Jayawardene gives Sri Lanka upper hand
Dubai: Mahela Jayawardene defied a left-hand webbing injury to notch his 32nd century and Kaushal Silva missed his by five runs as Sri Lanka gained an upper hand over Pakistan in the second Test in Dubai on Thursday. Jayawardene, who received three stitches after he dropped a catch on Wednesday, scored 106 not out and shared an invaluable 139-run partnership with Silva (95) to guide Sri Lanka to 318-4 at close on the second day. Sri Lanka have gained an important 153 runs lead over Pakistan’s first innings score of 165 and a chance to take a lead in the three-Test series after the first match ended in a draw in Abu Dhabi last week. (AFP)
Gutta, Ponnappa lose in Korea
Seoul: The Commonwealth Games gold medallist pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa suffered a straight-game defeat on Thursday in the third round of the women’s doubles competition to crash out of the Korea Open Super Series badminton tournament. The world championship bronze medallist combo of Gutta and Ponnappa lost 18-21, 12-21 to third seeded Korean pair of Ye Na Jang and So Young Kim in a 40-minute contest. Ponnappa also suffered a heartbreak at the mixed doubles competition when she and her partner Tarun Kona lost 10-21, 15-21 to seventh seeded Germans Michael Fuchs and Birgit Michels. With these losses, India’s campaign ended at the Korea Open as the singles shuttlers suffered disappointing defeats in the first round. (PTI)
3 Indians to take part in Winter Olympics
New Delhi: Winter Games Federation of India clarified on Thursday that three Indians, not four, will take part in the February 7-23 Sochi Games. Shiva Keshavan in luge, Himanshu Thakur in Alpine Skiing and Nadeem Iqbal in Cross Country will take part in the Winter Games in the Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi. Another athlete, Hira Lal also reached the qualification standard in Alpine Skiing but Himanshu will take part in the event as India has been handed only one quota place. The three Indian athletes will take part in Sochi Winter Olympics as Independent Athletes under the banner of International Olympic Committee as the Indian Olympic Association is under suspension. (PTI)
