Former WWE wrestler Dalip Singh Rana, better known by his ring name 'The Great Khali', suffered a severe head injury during the Continental Wrestling Entertainment show at Haldwani, Uttarakhand.
     Khali sustained a head injury last night during the first show of 'The Great Khali Returns Series' while fighting against foreign wrestlers -- Mike Knox and Brody Steel -- at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Gaula Par, Haldwani.
     The doctors suspect that Khali has suffered injuries to his chest as well but the exact nature of injuries are yet to be known.
     "Khali has been under observation and tests are being conducted on him to know whether he has suffered injuries to his chest as well," one of the organisers of The Great Khali Returns Series told PTI.
     After Khali sustained severe head injuries, he was airlifted from Haldwani this morning and bought to a speciality
hospital in Dehradun.
     Khali received seven stitches on his head last night before being flown to ...

Khali suffers severe injury in a fight

PTI Automatic

Gursimar Badwal carded two-under 68 in the final round to win the fifth leg of the Hero Women's Professional Golf Tour at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club here today.
     Gursimar played consistent golf throughout the week and claimed her maiden professional title by a comfortable margin of six shots. Kolkata's Neha Tripathi finished runner-up with a total score of 215 at the Rs 6,00,000 event.
     Overnight leader Gursimar, who has been within striking distance of victory on several occasions in the past but has faltered at key moments in her campaign, was the hallmark of composure today.
     She played a blemish free front-nine with two birdies on the 4th and 7th holes. She added another birdie on the 13th hole while dropping just one shot on the 11th to finish with a total score of 209 after 54 holes.
     Neha Tripathi carded a birdie on the 2nd hole while dropping shots on the 6th and 7th. She played with much more purpose on her return journey, firing four birdies on the ...

Gursimar claims maiden professional title at BPGC

The announcement by Pakistan's T20 skipper Shahid Afridi that he might reconsider his decision to retire after the World T20 in India has left the national cricket selectors and cricket board in a spin.
     A well-informed source in the board and also close to the selectors said that Afridi's hint at reconsidering his retirement decision has left everyone surprised.
     "The chief selector has already had discussions with the Chairman of the board on Pakistan's future plans after the World T20 in the post Afridi retirement scenario," the source told PTI.
     In the past too, Afridi, who finally retired from one-day internationals last year after the World Cup, has taken U-turns on retirement decisions.
     Afridi, 36, told the media in Dubai at the end of the Pakistan Super League that he is under "a lot of pressure" from family, friends and elders who believe "there is no need to retire from T20s".
     "For a while now there is a lot of pressure from my family, a lot of pressure 

Afridi's retirement U-turn leaves PCB in a spin

Pakistan's cricket community has welcomed the government's decision to allow the national team to take part in next month's World Twenty20 in India, saying the move will help improve relations between the two countries.
     "It is a positive step forward in Indo-Pak relations and our government has shown again it does not believe in mixing sports with politics," Pakistan's former captain Rashid Latif told PTI.
     "It was imperative for Pakistan to take part in the ICC event as we are an important part of the world cricket community," Latif said.
     Former captain Muhammad Yousuf told PTI he hoped that the Indian government and board would now reciprocate in the same positive manner.
     "I think if Pakistan can travel to India for an ICC event than the two countries can also take part in a bilateral series in Pakistan or India. The two boards must try to have a bilateral series this year," Yousuf said.
     There was a lot of suspense over whether the PCB would get clearance ...

Pak cricket community welcomes govt nod to World T20 travel

A 10-member team, comprising five men and five women, will represent India in the World Championships to be held in Kuala Lumpur between February 28 and March 6.
      The team members -- Sharath Kamal, Anthony Amalraj, Soumyajit Ghosh, Harmeet Desai and G. Sathiyan in the men's section and Manika Batra, Mouma Das, K. Shamini, Pooja Sahasrabuddhe and Madhurika Patkar in the women's category -- left today for the Malaysian capital. The team is accompanied by two coaches, Bhavani Mukherjee and Arup Das.
      The world event is only for team competition and in the previous edition at Tokyo (Japan), the Indian men's team had finished 33 while the women's squad captured the 29th position.
      The team members arrived here this morning from Patiala after a 15-day national camp at the NIS. The members had been training together at Patiala for more than a month and in between participated in the South Asian Games at Shillong.
      Sharath, who skipped the Shillong event, had been training 

Sharath-led team leaves for World Championships

With the aim of adding more depth to the team, Mumbai FC has completed the signings of vastly experienced players Clifford Miranda and Sandip Nandy for the remainder of the I-League season.
     Both the former internationals have joined the Mumbai club on loan from ISL outfits Atletico de Kolkata and Kerala Blasters respectively, said a media release here today.
	"It's going to be really exciting playing here for this club. Mumbai FC has always been a difficult team to beat. I along with my new teammates want to help the club move higher up the table and I believe we can achieve it," said Miranda after signing the contract.
    	"I spent five years playing for Mahindra United, and I'm very happy to be back in the city. The renovated Cooperage football stadium looks brilliant and I just can't wait to make my first appearance with the home support backing the team," said Nandy.
    	Mumbai FC manager Henry Picardo was pleased that the duo have come on board.
	"We started the season ...

Mumbai FC sign medio Miranda, goalkeeper Nandy

Shillong Lajong FC will host debutant DSK  Shivajians in an I-League encounter at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here tomorrow.
     The two sides had played out a 1-1 draw at DSK's home game in Pune on Sunday.
     Placed at the bottom of the table, Shivajians coach Derrick Pereira sounded optimistic about producing better performances.
     "There are only nine teams in the league and two or three wins can change things for us," Pereira said.
     The former Salgaocar coach said that the key would be to stay focused and play as a unit.
     Talking about the performance of his side in its debut season, Pereira said that his boys did not get enough time to prepare for the competition.
     Shivajians have won only one of their eight matches till now. For Shillong Lajong, a slip up may lead to the relegation situation they had to overcome last season.

Shillong Lajong host DSK  Shivajians

Shreyas Iyer struck a strokeful century to enable Mumbai take the first innings lead against Saurashtra on the second day of the five-day Ranji Trophy cricket tournament final, here today.
     Iyer made 117 off 142 balls with the help of 15 boundaries and two sixes to single-handedly take Mumbai to 262 for eight in 66 overs in reply to Saurashtra's 235 all out.
     Besides Iyer, Surya Kumar Yadav (48) was the other notable scorer for Mumbai.
     At stumps, Siddhesh Lad was batting on 22 while Iqbal Abdullah was unbeaten on 9.
     Left-arm pace duo of Hardik Rathod (3/44) and Jaydev Unadkat (2/55) shared five wickets between them while right-arm fast bowler Chirag Jani (2/46) also chipped in with two wickets.
     Earlier resuming at the overnight score of 192 for eight, Saurashtra added vital 43 runs to finish at 235 in 93.2 overs.
     Debutant Prerak Mankad (66) added 11 more runs to his last night's score before becoming Dhawal Kulkarni's fifth victim of the innings.
     ...

Iyer's ton give Mumbai first innings lead over Saurashtra

Indian golfer Shiv Kapur overcame a shoulder trouble to return with a bogey-free six-under 66 to lie Tied 2nd after the opening day of the AUD 1.75 million ISPS Handa Perth International here today.
     Proving right the adage 'Beware the wounded golfer', Kapur needed a physio and a few pills before the first round to tee up, but then came back with six birdies against no bogeys.
     "I have a strain in my supraspinatus, which in layman's terms, is the muscle that connects the neck to the shoulder," said Kapur.
     "It actually happened just lifting my golf bag off the carousel a couple of weeks ago."
     Of the other Indians, SSP Chawrasia and Chiragh Kumar, both former runner-ups at Hero Indian Open, were tied 33rd at one-under 71 each.
     After teeing off from tenth, Chawrasia seemed to be going great guns at four-under through 13 holes, before stumbling to a bogey and a double bogey on his 14th and 15th, which were the fifth and sixth of the Lake Karrinyup Country Club. He ..

Kapur shoots 66, lies second in Perth

Shivam Dubey shone with the ball as well as the bat to help DY Patil 'B' beat CAG by five wickets and enter the final of the 12th IDBI Federal Life Insurance DY Patil T20 Cup today.
     Medium pacer Dubey wrecked CAG with a superb six-wicket burst and then slammed an unbeaten 32 as the hosts' 'B' outfit chased down their rivals' score of 129 with five wickets and seven balls to spare at the D Y Patil Stadium.
     In the other semi final, Central Railway stoutly defended a modest target of 138 for 7 to get the better of a star-studded BPCL by 35 runs.
     Brief scores: CAG 129 in 20 overs (Bravish Shetty 40, Arvind Singh 32; Shivam Dubey 6-17, Prateek Dabholkar 2-21, Kshemal Waingankar 2-23) lost to D Y Patil 'B' 133-5 in 18.5 overs (Kevin Almedia 32, Shivam Dubey 32 not out, Kumar Subramaniam 29) by five wickets.
     Central Railway 138-7 in 20 overs (Salil Aggharkar 32, Sanket Bhaye 26, Nilkhanth Parab 26 not out; Kiran Adhav 3-18, Shreyas Gopal 2-18) beat BPCL 103 in 18.2 overs .

Dubey pilots D Y Patil 'B' into final

Veteran Indian tennis player Leander Paes and his French partner Jeremy Chardy crashed out of the Mexico Open after losing in straight sets in the first round here.
     The Indo-French combination proved to be no match to Austria's Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin of France, going down 2-6 4-6.
     The Austrian-French pair will now face the American duo of Scott Lipsky and Eric Butorac in the quarter-finals.
     In the opening set, Paes and Chardy suffered an early blow as their serve was broken in the third game itself. They failed to recover from there on, even as Marach and Martin managed to clinch another break of serve in the seventh game before serving out the set.
     It was a similar story for the Indo-French combination in the second set also as they once again surrendered their serve in the third game.
     The Austrian-French duo capitalised on the advantage and comfortably wrapped up the match in their favour.

Paes-Chardy pair bows out of Mexico Open

South Africa fast bowler Lonwabo Tsotsobe is reportedly under investigation in a match-fixing case that has already seen one of the country's former international players banned for 20 years.
     Tsotsobe told the Wisden India website today that he had handed over his bank account and cellphone records after being asked for them by national federation Cricket South Africa.
     Former South Africa limited-overs batsman Gulam Bodi was banned last month after admitting he conspired to recruit players to fix matches, or parts of matches, in South Africa's domestic Twenty20 league last year.
     Documents leaked to the South African media show eight players were approached by Bodi. Media reports have named former South Africa wicketkeeper Thami Tsolekile and now Tsotsobe, who are both former teammates of Bodi in domestic cricket, as two of those players.
     "I've given them (Cricket South Africa) everything they want. My phone bills, my messages, my bank accounts, everything," ...

SAfrica bowler Tsotsobe investigated in fixing case

The in-form Rohit Sharma says being entrusted with the task of opening the innings in limited overs cricket has put added responsibility on his shoulders.
     Continuing his rich vein of form, Rohit struck a blazing 83 to lay the foundation for India's crushing win over Bangladesh in the Asia Cup T20 opener here yesterday.
     "Batting at the top of the order has put up added responsibility on my shoulders. Being a top order batsman, it is a responsibility to get the team to a good score and make winning matches a habit," Rohit said.
     He added, "Experiences play a huge part in this game. The more cricket you play, the more experience you get as to how you need to build your innings, what is required by the team and identifying your game etc. These things have helped me a lot in the past."
     Put into bat on a pacer-friendly wicket, India scored a challenging 166 for six with Rohit scoring his runs under pressure after India were reduced to 42 for three at one stage.
     "My ..

Opening the innings is an added responsibility: Rohit

The average stadium attendance for I-League 2015-16 has witnessed a sharp rise compared to the previous season, belying fears that the ISL would undermine the importance of All India Football Federation's flagship tournament.
     The figures are positive as the conclusion of the current season is still a long way to go. It has already recorded an average attendance of 8296 while the entire last season's average attendance was 5909.
     Matches featuring defending champion Mohun Bagan in Kolkata saw an average in-stadia turnout of 22370 till the ninth week of the league, a rise of over 5000 from the entire 2014-15 season. Arch rival East Bengal has already witnessed an average attendance of 10284 to the 13142 the last time around.
     Games involving other teams across other centers have also improved as far the turnout is concerned.
     Winner in their inaugural season in 2013-14, Bengaluru FC has already attracted 12197 fans to its home stadium. Last time, the overall count was ..

I-League sees rise in stadium attendance

Unbeaten with demolishing victories in the previous three contests, star Indian boxer Vijender Singh will take on a slightly more experienced Hungarian Alexander Horvath in his fourth professional bout on March 12 in Liverpool.
     Vijender is preparing for a homecoming to India in June when he will fight maiden title bout -- the WBO Asia belt.
     The in-form middleweight has been unbeaten in the circuit, having clinched all his three wins by knockouts in only six rounds of action since his pro debut last October.
     Vijender will have no time to rest as he has another big fight lined up just three weeks' later at the Harrow Sports Centre, London, as he builds towards his ground-breaking title opportunity in India.
     Horvath comes into the fight against Vijender with a record of five wins from seven fights. The 20-year-old has the edge in experience over Singh with 31 rounds under his belt and has no fear of fighting abroad, taking bouts in Slovakia and France.
     "It's my ..

Vijender to take on Hungary's Alexander Horvath on March 12

Practitioners of the same art do have fellow feelings and no wonder pioneer of 'doosra' Saqlain Mushtaq feels sad about the manner in which the senior India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has been sidelined by the team management.
     While he terms Ravichandran Ashwin as a "world class bowler", he feels that Harbhajan not getting a single start during the last seven T20 internationals is "not doing the bowler's confidence any good".
     "I am afraid that Indian cricket board and team management's treatment to Harbhajan has not been great. He was a world class bowler and is still a world class bowler. The emergence of Ashwin doesn't mean that you drop Harbhajan or put him under tremendous pressure," Saqlain told PTI during an interaction.
     The 39-year-old Saqlain, who has 208 Test and 288 ODI wickets, said dropping a top grade performer according to convenience is not the best example to set.
     "Look from the time he got dropped (in 2011), he has made three comebacks which meant 

Harbhajan not treated well by Indian cricket: Saqlain

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has heaped praise on veteran seamer Ashish Nehra, describing him as a crafty bowler who has proved that "age is just a number".
     Nehra, who was forced into international exile post the 2011 World Cup triumph, made a comeback after almost five years last month. He took a three-wicket haul last night to help India start their Asia Cup campaign with a crushing 45-run win over Bangladesh at Mirpur.
     "Ashish Nehra has proven age is just a number. He is mixing his deliveries well and bowling craftily. He has done really well for India so far," Gavaskar told NDTV.
     Gavaskar also applauded opener Rohit Sharma, who blasted 83 off 55 balls to anchor India's innings and take them to 166 for six after they were tottering at 42 for 3 in 7.5 overs.
     "Rohit has got the ability to time his innings well. His shot selection has been terrific. He made batting look so easy when others were struggling," he said.
     Rohit was dropped early on by Shakib .

Ashish has proved age is just a number: Gavaskar

Three-time medallist at World Championship, Denmark's women's doubles star Kamilla Rytter Juhl feels Indian doubles shuttlers spend too much time training on the court and it affects their intensity during matches in international tournaments.
     "It is about having the right focus at practice. In Denmark, we are really good at having practised for two hours and then trying to do our best on court," Kamilla told PTI when asked why Indian shuttlers have struggled so far in doubles category.
     "I have the impression that in Asian countries, like India, they are on court for many, many hours and then the level may go down because it is not easy to keep the intensity high for so long.
     "We train against two of the boys because we are the only women's pairs at this level. If there were another pair then we could have trained with them. So we train with the boys and it helps to feel the pressure," she added.
     Kamilla clinched the 2009 World Championship title along with her ...

Indian doubles shuttlers spend too much time training: Kamilla

Whacking the ball hard and far is his 
natural style but fast-rising Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya 
insists he is a proper batsman and not merely a pinch- hitter.
     Pandya has won quite a few admirers, including Mahendra Singh Dhoni, with his aggressive style of batting which the Indian captain says is a big advantage for India in the T20 format.
     "This is my style of play and this is how I have been playing my cricket. I have never been sent in by the team as a pinch-hitter. I believe I am a proper batsman. That is why I am not told by anyone to bat in a particular way. It is a good thing that I am able to score at that pace which is something that the team requires from me," Pandya was quoted as saying by 'bcci.Tv'.
     Pandya, who stroked a quick-fire 18-ball 31 in India's win in the Asia Cup opener against Bangladesh last night, said hitting sixes has always given him joy and his natural instinct to smack the ball hard.
     "I don't really know how and where I got my ..

I am a proper batsman not a pinch-hitter: Pandya

Six Indians, including match referee Javagal Srinath, today found a place in the ICC's 31-strong Playing Control Team for next month's World Twenty20, which will also feature women match officials for the first time.
     "The strong Playing Control Team includes all the seven and 12 members of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees and Elite Panel of ICC Umpires, respectively, as well as 10 members of the Emirates International Panel of ICC Umpires and two members of the ICC Associate and Affiliate Panel of International Umpires," the ICC said in a statement.
     Srinath will be the referee in the March 8 tournament- opener between Zimbabwe and Hong Kong in Nagpur. He will lead the Playing Control Team, which also includes Aleem Dar and Ian Gould as on-field umpires, Marais Erasmus as TV umpire and Richard Illingworth as fourth umpire.
     The umpires' panel for the March 8 to April 3 tournament includes two female umpires -- New Zealand's Kathleen Cross and Claire Polosak .

Six Indians in ICC match officials' list for World T20

Exactly a year ago when India were playing the 50-over World Cup, it was difficult to imagine Yuvraj Singh making a comeback into the team that was brimming with youthful exuberance.
     Even more difficult was entertaining thoughts of Ashish Nehra, forced into international exile post the 2011 World Cup triumph, donning the blue jersey once again.
     Cut to 2016, with a cumulative age of 70, the 36-year-old Nehra and 34-year-old Yuvraj have become important to Mahendra Singh Dhoni's World T20 title aspirations.
     So much so that Dhoni is ready to let Nehra maintain his own "disciplined routine" and "remain fit" till the end of the World T20. With Yuvraj, he likes his "approach" and wants to be "patient" as contributions like "12 or 15" from the southpaw are "equally important".
     When he was quizzed about Yuvraj's approach during his brief innings of 15 against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup opener, Dhoni said: "I think the approach was good. All of a sudden, you don't want to ..

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