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India claw back to hold New Zealand
Kim Clijsters sets up clash with Davenport
Paes-Zimonjic move up; Sania loses in doubles
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Lara, Chanderpaul rescue West Indies
I’m not needed for camps: Sourav
Trescothick, Vaughan hit tons
Mehta actively involved in betting: police
Amritsar, Patiala triumph
Sangrur swimmers on top
Jalandhar, Muktsar enter semis
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India claw back to hold New Zealand
Kuala Lumpur, May 27 The Indians, who went into the lemon break trailing 0-2, came back strongly in the second half to dominate the proceedings for the entire 35 minutes and score twice to secure a point. Rajpal Singh and Prabhajot Singh scored for the Indians after Darren Smith and Bevan Hari found the net for the Kiwis in the first half. The three-time champions did not have a very good start to the match as they were found wanting in all departments in the first half as the New Zealanders built the pressure from the flanks. And the constant pressure paid off when Smith got an easy ball at the top of the circle and he made no mistake in sending it in the back of the net. The New Zealander doubled the lead within four minutes when Bevan tapped in a fine cross by Hamish Baron. Pushed to the wall, India resorted to the tactics of long balls inside the opponents circle and the move began to pay dividends as New Zealand went on the defensive. In fact, the dominance of the Indians was so profound that they earned seven penalty corners in the second half, five within a span of nine minutes, but Len Aiyappa failed to show the same magic which saw him help India beat South Africa yesterday. However, Aiyappa was instrumental in helping the Indians to reduce the deficit when he gave a great ball to Rajpal inside the circle and the latter made no mistake in beating the custodian. Prabhjot, who missed at least three sitters, restored parity when he showed good presence of mind to score off India’s eighth and final penalty corner. Though India managed to salvage a point from the match after being down by two goals, they must surely be ruing the number of lost opportunities in the second half. It was the bad trapping inside the opponents’ circle, which should be a major cause of concern for India’s new coach Rajinder Singh (Jr), that allowed the black sticks to get away when under pressure, and if not for the weakness of the forwards in converting the opportunities, the scoreline could have looked a lot different. Meanwhile, Olympic and reigning champions Australia survived a scare against South Korea before erasing a two-goal deficit to manage a 3-3 draw. In the third match of the day, hosts Malaysia staged a comeback to hold South Africa to a 1-1 draw.
— PTI |
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Kim Clijsters sets up clash with Davenport
Paris, May 27 Clijsters had grown up with Hantuchova on the junior circuit but she was in no mood to hand out any favours to her Slovakian friend. After taking a grip of the match at 4-3 in the first, the 14th seed motored towards victory in 81 minutes as Hantuchova wilted in intense heat on the Philippe Chatrier court. World number one Lindsay Davenport sweated it out for two and a half hours before beating France’s Virginie Razzano 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 to reach the fourth round. The top-seeded American, who has often struggled in her least favourite Grand Slam tournament, looked nervous and clumsy in the stifling heat but managed to survive against the local favourite, ranked 39th in the world. The American fought back from 0-4 down in the first set and was in trouble again in the second, Razzano building a 3-0 lead. Davenport gave the impression she would recover when she levelled the second set at 4-4 but two games later, she lost it with a double fault. Both players had traded breaks in the decisive set when Davenport managed the telling one in the ninth game. She then served for the match, sealing victory with a service winner on her second match point. Men's top seed Roger Federer made light work of his opponent, barely breaking into a sweat as he beat Chilean Fernando Gonzalez 7-6, 7-5, 6-2. “That was good to get through in three sets,” the relaxed Swiss smiled. “He should perhaps have won that close first set.”
Federer could have been forgiven if he had entered the Philippe Chatrier court rather tentatively, having fallen to three-times former champion Gustavo Kuerten at the same stage 12 months ago. But he kept his eye on the ball to take the first set tiebreak 11-9, after both players had won and lost several set points. Runaway world number one Federer plays former champion and former top-ranked player Carlos Moya who overcame Fernando Vicente 6-4, 7-6, 6-7, 0-6, 6-4 in three hours 51 minutes for a 12th straight victory against his fellow Spaniard. Fourth seed Rafael Nadal of Spain thrashed Richard Gasquet of France 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 while David Ferrer of Spain beat Hyung-Taik Lee of Korea 6-3, 6-1, 7-5. Earlier, men's third seed Marat Safin thundeed into the third round with a 6-7 6-3 7-5 6-1 win over Czech Lukas
Dlouhy. The Australian Open champion next faces fellow former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero after the Spanish former champion beat Czech Jan Hernych 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. Andy Roddick wilted under the dual assault of a fierce Paris sun and the uncompromising baseline attack of Argentina’s Jose Acasuso to crash out of the French
Open. Roddick, who had never got beyond the third round here, was in control of his second round match against the gritty 62nd-ranked player, coasting at two sets to love ahead. Acasuso overcame treatment to his injured left leg to carve out a 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 8-6 win to move into the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time, where he faces Finlippo Volandri of Italy.
— AFP, Reuters |
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Paes-Zimonjic move up; Sania loses in doubles
New Delhi, May 27 On court three, the Indo-Serbian pair made it look like a stroll in the park as they bagged the first set in no time, dropping just a game. The second set proved slightly better for the Devilder-Gicquel duo who tried everything they could before conceding the set and the match. The Paes-Zimonjic pair will meet the 10th seeded Czech pair of Frantisek Cermak and Leos Friedl in the third round. Sania’s campaign, however, came to an end when she and her Russian partner Anna Chakvetadze were beaten 4-6, 7-4, 6-2 by 16th seeds Chinese Zi Yan and Jie Zhang. The 18-year-old Indian had earlier lost in the singles first round to Gisela Dulko of Argentina. Earlier, India’s Mahesh Bhupathi and Australia’s Todd Woodbridge were upset in the first round by Kevin Kim of the USA and Hyung-Taik Lee of Korea yesterday.
— PTI , UNI |
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Lara, Chanderpaul rescue West Indies
Bridgetown, May 27 Lara, making a return to the West Indies line-up after being rested for the preceding three-match one-day international series, played some breathtaking strokes to collect 14 fours and four sixes from 120 balls. West Indies captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul added 169 for the fourth wicket with Lara and was the perfect foil for the batting superstar after West Indies won the toss and chose to bat on a hard, true Kensington Oval pitch under partly cloudy skies. Chanderpaul fell eight runs short of his 14th Test hundred after striking nine fours from 193 balls in just over four hours. Abdul Razzaq, Shabbir Ahmed, and Danish Kaneria, all snared three wickets each for Pakistan. Lara and Chanderpaul gave substance to their side’s innings, after West Indies courted early strife at 45 for three. But when they were separated, there was little support from the rest of the batting, as no one else showed any purpose. Lara reached his first Test hundred against the Pakistanis when he lofted two consecutive sixes off Kaneria over long-off to move from 90 to 102. Kaneria, the target of much of Lara’s punishment, had the last laugh when he deceived the great West Indies batsman and bowled him with a well-flighted delivery. Lara had now scored a hundred against each of the nine other Test-playing nations and joined his elite contemporaries Rahul Dravid, Gary Kirsten, Sachin Tendulkar and Steve Waugh in this achievement. He completely dominated his stand with fellow left-hander Chanderpaul, after Shabbir, whose bowling action raised more than a few eyebrows, threatened to completely ruin the day for West Indies. Shabbir made the early breakthroughs after West Indies chose to bat, when he had Chris Gayle caught at mid-off for four, driving loosely off the backfoot, and Ramnaresh Sarwan caught at third slip for six in the first half-hour. West Indies’ position could have been more treacherous had second slip fielder Bazid Khan, making his Test debut, held a chance from Devon Smith on nine off Rana Naved-ul-Hasan. Smith, however, failed to make the most of his reprieve and he was caught at first slip off Razzaq for 19 when he edged a flat-footed drive to the same fielder. Scoreboard West Indies (1st innings) Gayle c Razzaq b Shabbir 4 Smith c Hameed b Razzaq 19 Sarwan c Bazid b Shabbir 6 Lara b Kaneira 130 Chanderpaul c Bazid b Kaneria 92 Hinds run out 28 Browne c Akmal Powell b Razzaq 10 Edwards c Hameed b Kaneria 3 King c Akmal b Razzaq 3 Collymore not out 0 Extras
(b-3, lb-6, w-2, nb-27) 38 Total (all out) 345 Fall of wickets:
1-12, 2-25, 3-45, 4-214, 5-263, 6-287, 7-336, 8-336, 9-343 Bowling:
Naved 18-2-66-0, Shabbir 18-4-66-3, Razzaq 17-3-58-3, Kaneria 24.3-1-114-3, Afridi 6-0-32-0. Pakistan (1st innings) Butt not out 5 Afridi not out 12 Extras
(b4, nb1) 5 Total (without loss) 22 Bowling:
Edwards 2-0-6-0, Powell 2-0-12-0.
— AFP |
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I’m not needed for camps: Sourav
London, May 27 “We are assuming that he is not required and that is what he is telling us, but we still need a clearance from the Board of Control for Cricket in India,” Glamorgan chief executive Mike Fatkin said yesterday. “With Greg Chappell having taken over as the new coach, we need to be absolutely certain he is not required,” Fatkin said. He revealed that Ganguly was signed on in England after Glamorgan came up against ‘a few brick walls’ in its hunt for an overseas player. “Then our agent mentioned that Ganguly is in the UK and we signed the contract on Monday night,” Fatkin said. He was delighted about Glamorgan’s new overseas player, who was 55 runs short of completing 10,000 runs in one-day internationals and was India’s most successful captain. “Ganguly fits the bill perfectly. He is exactly the player we want, in terms of where he bats and his experience,” he said. “I think he is good. The last Indian player we had was Ravi Shastri at the end of the 1980s and early 1990s. He enjoyed his stay here,” he said. Ganguly’s contract would run till the end of July, but it would be extended by a few weeks if the International Cricket Council turned down Ganguly’s appeal against the six-match ban on him playing one-dayers. Glamorgan officials hoped that the Indian skipper would make his championship debut in the match against Sussex, starting at Swansea on June 1. “By a strange coincidence, it was 25 years ago that Javed Miandad made his first championship appearance for Glamorgan, also at Swansea. The mercurial Pakistani scored 140 not out against Essex,” the club said. “Glamorgan supporters will no doubt be hoping that the Indian captain can mark this anniversary in similar fashion,” it added.
— IANS |
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Trescothick, Vaughan hit tons
London, May 27 The pair, resuming on 188 for one, put on 255 for the second wicket before falling in quick succession during the afternoon. Bangladesh, in their first appearance at Lord’s, looked as far out of their depth as they had done in being skittled out ed for 108 on the opening day. The left-handed
Trescothick, with half an eye on a second Test double century, batted for just over six hours and hit 92 in boundaries during his 194 before snicking one behind. Scoreboard Bangladesh (1st innings) 108 England (1st innings)
Trescothick c Mashud Strauss lbw b Mortaza 69 Vaughan c Mashud Bell not out 53 Thorpe not out 28 Extras(b-1, lb-9, nb-20, w-3) 33 Total
(3 wickets, 106 overs)
497 FoW: 1-148, 2-403, 3-415. Bowling:
Mortaza 29-6-107-2, Hossain 12-0-101-0, Hossain Munir 22-0-110-0, Rafique 38-2-140-1, A. Ahmed 5-1-29-0.
— Reuters |
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Mehta actively involved in betting: police
New Delhi, May 27 Under the scanner are two Test matches played by South Africa in Kanpur and Kolkata in November last year, the one-off platinum jubilee one-day international between India and Pakistan in Kolkata and the tours of Bangladesh by India and Zimbabwe last December. This is besides the March-April series against Pakistan, in which investigators claim they have proof of Mehta’s involvement in betting. Investigations have revealed that Mehta was involved in betting in the first one-day international played in Kochi, as is evidenced from several phone calls made to Lahore and Karachi, as also to Dubai and Delhi. “During this period, calls were made from a telecommunication centre in Mumbai that Shobhan was running,” said a police official involved in Mehta’s interrogation.
— IANS |
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Amritsar, Patiala triumph
Amritsar, May 27 For the visitors, Haritesh Anand withstood the attack of local bowlers and scored 72 runs. Patiala: Patiala beat Ludhiana by virtue of their slender 19-run lead in a league match of the Dhruv Pandove cricket tournament (under-19) here on Friday. Brief scores: Patiala 1st innings: 223 all out; Ludhiana: 1st innings: 204 all out (Bharat Malhotra 57, Sanjay Kumar 39, Chintan Sehgal 24, Rattan Kumar 24, Pankaj Kumar 24, Rajwinder Singh 5 for 56, Kunwar Raina 2 for 37, Amitoj Singh 2 for 59; Patiala: 2nd innings: 54 for no loss. |
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Sangrur swimmers on top
Sangrur, May 27 Mankiran covered the distance in 1:27.98 seconds while Apenjit took 1:31.22 seconds. The previous record was 1:31.55 seconds in the name of Sukhmanni Ghumman of Ropar. Sangrur swimmers dominated the proceedings on the opening day of the championships, which were inaugurated by Mr Gurtej Singh, SDM, Sangrur. |
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Jalandhar, Muktsar enter semis
Chandigarh, May 27 In a keenly contested quarterfinal match, Jalandhar defeated defending champions Patiala 3-1 after leading 2-0 at half time. Muktsar outclassed Bathinda 5-2 in extra time after they were locked 2-2 in regulation time. In the third quarterfinal match, Nawanshahr beat Ludhiana 3-1 after leading 1-0 at the interval. Hoshiarpur defeated last year’s runners-up Kapurthala 2-0 after leading 1-0 at the lemon break. In the semifinals tomorrow, Nawanshahr would meet Hoshiarpur while Jalandhar would take on Muktsar. |
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