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Sachin Tendulkar addresses a press conference at the MCA ground in Mumbai on Tuesday. — PTI
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Report raps SAI for unspent funds
Chess Olympiad
Federer, Kostelic win Laureus awards
ITCF, UP register wins
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Seven-a-side soccer at Malerkotla from today
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Windies rally after Sehwag onslaught St. Kitts, May 23 This, on a 300-run pitch, opened the door for the West Indies which previously looked firmly shut. And it might have been worse had Mohammed Kaif not chipped in with a useful 61. For the third time Rahul Dravid called tails and it came down tails. But this time the Indian skipper decided to set a target on a dry, well rolled wicket – veritably perfect for first use. Unfortunately, though, he failed to cash in, trapped lbw in the very first over of the innings by left-arm medium pacer Bradshaw. Undeterred, though, Sehwag, a little flashily, and Suresh Raina, in a more orthodox fashion, quickly repaired the damage. Both Bradshaw and Fidel Edwards haemorrhaged heavily. With relatively short boundaries all around, the former was scooped to point for six by Sehwag. Later, he despatched Bravo out of the ground over long-on; and followed this by hoisting Marlon Samuels over the long on boundary at the other end. Sehwag was not quite back to his imperious self, but he interspersed any uncertainty with characteristically forceful cuts and drives. But by this stage, Raina had departed, playing around an incoming delivery, which brushed his pads before disturbing his stumps. However, Kaif was rapidly into his strides; and while Sehwag continued merrily, the Uttar Pradesh batsman built his innings with opportunistic running between the wickets to be associated in a vital third wicket partnership of 112. But for this stand, India would have completely spurned the advantage of batting on a beautiful pitch. Indeed, Bravo got his revenge with a reverse swinging delivery which hit Sehwag on the full on his front toe. Mahendra Dhoni failed to maintain the momentum. His effort was nipped in the bid before it even blossomed – a four over short extra cover’s head being the only evidence of his swashbuckling ways. And lightning struck repeatedly, as Kaif, despite his swiftness of feet, failed to cover his ground to the wicket-keeper’s end. In fact, the Indian innings simply fragmented, with Irfan Pathan for the third time not living up to the label of all-rounder, Ramesh Powar missing a sweep to be bowled around his legs by Ramnaresh Sarwan, albeit off the front pad, Rao sacrificing himself in another run out, before Ajit Agarkar holed out at long on. Thus, from a commanding position of 211 for three, India had wholly surrendered their initiative. Scoreboard India Sehwag lbw Bravo 97 Dravid lbw Bradshaw 0 Raina b Bradshaw 26 Kaif run out 61 Dhoni run out 15 Rao run out 12 Pathan c&b Samuels 1 Powar b Sarwan 1 Agarkar c Lara b Bravo 8 Harbhajan not out 7 Sreesanth not out 1 Extras (lb-4, nb-1, w-11) 16 Total (9 wkts, 50 overs) 245 Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-62, 3-174, 4-211, 5-216, 6-219, 7-224, 8-233, 9-243. Bowling: Bradshaw 8-2-41-2, Edwards 9-0-49-0, Taylor 4-0-30-0, Samuels 10-0-40-1, Bravo 8-0-45-2, Gayle 10- 0-36-0, Sarwan 1-0-1-1.
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Sachin skips fitness test
Mumbai, May 23 Tendulkar informed the board that he should not be considered for selection for next month’s Test series as his arm was still weak, ending weeks of suspense on whether the champion batsman would be able to travel to the Caribbean islands. “We have been trying hard. Andrew Leipus (physio) has been with me all the time and all my sessions were monitored. There is still weakness in my arm and I am still not ready to compete at the international level”, Tendulkar told reporters here. Tendulkar, who underwent a shoulder surgery in London in March end, was present at the ground but did not undergo the scheduled fitness test. Tendulkar’s unavailability for the four-match Test series will be a huge setback for India who are seeking to break the 35-year-old jinx of not winning a series on Caribbean soil. When asked when he would be fully fit, Tendulkar said, “It’s a difficult question. I don’t know. I leave it to the doctors to guide me in the right direction.” Tendulkar said he would be leaving for London to consult Dr Andrew Wallace, who performed the surgery. “I am sure that the doctor is in touch with the BCCI.” Leipus, who supervised Tendulkar’s rehabilitation since team physio John Gloster is currently in the West Indies, said it was important to prevent damage to Tendulkar’s shoulder. “We don’t want to do any further damage to his shoulder. We are looking at the bigger picture in order to prolong his career. The comprehensive rehabilitation process will continue. It now depends on how quickly he adapts. We cannot accelerate”, he said. “Basically we have taken this decision based on his functional weakness. We cannot keep training and training. Rest is also important for complete recovery”, Leipus added. BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah said the board was keen to have Tendulkar in the team as soon as possible and his rehabilitation process would be reviewed in two to three weeks’ time by the team management. Test cricket’s highest century-maker has been plagued by injury problems of late, notable among those being the stiff back problem and the tennis elbow, forcing the master batsman to curb some of his attacking shots. Trainer Ramji Srinivasan, who supervised Tendulkar’s five-day fitness programme at the MRF Pace Academy last week, said the batsman’s shoulder was alright but the biceps would take a longer time to strengthen. Niranjan Shah said opener Wasim Jaffer, who underwent a fitness test following a shin surgery, was fit and available for selection. Middle-order spot up for grabs
Sachin Tendulkar’s absence has left a middle-order spot up for grabs, even as the national selectors meet here tomorrow to choose a 15-member squad for the four-Test series against the West Indies starting on June 2. Tendulkar’s absence has left a huge gap in the middle of the Indian batting order and it looks likely that either Mohammed Kaif or his younger UP colleague Suresh Raina would be retained for the Test rubber after taking part in the one-day series. The selectors are certain to opt for fit-again opener Wasim Jaffer, experienced batsman V.V.S. Laxman and India’s leading Test wicket-taker Anil Kumble apart from a second wicketkeeper. Gujarat stumper Parthiv Patel seems to have an edge over his Tamil Nadu rival Dinesh Kaarthick as he was the second wicketkeeper behind first-choice Mahendra Singh Dhoni on the team’s last visit overseas, to Pakistan in January-February earlier this year. The players expected to return after the end of the one-day series on May 28 are middle order batsman Venugopala Rao, left arm pacer Rudra Pratap Singh, off spinner Ramesh Powar and Kaif or Raina.
— PTI
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Report raps SAI for unspent funds
New Delhi, May 23 The Parliamentary Committee on Human Resources Development, in its 176th report submitted to Parliament, was “disturbed to note the trend of unspent balances in respect of number of schemes handled by the SAI”. Out of the seven schemes under the SAI fold, three schemes, namely Project/Scheme in the North-Eastern Region, National Coaching Camp under the scheme of Assistance to National Sports Federations and the Grants for Installation of Synthetic Playing surfaces, have failed to utilise over Rs 5 crore, over Rs 3 crore and over Rs 3.5 crore, respectively. The committee was not convinced with the Sports Ministry’s excuse for inadequate resources when the allocation so received remain under-utilised. “The trend of unspent balances with the SAI is quite disappointing — a fact which suggests serious steps for restructuring of the SAI to make it a more effective and professional body”, the report observed. Though the SAI has taken up many schemes for implementation, like the National Sports Talent Cotest (NSTC), Army Boys Sports Companies (ABSC), Special Area Games (SAG), SAI Training Centres (STC), Centre of Excellence (COE) and the National Coaching Scheme (NCS), the Parliamentary Committee was “dismayed to note that after conversion of the NSTC scheme from residential to day-boarding, the intake of children in the scheme in most of the adopted regular schools, both in individual as well as team events, is quite less. The committee is not sure whether proper consultations with all stakeholders has taken place before finally converting the mode of scheme.” The committee was also “not inclined to agree” with the Ministry’s argument that the intake of children in the Navodaya Vidyalayas is far from satisfactory due to non-availability of talented children and it wanted the Ministry to expand the coverage of the scheme in all states in view of its utility.
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Chess
Olympiad
Turin, May 23 After a 1-3 drubbing at the hands of Morocco in the first round of the biennial chess event, it was a impressive recovery by the Indians as they took the team score to a respectable five points out of a possible eight games. The second-seeded team shed the opening-day blues and won on all four boards, with Grandmasters Krishnan Sasikiran, P Harikrishna, Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Sandipan Chanda coming up trumps. With 11 rounds still to go and Viswanathan Anand set to join the team anytime now, it seems likely that they will be in the reckoning for a medal. Interestingly, Morocco lost in the second round to the USA by a 0.5-3.5 margin. Krishnan Sasikiran, who was rested in the first round, took board one in his first appearance in the Olympiad this year and prevailed over Antoniou Antonis, rated more than 500 points below him. On the second board, GM P Harikrishna romped home with an easy victory as black against Kassinopoullos Polydoros. Though the Indian supremacy was never in doubt, it still took some time for Surya Shekhar Ganguly to turn the heat on Aristotelous Vasileios, while on the final board Sandipan Chanda put his first-round loss behind him and crushed Savva Panikos. Diwakar Prasad Singh was rested for the round. While as many as nine teams are next with seven points to their credit, the Indian men propelled themselves up to the joint 44th spot in the biggest chess event of the world. Indian eves held by Vietnam
The splendid start provided by Koneru Humpy went in vain after blunders by Swati Ghate and D Harika saw Indian eves settling for a draw with Vietnam in the second round of the Chess Olympiad here. The Indian eves looked set for a 3-0 victory after Humpy did the early damage on the first board but subsequent mistakes by Ghate and Harika produced the 1.5-1-5 result. Humpy displayed her class against Nguyen Thi Thanh An, who was outplayed in a queen pawn opening game playing white. The Indian lured the Vietnamese girl into sacrificing a bishop on the 16th move and when she played it hoping for an attack against the king, Humpy unleashed her counter-attack in quick time. Guiding her bishop and queen in missile-like fashion, Humpy won in just 27 moves. On the second board, Hoang Thi Bao Tram did not get a good position out of the opening playing black and the trend favoured Harika in the middle game as well. However, the young Woman Grandmaster did not take advantage of the situation and was on the defensive in a Opposite coloured bishop endgame. Eventually, peace was signed after 88 moves. Swati Ghate suffered an unexpected loss on the third board as Mary Ann Gomes was rested for the second day running. Le Thanh Tu got the equaliser for Vietnam after Swati went for an erroneous plan and got her queen trapped in the middle of the board in this 36-move game. In the next round, the ninth seeded Indians, who beat Brazil 3-0 in the opening encounter, meet Croatia. The day produced a few surprises on the top of the tables as well as the top seeded Russia women dropped half a point against Kazakhstan when star player Aklexandra Kosteniuk was forced to a draw by Dana Aketayeva. On the remaining boards, however, the Russians were merciless and Sofya Zigangirova and Gulmira Dauletova were taken to task by Tatiana Kosintseva and former world championship finalist Ekaterina Kovalevskaya, respectively. After the second round of the mega event, as many as four teams emerged as joint leaders with a perfect 6/6 score. Seven teams hold the second position with 5.5 points each, while the Indian eves are currently in joint 22nd spot with 4.5 points in their kitty.
— PTI
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Federer, Kostelic win Laureus awards
Barcelona, May 23 The 24-year-old Federer won the vote of Laureus Academy members ahead of other nominees such as another two-time winner US golfer Tiger Woods, Spanish Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso, Brazilian star footballer Ronaldinho and seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. The 23-year-old Kostelic edged out Britain’s world marathon champion Paula Radcliffe, Russian pole vault queen Yelena Isinbayeva, Swedish heptathlete Carolina Kluft and Belgian tennis player Kim Clijsters. There were awards also for Martina Hingis, who took the Laureus Comeback of the Year recompense, Spanish tyro Rafael Nadal who was named Newcomer of the Year and the French Formula One Constructors Champions Renault, who won Team of the Year award. Federer was present in Barcelona yesterday to accept his reward. The world No. 1 has won the last three Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon, the US Open last year and this year’s Australian Open. Kostelic became the first woman to win four Alpine skiing gold medals after her victory in the women’s combined event at February’s Winter Olympics in Turin. Once again she had to overcome injury and illness to triumph having been forced to pull out of the Olympic downhill because she was unwell. Four years ago, she won three gold medals at the Salt Lake City Olympics after fighting back from three knee operations in 12 months.
— AFP
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ITCF, UP register wins
Panchkula, May 23 The matches were played between ITCF and Bihar; Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh; besides Bihar and Chhattisgarh on the first day of the Twenty-20 National Cricket Championship for Swift Cup at Sector 3 cricket stadium here today. In the inaugural match between Bihar and ITCF XI, the latter won by four wickets. After winning the toss ITCF gave chance to the opponents to bat first. Putting up a dull show, Bihar could muster just 90 runs in 20 overs. Tarun Kumar (27 off 29), the highest scorer, salvaged the team from the blushes as the five batsmen lost their wickets without scoring a single run. Interestingly, only two boundaries were hit in the entire innings, which were slammed by Tarun. In reply, ITCF took 18.5 overs to achieve the target at the loss of six wickets. Playing fast, Harish made 46 runs in 49 balls slamming five boundaries and one six. In the second match, Uttar Pradesh thrashed Andhra Pradesh by eight wickets. AP started their innings on a poor note as they lost three wickets in five overs when the score was 31. Riding high on fiery half century by Ajit Singh (51 off 25), UP sealed the victory by eight wickets in the 12.3 overs. In the last match of the day, Chhattisgarh got the better of Bihar by seven wickets in the third match. The knock of Kundan Gupta (37) enabled Bihar to compile 93 runs in 19.2 overs. Unbeaten half century by Subojit Bhattacharjee (53 no) helped Chhattisgarh team to register the victory. Brief scores: Bihar: 90 for 9 in 20 overs (Tarun 27, Avishek 19, Harish 3 for 15), ITCF: 91 for 6 in 18.5 overs (Harish 46, Charanjit 22, Dhiraj 2 for 14); AP: 101 all out in 20 overs (Avinash 18, K. Vasudeva 19, Vicky 3 for 14), UP: 105 for 2 in 12.3 overs (Ajit 51, Himanshu 25 no, K. Murali 1 for 17); Bihar: 93 in 19.2 overs (Kundan 37, Prabhakar 16, Gurmeet 2 for 21), Chattisgarh: 94 for 3 in 15.2 overs (Subojit 53 no, Gundeep 10).
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Seven-a-side soccer at Malerkotla from today
Chandigarh, May 23 Top teams of the region are expected to take part in the tournament, which will be played under floodlights. The tournament will conclude on May 27. The tournament is dedicated to the memory of the former ruler of Malerkotla, Nawab Sher Mohammed Khan, who had raised a voice of protest against the death penalty imposed on two sons of Guru Gobind Singh. The Sahibzadas were later bricked alive at Sirhind. Football became popular in Malerkotla during the period of Nawab Sikandar Ali Khan from 1858 to 1871 and clubs like Muslim Club, Sabir Club, Crescent Club and Hilal Club later came into existence.
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