London, July 5
Venus Williams survived a fierce onslaught from Serena Williams to win her fifth Wimbledon singles title on Saturday, finally subduing her younger sister 7-5, 6-4.

Venus fought back from a break down in both sets to trump her sister in high-quality contest on a windswept Centre Court. A scooped backhand wide from Serena handed Venus victory following an absorbing battle lasting one hour and 51 minutes.

In her moment of triumph, a beaming Venus quickly ran to the net to offer her sibling a consolation embrace. “I can’t believe it’s five. But when you’re in the final against Serena Williams, five seems so far away. She played so awesome, it was really a test,” the 28-year-old American said after successfully defending her title.

The American siblings met in a grand slam showpiece for the seventh time although the last time they clashed in a major final was at Wimbledon five years ago when Serena won a subdued battle against an unfit Venus.

Saturday’s victory also allowed Venus to gain some sweet revenge. She had beaten Serena at the 2001 U.S. Open but lost the five finals since and trailed their overall head-to-heads 7-8.

Serena, 26 and 15 months younger than her sister, began the final in ominous fashion producing a series of searing service returns to break the seventh seed in the opening game. With gusting winds blowing through Centre Court, Venus often struggled with her ball toss and could have gone a double break down had Serena converted another break point in the fifth game.

“She was a little better today and it didn't work out the way I planned," said Serena, who had been eyeing a third singles title at the All England Club. — Reuters

Karachi, July 5
With their bowlers looking quite ordinary, India will heavily rely on their in-form batsmen to to do the job when they take on a confident Sri Lanka in the final of the Asia Cup here tomorrow.

While the Indian bowlers have not made much of an impression on the batting-friendly track at the National Stadium, the batsmen have made amends by chasing down big totals in the tournament so far.

The script could unfold in a similar fashion in the summit showdown tomorrow, though the Indians will be keen to improve their bowling and fielding to be able to counter the islanders.

Blazing starts from the pair of Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag have so far set the pace for India and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be hoping that the two openers click again so that there is less pressure on the middle order batsmen.

Thrice in the super league stage, the batsmen either piled up or chased big totals and their only defeat in the competition was the one to Pakistan in the super league stage when the bowlers could not defend a total of 308.

Irfan Pathan, who returned to the side against Pakistan after missing the first three games due to a side strain, has been most expensive and the weak link in the bowling line-up for the Indians.

Indians need to do some serious thinking on their bowling combination because left-arm spinner Ojha has not looked as dangerous as either Sri Lanka's Ajantha Mendis or Muttiah Muralitharan.

Dhoni, however, defended his bowlers insisting that the pitches were just too flat and true for batting.

"The spinners are also finding it difficult to get turn in the middle overs. So the batting has to take the responsibility and support the bowlers," Dhoni said.

Asia Cup winners 1984 India 1986* Sri Lanka 1988 India 1990-91 India 1995 India 1997 Sri Lanka 2000 Pakistan 2004 Sri Lanka *India didn’t play in this edition

Although on paper both sides appear to be equally balanced but the Lankans appear to have an edge in the bowling department.

Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene believes that after two weeks of regular matches there will be some wear and tear in the pitches for the final and it is obvious he is counting on Mendis and Murali to deliver the goods. Sri Lankan attack is surely strengthened by the presence of promising Ajantha Mendis, whose unpredictable spin is proving difficult to be decoded by batsmen.

So heavily are the Sri Lankans banking on Mendis to play an influential role in the final that they preferred to rest him for the super league round game against the Indians, having already qualified for the final. The Lankan decision was based on the fact that the Indians have not played Mendis as yet and the finger spinner is already leading with 11 wickets .

And Jayawardene would certainly be hoping that Mendis would be as natural with his bowling as possible because as yet no one has been able to fathom whether he is an off-spinner or a leg-spinner as he turns it both ways and also has a well-disguised slider. — PTI

Karachi, July 5
The Indian cricket board (BCCI) has asseverated its support to hosting of the ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan, insisting it never doubted the successful organisation of the elite tournament across the border.

Niranjan Shah, BCCI secretary, though felt that the success of the Asia Cup was essential for the Champions Trophy, considered second biggest cricket tournament after the World Cup.

Media reports in Australia had claimed that the BCCI was keen on postponing the Champions Trophy rather than relocating it, if security concerns arise.

"As always, the BCCI is with the PCB. We have never asked or thought of postponing ICC Champions Trophy. No question was raised about the tournament during the ICC meetings in Dubai and everybody agreed that it will be held in Pakistan. I think the tournament will go without any doubt," Shah said.

Shah did not agree there was an Asian bloc in the ICC but said the successful organisation of the Asia Cup has shown the world that the game is on in Pakistan .

"We have never raised questions regarding security in Pakistan for the Champions Trophy," he said. — PTI

London, July 5
West Indian great Michael Holding has resigned from the ICC Cricket Committee after they changed the result of the 2006 Oval Test between England and Pakistan to a draw.

The tourists were originally ruled to have forfeited the match after refusing to play.

The Sun quoted Holding as saying that: "I have resigned because that game should never, ever be a draw."

Holding felt that Pakistan's refusal to play should not go unpunished even though they were not guilty of ball tampering.

"I have just written my letter of resignation to the ICC Cricket Committee because I cannot agree with what they've done," Holding said while commentating for Sky Sports during a domestic match in England.

"That game should never, ever be a draw. When you take certain actions, you must be quite happy to suffer the consequences. A lot of things are happening today that I don't want to be involved with, so I've moved on," he added.

Umpire Darrell Hair after Pakistan did not come out to field after tea on the fourth day, following accusations of ball tampering, originally awarded the Oval Test to England.

Pakistan had, at the time, been in a strong position in the match, having secured a first-innings lead of 331 and removed four England batsmen in their second innings.

There was nothing at stake in the series, with England already leading 2-0 after wins at Headingley and Old Trafford, but the eventual forfeiture was the first in the history of Test cricket.

The removal of England's win could affect their standing in the ICC Test Championship - they are currently third on 110 points, one ahead of their next opponents, South Africa, on 109.

The result had huge off-field ramifications as well. Hair went on to be suspended from the ICC elite panel, and though that decision was overturned last year when he took his employers to the High Court in London. — ANI 

St Kitts, July 4
Australia staged a late innings fightback to seal a one-run victory and a 4-0 one-day series lead against West Indies on Friday. West Indies appeared to be cruising towards a victory target of 283 before Brett Lee and Nathan Bracken claimed a combined two for five in the 48th and 49th overs to put on the brakes.

That left the unheralded duo of Darren Sammy and Dinesh Ramdin needing eight runs from Shane Watson’s final over but they could manage just six to finish on 281 for six. Opener Chris Gayle blasted four sixes and six boundaries in his 92 and he was supported by Ramnaresh Sarwan (63), with whom he shared a 137-run second wicket parrtnership, and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (53).

Michael Hussey’s sublime diving catch to remove debutant Shawn Findlay in the 48th over wrested much of the momentum back Australia’s way. When Chanderpaul fell to Bracken with the last ball of the 48th over, a target that had appeared attainable suddenly appeared distant.

A century partnership between Andrew Symonds and debutant David Hussey had guided Australia to a competitive total. Symonds (87) and Hussey (50) addeed 127 runs in their fourth wicket stand. Michael Clarke captained Australia for the first time in one-day international cricket after Ricky Ponting was sent home with a wrist injury.

Australia fined for slow over-rate

Australian team was fined five per cent of its match fee for maintaining a slow over-rate during its fourth ODI match against the West Indies here. Match referee Roshan Mahanama imposed the fine after Australia was ruled to be one over short of its target when time allowances were taken into consideration. Michael Clarke in his first ODI as a captain was fined 10 per cent of his match fee while each of his players received five per cent fines. The final match will be played here tomorrow. 

Scoreboard

Australia

Marsh c Ramdin b Powell 16

Watson c Ramdin b Powell 20

M. Hussey c Bravo b Sammy 37

Clarke lbw b Miller 36

Symonds c Bravo b Edwards 87

D. Hussey c sub b Gayle 50

Hopes c Sarwan b Edwards 0

Ronchi c Marshall b Bravo 12

Lee not out 7

Johnson not out 0

Extras (lb-7, w-7, nb-3) 17

Total (for 8 wkts, 50 overs) 282

FoW: 1-41, 2-56, 3-116, 4-129, 5-256, 6-256, 7-266, 8-279.

Bowling: Edwards 10-0-53-2, Powell 10-1-66-2, Bravo 10-0-57-1, Sammy 4-0-18-1, Miller 10-1-56-1, Gayle 6-1-25-1.

West Indies

Gayle c Hopes b Watson 92

Marshall lbw b Lee 0

Sarwan c Ronchi b Lee 63

Chanderpaul b Bracken 53

Bravo b Hopes 31

Findlay c M. Hussey b Lee 9

Ramdin not out 5

Sammy not out 3

Extras (lb-6, w-17, nb-2) 25

Total (for 6 wkts, 50 overs) 281

FoW: 1-1, 2-138, 3-188, 4-247, 5-271, 6-275

Bowling: Lee 10-0-64-3, Bracken 10-0-50-1, Johnson 10-0-40-0, Hopes 10-0-63-1, D. Hussey 2-0-20-0, Watson 7-0-33-1, Clarke 1-0-5-0.— Agencies

New Delhi, July 5
Barely a couple of hours after slapping his India teammate S. Sreesanth, a repentant Harbhajan Singh had a quiet dinner with the Kerala pacer to get over the unsavoury incident.

Sreesanth, who was slapped by Harbhajan after an Indian Premier League match in May, said neither he nor Harbhajan expected that it would snowball into the crisis that it eventually did.

“We actually had dinner the same day. So I don’t know how come the media and people took it very seriously,” Sreesanth revealed in an interview to NDTV. The episode, which marked a new low in players’ on-field behaviour, finally settled after Harbhajan was docked his IPL earnings from that match onwards and banned from the remainder of the tournament. The BCCI also reprimanded Harbhajan by handing him a five-ODI ban.

Looking back at the episode, Sreesanth said it was all but forgotten now and would not affect the Indian dressing room as is being speculated. “Everything is fine actually. We are still brothers it is not going to affect (us) for sure,” he said. In fact, Sreesanth said he feels for Harbhajan, who lost Rs 2.8 crore of his IPL earnings. “Imagine...losing 2.8 crore... I mean 2.8 crore is a costly slap,” he said. — PTI 

London, July 5
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, tennis' glittering top of the bill double act, clash in a third successive Wimbledon final tomorrow to determine who is the world’s best player.

The final will be the sixth time the elegant Swiss and the muscular Spaniard have met in a Grand Slam final, bettering the five played by Mats Wilander and Ivan Lendl, and then Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi in the 1980s and 1990s.

Federer has won two on the grass of the All England Club in 2006 and 2007; Nadal has claimed three on his beloved Roland Garros clay in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Never have the stakes been higher.

A victory for Federer will make him the first man since the 19th century to win six Wimbledons in a row.

A win for Nadal, on the other hand, will take him alongside Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg as the only man to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same season.

He would also become the first Spanish men's champion since Manuel Santana in 1966.

It's hardly surprising that the 26-year-old Federer and Nadal, just 22, are keen to stress that the pressure is on the other.

"For me, Roger is the best in history," said Nadal who stormed to a fourth successive French Open title a month ago destroying Federer in a brutally one-sided final where the world number one won just four games.

That Paris annihilation, coupled with Nadal taking Federer to an epic five-set final here in 2007, has led many to suggest that the era of the Swiss superstar's dominance is at an end. — AFP

Chandigarh, July 5
Taking a major decision at its Annual General Meeting, the Punjab Olympic Association has amended its constitution, giving voting power to 13 more state sports associations.

With the development, the number of the associations having voting power has reached 25. The meeting, which was attended by almost all affiliated units of the association, was held at Punjab Bhawan, Sector 3 under the chairmanship of POA president S.S. Dhindsa.

The other major decision, taken in the meeting, was that now onwards all the associations can caste three votes each during the POA elections.

“Earlier, only three associations including Punjab State Athletics Association, Punjab State Hockey Association and Punjab State Football Association, had the rights of three votes each whereas the rest associations could caste only two votes each”, the president S.S. Dhindsa said.

“For the IOA, every discipline is equal so we have amended the earlier clause and given equal right of voting to every member”, Dhindsa said.

Apart from that, it was also decided to increase the number of posts of the POA. “A new post of senior vice-president has been created. Earlier there was only one vice-president but now five posts of vice-presidents and one post of additional secretary have been created. Besides that four new posts of joint secretary will be there in the association, extending the total number to five. The number of executive members has also increased from nine to 15”, the secretary general Raja Sidhu said.

The term of office bearer has also been increased by a year to 4 years on lines of the IOA. To deal with the financial front effectively, the association has constituted a Finance Committee under the chairmanship of Adesh Partap Singh Kairon. The association also nodded to hold the state games this year after a long gap of 17 years. The last state games were hosted at Ludhiana in 1991.

The new state sports associations, which got the voting rights in today’s meeting are: Archery, Equestrian, Fencing, Handball, Judo, Kho-Kho, Kayaking and Kanoying, Netball, Rowing, Shooting, Table Tennis and Triathlon.

Chandigarh, July 5
It is now ‘cycle race’ diplomacy that will help improve Indo-Pak relations and also promote sports between the two neighbouring countries.

With the hope that sports can perhaps bridge the chasm, the Pakistan sports authorities have mooted a proposal to hold a friendly 'Road Cycle Race for Peace' between the two countries.

In a letter to Raja K.S. Sidhu, secretary general of Punjab Olympic Association (POA), Punjab Cycle Federation secretary general Idris Haider Khawaja has proposed to hold a cycle race from Islamabad to New Delhi or vice versa in near future. The PCF is an apex body regulating cycling discipline in Pakistan and affiliated with Pakistan Olympic Association.

"The race would be conducted jointly by the national cycling federations of both countries", he stated.

To give an added attraction to the event, the Pakistani federation also proposes to invite all cycling federations of SAARC countries for the promotion of the game in the region.

"In Pakistan , the event would be coordinated by the PCF while beyond Wagah Border, the Cycling Federation of India with the assistance of POA may coordinate to make the event a successful venture", the Pakistani sports official said. The arrangements will be responsibility of the two national cycling federations in their respective territories.

Terming the idea of holding the event as very exciting, Raja Sidhu said, "I along with S.S. Dhindsa, POA president and also president of Cycling Federation of India, put forwarded the case to all authorities including Punjab Chief Minister, Union Sports Ministry and External Affairs Ministry for necessary approvals. 

BRIEFLY

41-year-old qualifies for 5th Olympics
OMAHA: Dara Torres, a 41-year-old mother, clinched a spot at her fifth Olympics with an inspiring win in the 100 metres freestyle at the US trials. Battling the odds of age and a creaky body that requires hours of massage, stretching and testing after every race and workout, the evergreen Torres said she had not expected to win the 100 freestyle -- and was not even sure she had. “With my age I couldn’t see the numbers on the board,” said Torres, who won the first of her nine Olympic medals at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. “They have to start making them bigger, I didn't know I had won at first.” — Reuters

Gill meets C’wealth secy general
LONDON: India’s sports minister M.S. Gill met with Britain’s minister for of Olympic Games Tessa Jewel and the Commonwealth secretary general Kamalesh Sharma here and held detailed discussions on the preparations of the event. Gill said it was a “very beneficial meeting” with Jewel and he would send two or three more officials to London for further detailed discussions. The discussion centred around the preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games in London and the nature of funds made available for the Games. — PTI

Poncha crosses Olympic ‘B’ qualifying mark
NEW DELHI: Four-time national champion Rehan Poncha attained the Olympic ‘B’ qualification mark in the 200m butterfly event to become India’s prospective contender for the Beijing Games in the event at the Telstra Grand Prix in Sydney on Saturday. The 21-year-old, who has several national records to his credit, clocked 2:01.40 to finish fifth, better than the Olympic qualifying benchmark of 2:1.79 but will have to wait until July 15 to know whether he would really be on the flight to Beijing. — PTI

Prakash Amritraj wins Dublin Challenger doubles
DUBLIN: The Indo-Pak duo of Prakash Amritraj and Aisam-ul-haq-Qureshi won the euro 64,000 ATP Challenger tournament after a straight sets victory over Jonathan Marray of Britain and Frederik Nielsen of Denmark in the men’s doubles final here on Saturday. The unseeded Indo-Pak pair defeated their fourth seeded opponents 6-3, 7-6 (6). The victory fetched the winners euro 3,950 and 60 ATP ranking points. — UNI

Fiji’s Ba FC confirms Durand Cup participation
NEW DELHI: After eight years, a foreign team will feature in the Durand Cup with Fiji’s top club Ba FC confirming participation in the country’s oldest tournament to be held at Ambedkar Stadium here from August 8 to September 7. Ba FC are the reigning champions of Fiji Premier Division League and have won all the major club tournaments of their country in their 73 years of existence. — PTI

Too early to speak on players for new season: KKR
KOLKATA: It’s too early to speak about the new faces for the next season till the Board finalises the $5-million cap for buying players, according to the Kolkata Knight Riders team management. “When we are in dark about the IPL rules (whether the cap be raised or scrapped), we don’t want to comment on who we have approached. With about 10 months to go for the second edition, it’s too early to say,” KKR CEO Joy Bhattacharya said. — PTI

Sunitha bows out of Boston ITF tourney
NEW DELHI: Curtains were drawn on Sunitha Rao’s campaign at the $50,000 ITF women’s event in Boston after the Indian was knocked out in the quarterfinals in straight sets. Fifth seed US-based Rao, ranked 152, suffered a dejecting 2-6, 3-6 lose to second seed Canadian Stephanie Dubois, placed 100 in the WTA charts. Dubois will now lock horns against Chinese Taipei player Chin-Wei Chan, who dumped fourth seed Varvara Lepchenko of America 6-2 6-2 in her quarterfinal tie. — PTI