Sports

Gwalior, January 28: A new 3.55 km long road here named after master-blaster Sachin Tendulkar was inaugurated by the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday.

The four-lane road constructed at a cost of Rs 2.89 crore from the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s Gwalior Bench to Huravli village was named after Tendulkar to mark his historic double century in the one-day international match against South Africa in the city played on February 24, 2010.

The announcement in this regard was made by Chouhan when Tendulkar played his historic innings here on that day last year.

New Delhi, January 28: First time director Abhinay Deo’s upcoming action thriller “Game”, which has Abhishek Bachchan in the lead role, has been scheduled for an April 1 release.Produced under Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar’s banner Excel Entertainment, the film has been shot in Greece, Turkey, Thailand, Britain and India.

Filmmaker-actor Farhan Akhtar has penned dialogues for the movie that also stars Kangana Ranaut, Jimmy Shergill, Anupam Kher, Boman Irani, Shahana Goswami, Gauhar Khan and newcomer Sarah Jane Dias.

——–IANS

New Delhi, January 28: Explosive all-rounder Yusuf Pathan concedes that Indian cricketers would be under immense pressure during next month’s cricket World Cup in the sub-continent but they will have to avoid thinking about the expectations to come good at the event.

“You don’t go into a tournament thinking about the pressure involved with it. We will be playing the World Cup at home and it’s natural that people will expect us do well”, he said.

Ottawa, January 28: The president of Cricket Canada, Ranjit Saini, has asked the ICC to step in and resolve the delay in granting India visas to three players of Pakistani origin in their World Cup squad. The team left for Dubai for a 10-day training camp ahead of the tournament, but vice-captain Rizwan Cheema, Khurram Chohan and Hamza Tariq have still not received permission to travel to India.

Melbourne, January 28: The floodwaters had receded but the devastation was still easy to see around Goodna, west of Brisbane, where the Australian cricketers did their bit to give the community something to smile about during time at a local school. They now hope to give Queenslanders some joy by securing the one-day series against England with victory at the Gabba on Sunday.

Bangalore, January 28: South Africa captain Graeme Smith has said that India will be the team to watch out for in the World Cup. Smith believes that the home team will be aware of the conditions and are the best placed team prior to the tournament.

“I think the home teams will be right up there when it comes to the World Cup,” Smith told the ICC Cricket World Radio Show.

“I think in the sub-continental conditions they’ll be very crafty, knowing how to read conditions while other teams need to find ways to be successful there.

Karachi, January 28: Shahid Afridi is likely to be retained as the one-day captain for the ICC World Cup 2011 after Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Ijaz Butt held discussions with the team management in New Zealand and chief operating officer in Lahore.

According to a well-informed source in the board, all indications show that all-rounder Afridi is likely to lead the side during the mega-event staring from February 19 to be held jointly by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Kolkata, January 28: In a desperate bid, CAB president Jagmohan Dalmiya in a letter to the Indian Cricket Board has requested them to appeal to the International Cricket Council to extend the deadline for completion of work at Eden Gardens till February 7 drawing parallel to the two week extension that has been granted to Wankhede Stadium and three other stadiums.

New Delhi, January 28: Fans use mobile phones to take pictures of the World Cup trophy during a promotional event in New Delhi on January 27. Australia have dominated the World Cup stage in spectacular fashion, winning the last three editions in 1999, 2003 and 2007 to add to their first success under Allan Border in 1987.

Kolkata, January 28: The Cricket Association of Bengal president Jagmohan Dalmiya tried to put up a brave front after the ICC announced its decision to remove the World Cup match between India and England which was scheduled to be held at Eden Gardens from February 27.

“I had a series of telephonic conversations with the BCCI president, secretary and tournament director Ratnakar Shetty.

New Delhi, January 28: Mumbai Indians has accused the IPL governing council of changing the players auction norms of the T20 league for season four in the last minute without reason, resulting in a lack of transparency in the process.

Chennai, January 28: India can win next month`s cricket World Cup if the team maintains the extraordinary spirit and form that it exhibited in the recent series in South Africa, opener Gautam Gambhir said on Thursday.

“The Indian team performed well in difficult conditions there. Till now we didn`t do well in South Africa. This is the first time we have performed well,” Gambhir, who was here to announce the field of drivers for the MRF Formula 1600 Championship 2011 as its Brand Ambassador, said.

Mumbai, January 28: Until now, there were just rumours. Now, it seems that the IPL players’ auction on January 8 and 9 could well have been rigged. Or so it would seem if you look at the angry letter that Mumbai Indians have shot off to every member of the IPL’s governing council, demanding an explanation for the last-minute changes to the auction process. They have categorically stated that the changes were not only unjustified but also unacceptable.

Kuala Lumpur, January 27:The Indian team led by S. Chikkarangappa,
Trishul Chinnappa, Saqib Ahmad and Tarundeep Chadha won the Asian Juniors
Golf Team Championship at the Damai Laut Golf and Country Club here
Thursday.

Indian juniors were placed tied second with South Korea, two strokes behind
Thailand after the second day. Some superlative golf from Tarundeep with a
par round on the final day helped India tie with Thailand on a three day
cumulative score of 665. India won the gold medal on a count back.

Chikkarangappa missed the individual gold by one stroke which was won by

New Delhi, January 27:The International Cricket Council Thursday scrapped Kolkata’s Eden Gardens as a venue for the India-England match slated for February 27 in the World Cup due to the stadium’s unpreparedness.

A venue inspection team comprising tournament director Ratnakar Shetty, members of the Central Organising Committe (COC) and the ICC reported on the readiness of five outstanding venues after visiting the facilities. The team inspected Eden Gardens Tuesday.

Kolkata, January 27: Former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who was ignored by IPL franchises at the players’ auction, on Thursday rubbished speculation that he was now being approached by Kochi through an open bidding process.

The most successful India captain, who found no takers from the 10 franchises in the IPL auction, said it was a media speculation that he was in talks with the team owned by
Rendezvous Sports.

Mumbai, January 27: The International Cricket Council and Yahoo!India today announced the launch of the official website of the ICC World Cup 2011 — iccevents.yahoo.com, the online destination to follow the happenings of the sporting extravaganza, starting from February 19.

The website would have live match updates, detailed match analysis, exclusive video content, engaging games and rewarding contests, an ICC release said.

Fans can also purchase ICC merchandise through the website, the release informed.

New Delhi, January 27: Saina Nehwal made a disappointing return from injury as she suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Japanese Sayaka Sato in the second round of the Korean Super Series in Seoul today.

The world number four Indian, who looked rusty in her first round match against Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei yesterday, lost 21-17 19-21 11-21 to Sayaka in 53 minutes in the women”s singles today.

P Kashyap also became a second round casualty after losing 16-21 13-21 to third seed Peter Hoeg Gade of Denmark in 38 minutes in men”s singles.

New Delhi, January 27: Sourav Ganguly on Thursday dismissed the speculation that he was approached by IPL Kochi to join there team.

Former Indian captain further said that he has not been approached by any of the teams.

Earlier, there were speculations that IPL Kochi was keen to sign Ganguly to play from their team in IPL season 4.

Ganguly was ignored by all the ten teams at the auctions for IPL season 4, which were held at Bangalore.

Shockingly, Dada was also snubbed by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), owned by Shahrukh Khan.

New Delhi, January 27: India have the combination to lift their first ODI World Cup trophy in 28 years but the form of temperamental batsman Yuvraj Singh and explosive all-rounder Yusuf Pathan will prove decisive, says 1983 World Cup winning team’s member Dilip Vengsarkar.

Vengsarkar feels the team under Mahendra Singh Dhoni has the credentials to go all the way in the event commencing February 19 in the sub-continent.

San Diego, January 27: Tennis great Rod Laver, the last man to win the Grand Slam, was surprised to hear Rafael Nadal’s attempt to win the “Rafa Slam” was over.

The injured Nadal lost in the Australian Open quarterfinals to fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 on Wednesday at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. Nadal was trying to win his fourth straight Grand Slam tournament over two seasons.

Melbourne, January 27: Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi remained on course for their maiden Australian Open title together as they advanced to the final of the grand slam tournament with a comprehensive 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 win over the second seeded combine of Max Mirnyi (Belarus) and Daniel Nestor (Canada) on Thursday.

They will play against top seed American twins and double defending champions Mike and Bob Bryan in the summit clash.

The Bryan brothers eased past unseeded duo of Eric Butorac and Jean-Julien Rojer 6-3, 6-2 in 54 minutes in their semifinal.

Melbourne, January 27: Rafael Nadal was the biggest name to crash out of Australian Open, losing 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 to David Ferrer in a match that ended his dream of a ‘Rafa Slam’ of holding all the Grand Slam titles in a year.

The record books will show the 24-year-old lost to fellow Spaniard David Ferrer on Rod Laver Arena but the injury the world number one suffered in the third game rendered the match a no contest for most of its 153-minute duration.

Madrid, January 27:The Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) is to ban Tour de France winner Alberto Contador for one year for doping, the cyclists lawyers have been told.

The RFEC have informed Contador’s lawyers of the decision which will be regarded as provisional pending any appeal within 10 days from the Spanish cyclist, federation officials have said.

Contador, 28, tested positive for a small quantity of clenbuterol in the second rest day of the last Tour, which he went on to win.

He denied doping and has argued that the substance entered his body through contaminated food.

Berlin, January 27:Second-division sides MSV Duisburg and Energie Cottbus marched in the semi-finals of the German Cup with upset victories over top-flight cups Wednesday.

Duisburg, third in the second division, dumped Kaiserslautern out with a 2-0 victory while Cottbus shocked Hoffenheim with a late goal for a 1-0 win to continue a run of victories over first-division sides.