Australia say India should not host Commonwealth Games

India should not have been allowed to host the 2010 Commonwealth Games, according to the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) president John Coates.

Construction delays have hampered the preparations for the Games, which start on 3 October, and the athletes' village was this week called "uninhabitable".

Coates said: "In hindsight, no, they shouldn't have been awarded the Games."

However, Commonwealth Games Federation president Mike Fennell is heartened by the "considerable improvements" made.

The village had previously been described as "filthy" by CGF chief executive Mike Hooper and photographs, taken in the last few days confirmed that.

But Fennell is encouraged by the work carried out in recent days.

Before a tour of the village on Friday, he said: "The briefing I've received from Mike Hooper was that considerable improvements have been made within the village, with further significant resources deployed by Delhi Chief Minister, Mrs Dikshit, to make good what was a concerning situation.

"I am certainly pleased to arrive in Delhi to the news that Australia has moved into the village ready for the arrival of their athletes, and with the confirmation that England and Wales will be on their way to Delhi shortly.

The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium
With nine days to the opening ceremony, there is still work to do outside the main venue for the Games - the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium

India should not have been allowed to host the 2010 Commonwealth Games, according to the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) president John Coates.

Construction delays have hampered the preparations for the Games, which start on 3 October, and the athletes' village was this week called "uninhabitable".

Coates said: "In hindsight, no, they shouldn't have been awarded the Games."

However, Commonwealth Games Federation president Mike Fennell is heartened by the "considerable improvements" made.

The village had previously been described as "filthy" by CGF chief executive Mike Hooper and photographs, taken in the last few days confirmed that.

But Fennell is encouraged by the work carried out in recent days.

Before a tour of the village on Friday, he said: "The briefing I've received from Mike Hooper was that considerable improvements have been made within the village, with further significant resources deployed by Delhi Chief Minister, Mrs Dikshit, to make good what was a concerning situation.

"I am certainly pleased to arrive in Delhi to the news that Australia has moved into the village ready for the arrival of their athletes, and with the confirmation that England and Wales will be on their way to Delhi shortly.

David Bond's blog
Delhi may yet surprise us. No major event enjoys a smooth build-up with no problem. But this does feel different

"Already so many athletes from around the Commonwealth have started their journey to Delhi.

"Our job across the next week is to help ensure that all the corrective work is completed in good time.

"We must ensure that a suitable environment is provided to ensure the welfare of the athletes and their support staff.

"It is vital that all remedial work that has already started continues with the greatest urgency."

Buoyed by the progress made, New Zealand have announced they will compete at the Games.

New Zealand Olympic Committee president Mike Stanley said that developments over the last 24 hours had been significant but his team would continue to review hygiene and security issues on a daily basis.

"We are confident now that this can be turned around," he said.

"What we found was inexcusable and unacceptable, but we've seen a change in leadership and this is positive."

England's hockey and lawn bowls teams were among the first foreign athletes to arrive in Delhi on Friday.

However, they will stay in hotels over the weekend while further work is carried out on the athletes' village.

Australian Coates was one of the leading members of the organising committee for the Sydney Olympics in 2000, and is also an elected member of the International Olympic Committee's executive board.

He pointed out that part of the problem facing the CGF is that they only have five people overseeing Delhi's progress.

In contrast, the IOC, which is currently monitoring preparations for the 2012 Olympics in London, has 400 staff.

"The CGF is under-resourced," he continued. "It doesn't have the ability to monitor the progress of cities in the way the IOC does."

Coates also said that the IOC has contracts in place with London and 2016 Olympic hosts Rio de Janiero to ensure construction deadlines are met and test events are carried out one year before the Games.

"If that had been the case here [in Delhi], then certainly something would have been done a lot sooner because obviously the venues are not ready," he stated.

"Certainly the Commonwealth Games for its future needs to move away from just the old countries - Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Britain taking turns. But the problem is, they [India] weren't ready."

Delhi is expecting 7,000 athletes and officials to begin arriving on Friday to stay in the village.

Continue the superb work!

Indian weightlifter Chanu fails dope test

It comes as an embarrassment for the Indian sports fraternity. Ahead of the Commonwealth Games, weightlifter Sanamacha Chanu has failed the dope test.

The weightlifter tested positive for methyl-hexa-neamine, a banned substance.

This is the second time Chanu tested positive for drugs. She had tested positive for diuretics earlier during the Athens Olympics in 2004.

According to newspaper reports, Chanu could face a life ban and also be ousted from the upcoming Commonwealth Games.

However, the Weightlifting Federation is claiming that all 15 lifters selected for the games have come clean.

As many as 12 Indian athletes are under the dope cloud at present.

Pakistan quartet under the microscope over allegations

Who are the four Pakistan players named by the News of the World over spot-fixing allegations?

The quartet were interviewed by the police on Saturday night, with captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif also having their mobile phones confiscated.

MOHAMMAD AMIR

Still only 18, during day two of the second Test at Lord's the left-arm paceman became the youngest bowler in Test history to take 50 wickets.

He went on to take his best Test figures, picking up 6-84 in England's only innings, and is currently ranked the eighth-best bowler in Test cricket.

He made both his Test and one-day debuts in July 2009 and has gone on to snare 51 Test wickets at a shade over 29 runs apiece, and has a further 25 victims in one-day internationals.

Born in Gujjar Khan, Punjab, he has a whippy action that enables him to swing the ball both ways at a lively pace that can touch 90mph.

Of the three no-balls bowled which led to the investigation, Amir is alleged to have bowled two of them, one on Thursday and one on Friday.

MOHAMMAD ASIF

A controversial figure who has twice been suspended after testing positive for banned substances - although one ban was subsequently overturned - and who was also detained in Dubai for suspected possession of illegal drugs.

He is a fine swing bowler who can manipulate the ball sufficiently at no more than medium pace - he says "pace is nothing" - to remove the very best at Test level.

Although he could bowl quicker he is happy to hover about the 80mph mark and his guile and ability to move the ball both ways have brought him 106 Test wickets at an average of 24.36.

Now 27 he made his Test debut in 2005 and is currently ranked third in the ICC bowling rankings.

He is alleged to have bowled one of the three no-balls in question on Thursday, the first day of the Test at Lord's.

SALMAN BUTT

The 25-year-old was only appointed Pakistan's Test captain in July after Shahid Afridi stepped down from the role - after a single game in charge - following their defeat in the first game of their two-Test series against Australia earlier this year.

Butt had previously been appointed vice-captain at the beginning of the tour after a number of senior players were discarded following what turned out to be a disastrous trip down under.

A stylish if inconsistent left-hander, who averages 30.43 from 30 Tests, he has proved more successful in ODIs, scoring 2,725 runs at an average of 36.82, including eight centuries.

He made his debut back in 2003 but was in and out of the side for several years until nailing down a regular place in 2007.

Along with Amir and Asif, Butt has had his telephone taken away by police but he said: "These are just allegations and anybody can stand out and say anything about you, it doesn't make them true."

KAMRAN AKMAL

The wicketkeeper was interviewed by the police along with the other three on Saturday night.

Kamran, older brother of batsman Umar, is renowned more for the explosive nature of his batting than the quality of his glovework.

At 28 he has already played 53 Tests and 118 ODIs, adding 184 Test catches and 22 stumpings to his 2,648 runs at 30.79 in the longest form of the game.

He was fined and put on probation by the Pakistan authorities after their dire tour of Australia in 2009-10 and a poor all-round display in the first Test against England led to him being dropped, only for the broken finger suffered by his replacement, Zulqarnain Haider, to see him recalled for the third Test.

He made his debut back in 2002, with the biggest of his six Test centuries the unbeaten 158 he scored against Sri Lanka in 2009.

Best online poker rooms

Poker Rules

Basic poker is very easy and you should combine this with the strategy guides for the best results.

The basic betting rules are divided into three systems:

Limit ( Limit ): A limit where each round is a set amount to bet on.
No Limit (No Limit ): There is no betting rules, you can raise all you have.
Pot Limit ( Pot Limit ): Players can bet up to the amount in the pot.

Texas Hold'em Rules
Texas Hold'em is played with a regular deck of 52 cards. Usually there are no more than 10 players at each table.

Preflop (Before the flop )
Each player gets two cards face down. These cards are known as pocket cards ( cards poket ). In each hand is played , the two players to the left of the dealer post the two required amount on the table, often known as blind. The player to the left of the dealer is the small blind (small blind) and the big blind ( big blind ) is to his left . The small blind must put in half the big blind. This is done to get the game started. After each hand the dealer moves to the left.

After the blinds are on the table continues person to the left of the big blind. Each player has the option of calling , folding ( throwing hand ), or raise.

Flop
After the betting round is complete, the flop on the table. This is three cards are placed face up in the middle of the table. These cards , each player can use as he / she wants to create the best possible combination of five cards.

Betting round begins with the player to the left of the dealer and is still in the hand.

Gymnastics
A fourth card is a long table and there is a new betting round.

River
A fifth card is a long table and there is a new betting round.

Showdown
Players who are still in the hand turn their cards and the winner of the hand is determined by who has the best combination of five cards (out of five on the table and two on hand ).

Whether it would be equally so the pot is split .

Sharapova returns to Tokyo for Pan Pacific Open

Tokyo:  Defending champion Maria Sharapova will return to Tokyo next month, spearheading the star-studded Pan Pacific Open women's tennis tournament, organisers said on Monday.

Twenty-seven players out of the current world top 30 will take part in the two-million-dollar hard court tournament from September 26 to October 2, with only Kim Clijsters, Venus Williams and Justine Henin missing.

Sharapova captured her first WTA singles and doubles titles at the 2003 Japan Open, and also won her first professional title on the ITF Circuit series in Gunma, north of Tokyo, a year earlier.

The Russian heart-throb has won four titles in Tokyo out of her 22 WTA titles, including the Japan Open twice and the 2005 Pan Pacific.

Last year, Sharapova put an end to a long lay-off caused by a shoulder injury by winning her first title since Amelia Island in April 2008, beating Jelena Jankovic of Serbia in the final.

Along side world number one Serena Williams, the singles field includes former Pan Pacific champions Elena Dementieva of Russia, the Beijing Olympic gold medallist who won here in 2006.

Other former champions are Japan's Kimiko Date Krumm, the winner in 1995, and Dinara Safina of Russia, the winner in 2008. Both picked up a wild card.

Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic and Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria, who caused a sensation by reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon, will make their Japan debuts.

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/sports/sharapova-returns-to-tokyo-for-pan-pacific-open-46641?cp

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/sports/sharapova-returns-to-tokyo-for-pan-pacific-open-46641?cp

Sehwag remains second in ICC Test rankings

Dashing opener Virender Sehwag is the highest-ranked Indian batsman at the second spot in the latest ICC Test rankings issued on Sunday.

Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara leads the batting table with Michael Clarke of Australia on the third spot.

In the bowling list, Pakistan's fast bowler Mohammad Amir has rocketed to a career-best 17th after playing a leading role in his side's four-wicket victory over England in The Oval Test which concluded on Saturday.

ICC RANKINGS

Man of the match Amir took 1-49 and 5-52 in the Test and was awarded with a jump of 14 places in the rankings, which puts him just behind Paul Harris of South Africa and makes him the third Pakistan fast bowler in the top 20.

For England, off-spinner Graeme Swann has moved up one place to regain his second position on the bowling chart.

Swann, who had match figures of 7-118, had first climbed to second position in March this year after the first Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong.

In the Rankings for batsmen, Pakistan's Mohammad Yousuf, Umar Akmal and Azhar Ali, and England's Alastair Cook and Matt Prior all rose up the rankings.

Yousuf, who scored 56 and 33, has climbed two places to 14th position with India's Gautam Gambhir firmly within his sights. Umar has jumped six places to share 41st position with Australia's Phillip Hughes and Azhar has vaulted 28 places to 55th spot.

There is no change in the top five of the Reliance Mobile ICC Player rankings for Test all-rounders with Jacques Kallis of South Africa leading the field.

Meanwhile, England's four-wicket defeat has ended its chances of moving ahead of fourth-placed Australia in the ICC Test Championship.