Federer out of Kooyong meet
World number one Roger Federer has withdrawn from the Kooyong Classic, the warm-up event for next week's Australian Open, because of a stomach virus.  The Swiss said he had to miss the event in order to recover in time for the defence of his Australian Open title at Melbourne Park. "After arriving in Australia Friday, I came down with a terrible stomach virus,” he said.

‘Dravid’s and my dismissal cost us ‘
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly believes the twin dismissals of Rahul Dravid and his own — both umpiring howlers — cost India the acrimonious Sydney Test against Australia, reports PTI from Sydney.
“We had the possibility of saving the game. Obviously, if me and Rahul had carried on, things would have been easier for the team. But once you are given out, you are out,” the dejected left-hander told Times Now channel.

CA, ICC gag Symonds
Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds, at the centre of the racism row has been gagged by Cricket Australia and ICC from commenting on the heated topic in his newspaper column, reports PTI from Sydney.
Explaining reasons behind not carrying the column, the daily said, “Symonds was gagged by Cricket Australia and threatened with censure by the ICC.”
Tiwary joins camp at NCA
Bengal batsman Manoj Tiwary has joined the on going conditioning and monitoring camp for injured and fringe players at the National Cricket Academy on Monday evening, reports DHNS.
The right-handed batsman now joins pacemen S Sreesanth and Munaf Patel, who are already undergoing training along with Karnataka’s Robin Uthappa and Tamil Nadu’s S Badrinath. Mumbai paceman Ajit Agarkar is also expected to join the camp on Tuesday.

Badminton GP       in April
India’s first Grand Prix badminton event, carrying qualification points for Beijing Olympics, will take place from April 1-6 in Hyderabad, reports PTI from New Delhi.
The US$ 130,000 tournament, originally scheduled last September and got postponed after bomb blasts in Hyderabad, will feature some of the top players in the world.

Cullinan barred from commentary
Darryl Cullinan has been banned from commentating in the ongoing Test series between South Africa and West Indies for aligning with the Indian Cricket League, reports PTI from Durban.
Cullinan, who coached Kolkata Tigers in the ICL, did not commentate during the second Test in Cape Town and his media accreditation for the third Test, starting in Durban on Thursday, has been withdrawn.

Laxman, Sachin move up
Indian middle-order batsman  VVS Laxman has gained three places in the ICC batting rankings and is back into the top 20, reports UNI from Dubai. Another Indian, Sachin Tendulkar, also the highest-ranked Indian player, has moved up four places to 13th position ahead of 15th placed Rahul Dravid  while Laxman is now at 18th spot.

Armaan joins    DP Racing
Race prodigy Armaan Ebrahim has been signed up by the UK-based David Price Racing team to compete in the GP2 Asia series this season, reports PTI from New Delhi.
Though Armaan would be driving only in the Asia leg of the series, it would give him a good platform to compete on the 10-race Asia championship featuring a maximum of 26 cars on the grid.