Paris, June 4
Juan Martin del Potro edged past Tomas Berdych in a battle of big-hitting baseliners to book his spot in the French Open quarter-finals, winning 7-6, 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 on Monday. After the match was suspended at the end of the third set due to bad light on Sunday evening, the ninth-seeded Argentine returned to wrap up victory in three hours 26 minutes.

Del Potro exchanged clubbing flat forehands with his opponent in a first-set struggle that lasted over an hour before Berdych struck back emphatically in the second. The Argentine, who will play Roger Federer in the quarters, returned to the ascendancy in Sunday's evening gloom before breaking decisively in the 12th game of the fourth set.

David Ferrer was deafened but not stirred as he silenced shrieking Spaniard Marcel Granollers with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-0 demolition job in the fourth round of the French Open on Monday. While fans are accustomed to the likes of Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka ratcheting up the decibel levels, Granollers proved that grunting was not confined to the women's game.

Unusually, Granollers often groans well after the ball has flown off his racket but despite his antics, a focussed Ferrer reached the last eight for the third time. Sixth seed Ferrer has now won 12 straight sets, dropping only 25 games, and will be favourite to make it through to his first semi-final here when he faces either fourth seed Andy Murray or local hope Richard Gasquet.

Granollers had failed to take a set off his fellow Spaniard in three previous meetings and it seems that even the local TV networks gave him no chance of winning on Monday. Television graphics showed Ferrer as a 2012 Roland Garros quarter-finalist long before a ball had been struck in the fourth-round match which was often played through drizzling rain and gusting winds.

However, no amount of wailing or rain could stop Ferrer from showering the court with 41 winners - compared to 17 from Granollers - as he charged through the last seven games to secure victory.

Such is the presence of Ferrer on court, his challenger in the previous round, Mikhail Youzhny, felt the need to apologise to the fans mid-match and carved out the word 'sorry' into the clay with his shoe.

There were no apologies from Granollers on Monday, just an acceptance that he had been beaten by a better player. "David today played better and better... (and) I couldn't play better than what I played today," said Granollers, who enjoyed his best performance at a slam in Paris.

Ferrer, meanwhile, took the opportunity to scrawl "happy birthday" into the courtside camera lens as he walked off court. Asked if he was wishing his friend Rafa Nadal, who turned 26 on Sunday, a belated happy birthday, he quipped: "I like Rafa very much, but not that much. It’s my fiancée's birthday, my girlfriend.”

Ferrer is one of three players yet to drop a set at Roland Garros - and they all happen to be Spaniards. Nicolas Almagro booked his place in the last eight with a 12-0 sets record at this year's tournament and he could next face six-times champion Nadal, who will be aiming to preserve his perfect run when in takes on Argentine Juan Monaco in a fourth-round contest later on Monday.

Juan Martin Del Potro beat Tomas Berdych 7-6(6), 1-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 7-6(6), 3-6, 3-6, 6-4.

Nicolas Almagro beat Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

David Ferrer beat Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-2, 6-0.

Sara Errani/Roberta Vinci beat Ekaterina

Makarova/Elena Vesnina 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.

Max Mirnyi/Daniel Nestor beat Matthew

Ebden/Ryan Harrison 6-4, 6-4.

New Delhi, June 4
Saina Nehwal would look to boost her confidence ahead of the London Olympics when she starts as the top seed at the Thailand Grand Prix Gold beginning with the qualifiers in Bangkok tomorrow. The Olympic-bound shuttler, ranked fifth in the world, will start her campaign against local player Nichaon Jindapon in the women's singles on Wednesday.

With the top four Chinese players missing in action, it will be a good opportunity for the Indian ace to register a win and boost her confidence after suffering a shock exit at home in the India Open Super Series in April. Local stars Ratchanok Inthanon and Porntip Buranaprasertsuk have been handed the second and third seeds respectively while rising Indian shuttler P V Sindhu is seeded fourth in the tournament.

Sindhu, who reached the quarterfinals of the India Open in April, will start her campaign against Anu Nieminen of Finland. Beside Saina, four other Indians - P Kashyap, Jwala Gutta, Ashwini Ponnappa and V Diju - had also qualified for the Olympics but they would skip the Thai Open and play the next two events in Indonesia and Singapore.

In the men's singles, 12th seed Indian Sourabh Verma will take on Indonesian Sukamta Evert, B Sai Praneeth will face off Wisnu Yuli Prasetyo of Indonesia while Anand Pawar will meet France's Brice Leverdez, seeded ninth. RMV Gurusaidutt, seeded 14th, will start his campaign against Malaysian Goh Soon Huat, while Sameer Verma will take on 11th seed Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand and K Srikanth wil meet Zulfadli Zulkiffli.

Among other Indians, men's doubles pair of Tarun Kona and Arun Vishnu and young combo of S Sanjeeth and Jagadish Yadav will also play in the tournament. In women's doubles, India's Aparna Balan and N Siki Reddy and the young pair of Pradnya Gadre and Prajakta Sawant will look to show their mettle at the event.

Arun and Aparna will also pair up for India in the mixed doubles competition. — PTI 

Chennai, June 4
Of all the five world titles he has won so far, Indian chess wizard Viswanathan Anand has rated the most latest one as the toughest in terms of intensity. Anand has been the undisputed world champion since 2007 and he is back in the country after defending his fifth world title, against challenger Boris Gelfand of Israel.

"When you finish an event progressive, it is the toughest ever. It was certainly the longest world championship as such. If you see earlier matches, I finished in game 11 and game 12 but this one went to the tie breaker. I think in terms of intensity this was the toughest," Anand told PTI in an interview.

Anand said he is aware of the legacy that the fifth world title has created in Indian chess but he just wants to focus on his own game right now. "At the moment I am aware that it (the legacy) exists but beyond that I do not think about it. When I was in Moscow defending this title, I could not care less whether it was the fifth or the first. I simply wanted to defend it. At that point you don't have luxury to think of what it means. It took it in the perspective and simply wanted to get it over," he said.

Talking about Gelfand, Anand said the Israeli was a tough nut to crack and had loads of experience to counter whatever he threw at him. "Boris (Gelfand) is very experienced. He has played in many top events and against top players. He has very close and deep relationships with top players. I did not expect him to lack experience but he might have lacked the actual experience of playing in a World Championship," he said.

His game was criticised by Russian legend Garry Kasparov while the Championship was on but Anand brushed it aside as nothing more than comments from someone who regrets leaving chess for politics. "I think he has some regret that he retired. This is about being at the center of attraction of chess tournaments again. I think he is someone who gives an impression that he wants to play chess again. That is my take on it," he said.

Recalling his preparations for the big event, Anand said it was an exhausting build-up. "My training camp was more than three months. For actual event, I was in Moscow for just under a month. I think while the event was happening it was funny. I was feeling that I was in Moscow for two months because the intensity was too high. Though the event finished on Wednesday, it feels weeks back," Anand said.

"So the funny thing is when you are there, time seems to go slow. It is just the perspective of having the match over and suddenly the time recedes very fast and when you are going through it, it is very slow," he added.

Anand said losing game seven came as a real shock to him during the match and it ultimately proved to be the turning point. — PTI 

When I was in Moscow defending this title, I could not care less whether it was the fifth or the first. I simply wanted to defend it. At that point you don't have luxury to think of what it means.

Madrid, June 4
Spain finished their preparation for the European football Championships with a narrow 1-0 win at home over a hard-working Chinese national side. The Chinese, coached by former Spain boss Jose Antonio Camacho, played well in the first half and created chances against Spain, before defending stoutly until David Silva scored the only goal of the game Sunday with just over five minutes remaining in the game.

Vicente Del Bosque preferred Sevilla striker Alvaro Negredo in his starting 11 ahead of Fernando Torres and Fernando Llorente, reported Xinhua. Despite Spain's dominance, Hao Junmin tested Iker Casillas in goal with another shot half way through the half and it needed a magnificent save from the Spain keeper to deny Zheng Zhi after 29 minutes.

Del Bosque made several changes at halftime bringing on winger Jesus Navas and striker Fernando Torres along with Andres Iniesta and his Barcelona companion Victor Valdes, who replaced Casillas in goal.

Navas’ entry gave more pace to Spain and China keeper Zeng Chen did well to tip over from Iniesta seven minutes into the second half. The keeper then did well to clear from Torres after Spain looked to catch out an advanced China back line.

Just after the hour Spain hit the woodwork twice in the space of a minute - first through Raul Albiol, who headed a corner against the crossbar following a flick from Torres, before Iniesta was unlucky to see an individual move end with another shot against the bar.

In the second half, China were finding it much harder to trouble the Spanish penalty area as the home side looked to open the scoring. Spain looked to be on the point of scoring several times before Sun Xiang hit a low left-foot free kick which Valdes gathered cleanly with just over 10 minutes remaining, while at the other end David Silva headed over the bar when he should have scored

Silva finally opened the scoring with five minutes remaining after a darting run from Iniesta, which opened up the Chinese defence to leave him with a simple tap-in. — IANS

London, June 4
England manager Roy Hodgson has shown a lack of respect to defender Rio Ferdinand by not calling him up for Euro 2012 following an injury to Gary Cahill, the Manchester United player's representative has said.

"It's a lack of respect. He wants to play," Ferdinand's representative Jamie Moralee told BBC Sport after Hodgson brought Liverpool's Martin Kelly into the squad. "Rio's very disappointed. He thought he had done enough. It's very difficult to accept. This is a player with 81 caps for his country. I don't know anyone who understands it. It's not been handled in the right way."

Chelsea centre back Cahill was ruled out of the tournament, which starts on Friday, with his jaw fractured in two places after colliding with team mate and goalkeeper Joe Hart during England's friendly against Belgium at the weekend.

Kelly, who made his international debut as a substitute in last month's friendly against Norway, was on the standby list. Former England captain Ferdinand won his last cap against Switzerland in June 2011 but has had injury problems since. When announcing his initial squad last month, Hodgson said it was a "footballing decision" to leave the 33-year-old out despite media reports that Ferdinand and John Terry had fallen out. — Reuters 

New Delhi, June 4
In the Indian context, 32 is an age when a player peaks and is supposed to be at his best, with experience and ability. A 39-year-old Sachin Tendulkar still donning the Indian colours is passé. Viswanathan Anand has just won his fifth World Chess Championship crown, though he’s pushing 40. So when a 32-year-old Australian was appointed as the coach of the Indian Under-22 football team, which is the cream of the future of Indian football, by the All India Football Federation, many eyebrows were raised.

But Arthur Papas, who was Newcastle Jets’ Youth League coach before taking up the Indian assignment on June 1, is a man on a mission. He thinks that India can make a mark in the game, with a huge population as its main asset. For this precise reason, the International Football Federation (FIFA) sees India as a huge market that has the potential to raise big money, if the game is elevated to a certain standard in the country.

FIFA is doing much to lift up the game in the country, and Papas’ advent as the Under-22 coach is intended to take Indian football to another level.

Papas’ immediate task would be to make the team battle-ready for the June 23 qualifier against Lebanon for the 2014 Under-22 Asian Cup. And though with the mercury consistently staying high, Delhi is not an ideal venue for a soccer camp, he has got down to his job in right earnest.

“It is very important for me to adjust to the Indian culture. It gives me the best opportunity to deliver my level of expertise to Indian football,” he said at the Ambedkar Stadium after a hectic practice session. He knows that the road ahead is tough and bumpy, and he needs to inject a different kind of work culture to elevate the standard of Indian football.

“It’s about introducing a new style of football with a long-term perspective, that fits in with a change in philosophy,” he noted. “We will work earnestly to improve India’s standing in the FIFA world ranking. It requires patience from all involved. You have to be able to deal with pressure. I feel the biggest pressure is the one I place on myself and I thrive on this.”

But with very little time for the preparation of the team for the Asian Cup qualifiers, Papas knows that he has a difficult job on hand as to change the physical or technical characteristics of the individual dramatically in this short span is not possible. Hence, his thrust would be to give the players “a clearer understanding of the functions within the system we are implementing”.

The coach is happy that the youth players are eager learners, willing to put in hard work, despite the killing heat wave now sweeping the Capital. “They have adjusted fast and it motivates me to assist them in their aspirations in football both in the short and the long term,” he said. “We are focusing on the 4-3-3 formation and at this stage, it is about understanding the overall concepts. Only when you start reaching a stage where you can work on the details within this system, you can start to look ahead with increased optimism."

"It’s our main focus at the moment and requires a will to improve, a high level of concentration and the technical qualities to match,” he explained his motto.

India have been clubbed in a tough group in the Asian Cup qualifiers, along with Iraq, UAE, Oman, Lebanon and Turkmenistan, which he considers as the “toughest group”. “If you consider that Australia couldn’t qualify ahead of Iraq and UAE in the Olympic Qualifiers, not even scoring a goal in the qualifying process, it clearly shows how tough it is,” he explained.

However, he has age on his side, and that raises hope for him and India in the long run.

Bridgetown, June 4
Rohit Sharma led the mid-innings rescue effort after a top-order collapse as India ‘A’ managed to take a slender 25-run lead against the West Indies ‘A’ on the second day of their first four-day cricket Test here. At the draw of stumps, West Indies ‘A’ were 3 for no loss after bowling out India ‘A’ for 277.

Rohit missed out on a century, falling for 94, but his carefully crafted knock, complemented by skipper Cheteshwar Pujara (50) and Wriddhimaan Saha (56), pulled India out of trouble after the top-three departed, contributing just nine runs to the total. For the Caribbeans, medium-pacer Jonathan Carter was the wrecker-in-chief scalping five wickets in his 17 overs and he was ably supported by express bowler Delorn Johnson, who managed three for 29 in 14.1 overs.

The Indian bowlers had done a fine job by bowling out the hosts for 252 on the first day itself but the team put up a below-par effort with the bat to leave the match wide open. It was a nightmarish start to the day for the Indians as opener Abhinav Mukund was castled for a nought by Johnson with the team score reading just one run.

One-down batsman Ajinkya Rahane did not last long and was run out by Lendl Simmons. Rahane too went back without disturbing the scorers. — PTI 

Patiala, June 4
Sportspersons and coaches of Punjabi University, Patiala, are keeping their fingers crossed as the Sports Department of the University for the first time in their history will host the high-profile 23rd Annual General Meeting of Inter University Sports Board of India and Sports Committee of Association of Indian Universities (AIU) 2011-12 on June 5 and 6.

This meeting is very crucial as it will be a deciding factor on which sports will be picked up for participation in the World University Games. Notably, India has not been fielding many teams at the World University Games in the recent past, despite the fact that Indian athletes have been doing really well in the international arena.

As a result, India features low in the overall medals tally. Last year in the Summer Universiade, held at Shenzen, China, in the month of August, India had won a total of only three medals, including two gold medals in women’s shooting and a bronze in archery.

“Keeping in mind these results, our main aim would be to get the maximum number of sports included for the World University Games so as to ensure an improvement in the Indian medals tally at these games,” Dr Rajkumar Sharma, Director Sports of the university, said.

He informed that all sports policies and future plans for the AIU for the upcoming year would also be discussed during this meeting. Also, the allotment of inter-universities for next year would be done here.

Meanwhile, all the protests registered by various universities pertaining to the results of All India Inter-University Championships that were held in the season 2011-12 would also be addressed during this meeting. This is an important phase as the committee will resolve all these protests after hearing the arguments of the universities that have either registered a protest or the ones that are under the scanner.

New Delhi, June 4
Olympic-bound Indian discus thrower Krishna Poonia marginally improved her performance with an effort of 62.34m but that was enough to win her a silver medal at the Post Pre Elite Womens' event at Portland, USA today.

Two days back, Poonia had missed out on a medal at the Perfontaine Classic Diamond League Meet at Eugene in the US when she managed a distance of 62.11m.

However, with a slight improvement, she won a silver in Portland event. The gold went to Russian Darya Pischalnickova, who threw the discus at an impressive distance of 66.38 metres in her fifth attempt. Poonia's best throw came in her second attempt. — PTI