Armstrong blasts Landis ban
Lance Armstrong believes an American jury surely would have ruled in favour of Floyd Landis, unlike the arbitrators who found him guilty of doping. The seven-time Tour de France winner lamented the consequences of the panel disregarding “shoddy” lab work in his first public comments about the decision to ban Landis for two years and strip him of his 2006 Tour de France title.

Karnataka move into semifinals
Karnataka entered the semifinal of the National sub-junior football tournament in Haldwani, defeating Delhi 4-1 on Tuesday.

Karnataka finished second in their quarterfinal league group behind Bengal. They will take on Uttar Pradesh in the semifinal on Friday.

Karnataka were forced to rally after T Chettri put Delhi ahead in the 25th minute. P Raj Kiran equalised in the 29th minute before goals from D Murali (44th), Anwar Hussain (45th) and N Sridhar (47th) wiped out the Delhi challenge.

Bengal will play Punjab in the other semifinal.

Atapattu rejects Lanka overtures

Sri Lanka’s former captain and opening batsman Marvan Atapattu rejected moves to get him aboard the national team to play against Australia, an official said on Wednesday, reports AFP from Colombo.

Chief selector Asantha de Mel had hoped to meet with Atapattu late on Wednesday, but the former star player sent a message saying he was not keen to see the officials.

“He sent us a fax saying that he did not want to see us,” de Mel said.

JKCA bans Abid for joining ICL

The Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) has banned skipper D Mahajan and upcoming medium pacer Abid Nabi for joining the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL), reports UNI from Srinagar.

The JKCA has also cancelled the basic registration of both the players, this was decided at a crucial meeting held on Wednesday.

The two cricketers have also been expelled from their respective clubs.

SLC clears seven players for IPL

The Sri Lankan cricket authorities have cleared the name of seven of its eight players to play in the BCCI backed multi-million Indian Premier League (IPL) scheduled to begin from April next year, reports PTI from Colombo.
Captain Mahela Jayawardene and spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan are among the players to sign up to play in the inaugural season of the IPL.

“We have approved the names of seven players to play for IPL and the eighth player Nuwan Zoysa does not have a contract with us though his name will also be cleared for playing in the league,” secretary of Sri Lankan Cricket (SLC) K Mathivanan said on Wednesday.

Delhi eves rout hapless Bhopal

Delhi handed Bhopal a humiliating 32-0 defeat in the 37th Women’s National hockey championship in Gwalior on Wednesday, reports PTI.

In another lop-sided encounter, Manipur outclassed Jammu and Kashmir 20-1.
In other matches, Jharkhand brushed aside Kerala 10-0; Chandigarh defeated Gujarat 7-0; Pepsu edged out Bihar 7-6.