Sports digest

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Tipsarevic too strong for Djokovic

TENNIS:Novak Djokovic failed to reach the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Finals yesterday after losing for the first time in his career to fellow Serb and world number nine Janko Tipsarevic.

The world number one looked on course for victory when he cruised through the first set of his final Group A match but was outplayed after that in a 3-6 6-3 6-3 defeat.

Djokovic ended with one win and two defeats in round-robin play and needed Spain’s David Ferrer, who was already guaranteed a place in the semis, to beat Tomas Berdych later at the O2 to enable him to scramble into the last four.

However Berdych beat Ferrer 3-6 7-5 6-1 and the Czech won the group with the Spaniard finishing as runner-up.

India urged to boycott the Olympics

OLYMPIC GAMES: Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan has urged the Indian government to boycott next years London Olympics because of the event's sponsorship deal with Dow Chemical company.

Dow bought US chemical firm Union Carbide, whose Bhopal plant in the state of Madhya Pradesh leaked toxic gases in 1984, killing thousands of people in the world’s worst industrial accident.

Local media said Chauhan had written a letter to Sports Minister Ajay Maken, requesting him to boycott the Games.

“Liabilities related to the disaster have not been fully settled and are a subject of litigation to which the Indian government is a party,” said Chouhan.

Major milestone eludes Tendulkar

CRICKET: India batsman Sachin Tendulkar fell short of his 100th international century once again after being dismissed for 94 on the fourth morning of the third and final Test against West Indies in Mumbai.

Tendulkar looked set to secure the coveted ton that has eluded him since April. But his innings came to an abrupt end when he edged paceman Ravi Rampaul to West Indies captain Darren Sammy at second slip.

Russian hero Alekseyev dies

WEIGHTLIFTING: Former Soviet weightlifter Vasily Alekseyev, who won two Olympic and eight world super heavyweight titles and set 80 world records during his illustrious career, died yesterday following a long illness.

“He was a legend of Soviet sport,” the Russian weightlifting federation wrote on its website (www.rfwf.ru).

“His world record of 645 kg – the sum of three lifts set in 1972 – still stands and will never be broken because the three-lift competition has been abolished,” it added.

Alekseyev, who would have turned 70 in January, had been suffering heart problems for a long time. He was already in a serious condition when he was sent to a clinic in Germany earlier this month, a Russian sports ministry official said.

Alekseyev, born in the small mining town of Shakhty in southern Russia in 1942, set his first world record in 1970 before winning his first world title later that year.

AIBA likely to make skirts optional for female boxers

BOXING:World amateur boxing chiefs AIBA have strongly indicated that they will not make it compulsory for female boxers to wear skirts at the 2012 Olympics.

The AIBA Technical Rules Commission will meet next January and the issue will be discussed.

It is expected that the Commission will announce that female boxers will have the option of wearing either regular knee-length shorts or skirts at the 30th Olympiad.

AIBA have suggested that wearing skirts in the ring would help female pugilists stand out from their male counterparts.

But some of the world’s top female boxers, including Ireland’s Katie Taylor, have poured cold water on the idea, although the Polish and Romanian teams wore skirts at last month’s European Championships.

Female boxing will make its debut at the 2012 Olympics.

Hamilton leads way in Brazil practice

MOTOR SPORT: Lewis Hamilton highlighted his claim that he is in a positive mood this weekend after leading the way in practice for tomorrow's Brazilian Grand Prix.

Red Bull’s Mark Webber grabbed the honours in the first 90-minute session with a lap of one minute 13.811secs.

It was a benchmark that was lowered considerably in the afternoon run, with a confident Hamilton, posting a time of 1:13.392.

Sky will launch a dedicated pay TV Formula One channel in Britain next year with live coverage of every race in high definition and without the interruption of advertisements, the broadcaster announced yesterday.

Sky said it would show every practice and qualifying session live on Sky Sports F1 HD when the 2012 season starts in Australia in March.

The lack of commercials during races will appeal to fans although the move to pay-television in Britain has caused widespread anger.