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South Asian Games declared open
BCCI infighting has no parallel, says Wright
Pankaj Advani guides India A to victory
Six Indian golfers make the cut
Parveen stars in JCT victory
ICC to recognise women players for awards
Anand suffers shock defeat
Sadhguru gives pep talk to hockey players
Saurabh Vij in shot put final
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Rain reigns again
Colombo, August 18 The match, which had started four-and-a-half hours behind schedule due to a wet outfield following morning rains, was called off for the day and will be continued on the reserve day tomorrow. India were 11 for no loss with skipper Rahul Dravid on nine and Sachin Tendulkar, returning to international cricket after nearly five months, on two. The game was into the fourth over when bad light forced suspension of play. Minutes later, the heavy dark clouds that were hovering above burst open and left puddles of water on the ground, mainly along the boundary line. The ground staff, who had worked tirelessly during the day to get the game going, had placed the covers on the playing square but the rains struck before they could cover the outfield. The boundary had been brought forward to exclude the soggy outer region and with more water seeping through the covers, it is going to be that much more difficult to have the game restarted. It had been a jinxed series with more action off the field than on it. What was supposed to be a tri-series was reduced to a three-match bilateral series following South Africa's pullout citing security concerns. Indian captain Rahul Dravid, electing to bat, survived two appeals for leg before in the first over of the innings by Chaminda Vaas. Tendulkar, who underwent a shoulder surgery in March, was off the mark the first ball he faced from Lasith Malinga, and Dravid opened his account in the same over through a flick off the thigh pads to fine leg fence. Dravid then punched Vaas to the cover boundary in the next over before the weather gods intervened four balls into the following over. Scoreboard India Dravid batting 9 Tendulkar batting 2 Total (3.4 overs) 11 Bowling: Vaas 2-1-7-0, Malinga 1.4-0-7-0. — PTI
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London, August 18 The rain, indeed, is already looking like England’s best chance of escape as the visitors, scoring at four runs an over, moved on to 336 for three, 163 runs ahead, before bad light stopped play in the post-tea session. Mohammad Yousuf, having already compiled scores of 202 and 192 in the series, was unbeaten on 115 and Inzamam-ul-Haq on two. Yousuf and Mohammad Hafeez put on 177 for the third wicket before the latter was dismissed for 95. Imran Farhat, too, missed out on a hundred, getting out for 91. England’s only consolation, after another wretched day, is that they already hold an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-match series. Pakistan took England’s attack apart in the morning, then worked the gaps in the afternoon to underline their dominance. Resuming on 96 for one, they shrugged off a late start due to a wet outfield to gallop to 190 for two by lunch in reply to England’s paltry 173. While England’s bowlers laboured — Steve Harmison had been so wayward on the opening day that his captain Andrew Strauss studiously ignored him until the brink of lunch — Farhat entertained. Dropped on 49 on the opening day, he had another scare on 61 when setting off for a non-existent single only for Matthew Hoggard to miss the stumps with his shy. That incident seemed to bring Farhat to life as 36 runs came off the next five overs. The left-hander smashed Mahmood through the covers for four lavish fours in two overs, then slogged left-arm spinner Monty Panesar's first ball over mid-on for six. His next boundary, however, taking him into the nineties, was less convincing. A flail at a short ball from Hoggard just cleared Andrew Strauss’s fingertips at second slip and two balls later he was gone, a similar stroke ending up into Marcus Trescothick’s hands. Farhat scored his runs off 112 balls and in just over two-and-a-half hours, hitting 13 fours and a six. That was to be England’s only success in the morning session as their fast men dropped too short and wide on a good batting track. Hoggard perhaps deserved some commiseration, after having four catches dropped off his bowling, including Yousuf on five and nine, but Hafeez was in no mind to indulge him. Having retired hurt on eight on the opening day, he returned to the crease and collared the swing bowler for three consecutive boundaries at the start of the 38th over, the first to fine leg, the next through the covers and the last, the best, to mid-wicket. After lunch, the Pakistan batsmen replaced extravagance with risk-free harvesting. The one exception came from Hafeez’s bat, when he lofted Panesar effortlessly for six over mid-off before the rain intervened. Scoreboard England (1st innings) 173 Pakistan (1st innings) Hafeez c Strauss b Hoggard 95 Farhat c Trescothick Younis c Read b Mahmood 9 Yousuf not out 115 Inzamam not out 2 Extras (lb-7, nb-11, w-6) 24 Total (3 wkts, 82 overs) 336 Fall of wickets: 1-70, 2-148, 3-325. Bowling: Hoggard 22-2-79-2, Harmison 15-2-78-0, Mahmood 18-2-74-1, Panesar 19-3-60-0, Collingwood 6-0-29-0, Pietersen 2-0-9-0.
— Reuters
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South Asian Games Abhaya Srivastava
Colombo, August 18 The country’s domination in the discipline was complete, with four of the five finals being all-India affairs. Besides the gold, Indian shuttlers bagged four silver to boost their kitty at the Sugathadasa indoor stadium. Top ranked Chetan Anand and Trupti Murgunde kept their reputation intact by winning the singles title in the men and women’s singles, respectively, after Anand’s better half Gutta partnered V. Diju to clinch the mixed doubles gold. Gutta was back in court soon after in the company of Shruti Kurien to corner glory in women’s doubles, before the top Indian men’s doubles team of Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar overcame a challenge from a Sri Lankan combination, who added the only non-Indian flavour in the days finals. Diju and Gutta won the mixed doubles honours beating Thomas Kurien and Aparna Balan 21-11, 21-13. A bout of viral fever notwithstanding, Murgunde outplayed B.R. Meenakshi 11-5, 21-14 while Anand overcame Nikhil Kanetkar in a hotly contested match 21-14, 21-12 in the singles finals. The women’s doubles title round saw Gutta and Shruti Kurien overcome a first game reverse to tame compatriot Aparna Balan and Meenakshi 18-21, 23-21, 21-12. In the men’s doubles final, Sanave and Kumar coasted to a straight 21-16, 21-10 victory over the hosts’ pair of Tushara Eidiresinghe and Duminda Jayakodi. In the men’s singles Anand started confidently leaving Kanetkar with no answers to his serves but the latter proved he was no pushover. Kanetkar rallied brilliantly inducing unforced errors from his opponent to narrow the margin, but Anand regained his poise and took the game 21-14. In the second game, Anand opened up a 9-2 lead but Kanetkar fought back to close the gap. But the Pune boy then seemed to run out of steam as Anand took control and won the game 21-12. — PTI
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South Asian Games declared open
Colombo, August 18 President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared the games open to deafening applause from the spectators who braved heavy afternoon showers to queue up outside the newly done up Sugathadas Outdoor Stadium. The SAG torch, which travelled across 25 cities in this tiny island nation, hosting the Games for the first time in 15 years, was lit up by former Asian gold medal winning athlete Nagalingam and Commonwealth Games silver medallist Sriyani Fonseka. Adding to the visual splendour of the programme was a breathtaking fireworks display, organised by China, hosts of the 2008 Olympics. The ceremony kicked off with a live band programme followed by an Olympic rings’ formation by school girls dressed up in white blouses and skirts of various hues. The traditional sport of breaking coconuts featuring drum-bearing men clad in white and red dhoti and somersaulters enthralled the stadium packed to capacity with some 15,000 odd spectators. The excitement touched a crescendo when 11 paratroopers in colourful parachutes touched the ground paying salute to Rajapakse, seated in a bullet-proof enclosure. Another highlight of the programme was the march past by the contingents of all eight participating countries. — PTI
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BCCI infighting has no parallel, says Wright
Christchurch, August 18 As he writes about the legendary Indian cricket politics in his memoirs “Indian Summers”, “apolitical” Wright says the BCCI is run by a handful of people who often make bewildering decisions and don’t give a hoot to what the outside world thinks of them.” Wright says the political bitterness and acrimony elsewhere pales when it is compared to the rivalry in cricket politics in India. “Think of the mistrust and acrimony between the rival political parties — Labour and National (Great Britain), Democrats and Republicans (the USA) — and multiply it. Then multiply it again.” According to Wright, the financial monolith’s very modest office in Mumbai is “the greatest feat of camouflage since wolf put on sheep’s clothing.” The former Kiwi opener also flayed the BCCI’s rotation policy, saying that the whole system had been politicised which was resulting in “some of the most lunatic travel schedules.” On the players of the political game, notably Jagmohan Dalmiya, he said his reputation had preceded the master powerbroker from Kolkata, and he had heard all about the man long before he met him. “An English county chairman called him ‘that awful man from India.’ Another administrator described him as ‘a cricket terrorist.’” “While Sandeep Patil reckoned I couldn’t hope to work with a better man,” writes Wright, adding that it was all despite the fact that Dalmiya hadn’t held a post in the BCCI for three years and AC Muttiah from the rival faction was heading the board. Wright further recalls that he and physio Andrew Leipus were expecting marching orders given that Dalimya wasn’t particularly fond of the “goras” (whites) after the latter stormed back into power. However, that did not happen and soon he found out that Dalmiya was a pro and knew his cricket. Recalling the incident where referee Mike Denness booked Sachin Tendulkar and half of the Indian team for excessive appealing during the 2001 South Africa tour, Wright says Dalmiya, in handling the issue, sent out strong signals that the Indians wouldn’t be cowed down. “The way Dalmiya handled the issue sent out clear signals to the rest of the cricket world that India wasn’t going to take any crap from any quarter,” he writes. “I certainly sensed a difference in the way we were treated by match referees after Dalmiya took over,” he said. — UNI
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Pankaj Advani guides India A to victory
New Delhi, August 18 The team comprising Manan Chandra, Pankaj Advani and Yasin Merchant coasted to victory without much hiccups on the opening day of the championship. Chandra, who registered a break of 85 in his second frame, outplayed Robbie Corkish in the opening match. The national champion won 69-33, 139-0, 77-22. Advani, who appeared to be in high spirits after learning about the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award being conferred on him, exhibited his excitement on the green baize as he routed Chris Dagnall 67-0, 82-7, 100-36 to consolidate the lead to 2-0. Yasin Merchant sealed the issue breezing past Cameron Davies 87-25, 50-10, 63-15 in the third and final match. Indian players are divided into Men’s A and B teams in what will be their last international outing in the run-up to the Doha Asian Games in December. Rafat Habib, Aditya Mehta and Siddhartha Rao comprise the B side.
— PTI
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Six Indian golfers make the cut
Sanya (China), August 18 Johl is now eight-under for 36 holes and lies in fifth place. The leader is Chinese Taipei’s Lin Wen-tang, who fired a hole-in-one on the par-three fifth hole during a round of eight-under 64 that carried him to 13-under, two shots clear of overnight leader Chinarat Phadsungil (68). Lin Wen-tang was two-under for his first nine holes, but he blazed home in six-under 30 on the front nine, including four birdies and an ace. The Indians put up a fine display as six of the nine made the cut and three, including Johl, were in the top-10. One of them was Gaurav Ghei (67), who was fifth at TCL Classic at the same course earlier this year. Ghei, 32nd overnight, was flawless in his first 16 holes of the day and his round included a stretch of five birdies from the 11th to 15th, before a bogey on 17th blotted his card. Harmeet Kahlon, 16th after the first round, shot a 69 with five birdies and two bogeys to reach six-under 138 to be tied ninth with Ghei and eight others, including Chinarat, Prayad Marksaeng (69) and Li Chao (71). Rahil Gangjee had five birdies and three bogeys and shot a 70 to be tied 23rd, while SSP Chowrasia (72) is now at two-under and in tied 34th place with Digvijay Singh (74), who slid down following a Chopra begins
on modest note
Medinah (USA): Playing his first major, Daniel Chopra made a modest start with an even-par 72 that placed him 61st in a field of 156 after the first round of the USPGA Championship at the Medinah Country Club. Americans Lucas Glover and Chris Riley opened the tournament with six-under 66 each that put them three shots clear of the marquee trio of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Geoff Ogilvy, the winners of the three Majors this year, who were tied 10th. Chopra had a horrible start with a double bogey on the 10th and followed that up with a bogey on the 11th to make it three-over for two holes. He recovered with birdies on the 14th and 17th, where his playing partner Olin Browne shot a hole-in-one. A bogey followed on second and another on fourth but the Swede of Indian origin ended with a birdie on ninth. Asian Tour member Andrew Buckle fired a one-over-par 73 which had three birdies and two bogeys and a double bogey. Korea’s Choi Kyung-ju and Ted Purdy, a winner in Asia, carded 73s. Korea’s Hur Suk-ho, who enjoyed a tied-11th finish at the British Open last month, struggled with a 74. Billy Andrade, a late addition to the field on Tuesday after 1995 champion Steve Elkington withdrew for personal reasons, was alone in third after shooting a blemish-free 67, one behind co-leaders Glover and Riley. Despite being 7,561 yards long, Medinah’s No 3 Course, with its soft conditions and friendly pin positions helped low scoring.
— PTI
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Parveen stars in JCT victory
Chandigarh, August 18 International Parveen Kumar opened the account for JCT in the 18th minute but RCF found the equaliser through Harvinder a minute before the breather. A penalty awarded to JCT in the 73rd minute was successfully converted by Parveen Kumar to fetch full points for the mill men. In the second division which kicked off yesterday, International Sports Club, Phagwara, edged out Harcharan Sports Club 2-0, at Phagwara; Mahilpur FC drew with Sikh National FC 0-0 at Mahilpur; SGGS Football Society lost to Youth FC, Rurka Kalan, 3-5 at Jalandhar; and GS Parmar FC, Narur Panchhat, drew with Capt GPS Chahal SC, Jalandhar, 0-0 at Narur Panchhat today.
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ICC to recognise women players for awards
Dubai, August 18 ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed said the decision to select ‘Women’s Cricketer of the Year’ was taken after ICC’s merger with the International Women’s Cricket Council last month. “The decision to include the Women’s Cricketer of the Year at the ICC Awards is a natural move following the integration of the International Women’s Cricket Council with the ICC last year,” Speed said in a statement. “It will serve as a great opportunity to recognise the outstanding achievements of the leading female players who are nominated, and the resultant profile it will give women’s cricket, can only benefit this already rapidly growing sector of the game.” The awardees would be selected by a voting academy of 12 leading former players and influential figures in the women’s game, including members of the media. They will sift through two nominations each from Australia, England, India, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and one nomination from Ireland (which opted not to submit a second name) before casting their votes on the relative merits of those players’ performances between August 1, 2005, and August 8, 2006. South Africa and the West Indies will not submit nominations as neither side played international cricket during the voting period. The women’s voting academy includes six national captains among a total of seven former players as well as female journalists and commentators and a leading administrator. Each academy member will cast three votes for the player they believe to have performed best over the year, two votes for the next best and one vote for their third preference. The voting academy will comprise former England batsman Janette Brittin, Indian sports journalist Sonali Chander, former Indian captain Diana Edulji, president of Women’s Cricket Association of Sri Lanka Gwen Herat, former England captain Rachel Heyhoe-Flint, former New Zealand captain Debbie Hockley, former Australia captain Lyn Larsen, former New Zealand captain Lesley Murdoch, South African journalist Kass Naidoo, expert Donna Symmonds, Cricinfo assistant editor Jenny Thompson and former Australia captain Sharon Tredrea. This year’s ICC Awards will be the third running of the event with the previous occasions taking place in London (2004) and Sydney (2005). This year’s ceremony also features awards to the leading men’s players including the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for the Cricketer of the Year, the leading Test and ODI Players of the Year, the Emerging Player of the Year and the Umpire of the Year. — PTI
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Mainz, August 18 After the first game ended in a draw, Anand, the world rapid champion, missed out on some promising continuations in the middle game and in the end went down fighting against his younger opponent for whom this was a first victory over Anand in a rapid chess game. The Azerbaijani now leads 1.5-0.5 in this eight-game match. The four-day main event also saw Chess960 world champion Peter Svidler struggling to defend his title as he lost both games of the opening day against World Cup champion Levon Aronian of Armenia. Chess960 is a variant of the game in which the positions of the pieces are randomly shuffled before the start of the game. For Anand, who is looking for his sixth straight title here, the first day turned out to be quite tough as Radjabov matched him in style despite being a couple of pawns less in the second game. Earlier, the two played out a Semi-Slav defence wherein Radjabov, white, went for an in-vogue variation to complicate matters. Anand apparently had things under control when he successfully traded of queen and emerged with two extra pawns. Even though his position remained a bit passive, it was widely felt that Anand would end up a winner. However, as the events unfolded, Radjabov carried out his counter play in a striking fashion and it was almost curtains for Anand once the Azerbaijani successfully penetrated the seventh rank with his rook. Losing a piece to a dangerously poised pawn of white, Anand resigned on his 46th turn. Meanwhile, in the Finet open being played according to Chess 960 rules, Harikrishna failed to keep the momentum ticking and scored just three points in the first five rounds. — PTI
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Sadhguru gives pep talk to hockey players
Chennai, August 18 As chief coach Vasudevan Baskaran and IHF President KPS Gill and Secretary K Jyothikumaran looked on, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev of Isha Foundation taught this art to the players during an interactive session at a five-star hotel here today. They were told how to focus on the task without actually putting themselves under any pressure, as the Sadhguru told them. “Don’t bother about the opposition teams’ goals. Focus on putting the ball in the goal. Forget about bringing laurels to the country by winning the Cup. Then there would be no pressure. There is nothing called pressure. “It’s all man-made,” the Sadhguru told the players when they asked him how to handle pressure.
— UNI
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Saurabh Vij in shot put final
Beijing, August 18 The Delhi lad, who is the only realistic medal hope for India at the event, was placed third among the competitors who made it to the medal round.
— PTI
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