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A splendid five-wicket haul by Prashant Bhandari helped Delhi take a first innings lead over Uttar Pradesh to set up a semi-final clash with Tamil Nadu in the U-16 tournament....

Delhi make Vijay Merchant semis

A splendid five-wicket haul by Prashant Bhandari helped Delhi take a first innings lead over Uttar Pradesh to set up a semi-final clash with Tamil Nadu in the U-16 tournament for the Vijay Merchant Trophy at Cooch Behar. Tamil Nadu beat Mumbai by an innings and 82 runs in another quarter-final in Murshidabad.

Delhi will take on Tamil Nadu at Cooch Behar,while in the other semi-final,Maharashtra will face Punjab in Siliguri from January 6-8.

Big win for India U-19 team

Left-arm pacer Saurabh Netravalkar routed Sri Lanka with a five-wicket haul as India thrashed Sri Lanka by 10 wickets in the tri-nation U-19 tournament on Saturday. Netravalkar (5/26) and Sandeep Sharma (3/26) wrecked the Lankans who folded for just 52 in 26.1 overs. In reply,India raced to 53 for no loss.

Brief scores: Sri Lanka Under-19: 52 all out in 26.1 overs (Saurabh Netravalkar 5/26,Sandeep Sharma 3/26). India Under-19: 53 for no loss (Mayank Agarwal 36 not out).

Sharapova beats Venus

Maria Sharapova outplayed Venus Williams on the key points for a 6-3 6-4 win in an exhibition match on Saturday. Sharapova converted 75 per cent of her break points,against just 13 per cent by Williams. Both players appeared in trouble in the heat and low sun at his beachside resort,with Williams particularly struggling to keep the ball on the court. Its good to be back. Im glad to play against Venus in my first match of the year, said the Russian.

Henin to begin against Petrova

Former world No. 1 Justine Henin faces a tough first-round match in her official comeback tournament after drawing second-seeded Nadia Petrova at the Brisbane International. Henin,a wild card,was the last player drawn in the 32-women field,ironically conducted by Petrova. US Open champion and Henins fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters will play Italian Tathiana Garbin. Mens top seed Andy Roddick drew Australian Davis Cup player Peter Luczak.

Central- East tie in Duleep opener

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Central Zone will take on East Zone in the opening match of Duleep Trophy knock-out cricket tournament at Mohali from January 19-22. The winners of the match would meet South Zone in the semi-final. Holders West Zone are to take on North Zone in the other semi-final,while the final would be held at Hyderabad,a BCCI release said.

Schedule: Quarter-final (January 19-22): Central Zone vs East Zone at Mohali.

Semi finals (January 26-29): West Zone vs North Zone at Rajkot; South Zone vs winners of Central Zone vs East Zone match at Indore.

Final (February 2-6): Hyderabad.

Railways in two finals

Indian Railways entered the mens final at the 60th national basketball championship in Ludhiana after defeating Uttrakhand 73-71 in the semi-final on Saturday. For Railways,Vishesh scored 16 points,Arjun 19 and Yadvinder 23,while for Uttrakhand Murli Kishan and Suresh chipped in with 21 and 16 points respectively. In a womens semi-final,the Indian Railways team scored a 130-59 victory over Karnataka.

Ghosal breaks into top 30

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Indias Saurav Ghosal has moved up three places to the 29th spot to achieve his career-best ranking in the latest PSA Rankings released on Saturday. The Kolkata-lad has accumulated 1860.00 points from 14 tournaments he had played last year. Ritwik Bhattacharya also climbed up 35 places to be placed 113.

Among women,Anaka Alankamony moved up 14 places to rise to 87 spot,while Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal were placed 34th and 46th respectively.