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Test of Indians’ character, calibre
Sri Lanka shot out for 141
Tirkey back as captain
Chess
Olympiad
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Saina, Sayali pull off upset wins
Narang misses bronze by a whisker
Punjab teams for basketball meet announced
Chandigarh outclass Punjab
DCA win in
u-13 cricket
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Test of Indians’ character, calibre Port of Spain, May 25 The Queen’s Park Oval is India’s happiest hunting ground in the West Indies. Despite their abysmal display in the Caribbean overall, India’s all three Test victories have occurred here. The ODI performance, too, is not discouraging in that two of India’s four wins in the abbreviated format have come in this age-old arena, although the overall win-loss ratio is still 5-2 in the West Indians’ favour. India, 1-2 down, obviously, need to win both the remaining fixtures to avoid the ignominy of defeat to a side ranked only above Zimbabwe and Bangladesh in the ICC ODI rankings. It is a test of calibre and character as well as of the coaching acumen of Greg Chappell, although it may be fair to say you can lead a horse to a well, but you can’t force it to drink. India’s struggle in the first three ODIs — the success in the first notwithstanding — has arisen from their batsman being perplexed by the slightly higher — though not disconcerting — bounce as compared to Indian wickets, but the ball not coming on to the bat. So, their timing has been awry. A remedy for this could be another demonstrative essay by skipper Rahul Dravid at the top of the order, which also transmits confidence in the ranks. The West Indian attack is as feeble as it was four years ago; and any side putting their mind to it, can collar it quite easily. The tourists’ other concern is that fact that their premier new ball bowler, Irfan Pathan hasn’t settled into a West Indian length and has also been inconsistent in his direction. Moreover, in the second game at St Kitts he hardly swung the ball. Then, Ramesh Powar hasn’t exactly set the Caribbean Sea on fire and some may be surprised that he was preferred to Mumbai mate Ajit Agarkar, who has looked the pick of the Indian bowlers in the ODIs so far, in the Test squad. The only explanation for this can be that Powar has indicated greater promise with the bat. The drive from the aerodrome to the city on a super-fast highway, with beautiful bungalows, modern industrial estates and shopping arcades and high rise buildings under construction, mirrors a country wallowing in oil wealth. Likewise, the revered Queen’s Park Oval, venue of the two upcoming ODIs and all of India’s first stage matches in next year’s World Cup, is undergoing a metamorphosis in preparation for the big event. In keeping with this drive, “square”, too, has been re-laid and local experts think it may not conspire with spinners the way it traditionally has. Quite simply, therefore, for India to show the hosts a clean pair of heels, Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Dhoni must click in the middle order. Meanwhile, the West Indies have sidelined Shivnarine
Chanderpaul, who tore a hamstring in the last match, and Runako Morton, because of a lack of form. They are replaced by the Jamaican captain Wavell Hinds and opener Sewnarine
Chattergoon, both left-handers. After a trilogy of thrillers, which left India a little bruised, but not without hope, it’s do or die for the visitors! |
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Sri Lanka shot out for 141
Birmingham, May 25 Earlier, Sri Lanka won the toss and batted under clear skies although the ball moved around throughout the pre-lunch session. Matthew Hoggard gave England the perfect start when he bowled left-hander Upul Tharanga with an inswinger for a duck with the fifth delivery of the morning. Skipper Andrew Flintoff then removed himself from the attack after he had conceded nine runs from just three overs and introduced the 21-year-old Plunkett. It proved an inspired change. A confident appeal from the second ball for caught behind was rejected and replays showed umpire Aleem Dar had made a shrewd decision as the ball had flicked Michael Vandort’s shirt sleeve. However, off the next delivery, Vandort (9) drove loosely at a wide and full delivery. Paul Collingwood lunged to his left and held on to a fine catch in the gully, justifying his reputation as England’s best fielder. Vandort had been included at the expense of Jehan Mubarak, who played in the first Test, and former skipper Sanath Jayasuriya, who has come out of retirement. The final ball brought the biggest cheer when Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene edged his third delivery to wicketkeeper Geraint Jones and departed without scoring to complete a double-wicket maiden for Plunkett. After Jayawardene’s 61 and 119 at Lord’s, it was a wicket met with understandable jubilation by the England players with Sri Lanka reduced to 16 for three. Five overs later, Hoggard claimed his second wicket when Thilan Samaraweera (3) deflected an outswinger to the reliable Collingwood at fourth slip. Sri Lanka were in deep trouble at 25 for four. Kumar Sangakkara became the fifth wicket to fall when he edged a Plunkett delivery angled across him to Jones. His hard-fought 25 runs had taken 87 minutes. Jones completed his third catch when all-rounder Farveez Maharoof (5) edged Sajid Mahmood from the last ball before lunch. Scoreboard Sri Lanka (1st innings) Vandort c Collingwood Tharanga b Hoggard 0 Sangakkara c Jones b Plunkett 25 Jayawardene c Jones b Plunkett 0 Samaraweera c Collingwood Dilshan c Trescothick Maharoof c Jones b Mahmood 5 Vaas not out 30 Kulasekara c Trescothick b Mahmood 3 Malinga lbw Panesar 26 Muralitharan c Plunkett Extras (lb-6, nb-6) 12 Total (all out, 51.2 overs) 141 Fall of wickets:
1-3, 2-16, 3-16, 4-25, 5-46, 6-65, 7-79, 8-82, 9-132. Bowling:
Hoggard 15-4-32-2, Flintoff 13.2-4-28-2, Plunkett 12-1-43-3, Mahmood 9-1-25-2, Panesar 2-0-7-1.
— Agencies
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Tirkey back as captain
Chennai, May 25 Tirkey regained the captaincy from Gagan Ajit Singh who led India in the Champions Trophy and a four-nation tournament in Germany — the last two international outings of the team. Tirkey would remain at the helm till the World Cup in Germany later this year. Forwards Deepak Thakur and Prabhjot Singh were dropped as they had not been playing well in the last few tournaments, Indian Hockey Federation President KPS Gill said while announcing the team for the June 18-25 tournament. The selectors made changes in the midfield, bringing back Viren Rasquinha, VS Vinay and Bimal Lakra. Little-known Ajmer Singh was also included in the team to bolster the midfield. Among the defenders, the selectors brought back Kanwalpreet Singh. The squad: Goalkeepers:
Adrian D’Souza, Bharat Kumar Chetri. Defenders: Dilip Tirkey (capt), Kanwalpreet Singh, Sandeep Singh. Midfielders:
VS Vinaya, Bikram Pillay, Prabodh Tirkey, Bimal Lakra, Viren Rasquinha, Ajmer Singh. Forwards:
Arjun Halappa, Hari Prasad, Tejbir Singh, Tushar Khandekar, Shivender Singh, Rajpal Singh and Gagan Ajit Singh. Chief coach:
Vasudevan Bhaskaran; coach: Harendra Singh; physio: Ravi
Kanakamedala. India face Aussies in opener
India will take on defending champions Australia in their opening match of the Sultan Azlan Shah hockey tournament to be held in Kuala Lumpur from June 18 to 25. The fixtures were released by IHF President KPS Gill while announcing the Indian team for the event. India have been grouped along with Australia, South Korea and Malaysia, while the other group consists of Holland, Pakistan, Argentina and New Zealand. The schedule June 18: Argentina v New Zealand; Australia v India; South Korea v Malaysia June 19: Holland v Pakistan; South Korea v Australia, India v Malaysia. June 20: Holland v Argentina, Pakistan v New Zealand June 21: India v South Korea; Australia v Malaysia June 22: Pakistan v Argentina; Holland v New Zealand June 23: Semifinals June 24: 7th/8th and 5th/6th place playoffs. June 25: Final and 3rd/4th place playoff.
— PTI, UNI
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Men scrape past Hungary
Turin, May 25 At the top of the table, Russia defeated China with a 3-1 margin to stay in joint lead along with Armenia, who trounced Norway 4-0, both having pocketed 13.5 points The Netherlands is on the sole third spot on 13 points, followed by Uzbekistan on 12.5 points. A pack of four teams, including defending champions Ukraine, are next in line on 12 points, while the Indian men are joint ninth at this stage with 11.5 points in their kitty. India would be up against China in the next round of this 148-team event in which nine rounds are still to be played. In the absence of star players like Peter Leko and Judit Polgar, it was a depleted Hungarian team that restricted the Indians to a minimal victory. Anand played the Sicilian Nazdorf against Zoltan Almasi on the top board and the players followed a recently fashionable variation wherein the Indian ace did not quite get the counter play he was looking for in the English attack employed by his opponent. Almasi could claim some advantage after the queens got traded in the middle game and Anand was seen skiing on thin ice once the endgame approached. However correctly calculated moves in the end gave Anand a safe passage as further exchanges saw the game drift towards a theoretically drawn rook and pawns endgame. Peace was signed after 49 moves. A little before that, Ganguly crushed Ruck with his white pieces to give the team an early lead. The Indian Grandmaster, playing against the Sicilian Nazdorf also, came up with a modest opening not played at the highest level too much but found Robert off guard amid the intricacies. Eves hold Georgia
Woman Grandmaster Swati Ghate scored a thumping victory against higher-ranked International Master Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia and helped the Indian eves salvage a draw against third seed Georgia in the fourth round of the Women’s Chess Olympiad here. The winning streak of Koneru Humpy, the highest-ranked chess-playing woman in the world, was halted by seasoned Georgian Woman Grandmaster Nino Khurtsidze on the top board, while Mary Ann Gomes went down against experienced WGM Lela Javakhishvili before Ghate carved out a fine attacking victory to draw parity with the former champions. Meanwhile, the mighty Russians blanked overnight sole leader Lithuania 3-0, while defending champions China prevailed upon fighting Ukraine 2-1. With nine rounds still to go, Russia took sole lead with 11.5 points out of a possible 12 and now have a 1.5-point lead over nearest rival Ukraine. Three teams — the USA, China and Bulgaria — share the third spot on 9.5 points, while there are five teams right on their heels with nine points apiece. The Indian eves are next in the standings, with 8.5 points, sharing the 11th spot with six others. Humpy tried hard and came close to leading India to an upset victory over Georgia but for the perseverance of Nino Khurtsidze on the top board.
— PTI
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Saina, Sayali pull off upset wins
New Delhi, May 25 Chetan Anand, Arvind Bhat, Anup Sridhar, Anand Pawar and P Kashyap also enjoyed a winning start, cruising through to the second round of the men’s singles draw of the four-star event at Pasig City. Saina, India’s top shuttler in women’s singles, put it across Malaysia’s Mudukasan 21-16, 21-19 to book a place in the round of 16. The 86-ranked Indian starlet took just 28 minutes to pack off the world No. 31 and will next face Japan’s Imai
Sachiyo. But it was another youngster, Sayali, who pocketed the biggest surprise victory of the day, stunning Canada’s Ana Rice, world No. 29 and a strong contender for the title, in a three-game thriller. The 19-year-old Indian showed enough promise in thwarting the fifth seed’s challenge 16-21, 22-20, 21-16 in 63 minutes. Gokhale next meets Japan’s Ai
Goto. In men’s singles, world No. 24 Chetan Anand beat Jun Takemura of Japan 21-19, 21-13 in 25 minutes. — PTI
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Narang misses bronze by a whisker
New Delhi, May 25 Compatriot Abhinav Bindra finished 27th with a score of 594 (99, 100, 100, 100, 98, 97) while the other Indian Imran Hassan Khan finished 84th with a score of 581 (95, 96, 98, 98, 97, 97). The gold went to Athens Olympic bronze medallist Jozef Gonci of Slovakia with a score of 702.2 (597+105.2). The silver was won by Athens Olympic gold medallist Qinan Zhu of China with a score of 701.1 (597+104.1) while American Matthew Emmons won the bronze with a score of 699.7 (597+103.7). The quota place for the Beijing Olympic Games went to Polish shooter Robert Kraskowski, according to information received here today. In the women’s section, Anjali Bhagwat finished 10th in the 10m air rifle event after shooting 397 with a series of 100, 97, 100 and 100. Among others, Avneet Kaur Sidhu finished 29th with a score of 395 (99, 98, 99, 99), while Tejaswini Sawant finished 37th with 395 (98, 98, 99, 99). The gold was won by Elsa Caputo of Italy with 502.9 (398+104.9), the silver went to Sylwia Bogacka of Poland (502.8), while Sviatlana Budzko of Bulgaria bagged the bronze with 502.8 (398+104.8). In another ISSF World Cup for shotgun shooters in Cairo, Manavjit Singh came up with an improved performance to end up sixth in the men’s trap event.
— UNI
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Punjab teams for
basketball meet announced
Ludhiana, May 25 Mr Rajdeep Singh Gill, ADGP, Punjab, and president, Basketball Federation of India, reviewed the arrangements made for the smooth conduct of this mega event during a meeting of the organising committee. Meanwhile, Sukhbir Singh Dhillon and Kiranjit Kaur, both trainees of the Baba Lodhiana Academy, Ludhiana, have been named captains of the Punjab boys and girls teams, respectively. Punjab lads finished runners-up in the last edition of the championship held at Pondicherry. They lost to Chhattisgarh there while the Punjab girls secured the seventh spot. Teams (boys): Sukhbir Singh Dhillon, Yadwinder Singh, Dilawar Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Sukhjit Singh, Jagdeep Singh, Ravdeep Singh, Gulvern Singh Rana, Birkaran Singh, Shamshul, Gurvinder Singh and Paramveer Singh. Jasbir Singh and Amarjot Singh have been appointed coaches while Balkar Singh Brar will be the manager of the team. Girls: Kiranjit Kaur, Sarbjit Kaur, Harminder Kaur, Manda Meshram, Sarabjit Kaur, Ramandeep Kaur, Priya, Balkaran Kaur, Surbhi, Rubel, Harpreet Kaur and Harneet Kaur. Sudesh Verma and Kanwarjit Singh have been named coaches while Vijay Chopra will be the manager of the squad.
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Chandigarh outclass Punjab
Panchkula, May 25 In other matches, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh XI won their respective matches against Punjab by 32 runs and Mumbai by 103 runs. Earlier, Chandigarh invited Punjab to bat first after winning the toss. Chandigarh’s Sunil Upadhyay took apart the batting line up of Punjab as they lost five wickets for a paltry 55 runs in 12 overs. Sunil took four wickets for 12 runs. Kali accompanied Sunil in the onslaught and claimed two wickets for 21 runs. The 36-run partnership between Vinod Manhas (22) and Amrinder Brar (30) helped the team to reach 110 runs for nine wickets. In reply, a blistering unbeaten half century by Kali, consisting of six fours and one six, made it easy for the team to reach the target in 15.1 overs for the loss of two wickets only. The other contributor was Saida Khan, who remained unbeaten on 35 runs off 33 balls. Brief Score: Punjab: 110 for 9 in 20 overs (Amrinder Brar 30, Vinod Manhas 22, Sunil Upadhayay 4 for 12). Chandigarh: 111 for 2 in 15.1 overs (Harkishan Kali 50 n.o., Saida 35 n.o., Ranjit 1 for 24). (2) MP: 154 for 9 in 20 overs (Anupam Rathore 37, Birjesh Patel 37, Mujawar 3 for 27). Mumbai: 51 all out in 13 overs (Anil Shelke 14, Avinash 10, Abbas 4 for 6). (3) WB: 119 for 8 in 20 overs (Charnjit 44 n o, Manoj 19, V Manhas 2 for 23). Punjab: 87 all out in 16.5 overs (V Manhas 27, Jaswinder Jassi 14, Karmakar 3 for 13).
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DCA win in u-13 cricket Patiala, May 25 Scores:
DCA: 231 for 4 (Mannan Vohra 102 n.o., Shibham Banwari 37, Karan Goyal 25, Pranav Nanda 20
n.o., Ashish Chouhan 4 for 55); Black Elephant CC: 132 for 8 (Shivam Goyal 38, Shubam Rana 3 for 27, Karan Goyal 2 for 28). In another league match, Dronacharya Cricket Foundation, Delhi, beat
NICS, Patiala, by five wickets. Scores: NICS: 122 all out (Parteek 38, Vipul Kumar 24, Rohit Chowdhury 3 for 21, Puneet Malhotra 3 for 28); DCF: 123 for 5 (Puneet Malhotra 53, Arjun Tyagi 18
n.o., Parteek 3 for 30, Nikhil Kumar 3 for 20).
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