New York, September 13
Novak Djokovic shrugged off a back scare to defeat defending champion Rafael Nadal 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 6-1 to clinch the US Open, his third Grand Slam title of the year in an epic, brutal final. The world number one Serb, who had already won the Australian Open before defeating Nadal at Wimbledon, racked up his 64th win yesterday against just two losses all year.

But having been just two points from the title in the 12th game of the third set, his dreams were almost shattered when he dropped the set on a tiebreaker and needed a medical time-out on a strained back muscle. Victory represented the top-seeded, 24-year-old's fourth career Grand Slam trophy after making his breakthrough at the 2008 Australian Open.

Nadal a 10-time Grand Slam title winner, slumped to his sixth defeat in six meetings in 2011 against Djokovic. The red-hot Serb eventually triumphed in a four-hour, 10-minute final featuring breathtaking shot-making, rock-solid defence and gruelling rallies.

"US Open....it sounds unreal," said Djokovic, who had to save two match points to beat Roger Federer in a five-set semi-final. "It's an incredible feeling. I've had an amazing year. To play Rafa is always a great challenge and I hope we have many more tough matches in the years to come." Nadal, who faced 26 break points and was out-hit in winners with his 32 lagging behind the champion's 55, said he is determined to eventually overturn his losing run at the hands of Djokovic.

"I'm disappointed to lose, but Novak has been doing unbelievable things. What he has done this year will be impossible to repeat," said the world number two.

"We pushed our bodies to the limits, I tried to play aggressive but he was making fantastic comebacks. I fought for every ball," Djokovic said. Djokovic arrived on court sporting a New York fire department baseball cap, a gesture appreciated by the 23,000 crowd, just a day after the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

Despite the tricky, swirling breeze, Nadal was quickly on top, breaking for a 2-0 lead before the Serb hit straight back for 2-1. Djokovic fought off three more break points in the fourth game and the Spaniard was made to pay when impressive court coverage allowed the Serb to bury a deep forehand to break for a 3-2 advantage.

A hold and another break, aided by two drop shots which left the struggling Nadal stranded at the back of the court, had Djokovic 5-2 ahead. The Serb comfortably wrapped up the opener in the eighth game -- his six game in succession -- when the second seed netted a backhand as Djokovic again closed in for a volley.

In a carbon copy of the first set, Nadal was 2-0 ahead in the next before a marathon third game, which lasted just over 17 minutes and included two exhausting rallies of 21 and 27 shots, was claimed by Djokovic on a sixth break point.

He did it in real style, too, three times retrieving the ball from the back of the court before Nadal netted a volley. The Spaniard was becoming increasingly irritated with his inability to sneak away from his opponent as well as constant movement in the stands. — AFP

New York, September 13
Rafa Nadal ran himself to the point of exhaustion in Monday's U.S. Open final against Novak Djokovic then ran out of answers. The Spaniard knew his best chance of beating Djokovic was to wear him down, so he chased everything he could to keep him on court as long as possible in the hope his Serbian opponent would run out of gas.

Part of his plan worked. Their final lasted four hours and 10 minutes and by the end, Djokovic was gasping for air and feeling his aches and pains.

But so was Nadal. He had run himself ragged by the fourth set and the result was now a foregone conclusion. He gave it his best shot but it was not good enough. Djokovic won 6-2 6-4 6-7 6-1, leaving Nadal to stand back and applaud as the winner raised the trophy.

"It was a tough match, physically, mentally, everything," Nadal said. "I fought until the last point. I tried my best at every moment. I am happy with a lot of things, much happier than the previous matches against him."

It was another painful for loss for the Spaniard, who was on top of the world 12 months ago when he beat Djokovic in New York to complete his collection of grand slam titles.

"I had my chances, I really had my chances," Nadal said. "You know what? I go back home knowing that I am on the way."

Nadal said he still had no real idea about how he could end his losing streak but was more motivated than ever to find a solution.

"I like to fight, I want to enjoy this battle against him," Nadal said. "Six straight loses, for sure that's painful but I'm going to work every day until that changes.

"So I have a goal. It's going to be tough to change the situation, but the goal is easy to see."

Nadal said he could still look back on the year with a lot of satisfaction. "Making the final is a fantastic result," he said. "Last year, I won three grand slams, this year I won one but I played in three finals. So for me is a fantastic result. It's a dream result." — Reuters

New Delhi, September 13
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) announced today that the 2011 edition of the Champions Trophy would be held in New Zealand. Even as FIH president Leandro Negre was having parleys with Sports Minister Ajay Maken and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) acting president Vijay Kumar Malhotra in Delhi today, supposedly to find a solution to the FIH threat of pulling out the event from Delhi and the disaffiliation of Hockey India, the FIH announcement came from Lausanne that the event would be held in Auckland, the capital of New Zealand, from December 3 to 11.

"As part of the move, New Zealand, ranked seven in the world, will replace 9th ranked India in the Champions Trophy. India was originally allotted a place in the Champions Trophy as the host, but has now been extended an invitation to play as the top-seeded team at the Champions Challenge in November in South Africa," the FIH said.

“It is always tough to move an event out of any country, but I have to say that the silver lining is the bid from New Zealand,” said Negre. “New Zealand will put on a first-rate Champions Trophy and has been extremely flexible and professional given the tough circumstances and tight timeline. I know that they will do an excellent job hosting the event.” The FIH said New Zealand was "excited" to get the opportunity to bring the top men’s hockey event of 2011 to Auckland.

However, the news was received with disbelief in hockey circles in Delhi, where the Indian team had returned from Ordos last night after winning the inaugural Asian Champions Trophy and were being feted and felicitated by the Sports Ministry and Hockey India at different functions here today.

“It is a privilege to be hosting this event,” Hockey New Zealand Chief Executive Hilary Poole was quoted as saying by the FIH. “We have been overwhelmed how quickly our key partners have come together to offer support to ensure this is a truly fantastic event. We have the structure in place and with work already underway, we are confident that we can deliver a world-class event in a short timeframe.”

FIH Competitions Committee Chairman Ken Read went to New Zealand for a site visit and came away with a positive impression. "After seeing the facilities and infrastructure first hand I am very confident that Hockey New Zealand is prepared to host a great event for the athletes and supporters," Read said.

FIH said the schedule of the Champions Trophy will be released in the upcoming weeks, but it is certain that the dates of December 3-11 will remain fixed. In addition, a revised schedule for the Champions Challenge in South Africa will also be published. Both events will have eight-team pools in a nine-day tournament.

Interestingly, the main reason for FIH pulling out the Champions Trophy from India was the non-clearance of $500,000 owed to it for holding the World Cup in Delhi last year, by the Reserve Bank of India.

The FIH, which was part of a private body which organised the World Cup in Delhi, is reported to have earned around Rs 40 crore from the World Cup and it was hoping to make such overkill from the Champions Trophy as well. But with IOA president Suresh Kalmadi in jail - he was the moving force behind the hosting of the World Cup — and the sports scene having changed following the Commonwealth Games (CWG) scam, the FIH has perhaps realised that it would not be possible for it take home big bucks from the Champions Trophy.

Now, India will be trying to convince Negre of at least retaining the Olympic qualifiers allotted to Delhi, to be held in February next year as scheduled, as India would be fighting for a berth in the 2012 London Olympics.

Patiala, September 13
A delay in getting a visa has forced Olympic bronze medallist Vijender Singh and Asian silver medallist Dinesh Kumar to skip the 12-day training-cum-competition in Bugeat, France.

The other pugilists of the Indian squad had left for France on September 10 after their visa problem was resolved.

Notably, Vijender and Dinesh had gone to the US to take part in the World Police Games and as they returned late, their visas could not be processed on time.

Talking to The Tribune, Vijender said he certainly wanted to accompany the team for this training session but could not help it. “I wanted to be with my team during this crucial time but visa problems have kept us here,” he said. “I even called up my teammates yesterday evening to find out how the training was going and interestingly, they informed me that their luggage had been missing ever since they reached France.

“I don’t know whether they have got their luggage and started practice. I just hope they were training really hard,” he added.

“Now that we are already late, the Indian Boxing Federation has decided to send us directly to Baku rather than France in order to save some training time,” Vijender added.

Asked about his training, Vijender said that as his teammates were in France and there was no camp at NIS, Patiala presently, he was practicing at his hometown Bhiwani. “The practice is going well and we are following a rigorous training schedule. All the other boxers too are in great form and we certainly will have spectacular performances in Baku,” he added.

London, September 13
The Indian cricket team's summer of discontent in the longest format of the game was reflected in the ICC 'Test Team of the Year' in which senior batsman Sachin Tendulkar was the only player from the country to make the cut. While Tendulkar took his customary number four spot for the third year running, Zaheer Khan was the other Indian to make it to the team squad albeit as a 12th man.

As was expected, England made up almost half of the team with five of their players — Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann and James Anderson -- making it to the list.

The duration of the period on which the players were judged on their performance was between August 11, 2010 and August 3, 2011.

Tendulkar made 973 runs in 10 Tests at an average of 64.86 during the stipulated period. The other players to make it to the Test team of the year included four South African cricketers — Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Jacques Kallis and Dale Steyn.

Interestingly, Kumar Sangakkara has been picked in the side as captain and wicketkeeper though the Sri Lankan doesn't perform any of the two duties for his country any longer. Cook made 1302 runs from 12 matches at 76.58 which included six centuries and four half centuries. Trott amassed 1042 runs from 12 Tests at 65.12 with four centuries and three half centuries. — PTI

London, September 13
Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the Spirit of Cricket Award while iconic batsman Sachin Tendulkar missed out the Cricketer of the Year honour at a glittering ICC Awards function on Monday. Dhoni was chosen for the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award for his fine gesture of recalling Ian Bell after the England batsman was run out under controversial circumstances during the second Test at Trent Bridge in July.

Tendulkar, who was named Cricketer of the Year in 2010 when the awards function was held in Bangalore, missed out this time.

Gautam Gambhir also missed out the ODI Player of the Year Award which was won by Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara.

Dhoni turned out to be the lone Indian to win an ICC award this year. — PTI

Madrid, September 13
FC Barcelona will make sweeping changes to their starting 11 for the visit of AC Milan to the Camp Nou Stadium in the UEFA Champions League Tuesday night. The Catalans suffered a setback in their Primera Liga campaign Saturday night when they surrendered a 2-0 lead away to Real Sociedad to end up drawing 2-2, prompting coach Pep Guardiola to comment they had to learn the lesson from that match.

More worrying for Barcelona was the serious muscle injury suffered by winger Alexis Sanchez. Sanchez has an eight inch tear in his left hamstring and tests Sunday confirmed he will be out of action for at least two months. Guardiola rested key players at the weekend and Andres Iniesta, Leonel Messi, Javier Mascherano and Eric Abidal all watched the majority of the game from the substitutes' bench, along with Carles Puyol.

Although Puyol could still be substitute Tuesday as he looks to put the finishing touches to his return from injury, Messi, Iniesta, Mascherano and Abidal will all be in the side as Barca commence their defense of the title they won last year, when they defeated Manchester United at Wembley.

Mascherano and Abidal will almost certainly return in central defense, with Andreu Fontas stepping down and Busquets moving into midfield, where Alcantara will be the player to make way. The big question is whether Guardiola will play Iniesta on the left of his attack, or continue with David Villa, who seems to lack the pace to play in a wide role. Milan travel with former Barcelona striker Ibrahimovich as their main attraction. — IANS

BRIEFLY

Bopanna out of top-10
NEW DELHI: Indian Davis Cupper Rohan Bopanna today dropped out of the top-10 in the ATP doubles ranking chart, following the US Open semifinal defeat along with Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi. Bopanna and Qureshi had made the summit clash last year and their journey ended in the semifinals this year as they lost to eventual runners-up Marcin Matkowski and Maruisz Fyrstenberg of Poland. Bopanna lost five places to be at 14, just ahead of Qureshi. As a team also Bopanna and Qureshi slid, as they lost a place to seven. — PTI

Wahingdoh in Fed Cup
KOLKATA: Royal Wahingdoh defeated ONGC 3-1 to qualify for the main phase of the Federation Cup football tournament here today. Jackie Chand Singh scored twice for Wahingdoh (35th and 50th minute) after Bhawar Beekay put them into the lead as early as the 10th minute. Joel Sequera reduced the margin for ONGC. With the victory, Wahingdoh ended their engagements on nine points winning all their three matches. Wahingdoh now travel to Pune where they have been clubbed with Mohun Bagan, Churchill Brothers and Shillong Lajong Football Club in Group A. — PTI

Bindra, Dhoni Lt Cols in Army
New Delhi: Ace Olympic Gold medal winning shooter Abhinav Bindra and Indian cricket Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni were today conferred with the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Indian Army by President Pratibha Patil. Bindra hails from Chandigarh. Both the sportsmen were bestowed upon the rank in the territorial army for their outstanding contribution in shooting and cricket, and their commitment to the army on various occasions. While Bindra became the only Indian sportsperson to win an individual Olympic gold medal at the Beijing games in 2008, Dhoni led the Indian cricket team to victory in World Cup 2011. Some two years ago, former Indian Cricket Captain Kapil Dev joined the Territorial Army as Lt Col. — TNS

Van der Vaart annoyed at Spurs
LONDON: Midfielder Rafael van der Vaart is unhappy with Tottenham Hotspur's decision to leave him out of their Europa League squad, having recovered from injury faster than expected. The Dutch international tore his hamstring in a 5-1 defeat against Manchester City in late August and Spurs said at theime that he was likely to be out for six to eight weeks. "Spurs could at least have consulted me on this (squad omission)," the player told his personal website www.rafaelvandervaart.com on Tuesday under the headline 'annoying'. — Reuters

Kaka misses trip to Zagreb
MADRID: Kaka has failed to recover from a bruised heel and was left out of Real Madrid's squad on Tuesday for their Champions League opener at Dinamo Zagreb. The Brazilian playmaker has been working apart from the rest of the group since Saturday, when he came on as a substitute in Real's 4-2 home win over Getafe in La Liga. Turkish internationals Nuri Sahin and Hamit Altintop, who have yet to make their debuts since joining Real in the closed season, are also out with knee and back injuries respectively. German Sami Khedira was included in the squad after recovering from a thigh problem. - Reuters

Ministry sanctions funds
NEW DELHI: The Sports Ministry has sanctioned Rs 6.85 crore from the National Sports Development Fund to 22 sportspersons for their preparation for the 2012 London Olympics, under the ‘Operation Excellence’ scheme. The beneficiaries are (amount in brackets): Ronjan Sodhi, shooting (Rs 97.37 lakh), Manavjit Singh Sandhu, shooting (Rs 91.95 lakh), Mansher Singh, shooting (Rs 47.25 lakh), Krishna Poonia, discus throw (Rs 24.20 lakh), Om Prakash Karhana, shot put (Rs 48.10 lakh), Vikas Gowda, discus throw (24.51 lakh), Somdev Devvarman (39.60 lakh), Sania Mirza, Mahesh Bhupathi, Rohan Bopanna, Yuki Bhambri, Sanam Singh and Leander Paes, all tennis (Rs 36.96 lakh each). Besides this, the men’s and women’s gymnastics teams will get Rs 56.83 and Rs 33.08 lakh each. — TNS