Saina Nehwal off to winning start in World Championship

Hyderabad

Hyderabad, Aug 12 (PTI) Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal hardly showed any fatigue from a recent bout of chickenpox as she stormed into the pre-quarterfinals of World Badminton Championships with a straight-game victory over Russian Anastasia Prokopenko here Wednesday.

The 20-year-old, who was laid low by chicken pox just a few days before the championship, outplayed her rival 21-10 21-17 in 27 minutes in the women's singles second round.

The local favourite faces Bulgarian Petya Nedelcheva Thursday.

Among other Indians, men's doubles pair of Akshay Dewalkar and Jishnu Sanyal squandered a position of strength to go down 21-17 13-21 18-21 against 16th seed Vitalij Durkin and Alexandr Nikolaenko of Russia in 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, top seed Mi Zhou of Hong Kong beat Kiwi Michelle Chan Ky 21-11 21-15, while men's number one seed Chong Wei Lee beat Ola Fagbemi of Nigeria 21-11 21-14.

Anwar likely to get a key position with Pak team

Anwar likely to get a key position with Pak team

Karachi, Aug 12 (PTI) Former Pakistan captain Saeed Anwar is all likely to get a key position with the national cricket team after the left-handed opener today held a discussion with the PCB Chairman Ejaz Butt in Lahore.

The Pakistan Cricket Board said Butt met with Anwar and discussed how his services could be utilised by the national team.

"The PCB Chairman and Saeed (Anwar) will meet again in the coming week to discuss the plan in detail," the board said.

Butt, however, thanked Anwar for offering to assist the PCB and Pakistani players.

"I am thankful for Saeed's encouraging response and I am sure Saeed will be able to contribute a lot to Pakistan cricket," he said.

Anwar, a stylish left handed opener, has largely remained out of the limelight since his retirement in 2003 as he has devoted most of his time to religious activities. .

Zimbabwe refuses to send under-19 team to Pakistan

Zimbabwe refuses to send under-19 team to Pakistan
Karachi, Aug 12 (PTI) The volatile security situation in Pakistan continues to scare away foreign cricket team and even Zimbabwe today turned down an invitation to send its under-19 team to the trouble-torn country.

The Pakistan Cricket Board said Zimbabwe had security concerns about playing in Pakistan after which it was decided to send the Pakistan under-19 team to the African country later this year.

PCB Chairman Ejaz Butt said former England skipper Tony Greig's proposal to arrange a World XI tour of Pakistan has been rejected due to the huge costs involved.

"Yes, we did receive a proposal from Tony Grieg regarding a World XI team tour to Pakistan. Having evaluated it, we concluded that the costs were too high and perhaps the timing of the tour would not have served the purpose for us," Butt said in statement.