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Sehwag backs young squad
Virender Sehwag stretches during a practice session ahead of their first ODI against the West Indies in Cuttack on Monday. Match Starts: 2.30 pm. — Reuters |
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Roger Federer returns against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the ATP World Tour Finals in London on Saturday. Federer won a record sixth ATP World Tour Finals title with a 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3 victory,. With this he moved ahead of Pete Sampras and Ivan Lendl on the list of Tour Finals champions in the 100th final of his majestic career. — AFP
Vikas pulls out of final
Webber wins Brazilian GP ahead of Vettel
Confident India eye
top spot in Pool A
Delhi Wizards for World Series Hockey
Ameya Walavalkar wins JK Tyre race
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Cuttack, November 28 Besides Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar, who have been given rest, the squad also does not have middle-order batsman Yuvraj Singh who have declared himself unfit, but Sehwag said his side would not be worried as the youngsters have come into the series with plenty of runs under their belt. "All the players are in fine form, having scored good amount of runs in Ranji Trophy. It's a good sign for Team India. Hope the youngsters play the same way with Team India," Sehwag told reporters on the eve of the first ODI against the West Indies here tomorrow. "We have a very good young side. It's good for youngsters they are getting opportunities. They have five games to show their skills. If they perform well we can continue fielding a young side. We are pretty confident to do well. I promise that we will give our best shots. If we can put more than 100 percent the results will show," Sehwag said. His opening partner Gautam Gambhir is the seniormost member after him but Sehwag said there would be no added pressure on the duo. "We are playing for last 12 years. Cricket is same ... Everything is same... It's just another series for us. We are playing so well. We won ODI series against England and Test series against the West Windies. Team India are playing well so I'm looking forward to the series," he said. Asked about his inexperienced bowling unit, Sehwag said, "They are very good bowlers, youngsters who need to learn a lot. They are going on the right track and learning with other bowlers. With coach Eric Simons they are doing a great job." Praveen ruled out
India received a setback on the eve of their five-match ODI series opener against the West Indies after pace spearhead Praveen Kumar was ruled out due to a niggle. The Indian seamer will join the squad tomorrow and is expected to be fit for the second one-dayer in Visakhapatnam, skipper Virender Sehwag said today. "Praveen Kumar has a niggle so he is not available for first ODI. We expect him to join the squad tomorrow and be fit for the second match," Sehwag told reporters here today. In the absence of Praveen Kumar, R Vinay Kumar will lead the pace department along with Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron. ‘Hope Ashwin does well again’
Virender Sehwag today hoped that Ravichandran Ashwin, who will receive the Dilip Sardesai award for being India's best cricketer in the Test series against the West Indies, continues to perform well and get more awards in future. Appreciating the Indian Cricket Board's decision to award Ashwin with Rs 5 lakh prize money, India's stand-in-skipper Sehwag today said Ashwin was going in the right direction. "It's really good for him. I am really happy for Ashwin because he has performed really well. It's good that his performance is appreciated by the BCCI," said Sehwag. "May he get more awards in future. When you get award from the government that's the biggest achievement. Getting a national award like Arjuna or Padma awards is the biggest achievement for a sportsperson. "I hope in coming years he performs well. I am sure that Ashwin will get those also," he added. Ashwin picked 22 wickets in his debut Test series, besides scoring a century in three matches against the West Indies and picked up two man of the match awards en route to being adjudged the player of the series.
— PTI |
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Federer wins record sixth Tour Finals title
London, November 28 The 30-year-old, who retains the title he won 12 months ago, has now won 70 trophies in his career and has also equalled Lendl's record of 39 match wins in the end-of-season event. While rivals Novak
Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray have all faded in the final weeks of a gruelling season, Federer is still going strong and this triumph -- which followed back to back titles in Basel and Paris -- will be a major boost to his confidence heading into 2012. Although
Federer, who takes home the winners' cheque worth $770,000, ends the season without a Grand Slam title for the first time since 2002, talk of his demise seems greatly exaggerated. The 16-time Grand Slam winner has reeled off a 17-match winning streak since the US Open and he will rise back above Murray to third in the world rankings as a result. Tsonga had hoped to become the first Frenchman to win this event in its 41-year history. But the 26-year-old was unable to emulate his famous Wimbledon quarter-final win in June when he became the first player to beat the Swiss star from two sets down in a Grand Slam. Tsonga has served more aces than anyone on the ATP Tour this season and bashed down his 815th of the year to open his first service game in front an 18,000 crowd including the Duchess of Cambridge and Cristiano
Ronaldo. It was an emphatic statement of intent and Tsonga -- who lost just one point in his first three service games -- was able to keep Federer at bay in the early stages of a thrilling
encounter. Federer so often produces a piece of inspiration that turns the course of a tight match and that was the case again at 0-30 on Tsonga's serve in the seventh game. When Tsonga forced Federer into a lunging return that took his opponent wide of the tramlines it seemed the point was over, but the Swiss star somehow recovered his balance and swept back across court in time to flick a forehand winner down the line. As Tsonga shook his head in disbelief, Federer pressed home his advantage, converting his first break point and then taking the set on his third set point.
— AFP |
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Vikas pulls out of final
Patiala, November 28 He will have to settle with a silver medal performance from the tournament. Vikas was supposed to go up against with Qiong Maimaitituersun, a bronze medal winner at the 2010 Asian Games in the finals. He had advanced to the last round after beating Azerbaijan boxer Ismet Eynullayev comprehensively in the round of four (9:6). The 19-year-old sustained a blow to the left wrist while taking guard during the semi-final bout, which became the cause for the discomfort. A diagnosis was done by the onsite doctor who advised against competition in the final bout. A complete diagnosis will be done by the team doctor followed by an X-ray and a MRI after his arrival in the country. The team would be arriving in New Delhi on the November 29. Vikas, who won a bronze medal at the World Championships recently and also bagged an Olympic quota in the process, decided against competing in the final bout as it might have aggravated the injury. Earlier, in the tournament Asian Games silver medallist Dinesh Kumar (81kg) had to settle for a bronze medal after losing his semi-final bout against Yamaguchi Florentino of Brazil. Five-time world champion M.C. Mary Kom made an early exit after losing to Argentine Pamela Paoloa Benavidez in women's 51kg quarterfinals. Pooja Rani, in women's 75kg division, and Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Amandeep Singh, in men's 49kg, suffered similar fates in their respective quarterfinal bouts.
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Webber wins Brazilian GP ahead of Vettel
Sao Paulo, November 28 Jenson Button of McLaren finished third to secure second place in the drivers' standings. Webber easily passed Vettel on lap 30 after his teammate reduced his pace after being told by the team that there was something wrong with his gearbox. "Very early I got the call that we had to manage the gearbox problem," Vettel said. "It sounded pretty severe. It started to get worse. My main priority was to finish the race." Webber finished third in the championship with the victory, his first of the season. It was his seventh overall in F1, and the second in Brazil after winning in Interlagos in 2009. "Today was a good grand prix for me. It's not a bad thing to finish the year like this," Webber said. "I felt good all weekend. It would have been nice to have a race all the way through (with Vettel) but he had a bit of a problem." Vettel, the winner in Brazil in 2010, won 11 races this season but finishes the year without victories in the last two races. He retired on the first lap in Abu Dhabi because of a puncture. — AP
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Confident India eye top spot in Pool A
Johannesburg, November 28 Moving into the quarterfinal stage, India would be desperate to carry on the winning spree, especially after drawing 3-3 against Belgium in their tournament opener. The seven goals against a formidable South African side has not just reinforced self belief among the Indians, it has also provided them a chance to top the preliminary group by beating minnows Poland. Going into the final round of preliminary phase matches, both India and Belgium have four points apiece from two outings but the European team is leading Pool A because of their slightly superior goal-difference. But a win against Poland will give India a chance of topping Pool A, which means that they will play the bottom placed side from Pool B in the quarterfinals. The International Hockey Federation's (FIH) new format for the event assures all eight competing teams a place in the quarterfinals, but top finishers in the pools will get an easier passage into the semifinals. — PTI
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Delhi Wizards for World Series Hockey
New Delhi, November 28 Wizcraft International, a communication and entertainment company, has acquired Delhi Wizards. Wizcraft had earlier associated with the 2011 Cricket World Cup, Indian Premier League T20 and the 2010 Commonwealth Games. The final teams are - Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Karnataka, Mumbai, Pune and Punjab - in theeight city-based franchise system as part of the $2 million World Series Hockey to be held across different parts of the country from December 17 to January 22 next year. Four of the teams would have overseas players captaining the side and the player draft was held today to finalise the outfits.
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Ameya Walavalkar wins JK Tyre race
New Delhi, November 28 In a race that was run over two segments of two laps after Meco Motorsports’ team-mates Pushan Das and Raghul Rangaswamy crashed out and their cars had to be removed from the track, Walavalkar allowed Sarosh Hataria of Meco Motorsports to take the lead and maintain it until he spun off a puddle. The Mumbai driver then made the most of the chance to sneak ahead and take the chequered flag for the sixth time this season to bag the single-seater crown. |
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India play against Zambian team
Margao, November 28
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the ODI series against the West Indies but stand-in skipper Virender Sehwag today said that it would give a perfect opportunity for the youngsters in the team to perform well at the big stage.
Gary Speed found dead