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Arjun Atwal became the first Indian and just the sixth Asian-born player to win on the PGA Tour when he secured a one-stroke victory at the Wyndham Championship on Sunday.

Atwal joined Japanese trio Isao Aoki, Shigeki Maruyama and Ryuji Imada and South Koreans K.J. Choi and Y.E. Yang in an elite but growing club of champions from world’s most populous continent.

The 37-year-old, who now lives in Florida, sank a pressure-packed seven-foot par putt at the final hole to edge American David Toms at Sedgefield.

His final round of 67 left him on 20-under 260, ignited by an opening day 61. Toms closed with a 64.

“It was a long-time dream of mine to win out here but until it happens you keep doubting yourself and, believe me, I had my doubts teeing up today, even with a three-shot lead,” Atwal, who took up golf at the age of 14 in Calcutta, told reporters.

“Until you do it, you don’t know. My swing wasn’t feeling all that great today. It was a little tight (but) I just grinded it out and got it done somehow.”

Atwal believes his victory will resonate in his homeland.

“I’m pretty sure it’s going to be huge back home,” he said. “My in-laws called my wife yesterday and said the coverage was just unreal with me leading.

“I know there were a lot of people in India and Dubai that watched me play. I’ve had a lot of messages.”

Atwal was part of what at one stage was a seven-way tie for the lead, but he went ahead with a birdie at the 16th and came to the par-four 18th knowing a par would win.

After driving into the rough, he deliberately lashed a utility club up against the skyboxes beyond the green from where he was granted a free drop.

He hit an adequate but not great chip but caught a lucky break when fellow competitor Scott McCarron had to putt first on the same line.

“That was huge,” Atwal said. “I was really nervous over that putt. It was the most nervous I’ve ever been in my entire life. My heart rate was probably 150 at the time.”

TIGER TEXT

Atwal’s friend, Tiger Woods, sent a text message on Saturday night suggesting he try to finish on 21-under.

In the end, Atwal came up one shot shy of that. Fast-finishing Toms birdied three of the final four holes for lone second place on 19-under, with Americans Justin Leonard, John Rollins and John Mallinger and Australian Michael Sim in a tie for third on 18-under.

Atwal, who did not even have exempt status on tour, only got into this event via a qualifier for four spots last Monday.

He became the first Monday qualifier to win on tour since 1986 and his rewards include $918,000, a two-year tour exemption and an invitation to next year’s Masters, a tournament he has never played.

“That will be awesome,” he said. “I was supposed to get in when I won the money list in Asia in 2003, because the No. 1 gets in from there, but they somehow gave it to the No. 2 guy, who was from China.

“That was weird. That was some kind of diplomatic relations thing going on that year.”

But Atwal is not exempt for the four-event FedEx Cup play-off series that starts on Thursday.

Not that he is too worried.

Instead, he will probably fly to Thailand to celebrate his father-in-law’s birthday.

(Editing by Dave Thompson; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

(For more news visit Reuters India)

All-rounder Thisara Perera’s maiden five-wicket haul helped hosts Sri Lanka to an eight-wicket victory over India on Sunday and a place in the final of the one-day tri-series.

The 21-year-old Perera seamed and swung the ball around on a two-paced pitch to capture five wickets for 28 runs as India choosing to bat first crumbled for 103.

Only Yuvraj Singh, making a comeback to the side after being laid low by dengue fever, offered some kind of resistance top scoring with 38 off 64 balls with five fours and one six.

Sri Lanka made short work of the target as Mahela Jayawardene, promoted to open with Tillakaratne Dilshan, raced to a partnership of 79 before both departed off successive deliveries to Ishant Sharma.

Dilshan made 35 off 23 balls with eight fours and Jayawardene 33 off 35 balls with six fours.

Upul Tharanga (12) and captain Kumar Sangakkara (13) ensured victory was achieved in the shortest possible time by calling for the batting power play that earned Sri Lanka a bonus point and put them on top of the league standings.

The winner of the India and New Zealand match on Wednesday will play Sri Lanka in the final next Saturday.

(Editing by Neil Maidment; to query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

(For more news visit Reuters India)

Mumbai, Aug 23 (IANS) Think of Mumbai and you will imagine jostling crowds and cramped spaces – but when a spa boasts of a space of over 8,000 square feet, exotic treatments and facials, one just feels tempted to give True Spa a visit.

True Spa, which is a part of Singapore-based fitness chain True Fitness, also has a yoga centre, hair and beauty lounge, a fitness studio and a cafe under one roof in an area of 60,000 square feet which includes the spa section.

‘Apart from the space, we believe in giving quality service to our clients and if you look at the treatments we offer…many of them are our speciality and they are excellent indeed in terms of results as well,’ True Fitness India business development manager Nicholas Kraal told IANS.

‘We consider ourselves as a complete fitness destination as we have everything under one roof. We are planning to open up in other cities as well,’ he added.

In all, the spa section here has 14 rooms – two facial rooms, nine massage rooms and three VIP suites which are basically for couple massage. Each VIP suite has a jacuzzi as well.

The spa has a total of 13 therapists who are certified and have prior experience in this field. They have been given special training, Kraal said.

True Spa offers a full range of more than 30 services, including body massages, body scrubs, body treatments, face treatments and hydrobath treatments.

A customer can opt for treatments like sea essential remineralising bodywrap or sea essential anti-cellulite or may be some face treatments such as lumiere, purity and prestige marine dew.

But the therapist here suggests their signature massage ‘Twin Bodyworks’ for relaxing muscles and rejuvenation.

In this, two therapists will massage you simultaneously in rhythmic harmony with the sweet almond oil. Their perfect hand movements and syncronisation will definitely amaze you as four hands will keep massaging till oil gets completely absorbed in the body.

At the same time, they focus on the acupressure points on the feet, hands, neck, lower back and the backbone – giving a very calming and peaceful sensation.

But, if you are used to dozing off in between body massage – this might not be the case here. As apart from legs, the two therapists work on different body parts which diverts attention and hence you are very much conscious and awake most of the time.

So for a change, this massage is definitely a must do, but if you want that sleepy feeling, stick to a single therapist massage.

Location: True Spa, 4th level, Crystal Point Mall, New Link Road, Andheri (West), Mumbai.

Duration: 90 minutes.

Price: Rs.5,400.

(Shilpa Raina can be contacted at shilpa.r@ians.in)

New Delhi, Aug. 22 — With an eye on assembly elections in Bihar and West Bengal, the RJD and Trinamool Congress sought implementation of a 17-year-old Supreme Court order asking the government to give salaries to imams of government-aided mosques. Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said the issue was under consideration but some imams were resisting the move. As his reply infuriated Prasad and others, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee intervened saying the government “will take appropriate action”. Prasad wanted to know the reasons for the delay in implementation of the 1993 SC order on a petition of the All India Imams Organisation relating to salaries of imams in government-aided mosques and remuneration to clerics in non-aided places of worship. Trinamool and Samajwadi party joined ranks with Prasad on the issue. The issue, raised during zero hour, caused uproar with BJP’s Yogi Adityanath and Bijoya Chakraborty demanding similar remuneration for the eight lakh temple priests in the country. The debate continued outside the house with Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari saying the issue was being raised because there was an election in Bihar. Prasad hit back saying, “Congress did not implement it despite coming to power on Muslim votes. But when our party comes to power in Bihar, we will implement the directive.” Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandhyopadhyay said his party supported RJD as “imams in West Bengal were facing an economic crisis”. Salary hike At a meeting with Pranab Mukherjee, the issue of MP salaries was resolved. “The House will now function as per rules,” Sharad Yadav said. On Friday, non-BJP, Congress and Left party MPs had stalled Lok Sabha for the day over the Cabinet’s decision to increase MP salaries to Rs 50,000 per month. Mukherjee assured the leaders their issues would be considered before the bill was introduced in Parliament. Lalu Prasad demanded a further hike of R10,000. Advani pulls Mps A day after some BJP MPs took part in an all-Opposition mock Parliament, LK Advani expressed displeasure over them lowering the seriousness and dignity of the party. Sources said Advani had a word with the party’s deputy leader in Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde, and MPs Uday Singh and Kirti Azad.

Sources said that Sushma Swaraj called up Munde expressing her displeasure. Arun Jaitley, too, is believed to be unhappy with the mock protest.

New Delhi, Aug. 22 — As a nationwide crackdown on environmental violations widens, Tribal Affairs Minister Kanti Lal Bhuria is the latest in a growing list of colleagues to be pitted against Union MoS for Environment Jairam Ramesh’s ministry. The man evoking Bhuria’s ire is N.C. Saxena, a member of the powerful National Advisory Council (NAC). A confidant of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Saxena is stepping on many toes as he heads several panels probing adherence to environment, forest and tribal-rights laws. Bhuria’s objections: Saxena’s prescriptions for better governance to local officials as the former bureaucrat visits Maoist-hit states, heading a joint committee (created in March) of the environment and tribal affairs ministries on the implementation of the Forest Rights Act, which safeguards tribals living off forest produce. “The committee during its visits to states is not expected to suggest how the Act is to be implemented,” said Bhuria, a Congressman from Madhya Pradesh, in a letter to Ramesh. “Nor is it expected to make reference to the ministry as to the instructions that the ministry should communicate to state governments regarding the implementation of the Forest Rights Act.” The comments against Saxena are a manifestation of the resentment various ministries and ministers feel as Ramesh attempts to enforce India’s long-ignored environment, forest and tribal-rights laws “in letter and spirit”, as one expert put it, on Gandhi’s instructions with the backing of the Prime Minister. Saxena, who also gave a critique of the Tribal Affairs Ministry to the NAC, believes the forest act’s prime objective of granting community rights hasn’t been fulfilled. Only 20,000 of 1 lakh villages in tribal areas have been granted such rights. These failures are directly implicated for the spread of Maoist insurgency across nine states. India has about 100 million tribals with development indices below national average. A source close to Bhuria said he was “livid” that Saxena was telling state officials how to implement the Act. During his tours of Maoist areas last month, Saxena observed widespread violations. Many officials, much less the tribals, did not even understand the complex Hindi the Act uses. “Therefore, many provisions are just not being implemented,” said a committee member. Saxena responded, in a letter to Ramesh, saying no state objected to his work.

Saxena headed two other committees, which cited forest law violations and asked Ramesh’s ministry to stop land acquisition for the R54,000-cr Posco steel plant in Orissa and refuse a mining lease for a bauxite mine for Vedanta’s aluminum refinery in the same state.

Cairo, Aug 22 (IANS) Egypt will hold the second Arab Economic, Social and Development Summit in January next year, Xinhua reported Saturday.

Hisham Youssef, chief of cabinet for Arab League Secretary General, said preparations for Jan 19 summit have begun.

The first Arab economic summit was held in January 2009 in Kuwait.

The summit pledged to link Arab countries with a rail network, set up a $2-billion fund to help small and medium-sized firms and set up the Arab Custom Union by 2015.

Beijing, Aug 22 (IANS) At least 23 people have died and 69 are missing after mudslideS hit a remote mountain village in southwest China, Xinhua reported Saturday.

Rescuers have retrieved 11 bodies Saturday, four days after the disaster in Yunnan province.

‘The chances of survival for the missing people are slim,’ said Hou Xinrong, director of public security bureau in Gongshan county.

Heavy rains hampered the rescue work.

Families of the dead and missing received 10,000 yuan (about $1,400) for each victim from the government.

The tragedy strucks two weeks after a similar disaster in Zhouqu county in northwestern Gansu province left at least 1,434 people dead and 331 missing.

In northeastern Liaoning province, over 64,000 people were evacuated from their homes Saturday after the Yalu river threatened to breach its embankments.

San Francisco, Aug 22 (DPA) A concertgoer died in an apparent suicide when he jumped from the roof of an amphitheatre onto the stage where a folk music duo was performing, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Saturday.

The death occurred during a concert by the group Swell Season late Thursday at Mountain Winery’s outdoor stage outside Saratoga, California, about 80 km south of San Francisco.

The man who died was identified by the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office as Michael Edward Pickels, 32 of San Jose, California.

He had gone to the concert with a friend but slipped away from their seats during the performance, sheriff’s spokesman Sergeant Rick Sung told the Chronicle.

A short time later, he appeared at the roof above the musicians and plummeted to the stage from a height of at least eight metres.

Another concertgoer said that Swell Season had just performed a song with the title When Your Mind’s Made Up, prior to the incident. The duo halted the concert and later posted a message of condolence on their website.

Beijing, Aug. 22 — The ticket to see both sides of the world’s new second-largest, five-trillion-dollar economy costs just 12 yuan (R 94). Bus number 918 rolled out of Beijing with dozens of migrants heading home for the weekend and one Indian. After 90 minutes of leaving behind high-rises and corn and wheat farms, the bus stopped on a six-lane highway. We were one hour away from the Beijing airport — the world’s biggest when it opened in 2008 — and over two hours away from Asia’s biggest bullet train station. Buicks whizzed down the highway of the world’s new car capital where the Chinese bought more cars than the Americans last year. At the gateway of Liangshanzhuang village, a farmer had arranged transport for this correspondent, who hopped off the air-conditioned bus and on to a wooden stool in a three-wheel electric cart called the sanlunche. The farmer was proud of his new green vehicle that looks like the tricycles plying in old Delhi, but without a backseat or backrest. The box on the cart is usually used to transport coal cakes and farm produce. Our cart jolted past the village hill that the locals said would be developed into a ski resort with artificial snow. Inside his one-storey home overlooking the future ski resort, the farmer has stocked one tonne coal cakes – cheaper in summer -to stay warm in winter. The family will burn four tonnes in winter. Thirty minutes away in the Riviera, foreigners and the wealthy Chinese live in centrally heated villas that some Beijing planners describe as ghettos. Do you know China is now the world’s second-largest economy, HT asked Wang Wei, the farmer’s daughter. “Really? I didn’t know, but I feel proud,” she said. “Though many argue that life is still the same, I feel it’s getting better.” Wang, a schoolteacher in Beijing, is the family’s highest educated member and first English speaker. No cheers in China over its achievement The stability-obsessed Communist Party promises to create a ‘moderately prosperous society’. Beijing hopes that the title of the second-largest economy won’t spark discontent over domestic inequalities. China’s per capita income is over 10 times lower than Japan’s and its population 10 times bigger. In 2009, China’s rural-urban income divide widened to its highest since 1978, when Beijing began economic reforms to lift millions out of poverty. On chat forums, netizens from underdeveloped provinces have reacted with comments about rising costs and deteriorating living standards. Netizens from coastal provinces that are richer than several nations post patriotic reactions. “I have to think before I buy a bottle of bean sauce even,” commented a netizen from remote Xinjiang this week. “How glorious we are, how much happiness we are sharing now!” said a man from Guangdong near Hong Kong on the same website. A man from eastern Jiangsu province wrote that the number two encouraged him to ‘fight for his life’. This week, the Chinese media issued a commentary dismissing western expectations of China’s greater responsibilities as a rising power, and said China’s global role would be determined by its national conditions. “The fact that China is overtaking Japan is not a matter of exultation given that the country still has miles to go before it can become a real economic power,” wrote Yi Xianrong, a researcher at China’s official think-tank, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, on August 10. The Chinese media headlined the piece ‘more concerns than cheers’. India will speed up, China will slowdown Beijing’s first reaction to overtaking the Japanese economy was to remind the world that China remains a developing nation with over 40 million below its poverty line. India, the second-fastest growing economy after China, has over 10 times as many poor people. In 2009, the World Bank ranked China’s per capita income at 124 and India’s at 162. “Over the next decade, India should start to surpass China as the fastest-growing country…by 2025, at least, the Indian economy should be bigger than Japan,” Arthur Kroeber, managing director of Dragonomics, told HT. A latest Morgan Stanley report forecasts that India will outpace China’s growth rate by 2013-15. The report said that India’s rising number of graduates and working age population, compared to ageing China, would spur faster growth. By 2020, India will contribute 136 million to the global labour pool, compared to 23 million from China and eight million from Japan. “China’s GDP is almost certainly going to fall by the end of this decade,” said Kroeber. “India can maintain the current pace or grow even higher.” India will face bigger urban development challenges than China. The consultancy firm McKinsey estimates that by 2030 India will need to build two new Mumbais every year to cope with 68 cities with a population above one million. By 2030, China will have 221 cities above one million and may build 10 New Yorks equivalent to 50,000 skyscrapers. The future India will need 20 times the size of roads added in the past decade and 350-400 km of subway to be built every year. The news about China overtaking Japan was splashed after Yi Gang, a deputy governor of the central bank casually mentioned in one sentence that China was the second-largest economy.

As the sanlunche headed home, it stalled before a speed bump. Wang cheerfully jumped off and pushed. It felt like a journey in rural India.

Australia’s two major parties began wooing independent lawmakers on Sunday after an inconclusive election left the nation facing its first hung parliament since 1940, the worst possible outcome for markets.

The Australian dollar and shares are likely to face a sell-off when trading resumes on Monday, analysts said, with the vote count threatening to drag on for days and both the ruling Labor party and opposition seemingly unable to win a majority.

“The uncertainty is going to be a real killer to the financial markets,” said economist Craig James of Commsec, suggesting the local currency could fall a cent or more.

With 78 percent of votes counted, a hung parliament looked likely, with two possible scenarios for minority government: a conservative administration backed by rural independents or a Labor government supported by one or two Green or green-minded MPs.

In either case, former conservative treasurer Peter Costello said, Australia faces a shaky administration which could fall within 12 months.

“It’s quite possible with an unstable situation like this that we could be back to the polls within a year,” he said.

Investors would prefer a minority conservative administration over a Labor-Green arrangement, UBS chief strategist David Cassidy said, noting that conservative leader Tony Abbott had pledged to scrap Labor’s proposed 30 percent mining tax.

The tax on major iron ore and coal-mining operations has weighed on mining stocks such as BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto and the Australian dollar .

“Clearly the market won’t like the uncertainty,” UBS’s Cassidy said, predicting moderate selling. But he said markets would be most concerned about a Labor-Green government, given the Greens also would be strong in the upper house Senate.

“Markets would be uncomfortable with a Labor government with Green assistance,” he added.

Australia political risks, click http://r.reuters.com/gan92n

Reuters Insider analysis, click http://link.reuters.com/zen26n

Reuters election live blog, click http://live.reuters.com/Event/Australia_2010_election

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

Election experts say both Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s Labor party and the opposition conservatives are likely to fall short of enough seats to form a government alone, forcing them to rely on four independents and a Green MP to take power.

One Green-minded and centre-left independent candidate, Andrew Wilkie, who has a chance to win a lower house seat, said on Sunday he already had taken a call from Gillard but declined to be drawn on which major party he would support.

“I am open minded,” Wilkie told ABC radio, adding he would back the party that could ensure stable and “ethical” government.

Another independent, Bob Katter, a stetson-wearing maverick from the outback, said he would support the party he felt would do more for rural communities and ensure their right “to go fishing and camping and hunting and shooting”.

Independent Tony Windsor said he would be “happy to talk to anybody” when the final results were in, local media reported.

Some of the independents have protectionist views and are outspoken about Chinese investment in Australian resources.

Both Gillard, who became Australia’s first woman prime minister in June after deposing her predecessor Kevin Rudd in a party-room coup, and opposition leader Abbott said the final result could take days to become clear.

Analysts projected around 70 seats for the two major parties, with four independents and one Green MP.

That would be six short of the number Gillard would need to keep control of the 150-seat lower house and mean a hung parliament for the first time since World War Two.

“We do not have a clear result from tonight. What is clear from tonight, the Labor party has definitely lost its majority and that means the government has lost its legitimacy,” Abbott told Liberal-National party faithful in Sydney.

Abbott also said that in coming days he would talk to independent members of parliament on forming a minority government. “The most important issue here is stability of governance,” he said.

(Additional reporting by Jamese Grubel, Michael Smith and Jim Thornill in Sydney, Chris McCall in Alice Springs and Fayen Wong in Perth; Editing by Michael Roddy)