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Senior official rebels against IHF IHF a big mad house, says Rach Hyderabad Sultans beat Sher-e-Jalandhar
Sedate start by England
Delhi crush Himachal by 107 runs
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Sodhi, Yuvraj take Punjab to eight-wicket win
Haryana slump to 43-run defeat
Pakistan to send venue
inspection team
Bangladesh keen to wrap up series
Federer, Davenport top seeds
Hewitt enters semifinals
Faster times expected in Mumbai Marathon
Robin Singh to coach Hong Kong
Anand eyes Corus hat-trick
Endro guides
Fransa to win HSIDC spikers for Islamabad
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Senior official rebels against IHF
New Delhi, January 13 IHF senior vice-president Narinder Batra shot off a letter to secretary K. Jothikumaran, inquiring about the expenses incurred by him and president K.P.S. Gill and amount received from the Union Youth Affairs and Sports Ministry and sponsors and how much of it was spent on the players in the last couple of years. He also alleged that while the federation was quickly paying dues to some people, it owed money to some other people who had been made to wait for three years. Mr Batra also demanded the audited balance sheet from the IHF secretary. He pointed out that though the IHF had convened a general body meeting in Hyderabad on January 30, minutes of the previous meeting and the secretary’s report were not sent to the federation officials. He also criticised Mr Jothikumaran for convening the meeting but keeping the official in the dark about the Premir Hockey League and the National Hockey
Championship. “Though the notice is sent on time, an effort has been made not to send any document with it so that members are forced to pass everything without having read it properly,” he alleged. Earlier this month, Mr Batra was made a member of the Jury of Appeal for the Premier Hockey League, which kicked off in Hyderabad today. “They can throw me out if they want for raising these objections. If they do that, I will definitely go to court because it is public money that is being
misused,” said the angry official. Mr Batra also said he would contest against the IHF president in the coming elections. “The elections are due in 2006. If there is no candidate to contest against Gill, I will stand against him. I have already sounded him about it,” he said. Miffed by Mr Gill’s recent comments against players like Gagan Ajit Singh he said whatever statements the IHF boss had made were his personal views and the IHF did not endorse those. Mr Batra said, “He is criticising good players and Olympians. These are his personal views, The IHF does not endorse these. He has no right to tell players who have achieved so much for the country when to retire. In fact, he is 70 plus, why should he not retire?” Blaming the IHF chief for the team’s recent poor performances, he said, “the players are demotivated, they are scared all the time. How can they perform in such a scenario?” He said, “Gagan Ajit Singh is a good player, but Gill is upset because he was recently on the front pages flanked by models. What is wrong in that, he is the new face of Indian hockey. The problem is that he does not want players to enjoy the limelight, but himself.” He said, “I respect him for what he has done for the country but he is ruining the game in the country.” He said some members of the IHF — both full and associate — shared his views and wanted transparency and democracy to be restored in the IHF.
— UNI, PTI |
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IHF a big mad house, says Rach
New Delhi, January 13 Rach, who yesterday informed the IHF about his decision to quit, said IHF president K.P.S. Gill was in favour of giving him the post till the 2006 World Cup, but it was Jyotikumaran who was against him. “After the Olympics, Gill was happy with me, but Jyotikumaran was not. He said to me that I was not able to handle the team, especially Dhanraj Pillay,” he added. “Then he said you should pray that the old man is alive for a long time. If he is dead, you will no more be the coach of India,” Rach alleged in an interview to a private news channel. “The IHF is a big mad house. I am not anymore ready to continue with them. That makes you crazy,” he said. — PTI
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Hyderabad Sultans beat Sher-e-Jalandhar
Hyderabad, January 13 With both teams locked goalless in the first two quarters, Hyderabad Sultans stepped up the tempo in the third, constantly raiding the opponents’ citadel from both wings. The persistence paid off as Dad latched on to the rebound off the Sher-e-Jalandhar custodian and made no mistake in slating home the winner for his team.
— PTI
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Johannesburg, January 13 Robert Key was on 16 after fast bowler Dale Steyn removed Marcus Trescothick cheaply. England’s openers saw off the new ball, which was shared by Pollock and Makhaya Ntini, and looked unruffled despite playing and missing repeatedly. Two balls after the drinks interval, Steyn struck, Trescothick feathering behind for an unconvincing 16. He faced 47 balls. Steyn played in the first two Tests in Port Elizabeth and Durban, but was left out in favour of seamer Charl Langeveldt for the third Test in Cape Town. But he returned when Langeveldt fractured his hand and opened with four maidens as well as one wicket. He reached the break with one wicket for 14 from seven overs. Pollock deserved more from his opening burst of seven overs for 18, but was punished whenever he strayed, Strauss cutting and driving him for four boundaries. South Africa also brought back wicketkeeper Mark Boucher, with struggling batsman Hashim Amla left out. A.B. de Villiers, who kept wickets in the last two Tests, was selected as a batsman. England opted for swing bowler James Anderson instead of fast bowler Simon Jones in their only change. Michael Vaughan won the toss for the first time in the series. Scoreboard England (1st innings): Trescothick c Boucher Strauss batting 40 Key batting 16 Extras:
(lb-4, nb-1) 5 Total: 1 wkt in 28 overs) 77 Fall of wicket:
1-45. Bowling: Pollock 7-3-18-0, Ntini 8-2-30-0, Steyn 7-4-14-1, Kallis 5-1-10-0, Boje 1-0-1-0.
— Reuters, AP |
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Delhi crush Himachal by 107 runs
Nadaun, January 13 Chasing a target of 266 runs, Himachal Pradesh
crumbled to fine rival bowling attack. Sangram Singh (33 runs), Virendra
Sharma (32 runs) and Manvinder Bisla (33 runs) were the main scorers as
Himachal were bowled out for 159 runs. After their shock defeat to
Punjab at Dharamsala on Tuesday, the star-studded Delhi came in an
aggressive mood right from first ball and scored 266 for 4, thanks to
fine knocks of 131 not out by opener Shikhar Dhawan and 76 by Rajan
Gupta. Dhawan's knock included a mighty six and 12 fours. After the
early departure of opener Gautam Gambhir on 5, Shikhar Dhawan and Rajat
Gupta played freely and took the team total to 200 runs when Gupta was
caught by Kuldip Diwan off Vikramjit Malik for 76. Dhawan scored his
century in 128 balls and hit the ball to all sides of fence. Rajat
Bhatia scored 17, while former international Ajay Jadeja contributed 13
as Delhi posted 266 on the board. For Himachal Pradesh, Ashok Thakur
was the most successful bowler. He took 2 for 44 runs. The hosts were
guilty of dropping many catches which helped the Delhi to amass such a
huge score. Chasing this total, Himachal were never really in the hunt.
Wickets kept on tumbling one after the other. Small contributions from
Sangram Singh, Manvinder Bisla and Ajay Mannu were of no avail as the
side was bowled out for 159 in 42.4 overs. Shikhar Dhawan of Delhi was
adjudged Man of the Match. Scoreboard Delhi: Shikhar Dhawan
not out 131, Gautam Gambhir b Ashok Thakur 05, Rajan Gupta c Kuldip
Dewan b Vikramjit Malik 76, Rajat Bhatia lbw Kuldip Dewan 17, Ajay
jadeja b Ashok Thakur 13, Mithun Minhas not out 02. Extras: 22 Total:(for
4 wickets in 50 overs) 266 Fall of wickets: 1- 24, 2- 200, 3-
240, 4- 264, 5-266. Bowling: Vikramjit Malik 9-0-50-1, Ashok
Thakur 10-01-44-2, Sangram Singh 8-0-25-0, Virendra Sharma: 4-0-21-0,
Kuldip Dewan: 9-0-49-1, Saurav Rattan: 3-0-23-0, Vishal Bhatia:
7-0-43-0. Himachal Pradesh: Saurab Rattan lbw Amit Bhandari 6,
Sandeep Sharma b Sanjay Gill 4, Sangram Singh b Chaitnya Nanda 33,
Manvinder Bisla run out 35, Paras Dogra b Ashish Nehra 2, Ajay Manu c
Gautam Gambhir b Amit Bhandari 32, Virendra Sharma c S Dhawan b Amit
Bhandari 20, Vishal Bhatia not out 6, Ashok Thakur c Mithun Minhas b
Chaitnya Nanda 0, Vikramjeet Malik LBW Amit Bhandari 0, Kuldip Dewan b
Amit Bhandari 7 Extras: 14 Total: (all out in 42.4 overs)
159 Fall of wickets: 1- 5, 2- 17, 3- 75, 4- 85, 5- 89, 6- 143,7-
146, 8- 155, 9-156 Bowling: Amit Bhandari 10-0-36-5, Rajat
Bhatia 5-0-16-0, Ajay Jadeja 4-0-10-0, Ashish Nehra 6-1-11-1, Chaitnaya
Nanda 9.4-0-29-2, Sanjay Gill 8-0-48-1. |
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Sodhi, Yuvraj take Punjab to eight-wicket win
Kangra, January 13 Jammu and Kashmir
looked clueless facing seamer Gagandeep Singh, who wrecked the innings
with a three-wicket burst. Leg-spinner Sandeep Sawal, though
expensive, also claimed three wickets as Jammu and Kashmir were bundled
out for paltry 157 in 48.5 overs. This was never going to challenge
mighty Punjab batting, which they achieved with plenty to spare. All
rounder Reetinder Sodhi, who remained unbeaten on 62, and India one-day
player Yuvraj Singh contributed 63 to ensure that Punjab emerge a
comfortable winners. Scoreboard Jammu and Kashmir: Nasir
Wani c Sandeep b Amit Uniyal 2, Vivek Singh lbw Gagandeep Singh 2,
Kamaljeet Singh b Gagandeep Singh 28, Majid Dar c Yuvraj Singh b
Gagandeep 0, Dhruv Mahajan c Yuvraj Singh b V.R.V.Singh 20, Shammi
Salaria run out 43, Inderjeet Singh b Sandeep Sawal 40, Ishtiyaq b
Sandeep Sanwal 1, Shafqat Baba not out 5, Abid Nabi b Amit 0, Jagtar
Singh c Ratinder Sodhi b Sandeep Sanwal 1 Extras: 15 Total: (
all out in 48.5 overs): 157 Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-9, 3-9, 4-59,
5-60, 6-147, 7-149, 8-150, 9-154, 10-157. Bowling: Gagandeep 10 3
12 3, Amit 7 0 27 0, V.R.V.Singh 5 0 10 0, Reetinder Sodhi 5 0 18 0,
Vipul Sharma 7 2 11 0, Sandeep Sawal 7.5 0 56 3 Dinesh Mongia 5 0 21
0 Punjab: Ravneet Ricky lbw b Abid Nabi 9, Reetinder Sodhi not
out 62, Yuvraj Singh c Nasir Wani b Dhruv Mahajan 63,Dinesh Mongia not
out 7 Extras: 17 Total ( for 2 in 27.4 overs): 158 Fall
of wickets: 1-17, 2-148. Bowling: Abid Nabi 9 0 56 1 Shafqat
Baba 6.4 1 46 0 Ishtiyaq 4 0 27 0 Inderjeet 4 0 13 0 Jagtar Singh 3 0 11
0 Dhruv Mahajan 1 0 1 1. |
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Haryana slump to 43-run defeat
Una, January 13 Electing to bat
first after winning the toss Services riding on a fine knock of 79 runs
by Yashpal Singh, piled up 207 runs. For Haryana, medium-pacer Joginder
Sharma and Sachin Rana took two wickets apiece. Haryana began their
innings disastrously, losing their first four wickets with just 15 runs
on the board. Their innings folded up at 164. Services medium-pacers
Sudhakar Ghag and Fazal Mohammad were the architects of their sides
victory. Scoreboard Services: Narinder Singh run out 30, P.M.S.
Reddy b Mohinder Sharma 8, Jasbir Singh c Ajay Ratra b Sunny Singh 14,
Yashpal Singh c and b Sachin Rana 79, Sarabjit Singh c Ajay Ratra b
Joginder Sharma 11, Sanjeev Mushra not out 32, Rajbir b Sachin Rana 1,
Fazal Mohammad not out 5. Extras: 27 Total (for six wickets in 50
overs) 207 Fall of Wickets: 1-10, 2-60, 3-66, 4-101, 5-196, 6-199. Bowling:
Joginder Sharma 10-0-41-2, Jatinder Mullick 4-0-20-0, Sunny
Singh 10-0-27-1, Sachin Rana 6-0-43-2, Gaurav Vashist 10-0-34-0, Amit
Mishra 10-0-33-0. Haryana: Chetan Sharma c Sarabjit b Fazal 1,
Bhageshwar c and b Sudhakar Ghag 1, Sunny Singh c Yashpal b Fazal 0,
Safqat Khan c Sarabjit b Sudhakar Ghag 7, Ajay Ratra run out 17, Deepak
Joon c Rajbir Singh b Sudhakar Ghag 43, Joginder Sharma c Yashpal b Arun
Sharma 29, Sachin Rana c and b Fazal 25, Amit Mishra c Jasbir Singh b
Yashpal 11, Gaurav Vashist not out 16, Jatinder Mullick lbw Sudhakar
Ghag 0. Extras: 14 Total (all out, 44.3 overs) 164 Fall of Wickets:
1-2, 2-2, 3-6, 4-15, 5-49, 6-105, 7-117, 8-136, 9-163, 10-164. Bowling:
Sudhakar Ghag 8.3-0-20-4, Fazal Mohammad 7-2-17-3, Arun Sharma
10-0-37-1, Munish Jha 9-0-40-0, Yashpal Singh 10-1-40-1. — UNI, PTI |
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Pakistan to send venue
inspection team
Lahore, January 13 “It will not be a security delegation, but a venue inspection committee, because we want to be satisfied with the level of facilities and other arrangements at the venues where they want us to play,” PCB director Abbas Zaidi was quoted as saying by The News. Mr Zaidi also said the board would like to play most matches in areas close to the Wagah border. “It is a tour we are all looking forward to because of the significance attached to it. So we are keen that we play at some venues which are close to the Wagah border and people can travel by road from Pakistan to watch the matches,” he said. Saying the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had asked the PCB to inform it if they had reservation about playing in any particular venue, Mr Zaidi said, “We can only convey our reservations once the BCCI tells us that it wants us to play at the following venues”.
— UNI |
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Bangladesh keen to wrap up series
Dhaka, January 13 Bangladesh, winless for 34 matches after receiving Test status in 2000, ended the drought earlier this week when they hammered the depleted Zimbabweans by 226 runs in the opening match in Chittagong. Captain Habibul Bashar was confident his team will win the series. “We realise our job is only half done and the boys are keen to wrap up the series,” said Bashar, who top-scored in both innings of the first Test with knocks of 94 and 55. Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore said his side faced a different kind of pressure. “Before our maiden win, there was pressure because we had not won. Now the pressure is because we are expected to win,” said Whatmore, the former Sri Lanka coach who joined Bangladesh last year. “We have to guard against complacency. We are making gradual progress and have to look at the future.” Zimbabwe’s West Indian coach Phil Simmons felt his inexperienced team, deprived of leading stars like Heath Streak and Grant Flower because of a players’ revolt against the establishment, was capable of providing stiffer resistence in the second Test. “I thought our players fought it out in the first Test and I am not disappointed at the loss,” said Simmons. “Experience made the difference as our side is a young one.” Zimbabwe captain Tatenda Taibu felt his team could do better than their effort in the opening match. “We did not apply ourselves well enough in Chittagong and our shot selection was poor,” said Taibu, who led Zimbabwe in their first Test since June last year. Zimbabwe’s Test programme was put on hold by the International Cricket Council for fielding weak sides following a row between their cricket board and the senior players. |
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Federer, Davenport top seeds
Melbourne, January 13 Last year's runner-up, Russia's Marat Safin, was seeded number four ahead of Spanish Davis Cup hero Carlos Moya and Argentina's French Open finalist Guillermo Coria. Four-time Australian Open champion Andre Agassi was listed at number eight. The 34-year-old American is the oldest man in a singles draw that features the world's top 20 players. American Davenport has not won a grand slam title since her victory at Melbourne Park five years ago but was installed at the head of the women's seeds after finishing last year top of the world rankings. Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo, the 1999 Australian Open runner-up, is seeded number two ahead of four Russians, French Open champion Anastasia Myskina, Wimbledon winner Maria Sharapova, U S Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Dementieva, runner-up at Paris and New York. There were seven Russians among the women's 32 seeds. The 2003 Australian Open champion Serena Williams was seeded number seven after missing last year's tournament through injury. Her elder sister Venus was number eight in a field containing 17 of the world's top 20 women. The three absentees are last year's champion Justine Henin-Hardenne, her fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters, runner-up in 2004, and American Jennifer Capriati, the champion in 2001 and 2002. The full draw will be held on Friday.
— Reuters
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Hewitt enters semifinals
Sydney, January 13 Fourth seed Romanian Andrei
Pavel, Spanish fifth seed Feliciano Lopez and Taylor Dent, the big-serving American seeded eighth, all succumbed to lower-ranked opponents as the temperature at Sydney’s Olympic tennis centre soared to 42°C. Pavel fell to little-known Czech qualifier Ivo Minar 2-6, 7-6, 6-4 while Lopez succumbed to Radek Stepanek 6-3, 6-2. Dent failed to finish his quarterfinal with Max Mirnyi of Belarus, quitting halfway through the first set after feeling ill. “I was feeling a little bit light-headed and dizzy and my energy was going pretty fast,” Dent said. “I saw the doctor and told him what was happening. He said just try and stay out there, but it was getting worse,” he said. The carnage was not just restricted to the men’s singles. India’s Leander Paes twisted his foot during a doubles match and was in doubt for the Australian Open while Czech Tomas Berdych also quit the doubles after suffering from a stomach problem. In the women’s draw, Russia’s world number 13 Nadia Petrova quit her match against Chinese amateur Peng Shuai because of heatstroke. The fifth seed was trailing 6-3, 4-2 at that time. Of the five Russian women who entered the event, only third seed Elena Dementieva remained in the draw. The French and US Open finalist beat Swiss Patty Schnyder 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 to set up a possible semifinal with world number one Lindsay
Davenport. Peng would play Alicia Molik in the other semifinal after the rapidly improving Australian beat Colombia’s Fabiola Zuluaga 6-1, 6-2.
— Reuters |
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Faster times expected in Mumbai Marathon
Mumbai, January 13 Joseph Kahagu, the
32-year-old marathoner, who is the entrant with the best recorded time in this year’s event two hours, seven minutes and 59 seconds, which he clocked seven years ago in the Chicago marathon said at a pre-event press conference here today that he expected a sub-2:15 winning time this year. This compared favourably with 2:15.47 clocked by Hendrik Ramala of South Africa, absent from the fray this time around. Citing reasons for this expectation, UK-based Elite athletics co-ordinator Ian Ladbrooke said last year, the event was held in February, when the temperature was 10 degrees more and the humidity level was also much higher than the expected weather forecast for Sunday. There were two uphill sections on the route too, which had been reduced to one this year, he pointed out as another reason for his optimism that the times clocked by the top runners would be much better this year. This year’s field was much stronger too, Kahagu said, a fact endorsed by Ladbrooke, who said he expected pretty good times to be set by the leading runners this year. Kahagu had come here after winning the Dubai marathon in 2003, clocking 2:09.23, which was a course record. He had taken part in the 1996 Pune marathon at the beginning of his career. He had won marathons in 2003 in Japan and last year in Madrid. “In fact, I wanted to run in the Mumbai marathon last year, but my manager dissuaded me as I was to run in Madrid soon afterwards,” Kahagu said. Asked about the Pune marathon, in which he took part, Kahagu described the conditions then as very hot and said he clocked 2:25. Another top Kenyan marathoner, John Mutai, who was fifth in the Mumbai marathon last year, said he adopted the waiting tactics last year and saw the course and conditions were quite tough. “Last year, I was cautious. I followed everybody and towards the end, it was tough and I saw many drop behind,” he recalled. “I have trained quite hard for the event, running 120 km every week. I saw the great Paul Tegart too training very hard for the coming season, the 37-year-old Mutai said, adding that Sunday’s race should be a good race. England’s 34-year-old Ian Fisher, for whom this would be his first marathon in Asia, said his training included wearing warm clothes while running to get used to the higher humidity in Mumbai. Fisher had won the 1999 Amsterdam half marathon and was runner-up in the 2002 event in Manchester and the 2003 Nottingham marathon. He said he had mostly trained for the event with cross-country runs. “I have run 100 miles a week,” he added.
— PTI |
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Robin Singh to coach Hong Kong
New Delhi, January 13 Robin Singh has signed up a two-year contract after being associated with the Hong Kong national side for the past one year. “I have not taken up a permanent job, but signed a two-year contract with Hong Kong,” Robin Singh said today. “Hong Kong are at the critical stage of their campaign to qualify for the ICC Inter-Continental Cup. With the final stages of the event clashing with the one-dayers against England, I could not have left them midway,” he said. The India U-19 side is to play three Tests and five one-dayers at home against England. The first Test begins in Bangalore on January 22. Robin Singh had been working as the Indian U-19 coach on an assignment-to-assignment basis and his last stint with the youngsters was the Junior Asia Cup in Sri Lanka in 2004.
— PTI |
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Anand eyes Corus hat-trick
Wijk aan Zee, January 13 The super Grandmaster performed brilliantly last year winning in Dortmund, rapid events at Mainz, in Sao Paulo and Corsica besides taking India to their best-ever finish, a sixth place, at the Chess Olympiad. ''Being the first in the calendar year, players are motivated to start the year on a good note. Coming after a good break, chess players tend to be better prepared and have studied a lot of theory and opening preparation,'' Anand predicted. On Vladimir Kramnik, who can turn out to be the biggest thorn in the flesh for him, Anand said, ''Kramnik and myself have played in nearly all-classical events and he is a very tough rival to beat.''
— UNI |
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Endro guides Fransa to win
Margao, January 13 Denis Cabral and Vinu Jose gave him good support on the flank as they raided the rival citadel, but failed to convert the scoring chances that came their way. Fransa, took the lead in the 38th minute when Jules Dias from the centre relayed the ball to Endro, who got the better of the rival defender and took a shot from the top of the box that beat keeper Ramos.The goal boosted Fransa’s morale as they dictated terms in the second half and increased the lead in injury time when Endro accepting a pass from the middle essayed a shot that was deflected by defender Thapa and caught keeper Ramos on the wrong foot.Endro was declared the man of the match and given a cash prize of Rs 5,000. — PTI
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HSIDC spikers for Islamabad Chandigarh, January 13 HSIDC, captained by Indian senior skipper Amir Singh, qualified for the Asian clubs meet after dethroning South Central Railways 28-15, 25-22, 27-25, 28-26, 15-10 in the final of the National League Championship recently in Hassan (Karnataka). Two teams each from Iran, Qatar and Saudi Arabia and one each from India, Japan, Bahrain and Korea will compete in the Islamabad championship. The HSIDC team: Amir Singh, Raghuveer Singh, Sanjay Kumar, Dinesh Kumar Singh, Jitender, Sube Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Darshan Singh, Rampal Singh, Surjit Singh, Sandeep Kumar and Anil. HSIDC is also allowed to include two “guest’” players in their team for the Asian clubs championship. Meanwhile, the Volleyball Federation of India has appointed Mr Randhir Singh chairman of the disciplinary committee of the federation.
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Badminton
trials tomorrow Patiala, January 13
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