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Olympic Qualifying Tournament Pak skipper confident of clinching berth Bowlers’ fitness key to success, says Borde 21st successive Test defeat for
Bangladesh North in sight of victory
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India-Pak golf ties to be revived Protest against DD for neglecting football Anjali finishes 6th
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Olympic Qualifying Tournament New Delhi, February 23 Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) president K.P.S. Gill, who is also the chairman of the selection committee, read out names of the players after watching the practice match. A notable omission is mercurial forward Dhanraj Pillay, who, according to Mr Gill, expressed his desire not to be considered for selection as he was not fully fit. Dhanraj had injured his knee while scoring the second goal against Australia in the Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament in Malaysia a few weeks back. He was the captain of the team for the Azlan Shah Tournament. The team is: Goalkeepers: Devesh Chauhan and Bharat Chettri. Full backs: Dilip Tirkey (captain), Kanwalpreet Singh and William Xalxo. Half-backs: Ignace Tirkey, Bimal Lakra, Vikram Pillay, Viren Rasquinha, Len Aiyappa and Baljit Singh Saini. Forwards: Gagan Ajit Singh, Baljit Singh Dhillon, Prabhjot Singh, Arjun Halappa, Sandeep Michael, Tejbir Singh and Deepak Thakur. Officials: Rajinder Singh (chief coach), Baldev Singh, A S Subbaiah, Sampath Kumar and Krishnamurthi (manager). There are eight players in the squad who were members of the team for the Azlan Shah Cup. Chief coach Rajinder Singh said this was the best possible team under the given situation. The Indian team will leave for Madrid via Mumbai on Tuesday night. India have been placed in Pool B alongwith Belgium, Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand and Pakistan. Group A comprises of Britain, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and South Africa. India take on Belgium in the opening match on March 2 at 6 p.m. (IST). In other matches, India meet Malaysia on March 4 at 4 p.m., Pakistan on March 6 at 4 p.m.; New Zealand on March 8 at 2 p.m. and Canada on March 9 at 12 noon. Mr Gill said Dhanraj was not considered on fitness ground, but the player lingered around for a while after receiving his mementos, including a watch, for being part of the Republic Day tableaux mounted by the Union Sports Ministry. The other hockey player in the float was Gagan Ajit Singh. “Dhanraj is not in the team because of lack of fitness. He himself withdrew from the fray as he was not satisfied with his fitness”, Mr Gill explained. Dhanraj played in the practice match but looked out of sorts. Mr Gill said today’s selection trial was a formality as the probables had been shortlisted on February 19 at the coaching camp in Gurgaon. Rajinder Singh said the deficiencies noticed during the Test series against Holland in Hyderabad early this month were addressed to at the coaching camp. He said the penalty corner department, field goal scoring and mid-field were the grey areas witnessed the Test series. He said the defence was improving and there has been marked improvement in other areas as well. “We will definitely qualify for the Olympic Games,” Rajinder asserted. He said the team were well-prepared to make up for the absence of players like Jugraj Singh and Dhanraj Pillay. Len Aiyappa and Baljit Singh Dhillon had worked on their “drag flick” skills while Dilip Tirkey will be the other key player in penalty corner conversion. Rajinder said he would take all the matches seriously, including the one against Belgium as he firmly believes that “never take the European teams lightly”. |
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Pak skipper confident of clinching berth
Karachi, February 23 Pakistan, three-time Olympic gold medallists and four-time world champions, have slumped desperately over the past three years and have failed to win a major title anywhere. They finished worst ever fourth in the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea and also failed to win the Asia Cup last year. But Nadeem believes Pakistan’s runners-up finish in the prestigious Sultan Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia last month bodes well for the March 2 to 13 Olympic qualifying campaign. “We are well prepared and with our runners-up finish at the Azlan Shah hockey event last month I feel we are on track for winning the Olympic qualifying event,” Nadeem said as Pakistan left here Monday. “Whatever has happened is behind us and with a new coach we have shown signs of improvement and will do our best to regain our Olympic title,” said Nadeem, an inspirational forward. The top six teams at Madrid will earn a berth for the Olympics in August. The 12th team at the Olympics will either be the seventh qualifier, or Greece who have appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to get an Olympic berth as hosts. Five teams have already qualified for the Athens Olympics on account of winning the continental championships with South Korea as Asian champions, Australia as Oceania Champions, Argentina (Americas), Germany (Europe) and Egypt (Africa). Pakistan is pitted alongside arch-rival India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Belgium and Canada while reigning Olympic champions the Netherlands, Great Britain, Spain, Japan, South Africa and Poland are in the other group. Former captain Mohammad Sarwar, recalled in the squad, and Adnan Maqsood would travel to Spain later in couple of days due to visa problems. Pakistan team: Muhammad Nadeem (captain), Ahmed Alam, Salman Akbar, Ali Raza, Sohail Abbas, Zeeshan Ashraf, Ghazanfar Ali, Muhammad Saqlain, Dilawar Husain, Wasim Ahmed, Adnan Maqsood, Rehan Butt, Mudassar Ali Khan, Kashif Jawwad, Shabbir Husain, Shakil Abbasi, Muhammad Sarwar, Salim Khalid. —AFP
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Bowlers’ fitness key to success, says Borde
Mumbai, February 23 Borde said the wickets in Pakistan would be similar to the ones we have here but with off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, leggie Anil Kumble and left-arm seamers Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra nursing injuries, there would be some concern in the Indian camp before the important tour coming after a gap of 14 years. But he said India can look up to their new crop of fast bowlers who proved their potential Down Under. “The most heartening aspect of the Australian tour was the emergence of two new seamers in Irfan Pathan and Lakshmipathy Balaji, who shouldered the responsibility after their seniors — Zaheer, Nehra and Ajit Agarkar — were sidelined with injuries,” Borde told PTI in an interview. On the chances of the two teams in the goodwill tour, Borde said ultimately the game will be the winner. “I really don’t like to predict the outcome of the tour but I can tell one thing for sure that the biggest winner would be the game itself as millions of people all over the world are eagerly looking forward to his tour,” said Borde, the only Indian to have toured Pakistan as a player (1954-55) and manager (1989). “The Indians are back from a morale-boosting tour of Australia, the top team in the world. It is also an open secret that the Indians have a very strong batting line-up which can be compared with the best in the business,” said Borde, who played in 55 Tests and scored 3061 runs for an average of 35.59. “On the other hand, Pakistan’s batting is not so formidable as most of them are new but their bowling looks very impressive though short on experience. I do not think the current crop of bowlers can be compared with the likes of Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis or Aquib Javed,” he said. “The wickets, which will be slow and with low bounce, will play an important role as well and the Indians, particularly Rahul Dravid and V V S Laxman, who were in great form in Australia, would be very difficult to dislodge. On India’s preparations, Borde felt the need for a short duration camp. “A short camp (one-week) would be very helpful as the players can get used to the low bounce and slowness of the wickets. “I know the players are exhausted after the Australian tour but it is better to be prepared for the eventualities before a very important tour,” he said. Borde, however, was not impressed with the Pakistan crowds and said “the crowds over there are partisan. We find that kind of crowd even in India and once the tour kicks off and the Indians start doing well, I think things will settle down”. “With both the teams having some top cricketers in the world, everybody will be keen to see them in action as Pakistani fans have not seen any of the Indians (except Sachin Tendulkar) in action and the same can be said about the Indian fans as well,” Borde said. He said the youngsters in the two camps would be hoping to show their skills in the coming series. “Everybody knows that the Indo-Pak series brings the best out of their respective players and the atmosphere will be really charged up. The players who do well become national heroes so there is lot at stake for players and for the fans. “It is bound to be a very closely fought as the teams have some very talented youngsters who will be eager to show-case their talent,” he said. “The youngsters in the Pakistan team will be more enthusiastic to prove themselves and cement their place in the team while our youngsters would be looking forward to grab opportunity with both hands as and when it comes their way,” he added. “When I toured Pakistan as a player, under the captaincy of Vinoo Mankad, and then as manager of Krishnamachari Srikkanth led team, the series were drawn. I hope the current team will come back victorious.” — PTI
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21st successive Test defeat for Bangladesh
Harare, February 23 The left-armer finished with four for 61 as the visitors were skittled for 169 in their second innings. Bangladesh, who made 331 in the first innings, have lost a record 21 tests in a row, while it was Zimbabwe’s first victory in 14 games. Their last success came against the same opponents in November 2001 in Chittagong. Former captain Khaled Mashud, batting at eight, top-scored for Bangladesh with a fighting 61, his highest Test score which included nine fours and a six. The visitors had resumed on 25 for five — they had been 14 for five at one stage on Sunday after a hat-trick from fast bowler Andy Blignaut — and Rajin Saleh and debutant Manjural Islam Rana batted sensibly to put on 67. But Saleh then tried to heave left-arm spinner Price over mid-wicket and was easily stumped by wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu for 47. Price struck again when Islam Rana top-edged a sweep to Trevor Gripper at square leg to depart for 31. Lunch was taken when Tapash Baisya, on two, edged Price on to his pad and into the hands of Gavin Ewing at silly mid-off. Price had taken three for 39 from 13.1 overs in the morning. The ninth wicket fell in the third over after lunch when Mohammad Rafique smashed a return catch to Ewing, giving the off spinner his first Test wicket. Scoreboard Zimbabwe (1st innings) 441 Bangladesh (1st innings) 331 Zimbabwe (2nd innings) 242-8 decl Bangladesh (2nd innings) (target: 353; overnight: 25-5) Sarkar lbw b Blignaut 10 Hossain lbw b Hondo 1 Bashar lbw b Hondo 0 Saleh st Taibu b Price 47 Ashraful c sub (Friend)
Rahman c Taibu b Blignaut 0 Islam Rana c Gripper b Price 31 Mashud st Taibu b Price 61 Baisya c Ewing b Price 2 Rafique c and b Ewing 5 Islam not out 1 Extras
(b-5 lb-1 nb-5) 11 Total (all out, 57.5 overs) 169 FoW:
1-12 2-14 3-14 4-14 5-14 6-81 7-110 8-112 9-123. Bowling: Blignaut 4-1-12-3 (nb-2), Hondo 12-3-24-2 (nb-1), Ervine 12-3-34-0, Price 20.5-3-61-4 (nb-2), Ewing 8-3-27-1, Gripper 1-0-5-0. —
Reuters |
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North in sight of victory
Gurgaon, February 23 Test opener Aakash Chopra was batting on two with Gautam Gambhir yet to open his account. That left the hosts needing another 115 runs to win with a full day’s remaining to clinch a crucial win. Resuming at 22 for no loss, Central were soon in doldrums after losing half their side for 86. Delhi pacer Amit Bhandari (3-56) and Haryana’s Joginder Sharma (3-43) ransacked the Central top order whose batsmen were found wanting in application on a pitch that was keeping low in bounce. Vineet Saxena (51) and Naman Ojha (35) then gave some respectability to Central’s total through a 61-run association for the sixth wicket. But Vishal Bhatia gave North the vital breakthrough by having Ojha caught by Gambhir. Scoreboard Central Zone (1st innings): 154 North Zone (1st innings): 249 Central Zone (2nd innings): S Bangar bGagandeep Singh 16, G Khoda c ratra b Bhndari 11, R Prakash c Ratra b Bhandari 9, D Bundela b Joginder Sharma 9, J P Yadav LBW b Joginder Sharma 20, V Saxena b Gagandeep Singh 51, N Ojha c Gambhir b Bhatia 35, M Kartik LBW b Joginder Sharma 11, K Parida c Ratra b Bhandari 2, S Pandey b Gagandeep Singh 11, N Hirwani not out 4. Extras: (b-22, lb-9, w-1) 32. Total: (all out in 93.1 overs): 211. Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-31, 3-44, 4-79, 5-86, 6-147, 7-171, 8-180, 9-206. Bowling: Amit Bhandari 23-5-56-3, Gagandeep Singh 17.1-7-19-3, Joginder Sharma 24-7-43-3, Sarandeep Singh 19-3-47-0, Vishal Bhatia 9-5-15-1, Dinesh Mongia 1-1-0-0. North Zone (2nd innings): A Chopra batting 2, G Gambhir batting 0. Extras: 0 Total: No loss in one over) 2. Bowing: Yadav 1-0-2-0.
— PTI |
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Hottest tennis couple triumphs on same day
Brussels, February 23 They will be back there in April too, for a good-humoured “love match”. Last year, before their official engagement, they already won the Indian Wells titles on the same day. Yesterday, Clijsters flashed her diamond engagement ring which went perfectly with the Antwerp trophy racket which has 1,702 diamonds encrusted in four kilograms of gold. “It is one of the most beautiful trophies of the year,” she said.
Unlike Hewitt, Clijsters had an easy match. She beat Italian veteran Silvia Farina Elia 6-3, 6-0 in the final yesterday to clinch her second title in as many weeks. It was her 21st overall - to go with her upcoming 21st birthday, she said. And it proved she is back after an ankle injury affected her Australian campaign in January. She lost to fellow Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne in the Australian Open final, but bounced back with back-to-back wins in Paris and Antwerp.
— AP
Coria pips Moya BUENOS AIRES: Home hope Guillermo Coria lived up to his billing as top seed by dismissing defending champion Carlos Moya of Spain in straight sets to win the $ 380,000 ATP tournament here on Sunday. The 22-year-old Coria came away the 6-4, 6-1 winner against two-time champion Moya, seeded second here, and in the process claimed his first title of the season and seventh since turning professional four years ago. It was sweet revenge for the Argentine who lost in the final here last year to former Roland Garros champion Moya. This time out Coria made no mistake and did not let the 27-year-old Moya get a look in as he raced to victory in 73 minutes.
— AFP |
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Liberhan ousts Ghouse in
ITF meet New Delhi, February 23 Liberhan, who last week won a title here, conceded five games to Mustafa Ghouse before emerging 6-3, 6-2 winner. China’s Yu-Xin Yuan reduced the Indian
challenge as he defeated Sharan Divij in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. In the doubles, four Indians paired moved into the second round while three crashed out. Mustafa Ghouse and Vishal Uppal overpowered Polish pair of Filip Aniola and Filip Urban in three sets 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4. Shivang Mishra and Gurmehar waged a grim battle before overcoming Patrick Schmolzer(Aut) and Norikazu Sugiyama (Jap) 7-5, 1-6, 7-6(5). Kamal Kannan and Sridhar Vinod ousted Bulgarian duo of Todor Enev and Yordon Kanev 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-2.
— UNI |
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Tiger Woods dazzles in final round
Los Angeles, February 23 While he finally found his game following a month-long layoff after the season-opening Mercedes Championships, what remains unclear is whether Woods can sustain the improvement over four rounds. “Yes, isn’t that amazing,” Woods responded wryly when asked about playing well with the pressure off. “Today, I hit the ball closer to the cup and made a few putts. More importantly, I hit my irons better.” Woods had a similar muddling performance at the Buick Invitational last week and finished tied for 10th, his worst showing at the event in seven career starts. At the start of Sunday’s final round, Woods was again in danger of having his worst-career finish at a particular event. “I set myself a goal of either getting into the top 10 or, failing that, build some positive momentum going into next week considering we might not be able to play many practice rounds,” Woods said. Woods now travels down the west coast for the World Golf Championship-Accenture Match Play Championship, an event, like last week’s Buick Invitational, where he enters as the defending champion. “Match play is a totally different element,” Woods said. “Your approach play can be poor but if you make putts and put pressure on your opponent, you can wear him down that way. “Or you could go out there and simply play perfectly good solid golf and put a lot of pressure on your opponent that way. “That’s the method I prefer to adopt of the two.” — Reuters
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India-Pak golf ties to be revived Karachi, February 23 “Pakistan and India used to play for the Kirlosker Trophy initiated in 1992 but after three tours from Pakistan and two by India the series was halted,” Pakistan Golf Federation
(PGF) president Lieutenant General Mohammad Tariq told AFP. “With both countries on the talks table and cricket about to be revived we hope that golf would once again be on the greens,” the general said. Four Indian golfers participated in Pakistan’s national championship held here from February 19-22. The visit was the first by Indian golfers for seven years. “The Indian golfers were here for nearly a week and enjoyed their stay without any security fears so why not make it an annual event,” General Tariq said. The PGF chief also hoped that Pakistan would propose that golf be included in the South Asian Federation Games due to be held in Islamabad from March 29 to April 7 this year. Indian captain Jaideep Parwardhan called his visit “memorable” and said Indian golfers will do their part to revive the golf series between the two countries. Amateur golfers from Bangladesh, India, Iran, Sri Lanka and hosts Pakistan competed in the championship, with the individual title won by Sri Lankan Lalith Kumara.
— AFP |
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Protest against DD for neglecting football
Kolkata, February 23 Led by East Bengal coach Subhas Bhowmik and former footballer Surojit Sengupta, soccer lovers supporting all colours and hues gathered to lend their solidarity to the demonstration. Hundreds of people smeared in red-gold, green-maroons and black-white waited patiently with placards ‘’don’t neglect football’’, ‘’we want to see our players live on the screen’’ etc. Bhowmik said it was indeed sad and painful that India’s world cup qualifying match against Singapore was not shown live on Doordorshan. Even the deferred telecast was shown much later, he lamented. ‘’This is not the first time. Many such important matches go unseen on Doordarshan,’’ he added. ‘’There is no reason to push football to such a back corner that it almost remains invisible. I praise the spontaneous response from the people and it increases our responsibility,’’ Surojit Sengupta, also one of the organisers said. Speaking on the occasion IFA secretary Subroto Dutta said, ‘’This is a great movement and for the benefit of football. We are there along with the soccer lovers and hope we will only go forward from here.’’ Former India national Subroto Bhattacharya said IFA should have taken up the cause much before and so should have the politicians. Padma Shree Chuni Goswami and Padma Shree Sailen Manna voiced their solidarity with the movement and said it will bring a new age and life to soccer in Bengal and India. Executive Editor of vernacular daily ‘Aajkal’ Ashok Dasgupta was also present on the occasion. A host of dignitaries from Tollywood and the music world like Indranil Sen, Saikat Mitra and veteran cinestar Dilip Roy joined forces. Among the current footballers Debjit Ghosh, Malswama Tulunga, Dipak Mondal, Dippendu Biswas and Bijen Singh were present on the occasion. Over a thousand people gave their signatures in support of the movement for more exposure of football on television. Doordarshan Director Pankaj Saha accepted the memorandum and said, ‘’Its not that Doordarshan was apathetic to football, but there were several bottlenecks many of which were related to economics that had to be sorted out. I will send the papers to Delhi and we can only hope for the best.’’ — UNI
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New Delhi, February 23 But the 34-year-old CISF officer, winner of five World Cup medals managed only 101.7 in the final to go out of the medal bracket with a total of 499.7. World record holder Suma Shirur, who shot a perfect 400/400 in the Asian Shooting Championships in Kuala Lumpur earlier this month, disappointed with a below par 394 to finish 18th while Deepali Deshpande shot 393 and finished 21st, according to information received here today. Both Suma and Deepali had grabbed an Olympic quota place in the recent Asian Shooting Championships. In the MQS category, Pournima Zanane scored 399/400. Meanwhile, Sushma Rana, sister of Jaspal Rana, bettered her own national record in 25m sport pistol event. She shot 582 out of the possible 600 in the preliminary round and went on to end with a total of 683.2 (582 + 101.2) to finish fifth. Her previous records were 571 and 667.5. In the men’s section, Abhinav Bindra missed the final in air rifle due to bad health and ended ninth with a score of 595/ 600. Gagan Narang shot 591 to end 25th and Sandeep Tarate ended 35th with a score of 587. — PTI
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