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Aussie-Zimbabwe tie washed out
Sachin, Sehwag may play on Sunday |
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Kila Raipur festival from today
Punjab cops, PSB in final BBK DAV College
win in cricket
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Melbourne, January 29 Safin, whose world ranking plunged to 86 last year after an injury-plagued season, advanced to Sunday’s final after overcoming a brave Agassi fightback to win 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (8/6), 5-7, 1-6, 6-3 at the Rod Laver Arena. The 24-year-old’s thunderous serve and inspired groundstrokes proved too hot for four-time champion Agassi (33), who had not lost a match at the Australian Open since his 1999 fourth round exit. Safin, once touted as the greatest player of his generation after a victory over Pete Sampras in the 2000 US Open final and a 2002 Australian Open finalist, sent down 33 aces and 79 winners to overwhelm Agassi in three hours 42 minutes. Fourth seed Agassi was the fifth American opponent to fall victim at these championships to Safin, who had thrust himself into title contention with a five-set quarterfinal victory over world No 1 Andy Roddick. The victory was made all the more remarkable by the fact that Safin had come into the match weary from more than 15 hours of play, while Agassi was relatively fresh from just over seven hours on court. Safin will now play either Switzerland’s Roger Federer or Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain in what will be his third appearance in a Grand Slam final. Federer and Ferrero face each other on Friday. Safin’s remarkable victory overshadowed the women’s singles semifinals, which as expected saw world No 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne and Kim Clijsters set up a third all-Belgium Grand Slam final in seven months. Henin-Hardenne, who beat Clijsters in both the French and US Open finals last season, trounced Colombia’s 32nd seed Fabiola Zuluaga 6-2, 6-2. Second seed Clijsters, who played after passing a fitness test on her injured ankle, enjoyed a straight-sets win over 22nd seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland. Watched by fiance and Australian tennis star Lleyton Hewitt, Clijsters showed no sign of her ankle problem during a 6-2, 7-6 (7/2) win in one hour 14 minutes. Afterwards Clijsters said reaching the final in Melbourne, where fans have unashamedly embraced her as “Aussie Kim”, meant more to her than other Grand Slam final appearances. Henin-Hardenne and Clijsters are now contemplating their eighth meeting in a tournament final, the latest instalment of a rivalry which stretches back to their junior days in Belgium during the early 1990s. Henin-Hardenne, meanwhile, said she couldn’t wait for yet another shoot-out with Clijsters Henin-Hardenne, who dominated Zuluaga on the strength of her forehand and one-handed backhand, said she had struggled early in the tournament to live up to the expectations of being the top seed. — AFP
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Aussie-Zimbabwe tie washed out
Melbourne, January 29 Only a run-a-ball half century by one-day specialist Michael Bevan helped the world champions reach a competitive total after they had been reduced to 155 for five at one stage of the innings. Rains, that had caused a 45-minute interruption ealier during the Australian innings, visited again during the lunch break and never stopped thereafter. The match was called off by the umpires when there was no let-up in downpour after two hours’ wait. The teams shared three points each from the no result. The Africans now have six points and are left with one match against India on Tuesday at Perth in the round-robin. Australia now have 31 points and, with India (23), have already made it to the best-of-three finals. Earlier, Zimbabwe once again came up with a tidy bowling performance after captain Heath Streak won the toss and put Australia in to bat in overcast conditions. Streak’s men produced an inspiring cricket when they effected three run outs that took the wind out of the Australians’ sails. Streak himself picked two for 47 but Andy Blignaut was brilliant on the field, running out the dangerous Bevan and Ian Harvey besides taking a catch in the deep in the final over to dismiss Brett Lee. It was then Bevan’s workman like 56, including just three fours that gave the world champions a fighting total that had looked impossible after the top order had produced a listless performance. Damien Martyn broke his run of poor scores with a quickfire 42 that came from 40 balls with eight fours before he was snared by a Streak delivery that nipped back and struck him in front of the stumps. After Matthew Hayden (23) edged Hondo on to his stumps and Michael Clarke (11) misread an incoming delivery from Blessing Mahwire, Ricky Ponting and Ian Harvey added 42 runs for the fourth wicket that took Australia past the 100-mark. Scoreboard Australia: Hayden b Hondo 23 Martyn lbw b Streak 42 Ponting c Mahwire b Price 35 Clarke b Mahwire 11 Harvey run out 23 Bevan run out 56 Haddin b Streak 32 Hogg run out 0 Bichel not out 23 Lee c Blignaut b Ervine 3 Williams not out 0 Extras:
(lb-7, w-4, nb-4) 15 Total: (9 wkts, 50 overs) 263 Fall of wickets:
1-59, 2-69, 3-97, 4-139, 5-155, 6-213, 7-214, 8-252, 9-257. Bowling:
Streak 10-0-47-2, Blignaut 4-1-23-0, Hondo 4-0-35-1, Mahwire 6-1-35-1, Ervine 7-0-36-1, Flower 9-0-42-0, Price 10-0-38-1.
— PTI |
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West Indies succumb to Pollock
Port Elizabeth, January 29 Having restricted South Africa to 179 for seven on a tricky pitch, the West Indies were bowled out for 163 as South Africa won by 16 runs yesterday to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series. A last-wicket stand of 37 between Ravi Rampaul and Corey Collymore enabled the tourists to get close after their top order batting failed. Boeta Dippenaar held the South African innings together, making 81 on a slow pitch which gave help to both seam bowlers and spinners. Then Shaun Pollock produced a devastating opening burst, taking the first three wickets for 15 runs. West Indian hopes rested with skipper Brian Lara and vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan, but both men were needlessly run out as the tourists plunged to a near-hopeless position at 74 for five. Wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs was also run out. Batting conditions were far from easy, with mediocre lights adding to the problems posed by the pitch but it was another disappointing batting performance by the touring batsmen. “We threw it away by losing our wickets very carelessly,” said Lara. “Three run-outs lost us the game.”
South Africa Smith b Collymore 9 Gibbs c Chanderpaul b Dillon 10 Kallis c Collymoreb Rampaul 16 Dippenaar c Sarwan b Collymore 83 Rudolph c Rampaul b Gayle 14 Boucher c and b Hurley 5 Pollock b Collymore 26 Klusener not out 7 Peterson not out 0 Extras
(lb-2, nb-5, w-2) 9 Total (for 7 wkts in 50 overs) 179 FoW:
1-14, 2-20, 3-57, 4-103 Bowling: Dillon 10-0-26-1, Collymore 10-2-25-3, Smith 6-0-27-0, Rampaul 9-0-33-1, Hurley 9-0-42-1, Gayle 6-1-24-1. West Indies Gayle c Dippenaar b Pollock 9 Chanderpaul lbw b Pollock 2 Powell lbw b Pollock 15 Sarwan run out (Boucher) 12 Lara run out (Rudolph) 9 Smith lbw b Kallis 24 Jacobs run out (Gibbs) 15 Hurley b Kallis 5 Dillon lbw b Pollock 14 Rampaul c and b Klusener 24 Collymore not out 12 Extras
(lb-13, w-9) 22 Total (all out in 42.4 overs) 163 Fall of wickets:
1-4, 2-24, 3-29, 4-58, 5-74, 6-96, 7-104, 8-111, 9-126 Bowling:
Pollock 10-2-26-4, Nel 7-0-36-0, Ntini 10-3-25-0, Klusener 7.4-0-35-1, Kallis 6-1-21-2, Peterson 2-0-7-0.
— AFP
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Sachin, Sehwag may play on Sunday Perth, January 29 “Sachin is coming along nicely and progressing with his rehabilitation, he will be fine,’’ Leipus told reporters here. Tendulkar, who has rarely missed out on a match due to injury, sat out three in a row in the ongoing VB series due to an ankle injury. Leipus was also confident of Sehwag coming back into the side after recovering well from a shoulder strain. “Kumble would be left out of the two matches in Perth to rest his sore shoulder,’’ the physio added. India take on Australia on Sunday and Zimbabwe on February 3 at Perth in their final two league matches before heading for Melbourne to play the first of the best of three finals on February 6. The other two finals are slated for February 8 and 10. — UNI
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Bevan ruled out MELBOURNE:
Australia one-day specialist Michael Bevan has been ruled out of the rest of the triangular series against India and Zimbabwe with a fractured rib. Bevan, who made a run-a-ball half-century despite the problem in Thursday’s washed-out match against Zimbabwe is expected to be out for between two and six weeks.
—Reuters
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Kila Raipur festival from today Ludhiana, January 29 The board and lodging arrangements for the participants as well as the officials had been completed at various places in the village itself. The villagers are anxiously waiting to accord the traditional welcome and hospitality to their expected guests who would be visiting Kila Raipur during the festival, Mr Grewal said. Besides traditional rural discplines namely bullock cart races, tent pegging by Nihangs and Punjab Police personnel, tug of war, sack lifting, dare devil performance by motor cyclists of the police force, competition in regular events such as athletics, hockey, weightlifting, rifle shooting and kabaddi will be the main attraction of this three-day festival. Mr Grewal further said that the Amercian students from the Miri Piri Institute would the star attraction in the kabaddi matches and other events. In the track events, teams from Punjab Police, BSF, Punjab Sports Department Academy, Ludhiana, SAI Academy, Patiala, Kurukshetra, Hisar, Sirsa and Bilaspur had been invited to take part. The organisers, Grewal Sports Association has decided to honour a number of sportspersons for their achievements in the field of sports at various levels. They include, Balbir Singh (hockey), Parminder Singh (basketball), Sarwan Singh Bal
(kabaddi), Pritam Singh Kheri (bullock cart race) and Skinder Singh (camel race). Though, bullock cart time trial races were held today, the festival will be inaugurated tomorrow by Mr A A
Siddiqui, Director-General of Police, Punjab. Today’s bullock cart time trial race results were: Jagjit Singh
(Kila Raipur) 1, Major Singh (Hathoor) 2, Bhajan Ram (Kapoor Pind) 3, Pal Singh
(Mangli) 4, Jagtar Singh (Dhurkot) 5, Avtar Singh (Manakwal) 6, Amar Singh
(Sanaur) 7 and Rajbir Singh (Jhamat) 8. |
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New Delhi, January 29 This will be the second time in less then 10 days that these two teams will be facing each other in a final. Earlier, they played in the final of the DCM tournament at Kota which the bank men won. In a fast paced match, PSB took a 2-0 lead against Army XI by half time. Ajitpal Singh gave the bank men the lead in the eighth minute and Jatinder Pal Singh converted a penalty corner in the 25th minute to make it 2-0. Thirteen minutes into the second session Army XI reduced the margin when veteran Avtar Singh converted a penalty corner. A couple of seconds before the final whistle Ajitpal scored his second and PSB’s third goal to make it 3-1. The Punjab Police-IOC match failed to produce exciting hockey as both the teams displayed defensive tactics. — UNI
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BBK DAV College
win in cricket Amritsar, January 29 Playing first BBK DAV College scored 148 runs for the loss of nine wickets. Avneet contributed the maximum 67 runs. Ritu of HMV College took seven wickets. For the losers, Anureet and Manjeet contributed 33 and 25 runs, respectively. Naveem of BBK DAV College took three wickets and Saroj and Gurinder claimed one wicket each.
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