Easy wins for Paes and BhupathiTwo days after ending their Tour doubles title drought in Chennai, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi joined with the journeymen of tennis to keep themselves in the race for a moderately successful singles ranking. At the $25,000 Servo Indian Oil Challenger, Paes and Bhupathi got through the first round in styles absolutely in keeping with their personalities. Bhupathi beat lanky Finn seventh seed Tuomas Ketola 6-4, 6-3. Top-seeded Paes overcame Aussie Joseph Sirianni 6-3, 6-2 win.MP enter finalAll the expectations of a thrilling finish ended in a tame draw as Madhya Pradesh, who had a chance of an outright win (target 236), settled to play it safe. MP, by virtue of their 57-run first innings lead over Hyderabad, made an historic, maiden entry into the Ranji Trophy final. They will now clash with holders Karnataka in Bangalore in the five-day final from April 19.A fixed matchFormer Pakistani cricket captain Rashid Latif today accused unnamed players in the national team of involvement in match fixing, citing the defeat at Sharjah against England. "I suspect match fixing as they threw away the match at Sharjah on Monday," the 30-year-old Latif said. "It is unbelievable the way Saqlain got out," he told AFP.Gelfand climbesBoris Gelfand climbed to the joint third spot, winning his postponed first roungd game against veteran Viktor Korchnoi even as the rest of the field took its second rest day at the Dos Hermanas chess tournament. The win brought Gelfand, a last minute replacement for the indisposed Alexander Morozevich, to three points and he joins Antaly Karpov and Veselin Topalov in the tie for third to fifth place.Century standA brilliant knock by skipper Vijai Dahiya (101 not out) and his opening wicket partnership of 105 runs with Onkar Singh (38) helped Indian Airlines, Delhi, to defeat Research Design Standard Organisation (RDSO), Lucknow, by eight wickets in the first semifinal of the 49th All-India Sheesh Mahal cricket tournament today.Overdose of cricketThe World Cup, the mega event as far as international cricket is concerned, is just a month away. But are the Indians in good shape to take on the best in the world? The answer would be a big `No'.
