Islamabad—Ijaz
Butt, the Pakistan board chairman, has given
Younis Khan the backing he wanted, insisting he
will remain ODI captain until the 2011 World
Cup. Butt appears to have ended days of
speculation over the future of the Pakistan
captaincy, reiterating once again that he had
not accepted Younis’ resignation. Younis handed
in his papers last week after attending a
National Assembly committee meeting, in which
allegations of match-fixing during Pakistan’s
semi-final loss to New Zealand were
investigated. Those charges - as well as
persistent politicking in the team by a group of
players to undermine his leadership - were
reasons believed to be behind his move.
Islamabad—PIA finished at top of the points
table to reach the quarter-finals of Shaheed
Benazir Bhutto Hockey Trophy after two
consecutive goals in 58th and 59th minutes of
the match propelled them to a 2-1 victory over
Port Qasim at Naseer Bunda Stadium, Spots
Complex Islamabad on Monday. Apart from PIA who
accumulated 9 points, teams to reach the last
eight stage of the tournament on Monday were PAF,
Army, Wapda and PTV.
Zurich—Former
champions France have been handed a potentially
tough test in their bid to qualify for the World
Cup finals after drawing the Republic of Ireland
in the play-offs Monday. Giovanni Trapattoni’s
Irish side were one of the most impressive sides
in their qualifying group eight, which was
dominated by Italy.
Las Vegas—The higher
the stakes, the calmer Martin Laird became. The
26-year-old Scot won the Justin Timberlake
Shriners Hospitals for Children Open on Sunday
for his first PGA Tour title, beating George
McNeill with a birdie on the third hole of a
playoff in the Fall Series event. Laird closed
with a 3-under 68 to match McNeill (67) and
former UNLV player Chad Campbell (69) at
19-under 265. Campbell was eliminated on the
second extra hole.
Nottingham (England)—Carl Froch narrowly held on
to his World Boxing Council (WBC)
super-middleweight title in a split decision win
over an elusive Andre Dirrell at the Trent FM
Arena Nottingham. The Briton ended the unbeaten
record of his American challenger as he made a
second defence of his world title in his first
fight as part of a global tournament to
determine the best super-middleweight in the
world over the next two years.
