Vijay wins silver at ISSF World Cup

NEW DELHI: Commonwealth Games Champion Vijay Kumar won the silver medal in 25 m rapid-fire pistol event at the ISSF World Cup at Beijing on Wednesday

He fired a brilliant 780.4 which included 581 in the qualifying round and an excellent score of 199.4 in the finals. Vijay missed the gold by just 0.1 point.

Keith Sanderson of USA bagged the gold medal scoring 780.5 (584+196.5) and Akiyama Teruyoshi of Japan won the bronze with 777.5 (579+198.5) points.

Yuki beats Moriya to enter ITF quarters

NEW DELHI: Indian wildcard Yuki Bhambri beat Japanese Hiroki Moriya for the third successive time in two years, outclassing the fourth-seed 6-2, 6-2, to enter the quarter-finals of the $15,000 International Tennis Federation (ITF) men's Futures at the DLTA complex on Wednesday.

The junior Australian Open champion had beaten Moriya at the 2007 Asia-Oceania championship and in the prestigious Osaka Mayor Cup final last year.

The 16-year-old Indian played near flawless tennis, serving sharp, hitting his forehand fluently and moving fluidly on court. With the Delhi youngster in such form there was hardly anything that the Japanese could have done.

To make matters worse, Moriya committed quite a few unforced errors to lose his serve in the third and fifth games of the first set. He could have lost the set in the seventh game itself but for his saving three set-points to hold serve. Yuki then served out the set to love.

Things didn't get any better for Moriya in the second set as he dropped serve twice more, in the third and the fifth game, to close the match in 57 minutes.

Yuki, fresh from his stint at Florida with the Nick Bollettieri Academy, however, said he didn't expect the win to be so easy.

"I was expecting a tough fight. Moriya is someone who is a rhythm player, slugging it out from the baseline. But I did not allow him to settle," said Yuki, who rushed after the match to take his Class X exam from the open school.

"I have been serving well and that takes a lot of pressure off me. Now I don't get flustered even if I am a couple of points down as I know I can always bank on my serve. I have also tried to develop my forehand as a weapon. I am consciously going for my shots as on a hard court you cannot go for long rallies."

Yuki next plays eighth-seeded Rohan Gajjar, who rallied to beat national champion Ranjeeth Virali-Murugesan 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in another pre-quarter-final clash.

"I have a good chance in the tournament. I expect a tough match tomorrow against Rohan. With the second seed out, the draw is open. If I can pull it off against Rohan, then I can have a shot at the title," Yuki said.

In another pre-quarter-final match, Vishnu Vardhan showed the door to Vivek Shokeen with a 6-3, 6-4 win.

Meanwhile, it was curtains for Purav Raja, who went down 2-6, 4-6, to American Adam El Mithdawy and, Vijay Kannan, who stretched seventh seed Sean Thornley of England to three sets before losing 3-6, 6-3, 4-6.

Soruce:http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Yuki-beats-Moriya-to-enter-ITF-quarters/articleshow/4435974.cms

A T20 match at the Himalayas, Tenzing vs Hillary

LONDON: Cricket touched a new high with a few mountaineers playing a Twenty20 match just above the base camp of the world's highest peak — the Mount Everest — to raise 250,000 pounds for charity.

The two teams, Tenzing and Hillary, named after the first two men to climb the Everest, played the game at 16,945 ft.

Team Tenzing were led by Haydn Main, 29, a lawyer from South London but it was Team Hillary, skippered by a New Zealand Glen Lowis, that won by 36 runs.

Both sides took 15 players for the game, besides the medical staff and groundsmen, all of whom made the nine-day trek to reach the pitch.

Both sides celebrated their feat with a giant bottle of champagne and several cups of tea. They raised 250,000 pounds through the game for Lord' Taverners and the Himalayan Trust UK.

The match was played on a pitch on the Gorak Shep plateau in Nepal, Richard Kirtley, the expedition leader told 'The Times'.

"I assumed they must use it as a pitch. So I asked a few of the locals, but no one had ever thought about doing it," he said.

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

Mohun Bagan humiliated 0-6 by Al Kuwait, out of AFC Cup

New Delhi, Apr 22 (PTI) Mohun Bagan's horrendous run in the AFC Cup continued with a 0-6 humiliation at the hands Al Kuwait in a Group D league match in Kuwait City.

Mohun Bagan are now out of contention for a last 16 berth having lost all their three earlier matches. They still have two games at hand -- away tie against Al Widdat of Jordan on May 5 and home match against Al Karamah of Syria on May 19.

Al Kuwait are on top of Group D with 10 points from four matches followed by Al Wihdat and Al Karamah on seven and six points respectively.

Two top teams from each of eight groups will make it to the pre-quarterfinal knock-out phase of the tournament, Asia's second tier club competition.

Al Kuwait completely dominated the match taking 4-0 lead by the half time and Mohun Bagan, though without talismanic striker and captain Baichung Bhutia and key central defender Peter Odafe due to injuries, had to defend their citadel for most part of the match last night.

Syrian midfielder Jehad Al Hussien was the star of the Kuwaiti side pumping in a hat-trick (ninth, 22nd, 72nd minutes). Captain Faraj Laheeb (34th, 39th) and Jarah Al Ataiqi's (78th) were the other goal scorers for the home side.

NS Manju had a nightmarish day at Bagan defence conceding a spot kick and then scoring an own goal to play a big role in the abject surrender of the Kolkata side.

PTI