London, August 17
With the series already out of their grasp, a bruised and battered India will be hoping to redeem some pride and avoid a humiliating whitewash when they take on a rampant England in the fourth and final cricket Test starting tomorrow at The Oval here.

Coming into the series as world's numero uno Test team, India's reputation took a huge beating after England crushed the visitors by huge margins in the first three Tests to snatch away the number one position from them. And for the Indians, already under severe criticism for their shoddy performance in the series so far, another defeat means they will slip further to the number three position in the Test rankings behind South Africa.

But Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who suffered his first series loss as India captain, will be desperate for a turnover of fortunes as a win in the Oval Test will not only save the visitors from the ignominy of a series whitewash but also give them the required impetus before the five-match ODI series.

In their Test annals of 79 years, India has suffered the shame of losing four Tests or more and a complete whitewash only thrice - 5-0 against England (1959) and the West Indies (1961-62) and 4-0 against Australia (1967-68). There have been three other occasions when India has been blanked 3-0 - twice against England in 1967 and 1974 and once against Australia (1999-2000).

Kevin Pietersen at the nets.

The good news, however, for India is that the final Test of the series will be played at The Oval, a venue known for high scores and also a ground where the visitors boast of a good record. Going by records, the Indians over the years have lost just two out of 10 matches at this ground. The Oval is also the ground where the Ajit Wadekar-led Indian team created history in 1971 by registering the nation's first series win on English soil.

It is also a ground where Sunil Gavaskar hit that memorable 221 in 1979; Rahul Dravid scored 217 in 2002 and Anil Kumble made his maiden Test century in 2007. The Oval is also the venue where Sachin Tendulkar played his 100th Test. And if further comfort is required, the Indians can take heart from the fact that England could miss the services of its pace spearhead James Anderson in the match as he is suffering from stiffness.

However, going into the match, Dhoni's main concern would be the form of his famed batting line-up, which has failed to reach the 300-run mark in the six innings of the series so far. What cost India dearly is starts from their opening pair. Both Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag, who played in the Edgbaston Test after missing out the first two matches due to injury, struggled miserably against the moving ball upfront.

While Gambhir got some sort of a start in one or two innings, Sehwag made a King's pair at Edgbaston. The ever-reliable Rahul Dravid is the only Indian batsmen to have shown some grit against the lethal English attack. He has so far scored two centuries in the series. In contrast, Sachin Tendulkar is yet to find his mojo and is still looking for his first ton in the series to reach the magical figure of 100 international centuries.

India's crisis man VVS Laxman is also struggling in the English conditions and young Suresh Raina's place is under threat from Virat Kohli after making just 105 runs in six innings. India's lower half, despite Mahendra Singh Dhoni's pyrotechnics at Edgbaston, doesn't offer much hope.

On the bowling front, the series has so far been a nightmare. In the absence of an injury-prone Zaheer Khan and out-of-form Harbhajan Singh, the Ishant Sharma-led Indian attack looked ordinary. Paceman Praveen Kumar, who suffered a finger injury in the last match, is a doubtful starter for the game and the team management is likely to wait till tomorrow before taking a final call on him.

While their English counterparts were menacing in the seam-friendly conditions in the first three matches, the Indian bowlers lacked penetration and wicket-taking ability. India's bowling woes can be gauged from the fact that they allowed England to score over 700 runs in the first innings at Edgbaston. — PTI

Barcelona, August 17
Real Madrid need to overcome the disappointment of a frustrating 2-2 draw when they play at Barcelona in the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup today.

Madrid dominated the first leg on Sunday and created the best scoring opportunities, but the team was eventually undone by the individual talent of the Spanish champions, notably David Villa and Lionel Messi.

Barcelona will welcome a return to the Camp Nou after an uncharacteristic match where they failed to impose itself through its usual passing game.

The Catalans may also be able to count on Cesc Fabregas, who joined his boyhood club from Arsenal on Monday, as they look to win the annual preseason match up between the league champions and the cup winners for the first time in five tries against Madrid.

"I am physically ready (to play), but it's the coach's decision," Fabregas said. "Barca and Madrid are two of the best teams in Europe, the competition (between the two) is brutal. Madrid never throws in the towel. We know they are a great team."

Fabregas' long-awaited return could be celebrated against Madrid, although the Spain midfielder's arrival illustrates the Barcelona's squad lack of preseason training time with so many international players away at different times. Fabregas can at least slide right into the Catalan club's system since he came up through the youth ranks before his move to north London eight years ago.

"It was a good result considering the shape we were in," Barcelona defender Daniel Alves said. "Several players had managed to play only some minutes for Barcelona this preseason and we played pretty well.”

New Delhi, August 17
The Sports Ministry has not yet finalized the winners of this year’s Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy, though only 13 days remain for the National Sports Awards function. The Arjuna, Dronacharya, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, MAKA Trophy and other awards will be presented by the President on August 29, celebrated as the National Sports Day.

Several meetings have to be held before the best sports university in the country is selected for the MAKA Trophy, though the universities in the running for the award have no clue when these meetings would be held.

All the universities in the race would have to give a power-point presentation before a panel appointed by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), followed by a Scrutiny Committee meeting, which would recommend the names of the University/Universities eligible for the award to an Awards Committee, appointed by the Sports Ministry, for the final selection.

AIU holds the presentation to listen to the claims and counter-claims of the universities, on the basis of the marks/points they have earned in the various inter-university competitions held last year in disciplines approved by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and the ministry.

A top source told The Tribune that the presentation could not be held as the AIU Under-Secretary (Sports), Gurdeep Singh, is away as chef-de-mission of the Indian contingent for the World University Games being held in China. He is likely to return only on August 25, though the AIU is learned to have secured the ministry’s permission to recommend the eligible universities without the presentation.

Last year, much controversy was generated when the Sports Ministry decided to club two years’ MAKA Trophy and award them to two universities simultaneously - Punjabi University, Patiala, for 2008-2009 and Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, for 2009-2010. The earlier practice was to grant the award to one university for the year preceding the award function.

Punjabi University protested the Government’s decision and challenged it in court, which is still being fought. The university argued that no meeting was held to select the winners for the year 2009-2010 and some ‘manipulation’ was done to decide the eventual champions. The source said this year, the universities were asked to submit their points tally to AIU by June 30. Guru Nanak Dev claimed that they had earned 41955 points while Punjabi submitted their points tally as 43835, which were duly put out in their websites. But many universities could not respond on time and the last date was extended to July 15. Guru Nanak sent a fresh list, claiming that they had earned 45005 points, 3000 more than the first list. This sudden surge in their tally was strange, considering that no inter-university competitions were held in between, for them to earn so many points.

It is learnt that last year, a deputy secretary in the Sports Ministry, C. Chinappa, attended the Scrutiny Committee meeting, though he was not supposed to, and there was pressure on AIU to invite him for the same meeting this year too. The Scrutiny Committee is composed of some eminent sportspersons and representatives from SAI and IOA, but no ministerial representative, while the ministry’s Award Committee includes former Olympians, Arjuna and Dronacharya Award winners, as well as top ministry officials.

With very little time left for the function, the question of how the ministry would handle this tricky situation, was hanging fire. Last year, the Sports Ministry had revised the guidelines for the selection procedures for the MAKA Trophy “for more transparency and accountability, and for promoting a dope-free sporting culture” in inter-university sports. It had claimed that this rationalisation of the selection procedures was necessitated as disputes had arisen among the universities over calculation of marks, and then Sports Minister Dr. M.S. Gill, constituted a committee to streamline the selection procedures for the MAKA Trophy.

One of the clauses in the revised guidelines states that negative marks would be awarded to a university which makes wrong claims and false complaints. Another salient feature of the new guidelines was, “scrutiny of applications for MAKA Trophy by the Scrutiny Committee at AIU well in time and putting the marks online”.

This relevant clause framed by the ministry is being flouted this year and those universities eyeing the MAKA Trophy, understandably, are seething with anger. The MAKA Trophy was instituted in 1956-57 as a tool for promoting competitive sports among colleges and universities and the top overall performing university in the inter-university tournaments are awarded the rolling trophy along with a cash award of Rs 10 lakh.

New Delhi, August 17
India slipped from second to third position on the second day of the biennial Asia-Pacific Golf Championships for the Nomura Cup at the Nadatola Bay Club Golf course in Fiji.

According to information received here, Australia stayed on top with a second round total of 212 to lead at 419. They were 12 shots clear of South Korea, who jumped up the leaderboard with 213, and from a 10-shot deficit against India, they moved to a three-shot lead at 431.

India dropped to 226 for a total of 434 and third place. New Zealand 435 (211 + 224) were fourth and the Philippines 441 (213 + 228) were fifth.

The Indian quartet dropped to over-par scores, as Abhijit Chadha and Khalin Joshi turned in cards of three-over 75 each. Chadha was even par for two rounds and Joshi was one-over, as was Chikkarangappa with a 76. Angad Cheema collapsed with an 83 to be 10-over after two rounds.

Team standings

1. Australia 419 (207 + 212); 2. Korea 431 (218 + 213); 3. India 434 (208 +226); 4. New Zealand 435 (211 + 224); 5. Philippines 441 (213 + 228).

Hambantota, August 17
Australia captain Michael Clarke has urged his team to raise their game in the remaining two one-day internationals against Sri Lanka to clinch the five-match series.

Australia were let down by the batsmen during the third one-dayer yesterday as they suffered a 78-run defeat, their first in six matches under Clarke who replaced Ricky Ponting as captain after the World Cup.

Sri Lanka rode on opener Upul Tharanga's 111 to post a challenging 286-9 in the must-win match before dismissing Australia for 208, with paceman Lasith Malinga (5-28) doing the most damage.

"We have some work to do over the next few days because playing against Sri Lanka, especially in their home conditions, you have to be at your best to beat them," Clarke said after the day-night match. Australia, currently ahead 2-1 in the five-match series, will play the last two games in Colombo on Saturday and Monday. Clarke (46) and Michael Hussey (63) alone defied Sri Lanka's attack on Tuesday as they added 71 for the fourth wicket, but the remaining batsmen faltered against pace.

Malinga was superbly backed by debutant seamer Shaminda Eranga, who removed opener Brad Haddin (five) and former skipper Ponting (22) to jolt Australia's top order. — AFP

BRIEFLY

Aditi leads in Pro Golf Tour
Bengaluru: Amateur Aditi Ashok playing her first-ever event alongside professionals gave the new season of Hero Women's Professional Golf Tour a flawless start with a bogey-free card for a one-shot lead in the first round of the Hero KGA Tournament here today. This is the first leg of the 15-event Hero Women's Professional Golf Tour. Bengaluru golfer Aditi, just 13 years of age, shot a card of 70 with two birdies on the ninth and 13th and no bogeys. — PTI

Indy Racing invites Armaan
Chennai: India's promising racing driver Armaan Ebrahim has received an invitation from Bryan Herta Autosport, one of the leading teams in the North American Firestone Indy Lights championship, for a test drive on September 14 at Indianapolis as a prelude to his participation in the 2012 series. This is the first time ever that an Indian racer has received an invite from the Indy Lights Championship, which is a feeder series for the iconic and high-profile Indy Racing League (IRL), the American equivalent of Formula One. — PTI

Indians fail to impress
Patiala: Indian players failed to open their account after five days of the Universaide 2011 that is underway at Shenzen, China. Though the team’s favourite event--Shooting--is yet to begin, Indians failed to impress in other events. While none of the archers managed a podium finish in the individual event, even the performance in the team events seemed off target. The only saving grace has been the Indian women compound team comprising Gagandeep Kaur and Sunita Rani (Pbi Univ, Patiala) and Anjali (GND, Amritsar), that has managed to reach the semifinal. — TNS

Spanish forward Raul has been left out of the Schalke 04 team to play HJK Helsinki in their Europa League qualifier to take place on Thursday, increasing speculation about the veteran's future at the club. — AFP

India cancel friendly tie
New Delhi: Indian football team's tour of the West Indies is turning out to be a hugely controversial one as the first international friendly against Barbados today was called off after a fuming Armando Colaco protested against the cold treatment meted out to them by the local organisers. Colaco was upset that none from the Barbados Football Association were there at the Bridgetown Airport to receive the team on their arrival on Monday, sources in the All India Football Federation said."Due to some unfortunate logistical reasons caused by the sudden change in the travel schedule because of the problems in London, India's first international friendly against Barbados stands cancelled to avoid undue physical strain and hardship to the players after their long flight," the AIFF said in a statement. — PTI

Hockey: 8 Pak players sign
Mumbai: Eight players from Pakistan, including former captain Rehan Butt, have signed up for the World Series Hockey (WSH) to be held across eight Indian cities from December 15, 2011 to January 22, 2012. The rest of seven players, which also include two other ex-skippers, are defender Zeeshan Ashraf, seasoned campaigner Mudassar Ali, Tariq Aziz, midfielder Adnan Maqsood, half back Waseem Ahmad, Pakistan's most capped player and drag-flicker Syed Imran Warsi and striker Shakeel Abbasi, a media release from WSH said. — PTI

Saxena passes away
Jamshedpur: Former Test cricketer Ramesh Saxena died after brain haemorrage at the Tata Main Hospital here, family sources said today. Saxena was 66 and is survived by wife and two sons. Saxena played for India in a lone test match against England in Leeds in 1967. — PTI