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Asian XI clash with World XI today
FIFA to hold fund-raisers
in India
Bangladesh eye historic win
Himachal thrash Services
Pillay, Gagan earn IHF’s wrath |
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Vijay Singh maintains lead
TN restrict Punjab
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Asian XI clash with World XI today
Melbourne, January 9 More than 80,000 people are expected to fill the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the day-night match between an Asian and World XI, which will be broadcast in 122 countries to an estimated global audience of one billion. ''It shouldn't take one freak act of nature to realise how generous we can be,'' Gilchrist said. The International Cricket Council (ICC) hopes the match will raise millions of dollars for the tsunami appeal with some of the money going to help victims in cricket-mad Sri Lanka and India. A second fundraising game is due to be staged in Asia in either February or March. ''Everyone has been touched by what has happened,'' said Steve Waugh, the former Australia captain who will coach the world team. ''Cricket has the ability to unite people from around the world...and this is a way for the cricket community to help.'' Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer, in charge of the Asian XI, said: ''This is a very humbling experience for all of us, specifically the guys here whose families and friends have been affected.'' The bulk of the Asian side is made up of Indians and Sri Lankans, some of whom have been personally affected by the tsunami which has killed at least 156,000. Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan was on his way to Galle when the city was struck by the waves on December 26 while Sanath Jayasuriya almost lost his mother. ''She got wounded all over the body and is just recovering,'' Jayasuriya said. ''But this is important that we play this match. It is important that we all do something.'' India batsman Sachin Tendulkar cannot play in Monday's match because of an elbow injury but agreed to travel to Australia to show his support. ''I always knew I was going to come,'' he told Reuters. ''It's disappointing that I can't go out to bat but the cause I'm here for is far more important that any match.'' The ICC has tried to add some spice to the hastily arranged game by declaring it official, meaning runs and wickets will go on record. The players say they need no extra incentives. Shane Warne quit one-day cricket two years ago but agreed to come out of retirement while Darren Gough flew from England at short notice. ''I think it's a credit to all the players that they said yes straight away to come down here and play this game,'' said Warne, who also plans to visit Sri Lanka later this year to help the relief effort. Match organisers will not say exactly how much money they expect to raise but a global foreign exchange company has donated A$1 million ($760,000) while a mobile phone company has pledged $1,000 for every run scored in the match. The match will be telecast live on Sony Max from 8.40 a.m. Teams (from): World
XI: Dwayne Bravo, Chris Cairns, Stephen Fleming, Chris Gayle, Adam Gilchrist, Darren Gough, Matthew Hayden, Brian Lara, Glenn McGrath, Ricky Ponting, Daniel Vettori, Shane Warne. Asian XI:
Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly, Sanath Jayasuriya, Alok Kapali, Zaheer Khan, Anil Kumble, Muttiah Muralitharan, Abdul Razzaq, Kumar Sangakkara, Virender Sehwag, Chaminda Vaas, Yousuf Youhana. Atapattu pulls out
Colombo: Sri Lanka's skipper Marvan Atapattu will not play in Monday's charity cricket match to raise funds for tsunami victims because his two young children are ill, an official said today. Atapattu was scheduled leave for Melbourne, Australia yesterday, along with teammates Sanath Jayasuriya, Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas and Kumar Sangakkara as part of the Asian XI which takes on the World XI. "He is not going to Melbourne because his children are not well," said Duleep Mendis, Sri Lanka Cricket's chief executive officer.
— Reuters, AP |
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FIFA to hold fund-raisers
in India
Kolkata, January 9 Announcing this today, All-India Football Federation President Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi said the FIFA fraternity matches would be held in the first or second week of February in Kolkata and Delhi. “The matches will be played either between a FIFA XI and Asia XI or between two World XI sides depending on FIFA’s decision. We have requested FIFA to include at least two Indian players in the teams,” Dasmunshi told a press conference here. While the two teams would mostly feature “immediately past players,” a few active soccer stars playing in the English Premier League or Italian league would also be seen in action at the Salt Lake Stadium (Kolkata) and Nehru Stadium (New Delhi). The
AIFF, which has announced contribution of Rs 15 lakh to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund, would donate the funds raised through the initiative for the benefit of tsunami
victims. — PTI |
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Bangladesh eye historic win
Chittagong, January 9 Chasing a stiff 381-run target, Zimbabwe were wobbling at 46-3 at stumps. They now have to face a minimum of 90 overs under pressure on the final day tomorrow to save the match. Bangladesh, seeking their first win since gaining Test status in 2000, tightened the screws on a depleted Zimbabwean side when fast bowler Baisya removed opener Barney Rogers and Vusimuzi Sibanda for nought in his opening two overs. Left-handed Rogers was caught low at second slip by substitute Manjural Rana, while Sibanda was trapped leg-before. Zimbabwe, playing their first match after their Test programme was suspended in June for fielding weak teams following a row between their cricket board and key white players, were in deep trouble after losing one more wicket. Opener Stuart Matsikenyeri, who made 20 in a 40-run stand for the third wicket with Hamilton Masakadza, was bowled attempting a big shot against the turn off left-arm spinner Haque. Masakadza (26 not out) and Brendan Taylor denied Bangladesh further success, but Zimbabwe still faced a tall order. Bangladesh earlier declared their second innings closed at 204-9 for an overall lead of 380 runs, with skipper Habibul Bashar following his first innings 94 with a solid 55 in the second. Scoreboard
Bangladesh (Ist innings) 488 Zimbabwe (Ist innings) Matsikenyeri c Bashar Rogers run out 5 Sibanda lbw Rafique 12 Masakadza b Mortaza 29 Cremer lbw Rafique 0 Taylor lbw Mortaza 39 Taibu lbw Rafique 92 Chigumbura c Mashud Nkala c Mashud b Rafique 23 Hondo c Mashud b Mortaza 1 Mpofu not out 0 Extras:(b-1, lb-1, nb-9, w-1) 12 Total:
(all out, 131.4 overs) 312 FoW: 1-31, 2-48, 3-59, 4-59, 5-86, 6-152, 7-271, 8-308, 9-312. Bowling:
Mortaza 31-12-59-3, Baisya 24-5-87-1, Rafique 41.4-19-65-5, Haque Jnr 26-9-55-0, Ashraful 5-0-19-0, Saleh 4-0-25-0. Bangladesh (2nd innings) Saleh c and b Hondo 26 Iqbal c Taylor b Hondo 0 Bashar c Masakadza Ashraful c Taibu b Mpofu 22 Ahmed c Cremer Mashud c Cremer b Hondo 23 Omar c Masakadza Rafique not out 14
Mortaza c Hondo
b Chigumbura 19 Baisya c Sibanda Extras:(b-1, lb-8, nb-4, pen-5) 18 Total:(9 wkts dec) 204 FoW:
1-7, 2-47, 3-83, 4-114, 5-145, 6-156, 7-176, 8-202. Bowling: Mpofu 12-1-47-1, Hondo 17-0-61-3 (nb-4), Chigumbura 16.1-3-54-5, Matsikenyeri 6-0-28-0. Zimbabwe (2nd innings) Matsikenyeri b Haque Jr. 20 Rogers c sub b Baisya 0 Sibanda lbw Baisya 0 Masakadza not out 26 Taylor not out 0 Total:
(3 wickets, 23 overs) 46 FoW: 1-1, 2-2, 3-42. Bowling:
Mortaza 6-1-18-0, Baisya 7-4-18-2, Haque Jr 6-2-8-1, Rafique 4-2-2-0. |
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Himachal thrash Services
Nadaun (Hamirpur), January 9 Chasing the victory
target of 165 runs, the hosts lost their opener Rahul Panta for a duck.
He was trapped lbw by Sudhakar Ghag on the very first ball of the
innings. However, captain Sandeep Sharma and Sangram Singh steadied the
Himachal innings, scoring 27 and 36 runs, respectively. Sangram hit a
huge six and the ball fell into the nearby Beas river. A new ball was
used to continue the innings. Earlier, Himachal Pradesh won the toss
and put Services in to bat. The Himachal bowlers bowled out Services for
164 thanks to superb bowling by Vikramjit Malik (4 for 35). For
Services, opener Narinder Singh scored 35 with two fours. Fazal Mohammed
scored 24 runs. Services’ total was boosted by 50 extras given by
Himachal bowlers. Manvinder Bisla of Himachal Pradesh was declared man
of the match. With this win, the Himachal Pradesh got five points,
including one bonus point for fast scoring and winning the match in less
than 40 overs. Scoreboard Services Narendra Singh c Sangram PMS Reddy lbw Vikramjit 6 Jasbir Singh b Vikramjit
5 Yashpal Singh lbw Vikramjit 0 Sarvjit Singh c Sandeep Sharma Krishan Chabra c Ajay Manu Sanjay
Mishra run out 2 Sudhakar Ghag Arun Sharma run out
2 Fazil Mohammed b Vikramjit 24 Manish Jha not out 7 Total:
(all
out) 164 Fall of wickets:1-14, 2-33, 3-33, 4- 61, 5-95, 6-102,
7-121, 8-121, 9-132. Bowling: Vikramjit Malik 9.1-0-35-4, Vishal
Bhatia 10-1-33-1, Saurab Rattan 10-2-28-2, Sangram Singh 6-1-11-1, Ashok
Thakur 10-1-29-0, Rahul Panta 4-0-17-0. Himachal Pradesh Sandeep
Sharma Rahul Panta lbw Sangram
Singh c Manvinder Bisla not out 60 Paras
Dogra not out 32 Total: (3 wickets, 37.4 overs) 165 Fall of
wickets: 1-0, 2-60, 3-87. Bowling: Sudhakar Ghag 8-1-33-1,
Sanjay Mishra 3-0-20-0, Fazil Mohammed 7-2-30-0, Manish Jha 4-0-23-0,
Arun Sharma 10-2-34-2, Yashpal Singh 5.4-0-24-0. |
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Punjab pull off 1-wicket win
Chandigarh, January 9 Put in to bat, Haryana innings never, in fact, got going. They lost their first wicket of opener Chetan Sharma at 33. Chetan was out after scoring a 29-ball 28. Haryana kept on losing wickets at regular intervals. Sunny Singh, Shafiq Khan and wicketkeeper Ajay Ratra were back in the pavilion without contributing substantially. Opener Bageshwar saved the innings from collapse. He kept one end intact and contributed 70 runs, the highest of the innings. All-rounder Joginder Sharma, who played for India in the recent one-day matches against Bangladesh, contributed a valuable 38 as Haryana were able to post 238 on the board. For Punjab, all-rounder Reetinder Sodhi was the most successful bowler and claimed three wickets. New ball bowler VRV Singh went wicketless, while Gagandeep Singh took one wicket. Punjab were off to a disastrous start when opener Ishan Malhotra was castled by Joginder Singh for nought. Seamer Jitender Malik dealt another blow to Punjab, sending back Yuvraj Singh when the batsman had scored just six. Skipper Dinesh Mongia (13), Ankur Kakkar (3) and Chandan Madan (11) failed to do much. Opener Reetinder Sodhi made a patient 44, while Ravneet Ricky kept Punjab hopes alive. Ricky was unlucky to be out when in sight of a century. He contributed 96. Harbhajan Singh used the long handle and scored a scintillating 37 to take Punjab closer to victory. Gagandeep Singh and VRV Singh batted sensibly to take Punjab to a nail-biting victory. Gagandeep remained unbeaten on 10. |
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Jadeja leads Delhi to victory
Dharamsala, January 9 Electing to bat first after winning the toss, Delhi were in trouble as they lost opener Shikhar Dhawan (10) and Gautam Gambhir
(0) in quick succession with only 22 runs on the board. However, at this juncture, Jadeja, along with Mithun Minhas, came to the rescue of their team with a solid 127 run third wicket partnership. Jadeja scored a well-compiled 109 before falling to medium pacer Abid Nabi. Minhas, giving good support to his skipper, scored 59 runs. Brief scores: Delhi: 227 all out in 49.4 overs. (Ajay Jadeja 109, Mithun Minhas 59; Abid Nabi 5 for 50, Shafkat Baba 3 for 30). (J&K: 149 Kawaljeet Singh 24, Shafkat Baba 30; Yogesh Sachdeva four for 26, Amit Bhandari three for 20.
— UNI |
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Pillay, Gagan earn IHF’s wrath
New Delhi, January 9 IHF chief K.P.S. Gill told PTI in an interview here that 36-year-old Pillay was a spent force now. “Pillay’s playing days for the country are over although it is good that he has decided to play in the PHL (Premier Hockey League). After 30-40 years, we have a team and not a collection of individuals. We have to build on that, whatever people may say,” Gill said. Ending ambiguity over whether Gagan Ajit, the Punjab Police forward, was dropped on form or discipline, Gill said the striker had lost his basic hockey sense. “Gagan did not have a good season. He needs to redo his hockey, get the basics right. In the Olympics, he even missed straight passes. Now that he has been dropped, it should serve as an eye-opener for him,” Gill said. “I am sorry (if players like Gagan), are not in the Indian team. I know his value goes down (if he is not in the team). All the endorsements are going to the head of Gagan. Sponsors are planting stories to bring him back into the team,” he said. Gill said the Indian team had not progressed and appeared to have gone back “strategically” after the Athens Olympics. On whether the IHF would persist with
Rach, he said, “We will take a decision at the IHF executive committee meeting at the end of this month.”
— PTI |
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Carlos Moya retains Chennai Open title
Chennai, January 9 The top-seed battled back from 5-2 down in the deciding set to prevail 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 in a final lasting over two-and-half hours. Paradorn had dominated the first set, the 25-year-old Thai hitting deep and moving to the net to finish. Moya, the 1998 French Open winner, however, showed better control over his trademark forehand shots to claim a see-saw second set which saw five breaks of serve. Leander-Nenad duo defeated
Ousted in the first round itself in the singles, German Reiner Schuettler finally had something to smile about. Combining brilliantly with Taipei's Yen Hsun Lu, he upset the second-seeded pair of India's Leander Paes and Serbia's Nenad Zimonjic 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the second semi-final of the ATP world tour Chennai Open 2005 doubles event here yesterday. Schuettler, thus scotched the possibility of Leander and Mahesh, who made it to the final partnering Swede Jonas Bjorkman, playing against each other before the home crowd in a doubles final. Leander's observation at a press meet after winning the quarterfinal that he and Nenad did not have the objective of winning, but getting used to each other for the new season ahead, came true. In spite of Leander's brilliant display with chip shots and drop volleys at the net, winning crucial points, Nenad's big serve failed him at crucial stages of the match, especially in the decisive third set after being 0-3 down, the pair levelled 4-4 breaking Lu in the seventh game. After Schuettler-Lu took the first set, Leander and Nenad bounced back to win the second set, despite trailing 1-2. They levelled 2-2 and raced ahead to a 5-2 lead and wrapped up the set after dropping the eighth game on Schuettler's serve. In the decider, Nenad botched up the tenth game completely after Schuettler held serve in the ninth game for a 5-4 lead and gaining a psychological advantage. The lanky Serb double-faulted and hit two easy forehand volleys into the net. Leander and Nenad saved a matchpoint when they were down 0-40 to make it 15-40. But Nenad's return went out again.
—Reuters, UNI |
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Johansson wins hardcourt title
Adelaide, January 9 His first tournament win was at Memphis in 2004, a breakthrough year in which he also made the semifinals of the US Open and moved from 113th in the rankings to No. 11. Fifth-seeded Dent survived three break points in the fifth game of the match, but managed to keep the first set on serve until 5-5, when Johansson gained the first break. Johansson took the score from deuce to a break point on a backhand return winner, then hit another crosscourt backhand return winner on the next point to take a 6-5 lead. He broke Dent’s serve again in the third game of the second set. Up 5-3, he finished the match by again breaking serve, blazing a forehand return winner to complete the victory on his fourth match point.
— AP |
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Vijay Singh maintains lead
New York, January 9 Singh, who claimed nine events, over $ 10 million and the number one ranking from Tiger Woods last year, has carried his brilliant form into a new campaign, carding three bogey-free rounds on the Kapalua Plantation course in Hawaii yesterday to sit at 19-under after 54 holes. While it is not unusual to see Singh's name at the top of the leaderboard, having Kaye nipping at the Fijian's heels ahead of some of golf's biggest names is a bit of surprise. Having qualified for the elite 31-player winners only field with a victory at last year's Phoenix Open, the 34-year-old American has made the most of his chance, shooting up the standings with a seven-under 66. South Africa's Ernie Els will go into the final round two strokes off the pace after carding a third round five-under 68 with Stewart Cink another shot adrift. Despite continuing problems with his putter and another up and down round of four-under 69, Woods remained within striking distance five shots back.
— Reuters |
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TN restrict Punjab
Chennai, January 9 Electing to bat after winning the toss, the visitors were reduced to nine for four inside the first five overs as Naresh and right-arm medium pacer V. Yomahesh (3 for 74) struck in tandem. However, the middle order came to the rescue by threading in useful partnerships. Brief scores : Punjab 213 for nine in 90 overs (Rupinder Singh 40, Sunny Sohail 35, Sumit Sharma 42, Sumit Kalia 41 batting, R. Naresh 6 for 43, V. Yomahesh 3 for 74) vs Tamil Nadu.
— UNI |
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