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Chaos marks team’s arrival
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Olympic Qualifiers
‘India can be a major F1 venue’
All England Badminton
Taylor lifts Kiwis to 470
Chowrasia tied 8th
Gayle retained skipper
One Sikh equal to 1.25 lakh: Bhajji
‘Let’s go for No. 1 spot’
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New Delhi, March 6 It was difficult to judge whether hundreds of fans, who had thronged the hotel area waving small Indian flags, outnumbered the media personnel or vice versa. The cricketers, led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, got down from the bus to the tunes played by band musicians, who were waiting outside the hotel entrance since morning. In the hotel lobby, players were accorded a traditional welcome as players were garlanded and a 'tilak' put on their foreheads. As soon as the players entered the lobby, event managers and Delhi Police swung into action not allowing any media personnel to break the human chain formed by them. The pleas of media people asking for access to get better shots fell on deaf ears. They had to return disappointed as they could not even see the cutting of the cake, which was held at the far end of the lobby. "It is disgraceful to be recognised as a journalist here," fumed a very senior journalist. Team manager Bimal Soni thanked all the fans for the overwhelming welcome. "On behalf of the Indian team, I thank all the people, and am grateful to all those who have come here," Soni said as players left without speaking to reporters. — PTI
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Bangalore Open
Bangalore, March 6 In the match played late last night, Venus and Serena could not withstand the onslaught by the Chinese pair and went down 7-5, 2-6, 9-11, despite stretching the third and the deciding set to the super tie-breaker. During the 86-minute battle, the sisters made many unforced errors and Serena, who had easily beaten Tzipora Obziler of Israel in the singles earlier in the day, could not maintain her tempo and most of her returns were off the mark. The Chinese pair also showed superb understanding and took full advantage of the sisters’ weak returns and erratic shots. After winning the first set, the sisters took time to relax which cost them the second set. However, by the time they realised and took the decider to the tie-breaker it was too late as the well-settled Chinese pair broke the sisters’ serve many a time. Venus, however, avenged the defeat as she beat Shuai Peng 6-2, 6-7, 6-2 today to enter the singles quarterfinals. In another second-round match, fourth seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland sailed to the quarterfinals by defeating Aiko Nakamura of Japan 6-7, 6-4, 6-2. In the match that lasted over two hours, Nakamura made Schnyder, ranked 12th in the world, sweat it out before going down. The teenaged Schnyder, despite taking the first set to the tie-breaker, failed to hold on. But she immediately regained her composure and went on to win the next two sets to enter the last-16 stage. In other second-round matches, seventh-seeded Vera Zvonareva of Russia survived an early scare to join unseeded Yan Zi of China in the quarterfinals today. Yan, ranked 54, needed less than an hour to dispose off Olga Savchuk of Ukraine 6-2, 6-1, while 27th-ranked Zvonareva fought through the first set against Romanian qualifier Agnes Szatmari before prevailing 7-6, 6-1 in 93 minutes. — UNI
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Olympic Qualifiers Santiago, March 6 The result provided Britain their fourth win in the league while India remained on nine points from three wins and now need to beat hosts Chile on Saturday to qualify for the final the following day. For India, V. Ramachandra Raghunath converted two penalty corners in the second and 64th minutes to keep them in the game. Britain keeping their composure despite the early reverse, hit back through Richard Mantell (15th) and Jonty Clarke (45th) before Moore came up with the match-winner. India blew an early lead and failed to perform to the expected levels nor was there much discipline, especially in the first-half during which they received two yellow card suspensions. Britain played a far more constructive game and stuck to their game plan of attacking from the wings to wear down the Indian defence. The first-half proceedings were rather scrappy with neither team able to get into any sort of rhythm. While an early goal failed to inspire India, the British displayed resilience to keep chipping away at the rival defence to eventually score the equaliser. The Indian team failed to show much discipline in their overall game that was punctuated by needless physical play leading to two yellow card suspensions (Vikram Kanth and Shivendra Singh).
— PTI |
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‘India can be a major F1 venue’
New Delhi, March 6 Whitaker praised Mallya for his efforts and hoped that Force India would give a major boost to Formula One. He said the number of Indian fans has increased considerably and they expect more visitors from the country to come and watch the Bahrain Grand Prix on April 6. Gulf Air, who are the title sponsors of the event, would introduce a special service for the Indian fans who would be eager to visit Bahrain to watch the race. “To cater to the needs of the Indian fans, the Gulf Air would offer daily flights to Bahrain so that they can watch the Formula One race. “Now India is a growing force in the Formula One and it’s great to come and offer our welcome,” Whitaker said at a press conference here. The season would start in Melbourne on March 16 and Bahrain would hold the third race of this year’s Formula One World Championship. — PTI
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All England Badminton
Birmingham, March 6 Sridhar surprised Lin Dan of China by taking the first game but succumbed to the top seed opponent 21-16, 8-21, 11-21. The 28th-ranked Saina fought tooth and nail with Yu Hirayama of Japan, ranked six places above her, before going down 18-21, 21-18, 18-21. The draw did little favour to India as the women’s doubles pair of Shruti Kurian and Jwala Gutta were pitted against top-seeded Chinese combination of Yawen Zhang and Yili Wei, and were thrashed 3-21, 9-21. With these losses, the Indian challenge ended with none of the shuttlers going beyond the first round. Sridhar capitalised on Lin’s sloppy display in the beginning to take the lead but the top-seeded Chinese turned things around in the nick of time to defeat the 26th-ranked Indian in 41 minutes. Saina fought back after losing the first game and was in the reckoning before losing to her Japanese opponent in 55 minutes. Earlier, Arvind Bhat and Chetan Anand were knocked out in the first round of the men’s singles qualifiers, while Jwala Gutta and Shruti Kurian could not go beyond the second round of qualifiers. — PTI
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Taylor lifts Kiwis to 470
Hamilton, March 6 A maiden Test century by recalled Ross Taylor, who featured in a seventh-wicket stand of 148 with Daniel Vettori, lifted New Zealand from a middle-order slump to an impressive 470. At stumps, England were 87 for two in reply, after reaching 84 without loss, and still trailing New Zealand by 383 runs. Taylor and Vettori breezed through the morning session and into the afternoon before Taylor fell for 120 and Vettori for 88 as New Zealand’s final four wickets went for 45 runs. Evidence of the role the placid wicket played in New Zealand’s innings was put in context as Michael Vaughan and Alastair Cook cruised to 84 without loss before Martin struck twice in seven balls. Scoreboard New Zealand (1st innings) 470 England (1st innings) Cook c sub b Martin 38 Vaughan batting 44 Hoggard c Fleming b Martin 2 Strauss batting 1 Extras (nb-2) 2 Total (2 wickets, 41 overs) 87 Fall of wickets: 1-84, 2-86. Bowling: Martin 12-4-27-2, Mills 6-2-17-0, Patel 9-2-23-0, Oram 4-0-9-0, Vettori 10-5-11-0.
— AFP |
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Wellington, March 6 Cairns, one of the world’s leading all-rounders and one of only six players to achieve the 200 wickets-3,000 runs double, told Bigstarcricket.com that players could not afford to ignore the lucrative salaries on offer. “The ICC are going to have to fix this,” Cairns said, calling for players to be able to play in the ICL and not be banned. Cairns is one of several New Zealanders to sign with the league. Most of them signed after retiring from international cricket, although the numbers do include Shane Bond, Lou Vincent and Craig McMillan. But Cairns said it was not just a New Zealand problem. “The West Indies will have this problem too, any country in fact where players are not that well remunerated.” Cairns said if there was a 10 or 20 per cent discrepancy between ICL earnings and remaining on a New Zealand cricketer’s salary then players would consider staying home. “But when you are talking a 200 per cent difference no person in their right mind could turn that down, that’s the reality.” Although a sanctioned series, the India Premier League has been set up to rival the ICL and its eight franchises have filled their books and there is no scope to add players while the initial contracts run their three-year terms. Earlier this month, New Zealand Cricket announced a substantial pay increase of up to 40 per cent for its contracted players. The new pay scale ranges from a reported $80,000 for the top-ranked New Zealand player down to $72,000 for the 20th ranked player. — AFP
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Kuala Lumpur, March 6 Chowrasia set the Kota Permai Golf and Country Club on fire with seven birdies against a lone bogey. The Kolkata pro trails leader Englishman Nick Dougherty by four strokes. Dougherty established a two-stroke first-round lead after firing a sizzling 10-under 62. Dougherty’s incredible round included 10 birdies. Teeing off from the 10th, the Englishman stunned one and all by sinking seven consecutive birdies from the 16th to the fourth. Gaurav Ghei and Jyoti Randhawa returned identical cards of five-under 67 to share the 17th spot, a stroke beind Chowrasia. Rahil Gangjee, Jeev Milkha Singh and 2003 Malaysian Open winner Arjun Atwal registered identical scores of two-under 70 and were all placed tied 53rd. Shiv Kapur’s opening round of two-over 74 placed him tied 131st. — PTI
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Gayle retained skipper
St John's, March 6 The opening batsman - the only player to score centuries at Test, one day and Twenty20 level - was nominated by the Selection Committee and the nomination was approved by the West Indies Cricket Board. He led the team in the absence of Ramnaresh Sarwan but was injured during the tour of South Africa and had to return home.
— AFP |
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One Sikh equal to 1.25 lakh: Bhajji
Brisbane/Melbourne, March 6 He said that he had drawn strength from the 10th Sikh saint, Guru Gobind Singh. Harbhajan fired a final volley at Australia by insisting that he was mentally superior to the world champions and had clearly won the battle of the
minds. He insisted that crowd abuse and sledging from the Australians had backfired in spectacular fashion. Asked whether the explosive summer had affected him, he retorted: "None of it bothered me. There were a lot of unnecessary things spoken. It just made me stronger,” Fox Sports reported. Harbhajan has admitted the controversies he was embroiled in on the Australian tour were very difficult to cope with, but claimed the experience had only made him tougher as a cricketer and as a man. Harbhajan was accused of racially abusing Andrew Symonds, a charge which was later dropped, the local media called him the most hated player in the world and the fans accused him of making monkey gestures to them, but Harbhajan would take it as the price a fighter had to pay. "Whatever I have coped with in the last three months, it has been a very hard time for me. It was a big learning experience for me, not just as a cricketer but as a man. I have always known myself. I am a fighter," Harbhajan was quoted as saying in the Sydney Morning Herald.
— Agencies |
Bangalore, March 6 India won the tri-series finals 2-0, but leg-spinner Kumble, who led the team in the controversial Test series in January, believes they can knock Australia off their perch to become number one in the world rankings. “If we continue to do well, then by the end of the year we will be there at number one,” Kumble told Reuters today. India lost 1-2 in the four-Test series that featured a divisive second Test in Sydney marred by poor umpiring and the hosts alleging that Harbhajan Singh had racially abused all-rounder Andrew Symonds. “It is important not to get carried away by the euphoria that has been created by the one-day series victory and also our (Test) performances in Australia. That’s history now. “It is for us to take this momentum through. There is a lot of Test cricket coming up now.” India host South Africa this month for three Tests before travelling to Sri Lanka in April for Tests and one-dayers. The Australia and England Test sides are also scheduled to tour India later this year. Kumble said the resilience and unity the team displayed during the controversies in Australia had convinced him that India had the potential to become world beaters. “In Australia when things were down, or when things were tough, it was important for all these players to get together and ensure they were a lot more resilient and come back stronger. “We did that in Perth and also in Adelaide and then the one-day series. It filtered down and rubbed off on the one-day squad as well and (led to) brilliant performances by them.” Kumble aims to cap his career by leaving the team at the very least within touching distance of the top. “I’d definitely like to create that kind of environment where we can reach that level, if not get there when I am there. “It is important that we develop that kind of a strategy and momentum and ensure that we get there.” — Reuters
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Aussies should not tour Pak: Gillespie
Chandigarh, March 6 “Certainly, security is a big issue for any cricketer. One can’t overlook the security threats in Pakistan. In my viewpoint, the team should not visit the country unless the conditions become normal there,” he said. Gillespie arrived here today afternoon to participate in the third edition of the Indian Cricket League. He would represent the Ahmedabad Rockets team in the league. Praising the performance of the Indian cricket team in Australia, Gillespie said the young guns played a big role. “Winning the tri-series is a big achievement and all credit goes to the hard work put in by the young members of the team,” said Gillespie, who has claimed 259 wickets with an average of 26.13 in Tests and in 97 ODIs, he snared 142 wickets with an average of 25.42. On the controversies that marred the tour, Gillespie said these all were part and parcel of the game. “The cricketers should be thick-skinned and take such things in their stride,” said the aggressive bowler, maintaining that the recent incidents would not negatively affect the relations between the two teams. Looking forward to his stint here, Gillespie said, “I have come here to play good cricket. Besides, I would love to help the young players by sharing my experience as well as providing tips to them.”
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Bangalore Open
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