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Virat checks in at 4 with a ton
Archers await Railways nod even after Sports Ministry’s approval
FILA weight rejig pushes India wrestlers out of comfort
zones
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Don’t drink and tweet, Harris learns hard way
Ryan Harris
Gritty ONGC stun Air India
Ekka scores hat-trick in CISF win
Despite Sports Ministry approval, archers await Railways permission
SAI decides to appoint CEOs
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Virat checks in at 4 with a ton
Johannesburg, DECEMBER 18 Kohli, batting at the coveted No 4 position left vacant by Sachin Tendulkar, notched up his fifth Test century to steer the visitors to a comfortable 255 for five at the close of play on a bouncy Wanderers track.
Ajinkya Rahane (43 batting) and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (17 batting) were at the crease on an eventful opening day which saw the beleaguered Indian batting line-up giving a good account of themselves. Kohli displayed wonderful counter-attacking ability with dazzling array of strokes after openers Shikhar Dhawan (13) and Murali Vijay (6) were dismissed cheaply by Dale Steyn (1/56) and Morne Morkel (1/27) within 15.1 overs. Kohli hit 18 sweetly timed boundaries in his 181-ball knock with the standout shot being a pull off the fast and furious Steyn. He played some flowing drives, played the square cut well and was severe on leg-spinner Imran Tahir, who was repeatedly pulled towards the deep mid-wicket boundary. His shot selection was admirable as he was ready to leave a lot of deliveries but didn't forget to punish the loose balls. Kohli reached his fifth Test hundred when he played off-break bowler Jean-Paul Duminy's delivery towards mid-wicket for a couple before celebrating the milestone with a leap and punch of his fists in the air. As he took charge of taking on the Proteas attack, he was well complemented by Cheteshwar Pujara (25) during their 89-run third wicket stand before the latter was run-out due to a horrible mix-up. Rahane, playing only his second Test, also showed good temperament during their fifth-wicket stand of 68 runs as the young Mumbai batsman grew in confidence with passage of time. Kohli was finally out, caught by Duminy at covers off Kallis' bowling. After Kohli's dismissal, Dhoni walked in, and negated the second new ball taken immediately when due by the Proteas, putting up 36 runs with Rahane for the unbroken sixth-wicket stand, taking India past the 250-run mark in the 85th over. Rahane hit seven fours in his 105-ball knock with the best shot being a cover drive off Steyn when the latter was bowling with second new ball. — PTI Scoreboard India Vijay c de Villiers b Morkel 6 Dhawan c Tahir b Steyn 13 Pujara run out 25 Kohli c Duminy b Kallis 119 Rohit c de Villiers b Philander 14 Rahane batting 43 Dhoni batting 17 Extras (lb 3, w 14, nb 1) 18 Total (5 wkts; 87.4 overs) 255 FoW: 1-17, 2-24, 3-113, 4-151, 5-219 Bowling Steyn 22-4-56-1 Philander 20.4-2-55-1 Morkel 18-9-27-1 Kallis 14-4-37-1 Tahir 8-0-47-0 Duminy 5-0-30-0 100s by Indians in SA 169 S Tendulkar (Cape Town, 1997) 155 Tendulkar (Bloemfontein, 2001) 138 R Dravid (Johannesburg, 1997) 146 Tendulkar (Cape Town, 2011) 129 Kapil Dev (Port Elizabeth, 1992) 119 V Kohli (Johannesburg, 2013) 116 W Jaffer (Cape Town, 2007) 115 M Azharuddin (Cape Town, 1997) 111* Tendulkar (Centurion, 2010) 111 Tendulkar (Johannesburg, 1992) 105 V Sehwag (Bloemfontein, 2001) 103 P Amre (Durban, 1992) Kohli, Sehwag and Amre scored 100s in their first Test innings in South Africa "All I could think about was getting a Test hundred in South Africa. This was something I wanted to do badly. I know how special it is for players to get a hundred here. It's the best I have batted in Test cricket." Virat Kohli "Kohli reminds me of Sachin... There has been a talk about him replacing Sachin and today he made a statement. He left well, he punished the bad balls, he paced his innings well, he was disciplined and aggressive when he needed to be." Allan Donald
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Archers await Railways nod even after Sports Ministry’s approval
Patiala, December 18 The Ministry, in its letter issued on December 11, 2013, had clarified that archers were not prohibited from participating in tournaments and selection trials organised by the AAI. With the nationals starting from December 23, the players are still unsure if they would get to compete. A player said that he failed to understand why the Railways was reluctant about fielding its players, when the Sports Ministry had clarified that the archers were allowed to compete. “The problem is between the Sports Ministry and AAI and if the Ministry has allowed us, there is no logic behind the Railways denying us the permission,” he said. Another archer said that this decision would adversely affect their career growth. “Even though we were allowed to compete last time, we were not given any benefits in the form of promotions or other awards for our medals in the senior nationals. It is very depressing that years of our careers are being ruined without any fault of ours,” the player added. Secretary General of AAI Anil Kamineni said it was surprising that despite the Sports Ministry’s nod, the Indian Railways was yet to decide whether it would field its teams or not. “Everything has been sorted out as far as the players’ participation is concerned after we pursued the matter with the Sports Ministry,” he said. Railways Sports Promotion Board Secretary Jhanjha Tripathy said she was not aware of any such letter and would look into it.
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FILA weight rejig pushes India wrestlers out of comfort
zones
New Delhi, DECEMBER 18 FILA added two classes to women's freestyle and reduced one each from men’s freestyle and Greco-Roman competitions, thus setting a 6-6-6 split among the three disciplines for the Rio Games. This weight change will also be applicable in the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. In its Technical Commission meeting, the world body also decided to change weight categories in other FILA events to affect a split of 8-8-8 among the three disciplines. The move came after FILA worked with the IOC to ensure wrestling remained on the Olympic programme. The sport was dropped from the list of Olympic programme in February, but was reinstated in September after FILA introduced changes to modernise the ancient sport. FILA said the changes in rule and competition format will come into effect from January 1 next year. For the Olympics, the men's freestyle and Greco-Roman will each lose a weight class between light and heavyweight. In Rio, male freestyle wrestlers will compete at 57 and 65 kilograms rather than at 55, 60 and 66 kilograms, like they did at the recent London Games. This would mean that Sushil and Yogeshwar, who were competing in 66kg and 60kg freestyle, respectively, will have to move to a new category. Yogeshwar will now have to move to 65kg while Sushil will have to compete in the next slot at 74kg. Reacting to the development, double Olympic medallist Sushil said it would be difficult for him to change his weight category to 65kg from his current 66kg. “It would be difficult for me to compete in the 65kg category as it would be difficult to adjust. It's not easy to lose even a kilogram keeping the Olympics in mind. I have the option of moving to a higher category. Let's see, I will discuss the new weight categories with my coaches and then take any decision,” said Sushil. India chief coach Vinod Kumar also ruled out Sushil and Yogeshwar fighting in the same weight category. Yogeshwar said the decision to drop the two categories will hit the Indian wrestlers hard. “It will hurt Indian wrestling. Our preparations for Rio Olympics will be affected. I will move to a higher category and hope that Sushil also moves to 74kg. You can't have India's two best wrestlers fighting it out for an Olympic berth,” said Yogeshwar. — PTI New weight categories Freestyle (Men) * 57, 65, 74, 86, 97, 125 Freestyle (Women) *
48, 53, 58, 63, 69, 75 Greco Roman * 59, 66, 75, 85, 98, 130.
Sushil Kumar |
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Don’t drink and tweet, Harris learns hard way
Perth, DECEMBER 18 Already well lubricated following their 150-run triumph at the WACA which sealed the series 3-0, Australia's good vibes were not shared initially by the door staff at Crown Casino, who barred entry to the team that won back the country's most coveted trophy. Paceman Ryan Harris delivered an expletive-filled rant against the venue and their staff on Twitter, as did the uncapped Nathan Coulter-Nile who trained as a reserve paceman with the team in Perth. “A tip for all those heading to Perth! Avoid the crown or casino!” Harris said in his expletives-laden tweet before deleting it. A sheepish Harris apologised for the rant on Wednesday after returning to Melbourne. “Obviously I made a silly mistake this morning and I tweeted something I probably shouldn't have,” he said. “It was a silly thing to do — they let me in the end, so they did the right thing. “But they have to do their job and they were doing it. “As I've heard many times before, don't tweet when you've had a drink.” Australia's Test players have previously seen the dangers of a late-night tweet, when opening batsman David Warner engaged in a Twitter spat with prominent Australian cricket journalists earlier this year after taking umbrage with his picture being placed next to a story about match-fixing in the IPL. All-rounder Shane Watson, who scored a blistering century in Perth, had a gentle dig at England's expense when asked whether the casino's bouncers put up a better defence against Harris than the tourists' batsmen. “Well I wasn't there for it, but maybe they did,” he said in Perth. — Reuters
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Gritty ONGC stun Air India
Ludhiana, December 18 In the other matches, Bangladesh XI outclassed Namdhari XI 3-1, and Varun’s brace helped Punjab Police pip Army XI 2-1 and register their first win. In the first match of the day, Air Force XI went into the lead in the 15th minute through Devan. After changing ends, PSB equalised in the 40th minute through Karanjit. Five minutes later, Air Force XI again surged ahead through Virender and managed to hang on till the long hooter. In the second match, Bangladesh XI proved too good for Namdhari XI, taking a 3-0 lead before letting in one goal in the last minute. In the third match, Punjab Police came back from behind to subdue Army XI. The army men took an early lead through Muthanna, but Varun scored twice to seal the match for Punjab Police. In the highly anticipated final match of the day, Divakar and Akashdeep Singh scored on either side of the half break to lead ONGC XI to a hard-fought win over Air India.
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Ekka scores hat-trick in CISF win
Patiala, December 18 In other matches, CISF, New Delhi beat J&K Police 4-2, with Cyril Ekka scoring the first hat-trick of the tournament, and Sports Academy, Jarkhad, beat Sports Hostel, Bhopal, 4-2, while the winning run of BEG, Roorkee, ended with a 2-0 defeat to Sports Hostel, Lucknow. In a fast paced game, SRC overcame the SAI team 2-0, Navdeep Singh scoring both the goals. In the second match, CISF started the proceedings with a bang, scoring two quick goals in the 5th and 6th minutes through Major Singh and Ekka. J&K Police scored in the 41st minute through Amarinder but CISF retaliated with their third goal in the 43rd minute. J&K Police got their second when a JM Daad try slipped through the goalkeeper’s pads.
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Despite Sports Ministry approval, archers await Railways permission
Patiala, December 18 The Ministry, in its letter issued on December 11, 2013, had clarified that archers were not prohibited from participating in tournaments and selection trials organised by the AAI. With the nationals starting from December 23, the players are still unsure if they would get to compete. A player said that he failed to understand why the Railways was reluctant about fielding its players, when the Sports Ministry had clarified that the archers were allowed to compete. “The problem is between the Sports Ministry and AAI and if the Ministry has allowed us, there is no logic behind the Railways denying us the permission,” he said. Another archer said that this decision would adversely affect their career growth. “Even though we were allowed to compete last time, we were not given any benefits in the form of promotions or other awards for our medals in the senior nationals. It is very depressing that years of our careers are being ruined without any fault of ours,” the player added. Secretary General of AAI Anil Kamineni said it was surprising that despite the Sports Ministry’s nod, the Indian Railways was yet to decide whether it would field its teams or not. “Everything has been sorted out as far as the players’ participation is concerned after we pursued the matter with the Sports Ministry,” he said. Railways Sports Promotion Board Secretary Jhanjha Tripathy said she was not aware of any such letter and would look into it.
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New Delhi,
December 18 As reported by the Tribune sometime back, the remuneration of the CEOs will be borne by the SAI. It was also decided that the government would not interfere in the recruitment of the chosen professionals. The sports ministry had in October sent out letters to the top NSFs seeking their views on the appointment of CEOs to run their affairs more professionally. The letters went out to 13 federations — archery, athletics, badminton, boxing, football, canoeing/kayaking, gymnastics, hockey, rowing, shooting, swimming, wrestling and wushu -- and School Games Federation of India. Only badminton, canoeing/kayaking, wrestling and SGFI got back. The NSFs turned down the ministry's proposal on the pretext that they already run the federations professionally and don't feel the need to appoint a CEO. Currently, only hockey and basketball have CEOs as administrative heads. Elena Norman, an Australian with her wealth of experience in sports management, is working as Hockey India's CEO. — PTI |
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Modi allowed to contest, looks set to win elections Four Indians qualify for Sochi Winter Games Djokovic hires Boris Becker in his coaching staff
SAI decides to appoint CEOs to professionalise NSFs Black Elephant win
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Australia captain Michael Clarke pledged to celebrate first and worry about white-washing England later after winning back the Ashes on Tuesday, and his team did their skipper proud at a party at a Perth casino hosted by Shane
Warne. Already well lubricated following their 150-run triumph at the WACA which sealed the series 3-0, Australia's good vibes were not shared initially by the door staff at Crown Casino, who barred entry to the team that won back the country's most coveted trophy.
"It would be difficult for me to compete in the 65kg category as it is difficult to adjust to the new category. It's not easy to lose even a kilogram keeping the Olympics in mind. I have the option of moving to a higher category. Let's see, I will discuss the new wight categories with my coaches and then announce the
decision."
Kapil to get BCCI lifetime achievement award