Inbrief

Boodle to judge at Azlan Shah Cup
PUNE: Maharasthra Hockey Association (MHA) secretary Benny Boodle has been nominated judge at the 10th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from February 16-26.
Boodle, former Maharashtra skipper, was informed about the appointment by Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) secretary K Jothikumaran in a letter dated January 4 and will travel to the Malaysian capital on February 14 in time for his first briefing the next day.

Juniors, Air-India for Ayur Hockey
NEW DELHI: Australian Universties team, India (juniors), Air-India (Mumbai) are among the six teams who will vie for top honours in the First Ayur Gold Cup Hockey Tournament to be played here from February 14-21. The other three teams in fray are Border Security Force (BSF), Punjab and Sind Bank (PSB), Jalandhar and Combined Indian Universties squad.

Iran win team gold, none for India
NEW DELHI: Iran won the team gold to take the opening day’s honours in the International Show Jumping Competition as India finished outside the medal bracket.
Ahad Nikooee, who did not pick upany penalty point, helped Iran comprising Alireza Dhoteesharif and Kazem Moghemee pip Britain to the gold with an aggregate of 27 penalties at the Nicholson Ranges.

Chand, Patwardhan win in high spirits
NEW DELHI: Anitya Chand and Jaideep Patwardhan of Gas Authority of India Limited won the Open category in the Seagram’s Blenders Pride Corporate Golf tournament. The duo will be part of the Indian team which will participate in the World Corporate Golf Challenge at La Manga, Spain in May this year. Joining them in the four-member team will be Tarun Dewan and Romeo James of BPCL, who won the title in the Handicap category.

Yuvraj Pawar gets gold, bronze
PUNE: Yuvraj Pawar of Solapur bagged a gold and a bronze medal on the opening day of the Inter-district State sub-junior athletic meet.
Results: Boys under-14: High jump: Durjan Madavi (Pune) 1.65m, Sagar Rao (Pune), Shridhar Naik (Thane). U-12 high jump: Vishal Patil (Kol) 1.40m, Vikas Rathod (Sol), Yuvraj Pawar (Sol). 50m: Viral Seth (Mum) 8.2s, Prashant Patil (Sangli), K Fernandes (Mum). 300m: Yuvraj Pawar (Sol) 41.6s, Shailesh Nishad (Thane), H Albert (Nasik).
Girls U-12: 50m: Urvashi Patel (Sol) 8.4s, Vidya Jagham (Sangli), R Shanbuag (Pune). 300m: Vedangi Raut (Thane) 46.2s, Aproova Kanbinde (Mum), Rechal Monterio (Thane). 800m: Michelle Pereira (Thane) 2.28.5m, Sangeeta Gade (Pune), Archana Jagdale (Pune). Long jump: Trupt Laad (Pune) 4.10m, Natasha D’Souza (Thane), P Fatima (Mum). U-14: Long jump: Prajali Chitnis (Thane) 4.73m, Rich Pereira (Thane), S Semonds (Mum).

Boje to replace injured Adams
JOHANNESBURG: Free State’s orthodox left-arm spinner Nicky Boje was named to replace Paul Adams in the South African cricket squad to tour India later this month.
Adams, a left-arm wrist spinner, fractured the middle finger of his left hand while fielding in the fifth Test against England last month.

Thai engineers Deep Blue junior downfall
BANGKOK: A mechanical engineer and avid chess player who beat an IBM computer at the game thinks his opponent didn’t put up a good fight. Prayoon Ekaworawong, 36, humbled the chess machine named Deep Blue Junior in 13 minutes on the 58th move in a demonstration game at a trade fair. Deep Blue Junior is a scaled-down version of Deep Blue, IBM’s advanced chess-playing product. IBM Thailand has allowed anyone attending the fair to play the computer, but on condition that they quit playing if they don’t beat it within 15 minutes.

Nandrolene may not be such a bad word
LONDON: Track and field’s world governing body will consider putting disciplinary proceedings on hold against athletes accused of taking nandrolone while officials seek to determine the reasons behind the rash of positive tests for the banned steroid.
The nandrolone epidemic, which has included positive samples from such star athletes as Merlene Ottey, Linford Christie and Dieter Baumann, will be at the top of the agenda when International Amateur Athletic Federation chiefs meet in Monte Carlo, Monaco, this weekend.
The meetings come amid increasing evidence and speculation that nutritional supplements are producing the positive Nandrolone findings and that athletes may be taking the banned substance inadvertently.

UEFA hint at World Club boycott
NYON, Switzerland: European football’s governing body (Uefa) said it was reluctant to allow a European club to compete in the second Fifa World Club Championships. England’s Manchester United and Spain’s Real Madrid competed for Europe in the inaugural tournament hosted by Brazil in January.

–ENS and Agencies