Mansher finishes 19th

New Delhi: Mansher Singh finished 19th in men?s trap at the on-going ISSF shotgun World Cup in Americana, Brazil.

Mansher, in 12th place after the first three rounds, missed four targets to end with a total of 117 points in the fifth and last detail. After starting with a perfect detail of 25 Mansher recorded 23, 24 and 24, before the 21 in the last detail spoiled his chances for a higher ranking.

Zoravar Singh, who reached the final of the World Cup in Belgrade last month, finished 21st with a total of 116. Anwer Sultan, the third Indian in the fray, finished 36th with 109 points.

The gold went to Olympic champion Alexey Alipov of Russia, while Matthew Wallace and Dominic Grazioli of the US took silver and bronze, respectively.

Raid de Himalaya from Oct. 1

Srinagar: The seventh Raid de Himalaya car rally will be held from October 1 to 6.

The event, attracting about 100 entries will start from Shimla and take the route through Mandi, Manali, Kaza, Kaza-Tabo to Chankar Kaza, Kaza-Darcha-Patseo, Patseo-Pang-Mahe-Leh and Leh to Srinagar.

Bangalore to host Senior Nationals

Bangalore: Bangalore will host the Senior National Badminton Championship from January 3 to 11.

The event is returning to the city after a gap of 43 years, Karnataka Badminton Association president B.N. Chandrasekhara said. Padukone Sports Management will manage the meet.

Both the current national champion Anup Sridhar and runner-up B. Arvind Bhat are from Karnataka.

Essien left out vs Marseille

Lyon: Chelsea target Michael Essien has been left out of Olympique Lyon?s team for their Ligue 1 match at Olympique Marseille on Sunday.

?I will not include him in the team as long as his case is not settled,? Lyon coach Gerard Houllier said on Friday, hinting that negotiations over the Ghana midfielder were ongoing.

Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas said on Monday the 22-year-old would definitely be staying with the French champions this season. English champions Chelsea, however, have not given up hope of signing Essien, who has been valued by Lyon at 45 million euros ($56.14 million). Essien has not played an official match this season.

Pak meet for women

Karachi: The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) will hold its first national championship for women next month to meet a condition for continued aid from Fifa.

Keeping in line with religious and social taboos for Pakistani sportswomen, however, the matches will be held behind closed doors at a sports complex in Islamabad and without male spectators.

The PFF gets an annual grant of $250,000 (Pak Rs 15 million).

Scholes signs 4-year deal

Manchester: Midfielder Paul Scholes has signed a new four-year contract with Manchester United that will keep him at Old Trafford until June 2009.

The 30-year-old decided to extend the deal even though his existing contract still had two years to run.

?He has given us 16 great years of service and we are hoping his next four years are as good as his last four years,? United manager Alex Ferguson told reporters on Friday.

Scholes has made 321 Premier League appearances for United, scoring 87 times, since his debut in the 1994-95 season and has helped the club win six league titles and three FA Cups.

He was also capped 66 times by England, scoring 14 goals, before retiring from international soccer following Euro 2004.

Thailand avoids getting ?dropped?

Kuala Lumpur: Thailand has avoided being dropped as a co-host of the next Asian Cup after promising to improve their facilities, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said on Friday.

Thailand was warned in June that they would be dumped if they did not upgrade their stadiums and training facilities for the 2007 Asian football showpiece also to be co-hosted by Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.