PADMA SHRI FOR SARDAR, ANJUM
New Delhi: Indian men's hockey team captain Sardar Singh and former skipper of the national women's side Saba Anjum were on Monday conferred with the prestigious Padma Shri Award by President Pranab Mukherjee at a glittering ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhavan here. Both Sardar as well as Saba received the Arjuna Award in 2012 and 2013 respectively. Sardar is also the most sought-after player in the prestigious HIl. Saba, on the other hand, was one of the most prominent forwards and represented India ib the 2002 Asian Games, 2004 Asia Cup, CWG in 2002 and 2006 and Junior World Cup in 2001.
Saina, Sri eye malaysian crown
Kuala lumpur: Newly-crowned India Open champions, Saina Nehwal (in pic) and Kidambi Srikanth will look to continue their fairytale run as they eye another podium finish at the $500,000 Malaysia Open Super Series Premier which gets underway with the qualifiers here on Tuesday. left with hardly any time to celebrate their maiden title wins at the India Super Series, Saina and Srikanth had to rush for Malaysia last night itself and the duo will look to recover quickly before starting their campaign on Wednesday.Set to be officially crowned the world no 1 on Thursday; Saina will start her campaign as a third seed against Indonesia's Maria Febe Kusumastuti in the opening round. The girl from Hyderabad is likely to face Thailand's Busanan Ongbumrungpan, ranked 19th, in the second round. If Saina can produce the same magic which helped her clinch India Open then she is likely to find herself face to face with Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying, in the quarterfinals.
Azhar Ali named Pak ODI captain
Karachi: Inexperienced top-order batsman Azhar Ali was on Monday named as the new Pakistan ODI captain in a surprise move by the cricket Board, succeeding Misbah-ul-Haq who retired from the 50-over format after the cricket World Cup. 30-year-old Azhar has played just 14 ODIs since his debut in 2010 and his choice over the likes of Muhammad Hafeez, Fawad Alam, Sarfraz Ahmed, Sohaib Maqsood and veteran batsman Younis Khan has come as a big surprise as he was not even picked in the World Cup squad. He has played in 39 Tests. Azhar, who has not played a one-day international since January 2013, was also named as vice-captain to Misbah-ul-Haq in the Test side while wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed would be the ODI and T20 vice-captain. Shahid Afridi will be the captain of the T20 side. PCB Chairman Shaharyar Khan also introduced Haroon Rasheed as the new chief selector in place of Moin Khan.
Ponting starts as mI coach
Mumbai: Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting on Monday began his new innings as the head coach of the Mumbai Indians who commenced their training at the Wankhede Stadium ahead of the Indian Premier league season 8, scheduled to start on April 8. The entire squad has not yet assembled and some are expected to join the short camp in a day or two ahead of MI's opening game against defending champions KKR at the Eden Gardens. Among those who went through their paces were R Vinay Kumar and Abhimanyu Mithun, both of whom played stellar roles in Karnataka retaining the Ranji Trophy, Mumbai skipper Aditya Tare, and Gujarat captain Parthiv Patel. Agencies
