Scolari guarantees Fred in WC squad
Rio de Janeiro: Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has guaranteed Fluminense striker Fred’s place in his World Cup squad for the next year. The No. 9 has been in excellent international form this year. The 30-year-old netted five times as Brazil lifted the Confederations Cup in June. “Fred will be on my list. I have spoken a lot with Fred, almost every week. He is an important part of the group, not only as a player,” Scolari said on Friday. The centre-forward is currently recovering from a thigh injury and it is not certain whether he will return to club action this year. Fluminense are in a perilous situation in the Brasileiro table and are fighting against relegation. Coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo admitted Fred could play against Corinthians this weekend without being 100 percent fit. (IANS)
Anand plays out tame draw against Carlsen
Chennai: Defending champion Viswanathan Anand was caught off guard by a surprise opening from Magnus Carlsen of Norway as he played out a tame draw against his challenger with white pieces in the second game of the World Chess Championship here on Sunday. World number one Carlsen showed that he was made of sterner stuff and pulled back the attention on himself with an easiest of draws against Anand, who played with his first white in the match. The first game, in which Anand played with black pieces, was also a drawn affair on Saturday. The scores are now tied 1-1 after two games and there are 10 more games to go under Classical time control in this Rs 14 crore prize money championship. (PTI)
Raikkonen to miss last two races of season
LONDON: Kimi Raikkonen has pulled out of the last two races of the Formula One season in Texas and Brazil after deciding to have back surgery next week, the Lotus driver’s management said on Sunday. The decision ended the 2007 world champion’s two seasons with Lotus on a controversial note, with the Finn already warning the team a week ago that he could walk out if his wages were not paid. Raikkonen is returning to Ferrari next year, the glamour team with which he won his world title, and had a seat fitting with them last week. Raikkonen has a long-standing back problem, which flared up in Singapore in September and is understood to be a legacy from a crash he suffered in testing with Sauber during his 2001 rookie season. However, the Finn has also complained about Lotus’s failure to pay his wages, telling reporters at this month’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that he had received “zero euros the whole year”. (Reuters)
Lara laments not playing a Test at Eden
Kolkata: West Indian batting legend Brian Lara lamented, on Sunday, that he could never play a Test match at the historic Eden Gardens and made a suggestion to Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) officials that if a veterans match, including Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, could be organised here in the future. Lara was here on a special invitation from the CAB to watch the last two days of the first Test between India and the West Indies, which, however, ended in just three days with the hosts emerging comfortable winners. (PTI)
