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Akhtar gets notice over ‘injury’
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Chowrasia catches up with Kahlon
Former Olympian Satyanarayan dead India move up one place in football
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Akhtar gets notice over ‘injury’
Lahore, April 23 “My client Babar Ali has served a legal notice on Akhtar over pretending injury in the decisive Test against India and over his reported nightclub bashes in India,” Babar’s lawyer Ansar Mahmood Bajwa told AFP. The fan demanded 100 million rupees (around $ 1.7 million) in damages within 15 days, and threatened to take the case to court if damages were not paid. Akhtar, the 28-year-old spearhead of Pakistan’s bowling attack, failed to play the third day of the final test against India on account of back and thumb injuries. India won the test and clinched their first ever Test series victory on Pakistani soil. Cricket authorities are questioning the authenticity of his injuries following a wrist X-ray which suggested there was no damage. Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan told the BBC the board had formed a four-member medical commission headed by an orthopaedic surgeon. “Akhtar pretended injury and let the whole nation down and then rubbed salt on the wounds with his off-field actions,” the lawyer alleged. Akhtar, who will feature for Durham county in the English season from next week, has denied faking injury. — AFP
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Sachin Tendulkar crosses another milestone today
Mumbai, April 23 Teammates and former players agree that the emergence of Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman as top notch batsmen is taking a good deal of pressure off him and the batting genius will be able to play more freely in the years ahead. Their rise is both an opportunity and a challenge for Tendulkar. No other international cricketer who made his debut before Tendulkar did in 1989 is still playing the game. “Someone told me to my surprise the other day that I am the senior-most international player,” he remarked recently. He has more Test centuries (33) and more one-day hundreds (37) than his age. He has scored 22,604 runs in both versions of the game and his hunger for runs remains undiminished. What will be the impact of the emergence of new batting stars on Tendulkar, has his batting changed over the years and become less exciting and how long is he likely to play for India? These questions were posed to a gallaxy of present and former cricketers and here are their responses.
I don’t know if his game has changed in the conventional sense but today he knows his game very well and also knows exactly when to accelerate. In that sense he is more solid now. He has many more years of good cricket still in him.
He was more flamboyant in his early years but Sachin today is an extremely difficult batsman to bowl to. If he gets into double figures, he more or less closes the options for the bowlers. If I were bowling to him, I would like to get him early before he gets set. Even though he might have scored 20,000 runs and 70 international hundreds, I easily give him six more years if not much more. I think he is good enough to last till he is 40.
If you do not change your game, the bowlers are going to catch you... Tendulkar has changed his game and is even more difficult for bowlers. He is on the rise at the moment. You are seeing the best part of him. You do get out a few times because sometimes the bowler has to win but Tendulkar has done really well and I think he is enjoying his cricket now more than what he was three or four years ago. He has set his own benchmarks, scoring 50 runs is not enough.
Sachin has also realised that he needs to stay in the middle to guide the youngsters so that they could be moulded into reliable batsmen for the future and it is their good fortune that they are being guided by a player of his status and a learning experience for them. I think the emergence of other batsmen has helped Sachin concentrate on other departments of the game. I don’t think the emergence of young batsmen is a challenge to Sachin.
His game has changed - he is more wiser and mature now. With experience he has learnt to choose his shots.
Obviously, one cannot be exciting all through his life. There are ups and downs in one’s performance due to vagaries and uncertainties of the game. However, there were others and he has never been exciting to the extent that both the print and electronic media have made it to be. He has not been carrying the burden. But in the public eye, yes, it has been made it to be so by the media. The emergence of others should motivate Tendulkar in a big way. There are seven others who have been performing well and naturally, it is a challenge to Tendulkar. How long can he continue depends on his consistency and physical fitness, besides attitude. Of course, there is an end to all good things at some time or the other.
I don’t think the emergence of players like VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh has had any affect on him. But the pressure has eased tremendously on Sachin. He can now go about his task a bit more freely and also be a guiding force to the youngsters when they come to bat along with him like he did in the first Test match against Pakistan at Multan when he guided Sehwag. He can take anything in his stride and nobody, not even the Wall (Dravid) can match him when it come to getting runs as the record shows it all. There is nothing more for Sachin to prove. The way he is playing, Sachin can continue as long as he is fit. Dilip Sardesai: Sachin has not changed his batting style. I personally don’t think he has changed his approach. One thing people should try to understand is that as you grow up you tend to eliminate all the risks. So is the case in cricket. Sachin has matured completely now and has eliminated whatever little risks were there in his batting which is good for Indian cricket. The burden of carrying the Indian batting since a decade has reduced as there are three or four other batsmen to support. Performing for India is always a pressure cooker situation but now the pressure is much less as he knows there are others whom the team can bank on even if the gets out early so naturally he is more at ease now then when he started off. I don’t think the emergence of new batsmen will affect his game in any way. Sachin is too good a batsman to see the emergence of another batsman as a challenge and if at all it affects him adversely it is a very good sign for the team as it will have only have positive effect and he will start plundering more runs. And what does Tendulkar himself thinks of the situation? “I have never through on these lines. I believe all 11 players and the whole team contributes to the victory. I have never felt that I am under some kind of pressure,” he said during the recent tour of Pakistan. — PTI
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Fed Cup: India beat Uzbekistan
New Delhi, April 23 India's fortune of reaching the semifinals (play-offs) will depend on the outcome of Indonesia-Korea match. Both the teams were tied at 1-1 with the deciding doubles match still remaining. A win for Indonesia will see India through while a loss will mean the end of the road for the hosts. Thailand and New Zealand have reached the semifinals as pool A winners and runners-up, respectively. In pool B, Indonesia have won all their three ties against Uzbekistan, Chinese Taipei and India and were taking on Korea today. Sania, who looked a pale shadow of herself in the first three matches, played an inspiring second singles to beat Akgul Amanmuradova 6-4, 6-2 and then teamed up with Manisha Malhotra to win the deciding doubles against the duo of Ivanna Isroilova and Vlada Ekshibarova 7-6 (21-19), 6-1 in a rain-interrupted match which lasted for almost two hours. Rain suspended play when the doubles match was tied at 6-6 (16-16). Sania overcame a scratchy start in both the sets which she trailed in the initial stages and delivered at the right time to clinch the all-crucial match in an hour and 15 minutes. In the first singles, Ankita Bhambri's great run in the tournament was halted by a strong Ivanna Isroilova of Uzbekistan who took little time in beating the Indian 6-4, 6-4. Trailing 0-1, Sania needed to shed her indifferent form and she did exactly that — serving with power and precision and attacking her opponent's serve to set up points for volleys. Once Sania's legs started moving and she found the rythm, there was no looking back for the junior Wimbledon champion as she broke her opponent five times — twice in the first set and thrice in the second. Sania had a scratchy start once again and was broken in the fourth game to trail 1-3. She squandered 10 breakpoints in the next game but came back with a bang, attacking Akgul's serve to break back in the seventh. She held her serve and broke the Uzbek in the ninth game and served for the match. Akgul fought back and brought the game to a deuce but Sania held her serve to close the set 6-4. In the second set, Akgul broke her early, in the second game, but Sania broke her in the very next game and in the fifth and seventh as the Uzbek girl lost all hope and surrendered meekly without a fight in the second set 6-4, 6-2. — UNI
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New Delhi, April 23 Sania, who looked a pale shadow of herself in her first three matches, overcame her scratchy start in both the sets which she trailed in the initial stages and delivered at the right time to clinch the all-crucial match in an hour and 15 minutes. A loss here would have meant end of the road for India. Sania, partnering Manisha Malhotra, takes on Ivanna and Akgul in the doubles tonight. In the first singles, Ankita Bhambri’s great run in the tournament was halted by a strong Ivanna Isroilova of Uzbekistan who took little time in beating the Indian 6-4, 6-4. Trailing 0-1, Sania needed shed her indifferent form and she did exactly that — serving with power and precision and attacking the opponent’s serve to set up the points for volleys. Once Sania’s legs started moving and she found the rhythm, there was no looking back for the junior Wimbeldon champion as she broke her opponent five times — twice in the first set and thrice in the second. Sania had a scratchy start once again and was broken in the fourth game to trail 1-3. She squandered 10 breakpoints in the next game but came back with a bang attacking Akgul’s serve to break back in the seventh. She held her serve and broke the Uzbek in the ninth game and served for the match. Akgul fought back and managed a deuce but Sania held her serve to win to close the set 6-4. In the second set, Akgul broke her early (in the second game), but Sania broke her in the very next game and in the fifth and seventh as the Uzbek girl lost all hopes and surrendered meekly without a fight in the second set 6-4, 6-2. — UNI
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Indian shooters way off mark at Athens
New Delhi, April 23 One of the brightest Olympic medal chances for India, Anjali
Bhagwat, finished 15th in the women’s 10m air rifle event, according to information received here today.
Suma
Shirur, who equalled the world record scoring 400/400 in the Asian Shooting Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in February this year, was tied with team-mate on the 15th position yesterday. Both of them returned identical rounds of 98, 98, 100 and 99 to total 395 in the preliminary round and were left out of the final. Only the top eight shooters in the preliminary round qualify for the finals. The eighth-placed markswoman had returned a score of 397. The third Indian in the fray Deepali Deshpande ended 38th with 392 points. Russia’s Tatiana Goldobina won the gold medal with a total score of 501.7. She shot 398 in the preliminary round and 103.7 in the final. In the men’s 10m air pistol event, former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Jaspal Rana finished 38th with a total of 574. Ronak Pandit was 60th with 566 while Samaresh Jung did not start.
— UNI
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Karthikeyan eyeing
season’s first win Zolder, Belgium, April 23 “I did well there the last time and it should be good for me again this year,” he said. “There’s been a long break since the last race and I’m really looking forward to getting back in the car.” Last year’s races were held in the rain and there’s a strong possibility that Sunday’s events could also be wet. Narain has proven his pace in slippery conditions, and led the first of last year’s wet races at Zolder. “The wet conditions are always a bit of a gamble, but I’m confident that we will have a good car. I really want to win the race this weekend. Two podium finishes is the least I’m looking for.” Testing is heavily restricted in the World Series and Narain and other drivers have not driven their machine since the opening round at Jarama last month. However, Narain will get a chance to put the RC Motorsport’s machine through its paces during a group test arranged by championship organisers RPM at Zolder. The Belgian track is a mixture of fast turns and slower, technically challenging corners. It also has a series of fast, spectacular chicanes. It’s a circuit that requires an aggressive approach, and traditionally rewards the best drivers, especially those who are quick in the rain. Locking wheels with Narain will be some well known Ex-F1 drivers, current F1 test drivers, Formula Nippon Champions, F3000 Champions, British F3 Champions and European F3 Champions each with a reputation to be envied.
— UNI
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Lleyton Hewitt goes down to Schuettler
Monaco, April 23
Hewitt, seeded 14 here, had come from a set down in the first round to beat France’s Julien Benneteau. He repeated the escape act, as well as saving two match points, against Gaston Gaudio of Argentina in the second round before finally coming up short against the German yesterday. “I had him but maybe I lost a little sharpness towards the end of the third set. I had a lot of opportunities,” said Hewitt. After levelling at one-set each, he led 3-0 in the final set and had a point to go 4-0 before Schuettler mounted his winning recovery after a pulsating 2hr 23min on court. “I didn’t have high expectations coming here. I needed to get some matches and get used to the clay surface and the mindset of playing on clay. “I wouldn’t have minded starting like I played in the second and third sets in the three matches here but that comes with playing on clay,” said Hewitt. Schuettler now faces Britain’s sixth seed Tim Henman who came back from a set down to defeat Chilean ninth seed Nicolas Massu 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. Henman was a semi-finalist here in 2002 beating Massu on the way but he got off to a disastrous start dropping serve four times in the first set. “I was struggling with my serve and had no rhythm but I didn’t want to dwell on dropping my serve four times,” said Henman. “Sometimes you can try too hard and I think Massu maybe puts himself under pressure by doing that.” Henman won his first ever Masters title in Paris last year and he believes that has contributed to him having a new attitude on court. “Paris was a big turning point. Before that I was getting very frustrated but the Paris result has changed my outlook. “I’m out there trying 100-per cent for every point. But in between, I’m going to relax and make sure I’m fresh for the next point.” Argentinian third seed Guillermo Coria and former world number one Marat Safin of Russia stayed on course for a semi-final showdown after both men also moved into the last eight. Coria clinched a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 win over Romania’s Andrei Pavel while Safin, battling his way back up the rankings after a 2003 decimated by a wrist injury, cruised past Australian veteran Wayne Arthurs 6-4, 6-2. Coria now faces fellow Argentinian David Nalbandian, the seventh seed while Safin, the Australian Open runner-up, faces Spain’s Alberto Martin. Nalbandian defeated the only French player left in the draw, Fabrice Santoro, 6-3, 6-2 while Martin won a gruelling three-set tussle with Agustin Calleri. Safin took just 67 minutes to wrap up victory allowing the 33-year-old Arthurs, who came into the main draw as a replacement for top seed Andy Roddick, just two break points in the entire match. “Arthurs is a difficult player for everyone to face on hard courts and on grass but on clay, it’s a different story, it’s too slow,” said the Russian. Coria, runner-up in 2003, is the highest seed left in the tournament following the withdrawal of top seed Roddick and the defeat of defending champion Juan Carlos Ferrero. Nikolay Davydenko of Russia reached his first career Masters quarter-final with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic. He will now play fifth seed and 1998 champion Carlos Moya of Spain who defeated Argentina’s Juan Ignacio Chela 6-4, 7-6 (7/4). —AFP
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Nyon (Switzerland), April 23 Zidane, the French and Real Madrid star, received 123,582 votes in a poll of users of UEFA’s web site _ www.uefa.com. Beckenbauer of Germany was next with 122,569 votes followed by Dutchman Cruyff with 119,332. Rounding out the top 10 were: Marco van Basten (Netherlands), Dino Zoff (Italy), Alfredo di Stefano (Spain), Eusebio (Portugal), Lev Yashin (earstwhile Soviet Union), Michel Platini (France) and Paolo Maldini (Italy). In the second 10 were: Ferenc Puskas (Hungary), Paolo Rossi (Italy), Ruud Gullit (Netherlands), Bobby Charlton (England), Lothar Matthaeus (Germany), Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Germany), Franco Baresi (Italy), Gerd Mueller (Germany), George Best (Northern Ireland) and Kevin Keegan (England). “Just to be in the top 20 is touching, it’s great,” Zidane told UEFA speaking from Madrid. “It is extraordinary to be voted one of the best European players of the post 50 years.” The vote was part of UEFA’s 50th anniversary celebration. Zidane, 31, won the World Cup with France in 1998 and added the 2000 European championship. — AP
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Chowrasia catches up with Kahlon Chandigarh, April 23 Four time Order of Merit winner Mukesh Kumar ( Mhow) and Asian PGA Tour star Amandeep Johl( Chandigarh) were tied fourth at six-under 210, with Delhi’s Ashok Kumar occupying the seventh position at 212. Today Chowrasia settled into a beautiful rhythm, which saw him keep Kahlon in sight till the fag end and finally caught up with the overnight leader on the 16th to set up a thrilling final round encounter. Chowrasia’s round started rather disastrously with a three-putt bogey. On the very next hole, the diminutive golfer three-putted once again but escaped with par. ‘‘I have been wary of short putts all week long. The longer ones surprisingly have found the cup,’’ Chowrasia had said after the second round. It must have come as a relief to him therefore when he sank a six-footer for birdie on the fourth so much so that he celebrated by chipping in to birdie the following holes as well. As a bogey on the seventh saw him return a front nine card of level-par. Kahlon at that stage was placed two strokes ahead. His back nine brought Chowrasia birdies on the 12th, 13th and 16th interspersed by a bogey on the 15th. ‘‘I plan to play percentage golf tomorrow,’’ said the 25-year old who shot a two under 70 today. ‘‘I don’t care even if I lose. The focus must be on maintaining my rhythm. The rest will take care of itself,’’ he added. India Cements sponsored Kahlon had a reasonably uncomplicated round with birdies on the eighth and 12th and a lone bogey on the 15th in a round of 71. ‘‘I had an average day with the driver,’’ said the defending champion. ‘‘It had more to do with luck as I was hitting it pretty well. Just that on a few holes, my ball found rather difficult lines to the right and left of the fairway,’’ added the Oil India employee. ‘‘That I managed to play one under proves that the form is still there. Tomorrow, I will go for a win,’’ he added. Harinder Gupta was pretty composed with a round of 69. The amateur played his front nine to par but went on to birdie the 11th, 13th and 17th holes on his return journey. Asked if there was any pressure on him, Harinder replied in the negative. ‘‘I just concentrated on reaching the greens in regulation and making two putts. I will do the same tomorrow. If they play aggressive golf, chances are one of them will win, but they could also drop shots so the ball is in their court,’’ smiled the 20-year old, who if he wins tomorrow will become the first amateur to win a professional event on the Hero Honda Golf Tour. Scores (after 54 holes): Harmeet Kahlon (68+66+71=205), Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (67+68+70=205), Mukesh Kumar (67+75+68=210), Amandeep Johl (70+68+72=210), Ashok Kumar (74+72+66=212), Yusuf Ali (71+72+71=214), Shiv Prakash ( 71+71+72=214), Sanjay Kumar (73+74+68=215), Feroz Ali (72+74+69=215), Rahil Gangjee (72+72+71=215), Bhoop Singh (71+72+72=215), Uttam Mundy (70+71+74=215), Gurbaz Mann (70+69+76=215).
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Former Olympian Satyanarayan dead
Jamshedpur, April 23 A former national record holder for two decades in long-jump (24.5ft), Satyanarayan leaves behind his wife, three sons and a daughter. A former policeman in Andhra Pradesh before he switched over to Southern Railway, Satyanarayan had joined Tata Steel in 1963 after he represented the country in the 1960 Rome Olympic Games. He was also a member of the Indian contingent in the 1964 Olympics held in Tokyo where ‘Flying Sikh’ Milkha Singh was also a member of the Indian team. — PTI
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India move up one place in football New Delhi, April 23 The Indian team, who were humiliated by Oman in the Olympics qualifiers in Kochi last month, had plunged to its worst ranking of 140 last month. Since December 2003, when the nation was placed 127th, India have dropped 12 places. In the new list, Iran, placed 17th, have replaced South Korea, 20, as Asia’s top team. Japan, whom India face next in the World Cup qualifiers, rated 26th, comes next. The top three rankings remained unchanged with Brazil, France and Spain occupying the prime spots. — PTI
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New Delhi, April 23
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