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Wednesday,
August 6, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Sodhi,
Jaffer, Kartik among probables for camp
Srinath opts out First Test shifted to Ahmedabad No marketing, no sponsors: Sidhu Lee, Lehmann rested for final ODI Gough quits Test cricket |
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Sporting stun
Bagan, enter final
IOA to start youth games next year Coaches wary of suspensions
Prakash India’s No 1
tennis player ‘The Romance of Indian Open’ released Surjit Academy sail into final
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Sodhi, Jaffer, Kartik among probables for camp
Mumbai, August 5 Barring the two new faces, there were hardly any surprises as the national selectors picked the entire World Cup squad as well as those who were part of India A’s successful England tour recently. Pace spearhead Javagal Srinath, who played a stellar role in India’s World Cup campaign, was omitted from the list after he made himself unavailable for the conditioning camp and the subsequent Challenger Series to be held in Bangalore. Cricket board secretary S.K. Nair said the three players — Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif — who were currently playing county cricket in England were not picked but have been asked to report for the second leg of the camp. The players would attend a camp in Bangalore from August 14 to 26 and reassemble for another stint at the same venue from September 1 to 6. Probables: Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Virender Sehwag, Dinesh Mongia, Parthiv Patel, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Sanjay Bangar, Shiv Sunder Das, Gautam Gambhir, Wasim Jaffer, Satyajit Parab, Hemang Badani, S Sriram, Rohan Gavaskar, Vijay Bharadwaj, Murali Kartik, Amit Mishra, L Balaji, Aavishkar Salvi, Irfan Pathan (Jr), Mithun Manhas, Ajay Ratra, Thilak Naidu, V V S Laxman, Sairaj Bahutule, Ramesh Powar, J P Yadav, A T Rayudu, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Sarandeep Singh, Sidharth Trivedi and Amit Bhandari. Nair said "Srinath has made himself unavailable as he is undergoing treatment for the injury sustained during his stint with English county Durham." Nair, however, said Srinath was not ruled out of the New Zealand series and "may be considered" provided he is fit. He also said three teams would be selected from among the probables to play the Challenger Series in Bangalore from September 10 to 14. A 15-member Rest of India squad would also be selected from the probables to play Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai in the Irani Trophy match to be held in Chennai from September 18 to 22. Nair clarified that those players who have been named in the list but were playing for some minor counties, should inform the board if they wanted be exempted from the first leg of the camp. Coach John Wright, physio Andrew Leipus and trainer Gregory Allen King would join the camp in the second leg, he said. — PTI
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Srinath opts out Bangalore: Veteran speedster Javagal Srinath, who opted out of the conditioning camp for the upcoming series against New Zealand due to a knee injury, today said he would take a decision about playing against the Kiwis in next couple of weeks. Srinath, who requested the cricket board not to consider his name for the camp for which the selectors named 36 probables today, said he would take the decision after discussing about his troubled knee with experts in England. “I am going to England very soon... maybe in two or three days to meet a doctor and seek his opinion on the state of my knee,” Srinath told PTI here. “I cannot think about cricket until and unless my knee completely heals. However, I will take a decision on returning to the side for the New Zealand series in two or three weeks,” he said. Srinath, who at 33 is one of the senior-most fast bowlers in the world, is currently undergoing rehabilitation here for the injury sustained during his stint with English county side Durham. The bowler also ruled out an early retirement from Test cricket saying “I have not given any thought to it.” — PTI
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First Test shifted to Ahmedabad Kolkata: The cricket authorities have shifted the first New Zealand Test later this year from Kanpur to Ahmedabad because of poor ground conditions at Green Park. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) made the announcement on Tuesday after receiving an adverse report on the ground from its pitches committee "The progress has not been satisfactory and the committee, which visited Green Park on Monday, is not sure if it will be ready in time," BCCI President Jagmohan Dalmiya told reporters. The first match of the two-Test series is scheduled to start on October 8 with Mohali hosting the second from October 16. Kanpur had been uncertain of staging the Test due to the poor condition of a freshly re-laid pitch. Trucks clearing debris from a collapsed stadium wall had also damaged the sodden outfield. "There is hardly any time and we are in the midst of Monsoon," Dalmiya added. He said the BCCI would not schedule future matches in Kanpur, one of the country's oldest international venues, until the local cricket association sorted out the problem with the regional authorities, who own the stadium. “As the scenario stands, there is no point in maintaining the itinerary of Rajkot, Vizag and Kanpur in their order. Hence, a rescheduling in the itinerary in the run-up to the first Test will be done and the new venues, if any, will be released within four to five days,’’ he said. He said the committee had received a positive report about all the 14 venues where the home series would be played. It included 10 ODIs in a tri-series featuring India, Australia and New Zealand, two three-day matches between India and New Zealand and two Tests between the hosts and the Kiwis. — Reuters, UNI
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No marketing, no sponsors: Sidhu Solan, August 5 Sidhu, who had come here on a promotional tour of the State Bank of Patiala, his employers, said that he along with countless admirers of the game had prayed for Boycott's early recovery from the dreaded disease. Boycott, a veteran of many a cricketing battles of yesteryears who had of late emerged as a fatherfigure of the game's commentators, had particularly endeared himself with Indian fans as he admired the “tenacity and superbly honed cricketing skills” of Saurav Ganguly, nicknamed by him as “Prince of Calcutta”. Unlike some other foreign commentators, he was also generally seen as being fair in his evaluation of the performance of the national team in this country. Asked to comment on such “verbal encounters” with Boycott, Sidhu, in his characteristic style, quickly denied ever having hurt Boycott. He said that the so-called verbal encounters were, in fact, frank expressions of personal opinions. “To tell you the truth I rate Boycott, who had himself faced many ticklish situations during his Test career, as the ablest commentator of the game as of now. He is my guru, my mentor. I have often derived inspiration from him.” Earlier Sidhu answered questions fielded by local reporters after the conclusion of the bank's promotional function. Sidhu squarely blamed the cricketing administration for India's inability to win even a single series abroad during the last 18 years. “If only the officials gave as much thought and gave as much time to solving problems like providing proper, fast paced pitches, as they spent in contesting elections, things would turn out to be vastly different. “The administrators should also apply their mind to introducing the requisite sense of competition in the different home championships. No player, however great, should be allowed to feel that his position in the national squad was secure. The home tournaments should keep on encouraging and throwing up talent capable of giving a fright to even the best amongst the national team.” He criticised the administrators of other games for their inability to market their particular sport. If an Indian Test cricketer got a daily food allowance of Rs 5000 per day and an Indian national hockey team player got only Rs 50, the fault clearly lay with hockey officials. “The latter simply had not given any thought to marketing their game. No marketing, no sponsors. No money and a player like Dhanraj Pillay, who had worked as hard as a Tendulkar for bringing India all the glory, was left to sulk in private. Not a very good situation, my dear friend.” |
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Lee, Lehmann rested for final ODI
Darwin (Australia), August 5 Lee, who snared four wickets in the first limited-overs match, will be replaced by pace spearhead Jason Gillespie. Brad Williams will start for this first time in the series while Darren Lehmann gets a rest. Australian skipper Ricky Ponting said Lee deserved a break after intimidating the Bangladeshis during the 2-0 Test series win and the opening two limited-overs internationals. The world champion Australians have won by eight and nine wickets batting first in the first two one-dayers, but Ponting wants to bat first in Darwin in order to bat through 50 overs. “If the wicket’s good I’ll bat first every time.” Bangladesh, the lowest ranked of the 10 full members of the International Cricket Council, was expected to announce a lineup tomorrow. Some changes in the Australian batting lineup are expected to give the middle-order some match-practice. Darwin-born Damien Martyn, who belted 92 from 51 balls in the second match, said he wanted to be promoted up the order. “If we get a good wicket it certainly helps with the shot making and... we (will) go out there and try to play positive cricket and put on a good show for the crowd.” Australian lineup: Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting (captain), Damien Martyn, Michael Bevan, Andrew Symonds, Ian Harvey, Brad Hogg, Andrew Bichel, Jason Gillespie, Brad Williams. Brett Lee 12th man. — AP
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Gough quits Test cricket London, August 5 Gough, who took 229 wickets in his 58 matches, said he took the decision to retire from the longer version of the game after it was apparent that "my knee will not allow me to play Test cricket." "I have come to a decision to retire from Test match cricket due to the injury sustained playing for England in New Zealand," he said in a statement here.
— PTI |
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Emphatic
victory for Anand
Dortmund, August 5 Grandmaster Viktor Bologan of Moldova continued to lead the tables after getting an easy draw against youngest participant Timour Radjabov of Azerbaijan. Bologan took his tally to a remarkable 4 points out of a possible 5 and is likely to maintain his full point superiority over nearest contender Grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik of Russia who was engrossed in a tense battle against GM Peter Leko of Hungary when reports last came in. Anand took his tally to 2 points and will need to score heavily in the rounds to come if he has to be in contention for top honours in this six-players double round-robin
tournament. Naiditsch remained on 2 points after bowing to Anand while Radjabov moved to the same score after his draw. Leko was on 1.5 but his game against Kamnik was still on and could get him a full point. Anand finally struck with black after giving an exhibition of his superior middle game
technique. Naiditsch was no match for the Indian giant in a complex battle arising out of a Sicilian
Nazdorf. The German hope or their best talent as he is sometimes referred to, was in a fix just when the game was out of known theoretical discussions and was outplayed in all its departments thereafter. This win as black could be important for Anand as he will play with white against Naiditsch in their next encounter scheduled on the final day. Should the Indian ace make a real comeback, he will have a great psychological advantage over Naiditsch in that game. Anand went for the kill after local hope erred in the middle game and allowed Anand’s forces to gain control on queenside where king was vulnerably placed. Middle game was fierce with both sides having go against opposition king’s. Anand, however, was first to strike and won a couple of pawns for his efforts. The rest was generally easy except that Naiditsch tried some drastic measures and was eventually left with his queen trapped in the middle of the board after 33 moves. The German resigned immediately.
— PTI |
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Sporting stun Bagan, enter final
Kolkata, August 5 During the tie-breaker, the fate of the defending champions was sealed when their medio Basudeb Mondal failed to convert a penalty. For Mohammedan Sporting, Husan Mustafi, Amandeep Singh, Amjad Ali Khan, Akbar Singh and Arjan Ali converted the penalties while Jose Baretto, Renedy Singh, Marcos Pereira and Sunil Chetry were successful for Mohun Bagan. The well-fought 122 first semifinal between the two local giants went goal-less even though the winners had to play 30 minute extra time with 10 players after their lone foreign recruit Nigerian Habib Adeadekunle was ordered off for committing repeated fouls two minutes from the scheduled 90 minutes. He was earlier flashed the yellow card in the mid-second half. Egged on by their supporters, who were in majority at the stands, Sporting siezed the early initiatives in the game, carrying out a number of combined assaults into the Bagan half. In the very first minute, medio Bungo Singh, the livewire of the Sporting mid-field throughout the tournament, moved into the box from the right to address a pass to Khaled Siddique, who shot wide. — Agencies
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IOA to start youth games next year Chandigarh, August 5 The disciplines chosen for the youth games are: athletics, basketball, badminton, fencing, football, hockey, kho-kho, lawn tennis, rifle shooting, swimming, taekwondo, volleyball, gymnastics, kabaddi, table tennis and wrestling (only boys). According to Mr K.S. Sidhu, secretary-general of the Punjab Olympic Association, teams which have secured top eight positions at the national championships would be eligible to participate. Mr Ravinder Talwar, secretary- general of the Chandigarh Olympic Association, the COA would like to bid for the second edition of the games as the hosts had the advantage of being allowed to lake part in all the disciplines irrespective of their position in the national championships. The cut-off age limit for these games is January 11,1985. Points will be awarded to every player on individual basis as well as team championship. In athletics, badminton, fencing, lawn tennis, rifle shooting, swimming and taekwondo, the gold medallist will get 10 points, the silver medallist five points while the bronze medallist will get two points. In team events such as badminton, basketball, fencing, football, hockey, kho-kho, lawn tennis and volleyball, the winning team will get 10 points while the runners-up will get six points. Third placed team will be given four points. In athletics, 16 best athletes in each track event and 12 each in field event of the previous national championship will be eligible. For relay races, the best eight teams of the previous national meets will be eligible. In badminton, there well be 16 seeded players in the boys section and 12 in the girls section, while in doubles, top eight pairs in both the boys and the girls sections will be eligible. In tennis, 12 seeded players of the AITA and two singles winners of previous nationals will get entry while in the team championship, eight teams,
which would qualify for the last eight in the nationals, will be eligible. In fencing, the first eight fencers in foil, epee and sabre event in the boys and the girls section will be eligible while in rifle shooting total of 190 shooters can take part in the events. The number of players allowed in team games are: basketball (12), football (18), hockey (16), kho-kho (12) and volleyball (12). |
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Coaches
wary of suspensions Patiala, August 5 Thanks to this action of SAI, termed as drastic by many, coaches are keeping their hands off top athletes as they fear they may have to face the music if any of their trainees returns a positive dope test in the future. Speaking about Jugraj Singh’s suspension Mr Ranjit Singh, secretary of the Punjab SAI Coaches Welfare Association said: “ Till the day he was suspended Jugraj was viewed as a throwing coach who was well versed with the finer points of the sport. Now his suspension, which is unwarranted, is being treated as a blot on his career.” Since the issue is sensitive in nature, not many coaches, attached to the senior national athletic camp being held at the NIS here, are willing to debate the matter openly. However, some of them expressed their views in the condition of anonymity. A senior coach said: “An athlete can not be put under round the clock surveillance. If he resorts to taking banned drugs keeping in view the huge cash incentives offered in various competitions, why should his coach be made a scapegoat?” Now not many coaches will be keen to put in that extra effort to train athletes. The rationale behind is that why should a coach exert much when he knows that instead of his contribution being recognised, he may be in for some punishment if even one of his trainees is caught using drugs. Moreover, since the salary paid to coaches is not performance linked, why should extra efforts be made? they ask. Another viewpoint is that by suspending coaches, SAI may be giving a clear signal that it means business in it’s efforts to eradicate the doping menace. A coach, who was earlier attached with the Indian squad, blamed the Hyderabad National games doping fiasco on the fat cash awards announced by the Andhra Pradesh (AP) Government. Keeping this in view, many athletes turned out for AP. The Member Secretary of the Anti Doping Commission, Dr Ashok Ahuja, refused to be drawn into the controversy and said that the issue was an “administrative matter and should be left as such.” |
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Prakash
India’s No 1 tennis player New Delhi, August 5 Amritraj is now ranked 319 with 96 points, a jump of 32 positions from last week’s ranking following his first round victory over Marat Safin in a $ 380,000 ATP event in Los Angeles. Bopanna, who suffered a first round loss in a $ 25,000 Challenger in Denver the same week, slipped four places to be at 325 with 95 points. Harsh Mankad is the third highest ranked Indian at 356 with 81 points. He improved by eight positions from his previous 364 after reaching the second round of Denver event. Leander Paes is ranked 988, with five points from one tournament played in the year so far. Amritraj so far has 2-4 win/loss record on the ATP Tour which comes from his competing in four events at Indianapolis, Los Angeles, New Port and Chennai.
— PTI |
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‘The
Romance of Indian Open’ released New Delhi, August 5 The book was released by
veteran golfer Rohtas Singh, who holds the distinction of winning over 100 professional tournaments titles over a span of 35 years, on the Hero Honda Indian Golf Tour. Former North Zone cricketer and national selector, Mr Akash Lal, spoke about the contribution made by Mr Wadhwaney to Indian sport and wished the book all the success. ‘The Romance of the Indian Open’ provides a detailed description of the genesis of the tournament, reports of the 40 Indian Opens held thus for and his observations on certain aspects of the game. The book also has an insight into the achievements of some of India’s golfing greats including the legendary Billoo Sethi the first and only golfer to win the tournament while still an amateur, two-time Indian Open winner, Ali Sher, and modern day stars like Jyoti Randhawa and Vijay Kumar. The book also talks of some of the most eminent personalities in Indian golf like Surendra Lall, Ms Sita Rawley, Dr Bharatram, Siddharth Shriram, Brandon de Souza and S.S. Bedi. In addition to this, there is a chapter on various golf courses in India. |
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Surjit
Academy sail into final Jalandhar, August 5 Surjit Academy trounced St Soldier School 5-1, while PNB Academy out classed PAP Academy 3-0 to enter the finals. In a high-voltage encounter, Surjit Academy team opened the account in the 23rd minute when Gurwinder Singh struck a beautiful field goal (1-0). St Soldier School scored an equaliser in the 28th minute when Harpreet Singh made no mistake in converting a penalty when Harpreet Singh made no mistake in converting a penalty corner. The score board read 1-1 at the lemon break. After the team’s re-entered the field, the pressure to take lead was clearly visible. The defence of the St Soldier School could not deter the onslaught of the academy lands for long as Gaganjit Singh scored a field goal in the 41st minute (2-1). Inderpal Singh, in the 44th minute, netted in the ball in to make it 3-1. The hopes of St Soldier School to enter the final were totally dashed when Gaganjit Singh shot home two consecutive field goals in the 60th and 69th minute, respectively. The final score was 5-1. Although St Soldier School managed six penalty corners, they fail to score. In another semi-final PNB Academy, Delhi ousted PAP Academy 3-0. The PNB Academy opened their account in the 16th minute when Vikas struck (1-0). The lead was increased when Rajendra made no mistake in converting the penalty corner to make it 2-0. The score till the half time was 2-0. PNB’s Rajendra completed the tally, scoring a field goal. |
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