Catch Barack Obama on Score Tonight

United States President Barack Obama will be entering brackets for the 2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.

By the end of this week, the newly-elected US president will join millions of Americans to select their college basketball tournament favourites.

In an exclusive interview for ESPN's flagship US show SportsCenter, he will plot his faves' route to becoming National Champions.

Talking to ESPN's Andy Katz, President Barack Obama admitted that he will be "sneaking a peek" at the scores of the first round games taking place on Thursday and Friday (this week). As the tournament reaches its climax in early April, although the President will be attending a NATO conference in Europe, .

Barack Obama has picked the North Carolina Tar Heels to defeat the Louisville Cardinals in the 2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship game.

You can catch Score Tonight on STAR Sports for more on the sporty US President's views on NCAA. Or you can go to ESPN.com for the full interview / video.

Owen laments World Cup decision

England striker Michael Owen has admitted he should not have gone to the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany.

The Newcastle frontman battled against the clock to make himself available for his country that summer after fracturing a metatarsal in a New Year's Eve clash with Tottenham keeper Paul Robinson.

He had played just 20 minutes of football for his club before joining up with his international colleagues, and with hindsight, now believes the injury problems which have followed are a direct result of his efforts to play in Germany.

Owen, who suffered a serious knee injury which sidelined him for 10 months during the finals, told the Newcastle-based Journal: "There is no hiding from the fact injuries have been the bane of my time at Newcastle.

"It is frustrating. However, and people will probably laugh, but I know I'm not injury-prone.

"If you look at my time at Newcastle, the problems started when Paul Robinson landed on my foot against Tottenham just after Christmas.

"Loads of people get metatarsal injuries, but they are normally not as bad as mine. Nobody's foot would not have broken in that situation.

"I then rushed my preparations for the World Cup. I played half a game for Newcastle.

"After being in plaster for so long, my leg was de-conditioned and with hindsight, I should never have gone to Germany with England.

"It's easy to say that now, but if I had my time again, I would still have gone because it was a World Cup.

"I'm not thinking what could have been, but with hindsight, my leg was half as strong as it should have been.

"Muscles support limbs and I twisted my knee awkwardly and that was it. All that came from someone landing on my foot, so I don't think it's my fault."

Owen, now 29, returned from his latest significant injury - ankle ligament damage - in his club's 1-1 Barclays Premier League draw at Hull on Saturday.

Newcastle are hoping he can rediscover his best form almost immediately as they prepare for a nine-game run-in which will determine whether or not they play top-flight football next season.

The former Liverpool and Real Madrid star, who is out of contract at the end of the campaign and is yet to make a decision on the offer of a new deal, knows it normally takes him a couple of games to find his feet again, but it also banking on a flying start.

He said: "The one thing I have got a history of is taking one or two games to get into my stride again, but we haven't got time for me to do that.

"Hopefully my eye is in straight away and I start knocking the goals in again immediately."

India win hockey series against NZ

A goal each by Sandeep Singh and Dilip Tirkey helped India beat New Zealand 2-0 in the fourth hockey Test.

The Indians also lifted the series with a 2-0 margin.

Tirkey and Sandeep scored both the goals from penalty corners after a goalless first half.

After the change of ends, the visitors were impressive on their counter-attacks and exposed the lack of experience of the Black Sticks.

India's efforts soon bore fruit with senior-most player Tirkey opening the scoresheet in the 43rd minute through a powerful drive and then Sandeep followed suit in the 67th minute with a precision perfect drag-flick to the top left of the Kiwi goal.

However, the hosts felt that they were little unlucky not to have opened the scoring in the dying stages of the first half when the ball hit the body of an Indian defender, thereby stopping a certain goal.

But the referee ruled out any foul play after Indian players successfully appealed on the grounds that the ball first hit a Kiwi player's foot.

With this win, India pocketed the series 2-0. The visitors earlier won the second Test 2-1, while the first and third Tests were drawn 1-1.

Woods ends on losing side

Tiger Woods scored one and a half points for Isleworth club but could not stop Lake Nona claiming the Tavistock Cup.

The world number one, looking to continue his comeback from reconstructive knee surgery last summer, followed up his tie for ninth place on Sunday in the WGC-CA Championship at Doral with a three-under-par round of 69 at the Lake Nona club in a $3.5million charity match between two clubs with memberships numbering a host of the world's best touring professionals.

Playing fourball singles medal match play, Woods halved his match with England's Ian Poulter but defeated Henrik Stenson, who could only shoot a four-over 76 for the Lake Nona team.

Woods' playing partner Charles Howell III also shot three under to halve with Poulter and defeat Stenson but Lake Nona emerged victorious for only the second time in the six-year history of the event.

Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell led the Lake Nona team captained by Ernie Els to overturn an overnight 6-4 lead held by Mark O'Meara's Isleworth side.

McDowell, hit a six under par 66 to claim the Payne Stewart Award as the low scorer and his round earned him two points with victories over Australians Nick O'Hern (one under) and Stuart Appleby (three under).

McDowell's partner Retief Goosen hit a two-under 70 to defeat O'Hern but lose to Appleby.

"I played pretty nicely today," McDowell said. "It's an interesting format and I think it's important we won this year or else they would have tried to find someone else to play against."

Ben Curtis and Justin Rose also contributed four-under-par scores to score two victories apiece, the American over compatriots O'Meara and John Cook and Englishman Rose over JB Holmes of the USA and Robert Allenby of Australia.

McDowell's compatriot Darren Clarke was the low Isleworth scorer, his four under defeating Els and Mark McNulty.

Most states ready for IPL

Most of the states scheduled to host IPL matches have agreed to the new schedule, according to reports.

Their nod though has come having been satisfied with the new schedule.

The new schedule has been made in such a manner that no match on a venue is within 72 hours of polls happening there.

Reports say that Kolkata, Mohali, Bangalore and Chennai have sent their positive feedback, while Nagpur, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad are yet to confirm. These states are also likely to give a go-ahead soon.

Dharamshala has already given its nod for this year's edition.

Earlier on Wednesday Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram had said that a decision on IPL's fate will be taken after getting feedback from state governments slated to host IPL games this season.

"The last I heard was yesterday morning they submitted a revised schedule. The revised schedule has been sent to all the state governments concerned. We've asked them to give their comments and views as early as possible," P Chidambaram told reporters.

Desperate to get the cash-rich league on track, the IPL's top brass held a series of meetings since Monday and submitted a reworked schedule to the Home Ministry on Tuesday.

The schedule was revised for the third time after the Home Ministry had told the organisers that cosmetic changes in the fixture were not acceptable and they would have to finalise the dates in consultation with the state governments.