Sri Lankan cricketer Kumar Sangakkara (l) and captain Mahela Jayawardene (r) run between the wickets during the third day of the first Test match between Sri Lanka and South Africa at The Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) Ground in Colombo, Saturday. (AFP Photo(

COLOMBO,
Sri Lanka, July 29--Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara compiled an unbeaten world record partnership of 578 in the first cricket Test against South Africa here on Saturday.
The third-wicket pair surpassed the previous best of 576 for the second wicket by fellow-Sri Lankans Sanath Jayasuriya and Roshan Mahanama against India at the Premadasa stadium here in 1997, AFP said.
Skipper Jayawardene was unbeaten on 278 and Sangakkara was on 273 when they set the new record in the second over after lunch on the third day at the Sinhalese sports club.
The record came through four byes conceded down the leg-side by wicket-keeper Mark Boucher off left-arm spinner Nicky Boje.
They had come to the crease on Thursday evening with Sri Lanka struggling at 14-2 in reply to South Africa’s first innings total of 169.
Both batsman have so far batted for over 10 hours in hot and humid weather in the Sri Lankan capital.

LOS ANGELES,
July 29--Four-times champion Andre Agassi bade an emotional farewell and top seed Andy Roddick made a premature exit from the Los Angeles Open on Friday.
Agassi, who has said he will retire after the US Open starting on Aug. 28, lost his quarterfinal match with Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez, going out 6-4 3-6 7-5.
Roddick, the world number 10 and highest-ranked player in the draw, was forced to pull out of the hard court event because of a muscle strain on his left side, Reuters said.
The 2003 US Open champion incurred the injury in his second-round match with fellow American Scott Oudsema on Thursday.
Hours before the start of his quarterfinal, he consulted with his trainer Doug Spreen and new coach Jimmy Connors before deciding to withdraw from the tournament and avoid further injury.
Russian eight seed Dmitry Tursunov, who had been scheduled to meet Roddick in the last eight, gets a bye into the last four where he will take on Gonzalez.
Germany’s Tommy Haas, the 2004 champion, eased through his quarter-final match with American Paul Goldstein 6-3 6-4 and will meet either Slovakia’s Dominik Hrbaty or American Robby Ginepri in the semis.
Roddick, who reached the final of last week’s RCA Championships in Indianapolis before losing 4-6 6-4 7-6 to Davis Cup team mate James Blake, was frustrated by his early LA exit.
“You always want to finish a tournament on your terms and not pull out with an injury,“ the 23-year-old said in a statement. “It’s really disappointing.
“Last night I had trouble taking my socks off after the match. I literally couldn’t bend over at all. There’s improvement, but certainly not enough to even consider playing.“
Agassi, in the 60th and final title defense of his glittering career, saved three match points against the expansive strokeplay of Gonzalez in the 10th game of the deciding set before being broken for the third time in the 12th.

Michael Carrick

MANCHESTER, UK, July 29--England midfielder Michael Carrick is on the verge of moving to Manchester United from Tottenham after the clubs agreed a fee, the Old Trafford giants said on Friday.
The 25-year-old has yet to agree personal terms but should have a medical on Monday, Reuters reported.
A United club statement said: “Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur can confirm that they have agreed terms for the transfer of the registration of Michael Carrick conditional upon the player agreeing personal terms with Manchester United.
“He shall also be required to pass a medical that will take place on Monday.“
The news of the deal came just an hour after Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy completed his 10-million-pound move to Real Madrid from United.
Former West Ham star Carrick was a member of England’s squad at this summer’s World Cup and was a key player in Tottenham’s impressive fifth place finish in the Premiership last season.
Meanwhile, United manager Sir Alex Ferguson ruled out bids for Carrick’s Tottenham team-mate Jermain Defoe and AC Milan’s World Cup-winning midfielder Gennaro Gattuso.
Defoe was seen as a potential replacement for van Nistelrooy but Ferguson said: “We made a move for Carrick and thats the only thing we did, that was the only player of interest to us at this moment in time.
“I think it will stay that way. Ive got young (Giuseppe) Rossi to consider and I want to see him progress as a center forward. He’s more likely to be staying here now.
“With Gattuso, we were always waiting to see what happened to ACMilan and now they’re in the European Cup and still in Serie A, theres very little chance of progress as hes such an important player for them.“

KITZBUEHEL, Austria, July 29--Defending champion Gaston Gaudio was ousted in the quarter-finals of the Kitzbuehel Open on Friday after an emphatic 7-5 6-0 defeat to fellow Argentine Agustin Calleri, Reuters reported.
After saving two match points on Thursday in his third round meeting with German Denis Gremelmayr, the world number 16 was unable to mount a similar escape against Calleri.
Surrendering the opening set with a late loss of serve, the 2004 French Open winner received an official warning for smashing his racket at the start of the second.
As Gaudio wilted in the oppressive Kitzbuehel heat, Calleri maintained his own composure impressively, the 29-year-old sealing victory with an ace.
“I think I started quite well, but when he broke me at the end of the first set I got pretty frustrated and after that I couldn’t do much,“ Gaudio said.
“I haven’t been playing the way I want to for a couple of months now. In one way my success with the French Open win and my five tournament wins in 2005 have helped because I know I can play good tennis.
“On the other hand it can be hard when things aren’t going so well, because all the time I’m wishing I was playing like I was back then.“
Gaudio’s departure leaves the Austrian claycourt tournament without any of its top four seeds, following the earlier exits of Nikolay Davydenko, Tommy Robredo and Jarkko Nieminen.
Spanish fifth seed Fernando Verdasco managed to survive the cull, booking his place in the semifinals with a 6-4 6-4 win over Ecuador’s Nicolas Lapentti.
Verdasco will now take on Calleri for a berth in Sunday’s final.
Other semifinal will pit Argentine seventh seed Juan Ignacio Chela against Russian eighth seed Mikhail Youzhny.
Youzhny came through a tricky quarterfinal against local favorite Juergen Melzer who had already accounted for Robredo and Romanian 16th seed Andrei Pavel on his way to the last eight.
Youzhny prevailed 6-3 3-6 6-3 victory while Chela powered to a 6-4 6-4 win over German Philipp Kohlschreiber who was unable to follow up on his impressive third round defeat of Nieminen.

Jamaica's Asapha Powell (r) crosses the finish line ahead of Portugal's Francis Obikwelu to win the men's 100m race during the London Grand Prix athletics meet in London, Saturday. (Reuters Photo)

LONDON, July 28--Joint 100 meters world record holder Asafa Powell stretched his unbeaten run to 11 races this year with victory in 9.91 seconds at the London grand prix on Friday.
Powell, who shares the world mark of 9.77 seconds with American Justin Gatlin, powered through the second half of the race to record his ninth sub-10 second time of 2006, Reuters said.
American world indoors 60 meters champion Leonard Scott finished second in 10.01.
“It’s great to run under 10 seconds again. I didn’t feel in the mood for the record because the wind kept changing,“ Powell told reporters.
“There’s a bit of pressure on me at the moment. It’s been a long season. It’s hard to run at your best at every event.
“I have run nine races under 10 seconds now and that’s tough on your legs,“ added the 23-year-old, who was given a rapturous welcome by the capacity crowd, many waving Jamaican flags.
On the world record, Powell added: “I think I’m going to run the fastest a human can run, there’s no doubt about that.“
Powell’s world record set in Athens in 2005 was matched by Gatlin in Doha in May before the Jamaican equalled it again last month in Gateshead, England.
The pair have not met on the track since London last year, when Powell pulled up injured. American Olympic and world champion Gatlin withdrew from this meeting with a knee injury.
There was disappointment for the sport’s latest sprint sensation, Xavier Carter, when he finished second over 200 meters to fellow American Tyson Gay, who won in 19.84. Carter, who clocked the second-fastest time in history with 19.63 in Lausanne this month, came off the bend behind Gay and tied up in the home straight. He held off world silver medalist Wallace Spearmon for a time of 19.98.
“I didn’t run my race. I ran a race to suit other people not me,“ Carter told reporters.
“Obviously I’m disappointed but it’s just one race. I’ll be back, I don’t have uncertainty about that.“
Jamaican Sherone Simpson got the better of former triple Olympic champion Marion Jones as the two enjoyed a private battle in the women’s 100.

LISBON, Portugal, July 29--Uruguay striker Carlos Bueno has joined Sporting on loan after the Portuguese club agreed a one-year deal with Paris St Germain, the Lisbon team said, Reuters said.
The 26-year-old international will play with Paraguay midfielder Carlos Paredes, who signed a three-year contract with last season’s Premier League runners-up on Monday.
The Portuguese league kicks off on
Aug. 27.

HOCKENHEIM, Germany, July 29--Michael Schumacher is worried that Fernando Alonso could spring a surprise in qualifying for the German Grand Prix despite a strong free practice pace here Friday.
The seven-time world champion was the fastest race driver and second overall for Ferrari in practice session, beaten only by Polish BMW Sauber test driver Robert Kubica, AFP said.
More importantly, he was 1.5 seconds clear of championship leader Alonso who was only 15th in his Renault.
But with rain before the afternoon session limiting all 11 teams to just 20 minutes of fully dry running, and heavy traffic throughout, Schumacher believes he has not seen the true pace of Alonso.
The 88-times race winner thinks that nobody will show their hand until qualifying, and that could be too late.
“The day was quite short because of the rain, and I think we have not seen the true potential of some of the teams. Renault, maybe others too,“ said the German.
“We will have to wait until qualifying to see what other people can do and to see if our package is good enough to beat our rivals.“
With more rain predicted for Saturday, qualifying could become a lottery, but in dry conditions, the Bridgestone-tyred teams, such as Ferrari, appear to have an advantage of those, like Renault, on Michelin rubber.

MILWAUKEE, USA, July 29--Jason Bohn nabbed 12 birdies on the day Friday to emerge with the clubhouse lead in the second round of the four million-dollar US Bank Championship.
“I’m ready to go to sleep, spend some time with my family, get a good dinner and a good night’s rest,“ Bohn said. “I believe I will tee off a little later (Saturday), which will be very helpful.“
Bohn was in at 11-under-par 129, two shots better than Jeff Sluman, Jerry Kelly, Nathan Green and DJ Trahan, AFP said.
First-round leader Corey Pavin was at 12-under but still had seven holes to play when darkness stopped play with 78 players still on the course.
The backup started with a lengthy weather delay on Thursday.
Bohn was one of those who didn’t finish and had to play 35 holes in Friday’s soaring temperatures.
He made the most of them, putting together a late four-birdie run en route to a first-round 65 and adding seven birdies against just one bogey in his second-round 64.
“It was 35 holes of long, hot Golf,“ said Bohn, who won the BC Open a year ago. “I just tried to stay loose. Obviously, number one, you have to be hydrated. I can’t tell how many bottles of water I drank today. It never seemed like it was enough.“
Bohn was not upset with having to squeeze almost two rounds of Golf into one day. In fact, he applauded the tournament’s decision to call play early Thursday.