Moscow, August 18
Usain Bolt, already enshrined as one of the greatest Olympians of all time, became the most successful athlete in world championship history when he anchored Jamaica to victory in the 4x100 metres relay on Sunday.

Bolt followed up the 100 and 200m double with his third gold in the final event, taking his all-time tally to eight.

That matches American trio Carl Lewis, Michael Johnson and Allyson Felix but the Jamaican moved ahead by virtue of his two silvers from 2007. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce also completed the hat-trick as Jamaica won the women's 4x100 relay in the second-fastest time ever, giving them all six sprint golds in Moscow to bring a smile back to the Caribbean island following the doping cloud surrounding the build-up to Moscow.

On a high-quality final day, there was a Kenyan middle-distance double as Asbel Kiprop retained his 1,500 metres title and Eunice Sum took a surprise gold in the women's 800.

Frenchman Teddy Tamgho delivered the third-longest leap in history as he soared 18.04 metres to win the triple jump and Christina Obergfoell's javelin victory gave Germany their fourth field event gold.

Traditionally athletics programmes ended with the 4x400m relay but such is Bolt's worldwide selling power that recent events have been rejigged to ensure the Jamaican gets top billing.

Jamaica were pipped by Britain in the heats but the favourites drafted in Bolt and Nickel Ashmeade, while the U.S., unusually, used the same four in their evening heat as in the final.

Initially it seemed to be working in the Americans' favour as they led approaching the final bend but Rakieem Salaam's handover to Justin Gatlin left the individual 100m runner-up off balance. He clearly strayed into the Jamaicans' lead outside him but somehow escaped disqualification.

It made no difference to Bolt, who streaked clear to complete victory in 37.36 seconds, the sixth-fastest ever, with the U.S. in 37.66 seconds.

Britain, another nation with a painful history of relay foul ups, crossed the line third but were disqualified for a late changeover.

That promoted Canada on to the podium and somewhat made amends for the 2012 Olympics when they were disqualified after finishing third.

Bangalore, August 18
Sachin Tendulkar feels the changes brought into cricket including T20 format has made the sport more exciting and helped getting more results in Tests.

“Cricket is the only sport to have three formats and its only getting more exciting not only for players but also for spectators. There is creativity and more results are coming by (in longer version of the game). The batsmen are willing to take chances ...,” he said at KSCA’s Platinum Jubilee Celebrations here.

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly said T20 has impacted the longer version of the game as players are playing aggressively and there have been many results too.

“It has brought innovation to the game. When it comes to Test cricket you need to adjust and no two players are similar in technique wise. Players have to stick to their basics, that is important,” he said.

Former Test captain Rahul Dravid said with many T20 games being played, cricketers need to adapt to the demands of this latest format.

“You have to learn to play a few shots. You just can't block it which I did in Test cricket,” he said. “Good players learn to adapt and if we look Chris Gayle, Michael Hussey or an AB de Villiers in last IPL, these guys who sort of dominated are all really good test players. So, we need to have our basics right,” he said. Talking about adapting to different technologies being used in the sport, Tendulkar said he was astonished to see the sight of a laptop in the dressing room for the first time in 2003.

“I wondered how this technology would help us learn cricket, but over the period of time figured out its importance. It helped us plan our innings,” he said. —PTI

Rustenburg, August 18
Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina joined the run feast with superb centuries as India A posted a mammoth 582 for nine against South Africa A to take command of the first unofficial Test, in Rustenberg on Sunday.

Sharma scored 119 while Raina blasted 135 as the two overnight batsmen ripped apart the home bowling attack on the second day of the match. India skipper Cheteshwar Pujara had struck 137 on Saturday to put his side in a strong position.

Sharma and Raina shared a 106-run partnership for the fourth wicket, which was broken when the former was caught by Temba Bavuma off JP Duminy at the fag end of the morning session.

India had resumed the innings at 281 for three and declared after rattling up a huge 582 for nine as Proteas failed to break the last-wicket stand between Shahbaz Nadeem (46) and Jaydev Unadkat (31). The two batsmen added 82 runs for the last wicket. South Africa were 20 for one in reply as Unadkat had opener Reeza Hendricks (10) caught behind.

Dean Elgar and Simon Harmer were at the crease when stumps were drawn for the day. Rohit added another 49 runs to his overnight score before being dismissed, but not before tormenting Protea bowlers with 14 boundaries and two sixes. — PTI 

Scoreboard 

India A (Overnight 281/3)
Dhawan c Hendricks b Harmer 11
Vijay c Harmer b Birch 44
Pujara b Parnell 137
Rohit c Bavuma b Duminy 119
Raina b Parnell 135
Rahane c Rossouw b Duminy 10
Saha c Bavuma b Duminy 1
Ishwar Pandey b Parnell 35
Shami c Bavuma b Elgar 2
Unadkat not out 31
Nadeem not out 46
Extras: (b-7, lb-2, nb-2) 11
Total: (For 9 wkts dec in 163 overs) 582
Fall of wickets: 1-28, 2-94, 3-270, 4-376, 5-412, 6-418, 7-497, 8-500, 9-500
Bowling
K Abbott 30-11-86-0
W Parnell 33-12-89-3
A Birch 33-8-100-1
S Harmer 37-3-155-1
JP Duminy 19-7-80-3
J Ontong 3-0-16-0
D Elgar 8-0-47-1

South Africa A
Hendricks c Saha b Unadkat 10
Elgar not out 9
Harmer not out 1
Extras: 0
Total: (1wkts; 9 ovs) 20
Bowling
Unadkat 5-1-12-1
Shami 2-1-3-0
Nadeem 2-1-5-0

Chandigarh, August 18
If there is a photograph worth a million words then this is truly it. A very unusual photographic of legendary athlete Milkha Singh has been presented to him - it shows a 25-year-old Milkha Singh flanked by hockey player Dhyan Chand on his right and wrestler Dara Singh on his left. This photograph epitomises Milkha Singh's career and his stature as one of the best sportsman this country has produced.

“This photograph was taken in 1955-56. In those days we were all in Bombay and often practiced together. I remember how I spent all my timing running or in fitness training and Dara Singh and his brother Sardara Singh Randhawa were busy wrestling with each other,” reminisces Milkha Singh holding up his fists in gesture.

This is also a very unusual photograph as Dhyan Chand, who is considered one of the best hockey players of all time, has been dead for over 30 years. “It is very sad to think of Dhyan Chand today as he died a pauper,” he adds. “But those were good times.”

Milkha Singh who overcame adversity and hard times in his youth has become an inspiration for an entire nationas he proved that, “with hard work and dedication anything is possible.”

“It's an amazing photograph,” says Jeev, “as it shows three legendary sportsmen of their time at the peak of their careers.”

The photograph was taken at the time when Pratap Singh Kairon was the Chief Minister of Punjab and his Minister, Teer invited these great sportsmen to his residence in Delhi. It was kept the photograph amongst his prized possessions all these years. “His daughter presented the photograph to us today and we are truely grateful,” says Jeev.

New Delhi, August 18
He was a ball-boy during a One-day International between India and Zimbabwe at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, in 1987. In 2011, the same Sachin Tendulkar won a World Cup medal at the same stadium. Life had come a full circle for him as he reached a coveted milestone in cricket. In between, he had already become a legend.

But still, one thing is missing in his profile and life that he just might wish to achieve one day in future.

There are 243 members at present in the upper house of the Indian Parliament, the Rajya Sabha. Only 11 of them have not studied beyond matriculation; some of them had to put their school-bags aside at the senior secondary level because of various reasons. But all of them are achievers, contributors to the society and Indian democracy.

Tendulkar, nominated to the Rajya Sabha last year, is part of this list from August 2012. “Sachin's presence in the Rajya Sabha shows that you need not be a great scholar to be there,” TK Rangarajan, one of the metric-pass members, told this correspondent.

“His achievements in cricket and experience make him fully qualified. That is all that matters in the Upper House,” he added. “There are people from all wakes of life in the Rajya Sabha. They are achievers and contributors in many ways. Sachin is the greatest cricketer whose asset is his experience.” As per the data available on the Rajya Sabha website, Tendulkar is only sportsperson to be nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 61 years.

The “education” column of his Rajya Sabha profile reads “Twelfth standard”.

Just ahead of him is Bollywood actress Rekha, who has done her matriculation from Sacred Heart Convent, Chennai. Rekha too was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 2012.

The current Rajya Sabha is full of members with degrees like BA, LLB and PhD - they constitute around 57 percent of the members. Around 20 present members have both BA and LLB degrees. There is a good number of members who have done both MA and BSc. There Three-four engineers, five MBBS and two MD also there. Tendulkar was the centre of attraction at the beginning of the current monsoon session.

Tendulkar, as has been reported, wants to do some useful work during his Rajya Sabha stint. He had prepared a long-term plan for Indian sports, which he submitted to the Human Resources Development Ministry. There was a two-page summary and a 25-slide presentation given by Tendulkar. However, as an MP, he is yet to ask his first question in the Parliament.

New Delhi, August 18
Former captain Sourav Ganguly says the likes of Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan can still make a comeback to India's national team but they need to be “hungry” for that.

All the three players are along with Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh are out of favour these days as young guns such as Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Bhuvaneshver Kumar and R Ashwin have performed excellently in their absence.

“No player is completely out of the team. In 2011, the Indian team looked incomplete without these players. And now they are out of the team. So you cannot say what will happen tomorrow,” said Ganguly.

“They are all very good players. They have won India world cup, Test matches, Test series. So if they have hunger inside them, they can surely be back. They just need to focus on cricket, train hard, be fit and make a comeback.

“...they are all great players. Sehwag is one of the greatest as an opener in Indian cricket. Zaheer is closing in on 300 wickets. Look at the performance of Yuvraj Singh in World Cups, be it 2007 or 2011. He has been the best. So you can't keep such players out for a long time. They would want to do better than what they have already done,” he added.

Ganguly also endorsed Gambhir's decision to join English county side Essex, saying his focus should be on playing as many matches possible. “It's a good decision, because it's an off season in India. And at this age, he should play cricket, as much cricket as possible, and find form,” he said. — PTI

Shahabad, August 18
Guess where were the now-famous Shahabad girls a day after returning home with a historic bronze medal from the junior hockey World Cup? No, they weren't celebrating with family or friends; nor were they idling around, reliving the proudest moment yet of their careers. They were back at their academy the very next morning, at 5am sharp, going through the grind they have been enduring for roughly a decade now.

Success is sweet, but it's not handed to you on a platter. You seek it early in the morning and late in the evening. Your life revolves around dribbling, trapping, trying to find the best equipment and the best combinations. You don't relax. Ever.

Thus, taking a few days off, relaxing a bit and indulging themselves a little after the historic feat just didn't that cross their minds.

“There are no offs, no holidays for us. We've to report at the academy everyday - at 5am in the morning for a two hour session and at 3pm for a four-hour long afternoon session. If you fail to make it for some reason, you got to come prepared for endless front-rolls and running the next day," says the smiling Rani Rampal — the most valuable player in the World Cup.

Fair enough, but surely India players, and that too after an achievement of this proportion, are given some leeway, aren't they? "No, everyone is treated the same when it comes to discipline. In fact India players get pulled up more, for they are required to set an example for others. I've ended up doing front-rolls in the rain even after having played for India, and I am sure we haven't done the last of our front-rolls yet," chuckles Rani, with her team-mates from the world cup squad — Navneet B Singh, Manjeet Kaur and Navjot Kaur — smiling in approval.

“But that's perhaps right as well...we are what we are because of this discipline and dedication,” the girls concurred.

While explaining the reason behind their success, the girls, inadvertently, also let out the success mantra of this small nursery cum academy in Shahabad, a few kms away from Ambala. It's indeed discipline and dedication of Baldev Singh, the coach and the driving force behind the academy, and the trainees that has seen this academy churning out internationals since 1998 as a matter of routine. “We haven't looked back since the girls from our first batch broke into the national squad in 1998. They started the tradition, and others have been carrying it forward. Do you think we could have produced so many India players without strict discipline and hard work? Anyway, front-rolls are more of an exercise than punishment,” says Baldev Singh.

But isn't this almost regimented training system tough to follow for the beginners at least? “As kids, we resented coming to the academy every day of the week. We had to miss weddings in our relations, never went to our relatives, and missed out on much of the fun other children had. But we don't regret it at all. We have jobs today and we are leading secure lives... that more than makes up for everything,” says Jasjeet Kaur, a former Indian captain, employed with the Railways.

“So whenever we see a youngster sulking or feeling low, we just give them our examples, the lives hockey has given us and they get back to work with renewed enthusiasm,” says Ramneek Kaur, another academy player, employed with the Railways.

And the promise of a better life that hockey holds out to the trainees, an overwhelming majority of which comes from economically marginalised sections of the society, is another vital factor scripting the success story of the academy. There are several rags-to-decent-lives stories one stumbles upon in the academy, none more striking than that of Rani Rampal - the daughter of a humble cart puller.

Watching these girls building better lives for themselves and their families have left the people of the town and the neighbouring villages wanting the same for their children too. So much so that ensuring their children get to the academy on time everyday has become their priority.

"We couldn't do much in life...but I want a better life for my daughter. I hope she too will get a good job like many others from the academy," said Vinod Kumar, a daily labourer.

And that's the overwhelming feeling amongst all those ferrying their children to and fro from the academy. "I come twice to the academy every day to pick and drop children from my village which is six km away. It's tough but that's my priority, their game should not suffer," said Baldev Singh.

For kids though, a chance to play is enough to keep them interested for now. "We want to play like Rani didi, she is our favourite player," chorused a few eight-to-ten-year-olds, tugging at their ill-fitting jerseys which had 'Rani' embossed across them. Their eyes, however, do lit up a little more as the girls employed with Railways zooms out on their scooters. What they want from the game has perhaps started taking shape in their impressionable minds!

"We were just like them...we would wear the jerseys given to us by our seniors, and now we see these kids wearing our jerseys...nothing seems to have changed at all, except the faces," says Rani, watching the young kids preparing hard to take the baton from them in the future and keep this tradition going.

Just like they are doing! 

Cincinnati, August 18
Serena Williams staged comebacks in both sets to defeat China's Li Na 7-5, 7-5 and reach the final at the Cincinnati WTA tournament for the first time. She will face off for the title against world number two Victoria Azarenka, who won a match plagued by breaks of serve -- 23 in total, including the first six games — to defeat 2011 finalist Jelena Jankovic 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Azarenka and Williams will both be playing for their first title at the tournament.

Azarenka finally earned her victory with a concluding break of former number one Jankovic. World number one Williams, who has won 15 titles in the last 16 months and is bidding for her ninth this season, needed just over 90 minutes to advance against the error-prone 2012 winner here.

Li ended in unfortunate fashion, double-faulting on a set point in the first and again on match point in the second. Williams claimed her eighth win in nine matches against Li. China's former Roland Garros winner had a bad day on serve, double-faulting on a set point in the first set and ending the contest after 83 minutes with the same costly error on match point.

Williams' previous best in Cincinnati was a semi-final in 2006 when it was a smaller women's-only tournament. Williams also won the US Open Series title which gives her a chance at a one million-dollar bonus should she win the US Open which begins a week from Monday.

The American admitted to dealing with an abdominal muscle problem this week but did not go into details, saying she did not want to tape it for fear it might hinder her movement. The top seed went up 4-1 in the first set only to be pegged back by Li, who then served for the match but failed.

London, August 18
New signing Roberto Soldado proved there is life without Gareth Bale by giving Tottenham Hotspur a 1-0 win at promoted Crystal Palace in their Premier League opener on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Wayne Rooney refused to discuss his future at Manchester United in his first public comments since he was linked with a move to Chelsea. The 27-year-old made his first appearance for United this season as a substitute in their 4-1 win at Swansea City, laying on second-half goals for Robin van Persie and Danny Welbeck. Chelsea beat Hull City 2-0 in another match. Jose Mourinho is still unbeaten in all 61 PL home matches as Chelsea manager at Stamford Bridge (47 wins, 14 draws). Man U, Aston Villa, Chelsea, West Ham are the top four after the first weekend of the season. — Agencies

Lucknow, August 18
Yun Hu of Banga Beats beats Wei Feng Chong of Awadhe Warriors 21-11 21-20. Banga Beats lead Awadhe Warriors 1-0.

In the second match of the day, World Number 19 Carolina Marin of Banga Beats beats World No. 10 PV Sindhu of Awadhe Warriors 21-16 21-13. Banga Beats lead 2-0 over hosts Awadhe Warriors. The world championship bronze-medallist lost her rhythm after a string of unforced errors as Marin led 17-10 in second game. Sindhu managed to narrow the gap 13-15 after trailing 4-7 initially.

In the men's doubles, Markis Kido/Mathias Boe (Awadhe Warriors) beat A Dewalkar/C Mogensen (Banga Beats) 21-14 21-19. Parupalli Kashyap of Banga Beats won the first set 21-11 against K Srikanth of Awadhe Warriors. Banga Beats took 2-1 lead early on.

Where Awadhe Warriors lost to Hyderabad 2-3 in the opening match, while, Bangalore-based Banga Beats lost to Mumbai Masters with same margin.

Saturday saw Delhi Smashers score their first win of the tournament and Pune Pistons winning their second game in-a-row that took them to the the top of the points tally. Banga Beats coach Vimal Kumar exuded confidence his wards would come good against Warriors. — Agencies

BRIEFLY

Gopichand delighted with good start to IBL
Bangalore: Indian badminton coach Pullela Gopichand today said the IBL has got off to a good start and generated a lot of interest in people. “It is important to get a good start and the IBL has got a good start. It has created a phenomenal buzz. The second day in Delhi saw 3,000 people,” Gopichand, who is also a member of the IBL governing council told reporters here. He felt that the infrastructure in the country has improved from what it used to be earlier, especially in the cities where National Games were held.

Hadlee calls Imran best all-rounder of his era
Bangalore: Former New Zealand all-rounder Sir Richard Hadlee has voted Pakistan's Imran Khan as the best all-rounder of his era, calling him a complete package in the celebrated '80s quartet, which included himself, Kapil Dev and Ian Botham. “"If I was asked to pick who was the better of the four of us, and I am on record as saying Imran because he was a versatile batsman, potent strike bowler and charismatic captain," he said.

Latif defends Kaneria, questions evidence
Karachi: Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif has defended banned spinner Danish Kaneria, questioning the evidence of spot-fixing against him by claiming that the alleged Indian bookmaker suspected to be close to the bowler has been PCB's official guest on several occasions. According to Latif, the ICC anti-corruption and security unit has yet to prove that Indian Arun Bhatt is indeed a professional bookmaker.

Ganguly feels India discards can come back
New Delhi: Sourav Ganguly says Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan can still make a comeback to India's national team but they need to be “hungry” for that. Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh are out of favour these days. — Agencies