Pak strive to keep momentum
Sharjah: In-form Pakistan are seeking to build on their recent thrilling one-day triumph in South Africa when they take on dangerous but rusty Sri lanka in a five-match series starting in the United Arab Emirates on Wedneday. Pakistan last month sealed their first-ever ODI series win against the Proteas, beating them 2-1 just weeks after a 4-1 drubbing against the same opposition in the UAE. Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq, whose side lie sixth in the one-day rankings, two places lower than Sri lanka, hopes they can build on their success against the South Africans, saying his players thrive under pressure. "We have good confidence before another tough series and we hope to carry the momentum we gained in South Africa," said Misbah. "It is the Pakistan team's quality that they produce better results when they are under pressure. We were under pressure before the South Africa tour and when the confidence is better we play well."
TT coach unhappy with players
New Delhi: India's new table tennis coach Peter Engel on Wednesday expressed his frustration at the lack of focus and discipline among most of Indian players and said that their easy-going approach will not help them in achieving success at the international level "From what I have seen in the last two months, the players have the talent but are not giving their 100 percent. What is irritating is they tend to pick and choose their training sessions without realising that this approach will not work if they want to succeed at international level," Engel said at the sidelines of the ongoing North Zone National Ranking Championships here. The German, however, refused to name the players. Since his arrival in October he has not spent enough time with the senior players other than travelling with them for tournaments in Germany and Poland. Yet he has spent some quality time at both the NIS, Patiala and at the lucknow camp until last week before coming here.
Amin defeated in BCA election
Vadodara: Former IPl chairman and current Baroda Cricket Association president Chirayu Amin lost his president's post to Simarjitsinh Gaekwad beat by a margin of 218 votes after the results of the association elections held last Sunday was declared . According to information received, Gaekwad defeated the well-known business tycoon by 1066-848 margin. Amin's humuliating defeat ends his 26-year-old reign at the BCA. The former FICCI president took over after the death of Fatehsinh Rao Gaekwad in 1988. Out of 2,378 BCA members that includes clubs and institution votes, 1,918 cast their votes at the tennis court near Motibaug Ground here. Once the results were announced, the supporters of Gaekwad took out a victory procession celebrating his victory.
Stenson is 2013 European golfer
london: Henrik Stenson has been named European golfer of the year after winning the money title and the U.S. PGA Tour's FedEx Cup. The 37-year-old Stenson, who succeeded Rory McIlroy, is the first player from Sweden to win the award. In addition to his six-shot victory in the season-ending World Tour Championship to clinch the Race to Dubai, Stenson also won the Deutsche Bank Championship and the Tour Championship in Atlanta to seal the FedEx Cup. Another highlight was his third in the U.S. PGA Championship. Stenson's most consistent year started at the end of last season, when he won the South African championship. He said this latest honor reflected "the stellar year I have had. You can call it a dream season, year of my life, whatever you want."
Murray to return in Abu Dhabi
london: Andy Murray will play his first competitive tennis match since September against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at an exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi next week. Mubadala World Tennis Championship organizers confirmed on Tuesday the Wimbledon champion, who has been sidelined since surgery for a back problem, would play at the hard-court event also featuring Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Murray says "coming back from injury is never easy and the lineup this year is so strong but it's exactly the test I need to see where my game is at." On Sunday, Murray was voted the BBC sports personality of the year after becoming the first British man to win the Wimbledon in 77 years.
Saina pulls out of Korean Open
New Delhi: Saina Nehwal will not participate in the ATS 78th Senior National badminton championship due to illness. Saina had entered the Nationals fray after a gap of five years and was expected to be the top draw of the competition to be played at the Siri Fort Sports Complex from Dec 20-23. Confirming this, Badminton Association of India Vice President (administration) TPS Puri said, "I had a talk with Saina this morning. She is down with fever and chest congestion. She has been advised rest by doctors hence she is not going to play in the nationals." The world number 6 has also decided to pull out of next month's Korea Super Series. "She will also not be taking part in the Korean Open as her fitness is to be accessed," Puri added.
Daniel, Karishma, Shreyanshi win
New Delhi: Juniors Daniel S Farid, Shreyanshi Pardeshi and Karishma Wadkar posted upset victories over their more experienced opponents in their respective matches today to qualify for the main round of the ATS 78th Senior National Badminton championship here. While Under-17 national champion Daniel defeated the experienced B Kiran Kumar 21-15, 20-22, 21-6 to reach the men's singles main draw, in the women's singles qualifying, U-17 nationals runners up Karishma Wadkar and Shreyanshi Pardeshi stole the show here at the Siri Fort Auditorium. Karishma defeated R Santoshi Hasini 21-8, 13-21, 21-19, while Shreyanshi got the better of Sampada Sahastrabuddhe 21-16, 21-14. Rohan Castelino, Sachin Rawat, Shreyansh Jaiswal, Nigel D'Sa, Aditya Prakash, Siddharth Thakur and B Chetan Anand joined Daniel in the men's singles main draw. The other qualifiers in the women's singles are Chitralekha, Rasika Raje, Vaishnavi Iyer, Dhanya Nair, Sri Krishna Priya and K Vaishnavi.
Jung is ‘Champion of Champions'
New Delhi: Ace marksman Samresh Jung on Wednesday won the 'Champion of Champions' title in pistol event after he defeated Shweta Chaudhary in the final round in the 57th National Shooting Championships at Karni Singh Ranges here. Jung shot 10.6, 9.9, 9.9 in the last and final round of 'Champion of Champions' while Shweta shot 9.5, 10.5, 8.7 in a tough competition. Jung also collected a cash prize of Rs 25,000. In the finals of 10m Air pistol men's event, Dharmendra Singh of Army won the gold in a very close fight with his own team-mate Jitu Rai. PNS/Agencies