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ICC launches World
Cup 2015 app
Dubai: The International Cricket
Council (ICC), in partnership with
Reliance Communications, Wednesday launched the official World Cup
2015 app, now available for free
download from the App Store and
Google Play. The app will have unique
features and has been designed to enhance user experience of the World
Cup. It will allow everyone to keep
themselves up-to-date with all the
latest news of the tournament. It will
also provide access to match centre
that will keep fans abreast of the live
action with the fastest source of live
scores and ball-by-ball commentary.
It will contain video highlights and
the most important moments of the
match that will ensure that those who
haven’t caught the action live, will
not miss out on anything. The 11th
edition of cricket's flagship event gets
underway Feb 14 in Australia and
New Zealand and will see 14 of the
best teams in the world compete for
the top prize.
29 JANUARY 2015
Sania-Bruno enter
Australian Open semis
Melbourne: Top-seeded mixed
doubles duo Sania Mirza and
Bruno Soares marched in to the
semi-finals of the Australian
Open, beating local pair Casey
Dellacqua and John Peers 6-2,
6-2 in a last-eight match here
Wednesday. The Indo-Brazilian
pair started the match on a bright
note, breaking their opponents
twice to claim the first set 6-2
in just 23 minutes at Melbourne
Park. They continued their ascendancy in the second set leading 4-2, going on to win the second set by an identical first set
score, taking a mere 30 minutes
to claim the second set on Court
2. The victors hit 18 winners and
committed 10 unforced errors
on their way to victory. They
are scheduled to play the winner of the quarter-final between
third seeds Kristina Mladenovic
of France and Canada's Daniel
Nestor and fifth seeds Cara Black
of Zimbabwe and Juan Sebastian
Cabal of Colombia. Meanwhile
in boys' singles, India's Sumit
Nagal went down to Australia's
Marc Polmans 1-6, 1-6 in the
third round in just 45 minutes.
Boxing India introduces new Karnataka start favourites
against UP in Ranji
league, ranking system
New Delhi: Boxing India (BI)
Wednesday launched the Indian
Series of Boxing (ISB) and introduced a national ranking system following the conclusion of
its second Executive Committee
Meeting (ECM). The ISB - the
new national league - is a platform for grooming pugilists and
popularising the sport in India.
Male boxers, across weight categories, will participate and have
a chance to win prize money besides their regular salaries. ISB
will act as qualifier for the World
Series of Boxing (WSB) and this
qualification will give the boxers
an opportunity to directly qualify for the World Championships
and Olympics. For the ranking
system, a core committee is designing a chart that will ensure
that all boxers get ranked on the
basis of their participation in
various state, zonal, national and
international tournaments. The
purpose of the ranking system is
to bring meritocracy and trans-
parency which will give the highest ranked boxers a chance to represent the country. Further, there
will be a grading system such that
boxers of various ranking systems
will get permanent contracts. “In
the best interest of the sport, the
boxers and the nation, it was imperative to take a decision and introduce reforms to transform the
sport. Introduction of the ISB is
one such reform that is poised to
bring in a new boxing economy.
Indian garment company to
sponsor West Indies cricket team
St. John’s (Antigua): Yepme,
an India-based online shopping company, will sponsor the
West Indies team for the World
Cup, its cricket board has announced.
“We welcome Yepme to the
West Indies cricket family of
sponsors and partners for the
world’s premier cricket event
- the ICC Cricket World Cup,”
the West Indies Cricket Board's
(WICB) commercial manager
Nelecia Yeates said Tueday, reports CMC.
“We look forward to a mutually beneficial association as the
West Indies team remains one
of the most attractive cricket
teams in the world and will be
one of the favourite teams in
the World Cup”.
Yepme, established in April
2011, is headquartered in
Haryana and specialises in online retailing of men and women’s garments and accessories.
"We are very excited about this
sponsorship with West Indies
team in the ICC World Cup.
Being the third largest sports
tournament in the world which
will be seen in more than 182
countries, it’s a huge opportunity for Yepme to strengthen
its vision as a global brand,”
said Sandeep Sharma, founder
and chief operations officer of
Yepme.
“With a viewership of over one
billion in the last tournament,
we are expected to get guaranteed exposure making it a very
profitable investment”.
These reforms are aimed at giving
maximum exposure to our pugilists by providing a solid training
platform and grooming them to
perform well at the international sporting events," BI president
Sandeep Jajodia said. "Therefore,
these new reforms would not
only be instrumental in enhancing the overall popularity of the
sport and enhancing the skills of
the boxers but would also ensure
their financial growth.”
Bengaluru: Champions Karnataka
go up against Uttar Pradesh in their
seventh round of the Group A Ranji Trophy league match commencing here Thursday with an opportunity to get back to winning ways
after two consecutive draws. With
29 points from six matches, Karnataka are virtually assured of a berth
in the knockouts but their performance against Baroda at Mysuru in
the previous game last week left a
lot to be desired and the hosts were
rather lucky to force a draw. If anything, Karnataka's batting, despite
inherent talent and experience, has
been a tad inconsistent with the
frontline batsmen failing to click in
unison. The saving grace for Karnataka has been their bowling that
helped them win four matches in a
row at the start before two back-toback draws with Madhya Pradesh
and Baroda. The return of Lokesh
Rahul has certainly bolstered Karnataka's batting, which otherwise
has not exactly set the ground on
fire despite the abundant talent. On
their part, the Praveen Kumar-led
Uttar Pradesh started out well, de-
feating Madhya Pradesh in their
opening fixture, but thereafter lost
three of their next five matches to
be left struggling on eight points.
Two weather-affected drawn home
games also did not help their cause.
On paper, Karnataka appear far
better placed, especially in bowling
with their three seamers, skipper
Vinay Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun
and Sreenath Arvind having taken
26 wickets apiece. In contrast, Uttar Pradesh will be depending on
their experienced seamers Praveen
Kumar and Rudra Pratap Singh besides fellow paceman Amit Mishra,
who have 34 wickets among them.
Uttar Pradesh's batting has revolved around Tanmay Srivastava,
their lone centurion this season
while the others have not displayed
the best of form, leaving the side
rather short in this department.
Thus, pitted against comparatively
weaker opponents, it will surprise
none if Karnataka pick up full
points that will effectively seal their
knock-out berth, despite the upand-down performance of their top
order batsmen.
Kenyan Kirui eyes Boston
Marathon with aim at Worlds
Nairobi: Two-time world marathon champion Abel Kirui is
keen to compete at the Beijing
World Championships in August.
However, his selection depends
on his performance at the Boston
Marathon in April. The Olympic marathon silver medallist
will not be giving up on his quest
to make history as a three-time
world champion, reports Xinhua.
"It is not easy to make the Kenyan
team, especially now that younger
athletes are emerging. But I still
have something to offer for the
team and I hope, I will be able to
prove it in Boston," said Kirui. The
32-year-old won in 2009 with a
time of tow hours and 06:54 minutes, then defended his title with
a winning margin of two minutes
and 28 seconds - the largest ever
margin at the World Championship event. He won the silver
medal in the 2012 Olympic marathon. He has also won the Vienna Marathon and was runner-up
at the 2007 Berlin Marathon. But
that will not matter when he runs
in Boston where he will come up
against Boston champions Meb
Keflezighi, Lelisa Desisa, Wesley
Korir and former world marathon
champion Patrick Makau. Winners
in Boston will join the chase for the
lucrative World Marathon Majors.
The chase for the 2015 men's title
will be aggressive, with seven men
in the field holding personal-best
marathon times under 2:05:30
and ten men with times under
2:06:30. Former world marathon
record-holder and two-time Berlin
Marathon champion Makau leads
the group. Makau recently won the
challenging 2014 Fukuoka Marathon and is also a past winner of
marathons in Frankfurt and Rotterdam. Desisa, the 2013 Boston
Marathon champion and 2013
World Championships Marathon
silver medallist, is also a strong
contender for the crown.
Djokovic to face Wawrinka in Australian Open semis
Melbourne: World No.1 Novak Djokovic will face Stanislas Wawrinka in the Australian
Open semi-finals after defeating
Milos Raonic 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-2
here Wednesday night. Fans will
be hoping for another epic as
Djokovic and Wawrinka clash
for the third year in a row at the
Melbourne Park.
Two years ago, Djokovic denied
Wawrinka 12-10 in the fifth set
of their fourth-round clash, but
last year the Swiss got his revenge with a 9-7 fifth set victory
in the quarter-finals.
"I take a lot of confidence (into
the match). I try to carry that in
every next match, next challenge.
Obviously I'm going to play Stan,
who is the defending champion
here. We played five-set matches at the 2013 and '14 Australian
Opens," said Djokovic.
"I'm going to be ready for a fight.
But knowing that I have raised
the level of performance tonight,
and probably playing the best
match of the tournament so far
is affecting my confidence in a
positive way. Hopefully I can
carry that into next one." The
27-year-old Djokovic is bidding
to become the second man in
history to win the Australian
Open for the fifth time, joining
Roy Emerson. The Belgrade native won his first major title in
Melbourne in 2008 and followed
with three successive victories
in 2011-13. He has a 48-6 match
record at the Melbourne Park.
Djokovic is yet to drop a set in a
ruthless run. The right-hander is
through to his 25th Grand Slam
semi-final, one behind Andre
Agassi on 26, the fourth most in
the Open Era.
The top-seeded Djokovic im-
proved to a 5-0 ATP career
meetings record against Raonic
as he dismissed the Canadian in
two hours.
The Serb was not at his best in
the first set, not quite finding his
timing under the lights on Rod
Laver Arena. But a costly forehand unforced error from Raonic at 5-6 in the tie-break - having
just saved two set points - gifted
the Serb the opener.
From there, Djokovic was clinical. He lost just two points on
serve in each of the second and
third sets, while breaking Raonic three times in total. "It was a
close first set, but I thought I had
more chances in the first set than
him.
I managed to stay tough and win
the crucial first set. Obviously winning it in a tie-break and
making the break of serve first
game of the second set was definitely huge for me," said Djokovic.
"I could start swinging through
a little bit more, be more aggressive into the court. After that first
game of the second set I played
a great match." The 24-year-old
Raonic was looking to become
the first Canadian in history
to reach the Australian Open
semi-finals. The Toronto native
reached his first Grand Slam
semi-final last year at Wimbledon, losing to Roger Federer. "I
just think (the first set) gave him
a bit more belief.
I wish I would have served better
in certain moments, but I didn't
lose because of my serve. He just
didn't allow me to organise my
game," said Raonic.
"Even when he was returning
well, by the end of the match he
was doing a good job of playing
deep and never allowing me to
go forward. Obviously if you
watch the footage, he was pretty
much on the baseline the whole
time and I was further back."
7
THURSDAY
NEWS IN BREIF
Hockey Olympian Jaswant
Rajput dead
Kolkata: Former Olympic gold medal-winning hockey
player Jaswant Singh Rajput Wednesday died at a city
hospital following prolonged illness. "He had been suffering from a chest infection and was quite serious for the
past two weeks. He died Wednesday morning at a city
hospital. He was aged 86," Bengal Hockey Association
(BHA) assistant secretary Khalid Hussain told IANS.
Rajput, who played both as a left-half and centre-half,
was part of the hockey team which won independent India's first Olympic gold at the 1948 London Games and
a squad member of the gold medal-winning team at the
1952 Helsinki Olympics. Born in Delhi, Rajput picked up
the game during his school days before shifting base to
Kolkata. He started off as a left-half but later in his career
preferred playing from the centre and was known for his
excellent dribbling skills and ball-control.
Singapore Open golf to return in 2016
Singapore: After a three-year absence, Singapore’s
iconic national golf Open will make a welcome return in
2016. Last staged in 2012, the Singapore Open is set to
thrill golf fans when it roars back to life between Jan 2831, 2016 at the Serapong Course at Sentosa Golf Club.
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), one of
Japan’s leading financial institutions, will be the title sponsor of the event. “The Singapore Open was always one
of our best events and one that our members strove to
compete well in. It is tremendous to have it back as it is
an important event for our region and our tour,” Asian Tour
chairman Kyi Hla Han said. The Singapore Open will be
co-sanctioned for the first time by previous partner Asian
Tour and a new partner in Japan Golf Tour Organisation
(JGTO). With a minimum prize purse of $1 million, the
tournament will also entice some of the world’s best players to tackle the award winning course. Home to the event
from 2005 to 2012, the Serapong Course will once again
prove a stern test to the world’s best players. Australian
Adam Scott won the event a record three times in 2005,
2006 and 2010.
Kiran leads in Hero women's golf
Kolkata: English golfer Kiran Matharu played out an even
par round on Day 1 of the third leg of the Hero-RCGC
Women’s Professional Golf Championship at the Royal
Calcutta Golf Club to lead after Round 1 here Wednesday. Order of Merit leader Vani Kapoor is second with a
score of one over 73 while Chandigarh's Amandeep Drall
ended at third place. Kiran began on a cautious note,
carding a solitary birdie on the fourth hole in the front nine
as opposed to two bogeys. She played a more controlled
back nine with birdies on the 15th and 17th holes and
had just a single bogey on the 18th. She finished with a
score of par 72 after 18 holes. Vani had an inconsistent
front nine carding a bogey on the first hole but came back
strongly to card three consecutive birdies on the second,
third and fourth. However, a double bogey on the fifth cost
her dearly. She followed it with a birdie but had two more
bogeys on the seventh and ninth. After an erratic front
nine, she seemed to settle down and played an even par
back nine. Amandeep finished with 2 over 74. She had
birdies on the ninth and 15th and bogeys on the third and
10th. She also carded a double bogey on the seventh.
Builder confesses assaulting
Jesse Ryder
Wellington: A builder from Canterbury Wednesday admitted that he assaulted New Zealand cricketer Jesse
Ryder outside a Christchurch bar two years ago. The
39-year-old was initially charged with assault and injuring, with reckless disregard for safety, Ryder, who was
in a medically-induced coma for three days following the
assault, reports The New Zealand Herald. The assaulter was due to stand trial in March but pleaded guilty at
Christchurch District Court. The man's nephew earlier admitted charge of assault in the aftermath of the argument
with Ryder outside a Merivale bar on the night of March
28, 2013. He will be sentenced May 6. Both men are
presently out on bail. After months of painstaking rehabilitation from his injuries, which included a fractured skull
and a punctured lung, Ryder made an emotional return to
New Zealand's one-day side on Boxing Day 2013 against
the West Indies.
'Qatar selection as World Cup 2022
host invalid'
Strasbourg (France): FIFA should hold a new vote under
a cleaned-up procedure to select the the 2022 football
World Cup's host country as Qatar's winning bid was "radically flawed" by illegal payments, according to a committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). The PACE Committee on Culture, Science,
Education and Media unanimously adopted the report
"The governance of world football" written by British Michael Connarty, reports Xinhua. The selection process for
the 2022 World Cup was "in breach of protocols, and so,
invalid," Connarty said Tuesday, following the adoption
of his report. The recommendation hinges on evidence
gathered by the British newspaper The Sunday Times
of irregular payments by the Qatar's former president of
the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Mohammed bin
Hammam, made to senior officials in the African football
community in exchange for votes. "There is serious evidence of bribery that I've seen. It shows that the process
for 2022 was corrupt, and they're enough to invalidate
that procedure by FIFA's own rules," Connarty said.