NEW DELHI: Leander Paes fell four spots to No 88 according to this week's latest ATP rankings. But the doubles team rankings for the Bhupathi-Paes duo remain the same at No 3.

Meanwhile, Mahesh Bhupathi is at 363 in singles while Prahlad Srinath, who has not played too many tournaments in the last few months, has dropped about 100 spots to No 543. He lost about 21 points from the Indonesian Satellites last year.

On the women's side, Nirupama Vaidyanathan remains at 177 in singles while her doubles ranking is at 234.

This week, Nirupama is playing at the $ 50,000 Seattle Challenger and is drawn to meet Maureen Drake, ranked No 152, of Canada in the first round.

BCCI to pay

CALCUTTA: The BCCI has decided to pay Rs 1 lakh to each member of the cricket team that participated in the Commonwealth Games. The secretary also informed that the team for the Wills Cup in Dhaka will be selected on October 18 in Ahmedabad after the Challenger matches from October 15 to 18. Regarding the Dhaka tournament, Lele said that the BCCI has not been notified by the International Cricket Council about any likely change in the venue. It is being speculated that floods in Bangladesh might force the ICC to hold the Wills Cup elsewhere.

ICC souvenirs

MUMBAI: ARY Traders will withdraw the ICC Knockout Cup Commemorative Gold Souvenirs which were to be released in Bangladesh during the ICC Knockout Cup, a press release said on Wednesday.

The decision was taken in view of the human lives lost in the recent floods in Bangladesh. However winners' of the tournament competitions in the Indian Express will still get their prizes, the release added.

Mukesh team wins

BANGALORE: Mukesh Kumar of Mhow led his team to victory in the pro-am event, which is prelude to the McDowell's Centenary Open at the Bangalore Golf Club on Wednesday. Mukesh with KB Menon (-18), Sanjay Sridhar (-15) and MN Ravindranath (-19) totalled 105 stableford points to pip Delhi's Arjun Singh and his team of BL Balakrishna (-11), K Ramprasad (-12) and HH Sair (-34), who finished with 104 stableford points.

Durand Cup rechristened

NEW DELHI: The prestigious Durand Cup, the world's second oldest soccer tournament will now be known as the Kelvinator Durand Cup. The Durand Cup was being sponsored by Sail for last few years but it is for the first time in the 110-year history of the tournament that a sponsors name has been added to the Cup. This year's tournament will be held from October 19 to 31.

Ghei in lead

NEW DELHI: Delhi professional golfer Gaurav Ghei has snatched the lead from Arjun Singh in the Mahindra Golf Rankings. Winner of the Hindu Open, Ghei, however, has only a marginal 5.5 points lead over his Calcutta compatriot.

Last year's `Golfer of the Year', Lucknow's Vijay Kumar has also improved his rankings by two places and is now ranked sixth. Firoz Ali, Shiv Prakash and Basad Ali are the other pros ahead of him in the PGAI tour rankings.

Rowing Nationals

CHENNAI: Rowers from Services, Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu would be vying for honours in the 17th Junior National Rowing Championship to be held at the Madras Boat Club from September 24 to 26, the final races coming off on the third day.

Two competitions each would be held in the sculls, pairs and fours events for boys and girls. Bengal would be fielding two teams.