Gurjit Kaur and Deep Grace Kaur strcuk in space of two minutes as Indian women hockey team settled for a 2-2 draw against South Africa in their second match, here.
     It was the host team that nosed ahead South Africa when Marizen Marais scored a field goal in the third minute of the match. The first quarter ended with the hosts leading 1-0.
     India got the equaliser in the 24th minute through a penalty corner conversion by Gurjit. Two minutes later, Deep Grace converted another penalty corner to give the visitors a 2-1 lead. The scoreline remained the same at the end of the first half.
     The third quarter saw some aggression from the hosts which finally paid off in the 34th minute with Dirkie Chamberlain levelling scores for South Africa.
     The remaining period of the match saw both teams producing a few scoring opportunities but the scoreboard was not disturbed.

Indian eves settle for 2-2 draw against South Africa

PTI Automatic

Young off-spinner Arjun Nair, the Canberra-born son of Indian immigrants, has been included in the New South Wales (NSW) squad for their upcoming Sheffield Shield match against South Australia.
     The 17-year-old Nair has been turning heads with his abilities to bowl the 'doosra' to perfection. It has been learnt that the Blues selectors told Nair on Sunday evening that he had been included in the NSW squad for their clash against the Redbacks at Coffs Harbour starting Thursday.
     With an action similar to that of Carribean spinner Sunil Narine, Nair can turn the ball both ways. The deceit with which the ball is delivered has made the NSW selectors take note of this young talent.
     "Arjun Nair is one you need to look out for, he's a massive talent," NSW coach Trent Johnston told Fairfax Media before the start of the season.
     "I saw him play NSW versus Queensland schoolboys and I said to Freddy [NSW state talent manager David Freedman]: 'I don't care what he's doing, he's ..

Indian origin teenager in NSW squad

Lionel Messi and Argentina were given a chance for revenge on Sunday after being drawn against reigning Copa America champions Chile in the group stage for this summer's special centenary edition of the tournament.
     Argentina suffered an agonizing defeat to Chile in the climax of last June's tournament in Santiago as their major championship drought continued.
     However, Messi and his teammates have the opportunity to strike back at Chile after being drawn alongside their South American rivals in Group D here Sunday.
     The Copa America Centenario is taking place outside South America for the first time this year to mark 100 years of the world's oldest international football tournament.
     Ten cities across the United States will host games from June 3-26 in the 16-team tournament, which features 10 sides from South America and six from the CONCACAF region.
     Argentina's clash with Chile was the standout fixture from Sunday's draw at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom in ...

Argentina, Chile face rematch after Copa draw

Bubba Watson captured the Northern Trust Open for the second time in three years on Sunday, emerging from a crowded leaderboard to win by just one stroke.
     The two-time Masters winner now heads to the first major championship of the season at Augusta National in seven weeks looking for his third green jacket.
     The 37-year-old American, who also won at Pacific Palisades in 2014, birdied two of his final three holes en route to a three-under 68 for a 15-under 269 total.
     "What I was looking for today was to make par and then throw in some lucky birdies," said Watson, who now has nine wins on the US PGA Tour.
     "I want to get to 10 wins because that is a big stepping stone in this day and age on the PGA Tour."
     Watson's playing partner, Jason Kokrak, fell just short in his quest for his first PGA title, closing with a 68 to finish at 14 under and share second with Adam Scott.
     Australia's Scott birdied 17 and 18 en route to a 67.
     Scott chipped out from 25 feet 

Watson claims second Riviera title in three years

Scandal-tainted FIFA is heading for a $100 million-plus deficit for 2015 and rival candidates for the leadership of football's world body have warned of catastrophe if some campaign promises are carried out.
     FIFA has $1.5 billion in cash in the bank and its riches are a key battle for the five rivals who will take part in Friday's vote for a replacement for Sepp Blatter.
     Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa, the Asian football boss and a frontrunner, has warned that some of his rivals' promises to give more money to member nations could "bankrupt" the governing body by 2018.
     Another contender, Jerome Champagne, said that "very dangerous" financial promises are being made.
     The Frenchman, a former FIFA deputy secretary general, confirmed in a letter to national associations that the world body suffered a deficit of about $100 million in 2015 - much attributed to the corruption scandals engulfing football.
     He said two "top sponsors" are holding out on deals ahead 

Alarm bells over cost of FIFA vote promises

Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty as Real Madrid's hopes of catching La Liga leaders Barcelona were all but ended with a 1-1 draw at Malaga on Sunday.
     Madrid remain nine points behind Barca with 13 games to go after Raul Albentosa cancelled out Ronaldo's opener.
     Atletico Madrid also failed to gain significant ground on Barca as they were held 0-0 at home by Villarreal to move eight points behind in second.
     However, Gary Neville's upturn in fortunes as Valencia boss continued with a third win in a week, 2-1 at Granada.
     Zinedine Zidane's men were left to rue Ronaldo's miss from the spot to make it 2-0 before the break when Carlos Kameni dived to his left to parry the three-time World Player of the Year's effort.
     "It is obviously going to be difficult because we have dropped two points, but we won't give up," said Zidane.
     "There are 39 points still to play for. You think the league is lost, but the players and myself don't believe that."
     Madrid were ...

Advantage Barca as Real Madrid, Atletico held

Chelsea will issue stadium bans and support police action if it can identify the supporters who threw coins at Manchester City players at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, as the FA Cup was marred by such incidents for the second day in a row.
     Coins were thrown when David Faupala celebrated with City teammates in the corner of the pitch, near Chelsea fans, after scoring on his debut.
     "We condemn such idiotic and dangerous behavior," Chelsea's head of communications, Steve Atkins, said. "If we can identify those responsible, then we will ban them from Stamford Bridge.
     "It is worth noting it is a criminal offense, too. We will support any police prosecution if we can identify, along with the police, the individuals responsible for their behavior today."
     Chelsea's interim manager Guus Hiddink also voiced his disapproval.
     "I was aware. I can easily say 'no, I am not aware' - but I was aware," Hiddink said. "I like to always face the facts. "There were coins thrown to the 

Chelsea to ban fans who threw coins in FA Cup win over City

Scoreboard at tea on day three of the second Test between New Zealand and Australia in Christchurch on Monday:
     New Zealand first innings 370
     Australia (overnight 363-4)
     D. Warner c Guptill b Boult        12
     J. Burns c Guptill b Wagner       170
     U. Khawaja c McCullum b Boult      24
     S. Smith c Guptill b Wagner       138
     A. Voges c Latham b Wagner         60
     N. Lyon c McCullum b Williamson    33
     M. Marsh c Nicholls b Wagner       18
     P. Nevill c Watling b Wagner       13
     J. Pattinson c Boult b Anderson     1
     J. Hazlewood c McCullum b Wagner   13
     J. Bird not out                     4
     Extras (b9, lb10)                  19
     Total (10 wickets, 153.1 overs)    505
     Fall of wickets: 1-25 (Warner), 2-67 (Khawaja), 3-356 (Burns), 4-357 (Smith), 5-438 (Lyon) 6-464 (Voges), 7-483 (Marsh), 8-484 (Pattinson), 9-496 (Nevill), 10-505 (Hazlewood)
     Bowling: Southee 25-4-85-0, Boult 31-5-108-2, Henry 32-8-101-0, Anderson ...

Christchurch, Feb 22 (AFP) Scoreboard at tea on day three of the second Test between New Zealand and Australia in Christchurch on Monday:

Martin Guptill fell without scoring as New Zealand set out after Australia's 135-run first-innings lead after bowling the tourists out for 505 on day three of the second Test on Monday.
     Home bowler Neil Wagner claimed his first six-wicket haul as Australia's tail folded, losing their last five wickets for 41 after lunch at Christchurch's Hagley Oval.
     At tea New Zealand, chasing a series-levelling win in the second and final Test, were 43-1 in their second innings with Guptill out for a duck, nicking a James Pattinson delivery on off-stump to wicketkeeper Peter Nevill.
     However, early demons appeared to have long gone from the wicket and Tom Latham was not out 33 with Kane Williamson on 10.
     Wagner, who removed Joe Burns (170) and Steve Smith (138) late on Sunday, completed his sweep of the Australian dangermen when he had Adam Voges caught for 60 in the second over after lunch.
     The innings ended soon after but Australia had already batted themselves into a ...

Kiwis lose Guptill in Aussie run-chase

The New Zealand and Australian cricket teams joined together with spectators at the second Test in a minute of silence Monday to mark the fifth anniversary of the deadly Christchurch earthquake.
     The players, wearing black armbands, stood on the balcony of the main stand at Hagley Oval during the lunch break on the third day of the match at 12:51pm (2351 GMT Sunday), the moment the quake struck.
     The crowd of about 3,000 stood with the players to reflect on the devastation caused by the magnitude 6.3 tremor which killed 185 people and destroyed much of the city centre.
     New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum, who lives in Christchurch, has recalled how he was in India for the 2011 World Cup when the quake struck and spent an hour trying to contact his wife Ellissa and two children who were at home.
     "We got off very lightly. I'm under no illusions about that," he told the Cricinfo website.
     Before this Test he spoke of wanting to give the people of Christchurch ...

New Zealand, Australia teams mark quake anniversary

DSK Shivajians staged a fine comeback to hold Shillong Lajong FC 1-1 in an I-League match at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex here today.
     The visitors scored through Uilliams Souza Silva (3rd minute) before DSK Shivajians fought back with a goal through striker Aser Perrick Dipanda (59th minute).
     The draw helped DSK Shivajians swell their tally to five points from eight rounds.
     Playing their fourth home game on the trot, the home side found themselves on the back-foot early with Shillong Lajong raiding their half with a host of attacks.
     Three minutes into the game, Uilliams Souza did well to pick up a through ball by Samuel Lalmuanpuia on the edge of the box before finishing past keeper Subrata Paul.
     The visitors came close to scoring again in the 14th minute when Zondingliana got on the end of a cross, but his header was just wide of the target.
     The home side took their time to settle down and slowly kept up the pressure on the Shillong-based ...

DSK Shivajians hold Shillong Lajong 1-1

Needing a win to remain in the fray for a semi-final berth, Telugu Titans today routed Bengaluru Bulls 40-22 in a Pro Kabaddi league match here today.
     The Titans won the match with the help of two all-outs, one in each half.
     It was a team effort spearheaded by the low-profile Sukesh Hegde who contributed eight points with good support from the defence.
     When the team was facing an all-out with only Meraj Sheykh and Manoj Kumar remaining on court, the former caught rival captain Surjeet Narwal. This super tackle was followed by another one from Manoj Kumar on Pawan Kumar and helped avert the all-out.
     From 4-5 down, the Titans came back roaring into the match to lead 8-5 from where they never looked back.
     With their fifth win today, Telugu Titans now have 27 points. This was Bengaluru Bulls' eighth defeat in 10 matches in the season.
     Bengaluru Bulls raised visions of a fight as they matched their superior opponents point for point till the ninth minute and ..

Telugu Titans thrash Bengaluru Bulls 40-22

AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla blasted South Africa to victory by nine wickets after England collapsed in the second Twenty20 international at the Wanderers Stadium today.
     De Villiers and Amla made England's total of 171 look puny as they thrashed 125 runs in a 55-ball opening stand.
     De Villiers, on the ground on which he hit the world's fastest one-day international century against the West Indies last season, thrashed 79 off 29 balls with six fours and six sixes.
     On the way he reached his fifty off 21 balls, the fastest for South Africa.
     Amla was slightly more restrained but played some powerful strokes in making 69 not out off 38 balls with eight fours and three sixes.
     The ease of South Africa's win, which completed a 2-0 series victory, did not look a possibility while England captain Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler were pounding sixes in a fourth wicket stand of 96 off 55 balls.
     England had reached 157 for three and seemed set for a total well in excess .

De Villiers, Amla lead South Africa to England rout

Twelve Indian pugilist have made their professional debut at the first IBC Professional Boxing Fight card held here.
     The first of the six fights was in the featherweight division between a young local lad, all of 19, against an experienced amateur boxer from Goa. With the crowd of about 800 spectators rooting for the local lad Sachin, it was action from the word go.
     Both boxers started strongly matching each other punch for punch in first two rounds. Sachin was leading on judges score cards by a narrow margin of 10: 9. By the third round though, Sachin slowly took control of the fight, with clean insteps and countering when Pushkar's guard was down.
     The  Super Lightweight class witnessed some aggressive and exceptional performances, from both Pardeep Kharera of Delhi and Munish Sharma from Haryana.
     Right from the word "Box" in the first round, both boxers went at each other with gusto and aggression, resulting in a lot of holding and shoving which were duly called .

12 Indian pugilist make professional debut at IBC fight night

China and Indonesia today won the Badminton Asia Team Championships in the women and men's categories respectively at the Gachibowli indoor stadium here today.
     China defeated Japan 3-2 in the women's category and Indonesia beat Japan 3-2 in men's category in the two finals of the week-long tournament.
     In the women's finals held in the morning session, Japan's Nozomi Okuhara gave a great start to her team with a 17-21, 21-16 and 21-15 win against China's Shixian Wang.
     It was a clash of equals as Wang is ranked seven, while Okuhara is ranked just below her at eight. Okuhara lost the first game, but bounced back to win the remaining two games.
     Japan's doubles pair of Misaki Matsutomo-Ayaka Takahashi continued their team's winning streak with a 21-12, 21-16 victory over China's Ying Luo-Qing Tian in the first doubles match of the five-match tie. The tie comprised three singles and two doubles matches.
     The fortunes of the Chinese team were, however, revived by Yu ..

Chinese women and Indonesia men win titles

Jaypee Punjab Warriors were today crowned Hockey India League champions as they clinched their maiden title after thrashing Kalinga Lancers 6-1 in a lop-sided summit clash here today.
     The Punjab-based side were third time lucky as they had finished runners-up in the last two editions. They lost to Delhi Waveriders in 2014 and to Ranchi Rays last year.
     The Warriors, who had finished second in the round-robin league phase, totally dominated the final match of the fourth edition of the tournament at the Astroturf Hockey Stadium here.
     They led 2-1 at the end of the second quarter but pumped in two field strikes -- with each field goal counting as two -- in the final two quarters to take the game away from the reach of Kalinga Lancers.
     Armaan Qureshi (4th minute), Matt Gohdes (39th) and Satbir Singh (42nd) found the target for Punjab Warriors while captain Moritz Fuerste scored the consolation goal for Kalinga Lancers in the 24th minute.
     The Warriors' forward line .

Punjab Warriors clinch maiden HIL title

England collapsed to 171 all out in the second Twenty20 international against South Africa at the Wanderers Stadium today.
     England lost their last seven wickets for 14 runs after they had looked set to post a total in excess of 200.
	Captain Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler seemed in total control, hitting four sixes apiece in a fourth wicket stand of 96 off 55 balls.
	The collapse started when Buttler hit the third ball of the 17th over from Kyle Abbott into the covers where South African captain Faf du Plessis held a low catch, which had to be confirmed by the television umpire.
	Buttler made 54 off 28 balls with four fours and four sixes.
	New batsman Ben Stokes thrashed the next ball straight back at Abbott, who deflected it into the stumps to run out Morgan for 38 off 23 balls.
	Wickets tumbled, with Abbott finishing with three for 26. Chris Morris picked up two and Kagiso Rabada finished off the innings.
	It is the last match of a tour during which England won a four-match Test .

England collapse after good stand

Scores in the second and final Twenty20 international between South Africa and England at the Wanderers Stadium today.
     England
	Roy b Rabada                        9
	Hales run out (Morris)             16
	Root c Miller b Imran Tahir        34
	Morgan run out (Abbott)            38
	Buttler c Du Plessis b Abbott      54
	Stokes c and b Morris               1
	Billings c Amla b Abbott            5
	Ali c Duminy b Morris               1
	Jordan c Du Plessis b Abbott        1
	Rashid b Rabada                     2
	Topley not out                      1
	Extras: (LB-3, W-6)                 9
     Total: (19.4 overs)                171
     Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-60, 3-61, 4-157, 5-157, 6-158, 7-160, 8-166, 9-166
     Bowling: Rabada 3.4-0-28-2, Abbott 4-0-26-3, Morris 4-0-33-2, Wiese 3-0-40-0, Imran Tahir 4-0-25-1, Duminy 1-0-16-0.

Johannesburg, Feb 21 (AFP) Scores in the second and final Twenty20 international between South Africa and England at the Wanderers Stadium today.

TVS Racing team swept the board with Jagan Kumar leading a podium sweep in the Group B (Open) class on way to winning the title as the MMSC FMSCI Indian National Racing Championship 2015 concluded at the MMRT, Sriperumbudur, near here today.
     Also annexing the National championship titles in their respective categories were Mathana Kumar of Ten10 Racing (Group C, Open) and Kannan Karnan of Moto-Rev Yamaha (Group D, Novice), while in the Honda MMSC One-Make championship, Sarath Kumar (CBR 250) and Aravind Balakrishnan (CBR 150) clinched the titles.
     The 26-year old Jagan from Chennai, winner of the first race yesterday that gave him the championship, gave a repeat performance in the second outing for a grand double with team-mates KY Ahamed and Kannan Subramani.
     Incidentally, the three riders are neighbours in the Triplicane locality of the city, and all weigh mere 52 Kgs.
     Jagan, the first Indian winner in the Asian Road Racing championship last year, had a mature ...

Jagan Kumar leads TVS Racing sweep

East Bengal rode on defender Bello Rasaq's header to defeat Salgaocar 2-1 and jump to second place in the I-League football tournament here today.
     The red and gold central defender headed in the winner from a Sanju Pradhan corner kick in the 83rd minute after both sides were locked 1-1 with goals on either side of the break.
     Mohammad Rafique helped East Bengal scored the opening goal of the match in the 38th minute after being set up by Mehtab Hossain as he went past Brian Mascarenhas before putting the ball past a diving Karanjit Singh.
     Darryl Duffy restored parity in the 65th minute after receiving a long ball from Augustin Fernandes to put pressure on the home team.
     But it was Rasaq, who ensured they go past Bengaluru FC and one point adrift of arch-rivals Mohun Bagan, the defending champions who have 18 points at halfway stage.
     The Goans, on the other hand, remained eighth in the table with five points from eight matches.
     Salgaocar tried their best ...

East Bengal beat Salgaocar to jump second

'Machiavellianism' ably ridden by Neerajrawal, won the H P Mistry Memorial Cup, the chief event of Hyderabad Winter Races held here today.
	Winner was trained by Deshmukh.
	Trainers Prasad Raju scored a treble and A Sharma, M Srinivasa Reddy scored double while Jockies P Saikumr, I chisty and K Mukesh scored a double each.
	Two first favourites obliged in a card of nine events.

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