Mumbai - Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Steered by Skipper Rahul Dravid, the 15-member Indian squad left for London en route to Ireland for an 80-day cricket Odyssey early this morning.
The Team India is scheduled to play 4 ODIs in Ireland. The Maiden match will be played against the hosts on June 23 followed by 3 ODI clashes with South Africa.
On July 3, the Team India will cruise to Scotland to battle out with Pakistan in a one-off ODI clash at Glasgow. The proceeds of this match will go to the Prince Charles Charitable Trust.
Dravid’s Team will then move to take on England in a 3-Test series and 7 ODIs.

New Delhi: Rohan Bopanna got the singles title in assisting himself to a double crown in the $50,000 Shelbourne Irish Open Challenger tennis tournament at Dublin.

Bopanna sealed his maiden Challenger singles name with a 6-4, 6-3 verdict over qualifier Martin Pedersen of Denmark in the final.

Previously, Bopanna won the doubles title partnering Adam Feeney of Australia.

New Delhi: At the East West Bank Classic contest, Sania Mirza’s upset win over former world No.1 Martina Hingis assisted her climbing a step to attain her new career high WTA ranking. Now Sania is rested at 29th spot with 915 points.

In doubles, she also lifted one place to 25th with 1321 points.

Southampton: England shot down India by 104 runs with maiden centuries from Cook and Bell and a four-wicket haul from fast bowler Anderson at the Rose Bowl in the first of seven limited overs internationals.

England set a target of 289 runs for Indian team to win after being sent to bat first, but India could make only 184 runs.

New Delhi: The World Boxing Championship has been delayed by a week to October 23 because of various obligatory reasons. The championship that was primitively planned from October 17 to November 1 will now be held from October 23 to November 3 in Chicago, USA.

Bristol, Aug. 24: Yet again, the Indian cricket team is vexed by fitness troubles, with three of its key players - Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan and Rudra Pratap Singh - evidently down with flu, just before the crucial second one-dayer.

Bristol: In order to level the seven-match series 1-1, India has defeated England by 9 runs in the second cricket one-dayer.

Here are the brief scores made by both teams:

India: 329 for 7 in 50 overs (S Tendulkar 99, Yuvraj Singh 49, R Dravid 92 not out; A Flintoff 5-56).

England: 320 for 8 in 50 overs (A Cook 36, I Bell 54, D Mascarenhas 52; P Chawla 3-60, Munaf Patel 3-70).

New Delhi: Yesterday, the Sports Ministry dismissed the Olympic Council of Asia’s threat to hang up the Indian Olympic Association’s connection, stating the administration was not trying to conflict upon anyone's self-government by purposing a self-governing Sports Regulatory Authority in its Sports Policy Draft.

Patna: Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar has assured government jobs for players winning medals while symbolizing the state at national and international events.

Chennai: From India’s perspective, the seventh version of the Asia Cup Hockey Championship, starting on Friday, assumes much importance as they will be confronting a strong challenge from their Asian counterparts’ enroute to their title defence.

The India’s ace speedster, Zaheer Khan has added to the woes of team India by getting his ankle injured during India’s encounter with England. Zaheer had his left ankle twisted during England’s three-wicket win.

Spoiling China 1-0 in the last match on the opening day of the Asia Cup hockey tournament, India began its campaign on a winning note this Friday.

The Chinese were more agile and dominated the field, certainly looked winning team, but ultimately, India managed to have a win under its belt. Certainly, it was India’s day!

New Delhi: The Delhi government has launched the ‘Bread and Breakfast’ scheme, under which the house owners will be able to rent out their premises to the tourists coming for 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Inaugurating the scheme, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said, “Delhi will be the first state where the scheme is being implemented as legislation.”

Chennai: Irfan Pathan, who has been out of the test and one-day team, has got a new lease of life with getting a berth in the Twenty20 World Cup squad. Promising to get his rhythm back, Irfan stated that “hard days are over now.”

New Delhi, Sept 13: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) today launched its own cash-rich domestic and international Twenty20 league with the support of top Test playing nations.

BCCI vice president Lalit Modi here announced the setting of the Indian Premier League in the presence of top representatives of several Test playing nations and the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Kolkata, Sept 17: Tennis players from across the globe, who are in the City of Joy--Kolkata to take part in the WTA Sunfeast Open, were treated to a unique experience on Sunday as they were taken on a ride in horse carriages.

The carriages took the players on a ride around the landmark Victoria Memorial as hordes of curious onlookers glanced at them.

Kolkata, Sept. 18: The seven-day WTA Sunfeast Open tennis tournament has begun, and will see the likes of Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli and Russian Daniela Hantuchova.

On Monday, Sania engaged in some match practice, but an announcement was made that she would not participate in the tournament due to a wrist injury.

West Bengal Urban Development Minister Ashok Bhattacharya inaugurated the tournament at the Netaji Indoor Stadium.

Kolkata, Sept.18: The Sunfeast Open glamour quotient is at a high.  Cricket star Sachin Tendulkar arrived here today to promote the WTA Tier III tournament. Addressing a joint press conference with Sania Mirza, Tendulkar said he was a great fan of tennis and loved to play it too.

Tendulkar refused to talk much on cricket, but said it was for the selectors to decide on who would be the next captain of the Indian team.

As far as he was concerned, the little master said playing good cricket was all that mattered to him. He also had a word of praise for Team India's performance in the Twenty-Twenty series. He said the team had been playing well.

Lahore, Sept 19: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has confirmed its team’s participation in the Champions Trophy after reports were making the rounds that it may skip the tournament as it has been shifted from Pakistan on security grounds.

PHF Secretary Khalid Mahmood has said that Pakistan would take part in the tournament despite the International Hockey Federation’s (FIH) decision to hold it in some other country.

London, Sept 19 : Former squash world champion Jansher Khan of Pakistan, who retired in 1998, is all set to make a comeback when he competes in the inaugural London Open at the Cumberland Club here next month.

One of the greatest squash players of all-time, 38-year-old Jansher will make his first international appearance since winning the last of his 99 Professional Squash Association (PSA) Tour titles in 1998.

Lahore, Sept 19 : The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has confirmed its team’s participation in the Champions Trophy after reports were making the rounds that it may skip the tournament as it has been shifted from Pakistan on security grounds.

PHF Secretary Khalid Mahmood has said that Pakistan would take part in the tournament despite the International Hockey Federation’s (FIH) decision to hold it in some other country.

India has won the cricket match against England. The main attraction in the match was fastest half century by Yuvraj Singh. Yuvraj scored a half century in just 12 balls. Yuvraj was in his best form in today’s match. He scored 6 sixers in just one over. This was the turning point of the match.

Indian cricket team hasn’t shown such a great performance since a very long time. The fans were really happy to see Team India in action. Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir also scored nicely.

London, Sept.20 : Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has reportedly quit the football club, citing excessive pressure from the club's Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich.

According to The Daily Mail, Mourinho sent text messages to five senior players informing them about his decision to quit after three years on the job. He is probably the first coach of an English football club to use SMS to quit.

Karachi, Sept 20 A cash reward of almost 450 million rupees is waiting for the Pakistan Twenty20 cricket team, if the players return home from South Africa with the World Championship trophy.

Sources close to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have revealed that besides this bonus, the players would also receive cash rewards from a few big business houses, which sponsor cricket in Pakistan, for winning the title.

Patna, Sept. 22 : Cricket fans offered a special prayer here on Saturday for India’s success against Australia in the Twenty20 World Cup semi-final match to be played at Durban this evening.

Fans offered cricket bats and wickets to Lord Ganesha.

"Today, there is a match between India and Australia. Fans are gathered here during Ganesha festival to pray for the team's success because Lord Ganesha is the lord of prosperity. So, with his blessings the team will surely attain success," said Rakesh Kumar, a fan.

Australia will enter into the semifinal of the ICC World Twenty20 without their captain, but the briefness of the set-up make sures that teams do not truly miss players. The Australians easily defeated Sri Lanka in their last group game although they were without their brilliant captain, RickyPonting, and India overstepped South Africa even if they were without Yuvi, man of the match the earlier evening.

Indian team has managed to enter the finals of Twenty20 cricket world cup. India won with 15 runs. The match was very interesting till the last over.

The last over was bowled by Joginder and was very crucial. Joginder managed to take one wicket.

The turning points in the match were the wickets taken by Srisanth and Irfan Pathan.

Srinagar, Sep 23 : Sports activities in Jammu and Kashmir (J-K) are all set to get a boost with the three-day national wrestling championship getting underway.

The 26th junior boys and 9th junior girl's national wrestling championship at Sher-i-Kashmir Indoor stadium would give a shot in the arm for sports activities in the region, said J-K Sports Minister Babu Singh.

Guwahati, Sept 23 : A two member team of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) visited Guwahati on Saturday to examine the venue and security arrangements made for the Pakistani team for the one-day-international match scheduled to be held in November this year.

The team comprised of PCB's technical officer Zakir Khan, who is also a former Test cricketer, and security expert Sohail Khan.

The duo, accompanied by Suru Nayak of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), also visited the hotel where Pakistani team will stay.

Virender Sehwag may not play in Finals of Twenty20 World Cup against Pakistan. The Indian opener suffered from a groin injury during the last match against Australia. Sehwag will undergo a fitness test before a final decision will be made regarding this matter.

Lahore, Sep 24: Indian and Pakistani bookies are favouring Pakistan in the Twenty20 World Cup final match to be played in Johannesburg today.

The total number of bets of over 500 million rupees received by the Mumbai bookmakers by Sunday night favours Pakistan, the Daily Times reported.

Bookies are expected to receive more bets later in the day, it added.

On the other hand, Pakistani bookmakers have received bets worth three billion rupees by Sunday night.

Islamabad, Sep 25: Former Pakistan cricket captain Intikhab Alam has said that they lost the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup final match because of the reckless shot played by Misbah ul-Haq at the fag end of the play.

“Misbah put Pakistan almost close to victory, but he played a reckless shot that helped India win. Still three balls were left and he should have played sensibly,” Intikhab said.

New Delhi, Sept 25 : India’s first and only Formula One (F1) driver Narain Karthikeyan today expressed confidence of doing well at the A1 GP, the World Cup of motorsports, to be held in the Netherlands on September 30.

Karthikeyan, who will race a brand new blue liveried car this season and spearhead Team India's challenge, said the team has realistic chances of winning a couple of races.

Rohtak/New Delhi, Sept 25 : Relatives of Indian cricketers joined the celebrations on Tuesday as the nation erupted with joy after a thrilling win over archrivals Pakistan in the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship in Johannesburg in South Africa.

Medium pace bowler Joginder Sharma's family celebrated the victory at the cricketer's residence in Rohtak.

Mumbai, Sept 26 : It was a ceremony meant to facilitate Team India for winning the Twenty20 World Championship, but cricket virtually took a ‘back seat’ at the Wankhede Stadium here today, as no cricketer except skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was given a seat in the front row at the dais.

At the event, organised to celebrate a purely sporting achievement, the first row on the stage was dominated by politicians and officials of the Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI), even as the hoarding in the background ‘loudly’ said “Congratulations Team India.”

Karachi, Sept.26 : The South African cricket team arrived in Karachi on Wednesday to play two Test matches and five One-day Internationals against Pakistan.

Tight security measures were taken at the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi on the arrival of the visiting team. Dozens of police officers including elite commandos were deployed at the airport. They surrounded the team as they left the Jinnah terminal building.

Auckland, Sept.27 : Left arm spinner Daniel Vettori was today confirmed as New Zealand's 26th Test captain when he was chosen to lead the New Zealand cricket team on next month's two-test tour to South Africa.

Vettori replaces Stephen Fleming, New Zealand's captain for the past decade, who was dropped from the position earlier this month after resigning the limited-overs captaincy. Fleming, however, retained his place in the 15-man test squad as a specialist batsman.

Bangalore, Sept.27 : Australian captain Ricky Ponting today said that India's cricketing big guns Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly would be targetted by his team during the forthcoming seven one-day internationals in India, beginning with Saturday's one-dayer in Bangalore.

Addressing a press conference here, Ponting said that the Kangaroos were well aware of the "strengths and weaknesses" of Dravid, Tendulkar and Ganguly, and as far the rest were concerned, they would be sorted out.

New Delhi, Sept 27 : The Vice President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Shashank Manohar, is all set to take over the board President’s job from incumbent Sharad Pawar in mid 2008.

Reports said that Manohar has been recommended to take over from Pawar after the latter assumes charge as the Vice-President of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in July 2008.

Lahore, Sept 27 : Pakistani batsman Mohammad Yousuf today agreed to cancel his contract with the Indian Cricket League (ICL) in order to continue playing for his national team.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Nasim Ashraf said that he had a “fruitful meeting” with Yousuf today, during which the prolific batsman signed a central contract with the board.

"He is now available to represent Pakistan. He is the backbone of Pakistan's batting, and we are happy that he is back,” Ashraf said.

Bangalore, Sept. 28 : Former India captain Sourav Ganguly has said that he missed being part of the Twenty20 World Cup.

“If India wins, you miss being part of the team. Yes, I missed being part of the Twenty20 World Cup,” Ganguly said.

Ganguly, who had a word of appreciation for Dhoni's captaincy, said the Australians were good, but Indian bowlers were also doing well.

When asked about Twenty20 cricket, he said, “One has to get adjusted to the three formats being played.”

Lahore, Sept 28 : Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar is likely to face a number of disciplinary charges when a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) committee meets at the Gaddafi Stadium here today to review charges against the bowler for striking team-mate Mohammad Asif in South Africa early this month.

Disciplinary committee chairman Shafqat Naghmi said the charges against the controversial fast bowler would be reviewed before he is summoned for a hearing.

Bangalore, Sept. 29 : Australia’s stand-in captain Adam Gilchrist has said that injury-hit team is ready to salvage its pride and prove their status as world champions in the first One-day international against India.

"We have got very good squad which we are relying on. We've made six changes for our first one-day international since the World Cup final," Gilchrist said.

Gilchrist said that his men would be fired up following the comments made by some of the Indian players during their Twenty20 clash.

Lahore, Sep 29 : Former Pakistan cricket captain Inzamamul Haq has turned down an offer to play in the first Test against South Africa from October 1-5, for unknown reasons.

"I spoke to him and asked him about his availability. But he said not to consider him for unknown reasons. He will obviously be considered if wants to play in the second match," said Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) selection committee head Salahuddin Ahmad.

Lahore, Sep 29 : Controversial Pakistan bowler Shoaib Akhtar’s cricket career could be coming to a close.

It has been reliably learnt that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has made up its mind on Akhtar’s future and final decision will be taken after a hearing on the sidelines of Pakistan-South Africa second Test in Lahore on October 6.

Sources said that the PCB disciplinary committee has received clear instructions from the President Pervez Musharraf, chief patron, that he should be penalised for his misbehaviour.

Bangalore: A positive India Captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, on Friday sated that the Twenty20 World Cup victory was the past thing, and the Indian group was now all set to play some tough match against Australians.

Kochi, Sept 30 : The first one-day international (ODI) between India and Australia having already been washed out, rain is again likely to play the spoilsport in the second game of the seven match series to be played in Kochi on October 2.

The Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium in the city is being spruced up to host the match on Tuesday, even as cloudy skies dampened preparations.

The groundsmen at the stadium are working overtime to protect the wicket and the outfield, which is water logged due to heavy rains in past few days.

Karachi, Oct 1 : The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has awarded the team with a cash prize of approximately 130 million rupees for reaching the final of the recently concluded Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa.

Each member of the Twenty20 squad was awarded with a cash prize of six million rupees, while a similar sum was announced as bonus for 20 centrally contracted “A” category players by the PCB chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf at a glittering ceremony here on Sunday.

Karachi, Oct 2 : Mohammad Yousuf’s last-minute withdrawal from the playing line-up ignited speculations that the player was forced to stay away from the match after receiving threats from the Indian Cricket League (ICL).

Yousuf, however, denied that his decision to sit out of the Karachi Test match had anything to do with the ICL issue.

When pressed by the reporters, Yousuf said that they should ask the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) about the issue.

Lahore, Oct 2 : Former Pakistan cricket captain Inzamam-ul-Haq is reportedly considering to retire from international cricket, and is discussing the issues pertaining to it with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

After a disastrous exit from the 2007 Cricket World Cup, Inzamam’s colleagues and the board have been reportedly persuading him to call it a day in a graceful manner and he has accepted their suggestions, The Nation reported.

According to the daily, the announcement is expected to come in a few days time.

Kochi, Oct 2: Australia beat India by 84 runs in the second ODI of the seven-match series played here today.

Chasing a target of 307 runs set by Australia, India was all out for 222 runs with more than two overs to go.

India lost its first four wickets in quick succession and before the end of first fifteen overs, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh and Robin Uthappa were back to pavilion scoring 7,16, 10 and 41 runs respectively.

Lahore, Oct 4 : Former Pakistan captain Inzamam ul-Haq has announced that he has ‘no immediate plans to retire from Test cricket’.

Inzamam confirmed that he had informed the Pakistani selectors about his availability for the second Test.

"I am fully fit and have no plans to retire. I don’t want to leave the game. I want to play as long as I am fit and can perform," the Daily Times quoted him, as saying.

Hyderabad, Oct 4 : Australian skipper Ricky Ponting today said that the aggression being shown by the Indian team was nothing but an attempt to put a brave front to face them.

Commenting on the aggression shown by some of the Indian players during the first two matches, Ponting told a press conference ahead of the third one-day international to be played here on Friday, that this was not the way Indian team generally played cricket.

"In the first couple of games, there hasn't been too much difference in aggression shown by the both the teams. It has probably been more of body language shown by Indians as well as our side. I think that much is to be expected,” he said.

Sydney, Oct.5 : Australian Olympic chief John Coates has welcomed a reported admission from Marion Jones that she used steroids as she prepared for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, and called on authorities to strip her of her medals.

Melinda Gainsford-Taylor and Cathy Freeman finished sixth and seventh in the 200 metres behind Jones and the pair joined Tamsyn Lewis and Nova Peris-Kneebone in placing fifth in the 4x400-metres relay, won by the USA team.

Asked if Jones should be stripped of her three gold medals and two bronze at the Sydney Olympics, Coates said: "I hope so.''
"Under the new world anti-doping code, there is the ability to go back eight years,'' he said.

Lahore, Oct 5 : Days after cancelling his contract with the Indian Cricket League (ICL) to play for the national team, Pakistan middle-order batsman Mohammad Yousuf has joined the Indian Premier League (IPL).

“Yousuf has signed a contract with the IPL,” Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Nasim Ashraf said.

Reacting to reports that Yousuf might still play in the ICL after he backed out of the first Test South Africa citing lack of match fitness, Ashraf dismissed it categorically.

“There’s no way Yousuf is going to play in the ICL. Anybody saying that he will play in the ICL to avoid financial losses must know that the IPL will pay him handsomely,” he was quoted by the Daily Times, as telling an English daily.

Sydney, Oct.6 : The Australian Government has announced a new drug policy for sport that it hopes will be adopted by all sporting bodies and will involve tests of 6000 illicit drugs a year.

Australian Arts and Sports Minister George Brandis and the Minister for illicit drug policy Christopher Pyne, jointly announced the initiative today, which will involve funding of 21 million Australian dollars for the next four years.

The policy will also include an amnesty during the implementation phase and will involve a graduated sanction system.

Lahore, Oct 6 : A Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) disciplinary committee, in a surprising move, has omitted from its charge sheet the principal allegation against pacer Shoaib Akhtar, of hitting his team-mate Mohammad Asif with a cricket bat.

Shoaib’s lawyer, Bilal Mintoo and the PCB Chief Operating Officer (COO) Shafqat Naghmi, admitted that the primary charge of hitting Asif with the bat is not included in the charge sheet.

Mintoo disclosed that the charge sheet, which he received didn’t contain the charge of Asif being struck with a bat in South Africa.

Karachi, Oct 6 : Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairperson Nasim Ashraf has justified the board’s u-turn on the strict stance over the Indian Cricket League (ICL) saying that he never said the Board would ban Pakistani players just for signing a contract with the rebel league.

Ashraf claimed that he had instead said the PCB would ban a player if he “plays” in the ICL.

“Our stance over the ICL is the same. Any of our cricketer who plays in the ICL will be banned,” The News quoted him, as saying.

His statement assumes significance as in August, Ashraf had issued stern warnings to possible ICL recruits saying that any player opting for the league would never play for Pakistan.

Chandigarh, Oct 6 : Chandigarh is gearing up to host the fourth one-day international of the ongoing seven-match series between Australia and India.

The Sector 16 stadium is being spruced up to host the match to be played on Monday, which will be its first in over 14 years.

Groundsmen are working hard to give finishing touches to the pitch and the outfield. New pavilions have been constructed, while the existing ones have been expanded to fit in more seats.

I. S. Sandhu, Director Sports, Chandigarh, said the ground is ready to hold an international match.

Lahore, Oct 8 : Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq has expressed hope to end his Test career by doing “something special” for the team in the second match against visiting South Africa, which started today at the Gaddafi Stadium.

The ongoing Lahore Test is the last international match for the 37-year-old middle order batsman.

“Being back with the team was very emotional for me, and the players are backing me to do something special. I just hope I can deliver for the team,” he said.

Karachi, Oct 8 : South African skipper Graeme Smith has said that Pakistani speedster Shoaib Akhtar might be a match winner, but he also had a disruptive influence on the team.

”Certainly, he is a player who has won Test matches for them as a bowler, but certainly we have seen he has been a disruptive influence for them,” Smith said ahead of the second Test match.

He said this in reply to a query as to whether Shoaib’s absence was influencing their ongoing Test series against Pakistan, The News reported.

Smith, however, added that his “focus is on what we have to do best to win matches.”

Lahore, Oct 8 : As the second Test match between Pakistan and South Africa got underway here today, batsman Mohammad Yousuf said he is ready to support his team by demonstrating his usual style of cricket.

"I was away from cricket for the past couple of months but during the past five days I did my best to be in a good shape to play my usual style of cricket", The News quoted Yousuf, as saying.

"I rate my team as favourites for the Lahore Test," said Yousuf.

"The second Test will not be that easy for South Africa as our players are now more focused and (better) prepared for a challenge," he added.

Karachi, Oct 9 (ANI): Swashbuckling batsmen Shahid Afridi and Imran Nazir are all set to return to the Pakistan team for the one-day series against visiting South Africa, starting October 18 in Lahore.

The National Selectors are expected to announce the ODI squad after the ongoing final Test of the two-match series ends in Lahore on October 12.

Afridi, who was named the Player of the Series in the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa last month, decided to skip the Test series because of Ramadan, and is an automatic choice for the five-match ODI series, The News reported.

Lahore, Oct 9 : The lawyer of controversial Pakistani speedster Shoaib Akhtar has lodged a complaint with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) against Shahid Afridi, urging it to take action against the all-rounder for interacting with the media.

Akhtar’s lawyer Bilal Minto has filed a petition, saying if action could be taken against his client for holding a press conference, then similar action should be taken against Afridi, as he also, after appearing before the disciplinary committee on Saturday, talked to the media.

The Dawn quoted sources as saying that Minto handed over a written complaint to PCB’s GM Operations Subhan Ahmed on Monday.

Lahore, Oct 10 : The Indian Cricket League (ICL) has reportedly served a notice to prolific Pakistani batsman Mohammad Yousuf for breaching a three-year contract last month in order to play for his national team.

Sources said that Yousuf’s family received the notice two days ago at his Lahore home.

Yousuf along with former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, opener Imran Farhat and all-rounder Abdul Razzaq had signed a three-year contract with the rebel ICL last month, the Dawn reported.

However, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) later persuaded the Lahore player to reverse his decision to play for the country.

As China gets ready for Beijing 2008 Olympics, telecom major Huawei Technologies Co Ltd announced that the company will install a new generation GSM Base Station on Mount Everest for better coverage of the event.

China Mobile has selected Huawei to provide mobile network coverage for Torch Relay Team for Beijing 2008 Olympics.

Lenovo won the contract to design the Olympics Torch for 2008 event. The journey of the Olympics torch will be covered by the 6500-meter high GSM base station.

The Olympic torch tradition started in Germany before World War II.

Lahore, Oct.10 : After bowling Pakistan out for 206 in their first innings, South Africa were 154 for two in their second innings, and in possession of an overall lead of 305 runs at the close of the third day's play in the second and the final Test match being played here at Gaddafi Stadium on Wednesday.

Captain Grame Smith and Jacquis Kallis were at the crease with 75 and 37, respectively. Both batsmen have so far added 88 runs for their unbeaten third wicket stand.

London, Oct. 11 : Queen Elizabeth probably settled for calling him Sir Ian, but after receiving his knighthood at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday, former England cricket great and charity icon Ian Botham admitted that his family and friends were less formal.

"They're coming up with all kinds of names for me now and Sir Loin of Beef was the first good one," he said.

Sir Ian Botham said his investiture by the Queen was 'mind blowing'

However, according to the Daily Mail, he revealed that he has yet to be addressed as Sir Beefy after the nickname he acquired during his career as one of England's greatest Test cricketers.

Vadodara (Gujarat), Oct.11 : Sachin Tendulkar's record 400th ODI appearance at the IPCL Ground here on Thursday turned out to be an event that he would like to erase from his memory very soon, as Australia cantered to a nine-wicket win against India in the fifth of seven one-dayers between the two sides.

Adam Gilchrist, who pocketed six catches and played a leading role in effecting Saurav Ganguly's run out at the start of the Indian innings, got into some form with an unbeaten 79 from 77 deliveries. He was ably assisted by captain Ricky Ponting, who scored an unbeaten 39 to take the Aussies hope to their victory target of 149. For the record, India scored a paltry and disappointing 148.

Lahore, Oct 11 : Pakistan’s controversial fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar is likely to be given yet another lease of life, but not without some punishment.

It has been learnt through a highly placed source in the Pakistan Cricket Board that he would be in action sooner, than later, but he won't be given a clean chit.

Shoaib was involved in a brawl with Mohammad Asif in South Africa just before the Twenty20 World Cup and was sent back by the team management with a five-match ban, but the PCB treated the ban as indefinite.

The PCB constituted a three-man committee headed by its Chief Operating Officer Shafqat Naghmi, Director Operations Zakir Khan and Director HR Naveed Cheema.

Lahore, Oct.11 : Pakistan put up an improved performance in its second innings in the second Test against South Africa at Lahore's Gaddaffi Stadium on Thursday, but was still 349 runs adrift of the Proteas victory target when bad light brought a premature end to the fourth day's play.

Pakistan will have to bat out the whole day on Friday to ensure a draw. At the draw of stumps, Pakistan had scored 107 for the loss of Salman Butt's wicket. Younis Khan and Kamran Akmal were unbeaten on 47 and 49 respectively.

Lahore, Oct 11 : Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) today banned controversial fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar from playing 13 international matches and fined him a whooping Rupees 3.4 million rupees (56,000 US dollars) for hitting his teammate, Mohammad Asif, with a bat.

"He has been banned for 13 international matches consecutively -- it will start from the first Twenty20 match in South Africa last month," The News quoted the Board's chief operating officer Shafqat Naghmi, as saying.

Lahore, Oct 12 : The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has recommended six players for participation in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

PCB Chief Operating Officer, (COO) Shafqat Naghmi said that like Mohammad Yousuf, Inzamam would also not be playing for the ICL.

Instead the duo alongwith Shoaib Akhtar, Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik would be a part of the IPL, recognised by all the boards.

Yousuf, Inzamam, Imran Farhat and Abdul Razzaq are the four Pakistani players, who had earlier signed with the ICL.

Lahore, Oct 13 : Pakistan’s loss to South Africa in Test series has seen them drop one place in the latest ICC Test Championship ranking. The defeat has cost the team three rating points and that has been enough to drop them below New Zealand into seventh place in the updated ladder.

Pakistan had previously been on the same mark as the Black Caps – 99 points, but occupied the higher placing when the ratings were calculated to three decimal places.

Pakistan’s first chance to reverse their slide down the table will come when they travel to India to play three Tests and five ODIs in November and December.

Hyderabad, Oct 14 : President Pratibha Devisingh Patil will declare the week-long 4th Military World Games, which is considered as the second biggest sporting event after the Olympics, open here later in the day.

The opening ceremony of the mega event being held in the twin cities of Hyderabad-Secunderabad will also be attended by Defence Minister A.K Antony, and Defence Ministers and army generals of several participating nations at the Gachibowli Complex.

Tight security arrangements have been made for the Games in the wake of the blasts here in August this year and subsequent intelligence inputs that the main venue of the Games was on terror group's target.

Lahore, Oct 15 : Former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad has said that he shared a teacher-student relationship with Inzamam-ul Haq, who retired from Test cricket last week.

“We also had a student-teacher relationship,” Miandad said after Inzamam fell three short of breaking his record of highest Test aggregate for Pakistan.

“What matters is Inzamam’s show of respect for me and his extraordinary demeanour in this era when jealousy and disrespect prevail,” added Miandad, who played alongside Inzamam between 1991 and 1996.

“A player like Inzamam is only born in centuries and his performances were proof of that,” the Daily Times quoted him, as saying.

Lahore, Oct 15 : Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson has said that it will take at least one to two years to find a replacement for former skipper and batsman Inzamam-ul Haq, who retired from Test cricket after playing his last match against South Africa here on Friday.

“It is not going to happen overnight,” Lawson said.

“It will take a year or two before we can find a replacement for Inzamam. He was a class player with experience which comes with time,” the Daily Times quoted him, as saying.

Lawson further said that it would be unfair to expect any of the current players to start matching Inzamam’s class immediately.

New Delhi, Oct 16 : Newly crowned world chess champion Viswanathan Anand met President Pratibha Patil here on Monday.

Anand, who was accompanied by his wife Aruna, showed his medal to Patil.

“It's a great feeling. I'm very honoured to have met the President. She had followed the tournament Mexico. I was thrilled, it was a great honour for me,” he said.

Anand, 37, won the championship in Mexico after defeating Vladimir Kramnik of Russia.

Anand regained the world title after seven years with an unbeaten run in the tournament.

Sydney, Oct.16 : Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting and his boys are determined to pour salt into the Indian side's gaping wounds during the seventh and final one-dayer to be played between the two sides at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday.

With a series-winning 4-1 lead, Ponting said the Australians would not be making too many changes to their squad for the final clash.

"I don't think there will be many changes, if we make any changes there might only be a change, we feel that we have built some really good momentum in this series," news.com.au quoted Ponting, as saying.

Ponting said the decision not to rest players hadn't spelt the death of the controversial rotation policy.

Sydney, Oct.19 : Recording-breaking leg spinner Shane Warne dearly wanted to captain the Australian cricket team, but according to former Cricket Australia director Queensland lawyer Damien Mullins, Warne’s ambition was scuttled for seven “deadly sins”.

Mullins is quoted by news.com.au as saying that there was always a feeling in Cricket Australia officialdom that Warne would always let you down sooner or later.

Cricket Australia directors are meeting today to decide, among other things, if there is a suitable coaching or promotional job they can offer Warne with a view to using his expertise in spin bowling to unearth future exponents of the art.

Karachi, Oct.19 : The visiting South African cricket team  will assess the security situation following the twin blasts in Karachi late on Thursday that killed 138 people and injured over 500.

A decision on whether the tour will continue or not is expected later today.

Mumbai, Oct.20 : Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds, who was not only the victim of racially charged crowd taunts, but also media manipulation, is said to be looking forward to end of the team’s tour of India.

According to news.com.au, Symonds presumably will be relieved when today's Twenty20 international at the Brabourne Stadium is completed.

A tour of India can be a test of nerves and bowels at the best of times, but for Symonds, the past three weeks have been one of his greatest tests of character.

In Twenty20 international match against India, Australian Captain Ricky Ponting won the toss and elected to bat.
Australian team has been in a very good position in the earlier series against India. The team is confident about beating India in Twenty20 cricket as well. Indian team has won the Twenty20 World Cup recently.

Australian team could not make very good scores. The target for India to chase is 168 in 20 overs. For Australia, Ricky Ponting scored a fast 50.

India is moving towards its win in Twenty20 international match against Australia. Gautam Gambhir is playing at 62 in just 47 balls. Yuvraj Singh has scored 20 runs in 12 balls.

Australian team could not do well as Indian bowlers were very good at bowling in today’s match. 168 seemed like an easy target for Twenty20 World Cup champions.

RV Uthappa played well and scored 35 runs in 26 deliveries. Sehwag could not play well in today’s match. He went back to pavilion after scoring 5 runs only.

India has won the First Twenty20 match of its series against Australia. India won by 7 wickets. There were still 11 balls remaining. The World Champions in Twenty20 have proved that their team is very good in playing fast cricket.

Indian team will be praised by Indian Cricket fans for a great performance in the first match. Indian team could not play well in the last series against Australia.

Mumbai, Oct 21 : After having failed to impress much in the shortest version of cricket, Australia skipper Ricky Ponting has said that his team needs to change its game plan in the Twenty20 format.

"I think we have to all be aware of that and to make sure that in the next Twenty20 event we go into, we try a little bit different. We try more dynamic sort of stuff that you have to encounter in this game," Ponting told reporters after the seven-wicket defeat at the hands of India her at the Brabourne Stadium.

Pointing out that any mistake made in T20 games can be “magnified very quickly,” Ponting said the team made too many faults giving the game to India.

London, Oct.22 : Lewis Hamilton's bid to be this year's Formula One champion ended in failure on Sunday.

British hero Hamilton was pipped to the crown by a point by Kimi Raikkonen in last night's Brazilian Grand Prix.

According to The Sun, night stewards cleared Raikkonnen's victory after several meetings that centered around a probe into fuel temperature irregularities with three drivers.

McLaren rookie Hamilton would have snatched the title if F1 chiefs had disqualified Williams ace Nico Rosberg, plus BMW pair Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld.

London, Oct.22 : Millions of English fans thought their team had scored to win this year's Rugby World Cup against South Africa, but Australian video referee Stuart Dickinson ruled that Mark Cueto's foot had brushed the touchline, and therefore, gone out of play before he grounded the ball in the 42nd minute.

Dickinson based his ruling on a study of video footage. Though most rugby analysts believe he made the correct call, English fans thought otherwise.

Sydney, Oct.22 : Australian batsman Michael `Pup" Clarke must have thought it was curtains for his relationship with Sydney model Lara Bingle following the publication of photographs of him canoodling with a busty brunette in Cape Town on the sidelines of the Twenty20 World Cup.

But alls well with the couple, for Lara Bingle is still as bowled over by Clarke.

According to news.com.au, the Cronulla babe flew to Mumbai to be by her man's side as he competed in the one-off Twenty20 international against India at the weekend.

Sydney, Oct.22 : Former Australian spin king Shane Warne believes cricket fans in Australia won't racially taunt Indian players this summer as revenge for the treatment meted out to all-rounder Andrew Symonds while in India.

"Australian crowds are pretty good," news.com.au quoted Warne, as saying.

Warne also believes that his luckless understudy Stuart MacGill should be the frontrunner for the summer Test series.

"He's been around for a long time and deserves his chance. I hope he does well," Warne said

Mumbai, Oct 22 : Cricketer Yuvraj Singh has said that the racial controversy surrounding the recently concluded one-day series between India and Australia was unnecessarily hyped up by the media.

"You (media) are the ones who built up the racial issue. You played up the controversy by spicing up whatever happened. Otherwise this would never have reached such a situation. You people have competition amongst yourselves. Now, when we go to Australia, obviously home support will be more. But I am against racial abuse. Every player is against it. This should not happen," said Singh.

A racism row targeting Australian cricketer Andrew Symonds has marred the recently concluded one-day series.

Sydney, Oct.23 : A new report has warned that Australian crowd behavior, especially at sporting events, has not changed much, and racist comments are still very much a part of the daily drill when it comes to villifying opponents of the country's sporting heroes.

What's the Score?, a study of racism in Australia, was released this week by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. It notes an increase in the incidence of poor crowd behaviour in Australian in recent times.

Cricket Australia's swift reaction to this sort of unsavoury behaviour, however, has been applauded and praised.

Sydney, Oct.23 : The Indian cricket team that will tour Australia in December and January can expect to face a tough time from their opponents and the crowd, said Australian skipper Ricky Ponting.

Addressing a news conference here soon after the team's arrival from Mumbai, Ponting said Indian players had adopted a more confrontational attitude, and therefore, should expect to be paid back in the same coin.

A string of visiting teams and players have realised that maintaining the intensity during a long summer tour can be quite a challenge.

Sydney, Oct.23 : Sri Lanka's off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan should not be subjected to crowd abuse this summer, Australian captain Ricky Ponting has pleaded.

Murali will arrive with the Sri Lankan team in Adelaide tomorrow morning to take on the Australian team in a two-Test series next month and is certain to be the target of aggressive spectators again because of his controversial action.

Chennai, Oct 23 : World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand shared the limelight with Indian cricketers at the felicitation ceremony organised by the All India Chess Federation (AICF) here on Monday.

Asian Chess Federation President Sheikh Sultan Bin Khalifah Al Nahyan presented Anand with a memento, but the world chess champ was more than impressed to be in the company of former Indian cricket skipper Rahul Dravid.

“The award was very touching and all in all it is a great reception. It was nice to meet him (Rahul Dravid). I also met other colleagues from sports.

Many of my friends came from all over India. It was fantastic," Anand said.

New York, October 23 : A private detective who worked for O. J. Simpson has alleged that the former American football star once hired high-profile Los Angeles private investigator Anthony Pellicano to bug and harass his late ex-wife Nicole Brown.

"I know for a fact that Nicole Brown Simpson was a victim of stalking and that her cars and residence had been wiretapped," the New York Daily News quoted Bill Pavelic, the lead investigator for Simpson's defense team during his criminal trial for the murders of Nicole and Ron Goldman, as saying.

Islamabad, Oct 24 : Pakistan’s controversial fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, who is likely to play the fifth and final One-day International against South Africa after completing a 13-match ban, bowled a few spells in a Quaid Trophy match in presence of a national selector here.

Saleem Jaffer, a member of the selection committee, especially flew to Islamabad to watch the performance of Shoaib who was representing Khan Research Laboratories in the match against Zarai Tarqiati Bank (ZTBL).

Shoaib bowled 21 overs and took one wicket in the first innings, the Dawn reported.

Sydney, Oct.24 : Former Australian captain and middle-order bat Ian Chappell has questioned the merits of Ian Botham's recent knighthood, reigniting a war of words with the English cricket great.

Chappell, who says he hasn't spoken to Botham since 1980, unleashed a withering attack on Beefy in today's edition of The Bulletin magazine.

It follows claims from Botham in his new autobiography that he "flattened" the former Australian captain in a Melbourne bar 30 years ago.

Chappell again dismisses Botham's recounting of the events of their much-told 1977 spat, before cautioning the Englishman, who was knighted by the Queen this month for his services to cricket and charity, about "peddling his lies".

Melbourne, Oct.24 : Sri Lankan off-spinner Muthiah Muralitharan has said that he will not be affected by the taunts of Australian spectators during the forthcoming series Down Under.

"You never know what is the next thing that will happen in life. In 20 minutes, anything could have happened, we could have been injured or taken back to the sea. So that's the luck. Life goes on,” Murali said recalling the devastation caused by the December 26, 2004 Tsunami in Galle, Sri Lanka.

"I am not too worried about the crowds. It will be the same as before. (Former Sri Lankan coach) Tom (Moody) told me that they only do it to try and distract you … I am looking forward to the challenge," The Age quoted Murali, as saying.

London, Oct.24 : British boxer Amir Khan has been cleared of dangerous driving after he speeding through a red light and knocking down a pedestrian.

The world lightweight title hopeful reached a top speed of 47mph as he went through traffic lights in the wrong lane in Bolton town centre on March 2.

Geoffrey Hatton, 55, suffered a broken leg when he was hit by Khan's BMW 6-series convertible on a pelican crossing.

The jury at Bolton Crown Court agreed with Khan's argument that his driving was careless, but not dangerous.

Khan was impassive as the jury returned a verdict of not guilty of dangerous driving, but guilty of careless driving.

Judge Steven Everitt banned Khan from driving for six months and fined him 1,000 pounds.

Sydney, Oct.24 : In his new book, Captain's Diary 2007, which hits bookshelves across Australia today, Ponting reveals how his team's World Cup-winning celebrations almost ended in disaster — with the possibility of even a night in jail — in the West Indies earlier this year after the team ventured back onto the Bridgetown pitch to sing its celebratory song Under the Southern Cross following its win over Sri Lanka in the final.

According to stuff.nz.com, Ponting noticed a group of policemen coming up behind them, with one of them saying: "Righto boys, time to go, you've got to get off the ground."

Sydney, Oct.24 : There have been plenty of light moments in the cricket life of Ricky Ponting, too, and one of them surrounded his first involvement with Shane Warne at the Australian Cricket Academy in Adelaide during the winter of 1992, of how the aspiring spin-king tried to lead him astray even though his then captain-to-be was a teenager at the time.

In his book, Ponting reveals that despite their age difference — Ponting was 17 and Warne almost 23 — "he headed in my direction and we shared some time together".

Writes Ponting in his Captain’s Dairy for 2007: "He was the bloke responsible for my nickname 'Punter', assigned to me because of my habit of sneaking down to the TAB on Monday and Thursday nights to have a bet on the greyhounds.

Karachi, Oct.24 : The South African cricket team today announced that it was ready to play the fifth and the final One-day International in Karachi.

The News quoted sources as saying that the match would take place as scheduled on October 29.

The security officer of the South African team was given a briefing at the office of the Home Secretary. He was informed in the briefing that one more grade has been added to the security for the South African team on which the security officer expressed his satisfaction.

Sydney, Oct.25 : A Jamaican Government pathologist insists that former Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer died of pesticide poisoning.

Ere Sheshiah, an Indian doctor, said a toxicology report in June revealed fatal levels of the pesticide cypermethrin in Woolmer’s system.

“My final opinion is it was asphyxia, associated with cypermethrin poisoning,” The Australian quoted Sheshiah, as saying.

Other doctors testifying at the inquest into Woolmer's death have disparaged Sheshiah's autopsy, saying the 58-year-old coach died of natural causes, most likely heart disease.

Woolmer was found unconscious in his downtown Kingston hotel room March 18, a day after Pakistan lost to Ireland in the Cricket World Cup.

Lahore, Oct 25 : The visiting South African cricket team has expressed regret over the shift of venue of the fifth One-day International (ODI) to Lahore following security concerns shown by them in the wake of the October 18 Karachi blasts.

“We deeply regret this decision, especially for the people of Karachi, for having deprived them of this opportunity. But unfortunately the members of the South African contingent are not comfortable travelling to Karachi,” Proteas team manager Logan Naidoo said after the Pakistan Cricket Board’s decision to move the Karachi match to Lahore.

Karachi, Oct 26: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has requested the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to arrange for more visas for Pakistani cricket fans to see matches during their team’s tour of India starting November 1.

"We have asked the BCCI to issue ample number of visas because a lot of fans would want to go and see matches in India," said Zakir Khan, the PCB’s Director of Operations.

The reports coming from India say that the recent bombings in various parts of India have taken a toll on cricket with only 250 Pakistanis being allowed to come to watch the one-dayer in Mohali next month.

Kanpur, Oct 26: Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Vice President Rajiv Shukla has admitted that cramped game schedules are making players fatigued.

"There is no doubt that the players are fatigued. But the schedule is prepared according to the ICC calendar. It is not just our team, but the other teams too have to follow it, and the England team has also complained of the hectic schedule since they also have to play back to back matches,” Shukla said.

Ludhiana: Wrestlers treated violently with the media persons on Thursday, on cancellation of the wrestling competition destined for October 28, 2007 in Ludhiana.

When the competition got cancelled owing to some technical problem, the wrestlers do not control their anger and start beating journalists.

The Canadian company, Universal Wrestling Stars Inc. (UWSI), had recently made the announcement of an international wrestling championship ‘India vs. Rest of the World - War of Legends’ at Patiala plus the scheduled venues of Ludhiana and Jalandhar.

Melbourne, Oct 27 : Australian fast bowler Jason Gillespie is the latest entrant to join the Indian Premier league (IPL), the professional Twenty20 league venture of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Gillespie is one of the Cricket Australia's 25 contracted players, and said he was excited by the competition.

"I am at this stage of my career where I am looking forward to new challenges," Gillespie said.

"I think this competition will be a lot of fun," The Australian quoted Gillespie, as saying.

Sydney, Oct.27 : James Sutherland, the Chief Executive of Cricket Australia, has said that the media has exaggerated isolated instances of racism and poor crowd behaviour in cricket.

Addresssing the South Australian Press Club in Adelaide yesterday, Sutherland, a guest speaker, said he did not expect any difference in crowd behaviour this year despite the controversy surrounding the Andrew Symonds episode during the Australian team’s tour of India.

Karachi, Nov 1 : Pakistan has got a relatively easy group in the second edition of the Twenty20 World Cup to be held in 2009 in England.

Pakistan, which featured in the T20 final in Johannesburg on September 24, will face England and an ICC associate nation in Group B of the tournament.

The groups were announced by the ICC after a meeting of its Executive Board in Dubai.

The board carried out a discussion on the groupings of the 2009 Twenty20 World Championship following a request by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

Karachi, Nov 1 : Coming down heavily on former skipper Javed Miandad for holding the national selectors responsible for the recent defeat at the hands of South Africa, chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed has said that it shows a negative mindset.

Salahuddin said that Miandad’s irresponsible comments on a private TV channel were totally uncalled for, and clearly in bad taste considering his stature as a cricketer of high standing.

“Why should the selectors be blamed for the defeats against South Africa?” he asked, adding, “Miandad’s constant tirade against the players, the selectors and the board officials shows a negative mindset.”

Lahore, Nov 2 : Fast bowler Mohammad Sami is likely to replace Mohammad Asif in the ODI and Test series against India, if the latter is ruled out for the entire tour.

Selectors are closely watching the performance of Sami in the ongoing Quaid-i-Azam Trophy, the Dawn reported.

On Thursday, Pakistan's cricket team landed in New Delhi without Asif for the forthcoming bilateral series in which the two would play five ODIs and three Test Matches.

Asif had suffered an injury in his right elbow during Multan ODI last month playing against South Africa and has been ruled out of the ODI series against India.

London, Nov.2 : Former World tennis Number One Martina Hingis has admitted to testing positive for cocaine at Wimbledon, as she announced that was quitting the sport permanently.

The ex-world No1, 27, however, angrily denied taking the Class A drug at this year’s tournament.

But she told a press conference that the pressure of the investigation had forced her to quit tennis.

Hingis branded her position “horrendous” — insisting: “My only performance enhancer is the love of the game.

Karachi, Nov 2 : Pakistan’s former captain and coach Javed Miandad has expressed surprise at the reaction of Chief Selector Salahuddin Ahmed over the criticism levelled at the team’s selection during the South Africa series.

"I am highly disappointed at the way Sallu unsportingly took the healthy criticism on team selection," Miandad told reporters.

"Everywhere in the world, former cricketers and experts carry out post-mortems of a lost series which I did too," he explained.

Miandad recalled that Salahuddin was the most vocal critic of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the selection committee in the past, but he himself failed to absorb routine criticism.

New Delhi, Nov 2 : The Pakistan cricket team is playing a warm-up match against Delhi Ranji team here today ahead of the five match one-day international series against India, starting Monday.

Pakistan's team landed in Delhi on Thursday for the series that kicks off on November 5 amid tight security.

The visitors jumped straight into action with their only warm-up one-day match against the Delhi Ranji team.

India opening batsman Virender Sehwag, recalled to the one-day team after being sidelined due to poor form, missed the warm-up match following his father's death two days ago.

Arun Jaitley, President of the Delhi and Districts Cricket Association, said all necessary security measure have been taken for the match.

New Delhi, Nov 3 : Pakistan's vice captain Younis Khan has said that his team would concentrate on playing positive cricket in the series against India starting next week here.

"We will play positive cricket. We have not set any goal, we have no plans to go after Pathan or Sreesanth or something like that," said Khan.

The Pakistan team landed in Delhi on November 1 for the series that kicks off on November 5.

The visitors have won their only warm-up one-day match against the Delhi Ranji Trophy team by seven wickets on Friday.

Pakistan, which last won a Test series in India in 1986, is due to play five one-day internationals and three Tests.

Kolkata, Nov 3 : The Indian cricket team practiced here ahead of the fourth bilateral series against Pakistan that begins on November 5.

Net practice was held at Eden Gardens for three hours on Friday.

"The team had a full practice session. They wanted to have it in indoors but things looking bright, wicket is very good and the outfield is also good. So, they thought they will not do it indoors. They will practice again tomorrow and in the evening session," said D. Kumar, spokesperson of Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB).

The Pakistan team landed in Delhi on Thursday for the series. The visitors have won their only warm-up one-day match against the Delhi Ranji Trophy team by seven wickets on Friday.

Sydney, Nov.3 : Cricket Australia has announced the introduction of the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy for the Test series between Australia and Sri Lanka starting next Thursday.

"The two greatest bowlers in world cricket history with more than 1400 Test wickets between them have lent their names to the (trophy), a perpetual prize that will be played for in Test Series between Australia and Sri Lanka," Cricket Australia said.

"The announcement celebrates the 25th anniversary of Australia-Sri Lanka Test cricket, with the silver trophy featuring casts of Warne and (Muralitharan's) right hands and match-used cricket balls bowled by both players during their careers."

Karachi, Nov 3 : Former Pakistan captain Hanif Mohammad, has said that players like Shoaib and Afridi had the ability to win matches almost single-handedly and predicted that the duo will play a major role in Pakistan’s campaign in the ODI series against India.

The national team currently touring India is a balanced unit and had the services of several match-winning players, he said.

Hanif said both Pakistan and India were exciting teams and some close contests were expected in the ODI series.

He, however, warned that Pakistan would have to give their best under pressure if they are to win on Indian soil.

Sydney, Nov.5 : Australia's bowling attack could be "a tad vulnerable" following the retirements of Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, but fast-medium bowler Stuart Clark believes the new-look bowling line-up will be quick to forge its own identity.

Clark, who will be playing his tenth Test against Sri Lanka from Thursday, could prove Australia's most vital bowling asset as the world champions embark on the post Warne-McGrath era.

Guwahati, Nov 5 (ANI): The Men in Blue today started the five-match one-day international series against Pakistan on a winning note, beating the visitors by five wickets to take a 1-0 lead at the Nehru Stadium here.

India might have registered narrow victories against the archrivals in their previous two international encounters, but this time Pakistan was outplayed in all the departments of the game.

After winning the toss this morning, Pakistani captain Shoaib Malik decided to bat first on what looked as a flat batting wicket. But after the opening stand of 44 runs between Kamran Akmal and Salman Butt, the Pakistani batsmen never really looked to trouble the Indian bowlers, as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

Sydney, Nov 6 : Australian vice-captain Sydney, Nov 6 : Australian vice-captain Adam Gilchrist has hinted that he might bid adieu to international cricket at the end of this season.

Revealing that he had pondered retirement during the last season's Ashes series, the swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batsman said that he was uncertain whether he would continue playing in the next season.

Sydney, Nov 7 : Cricket Australia (CA) is keeping an eye on the political situation in Pakistan ahead of Australia’s scheduled tour here in February.

Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency on Saturday, but the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said there was no reason for cricket tours to be affected.

CA spokesman Peter Young said, “It was too early to determine if Australia’s tour should go ahead”.

“There will be an inspection tour closer to the date, but until then, we’ll just be keeping an eye on things,” Young added.

London, Nov.7 : Former England captain and Los Angeles Galaxy star David Beckham tops the list of Britain’s ten richest footballers, with earnings of 112 million pounds.

Thirty-two-year-old Becks has three times the 37 million pounds earned by Newcastle’s Michael Owen, who comes in second on the list.

Man United’s Wayne Rooney, 22, and Cardiff’s Robbie Fowler, 32, each earn 30 million pounds.

Becks is 45th overall in soccer mag Four-Four-Two’s Football Rich List Top 100 — which includes just 14 players.

Sydney, Nov.7 : Australian captain Ricky Ponting today said that the Sri Lankan cricket team is scared of facing the Australians.

Speaking to reporters in Brisbane ahead of the first Test between the two sides, Ponting said: "You would think so. It's the same group of players. I'd imagine it would be. We've got a very good record against them."

Mohali, Nov 8 : The national selection committee will meet here later in the day to select India’s new Test captain.

There are strong indications that the One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni may be handed the reins of the team in the longer version of the game as well.

It seems that Dhoni has now emerged as the frontrunner for the post after Sachin Tendulkar informed the cricket board that he was not keen on taking up the assignment.

The post of captain of the Indian Test cricket team has been vacant since Rahul Dravid quit the post two months ago.

Sachin Tendulkar scored 99 runs against Pakistan during One-Day International being played in Mohali. Sachin Tendulkar missed only by one run, but he played really well. His innings helped India to set a nice score. Indian team was certainly looking quite happy with its performance in today's match. Indian team managed to set a big target for Pakistan of 321 for 9 wickets. Harbhajan Singh also helped a lot during the last few overs. Gautam Gambhir scored 57 while Yuvraj Singh was at 37.

Pakistan requires 58 runs with 6 wickets and 42 balls remaining. The match is at an interesting point. Indians are looking strong, but at the same time, Indian team needs a wicket.

Christchurch (New Zealand), Nov.9 : Two Burnside High School students in Christchurch, New Zealand, have reportedly come up with a hi-tech answer to improve their batting technique.

According to stuff.co.nz, Devatanu Deka, 17, and Fabian Law, 18, have designed a cricket bat with sensors that show which part of the bat a player has used to hit the ball.

A coach to improve a batsman’s technique and train him to hit the ball with the middle of the bat can use the sensors.

The invention was on show last night at the Bright Sparks Expo organised by industry training organisation ETITO.

Mumbai, Nov 9 : Former Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) joint-director of special crimes, Ravi Sawani, has been appointed the new chief investigator and general manager of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU).

Sawani, 57, takes over from Jeff Rees, who is retiring after holding the post since the inception of the ACSU in 2000.

Sawani was part of the CBI team set up in 2000 to inquire into the corruption charges against prominent cricketers.

ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said Sawani's experience of working in India would help the sport's governing body in their drive to eradicate corruption in cricket.

London, Nov.9 : Former Wimbledon champion  Boris Becker has won joint custody of his seven-year-old love child Anna.

According to The Sun, 39-year-old Becker was said to be unhappy with the way Anna was being raised by her mother Angela Ermakova.

Originally, he needed Angela's permission to see his daughter, but now a court has given him permission to see his daughter whenever he wants.

Angela and Boris conceived Anna after a quickie in a broom cupboard of a posh London restaurant.

In a book out shortly before the six-hour hearing in London’s High Court, Becker said Ermakova was trying to make Anna “a little celebrity”.

Mohali, Nov 9 : Indian and Pakistani teams were fined for slow over-rate during the second one-day international (ODI) match here on Thursday.

ICC match referee Roshan Mahanama imposed the fines after both the teams were ruled to be one over short of their targets when time allowances were taken into consideration.

In accordance with the ICC Code of Conduct regulations governing over-rate penalties, players are fined five per cent of their match fees for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time, with the captain fined double that amount.

As such, rival captains Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Shoaib Malik have been fined 10 per cent of their match fee, while their players have each received five per cent fines.
 

Melbourne, Nov 10 : Australian bowling great Shane Warne is all set to appear as his own parents in a series of TV advertisements for VB beer.

In the advertisement series, which will be a follow up of the hugely successful Boonie doll campaign, VB will launch Warne figurines with the campaign, suggesting Australians raise a toast to the king of spin.

Terming the experience as “fantastic,” Warne said: "I had a great time dressing up as my old man and my mother. I even had the chance to be baby Warney. It was a hoot."

"I absolutely loved doing the ads," news.com.au quoted Warne, as saying.

"It took a couple of hours to get made up for each character, but it was a load of fun.

Chandigarh, Nov 10 : Pakistani speedster Shoaib Akhtar is looking for a baby whom he wants to adopt.

Akhtar revealed this while paying a visit to a school for mentally challenged children in Chandigarh on Friday, a day after Pakistan won the second ODI match against India levelling the series 1-1.

"I don't want to publicise this matter. I am looking for one (baby)," Akhtar said.

The controversial Pakistani player who has been in news for all the wrong reasons, be it doping charges or hitting his team mate with a bat, said that he has not yet decided whether to adopt a baby boy or girl.

Kanpur, Nov 11: Team India on Sunday beat Pakistan by 46 runs to lead the five-ODI series by 2-1 here. The Men in Blue dominated today's game from the very onset at the Green Park stadium with the duo of Yuvraj Singh and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni contributing a total of 151 runs in the 294 score that the team made.

Yuvraj was adjudged the Man of the Match for his 77 runs in 95 balls that had 4 fours and three sixes.

"I would like to do well in Test cricket, " Yuvraj said in the post match felicitation.

Gwalior, Nov 13: A day after ruling him out of the One-day International series against India because of injury, Pakistan has declared that Kamran Akmal remained their first choice wicket-keeper for the fourth ODI to be played here on November 15.

A Pakistan team official said that Kamran Akmal is working hard to recover in time for the Gwalior one-dayer, and attended a training session with his teammates and also underwent a fitness test.

"Kamran Akmal remains our first choice wicket-keeper, there shouldn’t be any doubt about it, " Dr Ahsan Hameed Malik, the team’s media manager, said.

Gwalior, Nov 13: Preparations are in full swing for the fourth one-dayer to be played between India and Pakistan on Thursday in Gwalior.

Ground staff and curators at the Roop Singh stadium are busy in giving final touches to the pitch and the ground for the day-night match.

"Pitch and infrastructure are very good. There is a small ground behind the stadium as well for the practice, " said Dheeraj Parsana, member of the BCCI Wicket and Ground Committee.

India on Sunday defeated Pakistan in the third ODI in Kanpur by 46 runs to lead the five-match series by 2-1. (ANI)

New Delhi, Nov 13: BCCI President Sharad Pawar today said that the coach for the Indian cricket team would be appointed before the Australian tour, which is beginning in late December.

Pawar said this after a board meting here. The meeting discussed several issues, including sorting through the number of applications received for the post of coach.

The BCCI decided to continue with Lalchand Rajput as India's cricket manager till the end of the home Test series against Pakistan. He was appointed manager for the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa.

The Team India is without a permanent coach after Greg Chappell quit the job following the team’s first round exit from the World Cup in the West Indies in March this year.

New Delhi, Nov 13: BCCI President Sharad Pawar today said that the coach for the Indian cricket team would be appointed before the Australian tour, which is beginning in late December.

Pawar said this after a board meting here. The meeting discussed several issues, including sorting through the number of applications received for the post of coach.

The BCCI decided to continue with Lalchand Rajput as India's cricket manager till the end of the home Test series against Pakistan. He was appointed manager for the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa.

Lahore, Nov 14 : Pakistani fast bowler Mohammad Asif is hopeful of regaining fitness for the away Test series against India, beginning November 22.

"I do not rule myself out of the entire series against India because I am improving under the able guidance of the PCB doctor at the National Cricket Academy and doing my training regularly, " said Asif, who is suffering from a nagging elbow injury.

Asif, who will turn 25 in December, is likely to go to Australia for medical advice on the nature of his elbow injury, the Dawn reported.

Mumbai, Nov 14 : Much on the expected lines with few minor changes, the 14-member Test squad of Team India for the first two Test matches against Pakistan will have six bowlers - three spinners and three pacers, with off spinner Harbhajan Singh making a comeback.

Left-arm spinner Murali Kartik has been chosen for the third spinner's slot.

However, former vice captain Virender Sehwag failed to make a cut this time also, in spite of having a remarkable average of 91.14 runs against Pakistan. All-rounder Irfan Pathan has also been kept out for the first two matches.

Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh), Nov 15: Thousands of spectators from across the country have arrived here to watch the fourth one-day international (ODI) match to be played between the India and Pakistan today.

The Indian fans are buoyant with their team's recent success against Pakistan.

"I am coming from Rajgarh which is 350 kilometres from here. I hope India will win the match, " said Babloo, a fan.

However, the touring Pakistan team too has many Indian supporters who are confident of Pakistan winning the fourth day-night ODI to be played in Captain Roop Singh Stadium.

Yusuf, a fan of Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar said, "I wish Pakistan wins the match. Akhtar will take five wickets today. "

Gwalior, Nov 15 : Police resorted to baton charge on cricket fans here today following a row over entry into the Captain Roop Singh stadium where the fourth ODI between India and Pakistan is being played.

The spectators were complaining of not being allowed to enter inside the stadium in spite of having valid tickets.

" They (organisers) have been harassing us under the pretext of making security arrangements. It has been almost five hours since we have been standing in the queue, and have not even got a glimpse of the match. I doubt whether I will even get to see the match, " said Mohit Saxena, a cricket fan.

Many were disappointed with the poor arrangements made by the organisers.

Sachin Tendulkar was once again dismissed at 97 in the International Cricket match between India and Pakistan. Sachin Tendulkar had to return back from for seven times this year from a score of 90’s.

New Delhi, Nov 19 : Chief of the Organising Committee for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Sebastian Coe on Monday urged Indian youth to take to sports and aspire for the Olympics.

Casually dressed in shorts and a white T-shirt with the logo of the London Olympics 2012, Coe jogged and performed exercises with young Indian boys and girls at a training session at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in the national capital.

"I was hoping that a lot of the young talent with I was running today or who were watching the training sessions will be inspired to compete in 2010 in Delhi, and look at the Olympics as an ambition in years to come. So we want more young people into sports and this is the right way to do it," Coe said.

New Delhi, Nov 20 : The job of leading the Indian cricket team might have come a little late for Anil Kumble, but the veteran spinner sees it as “another beginning” of his career.

Kumble, who is all set to lead the Indian Test side when it takes on archrivals Pakistan in the first match at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground here on November 22, today said he was looking forward to perform his new duty.

“Delhi is of course among my favourite grounds and it’s (captaincy) another beginning,” he told reporters when asked about playing at Feroz Shah Kotla (where he took 10 wickets in an innings in 1999 against Pakistan) as a captain.

New Delhi, Nov 22: The tussle between the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Chairman of the Selection Committee, Dilip Vengsarkar, over writing newspaper columns by the latter, turned bitter today when the Board issued a show cause notice to him for defying its gag order.

The BCCI reportedly told the former India skipper, “stop writing or quit as chief selector”.

Despite the BCCI warning to stop writing columns for the newspaper, the chief selector did not put down his pen. He wrote column for Thursday's Amar Ujala, a Hindi daily, and Sakal, a Marathi daily.

New Delhi, Nov 22 : The Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) has done a good job in giving the Ferozshah Kotla a brand new look, but its efforts do not seem to be good enough in some other departments.

Toilet facilities at the stadium did not impress former Indian leg-spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan.

"Delhi is the capital and look at the condition of the toilets at its main cricket stadium," cricketer-turned-commentator was heard murmuring.

He was apparently miffed over the lack of cleanliness and the stink emanating from the toilets.

New Delhi, Nov 22 : Shiv Sena activists staged a protest here today against the Pakistani team, even as cricket fans thronged Firoz Shah Kotla stadium to witness the first day of the first India-Pakistan Test match.

The Shiv Sena protestors alleged that there has been no improvement in India-Pakistan relations.

"Our governments repeatedly talk of playing cricket with Pakistan to improve the relations between the two countries,” said Shiv Sena leader Jai Bhagwan Das, adding that “There has been no improvement in the relations.”

He also alleged about Pakistanis nursing hatred against Indians.

Meanwhile, cricket enthusiasts thronged Firoz Shah Kotla stadium looking forward to some good action on the field.

New Delhi, Nov.22 : Chairman of the national cricket selection committee, Dilip Vengsarkar, today  gave a "categorical assurance" to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that he would not be writing anymore columns for newspapers or websites while essaying his present responsibilities.

The matter was resolved during the first day's play of the first Test between India and Pakistan being played at the Ferozeshah Kotla grounds here.

 "Vengsarkar had a long meeting with president Sharad Pawar and other top BCCI officials and he has now given a categorical assurance that he would no longer write columns," said Rajiv Shukla, a BCCI vice-president.

New Delhi, Nov 22 : Even as the opening day of the first Test match between India and Pakistan concluded by leaving a lot for both teams to ponder over the nature of the wicket, none of the sides seem to have an idea as yet about what would be a good total at the Ferozshah Kotla.

Pakistan was left tottering at 142 for eight wickets after skipper Shoaib Malik won the toss and elected to bat. But Pakistani coach Geoff Lawson did not agree to reporters that the decision to bat first backfired.

Addressing a press briefing at the end of the day’s play, he said it would be tough to score on this wicket, but added that he was not sure about what would be good total.

New Delhi, Nov 23: India were 73 for the loss of three wickets in response to Pakistan’s first innings total of 231.

Sachin Tendulkar was run out at his personal score of two. Both openers, Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik, were back in the pavilion. Pakistan’s main strike bowler, Shoaib Akhtar, took both wickets.

Karthik made nine and Jaffer 32.

At the time of the this report, Rahul Dravid (27) and Saurav Ganguly (0) were at the crease.

Earlier in the day, Karthik ran out Misbah-ul-Haq at his personal score of 82 runs and Indian skipper Anil Kumble took the wicket of Danish Kaneria. (ANI)

London, Nov.23: American baseball scouts have started a contest to find the fastest pitcher in India, in an attempt to attract talent, fans and sponsors from the cricket-mad sub-continent.

Thousands of young cricketers will compete next month for the 50,000 dollar prize plus 12 months’ intensive training in San Francisco and a chance to join a Major League team for the 2009 season, reports The Times.

The “Million Dollar Arm Hunt”, which begins on December 2, also promises a prize of one million dollars for anyone who pitches three consecutive strikes of more than 95mph (150km/h) in the final on March 9.

New Delhi, Nov 23: Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar is the most popular cricketer from the visiting team among spectators at the Ferozshah Kotla Stadium. This was quite evident form the huge cheers that greeted him every time he went to field near boundary line.

But his popularity dipped at the ground the very moment Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav's presence was flashed on the two giant screens at the ground. The Bihar politician received as much attention as any cricketer when he took the "ground way" to go to the pavilion from the Old Club House stand.

However, neither the world's fastest bowler nor one of the most talked about Indian politicians could challenge the popularity of Sachin Tendulkar.

New Delhi, Nov 23 : India’s middle-order batsman VVS Laxman admitted that the wicket of Mahendra Singh Dhoni fell at a wrong time, leaving the team tottering at 208 for six just ahead of the close of the second day’s play of the first Test match against Pakistan at the Ferozshah Kotla Stadium here today.

Pointing out that the match was “equally poised” at the moment, Laxman told reporters at the close of the day’s play that India would have been in a lot better position to resume the innings tomorrow morning had Dhoni continued his knock.

New Delhi, Nov 24 : The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) seems to have left no stone unturned to ensure that there is no racist-related incident at the Ferozeshah Kotla grounds, the venue of the first Test between India and Pakistan.

Keen to get over the alleged incidents of racist abuse during last month's one-day series against Australia, the BCCI and the Delhi District and Cricket Association (DDCA) has pulled out all stops to prevent racist abuse.

London, Nov.24 : England striker Wayne Rooney is also very good at quizzing.

This was revealed yesterday, reports The Sun.

Rooney, who is getting private tuition to study for GCSEs – has a vast knowledge of TV shows including The Sopranos and Coronation Street.

And the 22-year-old scores well in music rounds – notching up points on everything from the rap of 50 Cent to songs from the musical Oliver.
Defender John O'Shea said: "Wayne always does pretty well for us.

"He's a bit like Nicky Butt used to be – Butty would come out with some great guesses. The quizzes are normally pretty close."

Sydney, Nov.24 : A Swedish-Indian golfer is just 18 holes away from becoming the Australian Masters champion.

Daniel Chopra had one of the best rounds of his career at Huntingdale Saturday, carding a seven-under par 65 to finish the third round 12-under par and on top of the leaderboard, Fox Sports reported.

The one-man multi-national, who learned the game in Geelong, will play Sunday in a final group that promises to be as colourful as it is talented.

Chopra's fourth-round playing partner will be Australian Kurt Barnes, who produced his best form in round three despite wearing red, white and grey diamond-patterned trousers.

New Delhi, Nov 25 : India today limited Pakistan to 247 by taking the remaining five wickets almost an hour before the lunchtime on the fourth day of the First Test match being played at the historical Ferozeshah Kotla Ground.

Chasing a target of 203 runs after taking a lead of 45 runs in the first innings, India is looking forward to wrap up the first Test on Sunday.

However, India also started on a weak note in its second innings with Dinesh Karthick made to return to pavilion by Shoaib Akhtar after he had scored just one run.

In the first innings, Pakistan made 231 runs, while India was all out for 276. (ANI)

New Delhi, Nov 26: India beat Pakistan by six wickets on the final day of the first Test at the Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium here today.

Chasing a target of 203 runs, India reached the target in 61.1 overs losing four wickets. Sachin Tendulkar scored his half-century and remained unbeaten on 55 runs.

The hosts now lead the three-match series 1-0.

Earlier, at stumps on fourth day, India was at 171 for the loss of three wickets.

Sydney, Nov.26: Ace Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe believes that he will never fully regain his squeaky-clean reputation after his alleged involvement in a drug sample controversy earlier this year.

Speaking publicly for the first time since being cleared earlier this month by world swimming governing body FINA - two months after the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) said he had no case to answer - Thorpe today said he was relieved the ordeal was behind him.

New Delhi, Nov 26 (ANI): Anil Kumble could not have asked for a better start as captain of the Indian Test cricket team, comfortably beating archrivals Pakistan by six wickets at his favourite ground-- the Ferozshah Kotla Stadium --here on Monday.

The Man of the Match award for his captaincy, his seven wickets and useful 24 runs in the first innings added to Kumble’s joy, who said at the post-match press conference that after playing good cricket for four days, the hosts “finished in style.”

“It’s great to start a series on a winning note. We played good cricket all four days, and finished in style,” Kumble told reporters after the match.

New Delhi, Nov 26 : Decision on injured Pakistani fast bowler Umar Gul will be taken in two-three days, skipper Shoaib Malik said here on Monday.

Speaking at the post-match press conference at the end of first Test match against India at the Ferozshah Kotla stadium, Malik said, ”A decision on Gul will be taken after he undergoes a fitness test in the next two-three days.”

Gul’s scan report was sent to the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) Medical Commission for evaluation.

A lot depends on the evaluation before a final decision is taken on the bowler’s inclusion in the team for the second Test, beginning November 30 in Kolkata.

Gul was ruled out of the first Test of the ongoing series due to a back injury.

New Delhi, Nov 26 : Decision on injured Pakistani fast bowler Umar Gul will be taken in two-three days, skipper Shoaib Malik said here on Monday.

Speaking at the post-match press conference at the end of first Test match against India at the Ferozshah Kotla stadium, Malik said, ”A decision on Gul will be taken after he undergoes a fitness test in the next two-three days.”

Gul’s scan report was sent to the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) Medical Commission for evaluation.

A lot depends on the evaluation before a final decision is taken on the bowler’s inclusion in the team for the second Test, beginning November 30 in Kolkata.

Gul was ruled out of the first Test of the ongoing series due to a back injury.

Sydney, Nov.26 : Former Australian Test player and president of the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA), Darren Lehmann, has said the team may not tour Pakistan in March next year if their continues to be a security risk in that country.

Lehmann said the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) and Cricket Australia (CA) would be careful about sending their players to the unstable nation.

"The best thing about the ACA and CA is we're very close, with security to our players being paramount," Fox Sports quoted Lehmann, as saying.

New Delhi, Nov 26 : Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Monday congratulated Dola Banerjee for winning the Gold Medal in the women's individual recurve competition at the Archery World Cup.

In his message to Banerjee, Dr. Singh said that she has done the nation proud and has become an inspiration for the upcoming archers.

"I wish her the very best in all her future endeavours," he added.

On Saturday, Banerjee created history by becoming the first Indian archer to win a gold medal at the archery World Cup final held in Dubai by defeating Eun Young Choi of Korea 110-109 in a closely fought final. (ANI)

New Delhi, Nov 27: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced that former South Africa opener Gary Kirsten is front-runner for the post of Indian cricket team coach.

According to reports, Kirsten was interviewed here last night by a panel headed by former captains Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri.

The name of the new coach is likely to be announced next week.

Earlier on Monday, the Coach Selection Committee members met Kirsten in Mumbai, and also held a meeting at the Board President Sharad Pawar's residence in New Delhi.

New Delhi: India’s next cricket coach would be Gary Kirsten.

BCCI has given a week’s time to the South African to confirm his acceptance after a successful interview on Monday evening.  

BCCI Vice-president Rajiv Shukla, said, “He was interviewed by the coach selection committee and everyone was satisfied at the end of it. It is for Gary to decide. We have asked him to confirm the offer within a week.”

Kirsten said he was happy about how things had panned out. “The interview went well,” he said, but added, “I haven’t signed anything yet.”

Mumbai: As Dilip Vengsarkar ventilated his resentment against the BCCI airing his decision to quit the post of the chief selector, another former India cricket team captain Chandu Borde has expressed his desire to take over the post.

Vengsarkar, popularly known as ‘Colonel,’ skirmished with BCCI on the body’s guidelines on the chief selector. The tussle turned out to be an embarrassing situation in Indian cricket.

Johannesburg: Gary Kirsten has officially accepted that he has accepted to be the next coach of the Indian cricket team. Accepting the BCCI’s offer, Former South African opener Gary Kirsten is now all set to hold the reins of the Indian cricket team, a year after Australian Greg Chappell had stepped down following the team's debacle in the World Cup in the West Indies.
 
Kirsten, 40, said that his two-year contract as coach will begin from March 1, 2008. He will start his assignment by joining the team as a consultant on its tour of Australia starting later this month.

Karachi, Dec 17: Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria has said that the lifeless pitches prepared by arch-rivals India was responsible for making the recently concluded Test series less interesting.

“The pitches used in India were of low bounce and did not give any support to the bowlers, ” Kaneria said in an interview.

India won the three-match series 1-0 on account of their six-wicket win in the first Test at Delhi — their first series win over Pakistan for 27 years. The second and third Tests ended as draws.

Lahore, Dec 17 : Former Pakistan cricket captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has said the Geoff Lawson’s lack of experience as a coach at the international level was one of the chief reasons for Pakistan’s defeat in recently concluded ODI and Test series against India.

“(Shoaib) Malik is young, learning and needs strong support. Unfortunately, Lawson is new to international cricket and is in a learning phase. Malik needs someone experienced to back and support him, ” the Dawn quoted Inzamam, as saying.

“I think we need to be patient with Malik and give him reasonable time to adjust to his new role as captain. Captaining the side in Twenty20 cricket and Test matches are two totally different things and Malik will learn that with time, ” he added.

Mumbai, Dec 17 : The Indian team, lead by skipper Anil Kumble, today left for Australia to play four Test matches. The Test series will be followed by a triangular one-day international series, for which the personnel will be different.

A 16-member Test team will open the tour with a three-day tour match against Victoria from Thursday.

On the eve of the team’s departure, Kumble said India has the potential to end Australia's 14-Test winning streak and could clinch their first series victory in the country.

"The last time around, we came pretty close to winning the series. We will definitely go out there and do our best," he said.

Qila Raipur (Punjab), Feb. 26 : The annual rural olympic games at Qila Raipur Village near Ludhiana is an event that captivates sports lovers from across the country and abroad.

This year too, spectacular performances and daredevil stunts enthralled visitors for four days during the 73rd edition of the event.

Over a million people, including international tourists, converged to watch 4,000 sportspersons perform during the event.

London, Mar 5 : When it comes to coaching football, mums outdo dads because they are naturals at motivating children.

According to a new study, mothers can get the best out of young footballers through years of being unpaid teachers, nurses, counsellors and disciplinarians.

Recently, the ‘Mums on the Ball’ campaign was launched to enroll mothers as grassroots coaches for kids' leagues.

The campaign was presented by McDonald's.

It has the backing of mums of famous footballers Rio Ferdinand and rising star Theo Walcott.

New Delhi, Mar 7 : The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today gave its approval for implementation of Panchayat Yuva Krida Aur Khel Abhiyan (PYKKA).

Under the Scheme, each village Panchayat and each Block Panchayat would be given one time seed capital grant of Rs. 1 lakh and Rs. 5 lakh, respectively.

In addition, while village panchayats would be given annual acquisition grant and annual operational grant at Rs. 10000 and Rs. 12000 per annum, respectively, block panchayats would be given Rs. 20000 and 24000 respectively.

Ludhiana, Mar 14 : Glorious relics of an age gone by hit the streets of Ludhiana when the inaugural edition of the vintage motor vehicles rally got underway.

How many of you were around in the early 1930s, when Austin cars were common in British India.

Today, only a few are proud owners. And among these is Ludhiana's Avtar Bhogal, an industrialist, who brought a 1933 Austin-England car two decades ago.

An owner of half a dozen modern vehicles, Avtar is proud running a vintage car.

The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) has called up Australian legend Ric Charlesworth to New Delhi to talk about his position in Indian hockey.

In a tripartite contract signed by the world hockey body, sports ministry and IHF, Charlesworth has been appointed as in-charge of the “Promotion of Indian Hockey” project.

To attend meetings with IHF functionaries, Ric will reach New Delhi on Monday, the sources said.

South African toppled Kangaroos to get back top spot in the LG ICC ODI Championship table at the April 1 cut-off after their convincing 3-0 series triumph against Bangladesh in Dhaka on Friday

South Africa made 0.720 points and although it remained on 127 ratings points along with Australia, this fraction of a point was enough to put it prior to Ponting's side by 0.191 of a point.

Both the teams were on 127 ratings points before the start of the series but Australia had its nose ahead by 0.529 of a point.

South Africa’s achievement is significant because the side that wins the ODI Championship ladder on April 1 gets US$175 000 for its achievement, whereas the side that lies second earns US$75 000.

California: Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza continued her winning spree by defeating Israel's Shahar Peer in the third round of the Pacific Life Open Tournament at Indian Wells, California. With the win over Peer, Sania has moved to the  of the USD 2.1 million Pacific Life Open Tournament.

After losing the first set in the tie-break, the Indian sensation who is ranked 32nd in the world beat Peer 6-7 (7), 7-5, 6-3 in the three round match, last night.

“We always play tough matches, but it’s about finding a way to win,” Sania said.

Karachi, Mar 20 : The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) plans to offer security cover generally reserved for visiting heads of state to competing teams and officials for September’s International Cricket Council ICC Champions Trophy.

The board’s Chief Operating Officer, Shafqat Naghmi, said that Pakistan will provide personal bodyguards to visiting players which is generally reserved for visiting VIPs.

“The tournament is under a cloud due to the current wave of bombings in the country that forced Australia to postpone a full Test and one-day tour earlier this month,” he said.

Dhaka, Mar 25 : The Bangladesh Cricket Board on Tuesday announced a 15-man squad for next month's one-day international series in Pakistan that was facing doldrums after Australians called off their tour citing security reasons.

The Bangladesh squad is as follows: Mohammad Ashraful (captain), Mashrafe Mortaza, Tamim Iqbal, Zunaed Siddique, Aftab Ahmed, Nazim Uddin, Shahriar Nafees, Shakib Al Hasan, Dhiman Ghosh, Abdur Razzak, Shahadat Hossain, Mahmud Ullah, Farhad Reza, Roqibul Hassan, Syed Rasel.

Chennai, Mar 25 : Indian skipper Anil Kumble today said that India has the advantage of playing on the home turf, and added that South Africa would feel the absence of Shaun Pollock during the series.

Addressing a news conference on the eve of the first test match beginning on Wednesday (March 26), Kumble said: "Obviously, they will miss Shaun Pollock's experience and his skills.”

Chennai, Mar 25: Indian skipper Anil Kumble was today presented a priceless memento, a golden ball with diamonds and rubies crafted on it, at a felicitation function organised by the BCCI in Chennai on Tuesday.

Capped 125 times by India so far, the champion leg-spinner took 604 wickets. The BCCI had invited representatives from all the member units and former India captains to celebrate the occasion.

BCCI President Sharad Pawar congratulated Kumble on the occasion, and said that Kumble is among the best cricketers of the world.

Chennai, Mar 30: The first test match of the three test match series between India and South Africa ended in a draw on Sunday.

After scoring 627 in reply to South Africa’s first innings 540 all out on a flat pitch, India led by Anil Kumble failed to contain South Africa in their second innings as in-form opener Neil McKenzie struck an unbeaten 155.

“Every body in the team had put in their best effort. We should also give credit to the way South Africans batted,” said Anil Kumble, Indian Test Captain.

Sakhir, Bahrain - Felipe Massa led from world champion Kimi Raikkonen as Ferrari lived up to its top billing on Friday in the first practice session for the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix.

The Brazilian Massa clocked 1 minute 32.233 seconds for the 5.412- kilometres lap in Sakhir, with Finland's Raikkonen close behind on 1:32.350.

Nico Rosberg of Germany was third in a Williams on 1:32.415, finishing ahead of the McLaren-Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton (1:32.705) and Heikki Kovalainen (1:32.868).

Briton Hamilton leads the drivers standings after two season races with 14 points from Raikkonen and German BMW driver Nick Heidfeld, who have 11 points each.

Los Angeles - In need of a push, Tracy McGrady stepped up and pulled the Houston Rockets one game closer to a playoff berth in the wild Western Conference.

McGrady scored 26 of his 35 points in the second half as the visiting Rockets ran away from the Portland Trail Blazers 95-86 on Thursday night.

The Rockets' 50th win of the season gave them a share of fifth place with idle Phoenix (50-25), just 2 1/2 games behind conference leader New Orleans.

"There's going to be a team that wins 50 games and doesn't make the playoffs," McGrady said. "Every night is a battle out there. One night you're in the fifth spot, the next day you're in the third spot. It's crazy."

Singapore - International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge will receive an update on preparations for the first Youth Olympic Games (YOG) during his visit to Singapore, organizers said on Friday.

The three-day visit is Rogge's first since the city-state won the bid over Moscow to host the inaugural games in August 2010.

A signing ceremony for the host city contract will be witnessed Saturday by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Lee will also host a dinner for Rogge and his delegation.

Clinching the YOG is a milestone for the city-state, which has never hosted a major Olympic event.

Hamburg- Orange bath robes have been mentioned as German athletes are exploring methods to express their protest over China's actions in Tibet within Olympic rules at the Beijing Games.

News reports on Sunday quoted water polo player Soeren Mackeben as saying that his team is considering wearing "bath robes in orange, the colour of the (Tibetan) monks."

Mackeben said wearing the robes was not compulsory as they are not part of the official German Olympic kit for the August 8-24 Games.

He insisted he will not breach the Olympic Charter and express his opinion on Tibet outside Olympic areas in the Chinese capital.

Sakhir, Bahrain - Three-time Formula One world champion Jackie Stewart on Friday called on FIA president Max Mosley to quit in the wake of revelations that he was engaged in sex acts with prostitutes that involved Nazi role-playing.

"He is simply no longer tenable as the head of a world-wide organization," the Scot told the German Pay-TV station Premiere in Bahrain, where Sunday's Grand Prix will be held.

He pointed out that it was not only a question of sport, but also of business and added that had Mosley been the head of a big company or of the IOC or of football's governing body FIFA, he would no longer be holding his position.

Frankfurt - The match fixing scandal that disrupted German football in 2005 is set to come to an end after disgraced referee Robert Hoyzer and Germany's ruling football body DFB agreed on a compensation package.

The DFB said on Friday that Hoyzer has acknowledged that he owes the DFB 750,000 euros (1.12 million dollars) in compensation for manipulating German lower league and cup games in 2004.

In terms of the settlement, which has to be ratified by a Berlin court, Hoyzer will have to pay the DFB 126,000 euros, payable in monthly instalments of 700 euros over a period of 15 years, from 2010 onwards, at the latest.

Johannesburg - Workers at a 2010 World Cup football stadium in South Africa were striking for a third day Friday over pay.

Around 500 workers downed tools at Mombela stadium in the north- eastern city of Nelspruit, near the famous Kruger National Park, Wednesday morning demanding to be paid at civil engineering rather than lower construction industry rates.

Workers involved in the construction of the stadiums are being paid just 10 Rand (1.28 dollars) an hour.

The stadium management and the provincial Mpumalanga government were in talks aimed at resolving the dispute, a spokesman for the National Union of Mineworkers, the union representing the workers, told South African radio.

Hamburg - German tennis supremo Georg von Waldenfels hopes that the scenery around at the Rothenbaum tennis centre won't be as tranquil in mid-May 2009 as it was on Friday.

The only sounds came from playing children in a school yard opposite the stadium of the Hamburg Masters Series - which is fighting the ruling men's tennis body ATP in a Delaware Court in an effort to preserve the tournament as an elite event in May.

"The fight David vs. Goliath continues," von Waldenfels told a news conference at the DTB headquarters which are located in the Rothenbaum stadium.

London - The Football Association announced Friday that it will investigate newspaper reports that a player deliberately got himself sent off in order to clear a 50,000-pound (98,000-dollar) gambling debt.

According to the Independent, the incident happened within the last two years in Britain, but it did not state which league was involved.

"We will be making inquiries into this report," an FA spokesman said.

Their first task will be to determine whether the incident happened in England. If not, it lies beyond the FA's jurisdiction.

Athens - Greece's Olympic weightlifting coach Christos Iacovou was suspended on Friday after WADA found 11 Greek weightlifters to have tested positive for using banned substances.

According to reports, 11 out of 14 weightlifters of the Greek national team, whose names were not released pending confirmation of the March 7 tests, all tested positive.

The results put the Greek national team at risk of not participating at the European Championships in Italy in a few days and the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Iacovou, 60, is one of Greece's most respected coaches, whose team has won five Olympic gold medals along with five silver and two bronze since the 1992 games in Barcelona. (dpa)

Johannesburg- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was holding talks with his Zanu-PF party on Friday, amid speculation about a possible run-off presidential election that would pit him against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

The 84-year-old leader was attending a crucial meeting of his Zanu-PF's politburo (inner circle), expected to discuss the party's options following last weekend's presidential, parliamentary and local elections.

Zanu-PF was defeated by Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which won 109 seats in the 210-seat House of Assembly (lower house of parliament), compared to 97 seats for Zanu-PF.

Athens - The Greek weightlifting team could miss the Beijing Olympics and other upcoming international events after 11 of its athletes failed doping tests last month.

The Hellenic Weightlifting Federation confirmed on Friday that five men and six women from the 14-strong national team were caught using forbidden substances at out-of-competition tests carried out by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) by request of the world governing body IWF on March 7.

Madrid - The season of Ronaldinho is over after tearing a thigh muscle in training on Friday afternoon.

Barcelona announced on Friday evening that the wayward Brazilian will be out for around six weeks after tearing the abductor muscle in his right thigh in training.

Ironically, the idol-turned idle had only been back in training for two days, after a month out of action with a mysterious injury that the club doctors could not find evidence of.

Ronaldinho might not play again for Barca, given that he has become unpopular with the directors and fans because of rumours of unprofessional behaviour during his night life.

Miami - Rafael Nadal wore down Tomas Berdych 7-6 (8-6), 6-2 on Friday to reach his second final at the Miami Masters.

The Spanish second seed who lost the 2005 title match against Roger Federer over five sets, will play in a best-of-three final at Crandon Park when he faces either Andy Roddick or Russian Nikolay Davydenko.

Roddick will be hoping to maintain his momentum after upsetting Federer a day earlier after 11 straight losses to the Swiss.

Nadal needed more than an hour to win the marathon first set against 10th seed Berdych, missing on his first six set points.

Singapore  - International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge reassured students on Saturday that Beijing's air pollution presents no danger to the health of athletes competing in the August Olympics.

In-between updates on preparations for the first Youth Olympic Games (YOG) to be held in Singapore in August 2010, Roggue engaged in a question and answer session with students at Victoria Junior College.

"There is no danger" to the athlete's health from the air quality, Rogge said. But he added that the performance of some of the athletes may be "slightly reduced."

The statements echoed those made in an IOC report on Beijing air quality issued almost three weeks ago.

Singapore  - International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge reassured students on Saturday that Beijing's air pollution presents no danger to the health of athletes competing in the August Olympics.

In-between updates on preparations for the first Youth Olympic Games (YOG) to be held in Singapore in August 2010, Roggue engaged in a question and answer session with students at Victoria Junior College.

"There is no danger" to the athlete's health from the air quality, Rogge said. But he added that the performance of some of the athletes may be "slightly reduced."

The statements echoed those made in an IOC report on Beijing air quality issued almost three weeks ago.

Sakhir, Bahrain  - Nico Rosberg pipped Ferrari star Felipe Massa for first place on Saturday in a Williams in the third and final practice session for the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix.

The German Rosberg clocked 1 minute 32.521 seconds on the 5.412- kilometres track to beat Brazil's Massa (1:32.726) and Australian Red Bull driver Mark Webber
(1:32.742). Massa had dominated Friday practice and was also the winner of the 2007 Bahrain race.

World champion Kimi Raikkonen had 1:33.237 in the second Ferrari after sliding off the track in the session. Championship leader Lewis Hamilton of Britain had to be content with 18th place in 1:33.658 after crashing on Friday.

Singapore  - International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge reassured students on Saturday that Beijing's air pollution presents no danger to the health of athletes competing in the August Olympics.

In-between updates on preparations for the first Youth Olympic Games (YOG) to be held in Singapore in August 2010, Rogge engaged in a question and answer session with students at Victoria Junior College.

"There is no danger" to the athlete's health from the air quality, Rogge said. But he added that the performance of some of the athletes may be "slightly reduced."

Sakhir, Bahrain  - Beleaguered FIA president Max Mosley, who is facing increasing pressure to step down after a video of him engaging in sex acts with five prostitutes was made public, insists that he has done no wrong.

Mosley late Friday wrote a letter to the German automobile federation ADAC, that had earlier called on him to consider his position. In it, he repeated an earlier statement that he would be suing the newspaper that published the story and posted the video on its website.

The letter, parts of which were published on autosport. com, has been sent to all members of FIA, as well as members of the World Council for Automobile Mobility and Tourism.

Miami - Jelena Jankovic says she's forced to turn away in fear when muscular Serena Williams goes into attack mode, as the American did on Saturday to rescue a 6-1, 5-7, 6-3 title win at the Miami Masters.

"It's like heavyweight champion and I'm a feather champion, you know? That's how I felt," said Jankovic, who saved seven match points. "I cannot match up against her.

"Just too much power for me to handle, especially on a good day where she's playing well."

Miami - Serena Williams smashed a racket and tossed away seven match points before finally limping to a 6-1, 5-7, 6-3 title win Saturday at the Miami Masters against Jelena Jankovic.

The frustrated American claimed her fifth title at the event to pull level with Steffi Graf on the all-time list at Crandon Park.

Williams was struggling to control her private rage at the end of the two-hour, 25-minute struggle, which was punctuated by twice by her failure to serve out what had looked like a straightforward victory.

She finally got lucky on her third opportunity, screaming as she produced an overhead smash, which hit the mark to end the unaesthetic encounter.

Los Angeles - Allen Iverson had a bad feeling in the second quarter. By the end of the game, everyone in the Pepsi Center was feeling the same way.

The Denver Nuggets squandered a 12-point first-half lead, fell behind by 11 points and never recovered Saturday night in a stunning 118-115 home loss to the Sacramento Kings that hampered their post- season hopes.

Carmelo Anthony scored 47 points - two off his career high - for the Nuggets (46-30), who had a nine-game home winning streak snapped and fell into a tie with Golden State for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

London - One man tried to snatch the Olympic torch as 10 people were arrested around protests against China during the London leg of the Olympic torch relay for the Beijing Games on Sunday.

A man who tried to take away the torch from television presenter Konnie Huq got his hand on the torch but was immediately wrestled down by two policemen and then led away.

Another person tried to put out the flame with a fire extinguisher.

A police force of 2,000 was on hand as officers on bicycles accompanied Huq and other runners on the journey through the host city of the 2012 Olympics.

Beijing - Leaders of China's Tibet Autonmous Region have vowed to go ahead with the Olympic torch relay through the region despite what he described as the threat of "sabotage activities" by supporters of the exiled Dalai Lama, state media said on Sunday.

Zhang Qingli, head of the regional branch of China's ruling Communist Party, told a meeting to plan the torch relay on Saturday that "grave challenges remain ahead, as the Dalai clique is plotting new sabotage activities," the official Xinhua news agency said.

Zhang urged "all relevant departments to spare no efforts in preparing for the torch relay to ward off any possible mishap," the agency said.

Manchester - The race for the English Premier League title is still up for grabs after leaders Manchester United were held to a 2-2 draw at Middlesbrough in an entertaining match on Sunday.

Two goals from Afonso Alves helped overturn Cristiano Ronaldo's early strike for United but Wayne Rooney levelled for the visitors with 15 minutes to go.

United remain on top, but they are now just three points clear of Chelsea, with Arsenal not out of it, another three points behind in third. Middlesbrough have 35 points, nine clear of the relegation zone.

When Ronaldo, unmarked, side-footed Michael Carrick's cross for the opening goal on 10 minutes it looked like United would cruise to victory.

Milan - Serie A champions Inter Milan won 2-0 against Atalanta Sunday to retain their four-point lead at the top of the Serie A standings over Roma with six games to go.

Roma edged Genoa 3-2 Saturday, when AC Milan beat Cagliari 3-1 but remained four points behind Fiorentina, who Sunday beat bottom side Reggina 2-0 to retain the fourth available Champions League berth.

Catania moved away from the danger zone through a 3-0 hammering of Napoli and Empoli also improved a troubled position winning 1-0 at Torino.

Udinese drew 1-1 at lowly Siena, Lazio drew 2-2 at Parma and Sampdoria beat Livorno 2-0, while Palermo welcome third-placed Juventus in a late game. (dpa)

Milan - Title holders Inter Milan won 2-0 against Atalanta Sunday to retain their four-point lead at the top of the Serie A standings over Roma with six games to go.

Roma edged Genoa 3-2 Saturday keeping up a pursuit that saw them reduce an 11-point gap as Inter slowed down the impressive pace displayed in the first half of the season.

In Bergamo there was no marked game improvement for Inter, who, however, resumed winning after two draws and a loss through goals from veteran Patrick Vieira and the young Mario Balotelli.

Atalanta beat AC Milan 2-1 a week ago and produced a brisk start against Inter, but did not create any telling chance in the first half, save a wide shot from Ferreira Pinto.

Hamburg - Ten-man Bayern Munich overcame an early double- disaster to beat VfL Bochum 3-1 and raise their Bundesliga lead to nine points on Sunday.

Bochum led early from Mimoun Azaouagha's 25-metres blast and things looked grim for Munich when Mark van Bommel was sent off in the 27th.

But Lucio headed the equalizer in the 31st and Munich won from a penalty by Franck Ribery and Christian Lell in the final 16 minutes.

Bayern lead the way with 57 points into the final eight matches of the season. Schalke 04 are on 48 points, SV Hamburg and Werder Bremen have 47 each.

Borussia Dortmund struck twice in the final minutes to hand Bayer Leverkusen their third straight defeat, 2-1.

London - Cardiff City will face Portsmouth in next month's FA Cup final after a 1-0 victory over Barnsley in Sunday's semi- final.

Joe Ledley's looping effort after nine minutes was enough to ensure Cardiff will be the first Welsh side to feature in the final since they won the competition in 1927.

The game had been played almost exclusively in the Barnsley half when Cardiff took the lead.

A long throw from the left caused havoc, and as the ball dropped to Ledley, 15 yards out, nobody moved to close him down, allowing him to hook a shot back across goal and in to the top corner.

Madrid - Atletico Madrid remain fourth in the Spanish Liga - and on course for the Champions League - thanks to an extravagant 6-3 home over Almeria on Sunday.

Atletico now have 53 points from 31 games, five points less than third-placed Barcelona, who are at home to Getafe later on Sunday.

Teenage sensation Sergio Aguero led the rout with two goals. Portugal winger Simao Sabrosa also scored twice, whilst Antonio Lopez and Diego Forlan chipped in with a goal apiece.

Atletico are now three points above fifth-placed Racing Santander, who crashed 3-1 at home to Deportivo Coruna, for whom Xisco Jimenez scored two.

London - Unbeaten at home in Europe for two years and with an away goal in the bag, Chelsea are confident that they can overturn a first-leg deficit against Turkish side Fenerbahce on Tuesday to take their place in the semi-finals of the Champions League.

The London side were shocked by two second-half goals in the first leg in Istanbul last week but having dominated much of the match they will feel that they have the ability to get the win they need to advance.

Hamburg - While Manchester United and Barcelona need just a draw on Wednesday to advance to the semi-finals of the lucrative European Champions League, the games in London and Liverpool on Tuesday are evenly poised.

While United and Barcelona took a major step towards the next round with away wins in Roma and Schalke 04 respectively, Liverpool will be hoping to advance after drawing the first leg 1-1 in London against Arsenal and Chelsea are looking to turn around a 2-1 defeat at Turkish club Fenerbahce in London.

Paris - The Olympic torch was extinguished at least twice Monday in Paris as thousands of anti-China protesters disrupted its passage through the French capital, French media reported.

Police said that the torch was extinguished "for technical reasons" that were not related to the protests, but some media said that the action was taken to protect the torch from the human-rights demonstrators lining the planned 28-kilometre route.

An International Olympic Committee (IOC) spokesman said that the group would not comment on the incidents.

"The torch is the responsibility of ... the local Olympic committee," he said, adding that the Olympic flame "never dies."

Manchester  - Manchester United are set to confirm themselves as Roma's nightmare when they welcome the Italians Wednesday for the return leg of their Champions League quarter-final.

The Premiership leaders won the first leg in Rome 2-0, which all but settled the affair ahead of the date at Old Trafford where they hammered Roma 7-1 last season to advance from the same round.

The two sides also met in the group stage of the current edition, with United winning 1-0 at home and drawing 1-1 in Italy.

Roma and the 3,500 fans expected to follow them still hope for a miracle at Old Trafford despite the injury layoff of captain Francesco Totti.

Hamburg - Manchester United and Barcelona are strong favourites to progress from their respective quarter-final ties in the Champions League Wednesday, setting up the prospect of a mouthwatering clash between the pair for a place in the final.

Barca are at home to Schalke 04 having won 1-0 in Gelsenkirchen while United are in an even stronger position ahead of their clash with Roma at Old Trafford, having defeated the Italians 2-0 in the first leg.

While United are still going strong in the Premier League - holding a three-point lead over Chelsea with five games remaining - Barcelona are desperate to reach the semi-finals in order to get some relief from their domestic problems.

Winston-Salem, North Carolina  -  Confident Andy Roddick will be seeking revenge for a five-set Wimbledon loss against Richard Gasquet as France travel to the American Deep South for a Davis Cup World Group quarter-final.

Roddick will be in action on Friday's opening day and at some point at the weekend will face off against his rival, who won 8-6 in the fifth set of their quarter-final last July on the grass.

"I owe Gasquet one from last year, and I look forward to that opportunity," said the American number six who beat Roger Federer in last week's Miami quarter-finals.

London - A British court on Wednesday refused to grant an
injunction preventing the News of the World newspaper from showing a
video clip of FIA president Max Mosley in the company of five
prostitutes.

In his judgment before the High Court, Mr Justice Eady said he was
unable to order an injunction because of the widespread availability of
the film on various websites.

The tabloid newspaper, which reported on March 31 that Mosley,
engaged in sex acts with prostitutes that involved Nazi role-playing,
immediately put a 90-second video clip back on its webpage.

According to the News of the World, Mosley paid five prostitutes
2,500 pounds (4,948 dollars) in cash and then engaged in an orgy that
lasted almost five hours.

Zurich - Argentina maintained first place in the latest world football rankings issued on Wednesday by the ruling body FIFA, with European champions Greece enjoying a best-ever eighth place while Euro 2008 co-hosts Austria crashed out of the top 100.

Argentina lead the way with 1,519 points, a mere 10 points ahead of arch-rivals Brazil, who have 1,509 points.

World Cup champions Italy are third on 1,391, with Spain (1,319), Germany (1,261), the Czech Republic (1,234), France (1,205), Greece (1,187), Portugal (1,125) and the Netherlands (1,124) completing the top 10.

Madrid  -  Ronaldinho has already been told by Barcelona to start looking for a new club. This is the claim made on Tuesday by the digital version of Sport.

According to Sport, the troubled giants have already told Roberto de Assis, Ronaldinho's brother and agent, that they will not be requiring the services of the player next season.

AC Milan, Chelsea and Manchester City are allegedly interested in Ronaldinho, though Barca have not yet received any official offer for him.

Ronaldinho, 28, has started only 13 league matches this season, amidst a storm of rumours about an unprofessional nightlife.

Hamburg - Zenit St Petersburg comfortably moved into the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup for the first time Thursday despite going down 1-0 at home to German side Bayer Leverkusen.

Dmitriy Bulykin scored the only goal of the game for Leverkusen after 18 minutes, heading Gonzalo Castro's cross past Vyacheslav Malafeev, but the Russians held a commanding 4-1 lead from the first leg and so progress 4-2 on aggregate. (dpa)

Winston-Salem, North Carolina - France limp into Friday's start of the Davis Cup World Group tie against the reigning champion US minus top hopes Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet.

The injury absences - right knee for Australian Open finalist Tsonga and blisters for number 10 Gasquet - open the door for the US with Andy Roddick and James Blake both healthy.

The sixth-ranked Roddick will begin hostilities against the depleted visitors against substitute Michael Llodra, the French number two who won the Rotterdam title in February.

The pair last played in 2002, with Roddick winning in Delray Beach. Blake faces Tsonga's replacement, Paul-Henri Mahieu, in a repeat of a New Haven match won by the American last summer.

Madrid  -  Veteran Spain manager Luis Aragones has been forced to reveal his hand for Euro 2008 - for the most bizarre reason possible.

The Spanish football federation has taken very seriously the recommendation of UEFA that the players called up for the European Championship finals should be vaccinated against the meningoencephalitis virus.

This virus can be transmitted by Alpine ticks - the tournament is being staged in Austria and Switzerland - causes high fever and paralysis and is deadly in about 2 per cent of cases.

The Spanish federation has sent to clubs a list of players to be vaccinated.

This means that Aragones has been forced to reveal his hand regarding his possible squad ahead of time.

Winston-Salem, North Carolina - A confident Andy Roddick rained down 29 aces to give the defending champion US a 1-0 lead over France in the Davis Cup World Group quarter-finals in a masterful display on Friday.

The number six Roddick put the hosts into command 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-5) in just over two hours at the stadium where he led a victory over Spain at the same stage a year ago in the worldwide competition.

Llodra, substituting on a French team hit by the injury defections of Australian Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet, put in his best effort - 25 aces - but it was not enough against the inspired local.

Buenos Aires - The Olympic torch relay escaped major incidents Friday in Buenos Aires, with the flame covering almost 14 kilometres through city streets amid very tight security.

Under a grey sky, Argentine windsurfer and sailor Carlos Espinola - a triple Olympic medalist - was first to carry the torch among a total of 80 people over more than two hours, ending with former tennis star and Olympic silver medalist Gabriela Sabatini.

No incidents of any significance were reported during the relay, although one spectator threw a water balloon as the Olympic torch passed by the historic Plaza de Mayo, in the hands of equestrian Lucas Werthein.

Augusta, Georgia - It's hard to imagine a canvass more bright and colorful than the sun-drenched grounds of Augusta National on Friday morning. It was the kind of day for which the Masters was made.

"Everything about this tournament and this venue, it's what dreams are made of," said Trevor Immelman. "Every single player who is here has dreamt of playing in this tournament."

One might add that every single player dreams of playing in it the way Immelman is playing. For the second consecutive day, the South African put a 4-under-par 68 on the board, lowering his tournament- leading pace to 8-under par.

Bremen, Germany - An unhappy Rafael Nadal has lashed out at ATP tournament scheduling for the second time in a week, citing what he believes is unfair treatment of clay warriors by the sanctioning body.

The world number two spoke on Friday after overcoming jet-lag following a weekend Miami final and defeating Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in a Davis Cup World Group tie with Germany.

Due to the Olympics - and a kowtow to American university basketball last month - three clay-court Master events will be played soon in the course of four weeks.

Geneva - Results on Friday at Davis Cup World Group quarter-final ties: (x indicates new result). <#>

At Moscow, Russia v Czech Republic

Marat Safin, Russia, def. Tomas Berdych, Czech Republic, 6-7 (5-7), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4

Radek Stepanek, Czech Republic, def. Igor Andreev, Russia, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4

Russia level with Czech Republic, 1-1

at Bremen, Germany v Spain

Rafael Nadal, Spain, def. Nicolas Kiefer, Germany, 7-6 (7-), 6-0, 6-3

x David Ferrer, Spain, def. Philipp Kohlschreiber, Germany, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-4, 6-2

Spain lead Germany, 2-0

at Buenos Aires, Argentina v Sweden

Washington - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice thinks her German colleague might be in over his head on Saturday when he hurls the ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game in Boston Saturday.

So she offered some friendly advice to Foreign Minister Frank- Walter Steinmeier over his plan to toss out the pitch when the New York Yankees play the Boston Red Sox.

"I would tell him not to do that," Rice mused, before turning to her German counterpart and adding: "This is risky Frank."

Steinmeier will venture into Boston's famed Fenway Park to throw out the first pitch of the second game between the two bitter rivals whose fans are known for not being kind to sub-par performers.

Milan - Palermo edged Catania 1-0 Saturday clinching a second straight win that helped them forget four consecutive defeats.

The diminutive Fabrizio Miccoli came on in the second half and on 84 minutes drilled a swerving free kick to the left of a stunned Ciro Polito, who had managed a couple of good saves for Catania earlier in the game.

Palermo last weekend snatched a last-gasp 3-2 win over Juventus and are now almost certain to remain in the top flight.

Catania also did well a week ago, crushing Napoli 3-0, but the defeat in the regional derby held them dangerously close to the three-team relegation zone.

Dar es Salaam/Nairobi  - The Olympic torch relay continues its trip around the world Sunday in Tanzania, where protests that have dogged the flame in other stops are unlikely in the seaside city.

The torch arrived in the East African nation late Saturday amid high security. Sunday's 25 kilometre run has been reduced to only five kilometres.

"It is a great honour and privilege for Tanzania to host this torch. Don't worry, all preparations are all set," Dar es Salaam mayor Adam Kimbisa said after the torch's arrival.

London  - Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks moved Sunday to explain why he demanded chief executive Rick Parry should resign.

Hicks wrote to Parry last week calling on him to stand down.

Parry had been key in bringing Hicks and his partner George Gillett, and, as the boardroom hostilities at Anfield intensify, he refused Hicks's call.

But Hicks renewed his attack in the Mail on Sunday newspaper.

"Rick Parry has been Liverpool's CEO for 10 years and we haven't won a league championship under his leadership," he said.

"Our commercial revenues have not kept up with other top clubs during that time, which has made it very difficult to compete for the Premier League.

New Delhi, Apr. 15: President Suresh Kalmadi on Tuesday said that there would be no bar on peaceful Tibetan protests during the April 17 relay of the Olympic torch in the capital.

Kalmadi said New Delhi was a city where thousands of exiled Tibetans lived, and the entire world’s attention would be focussed on the city on April 17, and therefore, it would be inappropriate and unfair to prevent the Tibetans from voicing their views against the Olympic torch relay peacefully.

Tim May, the chief executive of the federation of International Cricketers Associations has begun investigating how many players have not received their initial Indian Premier League fees.

The former Australian cricketer has warned if the problem is widespread they could walk away from their contracts. May has begun investigations on the reports that Australians had not been given a payment following the first IPL auction in February. The Twenty20 tournament is due to begin on Friday.

New Delhi: Host India continued their good performance to defeat Pakistan 3-0 in the Asia Oceania Junior Davis Cup tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex. On the second day of the tournament Yuki Bhambri and Saurabh Singh ensured India with a 3-0 scoreline.

In the first match Saurabh Singh defeated Samir Iftikhar in two straight sets by 6-1, 6-1 in only 48 minutes. In the second singles match of the day, Heera Ashiq of Pakistan was defeated by world junior number five Yuki Bhambari. Bhambari defeated Ashiq by 6-0, 6-4.

Playing together both Yuki and Saurabh registered an easy win against Ashiq and Faizan Khurram. The Indian pair won the match by 6-2, 6-0.

Dubai: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided to hold its annual conference in Dubai from June 29 to July 4. Earlier London was fixed as the venue for the week long conference.

In a statement ICC said "all delegates required to attend would be permitted entry". It is learnt Zimbabwe Cricket chairman Peter Chingoka was refused a UK visa last year.

The conference will see Welshman David Morgan take over as ICC president from Ray Mali. Morgan is a former England and Wales Cricket Board chief.

Jaipur: After securing three consecutive victories in the four games of IPL T-20 tournament Rajasthan Royals is set to further strengthen by the inclusion of England all rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas. Mascarenhas will be available for five IPL matches before returning home on May 12.

Mascarenhas said, “The biggest challenge for the Royals from hereon is to achieve consistent winning results. The team has had an amazing run after the first game and the main objective now is to force our way into the semi-finals and then the final.”

London - Middlesbrough revealed Tuesday that they will not renew the contracts of midfielder Fabio Rochemback and Gaizka Mendieta or forward Lee Dong-Gook.

"We both feel that the time is right for Fabio to have a fresh challenge," the Boro manager Gareth Southgate said.

"I think he's just had his best season for us, while it was fitting that he should bow out against Manchester City on Sunday with probably his best performance in a Middlesbrough shirt."

Middlesbrough won that game 8-1, their biggest ever victory in the Premier League.

Catanzaro-Lungomare, Italy - Britain's Marc Cavendish won the fourth stage of the Giro d'Italia Tuesday in a sprint finish.

Germany's Robert Foerster from Team Gerolsteiner was second at the end of the 183-kilometer stretch from Pizzo Calabro to Catanzaro-Lungomare.

Third was the previous day's stage winner in Sicily, Italian Daniele Bennati of the Liquigas team.

His Italian team-mate, Franco Pellizotti, retained the overall lead.

Cavendish, who rides for the High Road team, reached the finish in an unofficial time of four hours, 49 minutes and nine seconds.

Athens - Defending champion Greece on Monday got their Euro preparations off to a good start with a 2-0 friendly victory against Cyprus in Patras.

Greece, who sensationally won the 2004 Euro in Portugal, dominated the game in front of 22,000 fans.

18-year-old talent Sotiris Ninis was the best player for his side and scored the opening goal in the fifth minute. Kostas Katsouranis scored the second on the hour from the penalty spot.

Washington, May 29 : Australian scientists have reported the discovery of remarkably well-preserved fossil of a fish with an umbilical cord, dating back to about 375 to 380 million years ago.

John Long, head of sciences at Museum Victoria in Melbourne, has revealed that the fossil shows an embryo connected to its mother fish by an umbilical cord.

He describes it as the earliest evidence of a vertebrate giving birth to live young, shifting back the date some 200 million years.

He also calls the fossil the earliest record of vertebrate sex, since live birth occurs upon the fertilisation of an egg by male sex cells.

London - Max Mosley must step down as president of the motorsport body FIA over a sex scandal instead of seeking a vote of confidence, Fomula One boss Bernie Ecclestone said in an interview published on Saturday.

Ecclestone told British paper Daily Talegraph that Mosley was entitled to a private life in principle, but that the affair involving prostitutes and alleged Nazi role-playing must make him quit FIA.

"He should stand down out of responsibility for the institution he represents, including F1. Everyone who I speak to in a position of authority across F1 rings me to say he should leave," said Ecclestone.

"It is regretful that he has not made that decision."

Taipei  - Taiwan, to ease cross-strait tension and to raise its international profile, plans to send its First Lady to the Paralympics which will be held in Beijing after the Olympics there, press reports said on Friday.

Parliament Speaker Wang Jing-pyng on Friday suggested Friday Chow Mei-ching, wife of the newly-inaugurated president Ma Ying-jeou, should lead the Taiwan delegation to the 13th Paralympics in Beijing September 6-17.

"If Chow can go, it will be a sign of eased tension across the Taiwan Strait and can improve Taiwan's visibility on the world stage," he said.

Montreal - Robert Kubica won the Canadian Grand Prix from BMW team-mate Nick Heidfeld as Formula One history was made after Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen had to retire over a bizarre pit lane shunt.

The first career win for a Kubica and for BMW-Sauber as an independent team in the sport came 12 months after the first Polish driver in the sport miraculously escaped a horror crash on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve all but unharmed.

Hamilton and Nico Rosberg will be punished for their accident at a refuelling stop, officials decided after the race.

Kubica's win over Heidfeld came just minutes ahead of another German-Polish duel, on the football pitch at Euro 2008 in Austria.

Vienna - The Austrian team remain confident of making it to the knockout phase of Euro 2008 despite losing their opening Group B encounter to Croatia.

Luka Modric scored the only goal of the game after just four minutes from the penalty spot but Roman Kienast, who nearly equalized for Austria with a header that went just wide of the post in injury time, said his team could take a lot from its strong performance.

"The stupid penalty at the beginning was painful," he said. "We have to forget about his match and concentrate on the next matches and beat Germany and Poland."

Ronald Gercaliu agreed, saying that his side paid the price for starting too slowly against the talented Croats.

The fate of the detained Pakistani pacer Mohammad Asif's has been put in limbo as the Dubai court, before which he appeared, adjourned soon after hearing recommendations of the prosecutors.

Asif was going to Lahore from Mumbai on June 1 after playing in the Indian Premium League for the Delhi Daredevils when he was caught red handed with contraband drugs at the Dubai airport on his arrival. He just appeared before the court on Sunday along with his lawyers for bail.

Milan  - Authorities in Rome have prohibited the installation of giant screens to watch Friday's Euro 2008 game between Italy and Romania in order to prevent possible riots.

Police fear clashes between opposing fans as the tension has been high in Rome after a Romanian immigrant last fall assaulted and killed a woman in a Rome suburb.

"We don9t feel safe," said Eugen Tertelac, the president of association of Romanians in Italy, who advised his compatriots to watch the game at home. "Football could trigger unpleasant events."

Asuncion - Paraguay beat Brazil 2-0 Sunday in Asuncion, with a solid performance from the host that cast many shadows on Brazil's path towards the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Roque Santa Cruz, in the 26th minute, and Salvador Cabanas, in the 49th minute, sealed the victory for the host before some 65,000 spectators.

Beyond its two goals, Paraguay - the lone leader in the South American qualifiers - had other clear chances.

The host's attacking pair deeply troubled the Brazilian defence, and Cabanas - who had heeled the ball to assist Santa Cruz in the first goal - hit the post in the first half and the crossbar in the second half.

La Jolla, California - Rocco Mediate and Tiger Woods are to play off over 18 holes at the US Open at the par-71 Torrey Pines Golf Club on Monday after both finished on one under par 283 over four rounds.

45-year-old Mediate played a par final round of 71 and then was in the clubhouse to see Woods finish his round. Going into the 18th hole, Woods needed a birdie to force a play off.

He gave himself a chance with a 12-foot putt, which rolled around the cup before falling into the hole to force the play-off.

The winner will become the first American since Jim Furyk in 2003 to win the US Open. (dpa)

Indian number one and 32nd seeded Sania Mirza fizzled out in the second round on Thursday when she was beaten 6-0, 4-6, 9-7 by Maria Martinez Sanchez.

Sania was expected to beat the Spaniard who has never won a match at the grass-court Grand Slam until this week. She was not able to overcome a storming start made by Martinez Sanchez, who won the first set for 6-0.

Sania got her act together in the second set when she played some nice lobe shots to Sanchez attacking net game.

Sourav Ganguly got the prestigious Asian Cricketer of the Year Award at the Castrol Asian Cricket Awards held at Karachi. Sachin Tendulkar was awarded the Asian ODI cricketer of the Year ahead of Mahela Jayawardene.

Gautam Gambhir and Pakistan’s Umar Gul were adjudged the best Asian T20 Players. Yuvraj Singh got special award for hitting six sixes in the ICC T20 World Cup.

Sri Lankan wicket-keeper batsman Kumar Sangakkara took away the best Test Batsman of the year award while Farveez Maharoof was chosen as the best ODI Bowler. The overall Castrol Asian Bowler of the Year Award was won by Muthiah Muralitharan.

Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni are at second and fifth place respectively in the latest ICC ODI rankings for batsmen. Tendulkar is a little behind the South African captain Graeme Smith, who is leading the pack with 792 points, 34 points more than Sachin who has total 758 points.

Karachi: Sri Lanka scored an easy 64-run victory over Pakistan in a crucial Super Four match in the Asia Cup at National Stadium Sunday with Kumar Sangakkara’s chanceless ninth ODI century.

Jayasuriya fell early but Sangakkara along with Jayawardene pushed the score with deft touches. 

Chasing Sri Lanka’s 303 for seven in 50 overs, Pakistan could only score 238 runs from with Misbah-ul Haq top-scoring with a gallant 70-ball 76. Misbah recorded his highest one-day score but he fought a losing battle. 
 

Disqualifying Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s statement against tight scheduling of the Asia Cup, BCCI vice-president, Rajiv Shukla said that the team was well informed about the schedule of Asia Cup and the players had the choice of backing out if they thought they needed rest.

Dhoni said that the team is struggling as they are being burdened with too much cricket. "We hardly get any time to recover”.  The captain said that dipping energy levels were the major factor for the below par performance.

India's challenge to win a mixed doubles title at the ongoing Wimbledon collapsed in the second round with all the four contenders losing out of the event.

India's Sania Mirza, paired with doubles ace and compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi, lost to the Russian pair of Igor Andreev and Maria Kirilenko in the second round mixed doubles match at grasscourt grand slam. The unseeded Russian pair beat the Indian combine 7-6 (4), 6-3.  

Anaka Alankamony was the only Indian to get the gold medal after winning the girls’ under -15 title in the Asian junior individual squash championship, which concluded on Sunday at Busan, South Korea.

On the other hand, Mangaonkar and Dipika Pallikal settled for silver after losing their respective finals in the tournament.

Expressing his feelings on Anaka’s victory, Cyrus Poncha, the National Coach, sais that it was a terrific performance by Anaka.

Spain won the European championship 1-0 over Germany on Sunday for its first major title in 44 years. It was a long awaited victory for the Spaniards, who spent four decades falling short of expectations, even when they had talented players in their team.

"It is the most important day in Spanish football in many, many years." Torres said, who scored in 33rd minute to lead Spain towards the Euro 2008 title. "Our team manager holds a vital place in our team and we are very happy we could make this history for him and for us."

Opener Shane Watson’s magnificent 126 led Australia to a seven wicket win over the West Indies in the third one-day cricket international on Sunday at the Grenada National Stadium. Shane Watson’s first century recorded 15 fours and two sixes off 122 balls to set up the series-clinching win for Australia. The team leads the series by 3-0 with two matches remaining.

Captain Ricky Ponting supported well with 69 off 83 balls in a partnership of 190 for the second wicket with Watson.

Ponting seeks some changes for the final two one-dayers with Stuart Clark, Cameron White and David Hussey. Both the players may play for the fourth match.

Shoaib Akhtar, well known Pakistani fast bowler, who publicly criticized the Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) allocation of central contracts and was thereafter banned for 18 months has challenged the term at a Lahore High Court.

Akhtar’s appeal would be heard today by Chief Justice Zahid Hussain, as told by Akhtar’s lawyer Abid Hassan Minto.

The ban which came into existence on 1 April 2008, would last till 30 September 2009. Initially the ban was for 5 years but PCB reduced the period to 18 months after a hearing earlier this month.

Prior to the ban's imposition, Shoaib had been serving a two-year probation for attacking team-mate Mohammad Asif.

Brest, France- The 95th edition of the Tour de France got underway on Saturday, with a regular stage and no short prologue for the first time in 42 years, and also without the defending champion.

The 180 riders from 20 teams started the three-week action over 197.5 kilometres from Brest to Plumelec. The Tour features two time trials and five mountain stages before it ends on July 27 on the Champs Elysees in Paris. There will be two rest days as well.

Imphal, July 5 : Youth in Manipur were recently given the benefit of being trained by a Chinese Wushu (martial) expert Liang Dong here.

The eight-day camp was primarily used to brush up their technical skills.

The camp was held at the Khuman Lampak Sports Complex.

The idea of procuring the services of a foreign coach for the Wushu players of Manipur was floated by the Wushu Association of Manipur. The Association approached the Directorate of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of Manipur, for financial assistance in this regard.

Mahesh Bhupathi and TEAM Tennis India are to be equal partners in the establishment of around 100 tennis academies in India and UAE, to promote the game.

MBTA CEO Gaurav Natekar, and Team Tennis founders Sanjay Minotra, Jaideep Bhatia and Aditya Sachdeva are the brains behind this deal in which an investment of Rs 8-10 crore is expected.

Bhupati, however, plans to raise more than 60 crores to prepare, guide and monitor the young players as a part pf Apollo Mission 2018 programme.

The TV Deal between ICC, in subcontinent, will fund game of cricket in various nations.

ICC is planning to spend $300 on the development of cricket in non-test playing nations. The ICC will fund 94 countries for the improvement of the sport in them. This money will help promotion of better cricket in countries like Jersey and Guernsey. This grant will be spent on players, better coaches and better facilities.
 

Ganguly has won the prestigious Castrol cricketer of the year award. A press conference was organized at his home to celebrate this award. Along with his feelings regarding the receiving of this prestigious award, Ganguly also expressed his reactions against the rumors which aim to malign reputation of his family.

He told media persons “I still want to play for Bengal. But, certain people in the CAB are intolerant of my brother’s success as the assistant secretary in the CAB administration. It must stop, otherwise I might be forced to take the extreme step of moving out of Bengal,”

Sourav Ganguly, former captain of Indian Cricket Team, who was recently awarded the Asian Cricketer and Asian Batsman of the year at the Castrol Asian Cricket Awards held in Karachi, said once again that he won’t retire from the ODI cricket. The former Team India Skipper did lose heart even when he was inculded in the Champions Trophy squad.

Ganguly is hopeful that he will be able to make a place for himself in the ODI team by performing to best of his abilities. Ganguly, who started his international career back in 1992, had always been pushed to the corner, but still he always managed to come out with flying colors.

Ghandiyal lad, Surendra Singh qualifies for Olympics in 10km. He achieved fourth place in men’s 10000m run in the Spanish Olympic trials 'Campeonato De Espana de 10000' at Vigo, Spain. He was given ‘B’ qualification for finishing the race in 28:02:89s.This makes him qualified for the Beijing Olympic Games. Surendra was overwhelmed with joy after qualifying for Olympics. He said, "It has been two years... I was preparing for Olympics and finally all my hard work has paid off today."

During the race Surendra ran consistently below 2min 50s per kilometer before speeding up the last kilometer in 2min 38s.His pace in the last kilometer brought him qualification for the Olympics.

Bhaichung Bhutia had a memorable night at the Allianz Arena, when he scored two goals against Ballack's 'Cation' team in a charity match organised here to raise money for 'Goal 4 Africa' project.

The match was organized by former Dutch International, Clarence Seedorf and Brazil striker, Ronaldo. The 'Goal 4 Africa' project is inspired by Nobel Laureate Nelson Mandela's dream of "Education for all - all for education".

Seedorf and Michael Ballack were leading the teams, 'Edu' and 'Cation', respectively. Seedorf's side 'Edu' lost to Ballack's team by 6-9.

Bhaichung Bhutia showed some good moves and in the 33rd minute, he chested the ball and striked the goal with a powerful left footer.

Ric Charlesworth has quit Indian Hockey consultant post on Wednesday. He was a high profile Australian guide of Hockey who was appointed to revamp hockey in India.

Ric was appointed as a technical guide of Indian Hockey by FIH. Secretary-general of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) Randhir Singh said that Ric Charlesworth’s resignation has not been accepted for the time being. Any decision regarding his resignation will be taken after the meeting of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) as he was deputed by this international body.

India’s Test captain, Anil Kumble, is all ready with his team to go on a full fledged tour to Sri-Lanka starting in the end of this month. The Indian team is practicing hard these days at MAC Stadium to make sure that they deliver the best when they face the Sri-Lankans.

Talking about Sri Lankan Spinner, Ajantha Mendis, Kumble said that they won’t take him lightly. Kumble feels that playing down the line, instead of across it, is one way to deal with him.

As of now, the Indian team is quite confident that they will return home with flying colors of victory.

Dhoni, the cricket icon has been provided with special security. Female constables have been employed to protect Dhoni from advances of hysterical female fans.

Dhoni is spending sometime at home with his family. This young cricketer with charismatic personality has captured millions of hearts with his batting skills. Jharkhand government assigned Dhoni Z-category security because of his huge fan club and some threats from the Maoists.

Sahara Premier Football League saw the victorious Brazilian Jose Ramirez Barreto, who became the first striker to score a hattrick, leading to the victory of Mohun Bagan from 3-1 against Chirag United.

Chirag, who dominated initially, could not help but see Barreto snatching the match away from their hands. Baretto exemplified a fine performance through his flawless touch and skills.

Bagan has now become the reigning champion, leading the eight-tem league table with six points from two matches.

It was a hard moment for the Indian tennis player Sania Mirza, when she lost from British Qualifier Anne Keothavong in straight sets, 6-7 (4-7), 1-6, at the first hurdle in Bank of West Classic tennis championship on Tuesday.

Sania was defeated by the 24 year old British number one Keothavong in an hour and 19 minutes. Keothavong is ranked 82 in the world. After her win from Sania, the British palyer will now face the sixth-seeded Italian Marion Bartoli.

Indian hockey federation will now be known as “Hockey India” that will host World Cup men’s hockey in 2010. All the state hockey boards will be soon brought under the umbrella of Hockey India.

The meeting between the Indian Olympic Association representatives, headed by President Suresh Kalmadi, and the FIH, headed by its President Ms Els van Breda Vriesman took these decisions to revive the game of hockey in India. Another important decision at the meeting was the acceptance of resignation of Ric Charlesworth as technical advisor to Indian hockey.

It was a proud moment for the women heptathetes JJ Pramila and Sushmita Singha Roy on Friday when they qualified for Olympic Games by winning ‘A’ standard in the National Jumps and Combined events.

They have now attained the qualifying marks and have secured their berth in Beijing-bound squad. India would now be sending three heptathletes at the quadrennial event, with JJ Shobha already clearing the ‘A’ mark.

Pramila from Jharkhand performed outstandingly to get the aggregate of 6078 points. Sushmita Singha Roy too gave a brilliant performance by securing 6027 points. The second day of the competition saw both the athletes qualifying for ‘A’ with the minimum requirement of 6000 points.

The first Indian World Beach Volley Ball tournament, which is to be held at Chennai, had been surrounded by controversies. The issue was that the Indian Women’s team completely refused to wear bikinis, which was the dress code of the tournament.

But now the authorities have relaxed the dress code and made it easy for the Indian Women players by introducing sleeveless t-shirt and short trouser. The team which was about to withdraw earlier will now play in the new introduced dress code.

The cricket selection committee of Sri Lanka will meet on Monday. It will be headed by former fast bowler Ashantha de Mel and decide the team players for first test match against India.

The agenda of meeting is to decide the 6th batsman and a new ball partner as main bowlers like Lasith Malinga and Farveez Maharoof are unable to play due to injuries. The test match is starting on July 23.

De Mel said that he is happy with the performance of the openers who played in the last Test series against West Indies. Malintha Warnapura and Michael Van Dort will be selected for the test series.

The 24-year-old Karun Chandhok has recorded his second career victory in the Formula 1 feeder category. He recorded his current race win of 2008 GP2 Series in Hockenheim. The young driver recorded his first win in motor sport at Spa last year. This is a rare victory for India in formula 1.  

He started from pole position and lost at the start of to Renault F1 test driver Lucas di Grassi. Red Bull, Punj Lloyd, JK Tyre, Amaron, ICSA Logistics and Sidvin were also backed him.

After so many efforts he took lead over Spitzkehre and the Mercedes Arena. With time he came under huge pressure from Andi Zuber of Piquet Sports for the last 20 laps of the race but he managed to score victory for the iSport International team.

The USD 2,615,000 ATP Rogers Masters, which are to begin from Tuesday, saw Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi getting the first round byes with their respective partners.

The seventh seeded Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy will face winners of the match between wild cards Julien Benneteau/Frederic Niemeyer and Roger Federer/Stanislas Wawrinka.

On the other hand fourth seeded Bhupathi and his Bahamian partner Mark Knowles will play with the winners of the Arnaud Clement/Michael Llodra and Mardy Fish/ Andy Roddick.  

Paes and Bhupathi will face each-other in the quarterfinals, if they manage to win their second round matches.

Australian legend Shane Warne’s mentor, Terry Jenner termed alignment as a basic problem in young spinners. The Australian is here on the invitation of the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) to provide inputs to the city's young spinners.

He was happy to see the attendance at the Ferozshah Kotla here on Monday where as many as 50 youngsters were present to take tips from him. Jenner said that even a national-level camp in Australia wouldn't have so many spinners as he is seeing in Ferozshah Kotla. He termed it unfortunate to invite coach from abroad when the country possesses a good pool of talent.

ESPN has got the broadcast rights for next Olympics. These exclusive television rights cover cable and satellite television with the International Olympic Committee for the Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 Olympic Games.

These rights will equip ESPN to telecast in 22 countries across the Indian subcontinent and South East Asia along with EPSN will give complete coverage of the Olympics.

The football practice match between India and Malaysia remained draw on Tuesday. This practice match was played ahead of the AFC Challenge Cup football tournament which is scheduled in the end of month. The match was aimed to make both teams aware about ground conditions and to raise their confidence level before Challenge Cup football tournament. The match is likely to come from July 30 to August 10.  

The first half was not much impressive without any goal by players of both teams. A free kick taken by Climax Lawrence was worth mentioning.

Superstar Mithun Chakraborty has tied up with the Howrah Union Sports Club for Indian Cricket League (ICL) tournament. Mithun Chakraborty is the owner of the Royal Bengal Tigers and Howrah Union Sports Club is a major sports club in West Bengal.

Mithun Chakraborty is also a leading star of Bollywood as well as Bengali cinema. Howrah Union Sports Club is a leading football club formed before 86 years ago in Kolkata. The ICL team's website; www.theroyalbengaltigers.com was also released in the function.

Toronto - Nicolas Kiefer fell victim to the march of Rafael Nadal as the Spaniard claimed his fifth straight trophy of the season with a 6-3, 6-2 victory in the final of the Toronto Masters on Sunday.

The 31-year-old German has now gone a frustrating 140 matches without a title since lifting his last in Hong Kong eight years ago.

Nadal has climbed to within 300 ranking points of Roger Federer, who was stunned in his opening second-round match this week by France's Gilles Simon.

Nadal claimed his 29th consecutive victory since losing in Rome on May 7 to claim his second Canadian title after Montreal in 2005. (dpa)

Jagmohan Dalmiya is elected head of the Cricket Association of Bengal. He defeated sitting president of CAB Prasun Mukherjee at the Eden Gardens. The result of voting is not officially declared but Dalmia is expected to gain 71 votes while Mukherjee got 47 votes. The election was started at 7 pm and total of 121 eligible units cast their vote.

Beijing - Jamaican sprint sensation Usain Bolt will go for a sprint double at the Beijing Games in a boost for Olympic athletics, it was confirmed on Sunday.

There was less good news for organizers as they were warned that rain could dampen Friday's proposed opening ceremony, while typhoons could cause a postponement of the equestrian and sailing events.

Zhang Qiang, the deputy director of the Beijing Weather Modification Office, said she expected rainfall over Beijing during the Games to be slightly more than normal.

"The temperature will also be slightly higher," she said.

Budapest - McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen claimed his first Formula One Grand Prix win Sunday after Ferrari's Felipe Massa was forced to retire as he appeared to be coasting to victory.

Massa's Ferrari ground to a halt with engine failure at the start-finish line of the Hungaroring with just three laps remaining, allowing the Finnish driver to triumph.

It was a victory which also benefited McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton who had to make do with fifth place following a puncture.

Toyoto driver Timo Glock of Germany held off Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen to finish second, 11 seconds behind Kovalainen, for his first podium place, while Renault's Fernando Alonso was fourth.

It was a really happy Sunday for India, as it won the second test match defeating Sri-Lanka by 170 runs to level the series 1-1. Sri Lanka needed 307 to win against India, but could not do so, as the Indian team displayed a fine performance of endurance and expertise.

The dejected home captain of Sri Lanka, Mahela Jayawardene, said that losing three early wickets in their second innings was responsible for the team's debacle.

The former technical advisor to Indian hockey, Mr. Ric Charlesworth has blamed the Sports Authority for India (SAI) for his resignation from his post. He condemned the role of hockey federation and said that no foreign coach can work in India under the pressure from sports body.

He said that SAI is a very inflexible body. It unnecessarily intervenes in the matters of sports administration and other related activities. He alleged that the sports body did not disclosed his contract detail in three months of joining. He had passed first three months without any fruitful event.

The lifter L. Monika Devi gained support from The Indian Weightlifting Federation on Wednesday. She was charged with allegations of doping by the Sports Authority of India (SAI). The sports body barred her to participate in the Beijing Olympic Games.

The Indian federation Secretary, Sq. Ldr. B.R. Gulati (retd) said that the allegation of SAI do not conform with the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) rules.  He said that Monika can not be banned on these irregular charges.

Beijing, Aug 7 : A spokesman of the has said that the weather at the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony will mainly be overcast but favourable.

Yu Xinwen said that they are expecting a brief shower on Friday afternoon, but the temperature would be between 25 degrees and 30 degrees Celsius.

One of the highlights of the 16-day Games, the opening ceremony will be broadcast world-wide and will see more than 100,000 athletes, performers and spectators attending the ceremony in the National Stadium, or "Bird''s Nest.”

Mahendra Singh Dhoni took a break from three-Test series in Sri Lanka due to fatigue from constant cricket. He will return as a captain of the Indian cricket team for the five-match series against Sri Lanka and the forthcoming 2008 ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan.

Virat Kohli, the Under-19 World Cup winning captain was given a place in both the squads. Ishant Sharma was replaced by Munaf Patel in team for one-dayers in Srilanka. However Ishant Sharma will play in the forthcoming 2008 ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan. Yuvraj Singh will be vice captain of both the squads.

Monika Devi, India's lone woman representative for weightlifting claims that she has been victim of the foul play. She was stopped at airport just before her departure for Beijing to participate in Olympic Games. Monika Devi is from Potsangbam Nachou village in Manipur's Bishnupur district. She was going to represent India in the 69 kg category at the Beijing Olympics. She had won a silver medal at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006.

Beijing, Aug. 8: China today opened its gates to culture, life and the world of sports at a hugely colourful and gala extravaganza of 24th Olympics inaugration here on Friday evening.

About 15,000 artists participated in the grand inaugural ceremony, which left spectators and dignitaries awestruck and mesmerized.

The 17-day Beijing Olympics will witness sportspersons from 205 nations competing for glory and medals. About 302 Gold Medals are up for grabs at the event.

Distinguished personalities representing 80 countries have attended the ceremony.

Beijing - The opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics got underway with a fireworks display on Friday night, setting the stage for a three-hour extravaganza.

The 91,000-strong crowd in the National Stadium was due to be treated to a trip through Chinese history and culture with around 20,000 performers on a hot and sticky night.

The parade of a record 204 nations alone was due to last 1:50 hours in front of almost 90 state leaders featuring among others Chinese President Hu Jintao, US President Goerge W Bush and Russian Premier Vladimir Putin.

Hu was due to officially open the Games with the traditional formula: "I declare open the Games of Beijing celebrating the XXIX Olympiad of the modern era."

Indian team is quite near to a certain one change for the third Test against Sri Lanka, which is to be held on Friday. After two poor performances, Dinesh Karthik will make way for Parthiv Patel.

There is even a bigger worry. It’s the pedigreed middle order that has one half-century between them in series so far. Though, it is also a fact that they had full backing of the skipper.

Tehran - Iran will compete against Israel at the Olympic Games for the first time since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Tehran media reported Saturday.

Iranian athletes have always rejected competing alongside Israelis as a sign of solidarity with the Palestinians and therefore faced disqualification on several occasions in international sport.

Iran does not recognize Israel as a sovereign state and has in the last three decades followed a hostile approach towards the Israeli government.

London, Aug. 9  A survey from a landmark conference on China held in London has opined that the Beijing Olympics could very well improve or have a positive impact on the way the West sees China in the near future.

Sixty-six percent of those who participated in the survey said there would be an improvement in Western perceptions after the Beijing Olympics, while 62 percent think China will become a democracy.

Seventy-one percent agreed that China''s rapid rise would not been seen as a threat to world peace, while an overwhelming 86 percent justified China being awarded the Olympic Games

Beijing - Prominent rights activist Zeng Jinyan is out of contact and is feared to have been detained by police before the opening of the Beijing Olympics, a rights group said on Saturday.

All attempts to contact Zeng had failed and she was thought to have "disappeared" from her Beijing home on August 7, the Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) reported.

She has lived under "residential surveillance", or virtual house arrest, for many months and was already prevented by state security police from meeting foreign journalists or speaking to them by telephone.

New Delhi, August 9 : Huang Qijun, the 45-year-old maker of the Xiangyun (lucky clouds) torch, actually heaved a sigh of relief when it lit the Olympic cauldron on Friday night.

He was the one who produced the safety lantern and community cauldrons used in every relay, and accompanied the torch from Greece to Beijing.

"I instantly felt relaxed. I was exhausted, but also excited. My job is done," the China Daily quoted him as saying during an interview, after the cauldron was ignited.

Throughout the torch’s journey from Greece to Beijing, Huang kept the lowest profile.

Kolkata, Aug. 9 : A Chinese artist in Kolkata has brought alive the spirit of the Olympics here through paintings made by his palms and fingers.

Fifty-six-year-old Guan Yaojiu paints mountains using his palms and finger instead of paint brushes.

He has dedicated this palm art piece to the ongoing Olympic Games in Beijing.

Yaojiu also makes dragons, which are revered by the Chinese, with the help of fine Chinese brushes.

Yaojiu uses his palm swiftly to bring about clarity on the canvas.

For his mountain paintings Yaojiu usually uses black, but adds shades of brown and green to some of his works.

Beijing - More than 300,000 Chinese couples registered marriages Friday as the opening of the Olympics added to the auspicious triple eight in the 8.8.2008 date, state media said on Saturday.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs recorded 314,224 marriages nationwide, the highest number since the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Olympic host city Beijing recorded 15,646 marriages on Friday, 23 times the daily average, the agency said.

Melbourne, Aug 11 : The ongoing Olympic Games will see a large number of veiled female athletes from various Muslim nations competing for events like sprinting, rowing, taekwondo and archery.

Most of these athletes have got themselves specially tailored aerodynamic veils, which expose only their face and hands.

All these veiled athletes are determined to avoid offending devout Muslims back home, as well as showing skimpily dressed rivals there is nothing constricting about wearing "hijab".

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has announced the names of the 15 players for Australia tour later this month. The board made three changes to the squad that took part in the Asia Cup in Pakistan.

The names of three new players are All-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, wicket keeper Dhiman Ghosh and pacer Nazmul Hossain. These have replaced Musharraf Hossain Rubel, Mushfiqur Rahim and Nazimuddin.

The team will be led by Mohammad Ashraful, while Mashrafe Bin Mortaza has been selected as the vice-captain.

Nazimuddin and Musharraf Hossain Rubel have been dropped because of their poor form in the Pakistan tour.

India got place in the Olympic medal tally after Indian shooter Abhinav Bindra won a Gold medal in 10m Air Rifle event held in Beijing Olympics. It is a first ever individual gold medal in the kitty of India. The country has won a gold medal in the Olympic Games after a long gap of 28 years.

President Pratibha Patil, PM Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi, Deputy Speaker K. Rehman Khan, Vice-President Hamid Ansari, BJP leaders S.S. Ahluwalia, Ananth Kumar, Sushma Swaraj and many others congratulate Abhinav Bindra on his success.

The Indian selectors on Monday finally selected Tamil Nadu batsman http://topnews.in/files/Subramaniam-Badrinath.jpg " alt="Badri In, Tendulkar Out Of ODI Series Against Sri Lanka" title="Badri In, Tendulkar Out Of ODI Series Against Sri Lanka" width="90" height="128" align="left" />Subramanium Badrinath for the upcoming ODI series against Sri Lanka.

Badrinath will replace injured Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin Tendulkar sustained an injury while attempting a catch during the third test match in Colombo against Sri Lanka.

According to the Indian team manager T.C. Mathew, injured Tendulkar would be leaving for India soon.

Monday saw a formal request coming to the Centre by the Manipur government, which seeks a CBI probe into the manipulative game played by the IOA and Sports Authority of India (SAI) to keep out weightlifter Monika Devi out of the Beijing Olympics.

The Sports Minister of Manipur N Biren said that anyone who is found guilty in manipulating game and keeping Monika out of the Olympics would not be spared.  

On the pleasant evening of Tuesday at Olympic Green Tennis Centre, Leander Peas and Mahesh Bhupati got an inspiring start to their fourth Olympic campaign with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Gael Monfils and Gilles Simon of France.

With a terrific performance, the Indian partners warmed up for the tougher challenges ahead. Bhupati who was ducked below the net, had to let go a flat drive by Monfils.

It was a heavy moment for medal prospect Mangal Singh Champia, as he was eliminated from the men’s archery individual event in the round 16 at Beijing Olympics.

Champia was the only Indian competitor in the Men’s individual archery. He started his day with good spirits as he got past Iran’s Vaezi Hojatollah in the round of 32 winning 112 to 98 to progress into the pre-quarters.

But unluckily, Champia could not win against his Russian opponent, Bari Badenov in the 16th round. Though he performed really well, but fell short and lost the game by narrow margin of just one point.

After losing the test series by 2-1, Indian ODI captain M S Dhoni feels that losing Sachin Tendulkar could for the team.

On his arrival at Colombo airport Dhoni said, “Losing Sachin Tendulkar at this point of time can be crucial. It is very difficult to fill the space when it comes to Sachin. He not only contributes with the bat and the ball his impact in the dressing room is great.”