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India complete 5-0 whitewash
Pak clinch Davis Cup playoff berth
Karthikeyan silences critics
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India’s Jyoti Randhawa gestures after missing a birdie putt on the ninth hole during the final round of the Asian Open in Shanghai on Sunday. — AFP
photo
Atwal in third place
Sanjay wins title
Nalbandian lifts title
Jones returns to winning ways
Chelsea record historic win
East Bengal hold Salgaocar goal-less
Wronged Olympian
dies after getting justice
Five Chandigarh boys for camp
TERI win trophy
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India complete 5-0 whitewash
Jaipur, May 1 After Prakash Amritraj overcame some early resistance from Farrukh Dustov and the energy sapping heat for a 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-2 victory, Harsh Mankad cleaned up Murad Inoyatov 7-5, 6-1 to complete the formalities for the hosts. The Indians had already pocketed the tie after winning the opening two singles on Friday and the doubles match yesterday. They will now play one of the eight World Group first-round losers in the playoffs in September this year. There are good prospects that the draw could give India another home tie as they have played five of the eight teams away last time. In the case one other country, Spain, whom they have not played before, it would be decided by toss while two other — Chile and Sweden — would be away matches. Captain Leander Paes said India now had the nucleus that could take it to the World Group team in the coming years. “The way I look at it, we have three solid singles players. We have to get better with singles play,” he said. “Whenever a boy comes into a Davis Cup tie, he leaves as a better player. That is how I got better, and definitely these two (Amritraj and Mankad) will also get better,” he said. Dustov, like on the opening day, came up with a strong game and tried to make a contest of it, although the matches were of academic interest. The 19-year-old Uzbek, however, lost steam midway through and let Amritraj off the hook after taking the first set. But, if it was his fragile mind that cracked under pressure that brought his downfall against Paes, today it was his poor fitness — although the heat was dehydrating — that led to his defeat. Dustov showed signs of coming to terms with the grass courts, on which he was playing his first Davis Cup tie. There were a couple of drop shots that showed Dustov in good touch, and his strong serving helped him go neck and neck with Amritraj in the first set. In fact, his confidence was so high that despite two double faults, he was able to avert four breakpoints in the fourth game. He went on to save three more of them in the 10th and push the set into the tie-breaker. Amritraj, on the other hand, after a good start, was beginning to make a few unforced errors. Four volley errors saw him blow up the tie-breaker and go one set down. But the 22-year-old California resident turned around the proceedings, not without some help from his rival. A back hand into the net saw Dustov face a double breakpoint in the fifth game, and the Uzbek conceded it with a double fault. It was all downhill from there on for Dustov who took a medical timeout after the seventh game to receive treatment for loss of fluid. There was no hint of Dustov making an effort to put up a challenge in the decider as he dropped serve in the fifth and seventh games to concede the match. Mankad displayed tremendous motivational levels to come and play the way he did after being on the chair for the first two days. Inoyatov opened strongly with two aces but then a double fault and a stunning service return from Mankad saw him face a breakpoint, and he put a back-hand volley long to drop serve. Mankad saw the advantage slip out of his hands in the 10th game through Inoyatov’s steady returns and two double faults but the former got back on top of his opponent with some sparkling returns in the next. “Leander had told me on Thursday (day of the draw) that I should be mentally prepared to play on Sunday, so preparation-wise I was ready,” Mankad said after the match. “As the game progressed, I was able to figure out the speed of the court and my returns got better and better. Leander also told me to take the serve from one step behind, little things like those helped.”
— PTI |
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Pak clinch Davis Cup playoff berth
Karachi, May 1 Aisam, world number 144, gave Pakistan an unassailable 3-1 lead when he spent a little under two hours to chalk out a famous and historic 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory over
Yen-Hsun Lu and then Aqeel Khan completed the scoreline with a 6-7, 6-4, 6-2 win over Yeu-Tzuoo Wang at the Defence Club in Lahore.
— PTI |
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Karthikeyan silences critics
London, May 1 Jordan Sporting Director Trevor Carlin, who got the flak for backing the Indian rookie, now has no doubts about Karthikeyan’s F-1 future. “Before the season began I thought he’d be so committed that he was bound to have one or two ‘offs’, but he has been superb at finding the limit without going over it,” Carlin said about Narain extracting every ounce of the Jordan EJ 15 car. The EJ 15 is considered a difficult car to drive, with a one-year deal with Toyota, but it has a great engine and Narain is trying to eke out the maximum. “Karthikeyan is doing a good impression of a driver who is going to be around for a lot longer. From the first practice in Australia, where he consistently lapped within a second of the best efforts of Ralf Schumacher, Mark Webber and Jacques Villeneuve, the 28-year-old has been hugely impressive,” said a report in Sunday Times.
— PTI |
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Rossi triumphs Shanghai, May 1 France’s Olivier Jacque, a replacement rider for Kawasaki, ate into Rossi’s lead over the final laps but had to settle for the second spot.
Italy’s Marco Melandri on a Honda was third after overtaking Spanish team-mate Sete Gibernau on the last lap.
Aprilia rider Casey Stoner became the first Australian rider to take back-to-back victories in the 250cc class.
Italian Andrea Dovizioso took second place, with Japan’s Honda rider Hiroshi Aoyama third.
— Reuters |
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Els ensures victory; Jeev fifth, Randhawa 11th
Shanghai, May 1 Jeev played just eight holes in the final round and was one under for it, and moved to tied fifth at 10-under, while Randhawa was two-under for his 14 holes and moved from tied 20th to tied 11th. Rahil Gangjee finished his final round at two-over 74 with two birdies and four bogeys. His total of three-over 291 placed him tied 65th. The man in focus at Pudong Golf Club was Els, who in his six holes had birdied three times to go to 22-under and was sitting on another five-foot birdie attempt when darkness halted play for the day. Els was leading playing partner Wakefield of England by eight shots, with Dane Thomas Bjorn, who was one hole ahead, two shots back in third place at 12-under. Frenchman Jean-Francois Lucquin was another stroke adrift in outright fourth, with Asian Tour duo Eddie Lee and Jeev Milkha Singh sharing fifth at 10-under. Jeev played six straight pars before birdying the seventh and then parred the eighth when play was stopped. Randhawa started with a birdie, but then dropped shots on third and fourth. He parred rest of the way on front nine. Then he struck form on back nine, birdying 10th, 11th and 13th and parred 14th. With two-under he moved to seven-under total and tied 11th, which was a fine rise after being on the cut line after the first two days. In the morning, officials were forced to halt proceedings at 8.55 am due to the threat of lightning, with play not restarting until 12.10 pm. The delay pushed the leaders back to a 4.30 pm tee time, which meant play could not be completed and would see the first Monday finish in Asian Tour history. Els virtually secured his win when he made birdies at the first two holes and nearest challengers Wakefield and Bjorn recorded early bogeys. Local favourite Zhang Lian-wei was tied ninth at eight-under with seven holes to go. Defending BMW Asian Open champion Miguel Angel Jimenez recorded at 73 and lied in a tie for 31st. — PTI
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Atwal in third place
Avondale, May 1 Play began almost five hours late and ended early due to darkness, leaving players to playing anything up to 26 holes today at the par-72 Tournament Players’ Course at Louisiana. Sixty-nine of the 84 players were unable to finish. Atwal, who started the day in the lead group with JJ Henry and Masters’ runner-up Chris DiMarco, was 11-under when the day began. He birdied the par-3 third hole and stayed ahead of the pack at 12-under till the sixth hole. He seemed to be going along fine, till trouble struck on the par-5 seventh. His errant tee shot ended in deep rough and he managed to come away from the hole only with a double bogey. His playing partner, DiMarco drained a birdie for a three-stroke swing that put him in the lead and it brought Atwal down to 10-under. After the double bogey on the seventh, Atwal carded three more pars before bad light stopped play. DiMarco, returning to action for the first time since his loss to Tiger Woods at the U S Masters three weeks ago, showed flawless form going through his 10 holes in bogey-free four-under. He overtook Atwal with birdies on the first, fourth, seventh and eighth holes. James Driscoll was on fire with a six-under in 11 holes and rose from tied ninth to second at 11-under. Three other players were at nine-under when play was suspended due to darkness. Daniel Chopra had played 14 holes in two-under to go to five-under for the tournament and he was tied 20th having started the day tied 21st. Defending champion Vijay Singh was two-under-par for the day with eight holes to play, moving the world number two into a group of five players tied for seventh place, four shots off the lead.
— PTI |
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Sanjay wins title
New Delhi, May 1 The Lucknow pro pocketed the winner’s cheque of Rs 2,25,000 for his effort. Sanjay, who took the lead in the very first hole of the day, didn’t give Mundy a single chance to match up to the pressure created by him. Sanjay, whose driving today was accurate, did not hit a single ball into the bushes. The third hole saw Mundy hit the bushes and bogey the hole thereby letting Sanjay placed at a comfortable 2-up. Careful play by both players restricted them from surpassing each other till the sixth hole. On the seventh hole, Sanjay sank a birdie putt that made him go 3-up. Another win by him on the 14th hole gave the Lucknow pro a strong launching pad of 4-up to attack on the second 18. Sanjay, who made birdies on the seventh and the 18th, had a bogey on the ninth hole in the opening 18. The closing 18 saw a little bit of contest between Mundy and Sanjay. The former seemed to be a little more careful, thereby not letting his rival win in the first three holes. The fourth hole saw Sanjay sink a long putt and a brilliant chip-in on the sixth made the scores stand in his favour at 6-up. The ninth hole proved to be a little unlucky for Sanjay today as he again made a bogey on this hole after he hit the bushes with Mundy winning his first hole of the day. The scores now stood at 5-up for Sanjay before the turn. Mundy birdied the opening hole of the inward journey of the closing 18 but the score still stood in his rival’s favour at 4-up. The very next hole saw Sanjay sink a monster putt and move ahead at 5-up. A halved 12th followed by another monster birdie putt on the 13th gave the honours for the tournament to Sanjay as he now went 6-up, thus defeating the Kolkata pro 6&5. Meanwhile, Harinder Gupta who played against Rafick Ali for the third spot, withdrew from the match on the third hole due to severe pain and bleeding in his tooth.
— UNI |
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SA pile up
525 for 4
St Jhon’s, May 1 In his 93rd test, Kallis reached 7,317 runs, surpassing Gary Kirsten’s total of 7,289. It was his 22nd test century, one better than Kirsten’s South African record. Taking advantage of inexperienced bowling, Kallis and Prince combined for a fifth-wicket stand that restored South Africa’s powerful position, batting through the final two sessions after the West Indies took four wickets before lunch for the addition of 81 to South Africa’s overnight 214 without loss yesterday. Dominating play for almost six hours, Kallis faced 256 balls with a six and 12 fours. It was his second century of the series and his seventh in his 18 tests against the West Indies. Scoreboard South Africa (1st innings) De Villiers c Browne
b Best 114 Smith c Washington b Powell 126
Dippenaar run out 5 Jacques Kallis not out 127 Gibbs c Deonarine
b Gayle 23 Prince not out 114 Extras: (lb-2, w-4, nb-6) 12 Total
(for 4 wickets) 525 Fall of Wickets: 1-245, 2-245, 3-251, 4-295. Bowling:
Powell 24-2-108-1, Best 23-4-99-1, Washington 22-3-73-0, Bravo 22-4-80-0, Gayle 31-11-65-1, Hinds 6-0-24-0, Deonarine 18-1-69-0, Sarwan
1-0-2-0.— AP |
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Steve Waugh rules out coaching India
Sydney, May 1 Herald Sun has quoted Waugh’s manager Robert Joske as saying, “Right now, Steve has so much on the go and it is not the right time.” According to him, Waugh is nearing completion of his autobiography, which will be published later this year. “Steve is putting a lot of his energies into this book, which is basically the life and times of one of this country’s finest sporting champions,” Joske has said. Waugh’s charity work in Kolkata will continue and the book will devote considerable space to the time spent in India, he has
added. — UNI |
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Nalbandian lifts title
Munich, May 1 Nalbandian lost only one more game after trailing 1-4 in the first set to win in 69 minutes, his first title triumph since Basel in 2002. Nalbandian, a Wimbledon finalist in 2002, was a top 10 player until a series of stomach muscle injuries. Henin-Hardenne claims title
Warsaw: Justine Henin-Hardenne claimed her second clay-court title in two weeks on Sunday when she defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the final of the J and S Cup. The unseeded Belgian extended her winning streak to 11 matches, despite having lost five of her previous six matches against Kuznetsova.
— AP
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Jones returns to winning ways
London, May 1 Winner of five Olympic medals at the 2000 Games in Sydney, but none in Athens last year, she clocked a time of 11.28 seconds in her first competitive outing over the distance for 11 months. Jones’ boyfriend, world record holder Tim Montgomery, also competed over 100m in Martinique yesterday, but could manage only fourth place, 0.11 seconds behind winner Maurice Greene.
— Reuters |
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Chelsea record historic win
London, May 1 England midfielder Frank Lampard struck twice in the second half as Chelsea wrapped up their first top-flight title since 1955 and only the second in their history. It was the second trophy they had won in manager Jose Mourinho’s first season in charge after beating Liverpool in the League Cup final. This latest victory kept them on course for a trophy treble with Liverpool their opponents in the Champions League semi-final second leg at Anfield on Tuesday in a tie still level after a goal-less initial encounter at Stamford Bridge. The victory yesterday left Chelsea on 88 points, 14 clear of second-placed reigning champions and London rivals Arsenal. The Gunners, who play West Brom tomorrow, can only finish on a maximum of 86 points. After a goal-less opening period, Lampard crowned a counter-attack on the hour mark with a cool finish and it was a similar story 16 minutes later when the former West Ham hero calmly rounded Bolton keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.
— AFP |
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East Bengal hold Salgaocar goal-less
Margao, May 1 The draw put pressure on East Bengal, bidding to clinch the title for the third sucessive year. East Bengal, on third place with 40 points from 19 matches, would need to win all three remaining matches to claim the title if Sporting won their next two matches. Salgaocar were in seventh position with 24 points from 20 matches. The second half was saw some tense moments and referee Rizwan-ul-Haq did well to bring the match under control as he showed yellow cards to Salgaocar’s Remus Gomes, Prasant Jaggi and John Dias and East Bengal’s Ernest Jeremah and Debhit Ghos. He also sent East Bengal physio Rajesh out of the ground as he tried to enter the field without informing the referee midway in the second half. Salgaocar dominated the match throughout and put East Bengal under tremendous pressure. Hard-working Felix Ibrebru of Salgaocar was given the man of the match award.
— PTI |
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Wronged Olympian
dies after getting justice
Paramaribo, May 1 Esajas died of a terminal illness at a hospital in the capital, Paramaribo, said Will Axwijk, a sports historian and friend of the family. Esajas was 25 when he became the first athlete from the South American country to qualify for the Olympics, the 1960 games in Rome, when Suriname still was Dutch colony. But he failed to show up for his 800-metre qualifying race, and reports quickly circulated that he had overslept. Esajas became the butt of jokes until the Suriname Olympic Committee publicly set the record straight two weeks ago. As it turned out, the secretary-general of the Suriname committee at the time, Fred Glans, mistakenly told Esajas that his morning race had been rescheduled for the afternoon. Suriname’s Olympic Committee found Glans’ account in its records after learning that Esajas was terminally ill and deciding to take a fresh look into the matter. The committee presented Esajas with a plaque honouring him for being Suriname’s first Olympian and a letter of apology. Werner Esajas, the Olympian’s son, said the belated apology brought his father solace after years of bitterness. “His eyes and face lit up, and he was happy,” the younger Esajas said in an interview this week. “I think it was enough for him to finally have peace”.
— AP |
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Five Chandigarh boys for camp
New Delhi, May 1 The boys attending the camp are: Tarun Chaudhary, Yogesh Nagar, Anshul Gupta, Shobhit Kaushik, Arun Rawat, Saleem Ansari and Rajeev Sharma (all from Salwan Boys School, Delhi), Sarul Kanwar, Karan Sharma, Aditya Chaudhary, Naresh and Abhijeet (DAV School, Chandigarh), Sayeed Abdulla Iqbal and Khan Mohammad Azhar (Anjuman Islam, Mumbai), Sadiq Kirmani and G Rahul (St Joseph’s School, Bangalore), E Ashwin and Kartik (Santhome High School, Bangalore), Azmat Khan and Vishal Sharma (Wesley Junior College, Hyderabad). |
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TERI win trophy
New Delhi, May 1 |
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London, May 1
