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India need to fire on all cylinders
Nehra should replace Zaheer Streak's ton puts Zimbabwe on top
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Salgaocar, Mahindras in Durand Cup semifinals
RCF win; Surjit Academy lose HAP Range emerge champions in police games GND University wrestling results Bank of India win kho-kho title Baba Banda
Bahadur Engg College win volleyball tourney
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India need to fire on all cylinders
Cuttack, November 5 With Australia having already assured themselves of a place in the title round by gleaning 18 points from four matches, the Kiwis and the hosts are now in the race for making it to the majestic Eden Gardens - venue for the final on November 18 - though the home side look superior on current form. India, culling eight points from three outings are in the second spot, while the Black Caps have only four points in their kitty from three games. However, India’s build-up for the first-ever day-night encounter at the Barabati Stadium hit a speedbreaker when leggie Anil Kumble opted out following the demise of his father, prompting the selectors to rope in Sairaj Bahutule as the replacement in the 14-member squad. Indian coach John Wright has indicated that left-arm-slow bowler Murali Karthik stood a bright chance of making it to the playing eleven as the spin partner of off-spinner Harbhajan Singh. “Kartik did a good job against the West Indies, and he has always done well given a chance,” Wright said. On the positive side, the inclusion of seamer Ashish Nehra, sidelined for eight months since spraining his ankle at the World Cup in South Africa earlier this year, has increased the pace options for the Indian team management. Nehra, who played a vital role in taking India to the World Cup final by claiming 15 wickets with his magical ability to extract lateral movement both ways, seems impatient to return to on-field action. He has been bowling his heart out in the nets to impress the team think-tank. Fast bowling spearhead Zaheer Khan succeeded in the Gwalior tie against the Aussies before being clobbered all around the park in Mumbai; Ajit Agarkar’s graph
nose-dived at Gwalior before he sparkled in Mumbai. Thus the pace line-up on the morrow might be interesting to watch. With one-day cricket being regarded as a batsman’s game, the performances of the top willowers of the two battling sides present a study in contrast. The Indians hold a distinct advantage in the section, with their top order, save Virender Sehwag, firing well in the tournament so far. Doing justice to his awesome reputation, little master Sachin Tendulkar has led the Indian charge, plundering 216 runs including a 100 at Gwalior. A highly impressive average of 108 has raised the expectations of his team-mates and fans, who would all expect him to script another memorable knock at the Barabati stadium, that has seen a favourable Indian record of six wins in nine one-dayers. The stylish V.V.S. Laxman has a hundred against his name, stand-in skipper Rahul Dravid got a half century in Mumbai, while Yuvraj Singh played a useful cameo in Gwalior. Sehwag’s dismal show (31, 0, 0) has stood out like a sore thumb for the Indians, and the attacking player needs to return among runs to silence his growing number of critics. On the other hand, the tale of the Kiwi top order has been one of abject failure. The first five batsmen Chris Nevin, skipper Stephen Fleming, Lou Vincent, Scott Styris and Brian Mcmillan have collectively totalled a miserly 74 in the two matches that the tourists lost against the Aussies. The New Zealanders’ opening match against India was a no-result and they never got the chance to bat. Fleming, who also failed in the Test series, scored a gritty 40 in Monday’s match against Australia, his only respectable knock in the tour. The New Zealanders also need to improve on their fielding and catching, as they dropped catches at crucial junctures in Pune to practically gift the game to the mighty Aussies. But India can also take heart from history, as they carved out a five-wicket win in the only one-dayer played between the two sides in Barabati in 1988-89. The teams (from): India:
Rahul Dravid (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, V.V.S. Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Ajit Agarkar, Parthiv Patel, Sairaj Bahutule, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Hemang Badani, Murali Kartik. New Zealand:
Stephen Fleming (captain), Lou Vincent, Craig McMillan, Chris Cairns, Chris Harris, Jacob Oram, Scott Styris, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, Chris Nevin, Daryl Tuffey, Daniel Vettori, Ian Butler and Paul Hitchcock.
— PTI |
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New Zealand suffered a double blow after reliable all-rounder Chris Cairns and frontline bowler Paul Hitchcock were ruled out due to injuries. Cairns, who has been carrying a niggling hamstring injury for months, had to miss his team’s first two matches and could only turn up on the field in the Kiwi’s previous encounter at Pune against Australia. Hitchcock, on the other hand, missed the Pune match due to a side strain and the Kiwi think tank decided to give him more time to recover. |
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Nehra should replace Zaheer At the outset, I want to pass my condolences to Anil Kumble, who lost his father on Monday. Kumble is a born fighter and I am sure that he will put behind this emotional setback and come roaring back to business very soon. Nevertheless, the show must go on and this means, Murali Kartik gets a long awaited look-in at Cuttack against the New Zealand team. Despite some noticeable performances over the last couple of seasons, Kartik has been in and out of the team quite often but is appreciably patient to get his due from the selectors. And Thursday might just be his day. The track at the Barabati stadium should provide assistance in form of some turn and it’s up to him to make the most of the opportunity. The Indian team will have to come firing on all cylinders after a pathetic, if not humiliating, performance against the Aussies. Sehwag has been his flashy best in this series but unfortunately the formula hasn’t hit the bull’s eye. The slam-bang opener’s recent scores has been an apology to his talent and potential. It’s time Sehwag trade some of his aggressive instincts for some quality time in the middle and regain his confidence. Meanwhile, Tendulkar should be looking forward for some authoritative stint here, given his innings has produced runs but not the magic he is renowned for. With Saurav declared fit to join the team for the next match, it would be crucial for Laxman and Kaif to register a good knock or else they would be responsible for spoiling their own chances of not figuring in the Indian middle order. It would really come nice for the team if Ashish Nehra replaces Zaheer in the XI, especially since the latter is struggling to get his rhythm going. Agarkar is going strong and looking to get back to his wicket taking abilities and this should augur well for the team. Harbhajan will have a huge role to play as the senior spinner in the side and given that the kiwis are laden with four left-handers, his spell of ten overs becomes quite vital. Meanwhile, the Black Caps, buoyant after a successful Test campaign is finding it increasingly difficult to cope up with the latter part of the India tour and the early start of the day matches. Twice he has been on the receiving side of this policy and it’s but natural for him to take his ire out on the officials who charted the itinerary. Never mind if the Kiwi board was brought into consultation but I feel, it’s rather unfair on our part to play all day-night matches and let the other two teams fight for surviving the heavy morning conditions. I quite agree to Fleming’s view that day matches have indeed become a big lottery where the toss has a significant influence on the result. I wonder what happens when Australia play New Zealand in Guwahati, where play starts at 8.30 in the morning, because of early sunset in that area! Anyway, the Kiwis will go into this tie all focused. It’s a do or die match for them a defeat here could send them and crashing out of the tournament. Their batsman are all in form and I expect New Zealand to fight it out tooth and nail. Their bowling is a bit of a worry. With the exception of Tuffey and Vettori others have not exactly adapted to the wickets here and if Fleming can get his bowlers on a disciplined path, then it will be a cracker of a match. |
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Streak's ton puts Zimbabwe on top Harare, November 5 Zimbabwe (1st innings):
(284-6 overnight) Sibanda c Jacobs b Edwards 18 Vermeulen c Hinds
b Edwards 8 Carlisle c Lara b Collymore 8 Wishart c Jacobs b Hinds 47 Matsikenyeri c Jacobs
b Edwards 57 Taibu b Edwards 83 Streak not out 127 Blignaut c Gayle b Drakes 91 Price lbw b Edwards 2 Mahwire not out 1 Extras: 24 Total:
(9 wkts decl) 507 Fall of wickets: 1-26, 2-35, 3-58, 4-112, 5-154, 6-233, 7-314, 8-482, 9-495 Bowling:
Collymore 29-6-131-1, Edwards 34.3-2-133-5, Hinds 15-6-40-1, Drakes 34-4-85-1, Taylor 9.4-3-32-1, Gayle 19.2-6-38-0, Sarwan 9-0-35-0, Chanderpaul 1-0-7-0, Ganga 1-1-0-0. West Indies (Ist innings): Gayle not out 6 Hinds not out 0 Extras: (b-4 w-1) 5 Total: (no wkt, 2.4 overs) 11 Bowling:
Blignaut 1.4-0-7-0, Streak 1-1-0-0.— Reuters |
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Salgaocar, Mahindras in Durand Cup semifinals New Delhi, November 5 Earlier in the day, Salgaocar Sports Club defeated crowd favourite Mohammedan Sporting 2-0 to advance to the semifinal as group C winners. Mahindra edged out the Punjab team, on better goal average, winning group A for a place in the last four. They will now take on Salgaocar in the first semifinal on Friday. Going into today’s match with a 1-1 draw against TFA XI in their first match, Mohammedan Sporting had to win to advance but in the end faded away after holding the Goans goal-less almost till the hour mark. The Goans advanced with goals from Dharamjit Singh (59th minute) and Nigerian Felix Ibrebru in the 73rd minute. Mahindra proved the better team against JCT today though 36-year-old Vijayan, who announced his retirement from national team after winning the Afro-Asian Games silver medal in Hyderabad last week, went close to scoring more than once. But the lanky striker was not in his best form and was closely marked by Peter Siddiqui. Unable to do much in the first half, Vijayan, however, had a better second session. Immediately after coach Sukhwinder Singh changed Vijayan’s striking partner in the 58th minute, replacing Harbinder Singh with Charanjeet Singh, Vijayan put the substitute through with a deft back heel but Charanjeet managed only a week shot from inside the box. In the 22nd minute of the second half, Vijayan almost troubled the scorers getting in position on the top of the box. But his powerful right footer was parried away by Mahindra ‘keeper Naseem Akhtar. Soon he earned a free kick after the referee pulled up Siddiqi for an untidy challenge. Substitute Rampal’s kick went to Charanjeet who only managed to effect a weak header. Vijayan had another chance, 10 minutes before the end of the match, which came in the form of a free kick.
— PTI |
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RCF win; Surjit Academy lose Jalandhar, November 5 Signals opened their victory account by crushing Surjit Academy 5-1. In a keenly contested game between RCF and Vajra Corps, the former won the match without facing much resistance. The match started at a fast pace as Bengra of Vajra Corps scored an impressive field goal in the 11th minute. In the 28th minute Vijay Kumar of RCF scored the equaliser through a field goal from the left flank. The score was 1-1 at lemon break. In the second half, the RCF entered the field with full confidence as Walter Lakra beat the rivals’
defence circle to shoot the ball into the box in the 38th minute (2-1). The lead was further consolidated, when John Tirkey, after getting a pass, went ahead to score an impressive field goal (3-1). In another match, CISF (Delhi) defeated ITBP 4-2. The CISF’s Parteek Kumar made no mistake in converting a penalty corner in the seventh minute to give the lead to his team. They failed to convert two consecutive penalty corners in the eighth minute. The score was 1-0 till the first half. After the lemon break, the lead was further consolidated in the 38th minute, when Parvej Ahssan scored a field goal (2-0). The beleaguered ITBP team was provided some relief in the 45th minute, when its star Varinder easily converted a penalty corner to rescue the lead (2-1). The equaliser came in the 49th minute as Varinder dodged the rivals’ defence to put the ball into the box (2-2). Changing the strategy, CISF players moved the ball round the ground at a fast pace. In the 58th minute Cyril Ekka scored a field goal to increase the tally (3-2). The CISF won the game as C.V. Xaxa completed the tally in the 66th minute (4-2). Meanwhile, Signals opened their account by registering a crushing defeat on Surjit Academy 5-1. Today’s matches: Signals v CISF (Delhi) RCF, Kapurthala v EME, Jalandhar (League) BSF v Concordia Hockey Club, Croatia. |
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HAP Range emerge champions in police games Madhuban, November 5 Rohtash of HAP Range was declared the ‘best athlete’ among men, while Renu of Special Range was adjudged the ‘best athlete’ in the women's selection. HAP Range athletes (men) and Special Range (women) won the athletics championships. Ram Pal of HAP Range soared to a height of 4.30 m in pole vault, equalising the record of Mohinder Sharma, who had cleared the similar height and set the record in 1982. A new record was set up when Rohtash of HAP Range completed 400m hurdles in 55.1 seconds, eclipsing the earlier record of 56.3 seconds set up by Rajesh Kumar in 2001. HAP Range pugilists ruled the boxing ring taking the title without facing much resistance. Sanjay had a better share of exchanges against Mahipal in heavyweight contest and was declared the winner on points. Kuldeep of Rohtak Range subjected Jagbir of Gurgaon Range to heavy punishment in the super heavyweight final, forcing the referee to stop the contest in second round. Shamsher Singh and Vinod Kumar spent some time sizing up each other in the first round in the light heavyweight fight. Shamsher started asserting his superiority in the second round before going for a kill, forcing his opponent to retire in the third round. Ambala Range men established supremacy clinching championship trophy in weightlifting with 265 points. Gurgaon Range with 147 points and HAP Range with 72 points were second and third, respectively. Combined Range (106 points) pipped Ambala Range (78 points) for the championship title among women. HAP Range also grabbed the titles in football hockey, kabaddi and volleyball. Mr M.S. Malik, Director-General of Police, Haryana, speaking on the concluding ceremony, revealed that the state government had agreed in principle to reserve five per cent plots in HUDA allotments. Hailing the performance of the sportspersons from the state, he said Haryana players had won five gold medals out of 19 won by India in the recent Afro-Asian Games held in Hyderabad. He also appreciated the participants for their keen performances during the police meet. Mr A.S. Bhatotia, Director-General, Prisons, was the guest of honour, while Mr B.R. Lall, CMD, Haryana Police Housing Corporation, was the chief guest. He gave away the prizes to the winners. Results: Weightlifting (men):
56 kg: 1 Naresh Kumar (Rohtak Range); 62 kg: 1 Rajvinder Singh (Ambala Range), 2 Mahaveer Singh (Gurgaon Range), 3 Nizamuddin (Hisar Range);
69 kg: 1 Zakir Hussain (Gurgaon Range), 2 Virender Singh (Gurgaon Range);
77 kg: 1 Baldev Singh (Ambala Range), 2 Chamkaur Singh (Ambala Range), 3 Vinod Kumar (Gurgaon Range);
85 kg: 1 Gurdarshan Singh (Ambala Range), 2 Vinod Kumar (Ambala Range), 3 Narain Singh (Gurgaon Range);
94 kg: 1 Ram Chander (HAP Range), 2 Rohan Kumar (Ambala Range), 3 Narender Singh (Gurgaon Range);
105 kg: 1 Niranjan Singh (Ambala Range), 2 Gurdev Singh (Ambala Range);
+105 kg: 1 Jagjit Singh (Ambala Range), 2 Jagir Singh (Ambala Range). Trophy:
Ambala Range (265 Points), runners-up: Gurgaon Range (147 Points), third position-HAP Range (72 Points). Weightlifting (women): 48 kg:
1 Rajvinder Kaur, 2 Taro Devi (both Ambala Range); 53 kg: 1 Meena Kumari (Comb. Range);
58 kg: 1 Neeru, 2 Vijay Laxmi (both Comb. Range); 63 kg: 1 Anita Kumari (Special Range);
69 kg: 1 Sharda Rani (Rohtak Range), 2 Jasvinder Kaur (Ambala Range);
+75 kg: 1 Roshni Devi (Hisar Range), 2 Monika (Comb. Range). Trophy winner:
Combined Range (106 Points), runners-up-Ambala Range (78 points). Football:
HAP Range b Rohtak Range 2-1. Kabaddi: HAP Range b Hissar Range 81-36. |
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GND University wrestling results Phagwara, November 5 A press note said here this evening that GNN College, Nakodar and ASS College Mukandpur secured the second and third positions, respectively, in the greco-roman style. Hosts Ramgarhia College were runners-up with 18 points while Lyallpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar, got the third slot in the free style. Meanwhile, wrestler Amandeep Sondhi and weight-lifter Chandandeep Singh were honoured for winning the silver medal in the Commonwealth Championship and bronze medal in the Afro-Asian Games, respectively. |
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Bank of India win kho-kho title Patiala, November 5 The Bank of India players were a buoyant lot as they had to face a lot of hurdles to lay their hands on the title, which they had won for the first time in the inaugural edition of the Banks’ Olympiad in Bangalore last year. In hockey, star studded Punjab and Sind Bank tightened their stranglehold on the title when they notched their third successive win in as many matches. In today’s encounter, they walloped their rivals Punjab National Bank 9-0. Playing with several international players, including Baljit Singh Saini and Baljit Singh
Chandi, the winners never allowed space to their opponents to weave any meaningful moves during the entire duration of the match and struck almost at will. In chess, Grandmasters Parveen
Thipsay, Ravi Hegde and Sharad Tilak, kept the flag of the Union Bank of India flying as all three had notched up three points at the end of the fourth round. The other players who had scored three points after round four were G.B.Parkash and K.V
Shantaram, both of Indian Bank. The State Bank of Patiala’s Moti Ram, Rajeev Verma and Sanjiv Duggal had scored two points each at the end of the fourth round while R.B Singh, also of the hosts, had 1.5 points to his name. In the league phase of the kabaddi event, the Central Bank of India triumphed against Saraswati Cooperative Bank 33-13, the Bank of Baroda routed Canara Bank 48-6, the State Bank of Mysore downed the Bank of India 28-5, Dena Bank edged past the Union Bank of India 34-26, and Vijaya Bank beat Bank of Maharashtra 24-13. In the evening, Dena Bank chalked up their second win of the day by comprehensively beating the Bank of Maharashtra 25-13. The Bank of Maharashtra team seemed to be completely out of depth and eventually lost both its matches during the day. In the individual events for women in the table tennis event, N.Arul Selvi of the Indian Bank downed Usha Mani of Central Bank in straight sets 11-5, 11-6, 11-8. Other results: Men:
— league phase — Jignesh Jaiswal (State Bank of
Saurashtra) beat Upendra Mulye (SSBL) 11-3, 11-9, 18-20, 10-12, 11-6; A. Rajath Kamal (Indian Bank) beat CR Anand
(UBI) 11-8, 12-10, 11-8; Vaneet Chopra (State Bank of Patiala) beat Souvik Roy (Reserve Bank of India) 11-6, 9-11, 11-8, 11-4; Hardik Bhatt (Dena Bank) beat M.A Baba (RBI) 6-11, 14-12, 13-11, 4-11, 11-5; Deepak Thukral (Dena Bank) beat J.Acharya (Bank of India) 11-8, 11-8, 11-5; and Sunil Babras (Dena Bank) beat Gagan Chowdury (RBI) 11-9, 11-8, 12-14, 11-9. Mixed doubles
— all semi-finals— Udhey and Ashwini
(UBI) beat Deepak Thukral and Sherry Crawford (Dena Bank) 13-11, 11-9, 11-8; and Rajat and Arul Selvi (Indian Bank) beat Sunil Babras and S.Presanna (Dena Bank) 11-7, 7-11, 11-4, 11-1. Men’s doubles
— all quarter finals — J. Acharya and Ganesh Ahuja (Bank of India) beat M.Subash and Seshadiri (Indian Bank) 11-7, 11-9, 11-5; J.Jaiwal and P.Mehta (State Bank of
Saurashtra) beat M.A Baba and D.Arora (RBI) 12-10, 11-8, 11-8; and Deepak Thukral and Sunil Babras (Dena Bank) beat J.Acharya and Gagan Ahuja (Bank of India) 11-8, 16-14, 4-11, 11-9. Athletics:
(all finals, men) — discus throw: K.Mondal (Allahabad) -1, T.Shetty (Corporation Bank)-2 and Jagdish Kumar (Oriental Bank of Commerce)-3;
hammer throw: Tara Nath Shetty (Corporation Bank)-1, Gurmail Singh (State Bank of Patiala)-2 and Sohan Singh (Punjab National Bank)-3;
1500m: K.Shanker (Indian Bank)-1, Bachhu Durlav (Allahabad Bank)-2 and Manoj Kumar (Corporation Bank)-3
400m hurdles: Atanu Dass (Allahabad Bank)-1, K.Satish Kumar (Indian Bank)-2 and Hari Shanker Roy (Allahabad Bank)-3; and
high jump: Hari Shanker Roy (Allahabad Bank)-1, Mudhu Sudan Rai
(Vijaya Bank)-2 and P.Kannan (Indian Bank)-3. Athletics: (all finals, women): triple jump: K.Revathi (Indian Bank)-1, J.Nisha (Indian Bank)-2 and Sujatha Naik (Canara Bank)-3;
Javelin throw: Suma Gopalakrishnan (Canara Bank)-1, Reeth Abraham (Corporation Bank)-2 and Chandrama Dutta (Central Bank of India)-3;
3000m walk: Sudha Sharma (PNB)-1, Jaya Laxmi Shetty (Syndicate Bank)-2 and Pratima Rani Pal (Bank of Baroda)-3.
Carrom (men-league phase): Suraj Karolkar (Bank of Baroda) beat Ashoka Ray (Central Bank of India) 20-17, 25-12; Suresh Kumar (PNB) beat Nitin Ekbote (State Bank of
Indore) 25-9, 25-9; Neeraj Kumar (PNB) beat Sanjay Sawant (OBC) 25-0, 25-9; A.Raj (Indian Bank) beat V.S.K Naidu (RBI) 25-1, 25-7; and Sashi Kondkar (PNB) beat Arun Kedar (Bank of
Maharashtra) 25-17, 25-18; Women’s doubles (semi-final): Kavita Somandi and Sangeeta (RBI) beat Asmita and Anupama
(UBI) 25-17, 25-11; and Rashmi and Komal (UBI) beat Shobawati and V.Lathe (RBI) 25-18, 25-23. |
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Baba Banda
Bahadur Engg College win volleyball tourney Fatehgarh Sahib, November 5 Gurbaksh Singh Anand, Regional Director, NIS, Patiala, was the chief guest at the prize distribution ceremony. Dr Dilbag Singh Hira, college Principal, presided over the function. Dr Anand said sports infrastructure in the college was the best among the engineering colleges of the state. Dr
Hira, in his address, said the tournament was held every year in the memory of Nawab Mohammad Sher Khan, who had opposed Aurangzeb’s orders to kill the four
Sahibzadas. He said the college volleyball team had been PTU champion for the past three years and this year again they had proved that they were the best. He announced that floodlights would be installed in the lawn tennis, badminton basketball and volleyball courts. Dr D.S.
Seerha, director sports of the college, said 23 teams from Punjab took part in the tournament. He said the college would host PTU inter-college volleyball tournament on November 22. The Punjab Institute of Management Technology won the third position by defeating Chitkara Engineering College, Patiala.
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Ravi Kumar’s
death mourned Phagwara, November 5 In a press note, the association and well-known footballers shares the grief of the bereaved family. |
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Punjab handball tournament Ludhiana, November 5 |
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