Snooker: World Championship qualifier – Justin Astley bt Tony Drago 10-7.

Basketball: Women’s league – Hibernians Melita Gardens vs Athleta 56-39 (Hibernians in semi-final play-offs).

Basket, NBA: Kobe Bryant missed his second straight game, but Los Angeles Lakers shrugged off the absence of their superstar to edge New Orleans 93-91. Spain’s Pau Gasol scored 25 points with nine rebounds for the Lakers. Ramon Sessions, acquired in a mid-season transfer last month, added 17 points for Los Angeles, including a three-pointer that put the Lakers 92-86 up with 26 seconds to play.

Cricket: Pakistan’s cricket chief said he was “positive” about reviving stalled cricket ties with India, following President Asif Ali Zardari’s weekend trip to New Delhi. The arch-rivals met in the Asia Cup one-day tournament last month and the World Cup semi-final in India last year, but regular tours have been frozen since the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, blamed on Pakistan-based militants. “We are quite positive about the revival of cricketing ties with India after our President took the initiative,” Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Zaka Ashraf said.

Tennis: Australia have dropped Jelena Dokic for their bid to return to the top tier of Fed Cup tennis in a World Group play-off against Germany later this month, Tennis Australia said yesterday. The former Wimbledon semi-finalist played in the 4-1 win over Switzerland in February but has been replaced in the team for the April 21-22 tie in Stuttgart by 20-year-old Olivia Rogowska, 120th in the world.

Rugby Union: European Cup semi-finalists Edinburgh have signed France-based Georgia World Cup star Dimitri Basilaia from next season, the Scottish club announced yesterday. Basilaia, 23, has represented his country since 2008 and currently plays for French club Valence d’Agen. He impressed during last year’s World Cup, where his appear-ances included games against Scotland and England. Edinburgh became the first Scottish club to reach the European Cup semi-finals last weekend after a stunning 19-14 upset of four-time champions Toulouse.

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