Sports

NEW DELHI: Shahid Afridi set the new record of most sixes in international cricket by hitting his 353rd six off Johan Botha during his seven-run knock in the third one day international against South Africa.
The all-important blow came in his 371st innings of 370th international matches. Sri Lankan, Sanath Jayasuriya, who hit 352 sixes in in 649 innings of 583 international matches held the previous record.
Trivia for third ODI: South Africa recorded their smallest victory

NEW DELHI: The Indian Premier League revolutionised cricket when it burst onto the scene in 2008 with a high-octane blend of international star players, Twenty20 matches and Bollywood glamour.
But the money-spinning tournament faces an uncertain future with some observers predicting its fourth season, due to start in April, hangs in the balance.
The event has been hit by allegations of massive corruption, money-laundering and tax evasion, as well as secret deals to hide

SHANGHAI: Tiger Woods said his efforts to regain his once-dominant form are a "work in progress" that he was taking one tournament at a time.
Woods recently employed the services of golfing instructor Sean Foley after splitting with his longtime swing guru Hank Haney in the wake of sex scandals that wrecked the former world number one's marriage and ravaged his game.
The two are working on "totally different fundamentals and (a) totally different shift" in his swing, the

BASEL: Holder Novak Djokovic led the way with a 6-4, 6-2 defeat of recent training partner Ernests Gulbis as the bulk of Serbia's Davis Cup squad made it to the second round of the Swiss Indoors Tuesday.
World number three Djokovic had practised last week in Geneva with the Latvian, with whom he grew up at tennis school in Munich, and used the fresh experience on court to roll to victory, his third of four in their series.
Gulbis was broken in the final game and ended his

PARIS: Tottenham Hotspur, Benfica and Valencia relaunched their respective bids for a place in the lucrative last 16 of the Champions League with resounding wins in the fourth round of group games on Tuesday.
Spurs, who staged a remarkable comeback a fortnight ago in a 4-3 defeat away to Inter Milan, outclassed the defending champions 3-1 at White Hart Lane with another fine display of attacking football inspired by Welsh winger Gareth Bale.
Benfica still sit third in Group

LAHORE: Pakistan tennis star Aisam-ul-Haq Qurieshi has improved his international ranking as he reached the 17th position in the latest doubles ranking.
Their doubles world ranking also improved after they reached the final of St Petersburg Open in Russia. Aisam obtained 150 points from the 250 level tournament.
The pair of Bopanna and Aisam has clinched back the sixth position of the ATP teams ranking, which they had lost due to their early exit at the Moscow Open. With

MELBOURNE: Sri Lanka conjured a stunning one-wicket victory over Australia in their opening one-day international on Wednesday, powered by a record-breaking ninth wicket partnership between Angelo Mathews and Lasith Malinga.
Looking dead and buried at 107 for eight and chasing Australia's 239 for eight in Melbourne, the Sri Lankans roared home on the back of a sensational 132-run stand off 110 balls from man-of-the-match Mathews and fast bowler Malinga. Sri Lanka's astonishing

LAHORE: Former swing king Sarfraz Nawaz has asked the tainted trio to knock the door of the Court of Arbitration for Sports because he did not expect any favours from the ICC towards the Pakistani cricketers.
"When the suspended players have no confidence in the ICC, how can they expect a favourable decision when the final hearing is held," a website quoted Nawaz as saying.
The International Cricket Council's code of commission rejected the appeals of Salman Butt and

LAHORE: Pakistan's suspended fast bowler Muhammad Aamir is hopeful that he will be cleared of the spot-fixing charges when ICC's full hearing will convene in the near future.
The ICC's code of conduct commission, headed by Michael Beloff, upheld the trio's suspensions after a two-day hearing in Dubai on Sunday. The innocence or guilt of the players will now be judged at an independent tribunal, the date of which is yet to be decided.
"All bowlers bowl no-balls and it can

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board has suspended the contracts of the trio of former captain Salman Butt, Muhammad Asif and Muhammad Aamir. The action came after Salman Butt and Muhammad Aamir spoke aggressively against the International Cricket Council and the PCB.
Salman and Amir accused the ICC of having an anti-Pakistan agenda after their suspensions for alleged 'spot-fixing' were upheld. They even criticized the PCB for leaving them alone to face allegations that did not

DUBAI: Opener Hashim Amla hit a fighting century and paceman Morne Morkel took four wickets as South Africa pulled off a narrow two-run win over Pakistan in the third day-night international here on Tuesday.
South Africa, put into bat by Pakistan, owed it to the 27-year-old Amla who carried his bat through the innings with a resolute 119 and helped his team to a defendable 228-9 before surviving another scare by Pakistan who managed 226-9.
It was the bearded right-hander's

BASEL: Roger Federer made an imposing start on his hometown stage, with the top seed advancing unhindered into the second round of the Swiss Indoors on Monday when his opponent retired with an ankle injury.
World number two Federer was in total command against 48th-ranked Aleksandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine leading 6-4, 5-2 and serving for the match. But the youngster's tumble on the hardcourt as he pulled level at 15-15 by unsuccessfully trying for a Federer winner brought about

SHANGHAI: Tiger Woods will try to seize back the world number one spot when an enticing HSBC Champions tees off this week in China with a star-studded field battling it out in Asia's biggest tournament.
England's Lee Westwood knocked Woods off golf's pedestal for the first time in five years on Monday, capping the American's fall from grace that began a year ago with revelations of marital infidelities.
But the new world numbers one and two will have their hands full in

DUBAI: A former president of the ICC blamed Pakistan cricket authorities for the state of the game in the country and denied the ICC was picking on Pakistan.
"ICC is not against Pakistan, it's PCB which is against their cricket and has not sorted out their problems, forcing the ICC to take the matters in its hands," Pakistani Ehsan Mani told AFP.
"The way PCB is being run, it is only to protect the position of one person," said Mani, ICC president 2003-2006, without

JOHANNESBURG: South Africa fast bowler Makhaya Ntini officially announced his retirement from international cricket Tuesday although he will represent his country one more time.
Cricket South Africa (CSA) chief executive Gerald Majola announced that the best black bowler produced by the nation would wear the green and gold in a January 9 Twenty20 clash against India in Durban.
"We cannot let a great player like Makhaya say goodbye off the field so we have told the

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) issued a statement on Tuesday that the suspended trio need to show respect to the International Cricket Council (ICC) Code of Conduct.
An official of the Board stated that the parent body with consultation of its members suspended the cricketers and the players should follow the rules laid out by them.
Respect should be shown towards the ICC as they are operating within the rules. The PCB's response came a day after former captain

LAHORE: Former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja have spoken out in defence of Mohammad Aamer, the 18-year-old fast bowling sensation allegedly involved in the Lord's spot-fixing scandal.
Aamer was a revelation during the recent four-Test series against England, in which he collected 19 wickets at an average of 18.36 and proved unplayable at times in helpful swinging conditions.
Ramiz expressed sympathy for Aamer and stated that the greater blame lay with the men who had led him