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Jayawardene steers Lanka to 4-wicket win
Ganguly joins 10,000-run club
USA swamp Australia in swimming
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Badminton umpire waiting for US visa
New Zealand team arrives in Zimbabwe
Sania cruises into second round
Spurned boxer hits gold
More than 1,100 chess games
in 17 hours!
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Jayawardene steers Lanka to 4-wicket win Dambulla, August 3 Chasing a target of 221, the hosts were precariously placed at 95 for six, before Jayawardene swung the game in his team’s favour with a controlled 94 not out to help Sri Lanka record a four-wicket win. The Indians had themselves to blame for the debacle as the lack of a quality fifth bowler allowed the hosts to wriggle out of a tight situation through a record unbroken 126-run partnership between Jayawardene and Upul Chandana (45). The result ensured Sri Lanka’s berth in the final on Tuesday and left the Indians needing to beat the West Indies in their last league match to reach the summit clash. It was Jayawardene’s first half century in 18 innings. The right-hander’s last 50-plus knock came against the same opponents at the same venue in the Asia Cup last year. The spinners, Harbhajan Singh and part-timer Virender Sehwag, proved expensive under the flood-lit conditions, as did Sourav Ganguly with his medium-pacers. Earlier, India, after electing to bat, got off to a good start, with Virender Sehwag (32) and Sourav Ganguly (51) adding 67 runs in 15 overs. Sehwag, helped by some sloppy fielding by the Lankans, who dropped the Indian opener twice, curbed his natural instincts at the start of innings when the pitch offered assistance to fast bowlers. He was lucky to survive on two occasions when he had not even reached double figure as wicketkeeper Kumara Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene in the first slip dropped him in Farveez Maharoof’s successive overs. Sehwag flourished briefly, hitting some beautiful shots, before he was undone by a wild heave, dragging a wide delivery from debutant seamer Pradeep Jayaprakashdaran on to his stumps. V.V.S. Laxman, playing the first match of the series after recovering from a back spasm, joined Ganguly in the middle and the duo played cautiously for almost an hour, After making 22, Laxman was foxed by a viciously turning delivery from part-time off-spinner Tilakaratne Dilshan, whose dismissal of the veteran batsman started a collapse of sorts for India. Ten runs later, Ganguly was bowled while trying to play across a leg-spinner from Upul Chandana. Captain Rahul Dravid got out for a first-ball duck, falling leg before to Dilshan, who finished with his career-best figures of 4 for 29. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (20) tried for some quick runs, so did Mohammad Kaif (34), but it was Irfan Pathan, whose 28-ball 36 with the help of five fours took India past the 200-run mark. Earlier, India made three changes to the side that beat the West Indies on Monday, with Ganguly and Laxman coming to the side in place of Yuvraj Singh and Y. Venugopala Rao. Seamer Laxmipathi Balaji was also kept in the playing 11 in place of Zaheer Khan. Sri Lanka left out injured seniors Sanath Jayasuriya and Chaminda Vaas while off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan was rested for the match. Scoreboard India Sehwag b Jayaprakashdharan 32 Ganguly b Chandana 51 Laxman b Dilshan 22 Dhoni c and b Dilshan 20 Dravid lbw b Dilshan 0 Kaif c and b Maharoof 34 Raina c and b Dilshan 2 Pathan not out 36 Harbhajan run out 4 Balaji not out 1 Extras (b-1, lb-3, nb-3, w-11): 18 Total (8 wickets, 50 overs): 220 Fall of wickets: 1-67, 2-117, 3-127, 4-128, 5-157, 6-161, 7-194, 8-207. Bowling: Maharoof 10-0-52-1, Dilhara Lokuhettige 7-1-32-0, Jayaprakashdharan 6-1-21-1, Fernando 10-0-51-0, Dilshan 10-0-29-4, Chandana 7-0-31-1. Sri Lanka Tharanga c Dhoni b Pathan 4 Atapattu run out 29 Sangakkara lbw b Balaji 16 Jayawardene not out 94 Dilshan c Dhoni b Nehra 7 Arnold lbw b Nehra 4 Lokuhettige c Dhoni b Harbhajan 0 Chandana not out 45 Extras (b-4, lb-4, Total (6 wkts, 48 overs): 221 Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-36, 3-78, 4-88, 5-94, 6-95. Bowling: Pathan 10-0-38-1, Balaji 10-0-48-1, Nehra 10-1-23-2, Ganguly 5-0-30-0, Harbhajan 9-0-49-1, Sehwag 4-0-25-0.
— PTI
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Dambulla, August 3 The 33-year-old has Sachin Tendulkar and Pakistani skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq for company in the elite 10,000 club. Playing in his 272nd match, Ganguly reached the milestone with a single off paceman Dilhara Fernando in the 25th over. Ganguly, India’s most successful captain ever, has hit 22 centuries, besides 59 half centuries and enjoys an average of 41.18. — PTI
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USA swamp Australia in swimming
Irvine (USA), August 3 The Americans won 18 races to 10 for the Aussies yesterday. The USA outscored Australia183-102. Grant Hackett of Australia won the 400 metres freestyle in 3:45.31, but he was upset in the 200 metres freestyle by American Peter Vanderkaay. Phelps won the 200 metres and 400 metres individual medleys and the 200 metres butterfly yesterday. He was one of the four world record-holders on the victorious 400 metres medley relay, joining hometown favorite Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen and Ian Crocker. They finished in 3 minutes, 36.39 seconds, beating the Aussies by more than six seconds. Peirsol was another multiple winner, sweeping the 100 metres and 200 metres backstrokes. Katie Hoff, the 16-year-old who emerged as a future star at last week’s world championships, swept the 200 metres and 400 metres individual medleys. Aussie Leisel Jones and American Jessica Hardy renewed their budding rivalry in the 100 metres breaststroke. Jones won in 1:06.21, the second-fastest time and just one-hundredth of a second off Hardy’s week-old world record. Hansen swept the 100 metres and 200 metres breaststrokes. Other double winners for Australia were: Jess Schipper in 100 metres and 200 metres butterfly, Jones in 100 metres and 200 metres breaststroke and Libby Lenton in 100 metres and 200 metres freestyle. Their strong performances helped Australian women outscore the American women 76-70. — AP
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Badminton umpire waiting for US visa
Chandigarh, August 3 He is in regular touch with the US Embassy in New Delhi. The embassy officials have informed him that as soon as Washington clears his name he will be given the visa. His application for visa has been supported by the USA Badminton, Tina Jones, Events Officer of the International Badminton Federation, the Badminton Association of India and the Punjab Sports Department. Punjab Sports Director Kartar Singh has also informed that the Secretary Sports, Punjab Government, has sanctioned him leave to officiate in the World Championship from August 10 to 25. Armed with all supporting documents, Gursharan Singh had applied for visa on July 12. He was confident that he would be granted visa without any hitch as he had been to the USA twice in 1999 and 2003 to officiate in tournaments. But the delay is worrying Gursharan Singh. Gursharan Singh is the only Indian to be invited by the USA Badminton Association. The initiation to officiate in the tournament was sent to Gursharan on February 18. Event Officer Tina Jones had informed Gursharan to be present at the venue one day before the championship. Badminton Association of India secretary L.C. Gupta also wrote a letter to the visa officer, US Embassy, New Delhi, on June 8, 2005, “to grant visa to Gursharan for officiating in the championship. Gursharan has umpired in three World Championships, Asian Games, Athens Olympics and many other international competitions. It may be recalled that recently former Indian hockey skipper Zafar Iqbal was denied visa by the US Embassy in New Delhi to visit America for his holiday trip on the invitation of his brother-in-law who is a senior US Government official.
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New Zealand team arrives in Zimbabwe
Harare, August 3 The players spent most of the day travelling from the Namibia capital Windhoek, where they had a week’s preparation for two Test matches and a triangular ODI series involving Zimbabwe and India over the next month. For months a row has raged in New Zealand about whether the country should send a cricket team to a country where president Robert Mugabe has been widely criticised for human rights abuses. The New Zealand government has expressed its dismay at the tour but drew back from actually instructing the cricketers not to travel here. For their part, the New Zealand cricket board insisted they had to fulfil their International Cricket Council “Future Tours Programme” commitment under pain of a $ two million fine. The Kiwis are scheduled to play a practice match here today, but this might be delayed 24 hours in view of the late arrival. The first Test will begin on Sunday. — AFP
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Sania cruises into second round
New Delhi, August 3 On a career-high ranking of 59, Sania continued with her superb performance in the pre-US Open hard-court season and dished out a clinical performance to show the door to 81st-place Garbin last night. She now faces world number nine Nadia Petrova of Russia in the second round. Playing on court number two, Sania seized the initiative right at the beginning and pocketed the first set 6-2 even before the spectators could settle in their seats. Giving no chance to her opponent, the Indian wrapped up the match in straight sets by winning the second by the same margin. Sania is on a giant-killing spree on her US trip as she scalped higher-ranked like Eleni Daniilidou (58) of Greece in the Bank of the West Classic tournament at Stanford last week. Earlier this week, she was in scintillating form at Cincinati Open before Akiko Morigami avenged her Wimbledon loss in the quarterfinal. Before that, Sania had stunned seventh seed Anna-Lena Groenefeld in the first round before beating another higher-ranked player, Kristina Brandi of Puerto Rico, in the second. — UNI
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Spurned boxer hits gold
New Delhi, August 3 Pradeep Shiag was one of the boxers selected for the Youth Commonwealth Games in Australia in November, 2004. But a few hours before the departure of the Indian team, Pradeep was told that he had been dropped from the team, and his blazer and other official documents were taken back in the middle of night. The reason cited for his exclusion from the team was that he had undergone an eye operation, and was therefore unfit to box. Pradeep Shiag was shattered as he was a good middle weight boxer (75kg), and had shown his mettle in various national championships. He was part of over seven coaching camps conducted by the SAI, but when his time of reckoning came, the SAI bosses cast him away mercilessly. With his ambition to represent the country shattered, Pradeep, belonging to a poor family, and who had honed his boxing skills at the Haryana Boxing Academy at Bhiwani, under coach Rajeev Dhangad, decided to try his luck in the professional circuit, and joined the Fighter Factory boxing club in Melbourne, Australia. Pradeep found a benefactor in Mori Thompson, who sponsored his stay and training expenses in Australia. Soon, Pradeep Shiag boxed his way to glory winning six professional events, which included four knockouts and two by points. His boxing skills were in full flow when he won the Pan Asian Championship, which fetched him a gold belt weighing 1.5 kg and a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh. He also lifted the Australian Championship title and has now set his sight on the professional circuit in the USA, starting in September. But before that, he wants to hone his skills at his alma mater, the Haryana Boxing Academy at Bhiwani, where he would train for 15 days. Pradeep is now ranked 12th in the World Boxing Council list and second in Australia in his weight category. Pradeep was given a rousing welcome when he arrived in Delhi last night. He said his biggest regret was that he would not be able to represent the country in the Olympics, having turned professional. His coach Rajeev Dhangad said the young boy had a 100 per cent chance of making it into the US professional circuit for which he would have to win four contests. He will train at Bhiwani till August 20 before leaving for the USA to compete in the world championship series.
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More than 1,100 chess games
in 17 hours!
Palm Beach Gardens (USA), August 3 When the chess marathon ended at 3 a.m. yesterday, Polgar had played 1,131 consecutive games. She had the highest number of wins in a marathon of this sort. She had the highest percentage of wins at 96.93 per cent. Polgar’s opponents sat before identical chess boards at long rows of tables. She remained standing, walked from board to board. In 1986, she became the first woman to qualify for the Men’s World Championship, and she earned the men’s Grandmaster title five years later.
— AP |
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