Watson’s wife delivers baby boy
Sydney: Sacked Australian vice-captain Shane Watson’s wife was on Thursday blessed with a baby boy, raising the possibility of his return to India in time for the fourth Test starting next week. Barely three days after Watson returned home from India under dramatic circumstances, his wife lee Furlong gave birth to their first child in a Sydney hospital and the couple named him ‘Will’. The birth of the baby, incidentally on the first day of the Third Test at Mohali, means that Watson could now return to India for the final Test of the four-match series beginning in New Delhi on March 22.
Compton, Trott seize control for England
Wellington: England seized control of the second Test against New Zealand on Thursday as centuries by Nick Compton and Jonathan Trott put the tourists on course for a mammoth first innings total. The pair racked up a 210-run partnership as England reached 267 for two at stumps at Wellington’s Basin Reserve, with Trott unbeaten on 121 and Kevin Pietersen 18 not out after Compton notched back-to-back Test centuries. England punished New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum for sending them in to bat after winning the toss on a wicket that defied expectations and proved flat and true as cloud cover gave way to blue sky. It provided perfect conditions for the tourists, who contented themselves with steady progress, determined not to repeat the mistakes of the drawn first Test, when they were bowled out for 167 in the first innings. Alastair Cook’s dismissal in the first hour was the only blemish, with the England captain misjudging an inswinging delivery from Neil Wagner and scooping the ball to Peter Fulton at mid-on to depart for 17.
‘Treat players like adults, not school kids’
New Delhi: Former England batsman Geoffrey Boycott on Thursday criticised Australian coach Mickey Arthur for treating the players like “school children” and said he finds the idea of setting the cricketers written tasks as ‘childlike’ “It’s like being schoolchildren and giving them something to do and if they don’t do it, then just slapping them. If you feel that there is an area where they should improve, surely it is up to the coaching staff and the major coach himself, Arthur, to talk to them in private,” he said. “I always thought that’s what a coach’s job was. I don’t like the coach-manager — you’re like a teacher,” Boycott told ESPN Cricinfo.
Kashyap crashes out of swiss open
Basel: Top Indian shuttler Parupalli Kashyap crashed out of the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament after losing to Wei Feng Chong of Malaysia in the pre-quarterfinals of the men's singles event here on Thursday. The fifth seeded Indian squandered a game advantage to lose to his ninth-seeded opponent 21-18, 7-21, 16-21 in a 55-minute contest. london Olympics quarterfinalist, Kashyap opened up a 8-4 lead in the opening game but was caught up by the Malaysian soon. Both were neck on neck for a while before Kashyap broke away to take three straight points from 17-16 and bag the first game. The Indian was surprisingly out of sorts in the second game as he trailed all through after being tied at 2-2. From there on, Chong took control as he reeled off nine straight points from 8-4 to easily grab the second game and set up a decider. The decider was a gripping affair with the duo locked at 8-8 after an intense fight which saw none ready to concede ground to the other. Chong reeled off five straight points from 8-8 but Kashyap fought back to level at 13-13 and then 15-15.
‘Incorporating best practices of cwg 2010’
london: Organisers of next year’s Glasgow Commonwealth Games are introducing some of the “best practices” of the 2010 New Delhi Games, Senator Hugh Segal, Canada’s Special envoy for CWG renewal, said here. “Preparations are going on well in Glasgow for the 20th Commonwealth Games scheduled from July 23 to August 3, 2014. We have learnt a lot from things that went very very well in India,” Senator Segal said. “For example, one of the things the Indian Olympic Committee did extremely well was to invite Commonwealth athletes from around the world to spend some time in India, to visit schools, high schools and talk to young people about importance of athletics and physical fitness. We know there is going to be similar plans in Glasgow. The organisers have learnt from the Indian experience, so we believe that the Glasgow Games will benefit from the best practices of the CWG that took place in India and we are hopeful that it will give a boost to the Games,” he added.
IOC fixes date for joint meeting
New Delhi: The International Olympic Committee has fixed the dates of the joint meeting with the Indian Olympic Association and Sports Ministry in the second week of next month to find a way towards resolving the issues that led to the country’s ban from the Olympic family. In a letter written to V K Malhotra, the acting chief of the IOA before it was banned on December 4 last, and IOC member in India Randhir Singh, the IOC said the joint meeting could be held on April 11, 12, 13 or 16 at its headquarters in lausanne. “Thank you very much for your letter of 6 March. Please note that we would be available for a joint meeting in lausanne on 11, 12, 13 or 16 of April,” the letter said. “We therefore request that you coordinate with the Sports Ministry and you confirm a suitable date to us by the end of this week,” said the letter written jointly by Pere Miro, NOC Relations Director of the IOC, and Husain Al-Musallam, Director General and Technical Director of Olympic Council of Asia.
Four boxers assured of bronze
New Delhi: Four Indian boxers have made it to the semifinals of the ASBC Asian Youth Boxing Championship in Subic bay, Philippines and assured themselves of as many bronze medals. Narender Berwal (+91kg) and lalitha Prasad (49kg) were the latest ones to enter the last four with Amritpreet Singh (91kg) and Abhishek Beniwal (81kg) securing a semi-final berth earlier. Silver medallist at the 2012 Youth World Championships, Berwal made a stunning recovery against Kazakh boxer Dastan Kurmanbetov after being down 1-4 in the opening round.
India jump 24 places, 143rd in FIFA rankings
New Delhi: Despite their unimpressive performance in the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers earlier this month, the India football team jumped 24 places to occupy 143rd in the FIFA Rankings issued today. India earned 79 points this month for a total of 177 points and a jump from 167th to 143rd. Thursday’s ranking is the best in more than two years, after the 142nd at the end of 2010.
Bayern reach Cl quarters despite 2-0 loss
Munich: Bayern Munich barely staved off an improbable comeback Wednesday, eliminating Arsenal from the Champions league despite a 2-0 loss at home to leave England without a team in the quarterfinals for the first time in 17 years. Olivier Giroud gave Arsenal and early lead in the third minute and laurent Koscielny added the second in the 86th but Arsenal remained one goal away from erasing their 3-1 deficit from the first leg. In the other match on Wednesday, Malaga beat Porto 2-0 to reach the last eight 2-1 on aggregate.
Another disappointing day for cyclists
Greater Noida: It was another disappointing day for India at the Asian Cycling Championships with Suresh Bishnoi and Gurmeet Singh faring poorly in their respective events at the Budh International Circuit (BIC) here on Thursday. Bishnoi earned the 15th spot in the Junior Men’s individual time trial while Gurmeet finished at a lowly 17th in the Elite Men’s time trial. Danii Fominykh of Kazakhstan won the gold among the Junior Men with Vietnam’s Duc Tam Trinh and Jaeyeon of South Korea bagging the silver and bronze respectively. In the Elite Men’s division Uzbekistan’s Muradian Halmuratov emerged as the winner followed by Kazakhstan’s Andrey Mizurov and Eugen Wacker of Kirghizstan.
Djokovic, Nadal, Federer win
Indian Wells: Top-ranked Novak Djokovic reached the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday, beating Sam Querrey 6-0, 7-6 (6) in a match that began four hours late after a marathon day. Rafael Nadal ended the run of latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis with a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory that set up a quarterfinal against defending champion Roger Federer, who survived a three-set marathon of his own, beating 18th-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-5. PNS/Agencies