New Delhi, December 14
Hosts India drew curtains to their disastrous campaign at the Junior Men's Hockey World Cup by finishing a disappointing 10th after losing to arch-rivals Pakistan in a classification match at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, here today.

Pakistan finished ninth after beating India 4-2 in the one-on-one penalty shoot-out after a 1-1 end to regulation time. Pakistan stunned the home spectators in the seventh minute with a field goal from Rizwan Ali, before Gurjinder Singh drew parity for India just four minutes from end by converting the home team's second penalty corner.

But it was not to be India's day as they scored just twice in the shoot-out against Pakistan's four conversions.

Gurjinder and Talwinder Singh were on target from the first two attempts, while Imran Khan and Satbir Singh missed.

Though India dominated the lion's share of possession in the first half, the hosts were far from impressive.

Pakistan, on the other hand, looked more co-ordinated and threatening in their forays. The Pakistanis used both the flanks to perfection to build their attacks.

Man-to-man marking was the hallmark of Pakistan's defence as they did not give any space to the Indians inside their circle.

As has been the story so far in the tournament, the Indians were once again guilty of conceding a goal in the first 10 minutes.

Pakistan capitalised on India's defensive error when Muhammad Rizwan Jr. found an unmarked Muhammad Dilber inside the Indian circle. Dilber set up Rizwan Ali who pushed the ball home from close range.

Missed chances were the order of the day for India as their forwards fizzled out once inside the opposition circle. Malak Singh missed a clear chance from close range before skipper Manpreet Singh shot wide after a fine one-two move with Mandeep Singh from the right flank.

After the change of ends, the Indians improved their game and put pressure on the Pakistani goal with relentless raids, but the goals eluded them.

Credit should also go to Mazhar Abbas in Pakistan goal, who saved his side on two clear occasions.

Ten minutes into the half, India got their first penalty corner but Gurjinder's high flick was palmed away by an alert Abbas. Minutes later, he again came to Pakistan's rescue as he kept Akashdeep Singh's fierce shot out.

India finally managed to level the scores in the 66th minute when Gurjinder converted a penalty corner with a low drag-flick. — PTI

New Delhi, December 14
Not completely happy with the Indian Olympic Association leaving room for interpretations in its recent constitutional amendments, the IOC today indicated that it may not proceed to lift the ban on the country until IOA ensures clarity regarding barring of charge-framed persons from contesting elections.

The IOA amended its constitution on December 8 by barring charge-framed persons like Abhey Singh Chautala and Lalit Bhanot from elections set for February 9, but the sticking point has been the provision to refer the matter to its internal Ethics Commission.

The IOC had yesterday issued guidelines to avoid "unnecessary speculation or doubtful interpretation", making it clear that charge-framed persons will have to resign automatically or else be suspended provisionally.

The world body had also made a veiled threat that it reserves the right to impose necessary sanctions if the IOA does not ratify the interpretations suggested by the IOC.

In another letter today, the IOC made it clear that it will not lift India's suspension until the IOA ensures absolute clarity in the charge-framed clause by ratifying the interpretations suggested by the world body.

"Upon receipt of confirmation of the IOC's interpretation and of the minutes of the next General Meeting, which will ratify the above interpretation of these clauses, the IOC will be in a position to confirm its formal approval of this Constitution," the IOC said in a letter written by its NOC Relations Director Pere Miro to IOA officials.

The IOC's latest communication could mean that the IOA will have to ratify the world body's interpretations of the charge-framed clause before the proposed February 9 elections if India's suspension has to be lifted.

The IOA may now have to ratify the interpretations of the IOC before the elections if it wants India's ban to be lifted. The IOC re-iterated that the recent amendments were only given conditional approval.

"Following the IOC letter sent earlier today, this is to confirm that, in accordance with the Olympic Charter (Rule 3.2), the IOC has conditionally approved the revised Constitution of the suspended IOA, as amended by the Extraordinary General Meeting of 8 December 2013," said the letter. "However, this approval is subject to ratification by the next IOA General Meeting of the interpretation of Articles V (ii) (c); XI (1) (g) (iv); and XXIII (v) made by the IOC." — PTI

Visakhapatnam, December 14
Opener Prasanth Kumar cracked an unbeaten 113 to help Andhra Pradesh reach 224 for 4 against Himachal Pradesh at stumps on the opening day of a Group C Ranji Trophy match at Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy stadium here today.

Electing to bat, Andhra skipper Kumar scored 13 boundaries in his 265-ball innings, while Murumulla Sriram hit a 94-ball 43, laced with eight hits to the fence.

For HP, Seamer Vikramjeet Singh Malik (3/45) was the pick of the bowler with three wickets, while left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma took one wicket. At the draw of stumps, RK Bhui (6) was giving company to Prasanth.

Kumar starred in two important partnership as he forged 75 with Sriram for the second wicket and then added 73 runs with GK Chiranjeevi for the fourth wicket.

Opener KS Bharat was the first to be dismissed when he was cleaned up by Malik in the 9th over.

Malik returned again in the 38th over to castle Sriram.

15 overs later, Sumanth too was sent back into the hut by Bipul Sharma with wicket-keeper Aatish Bhalaik dislodging the stumps after finding the batsman short of the crease.

Perth, December 14
Australia wrested control of the third Test back from England for the second day in a row on Saturday, reducing the tourists to 180 for four at the close of play and taking another step towards reclaiming the Ashes.

Ian Bell, who had made nine not out, and Ben Stokes, unbeaten on 14, will resume on day three on Sunday with England trailing Australia's first innings tally of 385 by 205 runs.

The tourists need at least a draw to keep the series alive and had built a solid platform when Alastair Cook and Michael Carberry put together the highest opening partnership in eight Tests against Australia this year.

Australia's bowlers, though, are charged with confidence after dominating the English batsmen in the first two tests in Brisbane and Adelaide and defied energy-sapping temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celsius to strike back. Carberry and Joe Root, controversially, fell in the half an hour before tea and Cook and Kevin Pietersen were dismissed in the final session — all without the standout bowler of the first two tests, Mitchell Johnson, taking a single wicket.

England dealt with the first new ball reasonably well but Carberry had already survived a couple of scares when he played on a Ryan Harris delivery from around the wicket for 43 half an hour before tea with 85 runs on the board. The tourists would probably have been happy to get to tea with just one wicket down only for Root to follow Carberry to the dressing room for four some 20 minutes later.

Shane Watson's delivery beat his bat and umpire Marais Erasmus raised his finger in the midst of a frenzied appeal from the Australians, who thought they had heard a nick.

Root immediately sought a review but departed shaking his head as the TV umpire and the battery of technology available to him did not find sufficient evidence to overturn the decision.

Cook dug in with a circumspect Pietersen, though, and they successfully weathered a difficult period after tea when the "Freo Doctor" sea breeze enabled the Australian pacemen to get some movement from the ball.

But just when the pair looked they might be ready to start attacking the bowlers, Cook's counterpart Michael Clarke brought on spinner Nathan Lyon and was immediately rewarded with the most prized England wicket.

When Lyon's fourth ball took a bit of bounce off the wicket, Cook failed to properly execute his cut shot and the ball flew into the safe hands of David Warner at point. — Reuters

Brief scores: Australia 385 (Smith 111, Warner 60, Haddin 55; Broad 3-100) vs England 180-4 (Cook 72)

London, December 14
After making it to the knockout stage, former world champion Viswanathan Anand settled for a draw against co-leader Michael Adams of England in the sixth and final preliminary game of London Chess Classic here on Saturday.

Anand and Adams are tied for the top spot in the prelims on 12 points each under the soccer-like scoring system that gives three points for a win and one for a draw.

Both Anand and Adams scored three victories and three draws apiece to make it to the knockout stage.

In the quarterfinals, Anand will now meet his 2008 world championship challenger Vladimir Kramnik of Russia who finished second in the ‘B’ group that was won by compatriot Peter Svidler.

Svidler will take on Adams in another quarterfinal that will be played as a two-game mini-match.

In other group stage clashes Hikaru Nakamura of United States topped the ‘C’ group after a last round drama saw Boris Gelfand of Israel losing to Gawain Jones of England. The result was inconsequential as Gelfand still made it to the knockout stage but he will now meet Group ‘D’ winner Fabiano Caruana of Italy.

Caruana scored 16 points winning five and conceding just one draw in the six games he played. English Nigel Short came second in this group and will now meet Nakamura. — PTI

London, december 14
Manchester City exposed the first cracks in Arsenal's title challenge, beating the Premier League leaders 6-3 at the Etihad Stadium as their attacking talents cut loose in another free-scoring home display on Saturday.

City's stylish showmen sealed their eighth consecutive home league success by out-punching Arsenal, whose lead at the top of the table was cut to two points after Chelsea snuck a 2-1 win at home to Crystal Palace.

Everton also kept their noses in the title-race trough with a 4-1 win at home to Fulham moving them fourth, while at the bottom of the table West Ham United and Sunderland played out a 0-0 draw that was little use to either side.

Arsenal's previously watertight defence was prised open at will by the hosts' marauding all-out attack.

It was the third time this season that City scored six or more, after they dished out similarly crushing blows to Tottenham Hotspur and Norwich City and moved them to third within three points of the leaders.

The win also put down a light blue marker in a now-congested title race that could have turned decisively in Arsenal's favour had they managed to conjure a win.

Real lose ground in title chase with Osasuna draw

Barcelona: Real Madrid wasted a chance to keep the pressure on the top two in La Liga with a 2-2 draw away to Osasuna where Sergio Ramos was sent off and record signing Gareth Bale substituted. Carlo Ancelotti's side began confidently having won their last five league games, scoring 24 goals in the process, but were undone by two first half headers from Oriol Riera. Barcelona can go three points clear at the top with Atletico Madrid if they beat Villarreal on Sunday. — Reuters 

Chandigarh, december 14
Anirban Lahiri managed to hold his own amongst some of the leading professional golfers in the world as he carded a brilliant five-under 67 to be placed tied second at the $1 million Thailand Golf Championship.

Lahiri was tied alongside world number three Henrik Stenson at 14-under 202, four behind leader Sergio Garcia, going into the final round.

Lahiri carded six birdies, on the second, third, sixth, 11th, 16th and 17th holes against a solitary bogey on the fourth. "I didn't hit the ball very good today but I played really sharp golf. I am happy that I'm able to focus and get up and down when I miss the green," said Lahiri.

"I am happy that I am in a zone where I can play and not think about shots. I just want to play solid tomorrow."

Gaganjeet Bhullar shot three-under 69 in the third round and moved up to 12th place with a total of eight-under 208. He was tied alongside Chandigarh’s Sujjan Singh who carded one-under 70 today.

Jeev Milkha Singh carded two-under 70 to be placed 50th at one-under-par.

Ludhiana, December 14
The Indian kabaddi players hit the jackpot once again as they beat Pakistan (48-39) in the final of the fourth edition of the World Cup Kabaddi tournament at the Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana on Saturday.

Pakistan tried hard but could not stop India from claiming the title for the fourth time and winning a cash prize of Rs 2 crore. With this win, India have beaten Pakistan thrice in four years to claim the title.

The Indian men (top) beat Pakistan 48-39 to win the World Cup Kabaddi; and the Indian women’s team, which had beaten New Zealand in the final on Thursday, poses with the trophy in Ludhiana on Saturday. tribune photos: Himanshu Mahajan

The match was evenly poised for the first 15 minutes. India maintained a slender one point lead and looked to race ahead in the game but the determined Pakistan players kept cutting the advantage, though they never came at par with the hosts. The score at half time was 23-21.

But after the break India managed to race ahead with a five-point lead.

After that the Indian players were cautious to not lose the advantage. Instead, the hosts surged ahead and kept on increasing the lead in the dying minutes of the game.

After some disappointing one-sided matches in the tournament, the final was an evenly-contested one, with the best two teams of the tournament fighting out for the honours and the moolah.

The winners' cheque of Rs 2 crore is a big motivation for the players from the rural background to excel in a sport they indulge in in their pastime. A sizeable crowd had gathered at the stadium and braved the winter chill, and an endless wait of five hours to witness the match.

Pakistan Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif added another dimension to the event by inviting Sukhbir Badal to a semifinal match in Lahore in the next edition of the tournament.

Jalandhar, December 14
There’s a great deal of uncertainty over the dope control mechanism of the Kabaddi World Cup. The Punjab Government, organisers of the event, had promised to keep it drug-free. However, even as the tournament ends, the results of the dope tests that are supposed to have been conducted haven’t been made public. In fact, not a single detail has been made public - the number of players tested, for instance.

“A team has come from Delhi to conduct the tests and they’ve taken six samples. As far as I know, the reports will come somewhere next week,” said Rakesh Kaushal, District Sports Officer, Jalandhar, about the matches conducted in that city.

“The Punjab Government should have made the reports public,” said Deoraj Chaturvedi, Chief Executive officer, International Kabaddi Tournament. “It should have set an example to punish the players whose reports may have been positive.”

In 2011, over 50 players were found to be using drugs, and the number was 12 in 2012. This year, all Indian players were tested for dope before the tournament and there was no positive test.

But there’s uncertainty over the foreign players. Last year players from Canada, India, United Kingdom, Italy and Australia were found to be using performance-enhancing substances. This year, in the absence of official word, there is speculation that no players of some visiting teams have undergone a test. This was confirmed to The Tribune by the manager of the Denmark team.

Last year the Canadian team had to face lot embarrassment when half of their squad could not participate in the finals as they were found positive during the dope test.

Director of Sports SL Lottay said that the organisers have been thorough in conducting the tests. “We were not slow. We have carried out random dope tests of players,” Lottay told The Tribune.

Inputs from Mohit Khanna

BRIEFLY

new delhi
Olympian Vijay Kumar wins gold in nationals:Olympic silver medallist Vijay Kumar of Army shot gold in men's 25m rapid fire pistol event at the 57th National Shooting Championship here today. Man Singh of Punjab captured the gold in the men's skeet event while Andhra Pradesh shooter Rashmi Rathore won the yellow metal in women's skeet event at Dr Karni Singh Shooting Ranges here. Vijay bagged the gold with a fantastic score of 30 hits in the final round while Akshay Suhas of Maharashtra won the silver with 28 hits, followed by Army's Pemba Tamang who bagged the bronze with 22 hits.

Guwahati
Assam and India footballer Babul Phukan dies:Former international footballer from Assam, Babul Phukan, died here today at a private nursing home following prolonged illness, his family said. An employee of the State Bank of India, Phukan was 49. Phukan had represented the state nine times in the Santosh Trophy and had also played several international matches in Germany, England and Italy.

Kolkata
Ganguly offered BJP ticket, yet to decide: reports:The Bharatiya Janata Party has offered a Lok Sabha ticket to former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly to contest next year's general elections. West Bengal BJP president Rahul Sinha said here that party leader Varun Gandhi had met Ganguly through a common friend in New Delhi in mid November where the proposal was discussed. — PTI