KKR to announce captain, squad in South Africa

KOLKATA: Apparently fearing a public outrage after Sourav Ganguly was stripped of sole captaincy role, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Monday said they will announce their skipper and squad for the Indian Premier League second season in South Africa and not in India.

After the six-day training camp concluded on Monday, KKR Director of Cricket Operations John Buchanan while leaving the Eden Gardens merely said a 24-member squad will fly to South Africa on Tuesday.

KKR Chief Executive Officer Joy Bhattacharjee, when contacted and asked to name the 24 players, said, "I don't want to disclose who will go to South Africa now. The final squad will be named in South Africa."

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

Davis Cup venue decision next week

BANGALORE: The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is likely to decide the fate of the May 8-10 - third round Asia-Oceania Group I - tie between India and Australia by "the weekend of the week starting April 6".

It's India's turn to host Australia in the Davis Cup but with Tennis Australia writing to the ITF, asking for the tie to be moved out of India for security reasons, an air of uncertainty hovers over the venue.

Earlier, India broke with tradition picking Chennai's hardcourts over the grasscourts of New Delhi and Kolkata. The southern metropolis had successfully hosted the ATP season opener in January.

The ITF is now looking at its security advisors for answers. A decision was expected early this week, but the process is taking longer than expected.

"Our security advisors are working with a security agency based in India," ITF's communications officer Nick Imison said.

"We're hopeful of having a decision soon. Irrespective of whether security issues are raised by rival nations, we go through the process of checking security details before every tie. We'll let the two national federations - India and Australia - know latest by the weekend of the week starting April 6."

While Australia's No.1 player Lleyton Hewitt raised concerns in the media following the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore earlier this month, the fact that the Davis Cup tie would be played during general elections in India and that the IPL was moved out due to security reasons would probably weigh against the hosts.

The All India Tennis Association, however, is confident that Chennai will get the nod. "The ITF sent us a questionnaire, we filled it and sent it back. We haven't heard from them formally since," Col Chauhan, executive director of the AITA, said.

"We're hopeful of hosting the tie. Chennai is absolutely safe."

Source:http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Davis-Cup-venue-decision-next-week/articleshow/4336999.cms

Woods completes thrilling comeback victory

MIAMI: Tiger Woods came from five strokes behind to overhaul fellow American Sean O'Hair and win his 66th PGA Tour title by a shot at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando on Sunday.

Playing only his third tournament since returning from reconstructive knee surgery, Woods completed a record sixth victory at Bay Hill Club by dramatically sinking a 16-foot birdie putt on the final hole in fading light.

The American world number one, who had been sidelined for eight months following his previous Tour win at the US Open in June, matched his biggest final-round comeback on the circuit.

In 2000, he overhauled a five-shot deficit after 54 holes to win the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Woods finally caught the pacesetting O'Hair with a birdie at the par-four 15th and claimed the outright lead for the first time when his playing partner bogeyed 16 after hitting his approach into water.

Although Woods stumbled on 17, where his tee shot ended up under the lip of a greenside bunker, he calmly rolled in the 16-footer on the 18th green for a five-under total of 275.

"It feels really good," the 33-year-old said in a greenside interview after celebrating his victory by backing away with a sweeping fist pump before embracing his caddie Steve Williams.

"It feels good to be back in contention again and to feel the rush and to have to deal with everything coming down the stretch. It's been a while but it kind of felt good."

O'Hair, who had been bidding for a third PGA Tour title, had to settle for second place after closing with a 73 with 2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson (69) a further two strokes back at two under.

The start of the final round was delayed by an hour and 45 minutes due to the threat of lightning after storms rolled into the area earlier than expected.

Source:http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Woods-completes-thrilling-comeback-victory/articleshow/4332525.cms

Indians to give China Open a miss

NEW DELHI: As a mark of solidarity with the Asian Tour, most Indian golfers playing on the Tour will boycott the upcoming $2.2 million Volvo China Open in Beijing, which is being co-sanctioned by the European Tour and the new OneAsia Super Series.

The OneAsia Tour has been recently formed by the China Golf Association, Korea Professional Golf Tour, Korea Golf Association and the PGA Tour of Australia but without taking the Asian Tour into confidence.

It begins its six-tournament schedule at the China event in April, which also includes the Pine Valley Beijing Open, another Asian Tour event.

For the Asian Tour, it is a sort of a ‘rebel' tour which is trying to invade its territory.

Digvijay Singh, who is in the Asian Tour Tournament Players Committee, confirmed the Tour's decision to fine and ban players who take part in the event without permission, although members who have European Tour cards will not be affected by the entry policy.

European Tour regulars Shiv Kapur and SSP Chowrasia confirmed their participation to TOI but Digvijay revealed that Jyoti Randhawa had withdrawn from the tournament.

"Jyoti is absolutely against this upstart tour so he won't be playing but the others have their compulsions. Even the Order of Merit leader, American Anthony Kang has pulled out," said Digvijay.

Tour veteran Gaurav Ghei elaborated the point, "For Shiv and SSP, who have been struggling with their games lately, it's a big event in terms of points and money while Jyoti has begun the European season on a strong note and he can afford to give it a miss."

Gaganjeet Bhullar, who is currently in Singapore to contend for a British Open slot, also swore his loyalty. "I totally agree with the decision because the way OneAsia is dealing with Asian Tour is not correct," complied the youngster, who could have furthered his ambitions in such big-money tournaments.

Digvijay stressed on the ‘unscrupulous' attitude of the new tour. "The Volvo China Open was formerly co-sanctioned by the Asian and European Tours so this is completely unjustified," he felt.

Ghei, who is a former Beijing Open champion, added, "The Asian Tour has been a part of our development, and occupies a special place in our hearts and we will stand by whatever the Tour decides."

Agencies reported that OneAsia was critical of the Asian Tour for "discriminating between members on the basis of European Tour membership and nationality (exempting players from China)."

Asian Tour executive chairman Kyi Hla Han had said in a statement that he had no option because of the manner in which OneAsia has attempted to ‘invade' the continent without consulting the Asian Tour.

Source:http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Indians-to-give-China-Open-a-miss/articleshow/4336949.cms

Nadal, Murray, Venus advance in Miami event

MIAMI (Florida): World number one Rafael Nadal, Britain's Andy Murray and reigning Wimbledon champion Venus Williams all advanced at the ATP and WTA hardcourt tournament on Monday.

Spanish star Nadal, the Australian Open champion, was unhappy with his performance but reached the fourth round nonetheless with a 7-5, 6-3 triumph over Portugal's Frederico Gil.

"No opponent is easy, especially if you're not playing your best tennis. That's what was happening," Nadal said. "I didn't play very well. I had chances to lose the first set. I didn't feel very well on court.

"I always want to win. My motivation is full in every match. But you can't play well every day and today was one of those days."

Nadal will next face either Swiss 16th seed Stanislas Wawrinka or Russian 20th seed Igor Andreev.

Fourth-ranked Murray advanced to the last 16 by defeating Chile's Nicolas Massu 6-4, 6-4. Next for the Scotsman will be 41st-ranked Serbian Viktor Troicki.

US fifth seed Venus Williams ousted Polish 10th seed Agnieszka Radwanska 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 to reach the final eight, but like Nadal she was not happy with her performance.

"Every now and then everybody has those kinds of matches," Williams said. "I was hitting really well in the practice. Came out and things weren't going to the way I imagined they would, but that's tennis.

"I just had a lot of errors. Errors, errors. It seemed like when I had the winner it became an error. On days like that, you have to let the errors go behind you and continue to play aggressively and not pull back."

Williams could face her top-ranked sister Serena, the Australian Open women's champion, in a Miami semi-final.

Australian Samantha Stosur, ranked 42nd, continued her strong run into the quarter-finals by ousting French 20th seed Amelie Mauresmo 6-4, 6-4.

Stosur, who eliminated Russian world number two Dinara Safina in the third round, will next meet 11th seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who defeated Hungarian 25th seed Agnes Szavay 6-2, 6-4.

Danish 13th seed Caroline Wozniacki upset fourth seed Elena Dementieva 7-5, 6-4, to reach the women's quarter-finals.

She next faces another Russian, eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, who beat compatriot Alisa Kleybanova 6-2, 6-1.

Others who reached the men's round of 16 included Argentina's sixth-seeded Juan Martin Del Potro, who beat Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 6-1, and Serbian Viktor Troicki, who ousted Germany's Bjorn Phau 6-4, 6-3.

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