Anand beats Topalov, in sole lead
Khanty Mansiysk: India’s Viswanathan Anand regained the sole lead with a sparkling victory over former challenger Veselin Topalov from Bulgaria in the ninth round of Candidates Chess tournament, here on Sunday. The hard-earned victory proved crucial for five-time World Champion Anand as he took his tally to a six points out of a possible nine. The equations went for a toss in the ninth round as Shakhriayar Mamedyarov defeated top seed levon Aronian of Armenia and Vladimir Kramnik suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Russian teammate Sergey Karjakin. The other game between Russian duo of Dmitry Andreikin and Peter Svidler ended in a draw. With five rounds still to come, Anand now enjoys a full point lead over Aronian who remained on five points after the debacle. Kramnik was joined by Karjakin and Mamedyarov on 4.5 points for joint third spot while Andreikin and Svidler are now joint sixth on four points apiece while Topalov is on the last spot on 3.5 points. To sum things up, Anand is on a roll and will fancy his chances a great deal now.
Broad fined for public criticism
Chittagong: England captain Stuart Broad was on Sunday fined 15 per cent of his match fee for publicly criticising match officials following his side’s Group 1 match against New Zealand in the ICC World Twenty20 on Saturday. The charge was related to comments made by Broad following his side’s loss to New Zealand in a match reduced by rain and decided via Duckworth-lewis Method. Broad was found to have breached Article 2.1.7 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to “public criticism of, or inappropriate comment in relation to an incident occurring in an International Match or any Player, Player Support Personnel, Match official or team participating in any International Match.” Broad on Sunday admitted the offence and accepted the proposed sanction offered to him by Javagal Srinath of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees.
FIFA apologizes to Brazil
Rio de Janeiro: FIFA performed an embarrassing U-turn and apologized, saying it had withdrawn publicity material for the World Cup in Brazil that poked fun at local customs. Just weeks after sports merchandiser Adidas pulled from the market two shirts which Brazil viewed as sexist, FIFA has now removed material which depicted Brazilians as unpunctual, impatient and even chaotic. Having regularly complained to Brazil about the slow pace of construction of stadiums for the June-July World Cup — six out of 12 missed FIFA’s original December 31 deadline — football’s world governing body felt moved to add: “In Brazil, things are largely done last-minute.” FIFA admitted its attempts at humor had backfired. “The material was light-hearted and at no time was meant to criticize Brazil,” a FIFA statement said. “The objective was to show the laid-back characteristics of the Brazilian people. At any rate, we have withdrawn the content from the Internet and apologize if it was interpreted as criticism of the country.”
Pioneer’s amit elected treasurer
New Delhi : C Shekhar luthra (DNA) and Dharmendra Pant (PTI Bhasha) were on Sunday elected unopposed as president and secretary of Delhi Sports Journalist Association at its AGM held at the Feroz Shah Kotla Ground here. The post of treasurer went to Amit Choudhary (Pioneer).
Following is the list of DSJA office-bearers
President: C Shekhar luthra (DNA)
Secretary: Dharmendra Pant (PTI Bhasha)
Vice-presidents: Sanjeev Kumar Singh (Hindustan), Khurram Habib (Hindustan Times), Sachin Shankar (Dainik Jagran) and Rakesh Thapliyal (live India).
Joint secretary: Chetan Sharma (UNI)
Treasurer: Amit Choudhary (Pioneer)
Executive committee members: Rajesh Rai (UNI-Varta), Vijay Kumar (Deshbandhu), Sourabh Gupta (Amar Ujala), Tridib Baparnash (UNI), Abhishek Tripathi (Dainik Jagran), Vijay Sharma (Sandhya Vir Arjun) and Yogesh Sharma (Virat Vaibhav).
Air India defend crown
lucknow: Defending champions Air India Sports Promotion Board retained their title after beating Comptroller & Auditor General of India 4-1 in an exciting final of the fourth Hockey India Senior Men National Championship 2014 (Division A) here on Sunday. Earlier, hosts Uttar Pradesh overcame Railway Sports Promotion Board 4-2 to claim the third position in the championship.
RSPB lift senior women’s title
Bhopal: Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) on Sunday shocked defending Champions Haryana 4-0 to clinch the 4th Hockey India Senior Women National Championship (Division A), here on Sunday. Coming into the match as the favorite for the title, Haryana could not live upto the expectations and allowed the pressure to seep in. Taking advantage of this, RSPB players kept the attack on the opponents to win.
ISl receives 30 bids
New Delhi: Anticipation around the Indian Super league football seems to be building with the organisers receiving positive response from about 30 interested parties, even as the deadline for submitting the bid documents has been extended by two days to March 26 and 27. The original dates for submission of bid documents were March 24 (on Sunday) and Tuesday. “Between 3rd to 21st March 2014, league organisers have recorded about 30 ‘Invitation to Bid’ (ITB) document purchase. In terms of the numbers, this is by far the highest level of interest that any similar franchise-based sports property has garnered in India,” tournament organisers IMG-Reliance said.
East Bengal down Rangdajied
Kolkata: East Bengal rode on second half goals from Reisangmi Vashum and substitute Semilen Doungel to seal a 3-1 win over Rangdajied United FC in their round 22 I-league fixture here on Sunday. Edeh Chidi’s 16th minute penalty conversion was cancelled out by Rangdajied’s Ranti Martins in the 30th minute but Vashum put the red-and-gold brigade back in front in the 45+1st minute while substitute Doungel’s 55th minute strike halted RUFC’s three-match winning run.
Bagan beat Sporting 3-1
Vasco: Sporting clube de Goa’s title aspirations took a beating as they went down 1-3 to Mohan Bagan in a crucial I-league contest here on Sunday. Bagan, who were leading 1-0 at half time, scored through Odafe Okolie(44th, 79th) and Christopher Chizoba(70th) while Sporting Clube de Goa pulled one back through Rowllin Borges(78th) at Tilak Stadium.