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All eyes on Sachin at team practice
I need time to give results: Woolmer
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Davis Cup
Pakistan shock Thailand
Randhawa finishes joint 11th
Rachna, Jeevanreet best cyclists
Chandigarh college paddlers win title
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All eyes on Sachin at team practice
Chandigarh, March 6 The tennis elbow had seen Tendulkar miss quite a few matches over the past one year. The injury first occurred during the final of the Asia Cup in Colombo in August last. This forced him to miss the Videocon Cup in Amsterdam, the three-match Natwest Challenge against England and the ICC Champions Trophy which followed. He did return in the home series against Australia and went on to score an unbeaten 248 against Bangladesh at Dhaka towards the fag-end of last year, but the injury recurred. This problem was probably Sachin’s worst cricket injury. In the 1999 home series against Pakistan, he was inflicted with a very bad back injury during the course of the first Test in Chennai. But in spite of the injury, he scored a brilliant century and nearly took India to victory before failing at the last hurdle. But this Test against Pakistan is something very special for the little master. Now 31, Sachin needs on more Test century to overhaul the world record of original little master Sunil Gavaskar of 34 Test centuries. Sachin is just 121 runs short of being only the fifth player in cricket history of scoring 10,000 Test runs, again a landmark first reached by Gavaskar. The former physiotherapist of the Indian cricket team, Andrew Leipus, had gone on to say that the problem of tennis elbow of Sachin Tendulkar was probably the worst injury suffered by the cricketer. “I was not around with the team when he faced a problem with his back, but since this has not allowed him to even lift a bat, I reckon this is the worst of his injuries,” Leipus had once been quoted as saying. The physio therapist, who was with the Indian team for a little over four years, said it was possible that like in most tissue injuries, Tendulkar’s elbow would never come back to its original form. “The important thing is that we should not repeat the mistakes and be careful about the amount of workload placed on the elbow,” he said. Leipus was of the view that the problem kept recurring because of the intense workload the little master put on himself. Here too at Mohali today, Sachin not only had an extended session with the bat, but also bowled. But then, Indian fans are hoping that the little master will go on and on. Never mind that he has been playing at the highest level since he was 16 years old.
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I need time to give results: Woolmer
Chandigarh, March 6 “I am enjoying my involvement with the game. As for the importance of results for a coach, I remember Bob Simpson telling me it took him five years to produce results.” Woolmer, who has been to India a few times as coach of the South African team, said the key to winning matches in India was to score big totals. “It is true especially in the first innings. You need to get at least 400-500 runs to be in a good position to win the game. Unless the pitch is doing something, this is the total a team should target.” This is an area where Pakistan has been falling short in recent times and Woolmer said his batsmen were perfectly aware of the issue. The Pakistan batsmen have realised they need to occupy the crease and bat at least for four and half hours. Woolmer admitted that he was facing a selection worry but indicated a side packed with six specialist batsmen for the first Test. “There is a nice dilemma in the team selection but it seems that we would have a specialist batsman at number six,” said Woolmer as he spelt out his options. Pakistan have lost six of their last eight Tests, including a recent 3-0 drubbing by world champions Australia. And for most of the defeats the batsmen would have to take the blame. Woolmer said he expected his bowlers to show better discipline to put pressure on the Indian batsmen. Woolmer expressed his satisfaction at the pitch for the first Test, terming it as one which should produce good cricket. “It has a good look about it and should produce good cricket,” he said. Salim Altaf, manager of the Pakistani team, said the visitors were in a positive frame of mind despite losing much of the three-day match against Board President’s XI to rain and bad weather. |
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Options open on inviting Pervez
Tarapur, March 6 The Board of Control for Cricket in India also appears keen on inviting the Pakistan President. Mohali: Officials here are clueless about a possible visit by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to watch the first India-Pakistan Test beginning here on March 8. Neither the Punjab Government nor the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) are aware of the visit, PCA chief Inderjit Singh Bindra said here on Sunday. — UNI, IANS |
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Kumble’s record
Chandigarh, March 6 |
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Narain finishes 15th on Formula One debut
Melbourne, March 6 Karthikeyan started the race, which was flagged off with 20 drivers in the fray, in 12th place before slipping to 18th on his first lap at the Albert Park circuit. The 28-year-old finally finished at the 15th spot, pushing behind five rivals, including fellow Jordan rookie Tiago Monteiro of Portugal (16th) and Ferrari’s seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, who could not complete the 302-km race after a contact with Williams’ Nick Heidfield 14 laps from the chequered flag. The Indian, whose next stop will be the Malaysian Grand Prix on March 20, could also take heart from the fact that he was fastest among the rookies. Karthikeyan’s debut performance warmed the heart of Jordan bosses who were glad that their drivers managed to take the Jordan Toyota EJ15s home. “We are very glad we finished this year’s first Grand Prix. We got both cars to finish and that is an achievement, even though it would have been nice to finish a bit higher up the results table,“ Jordan’s Sporting Director Trevor Carlins said, adding that the team was now looking forward to going to Malaysia and “if possible, improving the car a little bit”. Collin Kolles, Jordan’s Managing Director, said: “Before the Grand Prix, our aim was to get both cars to the end, so I am very happy that they finished the race in the same conditions that they started in and that there were no nasty surprises.” Earlier, Karthikeyan, who had secured the ninth place in the first qualifying yesterday, dropped three places in today’s qualifying despite coming up with a better timing at 1 minute 32.735, 12 seconds faster than his previous effort. Overall, Karthikeyan was satisfied with his maiden F-1 outing as he managed to overcome a “very bad start” and had a “trouble-free” race, which followed a new format that restricted the drivers to one engine for two races and one tyre set-up per race. “I had a very bad start and then stayed behind (Jordan team-mate) Tiago Monteiro for a while. After the first pit stop, I pushed a lot and it was a trouble-free race,” Karthikeyan told reporters after the race. For Italian veteran Fisichella, the win was indeed remarkable as he led all the way off pole position to take the title. He finished the 57 laps in 1 hour, 24 minutes, 17.336 seconds, 5.55 seconds. He was followed to the chequered flag by Ferrari’s Rubens Barrichello and Renault’s Fernando Alonso. While Fisichella was savouring celebratory champagne, Ferrari king Michael Schumacher was reflecting on his retirement on the 43rd of the 57-lap GP after coming off worse in a dice with Williams driver Nick Heidfeld. They made contact coming out of a turn, beaching Heidfeld in trackside gravel while Schumacher had to limp back to the pit lane. It is rare that the seven-time world champion fails to complete a race — he won 13 of last season’s 18 races — yet his misfortune after having to work his way through the field from 19th on the grid will inject some much-needed unpredictability into the 2005 Formula One season.
— PTI, AFP |
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India blank China 5-0
M.S. Unnikrishnan
New Delhi, March 6 Prakash scored a regulation 6-2, 6-4 victory in 53 minutes against Sun Peng while Harsh had to work a little more harder to overcome Hao Lu 6-2, 6-3 in 61 minutes. The Chinese players, greenhorns on grass, sank without a trace, save for the doubles. They had no remorse in losing, though, as they learnt a few valuable lessons from this battle. After this victory, India are closer to a berth in the World Group play-off round as they are most likely to play against the comparatively weaker Indonesia at home, on grass, in the Asia-Oceania Group II round. The Indonesians were leading 2-1 against Uzbekistan in their clash at Jakarta when India triumphed against China. Indian captain Leander Paes hinted that he would prefer the grass court of Kolkata for the next Davis Cup home tie. It was a cherished moment for Leander as his faith in both Prakash and Harsh paid off. “It makes my life that much easier as I can now play doubles the rest of my life”, Leander declared after the victory, which was India’s second 5-0 sweep in Davis Cup since 2002, when India had decimated Lebanon in the latter’s backyard. This was also India’s second clean sweep against China, having shut them out in 1999 in Kolkata by a similar margin. Prakash was in superb form. He revelled on the grass court which had firmed up and played true, and Sun Peng was given little room to manoeuvres. Harsh Mankad, who is not that adept on grass as he is on hard court, found the left-handed rookie Hao Lu a tough nut to crack. Lu replaced Wang Yu Junior in the reverse singles, and put up a fight to put Harsh into difficulty. Harsh was lucky to escape with just one service break, as on a few occasions he had to draw out his best to pull back from the brink. The Chinese made no apology of their defeat. Non-playing captain Xie Zhao admitted that grass was their weak point, and did not even bother to carry shoes suited to grass courts. Leander said he couldn’t have asked for more from his boys. “They played some great tennis, played up to their potential”, he remarked. Leander hoped that more centres in India would have good grass courts like the ones at the NSCI and the Gymkhana Club in Delhi.
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Pakistan shock Thailand
Lahore, March 6 Qureshi’s powerful serves knocked out Paradorn 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the first reverse singles before Danai Udomchoke got the consolation victory over Pakistan’s reserve player Shahzad Khan 6-3, 7-6 (1) in the last singles. “This is the most memorable match of my career,” Qureshi told reporters after his heroic three-hour win over Thailand’s world No. 33 Paradorn. Qureshi featured in all three Pakistan victories in the tie. He beat Udomchoke in the opening singles on Friday and later, together with Pakistan’s No. 2 Aqeel Khan, won the crucial doubles against Paradorn and Udomchoke yesterday. Argentina win
LONDON: Yves Allegro and George Bastl clawed their way back from two sets down to beat Dennis Van Scheppingen and Peter Wessels in a 5-7, 4-6, 7-6, 7-5, 9-7 epic to keep Switzerland, who had lost both opening singles, in contention against the Netherlands. The winners would face Slovakia in the quarterfinals. Argentina booked their quarterfinal spot, taking a 3-0 lead over the Czech Republic. David Nalbandian and Guillermo Canas beat Tomas Zib and, Jan Hernych 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. Argentina would face an away tie in Australia next, almost certainly on grass. In Moscow, Marat Safin and Mikhail Youzhny teamed up to give Russia a 2-1 lead over Chile. The duo beat Adrian Garcia and Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in 90 minutes. France took a 2-1 lead over Sweden in Strasbourg when Arnaud Clement and Michael Llorda beat Jons Bjorkman and Simon Aspelin 7-6, 6-4, 6-7, 6-4. Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic gave the Croatians a 2-1 lead with a 3-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over American doubles specialists Bob and Mike Bryan. The defeat was the first in the competition for the siblings on home soil. Australia completed a 5-0 whitewash of Austria by winning both the dead singles rubbers.
— AP, Reuters |
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Dubai, March 6 India’s Jyoti Randhawa carded a flawless five-under 67 and finished tied 11th, which is his second-best ever performance in the Dubai Desert Classic. Randhawa’s final day card saw him aggregate 10-under 278. After starting the day at five-under 211, he had two birdies on the front nine and another three on the back journey for a superb 67 on a day, when the slight breeze made the weather bearable, but it also meant the golfers had to be more careful about the gentle drift. Jimenez, the European Tour’s form player last year with five victories, had led by two with nine holes remaining but stumbled with a bogey-six at the 13th. Although the pony-tailed Spaniard recovered with his fourth birdie of the day on 16, he wasted a chance to take force a playoff when he three-putted at the par-five 18th.
— PTI, Reuters |
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Rachna, Jeevanreet best cyclists
Ludhiana, March 6 In the boys’ section, BBSBE College, Fatehgarh Sahib, won the overall trophy and hosts GNIMT secured the overall trophy in the girls’ section. Results: (boys) - 4000 m team pursuit - GNDE College, Ludhiana, 1, DAVIET, Jalandhar, 2 and GTBKIET, Malout, 3; 3 km massed start- Jeevanreet Singh 1, Jasjeet Singh 2 and Gurpreet Singh 3; 1000 m time trial- Jeevanreet Singh 1, Jasjeet Singh 2 and Harmandeep Singh 3; 1500 m team time trial- BBSBE College, Fatehgarh Sahib, 1, GNDEC, Ludhiana, 2 and DAVIET, Jalandhar, 3; 4000 m individual pursuit- Harmandeep Singh 1, Gurpreet Singh 2 and Harmandeep Singh 3; 1000 m sprint- Gagandeep Sawhney 1, Jeevanreet Singh 2 and Jasjeet Singh Hans 3; (girls)- 1000 m time trial- Rachna Dhingra 1, Abhipsha Thakur 2 and Harmeet Kaur 3; 1500 m team time trial- GNIMT, Ludhiana, 1, GNDEC, Ludhiana, 2 and DAVIET, Jalandhar, 3; 3000 m individual pursuit- Abhipsha Thakur 1, Anureet Kaur 2 and Manjot Kaur 3; 1000 m sprint- Rachna Dhingra 1, Abhipsha Thakur 2 and Harmeet Kaur 3; 3000 m team pursuit- GNIMT, Ludhiana, 1, GNDEC, Ludhiana, 2 and DAVIET, Jalandhar, 3. |
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Chandigarh college paddlers win title
Ludhiana, March 6 In the boys section, the Chandigarh college overwhelmed SKA College, Kurukshetra, 3-0. Aman beat Tribhuvan 11-7, 11-9, 6-11, 11-8 while Amit Munjal routed Vinay 11-5, 11-3, 11-4. In the doubles match, Aman and Amit Munjal beat Tribhuvan and Vinay 11-2, 12-10, 11-4. In the girls final, GNAM College, Gopalpur, Ludhiana, overpowered DBA College, Mandi Gobindgarh, 3-1. Swati Kapoor of Gopalpur beat Pooja 11-3, 11-9, 11-7. However, in the second match, Gurpinder went down fighting to Ranjana of Mandi Gobindgarh 10-12, 4-11, 11-9, 11-4, 3-11. Swati and Gurpinder then paired to outclass Ranjana and Retishau 11-4, 11-7, 11-6. In the fourth match, Swati defeated Ranjana 11-2, 10-12, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8 to help her college wrap up the issue. In the match for the hardline cup, DA College, Jalandhar (boys) beat GNAM, Gopalpur, 2-0 while in the girls section, MBA College, Muktsar, beat DA College, Jalandhar, 2-0. |
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