Bangalore crash out, Chennai in play-offs in IPL

Dale Steyn produced a fiery pace bowling spell of three for just eight runs as DC knocked RCB out of the Indian Premier League with a nine-run victory in a tense match.

Mumbai Indians beat Rajasthan Royals by 10 wickets

Mumbai Indians beat Rajasthan Royals by 10 wickets, highest opening partnership between Sachin Tendulkar and Smith 163 in IPL

Deccan Chargers beat Royal Challengers by 9 runs

Deccan Chargers defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by nine runs in their Indian Premier League match today. Deccan Chargers: 132 for seven in 20 overs South African allrounder JP Duminy cracked a strokeful 53-ball 74 as Deccan Chargers recovered from shaky start to post a modest 132 for seven against RCB in IPL.

Mahesh Bhupathi-Bopanna out of Rome Masters

Rome: 7th seed Indian pair of Mahesh Bhupathi Rohan Bopanna crashed out of ATP Rome Masters after a straight-sets defeat to Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez .

KKR thrash Warriors by 34 runs to seal second place

Pune: Kolkata Knight Riders sealed the second place in the points table with a crushing 34-run victory over Pune Warriors in their final group league encounter of the Indian Premier League here on Saturday.

Yuki wins first ever ATP Challenger singles title

New Delhi: A resurgent Yuki Bhambri won the first ever ATP Challenger singles title of his career after scoring a facile straight-set win over Israeli fourth seed Amir Weintraub in Fergana, Uzbekistan today.

Ex India captain Kirti Azad begins fast against IPL

New Delhi: Former India cricketer Kirti Azad today began a fast, demanding that the Indian Premier League, which has been a hit by a series a controversies, be scrapped.

Sri Lanka postpones IPL-style tournament

The inaugural Sri Lanka Premier League has been postponed to next year following the withdrawal of the Indian cricketers, the island nation's sports minister told

"The company which is organising (the tournament) said financially they are not in a shape to organise this without the Indian players," sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage said.

Twelve Indian players were set to participate in the July 19-August 4 event modelled on the successful Indian Premier League (IPL) but were denied permission by the Indian cricket board (BCCI) that eventually led to the tournament's postponement less than a fortnight before the proposed start.

Aluthgamage had earlier said the BCCI's opposition stemmed from their suspicion that former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, who was sacked on financial irregularity charges, was behind the tournament.

Sri Lanka Cricket's media manager Brian Thomas said once the Indian players had withdrawn, it was difficult to go ahead with the event.

"We thought we can't do a tournament of this magnitude (in absence of the Indian players). It is not a financial issue, it's a logistical problem."

Aluthgamage said the league would be replaced by a domestic tournament.

"The board is meeting today to discuss this and they will have the tournament without the foreign players, similar to the one held last year."

West Indian Kieron Pollard, Pakistan's Shahid Afridi and New Zealand's Daniel Vettori were among the foreign players recruited for the Twenty20 tournament.

Courtesy : Reuters

Lionel Messi match will take place: AIFF

The All India Football Federation today tried to put an end to confusion surrounding the high profile International friendly between Argentina and Venezuela to be played here, saying a few decks needed to be cleared so that Lionel Messi could be seen in action on September 2.

AIFF general secretary Kushal Das said that the FIFA made a 'mistake' by posting the details of the match on its website since the friendly was yet to be sanctioned by the world governing body.

"There is no reason why the match would not be held. But FIFA has done a mistake by putting the details on the website, something they have admitted," Das said.

"Event manager Celebrity Management Group (CMG) will write us a letter about the match highlighting the details about the progress and then we will officially invite the Argentine and Venezuelan federations. Only then an official sanction from FIFA will be granted.

"For the first time we are hosting a match at such a big scale. We want to examine everything so that it's conducted smoothly. The right process has to be followed," he added.

After a prolonged meeting with CMG and Indian Football Association (IFA) officials, Das also expressed concerns over the sorry state of affairs at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan that needed to be revamped urgently.

The AIFF general secretary also pointed out that the artificial turf at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan, where the match would be held, have to be improved on an urgent basis.

"Improving the turf is a priority. But at the same time there are some other areas like the logistical support, ground condition, security, crowd and media management, which will also be our concern," he said.

Pankaj Advani, Geet Sethi & Alok Kumar for world billiards

Pankaj Advani, Alok Kumar and Geet Sethi will represent India at the World Billiards Championship which will commence in Carlow, Ireland, from August 23.

The trio was selected following the overall ranking of three camps, which were held in Pune, Ahmedabad and Bangalore. Advani ended his campaign with a top billing, while Alok and Sethi finished second and third respectively.

On the final day of the Z Camp held here at KSBA Hall, Advani beat Dhruv Sitwala 3-1, while Sethi overcame a deficit of losing the first frame 29-151 to beat Alok 3-1 in a crucial game. The experienced Sethi was on top of his game in his second game on Tuesday where he fought Sitwala’s challenge with brilliant potting to win 3-1.

The match was fought intensely and it could have gone either way with Sitwala gaining his momentum in the second frame by winning the frame 151-123, which included a break of 77. But Sethi battled it out relentlessly to win the following frames 152-32, 150-64 to qualify.

Alok, on the other hand, mostly known for his heroics in pool, has shown tremendous growth in his game in all forms including billiards. He had shocked Advani in the National Championship as well as Asian Billiards

Championship to win the title and since then he has continued to stay in lethal form. Despite losing both his matches to Sethi and Advani, Alok stayed in contention thanks to his performance in the previous camps. Meanwhile, though, Rupesh Shah showcased a determined game throughout camp Z to finish second, it was not sufficient to earn the World Championship berth as he is placed fifth in the overall ranking.

“I was quite optimistic of qualifying but it was hard luck I guess because I played good games here,” stated Shah.
KSBA will host the snooker camp starting July 6 between Advani, Kamal Chawla, IH Manudev and Manan Chandra.

Sourav Ganguly appointed vice-chairman of WB Sports Council

The West Bengal government on Wednesday reconstituted the Sports Council by inducting former India captain Sourav Ganguly as one of its its vice-chairmen.

Ganguly will work alongside former footballers Gouranga Banerjee, Compton Dutta, international paddler Poulami Ghatak and GM Dibyendu Barua.

"We are trying to bring everybody from all disciplines to revive the sports in Bengal," sports minister Madan Mitra told reporters while announcing the reconstitution of the Sports Council.

It was also decided to divide the council into two committees -- advisory board and working committee. Both would be headed by Mitra.

The advisory board will have eight vice-chairmen including hockey Olympians Gurbux Singh and Dr Vece Paes, football Olympian Chuni Goswami and Dronacharya awardee Syed Nayeemuddin.

The advisory board will also have former Test cricketer Arun Lal, footballers Shyam Thapa and Subrata Bhattacharya.

Former Indian football captain P K Banerjee and Leslie Claudius will be members in the working committee which will have representation from various sports

Sania leapfrogs to doubles world number 2

The semifinal appearance in the Wimbledon women's doubles on Monday catapulted Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina to number two slot in the WTA Race to the year-end Championships.

Sania-Elena now have 4506 points in the list, headed by Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik, who have 6865 points. The top-four pairs compete in the prestigious year-end championship.

"The partnership with Elena has been great in the last four months, specially the Slams. When we started playing together last year at Dubai, and had somebody said that we will be number two after Wimbledon, we would have laughed," Sania told PTI from Dubai.

Sania has taken a three-week break from the circuit to recover from the injury in the left knee.

"It's (knee) sore since I am off the pain killers. I am recovering. Hopefully it will be okay after 10 days rest," she said.

Sania's first tournament after the break will be the WTA event in Washington from July 25.

The good show at the Wimbledon also resulted in Sania achieving the career-best doubles rank of 11, an improvement of three slots. In the singles though Sania slid to 63, a loss of three position, after a first round exit.

In the ATP rankings, Somdev Devvarman rose to career-best 63 in the singles. Leander Paes also improved his doubles rankings by getting back into the top-10.

He is placed eighth while his partner Mahesh Bhupathi is highest ranked Indian in the list at number five. Rohan Bopanna is at number 10, just behind his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi.

Doping shame: Two more athletes fail test

The doping scandal in Indian athletics grew in proportion today with two more athletes, including the country's new golden girl Ashwini Akkunji, testing positive for anabolic steroids hours before the departure for Japan for the Asian Championships.

Apart from Akkunji, quartermiler Priyanka Panwar also returned positive for anabolic steroids in the dope tests conducted on June 27 by National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) at NIS Patiala, taking the tally of dope offenders to eight in the last few days.

The development is all the more shocking as Akkunji, who had won gold in Commonwealth and Asian Games last year, and Panwar were to leave for Japan for July 7-11 Asian Championships by an 11.30pm flight from Delhi along with 35 other athletes.

Athletics Federation of India has provisionally suspended both the athletes pending a hearing by a NADA disciplinary panel.

"It is sad to announce that two more athletes -- Ashwini Akkunji and Priyanka Panwar -- tested positive for anabolic steroids. We have provisionally suspended them. Next, they will be called for 'B' sample tests and then the necessary procedure will be followed," Dogra told reporters.

Akkunji and Panwar were named in the 4x400m relay team for the Asian Championships and Dogra said two other athletes in the 37-member team will take their places.

"We cannot send any replacement of the two athletes now but we will field a relay team in Japan. Two other athletes (besides Tintu Luka and Mrudula Korada) from the team will run in the relay," he said.

Ashwini was a member of the 400m relay quartet that won gold in the Commonwealth Games. She had returned with two gold in the Asian Games, winning the yellow metal in 400m hurdles and 4x400m relay.

Panwar's best international result was the bronze she won in the South Asian Federation Games in Dhaka last year. She had won a bronze in the 100m sprint in the National Games in Ranchi in February. She made it to the relay team after finishing fourth in the National Inter-state meet in Bangalore.

The same methandienone had been found in the samples of other CWG and Asian Games gold-winning relay quartet members Mandeep Kaur and Sini Jose as well another qaurtermiler Jauna Murmu.

Another qaurtermiler Tiana Mary Thomas had tested positive for anabolic steroid epimethandiol.

Long Jumper Hari Krishnan Muralidharan and shot putter Sonia were the other athletes who have tested positive in the last few days.

With the dope flunk of Akkunji, three members of the Indian 4x400m relay quartet that won gold in the Commonwealth and Asian Games last year have tested positive.

Mandeep Kaur and Sini Jose had returned positive for the anabolic substances in the tests conducted by IAAF on May 25 and by NADA during the National Inter-state Meet in Bangalore this month respectively. Only Manjeet Kaur remained out of the dope net.

Somdev Devvarman reaches career-high 63 in ATP rankings

India's Somdev Devvarman reached a career-high 63 in the ATP singles rankings released Monday.

Devvarman, who reached the second round of Wimbledon where he lost to Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, gained five places.

In the doubles, Mahesh Bhupathi was steady at fifth position while his partner Leander Paes climbed three places to eighth.

The Indian pair, who reunited at the start of the year after playing with different partners for nine years, were upset in Wimbleon's second round by Arnaud Clement of France and Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic.

Pakistan's Aisam-Ul-Haq and India's Rohan Bopanna, who lost in the first round of Wimbledon, dropped one place each to occupy ninth and 10th positions.

Chennai and Mumbai in same Champions League group

The Chennai Super Kings, led by MS Dhoni, the India captain, have been grouped with Sachin Tendulkar's Mumbai Indians for the Champions League Twenty20 (T20) tournament.

The September 23 to October 9 competition, which will feature 10 of the world's top T20 sides, will be played in two groups of five with the top two teams from each group advancing to the semi-finals.

The tournament will be played in the southern Indian cities of Chennai and Bangalore, as well as Kolkata in the east.

Chennai will host the final and a semi-final, while Bangalore will host the other semi-final.

Seven teams from India, Australia and South Africa have earned given direct entries, while six others will play off for the remaining three spots in a qualifying tournament at Hyderabad from September 19-21.

The qualifying event will have two pools of three teams with the top side from both advancing, along with the next best qualifier.

The Kolkata Knight Riders, Trinidad and Tobago of the West Indies and the Auckland Aces of New Zealand will be joined by two teams from England and one from Sri Lanka in qualifying.

The Super Kings are the defending champions.

Sharmila Nicollet misses cut at Finnair Masters

Sharmila Nicollet missed the cut at the Finnair Masters, but said she learnt a lot in her maiden appearance this season on the Ladies European Tour.

The tall Indian pro shot rounds of 78 and 79 and her final nine proved to be her best with just one bogey.

Nicollet, who has been very successful on the domestic WGAI Tour where she topped the Order of Merit last year, said it was a great experience to play an event of such a high level.

Thailand's Titiya Plucksataporn, a top-10 finisher at the Hero Honda Women's Indian Open last year, and Anne-Lise Caudal of France set the pace with six-under par 65 on the first day.

Plucksataporn, 28, from Bangkok, established the clubhouse lead with an eagle, six birdies and two bogeys on a warm opening morning at Helsinki Golf Club.

Plucksataporn had a career best finish of fifth at the 2007 Ladies Masters in India.

Gautam Gambhir fit for England, ready with a batting plan

India's star opener Gautam Gambhir today declared himself fully fit for the upcoming cricket tour of England for which he has devised a specific batting strategy to counter the seaming conditions there.

Gambhir, who skipped the ongoing tour of West Indies due to a shoulder injury, reckoned that "mental adjustment" will be a key to the Indian batsmen overcoming the conditions in England and said certain strokes would have to be avoided.

"I am back at my full fitness and feeling fresh both physically and mentally. The pain that I had in my shoulder is gone," Gambhir told PTI in an interview here.

"Before returning from Bangalore I batted in the nets against the likes of S Sreesanth and I didn't feel any discomfort. Even in Delhi I will resume practice in a day or two," he said.

The 29-year-old left-hander, who has 3234 runs in 38 Tests at an average of 51.33, will be playing Test matches for the first time on English soil if he is picked for the series starting July 21.

All excited about the challenge, Gambhir said he is working hard on his game.

"I think it begins with mental adjustment. One has to see the ball early and play it late. For some time now I'm not playing on rise. At the top level one has to tighten up his game and I have done that," said the batsman who has 4073 runs in 114 ODIs at an average of 40.73.

"In England, for first few balls you can't drive on the up till you are very sure. There are certain other strokes one should avoid. The rest I'd do it when I reach there," he added.

In the interview, Gambhir spoke about a range of issues, including his relationship with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and former India coach Gary Kirsten and the cramped international schedule.

Gambhir was still fuming about the furore his IPL stint created after it came to light that he was carrying a shoulder injury while captaining the Kolkata Knight Riders before their eliminator match against Mumbai Indians.

The injury, which Gambhir picked up during the World Cup, eventually ruled him out of the ongoing series against the West Indies, where he was initially chosen to lead the side in the ODIs after Dhoni took a break.

Asked whether he could have avoided the controversy by opting out of IPL after first experiencing discomfort in his shoulder, Gambhir said, "I think the whole episode was a bit unnecessary, just a ploy to sell news. The most unfortunate part was that it somewhat took the limelight away from the good work done by Kolkata Knight Riders."

"I feel sad for guys like Iqbal Abdullah, Manoj Tiwary, Shaqib-Al Hasan, Rajat Bhatia and many more who had done so well in IPL but because of this unwanted controversy the focus shifted somewhat. Look, I have always been committed to the team that I represent, that's my upbringing.

"My family values have taught me to be committed and that's what I do for a club team, state team, country or a franchisee. I know how hard I have worked for my India cap and what it means to me. I can't deride the honour of playing for India," he asserted.

But his focus is completely on England, where India is scheduled to play four Tests and five ODIs, and Gambhir said Andrew Strauss' men are the team to beat right now.

"Well, let me get picked first. If I am, like always I'd put my heart and soul into the effort to get my team to a good start. I think England is the team to beat besides South Africa at the moment.

"They have their tails up boasting a world class bowling attack which has really tall fast bowlers and a spinner who is pretty good as well," he said.

India to host Pakistan for a cricket series in 2012

India will host Pakistan for three Tests and five One-Day Internationals in March-April 2012 for the first time since 2007, according to the Future Tours Programme (FTP) of the International Cricket Council (ICC).

The details of the tour are yet to be finalised as it is subject to government clearance. The tour will be preceded by India's three-month tour to Australia, from December, during which they will play four Tests and 8-11 ODIs.

India will also play five ODIs and a Twenty20 against England in October. The English team will be arrive in Hyderabad on October 4 and will play two warm-up matches on October 8 and 11.

The first ODI against England will be held in Hyderebad on October 14 while the second will be held in Delhi on October 17.

Mohali will host the third ODI (October 20) while the fourth match is slated for Mumbai on October 26. Kolkata will host the fifth ODI (October 26) and the only Twenty20 (October 29).

Wimbledon: Sania Mirza in mixed doubles third round, women's doubles semis

India's Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna defeated England's Jamie Murray and Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia 7-6 (5), 6-2 to move into the third round of mixed doubles in Wimbledon Championships on Wednesday.

The sixth seeded Indian pair will now take on the Czech Republic's Martin Damm and Renata Voracova.

Earlier, Sania and her Russian partner Elena Vesnina entered the semifinals of women's doubles. They edged past the Spanish pair of Nuria Llagostera Vives and Arantxa Parra Santonja 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.

Fourth seeds Sania-Vesnina, who finished runners-up in the French Open, got the better of Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia and Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in the third round Tuesday.

Rain plays spoilsport on 2nd day after Ishant's double strike

Bad weather combined with persistence of Marlon Samuels and Shivnarine Chanderpaul to frustrate India as the West Indies reached 98 for five on the rain-hit second day of the second cricket Test.

Indian paceman Ishant Sharma struck twice in three balls to reduce the West Indies to 57 for five in the curtailed morning session after the hosts resumed at an uncomfortable 30 for three.

However, several rain interruptions and some sensible batting by Samuels (21) and Chanderpaul (20) gave India no chance to make further in-roads into the hosts' batting line up.

The two batsmen added 41 runs for the unconquered sixth wicket and batted together for 19.3 overs on a day when only 25.3 overs of play was possible on the day.

The tenor of the day was set early when a shower delayed the start of the game by 45 minutes. There was another break of half an hour after lunch but the resumption lasted no more than eight-odd overs.

Heavy rains lashed Kensington Oval in the second session which forced umpire to enforce an early tea in the hope of squeezing as much play as possible in the final session.

That opportunity never arrived. Even though it stopped raining after a while, early tea was taken and players even came out in the final session. It began raining almost immediately for players to go to pavilion. Thereafter it was poor light which never allowed the game to resume.

The most play possible was in the morning session as West Indies retired for lunch at 82 for 5 from 29 overs.

Both the overnight batsmen, Ramnaresh Sarwan (18) and Devendra Bishoo (13), fell prey to Ishant's bounce with the paceman bowling a spell of 6-2-23-2 in the morning.