Far-West unhappy

Kathmandu: Football officials of Far-western Region expressed strong resentment for being left out by the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) in the upcoming congress. “We feel that we are being discriminated by ANFA as only two — Kailai and Kanchanpur — of the nine districts of Far-western Region have been provided the affiliation,” said Tejendra Thapa, President of Far-Western Sports Development Committee, at a press meet. Although Thapa claimed that AFNA denied affiliation to many districts in the region, he failed to produced any evidence in this regard. Only 40 districts so far are affiliated to ANFA. Thapa and general secretary of Darchula FA Nanda Bum revealed that they will continue their fight until justice is gained. They also claimed of forming one Mid and Far-western Region Football Agitation Committee. — HNS

Pomersbach banned

PERTH: Twenty20 cricket star Luke Pomersbach was suspended by Western Australia on Monday after he was charged with assaulting a policeman following a drink-fuelled double hit-and-run. The talented batsman, who made his T20 debut for Australia in 2007 and plays in the Indian Premier League, is accused of resisting arrest and fleeing into nearby sand dunes, where he was tracked down. — AFP

Zenit fire Advocaat

ST PETERSBURG: Zenit St Petersburg fired coach Dick Advocaat on Monday following a 2-0 home loss to rival team Tom in the Russian football league on Sunday. Anatoly Davydov, the club’s youth team manager, was appointed interim coach. Zenit is currently seventh in the 16-team Russian league with 24 points after 17 games, 10 points behind leader Rubin Kazan. Dutch-born Advocaat led Zenit to their first Russian league title in 2007 and won the UEFA Cup a year later. Advocaat has previously coached the national teams of the Netherlands, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates. — AP

Mortaza out of action

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s injured captain Mashrafe Mortaza will be out of action for six weeks after undergoing surgery on both knees in Australia on Monday. An arthroscopic surgery was conducted on the fast bowler by surgeon David Young at the Avenue Hospital in Melbourne, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) said. Mortaza hurt his right knee while bowling in the first Test match against the West Indies at Kingstown last month. He missed the rest of the tour in which Bangladesh won both Tests and three one-day internationals. — AFP