 |
|
|
India
overcome New Zealand 2-0 Juniors make clean sweep of hockey series against Malaysia
IHF to launch
National Hockey League North Zone clinch Duleep Trophy
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Cricket
special trains on March 19, 22 JCT go down to Haywards in National Football League
South Eastern Railway, Kolkata, will clash with Eastern Railway in the final of the 60th All-India Railway Football Championship to be played at Rail Coach Factory stadium here tomorrow.
|
|
India overcome New Zealand 2-0
Madrid, March 8 India huffed and puffed while scoring a goal in each half to record their second win in four outings while collecting full three points. For India, Arjun Halappa (2nd) and Deepak Thakur (69th) were the scorers. Goalkeeper Devesh Chauhan was the hero of India's win as he brought off three stunning penalty corner saves out of a total of six. The Indians are now one step away from making it to the semifinals of the tournament which will also see them qualifying for the Athens Olympics. New Zealand dominated the match for most of the time and were distinctly unlucky. India now have seven points from four games with a game against Canada in hand. If they win against Canada, they will have ten points which wil be enough to send them to the semifinals. Knowing that a win was the only result that would keep the hope of qualifying for Athens alive, India went all out as the whistle blew and earned the breakthrough as Baljit Dhillon picked up the ball on the flank and sent it to Gagan Ajit Singh in the circle. Seeing a defender coming up, Gagan gave it to Arjun Halappa on the right in the circle who drew out the goalkeeper and flipped the ball over him for India's first goal in the second minute. New Zealand regrouped and made a few attacks which were kept out by the Indian forwards. Basic errors in the midfield led to the game getting muddled with the Kiwis enjoying more possession. A couple of moves by the Indians were sharp but the shots were not hard enough to really test the Kiwi goalkeeper Paul Woolford. Kanwalpreet Singh in the Indian defence was shaky and his overhead balls from the deep to the forwards always landed on a Kiwi stick which let them build up the attacks. Knowing that the startegy wasn't working, Kanwalpreet could have used the long ball and relayed it from the flanks but the Indians almost seemed totally out of ideas even though they were the better team. With around five minutes left in the first half, New Zealand earned two penalty corners but wasted them both by shooting far from the post. Just seconds before the lemon break, India earned their first penalty corner but Dilip Tirkey's hard shot was well saved. India’s errors continued in the deep defence where Kanwalpreet Singh was totally off colour. He always had the ball but decided to do too much and then always lost the ball where the Kiwis were always ready to convert it into penalty corners. New Zealand’s domination in the second half could be gauged from the fact that apart from three penalty corners, they also had two open chances in which they were unlucky. In such a desperate situation, Devash Chauhan became India's saviour. In the last game against Pakistan, he had let in four penalty corners but today he saved at least three to give India the much needed victory. After the Kiwis had wasted their sixth penalty corner, an Indian attack from the flank saw Prabhjot race in and give the ball to Gagan who seeing the goalkeeper advance, passed it to Deepak Thakur who was in front of an open goal. A smart tap by the latter sent the ball into the goal and India to seven points in pool B.
|
|
|
Canada hold Belgium 2-2 in hockey
Madrid, March 8 But the former America champions could not hold on to the lead for long as Belgium hit back to equalise. Both the teams squandered chances in the late stages of the game and had to be content with a point each. Belgium who were looking for a win to go to five points, now are on three after four matches with a match against Malaysia in hand. They would need to win that tie to have a chance of playing in the classification matches. Canada, with just one point after four matches, are virtually out of the reckoning for an Olympic place. Belgium took the lead in the 24th minute when Phillipe-Jean Brule converted a penalty corner with a powerful ground shot(1-0). Just when it looked that Belgium would now get a couple before the first half ended, Canada scored twice against the run of play. In the 30th minute, a stray ball in the circle saw Sean Campbell latch on to it with no Belgium defender marking him. A stinging shot beat the Belgian goalkeeper Cedric Degreve(1-1). Two minutes later, Rob Short sprinted into the Belgium circle and with no one marking him headed straight for goal but left with no choice, a Belgian defender stick-checked him with the umpire pointing for a penalty stroke. Canada converted and, to the surprise of all, lead 2-1. Belgium fought back and equalised in the 49th minute when Mike Dewer scored from a field attempt (2-2). Belgium could have got a match-winner but couldn't finish off their moves in the Canadian striking circle. Canada had a last second penalty corner to win the match but couldn't score off it. — UNI
|
|
|
Juniors make clean sweep of hockey Chandigarh, March 8 It was the first international played on the new synthetic surface at the stadium. Ninteen-year-old Kelvinder Singh, whose parents come from Mauli Baidwan, a village near here, was the toast of a small but knowledgeable crowd that watched the colts of two friendly nations play absorbing and exciting hockey. The visitors, down 2-6 midway in the second half, staged a splendid recovery and almost shared honours with the hosts in their last outing in India. On Saturday , the Malaysians had beaten Ramesh Hockey Academy XI 2-1 in a friendly match at Jalandhar. Malaysians had packed too many surprises for their opponents for the last encounter. Capitalising on a defence lapse, they not only went into the lead in the 50th second of the game but proved bey and doubt that their first goal was not a fluke by scoring a similar goal in the second half. This time they took just 25 seconds after hit-off to surprise the fragile Indian defence. Though the home team was superior and had better exchanges in the first half and a part of second half, it was Malaysians who held sway in the last stages of the game keeping the spectators on the edges of their seats with some brilliant moves and a plethora of goals. Though India clinched the series 4-0, many shortcomings in their game were obvious. The foremost and critical of these weaknesses have been failure of Indian players to perfect hitting, stopping and trapping. If Malaysians could score their first goal, it was because of a long rebound from defender Jatinder Pal Singh’s stick in exchange of swipes with Sandeep Singh. Malaysian forward Kelvinder picked the rebound and worked out an excellent move with T.G. Ahmad to surprise Andrian D’Souza in Indian goal. Shaken by the early reverse, Indians stormed back in the game, taking a comfortable 4-1 lead by the time teams were separated for lemon break. It was left winger Tushar Khandekar, who frequently swapped position with inside-left Hari Prasad, to account for India’s second and third goals after fullback Sandeep Singh had restored parity with a neat drag flick from the first of three penalty corners earned by the home team. Jatinder Pal did make amends for conceding the first goal by converting the second penalty corner in the fourth minute of the second half but from the third such award, Sandeep failed to beat Malaysian custodian with a rising flick. At one stage all four boys from the Chandigarh Hockey Academy — Sandeep Singh Sr, Sandeep Singh Jr, Ranjodh Singh and Sukhpal Singh — were tried. Sukhpal justified his inclusion with an opportunist goal a minute before the gong sounded for the breather. He again lent his magic touch to a defence splitting pass from Khandekar in the 45th minute to account for home team’s sixth and last goal. Malaysian coach Sarjit Singh, himself a veteran of many international matches, was pleased with the performance of his team. “We are here to learn and improve. Indian team is very good. Four of my boys are in Madrid playing for Malaysia in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament. A couple of my players are injured. Anyways they performed very well today,” he said. The Malaysians will fly off to Pakistan on Tuesday to play four Test matches there before returning home on March 15. The Governor of Punjab-cum-Administrator of Chandigarh, Justice O.P. Verma (retd), inaugurated the match while the Finance-cum-Sports Secretary of Chandigarh, Mr Karan A. Singh, gave away the prizes.
|
|
|
IHF to
launch National Hockey League in September New Delhi, March 8 IHF president KPS Gill, announcing the impending launch of the National League, said it will be the richest hockey event in the country, with a cash prize of Rs 71 lakh at stake. Individual prizes like man of the tournament, highest scorer, man of the match and fair play trophy will also be awarded. The league will be telecast live by ESPN Star Sports. Mr Gill said the League was intended to "generate interest and restore the mass base of hockey in the country, and it was expected to create a talent pool of around 200 players". Mr Gill said the National Hockey Championship and the Federation Cup had become a kind of "ritual", without serving any tangible purpose. But he asserted that there was no intention to scrap the National Championship, with the introduction of the League. The League will have city-based teams, with the top Indian players taking part. Mr Gill said Indian hockey's malaise has been a "lack of meaningful domestic competition, and top players were rarely seen in action". All that will hopefully change with the launch of the National League. Each team will be allowed to recruit five foreign players, though only four would be allowed to play at any given time. Mr Gill said the teams were free to recruit players from any part of the world, including Pakistan. The matches will be played on week-ends, under flood-lights, with an all-new format, seen for the first time in the world. The League will be played on a two-tier basis, with matches of Tier I being telecast live, while only highlights of Tier II matches will be beamed. The elite Tier I will have teams from Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Jalandhar and Hyderabad while Tier II will comprise of teams from Delhi, Chandigarh, Imphal, Lucknow, Ranchi or Kolkata. From the second year onwards, a system of relegation and promotion between the two tiers will be applied. Each team in Tier I and Tier II will play each other in the respective tier twice, and both the tiers will be played on a round-robin format. Each tier will have five teams, and 40 matches will be played in the first season. The League will be spread over two months. The IHF president said plans were afoot to brand the League with a logo and a unique identity. The League will be the testing ground for a lot of innovations and changes in rules. Elaborating, Mr Gill said there will be a progressive reduction in the number of players if the game goes in to extra time, like two players less in the first session, and another two players less in additional extra time. Each game will be of 70-minute duration, split into four quarters, instead of two halves. Each quarter will have 17 and a half minute of play to make the game "faster and TV-friendly". The concept of time-outs--strategic time-outs--like in basketball, will also be introduced. Each team will be allowed 2x2-minute time-out or 4x4-second time-out per match. The changes in the League format have been introduced with the objective of developing and popularising hockey, ensuring participation by top Indian and foreign players, improve the visibility of the game as well as the players to make hockey attractive to the people at large, as well as the Corporate houses. Indian hockey had been on the down slide ever since astro-turf was introduced in 1976. India, who won eight Olympic golds, including six on a trot, winning 24 consecutive matches between 1924 and 1956, had been struggling to qualify for the Olympics in recent times. And of the 24 Champions Trophy competitions played since 1978, India qualified only nine times, and finished among medals just once--in 1982. Mr Gill hoped that the League "will propel an era of professionalism in hockey and provide thrilling entertainment to fans". He said changes have been made in the League "with a long-term vision to popularise the game, developing existing talent and discover fresh talent". Mr Gill said the matches will be played at some of the best turfs in the country at Chandigarh, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore where the grounds have floot-lighting facilities. Mr R C Venkateish of ESPN Star Sports said it will play the key role of marketing, producing and broadcasting the league for the next ten years. |
|
|
North Zone clinch Duleep Trophy Chandigarh, March 8 “Yuvraj Singh was the difference between the two teams,” conceded a modest East Zone skipper Debang Gandhi,” after the match. Yuvraj Singh, India one-day batsman, achieved a rare distinction as he scored two sparkling centuries in the match. North Zone did not have to strain much for the victory. After setting a target of 409 runs for East Zone, it was only at the time when Kiran Powar was batting first with Rohan Gavaskar and then with Sourashish Lahiri that North Zone skipper Dinesh Mongia might have felt concerned. East Zone, in fact, were in a strong position at this stage and could have given North a fright. But seamer Amit Bhandari first got rid of Gavaskar and then off-spinner Sarandeep Singh sent back Lahiri to make things easier for North. Gavaskar was batting well and one short of his fifty when he was out. Though a stubborn Lahiri scored 27, he was at the wicket for nearly 100 minutes. East Zone suffered a big setback when Mongia accounted for skipper Gandhi. Introduction of part time spinner Mithun Manhas proved decisive. Manhas, at best a part time slow bowler, castled in-form batsman S.S. Das. Manhas surprised everyone present there when the Delhi batsman sent back well-entrenched Kiran Powar. The left-handed Powar had made an impressive century in the previous innings and could have proved to be a stumbling block for North. But Manhas cut short Powar’s dogged innings when the batsman was batting well and in sight of his second century of the match. Powar contributed 97 runs. L.R. Shukla and Mohanty offered some resistance, but that was not enough as North Zone finally coasted home by 59 runs. There was jubilation all round when Mohanty hit a Bhandari delivery straight into the hands of Manhas as the innings folded at 349. “It was pretty disappointing,” Gandhi said after the match, adding candidly that “Yuvraj made the difference between the two side,” “We could not finish it in the end,” he stated. Praising North Zone bowlers Gandhi observed that they bowled in the right areas. Asked about the crucial blows dealt by Manhas, he replied “Manhas bowled right line and length.” Gandhi, however, drew consolation from the fact that East Zone played well as a team. He appreciated the efforts of pace spearhead S.S. Paul, saying that the seamer bowled with hostility and regularly took wickets. North Zone (1st innings): 330 East Zone (1st innings): 322 North Zone (IInd innings): A Chopra c sub (Vasant) b Lahiri 95, G Gambhir b Lahiri 9, Yuvraj c Dhoni b Paul 148, Mongia b Chatterjee 48, Manhas lbw Chatterjee 11, Ratra a A Das b Chatterjee 2, Joginder Sharma c Dhoni b Paul 25, Sarandeep c & b Chatterjee 2, Gagandeep b Mohanty 19, Nehra c Dhoni b Mohanty 17, Bhandari not out 2. Extras (b 8, lb 2, nb 12): 22 Total ( all out in 105 overs): 400 Fall of wickets: 1-30, 2-260, 3-278, 4-292, 5-315, 6-335, 7-341, 8-367, 9-385 Bowling: S S Paul 23-4-108-2, Debashish Mohanty 13-3-44-2, Sourashish Lahiri 33-2-128-2, Utpal Chatterjee 27-7-63-4, Kiran Powar 6-0-34-0, Rohan Gavaskar 2-0-4-0, Debang Gandhi 1-0-9-0. East Zone (IInd innings): A Das lbw Sarandeep 35, M S Dhoni c Yuvraj b Gagandeep 60, K Powar c Mongia b Manhas 97, R Gavaskar c Ratra b Bhandari 49, S Lahiri c Mongia b Sarandeep 27, D Gandhi c Ratra b Mongia 9, S S Das b Manhas 0, L R Shukla c Nehra b Bhandari 17, U Chatterjee c Gagandeep b Manhas 0, D Mohanty c Manhas b Bhandari 26, S S Paul not out 0. Extras ( b 6, lb 9, nb 14): 29 Total ( all out in 106.5 overs): 349 Fall of wickets:
1-77, 2-116, 3-200, 4-264, 5-284, 6-286, 7-311, 8-313, 9-335. Bowling: A Nehra 15-3-44-0, A Bhandari 18.5-1-71-3, Joginder 13-1-60-0, Gagandeep 10-1-44-1, Sarandeep 27-1-71-2, D Mongia 13-3-29-1, M Manhas 10-3-15-3. |
|
Murali bags six as Aussies slump
Galle, March 8 Muralitharan ripped through Australia's batting to finish with figures of six for 59 from 21.3 overs, taking his career tally to 491 wickets in his 86th Test. Australian middle order batsman Darren Lehmann provided the main resistance on his return to the national side after an Achilles injury with a battling 63. Lehmann added 72 for the fourth wicket with Damien Martyn (42) and a useful 53 for the seventh wicket with fellow returnee Warne (23). Australia's hopes of building a big total were dashed when they suffered a mid-afternoon collapse, losing three wickets for 15 runs, and then a dramatic post-tea slump during which the last four wickets fell for five runs in the space of 13 balls. Sri Lanka openers Sanath Jayasuriya (35) and Marvan Atapattu (29 not out) then added 53 for the first wicket before Jayasuriya missed a sweep and was Score board Australia (1st innings): Langer c Sangakkara
Hayden c Chandana
Ponting st Sangakkara b
Martyn c Jayawardene
Lehmann b Murali 63 Symonds c Jayawardene
Gilchrist c Dharmasena
Warne c Sangakkara
Gillespie not out 4 Kasprowicz b Murali 1 MacGill lbw b Murali 0 Extras
(b-3, lb-6) 9 Total (all out, 68.3 overs) 220 Fall of wickets:
1-31, 2-62, 3-76, 4-148, 5-153, 6-163, 7-215, 8-219, 9-220. Bowling:
Vaas 12-2-39-1, Dharmasena 20-4-52-2, Muralitharan 21.3-5-59-6, Chandana 14-1-59-1, Jayasuriya 1-0-2-0. Sri Lanka (Ist innings): Atapattu not out 29 Jayasuriya lbw b Warne 35 Sangakkara not out 16 Extras (b-1) 1 Total
(1 wicket, 22 overs) 81 Fall of wicket: 1-53 Bowling:
Gillespie 6-1-15-0, Kasprowicz 6-1-18-0, Warne 5-0-17-1, Symonds 3-0-20-0, MacGill 2-0-10-0.
— Reuters |
|
Cricket special trains on
March 19, 22 New Delhi, March 8 For the remaining three one-day internationals (ODIs), the existing bi-weekly Samjhauta Express, running between Amritsar and Attari, will be augmented by two additional coaches, he said on the sidelines of a book release function. The special trains will leave the Old Delhi Railway station on March 19 and 22 at 9.50 pm and will reach Amritsar at 6.30 am and Attari at 7.10 am the following day. The passengers, after disembarking at Attari, will board a Pakistani rake for going to Lahore where the two ODIs are scheduled. The decision to run the special trains was taken following confirmation from the Pakistani authorities to accept passengers of the cricket special trains, Mr Singh said. |
|
JCT go down to Haywards in National Football League Ludhiana, March 8 The fiercely-contested encounter, truly a thrilling experience for the large holiday crowd, saw the mill men matching Haywards move for move. However, the Goan outfit, who had registered an upset 4-1 win over JCT in their home match at Margao on December 5, provided the first shock in the second minute through right-winger Jerose Oliveira. With JCT expected to go all out against the debutants, particularly in view of the earlier setback, the Punjab outfit appeared to be in control in the first session. Except for goalkeeper Mansuru Mohammed’s lethargic display under the bar, as also a couple of errors in the defence, the team maintained its composure despite heightened tension in the second half, which witnessed red card bookings for JCT’s Musa Aliu and stopper back Aniweta Louis of Haywards. However, what was really shocking was the conduct of JCT stopper back Musa Aliu following the red card booking. Having been given the marching orders after his altercation with Aniweta, Musa adopted a threatening posture even as his coaches, Sukhwinder Singh and Parminder Singh asked him to leave the ground. Finally he was escorted out by security officials. The match was off to an explosive start when Haywards’ right winger Jerose Oliveira raced in from the flanks, dodged JCT defender Daljit Singh before side-stepping goalkeeper Mansuru Mohammed to put the ball calmly in the net (1-0). JCT hit back with counter-attacks and had a golden opportunity in the tenth minute when the diminutive Baldeep Singh raced down the centre before relaying the ball to an onrushing Harvinder Singh. However, despite an empty goal in front, Harvinder fumbled in finding the target. The pressure mounted by JCT eventually bore fruit in the 16th minute. Following a flurry of attacks, Baldeep aimed a powerful shot but the ball bounced back into play before Harvinder capitalised on the rebound to shoot home (1-1). With honours even in the first half, the battle resumed with all ferocity in the second session. The induction of Joe Paul Ancheri sharpened the JCT attack but on the run of play, Haywards stunned the boisterous crowd into silence with the second lethal strike. A loose ball near the goal-line was allowed to go out of play by JCT goalkeeper Mansuru Mohammed who had all the time to effect a clearance. The resultant flag kick saw Abdulatif Seriki leaping high for a header and the ball sailed in leaving the defence dazed (2-1). A few minutes later Mansuru Mohammed once again fumbled in collecting the ball off a cross from the right and Seriki standing inside the box shot into the net (3-1). The match was temporarily halted when JCT's Musa Aliu and Haywards' Aniveta Louis were given the marching orders following an altercation when the Punjab outfit were awarded a corner. Thereafter JCT initiated several brilliant moves. First Bibiano Fernandes effected a goal-line save after the goalkeeper was beaten and then IM Vijayan's long ranger missed the target. In injury time, Vijayan's well-directed header off a throw-in by Daljit saw Haywards goalkeeper Felix D'Souza making a neat collection. In the dying minutes, a powerful left footer by JCT medio Ram Pal was effectively punched over by D'Souza leaving the mill men frustrated. It was JCT's fourth defeat in 14 outings. |
|
SER, ER
in football final Kapurthala, March 8 In the first semifinal today, South Eastern Railway (SER) Kolkata defeated South East Central Railway (SECR) by 5-4 in the tiebreaker. Both the teams drew goalless till the end of the game. In extra time Sazid of SECR missed a golden opportunity to score when he missed a penalty. In the second semifinal, Eastern Railway (ER) beat Western Railway 3-1. Roshan opened the account for his team in the 22nd minute through a beautiful goal but D. Mazumdar equalized in the 53rd minute. Thereafter ER dominated the game and scored the second goal through Farid Ali in the 89th minute and A. Biswas enhanced the lead for the winners in the 90th minute. WR Vinoi was shown the red card by the referee for committing a foul and the team played with nine players. |
|
|
Mahesh-Santoro
duo wins Dubai title Dubai, March 8 Bhupathi and Santoro captured their second title as a pair in as many outings as the duo added the Dubai crown to the Auckland title they clinched in January. Paes and Bhupathi teamed up to win the doubles titles at the 1999 and 2001 French Opens as well as the 1999 Wimbledon crown before they decided to split up. The two, famously called the ‘Indian Express’, still play together in Davis Cup and will lead the country’s challenge in the 2004 Athens Olympics.
|
|
|
Wrestling
meet Phagwara, March 8
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | National Capital | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
In
video (
