 |
|
|
Russia squeeze the Oranje
Russia ‘not scared of anyone’ now
The underdogs bite on
Champions Trophy |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Middle overs will hold the key: Dhoni
Tendulkar cheers Force India
McGrath’s wife loses cancer battle
Wimbledon
Wimbledon
Sub-junior Basketball
Vijender, Jitender claim gold in Halle
|
|
Russia squeeze the Oranje
Russia had taken a deserved lead through Roman Pavlyuchenko 11 minutes into the second half but were pegged back by a Ruud van Nistelrooy header with just four minutes remaining. Netherlands came into the match at St. Jakob Park as strong favourites after winning all three of their group stage matches. Russia, coached by Dutchman Guus Hiddink, had the better of the opening exchanges and could have taken an eighth minute lead if Pavlyuchenko had got a firm header on Igor Semshov's cross. As the first half wore on, Netherlands had several decent chances with Ruud van Nistelrooy missing three good chances. The forward just failed to get an outstretched foot on to an inswinging Rafael van der Vaart free kick and was then denied twice at close range by goalkeeper Igor Akinfeyev. The Russians continued to look dangerous on the break and centre back Denis Kolodin kept Edwin van der Sar busy in the Dutch goal with some fierce long range efforts. The second half started as tensely as the first until Russia broke the deadlock with a well-worked move down the left. Sergei Semak was the provider, playing a perfectly weighted pass to Pavlyuchenko who shook off defender Joris Mathijsen before firing a left-foot shot into the bottom corner. Netherlands attempted to press forward but squandered further chances, most notably when Robin van Persie wasted a 72nd minute free kick from the edge of the area. With even the normally boisterous Dutch fans starting to despair, Van Nistelrooy finally came good, stealing in at the far post to head home a swinging Wesley Sneijder free kick and send the match into extra time. Russia again looked the sharpest as the game got back underway and were unlucky not to restore their lead in the 97th minute when Pavlyuchenko struck the bar with a fierce strike. But Russia's pressure soon bore fruit as Torbinsky made it 2-1 after 112 minutes when he stabbed home a perfect cross from the excellent Arshavin at the far post. Russia playmaker Arshavin finished off the Dutch with a low shot inside the area that flew past Van der Sar with the aid of a slight deflection after he turned sharply inside the area.
— Reuters |
|
Russia ‘not scared of anyone’ now
Basel, June 22 After early teething problems in their first Group D match against Spain in which their defensive immaturity was exposed in a 4-1 rout, Russia have rapidly learnt how to sniff out and deal with danger
at the back. They tightened up defensively in the 1-0 win over Greece, added attacking sparkle to the mix to beat Sweden 2-0 before stepping up their performance another couple of notches to tactically outwit the Dutch. A possible re-match against the team that humiliated them in the group stage looms depending on whether Spain beat world champions Italy in their quarter-final today in Vienna. Not that Russia are worried. ''We are not scared of anyone,'' midfielder Diniyar Bilyaletdinov told reporters. Their increased confidence comes from their improved results and is also down to Hiddink's magic quality of being able to get the most out of often ordinary players, enabling him to take yet another unfancied team to the later stages of a finals. He has, of course, been helped by the extraordinary individual talent of playmaker Andrei Arshavin and a resurgent Roman Pavlyuchenko but none of Hiddink's team play at top clubs yet they have got the better of some of Europe's best players. ''He is our great coach,'' said Bilyaletdinov. ''He knows how we must play ... he knows about us technically, he knows about us physically, he knows what we must do. He is a top coach.'' Hiddink had previously led Netherlands to the last four of the 1998 World Cup, South Korea to an unlikely 2002 World Cup semi-final and Australia to the knockout stages of the 2006 edition where they were unlucky to lose to winners Italy. Midfielder Konstantin Zyryanov said the fact Russia had upped their game so much during their last two matches gave them the momentum to go even further. ''We have beaten two very strong teams, I think this improves our chances,'' he told reporters. ''I want to play Spain (in the semi-final),'' he added. ''We made lots of mistakes against Spain (in the group match) and now we have fixed them very quickly.''
— Reuters |
|
The underdogs bite on
Chandigarh, June 22 Hiddink is a master of turning under performing or underachieving teams into succesfull and cohesive units. He has a history of doing so and one need not look beyond the 2006 World Cup, where he led a hapless Australian team into the second round, or the 2002 World Cup when he took the South Korean team into the semifinals. But his experience with the Russian soccer team has not been smooth all the time. They started their campaign at the finals with a 4-1 thrashing at the hands of Spain. But that was the last one heard of the Russians laying low. They beat defending champions Greece and then the formidable Swedish team to enter the quarterfinals. Up against the in-form and confident Netherlands, no one realistically gave the Russians a chance. But Guus’ men didn’t wait for a chance to be given; they went out and played the ‘Oranje’ out of the tournament and netted three goals in the process. Fatih Terim, the Turkish coach, just like Guus, started as a player and then went on to coach his national team. During his coaching tenure with Turkish club Galatasaray and then Italian teams like AC Milan and Fiorentena, Fatih earned an image of being a brilliant motivator and an astute attack-minded coach. After a sabbatical in 2004, he came back to coach his national side. The Turks, under Fatih, have made up with belief, what they lacked in skill and experience of playing at the highest level. The way they got past Czech Republic, scoring three goals in 15 minutes, to book a semifinal berth might have looked a little lucky, but against Croatia, they showed that lightning does strike twice. It wasn’t just luck, it was an entire team’s determination to fight not just their opposition, but also the odds. It remains to be seen whether these two can brush aside biggies like Spain/Italy and Germany to fix a date at the final on the 29 th , but it sure sounds like an extremely deserving end for two brave and gutsy campaigns at the finals. It’s too bad that ultimately one team, or maybe both will lose, but they will still have changed the face of European soccer, forever. |
|
|
Champions Trophy
Karachi, June 22 Senior England players have reportedly threatened to revolt against their Board and boycott the tournament, forging a common front with their Australian counterparts in expressing apprehensions over the security situation in Pakistan. The Pakistan Cricket Board is in no mood to take it lying down and plans to forge its own alliance with Asian boards to garner support on the security situation here. "Once again some countries and their players, media and representatives have started this campaign about it being unsafe to play in Pakistan. "But this time we are going to garner strong support of the Indian, Sri Lankan, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, South African and the West Indian boards to resist this campaign to discredit Pakistan as not being a safe place to play international cricket," a senior PCB official said. "We are counting on our friends in the boards, including India, to support us strongly on this issue. We are also confident that England will back us," he stated. The official, however, denied that any board has officially conveyed their concern about sending the team to participate in the tournament. "Till now no board has officially told us they are worried about the security and playing in Pakistan. No board has officially intimated us they will be sending their security experts for inspection visit. The PCB official insisted that it would be difficult for one or two teams to back out if other countries decide to participate in the tournament, starting September 11. "The ICC has so far been satisfied with our level of arrangements which we are upping. They are monitoring the situation on a daily basis," he said. He cited the previous international tournaments staged in Pakistan without any security concerns to assert that the Champions Trophy would be held without any trouble. "It is too early to talk about these things. And our confidence is boosted by the fact that in recent years we have hosted England, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, South Africa, Zimbabwe and even New Zealand without any security problems. Only Australia has avoided touring our country," the official said. "The ICC has so far been satisfied with our level of arrangements which we are upping. They are monitoring the situation on a daily basis," he said. He cited the previous international tournaments staged in Pakistan without any security concerns to assert that the Champions Trophy would be held without any trouble. "It is too early to talk about these things. And our confidence is boosted by the fact that in recent years we have hosted England, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, South Africa, Zimbabwe and even New Zealand without any security problems. Only Australia has avoided touring our country," the official said. On being asked about the travel advisory issued by the Australian and New Zealand governments, the official insisted it was for citizens and not for professional cricketers who were given a state level security cover during any tour.
— PTI |
|
Middle overs will hold the key: Dhoni
Mumbai, June 22 “We have done well on the last tour to Pakistan (2006), but that’s in the past and has no relevance now. I agree with Muthaiah Muralitharan’s views (expressed recently that India were favourites) to the extent that if we play to our capabilities we can win the Asia Cup,” the flamboyant wicket-keeper-batsman said before the team left for Karachi today. “But we will have to be our best and I hope we can do it,” he added. India start their campaign in the six-team tournament, which concludes on July 6, against minnows Hong Kong on June 24. They take on hosts and arch-rivals Pakistan the next day at the National Stadium in what is billed as the revenge clash for Dhoni and his men, who were defeated by Shoaib Malik’s team in Bangaldesh in the tri-series final at Dhaka on June 14. The other three teams in the fray, in a different preliminary group, are Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and UAE. Dhoni singled out the middle overs as the most crucial phase and said if the team can keep enough wickets in hand while going at a rate of 4.5 or 5 then even 100 runs are not impossible to get in the last 10 overs. “We did well in the middle overs against Bangladesh and Pakistan in the league phase (in tri-series in Dhaka), but lost a few wickets in the final which put us under pressure (chasing Pakistan’s 315),” the Indian ODI captain said at a pre-departure media conference here. — PTI
|
|
|
‘Lords of ’83’ relive triumph New Delhi, June 22 Kapil Dev was overawed by the huge media presence, which he felt, was clear proof of the enduring nostalgia of India’s one and only World Cup triumph. “I never saw so many media people when we returned with the World Cup”, Kapil said, as he recollected some great memories of that triumph at Lord’s in the midnight of 25 June, 1983. “Kal ki baat nahin. Pachis saal purani baat hai. Safed bal a gae”, Kapil said. But the legend of that success lives on. “There was euphoria when we walked onto the Lord’s balcony. The Cup was ours”, Kapil looked back at the historic moment. Every member of that successful squad was present at the function, barring Ravi Shastri and Dilip Vengsarkar. Kapil and Gavaskar, like in the days of yore, were the centre of attraction. Krishnamachari Srikkanth was his exuberant self while Mohinder Amarnath sat in quiet dignity. Madan Lal was busy signing autographs and giving sound bytes while Kirti Azad was seen interviewing manager of the ‘83 squad Peter Man Singh. Syed Kirmani, Roger Binny, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Sandeep Patil, Yashpal Sharma, Sunil Valson and others sat quietly till they were called to the dais by Kapil. The team were presented a 25-carat diamond and gold studded cricket bat and ball, which will be kept on display at Lord’s on 25 June before being auctioned. The cricket ball was laser marked with signatures of all the team members and with 30-carat diamonds. UB Group chairman Vijay Mallya will host a dinner for the team at the Long Hall at Lord’s to mark the historic occasion. The proceeds of the auction will be equally shared by all the 15 members of Kapil’s Devils. When asked to name the “naughtiest” players in the dressing room, Kapil said: "Except me, all were naughty. Srikanth and Sandeep Patil had great sense of humour. But Sandeep was more serious”. And Srikanth’s inability to speak Hindi, and the craze for Hindi film ‘Kranti’ were also the butt of the jokes. Though they all came in different outfits, they all got into the “team colour” for the occasion -- a military green tea-shirt with white lines. For Sunil Gavaskar, the occasion brought back endearing feelings. “I am feeling great”, he noted. “Twenty-five years down the road, if the media accords the triumph such importance, it is a great recognition for that cricketing feat, and shows the popularity of the game”, he added. For Srikanth, the greatest memory of the World Cup victory was Kapil Dev’s masterly unbeaten knock of 175 against Zimbabwe. “It was the greatest knock I saw in any form of cricket”, he said.
|
|
|
New Delhi, June 22 Tendulkar, who is on a family holiday in London after being ruled out of the Asia Cup due to a groin injury, was seen cheering Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil, who started at the back of the grid. — PTI
|
|
|
McGrath’s wife loses cancer battle
Sydney, June 22 English-born Jane’s long battle with cancer has been headline news in Australia for the past decade because of her marriage to McGrath, one of Australia's most successful and popular sportsmen, and their promotion of breast cancer awareness. The couple started up their own foundation to raise money for research and training nurses and were recognised for their charity work earlier this year when they were appointed as Members of the Order of Australia. “Jane’s courageous struggle touched all Australians,” Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said in a statement. “Jane was an inspiration whose legacy will continue to benefit so many others.” Jane was first diagnosed with breast cancer during Australia’s Ashes tour of England in 1997 then bone cancer in her hip in 2003 but made a full recovery both times. She was then diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumour in 2006, prompting McGrath to take eight months off cricket to care for her and their two young children while she was undergoing radiotherapy. The news of Jane’s death was greeted with a deep sense of sadness today. Television stations interrupted their normal programmes to announce her passing while thousands of spectators at sporting events across the country observed a minute’s silence.
— Reuters |
|
|
I will play in India soon: Sania
New Delhi, June 22 Sania told IANS in an interview that she honed her skills as a tennis player playing in every tournament in India right from her junior days and Bangalore Open should be seen as an aberration. She has obviously reconsidered her decision and the change of mind means that fans might see her playing in the Sunfeast Indian Open in Mumbai in the first week of October. “I have played in every tournament conducted in India for the last 10 years in which I was expected to play right from the junior days except for the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Bangalore Open in March. It seems likely that I will play again in India this year,” Sania said. Sania pulled out of the Bangalore Open, saying that she wanted to avoid controversies that chased her everytime she played in India. The unnecessary issues were hurting here career as she could not focus on the game, she reasoned out. The Hyderabadi has returned to the circuit only a couple of weeks after a wrist injury and the subsequent surgery kept her off tennis for over two months, forcing her to miss the French Open. She is seeded 32nd at the Wimbledon championships, starting Monday, but she feels she needs a little time to get back her rhythm. “It is a reasonable draw as I have done well last year to be seeded and that makes sure that I don’t run into a top-32 player in the early rounds at a Grand Slam tournament. But as a tennis player, it would be premature to talk about the third round at this stage,” Sania said. “I prefer to take one match at a time and my first goal will be to try and win the first round.” Sania’s run-up to Wimbledon has not been great as she did not progress beyond second round in the Netherlands after being dispatched in the first round in DFS Classic in Birmingham. “Form and fitness are obviously not at the highest level but under the circumstances, I am as well prepared as I could possibly be for Wimbledon. I still feel pain in some movements of the wrist but that is likely to remain for a few more weeks until the ‘new wrist’ adjusts to handling the impact of the ball and the complex movements of a tennis strokes.”
— IANS |
|
Wimbledon London, June 22 According to a sensational report in 'The Times', eight Wimbledon matches, four of which happen to be men's singles games from last year, are suspected to have been fixed by professional betting syndicates. The matches are named in a dossier compiled by leading bookmaking companies, which keep track of suspect betting patterns. The dossier says five of the losing players from the suspected eight Wimbledon games are in this year's men's singles competition, which begins tomorrow. As many as 18 players competing in this year's tournament are in the suspects list, dominated by Russians, Spaniards, Argentines, Italians and Austrians. The dossier has based its findings on the sudden change in the betting patterns for the suspect matches. The report comes as a further blow to the sport's credibility which is battling corruption charges in tournaments of the stature of Davis Cup. The dossier states that betting network is being run by Russian and eastern European gamblers. "If you look at a tournament, you might see one match for 23,000 (in betting turnover), one for 27,000, one for 36,000 and one for 4.5m. It doesn't take a genius to work out that something is going on in the last one," 'The Times' quoted an official claiming to have access to the dossier which lists 140 suspect matches from tournaments around the world. The players suspected to have thrown matches in Wimbledon are also named in other tournaments with one of them, ranked in the top 150, ending up loser in eight games on the list. Wimbledon organisers have tightened security around the locker rooms to prevent match fixers from gaining access to players. So much so, that only coaches will be allowed to enter the locker rooms this year. The strict measures were apparently taken after a report prepared two former police officers revealed that "criminal elements" were trying to "corrupt" players and officials at The All-England Club. "The result was decided before the players came on to court. They all conform to the same pattern. There is a very dramatic shift in the market and there are enormous volumes traded," the newspaper quoted a source as saying, The players themselves are well aware of the menace and some top names have revealed that they have been approached by match fixers. Betfair, a British-based internet exchange, admitted that they have become suspicious of certain players and monitor betting patterns of their matches rather closely. "We certainly monitor the market where certain players are involved far more closely than we would with others," a spokesman said. Betfair prompted an ATP inquiry on match-fixing after it revealed suspicious betting patterns in a match lost by world number four Russian Nikolay Davydenko and Martin Vassallo Arguello, a low-ranked Argentinian. "Davydenko was winning very, very easily. He had won the first set 6-1 and was a break up in the second but he was still not the favourite ... and then he goes on to lose the second set and pull out in the third," a Betfair spokesman said. The inquiry is still on and both players, as expected, deny any wrongdoing. Another player named as loser in four matches listed in the dossier said suspicious betting patterns was no proof to determine whether a player is involved in match fixing or not.
— PTI
|
|
|
Wimbledon
London, June 22 Many former and current players have tipped Nadal, who will revert to the traditional Wimbledon white when the tournament starts tomorrow, to break Federer’s 59-match grasscourt winning streak, which has brought him five Wimbledon titles in a row. Nadal crushed the world number one in the French Open final two weeks ago, allowing him only four games, and went on to win his first grasscourt title at Queen’s a week later to prove he was not master merely of clay. The 22-year-old Spaniard, runner-up to Federer at Wimbledeon the last two years, is not talking up his chances, however. He scoffed at reporters this weekend who suggested Federer might be vulnerable, pointing out the Swiss had just won the Halle warm-up tournament. Big serving American Andy Roddick, runner-up in 2004 and 2005, is also contemptuous of Federer doubters. Roddick, seeded six, said when he was asked whether the world number one could win the title: “I found that to be one of the most ridiculous questions I’ve ever answered in my life. You know he’s won it five times. I’m not sure what else he has to do.” Third seed Novak Djokovic, forced to pull out against Nadal in the semifinals last year with blisters but who has since won the Australian Open, was one of the equivocal voices. “Quite some things have changed this year,” he said. Ana Ivanovic, who won the French Open, is also aiming to put a new name on the women’s title winning board at the All England Club. Defending champion Venus Williams is looking for a fifth title and few would discount her chances or those of her sister, and twice former champion, Serena, given their grass-court power game and their love of the big stage. Maria Sharapova, winner in 2004 at the age of 17, took herself away from tennis “to rest body and mind” after a poor showing at the French open and returned keen to restore her number one ranking. “There’s lots of big competitors in the draw, different types of players... Hopefully it will all come together,” Sharapova said. The Russian is seeded to meet second seed Jelena Jankovic in in the semifinals. — Reuters |
|
Massa wins French GP
Magny-Cours, June 22 Massa’s third victory of the season, and eighth of his career, made the 27-year-old Sao Paulo driver the first Brazilian to lead the standings since the late triple champion Ayrton Senna in 1993. Team mate Kimi Raikkonen, the world champion who won at Magny-Cours last year, led from pole but was overtaken by Massa just after the halfway mark when his Ferrari slowed with a suspected exhaust problem. Massa took the chequered flag 17.9 seconds clear of Raikkonen on an overcast and damp afternoon at the circuit in the heart of rural France. Italy’s Jarno Trulli gave Toyota, mourning the death of former team principal Ove
Andersson, their first podium finish since the Australian Grand Prix of April, 2006, after holding off McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen in a thrilling chase to the line. The two cars came close to banging wheels on the penultimate lap as Kovalainen tried in vain to pass. Poland’s Robert
Kubica, the championship leader for BMW-Sauber before Sunday’s race after winning in Canada, finished fifth with Red Bull’s Australian Mark Webber sixth. Renault’s Brazilian rookie Nelson Piquet finally took his first point in Formula One, at the eighth attempt, with seventh place ahead of team mate and double world champion Fernando Alonso in eighth. Massa, becoming the fourth driver to lead the championship in the space of eight races, now has 48 points to Kubica’s 46 with Raikkonen ending a two-race barren run to move up to third place with 43. McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, who had been level with Massa in second place, finished 10th after starting 13th due to a 10-place penalty on the grid incurred for colliding with Raikkonen in the Canadian GP pit lane. The 23-year-old Briton suffered a further blow when he picked up a drive-through penalty after 13 laps that dropped him from ninth to 16th place. Honda’s Briton Jenson Button was the only driver to retire from the race.
— Reuters |
|
Sub-junior Basketball
Jalandhar, June 22 Punjab was leading two points 10-8 at the end of first quarter. At the end of the second quarter Punjab extended their lead to 23-12, and by the third quarter Punjab had strengthened the lead to 36-26. In the girl’s section, Chhattisgarh retained the trophy by defeating Uttar Pradesh girls. For Chhattisgarh, Sangeeta-10, Saranjeet Kaur-26, Sangeeta Dass-06, were the main scorers in the final match of the day. Meanwhile, for the third and fourth place match played on Saturday morning, Uttar Pradesh boys struggled hard to defeat Chhattisgarh by 48-44. For Uttar Pradesh the main scorers were Aman Singh-12, Kumar Shahthanu-9, Abhishek K. Singh-8, Lalit Pal-5, Gaurav-4, Abhishek Raj-3. In the girls section, Tamilnadu beat Jharkhand by 42-25 and won the bronze medal. |
|
Vijender, Jitender claim gold in Halle
New Delhi, June 22 Apart from these two, Sanjay Kumar, who was participating his first international tournament, clinched the silver medal in the 60kg category. Besides, two other Olympic qualified boxers - A L Lakra (57kg) and Dinesh Kumar (81kg) - and Parminder (81kg) won bronze medals to make it a memorable outing for the nine-member Indian team, which had gone there as part of its build-up for Beijing. The event, which concluded last night, was competed by Olympic qualified boxers of some countries like hosts Germany and Russia. An elated coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu said the tournament gave his wards good exposure. "It was a good experience and I always knew that my boys will do well. Jitender beat two Olympic qualified boxers while Vijender also beat some tough rivals to win the gold medals," Sandhu told PTI from Halle. The coach also denied reports that Commonwealth Games gold medallist Akhil Kumar (54kg) had hurt himself during training there. Media reports had stated that Akhil's recurring wrist injury had forced his pullout from the tourney but Sandhu said the Asian Championship bronze medallist was merely rested.
— PTI |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Basel, June 22
