CHENNAI: Reuben Paul, the Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper batsman, who was accused of pitch tampering in a Ranji Trophy national league match here against Delhi in March, has been dropped from the state team in the season's first two matches.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India slapped a one-year ban on both Tamil Nadu and Delhi associations after the incident of pitch tampering. Later, the Board pushed the ball back to the two associations to nominate two representatives from each of the associations to inquire into the matter and report to the board.

Team: S Sharath (capt), W V Raman, S Ramesh, S Sriram, Hemang Badani, D Vasu, S Vasanthsaravanan, T R Arasu (wkt), S Mahesh, T Kumaran, M Venkataramana, J R Madanagopal, R C Vasanth Kumar, S Ganeshkumar and Tanveer Jabbar.

Anand to compete in Fontys tourney

CHENNAI: Viswanathan Anand would compete in the Fontys Chess tournament scheduled in Tilburg, a town in southern Holland, according to a communique fromTNQ Sponsorship, the event manager of the chess wizard. The Fide-rated tournament (Category-18) would be from October 22 to November 4 with November 1 as rest day. Apart from Anand, Kramnik, Adams, Svidler, Topalov, Leko, Sadler, Zvjaginsev, Lautier, Van Wely, Picket and Victor Korchnoi would be competing in the tournament.

India jr basketball team announced

CALCUTTA: The Basketball Federation of India (BFI) today announced the Indian team to participate in the 15th Asian Basketball Confederation Championship for junior men to be held at the Netaji Indoor Stadium here from Nov 5-13.The captain would be announced later, Saha said. The Indian team is presently attending the coaching programme at SAI, Salt Lake, Calcutta.

TEAM: S Robinson (Gujarat), Des Raj (Punjab), Vipin Kumar (Gujarat), John Chandy (Tamil Nadu), Wasim Khan (Bihar), Vinay Kumar (Andhra), Dilip Kumar (UP), Riyazuddin (MP), Mohit Bhandari (Rajasthan), Gajendar Singh (Rajasthan), Mahipal Singh (Rajasthan), Ranjeet Singh(Rajasthan). Coach: Mahendar Singh Rathore; Assistant coach: KK Jaggi; Manager: Sukumar Chatterjee.

Jeev shines but other Indians disappoint

NEW DELHI: Jeev Milkha Singh shot a three-under par 69 to be among the top clutch of golfers on the opening day of the $ 150,000 Fedex PGA championship here today. But the other Indians fared disappointingly, according to information received here.

America's Ted Purdy, still riding high on a wave of confidence after making it through the first stage of the US PGA Tour school, carded a four-under par 68 to take a share of the lead in the first round. The trio lead by one from Jeev, Thailand's Chawalit Plaphol, Singapore's Lim Kian-Kee and Chen Yuan-Chi of Taiwan, all of whom had 69. Vivek Bhandari and Gaurav Ghei shot 73 to be 39th along with 13 others, Amandeed Johl carded 74 and was at the 54th .

Ali Sher takes early lead on day one

LUCKNOW: Ali Sher fired a five-under 65 to take an early lead on the opening day of the Rs 6lakh Wills Northern Open Golf Championship at 5745-yard par 70 Lucknow Golf Club course, today.

SCORES (after 18 holes): 65: Ali Sher; 67: Shiv Prakash; 68: Gursimran Sethi; 70: Sanjay Kumar, Yusuf Ali; 71: Jumman, Vijay Kumar; 72: Mohd Yamin, Vishal Singh, Basad Ali, Shamim Khan; 73: Mukesh Kumar, Bhoop Singh, Bunty Randhawa, SSP Chowrasia, Ajay Kumar Yadav.