WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2014 SPORTS Razzaq out of T-20 squad SA president defends team FA charge Anelka over salute KARACHI: All-rounder Abdur Razzaq was the only notable omission when CAPE TOWN: South Africa’s president Jacob Zuma has rallied to the defence LONDON: The English Football Association charged Nicolas Anelka yesterday for mak- Pakistan named their 30-man preliminary squad on Monday for the Twenty20 of the national football team after the country’s sports minister called them ing a “quenelle” salute after scoring for West Bromwich Albion against West Ham World Cup in Bangladesh. “useless” and a “bunch of losers”. United in the Premier League last month. The gesture is widely regarded as being anti- Bafana Bafana were booted out in the first round of the 2014 African The 34-year-old, who has played 265 ODIs and 32 T20 internationals, was dis- Semitic and the FA charged the former France international under Rule E3 for ‘making mayed by his exclusion. “It is disappointing but I am not giving up on my career Nations Championship (CHAN) after they lost 3-1 to Nigeria in Cape Town, a fourth tournament failure in 12 months for beleaguered coach Gordon an abusive and/or indecent and/or insulting and/or improper gesture.’ In a statement as I still feel I can play for another two years and I am feeling fit as ever,” he told on their website (www.thefa.com), the FA added: “It is further alleged that this is an Reuters. Razzaq featured in Pakistan’s T20 series against South Africa last month Igesund. That led to a furious outburst from sports minister Fikile Mbalula at a press conference on Monday, calling on the country to “forget this genera- aggravated breach, as defined in FA Rule E3, in that it included a reference to ethnic ori- but had to return home early due to fitness problems. tion of players” and build a new team. gin and/or race and/or religion or belief.” Anelka, 34, who has denied he The selectors kept faith with pace bowlers Umar Gul and However, Zuma, who has clashed with Mbalula in the past after the latter used it in any derogatory way, has until 1800 GMT tomorrow to Muhammad Irfan despite the duo also suffering from recent openly backed deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe in the African National respond to the charge which carries a minimum five-game ban. fitness issues. Wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal, who has not Congress’s leadership race in 2012, disagreed with his minister. Whether the FA find him guilty or not, the gesture has already had played for the national side since last June, has also been “We’re well aware that some people are criticising the way the national repercussions. West Brom’s shirt sponsor Zoopla, a property market recalled. The World Cup will take place from March 16 to team played against Nigeria. Some want the team disbanded. It has search engine co-owned by Jewish businessman Alex Chesterman, April 6. Preliminary list: Muhammad Hafeez, Ahmad Shahzad, improved greatly and needs our support,” Zuma said on local radio station announced on Monday they would not be renewing their three Sharjeel Khan, Shahzaib Hasan, Nasir Jamshaid, Khurram SAFM later that day. million pounds ($4.93 million) shirt sponsorship at the end of Manzoor, Shoaib Malik, Sohaib Maqsood, Umar Akmal (wick- “The current coach knows what he’s doing. He’s great at his job. The fact the season because of Anelka’s actions. etkeeper), Haris Sohail, Yasir Arafat, Yasir Shah, Hammad that the team lost, that doesn’t mean anything as other teams lost as well.” “Zoopla has been reviewing its position over the past Azam, Kamran Akmal (wicketkeeper), Shahid Afridi, Zohaib The CHAN tournament is a competition for quasi-national teams, made few weeks in light of the actions of striker, Nicolas Anelka, Ahmed, Sohail Tanvir, Muhammad Irfan, Umar Gul, Junaid up of home-based players only, which South Africa is hosting. during the match against West Ham over the Christmas Khan, Bilawal Bhatti, Anwar Ali, Asad Ali, Ehsan Adil, The issue of the performance of the national team in what is a low-level period and has decided to focus its attention on Muhammad Talha, Saeed Ajmal, Zulfiqar Babar, Raza Hasan, Confederation of African Football (CAF) competition has taken a political other marketing activities after this season,” Abdul Rehman, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper). —Reuters slant in an election year in South Africa. —Reuters the company said in a statement. —Reuters Leafs see off Coyotes GLENDALE: Jonathan Bernier stopped 39 shots as the Toronto Maple Leafs had another big scor- ing night to beat the Phoenix Coyotes 4-2 Monday for their first five-game winning streak in seven years. Phil Kessel had a goal and an assist to extend his points streak to six games for Toronto, which last won five straight from Jan. 27-Feb., 2007. Jake Gardiner and Nazem Kadri each had a goal and an assist, and Carl Gunnarsson scored his first goal in nearly a year. The Maple Leafs have 20 goals during their winning streak. The Coyotes sent a flurry of shots at Bernier after falling behind 3-0 and matched a team record by scoring a power-play goal in eight straight games when Mike Ribeiro scored early in the third period. Antoine Vermette also scored a short-handed goal for Phoenix, which KNOXVILLE: Notre Dame guard Kayla McBride (21) drives against Tennessee guard had numerous near-misses. Andraya Carter (14) in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game. — AP SHARKS 3, FLAMES 2 Notre Dame Joe Pavelski scored two goals to move into a tie for the second most in the NHL this season and lift San Jose over Calgary. Pavelski scored on a deflection in the first defeat Tennessee period and on the power play in the second to give him five goals in his past two games and 18 UNIONDALE: New York Islanders’ Kyle Okposo (21) shoots the puck past Philadelphia Flyers KNOXVILLE: Notre Dame coach Muffet opened 23-0. Tennessee, on the other in the past 20 to tie Anaheim’s Corey Perry with goalie Ray Emery (29) to score the final goal in a shootout of an NHL hockey game. — AP McGraw wanted to see how her undefeat- hand, had dropped three of its last seven 27 on the season. Washington’s Alex Ovechkin ed team would respond to a test. She got games and was struggling to find its foot- has 35. BLUES 4, RED WINGS 1 Anders Nilsson turned aside Vincent just the answer she wanted. ing. Tommy Wingels also scored and Antti Niemi Magnus Paarjarvi, Barret Jackman, Kevin Lecavalier and Sean Couturier in the tiebreaker Kayla McBride scored 22 points to lead Yet it was Tennessee that looked like the made 21 saves for the Sharks, who returned Shattenkirk and Jay Bouwmeester scored as St. to help the Islanders avoid a four-game, season- five players in double figures Monday as team on a roll in the early going. “I thought home from a perfect three-game road trip with a Louis beat Detroit to snap a two-game skid. series sweep versus the Flyers. Tavares also the second-ranked Fighting Irish erased an at halftime we were lucky to be down five,” win over struggling Calgary to open a pre- Alex Steen added two assists and Jaroslav scored a power-play goal in regulation for the early 12-point deficit in an 86-70 victory McGraw said. Olympic stretch of eight games out of 10 at Halak made 22 saves for the Blues. Gustav Islanders. over No. 11 Tennessee. Before Monday, Tennessee grabbed a 42-30 lead by home. Nyquist scored for Detroit. Jimmy Howard Notre Dame (17-0) hadn’t trailed by more beating the hot-shooting Irish at their own Jiri Hudler and Kevin Westgarth scored for the stopped 22 shots before being replaced by Petr PREDATORS 4, STARS 1 than seven points all season. game. Tennessee shot 55.9 percent (19 of Flames, who have lost four straight games and Mrazek midway through the second period Roman Josi had a goal and an assist to lead “We’re veterans,” McGraw said. “I 34) overall and went 5 of 6 from 3-point 11 of 13. Karri Ramo made 24 saves. because of a lower-body injury. Mrazek made 13 Nashville over Dallas. Nick Spaling, Shea Weber, thought we’re going to learn a good lesson, range in the first half against a Notre Dame saves. and Mike Fisher also scored for Nashville, which win or lose. It’s going to help us down the team that hadn’t allowed any opponent to PANTHERS 5, PENGUINS 1 has won three of four. Cody Eakin scored for road, prepare us for the ACC, (playing in) a make more than 44.9 percent of its shots all Drew Shore scored twice for the first multi- ISLANDERS 4, FLYERS 3 Dallas, which has lost of nine of 10. great crowd, a hostile environment. We season. goal game of his career as Florida ended Kyle Okposo scored the game-leveling goal hadn’t really seen anything quite this big Notre Dame committed three turnovers Pittsburgh’s club-record 13-game home winning from a power play late in regulation and then BRUINS 3, KINGS 2 this year. I thought it was just a great in the first 90 seconds of the game and had streak. netted the winner in the shootout to lift New Brad Marchand continued his recent hot scor- opportunity for us to see where we are.” to adjust to playing without Loyd, who Jonathan Huberdeau, Dmitry Kulikov and York to a rare win over Philadelphia.