Lahore, Jan. 6 : Pakistan's top middle order batsman, Younis Khan, has urged the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to provide better sporting facilities at the domestic arena to uplift the standards of the sport in the country.

Khan said that the PCB should provide better facilities to participating teams in domestic cricket.

"The PCB needs to ensure that the pitches are sporting enough for both batsmen and bowlers and not one-sided," the Nation quoted Khan, as saying.

New York, January 6 : After winning a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics last year, ace swimmer Michael Phelps has now entered the largest single sponsorship deal for any Western celebrity in Chinese history.

According to reports, Phelps is getting more than one million dollars to be a spokesman for Mazda in China.

Dynamic Marketing Group''s DMG Entertainment unit has revealed that the swimmer will be endorsing the Mazda 6 car in TV and print ads.

Auckland - Olympic champion Elena Dementieva had to fight to stop a potential spoiler, erasing an early 5-1 lead in favour of Taiwan's Chan Yung-Jan Chan to post a 7-5, 6-3 victory on Tuesday at the ASB Classic.

Dementieva called her great escape "a tough match."

"She was on fire at the beginning and put a lot of pressure on me. It took me a while to get into the match," she said of her opponent.

The Russian world number four was joined as a straight-sets winner by second seed Caroline Wozniacki as the Dane crushed Italian qualifier Alberta Brianti 6-1, 6-0.

Sydney, Jan. 6 : South Africa have wasted little time in attending to injured captain Graeme Smith.

Smith has flown to Melbourne to receive treatment on his broken left hand and undergo an autologous blood injection on his right elbow.

The Proteas are desperate for Smith to regain full fitness in time for Australia''s forthcoming Test tour and have attempted to expedite the healing process by having him treated immediately.

Barely 18 hours after Mitchell Johnson struck him a series-ending blow to the hand, Smith was on a plane to Melbourne for an appointment with local surgeon Greg Hoy to have the fracture attended to.

Islamabad, Jan. 6 : As the mystery behind the delay in announcing the tour itinerary by the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) continues, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is likely to get a response from the SLC officials today, the Daily Times reported.

Commenting on the tour preparations, PCB chairman Ijaz Butt said: "The Pakistan board is busy in giving final touches to the schedule of home series against Sri Lanka."

Confirming reports about Australia touring Pakistan in the coming months, Butt said: "Cricket Australia officials have ensured the PCB that their team would visit Pakistan in March this year for the one-day international series."

Sydney, Jan. 6: South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher, who top-scored with 89, has rated the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) pitch among the three toughest third-day wickets he has encountered in his 11-year career.

"It''s not nice staring down the wicket and you make sure you run on the side of it so you don''t fall down," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Boucher, as saying.

"But we can''t control that. It''s the playing surface we have been given and we''ve just got to try and play on it as best we can," he added.

However, pitch curator Tom Parker said he was influenced by forecasts of showers for the eve of the Test and the first morning to keep watering to a minimum.