Sports

Auckland, September 03: Daniel Vettori was pleased with New Zealand’s fightback which helped them secure a narrow victory over Sri Lanka in the first T201, praising the effort of his bowlers in particular.

“I think we were about 15 runs short, but the history of this track suggests that it gets harder to bat on as the game progresses,” Vettori said.

“We knew we were in with a chance and the fightback after we got Dilshan was impressive.

“The ball stopped a little and we managed to just strangle them and pile on the pressure.

Peshwar, September 03: As per decision of members of the PCB Governing Board Saleem Altaf has been relieved from his duties as Chief Operating Officer (COO) with immediate effect.

Wasim Bari will be the acting Chief Operating Officer till further orders, says a PCB press released issued here on Tuesday. Former bowler Saleem Altaf was working as Chief Operating Officer (COO) but after the move was approved by a majority of the board’s governing council, he was relieved from his duties as COO.

Melbourne, September 03: Nathan Bracken believes England will use their Ashes victory as motivation to win the one-day series and complete a grand summer for England and a miserable one for Australia.

Cricket’s oldest rivals will face each other for the first time in the first ODI match on Friday after the recent Ashes series. Though they were to have met in two Twenty20 matches, both were washed out.

“The England side will be using the Ashes win as a motivation to try and beat us here in both forms,” the 31-year-old said.

Melbourne, September 03: Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin has been ruled out of this month’s ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa following finger surgery, Cricket Australia said on Thursday.

Haddin had surgery on the ring finger of his left hand on his return from England last week after breaking the digit prior to the third Edgbaston Ashes Test.

Cricket Australia (CA) has made a request to the International Cricket Council for Tasmanian wicketkeeper Tim Paine to replace Haddin in Australia’s 15-man Champions Trophy squad.

New Delhi, September 03: Mohammad Kaif will complete three years in the wilderness in November but the right-hander insists he is not a spent force yet and can return to the national team again.

The Uttar Pradesh batsman, once tipped as a future India captain, has faded from public memory since playing the last of his 125 ODIs in November 2006 against South Africa in Port Elizabeth.

Kaif, however, seems to have retained his confidence and believes he has it in him to stage a fairytale comeback.

New York, September 03: Russian Marat Safin is counting the days to when he can kiss tennis goodbye, with five events left to play after crashing without regrets from the first round of the US Open.

The two-time Grand Slam champion, who will quit the game in two months when he plays at Paris Bercy for the final time, exited at Flushing Meadows nine years after his shock title victory over Pete Sampras.

On Wednesday, Safin lost to Austrian Jurgen Melzer 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4, barely noticing the end of his 11-year run at majors.

Mohali, September 03: Indian Revenue beat ITC by six runs in a close match of the Sahara Corporate Cup tournament played at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) stadium here on Wednesday.

Indian Revenue skipper Amay Khurasia won the toss and elected to bat. His team managed to score 255 runs for the loss of eight wickets in 50 overs.

However, decision of batting first did not prove right as at one stage Indian Revenue lost four wickets for just 53 runs. But Avik Chowdhary and Amit Belaskar consolidated the innings with a 86-run partnership.

New York, September 03: Five-time defending champion Roger Federer booked a third-round US Open date with former world number one Lleyton Hewitt while six-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal cruised in his opener.

World number one Federer, seeking his 16th career Grand Slam title, ousted Germany’s Simon Greul 6-3, 7-5, 7-5 yesterday while Nadal’s bid to complete a career Slam began with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Frenchman Richard Gasquet.

New York, September 03: Tenth seed Flavia Pennetta dished out the first whitewash of the US Open on Wednesday when she demolished Sania Mirza 6-0, 6-0 in the second round.

Pennetta, the first Italian woman to reach the world’s top 10, raced to victory in just 50 minutes to set up a second-round clash with French 17th seed Amelie Mauresmo or Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada.

While Pennetta has been riding a hot streak, winning the title in Los Angeles last month, world number 74 Mirza has been playing most of her tennis on the ITF circuit, a level below the main tour.

Mumbai, September 02: Bangladesh will host the opening ceremony of the 2011 Cricket World Cup Feb 17.

The Central Organising Committee (COC) of the World Cup met here on Wednesday and also decided that the inaugural match of the World Cup will be held in Bangladesh Feb 19.

The full schedule of the tournament will be released Nov 9.

India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will jointly host the mega event. Pakistan was scrapped as hosts by ICC due to security issues.

Kolkata, September 02: International Master Himanshu Sharma and Vidit Santosh Gujrathi caused major upsets by scalping highly rated Grandmasters in the second round of the fourth Kolkata Open Grandmaster Chess Tournament here on Wednesday.

Himanshu defeated Grandmaster Viktor Laznicka (2634) of the Czech Republic in 61 moves of a Sicilian defence game. Himanshu had a better pawn structure which allowed him to win a pawn and he converted this advantage into victory with a splendid endgame.

New York, September 02: Indian ace Leander Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy pulled off a hard-fought win against Romanian pair of Victor Hanescu and Gabriel Trifu to enter second round of the US Open men’s doubles event here.

The fourth seeds handed a 7-6 (13/11) 7-6 (7/4) defeat to Hanescu and Trifu in the gruelling match that lasted for 1 hr 47 minutes last night.

It was a see-saw battle from the very beginning but Paes and Dlouhy held their nerves to bag the first set through a tie-breaker.

Mumbai, September 02: Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Shashank Manohar was Wednesday authorised to resolve the IMG issue and report back to the Cricket Board at its annual general meeting on September 24

The BCCI last week snapped ties with IMG, claiming the sports management firm was overcharging the Board for providing its services to conduct Indian Premier League

IMG received close to Rs 43 crore for the inaugural edition of the IPL, held in 2008 and is set to receive Rs 33 crore for this year’s IPL-II staged in South Africa

New Delhi, September 02:Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and in-form Sri Lankan batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan have each been nominated in three categories for this year’s International Cricket Council (ICC) awards.

Dhoni has an opportunity to pick up a second consecutive one-day international player of the year award, and also features in the cricketer and test player categories in the list of nominations released by the sport’s governing body on Wednesday.

Dilshan has been named among the nominees for the cricketer, test player and Twenty20 international performance of the year.

England, September 02: Ashes-winning captain Andrew Strauss and England team-mate Graham Onions are among 14 players nominated for the ICC cricketer of the year award.

Australia fast bowler Mitchell Johnson, who became Australia’s spearhead last summer before losing his way for a time during the recent Ashes campaign, is also among the contenders for the accolade, which takes in the period from August 13, 2008 to August 24 this year.

New York, September 2 (DPA) Andy Murray led fellow former finalist Novak Djokovic into the second round of the US Open as both seeds scored emphatic wins to stake a claim to the title held for five years by Roger Federer.

Murray, newly crowned number two behind the 15-time Grand Slam champion Swiss, hammered out his fourth win over Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis 7-5, 6-3, 7-5 here Tuesday.

Both Murray and his opponent struck 11 aces, but the Gulbis unforced error count approached 50 in the one-way contest.

Mumbai, September 02: The public might be enchanted with the Twenty20 format but swashbuckling Indian opener Virender Sehwag prefers to play Tests and ODIs more than the shortest form of the game that has taken the cricket world by storm. “Personally I would like to play more Tests and ODIs than T20 games which I know have become extremely popular.

New York, September 02: Unfancied Australian outsider Olivia Rogowska came close to an upset in the opening round of the US Open Tuesday before rattled top seed Dinara Safina pulled herself together to scratch out a perilous 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-4 first round win.

The Russian world number one, who has never won a Grand Slam but has lost three major finals, was down a break in the third set against the 167th-ranked wild card and looking fragile.

But Safina managed to stumble through an error-plagued contest lasting well over two and a half hours to escape.

New Delhi, September 01: Khel Ratna awardees – boxer M.C. Mary Kom and wrestler Sushil Kumar – have been signed by the sports management company Infinity Optimal Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (IOS Sports) for four years.

As per the agreement, the company will coordinate their endorsements, media activities, rights, brand management and their overall growth as an athlete.

Beijing Olympic bronze winning boxer Vijender Singh, who alongwith Mary Kom and Sushil received the Khel Ratna award last week, is already managed by IOS.

Kolkata, September 01: Thirteen-year-old Shiven Khosla of India pulled off an upset win over Grandmaster Sundararajan Kidambi in the opening round of the fourth Kolkata Open Grandmaster chess tournament here Tuesday.

Khosla, the reigning Asian under-14 champion, accounted for his fancied compatriot in only 20 moves of a Ruy Lopez game that saw Kidambi blundering a piece on the 17th move to throw in the towel a little later.

New Delhi, September 01: Indian wildcard Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan outlasted seventh-seed Dutchman Peter Lucassen 7-5, 7-6(2) to enter the second round of the $10,000 International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournament at the DLTA complex here Tuesday.

Nedunchezhiyan, a University of Washington student, had given a tough fight to Lucassen in the second round of the ITF tournament’s first week but had to retire midway due to cramps. The Indian had also collapsed due to cramps in his first round match last week and had to be lifted out of court.

Crans Montana (Switzerland), September 01: Asian golf opens a new chapter with its first jointly-sanctioned event in Europe – the Omega European Masters.

India’s Jeev Milkha Singh and Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee will spearhead Asia’s challenge at the Omega European Masters.

The $2.8 million event will become the first co-sanctioned tournament between the Asian Tour and European Tour to be staged on European soil. The region’s leading stars are gathered at the stunning Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club located in the Swiss Alps to take on Europe’s finest.

New Delhi, September 01: Indian wildcard Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan outlasted seventh-seed Dutchman Peter Lucassen 7-5, 7-6(2) to enter the second round of the $10,000 International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournament at the DLTA complex here Tuesday.

Nedunchezhiyan, a University of Washington student, had given a tough fight to Lucassen in the second round of the ITF tournament’s first week but had to retire midway due to cramps. The Indian had also collapsed due to cramps in his first round match last week and had to be lifted out of court.

New Delhi, September 01: The sports ministry Tuesday decided to provide financial assistance to the widows of players of the 1956 Indian team that finished fourth in the Melbourne Olympics.
Sports Minsiter M.S. Gill said that widows of T.A. Rahman, P.R. Thangaraj, K.S. Kittoo and M.K. Kempiah will receive a cheque of Rs.150,000 each.

Nine surviving members of the team, captain Samar Banerjee, S.S. Narayan, A.S. Salam, Ahmad Hussain, Nikhil Nandi, P.K. Banerjee, M.Z. Zulfikar, Tulsidas Balaram and Keshto Pal, were given similar assistance in February.

—IANS

New Delhi, September 01: A day after the national team retained the ONGC Nehru Cup title, Indian football received a boost from Coca Cola, the company announcing that it would sponsor the under-16 Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy.

The beverage company said Tuesday its association with the All India Football Federation (AIFF) is the first step to promote football at the grassroots level.

Coca Cola’s president and chief executive Atul Singh said 16 best players would be chosen for the Coca-Cola International Football Camp during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa in June.