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 .

Anand hails concept of Maharashtra Chess League

PTI Automatic

Mumbai Indians skipper Ricky Ponting won the toss and elected to field against Royal Challengers Bangalore in an Indian Premier League match here today.
     Teams:
     Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (capt), Chris Gayle, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mayank Agarwal, Dilshan Christian, Karun Nair, KB Arun Karthik, R Vinay Kumar, Murali Kartik, Jaydev Unadkat, Murali Muralitharan.
     Mumbai Indians: Ricky Ponting (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Dinesh Karthik, Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Kieron Pollard, Jasprit Bumrah, Mitchell Johnson, Harbhajan Singh, Jacob Oram, Munaf Patel.

Mumbai win toss, elect to field against RCB

Pune Warriors might have ended at the bottom up of the table in the last two IPL editions, but current captain Angelo Mathews today said that his side would be making a fresh start and look for a better result this season.
     "It is going to be a fresh start. Past is past, we got to look for the future. We have a great team and we will take one step at a time and focus on our games," Warriors captain Angelo Mathews told reporters.
     The Warriors face Sunrisers Hyderabad in their opening IPL encounter tomorrow and Mathews said his team would look for a winning start.
     "I am excited to be the captain. We got such a wonderful and professional team we are looking forward to winning the first game," he said.
     He said star player Yuvraj Singh is match fit and would play a major role for his side.
     Asked how he accepted captaincy in a short notice, Mathews said his philosophy was to be able to face the challenge that came his way.
     "As a player you face many challenges. .

It's a fresh start: Mathews

SSP Chowrasia was the best placed Indian in sole fourth position, two shots behind the leaders, at the end of the opening round of Panasonic Open India here today.
     There was a three-way tie for the lead as two Australians -- Kieran Pratt and Wade Ormsby -- and Singaporean Lam Chih Bing shared the top spot with rounds of five-under 67 each at the demanding and windy Delhi Golf Club.
     Behind them was Chowrasia, a two-time winner of co-sanctioned events, at three-under 69. Seven players were at two-under 70 and another 17 at one-under 71.
     While Ormsby and Pratt came back with bogey-free rounds, Lam had one bogey on the 12th. Pratt also had an eagle, one of the six, including two by debutant Indian S Chikkarangappa that landed on the day, besides a stunning hole-in-one by rank outside Nabin Mandal, who did little else of note in his round of 77.
     Three other Indians, young Angad Cheema, playing his first Asian Tour event, Chiragh Kumar and seasoned Sanjay Kumar shot ...

Chowrasia in 4th place at Panasonic Open India

Punjab Police today said it will not accept report of the dope test on Olympian boxer Vijender conducted by the National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) as it has no legal validity.
    After refusing to give samples to Punjab Police, Vijender, whose name cropped up in the high-profile Zirakpur drug haul, had yesterday made himself available for an out-of-competition dope test by NADA officials.
    Fatehgarh Sahib SSP H S Mann said the police cannot accept the NADA test report "as it has no legal validity."
    "The investigating officer has to get the tests done under legal provisions available in CrPC and IPC," Mann said, adding police will take legal steps to get samples from the boxer.
    Asked about possible arrest of Vijender in connection with the case, Mann said he could not say anything at the moment.
    "Everything depends on the investigation of the case and role of different suspects emerging in it," he said.
    Meanwhile Vijender's sparring partner Ram Singh, arrested last .

Drug haul: Police not to accept Vijender's NADA dope report

Divij Sharan and Purav Raja made a good start to their campaign at the ATP Challenger event Leon, reaching the quarter-finals with a straight-sets win over tricky rivals Lee Hsin-Han and Peng Hsein-Yin, here.
     The fourth seeded Indian team won 6-3 6-3 against Chinese Taipei opponents in the opening round of the USD 35000 hard court event.
     The start could not have been better for the Indians as they broke the Taipei players in the very first game of the match. They broke again at 5-3 to race to first-set lead.
     After first five games of the second set went with serve, Divij and Purav broke Lee and Peng in the sixth game to go up 4-2 and clinched the issue in the ninth game.
     The Indians were terrific in service games, winning 86 percent points on first serve and 80 percent on second.
     They will now fight it out with American James Cerretani and Adrian Menendez-Maceiras Spain for a place in the semifinals.

Divij-Purav in quarters of Leon ATP Challenger

After a reasonable outing in the season-opener at Monza, India's ace driver Narain Karthikeyan has got his deal with Zele Racing extended for the second race in Auto GP this weekend in Morocco.
     Karthikeyan, who drove in Formula One last season with Hispania Racing Team, had finish fifth in the first race at Monza but had to retire from race two due to brake failure.
    Overall he's standing seventh in the Auto GP drivers' standings.
     Karthikeyan said he has secured a deal with Zele Racing to continue at least for the second race.
     "I have just confirmed that I will do the race in Morocco. It will continue to be a race-by race deal, I think," Karthikeyan told Autosport.
     "Nothing much else is happening at the moment so I guess this keeps my eye in and helps stay race fit," said Karthikeyan.

Karthikeyan to continue with Zele Racing in round 2 of Auto GP

Veteran Indian tennis player Leander Paes today said his fitness is still good enough to carry him into Brazil Olympic Games in 2016.
     Paes' contemporary and estranged partner Mahesh Bhupathi has already made it clear that 2013 would be his last season as a professional player.
     Paes, who will turn 40 in June this year, though said he can still play another three-and-a-half years because his body feels great and injury-free.
     Paes, who won a singles bronze in Atlanta Games, said the current breed of players inspire and motivate him to keep pushing hard.
     "Yuki Bhambri, Somdev Devvarman and Sanam Singh, who are future Indian players, would motivate me to participate in next Olympic," Paes, who set to play his 50th Davis Cup tie told reporters.
     Asked about his most memorable tie, Paes said the tie at Frejus in France in 1993 was one of the most best as none of the French players gave them a chance.
     "The French team had amazing guys, ranking top ten. The surface 

Paes dreams of playing 2016 Olympics

Despite a two-over card of 73, Viraj Madappa was sitting on a 14-shot lead at the end of the third round of the IGU Uttar Pradesh Juniors at the Noida Golf Course here today.
     The Kolkata lad, who has a three-day total of one-under 212, is almost sure to win unless he messes up his final round tomorrow.
     Feroz Singh Garewal was placed second at 226, while Tanvir Kahlon and Pukhraj Singh Gill shared the third spot at 228.
     Jairaj Singh Sandhu was fifth at 229. Three players -- Ritwick Jain, Raghubir Choudhary and Prakhar Asawa -- were tied for the sixth place at 230.
     In Category B, Tanvir Kahlon led the field with a 54-hole total of 228. Karandeep Kochhar was second at 233, while Kartik Sharma was third at 237.
     Arjun Puri and Udayajit Bhalotia occupied the fourth and fifth places at 238 and 239, respectively. Hassan Rahman was sixth at 240.
     Viraj, who had shot a brilliant five-under 66 yesterday, was in a defensive mode today. Armed with a four-shot lead, ...

Viraj assured of IGU Uttar Pradesh Juniors title

The Indian shooting team's campaign in the ISSF Changwon World Cup started on a sour note with all the shooters, including Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra, failing to make a mark on the first day of the event in Changwon, Korea today.
     Competing in the men's 10-metre air rifle event, Beijing Games gold medal winner Bindra, London Olympian Sanjeep Rajput and Chain Singh -- all failed to qualify for the finals after finishing 15th, 19th and 25th, respectively.
     The result in the 50-metre pistol men was slightly better, with Prakash Nanjappa just about managing a top-eight finish with a total score of 71.5.
     Jitu Rai (ranked 13th) and Om Prakash (27) failed to clear the qualifying hurdle.
     Rahi Sarnobat, Sushma Singh, Anisa Sayyed, Shreya Gawande and Annu Raj Singh will look to produce a better show when they take to the range for the final of the 25-metre pistol event tomorrow.
     In men's 10-metre air rifle, Bindra shot 102.4 104.2 101.2 104.9 103.2 104.0 for a .

Indian shooters fail to impress in Changwon World Cup

Fresh from their win against Warriors FC of Singapore in the AFC Cup, title aspirant Churchill Brothers will look to carry forward their winning momentum when they meet Pune FC in the 23rd round of the I-League here tomorrow.
     Churchill Brothers are at the top with 44 points from 21 matches, two points ahead of East Bengal. They were held by ONGC and Salgaocar in their last two matches.
     But the win against Warriors, despite the absence of some key players, have given them the boost ahead of the match against Pune, who are on a high after a win against defending Champion Dempo FC.
     Sunil Chhetri played a stellar role in the win against Warriors and coach Mariano Dias is hoping to see a repeat act from the India captain.
     Dias said: "It's a crucial match and we need to collect full points against Pune FC who are playing well and are the dark horse to win the title. We have a full squad at our disposal except Roberto Silva who is out of action for the next three week, ...

Churchill to take on Pune FC in crucial tie

India's number one singles player Somdev Devvarman will open country's campaign against Wisnu Adi Nugroho of Indonesia in the Asia/Oceania Group I first round relegation play-off tie, beginning here from tomorrow.
     India number two Yuki Bhambri will lock horns against Indonesia number one Christopher Rungkat in the second singles on day one of the tie at Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) Stadium.
     On day two, Leander Paes and Sanam Singh will take on David Agung Susanto and Elbert Sie in the doubles rubber.
     On the final day of the tie, Rungkat will play Somdev and Wisnu will face Yuki in the reverse singles.
     India's non-playing captain S P Misra said, "It is a good draw and the team expects Somdev will give a good start which will help Yuki gaining confidence going into the second match of day one."
     Paes, the senior-most player in the tie, said, "I believe we got to go out there and execute. I am looking forward to the tie. The team looks fabulous .

Somdev to begin India's fight against Indonesia

Rajasthan Royals' Australian all-rounder Shane Watson will miss his team's opening IPL game against Delhi Daredevils to be played at the Feroze Shah Kotla here on Saturday.
     It is learnt that Watson will not be able to reach here before the match would only be available from the second game onwards.
     Meanwhile, the Royals had a two-and-a-half hour training session at the Kotla here today. Batting mainstay Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane had a decent hit in the middle.
     West Indian bowling all-rounder Kevin Cooper looked like a doubtful starter for the first game as he was seen with his right knee wrapped with ice pack.
     According to team sources, young Kerala glovesman Sanju Samson is set to make his IPL debut while the pace attack is likely to comprise Indian pacer S Sreesanth and newly acquired West Indian Fidel Edwards.
     Stuart Binny will be one of the all-rounders providing balance to the side.

Watson to miss Delhi Daredevils' first game

The Indian Olympic Association has sought directions from its world parent body on how to resolve the country's ban from the Olympic movement after a crucial joint meeting was postponed for the second time in two months due to the stand-off between the IOA and the government.
     A day after the joint meeting scheduled to be held in Lausanne, Switzerland on April 15 and 16 was postponed, IOA acting chief V K Malhotra wrote a letter to IOC accusing the Sports Ministry of acting against finding a way to the country's return to the Olympic movement.
     He said in the letter that the action of the Sports Ministry of appointing a committee to re-draft the controversial Sports Code negated the very purpose of having a joint meeting of the IOC, IOA and the government.
     "We appreciate your concern for an early solution to the problem but we are rather constrained to say that the Ministry of Sports, Government of India is bent on destroying autonomy of the IOA and the National Sports ...

IOA seeks direction from IOC on joint meeting

India's campaign at the Australian Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament ended today after R M V Gurusaidutt and Anand Pawar lost their respective third round matches of the men's singles event here.
     Eleventh seeded Gurusaidutt gave a tough fight to world number one Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia before going down 10-21 21-18 15-21 in a match that lasted a little less than an hour.
     Pawar, seeded 14th, lost to fourth seed Wei Feng Chong of Malaysia 19-21 15-21 in just 41 minutes.
     The other Indians in both the men's and women's categories had already crashed out of the tournament in earlier rounds.
     Gurusaidutt was hardly a match to the world number one shuttler in the opener, as the Indian was playing the catching up game.
     But in the second game, Gurusaidutt got his act together to pose a huge challenge to Chong Wei. It was a neck-and-neck battle till 15-15 before the 23-year-old Indian opened up a 18-15 lead. He then simply surged ahead to seal the game in his ..

India's campaign over at Australian Open Grand Prix badminton

A disciplined bowling performance from the Indian women helped them register an easy seven-wicket win over Bangladesh in the second T20 international and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three match series, here today.
     Electing to bat, Bangladesh could manage a paltry 88 for four in 20 overs, which the Indians comfortably overhauled with two overs to spare.
     Openers Anagha Deshpande (28) and Mona Meshram (29) put together a steady 52-run stand in 10.3 overs.
     After that skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (11) and Poonam Raut (18) shared an unbeaten 28-run stand to take India past the finishing line with ease. The hosts, though, lost three wickets in quick succession.
     Pacer Panna Ghosh (2/18) bagged two wickets for Bangladesh while one batswoman was run out by Shohaly Akther.
     Earlier, the Indian bowlers were on the money from the onset, denying the Bangladeshi openers to free their arms.
     Shahanaz Parvin (15) and Farzana Haque (23) made a slow start, adding just 30 

Indian women clinch series with seven-wicket win

The National Ranking Archery Tournament (NRAT), beginning here from tomorrow, will hold significance for the archers as the Indian team for the upcoming Stage I and II World Cup will be picked based on their performance in the event.
     The Stage I World Cup will be held in Shanghai from May 13, followed by the second stage in Turkey in June, said Capt. Amitabh, Head (Sports) Tata Steel.
     The 2nd NRAT will be drawing a host of top archers including Jayanta Talukdar, Rahul Banerjee, Tarundeep Rai, Mangal Singh Champia in the men's section while women's section will witness Deepika Kumari, Bombyala Devi, Chakravolu Swuro and Dola Banerjee vie for top honours.
     Organised by Tata Steel in association with the Jharkhand Archery Association and Steel Plant Sports Board (SPSB), the archers will compete for a total prize purse of Rs 3 lakh.
     The 1st NRAT was held in Hyderabad in February.
     The organisers installed a big LCD screen to telecast the event in an attempt to draw .

India's WC team to be selected during archery nationals

Depleted by injuries, Delhi Daredevils are hoping to have explosive opener Virender Sehwag back in the side even as pacer Morne Morkel was ruled out of their home game against Rajasthan Royals on April 6.
     Down with back spasm, Sehwag, who was Delhi's leading run-getter with a record five consecutive half-centuries last season, pulled out of the first match which the team lost to Kolkata Knight Riders.
     But skipper Mahela Jayawardene hoped that Sehwag would be ready for their second game that is scheduled in Delhi.
     "He has improved from the last few days. We did not want him to fly to Kolkata as it would have worsened his back spasm.
     "We wanted to give him a few more days to stay in Delhi, practice and hopefully we would have him for the next game," Jayawardene said after their six wickets loss to KKR.
     Meanwhile, Morkel, who was last year's Purple Cap holder (leading wicket-taker with 25 scalps), will be unavailable for the next game.
     Playing in South ...

DD hopeful of Sehwag comeback in next match, Morkel still out

Delhi Daredevils skipper Mahela Jayawardene blamed the six-wicket defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders in their IPL opener on the loss of too many wickets in the middle overs, saying the team lost momentum because of the collapse.
     "We just had to regroup after the first ball dismissal. But after (David) Warner got out, we did not get the momentum. Every time we pushed, we lost wickets," Jayawardene told reporters after their loss yesterday.
     "Things would have been different if we had wickets in hand. The wicket looked a bit slow. The ball was not coming on well. We thought 140-150 would have been a good total," he lamented.
     "Those are mistakes. We need to analyse what went wrong and look forward to the next game."
     Man-of-the-match Sunil Narine, with figures of 4-0-13-4, foxed the batsmen with his 'mystery' spin and Jayawardene said some youngsters playing the bowler for the first time did not know how to handle him.
     "We have quite a few youngsters and some of .

Loss of wickets in middle overs hurt us: Jayawardene

Batting first, Daredevils scored 128 in 20 overs which was overtaken by KKR in 18.4 overs

KKR beat Delhi Daredevils by 6 wickets in IPL opener

Press Trust of India

Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli today said he was unhappy to miss the services of Anil Kumble as the 'Mentor' but the players guided by the former India captain would turn the heat on Mumbai Indian tomorrow.
     "We miss the services of Kumble, but luckily we have bunch of players he had mentored who are pretty confident, and we are ready to cash on them," he told reporters here on the eve of the match against Mumbai Indians.
     Kohli further said Kumble's attitude of giving hundred percent on the field and giving confidence to players a little low in confidence strick him the most.
     "He kept pushing players to perform. When the players were down, he would pull them up all by himself. That was something very striking about his captaincy. I surely like to implement the same as he did on the field," he elaborated.
     Kohli said Zaheer is suffering from a bit of side strain and is almost 70-80 per cent fit and rearing to go in next couple of games.
     The ...

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