Senior opener Virender Sehwag will also miss Delhi Daredevils' second IPL match against Rajasthan Royals here tomorrow as he is yet to recover from a bout of back spasm which had ruled him out of his side's opening game against Kolkata Knight Riders.
     Sehwag's unavailability for tomorrow's game was today confirmed by his opening partner David Warner.
     "He (Sehwag) is not playing tomorrow as he has not fully recovered. He is a lot better than what was before although his movement has been a bit sluggish," Warner told reporters on the eve of Daredevils' first home match tomorrow.
     Sehwag, who did not travel with the team to Kolkata, today dropped in at the Feroze Shah Kotla apparently to dispel rumours about he being miffed on some internal team issues.
     Although he did not join his team-mates at the nets, Sehwag had an extensive session on the physio's table carrying out his rehabilitation process
     Warner also said that despite the absence of big players like ...

Injured Sehwag to miss Daredevils' 2nd IPL match also

PTI Automatic

Already out of the title race, defending champions Dempo SC would look to finish among the top three when they face Pailan Arrows in the 23rd round of the I-League football tournament to be at Tilak Maidan Stadium here tomorrow.
     Dempo lost their chance to defend the title after suffering four defeats and are far behind table topper Churchill Brothers in the standings.
     With 35 points in its kitty from 22 matches, Dempo find itself in the fourth position in the league standings.
     Dempo coach Armando Colaco attributed their poor performance in the last six matches to injuries and controveries.
     To add to their woes, Dempo's foreign recruits either have not performed consistently or have been relegated to the sideline due to injuries.
     However, come tomorrow Dempo, who have the advantage of playing at home, will be looking to return to winning ways against Pailan Arrows, who are languishing at the 12th place with 20 points from 21 matches.
     The AIFF development ..

Depleted Dempo take on Arrows tomorrow

Former champion Alok Kumar confirmed medal for India by entering the semifinals of the 12th ONGC Asian Billiards championship here today.
     After finishing as third seed in the round-robin stage, Alok met compatriot and sixth seed B Bhaskar in the quarterfinals.
     Bhaskar cracked with a break of 70 points to win the first game. Alok immediately countered and set the match on level 1-all by winning the next game.
     In the third game, Alok missed a dicey cannon on 79 points, and Bhaskar scored the remaining 58 points to take a 2-1 lead.
     After that Alok produced three consecutive breaks of 96, 74 and 88 points in next three games to knock out Bhaskar and confirm his berth in medal round.
     In the semifinal, Alok will play against Thailand's Praput Chaithanasukan, who outplayed K Venkatesham of India in straight set of games 4-Nil.
     The other semifinal will be played between reigning world champion Rupesh Shah of India and Thawat Sujaritthurakarn of Thailand.
     ...

Alok, Rupesh advance to Asian Billiards semifinals

Manipur spanked Tripura 24-0 to register their second consecutive win at the third Hockey India sub-Junior men national championship (East Zone) at Nagaon, Assam today.
     Against Tripura today, Mani Huidrom scored as many as seven goals for Manipur in the Pool B match, followed by Bronson Moirangthem (6), R Kumar Ningombam (4), Dhananjoy Moirangthem (3), Ibungo Kunjengbam (2) and R Kumar Heisanam (1).
     In another Pool B match, Jharkhand recorded its third consecutive win, defeating hosts Assam 3-0 while Bengal beat Bihar 4-1 and Odisha edged past Mizoram 2-0 in Pool A.
     Meanwhile in the women's sub-junior national (East Zone), Reshma Soren scored twice to help Jharkhand tharsh hosts Assam 6-0
     In a Pool B match later in the day, Odisha beat Manipur 9-0.
     Results
     Men:
     Pool A: Bengal 4 (Rohit Barla 8, 15, Nitish Newpane 35 and Biren Kumar Lakra 45) beat Bihar 1 (Ravi Kumar 30) Odisha 2 (Sudhir Kujur 11 and Amit Chirmako 56) beat Mizoram 0.
     Pool B: ...

Manipur spank Tripura 24-0 in Sub-Junior National hockey

Riding on a cushion of 12-shot lead, Viraj Madappa registered a huge 18 shots win to clinch the IGU Uttar Pradesh Juniors title at the Noida Golf Club here today.
     The Kolkata lad shot a final round of four-over 75 to finish the tournament at three-over 287.
     Feroz Singh Garewal at 305 finished at a distant second with Ritwik Jain and Raghubir Choudhary sharing the third spot at 308.
     Tanvir Kahlon and Pukhraj Singh Gill were tied for the fifth place at 309, while Karandeep Kochhar and Jairaj Singh Sandhu were tied for the seventh place at 311.
     Kahlon emerged as the winner in category B with a four-day total of 309 beating Karandeep Kochhar by two shots.
     Arjun Puri and Kartik Sharma were tied for the third place at 319, while Kartik Digvijay Singh was fifth at 322.
     Udayajit Bhalotia and Hassan Rahman finished sixth and seventh, respectively.
     With the fight for the title almost over at the end of the third round, the competition was on for minor ...

Viraj claims IGU Uttar Pradesh Juniors title

Ajinkya Rahane might have had a forgettable Test debut here last month, but his captain in the Rajasthan Royals team Rahul Dravid backed the youngster, saying he failed on a "bad" Kotla wicket and deserve more opportunities to showcase his talent.
     Rahane's long-awaited Test debut in the final match of the series against Australia ended in a damp squib as he could only manage 7 and 1 in the two innings of the game that ended in three days at the Feroze Shah Kotla ground.
     "Rahane failed against Australia on a bad wicket. His performance in that Test should not be taken seriously. The youngster deserves more opportunities," Dravid said while backing the Mumbai-lad to deliver in ongoing Indian Premier League.
     "Rahane got an opportunity to play in the Indian team because he had scored lot of runs in the domestic cricket. I am sure he will get more chances to represent the side," he told reporters on the eve of their IPL season 6 opener against Delhi Daredevils here ...

Dravid backs Rahane, says he failed on a bad Kotla wicket

Somdev Devvarman scripted a clinical victory over Wisnu Adi Nugroho of Indonesia to give a 1-0 lead to India in the Asia/Oceania Davis Cup Group I first round relegation play-off tie here today.
     As expected Somdev registered a comfortable 6-1 6-2 6-2 win in the opening singles match that lasted 90 minutes.
     After winning two sets, Somdev sealed the match in the eighth game of the third set after producing a superlative ace.
     Wisnu, because of lack of maturity and experience at the top level, looked out of sorts and could not match his Indian opponent.
     Going by the medium and bouncy nature of the surface, it was clear from the first game itself that hanging in and putting more balls inside the lines was all that mattered.
     To his credit, Wisnu did run hard, retrieved a good number of balls but missed far too many shots.

Somdev wins first match to give India 1-0 lead

The All India Football Federation's second Open House meeting to secure a minimum of two clubs on board for the next edition of the I-League will be held tomorrow in Dubai.
     The meeting will be chaired by AIFF president Praful Patel.
     The earlier Open House meeting was held at the Football House here on March 5.
     The meeting, being hosted by AIFF will bring to the fore the Governing Body's expectations from the new clubs, interact with potential participants, share ideas and invite suggestions from interested parties.
     Patel sounded confident that the initiative would "take Indian football to a larger global audience".
     "In keeping with AIFF's mission of promoting Indian football to a larger global audience, this is a vital step being taken to adopt additional teams and invest in our youth," Patel said.
     "By inviting participation from regional investors and offering them a sound investment opportunity, we are certain we will be able to raise the brand value of 

AIFF Open House meeting to be held tomorrow in Dubai

Chris Jordan, one of the greatest supporters of Asian golf and the force behind the Indian Open for six long years from 2005 to 2010, today lost his battle with cancer in Singapore.
     The senior Vice President of golf with World Sport Group, Jordan, known as 'CJ' to his friends and the golfing community, was a tireless worker, brilliant organiser, astute negotiator and all-round good guy - charming and gregarious in equal measure.
     Coming into Asian golf with the London Myanmar Open in 1990, as a sponsor representative he spent the next two decades and more as one of the leading organisers of the sport in Asia.
     The annual Singapore Open, which grew into one of the biggest events in Asia featuring world-class stars, was very much his baby from its rebirth in 2005. It became the flagship event on the Asian Tour with prize money of USD six million.
     One of his last big events was the 2012 Singapore Open won by Matteo Manassero and very ironically, it also coincided with ..

Jordan, a great supporter of Asian golf, succumbs to cancer

The Indian women's cricket team rode on a disciplined bowling performance to register a 10-run win over Bangladesh in the third and final T20 International and inflict a 3-0 whitewash on the visitors here today.
     Electing to bat, India posted 123 for nine and then restricted Bangladesh to 113 for seven in their allotted 20 overs.
     It was a good show by the Indian openers Mona Meshram (22) and Smriti Mandhana who gave the team an ideal platform, putting together a steady 53-run stand in seven overs.
     Even after Meshram's departure, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (20) continued along with Mandhana. The duo shared a 31-run stand for the second wicket.
     But Mandhana's dismissal for a well made 39 off 36 balls, laced with four boundaries, triggered a collapse.
     And barring Poonam Raut (13), none of the other batters could reach the double figure mark.
     Chasing the modest target, the visitors lost opener Ayesha Akhter (12) early. However, Shukhtara Rahman (25; 37b, 4X4) ...

Indian eves whitewash Bangladesh, clinch T20 series 3-0

India A team is set to tour South Africa in June but the number, types of matches or the opposition have not been decided yet.
     "The tour to South Africa by India A in June has been finalised. But the dates and types of matches during the tour have not been decided. It could be a combination of limited overs and four-day games," said Prof Ratnakar Shetty, Indian cricket board's (BCCI) General Manager for Games Development.
     The tour would be crucial for the future of Indian cricket as the senior team is set to tour South Africa at the end of the year to play Tests against the world's number one ranked country and the India A tour could be the ideal tuning up for the tough task ahead in November-December.
     Meanwhile, South Africa has confirmed that India A and Australia A will tour their country this southern hemisphere winter while announcing that Highveld Lions coach Geoffrey Toyana will coach SA's Emerging Squad in a quadrangular T20 tournament later this month in ...

India A team to tour South Africa in June

Wrestling Federation of India general secretary Raj Singh has been appointed the President of the Delhi Amateur Wrestling Association (DAWA).
     Singh, who was working as the secretary general of the body earlier, was chosen as the president in the executive committee meeting on March 28.
     Former President Jas Ram Singh was elevated to the post of Life President and Chairman of DAWA.
     "All 35 members were present in the meeting and the decision was taken unanimously," Raj Singh said.
     "Our priority would be to further popularise the sport. We will provide all possible help to those 'Akharas' who are really interested in promoting wrestling," he added.
     Former Olympian Jai Prakash was given the post of secretary general.
     Also, Delhi team will be selected for the Junior National Championships in the first week of May. The tournament will be held in Chandigarh from May 9 to 12.

Raj Singh appointed Delhi wrestling chief

Indian tennis ace Mahesh Bhupathi and renowned British entrepreneur and television producer Simon Fuller have joined hands and launched XIX Globosport, a new international sport and entertainment venture, that has signed up world No.2 Andy Murray as its first client.
     According to a joint statement, Fuller's XIX Entertainment and Bhupathi's Globosport have announced the new venture to capitalise on the two partners strengths in media, entertainment and tennis,
     XIX Globosport's first client will be Murray and the venture is expected to contract with respected tennis agent and former ATP professional Ugo Colombini to provide on the ground support and specialist resourcing for the player as he challenges for major honours during the 2013 ATP calendar.
     Fuller's XIX Entertainment has been managing Murray since 2007 during which time he not only became a national hero but a global sports star, enjoying breakthrough moments including winning Olympic Gold at London 2012 and a ...

Bhupathi-Fuller combo to manage world No. 2 Andy Murray

He has played under the leadership of both Shane Warne and Rahul Dravid but according to Ajinkya Rahane, the style of captaincy of the two legends is as different as chalk and cheese.
     "They (Warne and Dravid) are both legends but are entirely different captains. Rahul bhai likes to keep things simple while leading the side, but Warne was always game about trying various new things. It was not as if he expected it will always work but he tried to experiment," the talented Rahane told a select gathering during an interaction at the team hotel here today.
     So what are the things that he has learnt from the duo "off-the-field", the soft-spoken lad smiled and answered,"I would rather talk about the on-field part. Personally, speaking, I have learnt a lot from Shane (Warne). But both Rahul bhai and Shane have been equally approachable."
     Interestingly, it was Warne who started calling him 'Jinks' -- a nickname by which he is known in the Indian dressing room.
     "I guess he ..

Dravid keeps things simple, Warne used innovations: Rahane

Clean Sports India, a movement for corruption-free sports in the country, today wrote to the International Olympic Committee, accusing acting Indian Olympic Association president V K Malhotra of protecting corrupt and inefficient system under the garb of "autonomy".
     In a letter to IOC president Jacques Rogge, CSI convenor B V P Rao and president Ashwini Nachappa questioned Malhotra's plea to the IOC that the "Government of India is hell bent on destroying the autonomy of IOA and National Sports Federations".
     "The autonomy of Indian sports federations and IOA which Mr. Malhotra is talking about has produced only one individual gold medal in the Olympic Games from a country of over one billion people," the letter to Rogge read.
     CSI's letter to the IOC also highlighted how the corrupt and inefficient system has produced several tainted officials like Suresh Kalmadi, Lalit Bhanot and Chautala brothers -- Abhay Singh Chautala and Ajay Singh Chautala.
     CSI has also ...

CSI writes to IOC, accuses Malhotra of guarding corrupt system

Rahi Sarnobat scripted history today by becoming the first Indian pistol shooter to clinch a gold medal in the ISSF World Cup when she pipped local hope Kyeongae Kim 8-6 in the final of the 25m sports pistol event in Changwon, Korea.
     Rahi joined the elite club of rifle shooters -- Anjali Bhagwat, Gagan Narang, Sanjeev Rajput, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Ronjan Sodhi and Manavjit Singh Sandhu -- who have won gold medals in the ISSF World Cups for India.
     "It is a dream come true for me. I had been working hard with coach Anatoli Puddubny for the last few months at the Gun for Glory Academy and I am thankful to Lakshya and Vascon for the support they are providing me in this respect," said Rahi, who had earlier won a bronze medal in the 2011 ISSF World Cup in USA.
     The Indian markswoman, who had qualified for the semifinal stage in fourth position with a total score of 585, sealed her final berth as the second best semi-finalist with 15 points.
     Kim topped the standings 

Rahi Sarnobat clinches gold in ISSF World Cup

Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli was all praise for his big-hitting opener Chris Gayle and felt 156 was a good enough score for his side to defend.
     Gayle smashed an unbeaten 92 to single-handedly power RCB to a fighting 156 for five and Kohli said he had the faith in his bowlers to restrict Mumbai below the total.
     "Chris batted beautifully. We knew 157 was enough. The dew came on, and the way we fielded was good. The way Unadkat bowled the over towards the end was good," he said after RCB eked out a two-run win over Mumbai in an Indian Premier League match here tonight.
     Mumbai skipper Ricky Ponting is a disappointed man and said they have some thinking to do after today's loss.
     "I may lose most of my finger nails. Disappointing not to have won the game. We have to analyse our game. I think with our bowing today we were a bit behind," Ponting said.
     He praised debutant Jasprit Bumrah, who picked up three wickets for 32 runs today.
     "We had a ..

156 was good enough to defend: Kohli

Chris Gayle smashed an unbeaten 92 to single-handedly power Royal Challengers Bangalore to a fighting 156 for five against Mumbai Indians in an Indian Premier League match here today.
     After a relatively slow start, Gayle upped his tempo as he scored his 92 off just 58 deliveries and hit 11 boundaries and five towering sixes in the process.
     Gayle initially adopted a wait and watch policy on a seaming Chinnaswammy track before exploding in the eight over.
     Even though wickets kept tumbling at the other end, the big-hitting West Indian was hardly bothered as he went about his business in style, notching up his 13th IPL fifty and first of the season.
     The start, however, was far from rosy for the home team as they lost Tillakaratne Dilshan early, bowled by Mitchell Johnson with the scoreboard reading just three.
     Newly-appointed RCB captain Virat Kohli played a short 24-run cameo before he was LBW by debutant Jasprit Bumrah, who returned with the best figures for the 

Gayle powers RCB to 156/5 against MI

A second half strike by captain Luciano Sobrosa helped Salgaocar FC beat Prayag United 1-0 in the 23rd round of the I-League football championship here in Goa today.
     Salgaocar, who had lion's share of exchanges and ball possession, scored the winner through Sobrosa in the 57th minute to take their tally to 27 points from 23 matches.
     Prayag United, who failed to create an impact upfront in the absence of their suspended key striker Ranti Martins, remain on 35 points from 22 matches.
     The Goan outfit could have increased the lead in the later part of the second half but timely save from visitors' keeper Sangram Mukherjee thwarted their efforts.
     It was the first match of the I-League that was played under flood-lights. The just-renovated Tilak Stadium hosted the match in Vasco, the hometown of Salgaocar.
     Being relatively a new surface for both teams, they tried to guage each other's strength. Salgaocar, who made early advancement into the rival's half, had the ...

Salgaocar beat Prayag United in I-League match

Four Indian cueists booked quarterfinal berths in the 12th ONGC Asian Billiards Championship after the completion of round-robin stage here today.
     Rupesh Shah, Alok Kumar, B Bhaskar and K Venkatesham advanced to the knockout stage after winning their respective matches at the Indore Tennis Club.
     Rupesh claimed the top seed without losing any game out of three matches he played. Today, he blanked Nguyen Thanh Long of Vietnam 4-0, scoring breaks of 101 and 99 points in opening two games.
     Alok Kumar topped Group D without losing any match. However, he finished as number three. The other two Indians, Bhaskar and Venkatesham finished as number two in their respective groups.
     Apart from the Indians, the other four players who qualified for knockout stage are Praput Chaithanasukan and Thawat Sujaritthurakarn from Thailand, Nay Thway Oo from Myanmar and Nguyen Thanh Binh from Vietnam.
     Quarterfinals line-up (tomorrow):
     Rupesh Shah vs Nay Thway Oo; Thawat ...

Four Indians in quarterfinals of Asian Billiards Championship

The idea of the inaugural six-team Maharashtra Chess League to be held here from April 24 to 29 was today hailed by world champion Viswanathan Anand who described it as a good way to develop skills of up and coming players.
     "Organising a chess league is good idea, and it would help budding players a lot in developing their skills," said Anand at the team allotment ceremony of the Johnson Tiles-sponsored league yesterday, the first ever such event in the country.
	"Countries that have very organised chess structure, have a chess league at the core. Those countries, like Germany for example, where I play in a league, have six or seven levels of leagues, with top two teams being promoted to the higher level, and bottom two teams being relegated to the lower level," said Anand.
	"It allows upcoming players to rub shoulders and train with stronger players, and that way, they can improve. I am glad that Maharashtra is organising such an event, and I would be happy to help the event in .

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