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Hiring Rach was a mistake: Gill
Dissent grows in IHF
Sher-e-Jalandhar win 2-1
Federer too good for Roddick
Hewitt wins title
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Mahesh-Woodbridge claim title
Hondo wrecks Bangladesh
Himachal beat J&K by 28 runs
Star-studded Mumbai Marathon today
Bagga wins 2 gold in Deaflympics
Varsity moots insurance cover for players
Tollygunge rally to hold Goa club
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Hiring Rach was a mistake: Gill
New Delhi, January 15 While Batra toed Gill’s line on Rach, he also made it clear that he would contest against Gill if he chose to stand for another term. Admitting that the federation had made one or two mistakes, Gill said the IHF was “forced” to appoint the German but now it would not take any decision under compulsions or “media pressure”. “The federation has made a couple of mistakes... appointing Rach was one of them. It was an error of judgement, our assessment of his character was wrong.” Asked about Rach’s statement that the IHF was like a “madhouse”, he said, “his knowledge of English is very poor, his choice of words leaves a lot to be desired... I don’t respond to such trivialities. “Rach was in Chandigarh for 15 days. In such a small time he seems to have gathered a lot of knowledge or probably those who interviewed him briefed him too well,” he added sarcastically. Gill also said the IHF did not owe Rach even a single penny and that he had never raised any objection during his seven-month tenure as the coach. “We used to speak regularly. In fact only since the past five or six days his phone had stopped responding, otherwise he had been in touch. He was happy with the team, he never complained about it or raised any objection about anything during his stint.” Gill, however, said in hindsight he did not regret appointing Rach. “We were forced into appointing Rach, we had no option. We had asked him to be a coaching adviser, he stayed on and watched other teams in Germany and Holland. He kept the other coaches informed, these were the circumstances. “Rach did a very good job. In the Olympics we played well in two or three matches.” Gill also did not agree that Indian hockey was on a downslide. “We are ranked fifth in the world, we have to jump only one step.” On Batra’s allegations pertaining to financial irregularities, Gill said, “Some questions have been asked, I will give an explanation at the executive committee meeting, I am not going to comment on these here.” On the allegation of Rach that Dhanraj Pillay was taken into the Olympic team only on the behest of sponsors, Gill said it was absolute nonsense. “The Dusseldorf tournament was the criterion for the selection of the team. Dhanraj played very well, in fact he selected himself at that point of time. There was no objection made by Rach to any name (in the team list). “As far as team selection is concerned, we were all staying in one hotel. We started deliberations in the morning, there was so much competition, it was a difficult decision to make. To say that a list was handed to him (Rach) is incorrect.” Responding to the allegation by former coach Rajinder Singh that he was forced to step down from his post, Gill said it was “unfortunate” if he had made such a remark. “He quit on his own, he resigned. The IHF did not sack him,” he said. Gill said now the IHF would take its time to decide on a new coach. “We have enough time to search for a good coach from inside the country or outside. We have had discussion with a foreign coach in Hyderabad. We don’t want to take any decision in a hurry.”
— PTI |
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Dissent grows in IHF
New Delhi, January 15 “We are eight or 10 of us talking among us. There is a very strong dissent,” said Batra, whose presence at a press conference called by Gill here raised many eyebrows. “The president called me up and asked me to say in front of him whatever I had told the media earlier and written in my letter to secretary K. Jothikumaran. I had no problem in doing that,” Batra said. Batra in his letter to Jothikumaran, had asked him to provide the necessary documents, including the federation’s finances ahead of the general body meeting on January 30. He also questioned Gill’s continuing in the president’s post. He said, “Gill is calling Dhanraj (Pillay) to retire. I ask him when is he going to retire?” Batra also dismissed Gill’s statement that he would not stand for another term. “He always says so, but always does the opposite,” he said. Asked about the timing of his outburst since the issues he had raised had existed for long, Batra evaded a direct reply. “We want to bring more transparency. People have to know what is happening,” he said. On whether he thought Gill could be ousted, Batra said, “It is upto the members of the IHF. The dissent is strong. As I said before, if nobody comes forward, I will contest the elections myself.” On his part, Gill ruled out sending a show-cause notice to Batra. “Some questions have been raised, I will give an explanation at the executive committee meeting. There is no question of sending any show-cause notice,” Gill said. Batra, however, aligned himself with Gill on the issue of Gerhard Rach, the German who stepped down as national coach three days ago. “I do not trust him. I do not think what he says can be believed. I spoke to the players also, and they also feel the same. He has not been a good coach.”
— PTI |
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Sher-e-Jalandhar win 2-1
Hyderabad, January 15 The Jalandhar side came under constant pressure from the opponents in the third and fourth quarters, but the defence stood firm to give the team crucial three points. Baljeet Singh Dhillon (13th) and Prabhjot Singh scored for the winners while Arjun Halappa scored the consolation goal in the 21st minute for the losers. Baljeet beat the Bangalore Hi-Fliers custodian on a penalty corner to put his side ahead. Halappa levelled the scores eight minutes later on a penalty stroke awarded for an infringement by Sher-e-Jalandhar custodian Kamaldeep Singh. Prabhjot made a probing run from the left flank on a counter attack and his reverse hit left the opponent goalkeeper stranded. In Tier II matches, Chandigarh Dynamos blanked Lucknow Nawabs 3-0 and Delhi Dazzlers mowed Bengal Tigers 3-1 to register their second win in as many matches.
— PTI
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Federer too good for Roddick
Melbourne, January 15 “It’s a great preparation, so confidence is high,” said Federer. “I felt that my game is ready to go ... and I proved it again.” Federer won 11 titles last season — including three majors — and all without a coach. The 23-year-old Swiss star is defending an Australian title for the first time, and says it might be easier to retain it than it was to win. He worked with Tony Roche for two weeks last month and the former Australian Davis Cup coach was courtside to watch Federer in the final. “Last year, I got here with no coach and people were wondering how this will be, (I) put a lot of pressure on myself,” said Federer. “So I feel much, much better coming in (to) this year’s Open, even though the pressure is there to defend it.” Federer broke Roddick’s serve once in each set today, raising his game to another level when he needed it. After saving a break-point on his own serve in the fourth game, he broke Roddick in the fifth. He then held his next two service games at love to reinforce the advantage. Roddick turned on his right ankle early in the second, and spoke with the trainer after the third game. Roddick said he jarred the ankle and felt some pain, but it didn’t really bother him. Roddick saved three break points before holding to lead 5-4 in the second set but couldn’t do it again in his next service game. Federer set up three break chances with three crisp forehand winners. He used up one when he ran around Roddick’s second serve and drove a forehand return into the net. He didn’t win the point, but he got his point across. Federer won that game on a Roddick error and didn’t drop a point serving for the match on the next game. Federer started 2005 with a win at Qatar last weekend — his 23rd career title — and came into this tournament on a 21-match winning streak and a run of 14 wins in tour finals. The Kooyong exhibition tournament doesn’t count for ranking points, so it doesn’t change Federer’s record of 8-1 against Roddick. But it gave him a confidence booster for the Australian Open, which starts on Monday at Melbourne Park. Roddick wasn’t concerned by the loss, saying that the exhibition format allowed him to take a few chances and try a few things “because it’s not a Wimbledon title or anything”.
— AP |
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Hewitt wins title
Sydney, January 15 CANBERRA: Serbian teenager Ana Ivanovic beat Melinda Czink of Hungary 7-5, 6-1 on Saturday to win the Canberra Classic and capture her first WTA title. Czink served for the first set at 5-4 but Ivanovic broke back and won nine of the next 10 games to seal victory in 83 minutes. WELLINGTON:
Fifth seed Fernando Gonzalez eased past Olivier Rochus of Belgium 6-4, 6-2 in the final of the Auckland Open on Saturday. The Chilean broke serve once in the opening set and twice in the second to clinch victory in 72
minutes.— AFP, Reuters |
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New Delhi, January 15 Bhupathi has tied up with Woodbridge to play the major tournaments this year, the first of them being the season-opening Australian Open beginning in Melbourne on Monday. The Australian doubles champion is eyeing his 10th Wimbledon title this year and might call it quits after 2005. Earlier, the Indo-Australian pair had defeated Austria’s Jurgen Melzer and Max Mirnyi of Belarus 6-1, 6-3 while Clement and Llodra had got the better of Igor Andreev and Nikolay Davydenko of Russia 7-6, 6-3.
— PTI |
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Hondo wrecks Bangladesh
Dhaka, January 15 Lower-order batsman Mohammad Rafique top-scored for Bangladesh
with an aggressive 56 with the help of one six and seven
fours. Zimbabwe, hoping to square the series after their 226-run defeat
in the opening match, were indebted to skipper Tatenda Taibu and Hondo
for gaining the upper hand despite a seven-wicket haul by Bangladeshi
left-arm spinner Enamul Haque. Haque, 18, finished with 7-95 to become
the youngest bowler to take seven wickets in a Test innings but Zimbabwe
still managed to post a respectable total, thanks to Taibu, who slammed
a fighting 85 not out. Hondo then troubled the Bangladeshi batsmen with
his probing line and length to complete his first haul of five or more
wickets in a Test innings. Bangladesh got off to a good start as Javed
Omar (34) and Nafis Iqbal (28) put on 58 for the opening wicket, but
squandered the advantage after Hondo was pressed into the attack as a
first-change bowler. The hosts lost the first six wickets in the space
of 49 runs in a dramatic collapse, with Hondo claiming all
victims. Omar and Iqbal were caught behind, while Mohammad Ashraful (5)
was trapped leg before in the afternoon session. There was no respite
for Bangladesh in the last session also as Hondo took three more
wickets. Skipper Habibul Bashar was bowled, while Aftab Ahmed was
caught at short mid-wicket by Stuart Matsikenyeri who timed his jump to
perfection to hold the batsman’s firm on-drive. Hondo then yorked
Khaled Mashud for his sixth victim. The morning session belonged to
Haque, who also became the first Bangladeshi bowler to bag seven wickets
in a Test innings. Haque, who turned 18 in early December, surpassed
former Pakistani paceman Waqar Younis, who was nearing his 19th birthday
when he bagged his first seven-wicket haul against New Zealand at Lahore
in 1990. Zimbabwe were all out shortly before lunch after resuming at
244-6, with Taibu completing his sixth Test half-century. Scoreboard Zimbabwe
(1st innings) Matsikenyeri b Haque 51 Rogers b Haque 29 Ebrahim
lbw Haque 12 Masakadza c Ahmed b Baisya 43 Taylor lbw b Haque 2 Taibu
not out 85 Chigumbura c Ashraful b Baisya 34 Panyangara c Mashud b
Mortaza 21 Cremer b Haque 1 Hondo b Haque 9 Mpofu c Ashraful b Haque
0 Extras: (b-4, lb-6, nb-1) 11 Total: (all out in 118
overs) 298 Fall of wickets: 1-65, 2-96, 3-107, 4-111, 5-171,
6-221, 7-257, 8-262, 9-298. Bowling: Baisya 22-7-67-2, Mortaza
23-5-69-1, Rafique 38-14-57-0, Haque 35-9-95-7. Bangladesh (1st
innings) Omar c Taibu b Hondo 34 Iqbal c Taibu b Hondo 28 Bashar b
Hondo 10 Ashraful lbw Hondo 5 Saleh c Masakadza b Cremer 24 Ahmed c
Matsikenyeri b Hondo 0 Mashud b Hondo 0 Rafique c Ebrahim b Masakadza
56 Bin Murtaza 4 Tapash Baishya 0 Extras: (lb-3, nb-5) 8 Total:
(for eight wickets in 63 overs) 169 Fall of wickets: 1-58,
2-71, 3-84, 4-85, 5-103, 6-107, 7-132, 8-168. Bowling: Panyangara
13-5-31-0, Mpofu 11-3-28-0, Hondo 17-6-45-6, Chigumbura 5-0-23-0, Cremer
10-1-23-1, Masakadza 7-1-16-1. — AFP, AP |
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Hoggard puts SA on backfoot
Johannesburg, January 15 Kallis, with two centuries and two
half-centuries in the first three matches, played on for 33. Herschelle
Gibbs was 78 not out. Opener Gibbs had batted for more than four
hours, faced 165 balls and hit 13 fours. This was his first half century
in eight innings. He last reached a half century against New Zealand in
Wellington in March last year. Earlier, Hoggard dismissed both South
Africa skipper Graeme Smith (29) and Jacques Rudolph (4). Today’s
start was delayed by 20 minutes because of overnight rain. England
declared in the hope of exploiting ovecast conditions but the sun
immediately broke through. Scoreboard England (first
innings) Trescothick c Boucher b Steyn 16 Strauss c Kallis b Pollock
147 Key c Smith b Ntini 83 Vaughan not out 82 Thorpe c Dippenaar b
Ntini 0 Hoggard c De Villiers b Ntini 5 Flintoff c Smith b Ntini 2 G
Jones c Smith b Pollock 2 Giles c Gibbs b Steyn 26 Harmison not out
30 Extras (lb-13, nb-5) 18 Total (for 8 wickets dec, 124
overs) 411 Fall of wickets: 1-45, 2-227, 3-262, 4-263, 5-273,
6-275, 7-278, 8-329 Bowling: Pollock 33-12-81-2, Ntini
34-8-111-4, Steyn 21-7-75-2, Kallis 22-2-79-0, Boje 14-2-52-0. —
Reuters Scoreboard incomplete |
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Himachal beat J&K by 28 runs
Nadaun (Hamirpur), January 15 Jammu and
Kashmir lost their opening batsman Samir Malik for just 2 runs. Rauf and
Kamaljit Singh played with caution. However, Rauf was bowled by
Vikramjit Malik for 10 and Sangram Singh trapped Kamaljit Singh lbw for
30 runs. Kamaljit hit four boundaries in his knock. For Jammu and
Kashmir, Shammi Salaria and Dhruv Mahajan scored 17 and 22 runs,
respectively. After their departure, the team also lost Anshuman Sharma
for a duck. Majit Dar and Inderjeet Singh took the score from 94 to 132.
However, the tailenders fell to the HP spinners and J&K were bowled
out for 140. Earlier, thanks to fine spells of bowling by Jammu and
Kashmir spinners Jagtar Singh, Inderjeet Singh and Dhruv Mahajan and
irresponsible batting by its top order, hosts Himachal Pradesh were all
out for 168. The first Himachal wicket fell when the score was 28.
Sandeep Sharma and Sangram Singh added 55 runs for the second wicket.
Thereafter, there was a partnership of 43 runs between Saurav Rattan and
Kuldip Dewan for the seventh wicket. The last pair of Kuldip Dewan and
Ashok Thakur also scored 16 runs off 12 balls. Kuldip Dewan remained
not out on 25. Sangram Singh was the top scorer for Himachal Pradesh
with 38 runs. Kuldip Dewan was declared the man of the match for
getting three wickets for 23 runs and scoring an unbeaten 25. Scoreboard Himachal
Pradesh Ajay Manu b Shammi Salaria 14 Sandeep Sharma b Jagtar
Singh 26 Sangram Singh c Majid Dar b Dhruv Mahajan 38 Manvinder Bisla
st Samir Malik b Jagtar Singh 0 Paras Dogra b Dhruv Mahajan
10 Virendra Sharma st Samir Malik b Inderjeet Singh 6 Sourav Rattan
run out 17 Kuldip Dewan not out 25 Vishal Bhatia b Imtiaz 5 Vikramjit
Malik run out 3 Ashok Thakur c Kamlajeet b Dhruv Mahajan 5 Extras:
19 Total: (all out) 168 Fall of wickets: 1-28, 2-83,
3-83, 4-99, 5-110, 6-110, 7-140, 8-146, 9- 152. Bowling: Imtiyaj:
10-0-35-1, Shammi Salaria 4-0-31-1, Ishtiaq 10-0-26-0, Jagtar Singh
8-2-13-2, Inderjeet Singh 8-1-23-1, Dhruv Mahajan 10-3-34-3. Jammu
& Kashmir Samir Malik lbw Ashok Thakur 2 Rauf b Vikramjit
Malik 10 Kamaljit Singh lbw Sangram 30 Shammi Salaria b Vikramjit
17 Dhruv Mahajan c Vikramjit b Vishal Bhatia 22 Majit Dar b Kuldip
Dewan 24 Anshuman Sharma c Sangram b Vishal Bhatia 0 Inderjeet Singh
c Paras Dogra b Kuldip Dewan 17 Ishtiaq c Sandeep Sharma b Vishal
Bhatia 1 Jagtar Singh not out 0 Imtiaz lbw Kuldip Dewan 4 Extras:
13 Total: (all out) 140 Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-24,
3-58, 4-72, 5-91, 6-91,7-135, 8-136, 9-136. Bowling: Vikramjeet
Malik: 8-2-22-2, Ashok Thakur 7-0-27-1, Kuldip Dewan 9.3-2-23-3, Sangram
Singh 6-0-23-1, Vishal Bhatia 10-2-19-3, Saurab Rattan 6-1-18-0.
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Sodhi stars in Punjab victory
Una, January 15 Services after winning the toss elected to bat, but were dismissed for 171, with their skipper Sarabjit Singh being the only valuable contributor with 40 runs. Punjab despite losing opener Raveent Ricky (20) and skipper Dinesh Mongia (0) encountered no opposition against a weak Services bowling attack. Sodhi in the company of Pankaj Dharmani (48) overhauled the rival total in the 37th over. Brief scores: Services 171 all out (Sarabjit Singh 40, Sudhakar Ghag 32, Reetinder Sodhi 4-33, Sandeep Sanwal 2-29, Vipul Sharma 2-31); Punjab 175 for 4
(Reetinder Sodhi 60 not out, Pankaj Dharmani 48 not out). — UNI |
Dhawan guides Delhi to win
Kangra, January 15 Haryana won the toss and
elected to bat. Due to a middle-order collapse, Haryana were restricted
to 197 for 7 in 50 overs. Scoreboard Haryana Chetan Sharma lbw Rajat
Bhatia 41 Bageshwar run out 8 Sunny Singh c Mithun Minhas Shafiq Khan c Amit Bandhari Ajay Ratra
c Gambhir Deepak John c Chetan Nanda Joginder Sharma c Varun Kumar Sachin Rana not
out 28 Amit Misra not out 14 Extras: 11 Total: (7 wickets, 50 overs)
197 FoW: 1-19, 2-38, 3-44, 4-84, 5-92, 6-132, 7-174. Bowling:
Ashish
Nehra 10-1-38-1, Amit Bhandari 10-0-44-1, Yogesh Sachdeva 10-0-48-2,
Rajat Bhatia 8.5-0-27-2, Chetan Nanda 10-0-29-0, Ajay Jadeja
1.1-0-7-0. Delhi Shikhar Dhawan not out 100 Gautam Gambhir lbw
Vishesht 20 Mithun Minhas c Ratra Rajan Gupta c
Sachin Rana Ajay Jadeja c Gorow Ashish Nehra not out 12 Extras: 11 Total: (4 wickets, 48.4 overs)
201 FoW: 1-44, 2-60, 3-72, 4-180. Bowling: Joginder Sharma 9.4-0-47-0,
Jatinder Malik 2-0-20-0, Sachin Rana 10-1-39-1, Gorow 10-0-38-1, Sunny
Singh 7-1-19-2, Amit Misra 10-0-35-0. |
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Star-studded Mumbai Marathon today
Mumbai, January 15 All eyes will be on industrialists Anil Ambani and Anand Mahindra, Bollywood personalities Ashutosh Gowarikar, Diana Hayden and Nana Patekar and the sprinters from Kenya and South Africa. The full marathon of 42.195 km will have 944 male and 96 female participatants. Of these, 32 men and two women are above the age of 55 years. The half marathon of 21.097 km will have 3,741 male and 670 female participants. The Dream Run of 7 km will have 18,000 participants, including most of the celebrities. Indian participants in the marathon include people on wheelchairs, heart patients and a 77-year-old woman, Kokilaben Kadakia, the oldest woman participant. A contingent of 59 heart patients will participate in the marathon. |
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Bagga wins 2 gold in Deaflympics
New Delhi, January 15 Bagga, the defending champion, first thrashed Nattachai Unsomsri of Thailand 15-7, 15-8 to retain his singles title and then paired with Sandeep Dhillon to beat Bong Lee and Woo Sin of Republic of Korea 3-15, 15-13, 15-9, according to information received here. The two-time national champion, who was conferred the honour of ‘Deaflypian of the Century’ in 2001, has now won 14 gold medals in various categories of the Deaflympics since 1989. The Indian, who became the first deaf shuttler to qualify for the All England Open and was ranked as high as 36 in the world badminton rankings in 1992, however, failed in the mixed doubles as he was made to bite the dust in the prequarterfinal round. Rohit Bhaker added a bronze medal to the Indian tally when he defeated Woo Choi of Republic of Korea 15-4, 11-15, 15-12 in the third place playoff. With this medal, India have now won two gold and two bronze from the badminton event.
— PTI |
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Varsity moots insurance cover for players
Amritsar, January 15 Confirming this, Dr S.P. Singh, Vice-Chancellor, said the idea would be discussed threadbare in the next meeting of the sports board, constituting Principals of colleges affiliated with the university. He said initially there was a view that only those players and officials visiting disturbed areas for participating in games must be insured. However, he said Shiv Sharma and other students of the university received injuries in a Himachal Pradesh University, which did not fall in a disturbed area. The Vice-Chancellor informed that it all depended on the availability of funds with the board. He said for the first time, a university team which went to participate in a tournament at Srinagar, a terrorist-infested area, was insured. Each player of the football team which participated in the North Zone Inter-University Football Tournament in October was insured for Rs 2 lakh. |
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Tollygunge rally to hold Goa club
Margao, January 15 They increased the lead after the change of ends through Edeh Chidi (52nd) and Rajesh Meetei (78th). But Tollygunge fought their way in the second half and scored through Surjit Bose (63rd), Sulay Musah and Akeem Abalole, in injury time to level the scores. —
PTI |
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Haryana eves
down Punjab Patiala,
January 15
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