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Malaysia down India by record margin
Paes-Zimonjic in quarterfinal
Davenport rallies to oust Clijsters
Fernando Alonso wins as Raikkonen crashes out
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Windies in sight of victory
Harbhajan got the benefit of the doubt
India may not go for bowling coach
Younis clashes with Inzamam, Shahid Afridi
Sangrur sub-jr swimming champs
Nawanshahr win football championship
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Malaysia down India by record margin
Kuala Lumpur, May 29 The comprehensive win at the Bukit Jalil Stadium was Malaysia’s biggest against the eight-time Olympic champions. Though India held the upper hand in a mediocre first half, they could not go into the break with the lead. The two teams were locked 1-1 at half time. The midfield committed plenty of unforced errors, in particular centre-half Bimal Lakra and left-link Devender Pal Singh, who was tried out in this position instead of his normal right-half. Malaysia were the first to score in the sixth minute from a penalty corner, awarded after Inderjit Chadha flung himself deliberately at Mohd Fairuz Ramli 25-yard area. Skipper Kuhan Shanmuganathan, who played for Bangalore Hi Fliers in the inaugural Premier Hockey League in Hyderabad, did not disappoint the home crowd as he beat Devesh Chauhan under the bar with a powerful flick. However, the lead was shortlived as India fought back to get the equaliser three minutes later. Winger Prabhjot Singh and his Indian Oil team-mate Deepak Thakur found their way into the rival circle, where Malaysia defender Nor Azlan Bakar committed a footfault, resulting in a penalty corner in favour of India. Captain Dilip Tirkey scored from the set piece after Len Aiyappa’s dummy. There was nothing to sparkle in the remaining period of the session as India failed to take advantage of the time Jiwa Mohan was given temperory marching orders for an infringement. There were mispasses galore from Lakra and Devender was all at sea. Right-winger Rajpal Singh and Arjun Halappa were not fed accurate passes as the Indian strikers fumbled time and again around the Malaysian circle. Barring Prabhjot, who made good penetrative moves, there was nothing sizzling in the Indian attacks. His indeed was unfortunately a one-man army. India missed the opportunity to go into the lead shortly before the end of the first half when Dilip Tirkey missed the mark by inches from their second penalty corner. The visitors were completely outwitted and blanked in the next 35 minutes as Malaysia moved with full throttle on their flanks against the unsure Indian defence. With full support from the midfield, Malaysia forwards Ramli, Azlan Misron, Robert Alcantra and Hairul more often than not wrongfooted the Indians, including the dependable Tirkey. Malaysia went 2-1 up when Alcantra seized the ball from an excellent rundown from the left and after dodging past Devinder, hit a rasper from the edge of the circle in the 49th minute. There was no looking back for the hosts as four minutes later, they increased their tally from an indirect penalty corner conversion by Mohd Amin Rahim. It was another penalty corner goal which was the last nail in the Indian coffin after Aiyappa bodychecked Misron. Shanmuganathan again found the mark with the flick going between Chauhan and Aiyappa in the 64th minute to round off the tally. India, like Malaysia, now had four points, but were placed below them by virtue of an inferior goal difference. Meanwhile, continuing their winning spree, Pakistan recorded their third straight victory, outplaying South Africa 2-0. Pakistan played an attractive attacking game full of fluency and flair despite the suspension of their captain Muhammad Saqlain from this match. The three-time champions and the last edition’s runners-up drew first blood in the 24th minute when Shakeel Abbasi latched on to Dilawar Husain’s cross to beat South Africa goalkeeper Chris Hibbert with a solo effort. It became 2-0 in the 30th minute when Rehan Butt, set up by Akhtar Ali, cashed on an opportunist moment after a goalmouth scramble. In the last game of the day, Olympic champions Australia beat New Zealand by two second-half goals. Brent Livermore and Grant Schubert found the net for Australia after they were held goal-less for the entire first half. Australia were now lying second with seven points from three matches, while New Zealand had just one point from the same number of outings. — PTI
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Paes-Zimonjic in quarterfinal
New Delhi, May 29 Paes and Zimonjic will take on Bob and Mike Bryan of the USA in the quarterfinal. In mixed doubles, India’s Mahesh Bhupathi and the USA’s Lisa Raymond defeated Katarina Srebotnik of Slovakia and Todd Woodbridge of Australia 7-5, 7-6 to enter the third round. Leander Paes and Martina Navratilova yesterday advanced to the second round. They defeated the French pair of Stephanie Foretz and Nicolas Devilder 6-4, 6-3, according to information received here. In boys singles, India’s Sanam Singh and Vivek Shokeen bowed out in the first round. Gianluca Naso of Italy beat Sanam 6-1, 6-3 while Jochen Schottler of Germany defeated Vivek 6-7, 7-5, 6-3. Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan remains the only Indian contender for the boys singles title.
— PTI |
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Davenport rallies to oust Clijsters
Paris, May 29 The only remaining American in either singles draw, top seed Davenport looked helpless in the first set and was 3-1 down in the second but she recovered to beat Belgian Clijsters for the first time in seven meetings. Davenport, who has often struggled on the Paris clay with a semi-final appearance in 1998 her best result, will meet local favourite Mary Pierce for a place in the semifinals. Former world number one Clijsters, a runner-up in Paris in 2001 and 2003, seemed on her way to a comfortable win, taking the first set in just 20 minutes, but her nerve then failed her and she collapsed. Bulgaria’s 15-year-old Sesil Karatantcheva followed up her shock third round win over Venus Williams to beat Emmanuelle Gagliardi of Switzerland 7-5, 6-3.
That put her a step closer to breaking Monica Seles’ record as the youngest Grand Slam winner in history. That also put her on a collision course with Davenport, whom she may meet in the semifinal. Sixteenth seed Elena Likhovtseva of Russia beat compatriot Elena Dementieva, the fourth seed, 7-6 (3), 5-7, 7-5 to enter the quarterfinal. Mary Pierce kept the French flag flying at Roland Garros after edging out eighth seed Patty Schnyder 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinal. The last Frenchwoman left in the competition, Pierce wore down Schnyder in a see-saw battle to keep home interest alive going into the second week of the clay court Grand Slam event. Earlier, Amelie Mauresmo of France again cracked under pressure at the French Open when gifted newcomer Ana Ivanovic of Serbia and Montenegro beat her 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in a third-round match yesterday. Federer enters last eight
World number one Roger Federer underlined his status as French Open favourite when he hammered former champion Carlos Moya 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinal. Top seed Federer confirmed he had all it takes to triumph in the only Grand Slam tournament to elude him so far by outclassing the Spaniard, the winner here in 1998, in just an hour and 41 minutes. The Swiss now meets world number 90 Victor Hanescu of Romania, who overcame former Wimbledon finalist David Nalbandian 6-3, 4-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2. The exit of Nalbandian, seeded 10th, leaves four Argentine players in the draw. One of them is ninth seed Guillermo Canas, who needed five sets and as many hours to overcome Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-3, 7-6, 2-6, 6-7, 8-6. Canas, who survived two match points, was two sets up when the contest was interrupted because of darkness yesterday. Nicolas Kiefer of Germany got the better of Igor Andreev of Russia, defeating him in four sets 6-4, 7-6 (7), 3-6, 6-4.
— Reuters, AFP |
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Fernando Alonso wins as Raikkonen crashes out
Nurburgring, May 29 The Spaniard, now with a commanding 32-point lead in the Formula One standings, was catching Raikkonen as the Finn tried to nurse his ailing McLaren through the last few laps to what would have been a third win in a row. Instead it was Alonso who celebrated his fourth win in seven races with Raikkonen, his tyres worn out, spinning off when the suspension suddenly shattered. Germany’s Nick Heidfeld was second for Williams, with Brazilian Rubens Barrichello in third place for Ferrari. Narain Karthikeyan of Jordan finished 16th. “I was happy with the second place, but we were so quick and pushing McLaren and Kimi all the way, and they eventually had a tyre failure. We were very lucky today, but also very quick,” said
Alonso. It was the second time in two races that Heidfeld, who started on pole for the first time in front of his home crowd, had finished as runner-up. Briton David Coulthard finished fourth for Red Bull despite a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pitlane while Ferrari’s seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher finished fifth after running 14th. Italian Giancarlo Fisichella was sixth for Renault, with Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya seventh for McLaren and Italian Jarno Trulli eighth for Toyota. Alonso had 59 points to Raikkonen’s and Trulli’s 27. Renault stretched their lead in the constructors' standings and had 76 points to McLaren’s 53, with Toyota on 44. Briton Jenson Button finished 10th, with Japanese team-mate Takuma Sato 12th as the BAR team returned from a two-race suspension. Alonso was confident, despite starting from sixth on the grid, because of his strategy of carrying a heavy fuel load in yesterday’s qualifying. The race was delayed when Fisichella stalled on the grid and had to be pushed to the pit lane for the restart. Strategies were then hurriedly rethought after a pile up at the first corner, caused by Australian Mark Webber barging into McLaren’s Juan Pablo Montoya. The Williams driver’s race was finished by the incident and in the resulting chaos, Toyota’s Ralf Schumacher hit Alonso’s Renault. “I nearly finished my race in the first corner. I do not know who pushed me in the back,” said the Spaniard. He survived the scare, and another when he left the track before his second pit stop, to settle in behind Raikkonen and ready to take advantage when the Finn’s tyre problems caused him to slow down.
— Reuters |
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Bridgetown, May 29 The 30-year-old Chanderpaul recorded his 14th Test century as the West Indies pushed their second innings from 168 for four overnight to 371 all out at the stroke of tea. Needing 573 to win in a session and two days, Pakistan closed with 113 for four, with Chanderpaul’s direct hit claiming opposition skipper Younis Khan for a duck. The tourists slumped to 47 for four before an unbroken stand of 66 between Asim Kamal (38) and Shahid Afridi (32) carried their fading hopes into the final two days. Chanderpaul’s century consolidated the advantage that the West Indies had established on the first two days. The Guyanese, who resumed on 37, hit 10 fours and two sixes in his maiden century against Pakistan. He faced 254 balls and spent just under six hours at the crease. Chanderpaul shared an important fifth-wicket stand of 134 with Wavell Hinds, who contributed 52 before he was dismissed in the last over before lunch. Scoreboard
West Indies (1st innings) 345 Pakistan (1st innings) 144 West Indies (2nd innings) Gayle c Kamal b Kaneria 50 Smith c Akmal b Razzaq 10 Sarwan c Akmal b Afridi 1 Lara st Akmal b Afridi 48 Chanderpaul not out 153 Hinds b Kaneria 52 Browne c Akmal b Afridi 1 Powell b Naved 5 Edwards c Akmal b Shabbir 20 King b Shabbir 5 Collymore lbw Razzaq 0 Extras:
(b-4, lb-9, w-2, nb-11) 26 Total: (all out, 102 overs) 371 Fall of wickets:
1-59, 2-64, 3-65, 4-137, 5-271, 6-274, 7-307, 8-353, 9-367 Bowling:
Naved 24-7-88-1, Shabbir 20-2-70-2, Kaneria 26-4-115-2, Razzaq 15-4-36-2, Afridi 17-3-49-3. Pakistan (2nd innings) Butt c Gayle b Edwards 0 Hameed c Browne b Powell 11 Younis run out 0 Bazid lbw b Collymore 23 Kamal batting 38 Afridi batting 32 Extras:
(lb-3, nb-6) 9 Total: (4 wkts, 23 overs) 113 Fall of wickets:
1-0, 2-1, 3-16, 4-47. Bowling: Edwards 1.2-1-0-1, Powell 4-1-20-1, King 7.4-0-56-0, Collymore 6-1-24-1, Gayle 3-0-9-0, Hinds 1-0-1-0.
— AP |
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Harbhajan got the benefit of the doubt
New Delhi, May 29 As per the ICC regulations provided in the Illegal Bowling Review process, a bowler would be immediately suspended if his action submitted to an independent expert’s analysis did not conform with the one he bowled in the match when he was reported. “...in the event that the Independent Assessment concludes ... that (ii) the player’s bowling action during the independent analysis was materially different to his action in the match in respect of which he was reported, the player shall immediately be suspended from bowling in international cricket until such time as he has submitted to a fresh independent analysis,” says paragraph E (8) of the ICC’s Regulations for the Review of Suspected Illegal Bowling Actions. “That was because Mark Portus (who analysed the video evidences) found the match footage inconclusive,” ICC spokesperson Brendan McClements told PTI on the phone. Harbhajan’s action was reported twice in three months, after the second Test against Bangladesh in December last year and against Pakistan in Kolkata in March this year. Portus, analysing the recent footage of the off-spinner’s action, observed that Harbhajan bowled against Pakistan with an action that did not conform to the one he used in a Western Australian laboratory and which was found to be legal then by Bruce Elliott. “However, Portus was unable to reach a definitive conclusion on the action used against Pakistan because of the quality of the footage and the camera angles used,” ICC General Manager Cricket, David Richardson, said in a statement. Of particular concern to the ICC was the differences in Harbhajan’s position of feet and the speed of the ball. However, while allowing him to bowl the ICC had warned Harbhajan that “should his action deteriorate (again), it is possible that the match referees would again report him and this would raise the prospect of further bio-mechanical analysis.” McClements denied that the ICC’s warning did not mean that the Indian had been advised not to bowl ‘doosra’. “Not necessarily,” he said. Richardson was to meet Harbhajan and explain him the full import of Portus’ report. The date for the meeting is yet to be decided. “Richardson will explain to Harbhajan the areas of difference in his actions that Portus found in his analysis,” McClements said. Asked what prompted the ICC to go for a different process to deal with the issue from the one set in the guidelines, McClements said the game’s governing body was in a “fortunate situation” where it had a lot of laboratory footage from the past related to his action and so did not feel the need to ask the bowler submit to a fresh analysis.
— PTI |
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India may not go for bowling coach
New Delhi, May 29 Former Australian captain Chappell, who was recently appointed the team’s coach in succession to New Zealand’s John Wright, was expected to take over from June 15. Sources in the BCCI today said there was no proposal to have a bowling coach as that would lead to dual authority. However, the question could be considered at a later stage if Chappell pressed for it. The sources said Chappell had given faint indications that having a fielding coach for the team would be a good idea. The former Test batsman, in his presentation to the board’s six-member committee during his interview, had stressed the importance of developing versatile fielders with commitment to not give away ‘safe shot’ singles. Chappell had stated his objective in the role of India coach as to take the team to number two in Test rankings in the next 18 months and improve their current ODI ranking of eight in the lead-up to the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean. Of course, challenging Australia for the title of world champions was the ultimate goal. In his vision for Indian cricket, Chappell saw captain Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and V.V.S. Laxman as the ‘core group’ entrusted with the task of guiding those players who were in the ‘learning to compete’ stage. The 56-year-old Chappell also stressed the need to instil an even more aggressive and confident demeanour in the back-bench players. “Great teams are a result of positive peer pressure motivating team members to higher levels of adaptation and self-confidence,” Chappell said. He saw Sehwag as “future champion and team leader” and believed that Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir and Ambati Rayudu as next-generation Indian batting talents. — PTI
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Younis clashes with Inzamam, Shahid Afridi
Islamabad, May 29 Media reports here said the incident took place on the first day of the Test after Afridi expressed indignation at being asked to open the innings by Younis. “Younis had told Afridi he would open the innings before the match started, but he did not give a clear yes. On the first day, Younis kept on telling him he should open the innings. Finally when Pakistan were getting ready to beat for four overs at the end of the first day, Afridi told Yasir Hameed in the dressing room to pad up and open,” local daily ‘The News’ said, quoting sources who witnessed the incident. “This upset Younis and he asked Afridi why he was misbehaving. Younis also made it clear to him that he would open the innings. At that time, Afridi got up and went out to open.” “But after the day’s play ended, when Younis was taking a shower, Afridi walked up to him and got into an argument with him, accusing him of being too big for the boots. Afridi then went and complained to Inzamam, who came and also confronted Younis,” the sources said. “Inzamam got very upset with Younis and asked him what he thought of himself and if he thought that he was the captain and boss of the team. Younis told him on his face that while he accepted that he (Inzamam) was captain, but until he (Younis) was leading the side, he would do it in his own way and he should not try to support Afridi, who was misbehaving with him.” The sources said at this point, Afridi also came into the argument and some pushing and jostling took palce between the three before others intervened.
— PTI |
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Sangrur sub-jr swimming champs
Sangrur, May 29 Sangrur’s Harinderjit Singh broke the record of 23:16.56 seconds in 1500 metres freestyle in boys’ group II competition. He covered the distance in 20:53.11 seconds. Sangrur’s Prabhjot won the 50 metres butterfly in girl’s group I, covering the distance in 37.65 seconds, breaking the record of 37.96 seconds set by Ludhiana’s Vibha in 2004. Sangrur won the overall championship in the sub-junior section with 176 points. In the girls’ section, Sangrur topped with 62 points while Ropar got second place with 29 points. In boys’ section, Sangrur got first position with 114 points while Patiala were second with 55 points. Results: boys group I:1500 m freestyle — first: Rohit (Jal), second: Surinderjit (Sang), third: Vibhar (Ldh); 50 m butterfly — first: Gagan (Fzr), second: Ajaljot (Ldh), third: Sunil (Sang); 50 m backstroke — first: Chander Kamal (Sang), second: Ajaljot (Ldh), third: Vipan (Jal), 200 m freestyle — first: Gagan (Fzr), second: Rohit (Jal), third: Ala Singh (Ldh); Group II: 50 m breaststroke — first: Amritbir (Rpr), second: Jashandeep (Rpr), third: Arjun (Jal); 1500 m freestyle — first: Harinderjit (Sang), second: Jatinder (Sang), third: Kamaljit (Pta); 50 m butterfly — first: Karandeep (Sang), second: Nikhil (Ldh), third: Amritbir (Rpr); 50 m backstroke — first: Resham Singh (Sang), second: Amarpal (Ldh), third: Jatinder (Sang); 200 m freestyle — first: Harinderjit (Sang), second: Jatinder (Sang), third: Sohrab (Asr). Girls group I : 50 m butterfly — first: Prabhjot (Rpr), second: Poonam (Gsp), third: Nitika (Ldh); 50 m backstroke — first: Gurbinder (Hsp), second: Sanjvan (Sang), third: Nitika (Ldh); 200 m freestyle — first: Amanjot (Pta), second: Vasuda (Fzr), third: Nitika (Ldh); 4x100 m freestyle relay — first: Patiala, second: Ludhiana, third: Sangrur; Group II: 50 m breaststroke — first: Harneet (Sang), second: Ranbir (Hsp), third: Jashandeep (Sang); 1500 m freestyle — first: Harsimran (Rpr), second: Aman (Pta), third: Jasleen (Sang); 50 m butterfly — first: Ira (Pta), second: Himanshi (Rpr), third: Chiranjiv (Ldh); 50 m backstroke — first: Ramneet (Sang), second: Himanshi (Rpr), third: Ravneet (Sang); 200 m freestyle — first: Ira (Pta), second: Manjot (Pta), third: Gurneet (Sang).
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Nawanshahr win football championship
Fatehgarh Sahib, May 29 The championship was organised by the District Football Association, Fatehgarh Sahib, at the ITI grounds, Bassi Pathana. Mr Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, MP, gave away prizes to the winners.
— OC |
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New Delhi, May 29
In video: ICC clears Harbhajan Singh's bowling action.
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