The girl from Hyderabad will next take on Olympic champion Li Xuerui in the semi-final. (Source: AP)

Newly-crowned World No. 1 Saina Nehwal on Friday edged out China’s Sun Yu to reach the women’s singles semifinals of the USD 500,000 Malaysia Open Super Series Premier badminton tournament on Friday.

The third seeded Indian eked out a 21-11 18-21 21-17 win over Sun in a quarterfinal battle that lasted an hour and 11 minutes at the Putra Stadium here.

The girl from Hyderabad will next take on Olympic champion Li Xuerui, who had withdrawn from the BWF World Super series last year due to an injury and also skipped India Super Series last week.

The two-time World Championship silver medallist has defeated Saina eight times, while the Indian beat her twice — once during the 2010 Singapore Open and then at 2012 Indonesia Open.

The Olympic bronze medallist, who had a 2-1 record going into Friday’s match, stamped her authority right from the start as she didn’t give the Chinese any easy points.

Brimming with confidence after her India Open triumph and ascent to World No.1, Saina zoomed ahead to 12-4 with a eight-point burst and never looked back. He grabbed the first game rather comfortably.

The World No. 15 Sun, however, made a flying start in the second game, opening up a 7-1 lead early on but Saina soon caught up with the Chinese at 14-14. Sun then slowly started to distance herself from the Indian and made a successful return to the match.

A jolted Saina recovered in no time and surged to a 11-4 lead at the break in the decider. After the interval, Sun reeled off seven straight points from 8-14 to wrest a slender lead. The duo battled till 17-17 before the Indian slammed the door on the Chinese with four points on the trot.

Saina has been on a roll ever since winning the China Open last year. She clinched the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold, reached the finals of All England Championship, before winning the India Super Series last week.

Saeed Ajmal was not part of Pakistan’s World Cup 2015 squad. (Source: AP)

Pakistan offspinner Saeed Ajmal has returned in all three formats after clearing his bowling action for the series against Bangladesh, and the new selectors have dropped three batsmen from the World Cup squad.

Nasir Jamshed, Ahmed Shehzad, and Umar Akmal were dropped, while Younis Khan was rested from the limited-overs team.

Chief selector Haroon Rasheed says, “We are not against any individual but cricketing discipline is more important to us.”

Misbah-ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi, who have retired from the 50-over format, will captain in the Tests and Twenty20s respectively.

Azhar Ali, who was ignored for the World Cup, will lead the one-day international team, with middle-order batsmen Fawad Alam and Asad Shafiq also making their comebacks.

Pakistan is scheduled to play two Tests, three ODIs and a Twenty20 against Bangladesh from this month.

Lahm has made only two substitute appearances for Bayern since breaking his ankle in training on Nov. 18. (Source: Reuters)

Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola says captain Philipp Lahm could come off a lengthy injury list and start the Bundesliga match with Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.

Guardiola says midfielders Franck Ribery (ankle), Arjen Robben (stomach), and Javi Martinez (knee), and defender David Alaba (knee) are all out.

He is not yet sure about defender Holger Badstuber (hip), while midfielder Thiago Alcantara could play “maybe a few minutes” as he recovers from long-standing knee injuries.

Lahm has made only two substitute appearances for Bayern since breaking his ankle in training on Nov. 18, and Guardiola warned that the whole team has to work together to compensate for missing players.

Guardiola says, “It’s football, it’s life. I trust my players, I’ve a lot of trust. We can manage it with the squad we have.”

We look ahead to the 2015 Major League Baseball season with an eight-part package that includes an overall preview of the campaign, an interview with commissioner Rob Manfred, the return of Alex Rodriguez from a doping ban, a look at the rash of elbow injuries to pitchers, key storylines to watch, profiles on all 30 teams and key dates to look out for. (BASEBALL-PREVIEW/, moved, by Larry Fine, 650 words)

We look ahead to the 2015 Major League Baseball season with an eight-part package that includes an overall preview of the campaign, an interview with commissioner Rob Manfred, the return of Alex Rodriguez from a doping ban, a look at the rash of elbow injuries to pitchers, key storylines to watch, profiles on all 30 teams and key dates to look out for. (BASEBALL-PREVIEW/, moved, by Larry Fine, 650 words)

Hosting an Olympics could end up costing the exchequer billions of dollars.

If everything goes to plan, India may join Germany and Italy to submit its bid to host the 2024 Olympics. The Indian government and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) have begun preliminary talks to bring the event to India and the initial response from both ends has been positive, according to a top IOA official.

In fact, International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach is scheduled to visit New Delhi for a day on April 27 to meet prime minister Narendra Modi.

Bach, who took over as the IOC chief last year, was invited to Delhi by IOA president N Ramachandran and sports secretary Ajit Sharan. The duo had travelled to the IOC headquarters in Lausanne last week where informal talks took place.

IOA vice-president VD Nanavati said the possibility of India bidding for the 2024 Games will be discussed during the meeting between Modi and Bach. “The IOC president will be in Delhi for one day on April 27. He is scheduled to meet the Prime Minister along with an IOA delegation. During the meeting, it is likely that the prospect of India bidding for the 2024 Olympics will be discussed,” Nanavati told The Indian Express.

The government and IOA were initially hesitant to make a push for the Games considering that Tokyo will be hosting it in 2020. However, it is believed the IOC urged India to submit a bid. “The sports secretary and IOA president met Bach last week to understand the importance of hosting such an event and also see if it is feasible.

During the meeting, they asked the IOC if Asia can host back-to-back Olympics. Bach said it would not be a problem and ultimately, would come down to how strong the bid is and the votes they manage,” a source said.

While no official communication has taken place within the IOA or between the association and sports ministry, sources said there has been no objection to the idea. Many within the IOA see this as an opportunity to redeem some pride after the disastrous build-up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games. It must be noted that the decision to host the CWG was taken in 2003, during last NDA government’s tenure.

Expensive affair

Hosting an Olympics could end up costing the exchequer billions of dollars. Though keen, the government is yet to make up its mind. India was also keen to host the 2019 Asian Games but indecisiveness within the IOA and the sports ministry’s hesitance meant the country could not submit its bid within the deadline set by the Olympic Council of Asia.

On this occasion, it has time till September 15 to send the name of Applicant Cities. The deadline to submit application files and guarantee letters is January 8, 2016. The host city will be selected in 2017.

New Delhi is believed to be the initial choice because of the available infrastructure but a final decision on the host city will be taken only after the meeting and in consultation with the state governments. The IOA and the government is preparing a feasibility report and sources said there would be more clarity on the issue in 10 days to two weeks’ time.

If India goes ahead with the idea, then it will face stiff competition from Hamburg and Rome, the two European cities who have already decided to bid for the Games.

Boston too is in contention but the city is scheduled to hold a referendum on whether the bid should go forward. Other potential bids include Casablanca and Nairobi whereas Doha and the Malaysia-Thailand joint bid are other Asian countries in fray.

Kirsten admits coaching in the IPL means a new set of challenges.

It’s 4.30 in the evening and Albie Morkel has just taken a break from bowling. He wipes the sweat from his forehead and sips on Gatorade. Not far away, Delhi Daredevils coach Gary Kirsten is involved in an animated discussion with another marquee foreign player — Angelo Mathews.

The Daredevils, under Kirsten, are in the middle of an intense training session at the Palam Ground. A posse of journalists wait in anticipation as they look to interact with the celebrity coach.

Kirsten is still a huge draw in this part of the globe thanks to 2011 World Cup-winning feat with the Indian team. But that’s only one of his many accomplishments. Much before the crowning glory at the Wankhede, in the winter of 2009, he had mentored India as they planted their flag on the Test summit. Later, he would help the Graeme Smith’s South Africans do the same.

For such a successful coach, mastering Twenty20 oddly remains a bit of a mystery. Under his watch, India and South Africa, between them, lost nine out of nine Super Eight matches across three World T20s (2009, 2010, 2012). When Kirsten joined the IPL last year, he fared no better: the Delhi Daredevils finished bottom of the heap with just two wins out of 14 games.

The former South Africa opener admits that coaching an IPL team has its own set of challenges, something which caught him off-guard last year.

“The IPL is different to international cricket and takes a bit of time getting used to, so any coach will take time in getting adjusted to the setting and I am no different.

“Having said that, I must admit that I have learnt a lot (as a coach) from my stint last year,” Kirsten says.

The Daredevils made some aggressive bidding in the IPL auction in February, and they will hoping for some quick return on their buck. Kirsten insists that the current squad have it in them to perform well.

“I am looking forward to the season ahead. Yes, it has been a tough two seasons for the franchise. Sometimes with that there comes a great opportunity. However, we have put together a decent squad this year. We have assembled some quality senior players from around the world. That apart, we also have a bunch of exciting youngsters as well. So we have a nice balanced side,” he says.

Kirsten’s imprint is there to be seen on the team, including in the choice of captain. JP Duminy’s appointment as the Daredevils skipper has raised a few eyebrows, however, given that Kevin Pietersen’s captaincy last year was a disaster, it could be assumed that Kirsten wanted somebody he could completely rely on in the leadership role.

“Duminy has had some experience captaining the T20 side in South Africa. Moreover, we wanted to have some continuity as he has played with the Daredevils before and he knows most of the Indian players well… so I guess he was the natural choice (as captain) as we felt he has good leadership credentials.”

Kirsten also tries to quells all talk surrounding the role of an out-of-favour Zaheer Khan in the Daredevils set-up. “He has a wealth of experience and he has great ideas when it comes to T20 bowling. I want him to be the mentor for our younger bowlers. He obviously is deeply motivated and has a lot of aspirations as a player.”

DD get new bowling coach

Former South Africa medium pacer Alfonso Thomas has been roped in by the Delhi Daredevils as a bowling coach for the coming season. The 38-year-old, who played for the now-defunct Pune Warriors India in 2011 and 2012 editions, is excited with his new role.

“I have enjoyed my time as a player in the IPL. It is, therefore, very special for me to be working with Delhi Daredevils squad. When the call came through from Gary, I jumped at the opportunity. I am looking forward to sharing all that I have learnt. The squad has a number of experienced bowlers like Zaheer Khan and Albie Morkel, along side promising talents like Mohammed Shami, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Gurinder Sandhu. It is an exciting opportunity for me to work with this group,” Thomas said in a media release sent by the Daredevils.