Indian Wells (California)—Croatian veteran Ivan Ljubicic ousted a weary world number two Novak Djokovic 7-5, 6-3 as defending champion Rafael Nadal booked his quarter-final berth at the BNP Paribas Open.
While third-seeded Nadal advanced on Wednesday with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 triumph over big-serving American John Isner, Djokovic couldn’t keep pace with the blistering serves and clean groundstrokes of Ljubicic, a former world number three now ranked 26th in the world.
Lahore—Yawar Saeed will continue as manager of the Pakistan side during their defence of the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean from April-May, despite wanting to step down from the post last year after the Champions Trophy. Saeed will be reunited with Shafqat Rana, who has been named associate manager as part of a large, eight-man support structure to Pakistan’s 15-man squad.
Islamabad—Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has given the seven players, who were punished with bans and fines in the aftermath of the disastrous Australia tour, 30 days to appeal against the sanctions imposed on them.
Seven senior players were punished by the Pakistan Cricket Board last week following an inquiry committee report into the team’s poor performance in Australia where they lost all their matches.
Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Shoaib Malik were handed bans, while the Akmal brothers and Shahid Afridi were fined.
Islamabad—Former Pakistan players, on Thursday, paid tribute to coach Bob Woolmer, whose tragic death during the ODI World Cup in the West Indies exactly three years ago had left everybody stunned.
“On the occasion of the third death anniversary of Bob Woolmer (March 18, 2010) PCB wishes to pay tribute to a man who did so much for Pakistan cricket. Woolmer’s progressive coaching methods made a huge impact on the game of cricket.
Hong Kong—The Chinese resort city of Sanya has won the right to host the only Asian stopover in the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12, organisers said on Thursday.
Sanya, on the southern island of Hainan, will stage the finish of leg three, which starts in Abu Dhabi. The Volvo Ocean Race stopped over in Qingdao, China, during the 2008-09 event.
