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Patil pulls out of race for coach
Mani not conversant with rules: Ranbir
SC dismisses Zee’s appeal
Dhoni best keeper: Wright
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Asia, Africa come closer
24-hr walk ends on a sad note
Abhinav finishes 40th
Ritwik upsets top seed Hafiz
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Patil pulls out of race for coach
Kolkata, May 13 He is also involved with promoting schools cricket in Mumbai. "Patil has sent a letter to this effect last night to BCCI Secretary S K Nair in Thiruvananthapuram," sources told PTI. Patil was the India team coach during the 1996 tour of England when opener Navjot Singh Sidhu returned midway through the tour following a row with captain Mohammad Azharuddin. The BCCI has appointed a six-member committee to fill the post which became vacant after New Zealand's John Wright stepped down after a four-year tenure at the end of the series against Pakistan. The committee comprises BCCI President Ranbir Singh Mahendra, former President Jagmohan Dalmiya, Secretary S K Nair and former captains S Venkataraghavan, Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri. Interviews on May 19 The BCCI six-member special committee, chaired by its President Ranbir Singh Mahendra, will interview candidates at New Delhi on May 19 to appoint a coach of the national team. The candidates in the running to take over the mantle are Australians Greg Chappell and Tom Moody, India's Mohinder Amarnath and West Indian Desmond Haynes, who have all confirmed to attend the interview, BCCI Secretary and Convener of the special committee, S K Nair, said in a statement today from Thiruvanathapuram. Sandeep Patil, among the four short-listed by the BCCI's special committee at its meeting in Kolkata last Sunday, and former England off-spinner John Emburey -- who had also been approached -- have expressed their inability to take up the job because of their current coaching assignments, Nair said. The names of Haynes and Emburey had not been revealed earlier after the meeting of the BCCI's special committee which only said that some others from overseas were also being approached apart from the short-listed names. Nair said the letters to attend the interview on May 19 had also been sent to Haynes and Emburey apart from the four who were named as possible candidates at Kolkata. "While Chappell, Moody, Amarnath and Haynes have confirmed their availability for the interview, Sandeep Patil and Emburey have expressed their inability because of their current coaching assignments," Nair said. Patil is currently coaching Oman and is guiding the Gulf nation in the ICC Trophy tournament, to be held in Ireland next month, from which five teams would qualify for the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies. The erstwhile flamboyant batsman, who was coach of the Indian team for a brief period in 1996 when Mohd Azharuddin was the captain, is also busy in coaching school children in Mumbai.
— PTI |
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Mani not conversant with rules: Ranbir
Chandigarh, May 13 The Indian captain has already sat out in two one-day matches in the just-concluded series having missed the ties played against Pakistan at Kanpur and Delhi. He will also not be eligible to play in the first four matches of India's engagement in the away series in Sri Lanka in August/September. According to a news agency report from Dubai, Mr Mani has been quoted as saying that the ban on Ganguly was in accordance with the regulations approved by the member countries and as such the punishment was neither mild nor harsh. "As per the rules, one can be banned for a minimum of four matches or a maximum of eight matches. Ganguly got a middle-level ban," Mr Mani was quoted as saying. However, Mr Ranbir Singh, speaking to The Tribune, said that no such rules had been adopted by the member-countries of the International cricket Council. "Therefore, it was wrong on Mr Mani's part to say that Ganguly was handed out a six-match ban as per the rules," Mr Ranbir Singh said. There is every possibility that the BCCI will yet again contest the punishment handed out to Ganguly since India's next international commitment is still a couple of months away. This has become quite apparent from Mr Ranbir Singh's stand that that the member-countries of the ICC have not adopted any rule regarding the ban on players. It is quite likely that the issue might come up at the next meeting of the BCCI Working Committee before a formal representation is made to the ICC on the issue. |
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SC dismisses Zee’s appeal
New Delhi, May 13 A Bench of Chief Justice R.C. Lahoti, Mr Justice N. Santosh Hegde and Mr Justice G P Mathur said the right could not be enforced through a writ petition but Zee was at liberty to file a damage suit. Zee had already issued a legal notice to BCCI for recovery of Rs 1,600 crore damage for cancelling the $ 308 million contract at the last movement even after it had deposited $ 20 million as advance with the board. The high court in its May 2 order had found no arbitrariness or malafide intent in cancelling the deal, which was terminated after ICC had stated that Australian Cricket Board had sought to have the coverage of the match as per high international standard. Zee had quoted the highest prize for the contract when it had locked in a bitter tussle with ESPN-Star Sports on the telecast rights issue. While a single Judge of the high court had passed severe strictures against former BCCI President Jagmohan Dalmiya for cancelling the contract, a Division Bench had expunged those observations, saying they were uncalled for when Zee’s petition was not allowed even by the single Judge. The Division Bench had upheld the BCCI’s decision to terminate the contract after the board and Dalmiya had filed appeals merely for removal of the remarks from the single judge’s order. |
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Dhoni best keeper: Wright
RANCHI: Former Indian cricket coach John Wright has commended that Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who played against the recent series with Pakistan, was presently the best wicket-keeper of the country.
This was revealed at function organised here by local newspaper to
felicitate Dhoni by Jharkhand Cricket Association president Amitabh Choudhury on Friday. He said when he went to meet former Indian Cricket Board President Jagmohan Dalmiya about 20 days ago, he also met John Wright who made the comment during the discussion. Mr Wright said that Dhoni was the best wicketkeeper among the three glovesmen of the country and praised him for his better performance as wicketkeeper during the matches played against Pakistan, Mr Choudhury said. |
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India go down to Poland
Beijing, May 13 It was a bad start for the Indians as their mixed doubles pair of V. Diju and Jwala Gutta failed to make any impression against the World No. 43 Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Kostiuczyk and went down 12-15, 5-15 in just 31 minutes. National champion Anup Sridhar was then made to bite the dust by Przemyslaw Wacha as Poland took a 2-0 lead. Wacha won 15-8, 15-12. Trupti Murgunde, shouldering the responsibility of the women’s singles in the absence of national champion Aparna Popat, pulled one back as she put behind an indifferent start to beat Kamila Augustyn 8-11, 11-3, 11-3. The top Indian doubles pair of Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar looked like they could build on Trupti’s win and restore parity as they took a handsome 12-8 lead in the first game. But the World No. 18 pair of Mateusiak and Michael Logosz won the next seven points to pocket the opening game and then warded off some stiff resistance to win the match 15-12, 15-6 in 37 minutes. Poland would now replace Ukraine in Group 2.
—PTI |
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Anand draws with Topalov
Sofia, May 13 Anand opened with e4 in the game late last night to which Topalov replied with c5 and the game moved on to the Sicilian defence lines. Anand, through better development of his position, kept on pressurising Topalov and after the Bulgarian sacrificed his piece early, the Indian came up with a queen sacrifice on 18th move with a check to black king. Topalov however moved his king to a safer square Kf6 and saved the position. Later in the game with Nh4 move Anand kept his rival under pressure. Topalov’s king gave him a lot of trouble since it blocked his rook’s movement. The Indian, known for his speedy play, created a huge time difference against Topalov in his favour by the time the encounter reached the endgame. Slowly and cautiously Anand kept on moving his pawn on A file towards his ultimate goal, however, Topalov halted the same by moving his Queen to a8 square and then brought his rook to Re2 thereby giving a free movement to his pawn on h5. The game became complicated towards the end and despite Anand trying his best Topalov cruised to a comfortable position. The Chief Arbiter realised that there will be no result in the game and gave a draw signal. “I felt I was better but somehow it was always very messy, I am sure the computer may show something easy but at the board I could see. I felt my counter-play may not get me in trouble since it was clearly a drawn game, so I decided to go for a safe harbour,” Anand told UNI after his draw. In the other games, Michael Adams and Judith Polgar played a very complicated game. Polgar, playing with black, kept Adams on his toes by controlling the centre with her pieces. Both the players followed Anand-Topalov openings but despite better play no result could be achieved and the game was declared as drawn. The Vladimir Kramnik-Ruslan Ponomariov game was one sided. Kramnik opened with e4 to which Ponomariov replied with c6 and the game took a decisive turn and Kramnik went ahead with his attacks and Ponomariov’s position kept on becoming critical and in the end the Ukrainian had no other alternative but to surrender. “I don’t think it was a great game but than when I set up my pieces in a proper order I knew I was on a winning move,” Kramnik told UNI after defeating Ponomariov. Results: Viswanathan Anand drew with Veselin Topalov Vladimir Kramnik beat Ruslan Ponomariov Michael Adams drew with Judith Polgar.
— UNI |
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Sharapova on course for No. 1 slot
Rome, May 13 By winning the Rome title, Sharapova would replace American Lindsay Davenport at the top of the rankings. The 18-year-old Russian refused to get carried away with her progress and insisted that her feet were staying firmly on the ground. She applauded the 30-year-old Pierce for pushing her all the way. Former French Open champion Pierce, a winner here in 1997, battled back from 5-2 down in the first set to force the tie-breaker, but a catalogue of unforced errors allowed Sharapova to strike the first blow. Sharapova broke for a 4-3 lead in the second set, the fifth consecutive break of serve, and held on to her service to seal a hard-fought clash. A winner in Tokyo and Doha this year, Sharapova would next play compatriot Elena Bovina after the ninth seed edged past Argentine doubles specialist Paola Suarez 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5). Defending champion Amelie Mauresmo reached the quarterfinals, despite lacking the fluency and power that took her to the title last year. The 25-year-old French second seed made 27 unforced errors and double-faulted seven times in her scrappy 6-4, 6-3 victory over Silvia Farina Elia of Italy. Mauresmo would next face 33-year-old Conchita Martinez after the four-time Rome champion was handed a walkover against Russian seventh seed Nadia Petrova. Petrova, ranked ninth in the world, failed to recover from the right thigh strain she suffered in her second-round win over Mara Santangelo on Wednesday. Sixth seed Vera Zvonareva won a three-set tussle against Catalina Castano of Colombia to reach the last eight for the second time in successive years. The 20-year-old Russian won 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 and would play Francesca Schiavone, the only Italian left in the competition. Schiavone, who knocked out third seed and seven-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams in round two, defeated Japanese 15th seed Ai Sugiyama 6-3, 7-5. Eighth seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland beat Serbian Ana Ivanovic 6-3, 6-2 to set up a quarterfinal meeting with Evgenia Linetskaya. The unseeded Russian overcame Gisela Dulko of Argentina 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
— AFP |
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Asia, Africa come closer
Kuala Lampur, May 13 Mr Dalmiya would be the Chairman of Afro-Asian Cricket Co-Operation for the first three years. The Vice-Chairman would be Peter Chingoka and the Convenor would be Mr Syed Asraful Huq. In addition to these officials, there would be a committee formed of three ACC representatives and three ACA representatives. ACC president Jagmohan Dalmiyan said, ''Mahatma Gandhi was the most famous joint citizen of both continents and we will be striving to emulate his ideals of co-operation and fraternity in our agreement. Gandhi was an inspiration to the anti-apartheid movement and India's cricketing fraternity played its part at the end of the apartheid era by being the first country to resume sporting ties with South Africa. It was a milestone in sports history.'' ACA president Peter Chingoka affirmed, ''We are confident that this agreement between the ACA and ACC will further strengthen existing ties between us. In a time of increasing global division, the body we have formed, the Afro-Asian Cricket Co-Operation, will be a substantial symbol of international unity.'' ''The agreement runs for three years. We will be staging at least one ODI series between an Africa XI and Asia XI each year,'' said Mr Chingoka, and added, ''10 per cent of the net revenues from the staging of these ODIs will be donated to charity''. Syed Ashraful Huq, Chief Executive of the ACC said, ''The ODIs will showcase the best cricket that Asia and Africa have to offer but we are also joining in this landmark association in order to promote cricket at all levels. There will be representative age-group matches between the two continents in tournaments organised by us.'' ''For development of cricket there will be the exchange of administrative personnel, curators, coaches and umpires. We have much to offer to each other and we will emerge as stronger cricketing forces as a result of the co-operation.''
— UNI |
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24-hr walk ends on a sad note
Hisar, May 13 As the concluding time approached, Jangra and his aides eagerly awaited the arrival of the guests who were supposed to halt the walker. However, they were nowhere in sight. According to Sports Authority of India (SAI) officials present on the occasion, Jangra covered 129.43 km in 24 hours. He completed 301 rounds of the Giri Centre stadium on the HAU premises. After completing the non-stop walk, Jangra said if the sports authorities of the government provided him proper facilities, he could win a medal in the Olympics. Jangra, 52, who earlier claims to have set a world record in back-walk, lamented that the leaders and the government authorities were not serious about sports. He maintained that despite the directions of the local Congress MP, Mr Jai Prakash, no arrangement for lighting had been made at the stadium, which affected his performance during the night. |
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Abhinav finishes 40th
New Delhi, May 13 Olympic champion and world No. 1 Qinan Zhu came up with a superb performance in the final to edge out Peter Sidi of Hungary for the first place. The Chinese shot 104.6 in the final to add to his preliminary round score of 595 for a total of 699.6. Sidi finished just behind with 699.5 (599 + 100.5). Austria’s unsung Thomas Franik was a surpise winner of the bronze medal with a score of 699.1 (596 + 103.1). Bindra, who won the bronze medal in the 2003 Munich World Cup to qualify for the Athens Olympics, came up with a superb performance at the Olympic shooting range but still had to be content with the seventh place with a total of 694.6 (597 + 97.6) last August. The other Indian in the USA World Cup was Ronak Pandit who entered in the 50m pistol and 10m air pistol events.
— PTI |
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Ritwik upsets top seed Hafiz
New Delhi, May 13 According to information received here today, the Indian, who has four PSA Tour titles to his credit, outlasted his fancied rival 11-9 11-7, 11-3 in 25 minutes. Only in the first game Hafiz created some
problem for the Indian who, however, managed to match his rival shot for shot to draw parity at 9-9 and after that smashed two fine winners to take the lead. In the next two games it was Ritwik who controlled the procedings and dominated the game to emerge an easy winner. Interestingly this is the first time that the Indian has defeated a player ranked as high as 35 in world. Ritwik faces Canada’s Matt Guiffree in the quarters. The Indian had lost to Guiffree in the Quebec Open in Montreal earlier this year.
— UNI |
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Rastogi loses in semis
Mumbai, May 13 |
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