IAAF investigating sanctions against Jones

The world governing athletics body is investigating what sanctions it can take against former triple Olympic champion Marion Jones after she admitted taking steroids before the 2000 Sydney Games. "What will happen with regards to the money? With regards to the medals? What will happen to the relays? These are good questions," International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) general secretary Pierre Weiss said on Saturday. American Jones has returned the five medals she won in Sydney after confessing she had used the designer steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG), which was undetectable at the time. Speaking on the eve of the world road running championships, Weiss told reporters: "We are investigating the case, we have asked the US federation to make a report. We don't have the report yet, it will be complex." "We are really sad about what happened. She was the queen of our sport. And we have lost our queen."

Karthikeyan to start 11th in second A1 GP race

Narain Karthikeyan will stand a good chance of winning morale-boosting points for Team India when he revs up from the 11th spot on the starting grid for Sunday's Feature Race in the second A1 GP race of the season.

In the qualification for Feature Race, Karthikeyan clocked 1:45.918 to finish 11th, with 1.269 seconds separating him from the Dutch car that won the pole position.

Accordingly, the Team India driver will start 11th on the starting grid for Sunday's Feature Race and 12th in Sprint.

Team India Chief Operating Officer Yohan Setna said that the team was banking on Karthikeyan's vast experience to win points in the Feature Race on Sunday.

"We are happy with today's result and it's not as bad as it looks," Setna said.

"Sprint being a short race, you actually have little scope to improve on your position. But in Feature, we stand good chance," he said.

"The weather promises to be fine tomorrow and race craft would come into play in the Feature Race. Narain has vast experience and he can pace it well. Strategy would play an important role and Narain's experience would count a lot tomorrow," he said.

The Indian team won a point at Zandvoort, the Netherlands after finishing 10th in the Sprint race.

Harika at second spot

Women GM and top seed D Harika kept herself in contention for the gold medal after beating compatriot Eesha Karavade in the ninth round of the World Junior Girls Chess Championship on Saturday.

The win helped Harika move to 7.5 points out of a possible 9 and she remained a half point behind Russian leader Vera Nebolsina.

Going by the points, it seems either Harika or Nebolsina will walk away with the title.

No other Indian girl was in medal contention after the defeat of Soumya Swaminathan and Mary Ann Gomes.

Sandeep shines in German League

Drag-flicker Sandeep Singh is making waves in the highly-competitive German League and has so far scored ten goals for his club Frankenthal.

Sandeep, who did not figure in the Asia Cup after falling in the bathroom and sustaining a minor injury, has completely recovered and is looking forward for a comeback to the Indian team.

"I have been training hard to earn my place in the Indian team and I am hopeful that my recent performance will help me," Sandeep said.

Armaan's historic win in Japan

Promising Indian driver Armaan Ebrahim on Sunday nailed a commanding win in the Grand Race of the Formula Renault V6 Asia Championship at the Autopolis circuit in Japan.

The circuit which had Formula 1 racing in it a decade ago is a drivers circuit with its fast and winding uphill and downhill corners.

The V6 Renault made its debut in Autopolis this year and Armaan goes down in the record books as the first winner of the Grand race in the V6 in Japan.

The 18-year-old Indian, who dominated the official practice session, started from 6th place and had his work cut out. A brilliant start saw him move into second place by lap one and Armaan started to close the gap on pole sitter James Winslow.

By lap 4 Armaan was on James's gearbox and by lap 5, he put the pressure on James to such an extent that the Englishman spun. Armaan took the lead and started to pull away with Karl Reindlinger from Australia behind him followed by Earl Bamber from New Zealand.

But James's managed to get back on track and was politely let ahead by his team mate Earl Bamber. In the meantime Armaan steadily pulled away from Karl and opened up more than 10 seconds of a lead. Armaan settled down and conserved the car, not wanting a repeat of the sprint race while James managed to pass Karl who was suffering with lack of rear grip, to finish second.

Armaan said it was a great win on a festival day.

"Firstly, I would like to wish everybody, Eid Mubarak. It was a great win and it was even better to win on a festive note," he said.

Champs all the way! (Australia )

Australia on Sunday relied on an all-round display to clinch the One-day series with a 18-run victory over India in the sixth One-dayer which saw the hosts frittering away a solid start and running out of steam in the slog overs.

After scoring a mammoth 317 for eight built around Andrew Symonds rollicking unbeaten 107, the Australians held their nerve to restrict the home team to 299 for seven and take an invincible 4-1 lead in the seven-match series.

The trusted opening pair of Sachin Tendulkar (72) and Sourav Ganguly (86) provided the foundation for the chase with a 140-run stand, but the Indians lost the plot in the middle overs to allow the asking rate to climb beyond manageable limits. (AFP Photo)

Tight security for Military Games

HYDERABAD: Players from America and its allied countries will be treated as special category from security point of view at the Fourth Military World Games beginning here from Sunday.

This additional security coverage to sportspersons from these countries, including those taking took part in the Iraq war, is being provided against the backdrop of increased threat perception due to recent terror strikes in the country by some religious fundamentalist organisations.

“Despite the threat perception, no country withdrew from the Games and teams from all the 107 countries which confirmed their participation earlier are coming here,” Cyberabad Police Commissioner S. Prabhakar Reddy said here.

With over 10,000 police personnel, including the Cyberabad police force, every inch of all the venues for the games, accommodation buildings and the routes has been screened. Even airborne security coverage is being provided using four military helicopters that would keep tab on the games festival.

The National Security Guards will assist the police and the military officials in this regard.

The IML and IIIT Guest Houses at Gachibowli are earmarked for ‘Safe Houses’ to shift the VVIPs in case of any emergency.

Claiming that ‘world-class’ security measures are being put in place, Mr. Reddy said no person would be allowed to get inside the venue without security screening. Entry is strictly by invitation and no one can walk into the venues during any time of the games festival. Except mobile phone, no spectator would be allowed to bring any article, even water bottles.

“They objects you bring along would have to be dumped outside if you want to go inside. We wouldn’t guarantee safety of those items,” the Commissioner said. Unlike other functions, there would be no relaxations with regard to timings for entry into the venues.

The spectators would not be allowed if they are late even by one minute for the ‘last time for parking and last time for seating.’

Road opening parties, posting of armed guards on roof top, installation of surveillance cameras at strategic places, checking by anti-sabotage teams and sniffer dogs would be used extensively as part of the security arrangements.