Sports April 2010

                 Sports: April 2010

Sebastian Vettel wins Malaysian GP

•      Sebastian Vettel led Mark Webber in a 1-2 finish for Red Bull at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

•      Vettel passed pole-sitter Webber in the run to the first corner and held that lead throughout, with Nico Rosberg finishing third for Mercedes as forecast rain stayed away from the Sepang circuit.

•      Renault's Robert Kubica was fourth and Force India's Adrian Sutil took fifth.

Paes & Dlouhy beat Bhupathi & Mirnyi for title

•      Third seeds Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes claimed their first title of the season by defeating fourth seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi 6-2, 7-5 in the final of the Sony Ericsson Open.

•       The results: Finals: Women: Kim Clijsters bt Venus Williams 6-2, 6-1. Men's doubles: Lukas Dlouhy & Leander Paes bt Mahesh Bhupathi & Max Mirnyi 6-2, 7-5 .

Roddick reigns supreme at Key Biscayne

•      Andy Roddick used a dominating serve and a smart baseline game to beat Tomas Berdych 7-5, 6-4 and win the Sony Ericsson Open.

•      The results: Men's singles final: Andy Roddick bt Tomas Berdych 7-5, 6-4

Indian Open badminton at Chennai

• The Yonex-Sunrise Indian Open badminton Grand Prix Gold will be held at the Nehru Indoor Stadium from June 8 to 13.

•       Nineteen countries are participating in the tournament, carrying a prize money of $1,50,000.

•       After the Chennai event, the players will proceed to Singapore and then to Indonesia, according to a press release from Tamil Nadu Badminton Association.

Emma Bonney downs Chitra for World title

•       Emma Bonney claimed her fifth World Ladies Billiards title, beating India's Chitra Magimairaj 269-220 in a 90-minute final at the Hall Green Stadium, Birmingham.

•       The results: Final: Emma Nonney bt Chitra 269-220. Semifinals: Emma bt Hughes 448-89; Chitra bt Palmius 313-186.

Three medals for Santoshi

• India opened its campaign in the Asian Youth weightlifting championships on a high note with 48kg woman lifter Matsa Santoshi winning a gold and two silver medals on the first day of the event in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

•       Santoshi won gold in snatch with a lift of 68kg and added a silver in clean and jerk with an effort of 88kg.

Negi shares second spot

•       Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi drew with Iran's Ehsan Ghaem Maghami to share the second spot half-a-point behind new leader Viorel Irodachescu after six rounds of the Dubai Open chess tournament in Dubai.

Advani reigns supreme

• Pankaj Advani defended his Asian billiards title with a 6-5 victory over Singapore's Peter Gilchrist.

• At the Yeshwant Club, in front of a supportive audience, the 25-year-old reinforced his superiority over his opponent whom he had defeated last year.

AITA to launch IPL-style Indian Tennis League

• Inspired by the popularity and commercial success of the Indian Premier League, All India Tennis Association (AITA) is launching the Indian Tennis League (ITL) this December in five cities across the nation.

•      Corporate sponsorship is sought to develop and promote city-based franchises and tennis matches will be played home and away on a team format. Former Grand Slam winners, Indian internationals men and women (names to be announced later) will be attached to tennis franchises.

Videocon to renew bid to own IPL team

•       The Videocon group, which made an unsuccessful bid to buy the Pune team for the Indian Premier League (IPL), will make an attempt to buy out a team in the IPL-four season next year, group chairman Venugopal Dhoot has said.

Nadal's reign continues

•       Rafael Nadal snapped a title drought stretching back nearly a year as the powerful Spaniard made history with a sixth consecutive trophy at the Monte Carlo Masters.

•       Nadal roared back as a force on clay with a 6-0, 6-1 defeat of fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in one hour, 24 minutes.

•       Nadal becomes the first player in the post-1968 Open era to win a tournament title for six straight years and gives Spain its eighth winner in the last nine tournaments.

•       Doubles (final): Daniel Nestor & Nenad Zimonjic bt Mahesh Bhupathi & Max Mirnyi 6-3, 2-0

Wimbledon winners to net £1million

•       The winners of this year's Wimbledon singles' titles will net a staggering £1million ($1.54 million) in prize money after the All England Club announced a significant rise in the rewards on offer at the grasscourt Grand Slam .

•       The total prize money for the event has been increased by £1.175 million ($1.81 million) to £13.725 million ($21.147 million).

Viswanathan Anand faces multiple challenges

• Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov will finally sit down in the Bulgarian capital to play the first game of the €2 million World Championship chess.

• The match will be World champion Viswanathan Anand's biggest challenge given the off-board obstacles he has already faced and the strength of his opponent.

Sahara Pune Warriors is new IPL team

•       The Sahara India group launched the Pune team of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the S.P. College ground .The team was named Sahara Pune Warriors.

Chennai Super Kings rules

•       Chennai Super Kings tasted victory in its second entry into the final — this time, holding its nerve at the ‘death' to clinch the DLF IPL3 decider against Mumbai Indian by 22 runs.