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Davenport sets up clash with
Federer marches into final
India, South Korea bid for 2014 Asiad
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Ponting backs bowlers to come good in
final
Lara, Gayle not to tour Lanka
Dumping players, IHF style
Juniors yet to peak: coach
Railways maintain winning spree
Narain 20th in practice session
Sania to have travelling coach
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Davenport sets up clash with Venus Williams
London, July 1 The 29-year-old, who will face US compatriot Venus Williams in tomorrow’s final, led 6-7, 7-6, 5-3 overnight after rain halted the court one semifinal last evening. She needed only three minutes 44 seconds today to complete her win with a love service game. The 1999 champion will now attempt to win a second Wimbledon crown against the opponent who beat her in straight sets in the 2000 Wimbledon final. “It’s pretty amazing,” said Davenport, who has not won a Grand Slam title since her 2000 Australian Open triumph. “There was just a lot of stress and nerves over the last 24 hours. It was really tough conditions. “We were only out there a minute so you never know what can happen but fortunately I was able to produce a good service game.” Mauresmo’s defeat meant she has lost in the semifinals on her last three visits to Wimbledon. She fell in the last four in 2002 and 2004 having missed 2003 through injury. The loss also left the 25-year-old still waiting for her first Grand Slam title. The former world number one has only reached one Grand Slam final — the 1999 Australian Open. Her nerve has often let her down on the big occasion and she will regret squandering another winning position against Davenport having led by a set and 3-1 at one point yesterday. She made a three-course meal of winning the first set, throwing away a 5-2 lead and then a 4-1 advantage in the tiebreak before finally taking it 7-5. The second set was similarly serpentine but this time Davenport’s heavy serve and forehand dominated the tiebreak, taking it 7-4. A break for 4-3 put the American in sight of victory before rain saved Mauresmo, who had proved unable to impose her serve-volley game. She resumed today at 3-5, 15-0 and held to love but, amid an air of anti-climax, Davenport did exactly the same, sealing victory on her first match point when Mauresmo netted a forehand volley. Davenport will play tomorrow in her second Grand Slam final of 2005. She lost to Venus’ younger sister Serena in the Australian Open final at the start of the year. Earlier, former two-time champion Venus Williams dethroned Centre Court queen and defending champion Maria Sharapova 7-6 (7-2), 6-1 yesterday to reach her fifth Wimbledon final. The 25-year-old American, the winner here in 2000 and 2001, will be chasing her fifth Grand Slam title. Bhupathi-Pierce enter semis
Mahesh Bhupathi partnering France’s Mary Pierce, showed the door to the 12th seeded Belgian duo of Oliver Rochus and Kim Clijsters in the quarterfinals 6-1, 7-5 of the mixed doubles event of Wimbledon here today. It was an easy outing for Bhupathi-Pierce who gained the upperhand in the very beginning and dominated the first set to win it 6-1. Bhupathi and Pierce committed more unforced errors than their opponents but managed to get the better off the Belgian pair on a better second serve. The Indo-French duo broke their rivals four times. However, the going was a bit tough in the second set as the Belgians pushed Bhupathi and Pierce to the limit before bowing out 5-7.
— Agencies |
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Federer marches into final
London, July 1 The Swiss world number one gave the Australian third seed another master class on Centre Court, winning 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 to reach the final. Hewitt, the last person to win the men’s singles here before Federer, is one of the game’s toughest cookies, but with the magical Swiss on the other side of the net his game crumbled. Federer’s domination over the player ranked immediately below him in the world rankings is such that he has won the last eight matches against him. “I’m really pleased to be in my third final,” said Federer, who has also won 35 consecutive matches on grass since his defeat by Mario Ancic in the first round here in 2002. “I can’t believe I did it so smoothly in straight sets. It is a huge relief, but there is still two days of pressure.” The Wimbledon seeding policy meant Hewitt was demoted to third seed below Roddick — a decision that put him on collision course with the Swiss a match sooner than he would have liked. Hewitt was privately seething at the switch but if the capacity crowd were expecting a backlash they were to be sadly disappointed. His counter-punching percentage game is too good for virtually every other player but against Federer the sums just do not add up. The Swiss can defend as well as Hewitt, moves just as well, serves at a similar pace, but unlike Hewitt, he can launch devastating attacks from any part of the court with a dazzling array of spins and angles. After swapping service breaks early in the first set, Federer turned the screw in the eighth game after Hewitt errors put him 0-30 ahead. Hewitt recovered to 30-30 but a netted forehand gave Federer a chance. A gravity-defying sliced backhand from the Swiss drew gasps from the crowd and forced another error from Hewitt to clinch the break and the top seed easily served out the set. Federer’s first serve was way below its best, but Hewitt could make no impression on it at the start of the second set. Hewitt gift-wrapped Federer a break in the fifth game with four amateurish backhands and the world number one needed no second invitation to stroll into a two-set lead. Hewitt does not do capitulation, however, and he at least made Federer perspire in the third. A powerful first serve gave him two match points and the Swiss jumped for joy seconds later when Hewitt surrendered with a lame forehand into the net. |
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India, South Korea bid for 2014 Asiad
New Delhi, July 1 South Korea, who hosted the 2002 Asiad at Busan, are the only other country to bid for the Asiad. IOA President Suresh Kalmadi and Secretary-General Randhir Singh said India’s chances of bagging the Asian Games had brightened as other contenders like Jordan, Vietnam and Dubai opted out in favour of India. Kalmadi said India would also be bidding for the 2016 Olympic Games, and would be seeking the cooperation and support of China in winning the bid and hosting the games. India today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China for the promotion of sports and exchange of sports inputs between the two countries. Randhir Singh, who is also the Secretary-General of the OCA and a member of the International Olympic Council, said India now had a bright chance of winning the Asiad bid as South Korea had last hosted the games in the 2002 and it was unlikely that they would be awarded another Asiad within 12 years. The Asian Games movement started in India when the inaugural games were held in New Delhi in 1951. India’s turn to host the games after the first edition came after 31 years when New Delhi held them in 1982. Chinese Sports Minister Liu Ping, who is also the President of the Chinese Olympic Committee, promised China’s support and help to India in the Asiad bid and for conducting the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. An IOA delegation will witness the Chinese National Games in October this year to get a preview of Chinese organisational skills and sporting standard from which the country is expected to draw a lot to be incorporated in the hosting of the 2010 Commonwealth Games. The Chinese minister said his country had got a lot of support and input form India while hosting their first Asian Games in Beijing in 1990 as India had the experience of hosting two Asian Games. Secretary-General of the Chinese Olympic Committee Gu Yaoming said India and China had a lot in common and both could exchange ideas for mutual benefit. According to the MoU signed between Kalmadi and Liu Peng, there will be regular exchange of coaches, officials referees, researchers and other sports experts; participation of coaches, officials, referees, researchers and other sports experts in seminars and clinics; exchange of technical information, information on team selection criteria, team control and games organisation and exchange of information for organising the games, especially the manner in which China would be hosting the 2008 Olympic Games. The Chinese delegation promised to implement the points in the MoU in a “down-to-earth” manner. Randhir Singh said India would spare no effort in pushing through the 2016 Olympic bid, though the bid process can start only seven years before the games. |
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Ponting backs bowlers to come good in
final
Canterbury, July 1 In the last group game of the tournament, Australia were set for a crushing win after reducing Bangladesh to 75 for five. But the Tigers, who’d stunned the cricket world 12 days earlier by beating the world champions by five wickets in Cardiff, batted out their 50 overs on way to posting a competitive 250 for eight. Australia eventually got home with 11 balls to spare, Michael Clarke (80 not out) and Andrew Symonds (42 not out) securing a six-wicket win. But while Bangladesh may not have had enough bowling to make the most of their batsmen’s recovery, England possess the likes of Stephen Harmison, Andrew Flintoff and Simon Jones. “We probably made harder work of it than we should have,” Ponting admitted to reporters after yesterday’s match. At Canterbury, fast bowler Brett Lee saw his 10 overs go for 62 runs, Jason Gillespie’s nine cost 49 and Michael Kasprowicz’s nine yielded 46. Australia will have rested veteran quick bowler Glenn McGrath back in the side for tomorrow’s Lord’s showdown while spinner Brad Hogg, who missed yesterday’s match with a virus, should also be available for selection. But in the meantime Ponting will hope his attack can do something to stop the extras that have blighted their tournament thus far. Yesterday they conceded 23 extras with 14 of those coming in wides and no-balls — the equivalent of more than two extra overs. Australia and England have beaten each other once apiece in the triangular series with Tuesday’s match at Edgbaston a no-result washout. England had the upper hand in Bristol during a three-wicket win where the Australian attack gifted them nearly three additional overs and were powerless in the face of Kevin Pietersen’s whirlwind 91 not out. But it was a different story at the Riverside where he tourists were far sharper and meaner — only nine bowling extras given away — in a 57-run win. “We’ve bowled better against England in a couple of games than we have against Bangladesh. “We’ve just got to get back to thinking about the basics of the game and our plans that we will have for the English batsmen. “Not knowing a lot about some of the individual players in the Bangladesh side sometimes makes it a little bit harder to set fields and have certain plans. We’ll probably have better plans for the England players when we get to play against them.” But he admitted he was concerned about the bowling extras. “The no-ball thing we see as being almost totally unacceptable in our side. “It’s the most zero-tolerance type of thing in our team.” In the meantime he said Bangladesh had provided the ideal workout in what was a ‘dead’ match with England and Australia already in the final. “To be able to chase 250 won’t do us any harm anyway, to be under a bit of pressure at 83 for three was good for us and will hold us in good stead for tomorrow.” Matthew Hayden studiously avoided the guard of honour as Australia took the field after being accused of swearing at one of the child flag-bearers at Edgbaston — a match where he was hit in the chest by Jones following a wayward shy at the stumps. Ponting said of his opening batsman: “I think he has been harshly treated. I think we are all pretty disappointed with that but that’s life. “We get on with things, leave those things behind and get on with the cricket and concentrate on that.” And as for Hayden’s flare-up with Jones, Ponting maintained: “It is something that happened in the heat of the moment from both sides and we’ll just get on with playing. “It’s going to be a tough hard fought game of cricket, as simple as that, but there will be nothing carried over from the other night on tomorrow.” While England have had several days of rest leading up to the final since their last group game on Sunday, Australia have had a far more congested schedule. “It will have been a tough run for us going into this final with three games in five days,” Ponting said. “But we will have a relaxing day today, get all our plans sorted out and hopefully perform at our best.”
— AFP |
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Lara, Gayle not to tour Lanka
London, July 1 Leading batsmen Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chris Gayle were omitted from the 14-man squad named today, although captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul will travel for the two Tests and a one-day series also involving India. After discussions between the West Indies Cricket Board
(WICB) and the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) broke down on the issue of the sponsorship guarantee fees, the WICB named a squad from those who had agreed to sign the contracts offered. ‘’We did everything in our power to conclude these negotiations but unfortunately the players’ association found almost all suggested meeting dates inconvenient,’’ said Roger
Braithwaite, Chief Executive Officer of the WICB. A similar showdown between players and the Board was settled shortly before the West Indies’ one-day series in Australia at the start of the year but reared up again in March before the home Test and one-day series against South Africa. Lara, Sarwan and Gayle were among a group of players left out of the team for the first Test against South Africa after a row over a clash between their personal sponsors and the main team and tour sponsor. The
squad: Shivnarine Chanderpaul (captain), Denesh
Ramdin, Daren Powell, Omari Banks, Kerry Jeremy, Deighton Butler, Sylvester Joseph, Narsingh
Deonarine, Dwayne Smith, Tino Best, Jermaine Lawson, Xavier Marshall, Runako Morton and Ryan
Ramdass. — Reuters |
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Dumping players, IHF style
Patiala, July 1 In 2003, India won 70 per cent of the matches they played in the international arena. In 2004, the Indians played 61 matches and managed to win just 17, a success rate of just 28 per cent. A former Olympian, preferring anonymity, disclosed that no team assessments reports were prepared after a tour and unknown names were included just to “satisfy the whims” of IHF President K.P.S. Gill and Secretary Jyothikumaran. Experts point out the examples of several players who were picked for the national team but were later discarded, with many of them given just a couple of minutes to play on the turf. The case of Deedar Singh of Namdharis is cited by many in this context. He never played in the junior national championships but was selected for the 2003 Champions Trophy held at Cologne (Germany). Deedar did not play in the entire tournament. After playing for just 40-odd minutes in the 2003 Asia Cup at Kuala Lumpur, he was left out for good. The IHF selectors took Ajeetpal Singh of the Punjab and Sind Bank Academy team to Australia in 2004 but once the tour was over, the Jalandhar player was dumped. Other prominent examples cited are of Joginder Chowdhury of Delhi and Jatinder Pal Singh of PSB Academy. The former, labelled a drag flicker by the selectors, was asked to report at the national camp held prior to the Azlan Shah tournament but once the camp proceedings were over, the player was given the cold shoulder. Similarly, the IHF put Jatinder Pal Singh of PSB on the plane to the USA with the Indian team that went there for a camp prior to the Athens Olympics. Nine months later, nothing much is known of Jatinder Pal Singh, although sources reveal that he is now married and settled in the USA. The spotlight here at the national camp is on Ranjot Singh of Surjeet Hockey Academy, Jalandhar. The youngster was not included in the junior team that is currently playing in the World Cup at Rotterdam. Nobody knows for sure how Ranjot has made his way among the senior probables, although coach Rajinder Singh (Jr) says, “ The player is good enough to warrant a place among the seniors.” |
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Juniors yet to peak: coach
Rotterdam, July 1 Even after a close 3-2 win against Poland, Harinder feels that the team is coming into form. “It has been a slow start and we hope to build up momentum against Holland. But they would be playing at home and that makes any host team dangerous,” said Harinder. India, who flew into Rotterdam after winning a four-nation in
Bilbao, Spain, have the advantage of beating Holland in that tournament 4-3. “But I think it doesn’t matter,” said Harinder. “That match is over and both teams know they need the three points to carry it across into the next round. So winning is absolutely crucial.” India haven’t swept away their opponents in the style of Australia or England blanking their opponents by more than 10 goals. And they do have worries in the midfield and their forward line which has done the hard work but is yet to reap the rewards. Nitin Kumar, Hari Prasad, Vivek Gupta came to Rotterdam with established credentials but are yet to work the magic in the midfield. They struggled against Egypt and to an extent took their time to settle against Poland. Sometimes, a strong opponent provides the catalyst to increase the level of your play and I think against Holland, we would come into our own, said Harinder. The Indians definitely miss the confident Prabodh Tirkey in the midfield but to a large extent the Indian play-making has come from Vinay Swamy. The Indian right half can easily be mistaken for a right out as he constantly overlaps helping with the forwards with his crisp crosses. But if India have to beat Holland and strong teams in the second round, they would have to come good with their forwards. Australian legend Ric
Charlesworth, watching the Indians against Poland, said, “They are just too eager to score. Sometimes you have to wait for your chances and utilise them well.” Impatience has been seen in the Indian midfield and frontline. In the defence, Sandeep Singh still has to be tested in his field play but William Xalxo has been brilliant. Out of the four Asian teams here, it is South Korea who have impressed with their consistency. They have played a well organised game to upset tournament favourites Spain 3-1. If India have struggled, Pakistan’s coach Tahir Zaman doesn’t know what went wrong against Chile, a team that has been thrashed by Australia 12-0, with Pakistan just managing a 2-1 win.
— UNI |
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Railways maintain winning spree
New Delhi, July 1 In another one-sided match, Mumbai trounced Chhattisgarh 5-0 in Pool B. Last year’s runners-up Universities were held to a 1-1 draw by Jharkhand, also in Group B. Jharkhand forged ahead through Neelima Kispota in the 47th minute while Sarbjeet equalised for Universities 10 minutes later. Railways went on a roll against Orissa to maintain their clean slate as they have struck 28 goals in three matches without reply. They had beaten Air India 8-0 in the opener followed by a 14-0 whipping of Kerala. Amrita started the Railways goal rush in the 22nd minute and Jyoti Kullu added the second goal in the 31st minute. Just a minute later, Mamta Kharab scored the third goal while Amrita struck the fourth a minute before half time. In the second half, Mamta and Jyoti slotted home a goal each in the 51st and 57th minutes, respectively. Mumbai, who had shocked last year’s runners-up Universities 2-0 on Wednesday, drubbed Chhattisgarh 5-0 this morning. |
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Narain 20th in practice session
Magny-Cours (France), July 1 Karthikeyan clocked 1 minute 20.067 seconds behind Doornbas but ahead of his team-mate Tiago Monteiro who finished 23rd. Narain had some good memories of finishing on the podium in last year's Nissan World Series here. However, the 28-year-old Indian rookie, who struggled with back to back failures after an impressive start in his debut F1 season is confident of putting up a better show this weekend as the circuit suits his driving style. Karthikeyan made history at the USA Grand Prix finishing fourth and collecting five points. De la Rosa covered the 73-lap practise in 1:14.778 secs while Renault drivers Fernando Alonso (1:15.183) and Giancarlo Fisichella (1:15.255) finished second and third respectively. Alonso is leading the points table winning four races this season while Fisichella is the winner of the first race in Melbourne.
— PTI |
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Sania to have travelling coach
Hyderabad, July 1 According to Sania’s father, Imran Mirza, Farrington would be initially with her for eight weeks till the US Open. “Initially he will be with her for eight weeks beginning with the $ 200,000 WTA tournament at Cinicinnati from July 18,” Mirza said. Sania, who went down fighting to Svetlana Kuznestova in the second round of Wimbledon, will play six WTA tournaments in the USA before the US Open where she will get direct entry into the main draw. Mirza said Sania needed to improve her game further ahead of big events. “There is always room for improvement. Second serve and net play are the areas where she needs to improve. She also needs to get her timing right,” he said, expressing the hope that Farrington would help her improve in some grey areas of the game. He clarified that Sania would continue to be coached by Bob Brett, former coach of Boris Becker and Goran Ivanisevic.
— IANS |
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Top seed Lindsay Davenport completed her tortuous passage through to the Wimbledon final when she finished off French third seed Amelie Mauresmo 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 today.
The 29-year-old, who will face US compatriot Venus Williams in
tomorrow’s final, led
London, July 1
Video
