* Australia beat Sri Lanka by 15 runs
* David Warner slams 163
* David Hussey claims 4 wickets
* Second final on Tuesday

Brisbane, March 4
David Warner cracked a scintillating 163 as Australia warded off a dramatic Sri Lankan late-order fightback to snatch a thrilling 15-run victory in the first final of the tri-series here today.

After posting 321 for six, largely built around Warner's career-best knock, the hosts got a scare with Nuwan Kulasekara (73) coming up with a blistering counter attacking innings and Sri Lankan tailenders producing some lusty hits before they fell short by 15 runs in match played under a steady drizzle.

Sri Lanka were 144 for six in the 31st over and the match seemed to be as good as over before an unexpected resistance from the lower-order batsmen nearly pulled off what could have been a thrilling victory.

The visiting side would have been in for a humiliating defeat but for the seventh wicket stand between Upul Tharanga (60) and Kulasekara (73 of 43 balls), who put on 104 runs off 70 balls, clobbering 68 in the five overs of batting powerplay between 36-40 overs.

So impressive were the two that the Lankans, at one stage, needed only 42 runs from the final five overs with three wickets in hand. But Kulasekara departed in the 42nd over and Tharanga in the 46th to leave the Sri Lankans needing 36 runs from the final four overs.

With persistent drizzle around, the Australian bowlers were finding it difficult to grip the ball and there were a lot of full-tosses and wides bowled in the closing stages.

Brett Lee bowled the 47th over and conceded 13 runs, including a six over extra cover by Dhammika Prasad (31 not out) to bring the equation down to 23 from final three overs.

Shane Watson accounted for Rangana Herath (5) in 48th over and the Lankans needed 21 with two wickets remaining.

They required 20 runs from the final two overs and 16 from the final over.

Lasith Malinga (1) then lofted the second ball of the final over from Watson to deep square leg to draw curtains on Sri Lanka's heroic run chase.Big as the Australian total was, Sri Lanka lost their top order almost without a fight under lights, losing wickets at regular intervals to the disciplined home side attack.

The islanders had begun the chase brightly enough, smashing 66 off the first eight overs before getting mired by the slower bowlers of Australia, notably left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty and part-time off-spinner David Hussey.

Lee did his part by taking care of aggressive Lankan openers Mahela Jayawardene (14) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (27) who had raised 39 off only 4.4 overs into the innings.

Jayawardene left while trying to glide Lee to third man while Dilshan was bowled trying to work a delivery down the legside.

Sri Lanka's batting find of the tour, Dinesh Chandimal was strangely off-colour, making 14 off 27 balls with one four before cutting a David Hussey delivery to point, beaten by the extra bounce in the ball.

Kumar Sangakkara was stylish in his 42 made off 49 balls with four fours before he fell in the bowling powerplay to Brett Lee. —PTI

Scoreboard
Australia

Warner b Prasad 163

Wade c Herath b K’sara 64 Watson c Thirimanne

b Maharoof 21

Christian c Sangakkara

b Prasad 10

D Hussey c & b Herath 1 Clarke c Jayawardene

b Malinga 37

M Hussey not out 19

Extras: (LB-1, W-5) 6

Total: (6 wkts) 321

Fall of wkts: 1-136, 2-186, 3-223, 4-224, 5-288, 6-321 Bowling: Malinga 8-0-74-1, Kulasekara 10-0-60-1, Maharoof 9-0-64-1, Dilshan 9-0-35-0, Prasad 7-0-51-2, Herath 7-0-36-1.

Sri Lanka

Jayawardene c Wade

b Lee 14

Dilshan b Lee 27

Sangakkara c Watson

b Lee 42

Chandimal c Pattinson

b D Hussey 14

Thirimanne c Wade

b D Hussey 14

Tharanga c D Hussey

b Watson 60

Maharoof c Christian

b D Hussey 8

Prasad not out 31

Herath c Doherty

b Watson 5

Malinga c M Hussey

b Watson 1

Extras (B-1, LB-3, WD-11, NB-2) 17

Total (all out 49.2 overs) 306 Fall of wkts: 1-39, 2-52, 3-93, 4-115, 5-125, 6-144, 7-248, 8-285, 9-301.

Bowling: Lee 9-1-59-3, Hilfenhaus 4-0-46-0, Pattinson 5-0-49-0, Watson 9.2-0-33-3, Doherty 10-0-39-0, D Hussey 8-0-43-4, Christian 4-0-33-0. 

Brisbane, March 4
Australian skipper Michael Clarke could not stop himself from praising the Sri Lankan side which gave them a scare before the hosts won the high-scoring first final of the tri-series by 15 runs here today.

Australia just about managed to defend 321 for six as Lankan batsman put up a strong fight while chasing a big target. It was Australia's first victory over Sri Lanka in this series.

"They continue not to quit unfortunately, they are very well-skilled. But (David) Warner and (Matthew) Wade were outstanding at the top," Clarke said after the match.

"I'm pleased we won the game, but we've got some work to do tomorrow," added Clarke.

David Warner cracked a scintillating 163 and Michael Wade scored 64 to lay a solid platform for Australia.

Clarke also admitted that the Lankans might find the pitch at Adelaide, the venue of the second final, more suitable to their style of play.

"We got to the Adelaide Oval, which will probably suit the Sri Lankans more than the Gabba," he said.

Stating that Shane Watson (3 for 33) once again came to the rescue of the team, Clarke said, "Watson saved us once again, we are glad to have him back in the team, this effort shows his class."Meanwhile, Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene said he was happy with his players' attitude.

"We've been playing some really good cricket, we fought till the end. It's a good attitude to have. It was an incredible partnership.

"Kula (Nuwan Kulasekara) did very well, lots of positives for us to take from this. When Upul (Tharanga) got out, that probably put us back a bit. If there was a batsman left till the end, who knows?" Jayawardene said their top order needs to improve.

"They took the momentum up front, that's something we need to improve on. The guys are fighting for everything," he insisted.

Man-of-the-match David Warner said Aussies needed runs up the order as they already had some targets in mind.

"I needed some runs on the board, we set ourselves some targets there. Dave Huss missed out but he picked up four wickets," said Warner.

Warner said that he was a little worried about his cramps during the match.

"I was just a little worried about the cramps at the other end, I was getting some treatment. I couldn't move sideways so we're going to do a fitness test on the day of the game. It's good to get across the line, we are now 1-0 up.” —PTI

Patna, March 4
India clinched the first women's Kabaddi World Cup championship title, defeating Iran 25-19 in the final played at Patlipura sports complex at Kankerbagh here today. In a thrilling encounter, the Indian eves held upper hand throughout the match and led their Iranian counterparts 19-11 at the half time.

Cheered lustily by the fans at the jam-packed stadium, the Indian women held out a strong challenge by the Iranian in the second half, on course to a resounding win.

Earlier in the day, India outclassed Japan 60-21 while Iran defeated Thailand 46-26 in the two semifinals to set up a summit clash.

Before the semifinals a clash broke out between some spectators and the police outside the stadium but matters were resolved later. —PTI

Dubai, March 4
Veteran Indian tennis player Mahesh Bhupathi clinched his 50th career title and his first with Rohan Bopanna when the duo outwitted Poles Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski to lift the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships doubles men's trophy here.

The Fourth-seeded Indians prevailed 6-4, 3-6, 10-5 in 69 minutes to capture their first ATP World Tour doubles title together.

Bhupathi and Bopanna joined forces full time at the beginning of the season and came into Dubai having reached the semi-finals at the Aircel Chennai Open and the Open 13 in Marseille.

"It's my first ATP (World Tour) 500 title," said Bopanna.

"This is great, and obviously it's great to play with Mahesh. All that 17 years of experience on court I think really helps in those close matches and these big moments.

"It's a good opportunity for me to play with him, alongside him. I couldn't have asked for anything better than winning this title." The 37-year-old Bhupathi captured his fourth title at this ATP World Tour 500 hard-court tennis tournament.

The right-hander previously triumphed in 1998 (with Leander Paes), 2004 (Fabrice Vetea Santoro) and 2008 (with Mark Knowles).

The 31-year-old Bopanna clinched his sixth ATP World Tour doubles title.

“It's amazing. It's even better than playing at home, because the stadium here is bigger than Chennai. For me, fortunately, it's my fifth final I think and it's always like this on Saturday. It's amazing, so many Indians," said Bhupathi.

New Delhi, March 4
Indian Olympic Association (IOA) today urged the Union Finance Minister to treat sports as a priority area while formulating his budget for 2012.“World over, countries are spending huge amount of money to boost and develop sports and it’s infrastructure; in India it has not yet been given the importance it deserves. The funds allotted for sports in the budget are always very small and do no justice to the mammoth sports fraternity of the country,” IOA acting president Vijay Kumar Malhotra wrote in a letter to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

“I will also request you to put sports in a priority category so that in future, National Sports Federations are not starved of funds for training, competitions and sending teams abroad.”

“In India, sport has never been considered as a priority area and that is why we are lagging behind. Though 2012 is the Olympic year, and the Sports Ministry is helping us in the preparation of the squad for the London Games, I will urge you to allocate much larger funds for sports this year so that it becomes a trend and pattern for future budgets”, Malhotra stated.

“While the IOA appreciates the Government’s financial support for the Olympic Games, I will like it to become broad-based, keeping in view other multi-discipline international events like the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and World Championships in individual disciplines”.

Malhotra said now that the Government has raised the Member Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) fund to Rs. 5 crore each, the MPs should be allowed to spend at least Rs one crore from this for conducting sports competitions in their areas and also to help build sports infrastructure in their respective constituencies.

“It is also requested that minimum of ten per cent of the budget allocation for the Rural Development Ministry be earmarked for promotion of sports at the grass root level through panchayats and local area bodies," Malhotra said.

He pointed out that while the Government has spent crores for building/renovating stadiums in the Capital for the Commonwealth "I am pained to inform you that they are becoming very expensive junkyards due to lack of proper upkeep. I suggest that a separate fund be created for their upkeep and maintenance with a clear proviso that international and national competitions are organized and held in these stadia regularly. “Given the size of the country and the burgeoning youth population interested in sports, I request you to please allocate at least Rs. 4,000 crores for sports this year.”

Chandigarh, March 4
It was a perfect day out at the Chandigarh Golf Club, as the inaugural edition of the IGP Invitational Golf Tournament got off to a rollicking start here on Sunday. 

An initiative of Inspector General of Police, PK Srivastava, Chandigarh Police, the tournament saw participation of over 96 golfers of the region competing in five categories. The event got a dash of glamour with the presence of a galaxy of Bollywood and Hollywood stars including Oscar winner, American director, Kathyrn Bigelow, Mike Boyle along with Sunny Deol, Sanjay Dutt, Abhay Deol and Kiron Kher.

Jalandhar, March 4
With both teams winning their first two matches of the ongoing World Series Hockey Championship, Shere-E-Punjab and Pune Strikers started off well in their third match which produced the first draw of the tournament at Olympian Surjeet Singh Hockey Stadium here on Sunday.

The fast-paced match ended in a 3-3 draw. The Punjab team was leading by two goals but the Pune team struck back to level the scores.

Sher-e-Punjab outfit started their campaign with an early field goal by former international Deepak Thakur in the 3rd minute of the game. Prabhjot made a brilliant run from left flank and sent a pass to Deepak. Soon after scoring first goal the team was awarded a penalty corner but Deepak failed to beat goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Guri. Later the visiting side made a counter-attack but failed to finish on a good note after Harpal Singh displayed his skills.

Later with four minutes left for the first quarter, the home team were again awarded the second penalty corner of the game but Didar Singh, brother of Sardar Singh, fell short of putting the ball across the goal line.

As the second quarter drew to a close, the visiting side started playing attacking game but could not manage to finish well. Star striker, Roshan Minz alongwith Lungile Tsolekile tested Punjab’s defense but failed to score the leveler.

On other hand, after controlling a long pass from Prabhdeep Singh (Sr), Punjab’s captain Prabhjot Singh made a long run but defender Amit managed to stop him. But right full back, Tyron Pereira could not manage to stop Matthew Hotchiks from giving a pass to right-in Deepak, who quickly flicked the ball inside the opponent’s goal post to make it 2-0 in the 33rd minute.

After the breather, Pune team was awarded their first penalty corner and specialist Gurpreet Singh managed to reduce the margin in the 45th minute of the game. Minutes afterwards the visiting side again got four back-to-back penalty corners but Gurpreet failed to convert any of them.

With 15 minutes left in the game, Prabhjot Singh gave the crowd a reason to cheer after scoring the third goal of the match. In the 55th minute Deepak Thakur passed a long ball from right flank to Prabhjot and the skipper successfully took the score to 3-1.

On other hand for visiting side, Bikash Toppo took the score to 3-2 in the 60th minute.

Thereafter Pune outfit started playing attacking game and soon won a penalty corner through striker Damandeep.Taking full advantage of it, Bikas Toppo levelled the score in the 65th minute to split the points.

New Delhi, March 4
A fine 86 off 53 balls by Rakesh enabled Sailors XI beat DEMCO by 26 runs to win the 10th AERO MARINE Cup cricket tournament here today.

Sailors XI won the toss and opted to bat. Helped by Rakesh’s whirlwind 86 which included four six and seven boundaries, the winners piled up 186 for 4 in 20 0vers. Sri Kumar chipped in 29 off 29 balls.Deepak took two wickets .

BRIEFLY

Thai lifter wins title
NEW DELHI: Thailand’s Junthima Gulyanamitta won the Business Today Honda Pro-Am of Champions 2012 after a nail-biting contest in the second and final round, followed by playoff against India’s Neha Tripathi at the Classic Golf Resort on Sunday. Neha gave tough competition to Junthima and both the golfers finished at 4-under 140 after two rounds. —TNS