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Indian skipper MS Dhoni continues to be the number one player in the ICC rankings for the one-day batsmen while India remains at number five in the team rankings issued on Thursday.

Dhoni, who has 793 points, is closely followed by Australian Mike Hussey (776) and South African captain Graeme Smith (757).

Sachin Tendulkar is another Indian in the top-10 batsmen at eighth position with 724 points.

Australia are perched at the top with 131 points followed by South Africa (118), England (116), New Zealand (113) and India (113).

Meanwhile, for South Africa to retain their second place in the ranking table, they will have to

win the home series against Bangladesh with a 3-0 margin.

If Bangladesh wins the series 2-1, South Africa will slip to 112 ratings points and fifth in the championship table behind Australia, England, New Zealand and India, and just ahead of sixth-placed Pakistan.

The bowlers’ list is still headed by Australia’s Nathan Bracken with New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori in second spot and Mitchell Johnson, another Australian, in third.

Zaheer Khan at 14th position is only Indian bowler in the top-20 bowlers.

Both Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil grappled with low grip during the practice session after rain lashed the bumpy Interlagos track ahead of tomorrow’s Brazilian Grand Prix, the final race of the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship.

Heavy rain before the morning session left the 4.309km track damp and cool and both drivers struggled to get heat into the harder tyre compound available in this event.

With temperatures remaining similar in the afternoon and showers lingering, the team adjusted the aero balance to compensate for the lack of grip.

Fisichella and Sutil duly improved their times by one second to set the 19th and 20th quickest times of the afternoon, just over a second from the fastest lap of the day.

Both completed two 90-minute practice sessions, working through the standard Friday programme of tyre and set-up evaluation.

“We didn’t have any problems today so we could get through our schedule as planned. I was quite happy with my performance and we can see how the tyres are working now,” a satisfied Sutil later said.

“The soft ones seem to be better compared to the medium tyre at the moment. We’ll study the data and work on it for tomorrow,” added the German.

Fisichella was less happy with the pace of the car, especially in the long straights.

“The whole day we struggled with the grip, when it was dry or wetter. We seem to have problems in particular with graining, even after a couple of laps,” he said.

“My speed on the straight is also relatively low, which means we aren’t able to take advantage of the long straight. At the moment we don’t know why or what the problem is but we have another practice tomorrow before qualifying so we’ll try and get it better for that,” said the veteran Italian.

Chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne, however, was not too unhappy and felt it was quite a satisfying outing.

“A normal first day with no real mechanical issues on either car. Both drivers were able to run through their programmes of set up and evaluating the tyres. On the longer runs we had a lot of graining on the tyres and understeer, but overall a productive day to set us up for the weekend,” Gascoyne said.

Athletes from Haryana are making their mark at the international level, but the Haryana Olympic Association (HOA) is in a state of turmoil because of political wrangling. As a result, after the exploits of Vijender and the commendable showing by Akhil Kumar, Jitender Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt in Beijing, it’s time for a showdown between Abhey Singh Chautala and Naveen Jindal.

The two have been at loggerheads since 2006 when after coming to power in the state and ignoring the HOA headed by Chautala, the Congress government formed its own state Olympic association with MP of Kurukshetra, Jindal, as president. The IOA refused to recognise Jindal’s HOA and Chautala’s body continued to function as the official.

Interestingly, Jindal went to the 2007 National Games in Guwahati to take part in shooting as a representative of the state shooting body recognised by the HOA headed by the Indian National Lok Dal leader. The second part of this political tussle was also enacted last year, when the state government once again said it wouldn’t recognise Chautala’s HOA and appointed IAS officer R.R. Jowel as administrator to look after the HOA headed by Jindal.

In a continuation of that, the state government now wants an election of the HOA, irrespective of whether the outcome would be accepted by the IOA. It will be held on September 25 and conducted by Justice (retired) G.C. Garg, who was appointed by Jowel as Returning Officer. The HOA is not due for elections and Chautala was unanimously reelected president last year.

There are anomalies in the list of voters as well. The state athletics, boxing, handball, shooting and kabaddi units - to name a few - are not those which are affiliated to their respective national federations.

For example, according to the voters’ list, DGP R.S. Dalal is president of the state boxing association and Anand Singh Danghi (Congress MLA) is heading the athletics association. But in the records of the boxing and Athletics associations, Chautala is the state boxing body chief and Nafe Singh Rathi heads the athletics unit.

Asked about this, the Returning Officer said he was working on information provided by the state government. “The Haryana Sports and Youth and Welfare Department forwarded me the list of state associations and going through it I prepared the final list.

I had also issued instructions that in case of objections, they should be submitted by Aug 12. I didn’t receive any objection,” said Justice Garg.

“My duty is to conduct fair elections. Whether the HOA gets recognition from IOA or not is none of my business,” he said, when asked if he was concerned about the outcome of the elections.

The IOA is unlikely to let the development go unnoticed. “This is against the Olympic movement,” IOA joint-secretary Raja K.S. Sidhu told HT. “The state Olympic bodies are autonomous units and the governments can’t interfere.

In case of disputes, there is a SC order that the IOA will function as arbitrator,” added Sidhu.

Following is the scoreboard of the Mohammed Nissar Trophy on day three of the four-day first class match between Ranji champions Delhi and Pakistan’s domestic champions Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL) at the Ferozeshah Kotla here Wednesday.Delhi: 1st innings 134 all out

Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited: Ist innings 266 all out

Delhi: 2nd innings (overnight 242/1)

Akash Chopra b Adil Raza 182

Virender Sehwag c Asad Ali b Imran Ali 37

Virat Kohli b Asad Ali 197

Mithun Manhas b Asad Ali 10

Rajat Bhatia batting 32

Mayank Tehlan not out 24

Extras (b 11, lb 4, w 6, nb 13) 34

Total (4 wickets; 124 overs) 516

Fall of wickets: 1-46 (Sehwag, 7.5 overs), 2-431 (Kohli, 95.4), 3-455 (Chopra, 104.2), 4-457 (Manhas, 105.2)

Bowling

Asad Ali 36 8 98 2 (7nb, 2w)

Imran Ali 30 2 121 1 (4nb)

Adil Raza 23 0 112 1 (2nb)

Mohammad Hafeez 5 0 36 0

Imran Khalid 23 2 100 0 (3w)

Azhar Shafiq 7 1 34 0 (1w)

Umpires: S.A. Asani and U.L. Dubey

Match referee: A.K. Sharma

Juventus are aiming for a repeat performance in the return leg of their Champions League final qualifying round tie against Artmedia Bratislava here on Tuesday after thrashing the Slovak title-holders 4-0 at home two weeks ago.

That result leaves the 1985 and 1996 European champions on the verge of ending a two-year absence from the group stage of the competition following their relegation to the Italian second division in 2006 for match fixing and they will want to complete the job in style.

The Turin side, who finished third in Serie A last season after winning promotion back to the top flight at the first attempt, will also be slightly wary against a team who beat Glasgow Celtic 5-0 at home in 2005 on the way to knocking the Scots out in the preliminaries.

“We’ll go there to wrap up qualification (to the group stage), aware that we’ll have to put in the same determination we put in during the first leg in Turin,” Juve coach Claudio Ranieri told the club website.

“We’ll be faced with opposition who dearly want to put on a good show in front of their fans.”

Ranieri has lost Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini, who was among the scorers in the first leg, to a knee problem that will sideline him until October, while fellow defender Jonathan Zebina and midfielders Marco Marchionni and Cristiano Zanetti are also injured.

But Croatia defender Dario Knezevic is fit again after a knee problem, winger Mauro Camoranesi is over the leg muscle strain that stopped him playing in Italy’s friendly against Austria last week and Czech midfielder Pavel Nedved should be available after serving a suspension during the first leg and shaking off a knock to his calf.

French striker David Trezeguet is in the squad for Tuesday’s game too following a scare over pains he felt in his knee last week.

Juventus have also been reinforced by the return of forward Sebastian Giovinco and midfielders Paolo De Ceglie and Claudio Marchisio from the Italian Olympic squad’s unsuccessful expedition to Beijing.

So, given the advantage the Italian side take to Bratislava and the options available, Ranieri may be tempted to save some of his first-choice players for next Sunday’s Serie A opener at Fiorentina.

Artmedia, who knocked out Malta’s Valletta and Finland’s Tampere United in the first two preliminary rounds, go into the game on a run of bad form after losing 3-2 at home to leaders Kosice on Friday, their third defeat in five domestic league games this term.

Rather than give Matt Ryan a few games to watch from the sideline, the Falcons decided on Sunday to throw the rookie into the fire as their starter.

“Everything that you get in this game you’ve earned, whether it be a touchdown, a win, whatever it is,” Ryan said. “In some sense, it is satisfying in that light, but trust me, there’s a lot of work ahead, and I know that probably just as much as everybody around here. There’s going to be some ups and downs, but you’ve just got to stay mentally tough and grind through it. That’s where my mind-set is right now.

First-year Atlanta coach Mike Smith said the No. 3 pick in the draft outperformed Chris Redman, Joey Harrington and D.J. Shockley on the field and in the classroom. In Smith’s view, there was nothing ceremonial about this announcement even though Ryan signed a six-year, $72 million contract in May.

Smith said the staff “watched every move he made” in observing Ryan’s interaction with teammates and other club personnel. Offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey and Bill Musgrave told Smith that they had watched 3,000 snaps Ryan took in mini-camps, offseason workouts, training camp, scrimmages and preseason.

Though Ryan is a rookie, Smith likes the fact that his quarterback is 23 and spent four seasons in a respected football program at Boston College.

“We feel like he’s earned this opportunity to start,” Smith said. “We feel like he gives us the best chance to win.”

Smith, who took charge of a team that went 4-12 following Michael Vick’s federal prison sentence and Bobby Petrino’s abrupt resignation last year, praised Ryan’s mature approach to the job.

“Matt is very astute,” Smith said. “He’s picked up our system. I’ll have to keep repeating this, but it’s a learning curve for a quarterback in this league. He’s going to see some things he hasn’t seen before, but I think Matt is the kind of guy who might get fooled once, but the next time it comes up, he’s going to be able to handle it. I really anticipate that we won’t see the gaffes that a lot of people think.”

Ryan will play the first series or two of the preseason finale Thursday at Baltimore. His performance in a 17-3 exhibition victory last week against Tennessee carried some weight, too, after Ryan completed 15 of 21 passes for 102 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions.

As the Falcons use their last exhibition game as a tuneup for the Sept. 7 season opener against Detroit, Smith indicated that Ryan will not lose the job if he struggles badly in Baltimore.

Smith seemingly gave a lot of significance to the manner in which Ryan handled an interception he threw two weeks ago that Indianapolis’ Kelvin Hayden returned for a 67-yard touchdown.

“He just shook it off and said, ‘I’m glad I got that one out of the way in the preseason,’ ” Smith said. “He’s got a very good outlook about the game of football. He’s got a good understanding to play quarterback in this league. He’s prepared for it. He’s mature beyond his years, and it’ll be a great season for him to come in and be out leader.”

Center Todd McClure, who has made 96 straight starts for the Falcons, believes Atlanta’s running back tandem of Michael Turner and Jerious Norwood will take pressure off Ryan to succeed mostly with his arm.

“He’s going to have his growing pains just like anybody,” McClure said. “You look at Peyton Manning in his first year. He struggled. I just hope the fans and the media give this guy a chance. He’s not going to go out there and be a Hall of Famer every game this year. He’s going to have some mistakes, and we’re going to help him out as much as possible.”

Ryan still believes his team can contend in 2008, but he also acknowledges that every young quarterback makes plenty of mistakes at the game’s highest level.

“We’re going to play against some really good players, and there’s really good coaches on other teams as well,” Ryan said. “So there’s going to be good schemes and sometimes we’re not going to be at our best, but you’ve got to learn from those mistakes and you’ve got to understand that they’re going to happen and you’ve got to bounce back from them as quickly as you can.”

Indian boxer Vijender Kumar settled for a bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics after being out-punched by Cuban Emilio Correa Bayeaux in the semifinals of the 75 kg category. The 22-year-old was simply out-thought by his Cuban rival who negated the height and reach advantage of Vijender by fighting from a long range to score an 8-5 win.

But even in defeat, Vijender has made history, becoming the only Indian boxer to clinch an Olympic medal.

Vijender, a Doha Asiad bronze medallist, struggled to connect his punches and was trailing from the very start.

In fact he failed to score a single point in the opening round, which ended 2-0 in the Cuban’s favour.

Forced to play the catch-up game, Vijender managed a slight recovery in the second round as he reduced the deficit to just one point ending the second round 3-4 behind.

Bayeaux stuck to his strategy of back-paddling after landing punches, most of which were straight and more importantly precise.

The Cuban’s lightening fast reflexes thwarted Vijender’s attacks and the Indian once again failed to score in the third round.

The decider saw a desperate Vijender on the offensive but the Cuban survived the brief assault, although earning a two-point penalty for committing a foul, leaving the scoreline 8-5.

“I’m very upset and want to say sorry to all for I could not win the bout. But I promise to come back in 2012 Olympics and beat this guy and win gold,” Vijender added.

“I had prepared well for his right punches but his left proved equally strong and I often had no answer to that,” Vijender said of his opponent, whose tactical superiority was evident as he hit the Indian before back-pedalling fast.

Vijender could not score any point in the first and third rounds and even in the final phase, he got two penalty points after the Cuban had pushed him.

The Haryana lad was still happy to have won India’s first boxing medal and said, “I believe, boxing will see better days in India. We made good progress in the sport and it showed here.”

Coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu was not too unhappy either. “I’m happy that at least we finished with an Olympic medal, it was a breakthrough for us. For the first time, three Indian boxers reached the quarterfinals. We have shown what we are capable of and the whole world is now watching us,” Sandhu added.

Roger Federer’s bid for his first Olympic singles medal has ended with a loss to American James Blake. With the sort of lackluster performance that was once unthinkable for Federer, he was eliminated in the quarterfinals on Thursday night. Meanwhile, Serena and Venus Williams both lost as well.

The Federer upset was a stunner in that Blake had won only a single set in their previous eight matches. But the top-seeded Federer is battling a yearlong slump that has left him stalled at 12 major titles, two shy of Pete Sampras’ record.

Federer’s latest defeat means no rematch in Sunday’s final against Nadal, who won in epic fashion when they met for the Wimbledon title.

Serena Williams lost her quarterfinal match at the Olympics to Elena Dementieva of Russia.

Dementieva, who won a Silver in Sydney in 2000, beat Williams 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in their singles match Thursday night.

Williams now pins her medal hopes on doubles. She was to play a second-round doubles match later with sister Venus. They won gold in doubles in Sydney.

The fourth-seeded Serena tried to rally from a 5-0 deficit in the final set against the No. 5-seeded Dementieva.

Williams overcame two match points during an 18-point game to hold for 5-3. But Dementieva held at love in the next game, sealing the victory when Williams pushed a volley wide.

Venus Williams was another upset victim in Olympic tennis, losing to Li Na of China in the quarterfinals.

Williams, who won gold medals in singles and doubles at the 2000 Games, was beaten 7-5, 7-5. She followed to the sideline her sister Serena and top-seeded Roger Federer, who both lost earlier Thursday.

A wayward forehand plagued Williams, and she sent one long to lose serve and fall behind 6-5 in the second set. The reigning Wimbledon champion had three more forehand errors in the final game, and when Li hit a service winner on match point, the crowd responded with the biggest roar of the tournament.

Williams remained in the doubles competition and was to play with her sister in the quarterfinals later Thursday.

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