Centurion, October 5 
Australia were crowned the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy winner after Shane Watson’s unbeaten century guided the defending champions to a six-wicket victory over a depleted New Zealand in the low-scoring final match here tonight.

Watson hit an unbeaten 129-ball 105 (10X4, 4X6) and starred in a 128-run stand with Cameron White (62) under tremendous pressure as Australia, chasing 201 against New Zealand’s never-say-die pacers, overcame a wobbly start to reach 206 for four in 45.2 overs.

Earlier, a dominant Australia boosted their title defence by restricting New Zealand, looking rudderless without their injured skipper Daniel Vettori, for a meagre 200 runs for nine wickets. Vettori’s last minute pullout with a hamstring injury was just the start of New Zealand’s woes and they never got going after opting to bat first at the SuperSport Park.

The Kiwis had just two decent partnerships in their innings but Martin Guptill (40) and Aaron Redmond (26) took 15.1 overs to raise 61 runs for the second wicket, while Neil Broom (37) and James Franklin (33) added 65 in 14.1 overs, underlining their struggle in the middle. For Australia, Nathan Hauritz claimed three for 37.

As if losing Jacob Oram, Daryl Tuffey and Jesse Ryder at different stages of the tournament was not bad enough, the Kiwis walked out in the middle without their inspirational captain and man-in-form Vettori and it proved to be a mighty blow for the Kiwis. — PTI

Scoreboard

New Zealand:
B McCullum c Paine b Siddle 0 (14)
Redmond st Paine b Hauritz 26 (45)
Guptill c & b Hauritz 40 (64)
Taylor c Hussey b Johnson 6 (13)
Elliott lbw b Lee 9 (9)
Broom run out 37 (62)
Franklin b Lee 33 (43)
Mills run out 12 (15)
Butler lbw b Hauritz 6 (7)
Patel not out 16 (19)
Bond not out 3 (9)
Extras (b 1, lb 2, w 9) 12
Total (9 wickets; 50 overs) 200
FoWs: 1-5, 2-66, 3-77, 4-81, 5-94, 6-159, 7-166, 8-174, 9-187.
Bowling: Lee 10-1-45-2, Siddle 10-1-30-1, Johnson 10-1-35-1, Watson 10-0-50-0, Hauritz 10-0-37-3.

Australia:
Watson not out 105 (129)
Paine c Taylor b Bond 1 (6)
Ponting lbw b Mills 1 (4)
White b Mills 62 (102)
Hussey c Patel b Mills 11 (9)
Hopes not out 22 (22)
Extras (lb 3, w 1) 4
Total (4 wickets; 45.2 overs) 206
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-6, 3-134, 4-156.
Bowling: Mills 10-2-27-3, Bond 10-2-34-1, Butler 9-0-50-0, Franklin 9-0-42-0, Patel 6.2-0-44-0, Elliott 1-0-6-0.

Bathinda, October 5
The Wrestling Federation of India (IWF) will be organising an international prize money tournament - the first of its kind in Punjab - at Jalandhar from October 30 to November 1. Confirming this, Kartar Singh, Secretary General of the IWF, said that all big names from top wrestling nations will be taking part in the three day sporting extravaganza. The tournament is being held in memory of Shaheed Bhagat Singh.

Kartar added that grapplers from 11 countries, including those from Canada, Iran, South Korea, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have been invited for the meet. A significant feature of the tourney is that the organisers have also invited two teams from Pakistan. Apart from this the Indians will be fielding four teams each in the men’s and women categories.

Countries like Uzbekistan, Canada and Kazakhstan will be fielding wrestlers who took part in the 2008 Beijing and 2004 Athens Olympics while India’s challenge will be spearheaded by Beijing Olympic bronze medallist Sushil Kumar.

Kartar added that Olympic wrestlers of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan had a hectic schedule and despite this, both countries will be sending their top grapplers in all weight categories. Kartar said that wrestlers from Nigeria, Wales, England and Chinese Taipie have also confirmed their presence in the meet.

He added that a proper invitation had been sent to the Chinese who, however, have declined to send their grapplers. The tournament carries a total prize money of Rs 30 lakhs. Wrestlers standing first in their respective weight categories will be handed over $ 2000 each while those standing second will be given $1000 each. Grapplers finishing third in their respective weight categories will be given $500each.

The organisers will be paying for the transportation, boarding and lodging of all the foreign players. All the four Indian teams in both the men and women categories will be selected on the basis of the forthcoming senior national wrestling championship slated to be held in Bhopal. 

Suzuka, October 5
Felipe Massa’s comeback from horrific injuries is gathering pace and the Brazilian is expected to be back in a Ferrari for testing within weeks. He has been ruled out of making a comeback at his home Grand Prix at Interlagos on October 18, although the door has been left open for the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi.

The respected autosport.com said Massa was due in Italy this week to use Ferrari’s simulator for the first time since suffering a fractured skull at July’s Hungarian Grand Prix with testing in a car the next step after that. “I don’t know yet (when the test will be),” team principal Stefano Domenicali was quoted as saying.

“We will decide this week because Felipe will come to Maranello. He will stay with the team this week, he will go and do some training in the simulator, physical training in Maranello, and then we will decide when to do this.”

“Also, because it is compulsory, he has to do an FIA medical check before doing something. This is something we will decide this week.” The FIA, F1’s governing body, has to give the all-clear to all drivers who return after a major accident. — AFP

BRIEFLY

Mary Kom suspended
JAMSHEDPUR: Four-time world champion MC Mary Kom was on Monday suspended till October 27 for “unsporting behaviour” after her quarterfinal loss in the Women’s National Boxing Championship here. Mary Kom lost her cool after losing to Pinky Jingra in the quarterfinal of the 10th edition of the meet at the J R D Tata Sports complex here on Monday. — PTI

Narain Karthikeyan (L) and Armaan Ebrahim during the prize distribution ceremony of JK Tyre National Racing Championship in Chennai on Sunday night. — PTI

Gambhir unveils CL trophy
NEW DELHI: India batsman Gautam Gambhir on Monday unveiled the diamond-studded trophy that would be handed to the winner of $ six million Champions League Twenty20 tournament, commencing from October 8. Gambhir, captain of the Indian Premier League’s Delhi Daredevils team, unveiled the 1.5-foot tall trophy with his teammates and scores of children in attendance. — PTI

Need sports science centre: Paes
NEW DELHI: If India has not produced many tennis stars, it is because the players have been lacking in physical fitness and they desperately need a sports science centre for training, says Leander Paes. “The lack of a sports science center in the country hinders not only tennis but every other sport too. That is one of the primary needs of Indian sports,” he said. — PTI

Randhawa, Kapur miss cut
SCOTLAND: Jyoti Randhawa and Shiv Kapur missed the cut after returning over-par cards in the third round of the Alfred Dunhill Links Golf Championship here. While Randhawa carded a two-over 74, Kapur was even worse at four-over 76 in the penultimate round, finishing the rain-hit event outside the top-60 and ties. — PTI

Jeev finishes tied 7th
NEW YORK: Jeev Milkha Singh inched closer to securing his PGA tour card after finishing tied seventh at the Turning Stone Resort Championship with a blemish-free eight-under 64 in the final round here. Arjun Atwal also brought home an improved three-under 69 to finish tied 49th with a total of seven-under 281. — PTI

Shuttlers Rupesh-Thomas win title
NEW DELHI: Indian doubles pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas notched up their second title of the year, clinching the Bitburger Open by beating English duo of Chris Adcock and Andrew Ellis in Germany. The top seeds beat their seventh seeded opponents 17-21, 22-20, 24-22 on Sunday. — PTI

Somdev up to 129th
NEw DELHI: Somdev Devvarman on Monday jumped four places to 129, while his Davis Cup teammate Rohan Bopanna zoomed up to 358, a gain of 89 rungs. Yuki Bhambri also improved his ranking to 403, after gaining seven positions. In the WTA list, Sania Mirza rose by four rungs to 61 in singles but her doubles ranking was intact at 38. — PTI

Conference on youth policy
CHANDIGARH: A three-day International Conference on Youth Policy and Research was organised at Vienna (Austria) from September 23 to 25. Sarban Singh, financial commissioner and principal secretary, department of sports and youth affairs, Haryana, attended this conference and his presentation on formulation of evidence-based youth policy was adjudged among the best eight presentations contributed by 157 delegates from 40 countries. — TNS