LUCK was not on the side of five national silat exponents as they had to settle for silver on the final day of the 2022 South-East Asian (SEA) Pencak Silat Championship in Singapore, on Sunday. The eighth edition of the competition that took place at the OCBC Arena in the republic saw four national athletes led by former world champion Mohd Al Jufferi Jamari failing to win gold after losing to their respective opponents from Vietnam. In the Putera class C category, Mohamad Hazim Amzad lost to Vu Van Kien 19-33, while Mohd Fauzi Khalid was defeated 12-36 by Nguyen Tan Sang in the Putera class G category. The Puteri class C category saw Zulaikha Razaman lose to Le Thi Van Anh 13-25. Mohd Al Jufferi, who was scheduled to play against Vu Duc Hung in the Putera class F category, decided to withdraw due to an injury he suffered after the semifinal match against Tito Hendra Septa Kurnia Wijaya from Indonesia on Saturday. Sunday’s competition also saw four national exponents, namely Mohammad Amiruddin Adzmi (Putera class C), Billage Anak Nakang (Putera open 1), Luqman Laji (Putera Jurus Tunggal) and Muhamad Robial Sobri (Putera class J) respectively — win a bronze medal each.

— Bernama

BERLIN • Alexander Zverev has reversed his decision not to play in the Davis Cup with the world No 3 now set to feature for Germany against Brazil to redeem himself after his disqualification from Acapulco. The 24-yearold Olympic champion was kicked out of the Mexico event last week after repeatedly smashing his racquet against the umpire’s chair and unleashing a foul-mouthed rant. He was fined US$40,000 (RM167,940) by the ATP and the German admitted his behaviour was “unacceptable”. He has now opted to play for Germany against Brazil in Rio de Janeiro on March 4 or 5. “We are happy that Zverev will be involved,” said Germany’s Davis Cup captain Michael Kohlmann. His behaviour in Acapulco was without question unacceptable and wrong. Zverev himself recognised that and apologised for it. We now want to help him as a team to get through this difficult phase.” Zverev last played for Germany in the Davis Cup in 2019. Late last year, he said he would not play in the competition in its current format. After his U-turn, Kohlmann dropped Daniel Altmaier from the Germany squad.

— AFP

CHITTAGONG • Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal won the toss and elected to bat in the third one-day international (ODI) against Afghanistan at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong yesterday. Bangladesh is looking for a clean sweep in three-match series after winning the opening two matches. The host fielded an unchanged team while Afghanistan brought back Gulbadin Naib in place of Farid Ahmed.

— AFP