Sports

Melbourne, May 05: Desperate to play more Tests, the Indian cricket board has requested Cricket Australia (CA) to replaced its scheduled seven one-day matches in India in October with two Tests and three one-dayers.

CA said they had received an official request from the Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) in India and were considering it.

“We’ve got an open mind on it but it’s being discussed and that could be the road down which we will go,” a CA spokesman was quoted as saying by The Australian.

Sofia, May 05: World champion Viswanathan Anand was in for a surprise by a resurgent Veselin Topalov who scored a remarkable victory with white pieces in the eighth match to square off the World Chess Championship 4-4 here on Wednesday.

Anand had been aptly surprised in the seventh game which was perhaps a prelude to things to come in the next. A loss in game one, two victories thereon in game two and four and after three successive draws, the world champion finds himself at a level scores in what is the most keenly contested world title in recent times.

Guyana, May 05: England entered the Super Eights stage of the Twenty20 World Cup after rain washed out their crucial Group D match against Ireland here.

With each team getting one point, England qualified for the Super Eights stage, thanks to their superior net run-rate.

Ireland could add only 10 runs in 13 balls before rain interrupted the Twenty20 World Cup Group D match.

Ireland were 14 for one in 3.3 overs, with Captain William Porterfield (4 not out) and Niall O’Brien (9 not out) on the crease.

Mumbai, May 04: Chandigarh pro Gurbaaz Mann shot a seven-under 63 to establish a three-stroke lead over his rivals on day one of the PGTI Players Championship at the Bombay Presidency Golf here today.

Mann is closely followed by Gaganjeet Bhullar, Anirban Lahiri, Abhishek Jha and Mohd Siddikur Rahman at the second spot with identical scores of four-under 66.

Mann made an ideal start to the week as he hit it close on the front nine to earn birdies on the first, fourth, fifth and seventh.

Guyana, May 04: Sri Lanka defeated Zimbabwe by 14 runs (D/L method) after rain stopped play twice in Zimbabwe’s innings in their Twenty20 World Cup match at Providence Stadium in Guyana on Monday.

Sri Lanka have replaced injured Muttiah Muralitharan with Suraj Randiv and have also brought in Thissara Perera in place of Chanaka Welegedara. Teams:

Zimbabwe: Prosper Utseya (C) Brendan Taylor, Hamilton Masakadza, Tatenda Taibu, Craige Ervine, Elton Chigumbura, Charles Coventry, Greg Lamb, Graeme Cremer, Ray Price and Chris Mpofu.

—–Agencies

New Delhi, May 04: Sports Minister MS Gill today said the new regulation that seeks to limit the tenure of sports administrators has the backing of all political parties and is in fact a softer version of the original 1975 guideline.

Gill was rather taken aback by the reaction of the chiefs of various National Sports Federations (NSF) who vehemently opposed the regulation, questioning its timing since it came barely five months before the Commonwealth Games in the capital.

Povidence (Guyana), May 04: Mahela Jayawardene’s sublime century was too much for Zimbabwe – and the Guyanese rain – as Sri Lanka yesterday set one foot in the World Twenty20’s Super Eight stage. Jayawardene (100) batted beautifully to help Sri Lanka rack up 173 for seven, a score Zimbabwe never looked like threatening, rain or no rain.

New Delhi, May 04: All-rounder Abdul Razzaq has claimed that the snub to Pakistani players from IPL III was a premeditated move and the franchises were directed by the Government to not to sign any players from across the border.

He revealed that he had already signed up for the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2009 but later he was asked to put his name for the player auction.

He claimed that it was a move that was designed to keep him out of the IPL as none of the franchises made a bid for him and he could not find a single buyer for himself.

Paris, May 04: The Iranian girls’ football team will be allowed to take part in the Youth Olympics if players wear caps for covering hair instead of headscarves.

World football governing body FIFA said that the Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI) had agreed to the decision, Press TV reported.

Providence, May 04: West Indies’ captain Chris Gayle bore a relieved smile after his side’s eight-wicket win against England in a rain-affected match but did endorse his counterpart Paul Collingwood’s suggestion that the Duckworth/Lewis system needs adjustments for Twenty20 format.

England posted a daunting 191 for five in 20 overs but after a couple of overs in the West Indies innings, rain came down heavily and the hosts were asked to score a reduced target of 60 from six overs yesterday.

Bulgaria, May 04: World champion Viswanathan Anand survived a scare from Veselin Topalov and settled for a draw in a hard-fought game of the seventh match of the World Chess Championship here.

Anand had to stave off a stiff challenge from Topalov, who prepared a brilliant new idea to combat the Indian ace in the Catalan opening.

The game was evenly poised for a long time but Anand had to do most of the thinking in the first part of the game.

St Lucia, May 04: When he made his international debut, he was a tearaway fast bowler, raring to hit the deck to extract pace and bounce.

Ten years on, Zaheer Khan has emerged successful, matured, intelligent seamer who uses the conditions to the hilt to get maximum results.

Along the way, he has shouldered the responsibility of spearheading the Indian attack and mentoring young fast bowlers. But Zaheer is enjoying every moment of his responsibility.

Providence (Guyana), May 04: A rain disruption cost England dearly as West Indies beat them by eight wickets via the Duckworth-Lewis system to enter the Super Eight stage of the Twenty20 World Cup here.

Chasing a mammoth 192 for victory, West Indies got lucky when a heavy downpour, that took away over an hour of the match, led to their target being revised to 60 in six overs yesterday.

The hosts, who were 30 for no loss when rain interrupted play, chased down the score after minor hiccups, leaving England dejected and frustrated.

Paris, May 04: The Iranian girls’ football team will be allowed to take part in the Youth Olympics if players wear caps for covering hair instead of headscarves.

World football governing body FIFA said that the Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI) had agreed to the decision, Press TV reported.

Guyana, May 04: West Indies beat England by eight wickets via Duckworth-Lewis method in a rain-marred Twenty20 World Cup Group D match here.

Earlier, West Indies were given a revised victory target of 60 runs from six overs against England after their Twenty20 cricket World Cup Group D match was stopped for over an hour due to rain here today.

Chasing 192 to win, West Indies were 30 for no loss in 2.2 overs against England when heavy downpour stopped the match.

Brief score:

England: 191 for 5 in 20 overs (Eoin Morgan 55, Luke Wright 45 not out; Darren Sammy 2/22).

New Delhi, May 03: Record wicket taker Muttiah Muralitharan will miss the rest of the Twenty20 World Cup after the off-spinner injured his groin in Sri Lanka’s loss to New Zealand.

Team physio Tommy Simsek said Muralitharan had strained his right adductor muscle and would need up to three weeks to recover from the injury, the Sri Lankan cricket board said on Monday.

Sri Lanka must beat Zimbabwe later on Monday (1330 GMT) to have any chance of reaching the super eights stage of the competition after their defeat by New Zealand on Friday.

San Salvador, May 03: Six people were killed and one wounded when five gunmen opened fire at a football field in El Salvador, police said.

The incident occurred Saturday in Olocuilta town, 22 km from San Salvador, National Civilian Police officials said Sunday.

Three men died at the spot, two succumbed to injuries while being transported to hospital while the sixth man died while undergoing surgery, officials said.

St Lucia (WI), May 03: Shrugging off their shock defeat to Zimbabwe in a warm up game, Australia began their Twenty20 World Cup campaign in style, thrashing the defending champions Pakistan by 34 runs in a group C match here today.

Opting to bat, Australia posted a decent 191 though the score could have been bigger had they not suffered a dramatic collapse in the fag end.

Shane Watson (81) and David Hussey (53) were the architects of the huge Australian total as the duo put on an aggressive 98-run partnership for the third wicket.

St Lucia, May 03: India stamped their authority over a hapless South Africa, winning their second T20 World Cup match. In the end, India won by 14 runs with a display of superior prowess in the format.

Suresh Raina had pulled out a superb performance from his stables in the morning, slamming the first T20 century by an Indian to power his team to 186/5 at the end of their stipulated overs.

Mumbai, May 02: Lalit Modi’s alleged financial irregularities dominated the discussion in today’s BCCI Working Committee meeting, during which the members “agreed” with the charges levelled against the suspended IPL Commissioner.

During the hour-long deliberation at its headquarters, BCCI President Shashank Manohar explained to the 22 members of the committee just why it was important to suspend Modi from all IPL and Board posts.

“All the members agreed upon the charges against Modi,” a source told PTI.

Gros Islet (St.Lucia), May 02: Australia are likely to drop specialist spinner Nathan Hauritz on a slow deck at the Beausejor Cricket Ground when they open their World Twenty20 campaign against defending champions Pakistan here Sunday.

Hauritz was unimpressive during the two practice matches and went wicketless. But if he is left out, Australia would be the only side in the tournament not fielding a specialist spinner.

St Lucia, May 02: The ICC World Twenty20, besides representing an opportunity for Graeme Smith to captain South Africa to their first major trophy in 12 years, is also a chance for Smith to complete his first limited-overs series in 2010.

He has started three such series, including the World Twenty20, and pulled out of two with a problem that he can’t seem to shake: lower arm and hand injuries.

New Delhi, May 02: Although the Income Tax Department is going all out to nab tax evaders in the high profile IPL-related cases, its past record shows that the agency managed to secure prosecution in barely 15 per cent of the cases.

Going by this low prosecution rate, suspended IPL commissioner Lalit Modi and the franchisees he is said to have favoured, may not have much to worry about in the immediate future. That is assuming all the investigations against them result in chargesheets prosecutable in court.

St Lucia, May 02: Having rediscovered his touch during India’s seven-wicket win over Afghanistan, left-handed batsman Yuvraj Singh said he is getting stronger on the wrist and is ready for action in the ongoing Twenty20 World Cup.

The powerfully built batsman made an unbeaten 22-ball 23 but more than the runs he scored, Yuvraj was happy that his injured wrist held good in the game.

“I am getting much stronger now on the wrist and am ready for action,” said Yuvraj.

New Delhi, May 02: An umbrella body of about 400 private investigators has written to IPL Commissioner Chirayu Amin to constitute an independent oversight commission for an in-depth probe into the alleged scam in the mega sporting event.

According to the Association of Private Detectives and Investigators (APDI), a team of internationally reputed fraud examiners has expressed its willingness to help the IPL commissioner and the Government of India to undertake such an assignment to bring facts related to the case under the knowledge of the people.