Sports

MIAMI, (Reuters) – Seven-time grand slam winner  Venus Williams has withdrawn from next week’s Sony Ericsson  Open in Miami with an abdominal injury, tournament organisers  said yesterday.

CHENNAI, (Reuters) – Australia’s bid to prolong  their unbeaten World Cup run and Pakistan’s ambitions to top  Group A will ensure no punches are pulled in Colombo tomorrow  even though both sides have booked quarter-final places.

COLOMBO, (Reuters) – Pakistan pace bowler Shoaib  Akhtar will retire from international cricket after the World  Cup, closing one of the most colourful careers in the sport.

(Reuters) – Pakistan pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar will  retire from international cricket after the World Cup, closing  one of the most colourful careers in the sport.

MUMBAI, (Reuters) – Bangladesh fans will pray for  one more upset win from their team tomorrow to prolong their  World Cup campaign when they take on mighty South Africa in a  must-win Group B match in Dhaka.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Three Pakistan cricketers,  accused of taking bribes to fix parts of a test match in England  last year, told police the incidents were coincidental or bad  luck, a London court heard yesterday.

By Tony Cozier At the ICC World Cup In CHENNAIThe defining match of the World Cup arrives for the West Indies today (starting 5 am south Caribbean time).

Guyanese Deon Ferrier and Kellon Carmichael were among the wickets while Travis Blyden produced with the bat in the Trinidad & Tobago Championships two-day league over the weekend.

Two-time defending champions of the University of Guyana (UG) Inter-Faculty basketball tournament, the Faculty of Natural Sciences demolished the Faculty of Agriculture/Forestry 72-43 when the two teams met in this year’s edition of the competition yesterday afternoon at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

The Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) in conjunction with the Linden Table Tennis Association (LTTA) will stage a multi category tournament on Sunday.

By Treiston Joseph The Inter-Guiana Games trials hosted by the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) which is scheduled for Sunday at Enmore Community Centre Ground (ECCG) may  be moved to the Police Sports Club Ground, Eve Leary due to the flooded conditions of the ECCG caused by the current heavy rainfall.

Officials at the office of Friendly Societies will be meeting with the executives of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) next Tuesday with the aim of resolving the dilemma that has been facing that body for the past two years, according to Registrar Kareem Jabar.

Chennai, India – West Indies will be looking to topple England in today’s ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Group B match and make it four wins in a row.

BANGALORE, (Reuters) – Australia’s pace battery  will have much, much tougher tests ahead if they are to claim a  fourth World Cup running but on the evidence of yesterday’s win  over Canada they are peaking at just the right time.

The first scrabble tournament for the year is set to be staged next Monday when the Guyana Association of Scrabble Players (GASP) will host a Phagwah Open Tournament at  Malteenoes Sports Club (MSC), beginning at 10AM.

ROSEAU, Dominica,  CMC – Liam Sebastien will be missing in action for Windward Islands, when they face England Lions in the sixth round of the WICB Regional first-class championship, starting today at Windsor Park.

INDIAN WELLS, California, (Reuters) – Spaniard  Tommy Robredo, despite being hampered by a hamstring strain,  crushed American Sam Querrey 6-1 6-3 yesterday to become the  first player through to the Indian Wells quarter-finals.

ATLANTA,  (Reuters) – Joe Johnson dug himself out  of a shooting slump with 36 points to lead the Atlanta Hawks to  a 110-85 rout of the struggling Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Chelsea joined Manchester  United and Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League  quarter-finals yesterday, increasing the chances of an  English team reaching the final at Wembley Stadium.

CHENNAI, India, CMC – West Indies will not be having a restless nights of the threat posed by England marquee spinner Graeme Swann.