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.

Pune Warriors India elect to bat, Yuvraj out with back injury

PTI Automatic

Former South African Olympian Gregg Clark was today appointed the head coach of India's junior men's hockey side to prepare them for the World Cup to be held here later this year.
     Clark is also the chief coach of Ranchi Rhinos who won the title in the inaugural season of the Hockey India League.
     The 42-year-old has had a seven-year coaching stint with the South African national side as well.
     Clark will commence his assignment with the Indian side from April 13.
     "After coaching Ranchi Rhinos in the inaugural season of HIL, I can say that Indian Hockey has very bright future. I look forward to working again with Baljeet Saini, who along with the other coaching staff have done a great job with the team to date," Clark said.
     Clark has over 250 international caps and has represented South Africa in two World Cups in Sydney 1994 and Kuala Lumpur 2002, two Olympic Games, in Atlanta 1998 and Athens 2004.
     On Clarke's appointment, Hockey India secretary general ...

Gregg Clark appointed junior men's hockey coach

Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming has blamed the batsmen for his team's nine-run defeat against Mumbai Indians in their Pepsi IPL opener and said the way some of them got out was "not acceptable".
     "The pitch was fine. The score was achievable playing in the second innings and at half time we were pretty comfortable. I must say the batting was below standards, considering the (batsmen's) experience," said Fleming at the post-match press conference.
     "Some of the dismissals were truly out of character. It is not acceptable," he added.
     Chasing a modest total of 149, CSK skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni almost won the match for his side with a breathtaking 51-run knock off 26 balls but his dismissal in the first ball of the final over scripted Mumbai's sensational win.
     Fleming said he was disappointed at the way his batsmen got out.
     "If you try and analyse it, may be this is the first game in IPL 6. Coming from Test series, there may be confidence or over ...

Some dismissals were truly out of character: Fleming

Having got an opportunity to bat early on after Mumbai Indians lost four quick wickets against Chennai Super Kings, the West Indies explosive batsman Kieron Pollard proved his mettle but he refuted claims of making a statement.
     Time and again Mumbai Indians have faced criticism for not promoting Pollard higher than the No.6, which leaves the hard-hitting batsman with very little time to make an impact.
     But in MI's Pepsi Indian Premier League tie last night against CSK, the Caribbean T20 specialist showed what he could do if given the opportunity to plan and pace his innings.
     Asked the need of him to bat in the top order, Pollard said: "I can feel that some times. I do not know about the other players but I have a job to do as well as a player.
     "Management staff pick the team for situations. As a team player I have to back myself to the situations thrown at me. I take the opportunity as it comes. If you do not grab the chance you do not back yourself. It was just a .

Team management picks side for situations: Pollard

Former Davis Cupper Jaideep Mukherjea was today appointed President of the newly-formed Indian Tennis Players Association (ITPA) while Leander Paes was surprisingly named as one of three Vice Presidents.
     The ITPA had its first meeting here and chose Mahesh Bhupathi and Somdev Devvarman as the other Vice-Presidents.
     Karti Chidambaram, AITA Vice President, will be the secretary of the Association, Mukherjea announced.
     Other members of ITPA are Rohan Bopanna, Enrico Piperno, Manisha Malhotra, Prahalad Srinath, Aditya Sachdeva and Mustafa Ghouse.
     The Association has come up after 11 top players revolted against AITA, demanding better playing conditions. They made themselves unvailable for the tie against South Korea.
     Paes had stayed away from the rebellion and his becoming a part of the Association came as a real surprise.
     Mukherjea said ITPA is being constituted as a Section 25 company and is built on the premise that the existing structure of tennis ...

Jaideep is President of ITPA, Paes is one of 3 Vice Presidents

Veteran tennis star Leander Paes today said unity in the Indian Davis Cup team was improving and the camaraderie among players will be better when they will face tougher challengers in the 2014 Davis Cup campaign.
     Paes and Sanam Singh won today's double rubber to seal the relegation play-off tie against Indonesia.
     "The atmosphere in the team was phenomenal. I still think the camaraderie will keep getting better as we get into more tougher ties at the World Group playoffs, quarterfinals and semifinals. Don't forget our dream is to win a Davis Cup. That is what we really started playing for," Paes, who played his 50th Davis Cup tie, told reporters.
     Paes said the Indian tennis has gone through a lot in last year-and-a-half and it would probably take about another year before things could calmed down.
     "For anybody, at the end of the day the game is bigger than all of us. At the end of the day, the country is more important than all of us. So it is our responsibility as 

Tougher challenges will help improve unity in team: Paes

National record holder Renjith Maheswary today bagged his second triple jump gold in a week in the second leg of the Indian Grand Prix athletics meet but failed to touch the World Championships qualification mark here.
     Maheswary, who had also won gold in men's triple jump in the first leg of the Indian GP at the same NIS tracks here on March 31, cleared 16.78 metres as his best effort to win the event. His effort was however 7cm short of 'B' qualification standard for the World Championships in Moscow in August.
     The Railway athlete will have to wait for another fortnight to try his luck in the Federation Cup slated to be held here from April 23 to 26.
     On the shot put arena, Olympian Om Praksh Singh Karhana recorded three throws over 18m with the best of series being 18.65m on his sixth and last round. It was almost one and a half metre below the required norm for Moscow qualification.
     Railway's Jithin Paul won the men's 400m hurdles with a time of 51.72s, a marked .

Renjith wins second gold in a week in 2nd leg of India GP

Asian Grand Prix Gold medallist Ch. Jignas of Services today suffered a fracture in his left hand  and lost the chance to be included in the Indian team for Stage I World Cup archery tournament next month.
	Jignas, the country's 2nd ranked compound archer, had a fall and fractured his hand during the National Ranking Archery Tournament (NRAT) being held here, Services coach Richpal Singh said.
	The 19-year-old was operated upon and doctors advised him to rest for a month.
	Singh said Jignas was certain to make into the Indian team for Stage I and II but now his inclusion was out of question as he required at least two months to recover fully.
	The Stage I World cup was scheduled to be held at Shanghai, China from May 13 followed by stage II at Turkey.
	The Indian team for Stage I and II are to be selected on the basis of the performance of players in the NRAT.
	Jignas had won the gold medal in the individual event and led India to win the team event at the 1st Asian Grand Prix held at 

Ace archer fractures hand, loses chance to be in India team

Former captain Sourav Ganguly today said that the axed trio of Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan can still come back into the Indian team.
	Reacting to the three players' omission from the list of 30 probables for the Champions Trophy, Ganguly said, "Let's not jump the gun yet. Selection is something which has always been debatable."
	"I don't think they are writing them off. It has happened in the past. They have come back and played. All they need to do is keep performing and hopefully they would be back.
	"We will have to wait and see. They are great players. Hopefully good things will happen to them," Ganguly said during a promotional event here.
	Four Bengal players -- Manoj Tiwary, Wriddhiman Saha, Ashok Dinda and Mohammad Shami -- found place in the list of probables.
	"It's good news. They have played for India at some stage so they are supposed to be part of the side. My best wishes for them," he said.

Axed trio able to come back, says Ganguly

Sri Lankan selectors today included four uncapped players in its provisional squad of 30 players for the ICC Champions Trophy to be held in England in June.
     Recalled to the side were Farveez Maharoof and Malinga Bandara, two players with considerable experience in playing in England.
     The 28-year-old all-rounder Maharoof who played for Lancashire in the English county championship last played for Sri Lanka in 2012.
     Bandara, 33, the right-arm leg-spinner's last ODI appearance for Sri Lanka was in early 2010. He has had two stints in county cricket with Gloucestershire and Kent.
     The Sri Lankan 30-member list of probables: Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kusal Perera, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardana, Angelo Mathews, Lahiru Thirimanne, Dinesh Chandimal, Kithuruwan Vithanag, Angelo Perera, Shehan Jayasuriya, Chamara Kapugedara. Thilina Kandamby, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara, Thisara Perera, Shaminda Eranga, Suranga Lakmal, Farveez Maharoof, Chanaka ...

SLC names four uncapped players in Champions Trophy probables

Delhi Daredevils skipper Mahela Jayawardene conceded that David Warner's run-out was the turning point of their five-run loss against Rajasthan Royals in their second Pepsi IPL match here today.
     "We paced the chase pretty well as couple of guys got settled. That's why we sent in Russell as David (Warner) was batting well. But he (Warner) got run-out and that became the turning point. They held their nerves during the last 10 deliveries and we did not do so," Jayawardene said at the post-match press conference.
     "Just like we won a close game last year, it has been the other way round this year. It's one of those games that we did not manage to finish," he said.
     Losing back-to-back matches early in the tournament does affect the momentum but the former Lankan captain stressed that it's still early days in the tournament.
     "Don't write us off. Lot of teams will have tough matches. Once the tournament gets into the final stage, there will be a crucial fight for the last 

Warner's run-out was turning point: Mahela

Sunrisers Hyderabad team mentor Krishnamachari Srikkanth today expressed happiness over his side putting up a united show in their opening match win over Pune Warriors in the Pepsi IPL but said that they would have to improve upon their batting.
     "We could have got 15, 20 more runs (in the match against Pune Warriors yesterday), batting will be a big focus for us. Anything above 150-155 will be a good total on the wicket condition we have," Srikkanth told reporters ahead of their match against Royal Challengers Bangalore here tomorrow.
     He showered praise on the players for their team spirit and the strong desire to win.
     "We are happy that we won the first game. I always felt that the first match is very crucial. The boys did an excellent job, 126 was not a very big total. The way the boys came together was good, cricket is team game," he said.
     "Everybody contributed their bit. Dayle Steyn and Amit Mishra were excellent," he added.
     Asked if his side had drawn up 

Sunrisers to focus on batting improvement: Srikkanth

Rajasthan Royals beat Delhi Daredevils by five runs in their Pepsi IPL match here today.
     Brief Scores:
     Rajasthan Royals: 165 for 7 in 20 overs (Rahul Dravid 65, Stuart Binny 40; Umesh Yadav 4/24).
     Delhi Daredevils: 160 for 6 in 20 overs (David Warner 77; Kevon Cooper 3/30).

Royals beat Daredevils by five runs

Mumbai Indians skipper Ricky Ponting won the toss and elected to bat against Chennai Super Kings in their Pepsi IPL match, here today.
     Mumbai have made two changes to their playing XI bringing in Dwayne Smith for Jacob Oram and Pragyan Ojha for Jasprit Bumrah.
     Teams:
	Mumbai Indians: Ricky Ponting (C), Sachin Tendulkar, Dinesh Karthik, Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel and Pragyan Ojha.
     Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (C), Murali Vijay, Mike Hussey, Suresh Raina, S Badrinath,  Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, R Ashwin, Dirk Nannes, Ben Laughlin and Ankit Rajpoot.

Ponting wins toss, elects to bat against Mumbai

India's Praksh Nanjappa won a bronze medal in the men's 10m air pistol event at the ISSF World Cup at Changwon, Korea today.
     Prakash shot 180.2 points and outdid 2010 World Champion Tomoyuki Matsuda of Japan, who finished fourth with 158.7 points.
     This is Prakash's first ever medal in an ISSF competition. He had also finished eighth at the men's 50 metre pistol final. The 37-year-old shooter had never made it to a final round before this tournament.
     Another Indian shooter Jiturai finished seventh in the same event with a score of 97.4.
     The gold was won by Vietnam's Xuan Vinh Hoang, the 2012 Asian champion, with a total score of 200.8 points while the silver went to China's Wang Zhiwei, the 2012 Olympic bronze medallist, who shot 200.1.

Nanjappa wins bronze in men's 10m air pistol in ISSF World Cup

The current lot of players are good enough to take India into Davis Cup World Group next year but it requires special talent to be in top-100, yesteryear Indian tennis icon Anand Amritraj said today.
     Amritraj said the controversy involving the top Indian players and AITA was unfortunate but hopefully it will end completely so that the country could qualify for the World Group in 2014.
     "Hopefully in 2014 we will have a good chance of making into the World Group. Hopefully the controversy is behind us. There has been an agreement between players and federation so I think, things will move forward," he told reporters.
     Amritraj said India has good talent in Somdev, Yuki, Vishnu but, "The trouble is they get to 200. But once being in top 100 and then getting into top 50 you need a special level of talent."
     "It has always been easy for Indians to excel in doubles because they have good hands, anticipation and other stuff," he added.
     Amritraj today received Davis Cup 

It needs special talent to be in top-50: Anand Amritraj

India's International Master Narayanan Srinath retained his Asian Junior chess title while compatriot J Saranya finished runner-up in the girls' championship that concluded at Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates today.
     Srinath, who had won the Asian Junior Championship title at Tashkent in June last to earn his maiden Grandmaster norm, won seven games and drew two to defend his Asian title.
     His title defence gives Srinath another Grandmaster norm. He is also a former world under-12 champion having won it at Belfort in France in 2005.
     Sahaj Grover of Delhi was second, as he also remained undefeated just like Srinath. Top seed Grandmaster Salem Saleh of UAE finished third losing to Srinath and to a Vietnamese, a release from the All India Chess Federation said.
     The girls' event was dominated by the Vietnamese players. Vo Thi Kim Phung of Vietnam won the event ahead of top seed and country-mate Nguyen Thi Mai Hung on seven points from nine games.
     Woman FIDE ...

Srinath retains Asian Junior Chess title

Raninder Singh was today re-elected unopposed as president of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) for a four-year term.
     Raninder, who will be serving his second term, was elected during the General Body Meeting of the NRAI here in the presence of Justice (Retd) Mehtab Singh Gill.
     He was first elected president of the NRAI in December 2010 when he defeated Shyam Singh Yadav by a huge margin.
     The 46-year-old Raninder, who represents Punjab in NRAI's governing body, is a trap shooter and has also participated in ISSF World Cups and National Championships.
     D V S Rao of Tamil Nadu was elected new Secretary General. He was also elected unopposed. Rao was earlier holding the post of joint Secretary General.
     Avtar Singh, the most experienced member in the governing body, was also elected unopposed as senior vice president. Baljit Singh Sethi will continue to serve as advisor while Sanjay Behl was appointed treasurer.
     The vice-presidents elected were ...

Raninder elected unopposed for second term as NRAI president

Shiv Kapur braved tough conditions to manage an even par 72 to be tied third while Jyoti Randhawa fired a flawless five-under 67 to jump to sole fifth after the third round of the Panasonic Open India, here today.
     Manav Jaini (68) rose from tied 22nd to the sixth spot, which he shares with defending champion Digvijay Singh, who played a third straight one-under 71, and was the only player with three sub-par rounds.
     Shamim Khan, the No. 1 golfer of 2012 on Indian PGTI Tour, also catapulted up the leaderboard with a 67 with seven birdies and two bogeys as he is lying tied tenth.
     Randhawa described his round as one the best he has played in more than a year as he moved from one-over for two days to four-under for 54 holes and leapt from tied 22nd to sole fifth.
     Kapur battled to an even par 72 and then likened the conditions to the ones that are generally seen at the US Open.
     "It's like the US Open conditions out there. I have never seen conditions like this at ...

Kapur tied 3rd; Ormsby keeps lead ahead of Lam

Jharkhand blanked Mizoram 3-0 to enter the final of the 3rd Hockey India Sub-Junior Men National Championship (East Zone) here today.
     In the first semi-final played on Saturday Jharkhand defeated Mizoram 3-0.
     Jharkhand scored through Sudhir Munda (32nd minute), Joseph Nag (57th) and Petrus Tiru (59th) in the first semifinals.
     They face the winner of tomorrow's second semifinals between Odisha and Manipur in the final to be played on Monday
     In the Sub-Junior Women National Championship (East Zone), Jharkhand face Odisha in the final on Monday.
     Jharkhand mauled Bengal 9-0 in the first semi-final with Pramila Soreng scoring three goals. Nisha Rani and Betan Dung Dung scored two goals each while Ebha Kerketta and Divya Dung Dung scored a goal each.
     Odisha beat Assam 6-0 in the second semi-final played today. Anjlina Minz and Elima Minz scored twice each while Manju Lakra and Asmita Barla contributed one goal each in Odisha's victory.

Jharkhand in final of Sub-Jr Men National Hockey

Divij Sharan and Purav Raja shocked top seeds Nicholas Monroe and Simon Stadler in straight sets to earn a shot at their second ATP Challenger title of the season, here.
     The fourth seeded Indian pair beat the American-German combination 6-4 6-2 in the semifinals of the USD 35000 hard court event.
     Both Monroe (71) and Stadler (70) are inside the top-00 bracket while left-handed Divij and Raja, who played for India in Davis Cup tie against South Korea in February this year, are inside top-150 at 106 and 134 respectively.
     Divij and Raja wrested the initiative from opponents when in the seventh game when they were trailing 15-40. They broke the rivals to take lead which stayed with them.
     An early break in the second set, in the third game, made things easier for the Indians as they went up 2-1 and another break in the fifth game made the writing clear on the wall.
     In all the Indians won 56 points to 46 of their rivals.
     For the title, they will clash with ...

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