Sports

By IANS New Delhi : India won 14 medals, including seven golds, to clinch the seniors title while the juniors finished runners-up with six medals at the Commonwealth Judo Championship in Mauritius. The junior team won four golds, one silver and one bronze in the competition that concluded Sunday, the Judo Federation of India (JFI) said here Monday. A total of 23 judokas represented India in the 13-nation championship that was a warm-up event for the upcoming Asian Judo Championships.

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Chennai : In a keenly contested battle, A. Choudhary and Sandeep Singh of Services beat Rishi Tandon and Tushar Kothari of Tamil Nadu 11-4, 10-11 (5-7), 7-11, 11-10 (2-0), 11-10 (4-2) to enter the doubles second round of the Inter-State Squash Championships here Sunday.

The match kept the spectators glued to their seats. Although Tandon and Kothari lost it, they fought fiercely to give their seniors a run for their money.

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Kolkata : India chalked up a straight set victory over Bangladesh in the inaugural match of the nine-nation 2nd Commonwealth Volleyball Championship at the Netaji Indoor Stadium here Sunday.

India won 25-7, 25-18, 25-13.

The hosts had finished second behind winners Canada in the inaugural Commonwealth Volleyball Championship in London in 1981.

Sanjay Kumar and G. Pradeep made some fantastic spikes and blocks as India walked away with opening set 25-7.

By IANS Brisbane : A dejected Australian captain, Ricky Ponting acknowledged that his team's level of cricket has dropped in the last three games of the Commonwealth Bank series. Ponting said this after his team's nine-run defeat in the second of the best-of-three finals and grudgingly accepted that the Indians had outplayed his team. "We played well in the series, but yes the level of our cricket has dropped in the last three games. But you cannot take the credit away from India. They outplayed us in every department," Ponting said.

By IANS, Mohali (Punjab) : A lifesize image of former Indian skipper Kapil Dev, whose poster went missing from the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) stadium here earlier this month leading to emotional protests from the cricketer, was restored Friday at its earlier place. The poster was reported "missing" a few days back from the PCA stadium's pavilion building. Similar posters of other players, including Sunil Gavaskar, were, however, not removed.

By IANS, Bangalore/Mumbai : The two semi-finals of the Indian Premier League (IPL) have been shifted to Navi Mumbai Sunday, keeping in mind the safety of players and fans following Saturday's twin blasts and detection of two crude bombs at Bangalore's Chinnaswamy Stadium. IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi said the governing council was not ready to take any chances and wanted to ensure the safety of players and spectators. Three matches will take place Wednesday and Thursday at the D.Y. Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai.

By IANS, New Delhi : A 10-member Indian team will participate in the Asian Vovinam Championship at Kish Island, Iran, from Saturday. "Santosh Kumar is the coach of the team for the six-day event," Praveen Garg, general secretary, Vovinam Association of India said in a statement. Vovinam is a martial art sport that originated in Vietnam. Team: Sarendra Singh Soibam, Kanta Singh Haobijam, Binoy Singh, Santosh Kumar, Alex Laithangbam, Mahadeva Chongtham, Deepak Patel, Ajaz Rasool Mir, Rahul Kumar, Madhu.

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By IANS, London : India's Harsh Mankad along with Serbian Ilija Bozoljac qualified for the Wimbledon doubles main draw with a 7-6(5), 6-4 win over Austrian Alexander Peya and Germany's Bjorn Phau in the second round of the qualifiers. It is the first time that Harsh, 30, son of former Test cricketer Ashok Mankad and former tennis national champion Nirupama Mankad, has qualified for a Grand Slam tournament.

By IANS, Johannesburg : Players suspended for their next match: Round of 16 Zdeno Strba (Slovakia) - Second yellow card Victor Cáceres (Paraguay) - Second yellow card Waldo Ponce (Chile) - Second yellow card Gary Medel (Chile) - Second yellow card Marco Estrada (Chile) - Yellow/Red card Quarter-finals Jonathan Mensah (Ghana) - Second yellow card Andre Ayew (Ghana) - Second yellow card

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By Neena Bhandari, IANS Sydney : India's convincing victory over formidable Australia, topped by a splendid innings of 117 by Sachin Tendulkar, on a perfect autumn Sunday gave fans, including the hundreds of Indians and Indian-Australians at the Sydney Cricket Ground, something to relish for years. A sea of Indian national flags, banners interspersed by frequent cries of 'Bharat mata ki jai...' to the beat of drums would have made the hosts often wonder if they were playing in India or at home.

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By IANS, Mumbai : Mumbai Indians captain Sachin Tendulkar won the toss and elected to bowl against Kings XI Punjab in their Indian Premier League (IPL) at the D.Y. Patil Sports Academy in Nerul here Wednesday.

By Anand Philar, IANS, Coimbatore : Vikram Mathias (co-driver PVS Murthy) of Team Red Rooster Racing, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Cedia, comfortably won the IMG Mill and Monsoon Rally, the fifth round of the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC), here Sunday. Mathias, after team-mate Amittrajit Ghosh (co-driver Ashwin Naik), also in a Cedia , dropped out with gearbox problems Saturday, had no competition and had the luxury of driving at his own pace to clinch the overall title.

By IANS, New Delhi : The little-known Vietnamese martial art sport Vovinam has fetched India seven medals in the ongoing Asian Indoor Games at Hanoi, Vietnam. The seven-member Indian Vovinam team won one gold, three silver and three bronze medals. Pratiksha Santosh Shinde from Maharashtra was the star performer, winning one gold and three silver medals. She won the team's only gold in the single performance category. Pratiksha, Rahul Kumar, Shashank Bajrang Kathade and Devrao Shankarrao Kapse got silver in the multiple attack technique.

By IANS, New Delhi : The Indian women's hockey squad, which was to leave for Russian city Kazan via Frankfurt to play in the Champions Challenge, was not allowed to check in Thursday at the Indira Gandhi International Airport as the players did not have transit visas to land in Germany. Hockey India blamed the public-sector travel agency and the German airline Lufthansa for the fiasco.

By IANS Chicago : Jitender Kumar and Jai Bhagwan failed in their first attempts to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games when they lost their pre-quarterfinal bouts in the World Boxing Championships here. Jitender lost 9-14 to Russian Georgy Balakshin in the flyweight (51kg) contest while Jai Bhagwan went down 7-16 to Colombian Darley Perez in the lightweight (69kg) bout at the University of Illinois-Chicago's UIC Pavilion Wednesday. All quarter-finalists automatically book a berth in the Beijing Olympics.

By IANS Adelaide : Sachin Tendulkar Thursday became the first batsman to have recorded 80 centuries in international cricket - 39 hundreds in Tests and 41 in One-Day Internationals when he scored a hundred against Australia in the fourth Test at Adelaide. Tendulkar has extended his record for most Test hundreds (39) and hundreds on foreign soil to 23. Tendulkar's tally of six hundreds in Australia is a record by an Indian batsman in India-Australia Tests in Australia.

By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent, Malappuram: When Argentina too followed the path of Brazil out of the World Cup, it was a day of doom for Malappuram. The football fans of Malappuram were disappointed by the defeat of their two favourite teams. All had expected a super final between Argentina and Brazil.

By Shilpa Raina, IANS, New Delhi : "Jiyo Utho Bado Jeeto"... the Commonwealth Games official song exhorts youngsters to live, rise, ascend, win and play the game without malice, says lyricist Mehboob who brainstormed with music maestro A.R. Rahman for six months before coming up with the final version. Mehboob's brief for the song was simple -- it should be targeted at youth and bring out the essence of India and sportsmanship.

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By IANS, Chennai : The Asian Closed Junior (under-18) tennis championships will be held here from May 16 to 21 with Xin Gao of China (Boys) and Ayaka Okuno of Japan (Girls) as the top seeds.

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Charleston (US): Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis won their third successive doubles title together, securing the Family Circle Cup tennis title on Sunday, enabling...

Bengaluru : New Zealand's women team head coach Haidee Tiffen on Thursday said her players were gradually getting acclimatized to the conditions here and...

By IANS, New Delhi: An eight-member Pakistani team arrived here Saturday to participate in the Hero Asian Cycling Championship being held at the Indira Gandhi Velodrome.

Raqib Hameed Naik New Delhi: Commonwealth Games gold-medalist Mohammad Ashab is in Italy for a training. Government of India has agreed...

By IANS New Delhi, Feb 25 (IANS) Sixteen Indian umpires along with members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Elite Panel will officiate in the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) beginning in April, a top board official said Monday. "In all, 16 Indian umpires will be deployed for the IPL. In addition, we are trying to get all the members of the ICC Elite Panel," Niranjan Shah, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), told IANS.

By IANS, Chennai : Former national champion Alok Kumar (Petroleum Sports) had to bank on his vast experience to beat challenger Rafat Habib (Railways) 3-2 in the Madras Gymkhana Club's All India invitational snooker tournament here Sunday night. Alok, after winning the opening two frames, dropped the next two before taking the decider aided by small but useful breaks. Alok went on to post his third win in the preliminary league by defeating Nigel Nazar 3-0.

By Omar Khalid, IANS, Karachi : Intikhab Alam's future as Pakistan coach is doubtful after he was ignored for a brief tour of Dubai where the team will play two Twenty20 Internationals against England later this month. Intikhab, 68, has been excluded from the touring squad apparently because of Pakistan's pathetic showing on the just ended tour of Australia, where the tourists were white-washed. Sources in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) told IANS Monday that a decision has been taken to sack Intikhab but will only be announced after the board manages to select his successor.

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By IANS, Centurion: Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to field in the fifth and final ODI against South Africa here Sunday.

By IANS, Melbourne: The Australian cricket team's physiotherapist Alex Kountouris is confident that captain Ricky Ponting will be fit in time for the World Cup.

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By IANS, Antigua : The following is the scoreboard of the third ODI between India and the West Indies at the Sir Viv Richards Stadium here Saturday.West Indies:

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By Adnan Alavi, Speedster Zaheer Khan went past a major milestone during the Durban test match in South Africa. Though India won the test, the record didn't get due attention.

By IANS, Nottingham: India were 215 for four at tea on day two of the second cricket Test against England at Trent Bridge here Saturday.

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By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net,

By IANS Ludhiana : Lack of communication among coaches and the vindictive attitude of the big clubs are the main reasons behind the decline of Kolkata football, said Dempo coach Armando Colaco here Thursday. "Today someone is the Mohun Bagan coach and tomorrow he becomes the East Bengal coach. There is no interaction among the coaches in Kolkata and consequently, the game suffers," said Colaco, on the eve of his team's first match in the ongoing 29th Federation Cup football tournament.

By IANS New Delhi : Top seed and defending champion FIDE Master Vidit Santosh Gujrathi of Maharashtra made a winning start in the Parsvnath 21st National Under-13 Chess Championship which got underway at Bapu Samaj Sewa Kendra Saturday. Gujrathi beat Ashitab Mishra of Delhi without much trouble in a top board clash.

By IANS, Mohali (Punjab) : Two straight losses in as many games in the Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 tournament has put the Mohali team - Kings XI Punjab - on the back foot. The team needs real heroics for their next match against the Mumbai Indians to be played at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) stadium here Friday. For the Mohali team and particularly its captain Yuvraj Singh, it will be an uphill task to contain the Mumbai Indians. On home ground, the Mohali team and Yuvraj will have a point to prove - both as a team and as a captain.

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By IANS, London: British Queen Elizabeth II declared the London Olympics officially open early Saturday morning at a spectacular opening ceremony directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Danny Boyle.

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By IANS, Mumbai : Kolkata Knight Riders fell like nine pins and were bundled out for a mere 67 runs against Mumbai Indians in an Indian Premier League match here Friday. After electing to field, Mumbai Indians bowled with pace and accuracy and did not allow Knight Riders batsmen to settle down. Shaun Pollock (3-12), Dominic Thornely (2-7), Dwayne Bravo (2-14) were the main wicket takers. Sourav Ganguly and Ajit Agarkar contributed 15 runs each with the bat as Knight Riders recorded the lowest total of the tournament so far.

By IANS, Bhubaneswar: Hundreds of fans of Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni here were disappointed Saturday when they could not spot their favorite player in the Indian squad which arrived here along with the Sri Lankan team to play the third day-night one-day international at Cuttack on Dec 21. "We are disappointed," Rabindra Mohanty, 20, a fan standing outside at the Mayfair hotel here, said after not spotting Dhoni in the team.

By DPA, Hamburg : Career successes of Manchester United coach Sir Alex Ferguson: Champions League: 2 (1999, 2008) European Cup Winners' Cup: 2 (1983, 1991) UEFA Super Cup: 2 (1983, 1991) World Club Cup: 1 (1999) Premiership Champions: 10 (1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2008) FA-Cup winner: 5 (1990, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2004) English League Cup winner: 2 (1992, 2006) Scottish Champions: 3 (1980, 1984, 1985) Scottish Cup winner: 4 (1982, 1983, 1984, 1986) Scottish League Cup winner: 1 (1986) Clubs coached: June 1974 - Oct 1974: East Stirlingshire

By IANS, Sydney : After his low-key investment in the unfancied Rajasthan Royals fetched him a multimillion-dollar windfall in the Indian Premier League (IPL), business magnate Lachlan Murdoch is eyeing rich stakes in the fast-growing and lucrative Indian media. Murdoch was one of three members of the consortium that owned Rajasthan Royals with Manoj Badale being the chairman and major shareholder. Badale's company, Emerging Media, leads the consortium, with Murdoch brought on board as its media partner and businessman Suresh Chellaram as its Indian partner.

By IANS, Lagos : India's Isha Lakhani had little difficulty overcoming Belgium's Tamaryn Hendler on her way to the semi-final of the $25,000 ITF event here. Isha, seeded third, beat the seventh-seeded Hendler 6-3, 6-2 and will now face second-seeded Slovakian Zuzana Kucova, who ended the run of India's Ankita Bhambri with a 6-4, 6-1 win. In the doubles, fourth seeded pair of Isha and Rushmi Chakravarthi thrashed Nigerian wildcards Sabath Ibrahim and Fatimah Abinu 6-3, 6-0 to enter the finals.

By IANS, Kolkata : The Archery Association of India (AAI) has effected four changes to the 16-member Indian contingent which will participate in the World Cup stage III at Antalya in Turkey June 2-7. The four, Viswash, Chekrovolu Swuro (both recurve), Arjun Rao and S. Jayalakshmi (both compound) have been replaced by Kapil, Reena Kumari, M. Chinglensana and Vrushali Gorle, respectively, according to AAI secretary general P.N. Mukherjee. Indian archers have won three gold medals and two bronze from the two World Cup meets held so far. The contingent:

By IANS, Mumbai : One might be well aware of his golfing skills and now Shiv Kapur is ready to impart some of those skills to amateur golfers in a specially designed golf clinic on the eve of the seven-million-rupees (nearly $1,72,000) Crompton Greaves Open at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club here Wednesday. Kapur, a European Tour competitor, will teach the basics to amateurs and the corporate golfers in the city. A pro-amateur competition will also be held as a precursor to the 72-hole stroke-play starting Thursday.

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Belfast : Justin Kemp and Herschelle Gibbs scored fine half-centuries as South Africa made 148 for seven wickets in the allotted 31 overs in the shortened decider of the Future Cup here Sunday.