Sports Shorts: Chitra Magimairaj wins World women's senior snooker

Chitra Magimairaj made light of an early exit from the World Snooker Championships to pocket the Senior snooker title on her first appearance in the event, in Leeds, on Tuesday.

Competing against accomplished snooker players from 13 countries the Bangalore cueist won all her four matches without dropping a single frame.

- Also read: 5 blunders that cost Moyes his job at Manchester United

En route to the final against Alena Asmolava of Belarus, the 41-year-old met compatriot Umadevi Nagraj in the semi-finals.

A former World billiards champion, Chitra has won three gold, three silver and three bronze medals in the World Ladies Billiards and Snooker Association event so far.

Meanwhile, reigning National billiards champion Uma, who lost to Chitra 0-2, is still in contention for the billiards crown.

The Bangalore duo had failed to clear the league stages of the World snooker event on Monday.

- Please click NEXT for more...

Somdev Devvarman's lean run extended on Tuesday when he was beaten in the first round of the Barcelona Open by Martin Klizan of Slovakia.

It was the India No 1 singles player's fifth straight first-round defeat on the ATP Tour.

Ranked No 100, he was beaten 2-6, 4-6 by the 108-ranked Klizan in 68 minutes.

Since winning the Delhi Open Challenger, Somdev has only one victory on the Tour – against Juan Marti del Potro, who retired midway through the match at the Dubai event in February.

He did win two matches in the Davis Cup match against South Korea earlier this month, but even in those victories was stretched by the lower-ranked Koreans.

- Please click NEXT for more...

Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal has continues to hold his position atop the latest men's world tennis rankings.

The 13-time Major winner, on 13,310 points, is closely followed by his Serbian rival Novak Djokovic, who maintained second place with 11,040 points.

According to sport24, David Ferrer, who defeated compatriot Nadal in the quarter-finals in the Monte Carlo Masters last week, moved up a place to fifth while Frenchman Richard Gasquet dropped out of the top 10 as Milos Raonic and John Isner both gained a spot at his expense.

ATP Top 10 as of April 21:

1. Rafael Nadal (Spain) 13 730 pts

2. Novak Djokovic (Serbia) 11040

3. Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) 6580

4. Roger Federer (Switzerland) 5805

5. David Ferrer (Spain) 4910

6. Tomas Berdych (CzechRepublic) 4720

7. Juan-Martin Del Potro (Argentina) 4215

8. Andy Murray (Great Britain) 4040

9. Milos Raonic (Canada) 2715

10. John Isner (USA) 2555 

- ...

Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone will reportedly stand trial in a bribery case, starting on Thursday in Munich, which could end up with the billionaire being imprisoned for up to 10 years.

The 256-page indictment against Ecclestone reportedly describes him as an autocrat who had been so concerned about losing power that he paid part of a $44 million bribe to a former German banker, Gerhard Gribkowsky, to retain his job in the sport.

According to the Guardian, Ecclestone's bribery case also concerns events that led to private equity firm CVC becoming Formula One's largest shareholder after buying the sport's parent company SLEC Holdings from the billionaire's Bambino family trust and an association of three banks.

Munich prosecutors have reportedly claimed that Ecclestone, who has dominated Formula One for almost 40 years, bribed Gribkowsky followed by chief risk officer of the German lender BayernLB to guide the motorsport group to CVC as the private equity firm had agreed to retain the billionaire as the sport's chief executive.

However, Ecclestone has denied any wrongdoing, arguing that he paid Gribkowsky $10 million to stop the banker from making false claims about his tab affairs, rather than to favour CVC as a bidder.

Hearings will be held once or twice a week until September this year so that Ecclestone, who remains in day-to-day control, is able to run Formula One and negotiate all of the most valuable deals in the sport, which generates revenue of $1.6 billion per year, the report added. 

-

The organising committee of the 2022 Qatar World Cup has reportedly reduced the number of stadiums it is planning to build for the tournament due to rising costs and delays.

Although the country originally announced plans for 12 stadiums, including nine new playing fields and three refurbishments, it is now planning to build eight stadiums for the event at a cost of four billion dollars, as confirmed by the organising committee.

According to Gulf News, Qatar is planning to spend more than $200 billion on new infrastructure before hosting the sporting event, including $34 billion on a rail and metro system, seven billion dollars on a port and $17 billion on an airport.

An expert said that Qatar's decision was motivated by cost-cutting following an assessment of the real needs on the ground, adding that it is in good sense to do necessary cost-cutting and reviews of capex for such huge projects that are front loaded.

The Gulf nation is facing delays and escalating costs related to the event, with work starting later than planned on the metro system and the opening of the new airport being six years behind schedule, the report added. 

-

Lance Armstrong's former cycling team manager Johan Bruyneel, doctor Pedro Celaya and trainer Jose "Pepe" Marti have all been handed long bans from sport for their involvement in doping, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) said on Tuesday.

Bruyneel was banned for 10 years, while Celaya and Marti got eight-year bans after the decision by the American Arbitration Association North American Court of Arbitration for Sport (AAA), USADA said in a statement.

All three worked for the U.S. Postal Service team and opted for arbitration when the charges were levelled against them in 2012. Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and given a lifetime ban for doping the same year.