Woakes replaces injured Stokes
Dhaka: All-rounder Chris Woakes replaced an injured Ben Stokes in the England squad for the ICC World Twenty20 as Event Technical Committee of the tournament has approved the change. The event is beginning on Sunday with the Qualifiers while England are set to open their campaign in the Super 10 stage match against New Zealand on March 22. Stokes has sustained a fracture to his right wrist and has been ruled out of the tournament. Woakes, 25, has played four T20Is in which he has scored 37 runs and has also claimed two wickets. His last T20I was against New Zealand at The Oval in June 2013. The replacement of a player requires the approval of the Event Technical Committee before the replacement player can be officially added to the squad.
Three Indians amongst top 10
Dubai: Indian batsmen dominate the ICC T20I rankings with Virat Kohli being the highest-placed in fourth position in the latest chart issued here on Saturday. Virat is followed by Suresh Raina (5th) and Yuvraj Singh (6th) in the batsmen’s list. However, no Indian bowler features in the list of top 20 performers. Meanwhile, Sri lanka will start as the number-one ranked side followed by India. Sri lanka, runner-up in 2009 and 2012, is atop the table with 129 ratings points, leading number-two ranked and 2007 champion India by six ratings points. In fact, eight ratings points separate the top three sides with 2009 winner Pakistan in third position with 121 ratings points. Sri lanka launches their campaign on March 22 against South Africa in the Super 10 stage of the tournament while India take on arch-rivals Pakistan on March 21. Defending champion West Indies will start off in sixth place with 110 ratings points. They will launch the title defence against India on March 23.
Assam thrash Vidarbha 7-1
Bhopal: Assam continued their winning run as they defeated Vidarbha Hockey Association 7-1 in a Pool A match to qualify for the semifinal of the fourth Senior Women’s National Championship here. Assam remained on the top of the table with three wins from the matches they have played. Assam scored their opening goal in the second minute through a penalty corner converted by Seema Bharti. In the 20th minute Assam yet again got a penalty corner and this time, Shikha Singh did the job for the team. Within three minutes, Assam struck again when Nilima Pandey converted a pass which she got in the 23rd minute and hence took the tally to 3-0. Bengal Hockey Association registered a big win over Goa beating them 11-0. In Pool D, it was Delhi who defeated Puducherry 9-0. Uttarakhand registered their first win in Pool B, defeating Jammu & Kashmir 4-2. In the last match of the day, Tamil Nadu beat Tripura 10-0 in Pool C.
Bhullar, Kapur make cut
Agadir (Morocco): Gaganjeet Bhullar faced some finishing problems as he ran into back-to-back bogeys on his second stretch and ended with a round of one-over 73 and a total of four-under to drop to tied 20th at the midway stage of the Trophee Hassan II golf. Bhullar’s first round of 67 had placed him inside top-10 after the first day. Also making the halfway cut was Shiv Kapur, whose rounds of 70 and 71 brought him to three-under 141 and tied 23rd place. Bhullar, beginning on the back nine, had two birdies and two bogeys to turn in even par and then a birdie on first saw him in red figures, but bogeys on fourth and fifth set him back to 73. Kapur, playing earlier on, had five birdies in first eight holes, starting out from the 10th. He then ran out of birdies and instead bogeyed four times to finish at 71.
Karnataka favourites vs railways
Kolkata: Heavyweights Karnataka will aim to continue their dream run and claim an unprecedented hat-trick of titles in the season, when they square off against underdogs Railways in the Vijay Hazare Trophy final at Eden Gardens here tomorrow. Karnataka have not looked back after their Ranji triumph as they went on to beat Rest of India to clinch Irani Trophy. They will now be eyeing their maiden title in the one-day format, while Railways will look to bag the title for the second time following their 2005-06 feat. The southern side boast of a balanced side with both batsmen and bowlers in stellar form. Karnataka have a strong batting line-up, which includes Robin Uthappa, who is leading the run chart with 528 runs at an average of 88.00 including three centuries. They will also have in-form batsmen in Karun Nair and Mayank Agarwal.
Anand crushes Mamedyarov
Khanty Mansiysk (Russia): Five-time world champion Viswanthan Anand continued his fine form and crashed through the defences of Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan to notch up his second successive win in the Candidates Chess tournament here. Not many experts had given Anand a chance coming in to candidates after he lost the world championship match against Magnus Carlsen of Norway in November last. However, the ‘Tiger from Madras’ has not only proved his critics wrong but has also emerged as a serious contender even though it is still early days in the 14-round tournament. With 2.5 points in his kitty from the first three games, Anand is likely to be joined by Peter Svidler of Russia in the lead. Svidler enjoyed a commanding position against compatriot Vladimir Kramnik in their match.
Pallikal in action in World Open
Kuala lumpur: India’s numero uno squash player, Dipika Pallikal would look to arrest the slide in her form and try to replicate last year’s success when she takes the all-glass court against a qualifier in her opening round match of the World Open in the Malaysian state of Penang. World No.11 Pallikal will be playing her first round match on Wednesday, and giving her company at the USD 120,000 WSA event will be another Indian and world No.19 Joshna Chinappa, who has drawn World No.4 Alison Waters of England in her opening game at the Nicol David International Squash Centre. Pallikal, who had clinched her career’s seventh WSA title in Macau Open last year after defeating former World number one Rachael Grinham of Australia, has not been able to maintain the same form in the year 2014. The 22-year-old from Chennai has featured in four events this year but failed to clear the first round hurdle. Pallikal had been training in Australia with coach and five-time World Open winner Sarah Fitz-Gerald before leaving for Penang this morning.
Rangdajied beat Mohun Bagan 3-0
Shillong: Rangdajied United FC produced yet another brilliant performance to register their third successive victory, defeating Kolkata giant Mohun Bagan 3-0 in an I-league match here on Saturday. With this win, United FC climbed at least three spots in the points table. The home side upset table topper Bengaluru FC and United FC before destroying Mohun Bagan’s hope of improving their points tally within a 14 day-gap. Tomba Singh (20th), Kim Yong (35th) and Ranti Martins (38th) scored for the hosts while Odafa Okolie (41st) scored the solitary goal for the visitors.
PNS/Agencies