Leeds, September 7
Ace cueist Pankaj Advani today became only the second Indian to win the World Professional billiards Championship title when he outsmarted defending champion Mike Russell 2030-1253 in the final here.

 The 24-year-old Indian pulled off a stunning win over nine-time winner Russell at the Northern Snooker Centre to lay hands on the coveted trophy.Legendary Geet Sethi is the only other Indian to have won the title. 

He won in 1996. This was Advani’s third attempt at the Pro championship having lost the quarterfinals in 2007 and 2008. In today’s final, Advani made a break of 226 and six more centuries en route to the win against his opponent from Qatar.The young cueist is already a world champion in the amateur circuit.

 An elated Advani said he can now play in peace as he has confuted his critics by this win. “It’s a great feeling and I can now play in peace because no body would come and tell me that I have not won a professional billiard title,” the soft-spoken cueist said.“It’s always tough winning any world championship, simply because you have to beat the bestin the business.”

The Khel Ratna awardee and 2006 Doha Asian Games gold medallist said wining the pro title was quite an achievement. “Records are meant to be broken but when you think that you are only the second Indian to achieve it, it makes the feeling all the more special,” he said.Advani was among the seven-member Indian contingent, led by second seed Geet Sethi. 

The last time India won a professional billiards world title was in 2006, when Sethi defeated Lee Lagan of England 2093-1057 in the final at Wales.In 2008, Sethi lost the final to Mike Russell while the other Indians fizzled out at early stages. With this triumph, the five-time IBSF World Billiards champion Advani has now won all the major world titles. He is also the only player to have achieved a ‘grand double’ of winning both the points and timed formats at the World Amateur Billiards Championships in 2005 and 2008 respectively. — PTI

Yuki Bhambri gives autographs after winning against Jordan Cox on Sunday. — PTI

The junior world number one broke his rival twice in the first set and thrice in the second and only once he faced the threat of a break of serve. He will next clash with Swiss Sandro Ehrat.

Clijsters stuns Venus

Comeback queen Kim Clijsters split the Williams sisters on Sunday when she sent Venus reelling out of the US Open. The 26-year-old Belgian, who has been the talk of the tournament as she continues her return from two and a half years out of the game to marry and have a baby, won a roller-coaster of a match 6-0, 0-6, 6-4.

She will play China's Li Na in the last eight with a possible tilt at defending champion and tournament favourite Serena Williams awaiting in the semi-finals should she win that. 

“It was such a weird match especially the first two sets. When I lost the second set I said, 'Just start again and fight for every point,'” she said.“I’ve been working really hard the last seven or eight months and I am enjoying it and that is important. Tennis is a great sport, but I am just happy that we have a family and I can balance both.”

In othe results, in men’s singles Robin Soderling beat Nikolay Davydenko 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 (Davydenko retired). In doubles competition Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy beat Julian Knowle and Jurgen Melzer 7-5, 6-4. Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles beat Yen-Hsun Lu and Dudi Sela 6-4, 6-4. — AFP 

Melbourne, September 7
Australia captain Ricky Ponting quit Twenty20 Internationals today, hoping the decision would prolong his career in other formats of the game. Ponting said he would no more feature in Twenty20 Internationals but would complete his contracts with the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League.“After much thought and careful consideration I have advised Cricket Australia of my decision to retire from international Twenty20 cricket,” Ponting said. 

“I have also spoken to (chief selector) Andrew Hilditch, (coach) Tim Nielsen and (vice captain) Michael Clarke and I feel this decision provides me the opportunity to prolong my Australian Test and one-day career, an opportunity I am extremely determined about,” he said.

“As I said after the fifth Test in London, I am hoping to continue playing Test cricket for as long as possible and retiring from the Twenty20 format gives me the best chance of doing this. 

I will now have set periods of rest throughout the Australian summer and while touring which I feel will be very beneficial,” said Ponting, who returned home after losing the Ashes to England.Earlier this year, Pakistan captain Younus Khan had also quit Twenty20 Internationals after guiding his team to the World Cup glory. 

“While I will no longer be available for Australian Twenty20 cricket, I look forward to playing with Tasmania’s KFC Big Bash team where possible and to fulfilling my contract with the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League,” Ponting said. — PTI 

New Delhi, September 7
Dinesh Kumar (81kg) became the first Indian pugilist to make the quarterfinals after he out- punched Romanian Costantin Bejenaru in his third round bout but it was curtains for Jai Bhagwan (60kg) at the World Boxing Championships in Milan, Italy today. 

Dinesh beat his rival 19-7 to set up a tough clash against Russian Artur Beterbiev, a silver medallist in the previous World Championships in 2007.

However, Asian silver medallist Jai’s campaign came to an end after a 3-9 loss to German Eugen Burhard in the pre-quarters. Dinesh was clinical against a short but spunky opponent, who troubled the Indian with some wild swings in the opening round. But Dinesh soon took control and after closing the first round 3-2, he decimated his rival in the two rounds, picking eight points in each round. — PTI

Colombo, September 7
Reinvigorated after back-to-back Twenty20 triumphs, New Zealand will hope to continue the trend when Daniel Vettori’s men lock horns with Sri Lanka in the Compaq Cup cricket tri-series opener here tomorrow. 

After the battering in the Test series, which the hosts won 2-0, New Zealand managed to lift their morale winning both the Twenty20 matches and the players from both sides would have little time to adjust to the 50-overs format when the tri-series gets underway.India is the third team in the tournament and Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men would start their campaign against the Kiwis on September 11. 

The Twenty20 triumphs did a world of good to the Kiwis and Brendon McCullum, whose performance with the bat is crucial to New Zealand’s prosperity in the tournament, said they would be a force to reckon with in the tri-series.“We were disappointed with the Test matches but the way we came back (in Twenty20) was significant and gave us a lot of confidence,” he said. 

“The guys coming and the ones from the Tests did fantastically well. All in all, the team is shaping up pretty well at the moment and hopefully we start well in the first one-dayer,” he said. 

McCullum and Jesse Ryder have been in good nick and the burly left-hander in fact went on to win the Man of the Series award because of his sterling show in both the Twenty20 matches. So confident are the Kiwis that they believe they have sorted out the enigma called Ajantha Mendis.From Indian point of view, the tri-series provides Dhoni and his men an opportunity to win their first final in a multi-nation event here in 11 years. — PTI 

New Delhi, September 7
Sports, as perceived in the Indian context, will get a thematic makeover, benefitting crores of village youth, when the National Club Games pick up momentum by 2010. With the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) joining hands to promote the National Club Games at the ward, panchayat, zonal and national levels, sports in the country will gain an expansive stature, bringing in its ambit all those who had been denied the benefit of playing sports and games due to lack of resources and infrastructure.

The infrastructure would be put in place under the National Youth Sports Development Programme while the IOA-FICCI partnership will conduct the actual sports events, with technical and other inputs, and monitor its progress. “Let Us Play”, the signature tune of the National Club Games, is expected to steam roll the sports movement in the country on a high note, with mass participation. 

The National Club Games initiative was launched by president of the International Olympic Committee Jacques Rogge during the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune last year, and the national finals will be held in May, 2010.

After a day-long deliberation about the mode and method of the execution of the National Club Games at the FICCI auditorium here today, in which IOA president Suresh Kalmadi, secretary-general Randhir Singh, FICCI secretary-general Amit Mishra and chairman of the FICCI Sports Committee Atul Singh, who is also the CEO and president of Coca Cola India took part, it was decided that seven team games would be promoted in the first phase of the National Club Games - volleyball, basketball, soccer, hockey, kabaddi, kho-kho and handball.While all the team sports will have men’s participation, women will play only in hockey, kabaddi and kho-kho. Randhir Singh said individual sports like boxing, wrestling and shooting would be added later.