 |
|
India, Pakistan in junior Asia Cup final
An overall satisfying show, says hockey coach ICC releases
World Cup money |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Bonanza for Test cricketers, umpires
Zimbabwe go down to Lanka Emissary rushed to rescue
Abu Dhabi tie
Sasikiran misses out on a win
|
|
India, Pakistan in junior Asia Cup final
Karachi, April 27 While Pakistan were emphatic in their 5-2 defeat of Malaysia, India had a hard time beating South Korea 4-3 in the second semifinal that was decided on penalty strokes. The final, which is set for Thursday, will be the first clash between the traditional rivals on Pakistani soil in five years. With the victories, both India and Pakistan secured berths in next year’s junior World Cup to be played in Amstelveen, Netherlands. Indian, reigning world junior champions, owed the win to their goalkeeper Andrian D’Souza who saved two penalty strokes after the energy-sapping match was goalless in the regulation 70 minutes and in the two extra sessions lasting another 15 minutes. Both teams matched each other’s talents but lacked finishing, resulting in spoiling of several chances in the first two halves. D’Souza, however, took India to the final by stopping the fourth and fifth penalty strokes from Yong Cheol Shin and Jong Hyun Jang. India had lagged behind after their penalty corner expert Sandeep Singh, tournament’s top scorer with 14 goals, missed the third penalty stroke but D’Souza saved India in the end with two brilliant saves. Korea will play Malaysia for third-fourth spot. The winners of the match would also qualify to play in the World Cup. In the first semi-final, home team’s penalty corner expert Imran Warsi scored twice to take his tally to eleven goals but Pakistan had to wait until the 61st minute to take a decisive two goals lead as Malaysia threatened to come on level terms with some spirited play. Malaysia stunned the hosts with a fifth minute field goal when Ismail Abu took full advantage of a sloppy Pakistan defence. Pakistan had to wait until the 22nd minute for the equaliser as Warsi struck from team’s second penalty corner. Both teams were locked at 1-1 after the first half but Pakistan took the lead as early as in the 37th minute when Mahmood Ali scored from a right side move and six minutes later Warsi doubled the lead through a brilliant scoop off the short corner. Abdul Jalil pulled one back for Malaysia in the 49th minute as Pakistan continued to spurn good chances at the other end. However, Yasir Islam (61) and Kashif Yaqoob (68th) scored two more goals to seal the fate in Pakistan’s favour. In other classification matches for fifth to eighth places, Japan beat China 3-2 through a golden goal after both teams were locked at 2-2 in the regulation time. Bangladesh beat Singapore 3-0 to set a match with Japan for the fifth and sixth spot tomorrow. Singapore meet China for seventh and eighth while Chinese Taipei and Sri Lanka face off each other for the last two places.
— PTI |
||
|
An overall satisfying show, says hockey coach
New Delhi, April 27 India, which fielded as many as six youngsters for the Canberra and Sydney four-nation tournaments, finished second and last, respectively, to cap a disappointing outing in the Olympic year. But the coach still felt that the performance was overall satisfying, considering the team was heavy with youngsters and plagued by injuries. “It is an experimental team with lots of youngsters. To add to this we had injuries to three of our key players. Even then I am satisfied with the overall performance,” he told reporters at the Indira Gandhi International Airport after the team’s arrival from Australia in the wee hours today. “Even before we left for Australia, I had said it is an experimental team. So not much should be read into the team’s defeat.” India, defending champions of the Sydney leg, lost to South Africa by a solitary goal on Sunday to finish at the bottom. The Indian coach was, however, confident that the team would get back to its winning ways before the Olympics and put up a good performance in Athens. “It has been our problem that we win smaller tournaments before the big one and do not play to our potential when it matters the most. But this time we are sure that we will perform well in the Olympics, which is our main target,” Rajinder said. The coach denied that the team was hampered by the absence of seniors such as Dhanraj Pillay and Baljit Singh Dhillon and said they would be “given a chance” in the four-nation tournament in Holland in July, provided they were fit. “If the senior players are fit then I will have no problem in giving them a chance,” he said while conceding that the youngsters needed more time to be on a par with international standards. “The youngsters have shown good promise but they would take some time to achieve international standards.” The former Olympian also said the team played “good” hockey except against Malaysia in Sydney when they lost 0-3. “Barring the one match against Malaysia, we played good hockey, but the results did not show in the scoresheets.” Star forward Gagan Ajit Singh admitted that it was the team’s worst result ever since he started playing in the national squad but attributed the dismal showing to injuries to key players. “Three of our key players were injured and this hampered us a lot. This is an Olympic year and we will have guard against injuries,” he said. The Punjab Police player said “frequent changes do affect the team but experimentation is also needed,” he said.
— PTI |
|
Not aware of
doping issue, says coach New Delhi, April 27 Rajinder insisted that the team management had decided to replace Tejbir during the Olympic qualifiers at Madrid in March due to his hamstring injury and he had no knowledge of the doping angle. Tejbir had, however, said last week that the coach had informed him about the dope test in Madrid. “I was informed about it (test) in Madrid by the coach Rajinder Singh and had to return home,” he said. “I will soon get another test done and sort out the matter,” the Punjab Police player had said adding that he had not received any communication from the IHF.”
— PTI |
|
ICC releases World Cup money Kolkata, April 27 “We received the money last week,” Dalmiya told PTI. However, Mr Dalmiya did not give the exact amount received by India but said it would be around $ six million. Expressing ‘satisfaction’ over the ICC decision, Mr Dalmiya said that it was a vindication of the BCCI’s consistent stand that the money had been ‘wrongly’ withheld. The ICC had announced on March 10 that it would release a portion of the 2003 World Cup money it had withheld from its member countries. The decision was reached after ICC’s commercial arm IDI was briefed on the progress of the negotiations with Global Cricket Corporation, the marketing rights holder of ICC events till 2007. Based on the assessment, the ICC decided in last month’s Executive Board meeting in Auckland, New Zealand, that it would release more of the withheld money while still ensuring that it retained adequate funds to cover any potential liability. The ICC had withheld $ 6.5 million of India’s money following damage claims faced by the country after its players signed an altered contract. New Zealand and England besides hosts South Africa were the other countries whose share of the World Cup profits were withheld following compensation claims from the GCC who cited instances of contract violation by the said countries. New Zealand and England had their booty jeopardised when they refused to play in Kenya and Zimbabwe, respectively, last year. “Unfortunately, a claim of $ 47 million (Around Rs 200 crore) was slapped on us. But now we have been able to substantiate our point .. we have proved that the claims were unjustified,” Dalmiya said.
— PTI |
|
Murli’s doosra: ICC to come out with findings Sydney, April 27 With the Sri Lankan Cricket Board finally forwarding a copy of the report prepared by the University of West Australia (UWA) into the spinner’s action, the International Cricket Council (ICC) is expected to come out with the findings this week, according to The Daily Telegraph. The newspaper quotes Sri Lankan board president Mohan de Silva confirming they had handed over the UWA report to ICC general manager (cricket) David Richardson after the board’s bowling review committee delved into it. “The report from the University of Western Australia was sent with the observations of the bowling review group to the ICC,” de Silva said. At the UWA earlier this month, Muralitharan’s action was under scanner with a sophisticated camera system catching him from every possible angle. Though the report is officially yet to be released, the daily says Muralitharan uses an arm flex of almost 10 degrees to bowl doosra, five more than the legal limit. It also quotes biomechanics expert Professor Bruce Elliott, who along with former Western Australia cricket coach Daryl Foster authored the report, recommending that the spinners be allowed to bend their arms more than five degrees. “The five degrees (rule) is based on illogical data because they’ve just tested fast bowlers and assumed that there is some relationship between fast bowlers and spin bowlers,” Elliott said. “Fifteen degrees is the right angle to select for fast bowlers and you probably should come down to 10 degrees for spin bowlers,” he opined. The ICC earlier had made it clear that they would not tamper with current tolerance levels, even though the mechanics of spin bowling would be deliberated upon later this year.
— UNI |
|
|
Bonanza for Test cricketers, umpires New Delhi, April 27 In all 174 Test players and umpires will receive a monthly pension of Rs 5,000 for life, starting from the present month. Overall the board would be spending in excess of Rs 1 crore each year towards the welfare of former and present Test cricketers as well as umpires. The cheques to these beneficiaries will be delivered on April 30. This is a special gesture by the board to mark its platinum jubilee celebrations which fall this year. In one stroke not even those who are impoverished but also the likes of megastars such as Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly would be receiving Rs 5,000 a month from the board once they hang their boots. According to a board spokesman, this pension scheme is a gesture from the BCCI on the year of its platinum jubilee. The scheme, which the board has been trying to put together for sometime now, will finally see the light of the day and there is a broad spectrum of cricketers and umpires who have welcomed it. “That’s not bad, it would come as a relief to so many cricketers,” remarked former Indian captain Bishen Singh Bedi, just back from United Arab Emirates where he did television commentary on the Indo-Pak series. The monthly stipend would come as a big relief to former cricket legends like Mushtaq Ali and Salim Durrani who have little financial support coming their way. For the likes of Bhagwat Chandrashekhar, the mystery leg-spin bowler whose fastish googlies used to bamboozle Test batsmen around the world, such a pension would be a great help. The list, however, does not include cricketers who have represented India in one-day internationals alone, players like Reetinder Singh Sodhi or Ramesh Powar. The list would also not include scores of Indian umpires who have officiated only in the one-day internationals. Also barred from the list is former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin. Azhar, who is in dispute with the board and has gone to court, has been blacklisted. The benefit purse of Azhar, running into a few crores, has been withheld by the Board on the ground that the player has been banned for life for his alleged role in match-fixing saga. The case is reverse with Ajay Jadeja who was banned for five years for similar reasons, yet fought it out in the court and has now been rehabilitated to the extent that he even has captained North Zone in Duleep Trophy this year. Jadeja, according to the board spokesperson, will be eligible for receiving the pension from the cricket board.
— PTI |
|
Lara tops Test ratings, Dravid second
London, April 27 According to the PricewaterhouseCoopers ratings released here today, Dravid notched 892 points as against 897 by Lara who hammered international cricket’s first quadruple century against England recently. Virender Sehwag, who became the first Indian to score a triple century when he made 309 in Multan, was placed one spot behind his idol and team-mate Sachin Tendulkar on ninth. The top-10 was mostly unaltered after a relentless programme of Test cricket since the middle of February which saw all the 10 Test playing nations in action. But there were big climbs in the batting table for Australian Damien Martyn (16) and Yuvraj Singh (65) among others. Among bowlers, besides the established players, rising stars Umar Gul (26) of Pakistan, Irfan Pathan (49) and Tino Best (64) of the West Indies made their mark by virtue of their lion-hearted performances. Ace spinner Anil Kumble was the only Indian among the top 10, placed at No 7. Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan topped the charts followed by South Africa’s Shaun Pollock and Shoaib Akhtar of Pakistan. Top 10 batsmen:
Brian Lara (897) 1, Rahul Dravid (892) 2, Matthew Hayden (881) 3, Ricky Ponting (864) 4, Jacques Kallis (833) 5, Herschelle Gibbs (815) 6, Inzamam-ul Haq (785) 7, Sachin Tendulkar (784) 8, Virender Sehwag (782) 9, Graeme Smith (759) 10. Top 10 bowlers:
|
|
Zimbabwe
go down to Lanka
Harare, April 27 The hosts could make only 151 in their reply - Dion Ebrahim at last finding some form with an unbeaten 50 - to Sri Lanka’s 223-9 as they went 4-0 down in the five match series. The only slight consolation was there was no repeat of their world record lowest score of 35 they mustered on Sunday. However it was against an attack shorn of their three frontline bowlers Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Nuwan Zoysa while explosive openers Sanath Jayasuriya and captain Marvan Atapattu were also left out. Sri Lanka’s man of the match Kumar Sangakkara scored a patient 63 - his 11th half century - in 100 balls to give Sri Lanka a good foundation as wickets fell around him. On the whole though Sri Lanka, who were pegged down to 4.5 an over by the young Zimbabwe side, didn’t find it easy to score on a slow-paced pitch and against tidy medium pace bowling. The visitors were pegged to just over four runs an over for much of their innings, and, with a small final flourish, they were able to reach a score of 223 for nine as lower order wickets tumbled. It was not the batting performance that Sri Lanka might have expected against a makeshift Zimbabwe side. The batsmen were prevented from making quick runs for long periods. They were also kept relatively quiet by the loss of wickets at fairly regular intervals. The innings of Kumar Sangakkara was typical. He was top scorer with 63. But he managed only seven fours and used up 100 balls as Tatenda Taibu set a mainly defensive field. It was Sangakkara’s 11th half-century. In making his one-day international debut for Zimbabwe, Tawanda Mpariwa bowled tightly and claimed the wickets of Saman Jayantha and stand-in captain Mahela Jayawardene for 44 runs. He also ran out Russel Arnold. Mluleki Nkala, brought on late, snatched two wickets in his second over, those of Sangakkara and Thilina Kandamy, who made a duck on his debut. Nkala shortly afterward added another, that of Tillikaratne Dilshan. Sri Lanka were held to 57 for two in the first 15 overs, a more than satisfactory start by Zimbabwe’s second stringers. Sri Lanka: Jayantha c Chigumbura b Mpariwa 23 Sangakkara c Maregwede b Nkala 63 Jayawardene b Mpariwa 26 Arnold run out 7 Dilshan c Taibu b Nkala 18 Kandamby c Taibu b Nkala 0 Chandana run out 51 Maharoof run out 19 Herath not out 0 Fernando b Panyangara 0 Kulasakera not out 0 Extras: (lb-1, w-15) 16 Total: (for 9 wickets in 50 overs) 223FoW: 1-43, 2-106, 3-118, 4-137, 5-137, 6-177, 7-220, 8-222, 9-222. Bowling: Douglas Hondo 10-0-47-0, Tinashe Panyangara 10-3-33-1, Tawanda Mpariwa 10-0-44-2, Prosper Utseya 10-0-48-0, Mluleki Nkala 10-1-50-3. Zimbabwe: S Matsikenyeri c Sangakkara b Kulasekara 7 BRM Taylor st Sangakkara b Chandana 38 ML Nkala c Sangakkara b Fernando 1 DD Ebrahim not out 50 T Taibu c Sangakkara b Chandana 12 A Maregwede c Dilshan b Arnold 18 E Chigumbura c & b Arnold 5 P Utseya run out (Sangakkara/Herath) 3 T Mupariwa run out (Chandana) 8 DT Hondo c Jayawardene b Maharoof 2 T Panyangara b Maharoof 0 Extras: (lb 1, w 1, nb 5) 7 Total: (all out, 43.4 overs, 171 mins) 151 FoW: 1-19, 2-22, 3-65, 4-90, 5-115, 6-123, 7-135, 8-146, 9-151, 10-151. Bowling:
Kulasekara 7-1-30-1, Fernando 7-1-20-1, Maharoof 8.4-1-19-2,
Herath 10-0-37-0, Chandana 7-0-23-2, Arnold 4-0-21-2 — AP  |
||
|
Emissary
rushed to rescue Abu Dhabi tie Dubai, April 27 The ADCCB president B.R. Shetty said he would also be talking to his Indian counterpart Jagmohan Dalmiya shortly in a bid to settle the controversy over staging of the match. “I have sent an emissary to Delhi to talk to the BCCI chief Jagmohan Dalmiya to sort out the matter amicably,” Shetty told PTI over phone from Abu Dhabi. “I will also be talking to Mr Dalmiya so that the exhibition match between India and Pakistan XIs can be rescued,” he said. Claiming that players from both India and Pakistan were “willing to participate” in the proposed match, Shetty said he had already spoken to Pakistan cricketers during his recent visit to that country.
— PTI |
||
|
Sasikiran
misses out on a win Dubai, April 27 Pavel maintained his slender half point lead over nearest rivals with 6.5 points in his kitty and is now followed by GMs Shakhriyaz Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, top seed Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu of Romania, Artashes Minasian of Armenia, Evegny Vladimirov of Kazakhstan, Viorel Iordachescu of Moldova, Alexander Goloshchapov and Evgenij Miroshnichenko of Ukraine, Carlsen Magnus of Norway, Sasikiran and P. Harikrishna, who all have 6 points apiece.
— PTI |
|
Maradona
to be put on solid diet
Buenos Aires, April 27 Maradona (43) “tolerates liquids adequately and will start on a diet today,” a medical official at the Swiss-Argentine Clinic in Buenos Aires told reporters yesterday. But despite improvements in Maradona’s condition, doctors still have reservations about his medical prognosis, a hospital statement said. The football star was rushed to hospital nine days ago with severe heart and respiratory problems. The former Argentine team captain “is breathing on his own, has good respiratory action,” and his blood count is stable, the doctors said. He is still taking antibiotics intravenously. Doctors have declined to say whether the former player’s current state is related to the drug addiction he has been fighting for more than a decade. Maradona is Argentina’s most famous player and led the country to its second World Cup victory in 1986. He played in his fourth World Cup in the USA in 1994 but tested positive for a cocktail of drugs and was thrown out of the tournament.
— AFP |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | National Capital | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
New Delhi, April 27
Video
