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Petrova knocks out Clijsters
Rs 1.5 crore for hockey players
H’bad loses IPL-3 opener to Telangana
No conspiracy against Pak: Modi
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India in finals of world jr golf
Allahabad beat Gwalior
Haryana lift overall trophy
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Petrova knocks out Clijsters
Melbourne, January 22 Clijsters's loss overshadowed a special milestone by her compatriot and long-time rival Henin, who beat Russia's Alisa Kleybanova 3-6 6-4 6-2, marking her 500th career win. Juan Martin del Potro, Andy Murray and Andy Roddick all won their matches with comparative ease but Rafa Nadal needed three and a half hours to beat dogged German Philipp Kohlschreiber. The defending champion eventually won 6-4 6-2 2-6 7-5 and meets Croatia's Ivo Karlovic in the fourth round. U.S. Open champion Del Potro showed no lingering effects of his epic five-set second round win over James Blake during his 6-3 0-6 6-4 7-5 win over German Florian Mayer. Roddick recovered from a set down to defeat Spain's Feliciano Lopez 6-7 6-4 6-4 7-6. The American will next play Fernando Gonzalez of Chile after the 2007 Australian Open runner-up outlasted Evgeny Korolev 6-7 6-3 1-6 6-3 6-4. Murray overcame a minor injury scare and more questions about his serve to beat Florent Serra of France 7-5 6-1 6-4. Murray's next opponent is John Isner, the 2.06 metre American, whose main weapon is not hard to guess. He thumped 26 aces past Gael Monfils in his 6-1 4-6 7-6 7-6 win over the Frenchman to lift his total for the championship to 81. Henin's win over Kleybanova was not her best performance at Melbourne Park this week but enough to thrust her into the fourth round against Yanina Wickmayer, another Belgian. Henin would have to win another four matches to claim the title but the question is already being asked. Can she possibly win the Australian Open in her second event out of retirement? Her next opponent could provide some of the answers. Wickmayer sealed her place in the fourth round with a 6-1 6-7 6-3 win against Italy's Sara Errani and will give Henin a stern test. Dinara Safina and Maria Kirilenko will play each other in an all-Russian fourth-round clash on Sunday. Safina defeated Britain's Elena Baltacha 6-1 6-2 in less than an hour and is slipping through the draw almost unnoticed even though she made the final in Australia last year and is ranked number two in the world. Kirilenko matched her best performance at a grand slam when she defeated Italy's Roberta Vinci 7-5 7-6, showing that her first round win over Maria Sharapova was no fluke. Ukraine's Alona Bondarenko also advanced, beating Serbia's Jelena Jankovic 6-2 6-3 and extending the former world number one's poor run in grand slams over the past year. — Reuters
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Rs 1.5 crore for hockey players
New Delhi, January 22 Meanwhile, Hockey India acting president Vidya Stokes assured that the women players will not be discriminated against, and they will be given par for the course treatment, as had been meted out to the men players. She said the delay in payment for women was due to shortage of funds as Hockey India was waiting for financial aids from various State Governments and corporate houses who had promised to bail out hockey when the men players struck work, demanding celarance of their past dues, and assurance of a better deal in future. She said HI was yet to receive funds promised by the Governments of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Shree Cements, Hindi film actors and Sunil Gavaskar on behalf of cricketers. Stokes said the HI did not differentiate between men and women players and the women will be paid at par with the men. She said the players will also be graded for the purpose of annual contracts. The women players, presently undergoing a coaching camp in Madhya Pradesh, had protested by wearing black arm bands as HI had not cleared their dues, and rejected HI's immediate relief of Rs 50,000 to each player. But HI said the Rs 50,000 it was ready to pay was just an advance, pending clearance of other dues, which will be made once the new elected HI body was put in place after February 7. Stokes said men's team captain Rajpal Singh and women's captain Mamta Kharab have been included in the six-member panel, comprising former Indian captains M.P.Ganesh, Ajit Pal Singh, Zafar Iqbal and Dhanraj Pillai, for managing the hockey fund, money for which is coming from various sources. The other two members in the panel are a representative each from the Indian Olympic Association and Hockey India. |
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H’bad loses IPL-3 opener to Telangana
Hyderabad, January 22 The IPL management’s announcement today to shift the venue from Hyderabad to Mumbai has come as a shock to sports lovers of the IT-savvy city, which has produced cricketing heroes like Mohammed Azharuddin and VVS Laxman. The city-based Deccan Chronicle group is the owner of the defending IPL champion team, Deccan Chargers. “This looks like the beginning of the end of Hyderabad’s international image,” S Janakiram, an avid cricket lover and journalist, said. The inaugural ceremony and the opening match of the third edition of the prestigious IPL Twenty20 tournament was originally scheduled to be held at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on March 12. However, ugly scenes broke out in the stadium yesterday when Telangana activists disrupted a match between Hyderabad and Andhra Pradesh teams. The agitators had stormed the stadium and forced the authorities to cancel the tie. The incident has raised security fears over the conduct of the tournament. The city was to initially host five of Deccan's home matches while the other two have been allotted to the coastal Andhra city of Visakhapatnam. “There is an element of uncertainty over all the matches scheduled in Andhra Pradesh. If unrest over Telangana persists, then it may not be possible to organise the event here,” an official of the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) said. Incidentally, Rajiv Gandhi International stadium, one of the best in the country in terms of infrastructure and facilities, is situated very close to Osmania University campus, the nerve centre of the Telangana movement. “It requires a lot of time to prepare for the opening ceremony and associated preparations. The franchise felt it is best to have it in Mumbai for commercial and preparation reasons,” the chief operating officer of IPL, Sundar Raman, said. The IPL opener is scheduled on March 12. The shifting of the venue is the first major loss to the city ever since the Telangana agitation took a violent turn, causing frequent disruptions and adversely affecting the investors’ confidence. |
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No conspiracy against Pak: Modi
Mumbai, January 22 All the 11 Pakistani cricketers, from a 67-strong pool of players, found no takers at the glitzy IPL III auction held on Tuesday. The matter has outraged players, politicians and fans across the border. The Pakistani government has gone to the extent of saying that the country would give a befitting reply to the "humiliating" treatment meted out to its cricketers. Bollywood actor and Rajasthan Royals team's co-owner Shilpa Shetty also denied any planned conspiracy against the players from Pakistan. “I don't owe any explanation. We are not a small country and the decision was not a contrived one. There is nothing bigger than cricket but everything is getting murky," Shetty said. "I am very hurt and there have been hate mails also. We have lost some of the greatest players in the world, but why doesn't anyone talk about Australia, England and so many others who were not picked in the auction?" she added. Modi said he did not influence any of franchises' picks at the auction and there was never an intent to humiliate the Pakistani cricketers, as is being alleged across the border. "Why should we get into the issue of apologising or not? IPL has put its best foot forward at the auction. It is upto the team owners to decide whom to take. They have different reasons," he said. “I am not a super selector and I don't want that job. They way you people are writing, you are damaging the already fragile relationship (between India and Pakistan) further. There is no reason we would want to humiliate Pakistani players,” he added. —
PTI |
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India in finals of world jr golf
Chandigarh, January 22 The team will now head for Japan, which will host the the world junior championship in June in which 15 teams from all over the world will converge to decide the world champions. The Indian lads matched Thailand’s mark with a total aggregate of six-over 654 in the three rounds. Only two teams qualify for the final stage from the Asian qualifiers. Korea finished in third place, five shots behind the tied winners at 11-over 659. With four players representing each team, the three best cards were selected to make up the team total in each round. Team India started off in great fashion, opening up an eight-shot lead after the first day with Rashid and Bangalore boy Chikkarangappa leading the way for India with rounds of 68 and 67 respectively. A second-round stutter for the team, resulted in the lead being whittled down to just two shots. But despite the setback, the Indian team managed to do enough on the final day to hold a share of the lead and grab their ticket to Japan. Rashid bagged another international title as he led the individual standings with a three-day total of five-under 211. Team standings: 654 India and Thailand; 659 Korea, 667 Chinese Taipei; 669 Korea A. |
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Allahabad beat Gwalior
Sirsa, January 22
But a 11-ball 17 by Salman and 16 off 15 balls by Ashish helped Allahabad Gullies surpass the total with five wickets to spare. In the three matches played on Thursday, Ludhiana Gullies defeated Panchkula Gullies by five wickets, Lucknow beat up Gwalior Gullies by 41 runs and Allahabad Gullies won their match against Kanpur Gullies by 3 runs. Karan Puri (37 off 12 balls) starred in Ludhiana Gullies’ victory over Panchkula Gullies in the first match of the evening yesterday. Panchkula scored 81 for 5 but Ludhiana Gullies surpassed the total with five wickets to spare. Gwalior Gullies (68 all out) were no match for Lucknow Gullies, who scored 109 for 5 wickets, batting first. Ajay Singh and Nishant Bhardwaj contributed well to the Lucknow total. Allahabad Gullies 87 runs for the loss of 6 wickets with the help of 32 runs off 18 balls by Pankaj Ojha and 23 off 10 balls by Ravinder Anand helped them win a closely contested match against Kanpur, who could score 84 runs in their allotted quota of over. |
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Haryana lift overall trophy
Madhuban (Karnal) January 22 Haryna defeated BSF 24-17 in Kabaddi finals and 35-32 in Handball finals. Punjab fought back defeating Haryana 25-16, 25-22 and 25-18 in exciting volleyball finals and humbling BSF 76-73 in basketball finals in an exciting finish. |
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Kim Clijsters's fairytale return to grand slam tennis came to a shuddering halt at the Australian Open on Friday just as Justine Henin's own comeback started to gather momentum. Clijsters was dumped from the first grand slam of the year.
The Indian junior team comprising Chandigarh's Abhijit Chadha, Ashbeer Saini from
Kapurthala, Rashid Khan (Delhi) and Chikkarangappa (Bangalore) made it to the final stage of the World Junior Golf Team Championship emerging joint winners with Thailand in the Asian Qualifiers which concluded at Perak Royal Golf Club in Malaysia yesterday.
