Hushovd claims 13th stage

Lourdes: World champion Thor Hushovd claimed the 13th stage of the Tour de France after defeating two Frenchmen in a nail-biting finale on Friday.

The Norwegian rider from the Garmin-Cervelo team powered away with 2.5 kilometres left to beat France’s David Moncoutie by 10 seconds. Another Frenchman, Jeremy Roy, was on the attack all day but had to settle for third.

Thomas Voeckler of France retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey.

Blackburn tie on

New Delhi: A day after Blackburn Rovers raised doubts over their visit to India for an exhibition tie following the serial blasts in Mumbai, the Western India Football Association said the match is on and it has received the necessary NOCs from the concerned departments. Premier League side Blackburn are scheduled to play Pune FC in a friendly on July 22.

Falcao contract

Lisbon: Porto’s prolific Colombian striker Radamel Falcao has agreed to extend his contract until 2015 and now has a release clause of 45 million euros, the Portuguese club said on Thursday.

India colts lose

Bangkok: Grappling with fatigue after a tedious journey, India went down 0-2 against Thailand ‘A’ in the opening match of the Yamaha Asean U-13 football tournament here. Rattanan Ramun (8th) and Tanapat Khatippatee (14th) scored .

Woods plan

New York: Tiger Woods is apparently planning to play some golf before the end of summer. Fellow golfer Notah Begay III scooped Woods himself on Thursday by announcing his former Stanford University teammate would be playing on August 31 in a mixed-team charity event, the Notah Begay III Foundation Challenge.

Smith surgery

Johannesburg: South Africa’s Test captain Graeme Smith underwent a surgery on his ailing knee in Cape Town Friday, which he injured while playing in the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League this year.

Rumesh coach

Calcutta: Former pacer Rumesh Ratnayake was named Sri Lanka's cricket coach for the home series against Australia starting August 6. Ratnayake, who played 23 Tests for Sri Lanka between 1983 and 1992, will take over from Australian Stuart Law -- the assistant coach to Trevor Bayliss who departed after Sri Lanka’s loss in the World Cup final.

BNR best

Calcutta: BNR defeated East Bengal by nine runs in the final of the CAB first division league on Friday. Chasing 282, East Bengal were all out in 83.2 overs. Anirban Gupta was the star bowler for BNR, taking seven wickets for 66 runs.

Brief Scores: BNR 283 in 85 overs (S Ghosh 51, S Pal 55); East Bengal 273 in 83.2 overs (Amitava Chakraborty 91, Arindam Das 60, Shiv Sagar Singh 41, Anirban Gupta 66/7). BNR won the match by 9 runs.