S P O R T S

New cast, same old story
Bulawayo, May 28
Rohit Sharma’s maiden ODI century went in vain as a slipshod India slumped to an embarrassing six-wicket defeat against Zimbabwe in the first match of the cricket tri-series here today.

Big stars shine through with ease
Paris, May 28
The last time Justine Henin faced Maria Sharapova she suffered a 6-4, 6-0 spanking, but the 2008 Australian Open scenario is unlikely to repeat itself at Roland Garros, the Belgian warned on Friday. A few months after that crushing quarter-final defeat in Melbourne, Henin announced her retirement from the sport. As she heads into her French Open third-round tie with another former world number one, the four-times French Open champion is brimming with desire to play.

Maria Sharapova after her match on Friday. — Reuters

Trott double ton lifts England
London, May 28
Jonathan Trott completed a double century on his Lord's test debut on Friday to help England to a daunting first innings 505 on the second day of the first test against Bangladesh.

Star track
A box-to-box midfielder, Frank Lampard has risen to become the heartbeat of Chelsea's attack and has cemented his place in the England side as well. His work-rate, range of passing and attacking threat makes him almost the complete midfielder.

England jolted by Gerrard injury
London, May 28
England's World Cup hopes received a significant jolt when midfielder Steven Gerrard limped out of a practice match at their Austria camp. Gerrard received treatment for 20 minutes on his right calf after taking part for only 30 seconds before signalling that he could not go on. The 30-year-old received further treatment at the team's Schloss Pichlarn hotel and will almost certainly sit out Sunday's final warm-up friendly against Japan, The Sun reports.

Legends
Michel François Platini
Born June 21, 1955, Platini is a French former football player, manager and current president of UEFA. Platini was a member of the French national team that won the 1984 European Championship, a tournament in which he was voted the best player and top goalscorer. He participated in the 1978, 1982 and 1986 World Cups, reaching the semi-finals in the latter two. Platini, Alain Giresse, Luis Fernández and Jean Tigana together made up the "carré magique" (French for "magic square"), the group of midfield players that formed the heart of the French national team throughout the 1980s. He is also widely regarded as one of the best passers in football history as well as one of history's greatest free kick specialists and finishers. He holds the record for most goals (9) scored in European Championship final tournaments despite only appearing in one such tournament (1984). Despite being a midfielder, he held the national team top scorer record until striker Thierry Henry surpassed the 41 goals mark in 2007.

Bangladesh make steady start
London, May 28
Bangladesh were 172-2 in reply to England's total of 505 all out at the close of the second day of the first test at Lord’s on Friday. Earlier, Jonathan Trott completed a double century on his Lord's test debut on Friday to help England to a daunting first innings 505. Trott became the seventh England player to score a double hundred at Lord's and his 226 in over eight hours at the crease put him third behind Graham Gooch (333) and Walter Hammond (240).

New cast, same old story

Big stars shine through with ease

Federer beats Reister

Roger Federer took a while to find top gear on Friday before motoring to a comfortable 6-4, 6-0, 6-4 victory over German qualifier Julian Reister in the third round. Reister, who had only played three main tour matches before coming through qualifying here, traded blows in the early stages but once Federer broke for a 5-4 lead in the opener it was plain sailing for the reigning champion.

Venus in fourth round

Second seed Venus Williams became the first woman to reach the French Open fourth round when she outplayed Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova 6-3, 6-4 on Friday. A break in the eighth game was enough for Venus, wearing the same risque black lace corset that has been getting all the hype in Paris, to secure the opening set.

Nadal saunters through

Rafael Nadal fine-tuned his game in the Paris sunshine on Friday as he breezed into the third round of the French Open with a regulation 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 defeat of Argentina's Horacio Zeballos. A tougher test awaits on Saturday, however, when Australian battler Lleyton Hewitt will be trying to block the Spaniard's path into the last 16.

Djokovic holds off Nishikori

Serbia's Novak Djokovic eased past Japan's Kei Nishikori on Friday, winning 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 to reach the third round of the French Open. The third seed had to work hard during the two hour 40 minute contest and was relieved to seal victory in straight sets against a tigerish opponent ranked down at 246. — Reuters

Trott double ton lifts England

London, May 28
Jonathan Trott completed a double century on his Lord's test debut on Friday to help England to a daunting first innings 505 on the second day of the first test against Bangladesh.

Trott became the seventh England player to score a double hundred at Lord's and his 226 in over eight hours at the crease put him third behind Graham Gooch (333) and Walter Hammond (240).

But both he and England lost momentum after dominating the first day. After resuming at 362 for four, England added only 143 for the loss of the last six wickets and Bangladesh demonstrated just how docile the pitch had become with an entertaining 67 for no wicket at tea. Trott underlined England's laboured progress by adding just 42 runs to his overnight total of 175 with two boundaries before lunch.

After the interval Shahadat Hossain, who had bowled with undiminished enthusiasm during a dispiriting first day for the visitors, ran through the tail with three wickets from 21 deliveries. — Reuters

Brief Scores: At Tea

Bangladesh 67 for 0 (Tamim 42*, Kayes 22*)

England 505 (Trott 226, Shahadat 5-98)

England lead by 438 runs

Star track

England jolted by Gerrard injury

London, May 28
England's World Cup hopes received a significant jolt when midfielder Steven Gerrard limped out of a practice match at their Austria camp. Gerrard received treatment for 20 minutes on his right calf after taking part for only 30 seconds before signalling that he could not go on. The 30-year-old received further treatment at the team's Schloss Pichlarn hotel and will almost certainly sit out Sunday's final warm-up friendly against Japan, The Sun reports.

Diego wants players to ‘indulge’

Argentinean football players are lucky to have their coach in Diego Maradona, who is encouraging them to have sex during the World Cup - as long as their partners do all the work. Maradona wants his stars to go for some action in the sack, provided they do not end up injuring themselves in the process.

Lahm named Germany captain

BERLIN: Bayern Munich defender Philipp Lahm will captain Germany in place of injured Michael Ballack and Manuel Neuer will be the starting goalkeeper at next month's World Cup, coach Joachim Loew said on Friday. “Lahm has played in his position with great class and will take over the role of captain,” Loew told reporters at their Italian training camp.

FIFA ticketing systems crash

Johannesburg: About 700 people pushed and shoved and organisers threatened to shut down a World Cup ticket centre as fans scrambled for a last chance to watch the tournament's biggest games - only to discover that FIFA's systems had crashed. Two hours into today's final release, no one had been able to buy any of the 160,000 tickets still available for the world's biggest football tournament. — AP

Legends
Michel François Platini

Born June 21, 1955, Platini is a French former football player, manager and current president of UEFA. Platini was a member of the French national team that won the 1984 European Championship, a tournament in which he was voted the best player and top goalscorer. He participated in the 1978, 1982 and 1986 World Cups, reaching the semi-finals in the latter two. Platini, Alain Giresse, Luis Fernández and Jean Tigana together made up the "carré magique" (French for "magic square"), the group of midfield players that formed the heart of the French national team throughout the 1980s.

He is also widely regarded as one of the best passers in football history as well as one of history's greatest free kick specialists and finishers. He holds the record for most goals (9) scored in European Championship final tournaments despite only appearing in one such tournament (1984). Despite being a midfielder, he held the national team top scorer record until striker Thierry Henry surpassed the 41 goals mark in 2007.

Platini was named Chevalier of the Legion of Honour on 29 April 1985 and became Officier in 1988. He was the French national team coach for four years, and was the co-organizer of the 1998 World Cup in France. He has also been the chairman of the FIFA Technical and Development Committee, and vice-president of the French Football Federation.

Bangladesh make steady start

London, May 28
Bangladesh were 172-2 in reply to England's total of 505 all out at the close of the second day of the first test at Lord’s on Friday. Earlier, Jonathan Trott completed a double century on his Lord's test debut on Friday to help England to a daunting first innings 505. Trott became the seventh England player to score a double hundred at Lord's and his 226 in over eight hours at the crease put him third behind Graham Gooch (333) and Walter Hammond (240).

But both he and England lost momentum after dominating the first day. After resuming at 362 for four, England added only 143 for the loss of the last six wickets and Bangladesh demonstrated just how docile the pitch had become with an entertaining 67 for no wicket at tea. Trott underlined England's laboured progress by adding just 42 runs to his overnight total of 175 with two boundaries before lunch.

After the interval Shahadat Hossain, who had bowled with undiminished enthusiasm during a dispiriting first day for the visitors, ran through the tail with three wickets from 21 deliveries. — Reuters

Brief Scores:

England 505 (Strauss 83, Trott 226; Shahadat 5-98)

Bangladesh 172-2 (Tamim Iqbal 55, Junaid 53 not out).

BRIEFLY

IPL parties not responsible for T20 WC debacle: Tendulkar
Pune: Contradicting Mahendra Singh Dhoni's views, senior batsman Sachin Tendulkar today said IPL parties cannot not be blamed for India's debacle in the recent Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies. India could not reach the semifinals of the Twenty20 World Cup and skipper Dhoni said late night parties and continuous travelling during the Indian Premier League took a toll on the players' body. Tendulkar, however, begged to differ and said every player should be aware of their responsibilities. — PTI

Sporting to be relegated
Howrah: Despite winning 1-0 against Chirag United in their season-ender today, Sporting Clube de Goa had a disappointing end to the I-League as the Goans finished 13th in standings and could not avoid relegation to the second division. Substitute Anthony D'Souza scored the winning goal in the 66th minute in the last-round match of the league at Howrah Stadium as the Kolkata outfit paled in comparison to the Goan side. — PTI

Lajong also go down
Mapusa: Shillong Lajong failed to avoid relegation as they went tamely to Salgaocar 3-1 in the 26th round I-League match at Duler ground here on Friday. Shillong Lajong who needed an outright win to avoid relegation were down by a goal in the first as Salgaocar scored through Milagres Gonsalves in the 32nd minute. Salgaocar who held more of the exchanges in both the half then increased the lead through Ekene Ikenwa in the 82nd minute. — PTI

France to host Euro 2016
GENEVA: France will host the 2016 European Championship after UEFA opted to play it safe on Friday, choosing the French bid over Turkey in a close vote after outsiders Italy had been eliminated in the first round. France, who staged the tournament in 1960 and 1984 and have also hosted two World Cups, won the vote 7-6 at the expense of Turkey, who had been making their third bid for their first major soccer championship. — Reuters

Zinedine Zidane with French president Nicolas Sarkozy. — Reuters

Ashley 'thought Cheryl would never leave'
London: Chelsea footballer Ashley Cole recently told his team mates that he thought his wife Cheryl would never leave him, it has emerged. The 29-year-old love rat defender went for training to Austria in a "foul mood" since he believed that his marriage with Cheryl could still be saved. "The split has left Ashley in the pits. He thought he was invincible - Cheryl proved him wrong. He's furious with the world at the moment and is not in a good frame of mind," a close friend of Ashley said. — ANI