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Sriram’s unbeaten ton rescues India A
Mahajan takes a dig at Pawar
BCCI, Zee argue over Board’s status |
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India keen to maintain momentum
Namdhari XI ground IA, move into semifinal
WFI chief hails Dutt's efforts
ATP, WTA Tour events to stay
PSB, PNB to clash in final
Associate Banks move
Collage Group beat Yadav Academy
Red tape hampers NIS functioning
Delhi, Haryana girls in final
Amandeep records easy win
Patiala eves in semis
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Sriram’s unbeaten ton rescues India A
Bangalore, September 28 But the hero of the day was Sridharan Sriram who cracked an unbeaten 110 as India A, led by Dinesh Mongia, ended the first day on a respectable 282 for seven in 90 overs at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Zaheer, who bowled well at the recent Irani Cup, continued his good work dismissing opener Dheeraj Jadhav (8), and then sent back Venugopal Rao (36) and wicketkeeper-batsman M S Dhoni (0) off successive balls to finish with a tally of three for 38. Irfan Pathan picked up two wickets — Gautham Gambhir (45) and Mohammed Kaif (31) — in the first over after lunch, while Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh took a wicket each. Electing to bat, India ‘A’ were in a spot at 106 for four before Sriram, who batted with confidence, pulled his side out of trouble. He put on 91 runs for the fifth wicket with Rao and 58 runs for the seventh with Murali Kartik (20). The Tamil Nadu batsman’s unbeaten knock came in 165 balls with 11 fours. At close, Ashish Nehra was giving him company on three. Jadhav fell when he misjudged a Zaheer Khan delivery and saw the stump uprooted without playing a shot. Skipper Mongia made 17 runs from 45 balls before attempting to cut off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and chopping the ball on to the stump. The India Seniors pacers failed to gain fully from the overcast conditions, especially Irfan Pathan, whose bowling was too short for any lateral movement. However, he was also unlucky, with wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel spilling an easy chance offered by Kaif when the Uttar Pradesh batsman had not even opened his account. Zaheer was incisive, especially in his first spell of seven overs when he conceded just three runs and earned the wicket of Jadhav. Scoreboard India 'A': Gambhir c (sub) b Pathan 45 Jadhav b Khan 8 Mongia b Harbhajan 17 Kaif lbw b Pathan 31 Sriram batting 110 Rao c Sehwag b Khan 36 Dhoni c Patel b Khan 0 Kartik c Dravid b Kumble 20 Nehra batting 3 Extras
(b-5, lb-5, nb-2) 12 Total (for 7 wkts, in 90
overs) 282 Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-52, 3-106, 4-106, 5-197, 6-197, 7-255. Bowling:
Pathan 18-4-61-2; Zaheer Khan 19-8-38-3; Sourav 4-1-13-0; Harbhajan 22-5-74-1; Kumble 25-2-77-1, Virender Sehwag
2-0-9-0.— PTI |
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Lehmann unlikely for Mumbai tie
Mumbai, September 28 |
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Mahajan takes a dig at Pawar
Mumbai, September 28 “Winning the BCCI elections seems to be high priority on Mr Pawar even if he does win the Maharashra Assembly elections,” Mr Mahajan said taking at a dig at the Maratha strongman at a press conference after the release of the Shiv Sena-BJP joint manifesto here this evening. Mr Pawar, President of the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA), is in the fray for the BCCI President’s election scheduled for tomorrow in Kolkata as the nominee from Punjab Cricket Association. Mr Mahajan’s remark came as a result of a question on the sudden shift in his stance on Ms Gandhi. Mr Pawar, who told a TV news channel that he would not have joined the Union Ministry had Ms Gandhi become the Prime Minister, suddenly changed his stance and eugolised the Congress President for “sacrifice” at a campaign rally in Thane district on Sunday. Mr Pawar is in the habit of “changing his statements overnight”, Mr Mahajan remarked. May be Mr Pawar changed his stand considering the elections for the BCCI President in Kolkatta tomorrow, he opined. Mr Pawar has made his intentions clear to contest the BCCI President’s elections and is already in Kolkata for the past two days. It is a known fact that Mr Pawar would need the support of associations in the Congress-ruled states if he were to get elected for the top post. Nine associations out of the total of 31 are in the Congress-ruled states and one needs 16 votes to become the President. — UNI
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BCCI, Zee argue over Board’s status
New Delhi, September 28 The entire arguments by the top lawyers of the country, representing litigating parties were focused on the question whether the BCCI was performing the function of the State and if violation of any fundamental right could be enforced against it under Article 12 and writ petition for the purpose was maintainable under Article 32. A five-Judge Constitution Bench headed by Mr Justice N. Santosh Hegde, which is deciding the issue of BCCI’s “status” for the first time at the very outset told the litigating parties that it would first decide whether the BCCI was an instrumentality of the State and Zee’s writ petition under Article 32 was maintainable against it. While BCCI counsel K.K. Venugopal said that the board was an autonomous society, registered under the Societies Act and free of government control, as it did not receive any financial grants from the Centre, Zee’s counsel Harish Salve said the cricket board was “performing a far greater role” so far as managing cricket in India was concerned because it has “exclusive and monopolistic authority to control of the game in the country, which has been duly recognised by the Union Government.” “In the area of sports, where exclusive right is granted and recognised to a private body to regulate a particular game in the name of the country, that assumes a far larger dimension than public conduct and this changes the character of that private body to a public authority,” Mr Salve said. Opening the arguments for the BCCI, Mr Venugopal said Zee’s writ petition for enforcing fundamental right against the board was not maintainable as it was purely a “private body”, only recognised by the government as an “apex body” to look into the affairs of cricket in the country. The present controversy between Zee TV and BCCI was purely a contractual matter between the two parties and nothing more than that, he said. |
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Singapore, September 28 Anju, who won bronze at the 2003 world championships in Paris and Asian Games gold a year earlier, easily took the long jump gold with a leap of 6.66 meters from Kazakhstan’s Yelena Kochsheyeva who recorded a 6.41m leap. In third place was Filipino Marestella Torres. “Next year, I’m looking for something big,” said Anju, referring to the Helsinki world championships. “Here, I was just in a holiday mood.” Anju finished sixth at the 2004 Athens Olympics, and claimed her allergy to dust affected her performance in the Greek capital. Kazakhstan’s Gennadiy Chernovol and China’s Ni Xiaoli won the men’s and women’s century sprints. Other winners today included China’s Wu Tao in the men’s discus, Yevgeny Melashenko of Kazakstan in the men’s 400m hurdles and Kyrgyzstan’s Tatiano Borisova in the women’s 1,500m. The Indian star stood out in an event sadly lacking big names and record times or distances. Asia’s Olympic champions - 110m hurdler Liu Xiang from China, hammer thrower Koji Murofushi from Japan and Compatriot Mizuki Noguchi (women’s marathon) - made guest appearances at the event but did not compete or did not have events scheduled. “The event was patterned after the grand prix events in Europe. But if Asian athletes went to Europe, many of them would not stand a chance,” said Asian Athletics Association secretary Maurice Nicholas. “What you have instead is close competition here,” he said, adding that they would tweak the event’s dates to ensure it would not be scheduled in the off-season. Nicholas said the event is designed to poach Asian athletes now taking part in Europe on a regular basis to compete in the region and serve to prepare the continent’s athletes for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Athletes from 20 Asian countries competed in the event. — AP
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India keen to maintain momentum
Peshawar, September 28 Putting behind the disappointment of losing the series opener at Karachi, India regrouped themselves well to thrash the arch-rivals 4-1 at Quetta yesterday and thus won their first match in eight outings against Pakistan this year. Indian captain Dilip Tirkey said the team was looking to continue in the same vein in the remaining matches of the series. “I am delighted that the team played very well and now we are level in the series. Now we must keep the momentum going in the remaining matches,” Tirkey said. The defeat must have come as a rude jolt to the experienced home team that was expected to steamroll the depleted Indian team in the series, being played after five years. The hosts paid the price for taking their inexperienced opponents lightly and would be keen to make amends tomorrow. India’s chief coach Gerhard Rach said he was surprsied to see the way Pakistan played yesterday but added that the defeat must have taught the home side a lesson or two. “I think Pakistan did not avail of the opportunities, while we capitalised on the chances we got. But I was not expecting such a victory,” Rach told reporters.
— PTI |
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Namdhari XI ground IA, move into semifinal
Chandigarh, September 28 Handicapped by the absence of key players, including former Indian skipper Dhanraj Pillay, current skipper Dilip Tirkey, regular goalkeeper Devesh Chauhan, Ignace Tirkey, and several promising youngsters attending the junior camp, Indian Airlines nevertheless were served well by former internationals, including former Olympian Sabu Varkey, Mohammed Riaz, Brojen Singh and Bimal Lakra. In fact the scales in the ding-dong battle could have tilted either way as the two teams were level 2-2 till the fag end. Namdhari XI started off on an offensive note and forced a couple of penalty corners. In the 32nd minute, following a short corner push by Harvinder Singh, international Didar Singh attempted a drag flick but the ball sailed over the horizontal. The first goal for the Namdharis came in dramatic fashion. Following a hard hit by Didar at the stroke of half time, Sher Singh extended his arm to intercept the ball inside the ‘D’. The ball just grazed his stick and changed direction before rolling goalwards. Airlines’ goalkeeper Jagdish thought the ball had not touched Sher’s stick and simply allowed the ball to roll in. When umpire Shaqueel Qureshi, after consulting his colleague Rajinder Gandhi, blew for the goal, Jagdish stood in bewilderment, not knowing what had gone wrong (1-0). On changing ends, Indian Airlines came close to restoring parity when Samir’ s cross to Altaf-ur-Rehman saw the latter attempting a hard hit but unluckily the ball struck the horizontal. Airlines’ sustained pressure ultimately bore fruit when the were awarded a short corner in the 60th minute. Following the hit which was saved by goalkeeper Swinder Singh, Samir of Indian Airlines pounced on the ball and scored off the rebound (1-1). Namdhari XI hit back with vengeance and a few minutes later, once again forged ahead when a stinging reverse hit by Gurcharan Singh from the top of the ‘D’ following a cross from the right gave Airlines’ goalkeeper Jagdish absolutely no chance (2-1). However, Indian Airlines managed to come back into the game once again towards the end when off a short corner, Jagga scooped the ball home after the goalkeeper had saved the hit (2-2). Thereafter the Namdharis mounted tremendous pressure and once again international Didar Singh displayed his lethal firepower when his drag flick off the last penalty corner was bang on target (3-2). Didar was also named ‘man of the match’ and was handed over the cash award. The second quarterfinal between BSF and BPCL, though fast-paced, lacked the excitement experienced in the first encounter. The first half remained goal-less although BSF had a golden chance to take the lead early on when Habil Topno wasted precious seconds while stationed at hand-shaking distance from the rival goalkeeper inside the ‘D’. BPCL had to wait till the 55th minute to forge ahead. Following a series of unsuccessful attempts off short corners, Amar Aiyamma deflected a cross from Pundcik to make it 1-0. The second goal again came off Aiyamma’s stick when his reverse hit off a pass by Ravi Naiker was bang on target (2-0). The consolation goal for BSF was scored by Harbhajan Singh following a combined move down the middle (1-2). BSF were awarded five penalty corners while BPCL could force only two. Wednesday’s fixtures: (Quarterfinals): Punjab and Sind Bank v Army XI — 2 p.m.; Punjab Police v Western Railway — 3.30 p.m. |
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WFI chief hails Dutt's efforts
Chandigarh, September 28 They also appreciated the suggestions made for the development of sports, specially wrestling by Dr. M.S. Malik during a recent meeting in New Delhi. Dr. Malik had advocated selection and training of wrestlers at a young age to produce medal winners. He had also suggested wrestling nurseries and academies. He also stressed on development of infrastructure and also providing the best possible coaching and exposure to the wrestlers. Team of coaches should be allowed to work at least for two years to produce good results, he suggested adding that foreign training should only be allowed in the countries having good record in the international tournaments. |
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ATP, WTA Tour events to stay
New Delhi, September 28 AITA executive vice-president-cum-secretary Anil Khanna said the federation had also requested the Central Government to loosen purse strings to hold major prize money tournaments in the country to attract better-ranked players. Meanwhile, former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha and Delhi Lawn Tennis Association president Anil Khanna were re-elected president and secretary, respectively, of the AITA for another four-year term at the annual general body meeting here today. Mr Khanna’s designation has been changed to executive vice-president-cum-secretary to suit his status as a member of the executive boards of the International Tennis Federation and the Asian Tennis Federation. Prof T.D. Francis of Kerala was re-elected treasurer. Mr Rajan Kashyap of Chandigarh has been elevated as vice-president while one notable official who has been excluded from the present executive committee is veteran Manik Goswami, brother of football international Chuni Goswami. Following are the office-bearers: president: Yashwant Sinha; executive vice-president/secretary: Anil Khanna; joint secretary: Bharat Ojha; treasurer: Prof T.D. Francis, vice-presidents: P.V. Bhatia (Haryana), M. Damodaran (Chairman, IDBI, UTI), Rajan Kashyap (Chandigarh), S.M. Krishna (Karnataka), Narendra Kumar (Delhi), N. Kumar (Tamil Nadu), Chintan Parekh (Gujarat) and Ghanshyam Patel (Maharashtra). After the two-day executive committee and general body meeting, Mr Khanna said the AITA had spent around Rs 5 crore in conducting prize money international tournaments in the country of which only Rs 40 lakh came as government grant. He said the government had been requested to hold $25,000 prize money tournaments for men and women to elevate the standard of Indian tennis, which would mean the government’s involvement to the tune of Rs 4 crore. Mr Khanna said the Indian players were now hovering around 300-600 plus rankings in the ATP and WTA, and the aim was to improve the rankings to 100 or below. Mr Khanna said the malady of Indian tennis was that the good performance at the junior level did not get translated into winning displays at the senior level, as the juniors got attracted to foreign universities and then give up the game due to lack of motivation. And with India not holding many ranking tournaments, the players were also finding it difficult to improve their rankings. Those who cannot afford to travel abroad wither away due to lack of international exposure. He said to stop this trend, the government had been approached to hold $ 25,000 prize money tournaments. And the Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu governments had given the assurance of financial support to the ATP and WTA tournaments to keep them going. |
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PSB, PNB to clash in final
Amritsar, September 28 In today’s first semifinal, PSB came from behind to beat Madras XI 2-1. Jalandhar were trailing 0-1 after the first half. They received five penalty corners in the first half but failed to convert any. Left-out Monty brought the lead to Madras in the 21st minute through a field goal. Jalandhar players converted two penalty corners out of six in the 46th and 54th minutes. Tasawoorjit Singh and Harjit Singh were the scorers. In the second semifinal, Sukhchain Academy, Faridkot, edged out Punjab National Bank, Delhi, 3-0 on the basis of penalty strokes after the teams were locked 3-3 at the end of regulation time. PNB were leading 2-1 in the first half. Ashish of Faridkot displayed remarkable goalkeeping and saved all three penalty strokes. Meanwhile taking strict notice of yesterday’s alleged misbehaviour by players of Surjit Hockey Academy, Jalandhar, the management of the tournament debarred it from appearing in the tournament for the next three years. |
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Associate Banks move into semis
Chandigarh, September 28 Associate Banks skipper B. Akhil having won the toss opted to field. The Mohali wicket played very true as F. Fazal (48) and M. Beerala(44) put on 81 runs for the opening stand. Abbas Ali with 76 was the highest scorer for IOC as they scored 267 for six in their allotted 50 overs. Associate Banks reached the victory target in 43.5 overs scoring 268 for four. The Associate Banks innings was propped up by the third-wicket stand of 137 runs between Devinder Bundela (68) and skipper B. Akhil ( 93 n.o.) Brief scores:- IOC :
267 for 6 in 50 over (Abbas Ali 76, F.Fazal 48, M. Beerala 44, Myur Kadekar 33 not out; Y. Golwalkar 2 for 55). Associates Banks :
268 for 4 in 43.5 overs (V.Akhil 93 not out, D. Bundela 68, Soni 54, D. Manohar 24; Rajesh Pawar 2 for 54). The BPCL defeated Air India by seven wickets in the Pool-A match at the Sector 16 Cricket Stadium here. The BPCL were able to garner a bonus point and ended their outing with five points from two matches. Batting first, Air India scored 131 all out in 42.5 overs. In reply BPCL scored 132 for 3 in 29 overs. Brief scores : Air India :
131 all out in 42.5 overs (V. Uthapa 20, M. Dalvi 21, A. Salvi 1 for 16 (Swapnil Hazare 2 for 33, Rajesh 3 for 30, Onkar 4 for 27). BPCL :
132 for 3 in 29 overs (Vinayak Mane 41, V. Indulkar 45 not out, Sanjay 20) Wednesday’s fixtures :
PCA Colts vs Canara Bank, Sector 16 Stadium at 9 a.m; ONGC vs MPCA, Sector 3, Panchkula at 9 a.m. |
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Collage Group beat Yadav Academy
New Delhi, September 28 Brief scores: Collage Group: 264 for 6 in 45 overs (Rameez Niyamat 98 n.o., Sachin Chaudhary 51, Sanjay Saini 39 n.o., Mayank Tehlan 28; Lokesh Bhalla 3 for 52, Virmani 2 for 34). Vijay Yadav Academy: 106 all out in 31.2 overs (Mahesh Rawat 42, Bharat Grover 16, Rameez Niamat 3 for 6, Sanjay Saini 3 for 12, Rodeny Charles 3 for 27). Man of the match: Rameez Niyamat.
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Red tape hampers NIS functioning
Patiala, September 28 Mr B.K. Sinha, an IPS officer, who was previously posted as Director (Sports), Haryana, was handed over the ED’s charge in addition to being the Secretary, SAI, at its corporate office in New Delhi after the previous incumbent, Mr B.S. Ahluwalia, retired on April 30 this year. However, Mr Sinha’s visits to the institute have allegedly been few and far between. Since joining, he has made an appearance on just four occasions, including the graduation ceremony and the National Sports Day (August 29). Mr Sinha has allegedly not delegated financial powers to even senior officials, which has prompted the Regional Director, Mr L.S. Ranawat, the seniormost officer in the absence of the ED, to complain to the SAI DG in writing. Mr Ranawat has virtually been rendered ineffective and even the leave applications of employees of all categories are faxed to Mr Sinha at New Delhi for necessary action. So much so, it is alleged that sanction is required from him even if the institute has to spend small sums. Important decisions are consigned to the back burner as all files are allegedly taken to New Delhi for Mr Sinha’s approval or disapproval. Purchases for infrastructure for SAI-run centres of excellence, a brainchild of the SAI, have been put on hold. Sources said the rate contract, which was mandatory before effecting any purchase by government departments, had yet to be finalised because of alleged differences between Mr Sinha and Mr MP Ganesh, Executive Director (Teams Wing). C and D class employees are a disgruntled lot as they allegedly received a tongue lashing on the only occasion they met Mr Sinha. This meeting took place only after the employees were made to sweat it out in the sun for an hour in front of the NIS’s library. Senior coaches are also unhappy with the style of working of Mr Sinha since he allegedly pulled them up during the only meeting they had with him on the National Sports Day. |
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Delhi, Haryana girls in final
Chandigarh, September 28 In the doubles, the Delhi pair of Meenakshi and Mohita beat Navita and Aarti 15-3, 15-10 to wrap up the match. Delhi, however, bowed out of the competition for the Narang Cup (boys) as they were beaten by hosts Haryana by 2-0. Sumit Dahiya had to toil to prevail over a never-say-die Himanshu Kharbanda 13-15, 15-8, 15-10 in the first singles of the semi-final contest. Later Sumit combined with Sachin to snuff out the challenge of Himashu and Rajiv Bajaj 7-15, 15-3, 15-8. Last night Haryana entered the semi-final for the Rahimtoola Cup (men) at the expense of Punjab. In a thrilling quarter-final the hosts managed to score a 3-2 victory. Delhi women also moved into womens semi-final for Chadha Cup by beating Chandigarh 2-1. Results: Shafi Quereshi Cup (girls, semi-finals): Haryana b HP 2-0 (Kannu Aggarwal b Ridhi Sen 11-1, 11-2, Kannu and Pallavi b Malvika and Kiran 15-2, 15-5). Delhi b Punjab 2-0 (Chitralekha b Komalpreet 11-4, 11-2, Meenakshi/Mohit b Navitq/Aarti 15-3, 15-10). Narang Cup (boys, semi-finals): Haryana b Delhi 2-0 (Sumit Dahiya b Himanshu Kharbanda 13-15, 15-8, 15-10, Sumit Sachin b Himanshu/Rajiv Bajaj 7-15, 15-3, 15-8). Chandigarh b J-K 2-2 (Mandip Singh b Vipul Saini 15-7, 15-4, Mandip and Oscar b Vipul and Vikram 8-15, 15-12, 15-5).
— UNI |
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Amandeep records easy win
New Delhi, September 28 In other matches, Sunil Kumar b Nitin Dutta 9-0, 9-2, 9-3; Harjinder Singh b Ankur Srivastava 9-0, 9-0, 9-1; Rachit Kaur b Anshu Bahl 5-9, 10-9, 9-6, 3-9, 9-6; Gautam Sharma b Nashant Sambhal 10-9, 9-3, 9-7; Amjad Khan b Ambuj Sinha 10-8, 9-0, 9-0; Navneet Narayan b Abhisekh 9-2, 9-0, 9-0; Vikas Kumar b Ankush Mittal 9-0, 9-3, 9-0; Yaswardhan Singh b Vijay Jangra 9-4, 9-1, 9-6; Imran Khan b Shiv Diwan 7-9, 6-9, 9-3, 9-2, 9-1.
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Patiala eves in semis
Patiala, September 28 In volleyball boys (u-17), the host managed their way to the last four stage and were joined by Ludhiana, Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur. On the distaff side, the semi-final line up was complete with Moga, Muktsar, Bathinda and Ludhiana making the grade. |
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Hamm willing
to return gold Sirmaur win Panipat triumph
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