Russia and Qatar to host 2018 and 2022 World Cups

ZURICH: Russia and the tiny Gulf state of Qatar were awarded the 2018 and 2022 World Cups on Thursday after an acrimonious bidding war marred by allegations of corruption and illegal deal-making.

The bombshell conclusion to two years of frenzied lobbying saw world football supremo Sepp Blatter reveal the winners following a secret ballot of 22 FIFA executive committee members in Zurich.

The announcement means the World Cup will be staged in two countries which have never hosted the event before following the 2014 tournament in Brazil.

Russia prevailed in the 2018 race, upsetting England and joint bids from Spain and Portugal and Belgium and the Netherlands.

The outcome represented a stunning comeback for Russia, whose campaign had believed to be in trouble after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin declined to join the lobbying effort in Zurich.

Putin had also launched a stinging attack on England's bid on the eve of the vote, accusing the country's media of "smearing" officials.

But the shock of the day came in the 2022 race, where Qatar beat off stiff competition from the United States, Australia and Asian rivals South Korea and Japan in a remarkable result.

Qatar 2022 bid president Mohammed bin Hamad Al-Thani promised: "We won't let you down. You will be proud of us, proud of the Middle East."

Qatar's win came despite serious reservations being raised about the logistical problems of staging the football tournament in the Gulf during the searing heat of the summer months.

Although the Qataris have promised to build an array of state of the art stadia which are climate-controlled, the technology has never been tested on a large-scale before.

The results brought the curtain down on the most controversial World Cup votes in years, with FIFA facing myriad allegations of corruption which led to two executive commitee members being suspended.

FIFA president Blatter has acknowledged that the decision to stage votes for two tournaments at the same time was a mistake, making illegal horse-trading between bids inevitable.

An increasingly acrimonious climax to the campaign saw Spanish and Russian officials issue veiled attacks earlier Thursday as the respective bids made their final presentations to FIFA voters.

Spanish FIFA member Angel Villar Llona hit out at British media reports which exposed corruption within the organisation, describing them as "slander."

Meanwhile in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also hit out at perceived "intrigue and blackmail" surrounding the vote.

"We stand for world sport developing according to its own laws, independent of the political environment," Lavrov said. "And it should especially not be subject to intrigue and blackmail."

Russian bid officials steered clear of fuelling the war of words in their final presentation earlier Thursday however, instead emphasising the country's readiness to host the tournament for the first time.

"We are ready. Most of the infrastructure is planned and budgeted for and the World Cup will accelerate this," bid chief Alexei Sorokin said.

England 2018 officials declined to respond to the criticism, but were left dejected after launching a heavyweight increasingly optimistic after lobbying offensive led by Prime Minister David Cameron, heir to the throne Prince William and football icon David Beckham.

All three men took to the stage Thursday to appeal for the tournament.

"I love football, we English love football - that's why it would be such an honour for us to host the 2018 World Cup," Prince William said.

However an outbreak of crowd trouble at an English League Cup match between Birmingham and Aston Villa late Wednesday embarrassed England's bid.

Read more: Russia and Qatar to host 2018 and 2022 World Cups - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/football/top-stories/Russia-and-Qatar-to-host-2018-and-2022-World-Cups/articleshow/7030726.cms#ixzz171LizAEe

Sethuraman becomes India's youngest GM

CHENNAI: Sethuraman Panaiappan Sethuraman has an interesting record now under his belt. The 17-year-old Chennai lad is currently the youngest grandmaster in India, having pipped Parimarjan Negi of New Delhi by 16 days.

On Wednesday night, Sethuraman won the 26th Voivoda's Cup international chess tournament at Legnica in Poland and in the process secured his GM title to set the record. Though there were three others who had achieved the same feat at a much younger age, currently Sethuraman can claim that he is the youngest GM in India, though he is not the youngest to get there as Koneru Humpy, Pentala Harikrishna (both AP) and Negi had made the mark before they turned 16.

It was just four months ago that Sethuraman's friend and citymate B Adhiban set a new mark for the youngest GM from Tamil Nadu, catching up with the 23-year-old record that stood in the name of Viswanathan Anand, both of them achieving the feat at the age of 18.

Sethuraman completed his third and final GM norm in Poland after he won the event by a one-point margin. He scored seven points from nine rounds to join a select band of 23 Indian GMs.

"I played well in Poland. I lost only one game with IM Sieciechowicz Marcin," said Sethuraman before he boarded the flight to Delhi on Thursday. "The trip was very difficult. I got the visa in the last minute. I reached the venue just one hour before due to flight delay."

Sethuraman's mother Deivinai accompanied him to Poland. His father Panaiappan runs an chess academy at Kilpauk where he teaches 40 students. Though his father was his first coach, Sethuraman turned to professional trainer Alexander Goloshchapov four years ago.

"Goloshchapov had coached Judit Polgar and Negi too. For a while, Sethu also worked with RB Ramesh also," said Panaiappan. Sethuraman had got his first GM norm in the Parsvnath International tournament in Delhi (2009) and the second norm at Paris (August 2010). He won the World Under-16 chess championship last year.

Sethuraman, who finished ahead of GM Vladimir Sergeev of Ukraine (6 points) in Poland, said he was looking forward to the Premier National Championship beginning in New Delhi next week to further his rating, which will cross 2550 after his recent victory.

"My next target is to reach the 2600-mark. I am planning to play in many tournaments in 2011," said Sethuraman, who is doing his BCom at SRM University in Chennai. "Before the Poland tournament, I had a yoga training with international athletics coach Anand Natarajan. It helped me to stay physically fit for the tournament," he added.

Read more: Sethuraman becomes India's youngest GM - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/more-sports/chess/Sethuraman-becomes-Indias-youngest-GM/articleshow/7032254.cms#ixzz171LK4JQj

2nd Ashes Test: Watson, Hussey restore Australia after crash

ADELAIDE: Shane Watson and Mike Hussey were stabilising Australia's first innings after losing three wickets in 10 balls in a sensational start to the second Ashes Test against England at the Adelaide Oval on Friday.

Watson, who was to blame for opening batsman Simon Katich's run out off the fourth ball of the innings, was leading the recovery after Australia were reeling at two for three in the third over.

At lunch, Australia were 94 for three after winning the toss with Watson on 50 and first Test centurion Hussey not out 36.

A measure of Watson's growing confidence was his clouting of spinner Graeme Swann for a big six over wide long on nearing lunch.

England made a dream start when they dismissed Katich, skipper Ricky Ponting and vice-captain Michael Clarke in a dramatic opening spell.

Katich sat well away from his teammates watching the play after he was needlessly run out in the opening over.

He was run out by a direct hit from Jonathan Trott at square leg after he went late when Watson ran for a scrambled single off an lbw appeal on James Anderson's fourth ball of the innings.

Katich had the misfortune to be out without facing a ball, a victim of chaotic communication with his opening partner Watson, to bring Ponting to the crease.

There was more calamity for Australia when Ponting edged Anderson's outswinger to Swann at second slip for a first-ball duck and Australia were rocking at two wickets down without scoring.

Australia plunged into deeper trouble when out-of-form Clarke on two went hard to a moving Anderson delivery and snicked to Swann in the slips for the spinner's second catch.

Australia were 2-3 with three wickets tumbling in 10 balls.

The shaken home side had more heart flutters when Watson on seven survived a third umpire's review of a turned-down lbw appeal from Anderson.

Replays showed the delivery was pitching outside off-stump and projected to be going over the stumps and Watson stayed at the crease.

Hussey had a life on three when Anderson dropped a low left-handed return catch in his fourth over.

Read more: 2nd Ashes Test: Watson, Hussey restore Australia after crash - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/series-tournaments/ashes-2010-yearn-for-urn/top-stories/2nd-Ashes-Test-Watson-Hussey-restore-Australia-after-crash/articleshow/7033166.cms#ixzz171L6CVFq