Opting to bat, Royal Challengers Bangalore scored 130 for eight in their Indian Premier League match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here today.
     Brief scores:
     Royal Challengers Bangalore: 130/8 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 46, Moises Henriques 44; Ishant Sharma 3/27).

RCB score 130/8 against Sunrisers Hyderabad

PTI Automatic

Archery Association of India (AAI) is contemplating starting a zonal championship on the lines of National Ranking Archery Tournament from this year- end to provide more exposure to the archers.
     "We are planning to launch a zonal level championship to provide more competition for the archers," said Anil Kamineni, secretary general of AAI.
     Kamineni told newsmen that the discussions in this regard were on. He denied that the number of tournaments in the country has come down.
     Referring to the forthcoming World Cup Stage I to be held in Shanghai, China from May 13, he said all the top four archers in men and women's recurve and compound of the 2nd National Ranking Archery Tournament will take part in the Stage I and II World Cup.
     The stage II World Cup was scheduled to be held in Antalaya, Turkey in June.
     He said India team for the Stage III and IV will be picked up based on the performance of the archers at the 3rd National Ranking Archery Tournament to be held .

Archery Association wants zonal championship

Outgoing Davis Cup captain S P Misra today said with quality players such as Somdev Devvarman and Yuki Bhambari in the team, India have a good chance to qualify for the World Group next year.
     Misra led the side for one last time with India blanking Indonesia 5-0.
     "It was great being a part of the Indian team for the last six years, especially when India stormed into the World Group after a gap of eleven years. We played some exciting matches. Ties against South Africa and Brazil are still fresh in my mind. The team now revolves around Somdev Devvarman, Yuki Bhambari and Leander Paes and they all have the capacity to make into the World Group," Misra told reporters here.
     Misra said the the team did not expect to win 5-0 but Yuki played brilliantly. "He had so much of power that Indonesians could not not do much," he said.
     About the differences with the young players coming into this tie, Misra said he would prefer putting it behind.
     "I want to forget everything 

This team can make it to World Group in 2014: Misra

Indian football captain Sunil Chhetri and his Churchill Brothers team-mate Balal Arezou from Afghanistan have been denied visas to travel to Singapore to play against that county's club Warriors FC in an AFC Cup match.
     A team official told PTI that Chhetri, Arezou and club chairman Churchill Alemao have been denied visas by the Singapore Consulate in Mumbai for the Goan side's AFC Cup match in Singapore scheduled for April 10.
     "On Friday the club got a letter from Singapore Consulate in Mumbai that Chhetri, Arezou and Alemao will not be granted visas to travel to Singapore. The consulate gave no reason for the rejection. The players and Alemao will re-apply again," the official said.
     The other members of the team left for Singapore today without the two players and club chairman.
     Churchill are now lying in the third place in Group E with four points from three matches. They have lost one match, drawn one and lost one in the home-and-away group league competition so 

Chhetri denied visa to travel to Singapore for AFC Cup match

Somdev Devvarman, who led the players' revolt against AITA, today said veterans Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupahti have provided useful ideas for the betterment of Indian tennis but only time will tell if those ideas will work.
     Paes, who was the only top player to not side with the rebel players, surprisingly joined the newly-formed Indian Tennis Players Association as one of the vice presidents.
     Somdev said all players including Paes are on the same page on the issues, raised by IPTA.
     "I had a good chat with Lee (Paes). He has already planned new things which is encouraging. I even talked to Hesh (Mahesh Bhupathi) and he has already got six ideas. I am trying to be a part of them. Will this work out or not, time alone will tell," Somdev said after leading India to a 5-0 whitewash of Indonesia in the Davis Cup tie.
     About his role in ITPA, Somdev said he plans to improve things for all tennis players including those who have hung their boots.
     "I have been ...

Paes and Bhupathi are giving ideas to ITPA: Somdev

Odafe Okolie scored a hatrick as Mohun Bagan thrashed Sporting Clube de Goa 5-1 to end their unbeaten run, in the 23rd round of the I-League played at the Duler Stadium here today.
     After a barren first half, Bagan, who enjoyed numerical advantage in the second half after Sporting's striker Dawson Fernandes was sent off for his second bookable offence, scored through Odafe (52nd, 82nd, 90th) and Tolgay Ozbey (73rd, 80th) while Kalu Ogba pulled one back for Sporting in the 76th minute.
     The win takes Bagan's tally to 21 points from 19 matches while Sporting remained on 30 from 23 games.
     Sporting, who were determined to keep their seven-match winning streak intact, started well. They dictated terms as far as possession was concerned and the defence also did well to keep dangerman Odafe in check.
     They came close to scoring in the 18th minute when Pratemesh Shirodkar's left-footer went just above the bar after Stephene's initial shot from inside the visitors' box was ...

Odafe hatrick ends Sporting's unbeaten run

Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and elected to bat in their Pepsi Indian Premier League match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here today.
     Sunrisers replaced D B Ravi Teja with Ankit Sharma while RCB brought in Moises Henriques in place of Daniel Christian.
     Teams:
     Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kumar Sangakkara (Capt), Dale Steyn, Akshat Reddy, Ashish Reddy, Ankit Sharma, Parthiv Patel, Cameron White, Hanuma Vihari, Thisara Perera, Amit Mishra and Ishant Sharma.
     Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (Capt), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Moises Henriques, K B Arun Kumar, T Dilshan, Murali Kartik, R Vinay Kumar, Muthiah Muralidharan, Karun Nair and J Unadkat.

RCB win toss, elect to bat

Kings XI Punjab had never won their opening match in the IPL before their eight-wicket victory over Pune Warriors here today and captain Adam Gilchrist is relived that his side has got rid of the hoodoo.
     "Kings XI Punjab have never won their opening match in the IPL earlier. That is the hoodoo we have got rid of. Every team hopes to start a tournament with a win and so we are going towards the right direction," Gilchrist said after the match.
     He said his side did everything right in all departments of the game.
     "It's a great start in the tournament and all the players showed the right intentions whether in batting, bowling and fielding," said the former Australian captain.
     Gilchrist praised Gurkeerat Singh for his brilliant catch to dismiss dangerous Pune Warriors batsman Ross Taylor and also patted IPL debutant Manan Vohra who scored an unbeaten 43 to take KXIP to victory.
     "What a catch Gurkeerat had and every player fielded with great intention. Manan played 

Happy we have got rid of hoodoo of losing opening match: Gilly

Shiv Kapur had the best performance among Indian golfers as he finished fourth at the Panasonic Open which concluded at the Delhi Golf Club here today.
     There were seven Indians who finished in the Top-15 as Australian Wade Ormsby won his maiden Asian Tour title with a final round of one-under-par 71 to pip Thailand veteran Boonchu Ruangkit by one stroke and get richer by USD 54,000.
     Kapur was in contention till three holes from the finish before he ran into trouble on 16th and 18th and dropped shots on both to drop to fourth, while SSP Chowrasia (68) made a valiant bid only to end up fifth alongside defending champion Digvijay Singh, who carded four sub-par rounds.
     Shamim Khan, who barely made the cut, continued his great work over the weekend following up his third round 67 with a final round of 69 to be tied eighth, while Rahil Gangjee, with five birdie on the front nine, carded 68 to be tied 10th with local lad Manav Jaini (72) and Siddikur at three-under.
     ...

Kapur finishes 4th as Ormsby wins Panasonic Open

Kings XI Punjab produced a clinical performance to thrash Pune Warriors by eight wickets and start their Pepsi Indian Premier League campaign in an emphatic fashion, here today.
     Angelo Mathews' decision to bat first backfired badly as the home team batsmen produced another inept show posting a meagre 99 for nine in their 20 overs.
     The chase was a cakewalk for KXIP as young IPL debutant Manan Vohra sent the Pune bowlers on a leatherhunt, finishing the lopsided contest in only 12.2 overs.
     Manan (43 no, 7x4, 1x6) and Mandeep Singh (31) added 58 runs, including 21 in one Ashoke Dinda over, as the Preity Zinta co-owned team finished the match in a jiffy.
     The match ended in a dramatic fashion when David Hussey's flick shot was acrobatically caught at short mid-wicket by T Suman off Mitchell Marsh's bowling. But TV replays showed that it was a no-ball and thus KXIP won the match.
     It was a match in which KXIP outclassed their opponents in every department of the ...

Kings XI Punjab thrash Pune Warriors by 8 wickets

After two medal-winning efforts, Indian shooters had a disappointing outing at the ISSF World Cup in Changwon, Korea today, with Heena Sidhu missing out on a podium finish after finishing eighth in her event.
     Competing in the women's 10-metre air pistol event, Heena qualified for the finals with an impressive second-place finish. But she failed to replicate that in the medal round, finishing at the bottom among the top eight shooters.
     After totalling 388 with the help of 9x in the qualifying round, Heena could not manage more than 75.7 in the finals.
     Annu Raj	Singh and Ruchita	Vinerkar could not even qualify for the finals after finishing dismal 14th and 27th respectively.
     In the women's 50-metre rifle 3 position, Tejaswini Sawant, Lajja Gauswamy and Meena Kumari failed to make the cut as they finished 18th, 24th and 33rd respectively in the qualifying round.
     China's Jie Ren won the gold in Heena's event with a total score of 201.8. The silver went to Serbia's 

Heena falls short after good qualifying round in ISSF WC

The coach of Bangladesh women's cricket team Oshadee Weerasinghe today said that he side would look to avoid a whitewash in the three-match series against India.
     "We are improving every day. We will avoid whitewash and expect to win at least one match in the series," Weerasinghe said.
     The first one-day international will be played here tomorrow while the second and the final matches are scheduled for Wednesday and Friday.
     Bangladesh captain Salma Khatun said that the Indian side "are well-organised and we are eager to learn from Indian girls".
     "They are much more experienced than us. We got ODI status from ICC only in November 2011. They get opportunity to play among various states in India while in Bangladesh, we are the only players as there are no opponents," Khatun added.
     Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur said that the focus was on finding the right balance.
     "The focus is on team balance in the batting and bowling departments. We will play the best ...

Will try to avoid whitewash: Bangladesh women team coach

Kings XI Punjab beat Pune Warriors by eight wickets in their Indian Premier League match here today.
     Brief Scores:
     Pune Warriors: 99 for 9 in 20 overs (Abhishek Nayar 25 not out, Azhar Mahmood 2/19).
     Kings XI Punjab: 100 for 2 in 12.2 overs (Manan Vohra 43 not out, Mandeep Singh 31; Angelo Mathews 1/12).

KXIP beat Warriors by 8 wkts

Delhi Daredevils opener Unmukt Chand has been reprimanded for violation of dress code rules during his side's five-run loss in their IPL match against Rajasthan Royals here.
     "He violated article 2.1.1 of the Code of Conduct for a breach of paragraph 4.2 of the IPL Clothing Regulations, during his teams Pepsi IPL match against the Rajasthan Royals at the Ferozeshah Kotla Ground, in Delhi," the IPL said in a release.
     Unmukt scored 23 from 19 balls with the help of two fours and one six in Daredevils' second match of IPL VI last night.

Unmukt Chand reprimanded for dress code rule violation

Somdev Devvarman scored an easy win against Indonesia's David Agung Susant as the hosts extended their lead to 4-0 in the Asia-Oceania Group I Davis Cup relegation play-off tie here today.
     India's spearhead overcame the number two Indonesian David 6-3 6-1 in little over an hour. Somdev broke the rival in the sixth game of the opening set, then won the second set and the match by breaking his opponent thrice.
     With a motley crowd watching the proceedings, the opening set went with serve until the sixth game when David dumped a forehand long outside the baseline to trail 2-4.
     Though the Indonesian saved his eighth game negating Somdev to pull off the set, he lost the set in the ninth game when he blasted a forehand smash wide as he greedily eyed a winner down the line.
     Both players held serve until the third game of second set when David, running in hard across the ball, smashed the ball outside the sideline to give India 2-1 lead. However, the Indonesian did not give 

Somdev gives India a 4-0 lead

Kings XI Punjab produced a clinical bowling performance to restrict Pune Warriors to a meagre 99 for nine in a Pepsi Indian Premier League match here today.
     Angelo Mathews' decision to bat first backfired badly as the home team batsman produced another inept show failing to dominate the KXIP bowling even once.
     The sheer dominance of the KXIP pacers was evident that the highest partnership for Pune was 25 and the top scorer was Abhishek Nayar with 25.
     For KXIP, Azhar Mahmood and Praveen Kumar got two wickets apiece giving away 19 and 31 runs respectively.
     The slide started in the very first over as Manish Pandey (0), who has done nothing in the past two seasons to merit a place in the starting XI, failed yet again as he was played on off the last delivery of Praveen Kumar's first over.
     T20 specialist Thiru Suman (6) hit a boundary before being holed out at mid-off with veteran Azhar Mahmood being the bowler.
     The Pune batsmen found it difficult to score on .

Kings XI Punjab restrict Pune Warriors to 99 for nine

Electing to bat, Pune Warriors India scored 99 for nine in their second Pepsi Indian Premier League game against Kings XI Punjab here today.
     Brief Scores: 99 for 9 in 20 overs (Abhishek Nayar 25 not out, Azhar Mahmood 2/19).

Pune Warriors post 99/9 against Kings XI Punjab

Divij Sharan and Purav Raja had to be content with a runners-up finish at the ATP Challenger event in Leon as they lost the summit clash in straight sets to Chris Guccione and Matt Reid, here.
     The fourth seeded Indian pair lost 3-6 5-7 to their unseeded Australian rivals in the final of the USD 35000 hard court event.
     Divij and Purav had beaten to the same opponents last month to win the Kyoto Challenger.
     Divij and Purav earned 48 ranking points each and split USD 1,250 as prize money.
     An early beak on Divij's serve in the second game pegged the Indians back as they could not break the rivals back.
     In the second set, the Indians played much better. They broke Matt Reid's serve in the fourth game and soon they were set to serve out the set 5-3. However, Divij lost his serve and then Purav also was broken in the 11th game to hand back the lead to the Australians.

Divij-Purav end runners-up at Leon Challenger

PepsiCo today announced a one-year strategic partnership with the Asian Football Development Project (AFDP) that will cover over 40 countries with a special focus on India.
     The signing of the agreement will see both PepsiCo and AFDP join hands in the execution of major social responsibility projects using football as a tool for social development.
     The initiative, themed 'Kick for Hope', will look to execute special grassroots football projects to increase participation in the sport.
     In India, PepsiCo and AFDP will support Magic Bus Sport for Development (S4D) programme across Indian states to provide sports opportunities for marginalised community people.
     "We know that we can work closely together to capitalise on the unique power of the world's favourite game to drive positive social change and promote sustainable development across Asia," said HRH Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, who is the brain behind AFDP, in a statement.
      Both organisations will jointly ...

Pepsi signs one-year deal with AFDP to promote football

Odisha thrashed Manipur 8-1 in the second semifinals today to set up a summit clash meeting against Jharkhand in the 3rd Hockey India Sub-Junior Men National Championship (East Zone) here.
     For Odisha, Amit Chirmako scored four goals in the 8th, 19th, 48th and 52nd minutes. The other scorers were Ashwin Kujur (33rd, 69th), Suman Beck (65th) and Suraj Minz (66th).
     Odisha looked the better-drilled outfit with a lot of character and composure while Manipur committed far too many errors that put them on the defensive for most part of the match.
     Jharkhand will play Odisha in the women's final.
     Both the finals will be played tomorrow.

Odisha vs Jharkhand final in Sub-Junior Men National Hockey

Pune Warriors India won the toss and elected to bat in their second Indian Premier League game against Kings XI Punjab, here today.
     Senior batsman Yuvraj Singh will be missing out due to back injury with T Suman replacing him. Kings XI Punjab has inducted former India U-19 Manan Vohra in their playing XI.
     Teams
     Pune Warriors XI: Angelo Mathews (c), Manish Pandey, Robin Uthappa, Marlon Samuels, Ross Taylor, T Suman, Abhishek Nayar, Mitchell Marsh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashok Dinda, Rahul Sharma,
     Kings XI Punjab: Adam Gilchrist (c), Mandeep Singh, David Hussey, Azhar Mahmood, Gurkeerat Singh, Manan Vohra, Rajagopal Sathish, Piyush Chawla, Parvinder Awana, Praveen Kumar, Ryan Harris.

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