De Villiers appointed South Africa Test captain

JOHANNESBURG: AB de Villiers has been appointed as the full-time captain of South Africa´s Test team, ending speculation he could retire from the longest format of the game to ease his workload.

Cricket South Africa made the announcement on Friday after De Villiers was appointed for the final two Tests of the recently completed series against England on a temporary basis following the resignation of Hashim Amla.

De Villiers, also captain of the one-day international side who take on England in a five-match series starting on Wednesday, believes his team can regain their number one test status after losing the test series against England 2-1.

"I am honoured to have been asked to captain the Test team into a new era," the 31-year-old said in a CSA statement.

"I thoroughly enjoyed captaining in the last two Tests against England and although I still have a lot to learn in this role it´s a new challenge that I´m excited to take on.

"I believe we are witnessing the emergence of another great team.
There is plenty of hard work ahead of us; we are rebuilding and have a long way to go to being a finished product as a squad."

De Villiers had expressed doubts about his Test future during the England series, refusing to commit himself to the team beyond this month.

He was one of seven players handed two-year contracts on Friday following a board meeting of CSA.

The others were batsmen Amla, JP Duminy and Faf du Plessis, and bowlers Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander.

Temba Bavuma, Farhaan Behardien and Rilee Rossouw were all awarded one-year national contracts for the first time.

South Africa´s next Test series is at home to New Zealand in August. (Reuters)

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Tortured Murray outlasts Raonic to reach Melbourne final

MELBOURNE: Andy Murray went through paroxysms of frustration but seized another opportunity to break his Australian Open jinx with a four-hour, five-set semi-final victory over Milos Raonic on Friday.

Four times the British world number two has advanced to the final at Melbourne Park and four times he has been vanquished, three times at the hands of Novak Djokovic.

The Serbian will again stand in his path on Sunday as the Scot seeks to add another grand slam title to his 2012 U.S. Open and 2013 Wimbledon crowns.

Raonic, meanwhile, was left heartbroken after suffering a thigh injury that hampered him from the middle of the third set of the 4-6 7-5 6-7(4) 6-4 6-2 defeat.

Winning tennis matches never looks like a walk in the park for Murray but for much of the contest against the Canadian, he at least had some justification for the tortured grimaces and explosions of anger that followed every setback.

The 13th seed has been on fire this year and his big serve and huge forehands had one of the best returners in the game on the ropes, while his new-found net game helped him to a healthy 72 winners.

Murray said earlier this week that he would waste no more energy on the histrionics but the match was just minutes old when he returned to his chair muttering curses having been broken to love in his first service game.

That was to be Raonic´s only break of the match but it was enough to win the first set and, after Murray had pounced to even up the contest, he ramped up his 230 kilometre-per-hour serve to clinch the third on tiebreak.

The 25-year-old Raonic, hoping to become the first Canadian man to reach a grand slam final, was feeling the injury in the fourth set but Murray had also crucially got a better fix on his serve and broke for 4-3.

Raonic almost claimed it back in the next game but Murray saved two break points, falling to one knee and roaring "Yes! Yes!" as he pumped his fist at the ground.

Murray served out the set to even up the contest again and grabbed two breaks early in the decider as the wincing Raonic´s level dropped, the Canadian´s racket feeling the brunt of his frustration after the first.

Murray finished off his ailing opponent with a sublime crosscourt backhand volley to bring up a match point, which he converted with a handsome forehand winner.

The 28-year-old pointed both index fingers at the roof of Rod Laver Arena before slumping into his courtside chair with a look of relief on his face.

The relief will not be long-lived, however, as he will be back on the same court on Sunday attempting to dethrone five-times champion Djokovic.

Murray´s older brother Jamie will be bidding for silverware on Saturday when he teams up with Bruno Soares to take on Daniel Nestor and Radek Stepanek in the men´s doubles final.

It is the first time two brothers have reached separate finals at the same grand slam.
"You´re not going to see it very often," Murray junior said. (Reuters)

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Nearly $1 mn in FIFA funds missing in Guatemala

GUATEMALA CITY: Nearly $1 million in funds from soccer's global governing body FIFA may have gone missing from Guatemala's soccer federation last year, according to sources and an internal audit seen by Reuters.

Dozens of soccer officials worldwide have been charged by U.S. authorities probing corruption in FIFA, in an investigation that has sent shockwaves across the sport.

In 2015, the Guatemalan soccer federation (Fedefut) received 8.24 million quetzals ($1.1 mln) in nine deposits from FIFA from February to October, according to a document signed by the federation's accountant and seen by Reuters.

The Fedefut budget presented early last year totaled about $1.5 million but only included about $250,000 in FIFA funding while the remaining funds from the nine deposits were not included, according to sources knowledgeable about the internal audit.

The internal audit was conducted by a FIFA committee put in charge of running the Guatemalan soccer federation following the arrest on corruption charges last month of top local officials, and earlier on Friday the committee filed a complaint over the missing funds with the attorney general's office of the Central American country.

The federation's year-end spending report excluded the additional deposits.

The membership of Fedefut's general assembly was also not informed of the nine deposits.

"That information was hidden," said one of the sources, adding that the results of an investigation into the missing funds will be provided to a visiting FIFA official next week.

In one document, Fedefut's top budget official Oswaldo Rolando confirmed that the federation's financial division was informed of the extra deposits.

"I don't know why they weren't made available to the general assembly," Rolando said in the documents.

Ciro Muralles, the former head of the financial division, said in a brief phone interview that he would not comment on the missing funds until he reviews the documents.

A spokesperson for the FIFA committee running Guatemala's soccer federation confirmed that the complaint seeks an investigation into "the crimes that might have occurred."

Earlier this month, Guatemalan police arrested fugitive former Fedefut president Brayan Jimenez in connection with the corruption probe.

Jimenez has been accused of taking bribes along with Hector Trujillo, former secretary general of the Guatemalan soccer federation, who was arrested last month in the United States.

Both have denied the charges.

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Kerber stuns Williams to win Australian Open title

MELBOURNE: Angelique Kerber became the first German to win a grand slam title since her childhood idol Steffi Graf in 1999 when she upset world number one Serena Williams 6-4 3-6 6-4 to clinch the Australian Open on Saturday.

The 34-year-old American had been seeking her seventh Melbourne Park title and 22nd overall, which would have moved her into a tie with Graf for the most grand slam singles titles in the Open era.

The seventh seeded Kerber, however, was not overawed by the occasion of her first grand slam final, breaking twice in the first set to take it in 39 minutes as Williams made 23 unforced errors.

Williams cut down on the errors to send it into a third, which Kerber, who had the opportunity to serve it out while leading 5-3 only for the American to battle back, clinched when Williams hit a volley long in the following game.

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New Zealand prime triple-spin threat for World T20

WELLINGTON: New Zealand will be hoping to stifle their opponents by taking pace off the ball with the inclusion of three frontline spinners in their 15-man squad for next month´s World Twenty20 in India.

Off-spinner Nathan McCullum, left-armer Mitchell Santner and leggie Ish Sodhi all found a place in the Kane Williamson-led side for the March 8-April 3 tournament, and the trio can expect to see plenty of action on the host nation´s slow pitches.

"With the Indian conditions in mind, the plan has always been to take three frontline spinners, and all three bring something different," coach Mike Hesson said in a New Zealand Cricket statement on Monday.

"It´s great to have Nathan available again and his experience in the foreign conditions will be invaluable.

"Both he and Mitch Santner have the ability to bowl in the first six overs, which gives Kane a number of options to work with."

McCullum has not played for New Zealand since August but is also handy with the bat, as is Santner, who impressed during the recent limited-overs series at home against Pakistan.

Left-handed batsman Henry Nicholls, yet to play a T20 for New Zealand, was also rewarded with a spot for his match-winning 82 against Pakistan in the first ODI.

"Henry has shown his talent and versatility with the bat this summer and has also been used as a wicketkeeper for New Zealand A," Hesson added.

Pacemen Tim Southee and Mitchell McClenaghan, and batsman Ross Taylor were also included in the squad despite carrying injuries with all three expected to be fit for the tournament, NZC added in the statement.

New Zealand, who will be aiming to win a first limited-overs World Cup, have been drawn with Australia, India, Pakistan and a yet-to-be-confirmed qualifier in Group 2 of the Super 10 round of the tournament.

"On top of our four genuine pace bowlers and Corey (Anderson) as all-rounder, Colin (Munro) and Grant (Elliott) are also options with the ball for us with their change of pace," Hesson said.

New Zealand open their campaign against the hosts in Nagpur on March 15.

Squad: Kane Williamson (captain), Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls, Grant Elliott, Corey Anderson, Colin Munro, Luke Ronchi, Mitchell Santner, Nathan McCullum, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Mitchell McClenaghan, Adam Milne, Ish Sodhi

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World tennis has been ripe for match-fixing

SYDNEY: Big financial incentives for gamblers, small tournaments of little consequence to top players and the ease of fixing the outcome of a one-on-one sport have helped turn world tennis into a haven for match-fixers, according to experts and industry insiders.

Tennis was rocked on Monday by allegations that the game´s authorities have failed to deal with widespread match-fixing, just as the Australian Open, the first grand slam tournament of the year, kicked off in Melbourne.

Multiple sources told Reuters that the revelation was no surprise to those who closely follow the sport, where, out of the spotlight at small tournaments around the world, the temptations are obvious and malfeasance very difficult to prove.

Dozens of untelevised tournaments are held annually and top players often inexplicably lose to relatively unknown opponents, said Steve Georgakis, a senior lecturer at the University of Sydney, who is researching match-fixing in tennis.

"If you have a look at the big tournaments, the Opens or Olympic Games, you´ll notice that in a lot of these tournaments the favourite usually wins," he said.

But at a small tournament the following week, how could anyone prove that a top 50 player didn´t lose because they were exhausted or injured, said Georgakis.

A highly ranked player is almost certain to be the odds-on favourite to win in these small tournaments and thus has the greatest opportunity to make money by intentionally losing to an outmatched player, handing a big payoff to those behind the fix.

"It´s a one-on-one sport and what you do is, you´re the favourite and you get a few other people to load up on the other player to win and then you throw the match.

And you can never get caught," Georgakis added.

Sports betting has exploded in recent years with the proliferation of online and mobile gambling sites, and could be worth as much as $3 trillion annually, Patrick Jay, an independent betting expert, told the United Nations in 2015.

In that sea of money, tennis is the second most active betting market, trailing only soccer, research conducted by the European Gaming and Betting Association shows.

Betting on tennis is relatively simple and comes with enormous potential payoffs, a professional tennis gambler told Reuters under the condition of anonymity.

Many bookmakers have created disincentives to bet point-by-point or game-by-game with limits on those types of bets, pushing gamblers towards the payoffs for a winning bet on the overall match.

"Say you want to throw a game but win the match, why would you bother? You can only win a couple of thousand of dollars," the gambler said.

Bookmakers are obliged to report suspicious betting patterns to the Tennis Integrity Unit, which was set up to police illegal activities in world tennis.

But a source at a major bookmaker told Reuters under the condition of anonymity that it is ultimately up to the authorities to act.

"Most money is won by betting on the favourite, which is not a good result for bookmakers," he added.

"But if he´s up one set to love and then, in play, people start betting on the outsider…that would be us getting on the front foot, most likely, to say (to the authorities) ´is there anything you need for us to look into?´," the bookmaker said.

Amir Khan to take on Garcia-Guerrero fight winner

ISLAMABAD: British boxer of Pakistan origin Amir Khan who holds a record 31-3 with 19 knockouts will be the mandatory challenger for the winner of the fight between Danny Garcia and Roberto Guerrero scheduled to be held on Saturday.

After Floyd Mayweather Jr. announced his retirement last September the title was vacated.

Garcia and Guerrero will be fist to fist on January 23 for the said vacant WBC welterweight title at the Staples Center in Los Angeles California.

In their official announcement WBC said Danny Garcia vs. Robert Guerrero will fight for the WBC welterweight championship.

Amir Khan is ratified as (WBC) mandatory contender.

Lamont Peterson vs. Andre Berto for a final elimination bout to determine the second mandatory website www.vinereport.com, reported on Tuesday.

The decision of the organization met criticisms including comments from ESPN analyst Dan Rafael.

Although the lineup looks more favorable for Khan he is more focused on Guerrero getting another chance with the title after his several attempts in the past.

He said Anyone with remote knowledge of recent results would have to scratch their head with regard to Guerrero getting a title shot when you consider he had his clock cleaned in a one sided loss to Keith Thurman in March for another organization s welterweight title.

Guerrero currently holds a record of 33-3 1 with 18 knockouts but was easily defeated by Mayweather Jr. in their welterweight title bout in 2013. He also had another chance to get the title from a different organization with his fight against Keith Thruman last March and a close shave with Aaron Martinez in June.

He was as lucky as whomever will win the Powerball jackpot when he was given a generous split decision against Aaron Martinez in June but even if you can stomach Guerrero in a world title fight the WBC clearly is violating its rules since it only ranks Guerrero sixth Rafael added.

Meanwhile in case Garcia gets the win it will be the second time that he and Khan will fight against a title.

Garcia who holds the record 31-0 with 18 knockout victories already fought with Khan for the junior welterweight title in 2012.