CT 2013: Pakistan, India in same group

lONDON: Rivals Pakistan and India have been put in the same group in the 2013 Champions Trophy scheduled to be played in England and Wales, according to draws announced here on Tuesday.

 The sub-continental rivals will clash in Birmingham, which has one of Britain's largest South Asian populations, on June 15.

Meanwhile hosts England will begin the tournament by playing defending champions and old rivals Australia at Birmingham's Edgbaston ground.

The Champions Trophy, the "mini World Cup", features the world's eight leading nations in 50-over cricket.

Group A will include Australia, England, New Zealand and Sri Lanka while India, Pakistan, South Africa and the West Indies will compete in Group B.

As well as Cardiff and Edgbaston, The Oval in south London will also stage Champions Trophy fixtures, with the final at Edgbaston on June 23.

"This will be a terrific opportunity for fans to see the world's very best one-day sides in action over the space of less than three weeks and the fixture schedule has thrown up a host of exciting head-to-head contests," said tournament director and former South Africa seamer Steve Elworthy, after the England and Wales Cricket Board released the fixtures on Tuesday.

Next year's edition will be the seventh and last Champions Trophy, with the tournament being replaced by the International Cricket Council's new World Test Championship instead.

Officials had hoped to launch the World Test Championship in 2013 but sponsor and broadcast agreements meant they had to continue with the Champions Trophy.

England fall short at Lord's

South Africa wrapped up a 2-0 Investec series victory over England after the hosts went down by 51 runs on a thrilling final day at Lord's.

Chasing a record 346 to win and tie the three-match series with openers Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook already out, England gave the tourists a fright before being bowled out for 294.

Jonathan Trott, Jonny Bairstow and Matt Prior all struck half-centuries as England gradually closed on their victory target into the late afternoon.

When Trott (63) was sixth man out with the score on 146 it looked as though England would submit meekly, but Prior (73) along with Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann would have none of it.

The trio lashed the ball to all parts of the ground before Broad skied one, Swann was run out and Prior succumbed to the second new ball.

It meant South Africa deservedly took their place at the top of the Test rankings after dominating large periods of the series, with England dropping to second in the table.

Win earns Preston boss applause

Preston booked their place in the second round of the Capital One Cup with a 2-0 defeat of Huddersfield on Monday night.                                                                                                                                                 

Graham Westley left the Deepdale dugout to a standing ovation after his new-look North End saw off the Terriers.

Westley endured a troubled time after taking over at Preston last season but saw his side make the perfect start to the new campaign when Jack King headed home after 29 minutes.

Nicky Wroe, a summer signing from Shrewsbury, then doubled the lead five minutes before the break to help the League One side into the next round.

Westley fielded a starting 11 which featured 10 summer signings, with only goalkeeper Thorsten Stuckmann surviving the summer cull.

And the North End new boys enjoyed a dream start to the season when King's deft header floated past Alex Smithies in the Huddersfield goal after 29 minutes.

The striker, signed from Woking in the summer, directing Jeffrey Monakana's brilliant chipped ball inside the far post.

Wroe then side-footed Chris Beardsley's low cross into a gaping net five minutes before half-time to double the advantage.

Lee Novak would have pulled a goal back for the visitors after the restart had he not been tardy to Paul Dixon's cross.

Seconds later, Oscar Gobern's meek effort wasted some fluid build-up play as the Championship side failed to make their league supremacy count.

Steven Fletcher: Wolves reject third Sunderland bid

Wolves have rejected a third offer from Sunderland for striker Steven Fletcher.

The Championship side have previously turned down bids of £10m and £12m for the 25-year-old, and this latest offer falls short of Wolves' £15m valuation."We want to keep our best players," said Wolves chief executive Jez Moxey. "If our valuations are not met then they will remain at Wolves."

Fletcher, who scored 12 goals in 26 Premier League appearances as Wolves were relegated from the top flight last season, has two years left on his Molineux contract, with an option for a third.

His former club Burnley will be due 15% of any profit Wolves make on a player they paid £7m for in 2010.

"ALL parties need to draw a line under this matter, which has now dragged on for more than a month," he said.

"We need to focus on the season ahead and these disruptions to the squad's preparations are unhelpful.

"We cannot allow this speculation to drag on indefinitely up to the closure of the transfer window."

Sunderland are short of attacking options following the departures of Asamoah Gyan and Nicklas Bendtner, and boss Martin O'Neill has made Fletcher his prime attacking target this summer.

Rabia Ashiq to competes in 800m

LONDON: Pakistan’s Rabia Ashiq competed in the 800m race at the London Olympics 2012 on Wednesday

Ashiq took part in heat 4 of the 800m and finished last.

Ashiq took part in heat 4 of the 800m. She finished last in her heat and 35th overall.

Rabia Ashiq who is a resident of Lahore was a wildcard entrant into the games and was Pakistan's last athlete competing at the Olympics.

Campbell-Brown chases Olympic treble

LONDON: Jamaican sprinter Veronica Campbell-Brown will attempt an unprecedented Olympic treble on Wednesday as controversial South African 800m runner Caster Semenya makes her long-awaited Games debut. 

Campbell-Brown, winner of the 200m at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, will become the first woman in history to win an individual athletics crown in three consecutive Games if she successfully defends her title once more.

The 30-year-old cruised into Wednesday's final with an impressive 22.32sec in her semi-final and declared herself ready to see off the threat of rivals who include Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Allyson Felixand Sanya Richards-Ross.

"I am happy. I have a lot of experience, I know what to expect. Tomorrow night we know that it will be an extremely difficult event," Fraser-Pryce said.

"My objective is just to stay focused - and run my heart out."

Campbell-Brown's opponents look more than capable of ending her eight-year reign as Olympic champion, however, and few would begrudge Felix in particular if the 26-year-old American strikes it lucky at the third time of asking.

Felix has finished as silver-medallist behind Campbell-Brown at the past two Olympics, but looked superb in reaching the final on Tuesday, coasting home in 22.31sec to win her semi-final.

"It has been a long time coming. I feel I am ready to put a race together," said Felix, who ran a personal best and world-leading time of 21.69sec at the US Olympic trials, the fastest for 14 years.

"I think if I put a good race together I'll run a fast time."

Sri Lanka put India in to bat in T20

                                                             

PALLEKELE, Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene elected to field after winning the toss against India in the one-off Twenty20 international in Pallekele on Tuesday.

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain/wk), Ajinkya Rahane, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Suresh Raina, Irfan Pathan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Ashok Dinda.

Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Angelo Mathews, Lahiru Thirimanne, Jeevan Mendis, Thisara Perera, Lasith Malinga, Rangana Herath, Shaminda Eranga.

Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (SL) and Tyron Wijewardene (SL), TV umpire: Ruchira Palliyaguruge (SL)

Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)

(AFP)

Olympic Tennis: Azarenka Reaches Semifinals.

London, August 2 - World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka secured a win over Germany's seventhseed Angelique Kerber to reach the semi-finals of women's singles in Olympics tennis competition here Thursday.

The Belarusian needed little more than an hour to beat Kerber 6-4, 7-5. Azarenka will next play either fourth seed Serena Williams or eighth seedCaroline Wozniacki in the semifinals.

If Azarenka wins a medal, it will be Belarus's first-ever Olympic medal in tennis.

Olympics_Boxing India Jai Bhagwan Boxed Out .

London, Aug 2 - India's Jai Bhagwan was outboxed by Kazakh fighter Gani Zhailauov at the London Olympics and lost by a big margin in the pre-quarterfinals of the men's 60 kg category here Thursday.

Bhagwan became the third boxer to fall in the London Games after the ouster of Shiva Thapa (56 kg) and Sumit Sangwan (81 kg) as he lost 8-16 at the ExCel Arena.

The Indian got off to a bright start and looked to having the upper hand over the Kazakh boxer, who had knocked him out in the quarters of the 2011 World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan. 

Starting off aggressively, Jai Bhagwan landed some telling blows in the beginning and ended the first round 3-2 in his favour. 

The Indian though looked lazy in the second round and came in for some stick from the Kazakh boxer, who by now was well settled into the bout. Jai Bhagwan's reply never came as he withdrew himself into a shell and relied on the odd counter punches.

Things only got worse for Jai Bhagwan as he was given a public warning that resulted in a two-point penalty, ending the round 3-10.

Participating in his first Olympics, the 26-year-old Indian seemed to run out of gas in the third. Initially showing a bit of urgency, Jai Bhagwan lacked ideas to get back into the contest as the Kazakh showed great counter-attacking skills and clever boxing.

Zhailauov, who won a bronze medal in Baku, adopted a defensive strategy, trying to evade most of the punches coming his way and finally took the third round .

kARACHI: Pakistan’s presence at the London Olympics dwindled further on Tuesday as swimmer Israr Hussain and shooter Khurram Inam made their exits.

 Pakistan’s only representativesleft in London now are Rabia Ashiq (800m), Liaqat Ali and the hockey team after swimmer Anum Bandey 
also  bowed out.

Hussain failed to qualify for the 100m freestyle after he finished last at the Aquatics Centre. The 26-year old, who was competing in his first Olympics, recorded a time of 57.86 seconds. Hussain was given a wild-card entry to participate in the Games based on his performance at the Shanghai Qualifiers.

Inam, participating in his third Olympic Games after Sydney in 2000 and Athens 2004, crashed out after he scored 20 and 25 in the last two rounds on day two of the qualifiers.

Previously, Pakistan’s top skeet shooter had fired a total of 67 scoring 21, 23 and 23 in the first three rounds respectively.                                 

                                                   

London Olympics 2012: Hockey pride!

 I grew up in a neighbourhood where there were seasons of sports. Every time there was a major hockey competition, it’d be a hockey season.

We had two levels of it: first we’d play in our street and then there would be a match with the boys from the other street in the big playground. Not all of us owned hockey sticks – most would climb trees and find a naturally bent stick (usually the joint would provide the required bend) from the tree and play with that.

That was the 90s!

When I saw our boys, today, standing with their hands on their chests while the national anthem was being played in London, it reminded me of the glory days; the 1994 World Cup. I was only 10-years-old back then, but I distinctly remember the celebrations when Mansoor Ahmed stopped that penalty and I started dancing.