Viv to swing in the fairways

New Delhi: Cricketing legend Viv Richards is all set to make a swing at the ball yet again, but this time in a golf course in Gurgaon.

Richards will join a host of sportspersons and celebrities in taking part in the third Signature celebrity golf to be held at the Classic Golf Resort in Gurgaon on April 23.

Besides Richards, Gundappa Vishwanath, Madan Lal, Pargat Singh, Milkha Singh and Farooq Abdullah are some of the other participants in the event, which will be held to raise funds for the Sunil Gavaskar founded Champs Foundation, which is supporting needy sportspersons.

'Viv plays a lot of golf. I have heard that whenever he meets Ian Botham, the two talk about golf a lot. He was a great cricketer. I hope he will continue it on the golf course as well,' Gavaskar, founder and trustee of the foundation, said on Monday.

Hashim lifts Thai Open

Bangkok: Malaysian shuttler Mohamed Hafiz Hashim registered his second straight tournament victory by upsetting top seed Kenneth Jonassen of Denmark at the Thailand Open badminton tournament.

Hashim, 22, fought off an aggressive challenge by the world No. 4 to win 15-13, 15-13 on Sunday.

The third seed and world No. 9 proved he was back in form by capturing his second trophy in as many weeks following a win at the Swiss Open last month.

Russian coach quits

Moscow: Russia coach Georgy Yartsev has resigned, the new head of the Russian Football Union (RFU) said on Monday.

'I don't think we are going to object,' RFU chief Vitaly Mutko said.

Yartsev's resignation came just two days after politician Mutko was elected president of the RFU. Mutko had previously said Yartsev's days as coach were numbered.

Greece to share knowhow

Athens: Greece, which staged the 2004 Athens Olympics, is poised to impart its in-depth security knowledge to the hosts of other major sporting events such as the 2008 Beijing Games.

After spending a record 1.0 billion euros for the security of the first summer Olympics since the September 11, 2001 attacks on US cities, Greek officials said they were ready to transfer their information to other countries staging major international events.

Emboldened by the success of their security plans in Athens, officials said a team of security experts will travel to Beijing and Qatar, site of the 2006 Asian Games, in the coming days to 'develop collaborations for the transfer of experience.' They will also disclose their data to Germany, hosts of the 2006 soccer World Cup.

Games village on schedule

Doha: The $600 million Asian Games village will be finished on time, the competition's organising committee said.

The 15th Asian Games will be held from December 2-16, 2006, in Doha. Forty-five countries are expected to participate in 411 events at the competition, which will be held in the west Asia for the first time.

The organising committee on Sunday said the village is expected to be ready by April 2006.

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