Kolkata, September 25
India's best woman archer Deepika Kumari, lost narrowly to Ming Cheng of China in the shoot-off to settle for a silver medal in the prestigious Archery World Cup final held in Istanbul today.

According to information received here, the 17-year-old, who was India's solitary participation at the World Cup Final, had a 4-2 lead at the end of the third set, but in a dramatic finish the Ranchi girl lost out 5-6 to miss the gold and emulate Dola Banerjee's feat.

India have only one gold medal in one of World Cup Final leg courtesy Dola had won in Dubai, three years back.

Deepika, who has already secured an Olympic quota for London 2012, had a terrific run in the final held at the picturesque shores of the Bosphorus where East meets West as the Commonwealth Games double gold medalist beat promising 16-year-old Mexican Alejandra Valencia who won a bronze medal at the Ogden World Cup (Stage 3).

But the reigning World Junior champion had her best win when she ousted Beijing Olympic bronze medalist Berengere Schuh of France in the semis to set up a summit clash against World Cup Stage 3 gold medalist Cheng.

The Indo-Chinese duo had a spectacular start in the final, with both firing in 10-10 each to start the first set.

London, September 25
Manchester United dropped their first Premier League points of the season after Peter Crouch's first goal for Stoke secured a 1-1 draw at the Britannia Stadium.

United had looked on course to maintain their 100 per cent start to the season - and a two-point lead at the top of the table — after Portuguese winger Nani fired them ahead on 27 minutes yesterday.

But former Tottenham striker Crouch soared high to head home a corner on 52 minutes as battling City deservedly secured their first ever Premier League point against Manchester United. The result left United top of the table on goal difference from arch-rivals Manchester City, with both clubs on 16 points after six games.

"I was pleased with the performance from the lads - they battled really hard and played like real champions," United manager Sir Alex Fergsuon told MUTV. "A draw is probably a fair result. It's a difficult place to come to."

Ferguson had to leave out England striker Wayne Rooney, who was suffering from a hamstring injury that will also sideline him from Tuesday's Champions League clash with Basel at Old Trafford.

Manchester City had earlier maintained the pressure at the top of the table after second half goals from substitutes Mario Balotelli and James Milner gave them a 2-0 win over Everton at Eastlands. In other results, Fernando Torres was sent off for the first time in his Premier League career as Chelsea bounced back with a 4-1 win over Swansea. — AFP 

Singapore, September 25
Sebastian Vettel demonstrated his vast supremacy on Sunday when he won the Singapore Grand Prix to move within a point of becoming the youngest double world champion in Formula One history.

The 24-year-old German, the defending champion and runaway leader of this year's title race, drove from pole position to the chequered flag in flawless style in his Red Bull car.

He won the floodlit 61-lap night race at the Marina Bay street circuit by a controlled 1.7 seconds.

Briton Jenson Button finished second in his McLaren to keep the title race just about alive with five races remaining. Australian Mark Webber in the second Red Bull finished third.

Vettel now requires just a solitary point to claim his second title in succession and can only be beaten to the title if Button wins all five of the remaining races while the German fails to score a further point.

Two-time world champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso, who needed to finish on the podium to keep his own challenge for the drivers' title alive, came home fourth ahead of Briton Lewis Hamilton in the second McLaren.

The Englishman produced a typically spectacular drive including five pit-stops, a collision and a charge from 16th through the field.

Another Briton, Paul Di Resta, came home sixth for Force India, his best result to date in his rookie season in Formula One, ahead of Germans Nico Rosberg in seventh for Mercedes and Adrian Sutil in the second Force India.

Felipe Massa of Ferrari, who was the victim of a collision with Hamilton in the early stages of an incident-filled contest, came home ninth. — AFP

New Delhi, September 25
With last edition's bronze-medallist Vijender Singh and the experienced Akhil Kumar leading the charge, Indian boxers will look to secure Olympic berths besides fetching medals against a strong field in the World Championships starting in Baku, Azerbaijan tomorrow.

With more than 650 boxers from 120 countries in fray, it is one of the biggest World Championships, from where the first batch of Olympic qualifiers would be known. The top-10 in eight weight categories (from light fly weight 49kg to the light heavy weight 81kg division) will qualify for next year's London Games while in the heavyweight and super heavyweight, the top-six will book their Olympic berths.

India's campaign will be opened by 19-year-old rookie L Devendro Singh (49kg), who will make his senior international debut tomorrow. India has fielded a strong team in the event, in which Vijender's middle weight bronze (75kg) in the 2009 edition in Milan was the country's best performance.

Vijender, who is coming off a gold medal at the World Police Games last month, would once again be the star of India's campaign, but there are others to watch out for as well. Suranjoy Singh (52kg) would be among the ones to watch out for. The diminutive Manipuri, fondly called 'Chhota Tyson', would be expected to not just book an Olympic berth but also fetch a medal.

Suranjoy, a Commonwealth Games gold-medallist, has been in red hot form for the past couple of years and would be aiming to carry on with that in Baku as well. For the experienced Akhil (56kg), it would be about regaining lost ground.

The experienced boxer has been battling injuries and poor form for quite some while and he would look to set the record straight with a solid performance in the mega event that might make or break his career from here on.

Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Manoj and Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist Jai Bhagwan would be India's contenders in the 64kg and 60kg categories, respectively. Asian Games silver-medallist Dinesh Kumar (81kg), who was a quarterfinalist at the event's previous edition, would be aiming to go a step further this time and fetch a medal. — PTI

the squad

L Devendro Singh
Suranjoy Singh
Vijender Singh
Akhil Kumar (pic)
Manoj
Jai Bhagwan
Dinesh Kumar
Manpreet Singh
Paramjeet Samota

Dharamsala, September 25
Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd. (PSPCL), Patiala, established their dominance by easily defeating Madhya Pradesh State Electricity Board Ltd. by 25 points in the opening match of the All-India State Power Board Kabaddi tournament that began here today at the police grounds. The final score in the match remained at 35 to 12 in favour of PSPCL.

Hosts Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Ltd (HPSEBL) also started on a winning note by defeating Andhra Pradesh Transmission Company by a margin of 34 points. Final score remained 49/15 in favour of HPSEBL.

In the other matches played today, Maharashtra State Electricity Corporation defeated Tamil Nadu Generation Company by a margin of 19 points and Bombay Sub Urban Electricity Supply (BSES), Delhi, defeated HPSEBL by a margin of 34 points. Chattisgarh State Power Corporation Ltd defeated Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd by 29/22 points and Tata Power Ltd Mumbai defeated UP Power Corporation Ltd by 33/26 points.

The tournament was inaugurated by Kishan Kapoor, Minister for Industries for Himachal Pradesh. Sixteen teams from various state power corporations from across the country are participating in the four-day tournament to be concluded on September 28.

Dunedin, September 25
Argentina and Ireland took significant steps towards reaching the rugby World Cup quarterfinals with contrasting wins over Scotland and Russia, respectively on Sunday. Samoa maintained their slim chances by flattening Pacific island rivals Fiji, meanwhile.

Argentina, who finished third at the last World Cup four years ago, were seven minutes away from elimination after a grinding battle in the Wellington rain. That was until replacement winger Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino produced a piece of magic to scythe through the Scottish defence for the game's only try, which captain Felipe Contepomi nervelessly converted for a 13-12 victory.

Scotland, playing with controlled aggression as Argentina struggled to deal with an injury pile-up, had built a 12-6 lead with penalties from Chris Paterson and Ruaridh Jackson and drop goals by Jackson and his replacement Dan Parks.

Neither side had come close to a try in testing conditions but Amorosino, man of the match in their last game against Romania, caught the Scottish defence cold with a superb slaloming run to turn the match.

The result leaves England top of Pool B on 14 points, with Argentina and Scotland both on 10.

With Argentina likely to beat Georgia in their final game, Scotland would have to beat England, either with a bonus point or preventing England getting one, to maintain their proud record of reaching at least the quarterfinals of every World Cup.

The pool winners are likely to face France while the runners-up will play New Zealand. — Reuters

Kolkata, September 25
Injury-ridden East Bengal will have to overcome stiff challenge from resurgent Prayag United SC when the two local teams lock horns in what promises to be a thrilling second semifinal contest of the 33rd Federation Cup here tomorrow.

Aiming for a hat-trick of titles to match the feat of Mohun Bagan, seven-time champions East Bengal have full of problems going into their last four match at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan.

Mehtab Hussain, a vital cog in East Bengal's wheel, is down with a groin injury making the playmaker's availability in the match uncertain.

Also, to make matters worse, a suspended Robin Singh will have to sit out. — PTI

Chandigarh, September 25
Teams of Signals Jallandhar, PNB and IOB registered wins in their respective matches of the ongoing 41st SN Vohra All-India Gurmit Memorial Hockey Tournament, being held at Sports Complex Sector 42, here today.

In the first match of the day, Punjab Police went down to Signals Jallandhar by 3-1. G Dass scored the first goal for the team in the 31st minute followed by the second goal in the 34th minute of the game.

For the Jallandhar team, VK Sharma scored the third goal, after converting a penalty corner, in the 45th minute of the game. For Punjab Police, Simranjit, scored the lone consolation goal in the 50th minute of the game.

In the second match of the day, PNB defeated BSF by 3-2. PNB got the lead through Arjun in the 8th minute while Jalwinder made it 2-0 in the 20th minute. Satpal scored the third goal for the team in the 38th minute of the game. For BSF Ranjit scored two goals in the 50th and 65th minute of the game to reduce the losing margin.

In the third match of the day, IOB defeated PSEB by 8-2. For IOB Vinod sealed the team’s victory after scoring four goals while Harmanpreet contributed three goals and Rafeeq scored one goal to ensure a comfortable victory. For PSEB, Ravinder scored two goals.

Kolkata, September 25
Reigning I-League champions Salgaocar rode on a late strike by Edeh Chidi to pip Shillong Lajong FC 1-0 and advance to the final of the 33rd Federation Cup at the floodlit Yuba Bharati Krirangan here today.

Chidi scored the goal in the last minute of the regulation time to take the three-time winners into the final after a gap of 14 years. The Goans, who won the Federation Cup last time in 1997, will take on the winners of tomorrow's match between East Bengal and Prayag United SC in the final, on September 29.

It was a dull first-half as both teams showed no signs of urgency but in the second period the match gained momentum as there were a couple of sparks of brilliance from Shillong. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Makau shatters record
BERLIN: Kenyan Patrick Makau shattered the world men's marathon record by 21 seconds on Sunday when he clocked two hours three minutes 38 seconds over the fast, flat Berlin course on a warm, sunny morning. Makau ran alone for the final 12 kms to break the previous mark of 2:03:59 set by Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie on the same course three years ago. — Reuters

Toure’s drug controversy
London: Manchester City defender Kolo Toure, who returned to action last week after a six-month drug ban, has revealed how the drugs controversy had left his daughter in tears. Toure had failed a drug test after taking a slimming pill, which contained a banned substance, to help control his weight. The 30-year-old revealed, “My little girl came home from school and she was crying. She said some of her friends had told her that daddy was taking drugs. That was difficult. I told her, ‘Daddy’s not like that’. But it really hurt me. There is a difference between a diet pill and a drug,” Toure told the Daily Star. — ANI

‘Roman a football anorak’
London: Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck has given a rare insight into the club’s owner Roman Abramovich’s character. Buck says that Abramovich is a footballing anorak, who watches every Chelsea game wherever he is in the world. “I would say that his passion for Chelsea has increased not decreased. And his love for football in general has increased not decreased,” the Daily Star quoted Buck, as saying. — ANI

Broad faces challenge
London: England fast bowler Stuart Broad insists that he will not lose any influence as the Twenty20 captain despite missing part of the key build-up to next year’s World Cup through injury. Broad, who sustained a shoulder injury in the ODI series against India, was earlier ruled out of the two Twenty20 games against West Indies and is also likely to miss the one-off Twenty20 against India on October 29. “Just being around the squad has helped. I’ve been observing the new guys and trying to get to know them better and talk about certain tactics. But I haven’t encroached on Swanny’s space,” the Daily Express quoted Broad, as saying. — ANI

Punjab win Golf C’ship
Chandigarh: Punjab Police team comprising of Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) SK Sharma and Rupinder Singh won the 15th All India Police Golf Championship held here at Chandigarh Golf Club from September 21 to 24. Punjab police won the championship by beating their nearest rivals of BSF Team comprising of Sukhwinder Singh and JB Sangwan by a margin of three strokes. The tournament was played on Stroke Play basis. Total 112 Golfers representing various states, UTs and Para Military forces participate in the championship. — TNS

Indian eves win bronze
New Delhi: Indian eves defeated defending Champions Korea 2-0 to win the bronze medal in the 3rd Girls U-18 Asia Cup hockey tournament at Bangkok today. The goal scorer for India were Navjot Kaur (38th minute) and Anupa Barla (49th). India dominated the proceedings, despite Korea holding on goalless in the first half. The Indian strikers led by Skipper Poonam Rani, Neha Goel, Navjot Kaur and Anupa Barla exhibited classic skills pushing the Korean defenders constantly. — PTI

Rooney out with injury
London: Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson expects striker Wayne Rooney to be sidelined for “a week or two” due to his hamstring injury. Rooney suffered the injury while training ahead of Sunday’s Premier League clash against Stoke City. “It is only a small thing, but it could keep him out for a week or two,” the Guardian quoted Ferguson, as saying. — ANI