Sports

SYDNEY, Australia,  CMC – West Indies coach David Williams has backed his side to fight back from their deficit position in the five-match One Day International (ODI) series against Australia.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates,  CMC – Ireland, coached by ex-West Indies batsman Phil Simmons, rebounded for a handsome 78-run victory over the USA in their ICC World Twenty20 Group A qualifier yesterday.

DENVER, (Reuters) – All-Stars Carmelo Anthony and  Chauncey Billups returned to the Denver Nuggets’ lineup to  inspire a 127-91 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday.

PARIS, (Reuters) – Russian Elena Dementieva lamented  the absence of world number one Serena Williams after moving  smoothly into the quarter-finals of the Paris Indoor Open yesterday.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Chelsea’s lead at the top of the  Premier League was cut to one point yesterday when they lost  2-1 at Everton with Louis Saha continuing his scoring jinx over  them.

NAGPUR, India, (Reuters) – India need to carefully  groom replacements for their batting “fab four” after suffering  a crushing innings defeat by South Africa on Tuesday, former  captain and chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar said.

ROTTERDAM, (Reuters) – Russian second seed Nikolay  Davydenko easily overcame a potentially tough challenger in  Spaniard Feliciano Lopez to reach the second round of the World  Indoor Tournament with a 6-4 6-2 win yesterday.

NAGPUR, India, (Reuters) – South Africa captain Graeme  Smith hailed the maturity shown by his team in adverse  circumstances after they won the opening test against top-ranked  India on Tuesday.

KOLKATA, India, (Reuters) – The Indian cricket  board’s appeal against the one-year ban on New Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla stadium has been dismissed, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said yesterday.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago’s Sports Minister Gary Hunt announced Tuesday that the controversial Brian Lara Stadium at Tarouba will soon be opened.

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent, CMC – The top brass of the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC), including president Usie Richards, will continue for another four-year term in charge of the sport in the region.

By Rawle Toney Just when one thought that the roller-coaster ride that is the Shondel Alfred/Corrine De Groot rematch had stopped it has gained momentum which has resulted in a bit of history set to be created.

Newly appointed West Indies cricket coach, Ottis Gibson is to receive a pay package close to US$350,000 annually.

After the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) and the Kashif & Shanghai (K&S) organisation announced their plans to host two benefit matches to assist the Haitian Football Federation (HFF), promoter Kashif Muhammad said yesterday that he is satisfied with the preparations.

West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Julian Hunte is looking forward to a “successful delivery” of the upcoming ICC World Twenty20 West Indies 2010 tournament, according to a release from the tournament’s corporate communications manager Gayle Alleyne.

Guyana and West Indies all rounder Narsingh Deonarine of the Albion Cricket Club is slated to receive the Berbice Cricket Board Cricketer-of-the-Year award on February 14 when the BCB hosts its third annual awards ceremony in the compound of the New Amsterdam Technical Institute.

LONDON, England, CMC – Jamaican Stoke City forward Ricardo Fuller was arrested this past weekend following an “incident” at the JFK night club in Staffordshire.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Manchester City made ground in the  battle for fourth place in the Premier League yesterday but  looked a long way from Champions League material as they  struggled to a forgettable 2-0 home win over Bolton Wanderers.

VANCOUVER, (Reuters) – Canada will protect funding for  Olympic athletes despite expectations of a “tough” federal  budget to be introduced immediately after the Vancouver Games,  the country’s sports minister said yesterday.

ROTTERDAM, (Reuters) – Top seed Novak Djokovic  advanced into the second round of the World Indoor Tournament yesterday when his Ukrainian opponent Sergiy Stakhovsky withdrew  with knee problems while trailing 6-2 4-1.