Acura Classic: Sharapova ends Sania's dream run

Sania Mirza's winning streak at the $13,40,000 WTA Acura Classic in San Diego (California) comes to an end in the quarter-finals early on Saturday morning.

The 20-year-old, who had beaten players ranked much higher then her in the previous rounds of the tournament, lost to world No. 2 and top seed Maria Sharapova of Russia in straight sets 2-6, 1-6.

Sharapova is the defending champion and will now meet the winner of the match between Venus Williams and third seed Anna Chakvetadze in the semi-final.

Sania had a dream run in the lead-up to the quarter-finals, beating four top-20 players in the last week.

Sharapova had beaten Sania by the same margin in the fourth round of the US Open in 2005 - the only other time the two have played each other. Sania's ranking now stands at a career-best high at 30.

Though Sania met another Russian and eighth seed Dinara Safina in the previous round and beaten her easily, but against Sharapova she never looked comfortable.

Shapaova’s powerful serves kept on troubling Sania from the very beginning with the Russian breaking the Indian’s serve at will.

Sharapova, a former world No. 1, is looking for her first title this year.

In the other matches Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, who is seeded 11th, also had no trouble in knocking out Russia’s four Nadia Petrova 6-4, 6-4.

Schnyder will meet another Russian and ninth seed Elena Dementieva, who beat Maria Kirilenko in straight set 6-2, 6-4.

Appointment of India coach could take another month

he Board of Control for Cricket in India will probably take another month to appoint a coach for the national team.

"We contacted our counterparts in cricket boards in England and Australia telling them our requirement. If they have someone who matches what we need, they will recommend some names to us," Sharad Pawar, president of the Indian board, said in Bangalore on Friday. "There is a committee appointed to look into this and it will probably take a month's time before we can make an appointment."

On the issue of the Indian Cricket League (ICL), which has seen some heated words being exchanged in the media, Pawar said the BCCI was not against former cricketers running coaching programs or playing matches but insisted it was the board's prerogative to organise all official cricket in India.

One of those exchanges has involved Kapil Dev, who heads the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and has also joined the ICL. When asked if Indian cricket might be better served by Kapil Dev developing young cricketers through the NCA rather than through the ICL, Pawar said, "He seems to be very busy elsewhere."

Asked if the appointment of high-profile cricketers to committees and academies was causing more trouble than good, Pawar said, "We appointed Kapil here at the NCA in good faith. He was a great cricketer and won the World Cup for India. But he's busy with other things. Even Sunil Gavaskar has been head of committees and they have a lot of experience and expertise. So I won't say it is trouble."

The prime reason Pawar addressed the press conference, though he insisted this was not the case, was to show support to the powers that be in Karnataka cricket with elections round the corner. Flanked by Brijesh Patel, the secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) and Gundappa Viswanath, the presidential candidate from the Patel panel, he said, "I have got some reports regarding the BCCI president's involvement in the KSCA elections. When I took the responsibility of leading the BCCI, this time I was elected unopposed. I have to act in such a way that I don't, directly or indirectly support any one group or the other."

Having said that, Pawar made it clear where he stood: "I must say that some state associations have been continuously doing good work in the development of cricket, cricket infrastructure and promoting young cricketers. The KSCA is one of them, so also the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, Mumbai Cricket Association and the Punjab Cricket Association.

"The work in Karnataka, both here in Bangalore and in the districts, has helped Indian cricket in that it has produced someone who is leading the country, in Rahul Dravid, and a record-breaking bowler in Anil Kumble, and now Robin Uthappa has come into the side," said Pawar. "The BCCI doesn't want to take any sides in the KSCA elections, but this development work must continue."

However, Pawar had recently met Vijay Mallya, the industrialist and Rajya Sabha MP, who has thrown his weight behind Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, the man opposing the ruling Patel faction. When asked about this Pawar made light of the matter, saying, "I fly on Mr. Mallya's plane and I know him as someone who has been acquiring many companies. But when we had a chat recently I was surprised when he [Mallya] told me of his interest in entering Karnataka cricket."

The date for the KSCA elections is yet to be announced although the constitution stipulates that elections must be held on or before September 30 and that the date for the election must be announced at least 15 days before they are to be held.

X Games 13 Big Air Selection Results

The Big Air selection session results are in from X Games 13. Tune in tonight to see who will conquer the X Game's first-ever indoor MegaRamp. But for now, chomp on the preliminary results...

For Immediate Release - August 2, 2007

Skateboard Big Air Selection Session Results

The standings going into the finals are:

1. Jake Brown / Sydney, Australia
2. Bob Burnquist / Sao Paulo, Brazil
3. Bucky Lasek / Baltimore, Maryland
4. Buster Halterman / Wellsville, Pennsylvania
5. Pierre-Luc Gagnon / Carlsbad, California
6. Rob Lorifice / Encinitas, California


Lasek Leads Group That Will Meet Brown, Burnquist In Tonight‚s Finals

LOS ANGELES ˆ Bucky Lasek led the group of four skaters that qualified to move on to tonight‚s Skateboard Big Air Finals, where they will battle Jake Brown and Bob Burnquist for ESPN X Games 13 gold.

Last year‚s Big Air winner Danny Way, a three-time consecutive gold medalist in the event (in X Games 10, 11 and 12) is not competing due to injury. Brown and Burnquist won silver and bronze respectively in last year‚s Big Air Finals, granting them the top two slots in tonight‚s final.

Lasek, who has earned a total of 11 lifetime X Games medals, has had more career success in the Vert Men‚s competition, where he‚s won four gold medals. He last competed in Big Air in 2005 and finished in fourth place.

For the first time this year, 60 linear feet of the Big Air downramp is suspended from the ceiling at STAPLES Center. The Big Air ramp contains over 15,000 screws and 60,000 pounds of metal and took a full five days to build.

The Skateboard Big Air Final begins at 5:00 p.m. PT at STAPLES Center.