SPORTS DIGEST: CRICKET: The India duo Ishant Sharma and Harbhajan Singh claimed two wickets each as Australia's hopes of winning the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar series dimmed on day four.
Zaheer Khan, India's number nine batsman, had bludgeoned an unbeaten 57 in the morning session to all but end Australia's chances of victory at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
India were eventually bowled out for 360, a deficit of only 70 runs.
Australia's chances of winning then lay in amassing quick runs, but India's bowlers strangled them with an accurate line.
The visitors finished the day on 193 for five - Brad Haddin and Shane Watson closing unbeaten with a lead of 263.
Zaheer effected the first breakthrough when he trapped opener Matthew Hayden in front.
Ricky Ponting then chipped a catch to midwicket to go cheaply off pace bowler Sharma.
Jankovic takes another title
TENNIS: Top-ranked Jelena Jankovic won her third straight tennis title with a victory yesterday against Vera Zvonareva in the Kremlin Cup final in Moscow.
Igor Kunitsyn took the men's title, beating his Russian compatriot Marat Safin 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (4-7), 6-3.
Serbia's Jankovic won 6-2, 6-4 against Russia's Zvonareva in 81 minutes.
It was her fourth success in five meetings with Zvonareva this year.
Jankovic (23) is the first woman to claim three successive titles since Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic in 2005.
She won the China Open in Beijing two weeks ago, then took the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart.
Jankovic was runner-up to Serena Williams in the US Open in her first Grand Slam final.
Loeb closes in on fifth consecutive world title
MOTOR SPORT: Frenchman Sébastien Loeb moved closer to a fifth consecutive world title when he won the French rally in Corsica yesterday.
The Citroën driver has now won 10 times this season and leads the Finn Mikko Hirvonen, second in Corsica, by 14 points with two races remaining. "It's getting better and better", Loeb said yesterday. "To win here in Corsica is a great moment. We were much faster all rally and that's great for me and the team. We'll add another two more points to our championship lead. So okay, we'll see how we get on in Japan."
Ford's Hirvonen had dropped to fifth after losing two minutes and 34 seconds because of a puncture on the 13th stage. He was, however, fourth after stage 14 and climbed back to finish second ahead of his team-mate François Duval of Belgium and compatriot Jari-Matti Latvala. "There was a hole in the road and I didn't have it in my pace notes," Hirvonen said of his mishap.
The next race is in Japan from October 31st to November 2nd.
Hill is lined up to face Duddy
BOXING: Sam Hill has been pencilled in to meet the unbeaten Irish middleweight John Duddy at the Roseland Ballroom in New York on November 21st.
Missouri born Hill (38), nicknamed the punching policeman, has won 17 of his 28 fights and is seen as a warm-up for New York-based Duddy before his proposed clash with Ronald Hearns in the New Year.
Hearns is due to fight later this month and, if he maintains his unbeaten record, a showdown with Derry-born Duddy will edge a step closer.
Unbeaten Peter Quillin and Jorge Teron are also due to trade leather on the Irish Ropes and Ring promotion at the Roseland Ballroom.
Meanwhile, the Limerick middleweight Andy Lee is also due to have a fight before Christmas. The Detroit-based southpaw will have his opponent named shortly.
Hanley lands jump-off
EQUESTRIAN: Cameron Hanley failed to reach the second round of yesterday's Rolex World Cup in Oslo but landed the earlier 1.45m jump-off class with SIEC Royal Star. One of eight who competed against the clock, Hanley and Sevil Sabanci's 10-year-old stallion beat Egypt's Abdel Said and Seacost Conan by a fifth of a second.
At the Horse of the Year Show in Birmingham, Cian O'Connor finished third in the speed horse-of-the-year class with Baloufina. Britain's Ellen Whitaker won on Kanselier.
In Boekolo, the Netherlands, Ireland on 227.70 penalties came fourth in the team competition behind Germany (127.70). Best of the Irish quartet was Captain Geoff Curran and The Jump Jet. Antrim's Ben Crawford took gold at the World University Championships in Algeria on Saturday.
Taylor turns on the style
DARTS: Phil Taylor won an eighth Sky Poker World Grand Prix title with a 6-2 win over Raymond van Barneveld in Dublin last night.
Taylor and Van Barneveld did not drop a set between them in yesterday's semi-final routings of Terry Jenkins and Mervyn King, respectively, and it was the Dutch world number two who drew first blood in the final
Stoke's Taylor hit back strongly after conceding the opening frame, however, to romp into a 2-1 lead before Van Barneveld took the fourth to level the match.
Taylor then took charge of the final, whitewashing Van Barneveld on his own throw to re-establish an advantage and winning a close sixth to move 4-2 ahead.
By that point, Taylor had hit 10 maximum 180s to his rival's one, and he clinched the seventh set, once again against the throw, with a 76 checkout. Van Barneveld took a 2-0 lead in the eighth but missed a double eight twice to allow Taylor back to 2-2 and the latter finally hit double 10 and take the title.
