Sports

Sydney, January 23: Wozniacki moved into the Australian Open quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Anastasija Sevastova on Sunday and is just one win from ensuring she’ll retain the No. 1 ranking.

The 20-year-old Dane, playing her first major with the top ranking, finished off Sevastova with a powerful forehand winner in 1 hour, 20 minutes to advance to the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park for the first time. She’ll keep her top ranking just by reaching the semifinals.

Lahore, January 23: A court has issued a notice to the Pakistan Cricket Board in response to an application by fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar seeking an early hearing of his appeal challenging the one and a half year ban and fine of Rs 7 million imposed on him.,

The ban and fine were imposed by an appellate tribunal constituted by the PCB.

The Lahore High Court had earlier given interim relief to Akhtar by allowing him to participate in national and international cricket matches by suspending the ban.

London, January 23: Kevin Pietersen is out of England’s team for the third one-day international against Australia due to a groin strain, with the tourists winning the toss and electing to bat first.

Paceman Tim Bresnan also misses out for England with a calf injury while James Tredwell was omitted. Their replacements were Paul Collingwood, Luke Wright and Chris Woakes, who will make his one-day international debut.

Mumbai, January 23: Australian cricketer Shane Warne is excited about doing a waltz with Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty in a music video that will kick off this year’s IPL campaign for their team, Rajasthan Royals.

“ Shilpa how are you? I have just been practicing my dance moves or shall we say boogaloo, I’m ready for video for Royals ( sic )!” Warne, the Royals coach- captain, has written on his Twitter account.

Melbourne, January 23: Australia offspin bowler Nathan Hauritz will undergo surgery on his dislocated shoulder in an attempt to be fit for the World Cup.

The 29-year-old Hauritz suffered the injury while fielding during Australia’s win in the second one-day international against England on Friday. He is set to miss the rest of the seven-match one-day series.

Cricket Australia said Sunday it was hopeful the arthroscopic surgery will ensure his participation in the World Cup which begins in mid-February in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

——–Agencies

Centurion, January 23:South African captain Graeme Smith has set his eyes on the cricket World Cup next month and said that an ODI series victory over India here tomorrow would boost his side’s morale in the quadrennial showpiece event in the subcontinent.

Kolkata, January 22: Rajasthan’s Devesh Kariya and Zubin Kumar claimed the men’s doubles title while Saurav Chakraborty and Mouma Das of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board bqgged the mixed doubles honours at the 72nd senior national and interstate table tennis championships here Saturday.

In the doubles final, Kumar and Kariya accounted for West Bengal’s Souvik Kar and Saurav Saha in a four-setter at the Netaji indoor Stadium. The Rajashtan pair won 11-8, 8-11, 11-5, 11-7.

London, January 22: First there was David Beckham, followed by Cristiano Ronaldo but now there’s a new underwear model in town – tennis ace Rafael Nadal has stripped off for the latest campaign for Emporio Armani underwear.

In the black and white pictures, the 24-year-old sportsman is seen looking broodily into the camera while showing off his muscular physique in a tiny pair of Armani pants, reports dailymail.co.uk.

New Delhi, January 22: Robin Uthappa has been out of reckoning for the Indian cricket squad since 2008, so when the Indian Premier League (IPL) teams jostled and freely loosened their purse strings for him in the auction, it pleasantly surprised the Karnataka batsman.

Uthappa ended up fetching a whopping $2.1 million from Pune Warriors, commanding the highest paycheque after top-grosser Gautam Gambhir and same as Yusuf Pathan, the two regulars in the Indian squad.

The dashing batsman Saturday expressed satisfaction at still being in demand.

Port Elizabeth, January 22: Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh produced the best ever batting and bowling figures by an Indian at St. George’s Park in the fourth One-day International against South Africa.

The other highlights:

Kohli’s brilliant unbeaten 87 off 92 balls is the best by an Indian batsman at Port Elizabeth. Mohammad Azharuddin had posted 57 against South Africa Feb 2, 1997.

South Africa (265 for seven) have recorded their highest total against India at St.George’s Park, Port Elizabeth, outstripping their previous 243 for eight Nov 29, 2006.

Port Elizabeth, January 22: Virat Kohli’s gritty 87-run knock was the only bright spot in India’s poor batting show as South Africa beat the visitors by 48 runs via Duckworth and Lewis method in the rain-hit fourth cricket one-dayer to level the five-match series 2-2 here.

Chasing 266 to record its first ever series-win on South African soil, India were tottering at 137 for six in 31.3 overs when rain stopped play for the first time last night.

Port Elizabeth, January 22: As India failed to secure a historic series-win thanks to a spineless batting in the fourth One-dayer against South Africa, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni today called the middle-order batsmen to show some responsibility.

India lost the rain-hit match by 48 runs via Duckworth and Lewis method to allow South Africa level the series 2-2.

Dhoni acknowledged the smart batting by young Virat Kohli but did not hide his disappointment over an otherwise poor show by the other batsmen.

Port Elizabeth,January 22:JP Duminy orchestrated a South African fightback to level the series after India had seemed set for a maiden series win in the country. The hosts had collapsed to 118 for 5 through a combination of some headless-chicken running and constricting bowling from India’s part-time spinners. But Duminy’s responsible knock hauled South Africa to a challenging total before India’s batsmen, barring Virat Kohli, folded on a sluggish Port Elizabeth pitch.

Colombo, January 22: Muttiah Muralitharan has said he will retire from all international cricket after the 2011 World Cup. The 38-year-old offspinner, who had retired from Test cricket in July last year, will continue to play in domestic Twenty20 competitions.

“This World Cup will be my last outing,” Muralitharan said. “My time is up. I have signed up to play for two years in the IPL. I am also looking at similar work in New Zealand and perhaps England.”

Melbourne, January 22: Australia were given further injury headaches ahead of the World Cup after Nathan Hauritz suffered a dislocated shoulder and Shaun Tait limped out of the attack during the second one-day international against England at Hobart.

Mumbai, January 22: Ambati Rayudu, R Sathish, Dhawal Kulkarni and Siddharth Trivedi, some of the most sought-after uncapped players in the IPL, have decided to stay back with the franchises where they gained prominence. Rayudu, Sathish and Kulkarni will remain with Mumbai Indians while Trivedi has opted to play for Rajasthan Royals, with whom he won the inaugural IPL in 2008.

Wellington, January 22: Shahid Afridi won the toss and batted. Daniel Vettori wanted to do the same. Both captains expected the drop-in pitch at the Westpac Stadium to have plenty of runs in it. Instead, Pakistan’s batsmen faced a torrid examination of their techniques during an extravagant display of swing and seam bowling from Tim Southee.

Sydney, January 22: Australia’s selectors have had a difficult summer and they were made to look foolish again when Shaun Marsh hit 110 against England two days after being left out of the World Cup squad. He may yet make the trip because Michael Hussey, the man he has replaced for this series, remains a major doubt due to his hamstring injury.

Sydney, January 22: Uncertainty over Australia’s World Cup squad deepened Friday after off-spinner Nathan Hauritz hurt his shoulder and paceman Shaun Tait suffered a thigh strain, adding to injuries already plaguing the selection announced this week.

Hauritz, named on Tuesday as a member of Australia’s 15-man squad for the tournament, was playing against England in his first game for Australia since his omission from the entire Ashes Test series.

He appeared to dislocate his right shoulder after sliding to field a ball in the outfield of the Bellerive Oval in Hobart, Tasmania.

New Delhi, January 22: Expressing worry about the less number of matches played by the Indian women’s cricket team, vice-captain Mithali Raj said that the bench strength cannot be increased unless the team plays more international games.

“We need to play at least 3-4 international series every year, which would be good for the youngsters who are new to the system and will also help the seniors like us maintain the momentum,” said the top order batter of the team on the eve of the first T20 game of the three-match T20 series against West Indies to be played here.

Islamabad, January 22: Even as Zulqarnain Haider claimed that he had run out of cash, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said it has not received any call from the refugee wicketkeeper presently seeking asylum in London.

An official source in the board said that since the fact—finding committee of the board compiled its report, their had been no contact at all with Zulqarnain.

“The last time he spoke to the board was when the committee was preparing its report, since then he has made no effort to contact us,” the source said.

Port Elizabeth, January 22: India lost to South Africa by 48 runs through Duckworth and Lewis (D/L) method in the rain-interrupted fourth one day international here Friday, with the five-match series now levelled 2-2.India were 137 for six in 31.3 overs and needed another 129 runs for victory when rain stopped play. At resumption, the revised target required India to make 123 runs off 87 balls. But barely eight balls were bowled when the skies opened up again. Play could not be resumed and South Africa were declared the winners.

New Delhi, January 21: In a bid to promote niche tourism, the government is now focusing on promoting golf tourism in India.

Inaugurating a workshop on Golf tourism here, Culture Minister Kumari Selja Friday said developing golf as tourism product will help attract tourists to India all over the year.

‘Golf, as a sport, can be developed as a tourism product especially to attract the high-end tourists, must be discussed thoroughly in the workshop to achieve desired results,’ she said.

New Delhi, January 21: A day after Sports Minister Ajay Maken directed the payment of all ‘legitimate’ dues related to the 2010 Commonwealth Games, British High Commissioner Richard Stagg Friday asked for expediting payment of Rs 96 crore ($21 million) to broadcaster SIS Live.

‘SIS Live fulfilled its contractual obligations, against which all payments should have been made by now. The company is owed Rs 96 crore,’ the British envoy said. ‘It is not right that the company should be penalised in this way. We look forward to early resolution of this matter,’ the envoy added.

Kochi, January 21: The Kochi franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL) neither confirmed nor denied reports that they have approached the IPL governing council to rope in former India captain Sourav Ganguly.

When quizzed by IANS in this connection, Vivek Venugopal, co-owner of the IPL Kochi team, preferred to keep mum on the issue.

‘I have no comments to offer on this,’ Venugopal said Friday.

A BCCI official, however, said that taking Ganguly, who went unsold in the IPL auction this month, will be a cumbersome process.