Sports

DirecTV is inviting its customers to get ringside seats to the World Championship Boxing (WBC) today especially to witness Edwin Valero’s return to the ring to vie for the Interim World Lightweight title.

GROS ISLET, St Lucia,  CMC – Talismanic all-rounder Freddie Flintoff grabbed a spectacular hat trick as England claimed their first-ever one-day series win in the Caribbean with a 26-run victory over West Indies in the decisive fifth One-Day International here yesterday.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Jamaica’s captain Tamar Lambert struck 90 and led a resolute batting effort by the champions against Guyana on yesterday’s opening day of their 13th round WICB Regional Four-day match.

MIAMI, (Reuters) – An out-of-sorts Roger Federer  smashed his racket in frustration as he fell to a 3-6 6-2 6-3  defeat to Serbia’s Novak Djokovic in the semi-final of the Sony  Ericsson Open yesterday.

THE VALLEY, Anguilla, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago’s ace spinner Amit Jaggernauth captured five wickets and prevented the Leeward Islands from flourishing on yesterday’s opening day of their 13th round WICB Regional Four-day match.

DURBAN, South Africa, (Reuters) – Off-spinner Nathan  Hauritz snapped up four wickets to steer Australia to an  emphatic 141-run victory over South Africa in the first one  dayer yesterday.

CAVE HILL, Barbados, CMC – Spin bowlers Anderson Sealy, Kavesh Kantasingh, and Ryan Austin shared eight wickets between them to help the Combined Campuses & Colleges (CCC) dismiss Barbados for 235 in their first innings in the WICB regional four-day competition for the Headley/Weekes Trophy yesterday.

WELLINGTON, (Reuters) – Harbhajan Singh and captain  Mahendra Singh Dhoni resurrected India’s innings after tea with  half centuries on the first day of the third test against New  Zealand to lead them to 375 for nine at the close of play.

SEPANG, Malaysia, (Reuters) – The chances of Formula  One champion Lewis Hamilton facing fresh sanctions for  deliberately misleading race stewards receded yesterday when the  sport’s governing body accepted his public apology.

MIAMI, (Reuters) – Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro  scored a dramatic 6-4 3-6 7-6 victory over world number one  Rafael Nadal to reach the semi-finals of the Sony Ericsson  Open.

MIAMI, (Reuters) – Having been forced to retire  from the Australian Open while one set up over Serena Williams,  Victoria Azarenka is eager to finish off the job when she meets  the world number one today at the Sony Ericsson Open.

GDF overrun Pele Pele Football Club suffered their first defeat of the year at the hands of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) on Wednesday evening in the Georgetown Football Association’s Banks Premium Beer Knockout Competition at the Tucville playfield.

National middle order batsman Narsingh Deonarine had said he was looking forward to some good performances not only with the bat but the ball as well since he aimed to regain his place in the West Indies side.

Male championship set for BVI-no commitment letter from Guyana By Rawle ToneyPresident of the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Usie Richards yesterday broke the silence surrounding the hosting of the 2009 senior championships, disclosing that the British Virgin Islands (BVI) will host the male championship from June 28 to  July 4.

President of the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) Bissoondial Singh says the Inter-Association First Division 50 over has been added to the 2009 calendar as a means of staunching the flight of players to the capital.

Guyana to open campaign against St Vincent The Shemaine Campbell-led Guyana Under-19 team will open their campaign in the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Women’s Under-19 tournament against St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) at the Monchy ground in St Lucia.

Defending champions Georgetown through its parent body the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA), has reduced their Under-19 squad from 34 to 21 and will be having a final practice session today at the Gandhi Youth Organization (GYO) ground from 1 pm.

GROS-ISLET, St. Lucia, CMC – Chris Gayle gave the assurance yesterday that West Indies players will play in the fifth and final One-day International against England as scheduled today at the Beausejour Cricket Ground.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – With Jamaica having regained the regional first-class title, a long, hard season dawdles nearer to its close with the penultimate round of matches in the WICB four-day competition for the Headley/Weekes Trophy set to begin today.

MEXICO CITY, (Reuters) – Mexico coach Sven-Goran  Eriksson was fired yesterday, less than 24 hours after his  team lost 3-1 to Honduras in a World Cup qualifier.