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Miandad likely to retain job
Encourage rural talent, says Bedi Triumphant Windies lead 2-1
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Athletics probables
for Olympics Probables for Asian
skating meet
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Islamabad, May 3 After sounding a number of potential candidates, including Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore, Michael Slater and Bob Woolmer, PCB has decided to retain Miandad, local daily ‘The News’ reported today. “While almost all the former Test cricketers of Pakistan are ready to accept the job, no foreigner of some standard is willing to join the national team. “It is not the matter of money but their commitments and reluctance to join the PCB at present circumstances,” the paper quoted an unnamed PCB official as saying, adding Whatmore was not keen on the assignment as he wanted to stick to the Bangladesh team. Miandad came under fire from many former cricketers as well as board officials after the team’s dismal performance against arch rivals India and was kept on hold by the PCB even after it announced the appointment of skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq till the end of this year. The former Pakistan captain had expressed his resentment over keeping his appointment in balance even though his contract lasts till next year and questioned the rationale behind it. The daily also said that the Board had requested Australian bowling coach Daryl Foster to have some sessions with the players at its National Cricket Academy in Lahore. PCB chief executive Rameez Raja had been in touch with Foster as the Board had decided to launch the first proper training session of the NCA in June, it said. “Rameez spoke to Foster and asked him if he could make himself available for short coaching stints at the academy and in helping up establish the department of biomechanics at the academy from June,” it said. The PCB had hired the services of Foster as bowling coach for the 2001 tour of England and in the 2003 World Cup. He was also helpful in convincing the ICC about Shoaib Akhtar’s bowling action twice in the past as he was working at the University of Western Australia in Perth as bowling coach at its biomechanics department. Recently the Pakistan board had also sent Shabbir Ahmed to Australia where Foster worked on his bowling action after he was reported by a ICC match referee during the tour of New Zealand. PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan, Rameez Raja and Inzamam-ul-Haq had also reached consensus on the hiring of a foreign trainer for the Pakistan team before its next assignment in Malaysia, the daily said. — PTI
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Kolkata, May 3 The New South Wales- born fast bowler said: “I have not seen much of Irfan Pathan or L. Balaji except for the series in Australia. But the way they bowled was amazing.” “They have a lot of pace, good swing and a lot of fire in them- the three essentials for a pace bowler,” Lee said. Asked if India was ready to upstage Australia as a leading Test playing nation the injured fast bowler said: “India is a great cricketing nation and a competitive Test team. Over the last two years, they have morphied into a very talented and exciting side under their leader and captain Sourav Ganguly. They give us really good competition.” Lee felt it was really exciting to defeat India in the World Cup finals in South Africa and said he got well with the Indian players both on and off the field, making them one of his favourites. Lee, who had to return during the last part of the Sri Lankan tour due to an ankle injury, said he was recovering well and hoped to “get back way ahead of schedule”. “I think I should be back next month. There is a huge summer awaiting and I want to make full use of it,” he said. Lee said that he was looking forward to the coming engagement in India beginning October, as he had never played in a Test series in India. Asked about Australia’s chances in the coming series, Lee said: “It will be difficult for us. They have a strong batting line-up. But yes, I think it is possible to beat India in their backyard. Australia has set a certain benchmark in world cricket.” “(Australian captain) Ricky Ponting has led the side from the front just like Ganguly. They are the two best captains in present day world cricket,” the 27-year-old bowler said. — PTI, UNI
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Encourage rural
talent, says Bedi Dharamsala, May 3 The former captain said that he had set up a trust which organised coaching camps every year and this year Dharamsala will be the venue for the six-week coaching camp to be held from May 15. Appreciating the facilities available at new cricket stadium here, Bedi said that HPCA had done a good job and the stadium compares well with international stadiums. He said the coaching camp will have about 50 boys from the country while the HPCA will select about 30 boys for extensive training. On this occasion, the HPCA president, Mr Anurag Thakur, declared that the HPCA would bear all expenses of Himachali boys selected for the coaching camp. Bedi said he would like to hold such training camps every year at Dharamsala, adding that renowned cricketers like Hanumant Singh , Sayeed Kirmani, EAS Prasanna, Venkat Raghwan, Yog Raj Singh and Srinath have been invited to impart training in batting, wicket keeping, fast, medium and spin bowling. He said the emphasis will be on to develop sense of competitiveness amongst the boys. Only a person who loved the game truly can become a great player. |
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Gros Islet, St. Lucia, May 3 Chasing a target of 281 from 50 overs, West Indies achieved victory off the first ball of the 48th over when rookie Dwayne Bravo glanced Darren Gough to the deep fine leg boundary for four to finish unbeaten on 33 from 42 balls. “I think it was important that we consolidated our position in the series after we played so well on Saturday,” West Indies captain Brian Lara said yesterday. England Trescothick b Rampaul 29 Vaughan run out 67 Strauss lbw b Gayle 67 Flintoff c Chanderpaul
b Bradshaw 43 Collingwood c Sarwan
Read run out 11 Clarke b Dillon 6 Batty b Gayle 1 Gough not out
3 Harmison not out 0 Extras: (lb-3, w-10, nb-2) 15 Total:
( 8
wkts, 50 overs) 280 Fall of wickets: 1-57, 2-141, 3-199, 4-251, 5-258, 6-273, 7-276, 8-276. Bowling:
Rampaul 8-0-54-1, Dillon 10-0-59-1, Bradshaw 10-0-61-1, Bravo 5-0-25-0, Smith 5-0-30-0, Gayle 10-0-39-2, Powell 2-0-9-1. West Indies Gayle lbw b Gough
9 Chanderpaul c Batty
Powell c (sub) b Batty 38 Sarwan b Flintoff 28 Lara c Gough bHarmison 57 Smith c Strauss b Batty 18 Bravo not out 33 Jacobs not out 19 Extras:
(lb-6, w-11) 17 Total: (6
wkts, 47.1 overs)282 Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-112, 3-113, 4-185, 5-206, 6-244. Bowling:
Gough 8.1-0-67-1, Harmison 10-0-52-1, Anderson 4-0-27-0, Flintoff 9-0-55-1, Batty 9-0-40-2, Clarke 7-0-35-1.
—AFP |
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Ignoring seniors could cost India dear, says Dhillon
New Delhi, May 3 “They should not take chances in the Olympics by picking youngsters, who lack international exposure. It’s quite tough at the highest level and there is a big gulf between the senior and junior matches,” Dhillon told PTI over phone from Jalandhar. “I don’t think the inexperienced players have the temperament of playing in big matches. They may not able to handle the pressure. You can’t replace experienced players in the Olympics with junior ones. It may cost the team a lot.” Dhillon, who has so far played over 300 international matches in a career spanning over a decade, blamed coach Rajinder Singh for his omission. “I played fairly well in the Azlan Shah Cup, Test series against Holland and the Olympic qualifiers. I am also completely fit. I don’t know why I was not picked. It’s beyond my comprehension. May be the coach (Rajinder Singh) does not want me in the side,” the 30-year-old said. “I don’t think fitness was the criteria for selection. I can very well meet the need. I have played in tough conditions over the years. Even in the Olympic qualifiers in Madrid, we played in sub-zero conditions,” he said. Dhillon, who was not part of the experimental side that played two tournaments in Australia last month, said just a few days back IHF secretary Jothikumaran and coach Rajinder Singh had asked him to be ready for a call. “They said that just be fit as we may call you at any moment. But to my utter surprise I never got the call. Rather they ignored me both for the fitness camp in Barog and the four-nation tournament in Japan. I don’t understand why they did it to me,” he said. Dhillon as well as two other seniors — Dhanraj Pillay and Baljit Singh Saini — were not included in an 18-member “experimental” side to play in Japan and did not feature among the dozen names for the fitness camp in Barog starting May 10. — PTI
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Pillay still has a lot to offer, says Somayya Mumbai, May 3 IHF should have given him a chance to show that he has fully recovered from his knee injury by naming him among the 30 probables for the camp because his experience would have helped the team at Athens, Somayya told PTI here. “Agreed that knee injuries are a bit dicey thing but if he has fully recovered as he claims he has, then his inclusion would have been an asset for the team as he still has lots to give for the team”, he added. Somayya also pointed out that Pillay should speak to the federation and team’s coach Rajinder Singh and resolve the issue, if any, and the IHF from their side should give proper reason for dropping him from the camp.
— PTI |
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Amateurism’s
last hurrah, Roger
With a late burst of speed, Roger Bannister shattered one of sport’s most fabled physical and psychological barriers — running a mile in under four minutes. Half a century later, that magic time — 3:59.4 — still stands out as one of the defining athletic achievements of the 20th century and a throwback to an amateur era not yet racked by the excesses of steroids, money and commercialisation. More than 2,000 runners around the globe have since broken the four-minute mark, and the world record is now 16 seconds faster. The enduring image of Bannister — head tilted back, eyes closed and mouth agape as he strains across the finishing tape on May 6, 1954 — is testament to an extreme test of speed and stamina that captured the public’s imagination. “It became a symbol of attempting a challenge in the physical world of something hitherto thought impossible,” Bannister, now a 75-year-old grandfather, told AP at his modest Oxford home, minutes from the Iffley Road track where he made history. “I’d like to see it as a metaphor not only for sport, but for life and seeking challenges.” At 25, Bannister became an international celebrity, right up there with Charles Lindbergh, and he lifted the spirits of a nation still recovering from World War II. In 1953, after Edmund Hillary scaled Mount Everest and Queen Elizabeth II was crowned, Bannister felt inspired to make his own mark by attacking the four-minute mile. “It stood there as something that was waiting to be done, and I was in the right place at the right time and was ready to do it,” Bannister said in his deep, warm voice. The big question was: Who would get there first? Bannister or one of his two great rivals, Australia’s John Landy or America’s Wes Santee? “My attitude was that it can be done, and it will be done soon, and I’d rather it were done here,” Bannister said. The mile had long held a special mystique. The round numbers — 1 mile, 4 laps, 4 minutes — were easy to grasp. “The four-minute mile had a beauty about it, it had a symmetry,” said the late Norris McWhirter, co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records who announced Bannister’s record time in 1954. “If you’d said you’re only running 1,760 yards in 240 seconds, people would have yawned. The magic was this phrase-4-minute mile.” Many thought the human body was incapable of running that fast, but when Finland’s Paavo Nurmi clocked 4:10.4 in 1923, the chase was on. Sweden’s Gunder Haegg lowered the mark to 4:01.4 in 1945 — and it stood that way for nine years. At Oxford’s Exeter College, Bannister had established himself as a talented miler with a devastating kick. With a best time of 4:07.6 in the mile, he entered the 1952 Helsinki Olympics as the favourite in the 1,500 metres. Bannister’s goal was to win the gold medal and then retire to pursue his medical career. But his preparations were thrown off when Olympic officials added an extra round of heats, making him run on three straight days. In the final, Bannister had nothing left in the home stretch and finished fourth. Believing he was a failure, he shelved retirement for another two years and recruited fellow British runner Chris Brasher to be his pacemaker in a bid to break the four-minute mile. Bannister wasn’t the only athlete zeroing in on the mark. In Australia, Landy stunned the world by running 4:02.1 in December 1952. Then Santee, nicknamed the Kansas Cowboy, ran 4:02.4 in June 1953. Bannister had been criticised for his relatively light training regimen. But he spent the winter of 1954 in strenuous workouts with Brasher and Chris Chataway. He ran during lunch breaks and, for the first time, he got help from a coach, Austria’s Franz Stampfl. Bannister picked the first match race of the season — Oxford vs the Amateur Athletic Union at Iffley Road on May 6 — to go for the record. The morning of the race, he filed his spikes on a grindstone in his hospital lab, and rubbed graphite into the spikes so the track’s cinder ash wouldn’t stick. The weather was miserable - rainy, cool and windy. Bannister nearly wrote off the attempt when he arrived at the track to see a white-and-red English flag atop a nearby church tower whipping in near gale force winds. But, a few minutes after 6 pm, there was a lull and the flag fluttered gently. “I calculated there’s a 50-50 chance of my doing it,” Bannister recalled. “I said, ‘If there’s a 50-50 chance and I don’t take it, I may never get another chance to beat Landy to it.’ So I said, ‘Let’s do it.’” Brasher went out in front as planned, with Bannister right behind. Bannister thought the early pace was too slow and shouted, “Faster! Faster!” But Brasher kept his rhythm and ran the first lap in 58 seconds. Brasher took them through the half-mile in 1:58, then Chataway moved to the front on the third lap — and a time of 3:00.5. Bannister would have to run the last lap in 59 seconds. With 250 yards to go, he surged past Chataway, his long arms and legs pumping and his lungs gasping for oxygen. “The world seemed to stand still, or did not exist,” he wrote in his book “The First Four Minutes.” “The only reality was the next 200 yards of track under my feet. The tape meant finality — extinction perhaps. “I felt at that moment that it was my chance to do one thing supremely well. I drove on, impelled by a combination of fear and pride.” After breaking the tape, Bannister slumped into the arms of a friend, barely conscious. The chief timekeeper was Harold Abrahams, the 100 metres gold medal winner at the 1924 Olympics whose story inspired the film “Chariots of Fire.” He handed McWhirter a piece of paper listing the official time. As soon as McWhirter read out the first number, he was drowned out by the cheering crowd. “I can assure you the 59.4 wasn’t heard,” McWhirter said. It just was the 3 they were worried about.” McWhirter died on April 19 at 78. He spoke in a BBC documentary on the race. Brasher, who founded the London Marathon, died last year. “I think Roger’s achievement is rightly seen as a sort of an end of an era,” Chataway said. “It was amateurism’s last hurrah.” Bannister’s record stood just 46 days. With Chataway again setting the pace, Landy ran 3:57.9 in Turku, Finland, on June 21. That set up the race which Bannister regards as his greatest — beating Landy in the “mile of the century” at the Empire Games in Vancouver on Aug 9, 1954. Bannister zipped past Landy around the last bend and won by five yards in 3:58.8. Landy clocked 3:59.6. In his last major race, Bannister won the 1,500 metres in 3:43.8 at the European Games in Berne, Switzerland, on Aug 29, 1954. He went onto a distinguished career as a neurologist, served as chairman of the British Sports Council and master of Oxford’s Pembroke College. Bannister was knighted in 1975, the same year a car crash ended his recreational running. He walks with a pronounced limp. Visiting the Oxford track on a recent spring afternoon, he pointed to the church tower where the flag flew 50 years ago. The track now has a red synthetic surface and the wooden stands have been upgraded, but little else has changed. Bannister stops to consider the current world record for the mile - 3:43.13, set by Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj in 1999. He predicts the mark will eventually be lowered to 3 1/2 minutes, but not for another 50 years. Still, Bannister will be acclaimed as the man whose famous run transcended the sport. The lasting fascination, he says, springs from a simple message: “A man could, with his own two feet, overcome all difficulties to reach a pinnacle upon which he could declare, ‘No one has ever done this before.’” — AP
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Anju eyes Olympic gold New Delhi, May 3 Anju Bobby George, the Commonwealth bronze medallist and Asian Games gold medallist, caught international spotlight when she cleared 6.70 metres in the World Championship at Paris to bag the bronze medal last year. The World Championship victory instilled tremendous confidence in Anju to help her believe in her own potential. And with the help of her husband and coach Bobby George, this tall and petite lass has been straining every sinew in pursuit of an Olympic medal at Athens in August-September this year. Anju will leave for Japan on Tuesday to take part in the Grand Prix Masters at Osaka on May 8, which will be followed by a meet in Dubai and 12 events in Europe. After the European tour, she will leave for Athens for the decisive battle. Anju has already spent close to Rs 60 lakh for her training, and is now ready to participate in competitions to peak in time for the Athens Olympics. “The training phase, lasting over 150 days, is over now. Now I want to assess my progress made in the training camp at actual competitions”, Anju told The Tribune on the eve of her departure for Japan. Anju says she has been consistently clearing a distance of 6.7 metres at the training camp, but feels that the Olympic gold can be wrested with an effort of 7.10 metres. Her best is the national mark of 6.74 metres set in Delhi before the World Championship, but she has made impressive stride since then, and is now hovering in the seven plus distance bracket. She said she had been spending close to seven hours daily in her training sessions, and the eight-week stint with world champion Mike Powell in the United States a few months ago has improved her technique, and boosted her morale and confidence level. “The one important lesson you learn when you train under legends like Mike Powell is that you start believing in your potential, and develop the confidence to take on the best in the world”, Anju explained. Anju expects tough challenge from Tatyana Labedava and Tatyana Katova of Russia, Marion Jones of US and Karolina Klufth of Sweden at Athens. But she is confident that one good jump will bring her the medal she is looking for, and she is sparing no effort to achieve that dream goal. Though Bobby is not a ‘qualified’ coach in the strictest sense of the term, this former triple jump national champion is a qualified engineer and knows all about biomechanics. “Long jump is all about body biomechanism. When you understand the biomechanism of your body, you realise the plus and minus areas of your potential”, she pointed out. Though Anju has spent several lakhs on her training in India and abroad, the Union Government has not been very forthcoming in helping her out. She was given some financial help last year, but the balance amount of even that commitment has not been fully reimbursed to her. And the Government has also not really recognised her feat in the World Championship. |
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Athletics probables
for Olympics Patiala, May 3 The squad: Men:
Anil Kumar (200m), P. Ramachandran,
K.J. Manojlal, Satbir Singh, Bhupinder Singh, P. Shankar, K. Suresh (4 into 400m relay),
K.M. Binu (800m), Bahadur Singh and Navpreet Singh (shot put). Women:
Saraswati Saha (200m), Jincy Philip, S. Geeta, Manjeet Kaur, Rajwinder Kaur, Chitra K.
Soman, Madhuri A. Singh, and K.M Beenamol (800m, 1500m) Meanwhile, the AAFI has identified 43 probables for the Athens
olympics. They are: Men: 100m-Anil Kumar, Sanjay Ghosh, Sandeep
Sarkaria, Piyush Kumar, C.T Durai, Amit Kumar Saha, Vilash Nalgund and Arshad Hussain. 400m- P. Ramachandran, Satbir Singh, Manoj K. Lal, Anil Kumar
Rohil, P. Shankar, K.Suresh, Amish Pottan and N. Srihith. 800m- K.M.
Binu. Decathlon- Kulvinder Singh, Vinod P.J. Shot put-Bahadur Singh, Shakti Singh, Navpreet Singh. Discus throw-Anil Kumar. Women: 200m-Saraswati Saha, Vinita Tripathi. 400m-Jincy Philip, Rajwinder Kaur, Manjit Kaur, Kalpana Reddy, S. Geeta, Sagardeep Kaur. 400m-Chitra
Soman, Rajinder Kaur. 800m-K.M. Beenamol, Madhuri A. Singh, Hemlata.
Heptathlon-J.J. Shobha, G.G. Promila. Discus throw: Neelam J. Singh, Seema
Antil, Harwant Kaur. Hammer-Hardeep Kaur. Long jump-Anju Bobby George. |
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Probables for Asian
skating meet Chandigarh, May 3 The players are: Girls: Chandita Kamboj, Suruchi Chandel, Yashdeep Kaur, Renuka and Ritu Nagpal (all Haryana), Kriti Puri, Japneet Kaur and Shagun Salwan (all Chandigarh). Goalkeepers — Sonali (Har), Smriti (Chd) and Jasmine (Har). Stand-byes; Gurpeeet Kaur (Har), N. Ashrita (AP) and Rekha (Pb). Boys:Vikram Singh and Harkirat Singh (both Punjab), Dhruv Gautam (Haryana), Amandeep Singh and Amber Gill (both Chandigarh), Jugraj Singh and Joshpal (both J&K), Ramana Kumar (AP), goal-keepers: Jaspreet Singh (Punjab) and Rajesh Anand (J&K). |
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Islamabad, May 3
Oxford (England), May 3
