Melbourne, January 29
Kim Clijsters won her second straight Grand Slam title and the fourth of her career, struggling early before beating Li Na 3-6 6-3 6-3 today in the Australian Open final. The result ended the outstanding run of Li, who became the first Chinese player to reach a Grand Slam singles final.

Li appeared to become upset with some of the Chinese spectators in the crowd in the third set, and asked the chair umpire to intervene. She later complained about the flashes from photographers at center court. U S Open champion Clijsters was wiping tears from her eyes at the end. The win came in likely her last appearance at Melbourne Park - she said that 2011 could be her last full year on the tour.

"I finally feel like you guys can call me Aussie Kim because I won the title," Clijsters said at the trophy presentations, referring to her crowd favouritism that came from her former relationship with Australian No 1 Lleyton Hewitt.

Looking at Li, Clijsters said: "I think we'll have a lot more tough battles to come, hopefully a few more Grand Slam finals would be nice." It was the first night match for Li at Rod Laver Arena, where the cooler temperatures after the sun sets usually makes the hard court slower.

But Melbourne warmed up late today, making even the night conditions similar to what Li would have experienced in cooler day matches earlier in the tournament. Li, with her courtside humour and bubbly personality, endeared herself to the fans here and around the world. Back home, she was a huge hit.

"The Chinese fans were prepared to express their feelings and shed their tears of excitement. We were just one step from victory," China Central Television announcer Tong Kexin said today. CCTV predicted that about 15 million people watched the match live on its sports channel.

Clijsters led 4-2 in head-to-head matches before the match, but Li beat Clijsters in the Sydney International final two weeks ago after the Belgian player had led 5-0 in the opening set.

Li and Clijsters weren't into any mind games before the match, seen outside the dressing room doors joking and smiling with each other. Li seemed uncharacteristically nervous in her pre-match TV interview, though, and that translated on to the court. Clijsters opened the match with an ace, winning the first game on four straight points, then breaking Li the same way for a 2-0 lead after just a few minutes.

But Li found her range and seemed to lose her nervousness in the third game, breaking Clijsters and then holding for 2-2. The turnaround continued when Li saved two big break points, then broke Clijsters in the final game of the set. She set up two set points with a stinging forehand that Clijsters didn't bother to run for, then two points later stunned Clijsters with a crosscourt forehand to close out the first set in 38 minutes. — AP

New Delhi, January 29
The vexed issue of the India-England World Cup match took another interesting turn as the Ferozshah Kotla here emerged as a fresh candidate for the game, which was pulled out of Eden Gardens by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

“Yes, there is a definite possibility that the India-England match may come to Delhi,” said a source in the Delhi & District Cricket Association. “However, there is no final word on this yet, and the decision will only be taken on January 31. But all of this would depend on whether ICC approves this or not.” January 31 is the deadline for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to find an alternate venue. While Bangalore and Chennai have also been mentioned, it seems that Delhi is a strong possibility.

However, DDCA are likely to be very unwilling hosts, since they are reluctant to host a high-profile match on the Kotla ground, which has not been up to the mark in the past as well. It is understood that DDCA president Arun Jaitley, had grudgingly agreed to bail out his Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) counterpart Jagmohan Dalmiya. Also, the scheduled date for the India-England match is February 27 and Kotla has a match scheduled for the next day, between the West Indies and the Netherlands.

It is also understood that Dalmiya is ready to even barter the India-England match and accept the India-Netherlands game on March 9, which would give him time to get things in order and have at least one India match at Eden. However, any way this is looked at, it is still a logistical nightmare.

None of the senior DDCA officials, including Jaitley, who is out of station, were available to comment.

The ICC has meanwhile, rejected efforts by the BCCI to reconsider their decision, saying that it would not accommodate last-minute changes. Even BCCI President Shashank Manohar got into the act in CAB’s favour, sending a letter to ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat, asking him to reconsider. However, Lorgat was quoted as saying, “I told him (Manohar) the ICC could not accommodate the request. There was too much of planning and too much of logistics that would be involved.”

At the same time, there are also murmurs in the CAB corridors that the ICC had pulled the match out of Kolkata since CAB chief Jagmohan Dalmiya had not acceded their demand for as many as 250 Free of Cost (FOC) and another 250 Option to Buy (OTB) tickets. The FOC tickets, it is understood, the ICC wanted in the VIP box. Dalmiya had alternately offered to arrange for a VIP gallery, an offer that didn’t go down well with ICC.

The ICC communication had four points which CAB needed to address - cricket operations, media, broadcast and sponsorship facilities. The cricket operations included raising the height of the sightscreens from 16 feet to 20 feet, which will leave the CAB short by about 400 seats. 

Kanpur, January 29
International Cricket Council President Sharad Pawar today said a final decision on whether the Eden Gardens would get to host World Cup matches would only be taken tomorrow.The historic stadium in Kolkata lost the February 27 match between India and England after it failed to meet the completion deadline for renovation work. Three more matches are scheduled at the venue.

The BCCI, at the behest of the Cricket Association of Bengal, appealed to the ICC to extend the completion deadline for the India-England tie to February 7 but that has been rejected by the ICC. Pawar said he would get a report on the stadium's preparedness from ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat today and a final decision would be taken only tomorrow.

"I will get the report this evening. After that, an ICC Committee will deliberate on whether Eden will host the matches or not," Pawar said here. "Fans from other countries would be also be coming to see the World Cup and they would have made their travel plans much in advance. Any last-minute change would hassle them," he added. — PTI 

Christchurch, January 29
A maiden century by Mohammad Hafeez and a blistering 65 by Shahid Afridi set up Pakistan for a 43-run win over New Zealand in their one-day cricket international today. The batting heroics, which rescued Pakistan from a disastrous start, were complemented by the fielding exploits of Umar Akmal who featured in three crucial New Zealand dismissals.

The result levelled the six-match series at 1-1, with one game washed out and three to play. It was a sharp turnaround in fortunes from the first match, which New Zealand won by nine wickets with more than 32 overs to spare. They showed the hallmarks of that domination in Christchurch when they won the toss, put Pakistan into bat on a green-tinged wicket, and had them two for eight by the fourth over.

But from there Pakistan worked their way up to take control, compiling 293-7 in their 50 overs, with Afridi starring in a 126-run charge over the last 10 overs. New Zealand made a bold reply and were ahead of Pakistan in the run rate until the final slog, but they lost wickets at regular intervals and were hanging on grimly at the end to be 250-9. — AP 

Hyderabad, January 29
R Vinay Kumar wrecked havoc with a four-wicket haul as South Zone humiliated Central Zone by 552 runs to set up a summit clash with North Zone in the Duleep Trophy here today. Needing an improbable 770 runs to win the match, Central Zone were bundled out for 217 in their second innings on the fourth and final day of the match here.

Placed precariously at 73 for two overnight, Central Zone never seemed to be in the hunt and barring Naman Ojha (55) and Ashok Menaria, none of the visiting batsmen could offer any resistance. Mohnish Mishra was the first Central Zone wicket to fall after adding just eight runs to his overnight score of 30. Mishra's departure, however, came after he and Ojha combined for a 75-run stand for the fourth wicket.

After Nama Ojha was bowled by Pragyan Ojha after a breezy 67-ball knock — that included nine boundaries and a six — the Central Zone's innings also began to collapse although Menaria and Devendra Bundela (29) delayed the imminent with their contributions. Menaria's was an entertaining knock that came off just 47 balls which was studded with five boundaries and four sixes.

Chandigarh, January 29
One of the biggest racing extravaganzas of the region, Amaron Karting Challenge Season III, got underway at the Inderdhanush Auditorium Panchkula today with more than ninety students from top schools of Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali (including St Xavier’s, St. Anne’s, and DAV High School) taking part in the races.

The event had a rousing start but things went a little awry for the organisers when one of the participants banged his car into a spectator who got injured and had to be taken to the hospital. The injury was not serious but it put a dampener on the proceedings and the races were called off for the day after the incident. The remainder of the races will be held tomorrow.

Besides a competition targeting school children between the age group of 12-16, there were other races as well for the college students and corporate groups. Both these groups had 20 and 18 team entries respectively.

Mackinlay Barreto, Head - Motor Sports, Amaron Pro Racing said, “Amaron Pro Racing remains committed to taking Indian Motorsports and Indian racers to global level.”

The winners of the Season III Challenge will get an opportunity to move to the Rotax Max Karting Championship and the national formula racing series in India and will be promoted by Amaron Pro Racing to graduate to international grids.

On the opening day, the first round of school entries were held that churned out 48 fastest drivers. On the concluding day tomorrow, six fastest racers will be selected who will move to the grand finale to be held in Hyderabad.

The ninth round in Hyderabad will see more than 54 contestants from all over India, and fastest three will be selected who will win scholarships of upto Rs 10 lacs and will be provided professional training by Amaron Pro Racing.

Music at the venue did entertain a handful of spectators today. But more exciting was the furious performance of the participants who drove with streaking sound of tyres that left their mark on the track. The finals will be held tomorrow.

Gurdaspur, January 29
Gymnasts from the local Pt Mohan Lal S.D. College for Women and Shanit Devi College for Women, Dinanagar, near here, excelled by jointly winning the Guru Nanak Dev University Inter-College gymnastic (women’s) championship, which concluded at Amritsar recently.

Interestingly, gymnasts from both these colleges train at the Parbodh Chander Memorial Hall here, which is famous for having produced as many as 11 international women gymnasts in the last five years,-a feat which has become talk of the town here. It is pertinent to mention here that Punjab Sports Department coach Jagtar Singh and his deputy Samita Sharma, who earned India colours in 1999 when she took part in the SAARC Gymnastic Meet held at Allahabad, train the sportswomen at the centre. Samita, who accompanied the team to Amritsar, is also working as a lecturer in the same college.

BBK DAV College, Amritsar, stood third in the competition which saw intense competition for supremacy.

Pt Mohan Lal College ended the meet with 11 medals, including five gold. The team comprised of Sarbjit, Kanica Sharma, Mandeep Kaur and Ashima Bhumral, all of whom are national level gymnasts and came close to making it to the Indian team which took part in the New Delhi Commonwealth Games.

The spotlight was on Kanica who stood second in the vaulting horse and vaulting table events. Sarbjit too performed well when she bagged third place in the uneven bars. Mandeep stood second in the balancing beam competition while in the floor exercise, the college girls made a clean sweep with Sarbjit, Kanica and Mandeep bagging the first three positions in that order.

BRIEFLY

Nathan Bracken calls it quits
Sydney: Australian limited-overs specialist Nathan Bracken announced his retirement from cricket, in Sydney, on Saturday. The New South Wales left-armer, a key member of Australia's World Cup-winning team in 2007 in the West Indies, played 116 one-day internationals and five Tests, plus 19 Twenty20 internationals. A reliable seamer who excelled in the shorter forms of the game, Bracken played his last game for Australia against England at Nottingham in September 2009 and cited knee injuries for his decision to call it quits at the age of 33. — AFP

Anand held by Maxime
Wijk Aan Zee: World Champion Viswanathan Anand playing with black pieces had a drawn game against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France, after the 11th round of the 73rd Tata Steel Chess tournament, now in progress here. His main contemporary Hikaru Nakamura of United States surged ahead with a sparkling victory over Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia. Anand inched closer to regaining the top slot in world ranking but only just a bit as Magnus Calrsen of Norway defeated Russian Vladimir Kramnik to stake his claim for the top spot yet again with a sparkling victory. — PTI

Jeev drops to 44th
Bahrain: Jeev Milkha Singh faltered at the very end and dropped down the leaderboard after the second round of the Volvo Golf Champions here today. The Indian star, who was sixth at the end of the first round, ended with a card of one-over 73 to slip to tied 44th.He, however, survived the cut to play at the weekend. Meanwhile, eight players are separated by a single shot at the halfway stage and the four-way lead group included the 47-year-old Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez who after breaking his putter in frustration had a hat-trick of birdies with his lob-wedge being used as a putter. — PTI

Canada in visa impasse
Toronto: Canada have pleaded with the International Cricket Council to help their three Pakistan-born players obtain visas to enter India for the World Cup which gets underway on February 19. Vice-captain Rizwan Cheema, Khurram Chohan and Hamza Tariq are all still waiting for their India visas. The delay has prompted Cricket Canada to demand that the schedule, which has the team playing four of their six group games in India, be altered so that matches are switched to co-hosts Bangladesh and Sri Lanka if the problem persists. — AFP

Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant slam dunks against the Sacramento Kings during their game in California, on Friday. — Reuters

Aussies receive Ponting boost
Melbourne: In an "encouraging" news ahead of the World Cup, Ricky Ponting is said to be recovering fast from his finger injury but team physio Alex Kountouris is cautious about taking Australian skipper back to the nets. Ponting, who broke his finger during the miserable Ashes series, was assessed by Melbourne specialist Greg Hoy, who has advised Kountouris to step up his rehabilitation. "We saw the specialist yesterday and he was reasonably happy with how Ricky is going. It's an encouraging sign. We'll see what happens in the next week or two," Kountouris said. — PTI

DSA to hold selection trials
NEW DELHI: The Delhi Soccer Association (DSA) will hold selection trials to pick the Delhi team from January 30 to February 8 at the DDA Sports Complex, Jasola for participation in the 34th National Games to be held in Jharkhand from February 16 to 26. Delhi and seven other State teams will compete in the National Games. The players who represented Delhi in the 64th National Football Championship held in Kolkata last year, should report to coaches Ranjit Thapa and Ravi Rana. — TNS