Carlos Moya retires from tennis

Former French Open champion Carlos Moya announced his retirement from tennis after a 15-year career, citing a nagging foot injury.

The former No. 1 said differing medical opinions on resolving the lingering right foot injury had provided more stress than solutions and left him with little option but to retire.

“It’s not how I dreamt of ending my career,” the 34-year-old Moya said during an emotional news conference on Wednesday.

Moya said he knew it was time after his last match, a 6-0, 6-2 loss to Benjamin Becker at the Madrid Masters in May.

“I wanted to play the big tournaments and say goodbye but I got to the Madrid tournament and I still wasn’t 100 percent but motivation pushed me on,” Moya said. “But I realized with that match that the moment had arrived.”

Moya won 20 ATP titles, including the 1998 French Open.

He was the first unseeded finalist in 16 years at the 1997 Australian Open, but fell to top-ranked Pete Sampras. His last title came in Croatia in 2007.

He became the first Spaniard to become No. 1 in the rankings in March 1999.

After leading Spain to the 2003 Davis Cup final, he spearheaded the team to the 2004 title, beating Andy Roddick to clinch the final in his last tie.

He was an early training partner of Rafael Nadal. Both hail from the island of Mallorca.

Former players Manolo Santana, Albert Costa and Carlos Costa were all on hand for the announcement.

“I’ll keep on with my gym in Mallorca. I have a sports business and I’ll dedicate more time to my wife, my daughter and my family (now),” Moya said of his future. “I’ll definitely miss tennis, however.”

Saina Nehwal gets past Lydia Cheah

Saina Nehwal warmed up for the tougher challenges ahead with a 21-15, 21-17 victory against victory against Lydia Cheah of Malaysia in the women's singles pre-quarterfinals in badminton at the Tianhe Gymnasium, in the Asian Games here on Wednesday.

However, another Indian, Aditi Mutatkar could not capitalise on a strong start and missed the chance of making the quarterfinals, as she lost 20-22, 21-8, 21-12 to the fourth-seeded Eriko Hirose of Japan. She had beaten a Sri Lankan in the first round.

“In the first set, I made silly mistakes. In the second and third, I corrected myself and won the match,” said the Japanese.

There was another disappointment for the Indian camp as P. Kashyap was quite erratic and lacked the intensity of concentration as he went down 14-21, 20-22 to the fifth-seeded Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam in the men's first round.

Lack of temperament

Kashyap had the game, but not the temperament to outwit a cool opponent. He showed his class with impressive smashes in warding off two match-points, but a chorded drop sat up and helped his opponent in bringing the curtains down.

“I got my rhythm a little too late. The second set was anyone's game. I am very disappointed and sad, because I thought that technically I was good. I was finding it difficult to adjust to the conditions. I was not getting the feel of the shuttle,” Kashyap said.

“I think he was attacking too much. It would have been good if Kashyap had opened up the game, which he did in the second set,” said coach P. Gopichand.

In men's doubles, Jaesung Chung and Yongdae Lee of Korea beat Akshay Dewalkar and Arun Sivarajan 21-14, 21-14 in the first round. Arun Sivarajan also lost the mixed doubles earlier with Aparna Balan, 22-20, 7-21, 12-21 against Shintaro Ikeda and Reiko Shiota of Japan in the round of 32.

Rupesh, Sanave bow out

Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas also bowed out 15-21, 19-21 in the pre-quarterfinals to the top-seeded Kien Keat Koo and Boon Heong Tan of Malaysia.

In table tennis, Sharath Kamal beat Rohan Nanamendra of Sri Lanka 11-9, 11-7, 11-1, 11-8 in the pre-quarterfinals. Amalraj Arputharaj also joined him in the next round with a 11-4, 7-11, 11-8, 13-11, 8-11, 11-8 victory over Muhd Shakirin Ibrahim of Malaysia.

In weightlifting, Monika Devi finished seventh with a total of 212 kg in the women's 69 kg section. She had 95 kg in snatch and 117 in clean and jerk.

The gold was bagged by Liu Chunhong of China with a total lift of 242 kg, the included 110 in snatch. In the men's 85 kg section, Chandrakant Mali was 10th with a lift of 309, following 138 in snatch and 171 in clean and jerk. Lu Yong of China won with a total lift of 376 kg, with 173 in snatch.

Vijay Kumar gets bronze in men's 25m centre fire pistol

Vijay Kumar notched up his second and India’s fifth medal in shooting by bagging a bronze in men’s 25m Center Fire pistol even as ace marksman Gagan Narang missed out on a bronze by a whisker in the 50m rifle 3 positions in the Asian Games here on Thursday.

Vijay shot 583 (290+293) to finish third behind South Korea’s Park Byung Taek who scored 586 (290+296) and Liu Yadong of China who fired 585 (290+295).

The other two Indians in fray in the same event, Omkar Singh and Harpreet Singh finished eighth and 32nd respectively with scores of 580 and 563.

This is Vijay’s second medal in shooting, having won a bronze in 10m air pistol individual event.

In the 25m Center Fire pistol team event, India finished fourth behind China, South Korea and North Korea. The trio of Vijay, Omkar and Harpreet shot 1726, 17 points adrift of gold winners China.

Narang, meanwhile, was unlucky as he missed the bronze in men’s 50m rifle 3 positions event by 0.5 points to Qinan Zhu of China.

Narang finished the event with 1261.8 points, 0.5 points behind bronze medal winner Qinan, who also pipped the Indian to win the 10m air rifle individual gold earlier in the Games.

Incidentally, Narang was the only Indian to have qualified for the finals in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions after finishing fourth with a score of 1162 (393 prone+382 standing+387 kneeling).

Two other Indians in fray in the same event, Imran Khan and Sanjeev Rajput finished 13th and 15th respectively with scores of 1150 (377+384+395) and 1146 (394+379+373) respectively.

As if Narang’s fourth place finish in the individual category was not enough, India also missed out on a bronze in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions team event after finishing fourth behind China.

The India trio of Narang, Khan and Rajput shot 3458 (1176+1138+1144), 13 points adrift of China who scored 3471 (1183+1146+1142).

South Korea won the gold with 3489 points while the silver went to Kazakhstan (3478 points).

The Indian also cut a sorry figure in the men’s trap event except for Manavjit Singh Sandhu, who finished eighth with a score of 70 (23+24+23) in the qualifier.

Manavjit’s compatriots Mansher Singh and Zoravar Singh Sandhu were 18th and 26th respectively with scores of 67 (22+23+22) and 64 (19+22+23).

In the team event, the Indian trio of Manavjit, Mansher and Zoravar finished fifth in the qualification round with a total score of 201 (70+67+64) points.

Ferguson absolves Rooney over contract row

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has cleared Wayne Rooney of any blame for last week’s uncertainty over his future at the club.

After watching his team move up to third place in the Premier League with a 2-1 win at Stoke on the injured Rooney’s 25th birthday, Ferguson said that player agents were solely to blame when players agitated for a transfer.

Rooney seemed ready to leave Old Trafford when he questioned the club’s ability to sign leading players and the club announced that he had refused to sign a new contract.

But the England striker eventually signed a new five-year contract to replace a deal that was set to expire at the end of next season, reportedly more than doubling his previous salary of 90,000 pounds ($141,650) a week.

“There are always issues to deal with,” Ferguson said. “When your top players come towards the end of their contracts you have to do something to get them a new one. They are all the same. You have to deal with agents of this world today, which is difficult.

“The players are no problem. There is no problem with players. Some agents are difficult.”

Tendulkar in Cricinfo’s all-time World Test XI

Sachin Tendulkar was the only current cricketer named in ESPNcricinfo’s all-time Test World XI which did not include Australian captain Ricky Ponting and the likes of Brian Lara, Glenn McGrath, Sunil Gavaskar.

Tendulkar has been chosen at number four batting position along with legends like Don Bradman, Vivian Richards, Garry Sobers and Shane Warne.

Others in the World XI, dominated by Australians and West Indians, were Jack Hobbs, Len Hutton, Adam Gilchrist, Malcolm Marshall, Wasim Akram and Dennis Lillee.

Gavaskar and Lara found themselves in the second World XI along with Barry Richards, George Headley, Wally Hammond, Imran Khan, Alan Knott, Bill O’Reilly, Fred Trueman, Muttiah Muralitharan and SF Barnes.

Ponting was not in any of the two teams, the same as McGrath and India’s world Cup winning captain Kapil Dev.

The jury comprised one former captain from each of the top Test-playing teams -- Ian Chappell, Clive Lloyd, Tony Greig, Duleep Mendis, Ali Bacher, Intikhab Alam, John Wright, Ajit Wadekar -- and four cricket historians and writers.

Warne, Gilchrist and Akram were the other players from the last two decades to make it to the XI, which featured seven players who made their debuts after 1970.

Four Australians, three West Indians, two Englishmen, an Indian and a Pakistani make up the XI.

Three players were unanimous choices, figuring in the first XIs of each of the 12 members of the jury (each juror was asked to pick a first XI and a second) -- Don Bradman, Garry Sobers and Shane Warne, each of whom got the maximum points possible in the exercise, 60. Tendulkar followed with 51 points.

The biggest surprise the XI threw up was the gap between Warne and Muralitharan, the two leading wicket-takers in cricket history. Muralitharan made it to the World Second XI, tallying 34 points fewer than Warne.

The closest battles were for one of the opening spots and for number five. Gavaskar lost out to Hobbs by one point and Headley by two to Richards.

Hutton (47 points) partners Hobbs at the top. They are followed by Bradman, Tendulkar, Richards and Sobers. While there was no competition to Sobers for the all-rounder’s spot, Imran (19) narrowly edged out Keith Miller to make it to the Second XI.

Gilchrist beat Alan Knott to the wicketkeeper’s spot by eight points. The next closest contender was Kumar Sangakkara, who got nine points.

The bowling positions were all decided by handsome margins. Three of cricket’s most highly rated fast bowlers -- Dennis Lillee, leading with 48 points, Wasim Akram and Malcolm Marshall (in addition to Sobers, who could bowl left—arm fast, spin and chinamen) -- accompany Warne.

Federer calls for trimming of ATP schedule

Roger Federer won the Stockholm Open on Sunday to capture a career title in an 18th different country, then called for a minor trimming of what has become for some players an 11-month ATP campaign.

“I’m not complaining personally. I don’t mind since I just take breaks during the season,” said the world number two Swiss.

“But for the average player it’s smart to finish at some stage and have a proper off-season.” The 29-year-old was re-elected as president of the Player Council, with that body and the Tour Board due to address the scheduling issue at November’s World Tour Finals in London.

Federer says a proposal to slice just a touch in the hopes of shortening by a few weeks merits serious consideration. “It makes complete sense to finish the season a bit earlier,” he said.

ATP boss Adam Helfant claims he can accomplish that and still not kill off any events, a plan which has not yet been explained.

Federer said that a slightly less taxing season is a win-win for players, tournaments and fans. “We are speaking of cutting the calendar by a couple of weeks. I hope we can have some kind of compromise. We all want peace and harmony.”

“You want to savour every victory, you never know, which one will be the last,” said the 16-time Grand Slam champion. “Things move really fast. I’ve won three but some people are upset. With some luck maybe I would have won seven.

“Stockholm was only a 250 (point) event but the victory is very special. This is maybe one tournament to remember more than some others. “Winning titles for me now is different than it was before. It’s all about the enjoyment for me now.

“I don’t have to prove myself to anyone and I get a great feeling of satisfaction. I know how to pace myself. I can savour the moment much more. “Early in your career, you wrestle with yourself, now I just enjoy the Tour.”

Gambhir returns for New Zealand series, Yuvraj out

Left-handed opener Gautam Gambhir and paceman Ishant Sharma returned after injury lay-offs as the national selectors on Monday announced a full strength 15-member Test squad for next month’s series against New Zealand.

Gambhir and Ishant, who had to sit out of the second and final Test against Australia at Bangalore because of injury, have recovered sufficiently to be named in the squad, which has no new faces.

While upcoming batsman Cheteshwar Pujara has been retained, two other youngsters Abhinav Mukund and Jaidev Unadkat have been left out of the team announced by the BCCI.

Yuvraj Singh again failed to find favour in the Test squad, with the selectors opting for Suresh Raina and Pujara as the middle-order batsmen, both of whom have done reasonably well when provided with the opportunity.

The team, to be captained by MS Dhoni, has three fast bowlers in Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth and Ishant and three specialist spinners comprising Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha.

The Indian batting order looks formidable as it has stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag, who have all been in fine nick in recent times.

The return of Gambhir, who was laid low by a knee injury, means that opener Murali Vijay will have to sit out of the series commencing on November 4 in Ahmadabad.

“The team has performed extremely well against the Australians in both the Tests and one-day series, particularly the Bangalore Test. Our junior players have gelled well in the middle-order with the seniors. Our bowlers have done a remarkable job.

“Going by this, we have picked the team for all the three Tests. I am confident that our players will continue their victory march,” chief selector Kris Srikkanth told reporters.

“Our bench strength has come good and it was there for all to witness. This is a good sign for Indian cricket. Like it is said that the best player win, I must say let the best team (India) win,” Srikkanth said adding the team for the one-day series will be picked later.

The Test series will be followed by five one-day series — Guwahati (Nov 28), Jaipur (Dec 1), Vadodara (Dec 4), Bangalore (Dec 7) and Chennai (Dec 10).

Test squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag (vice-captain), Gautam Gambhir, Murali Vijay, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Suresh Raina, Cheteshwar Pujara, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, S Sreesanth, Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra.