Somerset lift Twenty20 Cup

London: Captain Graeme Smith led Somerset to victory over Lancashire by seven wickets with 11 balls to spare to win the Twenty20 Cup on Saturday. Smith hit 64 not out as his side chased a target of 115 in a match reduced to 16 overs per team after the start was delayed by an hour due to heavy rain at The Oval.

Earlier, Dinesh Mongia?s three-wicket haul went in vain as holders Leicestershire were beaten by Somerset in the semi-finals.

Mongia took three for 30 from four overs helping Leicester restrict Somerset to 157 for nine. His victims included Marcus Trescothick (25 off 19 balls). In reply, Leicester spiralled down from 74 for no loss to 98 for four, before falling short by four runs.

In the other semi-final, Lancashire defeated 2003 winners Surrey by 22 runs.

London: World record holder Asafa Powell will not compete in the 100m at the World Athletics Championships in Helsinki, his agent said on Sunday.

The Jamaican suffered a groin injury at the London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace on July 22 and has been unable to do any track work since.

Agent Paul Doyle said Powell, who reduced the world mark to 9.77 seconds in June, could still run in the 4x100m if his injury ?improved by 100 per cent?.

The meet starts on August 6 with the relay heats getting underway on August 12.

New Delhi: Sania Mirza will take on Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine in the singles final qualifying round of the Acura Classic meet in San Diego.

Sania, who is the top seed, has already crossed her first hurdle of the qualifying draw of the event starting Monday by defeating 134th ranked Galina Voskoboeva of Russia 6-1, 6-1, according to information received here on Sunday.

The 64th ranked Indian dominated the 55-minute match as she broke the 20-year-old Russian in the very first game of the encounter.

Venus, Kim in title-round

Stanford: Venus Willi-ams saved five match points in the second set and overcame her inconsistent ground game, rallying for a 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 victory over Switzerland?s Patty Schnyder to reach the final of the Ba-nk of The West Classic.

She will play for the championship against fourth-seeded Belgian Kim Clijsters, a 6-4, 6-0 winner over Anna-Lena Groenefeld on Saturday.

The second-seeded Venus will be playing her 500th career match at the very tournament.

Agassi to face Muller

Los Angeles: Andre Agassi will play for the 60th title of his career at the $380,000 Los Angeles Mercedes-Benz Cup, the top seed vaulting into the final with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Juan Ignacio Chela in the first semi-final on Saturday.

The 35-year-old will square off against Luxembourg?s Gilles Muller, who saved two match points and won the last 16 to upset second seed Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 in their semi-final clash.

Opening marred

Bern: The op-ening ceremony for a ne-w Swiss soccer stadium was mar-red on Saturday night wh-en a performer was injured in a hot air balloon accident. A helium balloon at Stade de Suisse broke away from its mooring a-nd left the arena with a trapeze artist attached.

On TV?
Cricket, tri-series: India vs West Indies, h/ls from 7.30 pm on Ten Sports
Tennis, ATP Tour: Mercedes-Benz Cup finals (replay) from 9 pm on STAR Sports.