Corporate cricket

KATHMANDU: Himalayan Bank, WDN Group and Kantipur Publications advanced to the semi-finals of the first Corporate Six-a-side Cricket Tournament here at the Tribhuvan University Stadium on Friday. Himalayan Bank beat Machhapuchhre by five wickets while WDN Group defeated Nabil Bank by 18 runs. Kantipur cruised past Yeti Airlines by five wickets in another quarter-final match. The remaining matches of the event, which has been organised by Nepal Corporate Sports Association, will be played on Saturday. — HNS

Judo players selected

KATHMANDU: Nepal Judo Association (NJA) on Friday selected four players for the Asian Judo Championship slated for May 12-17 in Kuwait. Mohan Sunuwar (66kg) and Trishna Gurung (60kg), both from Kathmandu, have been chosen for men’s events while Lila Adhikari (48kg) of Parsa and Debu Thapa (63kg) of Mahendra Police Club were picked up for the women’s event. The four were selected among 22 players that made it to the final selection round. — HNS

Karki files writ

LALITPUR: A writ petition was filed at the Supreme Court on Friday seeking to nullify the Nepal Olympic Committe (NOC) elections held last month. President of Nepal Shooting Association (NSA) Kishor Bahadur Karki filed a writ petition making NOC, its election committee and Puspadas Shrestha the defendants. Puspadas Shrestha is the president of a parallel Nepal Shooting Association backed by the NOC. Representatives of International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), who assumed the role of observers during the NOC elections, had scrapped the NSA from voting right in the elections. — HNS

Barca to sign Abidal

MADRID: Spanish champions and current league leaders Barcelona are set to sign Lyon defender Eric Abidal, according to Spanish sports daily Marca. Marca said negotiations between the French club and Barcelona have been “going on for some time, and are at a very advanced stage”. France international Abidal took a virtual step towards the exit door of the reigning French champions when he recently said he would be happy to join another Spanish side, Valencia. The 27-year-old still has two years left on his contract with Lyon. — AFP

Moyes sues Rooney

LONDON: Wayne Rooney was sued by Everton manager David Moyes for libel over comments in his autobiography. Moyes is suing Rooney after he said in “My Story So Far” that the manager was overbearing, controlling and ultimately responsible for the player’s move from Everton in 2004. In the book, Rooney claims he told Moyes he wanted to leave Everton after a newspaper alleged he had used prostitutes. Rooney then suggested Moyes leaked details of the conversation to the Liverpool Echo newspaper, which led Rooney to quit the club he had supported from childhood and joined as trainee. — AP

Adriano banned

MILAN: Inter Milan forward Adriano was banned for two games by the Italian league for diving to earn a penalty kick. Adriano fooled the referee in the 52nd minute of Inter’s 3-1 loss to AS Roma on Wednesday, and Roma goalie Alexander Doni was called for tripping. Replays showed Doni did not touch Adriano, however. Marco Materazzi converted the penalty. — AP

Chelsea unhappy

LONDON: Chelsea is not satisfied with the ticket allocations for the FA Cup final in Wembley Stadium. Chelsea and Manchester United were each allocated 25,000 tickets by the Football Association, leaving about 40,000 tickets for neutral supporters. “We were very disappointed to receive this news as many of our regular fans will now miss out on a great day for both clubs,” Chelsea said in a statement. Some remaining tickets will be given to Club Wembley members and about 23,000 of the remaining tickets will be distributed to different “grassroots” outlets. — AP

FA impose fine

LONDON: Sheffield United, Reading and Reading manager Wally Downes were fined for incidents during their January 20 match at Madejski Stadium. The clubs admitted to failing to ensure that their players and-or officials conducted themselves in an orderly fashion. Sheffield was fined $20,000 by England’s Football Association and Reading was fined $10,000. Downes was given a one-match ban and fined $4,000. In the 53rd minute of Reading’s 3-1 win, a challenge by Sheffield’s Keith Gillespie on Stephen Hunt caused a melee. Downes, along with Blades manager Neil Warnock and Gillespie, were sent off. — AP