Arsenal Beat City 2-0 At Etihad
Manchester: Arsenal finally ended its streak of poor away performances against top teams as Santi Cazorla and Olivier Giroud scored in each half Saturday for a 2-0 victory at Manchester City. Cazorla converted a penalty in the 24th minute and Giroud headed in the second in the 66th as Arsenal ended second-place City's 12-game unbeaten run in all competitions. Earlier, West Ham beat struggling Hull City 3-0 at Upton Park with Andy Carroll, Morgan Amalfitano and Stewart Downing finding the back of the net.
Aus may host day-night test vs NZ
Melbourne: In a first, the pink ball is likely to make its debut in Adelaide or Hobart when Australia hosts trans-Tansman rivals New Zealand in a Test series later this year, according to a report. According to a report in ESPN cricinfo, Australia appear almost certain to host the inaugural day-night Test against New Zealand in November with Adelaide Oval and Bellerive Oval in Hobart likely to be one of the venues. The development first came to light after Cricket Australia organised day-night round of Sheffield Shield matches in last year with pink Kookaburra balls, following on from a similar round near the end of last summer. CA exuded confidence that the pink ball will be able to sustain the rigours of Test cricket.
Bagan beat Mumbai FC 3-1
Kolkata: Cash-strapped Mohun Bagan had a perfect start to their I-league football season as Katsumi Yusa and Sony Norde inspired them to a 3-1 victory over Mumbai FC at the Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan here on Sunday. The foreigner duo of Yusa and Norde showed perfect combination on field as the former struck a double (13th and 69th) while the Haitian national snatched the lead with a 25th minute strike in a one-sided match against the visiting side who were reduced to 10-men after their goalkeeper Kunal Sawant was sent off in the 89th minute. Other results on the day saw Shillong lajong losing 1-2 at home to Royal Wahingdoh and Sporting Goa drawing 1-1 to East Bengal.
Debutant Abera, Mekash win title
Mumbai: Ethiopians Tesfaye Abera, a rank outsider, and defending champion Dinknesh Mekash clinched the men's and women's titles respectively and the top prize of $41,000 in the 12th Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon here on Sunday. Abera, basically a 15 and 21-km runner, made his maiden marathon run a memorable one by leaving his rivals — including several Kenyans and compatriot Dereje Debele — in his wake at the 32-km mark to storm to the finish in 2 hours, 9 minutes, 46 seconds, 14 seconds slower than the course record. Debele was second in 2:10:31 while 2007 world champion luke Kibet of Kenya finished third in 2:10:57. Ethiopian women runners took the first seven slots.
Jaisha breaks national mark
Mumbai: Indian runner O P Jaisha, an Asian Games medallist in 1,500m and 5,000m events, made a memorable marathon debut here by breaking the 19-year-old national mark of Vally Satyabhama to qualify for the World Championships in Beijing later this year. Jaisha clocked 2 hours, 37 minutes and 29 seconds in the 12th Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon to better the nearly two-decade-old national mark of 2:39:10 set by Satyabhama on December 21, 1995, in Chennai. In the process, Jaisha — the best Indian woman finisher in the event — also comfortably dipped under the 2:44 qualifying mark set by Athletics Federation of India for the IAAF World Championships in Beijing in August.
Kidnapped, Robbed and Spared
Hawaii: Australian golfer Robert Allenby has claimed that he was kidnapped from a bar here, robbed and beaten up before being abandoned in a park. Allenby Saturday said he might have been drugged before being kidnapped from a bar Friday. He was helped back to his room by a military man, reports BBC. "I didn't think I was going to survive this one," the 43-year-old said. Allenby was supposedly planning to leave Hawaii after failing to make the finals at the US Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) Tour's Sony Open. "I was separated from my friend in the bar after we had paid the tab at 22:48 (08:48 GMT) and he went to the bathroom and the next thing you know I'm being dumped in a park miles away," he added.
China beat North Korea 2-1
Canberra: Midfielder Sun Ke scored twice to help China beat North Korea 2-1 and advance to the Asian Cup quarter-finals with a best-ever three straight wins as Group B leaders here on Sunday. China will challenge hosts Australia, runners-up of Group A, in the quarter-finals in Brisbane Jan 22, reports Xinhua. Sun Ke, who scored the crucial winner in China's 2-1 victory over Uzbekistan, continued his heroic performance at the nearly fully packed Canberra Stadium where most of the spectators were supporters of China. Sun quickfired in less than one minute after kick-off with a nice toe-poke inside the penalty area after Korean defender Jang Song Hyok made an error in clearing Jiang Zhipeng's long pass. Sun doubled the advantage for China in the 42nd minute with a diving header at the far past following Jiang Zhipeng's well-curved left wing cross.
Yubrani makes the main draw
Kolkata: local talent Yubrani Banerjee made it to the main draw of the ITF Juniors Sunday after storming past Taipei' Yu Pei lee 6-2, 6-1 here. Banerjee was all-over Yu from the beginning, not allowing her an inch to get back into the encounter at the Dakshin Kalikata Sansad court.
Another Indian Mahak Jain also entred the main tournament whipping Priyanka Kalita 6-0, 6-3.Two Taipei girls Huai Shu Chen and En Shuo liang also made the cut for the main draw.
Vonn equals Wc wins record
Rome: American skier lindsey Vonn equalled the record of overall World Cup wins Sunday at the Italian resort of Cortina d'Ampezzo. Vonn recorded her 62nd victory in the women's downhill in Alpine skiing, reports Xinhua. The 30-year-old equalled the record of Austrian
Annemarie Moser-Proell, who competed between 1970 and 1980. After matching the World Cup's all-time record for wins, she rated it “right below” her Olympic gold medal on her lengthy list of career achievements. Vonn clocked a time of 1 minute, 39.61 seconds.