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IHF overhauls team
for Azlan Shah meet Gill confident
Disciplinary panel meeting today to decide Kale’s fate Aussies to be more aggressive in Adelaide |
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India have goods to challenge Aussies The biggest plus to emerge from the Brisbane Test is that the public in Australia as well as the media here will realise that Team India has got the goods to give the Australians a good fight even at home.
PCB suggests dates for India’s visit
Yuvraj, Ratra in India ‘A’ squad Yuvraj Singh enlivens Punjab reply Delhi salvage draw against Punjab Punjab games to be held in Patiala, says Randhir BSF lift football trophy Tollygunge hold Mohun Bagan NFL could hit preparations, says coach Punjab school players win basketball gold
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IHF overhauls team for Azlan Shah meet
Bangalore, December 10 The new 25-member list, announced here by IHF president K.P.S. Gill, excluded several senior players including captain Dilip Tirkey, strikers Gagan Ajit Singh and Deepak Thakur besides many regular members of the side. Chief coach Rajinder Singh, under whose stewardship India won four major titles this year, will accompany the team to Malaysia as an observer with junior coach Harendra Singh taking his place. “The idea is to give exposure to some of the juniors ahead of India’s participation in the Olympic qualifiers in Madrid next year,” Gill told reporters here. Gill also indicated that the IHF would pick junior players for the upcoming three-match Test series against the visiting Netherland side which would serve as an “important preparatory series for the Olympic qualifiers.” “We have to have two or three players for each position because of possibility of injury on and off-the-field. Juniors are very good and extremely talented. What they lack is exposure, experience and temperament in playing in big matches,” he said. “The important task is to qualify for the Olympics”, he added. Releasing the list of probables here today, IHF President K P S Gill said nine senior players — Prabjot Singh, Dilip Tirkey, Gagan Ajit, Deepak Thakur, Bimal Lakra, Viren Raskino, Devesh Chawan, Kanwelprit Singh and Viknan Pillay — have been rested. “If the selected juniors perform well they may find a place in the Olympic qualifiers and even in the Olympics,” he added. The fresh faces were Adrian D’Souza, Harpal Singh, Sandeep Singh, Gurbaj Singh, Vivek Gupta, Sandeep Kumar, Ignatius Tirkey, Prabhdeep Singh, Hari Prasad, Tushar Khandekar, Adams Sinclair and Birendra Lakhra. The probables would undergo a camp from December 15 to January 4 in Hyderabad. Mr Gill announced that the National Hockey Championship would be held here from March 15 to 30. The 20 participating teams would be divided into four groups. He said Holland would be visiting India on February 2 to play three matches in Hyderabad on February 5, 6 and 8. “It would be an important event since our boys would get good exposure, especially the junior players. The visitors want to play only in Hyderabad because of the climate. During the matches, we want to try about 20-25 players, changing two or three for each match so that the junior national players get enough opportunity to exhibit their skills. This will be an important preparatory for the Olympic qualifiers,’’ he added. Mr Gill said the IHF general body meeting would also be held in Hyderabad in February. The following is the list of 25 probables selected: Kamal Deep Singh, Adrian D’Souza, Kutappa (goalkeepers), William Xalxo, Len Ayyappa, Sandeep Singh (full backs), Gurbaj Singh, V S Vinaya, Vivek Gupta, Arjun Halappa, Sandeep Kumar, Ignatius Tirkey, Bipin Fernandez, Baljeet Saini, Prabhdeep Singh (Midfielders), Hari Prasad, Tushar Khandekar, Adams Sinclair, Baljeet Dhillon, Rajpal Singh, Birendra Lakhra, Sandeep Michael, Dhanraj Pillai, Girish Pimpale (Forwards), Harpal Singh. Chief coach: Harendra Singh, Coaches: Clarence Lobo and Ramandeep Singh, GK Coach: A B Subbaiah, Trainer: Dr Saju Joseph. — UNI
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Gill confident BANGALORE:
Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) President K.P.S. Gill today exuded confidence that Jugraj Singh, recovering from fractures suffered in a road accident, would represent the country in the Athens Olympics in August next year. He told newspersons here that Jugraj, who is back in the country after undergoing multiple operations, was on physiotherapy treatment and might have to go back to the USA for another check up. However, much depended on his recovery over the next four to six weeks. “His X-rays and medical report will be sent to the doctors in the US for their advice,” he added. “Jugraj has strong determination and the US doctors also feel that it would help him return to the field soon. Even if he cannot play in the Olympic qualifiers, I am fully confident of Jugraj playing for the country in the Athens Olympics,” Mr Gill said.
— UNI
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Disciplinary panel meeting today to decide Kale’s fate
Kolkata, December 10 The three-member committee is headed by the board President Jagmohan Dalmiya and includes two Vice-Presidents, Kamal Morarka and Ranbir Singh Mahendra. Board sources here refused to spell out whether the committee would reach a final decision in the matter tomorrow itself or there would be more meetings. Generally, a disciplinary committee is given up to six months’ time to take a final decision on any matter referred to it but in this case the outcome is expected early. The sources, however, said the decision of the committee would be final and binding. The board had constituted the committee on December 5 after it received the report of the Inquiry Commissioner DV Subbar Rao, who had earlier been asked to look into the allegations of the two national selections, Kiran More (West) and Pranab Roy (East) that Kale had offered them Rs 10 lakh each in return for a place in the Australia-bound Indian team. Subba Rao, who is the chairman of the Bar Council of India, had found prima facie material to proceed further against Kale and referred his findings to the board for subsequent action. The inquiry report was based on Rao’s day-long hearing at Visakhapatnam on November 29 during which he heard Kale, More, Roy and another national selector Sanjay Jagdale. The board President has already suspended Kale on the basis of a complaint given to him by the two selectors when the bribery scandal hit the cricket establishment soon after the final of the tri-series. — PTI
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Aussies to be more aggressive in Adelaide
Adelaide, December 10 Waugh said his champion side lacked the “intensity” in the first Test at Brisbane but promised to unleash a more “aggressive” bowling against the visitors this time around. “As a side we were probably not as intense as I would have liked in the first Test,” Waugh told reporters here. “We lost momentum, there were rain interruptions and moments when India got away. If we could pull those little moments back, we would have been a better force... it has been a long time when we have lost such a succession of wickets. “But now we will revise our plans and do something different in this Test match,” he said. The ease with which the Indians handled the Australian pacemen is also causing worry to the skipper who admitted that the presence of Brad Williams in the Brisbane Test could have made a difference. We probably missed Brad Williams’ aggression in Gabba. Conditions there would have suited his kind of bowling. “The attack we had in Brisbane was not suited to bowling a lot of short-pitched stuff,” he said hinting that Williams could get his Test cap on Friday. Waugh said his decision not to over-use the short-pitched stuff in the Brisbane Test was taken considering the kind of bowlers he had at his disposal. “I said we should not overuse the short-pitched stuff because in order to do so, you had got to have the kind of pace of Brett Lee and Brad Williams,” Waugh said. “There was no way we could have done a lot of short-pitched bowling with the attack we had in Gabba.” The Australian captain felt bowling out the opposition twice was going to be tough for either teams given their sound batting strength. “Both sides are exceptionally strong in batting. It is going to be hard to take 20 wickets.” Although Waugh praised the Indians, he felt they had the better of conditions in Gabba. “It would have been far more difficult for India had they been on a wicket where the grass was a bit more greener and longer on day one and two. “Still credit to them. Their quick bowlers have three guys who can swing the ball. How many teams in the world have such an attack?” Waugh stressed he did not want technology to take over the game after the furore over Steve Bucknor’s leg before wicket ruling on Sachin Tendulkar. “His was not the only decision. There were three or four decisions which could have gone the other way. — PTI
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India have goods to challenge Aussies The biggest plus to emerge from the Brisbane Test is that the public in Australia as well as the media here will realise that Team India has got the goods to give the Australians a good fight even at home. As a member of the Australian team I can vouch for the fact that the players have a great deal of respect for the Indians, however, some articles that preceded the first Test suggested that the media was taking them a little lightly. What I saw of the Indian batting effort made me want to get back into action even more. I played a one-day game for New South Wales against Victoria last weekend, and starting Friday I will be playing a four-day match in the Pura Cup competition. Once I prove match fitness I should be ready for the Boxing Day Test. Coming back to Brisbane, the highlights for me were Ganguly’s superb show of temperament and talent on a difficult track, Tendulkar’s slight misfortune and Jason’s exceptional bowling. Many would feel that the Australian bowlers were struggling, but they were bowling with a wet ball at times, and that can be tough for fast bowlers. In my last article I had mentioned that too much should not be read into the poor show by some of the Indians in the warm-up game since they are the kind of players who reserve their best for the big game. It is interesting to see that some positive articles are now coming out about Ganguly in the Australian media, and quite obviously, the Indian captain’s ploy of letting the bat do the talking has worked. I also thought Zaheer was pretty special on the second day, when he generated some pace and achieved great consistency, a factor that is so crucial for success at the Gabba. However, the true test for the fast bowlers lies ahead of them in the Adelaide Test. If Gabba is fast bowlers’ territory, then the Adelaide Oval is batsman’s territory. It’s a flat wicket, so the new ball is really important here, and often, the team that uses the new ball better has won. The other factor that bowlers need to keep in mind is that line is extremely important here. The straight boundaries are long while the square boundaries are pretty short. So if a bowler offers width, cross-batted shots as well as cuts and pulls will be extremely productive. If there is one challenging wicket for the fast bowlers it’s the Adelaide Oval. The spinners might enjoy conditions a little more, as the pitch does deteriorate and keep low from the third day onwards. The teams move the Adelaide on a more even footing than at the start of the first Test, and full credit to India for ensuring that. The Australians also did themselves no harm by ending the Gabba Test on a strong note. Steve Waugh timed his declaration very well and even succeeded in putting some pressure on the Indians late on the final day.
— Gameplan |
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PCB suggests dates for India’s visit
Islamabad, December 10 Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officials said the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had yet to reply or confirm the tentative dates sent to them for the scheduled tour next year, the first full tour by an Indian team to Pakistan since 1989. “We have suggested the tour from February 26 to April 15 and seven one-dayers and three Tests are played with a few side matches. But we have not finalised the venues as yet,” a PCB official was quoted as saying in the media here today. — PTI
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Kandy, Sri Lanka, December 10 England, who started the match with only a three-man attack having dropped seamers Matthew Hoggard and Richard Johnson, broke through again with the second new ball in the 87th over, as James Kirtley trapped Chaminda Vaas lbw, to leave the match intriguingly poised. Sri Lanka skipper Hashan Tillakaratne found form after a disappointing first Test, batting out the final session to finish unbeaten on 45 from 97 balls. Kumar Dharmasena was one not out. Scoreboard Sri Lanka: Atapattu lbw Kirtley 11 Jayasuriya c Read b Giles
32 Sangakarra run out 34 Jayawardene c Kirtley b Giles 45 Dilshan c Trescothick b Flintoff
63 Tillakaratne not out 45 Samaraweera lbw Giles 3 Vaas lbw Kirtley
33 Dharmasena not out 1 Extras (b-1, lb-7, nb-2) 10 Total
(7
wkts, 90 overs) 277 Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-76, 3-84, 4-187, 5-201, 6-206, 7-270 Bowling: Kirtley 20-6-75-2, Flintoff 18-3-49-1, Giles 27-5-85-3, Collingwood 7-2-12-0, Batty 13-3-39-0, Vaughan 5-0-9-0
— Reuters |
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Yuvraj, Ratra in India ‘A’ squad Mumbai, December 10 Shiv Sunder Das, who led India ‘A’ in the three-match Test series against Sri Lanka ‘A’ at home, does not figure in the squad which will take on Pakistan ‘A’ and Sri Lanka ‘A’, the other two teams in the fray. The team: Hemang Badani
(capt), Gautam Gambhir, Sanjay Bangar, Mohammed Kaif, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Mongia, Rohan Gavaskar, Ajay Ratra (wicketkeeper), Murali
Kartik, Sairaj Bahutule, Mithun Manhas, Amit Bhandari, Siddharth
Trivedi, Munaf Patel and Sarandeep Singh. Coach: Sandeep Patil. — PTI |
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Yuvraj Singh enlivens Punjab reply New Delhi, December 10 Railways, who resumed
at 311 for four, could add only 79 runs today before being all out for
390 in 127.1 overs, 17 minutes after lunch. Gagandeep Singh, in his
searing spell, claimed four wickets for just 20 runs to clip the
Railways’ tail, though it was Amit Uniyal who provided the vital
breakthrough by getting rid of the dangerous Jaya Prakash Yadav and
Yere Goud. Yere Goud, who was not out on 5, was the first to go in
the morning when he snicked Amit Uniyal into the hands of wicketkeeper
Chandan Madan without adding to his score. Railways lost their fifth
wicket for the overnight score of 311. After the addition of two more
runs to the total, J.P. Yadav too was back in the pavilion. Yadav,
who resumed at 41, could add just one more run to his total when he
was caught plumb in front off a straight one by Amit Uniyal. Amit
Uniyal, who had suffered some heavy punishment yesterday, was able to
redeem his image with this two vital wickets. Then Gagandeep took over
to demolish the tail with Navdeep also contributing with one more
wicket. Punjab began their knock cautiously as Ravneet Ricky played
tentatively while Yuvraj Singh hammered the bowling. Ricky could not
survive for long and he was trapped lbw by Harvinder for 2, with the
Punjab total resting on 26. However, Yuvraj Singh and Dinesh Mongia
made light of the exit of Ricky to launch an onslaught on the
Railways’ bowlers to add 79 runs for the second wicket in about 20
overs.But when the partnership was flourising, Yuvraj Singh played
carelessly to sacrifice his wicket to S Khanolkar who cupped a nice
catch off his own bowling. Yuvraj’s quickfire 80 came off 81
minutes with 15 glorious boundaries. After the addition of 30 runs to
the total, Mongia too fell when Khanolkar held him at long-off, off
the bowling of Kulamani Parida. He made 33 off 103 balls with four
boundaries. Pankaj Dharmani was batting on 27 and Ritender Singh
Sodhi was not out on 13 at the draw of stumps. Brief Scores:
Railways (1st innings): 390 (Amit Pagnis 10, Sanjay Bangar 79, T.P.
Singh 168, J.P. Yadav 42, Siddarth Verma 25; Harvinder Singh 25,
Gagandeep Singh 5 for 61, Amit Uniyal 2 for 121, Navdeep Singh 2 for
53). Punjab (1st innings): 157 for 3 (Ravneet Ricky 2, Yuvraj Singh
80, Dinesh Mongia 33, Pankaj Dharmani batting 27, R S Sodhi batting
13; Harvinder Singh 1 for 15, K. Parida 1 for 49, Khanolkar 1 for 41). |
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Delhi salvage draw
against Punjab Patiala, December 10 Chasing an improbable target of 173 for an outright win, the Delhi batsmen nearly piped the hosts to the post but were thwarted in their designs in the final stretch by some impressive spin bowling by leggie Sandeep Sanwal and off spinner S.P Singh. Both tweakers bowled in tandem and picked up four wickets apiece conceding 30 and 32 runs, respectively, as the visitors ran out of steam and ended the match at 125 for 8 after giving Punjab the jitters early on in the innings. If the victory chase of the visitors was dramatic so was the hosts display in their second essay when they were all for a paltry 112. Barring a late charge by Sandeep Sanwal, who scored a typically aggressive run-a-ball 45, none of the batsmen applied themselves and they virtually threw their wickets in front of some pedestrian bowling. Once the hosts set up an 173 victory target, the frontline Delhi batsmen went on a rampage and at one stage it seemed they were sailing to victory before both Sanwal and S.P. Singh rocked their boat. Middle order batsman Agnesh Surya threatened to take the match out of the hosts hands till Sanwal tempted him with a flighted ball. Surya fell into the trap and responded with a huge heave which was brilliantly taken by the deep mid wicket fieldsman. Once Surya was back, Delhi called off their run chase and opted to play for a draw. Scores: Punjab (1st innings): 298 all out Delhi (1st innings): 237 all out Punjab (2nd innings):
112 all out (Sandeep Sanwal 45, Love Abhilesh 16, Amardeep Singh 11, Vivek Khurana 5 for 30, Yogesh Kumar 2 for 16, Sohail Sharma 3 for 15) Delhi (2nd innings): 125 for 8 (Agnesh Surya 49, Shikhar Dhawan 12, Rajeev Unniyal 22, S.Sanwal 4 for 30, S.P Singh 4 for 32). |
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Punjab games to be held in Patiala, says Randhir Chandigarh, December 10 Randhir Singh who was happy at the support provided by Pakistan in India’s bid for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Jamaica said, the sporting ties between the two countries would help relations to be more cordial. The eight disciplines in which competitions would be held are athletics, swimming, football, hockey, boxing, weightlifting, wrestling and kabaddi. Pakistan is already gearing up to hold the South Asian Federation (SAF) Games in March next year and they will hold discussions in this regard also when the Indian delegation visits Lahore for the January meeting. Randhir Singh said, President of the Pakistan Olympic Association Mohammed Latif Butt, who is also the Vice- President of the Olympic Council of Asia had been in constant touch with him in order to further explore the possibility of holding the games. When asked why Patiala was chosen, Randhir said the city had the best of sports facilities at the National Institute of Sports. The games would help in strengthening the ties between the two countries, he said. The 2004 Olympics are to be held in August , so the event is likely to be held in November. Meanwhile Mr K.S. Sidhu, secretary of the Punjab Olympic Association disclosed that the first National Youth Games which were to be held at Bangalore from January 4 have been postponed by a few months. He said, as per verbal communication received from the organisers, the annual examinations was the main reason as many states had expressed their inability to spare their players. |
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BSF lift football
trophy Nawanshahr, December 10 BSF, Jalandhar, were leading by 1-0 in the first half by virtue of the goal scored by Raghuvir Singh by penalty kick in the 30th minute of the match. Parminder Singh of Punjab Police scored the equaliser in the 7th minute of the second half. Afterwards, both teams could not score any goal in the stipulated time. Santosh Khujur of BSF scored a field goal in the fag end of the golden goal period to win the title for his team. While JCT, Phawara, was awarded with the Fairplay Trophy, Deepak Kumar of BSF, Jalandhar, Anwar of Punjab Police, Jalandhar, Jatinder Singh of Sikh National Sports Club, Banga, Baljinder Singh of JCT, Phagwara were adjudged best player, best Defender, best Scorer and Best Goalkeeper of the tournament, respectively. Besides, I.M. Vijayan, Arjuna awardee, Mr Gian Singh Dhadwad, former BSF coach, Mr Kirpal Singh, foorball coach, Mr Inder Singh, Arjuna awardee, Mr Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi, national football coach, Mr Balwinder Singh Rao, Mr. Satnam Singh Herian, UK based NRI, among others, were also honoured. |
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Tollygunge hold Mohun Bagan Kolkata, December 10 Plagued by the absence of skipper Renedy Singh and two others, the former title holders failed to cut any mark as Tollygunge adopted a defensive strategy, drawing the match to a tame draw before a sizeable crowd at the Salt Lake Stadium. Bagan, who earlier lost to Mahindra United, have four points from three outings while Tollygunge have three from as many matches. The green and maroon brigade did show signs of some urgency in the initial stage as a Hardip Gill long-ranger inched out in the opening minute before another hit the post to the relief of Tollygunge custodian Chinmoy Banerjee.
— PTI
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NFL could hit preparations, says coach New Delhi, December 10 Constanstine said he would have preferred to have a “sufficiently long camp” to finetune the players but was not sure whether it could be possible with most of the top players busy in the NFL. “I would have preferred a sufficiently long preparation camp for the team but I know I may have to make compromises due to the National Football League,” Constantine told PTI here. India, in group III, will meet Asian champions Japan, highly rated Oman and Singapore in home and away matches. Japan will host India on June 9 and the team coached by Brazilian superstar Zico would land in India next September to play the away match.
— PTI
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Punjab school players win basketball gold Amritsar, December 10 In handball (U-19) boys’ section, Panjab defeated Maharashtra 40-23. Supreet Singh and Dilbagh Singh scored 13 and 10 goals, respectively. In the girls’ section, Punjab beat Maharashtra 24-18. Mandip Kaur of Punjab was the highest scorer as she scored 10 goals. In the girls’ category basketball (U-19) Punjab overcame Maharashtra after an intense fight 45-43. Ashna of Punjab scored 31 goals. In basketball (U-17) boys’ section, Punjab again routed Maharashtra 71-47. Moga: Punjab dominated the second day’s proceedings of the 49th National School Games (hockey) for boys and girls under-17 at the Talwandi Bhai Government School stadium near here today. In the first match of the day, Punjab boys thrashed Maharashtra boys 6-1 after leading 5-0 at the breather. Punjab girls (under-17) thrashed Andhra Pradesh 4-0 in the second match of the day after leading 2-0 at half time. In the third match Punjab girls under-19 beat Maharashtra 3-0, after leading 1-0 at half-time. In the boys encounter, the first three goals were converted from penalty corners by full back Ravinder Singh in the fifth minute, by inside left Bachittar Singh in the 15th minute and by left winger Lakhvinder Singh in the 30th minute. The fourth was a field goal by Gagandeep Singh in the 35th minute. The lone Maharashtra goal was scored by centre forward Irshad Mirza in the 50th minute. However, Ravinder Singh again converted a penalty corner in the 55th minute and the sixth goal was a field goal by inside right Sarbdin Khan. In the girls under-17 encounter, Kirandeep Kaur, Bijinder Kaur, Priyanka Rani and Kirandeep Kaur led the Punjab team to victory agianst Andhra Pradesh. In the under-19 girls Rajni Bala, Puja Rani and Gurjeet Kaur shared the honours.
— UNI
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