Voices raised for early IHF polls

NEW DELHI: The Bengal Hockey Association (BHA) on Wednesday said it had the support of a majority of state bodies to persuade the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to hold elections to the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) at the earliest.

BHA president J B Roy said that he has been authorised by 28 state associations to meet the IOA officials and ask for an early election.

"The IHF has been suspended and the matter is pending in the court. Due to the legal tussle, the affairs of Indian hockey are moving in a sluggish way. That is the reason why BHA and other state associations have taken it upon themselves to improve the state of the game in the country," he said.

While parading all the 28 representatives of different state associations, Roy said that he and other members will meet the IOA officials and request them to start the process of election.

"We have waited for nearly a year now. IOA president Suresh Kalmadi promised to hold the election as soon as possible but nothing has been done."

Roy also refuted IOA's claim that elections cannot be held till the case filed by sacked IHF chief KPS Gill is settled in the Delhi High court.

"There is no bar in holding elections. KPS Gill has filed a case challenging his dismissal as the IHF president. What has it got to do with election," he said.

Soruce:http://cricket.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

RBS to end Williams F1 sponsorship in 2010

LONDON: The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) will end their sponsorship of the Williams Formula One team at the end of the 2010 season, the bank said in a statement on Wednesday.

"We recognise that we are now operating in a very different economic environment and have been reviewing all of our activities since October," RBS said.

"It is imperative that we respond to the reality of the situation that we face and that we do so in an orderly way that respects the commercial agreements we have in place and the implications for our partners and the jobs they support."

RBS have sponsored Williams since 2005 and renewed their deal for a second three-year term in 2007.

Source:http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Voices-raised-for-early-IHF-polls/articleshow/4191711.cms

Bhupathi-Knowles advance to Dubai quarters

DUBAI: Second seeded Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles sailed into the quarterfinals of the $2,233,500 Dubai Tennis championships after an easy 6-3, 6 -1 win over UAE's Hamoud Abbas and Mahmoud-Naden Al Baloushi.

The Indo-Bahamian pair hardly broke a sweat in their win against the wild card entrants.

They will next take on Rik De Voest of South Africa and Dmitry Tursunov of Russia.

Another Indian in the fray is Prakash Amritraj, who along with Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, got a wild card entry into the prestigious event.

They will begin their campaign against Czech Martin Damm and Robert Lindstedt of Sweden.

Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy were sent packing by unseeded pair of Simone Bolelli and Ivo Karlovic.

Source:http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Bhupathi-Knowles-advance-to-Dubai-quarters-/articleshow/4187101.cms

HC notice to Centre on weightlifter Monika's petition

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought a response from the Sports Authority of India on a petition filed by weightlifter L Monika Devi, disqualified from participating in Beijing Olympics 2008 after she was found positive in dope test, alleging that the officials violated the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules.

Also issuing notices to Indian Olympic Association, National Dope Testing Laboratory and Weightlifting Federation of India besides the sports ministry, Justice Ravinder Bhat sought their responses by April 2.

Monika, who won the Silver Medal in Melbourne Common Wealth Games 2006, is seeking direction to the sports authority to declare the dope test conducted by the Laboratory of Tokyo on her ahead of the Beijing Olympic as null and void as the officials failed to follow the doping rules.

Filing the petition through their counsel P Ramesh Kumar, Monika contended that she had given samples 'A' for dope test, whose result was not told to her but the information was revealed to media.

As per the WADA rule, the athlete was entitled to know the result of sample-A within 10 days from the date when the sample was given but she was not informed by the officials, the national champion's counsel said.

As per the rule, the officials should have maintained the sample 'A' result confidential but they revealed the information to media which is against the WADA rule, the Manipur based weightlifter said.

Besides this petition, Monika and L Ibomcha Singh, President of All Manipur Tae-Kwondo association, and Dr Thakur Suresh Singh have filed a PIL seeking court's intervention to address the issues related to dope test on the athletes.

In case the athlete wants to challenge the sample A test, he or she has to give sample 'B' before challenging the result, they said.

According to the petitioners, the court should direct the Centre to set up a National Sports Tribunal to address the problems of the athletes.

Soruce:http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/?frm_TOIHome_top

HC notice to Centre on weightlifter Monika's petition

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought a response from the Sports Authority of India on a petition filed by weightlifter L Monika Devi, disqualified from participating in Beijing Olympics 2008 after she was found positive in dope test, alleging that the officials violated the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules.

Also issuing notices to Indian Olympic Association, National Dope Testing Laboratory and Weightlifting Federation of India besides the sports ministry, Justice Ravinder Bhat sought their responses by April 2.

Monika, who won the Silver Medal in Melbourne Common Wealth Games 2006, is seeking direction to the sports authority to declare the dope test conducted by the Laboratory of Tokyo on her ahead of the Beijing Olympic as null and void as the officials failed to follow the doping rules.

Filing the petition through their counsel P Ramesh Kumar, Monika contended that she had given samples 'A' for dope test, whose result was not told to her but the information was revealed to media.

As per the WADA rule, the athlete was entitled to know the result of sample-A within 10 days from the date when the sample was given but she was not informed by the officials, the national champion's counsel said.

As per the rule, the officials should have maintained the sample 'A' result confidential but they revealed the information to media which is against the WADA rule, the Manipur based weightlifter said.

Besides this petition, Monika and L Ibomcha Singh, President of All Manipur Tae-Kwondo association, and Dr Thakur Suresh Singh have filed a PIL seeking court's intervention to address the issues related to dope test on the athletes.

In case the athlete wants to challenge the sample A test, he or she has to give sample 'B' before challenging the result, they said.

According to the petitioners, the court should direct the Centre to set up a National Sports Tribunal to address the problems of the athletes.

Soruce:http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/?frm_TOIHome_top

Murray, Djokovic through to Dubai quarters

DUBAI: Britain's Andy Murray roared into the quarter-finals of the Dubai Championships with a comfortable 6-2, 6-3 win over Arnaud Clement of France on Wednesday, but top seed Novak Djokovic was made to toil for his place.

Second seed Murray broke to love to lead 2-1, and then held off two break points with aces at 3-2 before breaking again to lead 5-2. An early break for 2-1 when Clement netted a backhand quickly gave him the advantage in the second set, and he broke again for the match with a forehand winner.

"I served very well in comparison to my last match," Murray said. "I was pushing out much better for my serve. I managed to dictate the match with my serve. I didn't give him many chances after my first couple of service games, and I obviously managed to get into a lot of his service games and put a bit of pressure on him, and he made some mistakes."

Murray will now face another Frenchman, Richard Gasquet, who needed over three hours to overcome Simone Bolelli of Italy 6-7, 6-3, 7-6.

Djokovic took more than two hours to defeat Czech Jan Hernych 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. The Serbian world number three was never able to dominate an opponent who rallied well and played more consistently.

After a single break decided each of the first two sets, Hernych broke to lead 2-1 in the third. But Djokovic immediately leveled at 2-2, and broke again in the final game with a forehand volley down the line.

"I played well in the first set and had a couple of break points at the start of the second, and suddenly I started breaking up," said Djokovic.

"I was too defensive, I had a lot of ups and downs and allowed him to come back into the match. But it's important, matches where you don't play well or you don't feel well on the court, but you win. That is what matters."

French third seed Gilles Simon took just 53 minutes to crush Russia's Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-1, 6-2, and fourth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer also progressed smoothly with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Fifth seed Croatian Marin Cilic lined up a clash with Djokovic by edging Julien Benneteau of France 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 and sixth seed Igor Andreev defeated Dmitry Tursunov 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 in an all-Russian clash.

Soruce:http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Murray-Djokovic-through-to-Dubai-quarters/articleshow/4192634.cms

Tiger Woods says its business as usual

WASHINGTON: Golf champion Tiger Woods, who spent eight months recovering from knee surgery, has declared it is business as usual.


Woods, up against Australia's Brendan Jones, was playing for the first time since last June when he won the US Open before needing reconstructive knee surgery.

And despite a front-nine wobble that included bogeys at the third, fifth and seventh holes, world No 1 Woods roared to a 3 and 2 victory -- thanks in part to an eagle at the par-five 13th.

Woods, 33, said: "I got off to a great start but there were some loose shots that followed in the middle of the round before I got it back on the 13th.

"Overall, I'm very pleased. On the first tee I said to my caddie, Stevie Williams, that it felt like business as usual.

"I thought I'd be more nervous than I was. My knee held up well. I thought it would be stiffer but it felt good.

Soruce:http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/?frm_TOIHome_top