 |
|
|
Yuvraj, Dhoni take India to victory
Sri Lanka sweep series
Sania bows out
of US Open
Agassi advances, Nadal bows out
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Anju, women’s relay team win gold
Raj Kumar, Gurbax enter final
Kartar wins 10th world masters title
PSEB win
Sukhwinder to ‘continue’ as football coach Govt College of Physical Education clinch hockey title
|
|
Yuvraj, Dhoni take India to victory
Harare, September 4 Earlier, Zimbabwe reserved their best for the last league game of the tri-series, hitting 250 against fancied India. Skipper Tatenda Taibu (71 off 97 balls) was at the forefront of this revival as he put on 116 runs for the fourth wicket from 137 balls with young Charles Coventry (74 from 99 balls) for Zimbabwe’s best moment yet of the series. Andy Blignaut once again weighed in with a meaty knock of 41 from 26 balls with six fours and one six. The Zimbabwean team, embroiled in a contract row, could not have made a better riposte at their board and but for early setbacks, they batted confidently through the stipulated 50 overs. India, choosing to bring in two new bowlers in Rudra Pratap Singh and Murali Kartik in place of regulars Irfan Pathan and Ashish Nehra, seemed to have made the right decision to field when Singh took two wickets in only his second over in international cricket. First, his shout for leg before wicket against opener Vusimuzi Sibanda was upheld by umpire Russel Tiffin after some deliberation. Then off the last ball of his over, Hamilton Masakdza’s defensive push ballooned up a catch to the left side of the pitch. India got their third success through the brilliance of Yuvraj who, similar to his effort against New Zealand on Friday, intercepted a steer at point and connected a direct hit which removed opener Brendon Taylor (26) from the middle. Taibu and Coventry then took the centrestage and went about carting the bowling to all parts of the ground. The Zimbabwean skipper smashed Harbhajan Singh for a straight six and then smote JP Yadav over midwicket as he raced to his half century in the 25th over, the total 108 for 3. He was contemptuous of Sourav Ganguly when he brought himself on to attack, smashing the Indian captain for a string of fours and 15 runs in his first over. The pair also thrived on left-arm spinner Murali Kartik and Yadav who conceded 52 and 44 runs from nine overs each. Taibu finally departed at 166 for 4 when he failed to connect a pull off a short delivery from Yadav. His 71 took him 97 balls and contained five fours and two sixes. Coventry reached his half-century soon after when he steered Kartik to the offside for a single in the 38th over at the total 167 for 4. He soon hoisted the 200 of the innings with a straight six off Ajit Agarkar in the 42nd over. But it was Agarkar who accounted for him in the 45th over, Coventry holing out at long-on after making 74 from 99 balls with seven fours and three sixes. Blignaut fell in the next over after smashing six fours and a six in his blistering knock and putting on 61 runs from 46 balls with Coventry for the fifth wicket. Ajit Agarkar wiped off the innings in his second spell to finish with 3 for 34 from his 10 overs. Scoreboard Zimbabwe Sibanda lbw RP Singh 1 Taylor run out 26 Masakadza c&b RP Singh 0 Taibu b Yadav 71 Coventry c Kartik b Agarkar 74 Blignaut st Dhoni b Harbhajan 41 Williams run out 8 Ewing lbw b Kartik 7 Mahwire b Agarkar 2 Utseya b Agarkar 0 Ireland not out 1 Extras
(lb-13, nb-2, w-4) 19 Total (all out, 50 overs) 250 Fall of
wickets: 1-4, 2-4, 3-50, 4-166, 5-227, 6-232, 7-246, 8-248, 9-249. Bowling:
RP Singh 8-1-44-2, Agarkar 10-3-34-3, Yadav 9-1-44-1, Harbhajan 10-0-39-1, Kartik 9-1- 52-1, Ganguly 4-1-24-0. India Sehwag b Mahwire 12 Ganguly c Sibanda b Ireland 2 Kaif lbw Blignaut 8 Dravid b Mahwire 6 Yuvraj c Dabengwa Rao run out 27 Dhoni not out 67 Yadav not out 0 Extras
(lb-1, w-11, nb-1) 13 Total (6 wickets, 48.1 overs) 255 Fall of wickets:
1-15, 2-23, 3-34, 4-36, 5-91, 6-249. Bowling: Mahwire 9.1-0-40-2, Ireland 10-0-59-1, Blignaut 9-0-54-2, Ewing 5-0-23-0, Utseya 6-0-25-0, Williams 5-0-30-0, Dabengwa 4-0-23-0.
— PTI |
Sri Lanka sweep series
Colombo, September 4 Bangladesh were dismissed for just 108 in 38 overs after Sri Lanka’s stand-in captain Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and sent the visitors in to bat first. In reply, Sri Lanka reached their rain-revised target of 106 runs in 21 overs. Left-hander Avishka Gunawardena and Upul Tharanga opened the innings for Sri Lanka, who rested veteran Sanath Jayasuriya, off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas for the match. The pair combined for 24 runs before seam bowler Tapash Baisya penetrated Tharanga’s defences and bowled him for nine runs. Dilhara Lokuhettige scored only two runs before being caught at deep third man by Syed Russel. Gunawardena top scored for Sri Lanka with a 61-ball 52 — his 12th limited-overs half century. He hit six boundaries before mistiming a pull shot that was caught by Tushar Imran off the bowling of super substitute Khaled Mahmud. Gunawardena and Thilan Samaraweera added 56 runs for the third wicket in 67 balls. Baisya was Bangladesh’s best bowler, taking two wickets for 27 runs. Fernando and Maharoof snared Aftab Ahmed (1), Mohammad Ashraful (0) and skipper Habibul Bashar (1) within 10 balls to leave Bangladesh tottering at 54 for six wickets. Spinners Upul Chandana and Tillakaratne chipped in with two wickets each to polish off the tail. The match started one hour late because of a wet outfield and an innings reduced to 48 overs. Later, a half-hour rain interruption resulted in a revised target of 106 in 46 overs being set for Sri Lanka as per the Duckworth/Lewis method. Scoreboard Bangladesh Omar lbw Fernando 18 Nafees c Tharanga Rafique c Dilhara Ahmed lbw Maharoof 1 Ashraful lbw Fernando 0 Bashar c Sangakkara Imran c&b Dilshan 13 Mashud c Samaraweera Rana c Tharanga Rasel c Chandana b Dilshan 2 Baisya not out 11 Extras
(lb-2, nb-10, w-5) 17 Total (all out, 38.2 overs) 108 Fall of wickets:
1-47, 2-51, 3-51, 4-52, 5-52, 6-54, 7-71, 8-77, 9-83. Bowling:
Maharoof 8-2-25-3, Lokuhettige 6-0-27-0, Fernando 8-1-19-3, Chandana 7.2-1-15-2, Dilshan 9-2-20-2. Sri Lanka Gunawardene c Imran Tharanaga b Baisya 9 Lokuhettige c Rasel Samaraweera run out 18 Sangakkara not out 17 Maharoof not out 0 Extras
(lb-1, nb-2, w-5) 8 Total (4 wickets, 21.2 overs) 106 Fall of wickets:
1-24, 2-30, 3-86, 4-105. Bowling: Baisya 7-1-27-2, Rasel 5-0-29-0, Mahmud (sub for Nafees) 5.2-0-31-1, Rafique 4-0-18-0.
— AP, AFP |
|
|
Sania bows out of US Open
New York, September 4 Sania committed three double faults to drop serve in the 4th game of the first set. But the 18-year-old bounced back in the very next game when Sharapova played to backhand wide for a double break point and converted the second when Sharapova put a forehand long. The Russian, however, went ahead again when the Hyderabadi girl made a couple of unforced errors in the sixth game. Sharapova then wriggled out of a triple break point situation to hold serve before breaking Sania once more to wrap up the set in 31 minutes. The scoreline bore no indication of the tough fight put up by Sania who proved in that one hour on court that she had it in her to fight it out the top players on the biggest stage. Sania’s powerful hitting often caught Sharapova breathless, the pace and depth of her strokes troubling the Russian great deal. Crucially, it was her backhand with sharp angles that posed problems for her opponent who occupied the world number one spot a week ago. — PTI
|
|
Agassi advances, Nadal bows out
New York, September 4 If he makes it to the quarterfinals, Blake could meet American tennis icon Agassi, who kept his 20th US Open campaign alive with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6(7-2) victory against 19-year-old Czech Tomas Berdych. With a possible quarterfinal clash with Blake looming, Agassi next faces Belgian Xavier Malisse, who posted a 5-7, 1-6, 6-1, 7-5, 7-6(7-1) victory over Mikhail Youzhny. Blake will play Spain’s Tommy Robredo, who edged France’s Sebastien Grosjean 6-4, 7-5, 6-7(3-7), 7-6(7-3). American Robby Ginepri jumped on the bandwagon with a 7-5, 6-7(3-7), 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 win over Tommy Haas of Germany. He will play another five-set winner, Richard Gasquet of France, who beat Croatian Ivan Ljubicic 3-6, 7-6(8-6), 6-7(7-9), 6-3, 6-2. Women’s world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport joined her male compatriots in the round of 16 with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain. Davenport will try to reach her ninth straight US Open quarterfinal against Nathalie Dechy, who beat fellow Frenchwoman Tatiana Golovin 7-5, 2-6, 6-2. Another Frenchwoman, third seed Amelie Mauresmo, made it safely into the round of 16 with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany. Mauresmo next faces Russian Elena Likhovtseva, who rallied to beat compatriot Anastasia Myskina 0-6, 6-3, 7-6(8-6). Henin-Hardenne, seeded seventh, cruised through the first set against Yoon Jeong Cho but found herself in a dogfight with the 75th-ranked South Korean in the second before emerging with a 6-0, 7-6(7-4) victory. Her straight-set win was more than Dementieva could produce, as she coughed up 19 double faults en route to a 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(7-5) victory over compatriot Anna Chakvetadze. Henin-Hardenne booked a re-match with 12th-seeded Mary Pierce of France, the woman she beat in the French Open final. — AFP |
|
Paes-Navratilova in quarterfinals
New York, September 4 In the second round of mixed doubles yesterday, the seventh-seeded pair of Paes and legendary American Martina Navratilova brushed aside the challenge of Spanish Virginia Ruano Pascual and Aussie Stephen Huss in a straight-set win to storm into the quarterfinals. Paes-Navratilova will take on Russian Dinara Safina and Israeli Andy Ram, who shocked the top-seeded pair of Zimbabweans Cara Black and Wayne Black 6-3, 6-4. The one-set advantage saw Paes and Navratilova hit the wavelength which has won the pair two Grand Slam titles —Australian Open and Wimbledon. The Spanish-Australian pair looked dumbfounded as Paes-Navratilova dominated the set completely. The Indo-US pair lost only one game and went on to win the set and the match in 34 minutes. Meanwhile, in the men’s doubles, Mahesh Bhupathi and his Czech partner Martin Damm survived a three-set thriller before finally making it to the third round with a 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 7-6 (8-6) win. Pitted against the Athens Olympics bronze medallist pair of Croatian Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic, Bhupathi and Damm were matched by their opponents shot for shot as the set went into the tiebreaker. Bhupathi and Damm, however, regained their composure and prevailed 7-3. One set down, the big-serving Croatians bounced back and caught Bhupathi and Damm off guard. Croatians easily brought the match to level by rattling the Indo-Czech pair 6-3. It was a neck-and-neck fight in the final set and it took a tiebreaker to decide the fate of the match. The spectators were pushed to the edge of their seats with the tiebreker balanced at 6-6. The seventh-seeded pair broke the serve of the Croatians and then held their nerve as well as serve to make their way into the next round where they will face ninth seeds Swede Simon Aspelin and Aussie Todd Perry. — UNI |
|
Anju, women’s relay team win gold
Incheon, September 4 At the fag end of the championship in the 4x400m men’s relay, India bagged a bronze out of nowhere as the Saudi team was stripped off the gold due to disqualification. Japan and Sri Lanka who were second and third earlier won the gold and silver respectively. The Indian team comprised of Anil Rohil, Bhupinder Singh, Satbir Singh and P Shankar. With this medal, India moved to the fourth place on the leaderboard with a tally of 13 medals (four golds, five silvers and four bronze). Interestingly, all the gold medals India bagged were won by women and of the five silvers only two were won by men. China with 32 medals (15 gold, 7 silver, 10 bronze) topped the field, followed by Qatar 12 (6, 3, 3), and Japan 23 (5, 6, 12). On the last day, India won five medals, two gold and two silver and the lucky bronze. Spearheaded by sprint queen Manjit Kaur, the Indian women’s dream quartet set the track on fire with a new championship record in the 4x400m relay as they timed 3:30.93 to win the gold in the penultimate event of the championship. This is the seventh time the Indian women have won the gold 4x400 in championship history and regained the meet record. Running in lane number eight, Rajwinder Kaur gave the Indian’s a flying start but at the time of baton exchange, Japan’s Asami Tanno surged ahead. The second runner Satti Geetha ran tactically to reduce the lead in the second lap and handed over the baton to Chitra Soman who overtook Japanese Mayu Kida and passed on the baton to Manjit Kaur. The Punjab Police officer never looked back to give India the fourth gold in the competition and second of the day. Indians in the process erased the existing record of 3:31.30 set by China in 2003 at Manila. Kazaksthan finished second with 3:32.61 and Japan won the ended with bronze in 3:33.54. Earlier, Anju George lived up to her class and proved her supremacy at the continental level yet again by winning the long jump gold. In the process, she qualified for the World Athletics Finals to be held in Monaco on September 9-10. Anju (28) making her debut in this championship cleared 6.65m in her fourth attempt to ward off a stiff and spirited
challenge from Marestella Torres of Phillipines who finished second in 6.63. Bronze went to Kumiko Ikeda of Japan (6.52). World No. 9 Anju now holds the Asian Games and Asian Championships titles in this event. Before Anju struck the third gold for the country, 800m runner Santhi Soundarrajan and burly shot putter Navpreet Singh gave contrasting performance to earn India a silver. Twentyfour-year-old Santhi ran a super race and clocked a personal best of 2:04.01 to finish second in the women’s 800m event behind Japan’s Miho Sugimori who timed 2:01.84. In shot put, Navpreet cleared the distance of 19.40m in his fifth attempt to finish second. Intrestingly, all the three winners achieved the medals in their fifth attempts. Qatar’s Khaled Al-Suwaidio expectedly won the gold with a throw of 19.45.Shakti holds the In decathlon, India’s Kulwinder Singh and Jora Singh finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in the field of 15 athletes. In the men’s 4x100m relay, Indian quartet of Anil Kumar, Sandeep Sarkaria Vilas Neelagund and Harihar Jayachandran timed 39.74 which earned them a fifth place. This was the Indian team’s season best timing.
— UNI |
|
Montoya first, Narain last
Monza, September 4 Ferrari’s seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher failed to score a point for the second race in a row and was mathematically ruled out of title contention for the first time since 1999, ending Formula One’s longest reign. The German, a sad 10th in front of a far smaller crowd than usual at Ferrari’s home circuit, has been champion since 2000. Alonso, 24, finished a close runner-up to stretch his championship lead over Colombian Montoya’s unlucky team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, now his sole rival and fourth today, to 27 points with four races remaining. Renault’s Italian Giancarlo Fisichella took third place and his team remained eight points clear of McLaren in the constructors’ standings. Raikkonen could again only curse his misfortune. After winning the last two races, the Finn knew he had a mountain to climb when an engine failure yesterday cost him the pole position and 10 places on the starting grid. Starting 11th, he clawed his way up to second place behind Montoya before pitting and dropping back to fifth. With enough fuel on board not to have to make another stop, he was sitting comfortably until having to pit again three laps later for a new rear left tyre. The Finn rejoined in 12th place, his efforts wasted. Raikkonen still provided the fascination of a race low on incident by reeling off fastest laps and roaring back to fourth place before a spin allowed Toyota’s Italian Jarno Trulli back in front. Trulli’s advantage was short-lived, however, Raikkonen passing him to at least limit the damage. The Italian finished fifth, ahead of German team mate Ralf Schumacher, while Brazilian stand-in Antonio Pizzonia was an impressive seventh for Williams after replacing unwell German Nick
Heidfeld. |
|
Raj Kumar, Gurbax enter final
Jalandhar, September 4 In boys doubles (under 16), Raj Kumar and Gurbax of Ludhiana beat Maheep and Ravjot of Ropar 21-9, 21-8, while Anand and Gurrattanbir of Ludhiana outplayed Bob of Patiala and Ashutosh of Ludhiana 21-14, 21-13. In boys singles (under 13), Kamaldeep of Sangrur beat Mandeep Singh of Jalandhar 21-9, 21-18, while Lovedeep of Gurdaspur defeated Parminder Singh of Sangrur 17-21, 12-12, 21-15. In boys singles (under 10), Ramandeep Singh of Ropar beat Amit Bhasin of Ludhiana 19-21, 21-14, 21-15. In boys doubles (under 10), Amit and Suriya of Ludhiana beat Ramandeep and Vishal of Ropar 21-6, 21-6, while Ayush and Abhinav of Amritsar outplayed Sanchit and Garry 22-20, 20-11. In girls singles (under 16), Komalpreet Kaur of Jalandhar beat Staffi Kala of Ludhiana. Shweta Wadhwa of Amritsar defeated Anchal Gupta of Ludhiana 21-11, 21-10. Shweta Wadhwa of Amritsar beat Anchal Gupta of Ludhiana 21-17, 17-21, 21-5. In girls doubles (under 16), Komalpreet and Shweta beat Ritika and Sachi of Sangrur 21-12, 21-6. Harmandeep and Shikha of Ropar defeated Staffi and Anchal of Ludhiana 21-14, 21-8. In girls doubles (under 13), Ishu Dewan and Damanpreet of Sangrur beat Kamiya and Ishita of Jalandhar 21-14, 21-7. The finals of girls singles and doubles (under 10) were held today. Sakshi of Patiala beat Kamiya of Jalandhar 21-7, 21-19. In doubles, Kamya and Ishita of Jalandhar beat Harloveleen and Muskan of Sangrur 21-5, 26-24. |
|
Kartar wins 10th world masters title
Jalandhar, September 4 Kartar has participated in the championship 11th times, winning 10 gold medals and one silver medal. He was the gold medallist at the 1978 and 1986 Asian Games and won the silver at the 1982 Asian Games. He has represented the country thrice at the Olympics Games and won several titles at the World Wrestling Championships, Commonwealth Games and Asian Wrestling Championships. Kartar Singh has been the winner of the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award, Arjuna Award and the Padma Shri. |
|
PSEB win
Chandigarh, September 4 Having overcome a few anxious moments, PSEB succeeded in breaking the deadlock in the 20th minute when Gurpreet found the target from inside the penalty area as his powerful shot brooked no resistance. In the 30th minute, JCT Football Academy’s Hardeep Singh received a pass from Bawa Singh and without wasting time, he aimed a powerful shot but PSEB custodian Bhupinder effected a fine save. The second goal for PSEB followed in the 55th minute when Gurpreet controlled the ball off a cross by Dalip and shot past the JCT academy goalie from close range (2-0). |
|
Sukhwinder to ‘continue’ as football coach
Chennai, September 4 |
||
|
Govt College of Physical Education clinch hockey title Patiala, September 4 In the final, GCPE packed a lot of punch in the game to overcome their rivals. GCPE opened the scoring in the 5th minute when Surjit Kaur latched on to a splendid pass by midfielder Meenakshi before making her way in the striking circle. Once there she managed to side step two defenders and the custodian to net GCPE’s first goal. Minutes later Surjit Kaur hoisted her team’s second goal when she latched on to a through pass by Ranjit Kaur before deftly putting the ball in the net. With just a couple of minutes to go for the half time whistle, Meenakshi made it a comfortable 3-0 when she scored off a deflection. In the second half, Polo XI players, barring centre half Bharti and right out Gurvinder Kaur, seemed to be a jaded lot. However, just before the final whistle Bharti sounded the board with a well aimed grounder to reduce the margin for her team. The prizes were distributed by Mr Sanjay Inder Singh Chahal, president, Patiala Block Samiti, while the Mayor, Mr Vishnu Sharma, presided over the closing ceremony. On the occasion, Ms Amrit Kaur, mother of Moscow Olympian Saroj Bala, and Mr Chahal gave away cash awards to the Patiala District Women’s Association, the organisers of the tournament. Inter-school meet
MNSS, Rai, downed YPS, Patiala, 3-1 to annex the title in the u-15 category of the All-India Inter-Public School Hockey Tournament which concluded at the YPS ground here on Sunday. Piyush Jain of Daly College, Indore, was declared the best goal keeper, while Vinay Godara of MNSS was given the best defender’s prize. Ajay Kumar, also of MNSS, was given the highest scorer of the tournament award, while Imanveer Singh Pannu of YPS, who dazzled throughout the tournament, was declared the player of the tournament. The prizes were distributed by Ms Amrit Bose, secretary general, Indian Women Hockey Association, in the presence of the YPS Principal, Mr R.P. Devgan, and other guests. |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
(
