 |
|
|
BCCI to evaluate technical bids for TV rights today
Sourav, Sachin rubbish report
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sri Lanka recall Zoysa for India series
Surya Sekhar qualifies for chess World Cup
SAI to promote 100 coaches
Podium finish for Armaan
England eves to tour India
SD School win gold in badminton
|
|
Australia on top of the World
Sydney, October 15 With Australia having taken a lead of 221 runs by stumps on the second day, the only redeeming feature for the World XI was a 76-run knock by Indian opener Virender Sehwag and Andrew Flintoff’s three wickets in three overs which sent the hosts packing in their first innings for 345, an addition of just 14 runs to their overnight score. But the Aussies struck back with vengeance, packing off World XI for 190, a score made possible only on account of Sehwag who was the only batsman who managed to dominate the bowlers, slamming 14 fours in his 82-ball knock. The action packed second day of the Test saw 15 wickets tumble on the spin friendly wicket of the SCG. While Stuart MacGill (4 for 39) and Shane Warne (3 for 23) wreaked havoc on the World XI batsmen, Aussie pacemen Glenn McGrath (2 for 12) also made merry and emerged as the most successful Test paceman with 521 scalps, overtaking West Indies’ Courtney Walsh (519). The World XI reply was most unbecoming of a side boasting of such stars as Brian Lara and Indian skipper Rahul Dravid. It was McGrath who polished off the cream, sending Dravid and Lara packing for a duck and five, respectively. Sehwag waged a lone battle as his team-mates returned to the pavilion one after another until he was dismissed by Warne, the score reading 134 for four. Flintoff played an entertaining cameo of 35 runs in 36 deliveries. He clubbed four sixes off MacGill, two of them in the same over, but the leg spinner had the last laugh, dismissing the allrounder as he attempted to go for another big hit. Earlier, McGrath got the prized wicket of Dravid and Lara in the morning with his nagging off stump length and line. Dravid, who was playing tentatively to McGrath, was caught behind by Adam Gilchrist while Lara was trapped leg before. Sehwag, on the other end, withstood the Aussie onslaught with aplomb. He was particularly severe on Shane Watson, clubbing him on both sides of the wicket on a couple of occasions. The Indian found an able partner in Jacques Kallis (44) and both looked to put up a big score but Sehwag was unlucky to be caught by Katich at forward short leg off a blinder by Warne. Sehwag’s dismissal triggered the collapse as Warne and MacGill bowled in tandem, which they hardly get to do, and sent the batsmen in a tizzy. MacGill’s sharp turn drew Inzamam-ul Haq (1) out of the crease and Gilchrist made no mistake in taking off the bails. Kallis fell to Warne caught by Hayden. In the Australian first innings, Ashes hero Flintoff dominated with the new ball. Gilchrist was out without adding to his overnight score of 94 after a Flintoff delivery swung back and caught him right in front of the wicket. Scoreboard Australia (1st innings) Langer b Harmison 0 Hayden c Kallis b Muralitharan 111 Ponting c Kallis b Flintoff 46 Clarke c Sehwag b Vettori 39 Katich run out 0 Gilchrist lbw Flintoff 94 Watson lbw Muralitharan 24 Warne c Kallis b Flintoff 5 Lee c Smith b Flintoff 1 McGrath run out 0 MacGill not out 0 Extras
(b-5, lb-11, w-3, nb-6) 25 Total (all out, 90 overs) 345 Fall of wickets:
1-0, 2-73, 3-154, 4-163, 5-260, 6-323, 7-331, 8-339, 9-344. Bowling:
Harmison 18-3-60-1, Flintoff 18-3-59-4, Kallis 7-1-35-0, Muralitharan 30-3-102-2, Vettori 17-3-73-1. World XI (1st innings) Smith c Gilchrist b Lee 12 Sehwag c Katich b Warne 76 Dravid c Gilchrist b McGrath 0 Lara lbw b McGrath 5 Kallis c Hayden b Warne 44 Haq st Gilchrist b MacGill 1 Flintoff c Lee b MacGill 35 Boucher c Gilchrist b Warne 0 Vettori not out 8 Harmison c Clarke b MacGill 1 Muralitharan c Langer b MacGill 2 Extras
(b-1, lb-1, w-1, nb-3) 6 Total (all out, 47.1 overs) 190 Fall of wickets:
1-27, 2-31, 3-43, 4-134, 5-135, 6-147, 7-151, 8-183, 9-184. Bowling:
McGrath 12-4-34-2, Lee 8-1-54-1, Watson 6-0-38-0, Warne 12-3-23-3, MacGill 9.1-0-39-4. Australia (2nd innings) Langer c Smith b Kallis 22 Hayden batting 27 Ponting batting 17 Total
(1 wkt, 20 overs) 66 Fall of wicket: 1-30. Bowling:
Harmison 7-1-25-0, Flintoff 4-0-14-0, Kallis 3-1-3-1, Muralitharan 3-0-8-0, Vettori 3-0-16-0.
— PTI |
|
BCCI to evaluate technical bids for TV rights today
Mumbai, October 15 But the outcome of the meeting and its decision cannot be disclosed by the committee as per the direction of the Delhi High Court, which is hearing a petition on the telecast rights issue filed by Zee, one of the four bidders. The High Court has directed the BCCI that the decision on the technical bids would have to be conveyed to it on October 19, the next date of the hearing. However, the committee at its meeting tomorrow cannot open the sealed bids dealing with the second part of the BCCI’s “invitation to tender” (ITT) relating to finance. Apart from Zee, ESPN-Star, Sony and Prasar Bharati have responded to the ITT and are in the race to secure the highly lucrative TV rights. The meeting is expected to be attended by the BCCI’s office-bearers, its former presidents Jagmohan Dalmiya and Inderjit Singh Bindra, and Arun Jaitley. Another member, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, resigned from the committee two days before the Mumbai sitting after being inducted into it at the Board AGM in Kolkata which was adjourned. Pawar’s move to resign from the committee is viewed in some quarters as a move which could destabilise the recent uneasy truce worked out among rival factions over the membership of the high-powered committee that handles TV rights and other marketing matters. The resignation of Pawar, a candidate for BCCI presidentship and president of the Mumbai Cricket Association, came amid unconfirmed reports that another member and Pawar supporter N Srinivasan of Tamil Nadu Cricket Association had also put in his papers.
— PTI |
|
Sourav, Sachin rubbish report
New Delhi, October 15 In a joint statement, the duo rubbished the media report, pertaining to Ganguly calling Tendulkar a “tourist” and the latter conveying to Kiran More, the chairman of the Selection Committee, his unwillingness to play under the former, thereby pushing Rahul Dravid for captaincy. “We state that the story of Sourav calling Sachin a tourist and Sachin refusing to play under Sourav and thereby pushing Dravid is completely untrue,” the statement said.
— PTI |
|
|
Sri Lanka recall Zoysa for India series
Colombo, October 15 The left-arm seamer, with 103 wickets in 89 one-dayers, returned to the team after being dropped against Bangladesh for a home series. Chief selector Lalith Kaluperuma said today the fast bowler regained his place in the squad after proving his form and fitness against second-string teams from New Zealand and South Africa in a recent triangular series in Sri Lanka. Zoysa is one of the five pacemen in the squad alongside Chaminda Vaas, Dilhara Fernando, Farveez Maharoof and Dilhara Lokuhettige. Veteran opening batsman Marvan Atapattu captains the side. Sri Lanka will leave for India on Thursday to play seven one-day internationals. The opening match is at Nagpur on October 25. The squad:
Marvan Atapattu (capt), Mahela Jayawardene (vice-capt), Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Thilan Samaraweera, Chaminda Vaas, Upul Chandana, Farveez Maharoof, Russel Arnold, Dilhara Fernando, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dilhara Lokuhettige and Nuwan Zoysa.
— AFP |
|
Topalov is king,
Anand second
San Luis, October 15 Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria completed the formalities and claimed the championship with a quick draw against tailender Judit Polgar of Hungary. With the victory, Topalov went home richer by $ 3,00,000 and if he does not lose any rating points before January, will also cross the 2,800 ELO rating barrier for the first time ever. The Bulgarian will be the third player in history to achieve this feat after Russians Gary Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik. Anand finished with a score of 8.5 points along with Svidler but the Indian finished second thanks to a better tie break. Overall, Anand scored five victories in all compared to Svidler’s four and that proved crucial in the final standings. The fourth place went to Russian Alexander Morozevich, who finished with seven points, half a point clear of Peter Leko of Hungary. In the final round, Morozevich drew with Michael Adams of England, while Leko defeated last year’s winner Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan, who finished sixth on 5.5 points with a superior tiebreak than Adams. Polgar finished at the bottom of the table on 4.5 points. Anand had no trouble in getting a draw with black pieces against Svidler. It was a Petrof defence wherein Svidler failed to eject any life in the middle game. Routine exchanges led to a balanced position quickly and the truce was signed in just 19 moves. Anand also stands to gain a few ELO points from this event which will take the Indian ace closer to the 2,800 rating. Topalov faced the Queen’s Indian defence by Polgar and after just 18 moves the players split the point. The day’s lone decisive victory was scored by Leko who put up a spirited show to beat Kasimdzhanov in a Sicilian Paulsen game. Playing white, Leko went for the kill in the middle game with a direct attack and was duly rewarded. The Hungarian first won a pawn and later an exchange to record a smooth victory in 48 moves. Morozevich tried hard to break the defences of Adams but lost a piece in the endgame arising out of a closed Ruy Lopez. However, there was still some counterplay left for the Russian and eventually peace was signed when all the pawns got traded. The game lasted 54 moves.
— PTI |
|
Surya Sekhar qualifies for chess World Cup
Hyderabad, October 15 “Since zonals were not held in this region, one player from India or Bangladesh will be eligible to play in the World Cup and Ganguly with six points has been selected,” tournament director Venkatnaraman said. The top 10 qualifiers are — Zhang Zhong (China) 7.5 points, Li Shilong (China) 7 pts, Darmen Sadvakasov (Kazakhstan), Pavel Kotsur (Kazakhstan), Murtas Kazhgaleyev (Kazakhstan), Yue Wang (China), Zhao Jun (China), Ni Hua (China), Dao Thien Hai (Vietnam) and Xu Jun (China) 6.5 pts each. World No. 2 Viswanathan Anand and world junior champion P Harikrishna are the direct entries from India. Meanwhile, youngsters Neelotpal Das and Sundararajan Kidambi missed their Grandmaster norms by a whisker by losing in the ninth and final round of the $ 32,000 championship, which was won by Zhang
Zhong. Kidambi, a strong contender for the GM norm, bowed down to seasoned Susanto Megaranto (Indonesia) in the Ruy Lopez opening and ended up with five points, while Neelotpal fell short by half a point after he defeated fellow Indian Poobesh Anand to log 5.5 points. “There was a fair chance for Kidambi but it’s unfortunate that he lost. My chances were bleak and there’s no scope for qualifying for the World Cup,” Neelotpal said after the match. On the top board, Zhang Zhong defeated Ni Hua in a marathon 90 moves in a game where the champion adopted French defence to put up a sustained pressure on his opponent, who faltered in the final stages to give Zhang 7.5 points and the championship.
— PTI |
|
SAI to promote 100 coaches
New Delhi, October 15 The SAI had not undertaken the promotion exercise for over a decade and the present move would give a great impetus to the coaches and instill in them confidence and enthusiasm. There are four categories of coaches in the SAI fold — Grade III, II, I and Special Grade — though most coaches fall in the Grade III and II groups. The SAI Secretary, Dr B.K.Sinha, said here yesterday that the coaches who would benefit the most from the present promotion exercise were those stagnating in Grade II, who would earn promotion to Grade I. The SAI spends several crores every financial year for talent scouting and coaching, which strengthens the talent base of the federations, though the SAI gets little credit. Dr Sinha said this trend would end soon as the SAI was in the process of forming its own teams to be fielded in various national championships to give a run for the money to the established teams. The impending promotion of coaches and officials is intended to reward those who have been doing their jobs well, with dedication and success. Dr Sinha said the coaches who have consistently produced results belong to disciplines such as boxing, wrestling, archery, taekwondo, shooting, etc. though these unsung heroes rarely got rewarded for their hard work and achievements. He said shooting had been doing very well though the SAI did not have its own coaches in the discipline. But the SAI shooting range in Delhi has been the launching pad for many a top gun in the country, and the SAI now plans to recruit shooting coaches as well. Dr Sinha said the SAI had requested the government to allow it to recruit coaches in shooting and other disciplines as a moratorium had been imposed on recruiting coaches and those appointed on contract basis had not been delivering the desired results. Dr Sinha informed that the SAI had also initiated the process of upgradation of its coaching centres at Patiala, Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram, Kolkata and Gandhinagar to bring them on a par with the best in the world. Sanction has been given for the upgradation of the scientific support system and the synthetic surfaces for hockey, athletics and other disciplines at these centres. Henceforth, each coach would be asked to submit a list of 10 to 20 of their most promising trainees and the evaluation of the coaches would be made on the basis of the performance of their trainees at the end of the financial year. The coaches would be exposed to modern techniques and it would be made mandatory on them to be Net savvy and up to date with data so that they are aware of the latest developments in coaching and the same could be assimilated in their coaching methods. The coaches would also be given international exposure on rotation basis, instead of sending out coaches on a selective basis, which was benefiting only a few. |
|
Narain Karthikeyan 15th on starting grid
Shanghai, October 15 “I had a clean lap. The balance of the car is good. We are ready for the race,” said the 28-year-old Indian after clocking a superb 1 minute and 36.707 seconds to home in ahead of former world champion Jacques Villeneuve (16th) in Sauber Petronas and Takumo Sato (17th) in Bar Honda. Fernando Alonso, who has already secured the world championship, claimed the pole position followed by his Renault’s team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella. McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen was third. Commenting on the session today, Karthikeyan said, “I did a very good qualifying lap even though I have lost a little bit of time compared to this morning. “Nevertheless, we are satisfied with the balance of the car. I think we also have chosen the right Bridgestone tyre compound for the race.” “Hopefully we can have a good Grand Prix out of it tomorrow. It will be interesting because there are several places for overtaking here,” said Karthikeyan. It will be an emotional moment for the Jordan team when the two cars vroom away from the grid tomorrow as this would be the last race under its current name of Jordan Grand Prix. The Silverstone-based team will be renamed Jordan Midlands from next year, signalling the full takeover by Canadian-Russian business tycoon Alex Schneider. In its 15 years of F1 racing, Jordan has achieved four wins, including the historic 1-2 finish at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium with Damon Hill and Ralf Schumacher in 1988. Jordan has also claimed the podium on 19 other occasions, the latest being Tiago Monteiro in the third place at the US Grand Prix this year. Team Jordan has also scored two pole positions and a total of 291 points in its history. The British outfit has also served as a launchpad for many champion drivers, including seven-time winner Michael Schumacher.
— PTI |
|
Podium finish for Armaan
Chennai, October 15 Ebrahim was on the pole position after two rounds of qualifying yesterday but with seasoned Hamed Al Fardan of Bahrain making it a start-to-finish affair after opening up a massive 4.7-second lead over second-placed
Charlie-Ro-Charief of Malaysia, the Indian had to be satisfied with the third
place. Fardan timed 2 min 10.217 secs for top honours, followed by Charlez (plus 4.730
secs) and Ebrahim (plus 5.109 secs). At the end of 13 rounds, with one more to go tomorrow, Ebrahim was in the fifth spot in the overall points table. However, the Indian star was on the second spot for the Rookie Cup two points behind Charlez (4) and third among the rookies on the points table with 149 points.
— PTI |
|
|
England eves to tour India
Pune, October 15 WCAI honorary secretary Shubhangi Kulkarni said in a press statement here today that the itinerary of the series would, however, be drawn later. The Indian eves are taking part in an inter-zonal tournament at Bhilai from October 15 to 19. The Indian team will be selected taking into consideration the performance of the players in the tournament. The statement also said Pakistan would host the Asia Cup from December 26 to 31. India will tour Australia and New Zealand from February 10 to March 15 next year, followed by a tour to England in July.
— UNI |
|
|
SD School win gold in badminton Ambala, October 15 In the under-16 (boys), SD Public School defeated New Era Public School, New Delhi, in the finals. The winning team comprised Mukesh, Parmesh, Udit and Gaurav. The team will now participate in the nationals to be held in Nagpur in December 2005.
|
| 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 | |
In video: Ganguly's injury reassessment
put off by a day.
