Del Potro makes winning return in Florida
DELRAY BEACH – Juan Martin del Potro made a winning return to tennis on Tuesday after a 11-month injury layoff, romping past America's Denis Kudla in straight sets in the first round of the Delray Beach Open. The injury-plagued 27-year-old Argentine faced an uncertain future after missing most of the last year with a wrist problem which required two separate bouts of surgery. But del Potro, aiming to resurrect a burgeoning career which included a 2009 US Open championship victory, showed no signs of ring rust as he overwhelmed Kudla in just over an hour. Tuesday's win carried an echo of a previous comeback for del Potro, who won the Delray Beach crown in 2011 also after returning from a wrist injury. Del Potro, who climbed to number four in the world rankings in 2010, is currently at 1,042nd in the world.–AFP

Monfils named in France Davis Cup team
PARIS – France's new Davis Cup captain Yannick Noah has retained Gael Monfils in his team to play Canada in a World Group first round match next month despite the player's criticisms over staging the tie in Guadeloupe. Monfils was named along with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon for the singles berths with Edouard Roger-Vasselin an option for the doubles. It will be the first time that a French Davis Cup tie will be held in the Caribbean. But the round-trip for the March 4-6 tie is around 13,000km, and at the recent Australian Open, Monfils said that most of the players, including himself, did not want to play the match so far away. Noah, 55 said that despite his comments Monfils appeared to be motivated enough. "I hope he realises that he has not done the team any favours."–AFP

Commissioner School Cricket C’ship
LAHORE - Govt Furqan Shaheed Shiekhupura, Govt Model H/S, City School and Qila Laxman Singh won their respective matches of the Commissioner School Cricket Championship Series Lahore Division 2016 here on Wednesday. In the first match of the day, Govt Furqan Shaheed H/S Sheikhupura outclassed Govt Model H/S Kasur by 8 wickets. Govt Model H/S Kasur could score 109 all out in 34.4 overs with Shaban scoring 25. In reply, Govt Furqan Shaheed H/S Sheikhupura achieved the target losing just two wickets. Naeem scored 37 and Ali Ahmed 32. In the second match, Govt Model H/S MTD thrashed Govt Model H/S Kahna by 168 runs. The third match of the day saw City School defeating Hira Public H/S Nankana by two wickets while in the fourth match, Aitcheson College edged out Qila Laxman Singh by 2 wickets.–Staff Reporter

Model Town FC camp starts today
ISLAMABAD - Model Town Football Club players training camp to select team for Islamabad B-Division Football League will start today (Thursday) here at Sports Complex outer stadium. Model Town Club chairman M Ayaz said 30 players were invited for the camp including Usman Yamin, Hamad Qureshi, Zaheer Abbas, Hamza Ikram, Zubair Ahmed, M Jawad, Shawal Saif, M Amair, Abdullah, Nayyer Naseer, Aqib Khan, Rayyan Aslam, Haseeb Ali, Talha Khaliq, Fahad Mahboob, Abdullah Masood, Rahyan Farooq Adil, Shahzad Habib, Mubashar Shahzad, Touseef Haider, M Hamza, Kashan Abbas, Asfand Dadan, Subhan Saleem, Bilal Azam, Asid Ahmed, Waqas Ahmed, Husnain Ahmed, Ahsan Ahmed and Faisal Rafique. “We will shortlist players from the camp and announce 18-member squad on Feb 19 for Islamabad B Division Football League.”–Staff Reporter