Classic basketball

KATHMANDU: Mina Gautam netted 15 points as Shrine Academy defeated Milan Vidya Mandir 35-9 in the inaugural match of the Classic Invitational Basketball Tournament. In the other girls’ match, Sarita Shrestha netted eight points in Valley Public’s 33-13 win over Gyan Niketan. In boys’ section, Shrine beat Santwona 33-20 riding on Seevan Bhattarai’s 11; Sudip Lama netted 15 points in Babylon’s 33-25 win over Venus; Badal Adhikari scored 23 as VS Niketan beat Pacific Academy 43-23; and Khagendra Limbu’s 14 points helped Gyan Niketan beat Don Bosco 48-30. — HNS

Writ against NOC

LALITPUR: The dissloved Nepal Shooting Association (NSA) president Kishor Bahadur Karki on Tuesday filed writ petition at the Patan Appellate Court against the 21-member Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) executive committee officials including president Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan and general secretary Jeevan Ram Shrestha, who is also the member secretary of National Sports Council. The petitioner sought action against the NOC officials on the contempt of court charge. The NOC had on March 13 held its elections defying the court orders to stop the elections. — HNS

Pakistan announce preliminary squad

KARACHI: Pakistan on Tuesday announced their 30-man preliminary squad for the inaugural Twenty20 World Championships in South Africa in September. The initial team includes Shoaib Malik (captain), Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Yasir Hameed, Fawad Alam, Salman Butt, Imran Nazir, Abdul Razzaq, Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul, Rao Iftikhar, Imran Farhat, Khurram Manzoor, Khalid Latif, Mohammad Hafeez, Misbah-ul-Haq, Naveed Latif, Faisal Iqbal, Shahid Yousuf, Yasir Arafat, Sohail Tanveer, Zulqarnain Haider, Mohammad Irshad, Najaf Shah, Danish Kaneria and Abdur Rehman. — AFP

Real sign Pepe

MADRID: Real Madrid signed FC Porto defender Pepe to a five-year contract. The deal is worth $41 million, the Portuguese champions said. The 24-year-old Pepe is the second center back brought to the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, after Germany defender Christoph Metzelder arrived from Borussia Dortmund on Sunday. — AP

Nedved may retire

TURIN: Pavel Nedved may retire after negotiations with Juventus to raise his salary didn’t produce any results on Monday. “I’m a little disappointed,” Nedved said. Nedved has one more season remaining on his contract but is seeking a higher salary. “Three years ago Pavel cut his salary in half,” Nedved’s agent Mino Raiola said without revealing financial details. “And now he finds himself lagging behind compared to other Juventus players. If the proposal remains what it was today, Nedved will quit.” — AP

Cisse joins Marseille

MARSEILLE: France striker Djibril Cisse has signed a five-year contract with Marseille. The French first-division club announced the signing on Monday, but did not disclose details of the deal. The 25-year-old Cisse joins the club from Liverpool, whose manager Rafa Benitez announced his departure on Saturday. — AP