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Zimbabwe to play for pride Tendulkar to play at Perth
Agassi, Roddick enter quarter-finals
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Padma Shri for
Anju,Tirkey, Ganguly Reversion may
affect sportspersons’ morale, says Ganesh Anand retains title Brazil football legend Silva is no more Sports kit distributed
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Adelaide, January 25 Zimbabwe, winless in five outings of the triangular series so far, are already out of contention for a berth in the best-of-three-finals but they would play for pride and to prove yet again that they are no pushovers. Australia with 23 points from five matches and India with as many from one match more are poised to face off in the finals, the first of which is slated to begin on February 6 at Melbourne. Zimbabwe are languishing at the bottom of the table with just two points. But the African minnows showed their potential in ample measure here yesterday as they came close to stage an upset win against India before faltering in the final over to suffer a narrow three-run defeat. However, the fact that they were pitted against a depleted Indian eleven would not be lost on the Zimbabweans who run into a ruthless Australia on their National Day. Australia have largely looked their part in the series with just one defeat but also showed a rare vulnerability, especially against India. Against Zimbabwe, however, they hope to run over and maintain the winning momentum before breaking into Australia Day celebrations. Zimbabwe started the series miserably but have gradually improved and their captain Heath Streak would look up to his boys to register the elusive win. Streak said he wanted his boys to “feel the hurt” of losing a close game and press for victory in the remaining three league matches, including the tie tomorrow. “In a way, you want your guys to feel hurt and try and win more matches. We need just that one per cent extra to be a better team. We must learn to cross the line,” said Streak. Australia were almost in a similar tight position against India on Thursday at Sydney but survived the pressure to win off the penultimate ball when Brett Lee hit a sixer. The champions would not like the game to stretch to the wire again tomorrow as they would like to preserve their energies for India. They have already announced that they would rest explosive opener Adam Gilchrist who would be replaced by Brad Haddin. The other opener Matthew Hayden has had his rest already and would return to the squad tomorrow. Zimbabwe would take heart from the form of middle-order batsmen Stuart Carlisle and Sean Ervine both of whom hit centuries against India but their top order remains a big worry for the skipper. “It feels good that number four and five batsmen were able to get centuries but we are still not getting the start we want. We lost early wickets and were always playing the catch-up thereafter,” admitted Streak. For Ponting the worry would be the middle-order as they lost a couple of quick wickets cheaply and also failed to build up substantial partnerships thereby allowing things to drift away against India. But Ponting promised an improved performance saying “the cricket we have played all summer has been outstanding. It can’t get tougher but we would have to lift our game... If we start getting those partnerships, we would be even harder to beat.” Zimbabwe’s bowling was not outstanding against India as they allowed them to pile up 280 runs despite reducing them to four for three at one stage. But they did well in restricting them to a score inside the 300-run mark and were overall good in the field as well barring a missed run-out chance and a dropped catch off the in-form VVS Laxman. For Australia Brett Lee is yet to regain his top form but his match-winning six did redeem him to some extent and with Ponting’s unflinching faith in the tearaway fast bowler, he is all set to take the field tomorrow before a huge holiday crowd on account of Australia Day. Teams (from): Zimbabwe: Heath Streak (captain), Vusi Sibanda, Grant Flower, Stuart Carlisle, Tatenda Taibu, Andy Blignaut, Sean Ervine, Raymond Price, Douglas Hondo, Travis Friend, Dion Ebrahim and Stuart Matsikenyeri. Australia: Ricky Ponting (captain), Brad Haddin, Damien Martyn, Matthew Hayden, Michael Bevan, Andrew Symonds, Michael Clarke, Andy Bichel, Brett Lee, Brad Hogg, Brad Williams and Jason Gillespie. — PTI
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Tendulkar to play at Perth Canberra, January 25 “I would not be playing this game (against Prime Minister’s XI) but I should be fit for Perth,” said Tendulkar. The batting star’s announcement should come as a big relief to the Indian team management, more so to captain Saurav Ganguly who has struggled to keep the bunch going through a difficult campaign in the last week.
— PTI |
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Waugh ‘Australian of the Year’
Canberra, January 25 “I have said before what a great privilege it is to represent your country, this award takes this privilege to a new and totally unbelievable level for me,” Waugh said. “In accepting I hope the award will help the focus on me to be about more than just cricket. If it is meant as a recognition in some way of the other work I’ve done in the community in Australia and in India then I am grateful indeed.” Waugh’s work in India is at the Udayan orphanage, which is a home for the children of people with leprosy. He is the third Test captain to be
named Australian
of the Year upon retirement, joining Mark Taylor (1999)
and Allan Border (1989). Waugh retired earlier this month after a
four-Test series against India. Howard’s announcement was timed to
coincide with
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Agassi, Roddick enter quarter-finals
Melbourne, January 25 Four-time winner and fourth seed Agassi overcame spirited resistance from Thailand’s hero Paradorn Srichaphan, seeded 13, to prevail in just over two hours, winning 7-6 (7/3), 6-3, 6-4 on the Rod Laver Arena centre court. “The only time I played Paradorn before was at Wimbledon where he beat me so I came out here with a lot of respect for his firepower,” said Agassi, who will now play Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean in Tuesday’s quarter-finals. “So I had to make sure I was dictating play and not backing off.” US Open champion Roddick may be ranked the world best player, but the 21-year-old from Nebraska insisted four-time Agassi remains the player to beat after ripping through Dutchman Sjeng Schalken 6-1, 6-2, 6-3. “Kind of like when Pete (Sampras) went on his big Wimbledon runs, I think it’s Andre’s title until someone takes it away from him,” said Roddick, who is seeded to meet Agassi in the semi-finals. Roddick uncorked 14 aces during his 1hr 19min win at an overcast and cloudy Melbourne Park and said afterwards he feels he is improving as the tournament progresses. “I feel like I’m getting better each match out there,” said Roddick. “I felt really good from the baseline out there. I feel solid right now.” Roddick now faces a mouthwatering quarter-final with Russia’s former world number one Marat Safin, the 2000 US Open champion whose world ranking has slipped to 86 after an injury plagued 2003. Safin downed James Blake of the USA 7-6 (7/3), 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3 in a thrilling three-hour tussle that hinged on a miraculous rally in the eighth game of the fourth set. Safin’s racquet flew out of his hand after he had struck a desperate lunging backhand volley as Blake attempted to put a forehand away to save a break point. But Blake’s remarkable shot looped up over Safin and the Russian broke before holding serve for victory. In the women’s draw, Belgian top seed and world number one Justine Henin-Hardenne survived a scare in the second set against Italian qualifier Mara Santangelo before winning 6-1, 7-6 (7/5). But it was another unconvincing performance from last year’s US and French Open champion, who again looked vulnerable with only a 45 per cent accuracy rate on first serve. Santangelo had froze to lose the first set in just 28 minutes after suffering three service breaks against Henin-Hardenne, who will now play fifth-seeded rival Lindsay Davenport in the last eight. However Henin-Hardenne stumbled in the second set and found herself 1-3 down after suffering her first service break before recovering to win. “It was a big fight in the second set,” Henin-Hardenne said. “I’ll have to raise my level a little bit more in the next round if I want to keep going in this tournament.” But I’m in the quarter-final and that’s the most important thing.” In other women’s matches, Henin-Hardenne’s old rival Davenport, seeded five, enjoyed her best match of the tournament to dispatch Russia’s Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 6-3 in just 47 minutes. Davenport, the 2000 Open champion, had too much experience for the Russian 11th seed, belting 19 winners and scoring four service breaks as her opponent’s game dissolved in a sea of unforced errors. Davenport said afterwards she was revelling in her role as underdog after an injury-plagued 2003. “I kind of deserve to be an underdog,” Davenport said after her win. “I didn’t play the full season last year and wasn’t able to play during the best part of my year. “But it’s a great start to the year for me, and I wouldn’t really have expected it to start off this well and have the wins that I’ve had. It’s been pleasantly surprising,” the 27-year-old American added. French fourth seed Amelie Mauresmo kept her Australian Open dream alive by out-muscling home-town hope Alicia Molik 7-5, 7-5 and now plays Colombian 32nd seed Fabiola Zuluaga in the quarter-finals. Mauresmo, the 1999 finalist, has never won a Grand Slam title and believes this could be her year after defending champion Serena Williams and a clutch of former winners all withdrew before the tournament. Zuluaga, meanwhile, who had never gone beyond the third round at a Grand Slam before this year’s Open, secured her quarter-final berth with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Hungary’s Aniko Kapros. — AFP
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Bhupathi-Mirnyi
duo in q-finals
New Delhi, January 25 The duo will take on fifth-seeded French pair of Michael Liodra and Fabrice Santoro in the quarters. In the mixed doubles, however, Bhupathi, paired with Elena Likhovtseva of Russia and second seeded, could not keep the momentum and lost in an exhausting first round match. Bhupathi-Likhovtseva were upset by the unseeded pair of Jeff Coetzee (RSA) and Tina Krizan (SLO) 7-6 (7/5) 4-6 7-6 (10/8) in a long-drawn match. Leander Paes and Martina Navratilova, the fourth seeds, are scheduled to play Lucas Arnold of Argentina and Angelique Widjaja of Indonesia in the second round.
— PTI |
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Padma Shri for Anju,Tirkey, Ganguly
New Delhi, January 25 Ganguly is among the most successful Indian captains and holds the record for the second highest one-day centuries in the world and placed sixth in the list of run-getters in one-dayers. Under his stewardship, India reached the finals of the World Cup in Johannesburg on March 23 last year. He also holds the Indian record for most number Test wins along with former captain Mohammed Azharuddin. Vice-captain Dravid, known as “the rock” is currently one of the best Test batsmen in the world and was named “man-of-the series” in the recently concluded drawn Test series against Australia in December. Anju B. George created history by becoming the first Indian athlete to win a medal at the World Championship. She won the bronze in the long jump event in Paris last year. Ace-defender Tirkey, successfully led India to Afro-Asian Games gold and was the Indian captain at the Asian Games. — UNI
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Reversion
may affect sportspersons’ Chandigarh, January 25 The former India captain, who was in Chandigarh today to attend the marriage of former hockey international Surjit Singh's daughter, Inderpreet, was reacting to reports that several renowned sportspersons who had won laurels at home and abroad were facing reversion in their parent organisation, Punjab Police. "The authorities concerned must realise that sports is a unifying force which instills national discipline and hence needs all encouragement. Moves like reversion of sportspersons are bound affect their morale and with the Olympics scheduled to be held later this year, the consequences of such a move could be disastrous," said Ganesh, the youngest player to lead India in international hockey at the age of 26 years. The former Olympian, who captained India in the 1973 World Cup where incidentally the late surjit Singh emerged as the top scorer with nine goals, said in foreign countries sportspersons were receiving handsome salaries. " A country's progress can be measured in terms of its achievements in the sports arena and hence all efforts should be directed at encouraging sports and sportspersons," Ganesh said. Born on July 8, 1946, MP Ganesh represented India in two World Cups (1971, 1973); Asian Games ( 1970, 1974) and the Munich Olympics in 1972. During his short international career of six years, he played over 100 matches and quit hockey at the age of 26 years. Referring to India's disastrous showing at the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament in Malaysia last month, he questioned the decision to field a second string team in the prestigious tourney. "When other countries had fielded full strength teams, we too should have sent a strong
team in view of the forthcoming engagements. Now with the Olympic qualfiers billed for March, the results of the Azlan Shah tourney are bound to affect the morale of the team who only last year had achieved success not only on the tour Down Under but also in the Asia Cup and the Afro-Asian Games." Regarding preparations for the Athens Olympics, Ganesh said the Government of India, Indian Olympic Association, and all other agencies were coordinating their efforts to ensure that India's performance was not found lacking on any front. "We are monitoring financial and training requirements and every effort will be made to ensure that the sportspersons are fit to take on the best in world competitions," he said. Dr MP Ganesh, who has done his P.hd in hockey, came all the way from Coorg in Karnataka to attend the wedding of the daughter of his former team-mate Surjit Singh, who died in a road accident almost two decades back. Incidentally, Chanchal Surjit Singh, widow of Surjit Singh, is currently Deputy Director, Sports, Punjab. Among those present at the wedding were Punjab's Minister for Sports, Mr Jagmohan Singh Kang, former international Sukhbir Singh Grewal, former Director Sports, Col Raminder Singh, and a host of dignitaries.
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Wijk Aan Zee, January 25 Anand tallied 8.5 points from 13 rounds with five wins, seven drawn and one loss. As he entered the final round against Sokolov, Anand needed just a draw to ensure a share of the title. Michael Adams and Peter Leko both needed to score wins to join Anand at the top. While Adams played a 25-move draw against the Russian champion, Peter Svidler, Peter Leko, with black pieces, was still engaged in a battle with Vladimir Kramnik at the time of writing this report. Earlier in the 12th round, Anand's unbeaten record at Corus since 1998 was brought to an end by Bulgarian Veselin Topalov in the penultimate round. Anand, who had led virtually through the tournament still maintained his lead, but with one round to just a slender half, as two players, Peter Leko and Michael Adams chased him hard. Anand's defeat also brought his streak of 70 unbeaten games at Corus to an end. Anand's last loss at Corus was to Judit Polgar back in 1998. Before Anand's loss to Topalov, Peter Leko had already finished his short 19-move draw against Evegeny Bareev from a French Rubinstein. Michael Adams joined Leko in the second slot as he scored a fine win over Jan Timman in 48 moves from a sicilian rauzer game.
— UNI
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Brazil football
legend Silva is no more
Rio de Janeiro, January 25 ‘‘With Leonidas’ death, Brazil has lost the pioneer of our world-class strikers,’’ said national coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, who was a friend of Da Silva. ‘’Without him, perhaps there would never have been a Pele or Zizinho.’’ Born on September 6, 1913, in a poor district of Sao Paulo, Da Silva also earned the nickname ‘’Rubber Man’’ for his acrobatic kicks, including the upside-down overhead kick. ‘‘Most of the time, Leonidas just couldn’t be stopped,’’ said Oberdan Catani, a goalkeeper who faced Da Silva. ‘’He was the terror of all goalies. But he wasn’t so well-known because there was no television at the time and not as much marketing back then.’’
— DPA |
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Sports kit distributed Sangrur, January 25 Speaking on the occasion, Mr Khanna he said that Sangrur had the distinction of producing world fame runner Sunita Rani, Asian champion boxer Kaur Singh, Arjuna awardee world famous snooker player Alok Kumar. He urged the youth to follow in their footsteps and distance themselves from intoxicants.— OSR |
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Canberra, January 25
Chandigarh, January 25
Wijk Aan Zee, January 25
