missed the Wizards 4-0 win over DC United in their opening MLS match on March 28. Three days back, Chhetri got the P-1 visa and the ITC approval to officially become KC Wizards player.

KC Wizards manager Peter Vermes said Chetri would feature in an attacking role in the center of the field similar to the way he has played in the I-League and for the Indian national team.

“He could probably play wide as well, but he hasn’t had a lot of time in his career playing there,” Vermes said.

KC Wizards will have to work on two issues concerning the team roster. The side now have 11 players for 10 international roster spots and the Wizards are thinking creatively in order to comply with MLS roster limits.

The team is looking into acquiring green cards for at least three players and for pursuing US citizenship of another whose father is an American.
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Sania Mirza moves to 90th place in WTA rankings

New Delhi, Apr 5 : Sania Mirza moved two places up to the 90th position in the latest WTA singles rankings issued today.

Sania, who has been out of action with a wrist injury and is busy with her marriage
preparations with Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik, has 740 points but she slipped down the ladder in the doubles rankings and was at the 44th spot with 1875 points.

Leander Paes, who won his maiden doubles' title this season with Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy at the Miami Masters, remained static at the sixth place in the ATP list.

Mahesh Bhupathi, who along with Belarusian Max Mirnyi was the runner up in at the Miami Masters, moved a rung up to the seventh in the doubles rankings.

--UNI