Sports Bar

Adlington,Tancock in Eng squad

Double Olympic gold medallist Rebecca Adlington and world champions Liam Tancock and Gemma Spofforth have been included in England’s 29-strong swimming squad for the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. Another 13 swimmers will be added to the list after the European championships and the national championships in August.

Sushil to spearhead challenge

Olympic bronze medallist Sushil Kumar will spearhead the Indian challenge in the senior Asian freestyle,Greco-Roman and women’s wrestling championship to be held in New Delhi from May 12 to 16. The selection committee of the Wrestling Federation of India named a 14-member men’s team based on their performance in a selection trial.

Chandigarh beat Central Rly

The first all-India women’s hockey tournament started in Bhopal with Chandigarh Academy beating Central Railway,Mumbai 1-0 in the inaugural match. Reena scored the lone goal of the match in the 15th minute,which also earned her the player-of-the-match award.

Sasi wins to keep joint lead

Leaving behind the opening-round disappointment,GM K Sasikiran scored a fine victory over IM Homayoon Toufighi of Iran to remain in joint lead after Round 2 of the 12th Asian Continental Chess Championship in Subic Bay,Philippines. IM Tania Sachdev also overcame a shocking first round loss to beat Aices Salvador of Philippines.

AI snatch draw with late goal

An injury-time goal from Ndubuisi Opara helped Air India hold Salgaocar to a 1-1 draw in the I-League in Fatorda. Salgaocar,who are 12th in the table,took their tally to 24 points,while Air India have 25 points and stay 10th.

Pune team to be unveiled

Pune: One of the two new IPL franchises,Sahara India,is all set to unveil its Pune team here on Saturday. The Sahara Group said it would unveil the identity of the team along with its name at a function preceded by a cultural programme. The matches in Pune will be played at the stadium of Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA),still under construction,about 25km from here.

NZ,Sri Lanka T20 series in US

Wellington: New Zealand will play a three-match Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka in the United States next month,officials said on Friday. The matches in Florida will launch a new strategic partnership between cricket authorities in New Zealand and the United States. “This Twenty20 series is the first of many initiatives between our two cricket boards and we envisage New Zealand playing in the USA on an annual basis,” ,New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan said in a statement.

Tendulkar turns 37

MUMBAI: Batting legend Sachin Tendulkar turns 37 on Saturday but will have to put celebrations on hold,pending the IPL final on Sunday. having played an important role in his team’s progress so far in the tournament,Tendulkar will be keen to gift himself a perfect birthday gift by winning the trophy.

Asif,Sami to fly separately

KARACHI: Pakistani pacers Mohammed Asif and Mohammad Sami will reach the West Indies for the World Cup separately and not with the national team. The defending champions are scheduled to leave on Saturday. The Pakistan team will first reach Dubai and from there to St Lucia via London. But while Asif is barred from entering the UAE after being detained in Dubai in 2008 for possession of hashish,Sami does not have a visa for the United Kingdom.

T20 WC in Europe

Dubai: In a bid to capture the global market,the upcoming World Twenty20 Championship will be broadcast in 14 European languages. The Eurosport channel,official licensee of ICC’s broadcast partner ESPN STAR Sports,will be broadcasting the tournament in Europe. The languages in which Eurosport plans to broadcast the tournament include Bulgarian,Czech,Danish,English,French,German,Greek,Hungarian,Italian,Polish,Romanian,Russian,Serbian and Turkish.

Jodie out of World Cup

Melbourne: Australia skipper Jodie Fields has been ruled out of the women’s World Twenty20 due to a hamstring injury and has been replaced by New South Wales wicket-keeper Alyssa Healy. “Alex Blackwell will take over the captaincy and Shelley Nitschke the vice-captaincy,” a Cricket Australia release said. “Fields was progressing well in her bid to come back to international cricket after injuring the hamstring in a National Cricket League match in January. She was close to passing a fitness test but unfortunately suffered a setback on Thursday when she re-injured the same hamstring in an unrelated incident,” the release added.