Sports

By Abhishek Roy, IANS,

By IANS, Shanghai : Sebastian Vettel claimed the first pole position for the Red Bull team at the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix Saturday as Brawn GP were brought down to earth again. The German Vettel, 21, clocked 1 minute 36.184 seconds for the 5.451-km lap on the Shanghai International Circuit in a dramatic qualifying session. Former world champion Fernando Alonso impressed with second place in a Renault in 1:36.381, with Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber of Australia third on the grid for Sunday's race in 1:36.466 minutes.

By IANS, New Delhi: India, whose Commonwealth Games projects have been hit by graft charges, has much to learn from the "corruption-free" Beijing Olympics, with a visiting functionary of the Communist Party of China's oversight commission Friday giving tips about their successful organization.

By IANS, New Delhi: Two more Indians Tuesday qualified for the finals of the Commonwealth Boxing Championships being held at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium here. Amandeep defeated Malaysia's Redzuan 7-1 in the semi-finals of the 49kg while Jai Bhagwan got a walkover in 60kg category after his English opponent Dany Phillips failed to turn up for the tie due to an upset stomach. "It feels good to reach the finals and I will give my best tomorrow to earn medals for the country," said Jai Bhagwan.

By Xinhua Rome : Following are the standings in Italian Serie A football after Saturday's matches (tabulated under matches played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against and points): Juventus 2 2 0 0 8 3 6 AS Roma 2 2 0 0 5 0 6 AC Milan 3 1 2 0 5 2 5 Fiorentina 2 1 1 0 4 2 4 Inter Milan 2 1 1 0 3 1 4 Atalanta Bergamo 2 1 1 0 3 1 4 Sampdoria 2 1 1 0 2 1 4 Napoli 2 1 0 1 5 2 3 Cagliari 2 1 0 1 4 3 3 Palermo 2 1 0 1 4 4 3 Lazio 3 0 3 0 2 2 3 Torino 2 0 2 0 4 4 2 Reggina 2 0 2 0 3 3 2 Catania 2 0 2 0 2 2 2 Parma 2 0 1 1 2 4 1 Genoa 2 0 1 1 0 3 1 Siena 3 0 1 2 2 6 1

By IANS, Kolkata: I-League football club Prayag United have signed up Costa Rican mid-fielder Carlos Hernandez for the forthcoming season.

By IANS, New Delhi : A four-month old Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report seems to have alarmed Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) president Michael Fennell so much that he shot off a letter to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to seek the intervention of the Prime Minister in the organisation of the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

By IANS, New Delhi : The International Cricket Council (ICC) Monday denied that it goofed up the holding of Champions Trophy in Pakistan, and said the tournament would have lost its sheen with top teams refusing to participate. The ICC also rubbished media reports that world cricket has been split into two groups on the issue of Champions Trophy.

By IANS, Colombo : Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jaywardene won the toss and elected to bat against Pakistan in the first semi-final of World Twenty20 cricket at the Premadasa Stadium here Thursday.

By DPA, Hamburg : Kevin Kuranyi scored four goals as Schalke 04 swept aside talk of a crisis with an emphatic 5-0 victory over Energie Cottbus in the German Bundesliga. Two days after the sacking of coach Mirko Slomka, Schalke responded in style Tuesday under interim trainers Mike Bueskens and Youri Mulder against a Cottbus side which had won their last three games. Schalke stay third on 51 points, two points behind Werder Bremen who snatched a 2-1 win at lowly Hansa Rostock.

By IANS New Delhi : The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs Thursday approved an allocation of Rs.2.57 billion put by the ministry of youth affairs and sports for the development and renovation of competition venues for the 2010 Commonwealth Games to be held here. The selected venues for the Games include Delhi University, Jamia Milia Islamia University and Delhi Public School, R.K.Puram.

By IANS, Dambulla : India was fined for its slow over rate in the final of the tri-nation ODI cricket series against Sri Lanka here Saturday. Match referee Alan Hurst imposed the fines after Mahendra Singh Dhoni's side was ruled to be two overs short of its target at the end of the match when time allowances were taken into consideration.

By IANS, Chennai : The following is the scoreboard at tea on the fourth day of the first cricket Test between India and England at M. A. Chidambaram stadium here Sunday. England (1st innings): 316 India (1st innings): 241 England (2nd innings): Overnight 172 for 3 Andrew Strauss c Laxman b Harbhajan 108 Alastair Cook c Dhoni b Ishant 9 Ian Bell c Gambhir b Mishra 7 Kevin Pietersen lbw Yuvraj 1 Paul Collingwood lbw Zaheer 108 Andrew Flintoff c Dhoni b Ishant 4 Matt Prior (batting) 24 Graeme Swann b Zaheer 7 Stephen Harmison b Zaheer 1 Extras (b10, lb13, nb 7, w 2) 32

By IANS Linares (Spain) : With four rounds to go in the Category 21 Morelia-Linares chess tournament, World champion Viswanathan Anand is well placed to make a bid to retain the title he won last year and consolidate his position as the world's top player. Positioned at 6.5 points, half a point ahead of his nearest rival, the 17-year-old Magnus Carlsen, Anand has been in fairly good form. The tournament is being held in two legs, one each in Morelia, Mexico and in Linares, Spain.

By Omar Khalid, IANS, Karachi : Mohammad Yousuf said Saturday that Pakistan's home series against Sri Lanka will produce high quality cricket. While terming India's decision to cancel its cricket team's tour of Pakistan as a "loss for cricket", Yousuf said Sri Lanka are a fitting replacement. Sri Lanka agreed to fill in for India, which refused to tour Pakistan for a much-awaited series in Jan-Feb over last month's terror attack in Mumbai.

By IANS Lahore : Pakistan's new cricket coach Geoff Lawson has called on batsman Mohammad Yousuf to reconsider his decision to join the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL). Yousuf, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Abdul Razzaq and Imran Farhat have signed up for ICL despite the Pakistan Cricket Board's decision to ban them from the national team. But Lawson said here Tuesday: "To lose Yousuf is a blow, he's such an outstanding player. "I hope he rethinks the decision. He can certainly still be tremendously important to Pakistan cricket."

By IANS New Delhi : The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) Saturday suspended the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) for not adhering to the federation's tournament calendar and for allowing positive tested students to go scot-free. The AIU immediately termed the decision as "staged managed". AFI secretary Lalit Bhanot verbally announced the decision to suspend the AIU in the first session of the AFI annual general body meeting (AGM). But till the end of the session AIU representative at the AGM, Jitender Singh Naruka, had not received anything in writing.

By IANS

London : Dean Ashton scored his first goal for West Ham United in almost a year as the Hammers recorded a 1-1 draw Tuesday in their pre-season friendly against Leyton Orient at Brisbane Road.

The striker hit an unstoppable shot from 30 yards after 15 minutes, which swerved past Glenn Morris in goal, reports the Premier League website.

Adam Boyd then fired narrowly wide for the League One club, before scoring a stunning equaliser after 20 minutes.

By IANS, Hobart : International Cricket Council (ICC) chief David Morgan has said that the world body will make every effort to revive cricketing ties between India and Pakistan. Morgan told Pakistan daily 'The News' Tuesday that he is all for the resumption of bilateral cricketing ties between India and Pakistan, saying the rivalry brings a lot of excitement. "One of the things I am working on is trying to persuade the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that they should play bilateral matches with Pakistan and not just in ICC events," he said.

By Abhishek Roy, IANS New Delhi : After spending a staggering $112 million in buying the franchise and players for the Indian Premier League (IPL), Hyderabad team owners Deccan Chronicle are now out to build a solid fan base for their powerful team. Deccan Chronicle, the leading newspaper from Hyderabad, has some of the big names in world cricket like Andrew Symonds, Adam Gilchrist and local hero V.V. S. Laxman. They won Symonds for a whopping $1.35 million, the highest amount paid for an overseas player.

By IANS,

By IANS, Chennai : Somdev Devvarman blamed his poor service game and inability to convert the 10 breakpoints for his loss to third seeded Marin Cilic in the final of the $450,000 ATP Chennai Open tennis tournament here Sunday. "I think not converting the breakpoints was not the best way to go about. My first serve percentage was like 50 per cent and it hurts. He was also taking my second serve early and making it play," said the 23-year old Devvarman, whose ranking is likely to improve from the present 202 to 153.

By IANS Panchkula (Haryana) : Hyderabad Heroes pulled off a close win in the first of the three finals against fancied Lahore Badshahs in the Indian Cricket League (ICL) Twenty20s Grand Championship at the Tau Devi Lal cricket stadium here Friday evening. Requiring 12 runs in the final over of the T20 match, the Lahore Badshahs could not come good at the final frontier despite a valiant 43 runs from 48 balls by opener Taufeeq Umar who remained unbeaten till the end.

By Rajesh Kumar, IANS New Delhi : The following are the statistical highlights of the fourth One-Day International in Gwalior Thursday in which India beat Pakistan to seal the five-match series: - India won a bilateral series against Pakistan at home after 24 years. - The results summary of India-Pakistan bilateral series in India: Series Competition Winner Margin 1983-84 India 2-0 1986-87 Charminar Challenge Pakistan 5-1 2004-05 Platinum Jubilee match Pakistan 1-0 2004-05 Pakistan 4-2 2007-08 Indian Oil Cup India 3-1

By IANS, New Delhi : Athens Olympics silver medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore will be the flag-bearer of the Indian contingent in the Beijing Olympics starting Aug 8, the Indian Olympic Association announced Monday. The 57-member Indian contingent, including nine shooters and the 42-member support staff, is reaching Beijing in batches. The shooters, boxers and swimmers have already reached the Olympic village.

By Anand Philar, IANS Chennai : India's Karun Chandhok made his Formula One debut in a Red Bull Racing car at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday. As the three-day official test session commenced, Karun, 23, from Chennai, did 39 laps around the 4.627 km circuit and was placed 18th on the time charts that Michael Schumacher topped -- driving the Ferrari F2007 -- followed by team-mate and lead test driver Luca Badoer.

By Avishek Roy, IANS, New Delhi : Chetan Anand's critics had written him off, but he is thrilled to prove them wrong by winning his first Grand Prix title, the Bitburger Open in Germany Sunday. The national champion demolished the inner demons and ignored stinging barbs of critics to get his focus back to win four tournaments this year. Chetan was at the peak of his career last year when a running battle with the Badminton Association of India (BAI) pulled him down. The 28-year-old shuttler says that he has put that phase behind him and worked hard to get back into the groove.

By IANS Sydney : After scoring his 29th Test century Saturday, Australian opener Mathew Hayden came out with a strong statement saying that by no means can India win the ongoing second Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). "India is not going to win this Test. That's for sure, but we are going to try for a win tomorrow," said the 36-year-old left-hander who scored 123 on the fourth day of the Test match. Hayden, however, said that the hosts are not thinking about the 16 consecutive Test wins record.

By IANS, Singapore : Athlete Durgesh Kumar won silver for India in the 400m hurdles final at the inaugural Youth Olympics here Monday. It was India’s second medal in the athletics event and pushed the overall medal’s tally to six with five silvers and a bronze. Discus thrower Arjun had won a silver Saturday. Durgesh won the silver with a personal best timing of 50.81 secs at the Bishan Stadium. Cuban Norge Sotomayor Lara won the gold clocking 50.69 secs and Kenyan William Mbevi won the bronze with 51.23 secs.

By Anand Philar, IANS, Chennai : India's attempts to revive their sagging hockey fortunes, after failing to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, commence in Kuantan (Malaysia) Saturday when they take on Bangladesh in the eighth Asia Cup. The eight-nation competition will be India's first meaningful international outing in 14 months after the disaster at the Olympic qualifiers in Santiago, Chile.

By DPA

Guatemala City : The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has introduced a new flexible system to add or drop sports from future Olympics.