Friday, March 29, 2013 DECCAN HERALD17 Sport Angelo Matthews named Pune Warriors capt ain. P 18 Tennis Sony Open GRITTYSHOW: Spain’s David Ferrer celebrates his win over Austrian Jurgen Melzer in the quarterfinals of the Miami Masters on Thursday. AFP Super Haas strolls past Simon to enter semis Ferrer overcomes sloppy start to beat Melzer MIAMI: VeteranTommy Haas backed up his upset of world number one Novak Djokovic with a quarterfinal victory over Gilles Simon on Wednesday to advance to a semifinal against David Fer- rer at the Sony Open in Mia- mi. The 34-year-old Haas, who beat Djokovic on Tuesday, pro- duced a strong encore per- formance in his 6-3, 6-1 victo- ry, when he produced an outstanding return game, breaking Simon once in the first set and three times in the second. Haas will next face world number five Ferrer who over- came a sloppy start to defeat Austrian Jurgen Melzer 4-6, 6- 3, 6-0 in their quarterfinal clash. In the women's tournament Maria Sharapova was shaky from the service line but the Russian world number two dodged danger at key mo- ments to beat seventh seed Sara Errani 7-5, 7-5 and reach the semifinals. Serving at 4-5 in the second set of a see-saw struggle, the third seed Sharapova saved three set points before winning the final three games to end the two hour, 29-minute bat- tle. "She had her chances to win that second set. Who knows what would have happened," said Sharapova, a four-time Mi- ami finalist who has yet to win the tournament. "I'm lucky to get to the next one and have a chance to be in the semis again ... the great thing is that I pulled through. I worked hard. I was steady, and I gave myself a chance to get here." Errani had four service breaks against Sharapova, who committed 14 double faults. But the 25-year-old Italian was even more vulnerable to the big-hitting Sharapova, who broke serve six times. Sharapova, bidding for a rare double following her win at Indian Wells earlier this month, will play 2008 runner- up Jelena Jankovic of Serbia af- ter she beat Italy's Roberta Vin- ci 6-4, 6-7, 6-3. Third-seeded Ferrer, who has already won twice this year after notching seven tourna- ment wins in 2012, raced through the final set losing just four points on serve and com- mitting only four unforced er- rors to finish with a flourish. The loss ended a nine- match winning streak for 42nd-ranked Melzer, who won earlier this month in Dal- las. The Spaniard will meet the winner of Wednesday's later match between Germany's 15th-seeded Tommy Haas, who knocked out world number one Novak Djokovic, and French 11th seed Gilles Simon. Reuters National league from April 1 » The Karnataka State Hockey Association will conduct the Ozonegroup National Hockey League Championsh ip from April 1- 20. The winner will be awarded Rs 2 lakh while the runners-up will be richer by Rs 1.5 lakh. The third and fourth placed teams will be awarded Rs one lakh and Rs 50,000 respectively. Participating teams: Air lndia, BPCL, IOCL, Army Red, Namadhari Seeds, Fortis, Punjab National Bank, SAl, Army Green, MEG, ASC. Inter-collegiate chess tourney In and around Champions PRETORIA: A South African court on Thursday cleared Oscar Pistorius for interna- tional travel after the Para- lympian sprint star, charged with murdering his girl- friend, challenged his strin- gent bail terms. Pistorius, 26, had appealed against a raft of conditions in- cluding the confiscation of his passport that he said were un- fair and unwarranted. “I find that the magistrate’s decision not to grant the appel- lant his passport to travel abroad was wrong,” Judge Bert Bam told the High Court in Pretoria. The double amputee — who faces trial later this year over the Valentine’s Day killing of his model girlfriend Reena Steenkamp — was not in court for the appeal, which was op- posed by the state. The judge also ruled that Pis- torius could return to his up- market Pretoria home where Steenkamp was shot dead in the early hours of February 14. He claims he mistook her for an intruder — although the state maintains that the shoot- ing was premeditated murder. “Why would this athlete go to a country without extradition and go and hide?” lawyer Barry Roux had told the court, saying the bail terms were tantamount to “house arrest” and that Pis- torius needed to take part in races abroad to earn a living. Earlier this month his lawyers argued that the bail conditions treat Pistorius as a flight risk. The “Blade Runner”, who last year became the first dou- ble amputee to compete against able-bodied athletes in the Olympics, has cancelled up- coming competitions and has not restarted training, accord- ing to his agent Peet Van Zyl. But Roux said Pistorius wanted to be able to go abroad under controlled circum- stances to earn money. “It is not as if the appellant is travelling for holiday in Mau- ritius; it’s only to gain an in- come, there’s no other reason,” Roux said. After being freed on bail of one million rand ($108,000, 84,000 euros) last month, the sprint star was ordered to sur- render his passport and told to inform a corrections officer if he wanted to travel outside Preto- ria.Thedefencelawyershadalso objected to the random manda- tory alcohol and drug tests that are part of the bail conditions. “Of course he was emotional, but does that mean because he is emotional you put him on pro- bationalsupervision?There’sno causal link,” Roux said. His next court appearance is scheduled for June 4, but the prosecution said they were not sure trial would start on that date. Friday’s hearing cam e a day after Pistorius’s older brother Carl pleaded not guilty to culpable homicide and reck- less driving over a 2008 road accident in which a woman mo- torcyclist was killed. AFP Court clears Pistorius for international travel Oscar Pistorius LONDON, REUTERS: Man- chester City manager Rober- to Mancini threw in the tow- el for his club's Premier League title challenge on Thursday, saying the moti- vatio n fo r th e res t of the sea- son was to keep the teams below them at a safe dis- tance. Defeat to Everton in their last Premier League outing left City trailing leaders Manchester United by 15 points with nine games re- maining. United have shown no signs of wilting under the pressure of wresting the English title back from their near neighbours and have won their last six league matches. "It's over but this doesn't change anything because we should do our best from now to the end," Mancini told re- porters. "Every top team, when they can't win a title, should still try to play well and win all their games." Mancini made the same assessment last season when City trailed United by eight points with six games to go before they rallied to snatch the title on the final day on goal difference. "This is different (to last season)," Mancini added. "I don't know how we will fin- ish this season, because we have Chelsea four points be- hind us and Tottenham five points behind. "We have nine games left and for this reason it's im- portant we keep working hard and well." A seemingly crucial part of City's decline in recent weeks has been the absence of captain and defender Vin- cent Kompany who has been out with a calf injury since Jan. 26. In that period, City have dropped 10 points, losing twice and drawing twice, to further cement United's lead at the top of the table. Mancini gives up EPL title hopes LONDON, REUTERS: Robin van Persiefeelshecouldstay atMan- chester United for the rest of his career after enjoying a superb first season at Old Trafford. The Netherlands striker has netted 19 Premier League goals since joining from Arsenal in August, inspiring United to the brink of a 20th top-flight title. "For the next few years I will be at Man United - maybe longer," the 29-year-old was quoted as saying by the BBC on Wednesday. "United could be my last club." Van Persi e has been en- thused by the new challenge after eight years at Arsenal where he only won the 2005 FA Cup. United manager Alex Fer- guson's attitude towards older players, with 39-year-old Ryan Giggs and 38-year-old Paul Sc- holes still on the books, has also led the Dutchman to ponder whether he is better off staying for good. "You have a number of clubs in Europe where older players can find it good, where they are value d. You use d to have th at at Juventus and AC Milan, Manchester United today is a good example.” ‘Want to retire at Man United’ ONGC hold Sporting; Bagan struggle MAPUSA (GOA), AGENCIES: ONGC capitalised on the ad- vant age of Sportin g Clube de Goa being reduced to a 10- member side as they came from behind to hold the hosts to a 1-1 draw and split points in the 22nd round of the I-League at Duler Stadium here on Thursday. The hosts took the lead in the 20th minute through Dawson Fernandes but ONGC’s Hassan Odeola scored the valuable equaliser in the 77th minute. Sporting Clube de Goa now has 30 points from 22 matches and remain at the sixth spot, while ONGC took their tally to 29 points from 22 games. Sporting, who came into the match with impressive record of remaining unbeaten in their last five matches after their new Spanish coach Bruzon took over, made their inten- tion clear from the very begin- ning. They made early inroads into the rival half and took the lead in the 20th minute with Fernandes striking the goal off a cross from Juanfri from the left. ONGC restored parity in the 77th minute when defender Pawinder Singh, who took the corner, floated the ball into the goal mouth for Hassan Odeola, who shot home from close. Lajong shine In Kalyani, Mohun Bagan were denied victory after leading twice in the match as a deter- mined Shillong Lajong FC forced a 2-2 result at the Kalyani Stadium. Following a barren first half, Mohun Bagan took the lead through their Australian strik- er Tolgay Ozbey in the 52nd minute before Lajong FC found the equaliser within a minute thanks to Boithang Haokip. Mohun Bagan regained the lead at the hour-mark owing to substitute Manish Maithani. But their lead was neutralised once again as Lajong FC sub- stitute PC Lahimthara nodded home the equaliser. After the draw, Mohun Bagan are still bottom of the standings with 10 points from 17 matches while Lajong FC are tenth with 21 from 22 matches. At the Balewadi Sports Com- plex, hosts Pune FC, riding on a brace from Sukhwinder Singh (30th, 44th), scored a 2- 0 win over Dempo. BANGALORE, DHNS: The sale of tickets for next week’s Asia Oceania Group I Davis Cup tie between India and Indonesia at the KSLTA courts will commence from Friday. The daily tickets for the tie, to be held from April 5- 7, are priced at Rs 200. The season tickets are priced at Rs 600 and Rs 700 and can be purchased from the sta- dium between 10 am and 8 pm. Fans can also procure their tickets from ticketing portal www.bookmy- show.com from Saturday. In a bid to attract more spectators, KSLTA will also offer a limited number of complimentary tickets on first-come-first-serve basis. Davis Cup tickets sale from today