Dambulla, August 23
Sri Lanka might have handed India its biggest ODI defeat in terms of balls remaining yesterday, but captain Kumar Sangakkara feels the islanders’ best victory against the team came way back in 2000 in Sharjah.

In the Coca Cola Champions Trophy in October, 2000, India, chasing Sri Lanka’s 300-run target, were bowled out for a meagre 54 to register their lowest ODI score and Sangakkara said it was the most memorable win against the Indians so far in his career.

“The best win against India I guess was in Sharjah, very early in my career. We got 299 and India were 54 all out. So that was a great win and that was a great side,” the wicket-keeper batsman said after Sri Lanka defeated India by eight wickets with 209 balls to spare in a tri-series match last night.

The eight-wicket defeat yesterday was India’s biggest in terms of balls remaining, surpassing the loss to Australia at Sydney in 1981 in which the Aussies romped home with 174 balls to spare.

The Lankan skipper said yesterday’s win was a huge confidence booster for his side.

“Some of our greats have retired, so the win with this side is great for our confidence. It showed that we still can do things like this. But the key is to win matches consistently,” Sangakkara added. — PTI

London, August 23
Sir Alex Ferguson conceded Manchester United could live to regret their frustrating 2-2 draw against Fulham at Craven Cottage. Nani's late penalty miss denied Ferguson's side the opportunity to establish a 3-1 lead with six minutes remaining and was punished when Fulham defender Brede Hangeland headed home an equaliser in the 89th minute.

United manager Ferguson admitted his side hardly deserved to claim all three points after failing to build on Paul Scholes's low drive that gave the visitors a 12th minute lead and paid credit to Fulham's resilience in fighting back.

But Ferguson believes Nani's penalty, which was saved by Fulham keeper David Stockdale, proved to be the turning point and expressed his surprise the Portugal winger had taken the kick when Ryan Giggs was on the pitch. And, with Chelsea already in fine form after winning their first two matches 6-0, Ferguson knows losing touch with the champions at this early stage could be costly.

“You don’t want to be dropping silly points and we dropped silly points here,” he said. “We can’t escape that. There was an opportunity to go 3-1 ahead with three minutes left and we didn't take it. I don’t think we deserved to be in front at 2-1 but when you get the opportunity to seal the game with that penalty you should be taking it. It was a missed opportunity I feel and it galvanised them, got the crowd up and they scored the equaliser in the end. In fairness to them they were the better team in the second half.

"When we got that second goal I thought we've escaped here. To miss a penalty kick to make it 3-1, you're throwing two points away there I'm afraid. I thought Ryan should have taken it. In the last game we played against Tottenham at home Ryan scored two penalty kicks and Nani was on the pitch the same day." Wayne Rooney missed the game because of illness but Ferguson expects the England striker to return next week when West Ham visit Old Trafford. — AFP

Paris, August 23
Defending Champion Lin Dan of China and top-seed Malaysian Lee Chong Wei advanced to the second round after notching up straight-set wins over their rivals in the World Badminton Championship here today.

Three-time World Champion Lin made short work of Iran’s Ali Shahhosseini 21-4, 21-10 in 26 minutes in the men’s singles category. The Chinese ace was brilliant on court even though he disputed a line call despite being 19-10 in the lead in the second set.

World number one Lee took 26 minutes to beat his first round opponent Kevin Cordon of Guatemala 21-7, 21-11. It was a light work out for Lee as he moved on the court with ease. There were moments when Kevin had him pinned to the back court but Lee came out of it easily.The Malaysianas had hardly broke sweat racing to a 5-0 lead before wrapping up the set with neat net play.

The second was no different as Chong Wei led 7-2 except for a brief period when Kevin tried to fight back but the class of the Malaysian was just too high as he wrapped up the match in 26 minutes.

“It’s good to start the tournament after the few days of waiting. I had a good feel of the court and playing conditions and am looking forward to a good outing,” said Chong Wei.

“There is a slight draft but I doubt it will worry anyone. And as for the hall not having air conditioning, I believe its no advantage to the Asians as most of the European players too are accustomed to these conditions,” he added.

Fifth seed Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia also eased into the second round, disposing off Ola Fagbemi of Nigeria 21-10,21-10 in 24 minutes.

“It is humid in the courts and it will take time getting used to as it is not easy to breathe in these conditions. Guess it is the same for the other players as well but over the next few days we will get used to it,” Taufik said.

“I am looking forward to the rest of the week with optimism and hopefully make it all the way to Sunday's final.” Other seeded players in the morning sessions also registered easy wins in their matches with none being stretched to three sets.

Tenth seed Bao Chunlai of China too got off to a winning start as he defeated Chan Yan Kit of Hong Kong 21-11, 21-17 in 33 minutes.

The Koreans also had a good day in office as Park Sung Hwan, seeded 13, moved to the second round with a easy 21-9, 21-18 victory over Derek Wong of Singapore.

In the women’s singles, Petya Nedelcheva of Bulgaria overcame the challenge of Judith Mevlendijks of the Netherlands 14-21, 21-16, 21-10 after a 55-minute battle.

Petya, who is seeded 15, suffered a nose bleed in the first set and required medical attention before going on to book her second round berth.

Meanwhile, Adriati Firdasari of Indonesia ousted Michelle Chang of New Zealand 21-11, 21-16. — PTI 

Pune, August 23
India ace cueist Pankaj Advani today failed to defend his IBSF Billiards title in the Point format, going down 0-6 to nine-time world champion England's Mike Russell in a one-sided final here. Russell, who lost to Advani in the World Professional Billiards championship in Leeds last year, produced an impeccable display of cue control and dipping to beat the seven-time world champion Indian 151-129, 151-00, 151-29, 150-20, 151-09, 151-125.

Earlier in the day, Advani survived a scare against Singapore's Peter Gilchrist in the semifinal to set up a title clash with Russell. Russel had defeated another Indian and eight-time world champion Geet Sethi in the last-four stage at the PYC Hindu Gymkhana Centre.

In the summit clash, Russell maintained his country's domination and scored as many as four 100 breaks (129, 145, 128 and 149) to rip apart the challenge of 24-year-old Advani. Russell kept Advani under pressure right from the start with some lovely positional play and with touch of softness dipped the balls in different pockets much to the enjoyment of the audience.

With writing already on the wall, Russell picked up the decider 151-125 to raise his cue in delight to the beaming English contingent. In the semifinals, Advani edged past Gilchrist 5-4 in an extremely close contest, while Russell displayed excellent show of cushionwork and class potting to beat Sethi 5-2.

The first semifinal between Advani and Gilchrist was a well contested tie. Gilchrist took the first two frames with facile potting to surge ahead which included breaks of 140 and 88. The Bangalore lad reduced the deficit by wresting the third and the fourth frames but the Singaporean was equal to the task when he pocketed the fifth and the sixth frames to lead again by 4-2 frames.

But the two-time world champion Gilchrist faded in the fag end as Advani chalked up an impressive breaks of 120, 77 and 152 in the seventh, eighth and ninth frames respectively to edge him out of the contest. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Euro champs in Eng CWG team
LONDON: Double European gold medallist Mo Farah, along with defending champions Phillips Idowu, Lisa Dobriskey and Christine Ohuruogu highlight a 100-strong England athletics team for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Idowu and Farah, who recently broke the 28-year-old British 5,000m record, are among 13 medallists from European Championships in Barcelona, who join a new medal campaign in the Indian capital just two months after helping to record the best ever medal tally of 19 medals for Britain, Athletics England said in a statement. — PTI

7 Pak athletes get 2-yr ban
 ISLAMABAD: Seven Pakistani track and field athletes, including a javelin thrower, scheduled to take part in the Delhi Commonwealth Games, have been suspended for two years after being tested positive for using banned substances. Mohammad Imran, a national javelin throw champion holding the title for the past three years, is among the suspended athletes. Other athletes who had tested positive and now banned are Rozina Shafqat, Nadia Nazir, Shagufta Noreen, Zara Razzak, Mohammad Waseem and Asif Javed, The Dawn reports. — ANI

‘Balotelli better than Torres’
LONDON: Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has said he had no regrets about missing out on Fernando Torres, as new signing Mario Balotelli is even better than the Spanish striker. Mancini admiration for Torres was well known, and he had hinted that he would make a bid. But Liverpool was determined to keep the 50 million pound-rated star, so, Mancini opted for Inter Milan striker Balotelli. The two strikers could face each other head tonight as City hosts the Reds at Eastlands, The Sun reports. — ANI

Perroncel slams gagging orders
LONDON: French model Vanessa Perroncel, involved in the John Terry sex scandal, has criticised the use of legal gagging orders which limits the press not to report details of footballers’ private lives. Perroncel said the players should not be allowed to use their wealth to “cherry pick” their portrayal in the media. The 33-year-old spoke out after two other Premiership stars used the courts to ban publication of potentially damaging allegations. — ANI

Ronaldo spotted with girlfriend
LONDON: Cristiano Ronaldo has been spotted with girlfriend Irina Shayk at a basketball match after claims that he has been 'bombarding' glamour model Rhian Sugden with text messages. The Real Madrid star and his Russian model girlfriend looked very much in love as they laughed and joked together while watching Spain take on the USA at the Caja Magica pavillion in Madrid. — ANI

No rush to push anyone out: Greg
MELBOURNE: Age may be catching up fast with most of the Australian Test players but newly-appointed first full-time selector Greg Chappell on Monday said there was time and no need to rush anyone out the door. Sixtytwo-year-old Chappell was on Monday appointed as the full-time selector after being roped in as National Talent Manager by the Australian Cricket Board and the former captain is ready to take some tough decisions. — PTI