Kaulalumpur, May 4
India's P.V. Sindhu lived up to her top billing by winning her maiden Grand Prix Gold title beating Singaporean fifth seed Juan Gu in the women's singles final of the USD 120,000 Malaysia Open badminton in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.

The Hyderabadi World No.13 won 21-17, 17-21, 21-19 in one hour and 11 minutes at the Juara Indoor Stadium to increase her head-to-head to 2-1 against Gu.

An excited Sindhu said she was overwhelmed with the win."I am very happy with the win and no words can describe my feelings," Sindhu told IANS.Both the players won equal number of points at the net. But it were the third court play and smashes that made the difference for Sindhu, who made the best use of her height.All the three games were tightly contested between the two Asians.

Sindhu won the first game using her height for excellent court coverage. From 10-all, the Indian made sure she was ahead of the World No.27 Gu throughout the rest of the game.The second game was a closer affair with nothing separating the two, who kept each other in range at the start. But from 15-all, Gu hit some clear winners which caught her 17-year-old opponent off-guard as she won six points to Sindhu's two.

Though the start of the third game was close, the 22-year-old Singaporean extended her lead to six points (13-7) putting Sindhu in more than a spot of bother. But the Indian clawed back into the match winning five straight points, aided by some terrific smashes into the body of Gu, to level at 18-all.

Sindhu took the next two points to reach match point. Gu saved one but the day belonged to Sindhu, who entered the big league by clinching her maiden Grand Prix Gold title.The last time Sindhu came close to winning a Grand Prix Gold was at the Syed Modi India International in Lucknow last year when she lost in the final to Indonesian Lindaweni Fanetri. Earlier, Sindhu stormed into the final with a straight-game win over Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand in Kuala Lumpur on Friday. She needed just 34 minutes to get the better of her third-seeded opponent, 21-17, 21-11 in the semifinal.

Her way into the quarterfinals was tough as she first overcame Ngan Yi Cheung of Hong Kong 11-21, 21-18, 21-10 in 46 minutes after which she beat Indonesian seventh seed Hera Desi 21-17, 21-17 in 37 minutes to advance to the last four of the tier three tournament. — PTI

Kaulalumpur, May 4
Having clinched her maiden Grand Prix Gold title in Malaysia, India's rising shuttler PV Sindhu expressed her gratitude to the national coach Pullela Gopichand and the Badminton Association of India.Sindhu said that the support and contribution of her coach and the association enabled her to clinch her first Grand Prix Gold title.

"This is a dream come true for me. I would like to thank the BAI President Dr Akhilesh Das Gupta and chief coach Pullela Gopichand for motivating me and pushing me to excel," Sindhu said after she won the final of the women's singles event.The 17-year-old Sindhu, ranked 13th in the world, lived up to her top billing in the tournament, beating Singaporean fifth seed and world No. 27 Juan Gu in the women's singles final, 21-17 17-21 21-19 in an hour and 11 minutes.

Sindhu, who made it to a quarterfinal, two semifinals and a final in the last one month, has been in tremendous form and Akhilesh Das Gupta hailed the teen shuttler for bringing laurels to the country." This is a proud day for Indian sports and our country's badminton. I congratulate P V Sindhu for bringing great laurels for India," said Das Gupta.

"Sindhu had come close to winning a Grand Prix Gold in the finals in Lucknow last year but I'm thrilled she has clinched her maiden GP title on foreign soil. She is capable of achieving much more and I'm sure her victory will boost Indian shuttlers to aim higher at the World Championship and Super series tournaments," he added.— PTI

Hyderabad, May 4
An abject Delhi Daredevils crashed to 80 all out, the fourth-lowest total in the history of IPL, against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 48th match of the domestic Twenty20 championship.

Dale Steyn had excellent figures of 2/21 off four overs, Thisara Perera took two for 11 in 3.1 overs, and Darren Sammy took two for 10 off three overs. Ishant Sharma, who got the first breakthrough for Hyderabad, finished with 1/11 off three overs.

After Delhi Daredevils won the toss and elected to bat first, openers Mahela Jayawardene and Virender Sehwag, displaying occasional flourish, got off to a sedate start of 12 in three overs. In the fourth over of the innings, bowled by Ishant, got the wicket of Jayawardene, who was unlucky to be given out LBW as he was hit by the ball outside the line of off-stump.

Delhi were choked by the Hyderabad bowling after this as no four was hit in the next two overs. After seven overs, Delhi were 32/1. Then, trying to break the shackles, Sehwag was dismissed off the first ball of the eighth over, bowled by Sammy.

Delhi continued to crawl and were 43/2 after 10 overs. In the 11th over, Steyn took his first wicket when he bowled Unmukt Chand with a fairly quick deliver. Chand made 17 off 24 balls.

David Warner, who came in at No. 4, was next to go when he failed to read a googly by Amit Mishra and Warner, out of his crease, was stumped by Parthiv Patel. Next, Kedar Jadhav was removed by Karan Sharma, and Delhi were in dire straits at 66/5 after 14 overs.

They lost their last five wickets in a rush as Jeevan Mendis (11), Johan Botha (1 off 7 balls), Shahbaz Nadeem (0), Irfan Pathan (13 off 19) and Ashish Nehra (0) could not do much.

Before this match, Delhi were second-last on the points table with three wins and seven losses. It's only going to get worse now. Jeeven Mendis has come in for Ben Rohrer while Johan Botha is playing in place of Morne Morkel in the Delhi team. Hyderabad are playing an unchanged side.

Scoreboard

Delhi Daredevils

Jayawardene lbw b Ishant 11

Sehwag b Sammy 8

Chand b Steyn 17

Warner st Patel b Mishra 8

Mendis c Ishant b Sammy 11

Jadhav c&b Karan Sharma 3

Pathan b Steyn 13

Botha c Patel b Perera 1

Nadeem run out 0

Nehra b Perera 0

Yadav not out 2

Extras: (b 1, lb 1, w 3, nb 1) 6

Total: (all out; 19.1 overs) 80

Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-32, 3-50, 4-52, 5-57, 6-70, 7-73, 8-77, 9-78

Bowling

Steyn 4-0-21-2

Ishant 3-1-11-1

Perera 3.1-0-11-2

Sammy 3-0-10-2

Karan Sharma 2-0-9-1

Mishra 4-0-16-1

.

Mumbai, May 4
The Indian team is scheduled to play two warm-up games against Sri Lanka and Australia ahead of its ICC Champions Trophy Group B opener against South Africa next month in England.

The practice match against Sri Lanka is scheduled on June 1 followed by the tie against Australia on June 4, according to BCCI sources. The 15-member Indian squad, led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, will leave for England from here on May 29, three days after the Pepsi Indian Premier League final match at Kolkata.

India would begin their campaign of the eight-team tournament against South Africa at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff, Wales.They are to clash with the West Indies at the Kennington Oval in London on June 11 and then conclude the four-team group engagement on June 15 against arch-rivals Pakistan at Edgbaston, Birmingham.

Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka are in Group A. The top two teams from each group will progress to the semifinals scheduled on June 19 and 20 at Kennington Oval and Sophia Gardens respectively with the winners advancing to the June 23 final to be played at Edgbaston.

Want to repay selectors' faith with good show: Karthik

Recalled to the Indian ODI team after nearly three years following his superb display in the ongoing Indian Premier League, Dinesh Karthik is keen to repay the selectors' faith in his abilities with a good performance in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy in England.

"I am very happy. It's something I have been looking forward to for a long time and to come back into the Indian team is something very special to me," Karthik said after the national selectors chose the Indian team here today for the June 6-23 tournament.

"I always knew I had a chance because I had a good season. People who are selecting the team have shown faith in me and if is important for me to repay the faith with good performance," said the 27-year-old Chennai-born player who will be the second wicketkeeper in the 15-strong squad after skipper MS Dhoni.

Karthik, who last played for India in the tri-series in Sri Lanka in August, 2010, is ready to play as a pure batsman in the team."With Dhoni around I am not looking to be a wicketkeeper batsman. Obviously my chances are more as a (pure) batsman.And whenever I am given an opportunity I am confident I can do as well as I can," said Karthik who has played 52 ODIs for India since making his debut against England at Lord's in September 2004. — PTI 

Mumbai, May 4
A forthright Michael Holding termed the Indian bowling attack as “ordinary”, with most of them like Ishant Sharma starting off as quicks and then losing out on pace.

"It’s ordinary. That’s all I can say. I’ve seen a few fast bowlers, who come in and bowl quick when they start, but they don’t last which is unfortunate. Something is going wrong. I don’t know if it’s the training or whatever," Holding known for his straight-talking told reporters.

He cited the example of Ishant, who went off the boil after starting as an out and out quick bowler.

“Look at Ishant Sharma. When he came in, he was quick. Now he’s no longer quick. He’s not the only one. I’ve seen it happen to quite a few others too. They are still good bowlers, but the pace is not there and they don’t create as much havoc as they should," Holding explained.

The Jamaican pointed out that players spend a long time at the gym to get fit but are not running enough.

“I was chatting with Sudhir Naik about all the theory that’s going into fast bowling and stuff like bio-mechanics and everything. They are still breaking down. There is too much theory. Going into the gym is great but some of them over do the gym. They need to do more running and less gym.”

“Hitting the gym is good but there is too much emphasis on gym now. And what happens is they get big and powerful and don’t stretch enough and the slightest bit of stretching causes them to tear a muscle,” he added.

“Remember one thing, if you don’t have muscle, you can’t tear it." He was all praise for Dale Steyn but said the South African may not last long due to excessive cricket being played these days.

“Yeah, he’s best fast bowler that’s around. He’s fantastic. But he’s playing so much cricket, how much is he going to last? I don’t see a lot of fast bowlers anymore. In the 70s, 80s and even 90s, every team had one or two genuine fast bowlers.” — PTI

New Delhi, May 4
Indian athletes bagged 11 medals, including four gold, in the first leg of the Asian Grand Prix Series, in Bangkok on Saturday.

M.R. Poovamma (women’s 400m), Sahana Kumari (women’s high jump), Jithin Thomas (men’s high jump) and Nitin Rawat (men’s 5,000m) won a gold each while Siddhanth Thingalaya (men’s 110m hurdles), Rajiv Arokai (men’s 400m), Kheta Ram (men’s 5,000m) and Renjith Maheshwary (men’s triple jump) won a silver apiece. Anu Mariam Jose (women’s 400m), Arpinder Singh (men’s triple jump) and Mukesh Kumari (women’s javelin) won a bronze each.

However, it was disappointment for Maheshwary as he missed the World Championships qualification standard by just two centimetres.

Ace woman discus thrower Krishna Poonia, finished a disappointing fourth with a below-par performance, while Om Prakash Karhana also came a cropper with a sixth-place finish in men’shot put.

Poovamma gave India the first gold of the day by clocking 52.97 seconds in the women’s 400m, a shade below her effort of 52.75s which had fetched her gold at the Federation Cup at Patiala last month. She had also won gold in the same event in two of the three-legs of the Asian Grand Prix Series last year.

Anu won the bronze in 53.95s while Subashini Rasnayake of Sri Lanka won the silver in 53.35s.

Sahana Kumari got India its second gold in women’s high jump by clearing 1.86m. Nadiya Dusanova of Uzbekistan was second and Wanida Boonwan of Thailand was third. Sahana holds the national record of 1.92m. It was a one-two finish for India in men’s high jump with Jithin Thomas clearing 2.18m in fewer attempts than Nikhil Chitarasu (2.18m) to win gold. Sun Zhao of China finished third behind Chitarasu.

Nitin Rawat, who took part in the first leg on invitation from the organisers, fetched the fourth gold for India as he clocked 14:35.03s to win the men’s 5,000m. Kheta Ram bagged the silver in 14:55.12s while Sri Lanka’s D.L. Samarajeewa won the bronze in 15:10.91s.

But the highlight of the first leg was Kazakhstan’s Roman Valiyev’s effort of 17.10m, which ended Maheshwary’s hopes. Maheshwary finished with 16.83m. The third place went to another Indian Arpinder Singh (16.74m).

Meanwhile, the Chinese ruled the women’s discus event as they won all the medals on offer, while Poonia finished with a below par 56.31m. Jiang Fengjing won the gold in 58.11m while Su Xinyue (57.43m) and Liang Yan (56.74m) won the silver and bronze respectively.

Karhana finished a disappointing sixth with an effort of 17.68m in the men’s section. Jasdeep Singh finished seventh in the same event with an effort of 17.50m. Olympian Karhana holds the national record in men’s shot put with 20.69m. — PTI

n February 2013, the Indian team qualified for Round-3 of the qualification series for the 2016 Olympic Games. Sardar was declared the Asian Hockey Federation Player of the Year 2011. He was part of the FIH World Star Team in 2010 and 2011 and was also nominated for the FIH Player of the Year Award last year. HI has also recommended the names of Danish Mujtaba who led India in the 22nd Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in March this year, VR Raghunath, current vice-captain and drag-flick specialist, forward Tushar Khandekar and Bharat Chetri for the Arjuna Award. Ritu Rani, former captain Saba Anjum , and defender Joydeep Kaur have also been recommended for the Arjuna Award. For the Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award, the name of national selector and Olympian Syed Ali has been recommended. — PTI

Jakarta, May 4
Shiv Kapur stumbled to a crippling double bogey on the 17th hole but still gave himself a shot at the title by being tied sixth after the third round of the CIMB Niaga Indonesian Masters in Jakarta on Saturday.

Three-under after 16, Kapur double bogeyed the 17th but got one back with a birdie on the 18th to end the third day at two-under 70.

At seven-under 209 for three days, he was four shots behind the surprise leader, Japan's Daisuke Kataoka (66). Lurking behind the Japanese player was the reigning Open champion, Ernie Els (68) and Austrian Bernd Wiesberger (67), both at 10-under.

As Kapur moved from overnight ninth to tied sixth despite the late double, Rahil Gangjee (69) and Anirban Lahiri (69) also made upward moves.

Gangjee moved to tied sixth with Kapur and Lahiri went up from tied 20th to 11th at six-under 210. The other Indian still in the fray, Ajeetesh Sandhu (75), was lying tied 65th at five-over 221. Gangjee, who made the best move among Indians said, "I'm really happy today because it was pretty hot out there. There was not much breeze and I think the leaders are feeling the pressure too." "So if I can keep going like this, three, four under I can have a really good finish and maybe (even) win. Saturday has always been my nemesis but I think I managed to overcome that one today."

Meanwhile, Lahiri, who has already tasted a win this year, said, "It was so hot and humid especially when we were warming up in the morning. It got windy as the round progressed. I was hoping to do better today so I was a little disappointed.

"But I think as long as I'm within four shots I still have a good chance. A good low round tomorrow can put anybody back in the game. I finished fifth last year and I got off to a similar slow start." Kataoka birdied the last two holes for 11-under 205 to steal the limelight from Els, who shot a 68 at the $750,000 full field Asian Tour event.

Jeev, Bhullar have a rough third round in China

Jeev Milkha Singh and Gaganjeet Bhullar endured tough back-nines and let slip a chance to position themselves better for Sunday's final round in the Volvo China Open, on Saturday.

Jeev, a former champion here, was one-under through 12 holes before dropping bogeys on the 13th and 17th to finish at 73. He slipped to tied 30th on the leaderboard at two-under 214.Bhullar, who had survived the cut with a fine fightback, gave away two shots on the 16th and 18th to finish the day at 72 and one-under 215 in tied 40th place for the week.He was two-under through 13 holes before slipping down on a blustery day.

Up at the top, Brett Rumford takes a one shot lead into the final round as he bids to become the first back-to-back winner on The European Tour for over a year. A hat-trick of birdies from the sixth saw the Australian catch overnight leader Mikko Ilonen, and the Finn bogeyed the last after driving into the water at the Binhai Lake Golf Club to hand Rumford the lead.

Defending champion Branden Grace — ironically the last player to win two weeks running on the European Tour in his native South Africa last January — is nine back after a third round 72.

McIlroy refuses to rush country choice for Olympics

Two-time Major-winner Rory McIlroy says he will take his time before deciding whether to represent the Republic of Ireland or Great Britain at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The 23-year-old Northern Irishman represented Ireland at the 2011 World Cup, but he believes he could still switch allegiances due to International Olympic Committee (IOC) rules.

"Rule 41 of the IOC states I still have a choice. They can't take it away from me," he said. “If you play for a country then either change nationality or don't play for that country for three years, you still have a choice."I haven't played for anyone since the 2011 World Cup. Going into the Olympics that will be five years, so I'll still have a choice.

"The more it's talked about, the more it's going to get blown up, so I'd rather not talk about it until I have to decide what to do," added McIlroy, who earlier this year told the BBC he kight skip the event completely. In April Peter Dawson, CEO of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews (R & A) said that McIlroy should be allowed to represent the Republic and not have to make up his own mind. Dawson said it was unfair placing pressure on McIlroy to make up his mind. — Agencies

New Delhi, may 4
The Indian teams were brimming with confidence, after gaining favourable draws in stage one on the eve of the 19th Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships, starting at the Thyagraj Nagar Stadium here tomorrow. The absence of defending champion Gao Ning and top gun Yang Zi from the top-seeded Singapore team is a great relief for the hosts, as also the withdrawal of England’s key players Liam Pitchford and Paul Drinkhall.

The Indian men and women have assembled here after extensive training stints in Sweden and China, and understandably, they are all pumped up to do well in front of the home crowd. A good show here will give their confidence a big boost as they gear up for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow (Scotland).

The Indian men’s team, consisting of veteran Achanta Sharat Kamal, Anthony Amalraj, Soumyajit Ghosh, Harmeet Desai and Sanil Shetty are a mix of experience and youth. But Sharat said even without the top players, Singapore would be a formidable bunch, so the hosts just cannot take any match lightly. All the teams will play 3 matches each.

BRIEFLY

Paris
Nadal won’t get higher seeding in French Open
Rafael Nadal will not be protected with a higher seeding at the French Open, tournament director Gilbert Ysern said. Roland Garros committee member Guy Forget suggested last month that the Spaniard, who has slipped to fifth in the world rankings, should be protected to avoid a potential quarterfinal clash with No.1 Novak Djokovic. "Considering what Nadal represents in Paris, i.e. the best player in the tournament's history, it seemed incongruous that he arrives in Paris with the number 4 or 5 bib," Ysern said.

Madrid
Nadal hits out at Puerto verdict on doping
Rafael Nadal has blasted the decision by a Spanish judge not to reveal the names of the athletes implicated in the infamous Operation Puerto doping case, Spanish press reported Friday. On Tuesday, judge Julia Patricia Santamaria refused to allow the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) access to the sachets of blood that were seized in the Spanish police operation against Dr Eufemiano Fuentes, and even ordered that they be destroyed.Unless that decision is reversed, it means the world may never know the names of those people who used Fuentes's services in order to gain an unfair advantage in their sport."I find it unfair that the names of the cheats are not given, whether they're Spanish or not," said Nadal.

Barcelona
Messi back in training for Barca before Betis clash
Barcelona forward Lionel Messi trained normally on Saturday and midfielder Sergio Busquets was also back working with his team mates as the La Liga leaders prepare for Sunday's potentially title-clinching game at home to Real Betis. World Player of the Year Messi damaged a hamstring just over a month ago and although he had been given the all-clear by medical staff he was unable to play in Wednesday's Champions League defeat by Bayern Munich. Busquets, who has been suffering from a minor groin problem, also missed the Bayern game as Barca were thumped 3-0 in the semi-final second leg for a humiliating 7-0 aggregate reverse. — Agencies

Guwahati
Father demands second postmortem of archer Pratima
The body of archer Pratima Boro, who committed suicide during the ongoing national camp in Pune, was brought to Assam today. It was later taken to Kokrajhar where her father demanded a second postmortem and the district administration was considering to conduct it. — PTI

Kolkata
Gambhir: No harsh words exchanged with Dravid
Gautam Gambhir on Saturday sought to clear the air by saying that he never exchanged any harsh words with the legendary batsman, who remains a respected figure for him. Last night in the fifth over of the KKR innings, first Manvindra Bisla and Shane Watson started a verbal duel when the latter threaten to throw a ball back the batsman. Dravid tried to calm down Bisla but the stumper wanted him to cool off Watson first. Gambhir who was batting at the other end, also joined the heated discussion.In the next over, when Gambhir was stumped by Dinesh Yagnik off Watson, it looked that the batsman again exchanged some words with Dravid before walking off. However, Gambhir early this morning clarified that there no such altercation happened."Guys, u have got it all wrong. No harsh words exchanged between me n Rahul bhai. He was n will always be a respected teammate. No fuss plz," he wrote on his twitter page. Australian spin legend Shane Warne took to twitter to criticise the Indian opener. “Question cricket followers - is Gambhir in the top 3 annoying cricketers on the planet???," Warne wrote on his twitter page

Mumbai
MI fret over Pollard's fitness
Mumbai Indians will be hoping that Kieron Pollard recovers in time from his finger injury and is available against CSK at Wankhede Stadium tomorrow."Obviously, Pollard is feeling better as he's practising today. It's not a fracture, that much I am sure. But I am not exactly sure what it (injury) is and I'm sure the call on him will be taken tomorrow," Dinesh Karthik said.

Mumbai
Injured Saha may give way to Vijay, says Fleming
CSK coach Stephen Fleming said wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha is carrying injuries and his fitness will be assessed ."Whether Vijay comes back in would depend on Saha's fitness now," he said. — PTI