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Kaif, Kumble keep India afloat
Peeved Ganguly writes to Pawar
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West thrash North
Vidyut, Rao star in South Zone win
Commonwealth Games
Anju George leaps to gold medal
WADA on lookout for Cheema
Gangjee jumps to tied third
41 teams vie for
volleyball honours
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Kaif, Kumble keep India afloat
Nagpur, March 3 Kaif slammed a gritty 91 and found able support from veteran Kumble (58) as the duo pulled India out of a precarious 190 for seven to a far more respectable 322 for nine at close on an eventful third day. Kaif made a memorable return to the Test arena as he not only notched up his third half century but also played the sheet anchor’s role to perfection to spare the blushes for his team which was in total disarray at the lunch break. The eighth-wicket pair put on a face-saving 128-run partnership which has more or less restored the balance in the match although the hosts still trail England by 71 runs. Resuming at the overnight score of 136 for one, the hosts collapsed dramatically, losing six wickets in quick succession with paceman Matthew Hoggard wrecking the top order with five wickets. The English speedsters managed to extract some life from the placid track at the VCA Stadium in the morning session as they got rid of Rahul Dravid (40), VVS Laxman (0), Wasim Jaffer (81), Sachin Tendulkar (16), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (5) and Irfan Pathan (2) quickly to put themselves in the driver’s seat. But Kaif and Kumble, who recorded his fourth half century, defied the visitors for close to two full sessions. The two fell at the fag end of the day. Kaif, under tremendous pressure to perform after having been omitted for the recent Test series in Pakistan, was patience personified before falling to what eventually was the last ball of the day. The Uttar Pradesh batsman was beaten hands down by the turn extracted by debutant left-arm slow bowler Monty Panesar and was clean bowled. He faced 263 balls in his marathon 360-minute essay and hit 11 fours in making his fourth Test half ton. Kumble had departed a little while earlier, caught in the slip cordon off Steve Harmison, after the duo had put on 128 runs for the eighth wicket. Kumble, whose Test best is 88, denied England any success for almost two sessions. He batted for 246 minutes and faced 153 balls. He also hit 10 fours. Their partnership, made in 346 balls, equalled the 25-year-old record for the eighth wicket against England between Syed Kirmani and Ravi Shastri (1981-82) at Delhi. Both fell in the space of 10 balls to bring to an end an absorbing day’s play which saw fortunes swing to and fro. The duo, which came together when India were still 203 runs behind the visitors’ first-innings score of 393, showed tremendous character after the top order was destroyed by pace bowler Hoggard who finished with the best figures of 5 for 57. Before their rescue act, India were undone by a brilliant triple strike by Hoggard within the first half hour of pre-lunch session, including two wickets in successive balls, followed by the loss of three more wickets. Hoggard sent back Indian skipper Rahul Dravid (40), opener Jaffer (81) and Laxman (0) in the space of only 11 balls, the last two off successive balls to be on his second career hat-trick, as the hosts slid alarmingly from 140 for one to 149 for four in 17 balls. Panesar then struck a mighty blow by trapping an unusually subdued Tendulkar (16) leg before to leave India struggling at 176 for five. Scoreboard England (1st innings) 393 India (1st innings) Jaffer c Flintoff b Hoggard 81 Sehwag c Pietersen b Hoggard 2 Dravid lbw Hoggard 40 Tendulkar lbw Panesar 16 Laxman lbw Hoggard 0 Kaif b Panesar 91 Dhoni c G. Jones b Flintoff 5 Pathan c Flintoff b Hoggard 2 Kumble c Cook b Harmison 58 Harbhajan not out 0 Extras
(b-17, lb-3, nb-2, w-5) 27 Total (9 wkts, 135.4 overs) 322 Fall of wickets:
1-11, 2-140, 3-149, 4-149, 5-176, 6-183, 7-190, 8-318, 9-322. Bowling:
Hoggard 30-13-57-5, Harmison 27-5-75-1, Flintoff 29-10-68-1, Panesar 41.4-19-72-2, Blackwell 7-0-28-0, Bell 1-0-2-0.
— PTI |
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Peeved Ganguly writes to Pawar
Kolkata, March 3 Ganguly sent the missive immediately after coming to know about Chappell’s controversial interview to British newspaper ‘The Guardian’ in which the Aussie had said that the left-handed batsman wanted to cling on to captaincy for financial reasons. Peeved at Chappell’s comments, Ganguly has sought the intervention of the board on the matter. In the letter, a copy of which was marked to BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah, Ganguly made it clear that he was deeply annoyed and disturbed over Chappell’s remarks in the interview. He also called up Shah and spoke to him on the issue. Confirming receipt of the letter, Shah told PTI, “We have already acted on it and issued a warning to Chappell.” New Delhi: Greg Chappell’s controversial remarks against Sourav Ganguly in a foreign journal echoed in the Lok Sabha today with a CPM member demanding an apology from the Australian. Raising the issue during the Zero Hour, Minoti Sen, an MP from West Bengal, said that if Chappell failed to apologise for the comments he made about Ganguly in the British newspaper, BCCI should terminate his contract and ask him to leave the country.
— PTI |
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Lankans cruise to victory
Chittagong, March 3 Overnight 25 without loss, Sri Lanka gained momentum with a 90-run stand between opener Michael Vandort (64 not out) and vice-captain Kumar Sangakkara (46) for the second wicket. The left-handed pair dominated the bowling during their 20-over association but it was skipper Mahela Jayawardene’s brisk 25-ball knock of 26 that ensured that play did not go beyond lunch. Vandort and Jayawardene knocked up 51 runs off 8.1 overs in an unbroken third-wicket stand as Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar made desperate bowling changes to try and curb the flow of runs. Vandort made up for his first innings duck with a 105-ball innings during which he hit seven boundaries, while Jayawardene smashed five fours. Sangakkara, who had scored 69 in the first innings, struck five fours and one six before giving a return catch to left-arm spinner Enamul Haque. Opener Upul Tharanga was the other batsman to be dismissed in the opening session. The left-hander went for a drive but edged the ball to Shahriar Nafees at second slip off left-arm seamer Syed Rasel. Sri Lanka were set a small target as Bangladesh capitulated in their second innings for just 181 yesterday after conceding a small first innings lead of 19 runs. Bangladesh have lost all their six Tests against Sri Lanka and their overall record stands at 36 losses in 41 Tests with four draws and a lone win against Zimbabwe. The second and final Test will be held in the northern city of Bogra from March 8. Scoreboard Bangladesh (1st innings) 319 Sri Lanka (1st innings) 338 Bangladesh (2nd innings) 181 Sri Lanka (2nd innings) Vandort not out 64 Tharanga c Shahriar b Rasel 19 Sangakkara c and b Haque 46 Jayawardene not out 26 Extras
(b-5, lb-4, nb-2) 11 Total (2 wkts in 37 overs) 166 Fall of wickets:
1-25, 2-115. Bowling: Rasel 8-4-18-1, Hossain 8-1-39-0, Haque 9-1-50-1, Rafique 8-0-28-0, Kapali 2-0-6-0, Ashraful 2-0-16-0.
— AFP |
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West thrash North
Udaipur, March 3 Rohit eclipsed North Zone opener Gautam Gambhir’s 119-ball 109 as he blasted undefeated 142 off 123 balls to lead West Zone to an emphatic win with 31 balls to spare. Earlier, North Zone, thanks to Gambhir’s 109 and his 136-run opening-wicket partnership with Shikhar Dhawan scored 278 for nine, but a rampaging Rohit Sharma, who hit three sixes and 14 fours, enabled West Zone reach 279 for 2 in 45.5 overs. Gambhir and Dhawan (65) put on 136 runs for the opening stand and the former was later involved in a 47-run stand with Dinesh Mongia (20) for the second wicket. North Zone at one stage were 183 for one in the 34th over but crumbled in next 16 overs as Ravindra Jadeja claimed four for 28. West earned four points from this win. — UNI
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Vidyut, Rao star in South Zone win
Jaipur, March 3 Central’s decision to put South into bat backfired as the visitors posted a
daunting 327 for four with Vidyut cracking 158 and Rao an unbeaten 103 at the
Sawai Mansingh Stadium. The hosts then wilted under pressure and could muster only 247, which included a valiant 94 not out by India under-19 captain Ravikant Shukla, and 73 by Abbas Ali. Shukla, playing his maiden Deodhar Trophy, got his 94 off 91 balls with 13 fours and one six. With
this victory South grabbed five points to improve its tally to nine from
two matches while Central could not open its account in its third match
too and slumped to (-1) from three outings.
— PTI |
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India set to face medal shortfall
M.S. Unnikrishnan
New Delhi, March 3 In the 2002 Commonwealth Games at Manchester (England), India’s medal haul of 69 included 30 golds, and the weightlifters had picked up 27 medals in all. With medals for snatch and lift being eliminated, the lifters would be awarded medals only for the overall total at Melbourne. This change in rule would bring down the number of medals in weightlifting to 15 golds and as many silver and bronze medals. And the Indian lifters hope to win only around 10 medals of different hues this time. Thus, the 270-strong Indian contingent would have to do exceptionally well in other disciplines, particularly in athletics and shooting, at Melbourne to come somewhere closer to the Manchester tally. India also expect to do well in boxing, badminton, table tennis and hockey to boost the medals tally, though as of now, nothing is certain. The Indian women, who are the defending champions in hockey, are keen to play an encore, but they have a vastly improved hosts Australia and England to cope with, this time around. Olympic silver medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore will be the flag-bearer of the Indian contingent while long jumper Anju Bobby George, who was the flag-bearer at Manchester, will be trying to better her silver-medal winning performance of the last games. India will compete in 10 disciplines at Melbourne, which include athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, gymnastics, hockey, shooting, swimming, table tennis and weightlifting. For the first time, the men and women’s basketball teams would get a chance to compete at the highest level. The previous top class exposure to the hoopsters was in the 1951 and 1982 Asian Games, both hosted by India in Delhi. Basketball Federation of India secretary Harish Sharma said the men’s team got the nod after beating Korea in the Champions Cup in Taiwan while the women were selected for winning the four-nation tournament at Phukat (Thailand). Pradeep Roy will lead the men’s basketball team while Divya Singh will captain the women’s squad. Former national coach Chand Surya has been named as the chief coach. The spectre of doping is, however, haunting the Indian athletes after weightlifter Shailaja Pujari was tested for a banned substance in the sample collected by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) during the coaching camp in Patiala. Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Suresh Kalmadi, who had recently quit as the president of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) after being fed up with the repeated doping offences by the athletes, warned that “we would be unsparing if anybody is caught for doping at Melbourne”. He commended the dope-check job being done by the WADA sleuths but cautioned the Indian sportspersons that any doping offence at the Commonwealth Games would bring a bad name to the country as India would be hosting the 19th edition of the games in Delhi in 2010, and the IOA would show no leniency to doping offenders. During the closing ceremony of the Melbourne Games on March 26, India will not only be handed over the Commonwealth Games Federation flag, but would also be given a 15-minute slot to hold a cultural extravaganza to show-case host city Delhi, and the Indian culture, as a whole. At a farewell function for the Indian team here today, Kalmadi promised to spare no effort to make the 2010 games the “best-ever”. The 270-member Indian contingent consists of 103 male and 83 female sportspersons, 43 coaches, 15 managers, 16 medical staff and 10 officials. Weightlifting Federation of India president H.J. Dora will be the chef-de-mission while Gurbir Singh will be the general team manager. The IOA will also field 10 male and two female athletes in the Elite Games for the handicapped for competing in athletics, swimming and powerlifting as India would also be conducting Elite Games in 2010. Mr Kalmadi said the IOA have also invited some of the sporting legends of the country to be part of the Indian contingent at Melbourne during the closing ceremony. They include Milkha Singh, Sunil Gavaskar, Michael Ferreira, P.T Usha, Satpal, Vijay Amritraj, Prakash Padukone, Ajit Pal Singh and Khajan Singh. Though the IOA has released a list of 14 male and 19 female athletes whose entries have been sent for the track and field competitions, Athletics Federation of India secretary Lalit Bhanot said the final list of athletes would be decided only after the conclusion of the Federation Cup championship tonight. The athletes who figure in the IOA list are: Men: K.M. Binu (400m, 4x400m relay), Shankar Patlavath (400m hurdles and relay), Kuldev Singh, Bhupinder Singh, Sreejith Sridharan and Satbir Singh (all relays), Ghamanda Ram (800m), Vikas Gowda (shot put and discus throw), Navpreet Singh and Ranvijay Singh (shot put), Jagdish Bishnoi (javelin), Parayil Surendran Jalan and Gurdev Singh (20km walk) and Anil Kumar (discus throw). Women: Manjit Kaur (400m and 4x400m relay), Chitra Soman (400m and 400 hurdles, relay), Rajinder Kaur, Ashik Beevi, Satti Geetha and H M Jyothi (relay), Anuradha Biswal (100m hurdles), Krishna, Seema Antil and Harwant Kaur (discus throw), Anju Bobby George (long jump), J J Sobha (long jump and heptathlon), Soma Biswa (heptathlon), Deepamala Devi and Amandeep Kaur (20km walk), Pinky Paramanik (800m and relay), O P Jaisha (1500m) and Preeja Sreedharan (5000m). Bahadur Singh is the chief coach.
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Anju George leaps to gold medal
New Delhi, March 3 The landing pit and the striding track, packed with cameramen, mediamen and other people, proved to be an irritating distraction for Anju, who after jumps of 6.31, 6.32, 6.33 and 6.36 came up with her best effort of the season to measure 6.47 metres in the final attempt to ensure the gold. Of course, Anju faced no threat or challenge from the rest of the field, as K Vijayan Anisha of CRPF took the silver with an effort of 6.1 metres achieved in her last jump while P K Priya of Kerala won the bronze, clearing 5.83 metres with her very first attempt. This meet was a build-up for Anju for the World Indoor Championship in Moscow, to be held from March 10 to 12, and the Commonwealth Games later. Though Anju complained that she could not get into a proper rhythm, she was happy that her distance was far better than the 6.32 metres she measured while winning the silver in the Asian Indoor Championship at Pattaya (Malaysia) last month. With Anju in action, the other events got only secondary status. But Punjab had a lot to cheer about, as the 400m events were won by athletes from the state. Bhupender Singh clocked 45.14 seconds in the men’s final to lift the gold with S Srinivas of Andhra Pradesh and P Shankar of ONGC accounting for the silver and bronze. In the women’s section, Manjit Kaur stunned fancied Chitra K Soman to clock 52.04 seconds to bag the top prize. Soman finished a close second to claim the silver while Satti Geetha of Andhra Pradesh claimed the silver. All three figure in the Indian athletics squad for the Commonwealth Games. Jangveer Singh of the Army with a throw of 17.36 metres claimed the men’s shot put gold while Om Prakash of Haryana and Gurdev Singh of Punjab claimed the silver and bronze, respectively. In javelin throw, fancied Anil Kumar of Haryana took the gold with an effort of 75.89 metres while Ankit of Delhi and Jagdish Kumar Bishnoi of Punjab Police took the silver and bronze. Anil and Jagdish are sure to figure in the Athletics Federation of India’s list for the Commonwealth Games. Anil Kumar P of Army and Deepti Jose of Kerala emerged as the fastest male and female athlete when they won the 100 metre races clocking 10.44 secs and 11.91 secs, respectively. Preeta Sreedharan of Kerala and Deep Chand of Army won the gruelling 10,000 races in the men’s and women’s sections, respectively. Pritam Bind emerged a start-to-finish winner in the men’s 1500m with a time of 3:47.13 secs while Benedict Starli of Tamil Nadu won the men’s high jump, scaling 2.13 metres. |
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WADA on lookout for Cheema
Patiala, March 3 Sources revealed that the team members arrived at the institute directly from a village near Jalandhar where they had gone to search for a UK-based weightlifter Gurbinder Cheema. The name of Cheema, who was selected in the England squad for the Melbourne Commonwealth Games but who has now opted out due to a knee injury, also figures in the list of ‘target athletes’ being carried by the officials. The WADA officials, for the past two days, have been on the look out for Cheema who has been training somewhere near Jalandhar for the past several weeks. Cheema, who was caught using a banned stimulant, Strychnine, during the World Championships qualifying event held in 1999 and was banned by the British Olympic Association for life, had only recently successfully appealed against the ban. The BOA lifted the ban after it was assumed that Cheema had committed a minor doping violation. Today the team comprising of WADA’s India-based liaison official Sajid Hashmat and Greg Moon from the UK came to the NIS ostensibly to collect samples of the lifters who are on their list of ‘target athletes’ that include P. Harita, P. Mangaraj and Tikina Gopal. The NIS authorities, however, told the officials, that the suspected lifters were not among the campers. The officials left only after they had got it confirmed. |
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Bush is a Sania fan
New Delhi, March 3 “I visited Hyderabad, the city of Sania Mirza,” said Mr Bush inviting loud cheers from the audience at the Purana Qila. Just back from a daylong visit to the high-tech southern city, the US President found Sania the symbol of a modern India, which was the focus of his half-an-hour address. He also paid tributes to Indian-born astronaut Kalpana Chawla who was killed when space shuttle Columbia crashed five years ago. “I know India will always be proud of Kalpana Chawla,’’ he said. Sania, who is 34th in world ranking, was on the cover of the American Time Magazine last year.
— UNI |
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Gangjee jumps to tied third
Jakarta, March 3 Shiv Kapur shot a couple of birdies in each nine to card four-under 68 that took his tally to four-under 140 for the tied 23rd place. Miami (USA): Daniel Chopra started with a sizzling six-under 66 that put him in tied seventh place at the end of the opening round of the Ford Championship golf on the USPGA Tour here. Also enjoying a solid start was Arjun Atwal who shot a four-under-par 68 to lie four shots behind the leader.
— UNI, PTI |
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41 teams vie for volleyball honours Ropar, March 3 Mr Gurdev Singh Gill, Superintendent of Police-Cum-Assistant Commandant (7th battalion PAP Jalandhar Cantt) inaugurated the tournament this morning. Other prominent persons who present on the occasion included Ms Kulwinder Gurcharan Singh, Chairperson, KFET, Dr Verinder Kaur, Dean, Student Welfare,IET, Bhaddal. Mr Gurdev Singh Gill, chief guest, while addressing the gathering said students should participate in the games in large numbers to gain strength and confidence.
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