Symonds plea to Aussie fans
Andrew Symonds has urged Australian cricket fans not to taunt Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan if he passes Shane Warne’s Test wicket world record while touring Down Under this year.
Australian crowds have regularly abused “Murali” since he was twice called for throwing, with even Prime Minister John Howard labelling him a chucker.

Jockey Gawde passes away
A jockey, Ananda Gawde died after he fell from his horse during practice session at the Turf Club this morning, reports UNI from Pune.

Police said he was alone at the time of the practice. The 38-year-old Ananda was rushed to a private hospital where he was declared brought dead. Hospital sources said Ananda’s death was possibly caused due to extensive internal injuries. His accidental death comes as a blow, as the Pune Meetings at the Race Course are to begin on July 26th.

Harbhajan shines  for Surrey
Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh put Surrey firmly in driver’s seat against Yorkshire on the opening day of their County Championships Division One match at Headingly on Friday, reports PTI.

Harbhajan claimed three wickets for one run in 24 balls to return figures of 20-8-34-3 to restrict Yorkshire to 203 for 8 in 63 overs in their first innings.

Harbhajan had picked three wickets in their previous match against Durham as well to help Surrey clinch a win.

Sandeep hopeful of quick return
Drag-flicker Sandeep Singh is hopeful that he will recover from his injury quickly to be able to join the ongoing national camp in Bangalore for the men’s Asia Cup hockey tournament, reports PTI from New Delhi.

After seeing a doctor in Delhi, Sandeep, who picked up a back injury on Tuesday morning after slipping in the bathroom, sounded confident that he could report at the camp well in time.

“It’s just a muscle pull in the back. He said I could start playing from August 1,” a relieved Sandeep said.

Garner to head Barbados CA
Former West Indies fast bowler Joel Garner has been elected president of the Barbados Cricket Association.
The 54-year-old, known as ‘’Big Bird’’, beat marketing executive Calvin Hope by 40 votes on Thursday.

‘’I’m honoured to be elected to lead Barbados’ cricket forward,’’ Garner said. ‘’Barbados cricket plays a significant part in West Indies cricket and... we want to return our game to the glory days.’’

During his international career from 1977 to 1987 Garner was a member of the all-conquering West Indies team. He took 259 wickets at an average of 20.97 in 58 Tests. He also took 146 one day wickets in 98 matches.

Chile players face FIFA probe
World soccer body FIFA said it was launching an investigation into a clash between Chile’s under-20 soccer team and Canadian police, while Chile’s President called the police action ‘’unjustified aggression’’, reports Reuters from Toronto.

The brawl took place Thursday night, shortly after Chile suffered a bitter 0-3 defeat to Argentina in a semifinal game at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Toronto, in which two Chilean players were ejected.

“This incident is definitely regrettable and I can only apologise in the name of FIFA,” organisation president, Sepp Blatter said.

“We have given the responsibility ... to the Canadian Soccer Association to deal with this matter with the relevant authorities and then to report in detail to FIFA,” he said.