Humpy crashes out of World championship

Running out of luck, Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy crashed out of the women’s world chess championship after losing the rapid tiebreak 0.5-1.5 against Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine in the quarterfinals. Having done everything right, Humpy was cruising to a victory in the second game after drawing the first and a win would have sealed her berth in the quarters, instead the Indian lost track of the position and a one-move blunder saw the tables turned. Mariya Muzychuk thus advanced to the semi-final to set up a clash with India’s D Harika, who had made it to the semis at the expense of Meri Arabidze of Georgia.

 

BUENOS AIRES

Argentina, Mexico notch Copa America warmup wins

Argentina rested Lionel Messi to let him recover from a sore foot but still had too much attacking firepower for El Salvador as they ran out 2-0 winners in a friendly in Washington. Coach Gerardo Martino fielded a side led by Angel Di Maria that included only three others from the 2014 World Cup, and tested a two-pronged attack in Carlos Tevez and Gonzalo Higuain. Tevez is getting another shot at the Copa America in Chile in June after being overlooked since Argentina’s exit in the quarterfinals of the 2011 tournament they hosted and missing last year’s World Cup.

 

Karachi

Azhar Ali set to become Pakistan ODI captain 

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is set to appoint batsman Azhar Ali  as the new captain of the national One-day team and name wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed as his deputy tomorrow. With Pakistan scheduled to tour Bangladesh for a Test and One-day series from mid-April the Chairman of the board Shaharyar Khan held a final round of consultations to reach a final decision on the new captain and national selection committee. Ironically Azhar has not played an ODI since early 2013 when he played in Kolkata but apparently the support he got from captain Misbah-ul-Haq and coach Waqar Younis turned the tide in his favour. Meanwhile, Misbah-ul-Haq has been told to continue to lead the Test side till the cricket Board grooms a successor, according to sources— Agencies