TT players depart

KATHMANDU: The eight-member table tennis team on Friday left for South Korea to take part in the Friendly Junior Table Tennis Tournament to be held in Seoul from April 8-14. The team included six players, Ajay Suwal, Deep Saun, Amarlal Malla, Swechhya Nemwang, Alisha Shrestha and Kamala Pokharel and two officials, Parambir Rana (manager) and Kim (coach). The Nepali team will play against university and school level teams of Seoul. Member secretary of National Sports Council Kishor Bahadur Singh bade farewell to the team. — HNS

Vaidisova upset

AMELIA ISLAND: Lucie Safarova upset fourth-seeded Nicole Vaidisova in the third round of the Bausch & Lomb Championships, finishing with 11 aces in a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 victory. In quarters, the 19-year-old Czech will face American Jill Craybas, who beat Germany’s Julia Schruff 6-3, 6-2. Top-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia and Spain’s Virginia Ruano Pascual also entered the last eight. No 5 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia beat Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3, 6-4; and No. 7 Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Spain defeated Dinara Safina of Russia 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-3. — AP

CA promotes Hilditch

SYDNEY: Cricket Australia played it safe and promoted Andrew Hilditch, a 10-year veteran of its national selectors team, to replace Trevor Hohns as the panel’s chairman. The promotion of Hilditch defied calls for some new blood in the selectors panel before Australia tries to regain the Ashes from England next season. Hilditch, 49, has served on the panel since 1996, the year Hohns became the chairman. Hohns announced his retirement on Tuesday, saying he needed to devote more time to his sports wholesale business. — AFP

Australia take 2-0 lead

MELBOURNE: Davis Cup rookie Chris Guccione and veteran Lleyton Hewitt took contrasting routes to give Australia a 2-0 lead over Belarus in their quarter-final matchup. Guccione beat Belarus No 1 Max Mirnyi winning the marathon five-setter 7-6 (4), 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4. Hewitt, playing for the first time at Kooyong, beat Vladimir Voltchkov 6-2, 6-1, 6-2. If Wayne Arthurs and Paul Hanley beat Voltchkov and Mirnyi in Saturday’s doubles, Australia will move on to face the winner of the weekend’s quarter-final between defending cha-mpion Croatia and Argentina. — AP

Taiwan triumph

ADELAIDE: Three Taiwan golfers — Choi Heyong, Yu Peilin and Hseih Yuling — parred the first playoff hole while New Zealand had a par and two bogeys, giving the Asian team the Queen Sirikit Cup women’s amateur trophy. The Kiwi golfers went into the final round with a five-shot lead, but finished level with Taiwan on 17-over-par 449 after 54 holes. Hur Mi-jung of South Korea won the individual competition, closing with a 67 and a 6-under 220. The Queen Sirikit Cup includes teams from 13 Asia-Pacific countries. — AP