Tomic lifts trophy

Sydney: Bernard Tomic of Australia won his first ATP title on Saturday, beating South Africa’s Kevin Anderson 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-3 in the Sydney International final.
The 20-year-old Tomic dominated the first set, but the big-serving Anderson won 24 of 26 points on his serve in the second and played more aggressively than his opponent as he tried to get back into the match.

Deal signed
Calcutta: The IFA has signed a sponsorship deal with Indo-German sports management company SHAAPP, which will sponsor the Bengal football team in the upcoming Santosh Trophy, to be held in Uttar Pradesh and Kerala from February 1 to March 3, it was announced on Saturday. Bengal are in Group A along with Delhi and Railways.

Bose backing

Calcutta: Mohun Bagan president Swapan Sadhan Bose on Saturday backed under-fire general secretary Anjan Mitra and finance secretary Debashish Dutta even as a group of supporters demanded the ouster of the duo in the wake of the AIFF suspension till 2014-15.
In a statement, Bose said it was an unanimous decision to withdraw the team at half-time of December 9 Derby clash against East Bengal at the Salt Lake Stadium Stadium.

Venue shift?

New Delhi: India’s international football friendly against Palestine, to be held in Guwahati on February 6, will be shifted to Delhi if the Guwahati ground is not ready to host the match by that time, officials said.

GM norms

New Delhi: Murali Karthikeyan, aged 13, earned his maiden Grandmaster norm after securing a draw with Commonwealth champion MR Lalith Babu in the ninth and penultimate round of the premier section of Parsvnath International chess tournament.
International Master K Rathnakaran also joined the party by earning his second Grandmaster norm defeating top seed Abhijeet Gupta.

Lance call

Austin: Lance Armstrong will make a limited confession to doping during his televised interview with Oprah Winfrey next week, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

Armstrong, who has long denied doping, will also offer an apology during the interview scheduled to be taped Monday at his homeowner Austin, Texas, according to the person spoke on condition of anonymity because there was no authorization to speak publicly on the matter.

While not directly saying he would confess or apologise, Armstrong, in a text message, said: “I told her (Winfrey) to go wherever she wants and I’ll answer the questions directly, honestly and candidly. That’s all I can say.”