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Sachin undergoes surgery, out for
four months
I will never coach India: Akram
Dutt’s death condoled
India have a tough task at hand
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Poor refereeing prompts Asian officials to act
Jerimiah stars in East Bengal win
Weather puts games organisers in a fix
MES Club wins cricket tourney
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Sania advances in doubles
Paris, May 25 The 18-year-old and her Russian partner had little trouble in packing off Kristina Brandi of Puerto Rico and Nana Miyagi of Japan 6-2, 6-3. The Indo-Russian duo would take on 16th-seeded Zi Yan and Jie Zheng of China in the second round. Yan and Zheng thrashed Denisa Chladkova of Czech Republic and Ruxandra Ilie of Romania 6-1, 6-2. In the men’s singles, Tim Henman’s French Open dreams evaporated in the second round when he was beaten 7-5, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 by Luis Horna. A semifinalist at Roland Garros last year, seventh seed Henman had high hopes at the clay-court Grand Slam, but he ran into a tough baseliner, who proved too powerful and consistent for the British number one. Henman was unable to penetrate the Peruvian’s defences with his attacking game and faded under scorching sunshine on court one. Defending men’s champion Gaston Gaudio strolled into the third round without hitting a ball after his Russian opponent Dmitry Tursunov withdrew with a knee injury. “Tursunov had to withdraw from the tournament with a painful left knee. He has been suffering from the injury for a week and will undergo an MRI scan,” organisers said. “I tried to warm up and then I heard he was not going to play. I would have preferred to have won the match obviously, but these things happen,” Gaudio said.
In the women’s section, Venus Williams, flying the family flag alone this year, needed three sets to move past Colombian Fabiola Zuluaga and advance to the third round in glorious sunshine. The former world number one, who was runner-up here in 2002, confirmed that the era of total domination by the Williams sisters was over by struggling at times during the 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory. The 24-year-old American, whose younger sister Serena pulled out of the tournament because of a sprained left ankle, overcame a second-set fightback and allowed Zuluaga to come back after building a 4-0 lead in the third set, but finally won. “It was a very challenging match, but I feel I am playing good. I am feeling comfortable in the long rallies,” she said.
Elena Dementieva, a losing finalist here last year and one of several Russian contenders, was also made to work before taking control over Croatian Sanda Mamic to win 7-6(7), 6-2. “I did not play my best today, but it was important to win a match like that,” said Dementieva, seeded fourth. “No matter how you feel or how difficult it is, you have to win the tough matches if you want to succeed,” she said. Mary Pierce rolled back the years to sprint into the third round with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Croatian Jelena Kostanic. With the crowd roaring her on, the 30-year-old local favourite was all smiles as she won in 58 minutes. “I was, of course, delighted to be on central court again with a fabulous crowd,” she said. “I felt my tennis was better than the first round. It is not yet exactly the way I will wish it, but it has improved and I am delighted,” she said. Kim Clijsters scurried into the third round with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Ludmila Cervanova of Slovakia. Despite sporting a heavily strapped right knee, Clijsters moved effortlessly during the 56-minute contest to record her third successive victory over Cervanova. The Belgian 14th seed had dropped just four games in two matches at the clay-court Grand Slam. Other second round results: Men’s singles: Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) beat Florent Serra (France) 6-3, 6-4, 6-1; Sebastien Grosjean (France) beat Davide Sanguinetti (Italy) 6-0, 6-3, 6-2; Victor Hanescu (Romania) beat Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) 7-5, 6-1, 3-6, 7-5; David Nalbandian (Argentina) beat Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) 6-3, 6-2, 6-1. Women’s singles: Emmanuelle Gagliardi (Switzerland) beat Maria Sanchez Lorenzo (Spain) 6-3, 6-3; Flavia Pennetta (Italy) beat Marta Domachowska (Poland) 6-4, 6-3; Vera Zvonareva (Russia) beat Eva Birnerova (Czech Republic) 4-6, 6-3, 6-0; Sesil Karatantcheva (Bulgaria) beat Shinobu Asagoe (Japan) 7-5, 6-2; Emilie Loit (France) beat Amy Frazier (USA) 6-4, 6-4; Akiko Morigami (Japan) beat Karolina Sprem (Croatia) 7-5, 6-3. — Reuters
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Sachin undergoes surgery, out for four months
New Delhi, May 25 The 32-year-old, who was operated upon yesterday, is likely to be out of action for about 15 weeks but exact details of the time frame required for recovery could only be given after team physio John Gloster, who is accompanying the batsman, files his report, BCCI secretary S K Nair told PTI here today. “Before the operation it was thought that he would be out for at least 15 weeks but the clear picture would emerge only after
receiving the medical report from Gloster,” he said, adding the report was expected today. Tendulkar, the world’s most successful one-day batsman with 13,642 runs and 38 centuries, besides 10,134 runs in Tests, is likely to miss the August tri-series in Sri Lanka, also featuring the West Indies, and is also doubtful for India’s tour of Zimbabwe in September. Tendulkar had consulted a doctor in London a couple of days ago, Nair said, adding the doctor as well as Gloster were of the view that a surgery was essential. “Both of them said it was in good interest of the player to undergo surgery,” Nair said. Tendulkar has been troubled by the tennis elbow injury for over a year now and had missed three major one-day tournaments last year.
— PTI |
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I will never coach India: Akram
Islamabad, May 25 “I will coach Pakistan but not India,” the legendary left-arm seamer said in Karachi at a function organised by the sponsors of Pakistan’s domestic competition. Akram said when he had helped out Pathan with some bowling tips he had been surprised at the reaction from some quarters over this development. “After the reaction I saw I know that the day I coach India people will kill me.” Akram, however, soon added that he did not envisage to see himself as a cricket coach in the near future. “I do not see myself being a coach since to be honest I am not an organised person. And to make a good coach you need to be as organised as say like Bob Woolmer, Dav Whatmore and John Wright,” he was quoted as saying in the local daily ‘The News’. Akram also made it clear that he had had no regrets leaving cricket when he did. “I left cricket at the right time and I am happy and content with my life now because when people say they miss me, it is a great feeling for me.” On fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, Akram advised him to work on being more acceptable in the team by the other players. “He is a match-winner but he needs to work on being popular with the other players. He is not a bad person — I know that, but he needs to make himself acceptable in the team,” he said. About Shoaib getting an offer from the Indian film-maker Mahesh Bhatt to act in one of his films, Akram said there was nothing wrong in the ‘Rawalpindi Express’ doing a film. “I have no doubt that he can do well as an actor because when he first started playing in the team we used to call him ‘Shoaib Actor’,” he said in a lighter vein. But on a more serious note he added that he wanted to see Shoaib back in the Pakistan team. “I just think he was spoilt and pampered by (former Pakistan Cricket Board chairman) Tauqir Zia, which was not good for him. It was not on when the PCB sent a separate physio or trainer for him to New Zealand in 2001 while the rest of the players trained with another physio,” he said. The former captain minced no words while discussing the PCB officials saying generally those appointed to the major posts had no proper cricket background or were short on cricket knowledge. “They are well-meaning people some of them but they do not have the required cricket background. Recently, they offered Waqar Younis a short-term contract as bowing coach, knowing very well he had a long-term offer to do commentary on TV,” he said and added, “I think there is a need among the establishment to treat our former players with more respect and pride.” Akram also admitted that he was wrong in criticising the selection of Younis Khan as vice-captain by the PCB. “I am the first to raise my hands and say I have been proven wrong because Younis has improved his batting remarkably and also shown good leadership qualities,” he said.
— PTI |
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Dutt’s death condoled
Chandigarh, May 25 He said when Dutt was allotted the sports portfolio, he and like-minded sportspersons had heaved a sigh of relief as the ministry was given to a non-controversial person. He said Dutt had decided to make a long-term plan keeping the 2010 Commonwealth Games and the 2014 Asian Games in mind. The Punjab Governor, General S.F. Rodrigues (retd), expressed shock at the demise of the Union Sports Minister. Describing Dutt as a Bollywood stalwart, distinguished parliamentarian and nationalist, General Rodrigues said his contribution to different facets of national life would always be remembered. Dr M.S. Malik, President of the Wrestling Federation of India, said Dutt had done the country proud, adding that the sports fraternity would always miss him. Pradeep Ganeriwal, President of the Roller Skating Federation of India, said the minister had tried in his short stint to develop non-Olympic sports disciplines. Randhir Singh, Secretary General of the Indian Olympic Association, said Dutt was a perfect gentleman and a great actor, adding that Dutt always wished that India could become a world power in sports. He said the actor-turned-politician’s death was “a great loss to the nation as he was a very popular man of art and culture and a great national political leader.” NEW DELHI: The sports fraternity across the country on Wednesday condoled the demise of Union Sports Minister Sunil Dutt, who had worked towards promoting sports culture among the youth of the country. The 75-year-old, who had specifically asked for the Sports and Youth Affairs portfolio, always emphasised the importance of sports activities in the development of country’s youth and in his brief one-year stint, took special interest in promoting many lesser-known sports. Emphasising this aspect of the minister, Rajya Sabha member and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Vice-President Rajeev Shukla said, “Dutt had done so much for the cause of sports in a short period as minister that his demise is a huge setback to sports lovers across the country.” All-India Tennis Association Secretary General Anil Khanna paid glowing tributes to Dutt and said he had a tremendous desire to raise the level of sports in the country. Indian Hockey Confederation President Vidya Stokes said, “We have lost a great humanitarian, social worker and principled politician.” Kolkata: Former BCCI President Jagmohan Dalmiya on Wednesday condoled the death of Sunil Dutt, describing him as a man of pleasant personality who was keen for the development of all sporting disciplines in the country. “He was a perfect gentleman with a very pleasant personality,” Dalmiya said, adding that Dutt always exhibited his keenness and enthusiasm for improving all sports disciplines and taking Indian sports to the world level. |
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India have a tough task at hand
Kuala Lumpur, May 25 India, who finished last in the previous edition, will take on South Africa in their first outing, knowing fully well that their rivals tomorrow are looking for revenge for their last two defeats. It was here in the first edition of the Champions Challenge final that they were beaten in 2001 and more recently at Athens, where India bounced back after trailing by two first- half goals to pump in four in the second session to register a creditable win. For thrice winners India, the team, which they have fielded here, can best be described as a mixed bag, churned out in the absence of the juniors who travel to Bilbao, Spain, for an under-21 four-nation tournament, en route to Rotterdam for the defence of their World Cup title next month. The 11-day prestigious event here will be played on a round-robin format amongst Australia, Pakistan, India, South Korea, New Zealand, South Africa and hosts Malaysia, with the final slated for June 5. Though India have quite a few newcomers, who stood out in the highly successful inaugural Premier Hockey League at Hyderabad early this year, the dampener was the injuries to regular midfielders Viren Rasquinha and Vikram Pillay, besides veteran striker Samir Dad who was hoping for a comeback. Even though Dilip Tirkey was back after a long injury layoff, the captain would be hoping that the other deep defenders — the youthful Harpal Singh and Muthuselvan — would be as sturdy, while the locally popular ‘big boy’ Len Aiyappa would execute the penalty corner drag-flicks. The midfield appears to be vulnerable in the absence of Rasquinha and Pillay. It will have to be an overtime duty for armyman Ignace Tirkey and Bimal Lakra, with unflinching support from rookies Avtar Singh and Jaswinder. The coaches, Rajinder Singh (Jr) and Narinder Pal Singh, may even play Arjun Halappa in the right midfield slot to blunt rival onslaughts. Deepak Thakur will hold the key to the India front- line and if his forays have the precision and calibration with Indian Oil colleague Prabhjot Singh and Airlines forward Sandeep Michael, this trio could well be the toast of the large Indian support base here. Another dark horse was striker Suresh Kumar of Services, who impressed with his stickwork skills and ‘on-the-run’ marksmanship during the camps, at Delhi and Hyderabad. The Australians coached by Barry Dancer congregated for the first time at Perth since their title win at the Olympics last August, for an intensive training camp where the majority of the Athens squad were joined by Michael Boyce, Aaron Hopkins, Stephen Lambert and Craig Victory. Australia had opted out of the Champions Trophy at Lahore last December due to security reasons. The team will be spearheaded by Travis Brooks, man of the match in the 2004 final here, who slammed two goals in the summit clash against Pakistan. The Victorian will have Michael McCann, Grant Schubert and Craig Victory for company upfront, while Queensland pair Jamie Dwyer and Liam de Young are expected to provide the penalty corner fireworks. The defending champions, who have won this title thrice, have also included uncapped Luke Doerner, David Guest and Eli Matheson in the squad and will face hosts Malaysia in their opener. Pakistan, champions in 1999, 2000 and 2003, have brought along 12 juniors with the motive to blood them in top-flight competition before the Rotterdam Junior World Cup in June and July. Skippered by centre-half Mohammed Saqlain, the side will sorely miss the world’s highest goalscorer Sohail Abbas, who announced retirement from international hockey soon after the Lahore Champions Trophy. Another worrying factor was the condition of the experienced schemer striker Mudassar Ali. The vice- captain was out of action for the last few days after sustaining a hamstring injury in a warm-up game at Karachi. Even though Pakistan have omitted centre forward Kashif Jawaad from their squad this time, they have a bunch of talented forwards like Rehan Butt, Shabbir Hussain and Shakeel Abassi, who can unnerve and rattle the best of defences. New Zealand, sixth at Athens, were pitted against the Pakistanis in the tournament opener under the hot and humid conditions. Kiwi coach Kevin Towns was relieved that the Black Sticks would be back to full strength with the return of five players who are playing in European leagues, including Phil Burrows and Dean Cousins, in Holland. South Africa have retained seven men who did duty here last year, including 29-year-old Bruce Jacobs, who replaces captain Ryan Ravenscroft. The squad has a blend of experience and youth with the return of Chris Hibbert, Clyde Abrahams and the Kwa Zulu Natal duo of Ken Forbes and Justin King. The South Africans have also included their under-21 captain Andrew Cronje along with junior Lungile Tsolekile, younger brother of Test cricket wicketkeeper Thami. South Korea have a very decent record in this tournament, winners in 1996 at Ipoh, then thrice runners-up in succession and bronze medallists twice. Their last outing was in April at the Champions Challenge in Alexandria, Egypt, where they were beaten in the final by Argentina. However, they still have plenty of ammunition with their big guns Lee Jung Seon, Yoon Sung Hoon and Kang Seong Jung. Hosts Malaysia, the Busan Asiad bronze winners, have only had one podium finish since the inception of the tournament 22 years ago. Now coached by Wallace Tan, who replaced German Paul Lissek, their primary goal will be not to end up with the wooden spoon yet again. — PTI
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Poor refereeing prompts Asian officials to act
Kuala Lumpur, May 25 The AFC took Syria’s With the final round of Asian 2006 World Cup qualifiers reaching a climax in August, referees were coming under severe scrutiny following a controversial year. Last year’s Asian Cup was plagued by poor officiating and there had been further problems during the qualifying competition for next year’s World Cup. Tough measures were needed to raise standards, the AFC’s director of referees Gary Power said. ‘’It is a positive approach because by using only the best referees, the risk of errors will be minimised,’’ he said. ‘’But the long-term solution lies in better initial selection and training of referees.’’ AFC general secretary Peter Velappan acknowledged that there had been problems, but said they were being overcome through close monitoring. ‘’There were some issues with refereeing at the Asian Cup,’’ he said. ‘’But the AFC is constantly trying to improve the standards. Our referees know that they are being watched.’’ Asian soccer’s image was tarnished by some controversial decisions at the 2004 Asian Cup in China. Three hotly disputed goals helped Japan to beat the hosts 3-1 in the final in Beijing, provoking a furious reaction from Chinese fans who burned Japanese flags and fought with riot police. A quarterfinal between Japan and Jordan ended in a farce when Japan’s players persuaded the referee to switch ends during their penalty shootout, to Jordan’s fury. A World Cup qualifier between North Korea and Iran in March was marred by crowd trouble after fans in Pyongyang reacted to a late sending off by hurling missiles. China’s domestic league was almost brought to a standstill last season after accusations by several clubs that corruption among referees was rife. Power had a difficult job, but top British official Mike Riley believed that the Australian was the right man to raise the quality of refereeing. ‘’I am sure that — with his support, his work in Asia will motivate referees to improve standards,’’ said Riley, who met Power at a tournament in Qatar this year. Power had trained some of the best referees in Australia, including Mark Shield, who officiated at the 2002 World Cup at the age of 29. ‘’He taught me a lot about how to manage the players during the match,’’ Shield said. ‘’He certainly was a big influence on my career.’’ Power, though, was under no illusions about the difficulty of the task. ‘’Will there still be complaints about referees? Yes,’’ he said. ‘’Will referees still be dropped? Of course. But there should be fewer of them over time.’’ — Reuters
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Jerimiah stars in East Bengal win
Kolkata, May 25 Rahim Nabi capped a brilliant sprint down the right flank with a flick to Climax Lawrence, who set up Jerimiah with a perfect square pass. The Nigerian, excelling with every match, dribbled past a couple of Nebitchi defenders to send an angular left-footer into the net past a diving Bagabernyev Retepbery. Nebitchi came back briefly into the match after an extended lemon break and Arazov set up Barazov, who scored clumsily with his body. Stung by the goal, East Bengal pressed for the lead again. A relentless Nabi’s square pass saw Malswama set up Jerimiah, who dribbled passed the goal keeper to score his and the team’s second goal. The third goal was almost an action replay of the second, when Malswama and Nabi combined to set up Jerimiah, who jabbed the ball home to make it 3-1 for the home team. Nebitchi’s second goal was rather fortuitous and came two minutes before the long whistle. Debjit’s miscued clearance saw Arazov latch on to the lose ball and score a right-footed volley.
— UNI |
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Weather puts games organisers in a fix
Guwahati, May 25 Though the construction work of the main sports complex at Saru Sajai under the supervision of the National Games Secretariat is in full swing, recurring rain has been hampering the progress, much to the chagrin of the organisers. The secretariat, in its recent progress report, has claimed that 52 per cent work is complete. But at the Tepesia Rudra Singh — the other proposed site for the event — construction work is moving at a snail’s pace and only 15 per cent work has been completed at the indoor hall. With a mere 170 days to go for the games, construction work of the shooting range has also left much to be desired. Secretary and commissioner of National Games Secretariat Pradip Hazarika has claimed that construction work of the stadium will be completed well in time, but has alleged that the organising part of the games, which is under the aegis of the Assam Olympic Association, has been suffering because of bickering among office-bearers.
— UNI |
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MES Club wins cricket tourney Patiala, May 25 Brief scores: The MES Cricket Club:159 all out (Simant Singh 43, Ujwal Sharma 31; Sukhwinder Singh 18, Neel Dhari 4 for 24; Puneet 1 for 14; R.Thakur 1 for 24;Sajjan 1 for 20). DCF:149 all out(Kartik 36;Amit 33; Puneet Kumar17; Sukhwinder Singh 4 for 29; Karan Kalia 2 for 10). In another match played at the Army School ground (primary wing), Sumit Dogra Academy, New Delhi, beat the combined outfit of the Chandigarh Coaching Association and
ST. John’s School by 8 wickets. SDA Academy: 190 all out (Suman Dogra 59, Himanshu 34, Ankush Yadav 28, Ankush Kumar 4 fro 49, Manan Gupta 3 fro 19). CCA and St.John’s School: 194 for 2(Manin Gupta 59; Karan Goyal 46, Mayank 11 n.o., Ankit Yadav 2 fro 25).
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