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Indian colts toy with Bangladesh
India beat S. Africa in
men’s hockey
Fate of Miandad, Haroon
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Tendulkar celebrates birthday with family Mumbai, April 24Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar today celebrated his 31st birthday with family members at his Bandra residence. 
In video: Indian team
wishes Sachin Tendulkar on his 31st birthday, saying the Indian superstar remained a treat to watch, when in full flow.
(28k,
56k)Sachin’s gesture Rahul Dravid sees bright future for Indian cricket team
Thailand tame India in Fed Cup Indian shooters way off mark
Harinder is Hero Golf champ Sunny Sidhu
maintains lead Tollygunge earn vital point Judo squad for Asian meet
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Indian colts toy with Bangladesh
Karachi, April 24 India romped home with a comfortable 10-0 win over neighbours Bangladesh in Group B, while Koreans had to ward off a spirited first half challenge from Chinese Taipei to emerge 8-2 winners in Group A. India plays Malaysia in its last Group B league encounter while Korea lock horns with hosts Pakistan to decide the winners of Group A tomorrow. Winger Prem Kumar scored a hat-trick for India with goals in the 1st minute, 29th and 52nd minute against a much improved Bangladesh side. Penalty corner expert Sandeep Singh took his tally to a dozen in the tournament, with strikes in the 42nd and 46th minutes while skipper Sandeep Michael (3rd minute), Girish Pimpale (7th), Birender Lakra, Vivek Gupta (44) and Hari Prasad (48th) scored a goal each. “Six field goals prove that we do not depend on Sandeep alone and we would go all out in our last game because we don’t want to avoid any team nor we would like to chose our opponents in the semis,” said Indian coach Harender Singh in his post match comments. In the day’s first match, Chienese Taipei’s Tu-Chang Lee struck twice in the 14th and 20th minute to surprise the Koreans who had taken the lead through a 7th minute goal of Sung Kweon Hong. Korea, winner of last edition at Kuala Lumpur’s Bukit Jalil Complex four years ago, however, scored seven goals in the second period to cut their opponents to size. Jong Hyun Jang converted two penalty corners in the 38th and 42nd minute and then it was the turn of skipper Eun Seong Hong who fired two field goals in the 45 and 46th minute. Min Ho Yoo struck twice in the 47th and 66th minutes while two minutes from time Yong Hwan Kim completed the tally to take Koreans into the last four. — PTI
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India beat S. Africa in
men’s hockey Sydney, April 24 India would again meet South Africa tomorrow at the Hambush Olympic Park to decide the third spot. In today’s other match, Australia cruised to an easy 5-1 win over Malaysia. The two teams would clash again in the final tomorrow. Though South Africa took a 1-0 lead in the 15th minute through Greg Nicol, India restored parity within four minutes when Deepak Thakur found the target. Star striker Gagan Ajit Singh then put India ahead in the 27th minute.
Changing ends, Nicol struck again for South Africa to level the score at 2-2 in the 48th minute.
— PTI |
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Sehwag
leaves scribes fuming
New Delhi, April 24 The invitation to the “only media interaction with Virender and Arti’’ left the reporters fuming. The fact that came to light during the course of the five-minute cameo was that no public address system had been installed. It was only after a rope, used as a security line, was removed that some journalists could get to the makeshift dias and hear the couple mumble some lines.
— UNI
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Fate of Miandad, Haroon hangs in balance
Islamabad, April 24 “The PCB chairman had called a two-day in-house meeting to discuss the performance of the team in the series against India and other important matters. But due to the sad demise of the father of Chief Executive Officer Rameez Raja, it has been decided to now call these key meetings after first week of May,” local media today quoted a board officials as saying. The official, however, said Shaharyar has instructed to issue advertisements from next week for the position of a qualified fitness trainer. “A week’s time will be given for prospective candidates from within Pakistan and abroad to submit their CVs and applications with the board and a decision on the appointment of a new fitness trainer would also be announced in mid-May.” The decision to invite applications from qualified fitness trainers means virtually the end of the road for Dr Tauseef Razzak, who left the squad after the second Test. The source also disclosed that Shaharyar had until now given no hint about his plans on Miandad and Haroon and whether to make other key appointments like that of a fielding and bowling coach. “The interesting thing is that in the last two days in the board, the Chairman has thrown up names of foreign coaches like Dav Whatmore and Geoff Marsh to gauge the general reaction to such an idea. But he does not appear in favour of changing Miandad or Haroon at this stage,” the source said. The source said one of the senior board official had discussions with former Australian batsman Dean Jones for a coaching assignment with the Pakistan team when he was here recently as a commentator for the India series, but the idea was widely shot down and mainly by the chairman. “Shaharyar’s perception was that in the first place Jones was not a qualified coach like Bob Woolmer or Dav Whatmore and, secondly, even if he was hired it should be as assistant to Miandad,” the source added. However, understandably Miandad is said to be unhappy with the fact that while the board has gone ahead immediately after the India series and confirmed Inzamam as captain, it is delaying announcements on the coach and manager creating suspense and giving rise to speculations. But the source said Miandad should not be too worried because what Shaharyar was doing was gauging the public opinion about his role as coach and his contribution to the team in the past one year. — PTI
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Tendulkar celebrates birthday with family
Mumbai, April 24 The maestro, who cut a cake and gave a piece of it to his wife, Anjali, said, “I am really surprised that each year April 24 is made out to be an event by my fans. It is a great feeling and I will take this opportunity to thank them”. Tendulkar also made it clear that he wanted to celebrate the occasion only with his family. Meanwhile, “The Tendulkar’s”, the restaurant owned by him, is offering 31 per cent reduction on all types of food to celebrate Sachin’s birthday. “We want to make it a special day for our customers who decide to dine with us today and hence we are offering 31 per cent reduction,” a restaurant staffer said. “Last year, Sachin was here and we celebrated his birthday at the backdoor kitchen. But this year, we are told that he will not be coming as he wants to be with his family,” he said. At Indore, the maestro’s birthday was celebrated by Sachin Tendulkar Fans Club at Rajwada. Besides cutting a cake, the fans distributed ‘laddoos’ on the occasion, club president Manish Dave and secretary Dharmendra Sharma said. The fans made up for the absence of the maestro at the celebration by carrying large posters of Tendulkar. — PTI
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Sachin’s gesture MUMBAI:
Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar took time off on Friday to visit a nine-year-old cancer-stricken Pakistani girl, now in a hospital here undergoing treatment. He visited Huba Chinna at the hospital and said his prayers were with the family of the afflicted girl.
— PTI
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Rahul Dravid sees bright future for Indian cricket team New Delhi, April 24 “Playing in the Samsung Cup (India-Pak cricket series) was a dream and it went off well. We got the result we needed”, Dravid said, at a function, hosted by Samsung India, the title sponsor of the India-Pak series, to felicitate “Team India”. “It was the best series of my career”, Dravid proclaimed. Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Mohammed Kaif, Ashish Nehra, Irfan Pathan and Parthiv Patel were present at the function. Two key members of “Team Samsung” — Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan — were, however, missing. Sehwag got married on March 22, and would be hosting a reception for his Indian team colleagues late this evening. However, the two new recruits of Samsung — Irfan Pathan and Parthiv Patel — basked in the limelight. Dravid, speaking from the heart, said the Pakistan tour was an overwhelming experience as the fans of both the countries made the series a captivating affair. He said the sponsorship money that came from the tour would not only benefit the top players, but would also percolate down to the grass-root level for the overall growth of cricket. He said the series was the most widely-watched cricket series, and one of the best series ever played. Dravid, when asked why the Indian team rushed out through the “backdoor” on their arrival at the Indira Gandhi international airport in New Delhi from Pakistan, clarified that the team did not take such a decision, but someone else obviously did on their behalf seeing the chaos and commotion outside the arrival terminal as a large number of people had turned up to receive the team. Dravid also asserted that he had no problem handing over the captaincy baton to Saurav Ganguly in the third and final Test at Rawalpindi “as I knew that I was only doing the job of a stand-in (when Ganguly got injured), and I was taking it match by match”. He said he was happy to have Saurav back to take over the reigns of captaincy in the crucial third Test. Dravid observed that the present squad “have grown as a team and raised the bar of the game. We have improved in the last 4-5 years”. He said the last four years have been the most fruitful phase of his career and the team have a bright future ahead. Regarding his decision to declare the Indian innings early in the first Test before Sachin Tendulkar could get the six runs needed to complete his double century, Dravid parroted the same reply he had been mouthing ever since, that he took the decision keeping in mind the overall interest of the team, as the match was likely to be clinched on the fourth day itself. But he asserted that it was “absolutely not an issue with the team. We respect each other too much (Dravid and Sachin) for the issue to linger on”. On the ticklish question of his continuing to don the gloves and then shouldering the responsibility of building up the innings in one-day internationals, Dravid admitted that “in the long run, we need to
look at a regular wicket-keeper and a batsman”. But he added that Parthiv Patel had shaped up well during the Pakistan series, and the team management would decide about a regular wicket-keeper for the ODIs in the coming season. “Hopefully, Parthiv will be able to fill the void”, Dravid stated. The “most successful Indian vice-captain” said he did not attach much importance to the reported statement of Pakistan coach Javed Miandad that the likes of Irfan Pathan could be found in “every gully of Pakistan”. “Miandad had high praise for Irfan. I did not hear or see any footage of him speaking against Irfan”, Dravid disclosed. Young pace bowling sensation Irfan Pathan said his credo was that “whatever you do, work hard. But if you do not get the results you desire, work harder”. On the need to have a bowling coach, now that Pathan and Balaji have emerged as the strike bowlers of the country, the pace sensation said it was upto the team management to take a decision on this. Pathan said he and Balaji had their own personal coaches, but admitted that “we still have to learn a lot.” Anil Kumble, who joined the Indian squad only for the Test series, said he went to Pakistan with a lot of “fixed opinion about Pakistan”. But he was happy to note that his notions were corrected on landing in Pakistan as the “place was different and the people were very friendly and hospitable. They went out of their way to make us feel comfortable. It was an eye-opener”. When asked whether he would want his son to become a leg-spinner or a fast bowler, Kumble remarked, with tongue firmly in cheek: A batsman! But on a series vein, Kumble said he wanted his son, just three weeks old, to “become a good human being”, above everything else. “Team Samsung”, in a magnanimous gesture, carried out an auction of the players’ memorabilia to raise Rs 10 lakh for the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for the Disabled (NCPEDP) last night. The cheque was handed over to NCPEDP executive director Javed Abidi, who himself is confined to a wheel-chair. The funds will go towards providing scholarships for disabled youth in the country. Dravid, Nehra and Kumble all parted with their precious collections to raise the funds. Dravid donated his souvenior of the fourth ODI at Lahore, Nehra donated his T-shirt worn during the first ODI at Karachi and Kumble gave away the ‘wicket’ of his 10-wicket haul against Pakistan in New Delhi in the 1999 series. |
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Thailand tame India in Fed Cup New Delhi, April 24 The difference in standards between the two teams were all too embarrassing as first Suchanan Viratprasert subdued Sania Mirza 7-6 (7/3) 6-1 and then world number 54 Tamarine Tanasugarn had a cake walk against Rushmi Chakravarthy 6-0 6-1 in the singles. The inconsequential doubles match was cancelled. Captain Enrico Piperno said he was “very satisfied” with the team’s performance this week. “I am very satisfied. Ankita (Bhambri) winning three matches, and given the team we had and the injuries, I think we had a great week,” he said. Piperno played Rushmi for the first time this week. With the Chennai girl being the highest ranked in the Indian team, that meant Sania was the number two player today. “I gambled. I hoped Sania to win and to take it to the doubles. Unfortunately, Sania played well in patches. She did not capitalise on the chances she had in the first set. “At this level, if you don’t take them early they won’t come in the end. Suchanan did not make any unforced errors,” the captain said. Sania had two break points in the second game in the first set. She had one more in the fourth and sixth each but failed to convert any of them. The 17-year old Hyderabadi also missed out on five break point opportunities in the opening game of the second set. Suchanan, fresh from a $ 25,000 win in Vietnam last week, was scratchy to begin with. But when the Indian committed a double fault to open the seventh game, the Thai girl sensed an opportunity and quickly shifted gears to break Sania and go up 4-3. That was a feature of Suchanan, who is not knew to the Indian circuit and had won a couple of ITF titles before. Her forehands were smooth and she handled the crucial points with great calm. The only phase when the Indian played some solid tennis was in the tenth game of the first set when she showed some consistency in her ground strokes to break back. But her fluctuating form dipped in the tiebreak where the Thai raced to a 5-0 lead and took the set easily.
— PTI
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New Delhi, April 24 But Mansher’s scores in the first four rounds, where he shot 21, 19, 22 and 19, had already done the damage as he failed to make it to the final. Mansher had scored 119 in the preliminary round at Cairo before shooting 23 in the final for a total of 142. His colleagues Anwer Sultan emerged as the best Indian on view, in the competition held as a test event ahead of the Olympics in August, finishing 29th. He scored a total of 107 points. The third Indian in the fray, ranked 19th in the world, Manavjit Singh Sandhu, finished further back in 39th place with a score of 105 points. Russian Alexei Alipov won the gold with a total of 143 (120 + 23) ahead of Australian Michael Diamond (141) and Italian M. Mola (140). The Indian women also put in a below par performances in the 10m air pistol with Shewta Chaudhary returning the best placing of 37th with a total of 377 points. The other two, Anisa Sayyed and Sushma Rana, ended 57th and 59th respectively. While Anisa scored a total of 370, Sushma shot 369. G. Otryad of Mongolia won the gold with a total of 486.6 (385 + 101.6). China’s Jie Ren took home the silver, scoring 485.3 (385 + 100.3), while Russian N. Paderian clinched the bronze, tallying 484.5 points (383 + 101.5). On Thursday, India’s Olympic medal hope Anjali Vedpathak Bhagwat finished a disappointing 15th in the women’s 10m air rifle event in the ISSF World Cup at Athens. World record holder Suma Shirur also ended 15th as both returned an identical score for a total of 395. — PTI
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Harinder is Hero Golf champ Chandigarh, April 24 Gaurav Ghei was the first ever amateur winner of a pro little on the Tour. Ghei’s moment of glory came at the Addi Cup at the Delhi Golf Club back in 1991. Another Delhi pro Arjun Singh twice won as an amateur at the Jalandhar Open and The Classic Eastern (
Kolkata). Kolkata’s Shiv Shankar Prasad Chawrasia, who was overnight tied in the lead with Harmeet Kahlon pepped the latter with a birdie on the final hole to wrench the cheque of Rs 1,62,000 at a score of 12-under 176. With Harinder not eligible to earn a livelihood out of the game in his capacity as an amateur, the second placed pro was awarded the top prize cheque with those below following in the newly changed order. Kahlon who too sank a remarkable birdie putt on the 18th received Rs 1,12,000 for finishing third. Four days of exciting golf had a fitting end on the 18th green today. With Harinder a comfortable three strokes ahead of the field, it boiled down to a battle between Chowrasia at 11-under and Kahlon one stroke behind the Kolkatan at that stage. Kahlon played to the gallery with a superb left to right birdie putt. Chowrasia took a long look at the 10 feet distance his ball had to cover to find the cup, took his stance and scored a bulls-eye. Harinder who had earlier missed a chip-in for a birdie by a narrow inch, tapped in the ball to win. “I am thrilled to win against such a star studded field,” beamed the amateur, while adjusting his now trademark orange floppy hat. “As I said yesterday, all I aimed to do was find the greens in regulation and two-putt. This plan worked,” he said. Harinder had actually established an easy lead with birdies on the second and fourth. Once he nudged ahead of Chowrasia and Kahlon on the fourth, he didn’t let go of the lead. With the senior pros erring from time to time. The amateur’s birdies on the ninth and 15th only widened his lead. “At that stage I knew the title was mine,” said Harinder, whose vegetable-seller brother walked the first five holes with him. “My parents will be very proud of me,” added the ONGC employee, who shot a final round four-under 68. Chowrasia was full of praise for his younger opponent. “He played beautifully today and taught us pros a lesson,” said the 1999 Indian Open runner-up. Known on the circuit as ‘Chip-putt Chowrasia’ for his phenomenally strong short game, the 25-year-old found that every aspect of his fame let him down when he needed it the most. “I have putted poorly all week and have especially found the shorter putts tough to counter. Today was no exception,” said the golfer who returned 30 putts in his round of one-under 71. “My driving saved me this week,” he added. Chowrasia much like yesterday, dropped a shot on his very first hole to hand Kahlon a one-stroke lead. With both golfers birdying the second, the lead remained in the Chandigarh pro’s favour. Kahlon dropped a shot on the fourth but regained the lead when Chowrasia bogeyed the eighth. Chowrasia birdied the 10th to even scores but his bogey on the following hole coupled with Kahlon’s birdie there handed the local hero a two-stroke lead. Kahlon bogeyed the 12th and Chowrasia, with a par nudged one stroke closer. The Kolkatan’s birdie on the 13th and Kahlon’s bogey on the next hole pushed the former a vital stroke ahead. Matters were decided in his favour on the 18th. Scores (after 72 holes): SSP Chowrasia (67+68+70+71=276); Harmeet Kahlon (68+66+71+72=277); Mukesh Kumar (67+75+68+72=282); Digvijay Singh (75+70+72+67=284); C Muniyappa (67+71+79+68=285); Randhir Gotra (69+71+76+69=285); Feroze Ali (72+74+69+70=285); Yusuf Ali (71+72+71+71=285); Amandeep Johl (70+68+72+75=285). Amateurs: Harinder Gupta (66+71+69+68=274); Girish Virk (71+73+77+70=291); Ajitesh Sandhu (74+75+69+75=293). |
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Bikaner, April 24 Competing in the professional category, Sidhu, winner of the Raid-de-Himalaya, was in ominous form as his Gypsy burnt the rubber on sands in absolute hostile conditions yesterday. Sidhu finished the 276-km rally from Jhunpa to Bikaner ahead of defending champion Anil Wadia and 26 more competitors with the minimum penalty points of 19.06. Meanwhile, though Anirudh Jain finished second, followed by Amanpreet Ahluwalia, a complaint was filed by Anil Wadia, who was ranked fourth. Anil said, “According to our logbook, we finished two minutes-short of the time they showed in the provisional results. However, this is provisional and the organisers are working on this. Hopefully, things will be sorted out soon.” In a lighter vein, Anil said this was a repetition of what happened last year, where he had been placed fourth on day two, and he hoped to clinch the title this time too. Anil, however, admitted that Sidhu was going to give him a good run for his money in the 2A and 2B legs today. Among 27 participants in the professional category, three, however, could not complete the rally. Meanwhile, in the navigator category, Rishad Saam Mehta finished with 3.14 penalty points, ahead of Maninder S. Sharma, followed by Gaurav Sharma. In this section, Rajat Barar could not complete the rally. Before advancing for the 2A and 2B legs today, a confident Sidhu said, “Even though the competition this year is tougher than the previous year, I hope to maintain my lead. I have been driving quite fast, but today I would have to give my strategy a rethink.” Sidhu, who was drawn into rallies in the early 1990s after being inspired by five-time national champion Hari Singh, finished second in the previous edition of the event. “My machine betrayed me last year. But my preparation has been quite good this year. I hope to finish on a winning note,” he said. The veteran of 35 rallies expressed his hopes of participating in the World Rallying Championship. However, after this event, Sidhu would gear up for the National Rally Championship, starting in May. — UNI
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Tollygunge earn vital point Kolkata, April 24 It was a painstaking experience for the handful of spectators at the Salt Lake Stadium as the two sides dished out a pathetic variety of soccer with the game confined mainly to the midfield. The only chance of the match came Tollygunge’s way in the 64th minute, when Samsi Reza essayed a delectable minus from the left, but the Nigerian Akeem Abolanle failed to reach the ball despite being favourably placed close to the goal. Both sides laid stress on building solid defensive organisations, but the midifielders looked panstakingly slow and creative moves were almost always absent. — PTI
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Judo squad for Asian meet New Delhi, April 24 Squad: men: Akram Shah, Bhupinder Singh, Karmbir, Yashpal Singh, Anil Kumar;
women: Khumujam Tombi Devi, Angom Anita Chanu, Laishram Nirupama Devi, Yamnam Landhoni Devi, Paramjit Kumari.
— PTI
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