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Spain have slight edge over India
England set for talks with ICC
Maharashtra face tough task against Punjab
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Punjab Games torch reaches Chandigarh
IA, BPCL in hockey
final
Haryana special games begin
Ankit Saini to lead North Zone team
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Spain have slight edge over India
Lahore, December 3 The Dilip Tirkey-led Indian team produced some electric stuff and raised their level to new highs. They will be geared up to better their show and ensure a place in the top four in the elite six-nation tournament. The tournament, as critics put it, will be an opportunity for the struggling team to rebuild, and as German coach Gerhard Rach believes, a chance for the youngsters to prove their mettle and cement a place in the side. Spain, known for their strong penalty corner conversions and an improved field scoring, enjoy a slight edge over India, as per international ratings. With captain Tirkey determined to sort out India’s perennial problem of conceding the match in the dying minutes of the game and lack of penalty corner conversions, India can take a plunge to go for an all-out attacking game. But the captain was candid enough to admit that the forwards would have to sharpen their skills to be more effective and penetrative. With youngsters doing reasonably well and no place for veterans like Dhanraj Pillay and Baljit Singh Dhillon, the ‘’resting’’ of star striker Gagan Ajit Singh, dependable Deepak Thakur and Prabhjot Singh is beyond all logic and their services will surely be missed. “I do not want stars. I want commitment. The young team has the potential to become world beaters,” said the coach. About the team’s chances at the Champions Trophy, Rach said he had high hope from the youngsters, who were capable of upsetting any team on a given day. “They are all practising very hard and are a tough bunch — both physically and mentally,” he added. “Forwards like Sundeep Michael, Arjun Halappa, and Tushar Khandekar are doing pretty well. I think the team is capable of pulling out a few good victories,” he observed. The highly talented Spain, on the other hand, can upset the applecart of any fancied team with a nice blend of experience and youth in their ranks. Hosts Pakistan will take on world champions Germany while defending champions Holland face New Zealand in the other matches tomorrow. India will take on Holland on Sunday, Germany on December 7, arch-rivals Pakistan on December 9 and New Zealand on December 10. The final will be played on December 12. India earned a place to play in the tournament after Athens Olympics gold medallist Australia withdrew from the championship on security grounds.
— UNI |
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Champions Trophy on Ten Sports
New Delhi, December 3 India will meet Spain on the opening day on December 4 at 12.30 p.m., Holland on December 5, Germany on December 7, Pakistan on December 8 and New Zealand on December 10. |
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England set for talks with ICC
Bulawayo, December 3 Michael Vaughan’s team face Zimbabwe in the third of four one-dayers here tomorrow, with the final match taking place on Sunday, before they make a hasty retreat to South Africa. But before they make their eager departure, Mani is determined to sit down with the squad and hear what they have to say. “I want to see them because it is very important to hear their views,” said Mani. “I want to know what they think about the level of cricket in Zimbabwe and their experiences in the country so far,” he said. Mani, whose organisation had the power to fine or even suspend England if they had pulled out of the trip, insisted that he appreciated the players’ worries over being dragged into a political war of words over the Robert Mugabe regime. Vaughan had insisted his players would withdraw from the tour if it became politicised. “I felt it was important for me to be here because there had been concerns about this tour and I wanted to see it for myself,” Mani told reporters. The ICC chief also said England’s reputation in world cricket had been enhanced by their decision to go ahead with the tour and that David Morgan, the chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, should be praised for his work. “I could see that England were caught between a rock and a hard place, but he (Morgan) was absolutely superb, honest and totally up front with people,” said Mani. “He has had to deal with a lot of domestic pressures, which is understandable because of the unique situation between England and Zimbabwe. The issue was not going to die down,” he said.
— AFP |
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Maharashtra face tough task against Punjab
Chandigarh, December 3 Maharashtra, who have yet to earn a point, face an uphill task when they take on in-form Punjab in the four-day match, starting at the PCA stadium in Mohali tomorrow. Punjab, at present, are sitting pretty. With 11 points from three outings, they are at the top in the group. Having two successive victories under their belt in the previous two outings against Assam and Baroda, Punjab players are in a confident frame of mind. The team morale is high after beating Baroda in the last match. Punjab will, however, sorely miss the services of in-form seamer Gagandeep Singh, who has been selected in the Indian squad for the Test series against Bangladesh. Gagandeep Singh had been taking wickets by the bucketful. The Ludhiana seamer emerged the highest wicket-taker in Ranji Trophy last year. This season, he had already scalped 25 wickets from three matches. Skipper Dinesh Mongia said V.R.V. Singh would replace Gagandeep in tomorrow’s match. Seasoned Pankaj Dharmani has been in terrific nick with scores of 125, 85 and 92 not out in three previous outings. When he got the opportunity to don the wicketkeeper’s gloves in the last match, the Patiala lad proved his worth as a wicketkeeper with six victims behind the stumps. Mongia would like to celebrate his selection to the Indian one-day squad for the series against Bangladesh with a good knock. Maharashtra will depend on the likes of talented opener D. Jhadav, who notched up a hundred in the previous match against Hyderabad. Besides Jhadav, Dhruv Mohan, former India player Hrishikesh Kanitkar, K. Marathe and N.A. Godbole will be expected to contribute substantially with the bat to keep marauding Punjab at bay. Mohan will be keen to replicate his performance in the match against Baroda, when he had the scores of 87 and 101. Kanitkar has been a heavy scorer in domestic cricket and his form will be crucial for Maharashtra. “V.R.V. Singh made a decent debut in the first match against Uttar Pradesh. So his selection to the squad should be automatic,” he said. Under new coach Izhar Alam of Pakistan, Punjab look a transformed side and have benefitted immensely by new physiotherapist Kamaljit Singh. With the conditions favouring them on their home turf, Punjab really will be a tough side to beat. Mongia, however, refused to take Maharashtra lightly. “Basically, they are a good batting side, relying more on batsmen, though they have good bowlers like Iqbal Siddiqui in their ranks,” he said. Siddiqui has a five-wicket haul in the match against Baroda to his credit. Both teams were at the nets today to prepare for the battle ahead. |
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Pakistan lose tour opener by 10 runs
Perth, December 3 |
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Punjab Games torch reaches Chandigarh
Chandigarh, December 3 Ludhiana: Earlier, the games torch passed through the city on Friday. The torch was received at the Sutlej river bridge by Mr Anurag Verma and Mr Narinder Pal Singh, Deputy Commissioner and Senior Superintendent of Police, Ludhiana, respectively. The torch was handed over to them by the senior officers of the Jalandhar police district and sports officials. Fomer and current players of international fame, including Sajjan Singh Cheema, Yadvinder Singh and Talwinder Singh (basketball), Ramandeep Singh, Hardeep Singh and Sharanjit Kaur (hockey), Jagdev Singh, Zora Singh and Ajairaj Singh (athletics), Parvesh Chander Sharma (weightlifting) and Arun Dhand (badminton) welcomed the procession. Later in the afternoon, the torch was handed over to the police officials of Khanna for its onwards journey to Chandigarh. Phillaur: The torch of the Punjab Games was received at Goraya here on Friday. Phillaur SDM Surinder Mohan Sharma, DSP Kamaljit Singh Dhillon, Goraya City Jaycees president Parmod Kaushal, Nagar Council president Narinder Goyal, besides others, accorded a reception to the torch procession led by Punjab Police Sports Secretary SP Shivdev Singh. Later, the torch procession was welcomed at Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Police Academy by the academy’s Deputy Director Sharad Satya Chauhan. Phagwara: The games torch was received at Khajurala village on the GT Road here on Friday. It was received by Mr Shami Kumar,SP(H),Kapurthala, Mr Pritam Singh, SDM, Phagwara, and Mr Hardip Singh Dhaliwal, Tehsildar. |
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Indian Punjab spikers win
Amritsar, December 3 The hosts defeated fancied Punjab (Pakistan) in a keenly fought five-set match 20-25, 23-25, 25-22, 25-20, 15-10. Punjab (India) returned in the contention in the third set and claimed the set by a margin of three points. They kept up the momentum by winning the remaining two sets, which saw a neck-and-neck fight. The battle kept the spectators engrossed in the game. Players of both teams were encouraged by applause of the spectators on scoring each point. The fourth set proved crucial for the home team as they managed to hold on to their lead. The final set turned out to be a cliff-hanger as both teams pounced for grabbing each point and the home team claimed the decider. |
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IA, BPCL in hockey
final
New Delhi, December 3 In the closely contested BPCL-PNB match, the first half produced no goal. In a 17-minute blitz in the second half, four goals were scored, to pep up the proceedings. Len Aiyappa converted a penalty corner to put BPCL ahead in the 43rd minute while PNB equalised through Jitender two minutes later when he scored off a penalty corner. Ten minutes later, Prem Kumar scored to help PNB go ahead (2-1), but the lead lasted only five minutes as Sabu Varkey pulled off the equaliser for BPCL (2-2). In the tie-breaker, BPCL converted five hits while PNB succeeded with only four shots. The Indian Oil-Indian Airlines contest produced a flurry of goals, with Indian Oil taking the lead through Inderjit Singh, who converted a penalty corner in the second minute and then scored a field goal three minutes later (2-0). Dhanraj Pillay hit in sharply off a penalty corner for Indian Airlines in the 16th minute while Brojen Singh slotted in the equaliser for them, converting a penalty corner, in the 22nd minute (2-2). Indian Oil regained the lead when Prabhjot Singh struck in the 31st minute, but a minute after resumption, Altaf-ur-Rehman neutralised the score for Indian Airlines (3-3). Hamza regained the lead for Indian Oil while Bimal Lakra equalised for Indian Airlines (4-4). With the match evenly poised, star-studded Indian Airlines went on an all-out attack, which fetched them two more goals, with Brojen Singh and Dhanraj Pillay finding the mark. Dhanraj was adjudged the man-of-the-match. Interestingly, Indian Airlines earned 12 penalty corners and two penalty strokes, but could make use of only two penalty corners, while Indian Oil converted one of their two penalty corners. |
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Haryana special games begin
Yamunanagar, December 3 The games began with a 25m crutch race. Other athletics events, cricket and softball matches, musical chairs and shotput competitions would be held in the following days. Cultural competitions and a quiz for the children would also be held. Krishan from Hisar, whose both legs were damaged, won appreciation by performing a dance on one hand. Rafiq (14), who came here to participate, could speak five languages. Rafiq did not grow in height, but had good handwriting. Satnam (10), who was deaf and dumb, had all skills of an architect. A teacher accompanying him said many people had taken the help of Satnam while constructing their houses. Some of the winners: 50m race (other physically challenged category): primary classes girls — Madhu (Faridabad), Kavita (Hisar) and Pooja (Kaithal); upper primary classes girls — Bala Rani (Sirsa), Aasha (Mahendergarh) and Sonia (Kurukshetra); 100m wheelchair race: primary classes boys — Ravi (Sonepat), Sunil (Sirsa) and Mukesh (Jind); upper primary classes boys — Surinder (Mahendergarh), Bitu (Karnal) and Sandeep (Sirsa); softball girls — Ritu (Hisar), Sona (Sirsa) and Priyanka (Sonepat). |
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Namdhari boys win hockey title
Ludhiana, December 3 Faidkot boys dominated in the initial moments of the title clash and also forced three penalty corners but failed to capitalise on these chances. Namdhari players got their first penalty corner in the 27th minute and Gurcharan made no mistake. Two minutes later , he again found the target to enhance the lead. In the second session, Namdhari boys got seven penalty corners and conv erted two through Gurcharan. Sukhchain Academy boys, too, got three penalty corners in the second half which went abegging. In the match for the hardline cup, defending champions Surjit Academy, Jalandhar, lost to Prithipal Academy, Ludhiana 2-5. Jalandhar boys went into an early lead in the fifth minute through Bachhitar Singh. Balwant Singh of Ludhiana restored parity in the 12th minute and Rajinder made it 2-1 in favour of Ludhiana. Balwant again struck in the second half to read it 3-1 and a few minutes later, Harsimran sounded the board to make it 4-1. Jalandhar’s Deepak converted a penalty corner in the 50th minute to reduce the margin to 2-4. Rajinder of Ludhiana scored another goal in the 56th minute which sealed Jalandhar boys’ fate 5-2. Mr Amarjit Samra, Minister for Revenue and Rehabilitation, Punjab, gave away prizes to the winners. He announced a grant of Rs 50,000 for the Jagtar Memorial Hockey Society. Ms Gurkanwal Kaur , Minister for Women and Child Welfare Development, who was also present, announced a matching grant of Rs 50,000 for the organising committee. |
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Ankit Saini to lead North Zone team
New Delhi, December 3 The joint secretary of the Delhi Ball Badminton Association, VS Prakasa Rao, said the other members of the team were V. Sridhar, Ajit Kumar, Rahul Pathania, Arun Varma, Perumal, Rajan Kumar, Manish, Vijender, Shabbeer Khan and Raja Rajan. Rajan C. will be the coach-cum-manager.
— OSR |
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Lahore, December 3
The second-string Indian side showed glimpses of a possible revival in a morale-boosting 1-1 series draw against Spain in the two warm-up matches in Chandigarh earlier this week. India clinched a credible 3-2 win in the thrilling second Test after losing the first to the visitors by an identical margin.
