New Delhi, August 27
The Delhi High Court today restored former Indian Premier League (IPL) chief Lalit Modi’s passport, which had been revoked by the Mumbai regional passport office in 2011.

A two-member bench of Justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Vibhu Bakhru said that Modi’s travel document had been revoked on the basis of extraneous and irrelevant considerations, violating his fundamental right to speech and expression.

The HC bench, however, said it was not expressing any opinion on the alleged violation of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) by Modi, which had resulted in the cancellation of his passport.

The HC passed the order on an appeal by Modi, who is staying in London at present. Earlier, a single judge bench had rejected Modi’s plea. The British authorities had recently expressed their inability to deport him to India, citing legal problems.

In today’s order, the HC pointed out that there was a specific procedure to be followed by the authorities in the event of non-compliance of summons issued under the FEMA or the Income Tax Act.

Modi has been elected president of the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA), which stands banned by the BCCI. The cricket administrator is likely to return to the country soon.

Lalit Modi since he fled to London in 2010 2010: Is suspended by BCCI over allegations of financial irregularities. Modi leaves India, relocates to London citing threat to his life 2011: Court dismisses appeal by Modi over a decision which allowed BCCI to continue its actions against him. ED issues show-cause to BCCI and Modi as part of probe into allegations of financial misconduct in IPL 2012: Declared bankrupt in a London court over unpaid bills of £65,000 owed to security firm. Banned for life by BCCI December 2013: Modi enters RCA race, BCCI warns of ban. SC clears Modi's candidature May 2014: Modi declared RCA president; BCCI suspends RCA. Modi was found guilty on eight different charges of "various acts of indiscipline and misconduct" (Sept. 2013) by the BCCI's disciplinary committee, which led to his expulsion.

Copenhagen, August 27
Teen sensation PV Sindhu stormed into the third round of the World Badminton Championship with a straight-game victory over Olga Golovanova of Russia in her women's singles match on Wednesday.

The men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy B stunned the 15th-seeded Japanese duo of Hirokatsu Hashimoto and Noriyasu Hirata 21-19 21-19 in 44 minutes to advance to the third round.

However, it was curtains for the women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa after they lost their second round match to the fifth-seeded Chinese combination of Qing Tian and Yunlei Zhao without putting up a fight. Manu and Sumeeth will face the winner of the match between Korea's Yong Dae Lee and Yeon Seong Yoo and Australia's Raymond Tam and Glenn Warfe. Sindhu, seeded 11th, took 40 minutes to prevail over her Russian opponent 21-12 21-17 in the second round match at the Ballerup Super Arena. She will next take on sixth seeded Yeon Ju Bae of Korea. Sindhu won a total of 42 points as compared to 29 by the Russian girl. The world No. 12 from Hyderabad looked a bit rusty to start with and was initially trailing in the opening game. She was playing the catching-up game till 10-10 before Sindhu managed to reel off four consecutive points and surge ahead to 14-10.

There was no looking back after that, as Sindhu swiftly sealed the game in her favour with Golovanova earning just two more points.

In the second game, the Russian got her act together and opened up a big lead, moving up to 11-6 at the break. However, just when it seemed that the match would go into the decider, the Indian earned five points on the trot to level the scores at 11-11. Thereafter, it was a neck-and-neck battle for a brief period but Sindhu used all her experience to take a slight lead and eventually wrapped up the issue quite comfortably.

Earlier, the World No. 7 Chinese duo outplayed Jwala and Ashwini 21-16 21-8 in just 31 minutes. With this victory the Chinese girls have now extended their unbeaten lead over the Indians to 7-0.

Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar pulled off a stunning 21-15 21-17 win over Ki Jung Kim and Sa Rang Kim of Korea to move into the next round. — PTI

New York, August 27
Despite boasting 34 grand slam singles titles between them, Serena Williams and Roger Federer were forced to share the spotlight with a 15-year-old at the U.S. Open on Tuesday as all three advanced to the second round.

American wild card Catherine Bellis, the youngest player in the draw, took her place alongside the five-times U.S. champions by stunning 12th seeded Australian Open finalist Dominica Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-1 4-6 6-4.

The second-seeded Federer, looking to extend his record men's haul of slam titles to 18, posted a 6-3 6-4 7-6 (4) demolition of Australian Marinko Matosevic as the 33-year-old's boyhood idol Michael Jordan of basketball fame looked on. “He was just my hero of all sports,” said Federer, who has collaborated with Jordan on a sneakers design. “Besides (Stefan) Edberg and (Boris) Becker being my tennis idols, I had Jordan as my all-sports idol.” Williams advanced 6-3 6-1 over unseeded fellow American Taylor Townsend as she followed Federer onto the Arthur Ashe Stadium court to cap the second day of the championships.

Should she go on to win the tournament, the two-times defending champion would join Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova in fourth place on the all-time list of women's grand slam singles champions with 18 titles apiece.

Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and runner-up Eugenie Bouchard launched their Open campaigns with a bang, blasting by their respective first-round opponents with a minimum of fuss. They were joined in the second round by eighth-seeded former world number one Ana Ivanovic, 11th-seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta, 16th seed Victoria Azarenka and 2011 champion Sam Stosur, but the biggest jolt of energy was supplied by Bellis.

Playing on the secondary Court Six, the teenager added her name to the record books by becoming the youngest female to win a match at the U.S. Open since Anna Kournikova in 1996. Petra Kvitova crushed Kristina Mladenovic 6-1 6-0, while Peng Shuai beat Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3, 6-4 in second-round. — Reuters

Patiala, August 27
Complaining when you aren’t producing great results could be counter productive. The rant could easily be mistaken for an excuse, a case of a bad workman quarreling with his tools.

Neil Hagwood, the Indian women’s hockey coach, is mature enough to know the risk. Nevertheless, he makes his displeasure clear with the quality of the turf on which the team is preparing for the Asian Games.

“The turf is suffering from old age, it’s worn out and has holes on one side of it. It’s dangerous, for the players could twist their ankles and could be out of action,” said Hagwood. Lest omeone should think he's trying to slip in an excuse for the not-so-great performances by by the women's team in recent times, the Australian says it’s a minor irritant in the larger scheme of things.

Maybe he’s right, or maybe he’s trying to sugarcoat his observations in an effort to not offend the authorities. Anyway, his complaint sounds justified as skipper Ritu Rani too seconds it. “It’s of course a little difficult to train on the worn out turf. It not only affects our training but also makes it tough for us to adjust to the turfs at the major games. The reason being, the ball on this turf travels at a different speed than the turfs at big sporting events,” said Ritu Rani.

The other problem, the coach says, is the limited number of international matches the Indian team gets while heading into a major tournament. “Our team had just a few international games under their belt ahead of the Commonwealth Games; our opponents, on the other hand, play far greater number of international matches. It makes a huge difference,” said Hagwood.

As for their chances in the upcoming Asian Games, the India skipper sounded pretty positive. “I believe we have a better chance in the Asian Games than we had in the Commonwealth Games. All of us play the same brand of hockey, and hopefully we will put up a good show.

“The winner of the Asian Games will get a direct entry into the Olympics, and that’s a huge incentive. So we’ll give our best in South Korea,” she said.

Patiala, August 27
It was a day of comebacks in Indian boxing. Akhil Kumar made a successful return to top-flight boxing after battling injuries and a dip in form for almost four years; Mary Kom defeated Pinki Jangra to avenge her defeat in the tryouts for the Commonwealth Games; and after his controversial loss in the London Olympics, Vikas Krishan roared back at the trials for the Asian Games on Wednesday.

While Akhil was at his philosophical best in summing up his victory and its significance for him, Mary Kom found it tough to control her joy — she pranced around merrily, chatting and obliging everyone who came up to her with a request for a photograph.

Vikas Krishan, who won gold in the last Asian Games, looked as grim after winning the fight as before entering the ring and preferred to keep his emotions and thoughts to himself.

If one has to pick the fight of the day, it has to be Akhil’s. It wasn’t the best fight in terms of skill and competitiveness, but it stood out for the buzz and excitement it generated. Everyone in the packed hall willed the veteran fighter to win his bout; everyone cheered every time the pugnacious fighter landed a crushing hook; and everyone skipped a beat whenever Akhil’s opponent, Rohit Tokas for the record, connected a punch.

The comeback man — the boxer pleaded not to call him one, for he had never gone away; he was always there, working his way back into the thick of the action — strut his usual stuff, throwing down his guard, inviting his opponent to have a go at him and then unleashing the left hook to good effect.

He did look a little tired in the third round, falling back on the ropes repeatedly, but had done enough in the first two rounds to walk away with a victory. “I know everyone wanted me to win. I have earned this goodwill by staying humble all the time and helping others to the best of my ability,” said Akhil.

On his return, he said, “I was always there, thinking, talking and practising the sport. The people around me, my wife who’s a boxing coach, my sister-in-law, my coaches… they kept motivating me all the time, created an environment where I always felt good enough for another shot at top-flight boxing. It’s just the beginning, my fitness will improve further and I will get better.”

Mary Kom, on the other hand, was awash with joy. When the talk veered to her upcoming biopic releasing shortly, the pugilist simply blushed. She, though, offered to give tickets of the movie to her fellow national campers.

With boxers doing their bit, it’s now up to the selectors to pick the weight categories they will field in the Asian Games.

Winners Men: L Devendro Singh (49kg), Gaurav Bhiduri (52kg), Shiva Thapa (56kg), Akhil Kumar (60kg), Manoj Kumar (64kg), Mandeep Jangra (69kg), Vikas Krishan (75kg), Kuldeep Singh (81kg), Amritpreet Singh (91kg), Satish Kumar (+91kg) Women: MC Mary Kom (51kg), L Sarita Devi (60kg), Pooja Rani (75kg) *The list features the boxers likely to be picked for Asiad

London, August 27
Manchester United’s early season problems were compounded by a humiliating 4-0 loss to third-tier Milton Keynes Dons in the League Cup second round on Tuesday leaving new manager Louis van Gaal still looking for his first win.

MK Dons’ Will Grigg and substitute Benik Afobe scored two goals apiece as United’s defensive frailties were ruthlessly exposed by their enthusiastic lower division opponents who took advantage of playing against a second-string side.

Grigg capitalised on United’s mistakes to score either side of halftime before Afobe compounded the visitors’ misery with two late goals, the first seconds after coming off the bench.

Dutchman Van Gaal is still without a competitive victory since taking over at United in the close season and he will be desperate for British record signing Angel Di Maria to play after he signed from Real Madrid earlier on Tuesday. “It’s a matter of making errors at wrong moments,” Van Gaal said.

Van Gaal left out several first-team regulars including captain Wayne Rooney and strike partner Robin van Persie. — Reuters