National hockey

Unfancied Central Excise took an early lead, then crowded their defence to protect it and eventually recorded a solitary goal win against Karnataka in a pool G encounter in the PSB-SBI 59th Senior National hockey championship on Wednesday.

Windies happy
Brian Lara, with a supreme double century, and debutant Nehemiah Perry, restored West Indies pride with a magnificent 10-wicket victory over Australia in the second Test yesterday. It ended a five-match whitewash in South Africa, where a labour dispute threw the series into doubt until the last minute, and a humiliating first Test defeat in Trinidad where Australia bowled them out for 51 for their lowest Test score ever in a 312-run defeat.

Services win
Three second-half goals by Services warmed a chilly Wednesday afternoon at the Breeks Stadium, and earned them an emphatic victory over Mizoram in a group A fixture of the Bharat Petrolium 55th Santosh Trophy Football Championship. The local boy Arockiya Nathan (48th), Saroj Gurung (55th) and Raghu Kumar (86th) struck for the Services.

Anand wins
Viswanathan Anand of India counter-punched effectively in the middle-game to down hyper-aggressive Alexei Shirov in the rapids and drew the blindfold game to win 1.5-0.5 in the second round of the Eighth Melody Amber Rapid and Blindfold Chess Tournament on Wednesday.