Karan Rastogi, Burman out

New Delhi: Big-serving Chen Huan-yi of Chinese Taipei knocked out top seed Karan Rastogi in straight sets while fourth seed Arun Prakash Rajagopalan got the better of second seed Somdev Dev Burman in the semi-finals of the Asian junior tennis championship on Saturday.

Yi defeated Rastogi 7-6 (10/8), 7-5 while Rajagopalan beat Verman 6-4, 6-4 to enter the summit clash.

While the top seeds in the boys’ section were shown the door, the top two girls — Yung Jan-chan of Chinese Taipei and Isha Lakhani of India — lived up to their billing to set a date in the final. Lakhani won against Wen Hsin-hsu of Chinese Taipei, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Durham sign Shoaib again

Durham: Pakistan pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar is returning to play for Durham as the club’s second overseas player. Durham captain Jon Lewis said on Friday: “Shoaib is one of the world’s greatest bowlers and we are delighted that he is coming back to Durham for a second season. He was a prolific wicket-taker during his short time with us last year.”

Akhtar will be joining forces with South African Herschelle Gibbs and Lewis commented: “We are expecting great performances from Shoaib and Herschelle, but they will also play an important part in the development of our young talented players.”

Greg Hodge steps down

Melbourne: Head coach Greg Hodge has stepped down from his role of overseeing Ian Thorpe and the Australia team’s preparations for next year’s Athens Olympics, Australian Swimming (AS) announced on Friday. Youth coach Leigh Nugent will replace Hodge, AS chief executive Glenn Tasker said in a statement. “The board of directors of Australian Swimming has met and has agreed to allow Greg to take paid leave from his job, effective immediately,” Tasker said.

One-year ban on North Korea

Kuala Lumpur: North Korea have been banned for a year and fined more than $8,000 for disrupting Asian Cup qualifying matches, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said on Friday.

The AFC awarded Iran a 3-0 victory over North Korea after the visitors walked off the pitch during a Group D game in Tehran last month. North Korea stormed off an hour into the match on November 12 and refused to return after one of their players was hit by a fire-cracker thrown from the crowd.

New post for Boucher

Durban: South African vice-captain Mark Boucher has been elected as president of the country’s national cricketers association.

Boucher was elected at the annual meeting of the association in Johannesburg on Thursday. He took over from one of the country’s most loved sportspersons — Jonty Rhodes.

Boucher told reporters after his election that he was determined to ensure that players were treated “fairly” by the UCBSA. “These are very important times for all of us and we intend to ensure that all players are treated fairly,” the wicketkeeper-batsman said.

Diego not for sale

Rio de Janeiro: Brazilian club Santos said on Thursday that their teenage midfielder Diego, considered one of the country’s brightest prospects, was not for sale.

“Diego has a contract until July 31, 2005 and he is not being sold,” a spokeswomen for the club told Reuters.

Sport on Screen

Cricket, Australia vs India — Second Test, Day II live from 6am on STAR Sports
Cricket, West Indies vs South Africa — First Test, Day II live from 1.57pm on ESPN Cricket, England vs Lanka — Second Test, Day IV live from 9.30 am on TEN Sports