Bangalore, May 14
Skipper Adam Gilchrist finally led from the front with a dazzling unbeaten 85 to guide Kings XI Punjab to a comfortable seven-wicket victory over Royal Challengers in their domestic T20 league match on Tuesday.

Chasing a stiff target of 175, Gilchrist blazed his way to a 54-ball 85 which had 10 fours and three huge sixes as his team romped home with 11 balls to spare, thereby keeping doors of the play-offs open. Kings XI with 12 points from 14 matches now are in sixth position — courtesy better net run-rate than defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders who are also on 12 points.

The win also helped Gautam Gambhir's men stay in contention as an RCB victory would have decisively shut the doors. The defeat for RCB also made the sitiation tricky for Virat Kohli and co, who now have 16 points from 15 games and will need to win their final game.

The foundation of this win was laid by two veterans, Gilchrist and 'T20 freelancer' Azhar Mahmood, who added 118 runs for the second wicket. Mahmood scored 61 off 41 balls. The duo, whose cumulative age is 79 years, proved that there is no substitute of experience as they both brought in their oodles of experience in international cricket to pave the way for an easy win.

This was after Zaheer Khan, who made a comeback in competitive cricket after nearly five months cleaned up Shaun Marsh in his very second over.

It was Mahmood, who first gave the charge hitting Moises Henriques for three successive fours in the last over of the Powerplay (6th).

Taking a cue from Mahmood's posituve approach, Gilchrist, who had only one score of 40 plus in the tournament also got into the groove as he hit some cracking strokes. The Aussie dasher brought up his half century with a straight six off Zaheer. The stand-out hit will however be the the inside out six over extra cover off Muttiah Muralitharan. — PTI

Dharamsala, May 14
A fast and bouncy track awaits IPL outfits — Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians — when they take on "home side" Kings XI Punjab on May 16 and 18, respectively here. "The outfield is lush green due to the recent rains. It is very fast too," said a Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association official.

Another ground official said that the pitch will support both the batsmen as well as the bowlers. "It is fast and bouncy and the batsmen have to be patient to score runs," he said.

Recent rains that lashed the hill town and its surrounding areas had left the organisers of the Indian Premier League worried but the ground-in-charge expressed confidence of getting the field ready even half-an-hour after the rain stoppage.

"The staff is well equipped with for super soakers to get the ground ready within half an hour of the rain stoppage, if needed," said a ground official. The HPCA stadium is the "home ground" of Kings XI Punjab, who will take on the Delhi Daredevils on Thursday at 8 pm, and face the Mumbai Indians on Saturday at 4 pm.

This is the first time the Mumbai Indians will be visiting Dharamsala and with Sachin Tendulkar in their ranks, all the tickets of the match have already been sold out.

Himachal police have deployed 1600 personnels for the security. — PTI

Chennai, May 14
Chennai Super Kings beat Delhi Daredevils by 33 runs in the domestic T20 championship in Chepauk on Tuesday night. Chasing a total of 168, Delhi suffered an early setback when Virender Sehwag fell to speedster Mohit Sharma for a duck. Unmukt Chand made 16 runs, while John Botha scored 23 runs. David Warner tried to hold on the innings with a knock of 44 runs but Albie Morkel cut short his innings.

From there on, Delhi lower order withered in front of Chennai’s onsalught and could only manage 135/9. For Chennai, Morkel was the most successful bowler scalping 3 wickets by giving away just 32 runs. Bravo (2/14), Ashwin (2/19) and Mohit Sharma (2/18) scalped wickets. Earlier, Murali Vijay and Michael Hussey put on 61 runs for first wicket stand for Chennai. — PTI

Mumbai, May 14
Dale Steyn, the world's most feared pacer, on Tuesday backed his country South Africa to come out trumps in the three-match Test series against India to be held at the end of this year, but was also wary of the quality of the opposing batting line-up.

"We have got a pretty good Test side at the moment, to be fair, and we play quite well at home. I would like to say that we would win it. Coming to South Africa, it is a difficult place to play cricket," Dale Steyn said.

"Wickets here are lot flatter than what it is in South Africa. It does make it a little bit difficult for the Indian batsmen. However, cricket is a funny game and India has got some fantastic players. Shikhar Dhawan is batting nicely and they have got some great players. We will wait for the next couple of months and see what happens," added Steyn.

India drew the Test series 1-1 during their previous tour of South Africa in 2010-11. The pace spearhead of IPL team Sunrisers Hyderabad also praised Sachin Tendulkar and said he is one of the most difficult batsmen to bowl to.

"There was a time in Nagpur (2009-10 Test series) and I was bowling to Sachin; when I was bowling to all the other batters, I was going past the bat and finding the edge, I was bamboozling them with in-swing and away-swing. But Sachin knew exactly what I was going to bowl before I even started running. He had me covered. He did his homework on me and knew exactly what was coming. There is no worse feeling in knowing that whatever I threw at him, he had the arsenal to combat," Steyn said.

In the limited overs games, Steyn regarded West Indian Chris Gayle as the most destructive player. — PTI

New Delhi, May 14
The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC’s) attempt to resolve the suspension of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) hit another roadblock when the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) asked the IOC not to entertain the IOA delegation at the meeting, called at Lausanne tomorrow, which representatives of the Sports Ministry, led by Minister Jitendra Singh, are also attending.

OCA president Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, in a letter to IOC president Jacques Rogge, has demanded that the IOA representatives be kept away from the meeting on account of the pull out of IOA acting president Vijay Kumar Malhotra and IOC member Randhir Singh from the IOA delegation.

They had objected to the presence of Hockey India general secretary Narinder Batra and Jharkhand Olympic Association president R.K.Anand in the five-member IOA delegation, whom Malhotra had not included in his list sent to the IOC president last week.

“As you are aware, the IOA and IOC members in India have withdrawn from participating in this meeting for reasons mentioned in their respective letters. As guardians of the Olympic Charter it is, therefore, our duty to protect the interest of its member-NOC (National Olympic Committee). I would, therefore, suggest that on May 15, the meeting takes place only between the IOC and the Government of India delegation, headed by the Minister wherein they should be clearly informed that adherence to the Olympic Charter is of paramount importance and any government guideline and amendments to the IOA constitution should be in line with the Olympic Charter,” the letter of Aheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah to Jacques Rogge noted.

The OCA letter has also suggested that another meeting should be called in mid-June in Lausanne among the IOA, the Government of India and the IOC/OCA “where further roadmap should be laid down for lifting the suspension of the IOA”.

New Delhi, May 14
Hockey India has included drag-flicker Sandeep Singh among the 33 core probables for a coaching camp in preparation of the senior men’s team for the FIH World League Round 3 (semi-final), to be held at Rotterdam, Netherlands, from June 13-23.

The FIH World League Round 3 is a qualification tournament for the FIH Men’s World Cup 2014, to be held at The Hague in Netherlands.

The training camp of the core probables will begin at the Netaji Subhas Southern Centre in Bangalore on May 16, and will continue until June 4. Sandeep Singh had been excluded from the Indian team when they played in the Olympic Qualifiers Round II in Delhi in February.

The men’s team had performed well in their recent preparatory tour to The Netherlands, defeating the Dutch national team twice. They also played five games against top clubs of Holland, to return after a fine tune-up.

Goalkeepers: PR Sreejesh, PT Rao, Sreenivasa Rao Katharu and Nanak Singh;

Full-backs: VR Raghunath, Sandeep Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh and Harbir Singh Sandhu;

Half-backs: Sardar Singh, Kothajit Singh, Manpreet Singh, MB Aiyappa, Gurmail Singh and Vivek Dhar;

Forwards: SV Sunil, Gurvinder Singh Chandi, Chinglensana Singh, Shivendra Singh, Danish Mujtaba, SK Uthappa, Pradhan Sommanna, Nithin Thimmaiah, Yuvraj Walmiki, Dharamvir Singh, Akashdeep Singh, MG Poonacha, Amit Rohidas, Sampath Kumar Maylaram, Pardeep Mor, Prabhdeep Singh,PL Thimmanna, Sukhdev Singh and Gurpreet Singh.

 — PTI

New Delhi, May 14
The suspended Indian Boxing Federation has infuriated the International Boxing Association (AIBA) yet again and it is the pugilists who are paying the price for their refusal to act according to the world body's diktat.

The AIBA is livid with the IBF for giving out details of the Indian boxers' international schedule even before getting the world body's clearance.

The result is the cancellation of a training-cum-competition tour of Cuba from May 27 to June 17 where 20 boxers were scheduled to go. "India was expected to take part in Cardova Cardin, a training-cum-competition program at Havana, Cuba from May 27 – June 17, 2013; however the team would not be travelling to Cuba as the tour has not been sanctioned by AIBA," the IBF said in a statement.

What the statement did not reveal was the reason for AIBA's refusal given that the world body has so far not barred the boxers from competing in international events.

Even today, a 10-member team left for Cyprus for an international tournament. Yesterday, another 10-member squad went to Russia for an international tournament.

"They (IBF) have been giving details of the planned schedule even before AIBA gives its nod. AIBA is now angry with the IBF for doing this because a suspended body cannot make claims about future tours without getting the world body's nod," a source told PTI.

"They have told IBF that this would cause problems for the boxers. AIBA will not let Indian boxers go for international events if this continues," he added. The IBF has managed to anger AIBA quite a few times even after getting suspended in December last year citing "possible manipulation" in elections and the International Olympic Committee's ban on the IOA.AIBA has asked the IBF to hold a re-election and amend its constitution to make it compliant with the AIBA Statute but the Indian federation has not acted on either of the issues.

In an earlier instance, the IBF sent an official with a youth team to a tournament despite being clearly told by AIBA to refrain from this during the suspension period. A furious AIBA had barred the boxers from international competition but later revoked the suspension. — PTI

New Delhi, May 14
Indian paddlers got off to a good start with Soumyajit Ghosh, Harmeet Desai and Sanil Shetty winning their respective first rounds matches of the men's preliminary qualification event at the World Table Tennis Championships in Paris.

Indian women paddlers too had an easy qualification group and they progressed to the preliminary round of the singles event. Mouma Das, K Shamini, Madhurika Patkar and Neha Aggrawal won their respective matches today to advance to the round of 128.

In the men's opening round preliminary encounters, Ghosh defeated Zokhid Kenjaev of Uzbekistan 4-2, Desai blanked Pablo Tabachnik of Argentina 4-0, while Shetty got the better off Gautemala's Jose Migue Ramirez 4-1, to reach Round of 64 (Preliminary).

To enter into the main draw of the tournament, the paddlers (both men and women) will be required to enter the round of 32.

Ace Indian paddler Achantha Sharath Kamal is already in the main draw of the competition.

Neha Aggarwal routed Neli Shoifer of Israel 4-0 to top her qualification group. Mouma Das defeated Aziza Karieva Tajakistan, while K Shamini eased past Sri Lanka's Ridhmi Karadanaarachchi 4-0 to qualify from her group.

Madhurika Patkar too had an easy outing today as she beat Ann Silva of Portugal 4-0. — PTI

Manchester, May 14
A week of worldwide acclaim for Alex Ferguson and his 26 years in charge of Manchester United patently failed to get the message through to Manchester City’s trigger-happy owners that stability is the key to sustained footballing success.

Instead, goaded by their rivals’ parade with the Premier League trophy two days after City were humbled by Wigan Athletic in a massive FA Cup final shock, they sacked manager Roberto Mancini, who a year ago was being worshipped as the ‘City Messiah’.

Roberto Mancini

In the modern world of soccer short-termism, no manager sacking is ever truly a surprise and Mancini’s exit looked a certainty once he spoke out against the club’s Abu Dhabi owners following Saturday’s Wembley defeat.

Few, however, could have been shown the door with such a ringing endorsement.

“Roberto’s record speaks for itself and he has the respect and gratitude of Sheikh Mansour, myself and the Board for all of his hard work and commitment,” said chairman Khaldoon Al Mubara. “He has clearly also secured the love and respect of our fans. He has done as he promised and delivered silverware and success, breaking the club’s 35-year trophy drought and securing the title in 2012.”

That title, City’s first for 44 years, was secured in the most dramatic fashion in the final seconds of the final match of the season by Sergio Aguero’s goal, and, with a stunning 6-1 victory at Old Trafford en route, would, in any normal world, have been enough to establish Mancini for the long run.

The owners showed, however, that they wanted more, more, more, and quickly. City’s failure to get past the group stage of the Champions League for the second successive season left them feeling short-changed and when their defence of the Premier League title fell away, Mancini’s last remaining hope was the FA Cup.

A limp display at Wembley, however, left City without any silverware. — Reuters

BRIEFLY

Sachin Tendulkar has sprained left hand: MI
Mumbai: Mumbai Indians, who have qualified for the Pepsi IPL play-offs, could miss the services of Sachin Tendulkar for tomorrow’s last home game against Rajasthan Royals if he fails to recover sufficiently from the injury to his left hand. “He has a left wrist sprain. It does not look bad. The team management will take a call on his playing tomorrow afternoon,” a team spokesperson said on Tuesday. Tendulkar sprained his hand when hitting a six in MI’s come-from-behind victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad last night and retired hurt after making an unbeaten 38 in 31 balls. Tendulkar has scored 287 runs from the 14 games he played so far this season, with 54 as his best effort. MI have been assured of a play-offs berth.

Not playing IPLcan be a blessing, says Pakistan captain Misbah
Karachi: Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq feels missing the IPL could be a blessing in disguise for his team's players as they would enter the upcoming Champions Trophy relatively fresh compared to those who are participating in the T20 league. "The IPL is a long event and the traveling can be taxing for players. We go to England fresh after a short break. The good thing is that we play one-day matches in Scotl and and Ireland before the Champions Trophy and that will allow us to test our young players and settle on combinations," Misbah said. Pakistani players have not competed in the IPL after the 2008 terror attack in Mumbai. Misbah said if his team can get past India, South Africa and the West Indies to qualify for the semifinals, it has the potential to go all the way to win the title."Our group is very tough and all teams in our group are title favourites. Playing against India anywhere is always a high pressure game and in England the atmosphere is similar to what we see in Pakistan and India when we play against each other," he said

SC orders unsealing of three stands
Chennai: The Supreme Court directed Chennai Corporation to de-seal three stands with 12,000 seats in MA Chidambaram Stadium for Tuesday's match between CSK and Delhi Daredevils. — PTI

EB favourites vs Yangon
Kolkata: East Bengal are favourites against Yangon United of Myanmar in the AFC Cup pre-quarterfinals here tomorrow. East Bengal have topped Group H preliminary stage of the AFC Cup to earn the right to play at home. — PTI

Anand held by Svidler
Sandnes, Norway: World champion Viswanathan Anand played out an easy draw against Russian Peter Svidler as black while world number one Magnus Carlsen turned the tables on Sergey Karjakin of Russia for a twist in the tale of Norway Chess 2013 Super Tournament here. After a shocking loss at the hands of American Hikaru Nakamura, Anand played it solid as black and did not have any problems in warding off the challenge of Svidler.

Lee, Aditya in semis
Mumbai: World No. 21 Stephen Lee of Britain, India’s Aditya Mehta and Kamal Chawla cemented their berths in the knock-out quarter-finals in the Rs 22-lakh RKG- Khar Gymkhana Snooker Masters today. Yasin Merchant also won a crucial tie to enhance his hopes of advancing to the second stage. — Agencies