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Chennai Open
Angry BCCI moves Supreme Court to stall Modi’s return
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J&K make a big stride, to face Punjab in quarters
Pak tighten grip on Test
Schumacher to turn 45 while in coma
Centre for excellence status for 3 regional Univs
Cook can take solace from Clarke’s experience
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Chennai
Open Advances to quarters after an unfit Fognini, trailing 1-6, 5-5, concedes the match
Chennai, January 2 It was the biggest win of Yuki's career when the formidable Italian, who struggled due to an injured left leg, conceded the match after trailing 1-6 5-5. Fognini had earlier pulled out of the doubles event for which he was supposed to partner India's veteran star Leander Paes. They duo were seeded second. Yuki, ranked 195, is the only Indian after Somdev Devvarman and Leander Paes to make the singles quarterfinals of this event in Chennai. Somdev had ended runners-up in the 2009 edition. Paes had reached the semifinal in 1998 when the event was known as Gold Flake Open. Paes had lost to eventual champion Patrick Rafter from Australia. Despite his restricted movements, Fognini was good enough to trouble Yuki with his solid ground strokes, specifically his power-packed forehand. “It's great to be in the quarterfinals of an ATP tour event before the home crowd. You don't get to play matches against World No 16 everyday. I am looking forward to next match tomorrow,” Yuki said. “He showed why he is a top-20 player, hope he recovers well before the Australian Open,” Yuki said when asked about Fognini's fight despite laid low by the injury. After breaking Fognini in the fourth game, Yuki raced to a 3-1 lead but had to battle out two breakpoints in the next game before comfortably serving out the set in the seventh game. In the second set too, Yuki succeeded in getting the first break in the fifth game but was broken back. It was on serve at 5-5 when Fognini decided against continuing. Yuki's next opponent would be either Canadian World No 32 Vasek Pospisil or Taipei's World No 66 Yen-Hsun Lu. Meanwhile, India's Purav Raja and Israel's Dudi Sela lost their doubles quarterfinals 4-6 4-6 to fourth seeded pair of Johan Brunstrom from Sweden and Frederik Nielsen from Denmark. The 19th edition of the tournament had been badly hit by the players pull out due to injuries. First it was Serbian Janko Tipsarevic who did not come here to defend his title and then second seed Mikhail Youzhny, Russian qualifier Alexander Kudryavtsev, also conceded their matches. — PTI
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Angry BCCI moves Supreme Court to stall Modi’s return
New Delhi, January 2 The BCCI challenged the Rajasthan Sports Act 2005 that allowed the former IPL Commissioner to contest the RCA presidential elections on December 19 despite being banned for life by the Board. The apex court had on November 20 made its retired judge N.M. Kasliwal as a principal observer to oversee the elections. It had said that “individual members shall not cast their votes and the result of the election shall be subject to the final outcome of the appeal which is pending before this court.” The case is expected to come for hearing on January 6. The court had passed the order on a petition filed by former BCCI treasurer and ex-Rajasthan Cricket Association secretary Kishore Rungta seeking the court’s direction for appointment of a retired judge to conduct RCA elections. The Board had on December 28 decided to approach the Supreme Court challenging the RCA polls. The decision to intervene was taken at an emergent working committee meeting of the Board to discuss the possible implications of Modi’s re-entry into the RCA. “The Working Committee meeting of the BCCI was held today to decide the course of action to be followed to enforce the decision of the members to expel Lalit Modi. It was noted by the members that Lalit Modi had contested for the post of President in the elections of Rajasthan Cricket Association notwithstanding his expulsion by the BCCI,” BCCI Secretary Sanjay Patel had said. “The members decided that the BCCI must intervene in the SLP filed by Rungta in the Supreme Court challenging the Rajasthan Sports Act and get clarified the position of the BCCI to enable the enforcement of its resolution passed on 25th September 2013 expelling Lalit Modi.” Modi was allowed to fight for the post of RCA president in the December 19 elections held under the supervision of a Supreme Court-appointed observer. Modi was slapped with a life ban on September 25 last year by the BCCI after its disciplinary committee found him guilty on eight charges of “indiscipline and misconduct.” The BCCI disciplinary committee, comprising Arun Jaitley, and Jyotiraditya Scindia, had submitted a 134-page report in July, 2013, in which it had found Modi guilty of financial irregularities, indiscipline and “actions detrimental to the interest of the BCCI.” — PTI
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Sharapova makes semis, only to meet her nemesis
Brisbane, January 2 Williams comfortably beat Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova 6-3 6-3 in 61 minutes, winning the first set without losing a point on serve - a feat she had not achieved since she was a junior. Prior to this match, Sharapova was involved in an error-strewn battle as she came from a set down to defeat Estonia's Kanepi 4-6 6-3 6-2 in two hours. In contrast to Williams' start, which she credited to the extra attention paid to her serve during the off-season, Sharapova's match began with four straight breaks of serve and she went on to total 17 unforced errors in the first set. Had 2012 champion Kanepi been in better form herself - the match produced 66 clangers in total - the Sharapova-Williams semi-final match-up the tournament organisers had been hoping for would have been scuppered. The Russian did improve as the match went on and in the third set her service accuracy improved to 84 percent, nearly double her efforts in the first two sets, but she knows her game needs plenty more improvement. “You're going up against a great champion that’s playing great tennis at the moment,” Sharapova said. “You know that you have to raise your level in order to beat her.” “I think the intensity level of our matches are always high. I think she goes up and wants to play the best tennis against me.“That's certainly no secret because she shows that on the court.” — Reuters
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J&K make a big stride, to face Punjab in quarters
The J&K team had taken the first innings lead and a draw was a expected result. With three points from the tie, J&K ended tied on 28 points with Goa but qualified on the basis of their marginally better points quotient. J&K had a quotient of 1.006 as against Goa’s 1.005 after the valley team ended the fourth and final day at 87 for two in a chase of 228. J&K will play against Punjab at Baroda from January 8. The hosts began the day at a solid 103 for two but were all out for 272 as spinner Perveez Rasool claimed seven wickets at the expense of 87 runs. Tripura’s overnight batsmen Abhijit Dey (63), Kaushal Acharjee (35) began cautiously and had extended their partnership to 78 runs but Rasool dismissed both in a gap of four overs. After that skipper Yogesh Takawale (28) and Manisankar Murasingh (37) resisted the J&K attack for some time but eventually they were bundled out for 272 runs on the board. The visitors then lost Adil Rishi (1) and Ian Dev Singh (9) cheaply but Bandeep Singh (37) and Perveez Rasool (35) batted well after that and easily drew the game.
Maharashtra in quarters
Maharashtra made the cut after an emphatic 128-run win over Assam in Guwahati on Thursday. Maharashtra ended their league engagements as table toppers with 35 points from eight games. Haryana finish with a draw
The Group A Ranji Trophy match between Haryana and Odisha ended in a tame draw on the fourth and final day on Thursday with the visitors saving themselves from relegation. — Agencies |
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Abu Dhabi, January 2 Dimuth Karunaratne (24) put on 47 runs for the opening wicket with Silva before he was bowled by Junaid. Silva and Sangakkara (55) then put on 99 for the second to get Sri Lanka close to wiping out the first innings deficit of 179. Brief scores: Sri Lanka 204 and 186 for 4 (Silva 81, Sangakkara 55, Junaid 2-46); Pakistan 383 — Reuters
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Schumacher to turn 45 while in coma
GRENOBLE, January 2 There have been conflicting statements about the speed the seven-time world racing champion was going when the tragedy befell him in the Meribel ski resort, where he has a property. The rock impact split the helmet Schumacher was wearing in two, according to a source close to the investigation. The Ferrari F1 team where Schumacher spent many years announced it would on Friday hold a "silent gathering" in front of the Grenoble hospital for the birthday of the retired sportsman, who is being kept in an induced coma. The hospital and Schumacher's manager had briefed the press daily since the accident. But they did not do so on Thursday, instead promising to communicate only if there was something new to report. Schumacher has had two operations to remove bleeding and pressure on his brain. His media representative, Sabine Kehm, said on Wednesday that Schumacher was stable though still critical. The hospital has been faced with intense media pressure from the worldwide interest in its famous patient. — AFP
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Centre for excellence status for 3 regional Univs
Patiala, January 2 The association has acknowledged the contribution of seven universities for promoting competitive sports. Sources informed that the AIU has finalized the names of Punjabi University, GND University and Kurukshetra University from North zone, University of Mumbai has been chosen from the West, University of Kolkata from the East and University of Madras and Anna University, Chennai, from the South zone. The AIU has decided to give all World University Games camps to these universities since they have proper infrastructure, equipments and qualified staff for preparing the athletes. Moreover, this move will be highly beneficial for the universities as the AIU is further planning to get a Memorandum of Understanding signed between these universities and foreign universities which will further help these universities in strengthening their sports centres after studying the course of action and sports policies formed by best sports universities of the country.
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Cook can take solace from Clarke’s experience
Sydney, January 2 Michael Clarke has certainly plumbed greater depths in the three years since he first took charge of Australia in a test in the final encounter of the 2010-11 series at the Sydney Cricket Ground. It has been England's turn to be battered physically and mentally in this series, though, and Cook will lead his side out on Friday desperate to win the fifth test, avoid the dreaded series sweep and salvage a little pride. “When you lose games of cricket, and you lose they way we have, it's a tough place to be as a captain, certainly when you come on a big tour,” Cook told reporters at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday.” “It does affect people, make no mistake about it. It hurts for me, but it is what it is.” “All the criticism you get when you lose it's always exaggerated and it's kind of hyperbole when you win because that's the way the media work. “For me to say I am 100 percent right would be wrong, but I am proud of the way I've handled myself in this series. “But I do know that I have a hell of a lot to learn as a player, as a captain, and I hope we can put in a good performance in this test match.” — Reuters
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Agartala, January 2
It’s a special feeling: Rasool
