Sania Mirza created history on Sunday by becoming the first Indian female tennis player to achieve the world number one rank in doubles, following her title victory at the WTA Family Circle Cup with partner Martina Hingis.
The top-seeded Indo-Swiss pair blew away the challenge of Casey Dellacqua and Darija Jurak 6-0 6-4 in just 57 minutes in the lop-sided final of the USD 731,000 clay court event.
Sania took 470 points from the win to take her tally to 7965 as she jumped past Italy’s Sara Errani (7640) and Roberta Vinci (7640) to sit atop the ranking table.
Young American Jordan Spieth, evoking memories of Tiger Woods at Augusta National 18 years ago, added his name to golf’s record books with a stunning wire-to-wire victory by four shots at the Masters on Sunday.
The 21-year-old American who is known for his brilliant putting, closed with a two-under-par 70 to match Woods’ tournament record low of 18-under 270 for 72 holes.
“It was very nerve wracking today,” Spieth, the second youngest Masters winner after Woods, said before being helped into the coveted green jacket by last year’s Masters champion, American Bubba Watson.
“I thought today might be a little easier than yesterday, having played with the lead, but it wasn’t. I didn’t sleep well last night,” said Spieth
Among other results, world number one Rory McIlroy finished alone in fourth at 12 under after shooting a 66. Four-times champion Woods, on his return to competition after a two-month absence, tied for 17th at five under with a 73. India’s Anirban Lahiri finished the round even par as he ended his Masters debut at tied 49th with a score of 4 over.
Jitu Rai shot his way to a bronze medal in the men’s 10-metre air pistol event at the ongoing ISSF Shooting World Cup on Sunday.
An Asian and Commonwealth Games gold-medallist, Jitu aggregated a total of 181.1 points to finish third on the podium, missing out on the gold medal shoot-out by 0.4 points.
This is Jitu’s seventh medal in international events, following a run that started last June.
On Saturday, Rajasthan shooter Apurvi Chandela became the second Indian shooter to bag a quota for the Olympic Games after winning the 10-metre air rifle bronze in the World Cup. Apurvi shot a total of 185.6 in the finals, to finish behind Pejcic Snjezana of Croatia and Ivana Maksimovic of Serbia, who clinched silver.
Harbhajan Singh played a blinder of an innings to single-handedly take Mumbai Indians to within striking distance of a dramatic victory with a stunning 24-ball 64 before his side lost their IPL game against Kings XI Punjab by 18 runs in an exciting contest.
Chasing Punjab’s target of 177, Mumbai were in trouble very early in their chase - reduced to 32/4 after 10 overs. Harbhajan came out in the 14th over when his side were down 59/6 and despite a 100 run partnership with Jagadeesha Suchith, he could not managed to stay on till the end - Mumbai losing by 18 runs.
Young Deepak Hooda struck a belligerent half-century to lead Rajasthan Royals to a thrilling three-wicket win over Delhi Daredevils as the hosts suffered their 11th straight defeat in the IPL on Sunday.
Put into bat, Delhi rode on a 45-run opening start by Mayank Agarwal (37) and Shreyas Iyer (40) to post a challenging 184 for three in 20 overs.
But even on a day that belonged to the 19-year-old Hooda, Delhi spinner and man-of-the-match Imran Tahir made his presence felt with a four-wicket haul, however it was not enough as the home team lost by 3 wickets.
The Zimbabwe cricket team is set to tour Pakistan next month to play five one-day internationals in the first tour by a Test playing nation to this country since 2009.
A reliable PCB source told the PTI the tour was on and matches would be split between Lahore and Karachi. “In Lahore the matches will be played at the Gaddafi stadium but in Karachi for security reasons the PCB is considering the Southend private club as a possible venue,” the source said.
The final touches to the itinerary will be given this week on the sidelines of the ICC meetings with both boards keen to convince the ICC to send their match officials for the series.
No Test team has toured Pakistan since March, 2009 when militants attacked the Sri Lankan team in Lahore.
England pace spearhead James Anderson has said the altercation with India’s Ravindra Jadeja during the Trent Bridge Test last year “affected” his performance in the cricket World Cup where he claimed just five wickets in six matches.
The 32-year-old English pacer was charged with a Level 3 breach of the ICC’s Code of Conduct after India alleged that Anderson pushed Jadeja inside the pavilion as the players left the field for the lunch break on the second day of the first Test.
“I’ve definitely been different since that incident. And it probably affected me during the World Cup,” Anderson was quoted as saying by ‘ESPNcricinfo’.
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Cesc Fabregas scored an 88th-minute winner with Chelsea’s first shot on target as the Premier League leaders beat local rival Queens Park Rangers 1-0 to edge closer to the title on Sunday.
A mis-hit clearance by QPR goalkeeper Robert Green was picked up by Eden Hazard and the Belgium winger fed Fabregas - wearing a mask to protect his broken nose -for a low finish inside the post.
Chelsea, unbeaten in the new year, maintained their seven-point lead over second-place Arsenal with seven of their games left this season.
In the other game on the night, defending champions Manchester City were beaten 2-4 by Manchester United at Old Trafford. Young, Fellaini, Mata and Smalling scored for the winning team while it was just Sergio Aguero who managed to get on the board for City.
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