Ashraful loses contract

Calcutta: Mohammed Ashraful lost his annual contract on Sunday as the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) cut their list of contracted players from 18 to 15. Five players have been placed in the highest Grade A+ contract.

List of contracted players:

Grade A+: Shakib-al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal, Abdur Razzak, Masrafe bin Mortaza. Grade A: Mahmudullah, Imrul Kayes. Grade B: Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Nazmul Hossain.Grade C: Nasir Hossain, Jahurul Islam. Rookie Grade: Nazim Uddin, Shuvagata Hom Chowdhury, Mohammed Elias.        

Misbah view

Karachi: Captain Misbah-ul Haq has said that he intends to utilise the break of eight weeks before Pakistan’s next series against Sri Lanka to plug the weaknesses of the team and to test out new talent. “This period is very valuable to us as we can utilise it to work on our weaknesses,” Misbah said.

Berth for Geeta

New Delhi: Geeta created history on Sunday by becoming the first Indian female wrestler to have qualified for the Olympics after she won a gold medal in the Asian Qualifying Tournament in Astana. She defeated Ji-Eun Um of Korea 5-0 in the summit clash of the 55kg category.

Paddlers 27th

New Delhi: Indian paddlers improved their performances to finish 27th in the men’s and women’s category at the World Team Table Tennis Championships in Dortmund.

Pato fit

Milan: AC Milan striker Alexandre Pato is expected to be available for the return leg of the Champions League quarter final agai-nst Barcelona on Tuesday. Pato missed the first leg after flying to Atalanta to visit a specialist to see why he gets an unusually high number of muscle injuries.

Dutt sacked

Berlin: Bayer Leverkus-en on Sunday sacked coach Robin Dutt after less than a season in charge following their 0-2 home defeat by Freiburg on Saturday.

Former Liverpool and Leverkusen defender Sami Hyypia and under-19 boss Sascha Lewandowski were named as interim coaches at last season's runners-up.       

Singh brace

Calcutta: Jakichand Singh scored both the goals in Aizawl FC’s 2-0 win over Royal Wahingdoh in a second division I-League match. In another match, Kalighat MS and Mohamme-dan SC were involved in a stalemate.

Louis show

Texas: Former British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen birdied five of the last seven holes to charge two shots clear in the third round of the Houston Open in Humble on Saturday. He carded a six-under-par 66. Hunter Mahan held the second place after carding a 65.

WSH meet

Bangalore: Sher-e-Punjab thrashed hosts Karnataka Lions 4-1 to sail into the final of the World Series Hockey here on Sunday.