Young Gujarat batsman Manprit Juneja showed perfect temperament for longer format, scoring a patient unbeaten 178 in India A's first innings score of 408 for seven against New Zealand A at stumps on third day of the second unofficial 'Test' here today.
     A week short of his 23rd birthday, Juneja batted throughout the entire third day adding 135 runs to his overnight tally of 43. He also put on a huge 197-run third wicket stand with Vasudevan Jagadeesh (91), who missed out on a ton by just nine runs.
     Juneja then let his skipper Abhishek Nayar (58) dominate in a quickfire 88-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
     For New Zealand, pacer Doug Bracewell was the most successful bowler picking up three for 78.
     The Indians, who trail New Zealand A by just 29 runs with three wickets remaining, will be hoping that Juneja scores a double century before the bowlers get another shot at the Kiwi line-up on the final day tomorrow.
     Juneja made the headlines couple of seasons ...

Juneja hits an unbeaten 178 as India A reach 408/7

PTI Automatic

Listless so far in the tournament, defending champions India take on hosts Nepal in their last group match with a semifinal berth at stake in the SAFF Football Championships here tomorrow.
     India need a draw from tomorrow's Group A match at the Dasarath Stadium to qualify for semifinals. But with the lacklustre performance they have dished out so far, it would not be easy for Wim Koevermans men to achieve that against a team which will have overwhelming crowd support.
     Having opened their campaign by scrapping past Pakistan who gifted a goal and then almost being beaten by Bangladesh before managing a last-gasp equaliser yesterday, India never looked like a team which would defend its title.
     The group is wide open and all the four teams have a chance to make it to the semifinals after playing two matches each. Nepal and India are on four points with a goal difference of plus two and plus one respectively while Pakistan and Bangladesh are on one point with minus one and ...

India play Nepal in search of semifinal berth in SAFF C'ships

First Indian female triathlete Anu Vaidyanathan will now be seen promoting cycling amongst women in the country.
     An internationally acclaimed athlete, Anu has been signed up as a brand ambassador by world's leading biking brand -- Trek -- to support cycling, an integral part of her sport, and would also be assisted in her endeavour to improve her performances at the international competitions.
     "I am privilege to take up the cause of promoting cycling amongst women in the country. Also, I look forward to taking my sport to the next level with world class equipment in the coming years," said Anu, the first Asian to complete the Ultraman event, which involved 10km swim, 420km bike ride and 84.4 km run segment.
     Anu, who has competed internationally in the most demanding tournaments like the Ironman and Ultraman Triathlons, has been preparing hard for her next assignment in November and aims to better her previous performances.
     "I have stated taking triathlon more ...

Triathlete Anu Vaidyanathan to promote cycling amongst women

Opener Vusi Sibanda and captain Hamilton Masakadza added 42 runs for the unbroken second wicket today as Zimbabwe reached 67-1 at lunch on the second day of the first Test in reply to Pakistan's first innings score of 249.
     Sibanda was batting on 30 off 74 deliveries with six fours while Masakadza was on 19 off 44 balls with two fours and a six as the home team steadied the innings after the early dismissal of Tino Mawoyo.
     The pair played both pace and spin with ease. Masakadza, known for his big shots, played cautiously but was quick to heave an over-pitched delivery from off-spinner Saeed Ajmal for the first six of the Zimbabwe innings.
     Mawoyo was dismissed for 13 by left-arm pace bowler Junaid Khan but some resolute batting denied the visiting side another wicket.
     Mawoyo played tentatively and edged an outgoing delivery for wicketkeeper Adnan Akmal to take a simple catch.
     Earlier, Pakistan failed to add to its overnight score of 249-9 as Ajmal was bowled by .

Zimbabwe reaches 67-1 in reply to Pakistan's 249

In a first of its kind in India, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) will be organising the four-day final of pre-season S K Acharya Memorial Trophy (Ranji Pre-season tourney) where pink balls will be used and the match will be played under floodlights.
     The final match of four-team tournament will be played at the Eden Gardens from October 1-4. Bengal A, Bengal B, Odisha and Jharkhand are the four participating teams in the tournament that begins on September 15.
     Pink balls have been used in Australian domestic circuit strictly on experimental basis while one of the opening games in an English County few years back was also played with pink balls.
     CAB treasurer and member of the BCCI's NCA sub-committee member Biswarup Dey revealed the elaborate plans.
     "Day/Night first-class matches are way forward and we wanted to be the first in India to try it out on an experimental basis. The players will be wearing white clothing and pink balls will be used. The ...

CAB to use floodlights and pink balls in Ranji pre-season meet

The Sports Ministry has requested full membership of the International Olympic Committee to take up the matter of wrestling at the 125th session of IOC at Buenos Aires, Argentina and retain the game in the category of core sports in Olympic Games.
     In a letter written to all the IOC members, Sports Secretary P K Deb has said that wrestling, which combines Freestyle (men and women) and Greco-Roman events, goes back to the inaugural modern Olympics held in Athens in 1886 and has been a core sport from the first Olympics onwards.
     "It was a part of the ancient Olympics too. The exclusion of the discipline from the core sports of Olympics is against tradition, which is so much a part of Olympics," Deb wrote in the letter.
     "In modern times, wrestling has immense popularity and fan following world-wide. Its popularity can be gauged from the fact that 71 countries participated in wrestling events in the London Olympic 2012, to full houses.
     "The decision of the Executive ...

Sports Ministry urges IOC to retain wrestling in 2020 Olympics

The Pakistan Cricket Board has said it would be reviewing documents and evidence relating to the Danish Kaneria's spot fixing case, which has been handed over to it by former captain Rashid Latif.
     Latif, known as a crusader against corruption and fixing in cricket, met with PCB officials and their legal advisors yesterday in Lahore where he handed over the documents relating to Kaneria's case to them.
     "All I can say is that we have been given some material by Latif in which he has pointed out some things in the Danish Kaneria case. Our legal advisors will now examine the material closely," a PCB official told PTI.
     The disciplinary panel of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) first imposed a life ban on Pakistani Test leg-spinner in 2012 for corruption and his links with an alleged Indian bookmaker, Annu Bhatt.
     An appeal panel also rejected his appeal against the life ban this year in June-July and asked him to pay costs of the case.
     Kaneria, who played ..

PCB to review documents related to Kaneria's spot-fixing case

Hockey India (HI) today announced cash award for three of its players who were a part of the Indian Men's hockey team that won silver medal at the ninth Asia Cup at Ipoh, Malaysia.
     HI will give Rs 1 lakh each to defender V R Raghunath for winning Most Outstanding Player of the tournament award, vice-captain and goalkeeper P R Sreejesh for Goalkeeper of the tournament award and debutant forward Ramandeep Singh for scoring a goal on debut for the national team.
     Ramandeep scored his first international goal against Oman in their opening match of the tournament.
     Congratulating the senior men's team for its achievement at the Asia Cup, Narinder Batra, the Secretary General HI said, "Out of four individual awards at the 9th Men's Asia Cup, Indian players have won two of them. It speaks highly about the performance of Indian team.
     "Debutant Ramandeep Singh also deserves a special mention for his maiden goal in his debut match.

Cash awards for Raghunath, Sreejesh and Ramandeep

Mumbai Cricket Association wants to host what would be senior batsman Sachin Tendulkar's 200th Test match against the West Indies in November at the Wankhede Stadium here.
     If MCA gets to host the second match of the series at Tendulkar's home ground, it would be an out of turn allotment as per the Cricket Board's rotation policy.
     "We want to host Sachin's 200th Test match at the Wankhede Stadium even though it may not be our turn to do so. We will be sending a formal request to the BCCI to allot the second Test to us," MCA Joint Secretary Nitin Dalal told PTI today.
     The BCCI has decided to squeeze in this short tour by the West Indies though it's not in the Future Tours Programme of the International Cricket Council. India was scheduled to tour South Africa around November as per the itinerary drawn up by Cricket South Africa.
     The Tour, Programmes and Fixtures Committee of the Board will meet soon to draw up the schedule of the tour which is expected to comprise ...

MCA wants to host Tendulkar's 200th Test at Wankhede

World number one Novak Djokovic raced into the US Open quarter-finals for the loss of just three games while defending champion Andy Murray was again involved in a four-set duel.
     Top seeded Djokovic, the 2011 champion, wrapped up a place in his 18th successive Grand Slam quarter-final when he crushed Spanish world number 43 Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-0, 6-0 in just 79 minutes yesterday.
     Andy Murray, the third seed, reached the quarter-finals for a third successive year with a 6-7 (5/7), 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 win over Denis Istomin, the 64th-ranked Uzbek.
     Djokovic will next tackle Russian 21st seed Mikhail Youzhny, a semi-finalist in 2006 and 2010, over whom he has an 5-3 career lead.
     Youzhny carved out a four-hour, 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 7-5 win over 2001 champion Lleyon Hewitt after trailing 4-1 in the fourth set and 5-2 in the fifth.
     Swiss ninth seed Stanislas Wawrinka reached the last eight by eliminating Czech fifth seed Tomas Berdych, a semi-finalist last year, .

Djokovic races, Murray struggles into quarter-finals

Veteran Indian tennis star Leander Paes and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek advanced to the U S Open men's doubles' semifinals after a hard-fought win in the last-eight stage here.
     The fourth-seeded Indo-Czech pair defeated the fifth seeded combination of Pakistan's Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Dutchman Jean-Julien Rojer 6-1 6-7 (3) 6-4 in a match which lasted more than two and a half hour.
     They will now be up against top-seeded American brothers Mike and Bob Bryan, who got the better of the 12th-seeded British pair of Colin Fleming and Jonathan Marray 7-6 (7), 6-4 in their quarterfinal match.
     Paes and Stepanek started off well and broke their rivals twice, while holding their own serve, to clinch the opening set in just 33 minutes.
     But they were stretched quite a bit in the remaining two sets which took almost an hour each to conclude.
     In the second set, neither of the two teams conceded a single break point. Even though Qureshi and Rojer committed three double .

Paes, Stepanek enter US Open men's doubles semifinals

Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland has lashed out at "racist comments" directed at Muslim Fawad Ahmed after the leg-spinner asked not to wear a kit displaying the logo of beer brand VB.
     Pakistan-born Ahmed, who became an Australian citizen in July after his application was fast-tracked, did not have the logo on his shirt during his international debut in last week's T20 matches against England.
     It emerged yesterday that he had "expressed discomfort with the conflict this created for him, due to his religious beliefs".
     Cricket Australia agreed with his request to wear an unbranded shirt, but this sparked critical comments on the Cricket Australia website and other social media.
     "Legitimate reason RELIGION, no its not, it's a game of cricket, not praying at a church," said one reaction.
     "It is driven by money and fans not by religious fanatics. Those who don't like the Australian culture should leave, or keep misguided values to themselves."
     ...

CA chief lashes out at racist abuse of Ahmed

Ruthless defending champion Serena Williams breezed into the US Open semi-finals to book a showdown with Chinese fifth seed Li Na, who fought off nerves to battle her way into the final four.
     World number one Williams, a 16-time Grand Slam winner seeking her fifth US Open crown and her ninth title of the year, dispatched 18th seed Carla Suarez Navarro 6-0, 6-0, in 52 minutes on the Spaniard's 25th birthday yesterday.
     "I'm so happy to be in the smei-finals. It really feels great," Williams said.
     Li, the 2011 French Open champion, overcame nervous feelings for a 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-2 victory over Russian 24th seed Ekaterina Makarova.
     Reigning French Open champion Williams is 8-1 all-time against Li but was tested 7-5, 7-5 in their most recent matchup last month in a US Open run-up semi-final at Cincinnati.
     "She is playing some of the best tennis of her career," Williams said. "It's going to be a tough match."
     Williams, who has dropped only 13 games in five ...

Ruthless Serena, nervous Li reach Open semis

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) today accepted India's invitation for a series in November which would allow senior batsman Sachin Tendulkar to play his milestone 200th Test in front of home fans.
     "The West Indies Cricket Board today confirmed that the West Indies team will tour India in November. The tour will include a two Test series and three One Day Internationals. The WICB and the Board of Control for Cricket in India agreed to utilise the mutually available window in November for the tour," the WICB said in a statement.
     The tour was proposed by the BCCI's working committee in a meeting on Sunday and would precede India's trip to South Africa in December.
     Tendulkar has played 198 Tests so far and the second Test of this series would take him to one of the several milestones he has touched in a glittering career.
     For the West Indies, the Indian tour will precede the trip to New Zealand which is scheduled to commence on December 3 and conclude on January ..

West Indies agree to November tour to India

Ravi Bopara and Eion Morgan both hit centuries today to steer a young and inexperienced England team to a six-wicket victory against Ireland in a one-day international.
	England finished with 274-4 having been set a target of 269 by the Irish, with captain William Porterfield scoring 112 for Ireland.
	After some worrying moments for England as the top of their order failed to fire, Bopara and Morgan put on an unbeaten 226-run partnership. Scoring at a rate of eight an over, the two steadied the English attack, which only managed to produce one other score over 10.
	Morgan's 124 off 106 balls included four huge sixes, while Bopara smashed five out of the ground in his 101 off 75 balls. Tim Murtagh was the only Irish bowler to find success, taking 3-33.
	After a highly successful summer, including an Ashes series win against Australia, this comeback showed that English cricket also has a bright future. Young quick Boyd Rankin claimed 4-46 in his international ODI debut, outshining the ..

England beats Ireland by 6 wickets in ODI

Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka advanced to the US Open quarter-finals today, beating Serbian 13th seed Ana Ivanovic 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a match postponed from yesterday due to rain.
	The 24-year-old second seed from Belarus took advantage of Ivanovic's 42 unforced errors and broke the former world number one nine times in the match, winning despite surrendering seven breaks herself and hitting just 21 winners.
	Ivanovic had fired 15 forehand winners before Azarenka managed her first.
	"Ana just came out firing. She played really amazing tennis in the first set," Azarenka said. "I was sleeping and she was ripping winners.
	"I had to wake up in the second set. I was more determined and focused and took advantage of those opportunities."
	Azarenka, who lost to Serena Williams in last year's US Open final, will play for a semi-final spot against Slovakia's 48th-ranked Daniela Hantuchova, with whom she has split four career meetings.
	"She's playing the best tennis of her 

Tennis: Azarenka advances to US Open quarter-finals

The steering committee, set up by the Sports Ministry to oversee India's preparation for next year's Commonwealth and Asian Games, met at the Sports Authority of India complex here today and discussed the progress made so far by the National Sports Federations.
     The meeting was attended by ministry and SAI officials and deliberated on the issue of India's preparedness for the Commonwealth Games 2014 at Glasgow and Asian Games 2014 at Incheon, Seoul.
     The committee is headed by Sports Secretary P K Deb.
     Sports Minister Jitendra Singh had expressed his unhappiness over the country's preparation for the quadrennial events during a meeting with the SAI officials here early last month.
     The minister was particularly unhappy with the fact that only a handful of NSFs had given a detailed training programme for the probable medal winners identified for the games.

Steering committee takes stock of CWG, Asian Games preps

In a noble gesture, a senior Railway official, the first woman athlete from Tamil Nadu to receive the Arjuna Award, has donated Rs one lakh towards the Railway Minister's Relief Fund on her retirement.
	V Anusuya Bai, who retired as Deputy Chief Personnel Officer/Welfare on August 31, handed over a cheque for Rs one lakh to Southern Railway General Manager Rakesh Misra, a release said.
	"I feel just as a child that takes pride and feels happy putting food in her mother's mouth, even as the mother's hand feeds the child, contributing to my organisation, which sheltered and took care of me for 40 years of long official and sports career," an emotional Bai said.
	Bai was the first woman athlete from Tamil Nadu to receive the coveted Arjuna Award for athletics in 1978.

Railway sportswoman contributes Rs 1 lakh to Railways

East Bengal would start selling tickets for their upcoming AFC Cup quarterfinal match against Semen Padang at its club tent from tomorrow.
	"The tickets would be in the denominations of Rs 100, 150 and 200," East Bengal secretary Kalyan Majumdar said here today.
	East Bengal will face Semen Padang with the first leg at home on September 17, while a week later the red-and-gold brigade would face them in Indonesia.
	Majumdar also appealed fans to behave during the match as the AFC might impose fine on the club in case of an incident.
	"We request the supporters to behave during the match and not light any firecrackers or disrupt the match. Playing the AFC Cup quarters, is a pride for the country. Win or loss is a part and parcel of the game," Majumdar said.
	A circular detailing the dos and dont's would be given along with the tickets.
	East Bengal had last reached the quarters in 2004 but were unable to make the last four.
	Dempo remain the only Indian outfit to make the semis of the ..

EB to sell tickets from tomorrow

National subjunior champion G K Monnisha upset overnight leader Swati Ghate in a marathon battle as Soumya Swaminathan jumped to sole lead after ninth round of the 40th National Women Premier Chess Championship here today.
	Soumya outplayed Odisha's Kiran Manisha Mohanty in a rook and bishop ending to emerge sole leader with 6.5 points, while two-time defending champion Mary Ann Gomes and Padmini Rout remained half a point adrift.
	The shock loss gave a severe jolt to Swati's title hopes as she slipped to joint third position with top seed Tania Sachdev with 5.5 points each.
	Monnisha stole the limelight as she spoilt Swati's brilliant run in a Sicilian Maroczy bind and kept the leader on the defensive.
	Monnisha later effectively used her rook and passed pawns on the queenside to win the game that stretched up to 91 moves, the longest in the championship.
	Eyeing a hat trick of titles, local favourite Mary Ann kept her hopes alive as she downed Nisha Mohta.
	Padmini too logged a full 

Soumya sole leader, Swati slips joint third

Captain William Porterfield scored 112 for Ireland to rack 269-7 against England in a one-off one-day international in Dublin today.
     England, which won the toss and chose to field, made early inroads thanks to fast bowler Boyd Rankin's 4-46 but couldn't prise out the opener Porterfield until the 46th over. By then, he'd hit 14 of the 142 balls he faced to the boundary, and one six.
     The rest of the batting lineup failed to capitalize, with the extras tally of 32 the second-highest total on the scorecard.
     Rankin, on his ODI debut, was the pick of the England bowlers, rattling the stumps of Porterfield. Spinner James Tredwell took 2-35 on a slow pitch.

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