Messi again in line for Ballon d’Or
Zurich: lionel Messi, Franck Ribery, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Neymar are among 23 candidates on the short list for the Ballon d’Or announced by FIFA on Tuesday. Ribery, who won UEFA’s best player in Europe award for the 2012-13 season, helped Bayern Munich win the Champions league and Bundesliga and German Cup titles. Messi, winner of the last four Ballon d’Or awards in voting by coaches, team captains and media, was injured late in the season and could not prevent Barcelona from being beaten by Bayern in the Champions league semifinals.
WADA in Jamaica for doping audit
Kingston: A tight-lipped three-member World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) team arrived in Jamaica to begin what is expected to be a two day extraordinary audit of Jamaica’s drug testing system. The team headed by WADA’s director of education and program development Rob Koehler, also includes Rune Anderson, the global anti-doping agency’s director of standards and harmonization, and Kerwin Clarke, manager of program development. The trio arrived in Jamaica on Monday afternoon but declined to respond to questions posed by members of the local media.
Bhullar seeks rise in Rankings
Shanghai: Rising Indian golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar is hoping to improve his world rankings with a good finish on the leaderboard this weekend when he tees up for his third appearance at the WGC-HSBC Champions which begins on Thursday. Bhullar is currently ranked 185 in the world and is eyeing a huge leap up the rankings with a solid performance at the year’s final World Golf Championship. “This week is really going to be important one for my world ranking. last week in Malaysia was good but I felt I could have done better. These are the opportunities which we get through the Asian Tour and I would really love to make my mark,” said Bhullar.
Yuki wins, Divij-Raja out
New Delhi: Yuki Bhambri advanced to the singles quarterfinals of the ATP Challenger event in Taralgon, Australia after his opponent Brendon Moore retired in second set of the first round match. Yuki had won the first set 6-2 and was leading the second 1-0 when the Australian qualifier conceded the match after 42 minutes due to shin pain in both the legs. The Indian next faces Kiwi Michael Venus, who defeated Australia’s Dane Propoggia 6-3 6-3 in his first round match. Earlier, Yuki had lost in the doubles first round with American partner Mitchell Krueger. They lost 4-6 4-6 to local pair of Maverick Banes and Gavin Van Peperzeel.
Advani, Aditya lose
Chengdu: It was a disappointing end to India’s campaign in the International Championship as the two poster boys of Indian cue sport — Pankaj Advani and Aditya Mehta — bowed out of the major ranking snooker event, losing their respective first round matches here. Indian Open finalist, Aditya went down 3-6 to England’s Rod lawler, who top scored with 103, while eight-time world champion Advani suffered from food poisoning just minutes before his opening game against Englishman Dave Harold, who defeated the 27-year-old cueist 6-4 in the $9,50,000 event.
Sharmila takes lead on Day 1
Greater Noida: Sharmila Nicollet fired a five under-67 to lead on the opening day of the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour 2013, here on Tuesday. Trailing Sharmila by a stroke was Delhi’s Vani Kapoor in the five-lakh event played at the Jaypee Greens Golf Course. Sharmila had a brilliant round, scoring the lowest total of the day. The Bengaluru golfer’s round consisted of six birdies on the 2nd, 5th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th holes followed by a single bogey on the 17th hole. PNS/Agencies