Antigua, June 13
Keiron Pollard made his first valuable contribution of the series as West Indies set India a target of 250 in the fourth ODI here today. Pollard smashed 70 from 71 balls and useful contributions came from Lindl Simmons (67) and Carlton Baugh (39) as the home team reached a fighting score of 249 for 8 in their 50 overs.

Once again West Indies were off to a poor start with two wickets down in the first five overs with only 12 runs on the board. Ishant Sharma sent back opener Danza Hyat for one and Ramnaresh Sarwan could not do much better after he was removed by Praveen Kumar.

Lindl Simmons and Darren Bravo looked liked pulling things back for the home team before Amit Mishra struck. Mishra has proved to be a difficult bowler to deal with for the Windies in this series and he was on the mark again. He sent back Bravo and Marlon Samuels in quick succession to reduce the home team to 89 for four in the 24th over.

That soon became 103 for 5 when Lindl Simmons was run out by a direct hit from Manoj Tiwary. Simmons had batted quite well till then scoring 67 from 78 balls with 3 fours and 3 sixes and it was a clear error of judgement from the batsman.

After that it was the turn of Pollard to finally come good in the series. The burly Trinidadian was involved in a 96-run partnership with Carlton Baugh. Pollard smashed six fours and two sixers in his knock of 70 that came in 71 balls before he was dismissed in the 45th over.

Earlier, Indian captain Suresh Raina won the toss and elected to bowl. India made three changes from the playing eleven that won the third ODI, bringing in R Ashwin, Ishant Sharma and Manoj Tiwary for Harbhajan Singh, Shikhar Dhawan and Munaf Patel. West Indies made two changes with Anthony Martin and Darren Bravo coming in for Devendra Bishoo and Kirk Edwards.

Teams
India: Suresh Raina (capt), Parthiv Patel, Virat Kohli, S Badrinath, Manoj Tiwary, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Praveen Kumar, R Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma. West Indies: Darren Sammy (capt), Lendl Simmons, Darren Bravo, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Danza Hyatt, Marlon Samuels, Kieron Pollard, Carlton Baugh, Andre Russell, Kemar Roach, Anthony Martin. — PTI

Scoreboard
West Indies
Simmons run out 67
Hyatt c Tiwary b Ishant 1
Sarwan c Tiwary b Praveen 1
Bravo c Tiwary b Mishra 15
Samuels lbw b Mishra 8
Pollard c Ishant b Ashwin 70
Baugh c Kohli b Praveen 39
Russell c Kohli b Praveen 25
Sammy not out 1
Roach not out 4
Extras (lb 7, w 8, nb 3) 18
Total: (8 wkts; 50 ovrs) 249
Bowling: Praveen 10-3-37-3, Ishant 10-0-60-1, Ashwin 10-1-39-1, Mishra 10-3-56-2, Yusuf 6-0-24-0, Tiwary 4-0-26-0.

Antigua, June 13
Even as the Indian cricket coach Duncan Fletcher joins the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Shane Warne in heaping praise on batsman Rohit Sharma, the purists only hope that it's not again just a case of false dawn.

For a batsman of Rohit's calibre, it is surprising that he has had a roller-coaster ride so far in his career and has struggled to foment his place in the Indian national side.

Rohit has inspired India to two of its three ODI wins in the ongoing series against the West Indies with unbeaten knocks of 68 and 86.

But his success in the past have almost inevitably followed a string of failures, which explains why his career still flounders at average 30.63 after 64 games and why he is still not seen fit enough for Tests.

In 2008 in Australia, Rohit played two successive unbeaten knocks of 39 and 70 in a triangular series before his career fell in a mire and only 496 runs accrued over the next 33 one-day internationals with just two half centuries. — PTI

Montreal, June 13
Jenson Button celebrated his greatest victory on Sunday after overtaking Red Bull's Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel on the last lap of a rain-delayed Canadian Grand Prix thriller.

Button, who earlier had squeezed team mate and fellow Briton Lewis Hamilton into the wall and out of the race, salvaged the weekend for his team by battling back to deny Vettel a sixth victory in seven races. Vettel, who skidded wide under pressure, recovered from his error to take second place ahead of Australian team mate Mark Webber in a chaotic race that was halted for more than two hours as rain lashed the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Despite his error, Vettel stretched his overall lead to 60 points with the 23-year-old German on 161 to Button's 101. "It's definitely my best race...I'll remember this for a long time," said Button, the 2009 world champion who had never before won in North America and who had to come through from the back of the field.

Button made an amazing six visits to the pitlane — five regular stops and one drive-through penalty —before storming back into contention as the track dried and the safety car bunched the field. "We did a lot of things to contribute to the show today but at the end of the day that was just fantastic," said McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh.

"We knew we had to put pressure on Sebastian and he made a mistake. You can forgive him for that. He's driven so well this year but Jenson was just incredible. That's the stuff of champions, that's the stuff of dreams". "He had the confidence, he went for it, he just attacked and attacked. What a fantastic result for him and the team."

Seven times world champion Michael Schumacher, a seven times winner in Canada, narrowly missed out on the first podium of his comeback by bringing his Mercedes home in fourth place in a race full of incident, several of them involving Button. — Reuters

Kolkata, June 13
FIFA president Sepp Blatter said the International friendly between Argentina and Venezuela here on September 2 was an indication that football's popularity was on the rise in a cricket-dominated country. In a message to city-based Celebrity Management Group who are organising the spectacle, Blatter said the match would surely boost football's popularity in the country.

Messi and Co will clash against their South American rival Venezuela, two countries with a strong football tradition, in a rare match to be held in Yuba Bharati Krirangan, something that is a part of FIFA's development programme. "It's clear that FIFA's development work in this huge country is starting to bear fruit...Football is starting to occupy an increasingly important place in Indian society," Blatter wrote in a message to the sports management firm.

"I have no doubt that the match will go a long way towards boosting football's popularity in India even further," he said thanking the AIFF for making the event possible. He further said that their vision of a programme launched 10 years ago had started paying dividends.

"The Goal Programme was launched with the aim of improving football infrastructure worldwide on a large scale. Since then, more than 500 projects have been launched to the value of USD 262 million.

"We have now entered a new era of football development, which combines infrastructure and projects, financial resources, technical knowledge and expertise," he stated. — PTI

New Delhi, June 13
The Indian Olympic Association's (IOA) determined bid to stonewall the controversial Sports Legislation Bill got a shot in the arm when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured a high-level IOA delegation, led by president Vijay Kumar Malhotra, that he will study the bill and do damage-control before it was implemented.

The delegation, comprising Malhotra, IOA senior vice-presidents Tarlochan Singh and Abhay Singh Chautala, Anurag Thakur, Avtar Singh Sethi, K.P. Singh Deo, S. Raghunath, Jagdish Tytler, R.K. Anand and Rajiv Shukla, had a 35-minute meeting with Dr. Singh at his official residence here this evening and came out beaming, as the Prime Minister's response regarding the objections raised by the IOA was encouraging. Dr Singh gave a patient hearing to the delegation, and told them that he was not aware of the details of the various contentious clauses in the Sports Legislation, and promised to get back to them after getting the full details of the bill from Sports Minister Ajay Maken.

After meeting the Prime Minister, Malhotra said the IOA and the National Sports Federations (NSFs) were willing to adhere to the "good governance clause", would put their accounts for auditing and scrutiny and hold the elections in a fair and transparent manner, but would not adhere to the other "draconian" clauses in the bill. The delegation pointed out to Dr. Singh that some clauses in the Sports Legislation were "illegal, draconian and unconstitutional" and hence could not be implemented. Malhotra said the PM was also apprised of the fact that sports was a State subject, and the Centre could not meddle in it without bringing into force certain constitutional amendments.

Dr. Singh was apparently unaware of the controversial nature of the Sports Legislation and promised the delegation that he would study it and do the needful. "The Prime Minister gave a sympathetic hearing and promised to ensure that the legislation would be acceptable to all," said Chautala, president of the Amateur Boxing Federation of India. He said the present format of the bill will give arbitrary powers to the bureaucrats, who will eventually call the shots, to recognise or de-recognise a sports federation.

The Sports Ministry had constituted a committee under Justice Mukul Mudgal to draft the Sports Legislation, which it has submitted to the Sports Ministry, though Maken had indicated that he would not allow any clause which would infringe on the autonomy of the IOA and NSFs to be retained. But the IOA delegation pointed out to the PM that the age and tenure limits were being forced upon the sports officials whereas there was no such clause in the functioning of lakhs of registered societies, NGOs and other such organisations.

According to the Sports Ministry's fiat, no sports official over the age of 70 years can stand for election and no official can hold the offices of the president and secretary of a federation for more than two consecutive terms of four years each.

Malhotra said the delegation impressed upon Dr. Singh that it was necessary for a sports official to hold a top position in an Indian association for more than ten years to get into an international federation, which otherwise is a closely-knit club of a chosen few, who have been holding fort for 20 and 30 years consecutively.

Off late, Indian sports officials were managing to get into the governing bodies of various international federations, which was a must for the growth of Indian sports in the long run.

He also brought to the PM’s notice that if the Government intervened in the affairs of the Olympic body and federations, it would be exposed to international sanction, which would debar India from competing in international events, like the Olympics and the Asian Games.

"We are very satisfied with the reaction of the Prime Minister," said the delegation members in unison. "The sole objective of the bill seems to centralise all the powers in the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, totally negating the primacy and importance of the IOA and the NSFs," Malhotra stated.

Bhopal, June 13
Maharashtra, Services and Tamil Nadu today crashed out of the Hockey India's first Men's National Championship underway here. In a keenly contested match, Haryana downed Maharashtra 4-3, while Jharkhand trounced Services 2-0 and Punjab thrashed Tamil Nadu 3-0.

Maharashtra's Rahul Shilpkar scored the first goal by netting a penalty stroke in the 15th minute. Haryana, however, bounced back through Sandeep Singh and Damandeeep Singh who scored in the 18th and 36nd minute respectively.

But Maharashtra once again surged ahead with two goals within a span of two minutes. It was Rahul who scored the equaliser in the 39th minute and then a minute later, Deepak Lakra made it 3-2 in favour of Maharashtra.

Haryana once again fought back with Sandeep restoring the parity thorugh his second goal of the match in the 47th minute. Three minutes later, Karmjit Singh scored the all-important goal to seal the match in favour of Haryana and show the exit door to Maharashtra.

In Jharkhand's 2-0 win over Services, Ajitesh Roy turned out to be the star scoring both the goals. Punjab's Gurjinder Singh, Dharamvir Singh and Akashdeep Singh sounded the board at 53rd, 68th and 69th minute respectively to thrash Tamil Nadu 3-0. — PTI

Patiala, June 13
Junior Indian women grapplers made the country proud by winning one gold, one silver and two bronze medals at the Junior Asian Wrestling Championship that was held at Jakarta from June 9 to 12. Unlike their senior counterparts, who could win only one bronze during the Asian Championship last month, these girls put up a fine show in all weight categories. They were accompanied by coaches Jabbar Singh and Shikha.

Interestingly, all four medals have been won by Haryana wrestlers. Ritu Kumari won gold in the 44 kg weight category whereas Pooja Dhanda won silver in 55 kg. Vinesh and Sakshi Malik won bronze medals in 48 kg and 59 kg, respectively.

Ritu and Vinesh are cousins. Hailing from Balali village in Bhiwani, they are five cousins in the family and all are wrestles of international fame. The others are Geeta and Babita, who won gold and silver respectively at the Commonwealth Championships and are part of the senior squad. There is also Priyanka, who was a gold medallist of Asian Cadet Championship.

Eight women wrestlers took part in this championship. Out of these, seven were from Haryana and one from Uttar Pradesh. None of the Punjab wrestlers could make it to the squad.

London, June 13
Briton Andy Murray withstood an athletic onslaught from Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to beat the Frenchman 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 and win the final of the Queen's Club championships on Monday.

The climax of the Wimbledon warm-up event was being held a day late after rain washed out play on Sunday and while conditions stayed dry, Murray weathered the storm of Tsonga's fast groundstrokes, diving volleys and energetic charges.

Tsonga's high-risk strategy of attack had looked like paying off before an unlucky net cord in the 11th game of the second set prevented him from breaking to serve for the match. — Reuters

BRIEFLY

Jeev falters; finishes 28th
Turin: Four bogeys in a five-hole stretch late on the back nine ended Jeev Milkha Singh's hopes of top-10 finish as he slid down to tied 28th at the BMW Italian Open golf championship. Jeev, who was four-under after 12 holes finished at one-under 71, and at 11-under 273. Meanwhile the long nine-year wait for his maiden European Tour title ended for Robert Rock, who completed a start-to-finish victory with a closing 67 that left him 21 under for the week, one ahead of Thorbjorn Olesen and Gary Boyd. — PTI

Gangjee registers best finish
Raleigh: A late slump pulled him back but Rahil Gangjee's rollercoaster two-under 69 was still enough to fetch him his best finish in a Nationwide Tour event as he signed off tied 11th in the Rex Hospital Open at the TPC Wakefield Plantation course here. The 33-year-old was in a position to challenge for a better finish with three successive birdies from ninth to 11th, at which point he was three-under. Gangjee eventually finished with a total of 10-under 274. At 12-under at one stage, he was even in a position to challenge for the title, but bogeys on the 15th and 17th ruined his chances, though a birdie on 18th undid some of the damage. — PTI

Tiger Woods spotted in 'medical boot'
Washington: A new photo has suggested that World No.1 golfer Tiger Wood's 'mild' left knee sprain and a 'mild' left Achilles tendon sprain could be far worse than anticipated after he was spotted walking with the aid of a medical walking boot. RadarOnline.com spotted Woods outside his Orlando, Florida office, following his withdrawal from the prestigious tournament. He looked miserable as he struggled into his car. However, it is not confirmed whether Woods, who already had his knees operated on four times, would be having a surgery on the Achilles tendon, or if he has been ordered to wear the boot to keep the foot and ankle immobilized to avoid the surgery. — ANI

Dallas win first NBA title
MIAMI: The Dallas Mavericks ended three decades of frustration by capturing their first championship with a 105-95 victory over the Miami Heat on Sunday to win the best-of-seven NBA Finals 4-2. Guard Jason Terry came off the bench to score 27 points and lead a long-range assault by the Mavericks, who connected on 11 of 26 from beyond the arc. "We're a resilient bunch, and we saw it," said Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki, who averaged 26 points per game and was named the series MVP. "This whole series we were down. We kept battling back. Kept believing in each other. This is a win of team basketball." "I don't think there's any doubt after this series that Dirk has certainly earned the clout of being one of the all-time great players," said Maverick coach Rick Carlisle. — Reuters

Dhoni to campaign for endangered species
Ranchi: Not only the tiger, Team India captain M S Dhoni may now become the brand ambassador for Jharkhand's endangered species. "To have Dhoni as the brand ambassador for the tiger project is one of our big achievements. I will try to highlight his message regarding protection of other endangered species in the state, which has about 30 per cent forest cover," Deputy Chief Minister Sudesh Mahto said today. — PTI

Rooney belts out Beatles in Barbados piano bar!
London: England strikers Wayne Rooney and Andy Carroll were reported to have spent their holiday in a Barbados piano bar, singing and humming songs of the Beatles. After the long Premier League season, 25-year-old Rooney sang several songs by the Liverpool legends, while 22-year-old Carroll shared some of the vocals. "Having a great night in Barbados! In lexys piano bar with @ColeenRoo and friends," the Daily Mail quoted Rooney as tweeting. "Been on the mic for about 7 songs and felt like a rock star," he added. — ANI