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England keen to halt Aussie march
Ganguly talks tough after defeat
BCCI likely to call for fresh bids
Pawar may contest for BCCI chief’s post
Rampaging Europe crush USA in Ryder Cup
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Paes-Stepanek duo wins title
Hockey team for Pak series announced
Hockey academy team leaves for Pak
14 golfers in Asian
Tour Order of Merit
Haryana lift NZ athletics trophy
Good coaches must for Indian tennis: Vijay
Post-awards dinner party unlikely
No telecast of Irani Cup tie?
Kanupriya wins two titles
30 boys for wrestling camp
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England keen to halt Aussie march
Birmingham, September 20 The hosts, who have gone without a win against the world champions since January 1999 when they prevailed in Melbourne, are more than keen to reverse the trend and reach the summit clash. England captain Michael Vaughan must also be hoping that his two trump cards — all-rounder Andrew Flintoff and paceman Steve Harmison — fire on all cylinders tomorrow as he and his team attempts to cap off the dream run of seven straight Test wins and the NatWest Challenge triumph by winning the ‘Mini World Cup’ in front of the home crowd. Flintoff will be the man to beat for Australia for the all-rounder has begun to show a massive presence with both bat and ball for England. Australia indeed would be careful about Flintoff since he seems to target the fourth and fifth bowlers of a line-up particularly well, like he did against Sri Lanka with an awesome century. Australia, now that Shane Warne does not play one-day cricket, are a little vulnerable in this area as 20 overs are shared between Shane Watson, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds and Darren Lehmann. If Flintoff-led England can take a heavy toll of this Australian weak link, then they could run Australia close at Edgbaston. New Zealand had made the mistake of targeting Australian frontline bowlers and paid the price of running into Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz enjoying themselves on a helpful pitch at the Oval. England would be better off it they see off the new-ball bowlers, build up a momentum in the middle overs and then go for the kill in the final overs against the Australians. England, though, do not have a particularly strong batting line-up and the poor form of Vaughan in one-day cricket has not helped them either. Vaughan now has 147 runs from 10 outings bringing down his average in one-day cricket to 23. He is seen as a batsman who tries to do too much in one-day cricket rather than stick to his normal, elegant style of batting. Australia, despite the relative lack of form of Adam Gilchrist, are a formidable enough line-up to collar any international attack. Still, the battle between the likes of Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting and the England new-ball attack of Harmison and Flintoff could be a captivating stuff. Australia’s middle order is well manned by Lehmann, Clarke and Symonds, who present their own set of problems for the opposition bowlers. Australia also have a formidable pace attack in McGrath, Kasprowicz and Gillespie, backed by a fielding unit which surely would be a great deal better than what England benefited from the butter-fingers of Sri Lankan fielders the other day. — PTI
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Ganguly talks tough after defeat
Birmingham, September 20 “A few guys have been failing for far too long,’’ Ganguly said last night after the team bowed out of the ICC Champions Trophy with a three-wicket defeat against arch-rivals Pakistan. “You can’t expect to keep your place in the side if you do not perform.” Clearly, the reference was to batsmen like Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman and Yuvraj Singh. “We’ve not been batting well for the last four months. It’s a question of form. A few guys have been failing for far too long. The way we have been batting, we did not deserve to win,” he said. “It’s a job for the selectors,” he said when asked if there would be changes in the squad. “You can’t be sure of a lifelong place in the side. You have to keep on performing in international cricket. They will have to pull their socks up.” Meanwhile, Ganguly did not think the toss was that important. “It was fortunate that we were asked to bat. We would have batted if I had won the toss. It is a low-scoring ground. We did not bat well. If we know the reason for the long stretch of poor form, we would not be discussing it here,” he said. He said the Indian bowlers had done well to take India close. “All the three seamers bowled well and that is why we almost came close.”
— UNI
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Playing Rohan was not a great idea
IT'S always hard to accept any defeat, and losing against Pakistan makes it even harder to digest. In our democratic set-up, where one is free to air opinions and views, all one can expect at the moment are stern advices and unconfined criticism pouring in from various quarters.
The team should shift its focus from those alarmists and critics and listen more to those silent but solution-oriented people involved in the game. No doubt, the recent performance of the Indian team remained far below the level of expectations. But that is because they were always trying to win the finals of many tournaments. The team has not really found its proper footing after coming back from a well-deserved break in the month of June. I could understand if the team was performing well and suffered a slump all of a sudden. But the start of the season itself was inauspicious. Injuries to players, the subsequent recurrences and some players being out of form have created lot of problems for the team. Just consider the number of changes that has been made in the Indian team. Irfan Pathan has bowled with quite a few partners. It has been a musical chair right from the Asia Cup with the new ball. Ashish, Zaheer, Ajit and Balaji, who are taking turns to play every now and then, could only bring high instability. The first and foremost requirement for a cricketer at the international level is to be a permanent member of the playing eleven. As it is, fast bowling is such an arduous task that it can even otherwise be a problematic area for the team. Today, we see Pathan being the lone performer, his consistency is only because of his continuous presence in the playing eleven. I would have had immense faith in Ashish or Ajit to strike early and supplement Irfan’s heroics, only if they were regular members of the team. It is never easy for the batsmen to come back to form in the one-day format. Unlike a Test match where the batsmen can grind and occupy the crease for hours to come back to form, batting in one-day cricket is exposed to maximum risks. Sehwag has to come back to form by playing his shots and not by playing a sedate innings to last longer at the crease. For the passionate followers of the game, Sehwag’s dismissal would appear reckless or rather an irresponsible attitude. But it is far from true. Even a full bladed flick saw the waiting hands of Malik at square leg on Sunday. Ganguly, wanting to dominate the Pakistani attack, paid a heavy price. Laxman and Sehwag’s freaky dismissal added woes to the already struggling Indian batting. A batsman can do little when his full-bladed pull and flick shots go straight to the hands. I do not like the idea of people being too critical about the players, especially for a new entrant as it can play havoc in the mind of the player in believing his own ability. Rohan Gavaskar getting the nod ahead Anil Kumble in the eleven was surprising. In my opinion, for someone like Rohan, who has hardly played any game in the last two tournaments, drafting him into the final eleven in a do-or-die situation was not a great idea. Usually, when the team is not doing well, some true characters among the youngsters emerge to bail the team out. Some might argue that players are not given enough opportunities, but the other side of the story is that great players emerge out of any given opportunity. This was a perfect stage for the newcomers to make an impression when the seasoned campaigners were struggling. Yousuf Youhana, Pakistan’s answer to India’s Rahul Dravid, played a real innings of character. The way he steered the Pakistanis out of woods was remarkable. It takes a lot to belief in winning when the team has lost three wickets. Shahid Afridi’s dynamism somehow clicked. Pathan’s idea of bowling him a bouncer was good, but it didn’t have the adequate pace to trouble Afridi. The Indians will have to forget the last few tournaments and start preparing for the Test matches. It’s a long season ahead.
— PTI |
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BCCI likely to call for fresh bids
Mumbai, September 20 Counsel for the BCCI, KK Venugopal told the Bombay High Court today that the board had sufficient powers to cancel the tender process and call for fresh bids from television companies. The court was also informed that the board may do so if the court battle between ESPN-Star Sports and Zee Telefilms are not resolved soon. According to the BCCI, it may decide to cancel the old tender process and call for fresh bids to prevent Australia from pulling out of the cricket series to be played in India next month. A statement by Cricket Australian that it would pull out if the matches were not telecast was read out in the court today. According to its counsel, the BCCI may call for fresh bids and get Zee, ESPN-Star Sports as well as other contenders to bid afresh. The contract may be awarded to the highest bidder, Venugopal told the court. The ICC had warned that the Australia series in India would not be allowed to go ahead if the matches were not telecast. As per the rules, the third umpire decides on close finishes by reviewing the action replays recorded by television cameras. Board seeks dismissal of
plea against Dalmiya
Bhopal (PTI): Questioning the locus standi of the petitioner before a local court, the cricket board today sought dismissal of the petition challenging legality of a proposal to appoint its President Jagmohan Dalmiya as Patron-in-Chief. Member of ad-hoc Bhopal Divisional Cricket Association (BDCA) and petitioner Yogesh Khattar was not an office-bearer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India and nowhere concerned with passing of the resolution, BCCI advocates S.C. Bagadia and Gaurav Chhabra contended before civil judge P.K. Nigam. Further, the BCCI, which has an office in Mumbai, had called the meeting to pass the resolution in
Chennai on September 12. But the Bhopal court was moved for the plea, thus the suit is patently in violation of Sections 18, 19 and 20 CPC, the counsels contended. The agenda of the meeting was issued only to the BCCI members and the plaintiff does not explain how they came in
possession of it, they said, adding that the suit appeared to be an attempt to obstruct smooth working of the BCCI and an attempt to malign and deface Dalmiya. |
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Pawar may contest for BCCI chief’s post
New Delhi, September 20 Mr Pawar, who is also the president of Mumbai Cricket Association, said a majority of state associations had urged him to take over the responsibility of BCCI President and he would take a decision after consulting his colleagues. He, however, dismissed reports suggesting that his candidature was an attempt by the rulling UPA Government to ensure its nominee in the key post so that former Union Minister Arun Jaitley of the NDA, who also appears to be in the running, was kept out. “I have seen the reports. There is no politics in it. Jaitley and I keep our political shoes outside the sports field,” said Mr Pawar. The election to the post of BCCI President will be held on September 29 in Kolkata as the term of incumbent Dalmiya comes to an end. Asked whether it would be possible for him to handle the dual responsibility of being a Union Minister and the BCCI chief, Mr Pawar said he had been heading a number of sports associations at the national level, including those for kho-kho and Kabbadi. Reports said Mr Pawar was expected to be proposed for presidentship by one of the BCCI’s affiliated North Zone units from among Punjab, Delhi or Himachal Pradesh. — PTI
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Rampaging Europe crush USA in Ryder Cup
Bloomfield (USA), September 20 The previous highest European winning margin had been 16 1/2 to 11 1/2 but that had been on home soil at the Belfry. To come to the USA and overpower an American team led by Tiger Woods left the 40,000 American spectators in stunned silence. The win was sealed in fairytale fashion when Colin Montgomerie, for so long the rock of the European team, drained the winning putt on the 18th green. It gave him a one-up win over gritty American David Toms and Europe the much needed 14 1/2 points. Only minutes earlier, England’s Lee Westwood defeated Kenny Perry to make sure the Europeans retained the Cup. But it was the 41-year-old Montgomerie who sank a treacherous three-foot putt to pull off the victory. The burly Scotsman, who earlier this year was an emotional wreck after the very public breakup of his marriage, had tears in his eyes as he was hugged by European captain Bernhard Langer. “It’s very emotional for me,” said Montgomerie, who has never been beaten in Ryder Cup singles. “It has been a fantastic day, a fantastic week.” Langer vowed that the team would party all night. “I’m so happy for all the guys. It was more easy than we perhaps thought. This has been incredible,” said Langer. “The guys came out blazing this afternoon. At the start there was a lot of red on the leaderboard but the boys put up point after point and suddenly the scoreboard was nearly all blue,” Langer said. American captain Hal Sutton admitted his side had been outgunned. “They just outplayed us and that’s not any discredit to the Americans. Sometimes you are on and sometimes you’re not. We just weren’t on with our putter this week and they were. “They are great champions and great men,” said Sutton. He admitted it had been a difficult week for him. It was a stunning win for Europe, which set it up on Saturday by taking an 11-5 lead, the biggest score chalked up by Europe after the opening two days. The Americans knew they needed to pull off the biggest comeback in Ryder Cup history if they were going to win back the Cup, won two years ago by Europe at the Belfry. For nearly two hours, the partisan American fans were given a glimmer of hope as Woods led the charge. In the first five matches, America led in all. Woods ran over English rookie Paul Casey 3 and 2 in the first match of the day but a hint of what was to come came when Sergio Garcia, in the second match, came back from two down to Phil Mickelson to win 3 and 2. It was a brilliant win for the 24-year-old and it gave Europeans their first point of the singles. “I think it was definitely important to have the first point for our team,” said Garcia. “I think Bernhard (Langer) and all my teammates were behind me and I really felt the push. “It was a big win. I hope it helped the guys coming after me seeing that I was coming back.” — AFP
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Paes-Stepanek duo wins title
New Delhi, September 20 The win marked Paes’ second successive doubles title there. Paes had won the doubles title last year, teaming up with Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia and Montenegro. The secondseeded Paes-Stepanek duo, playing together for the first time, beat the Argentine pair of Eltis and Rodriguez 6-0, 6-3 in the final yesterday. Earlier this year, Paes won titles in Halle and Gstaad with another Czezh, David Rikl, and at the ATP Masters Series in Canada with compatriot Mahesh
Bhupathi. — UNI |
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Hockey team for Pak series announced
Chandigarh, September 20 The team will be without Dhanraj Pillay, Baljit Singh Dhillon, Deepak Thakur and Gagan Ajit Singh, all of whom were part of the team for the Athens Olympics, after the four players made themselves unavailable for selection. While veterans Pillay and Dhillon withdrew from the series because of their commitments to play for foreign clubs, Deepak Thakur opted out due to injury. Gagan Ajit pulled out due to personal reasons. Prabhjot Singh, who had accused chief coach Gerhard Rach of not allowing to him to play for longer duration in matches in Athens, was not considered for selection since he was out of form, IHF President KPS Gill said while announcing the team here. The thrust was on building a strong team with the Champions Trophy in mind, said Gill. India will host the Champions Trophy next year. Gill denied any dissent in the team. The Dilip Tirkey-led team was a “right balance of youth and experience” he said and was confident of the team doing well even without the five senior players. The IHF President also rejected claims that European style of hockey was affecting the players’ performance and said, “there is no conflict in the style of hockey.” Gill said juniors team would play a Test series in Australia in October and the team would be announced by October 10. The players would continue to practice here. The Indian team will leave tomorrow for Delhi for its onward journey to Pakistan. The Indian team would play the Tests in Karachi (Sep 24), Quetta (Sep 27), Peshawar (Sep 29) and Lahore (Oct 1) before hosting the neighbours in a return series from October 4 to 10. The opening tie of the return series will be played in New Delhi (Oct 4) followed by matches in Chandigarh (Oct 6), Amritsar (Oct 8) and Hyderabad (Oct 10). Team: Goalkeepers: Adrian D’-Souza, Devesh Chauhan. Defenders: Dilip Tirkey, Sandeep Singh, Harpal Singh, William Xalxo. Midfielders: Viren Rasquinha, Vikram Pillay, Ignace Tirkey, V.S. Vinay, Prabodh Tirkey, Vivek Gupta; Forwards: Adam Sinclair, Arjun Halappa, Sandeep Michael, Tushar Khandekar, Hari Prasad, Girish Pimpale. Stand-bys: Bharat Chhetri, Raghunath, Samuel Nag, Birender Kalra and Inderjit Chaddha.
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Hockey academy team leaves for Pak
Attari, September 20 The 11-day tournament will be held in Bahawalpur. The Indian academy will play its first match tomorrow. Sandeep Joshi, coordinator, said the team was earlier scheduled to play a match today. However, their departure for Pakistan was delayed as visa formalities were not completed on time. Captain Khushmeet Singh, an international player, said it was a good opportunity for the players to prove their mettle. Ajay Kumar Bansal, chief coach, along with Ramesh Nambiar, chief-de-mission, and Sanjay Kohli, manager, would travel to Pakistan on September 22. The team includes four officials — Sandeep Joshi, coordinator, Bimal Mohan, media in charge, Amar Singh Negi, umpire and Antony Dass, assistant manager. Besides Khushmeet, the players are Inder Singh Salaria, Hamza Muztaba, Sunil Yadav (all internationals), Dinesh Ekka, Bharat, Jasbir Singh, Mubeen-ur-Rehman, Pramod Singh, Roshan Minz, Kuldeep Singh, Sanjeev Ajmani, Ajitesh Roy, Jayanta and Melory D’Silva.
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14 golfers in Asian
Tour Order of Merit
Chandigarh, September 20 Country Club’s Tamsui Course in Taipei
yesterday. Randhawa is among the top 10 with an earning of $248,309.53 and is at the creditable third position. Rahil Gangjee of Kolkata, who has recently won the Volkswagen Open in a playoff in Bejing in April this year on his maiden Asian Tour, is at the 31st position with an earning of $53,266.82. Two steps behind Rahil is Amandeep Johl of Chandigarh, who after playing 15 competitions was at the 33rd place with a purse of $50,330.99. Johl and Gangjee will represent India in the 2004 World Cup qualifier to be played at Palm Resort Golf and Country Club, Johor, Malaysia from September 30 to October three. Other Indian professional golfers who are in the 161 Asian Tour Order of Merit list: Harmeet Kahlon (37th), Jeev Milkha Singh (48), Gaurav Ghei (71), Arjun Singh (74), Uttam Singh Mundy (88), Vivek Bhandari (91), Digvijay Singh (99), Amritinder Singh (102), Vijay Kumar (114), Ashok Kumar (123) and Gurbaaz Mann (147). Thaworn is among the four Thai stars in the upper echelon of the list, headed by current number one Thongchai Jaidee, who leads with $332,375. Prayad
Marksaeng is fifth with $188,801 while veteran Boonchu Ruangkit, joint
ninth at the weekend, is in ninth place with a collection of $161,038. —
UNI |
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Haryana lift NZ athletics trophy
Panipat, September 20 The Haryana team secured 641 points while the Uttar Pradesh team stood second by getting 500 points. About 650 sportspersons from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Delhi took part in the three-day championship. Haryana girls claimed the first place by securing 330 points while those of Uttar Pradesh again had to be satisfied with the second place with 200 points. Similarly, Haryana boys also got the first place by getting 321 points while those of Uttar Pradesh stood second with 300 points. Aditya of Uttaranchal was declared the best boy athlete in the 14-year age group, while Talwinderjeet Kaur of Chandigarh was declared the best girl athlete in the same age group. Ajit of Uttar Pradesh and Rinku Sangwan of Haryana were declared the best boy and girl athlete, respectively, in the 16-year age group. Vinay Choudhary of Uttar Pradesh and Luxmi Pooja of Haryana were the best boy and girl athlete, respectively in the 18-year age group. Kaushal of Uttar Pradesh and Renu of Haryana were declared best boy and girl athlete respectively in the 20-year age group. |
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Good coaches must for Indian tennis: Vijay
New Delhi, September 20 “We can’t fault the system. It comes down to the commitment of the players when it’s comes to the question of win or lose”, said Vijay, who made a fleeting visit to the Capital today as the UN Messenger of Peace (the International Peace Day will be celebrated tomorrow). “Either you bring the coaches home, or take them out” Vijay noted. He said it was now easy to earn points in the country itself now “as we have something to the tune of 50 tournaments. You can play in India and get into international ranking, which was not the case in our time”, Vijay said. The former Indian Davis Cup captain said his participation in the Olympics and the Asian Games had different meanings as they were not dictated by commercial considerations. “There was a kick in playing for the country at the highest level”, he said. He said there was now more television coverage and sponsorship and the players should cash in on this to make a progress in their game. He said he was supporting his son Prakash Amritraj in his tennis career “one thousand per cent for two reasons”: Because of his magnificent work ethic and that he works hard like “there is no other tomorrow”. Vijay also announced with a tinge of sadness that the Vijay Amritraj-Britannia Tennis Academy, which had spawned a new tennis culture in the country, had to be shut down after 18 years due to the ill health of his parents — Robert and Maggy Amritraj. |
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Post-awards dinner party unlikely
New Delhi, September 20 The dinner get-together is primarily intended for the award winners to have an informal interaction with the top brass of Indian sports, ministry officials, the media and the minister. But this year, the Finance Ministry has not granted permission to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to hold the function till late this evening, on the eve of the Arjuna Awards function, citing cost cutting as the reason. President APJ Abdul Kalam will present the sports awards at the Ashoka Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan tomorrow morning. |
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No telecast of Irani Cup tie?
Kolkata, September 20 “Our existing agreement with Doordarshan has already expired and the new agreement has not been signed yet due to litigation, hence nothing can be said at this stage,” BCCI Secretary S.K. Nair said. He, however, said if the Punjab Cricket Association took the initiative to make some local arrangement with Doordarshan, then the matter could be taken up at the board level.
— PTI |
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Kanupriya wins two titles
Sonepat, September 20 In the boys section, the singles title was won by Sumit Dahiya of Bhiwani. In the men’s section, Kashmir Singh of Sirsa bagged the singles title whereas the doubles title went to the pair of G.K. Bajaj and Jitender of Rohtak. The pair of Sachin and Saurabh of Panchkula were the winners in the boys section. The Inspector-General of Police, Rohtak Range, Mr S.S. Deswal, gave away prizes to the winners.
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30 boys for wrestling camp
Chandigarh, September 20 The camp began today and will continue till the departure of the team for Shimla. Chief coach Darshan Lal said the final selection would be made on October 3 at the Sector 30 Wrestling Hall at 9 am. The boys will attend a training session at the Wrestling Hall in the morning and assemble at the Sector 42 Multipurpose Stadium in the evening. Four coaches — Safri Lal, Jaswinder, Ajay Pathak and Surinder — will train the wrestlers under the overall supervision of Darshan Lal. |
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