CBI names Srinivasan in Jagan charge sheet

Hyderabad:  Indian cricket board chief N. Srinivasan has been named in one of the three chargesheets the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Tuesday filed in a special court here in the corruption case involving YSR Congress party chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy. In the chargesheet relating to India Cements, the CBI has also named Srinivasan, its managing director, as the accused number three. Srinivasan stepped aside a few months ago as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president recently following spot fixing scandal in Indian Premier League (IPL).

The CBI had questioned him twice last year about the investments his company made into Jaganmohan Reddy's firms. India Cements allegedly invested Rs.140 crore into Jagan's businesses in return for the benefits it received from the then government of Jagan's father, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, who was killed in a helicopter crash in 2009.

The CBI filed the charge sheets in the special court, naming 25 accused and charging them under various sections of Indian Penal Code The charge sheets relate to India Cements, Penna Cements and Bharati Cements, the three companies which allegedly made quid pro quo investments in Jaganmohan Reddy's business. Jagan, as the MP from Kadapa is popularly known, figures as the accused number one in all three charge sheets while his financial advisor Vijay Sai Reddy is the number two accused. The investments were made into Bharati Cements and Jagati Publications owned by Jagan in return for the benefits India Cements received .

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Buoyant India take on Afghanistan in final

Kathmandu: Having notched up a morale-boosting semi-final victory against Maldives, defending champions Indian team will try to maintain their supremacy in the SAFF Football Championship when they take on a tough Afghanistan in the summit clash here on Wednesday.

On paper, Afghans are a superior side with a Fifa ranking of 139 to India's 145 as well as seven of their first XI footballers plying their trade in the lower tier leagues of the United States and Germany.

Medio Mustafa Azadzoy and defender Mustafa Hadid play in German league while forward Mohammed Yusuf has played in the US.

For Sunil Chhetri and his team, winning the SAFF Championship would be a thankless affair. India have won the trophy six times in the first nine editions having failed to reach the semis only once.

However, they have a solid Afghanistan team as an opposition, who were thrashed 0-4 in the final of the last edition held in New Delhi.

"We definitely want to take revenge on this India team as we felt that were hard done by the referee (Singaporean Sukhbir Singh) during the last edition. We are a far superior side than India, technically and physically," Afghanistan's assistant coach Ali Jawad Attaii declared through his interpreter — team captain Fakhruddin Amiri, who incidentally plays for I-League side Mumbai FC.

India will take a lot out of their win against Maldives in the semi-final, where there strategy worked out wonderfully. With Gourmangi Singh in splendid form at the heart of defence and young Arnab Mondal deriving a lot of confidence from that winning goal, India would go into the match in a fine frame of mind.

The return of captain Sunil Chhetri, who is now a couple of goals shy of being India's highest scorer in international circuit will be a shot in the arm for the Dutch coach, who has preferred playing with a single striker employing a 4-5-1 formation rather than the usual 4-4-2.

Robin Singh, whose body advantage did work in favour of Indian team in the semis, is expected to return to the dug-out.

While Izumi Arata, who was impressive during his 75-minute stay on the pitch against Maldives, looks a doubtful starter with a back injury, Jewel Raja Sheikh is expected to fill in that attacking hole.

Jeje Lalpeklhua will be starting on wide left while Francisco Fernandes will man the right wing. The senior-most player in the line-up (in terms of age) Mehtab Hossain put it aptly.

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RAFA REBORN

As Rafael Nadal moved to within four majors of the absent Roger Federer and seven ahead of the not-always-present Novak Djokovic, there could be no denying that the recrowned king of New York was the best player in the world on Monday, and maybe for a little while to come.

He beat the official world No 1 in four sets again, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 in three hours and 21 minutes, to win his second US Open and 13th career Slam in his third joust with Djokovic in four years. It is a trilogy to further cement one of the enduring rivalries in sport. Again, until the fourth set, they hit heights of excellence to take the breath away in their 37th encounter — more than anyone in the history of the game — reaching back to the quarter-finals at Roland Garros in 2006.

What a year the Spaniard has had: coming back to the game after seven months out to rest knees that would not have been out of place on a marionette, going on to win 60 of 64 matches, 22 of them on hard courts, lift 10 titles, two of them majors – and he is still No 2 in the world.

He could rectify that in the two months remaining, but that was not a priority at Flushing Meadows. This was his sixth win over Djokovic in their last seven matches. That's a statement.

Djokovic, managed a smile but not many platitudes in the immediate aftermath. "He definitely deserved to win this match," he said.

"It was a huge privilege to be fighting for this trophy."

Nadal, was brief and to the point as well, "Very, very emotional. All my team knows how much this means to me. Probably nobody brings my game to its limits like Novak Djokovic."

Rod Laver, 75 now and living in California for many years, flipped the coin a little after 5pm local time and it would have been no surprise had it floated away in the prevailing gusts.

Nadal was in grey, but hardly dull, and Djokovic wore red and black, a menacing sight.

His crimson jacket fluttered like a matador's cape in the light breeze, which was steady but not as strong as the night before during the women's final. It was hard to pick the crowd; they were with the Spanish bull at the start, switching to the Serb when he came to life in the second, back behind the new champion at the end.

The suspicion is the masochism needed to survive in the modern game probably sustains the electricity that exists between these fine champions, and they rather enjoy the public trials of a private feud. If they are sick of the sight of each other, they don't show it.

Nadal and Djokovic also brought more combined treasure to the showdown, 18 Slams, than anyone since Pete Sampras (13) and Andre Agassi (7) when they contested the 2002 final.  

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IPL spot-fixing: Chandila, two others get bail

New Delhi: A Delhi court Monday granted bail to suspended Rajasthan Royals cricketer Ajit Chandila and two others booked in the IPL spot-fixing scam.

Additional Sessions Judge Dharmesh Sharma also granted bail to former Ranji player Baburao Yadav and bookie Deepak Kumar.
Chandila was booked under the provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

On May 16, Delhi Police arrested three Rajasthan Royals players — S. Sreesanth, Chandila and Ankeet Chavan — on spot-fixing charges on the basis of phone conversations and footage of IPL matches in which they were caught giving predetermined signals to bookies.

Delhi Police had invoked provisions of MCOCA against 28 accused in the case, including the three cricketers, alleging that they were acting under the command of underworld dons Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Shakeel.

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India enter SAFF Cup final with 1-0 win

Kathmandu: Young stopper Arnab Mondal scored his maiden international goal as defending champions India beat Maldives 1-0 to enter the final of the SAFF Football Championship for the ninth time here on Monday.  The win, which Wim Koevermans' boys achieved without their skipper Sunil Chhetri, meant that India made it to their fifth successive final in the tournament and will meet Afghanistan on Wednesday. Mondal, the lad from Kolkata, was a bundle of nerves throughout the match but turned out to be an unlikely hero in the end with a delightful strike.

The winner came in the 85th minute when Mehtab Hossain's corner from the right flank was neatly headed down by Syed Rahim Nabi and Mondal, who had joined the attack, struck a powerful angular right-footer that crashed into the net. The final whistle saw some ugly scenes as Maldives substitute Ali Umar attacked referee Idham Mohammed and was red-carded after the match. But it did not stop there as a group of Maldives players attacked one of the organisers and police personnel were called to intervene as things looked like getting out of hand. Maldives' striker Ali Ashfaq was tied down for most part of the match with India employing zonal marking with makeshift captain Gourmangi Singh giving a good account of himself.

Maldives created a bit of pressure from set-piece movements giving some anxious moments to Indian custodian Subrata Paul. In the second minute, Maldives got a free-kick and Mohammed Sifan's low delivery which evaded the wall saw Paul fumble trying to gather it on the bounce but forward Mohammed Umair's shot went straight to the goalie.

Another anxious moment came in the 27th minute when Ashfaq's left-footed inswinging free-kick was nicely parried away by Paul.

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Azarenka to back Nadal in US Open final

New York: Beaten US Open finalist Victoria Azarenka will be backing Rafael Nadal to defeat Novak Djokovic in the men's title showdown on Monday after being seduced by the beefcake Spaniard's biceps.

Azarenka was asked which player she would be supporting in Monday's blockbuster final, the 37th meeting between the world's two top-ranked men. "Rafa convinced me by practicing with his shirt off," said Azarenka, who on Sunday lost 7-5, 6-7 (6/8), 6-1 to Serena Williams in the women's championship match.

Williams opted not to select a favourite.
"It's tough to say anything against Nadal because he's been doing so well and he's lost like never this year," she joked of a player who's been defeated just three times in 62 matches since February.
"Djokovic, this is his fourth time in the final, and he has a good record against Rafael. It's going to be an interesting match."

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Serena wins fifth US Open title

New York: World number one Serena Williams captured her fifth US Open title, and second in a row, by outlasting second-ranked Victoria Azarenka 7-5, 6-7 (6/8), 6-1 to claim her 17th career Grand Slam crown.

The 31-year-old American became the oldest Open Era women's winner in US Open history, 293 days older than Margaret Court when she set the prior mark in 1973, and the third-oldest Grand Slam women's champion of the Open Era.
Williams won $3.6 million, including a $1 million bonus for her success in US open tuneup events. She is the first top-seeded champion since Justine Henin in 2007 and the first woman to defend the US Open crown since Kim Clijsters in 2010.

Williams won a rematch of last year's US Open final that gave her and Azarenka a combined total of six of the eight major titles from the past two years. Williams improved to 13-3 in their rivalry but two-time Australian Open champion Azarenka had won two of the previous three, most recently in last month's Cincinnati final.

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