St Lucia, May 3
Shane Watson hammered a 49-ball 81 as Australia began their Twenty20 World Cup campaign in style, thrashing the defending champions Pakistan by 34 runs in a group C match here. Opting to bat, Australia posted a decent 191 though the score could have been bigger had they not suffered a dramatic collapse in the fag end yesterday.

Watson and David Hussey (53) were the architects of the huge Australian total as the duo put on an aggressive 98-run partnership for the third wicket. Australia then defended the total comfortably, dismissing Pakistan for 157 exactly in 20 overs at Beausejour stadium.

Pakistan had beaten Bangladesh yesterday and would hope that Australia beat Bangladesh in the last league match of the group, which will ensure their progress to next stage. Pakistan made a shaky start to their chase, thanks to a disciplined bowling by Australian pace trio Dirk Nannes (3/41), Shaun Tait (3/20) and Mitchell Johnson (2/21). All three pacemen contributed in removing the rival top-order, leaving Pakistan to do a catch up job all the time. By the fifth over, Pakistan had lost Kamran Akmal (0), Salman Butt (15) and Mohammed Hafeez (12) as they found the going tough against a fiery pace attack.

Misbah and Afridi took up the fight and played some good cameos in the middle order but none of the two batsmen could play through the innings. Earlier, Watson and Hussey smashed blistering fifties before Australia suffered a dramatic collapse. Young Pakistani paceman Mohammed Aamer bowled an unbelievable last over which saw five Australian wickets going down without adding a run to the scoreboard. — PTI

St Lucia (WI), May 3
India today qualified for the Super Eight stage of the Twenty20 cricket World Cup as Suresh Raina's maiden T20 hundred scripted team's thrilling 14-run win over South Africa in a group C match here yesterday.

India escaped a late assault from the Protea batsmen to score their second successive win and topped their group. Powered by Raina's hundred, first by an Indian batsman in the shortest format, India posted a commanding 186 for five after invited to bat at Beausejourn stadium.

India then just about managed to restrict their rivals to 172 for five, surviving a late blitzkrieg from the Protea batsmen, who did extremely well to get close to the target after a sluggish start. Jacques Kallis (73, 3x4, 3x6) and Graeme Smith (36, 2x6) fought tooth and nail to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, raising 96 runs for the second wicket, but their effort wasn't good enough to quell the Indian challenge.

De Villiers (31, 3x6) desperately threw his bat around towards the latter part of the innings, but the asking rate was far too high to scale. Raina was the toast of Indian win, reaffirming that he is a dependable batsman when the going gets tough for his team. He is only third batsman to score a hundred in this format with the first two centuries coming from the bats of West Indies' Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum of New Zealand. Raina was sedate at the start, but when he got his eye in and assessed the wicket, he went hammer and tongs, smashing fours and sixes with relentless ease. He took 42 balls to reach 50, but stepped on the gas pedal as the innings wore on. — PTI

"There's extra motivation from within the squad, we want to perform better in Twenty20 cricket then we have in general. I think our form has improved over the last 12 months and we've started really well," Clarke said. — PTI 

Providence (Guyana), May 3
Sri Lanka's campaign in the Twenty20 World Cup today suffered a blow with off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan being ruled out of the entire tournament due to a groin strain. Muralitharan sustained the injury during his side's two-wicket defeat against New Zealand in the tournament opener here on April 30.

Team physiotherapist Tommy Simsek said Muralitharan has sustained a grade one strain on his right adductor muscle and will need up to three weeks' rest. No replacement for 38-year-old spin wizard has been named by Sri Lankan team management. He took two wickets for 25 runs against New Zealand.

Muralitharan has more international wickets than any other cricketer with 792 in 132 Tests and 512 in 334 ODIs. He has 13 wickets in 10 Twenty20 Internationals. Sri Lanka take on Zimbabwe today in a must-win encounter to have any chance of advancing to the Super Eight stage. — PTI 

Chandigarh, May 3
Dotting the state with new synthetic surfaces, both full-size as well as six-a-side, coupled with an extensive training-cum-competition programme appear to be salient features of an ambitious plan to revive hockey in Punjab that was once acknowledged as the major nursery of the sport.

Though Punjab is still the home of many of top hockey outfits of the country, including Punjab and Sind Bank, Namdharis, Punjab Police and Border Security Force, yet the base of the sport has shrunk considerably over the past few decades.

A concerted plan has been put in place to revive hockey in the State. The Union Ministry of Sports and the Punjab Government have pooled resources to lay latest synthetic surfaces, both of full size as well as for six-a-side competitions not only in major cities like Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Mohali and Patiala but also in smaller towns like Doraha, Batala, Khadoor Sahib, Jharkhar, Kukar Pind, Sansarpur and Gidderbaha.

A major problem coming in the way has been of financial support to the players and coaches. Hockey of late has become an elite sport and only developed or affluent nations have been enjoying complete dominance. Trainees not only need good financial support but also deserve a comprehensive healthcare plan as modern day hockey on synthetic surface is not free from serious injury risks. Besides, it also mandates good diet to last a full game of strenuous hockey.

Hockey Academies, both sponsored by the Sports Department as well private organizations, schools and rural youth and sports clubs, have come up and started showing results.

To ascertain how serious are efforts, The Tribune undertook an extensive survey of goings on in these hockey centres and academies. Here are some of our findings :

In Ludhiana, more than one dozen hockey centres, including those of the Sports Department, besides academies are functional for talented boys both in under-14 and under-17 categories.

Sports Wing at Malwa School , Mata Sahib Kaur Academy at Jarkhar, Namdhari Academy at Bhaini Sahib and Guru Hargobind Khalsa College at Gurusar Sudhar have regular trainees. Both Bhaini Sahib and Gurusar Sudhar have synthetic surfaces A six-a-side Astroturf track is coming up at Mehta Gurukul Hockey Academy, Doraha.

The synthetic surface at Prithipal Singh Memorial Stadium at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, needs to be replaced. More than a decade old, this worn out surface poses grave danger to the trainees.

"Further, boys are from the low and middle class families that cannot afford to sponsor them. For results, we should ensure trainees appropriate and balanced food by enhancing their diet money besides extending to them complete medical care," said a coach. To compete with Europeans, say coaches, we need more training sessions with them, both at home and abroad.

Shivalik School Hockey Training Academy has been one of few centres in private domain to be supported by sports-minded management. It has 32 players in the under-14 and under-15 categories. But the infrastructure is certainly an issue that needs the attention of the authorities. So far the trainees have been have to play on natural grass. Only three days a week, they are taken to the Sector 42 hockey stadium in Chandigarh for training on Astroturf.

“We have requested the sports department for graphite hockey sticks. We also need hockey balls used exclusively on synthetic surfaces,” says Gurdeep Singh, the coach of the newly opened training Centre that needs three more coaches besides a physical fitness trainer.

The Shivalik School is also planning to lay an Astroturf. DS Bedi, Director of the School, appreciates the initiative of the government. “We have produced 19 international hockey players besides the under-14 Punjab champion team. Without practice, skills cannot be developed ”, he says adding that the school also ensures that players complete their education so that they face no difficulty in getting jobs.

Since Mohali has become a district only a couple of years ago, the sports infrastructure is still to be in place, says Manohar Singh, District Sports Officer. With Olympian Pargat Singh as Director Sports, efforts are being made to put the game in place. There is a plan to set up a Hockey Stadium opposite the PCA stadium in Phase IX.

After years of being in the wilderness, hockey has started looking up in the border belt of Majha. The Cheema Hockey Academy is located in a non-descript place on the Batala-Qadian road, just 2 km from Olympian Surjit Singh Randhawa chowk. Says Sukhdev Singh Dhaliwal, Principal of the school that runs the Academy, “ hockey belongs to Punjab. Now the game is back and is bouncing. In February this year when the Punjab Sports department held trials at Burlton Park, Jalandhar, more than 1200 boys turned up. The government is now placing infrastructure in pockets where there is talent, where the game has the potential to flourish.”

The academy has more than 125 students on its rolls and has a six-a-side Astroturf where trainees polish their skills under coaches Ranjit Singh Cheema and Tejbir Singh. Its under-14 team has been regularly taking part in the prestigious K.D Singh Babu hockey tournament played at Lucknow and for the past 4 years the team has been attaining second position.”

Observes Dhaliwal, “We need more people like Punjab Director (Sports) Pargat Singh and assistant coach of the Indian team for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics Sukhvir Singh Grewal who have been working over time to restore the old glory. Says a former Olympian, “its good to run such academies in the state. But it would be better to have tie ups with foreign club sides so that players from rural Punjab can travel to these countries to hone their skills. Moreover, we need more Astroturf in the region.

With inputs from Anil Dutt, Rajmeet Singh and Ravi Dhaliwal. 

London, May 3
Manchester United ensured the Premier League title race would go to the final day as they responded to Chelsea's win at Anfield with a nervy 1-0 victory at Sunderland on Sunday. Chelsea's 2-0 success earlier had put the Londoners four points ahead but Alex Ferguson's team clung on to their hopes of an unprecedented fourth successive title by closing the gap back to one with a game each remaining. Chelsea, who have a superior goal difference of nine, are at home to Wigan Athletic while United host Stoke City.

Gurdaspur, May 3
The Indian swimmers training for the Commonwealth games have disbanded the camp at the Balewadi sports complex at Pune complaining of poor facilities. The swimmers, backed by the Swimming Federation of India, want the camp to be shifted to Bangalore but the Sports Authority of India (SAI) has put its foot down and is insisting that the camp will not be shifted out of Pune.

A fierce battle has been raging between SAI and the SFI over the venue of the camp ever since it commenced in mid February. A SAI official, preferring anonymity, rubbished charges that the facilities in Pune were below par. "The swimmers had trained in Pune prior to the South Asian Games in Bangladesh. I don’t know what happened suddenly to demand a change in venue. The camp has been allotted to Pune and it will continue there," he said.

On the other hand the SFI and the chief coach of the squad Pardeep Kumar have written to the SAI to change the camp to Bangalore. They have claimed that the facilities were much better at Bangalore as compared to the ones they were getting at Pune. Bowing to pressure, SAI officials made a trip to Pune and came up with the conclusion that the infrastructure and facilities were “good” forcing the swimmers to disband it altogether.

There were 14 men and 20 women swimmers who were attending the camp while two top Indian swimmers Rehan Poncha and Arun D’Souza are training in USA. After disbanding the Pune camp, which was to run till May 15, talented swimmers like Arjun J.P and Richa Mishra have been badly hit and at present are training nowhere. Some other swimmers like Vridhawal Khade and Sandeep Sejwal have set up their training base at Bangalore under their own coach. Remarked a SFI official, “if the swimmers like the climate at Bangalore what was the harm in training there?

However, there are quiet a few dissenting voices as far as the smooth conduct of the camp at Pune is concerned.

Said Arun Vij, Joint Secretary, Indian Olympic Association (IOA), “A meeting of SAI officials was held on April 17 was held in New Delhi where Pravin Kishan, Joint Secretary (Sports), SAI expressed satisfaction over the camp’s proceedings at Pune. Then why have the swimmers made such a move is beyond my comprehension.” Sources reveal that Vridhawal Khade and Sandeep Sejwal and proceeding to Europe on a training tour. However, for others it’s a case of being trapped between the devil and the deep sea. 

Chandigarh, May 3
LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers is the winner of the Maurice Podoloff Trophy as the 2009-10 NBA Most Valuable Player presented by Kia Motors, the NBA announced yesterday. James, who also earned the honor last season, totaled 1,205 points including 116 first place votes, from a panel of 122 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada and the first ever NBA MVP fan vote. Players were awarded 10 points for each first-place vote, seven points for each second-place vote, five for third, three for fourth and one for each fifth-place vote received.

Rounding out the top five in voting for this season's award are Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant (609 points), the Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant (599 points), Orlando's Dwight Howard (478) and Miami's Dwyane Wade (119).

For the first time, the NBA and Kia Motors America gave fans the opportunity to help determine the winner of the MVP award. Fans were able to submit their votes by ranking their top five choices through a dedicated Web page on NBA.com. The fan vote counted as one vote and was compiled with the 122 media votes to determine the winner. As part of its support of the Most Valuable Player Award, Kia Motors America will donate an all-new 2011 Kia Sorento crossover utility vehicle (CUV) on behalf of James to the SUMMA Foundation, which is located in Akron and supports patient care, medical education and research through philanthropy. Kia Motors presented a new Sorento, the Official Vehicle of the NBA, to the charity of choice of each of four 2009-10 season-end award winners as part of "The NBA Performance Awards Presented by Kia Motors." Including this award, Kia Motors has now donated 12 new vehicles to charity since the program began in 2008.

James, the only Cavalier to ever win the award, was second in the NBA in scoring (29.7 ppg) and averaged 8.6 assists, 7.3 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 1.0 block, leading Cleveland to an NBA-best 61-21 regular season record. James' 8.6 assists broke the record for highest assist per game average by a forward in NBA history (Larry Bird, 7.6 apg, 1986-87). The 6'8" forward led the league in scoring on the road (31.0 ppg), helping Cleveland tie the NBA's second-best road record at 26-15 (Boston).