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Decision on Rach
deferred
McGrath to target
Youhana, Inzamam
Zaheer to work on fitness, bowling
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HP in driver’s seat
against J&K
Jadeja slams ton
Punjab 164 for 5 in
reply to TN's 244
Basketball camp from today
Indian pair in squash quarters
MP 106 for 2 in reply to Rlys' 373
Bhambri sisters in second round
Women’s fest: Punjab continue winning
spree
Beant Singh stadium, decade old,
incomplete
Haryana, HP win in kabaddi
TFA win, Mohammedan Sporting lose
Liberals hockey from Dec 22
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Decision on Rach
deferred
New Delhi, December 14 Rach met IHF president K.P.S. Gill here this afternoon amid speculation that he would be given the marching orders for his failure in changing the team’s fortunes, but his future was not discussed during the 30-minute one-to-one. Gill asked Rach to meet him after he returned from Germany in the middle of January for further discussions. “I had a one-to-one with the IHF chief, during which we talked about the performance in the Champions Trophy. He said we must speak with a free mind on a later date since there is a lot of media pressure now. There was no discussion on my future,” Rach said after the meeting. Rach, who did not sign any formal contract with the IHF, but worked on an agreement till the Champions Trophy, had recently said he had received a message from the IHF, which claimed that the government was not happy with his performance. Although Gill has asked Rach to meet him next month, the IHF is free to appoint a new coach. Rach would leave for Germany tonight and return on January 11. —PTI |
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Jugraj to lead
Amritsar, December 14 The Indian club will have the services of star players like Prabhjot Singh and Bikramjit Singh. Indian team:
Jugraj Singh, Prabhjot Singh, Bikramjit Singh, Ajit Pal Singh, Maninder Singh, Jagmohan Singh, Tasavurjit Singh, Joga Singh, Manjit Singh, Manbir Singh, Jatinderpal Singh,
Harpreet, Rajpal, Jasbir, Jagir, Brijdev Singh, Kuljit Singh and Jagroop Singh Canadian team: Joan, Rob Andrew, Steve Blair, V.P. Singh
Malhari, Nirmal, Dharminder, Sukhvinder Gabbar, Ravi Agnihotri, Sukhdev,
Kamal, Gurinder Sandhu, Robi Deema, Inderjit, Navraj and Pritpal.
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McGrath to target
Youhana, Inzamam
Perth, December 14 McGrath, who will spearhead a likely three-pronged Australian pace attack in the first Test starting Thursday, said the pair were world-class. "To me there's two standouts in their batting line-up. There's Yousuf Youhana and Inzamam," he said. "I don't know if I'll come out and say if I'm targeting any one player but they are definitely the keys. If we can knock those two over it will make our job so much easier." While not in top form so far on the current tour, Inzamam was looking dangerous in the match against Western Australia last week before being dismissed by a spectacular catch. Yousuf was the world's leading run scorer in one-day cricket during 2003. McGrath said Pakistan were a young team who could be inconsistent but the Australians were not reading anything into their poor results so far on tour. "We'll be prepared at the start of the Test for them being a lot tougher than that and I'm sure they will be." Perth's WACA ground holds fond memories for McGrath, who made his test debut here against New Zealand in 1993-94 and took a hat-trick against the West Indies in 2000-2001. The Australians seem set to name speedster Brett Lee as the 12th man despite the lively wicket but McGrath said there was little selectors could do given Australia's stockpile of talented pacemen. He said the wicket would also offer Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami a great deal. "WACA looks like it's back to its quick and bounciest and I for one am looking forward to getting out there and bowling," he said. "I think he'll (Shoaib Akhtar) enjoy bowling there ...he'll run in hard and hit the wicket hard." While the Australians have named their 12, Pakistan are still finalising their line-up. Off spinner Shoaib Malik is clear to start after extensive testing on his bowling action was carried out at the University of Western Australia yesterday. The results will not be complete for several days when they will be handed to the Pakistan Cricket Board and the International Cricket Council (ICC). McGrath said the Australians had no problem with Malik playing. "At the end of the day it's not up to us to judge who should and shouldn't play -- that's up to the ICC," he said. Australia's key batsman Matthew Hayden, who was suffering from a hamstring strain, is certain to play on a ground which has special memories for him. In his last Test at the WACA in October 2003, he belted a then-world record 380 against Zimbabwe. —AFP |
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Zaheer to work on fitness, bowling
Dhaka, December 14 From the high of spearheading the Indian bowling in the World Cup, things changed upside down for Zaheer within a year's time as he watched from the sidelines his team score victories in Australia and Pakistan. But now that his worst days are behind him, the Baroda fast bowler is keen to look forward. "You can't help certain things, you can't change them. You have to live with that. I want to look ahead and keep moving, I am sure there are more good things ahead for me," he said. Zaheer has not been exactly among the wickets this season and for the most part been a support cast to his state teammate Irfan Pathan. But there has been the endurance and consistency that marked him as a talent when he made his debut four years ago, especially in the Kanpur Test against South Africa where he was the team's only recognised fast bowler. "I definitely feel happy about the way things have gone. I have played all the seven Tests and done well. Of course there is scope for improvement," Zaheer said. "I am looking forward to the break after this series, when I plan to work on my fitness and improve my bowling further," Zaheer said. The one thing that may be lacking in his bowling is the speed. He had averaged near the 130 kmph mark whereas he used to bowl close to 140 kmph earlier. Zaheer said a bit more finetuning would help him add a couple of yards to his pace. "It is all about rhythm. When you hit the right length obviously your pace becomes better. I also need to work a bit more on my fitness." He said he had taken the negative criticism and the troubled times of last year in his stride. "When you are not doing well, people criticise. You have got to live with that. The motivation for me was to control things that I could control. I kept my focus on things that I can do better." Zaheer denied that he rushed his comebacks last season when he frequently broke down with one injury after another. "Not really. Andrew (Leipus) and me did not know exactly why injuries were happening, so we did not know in which direction to go. "When one muscle got injured and I did all that was required to comeback from that, then a different muscle would give away. It was only after the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka, Andrew could figure what was going wrong and from there on we could decide on the direction (of treatment)," he said. Zaheer said the 2002-03 season when both his personal and the team's graph kept going upwards would remain his best phase. "We kept performing well throughout. At Headingley (in England), we performed as a unit. And likewise in Trinidad (in the West Indies), myself, Srinath and Ashish we combined well. "It was very satisfying that I could provide the breakthroughs when the team needed it," he said. Captain Sourav Ganguly was full of praise for Zaheer's batting exploits during India's innings and 140-run win over Bangladesh yesterday. "We would have declared after lunch (on the third day) but he (Zaheer) was going well and keen to get his hundred, so we did not," Ganguly said after the match. But the batsman himself was not aware of his achievement. "I was not aware of it until I came back and my teammates told me about it," said Zaheer who surpassed the previous best of 68 not out by New Zealand's Richard Collinge against Pakistan in Auckland in 1972-73. For a bowler who took to serious cricket only at the age of 17, his growth has been pretty rapid. "I guess it was a natural thing. I had the talent, but more importantly I got the breakthroughs at the right time, and the right people helped me at the right time." —PTI |
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HP in driver’s seat
against J&K
Ddharamsala, December 14 Resuming the play at overnight score of 85 for two, Sangram Singh, who was 23 n.o., scored his second successive century and added valubale 125 runs with Manvinder Bisla for the fourth wicket while the other overnight batsman Vishal Bhatia was out for 14. Manvinder and Ajay Mannu had another 113-run partnership for the sixth wicket which fell at 341 but the tailenders submitted meekly and the hosts were out for 370, gaining 280 runs first innings lead. The visitors who were bundled out for 90 in the first innings were 58 for one at the close with Fayaz Ahmed (24 n.o.) and Jagtar Singh zero (n.o.) at the crease, still requiring 222 runs to avoid innings defeat. Abid Nabi who took six wickets for 91 runs was the most successful Jammu and Kashmir bowler while Jagtar Singh took two wickets for 85 runs. The skipper Druv Mahajan tried as many as eight bowlers but Samiulla and Ashwani Gupta were lucky to claim one wicket each. Scoreboard Jammu and Kashmir (1st innings): 90 Himachal (1st innings): Ankur Bassi c Dhruv Mahajan b Samiullah 09, Sandeep Sharma b Abid Nabi 46, Sangram Singh b Abid Nabi 101, Vishal Bhatia c Arshad Bhat b Ashwani Gupta 14, Manvinder Bisla c Kanwaljit b Jagtar Singh 113, Paras Dogra b Abid Nabi zero, Ajay Mannu (n.o.) 74, Varinder Sharma st Arshad Bhat b Jagtar Singh zero, Kuldeep Diwan c Fayaz Ahmed b Abid Nabi 01, Ashok Thakur c Dhruv Mahajan b Abid Nabi 01, Vikramjit Malik lbw Abid Nabi zero. Extras: 11. Total (all out in 99.5 overs) 370. Fall of wickets: 1/21, 2/79, 3/113, 4/238, 5/238, 6/341, 7/345, 8/350, 9/365, 10/370. Bowling: Abid Nabi 26.5-3-91-6, Samiullah 11-2-31-1, Ashwani Gupta 22-7-75-1, Mazid Dar 2-1-6-0, Jagtar Singh 25-10-85-2, Dhruv Mahajan 5-0-40-0, Hardeep Singh 7-0-26-0, Kanwaljit Singh 1-0-12-0. Jammu and Kashmir (2nd innings):
Sheikh Sajjad c Dandeep Sharma b Vishal Bhatia 32, Fayaz Ahmed (n.o.) 24, Jagtar Singh (n.o.) zero. Extras: 2 Total (for two wickets) 58. Fall of wicket: 1/58 Bowling: Vikram Malik 8-1-25-0, Ashok Thakur 4-1-12-0, Vishal Bhatia 5.2-0-17-1, Kuldeep Diwan 2-0-2-0. —
PTI |
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Jadeja slams ton
New Delhi, December 14 In reply, Karnataka reached 32 for no loss with their opening pair of Ayudda Uthappa (14) and Barrington Rowland (17) at the crease when stumps were drawn. Resuming on their overnight score of 205 for four, Delhi batsmen Shikhar Dhawan (130) and Rajat Bhatia(50) added another 25 runs when Dhawan perished at midwicket while trying to hoist Sunil Joshi. The southpaw's 266-ball knock was studded with two sixes and 11 hits to the fence. Despite the breakthrough, Karnataka bowlers could not tame the Delhi batsmen and the host skipper Ajay Jadeja partnered Rajat Bhatia to milk the Karnataka bowling attack which looked toothless. Scoreboard: Delhi (1st innings): Aakash Chopra c Uthappa b Joshi 15, Shikhar Dhawan c Somasunder b Joshi 130, Abhinav Bali lbw b Vinay Kumar 43, Mithun Manhas b Joshi 11, Sarandeep Singh c Shinde b Joshi 0, Rajat Bhatia c Joshi b Vinay Kumar 50, Ajay Jadeja not out 103, Vijay Dahiya run out 49, C Nanda not out 0 Extras (B-9, LB-9, W-1, NB-7) 26 Total (For seven wickets in 161 overs) 427 declared Fall of wickets: 1/65 2/168 3/197 4/197 5/230 6/300 7/426 Bowling: Dodda Ganesh 21-7-60-0 Vinay Kumar 19-4-53-2 N C Aiyappa 22-7-52-0 Sunil Joshi 62-24-117-4 Udit Patel 29-3-100-0 Stuart Binny 4-2-10-0 Barrington Rowland 2-0-4-0 Sudhindra Shinde 2-0-13-0 Karnataka (1st innings): Ayudda Uthappa not out 14 Barrington Rowland not out 17 Extras (B-1) 1 Total (For no loss in 15 overs) 32 Bowling: Amit Bhandari 5-0-13-0 Sarandeep Singh 6-0-12-0 C Nanda 3-0-5-0 Rahul Sanghvi 1-0-1-0. —UNI |
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Punjab 164 for 5 in
reply to TN's 244
Chennai, December 14 At close, Punjab were 164 for five with Ankur Kakkar (11) and Amit Uniyal (12) at the crease. Earlier, the hosts, resuming at 191 for seven, were all out for 244 in 109 overs. Punjab were in trouble at 63 for 3 before opener Ravneet Ricky steadied the innings, making a superb 71 before being bowled by left arm spinner, Ramkumar. He put on 74 runs for the fourth wicket with wicket keeper batsman, Pankaj Dharmani (23). R Sodhi (24), Yuvraj Singh (9) and Dinesh Mongia (one) were dismissed cheaply. Yuvraj's short pull off Jesuraj resulted in a top edge to short square leg and wicket keeper Vikram Kumar ran to take the catch. Mongia played on trying to defend a Jesuraj delivery. Jesuraj claimed all three wickets in his third spell. Brief Scores: TN (1st innings): 244
(S.Sriram 38, K.Vasudeva Das 91 not out, M R Srinivas 52, V.R.Singh 5/70, A.Uniyal 4/63) and Punjab 164 for 5 in 63 overs
(Ravneet Ricky 71, Reetinder Sodhi 24, R.Jesuraj 3 for 50). — PTI
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Basketball camp from today
Ludhiana, December 14 The players will learn the finer points and skills of the game and they will also get an opportunity to watch senior players in action during the 55th Dhanoa National Basketball Championship, to be held at Ludhiana from December 26 to January 2. The list of the players is as follows: boys — A. Marodona and M. Yakaiah from AP, Pratham Singh, K Suresh and Jodha Singh from Chattisgarh, Sunil Kumar-Delhi, Mohit (Haryana), Shahid Iqbal (Jammu and Kashmir), Mohammad Irfan and Rakshith MM (Karnataka), Arjun Krishna (Kerala), Pulkit Shrivastava (MP), Rakesh Yadav and H. Somen Singh (Manipur), Siddhant Shinde and Imran Qureshi (Maharasthra), Susanta Jena (Orissa), Richar Joy, Rajan Sharma and Sukhjeet Singh (Punjab), Hirender Singh Rathore, Samartha Agarwal and Kamran Khan (Rajasthan), C. Ramanathan (TN), Gauraav Sonkar (UP). The coaches will be Harvinder Singh, SAI coach, PAU, Ludhiana, and John, SAI coach, Bangalore centre. The girls team: L. Anjana Chowdary and D. Geetanjali Reddy (AP), Sonika Dhlyan (Chandigarh), Lo Deepa, Aruna Kindo and Anisha Singh (Chhatisgarh), Yashasvika Sharma, Vasudha Sharma and Astha Tyagi (Delhi), Arathy R. (Karnataka), Shija Joseph, Ashet Mathew and Stephy Nixon (Kerala), Gurjeet Kaur and Kauser Zaidi (MP), Punita Repe, Asavari Tembe, Kamakshi Bandekar and Nikita Kapoor from (Mah), Mandeep Kaur and Harmanjot Kaur (PB), S. Anitha and A N Vinitha Pillai (TN), Aayushi Sharma and Renu Maurya (UP), Sukuramni Oraon and Salma Sultana (WB). The coaches will be Vinod Vachani, Uttaranchal, and Surinder Prasad, SAI coach, Bhuvbaneshwar. |
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Indian pair in squash quarters
Chennai, December 14 Displaying awesome firepower, the Indian duo steamrolled the South African pair of Paul Atkinson and Michael Tootill 9-5, 9-3, 9-5 in straight games to storm into the last eight. Saurav and Ritwik, who gained a walkover from the Singapore pair after the latter failed to turn up for the match yesterday, would now meet the top-seeded Aussie pair and title favourites David Palmer and Anthony Ricketts in the last Group A league match to decide the group topper later in the day. The South African pair ended up in a whimper as the Indians never gave room for them to manoeuvre and in the process, reduced the contest to a one-sided affair. —
UNI |
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MP 106 for 2 in reply to Rlys' 373
Indore, December 14 Earlier, Railways resumed their innings on 255 for five and added another 118 runs before their innings collapsed. Golwalkar returned a figure of 34.4.-5-127-8 while Jitendra Likhar claimed two. Besides 93 by Amit Pagnis and 63 by captain Sanjay Bangar, Raja Ali scored 53 and Siddhartha Joshi and JP Yada contributed 47 runs each as Railways made 373. In reply, MP lost two early wickets in 36 runs. Naman Ojha and Devendra Bundela then steadied the ship and added unbeaten 70 runs for the third wicket. Railways lone wicket taker was HS Sodhi who claimed host captain Amay Khurasia (01) and Sachin Dholpure (14). —
UNI |
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Bhambri sisters in second round
New Delhi, December 14 There was no sign of her wrist injury that had forced Ankita to skip the nationals as the Delhi girl crushed Asha 6-1, 6-2. In a more one-sided match, her sibling Sanaa ousted Urmila Ram in straight sets. After clinching the first set without conceding a game, Sanaa looked relentless and bagged the second with consummate ease to complete a facile 6-0, 6-1 win. London-based Shruti Dhawan also had little problem in taming Ukraine’s Katerina Polunina 6-4, 6-2. Italian Martina Caciatti, however, had to toil hard in the middle as Karishma Patel put up a spirited, fight, but ran out of steam and went down 3-6, 7-5, 1-6. Sai Jayalakshmy was also made to run in the first set by her opponent Krushmi Chedda, but the former raised her game in the second set and won 7-5, 6-0. Results (first round):
Martina Caicatti b Karishma Patel 6-3, 5-7, 6-1; Archana Venkataraman b Lara Alexander 6-2, 6-1; Sai Jayalakshmy b Krushmi Chedda 7-5, 6-0; Isha Lakhani b Ragini Vimal 6-1, 6-3; Ankita Bhambri b Asha Nandakumar 6-1, 6-2; Wilawan Choptang b Samrita Sekhar 6-1, 6-3; Sanaa Bhambri b Urmilla Ram 6-0, 6-1; Shruti Dhawan b Katerina Polunina 6-, 6-2; Sheetal Goutham b Geeta Manohar 6-2, 6-4. —
UNI |
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Women’s fest: Punjab continue winning
spree
Sangrur, December 14 Results: kho-kho: Kerala beat Uttar Pradesh 13-6, Tamil Nadu beat Tripura 7-4, West Bengal beat Gujarat 8-4. Punjab beat Goa 19-1, Delhi beat Jharkhand 15-0, Karnataka beat Bihar 12-1, Orissa beat Rajasthan 10-4, Maharashtra beat Haryana 8-2, Manipur beat Bihar 9-4, Andhra Pradesh beat Jammu and Kashmir 7-4. Kabaddi: West Bengal beat Tamil Nadu 46-18, Goa beat Tripura 42-31, Haryana beat Himachal Pradesh 50-39, Rajasthan beat Jharkhand 35-32, Uttar Pradesh beat Jammu and Kashmir 35-6, Manipur beat Andhra Pradesh 31-26, Orissa beat Madhya Pradesh 43-13, Delhi beat Bihar 50-25, Gujarat beat Rajasthan 37-10, Chhattisgarh beat Jharkhand 25-20, Karnataka beat Goa 25-18, West Bengal beat Haryana 42-36, Maharashtra beat Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh beat Orissa 57-26, Delhi beat Tripura 31-12, Uttar Pradesh beat Manipur 10-9, Punjab beat Gujarat 44-15. Volley ball:
Tamil Nadu beat Madhya Pradesh 25-15, 25-20, Utter Pradesh beat Kerala 25-13, 25-20, Gujarat beat Delhi 25-15, 25-13, West Bengal beat Bihar 25-9, 25-7, Chhattisgarh beat Goa 25-21, 25-10, Kerala beat Jharkhand 25-8, 25-7, Rajasthan beat Tripura 25-14, 25-13, Tamil Nadu beat Himachal Pradesh 25-7, 25-7, Utter Pradesh beat Orissa 25-17, 25-18, Delhi beat Andhra Pradesh 25-17, 25-23, 25-17, Bihar beat Jammu and Kashmir 25-17, 25-12, Madhya Pradesh beat Goa 25-9, 25-20, Kerala beat Haryana 25-20, 20-7, Punjab beat Delhi 25-7, 25-6. |
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Beant Singh stadium, decade old,
incomplete
Bathinda, December 14 Construction was started three years after its foundation stone was laid. Initially the project cost was worked out to be Rs 37 lakh. The authorities concerned said the work was stopped due to shortage of funds. Though Rs 24.98 had already been spent on the gymnasium, only four walls had come up so far. After the four walls were constructed at a cost of Rs 25 lakh, the balance amount of the grant was taken back by the state government. Cracks had developed in the boundary walls, which were without plaster. The floor and roof were yet to be completed. Mr Rupinder Singh, District Sports Officer, said despite repeated requests for the completion of the gymnasium, the authorities concerned had not taken any notice. He said they sent an estimate of Rs 23.34 lakh in September. He hoped that the grant would be released soon.
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Haryana, HP win in kabaddi
Pehowa, December 14 In the women’s section, Madhya Pradesh beat Gujarat 32-20, Railways beat Punjab 34-9, Maharashtra beat Jammu and Kashmir 77-34, Karnataka beat Rajasthan 60-19, West Bengal beat Goa 49-18, Vidarbha beat Himachal Pradesh 59-40, Chandigarh beat Haryana by 70-25, Delhi beat Karnataka 36-25, Railways beat Madhya Pradesh 60-19, Assam beat Chhatisgarh 40-30, West Bengal beat Vidarbha 31-30, Hyderabad beat Goa 53-23, Haryana beat Uttar Pradesh 60-24, Tamil Nadu beat Manipur 45-29 and Uttar Pradesh beat Tripura 116-9. |
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TFA win, Mohammedan Sporting lose
New Delhi, December 14 For TFA, this was their first victory after losing their opening match. TFA, who led by 3-0 at half-time, scored their goals through Lawanpuia, Robert Lathalmuna and Vimal Pariyar, the third goal coming off a penalty kick. The Hyderabad team were also awarded a penalty kick in the second half, which was converted by Fareed. Lawanpuia struck again to complete the tally for TFA. In the second match, J.P. Singh opened the account for Varanasi in the 65th minute and the winners enhanced the lead in the closing minutes of the match. |
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Liberals hockey from Dec 22
Patiala, December 14 A Lahore-based club, Ideal Hockey Club, will also participate in the tournament which has been accorded grade ‘A’ by the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF). Prominent among the teams that are slated to take part in the tourney are ICF, Chennai, Northern Railway, New Delhi, Punjabi University, IHF (Juniors), Artillery centre, Hyderabad, Western Railway, Mumbai, Punjab Police, Railway Coach Factory, Kapurthala, SAI Centre of Excellence, Patiala, Indian Navy, Mumbai and Air Force, New Delhi. The IHF has appointed Mr S.A. Khan of Bhopal as the Tournament Director. The winners will be getting Rs 31,000 while the runners-up will be awarded Rs 21,000. |
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The IHF today deferred a decision on coach Gerhard Rach, who was widely expected to be shown the door, leaving the country’s first foreign coach to wait till the middle of January to know his fate.
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