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Jayasuriya joins 10,000-run club
Flintoff made the difference
Atwal ready to make an impact
Tragedy spurs Bekele, Williams to glory
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Foreign coaches fail to click in boxing
Selection of basketball team fair: Dhaliwal
Haryana sports calendar released
HC tells AICF to hold elections
Ramesh leads in chess tourney
Badminton squad
Football
players take to streets
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India crash to 18-run defeat Colombo, August 9 A new captain in Rahul Dravid and a new coach in Greg Chappell made no difference to India’s fortunes as the side slumped once more in the final of a multi-national contest, the last title for them coming in 2002, when they beat England in the final of the NatWest Trophy at Lord’s. The Indians had themselves to blame for the defeat as they were cruising along comfortably at 186 for two before Yuvraj Singh’s dismissal turned the tide in favour of the hosts in a day-night encounter at the Premadasa Stadium. Once Sri Lanka made 281 for nine in 50 overs after electing to bat, it was never going to be easy for India, who despite a fantastic start, were restricted to 263 for nine. The loss was India’s third in succession against Sri Lanka in the series, having lost both league matches at Dambulla last week. India made a solid start to their reply, with Virender Sehwag blasting a 22-ball 48, with 26 of them coming off one over from Dilhara Lokuhettige. Even after his dismissal in the seventh over, the visitors were in with a good chance when they were 186 for two in the 36th over and captain Rahul Dravid (69) and Yuvraj (42) were firmly entrenched. But then Yuvraj holed out in the deep, Dravid was run out and the return of Muthiah Muralitharan (2 for 35) for his second spell blanked out the Indians. Sourav Ganguly looked in good touch and reached 26 from 45 balls with two fours before being adjudged leg before wicket to Tilakaratne Dilshan at 102 for 2 in the 17th over. Earlier, Sri Lanka made a mockery of India’s decision to play with five specialist bowlers, plundering the tournament’s highest score. Jayasuriya, coming into the match 10 short of joining the elite club of Sachin Tendulkar, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Sourav Ganguly, made 67 as the home side, with valuable knocks from Mahela Jayawardene (83) and Russel Arnold (64), made 281 for nine in 50 overs. Having learnt a lesson or two in the earlier matches for playing with four bowlers, India went to the match with five bowlers, but the move did not seem to help in containing the run flow. The attack, barring Ashish Nehra, who took six for 59, proved ineffective as Sri Lanka, electing to bat, flayed the erratic Indian bowlers to post a huge total. The irony was that except for Nehra, none of the bowlers took a wicket, with the other three dismissals coming through run outs. Nehra did his best, claiming three wickets in his first spell of six overs and adding three more when he returned, which at least stopped Sri Lanka from topping 300 runs. Scoreboard Sri Lanka Atapattu b Nehra 11 Jayasuriya run out 67 Lokuhettige lbw b Nehra 9 Sangakkara c Sehwag Jayawardene c Yuvraj Arnold run out 64 Dilshan b Nehra 7 Vass not out 18 Muralitharan run out 0 Extras
(lb-2, nb-2, w-8): 12 Total (9 wkts, 50 overs): 281 Fall of wickets:
1-32, 2-46, 3-67, 4-122, 5-247, 6-257, 7-262, 8-268, 9-281. Bowling:
Pathan 9-0-59-0, Zaheer 9-1-43-0, Nehra 10-1-59-6, Harbhajan 10-0-40-0, Kumble 10-0-64-0, Sehwag 2-0-14-0. India Ganguly lbw b Dilshan 26 Sehwag b Vaas 48 Dravid run out 69 Yuvraj c Lokuhettige Kaif c Atapattu b Vaas 31 Dhoni lbw b Chandana 7 Pathan b Muralitharan 1 Harbhajan run out 0 Zaheer c sub Kumble not out 9 Nehra not out 9 Extras (b-7, lb-1, nb-1, w-7): 16 Total
(9 wkts, 50 overs): 263 Fall of wickets: 1-62, 2-102, 3-186, 4-205, 5-216, 6-219, 7-223, 8-229, 9-246. Bowling: Vaas 10-1-38-2, Mahroof 6-0-48-0, Lokuhettige 5-0-41-0, Dilshan 7-0-42-1, Muralitharan 10-0-35-2, Jayasuriya 0.1-0-1-0, Chandana 9.5-0-38-2, Arnold 2-0-12-0.
— PTI |
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Jayasuriya joins 10,000-run club
Colombo, August 9 The other three members of the club are Sachin Tendulkar, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Sourav Ganguly. Jayasuriya, a former captain who started his one-day career in 1989-90, took 337 matches to join the elite list.
— PTI |
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Flintoff made the difference
It is always special to be involved in an unforgettable Test match, though the role of losing captain is hardly ideal. I will be the first to admit that I misread the wicket at the toss, and had expected more lateral movement since the conditions were overcast. However, in the final analysis the toss did not make much of a difference because we came heartbreakingly close to winning the game. The three factors that did make a difference were: we had a bad first day, the England team have more self-belief these days and, of course, Andrew Flintoff.
The first morning was disappointing for us since we lost Glenn McGrath to a freak accident. You are always going to miss a bowler of his calibre, particularly when he was Man of the Match in the last Test. Having said that, Michael Kasprowicz had done well in the tour games, and was in great form coming into the game. I think we erred in the line we bowled to the hosts on that day — we were simply too full and too wide. Marcus Trescothick took full advantage of this and ensured a flying start for England. I don’t recall giving away 400 runs in one day in a long time, so it was quite obvious that our bowling plans were not in place. We did ourselves no favours with the bat either. On that pitch we should have scored 600, instead, most of us got starts but simply could not kick on. I was particularly disappointed with my own batting because at this level you need to capitalise when you reach the 60s. If we want to get back the advantage in this series, it is imperative for us to capitalise on starts. It is something we have to focus on immediately if we want to improve our results. Whenever this Test is spoken about, it’s always going to be known as the Flintoff Test — he was simply explosive at Edgbaston, and showed why his fans think he is the answer to our Ashes hegemony. We were quite pleased with the way we bowled to him at Lord’s but we will have to revisit our plans for him because it is absolutely crucial for us to keep him out of the game as much as possible in the third Test. Finally, I would have to say that this England team is a little different from the ones we have played over the last decade. There have been talented players in the past, but Michael Vaughan’s men have more confidence in their ability than their predecessors. There seems to be a winning culture in the team, and it’s good to see them enjoy each others’ success. Having said that, I still think we will be hard to beat if we can be a little more consistent in sticking to plans and strategies. We did hand the hosts a thumping defeat in the first Test, as well as a serious challenge in this game. Our fightback has also given us some heart and momentum as we square up for the third game. I believe it will be dominated by batsmen, and I also believe most of the big run-getters will be from my team — they certainly are due some big scores.
— Gameplan |
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Atwal ready to make an impact
New Jersey, August 9 The former Asian number one will join the game’s elite at the Lower Course at the Balsturol Golf Club on Thursday. “It’ll be fun to play this week. I got a spot through a money list that started from last year’s PGA Championship till last week, so I’m hoping to make full use of this opportunity,” the Indian star, who now plies his trade on the US PGA Tour, said. “It definitely feels good to be here. A major is a major, it’s a much bigger field and I’m looking forward to it. This is where you test your game.” The golfer is confident about his prospects at the championship. “I’ve played okay this year. I’ve done enough to get my card (he has won over $800,000 this season) and it sure feels good to get my full card back for the next season. However, I thought I would get in a lot more events this year but I think I’ve just got a handful more to go,” he said. Last season’s Asian Tour number one, Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand will join Atwal at Balstural this week along with several other Asian old hands. From the days when they were battling for honours across Asia’s finest fairways, Atwal was delighted to catch up with Thongchai at a major. “It’s great to see Thongchai here and we’ve planned a practice round together for Tuesday afternoon. There’ll be a lot of catching up,” said
Atwal. Atwal, winner of the Order of Merit in Asia in 2003, is paired with Jonathan Kaye and Craig Thomas for the first two rounds and the trio will be the first group out on Thursday morning. Atwal missed the cut at the Open Championship last year. Other Indians to have played the majors are Jyoti Randhawa (three times at the Open Championships), Gaurav Ghei once at the same event and Jeev Milkha Singh, who played all four rounds at the 2002 US Open. Last season, in his rookie year in the USA, Atwal lost his full playing privileges by finishing outside the top 125 on the money list. But this year, the Indian star found his footing and made the cut in each of his 12 starts. He came to within a whisker of becoming the first Indian to win a title on the US PGA Tour, when he lost in a five-man play-off at the BellSouth Classic. Atwal was also tied fifth at Zurich Classic of New Orleans and tied ninth at the B.C. Open
recently. Thongchai, currently ranked 81st in the world, will compete in the year’s final major with his confidence soaring after becoming the first Thai to play in all four rounds of the Open Championship at St Andrews last month, finishing tied for 52nd. He will play the opening two rounds with Charles Howell III and Bob Ford and will be looking to make amends for missing the cut last year. The Asian stalwarts will have to contend with the likes of Tiger Woods, who has won two of the three majors this year, and defending champion Vijay Singh of Fiji, whom Atwal often plays practice rounds with on the PGA Tour. —
PTI |
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Tragedy spurs Bekele, Williams to glory
Helsinki, August 9 But while they were celebrating victory yesterday, there was disappointment for others with the agony particularly acute for the French team. First, their favourite for the 1500 metres men’s title Mehdi Baala made a complete mess of his semifinal and crashed out.That was soon to be followed by another disappointment for the immensely talented Christine Arron, who having looked the winner through the first few rounds, could only take bronze behind Williams. It didn’t stop the 31-year-old protesting that she was still the best despite Williams, 10 years younger than her, having already accrued an Olympic silver and now the world title within a year. A lesson for Arron in keeping your nerve after several mear misses came with the women’s high jump triumph of Swedish pin-up Kajsa Bergqvist, who despite taking bronze at the Olympics and last two world championships refused to buckle when young American Chaunta Howard pegged her back at 2.00 metres with her last attempt. However, Bergqvist threw back the challenge jumping 2.02 metres at the first go and the American failed her three. There was also a show of mental strength in the men’s hammer as Ivan Tikhon
of Belarus retained his title after trailing for most of the event. “I knew I had the psychological advantage as I was
already the champion,” he said proudly. Bekele, though, was majestic as he led home an Ethiopian 1-2 — Sileshi Sihine having to make do with another silver after his Olympic second place last year — but confessed that the death of his fiancee Alem Techale of a suspected heart attack had understandably worn him down. “I lost my fiancee and it has been very difficult to come back to international competition,” said an emotional Bekele. “My fiancee... I loved her very much. She was very important to me.” “Even now I don’t understand why she had to pass away,” the 23-year-old said, adding that he had contemplated stopping running. Williams’ father’s illness by contrast seems to have seen her thrive as she pounded her way to her first major senior title leaving Arron and silver medallist Veronica Campbell trailing in her wake. However, even the seemingly nerveless American admitted to not having been as cool as all that. “I was very nervous before the race. When I crossed the line I wasn’t counting my chickens and didn’t know I had won till I saw the race on the video screen,” said Williams. While her father — who was diagnosed with leukaemia in 1989 and has since suffered from a serious kidney disease — wasn’t present unlike in Athens to see her win the title she had no doubts he would be proud of her. “I always run with him in my mind but I know he gets the most joy in a difficult life from my successes and that in part is why I enjoy the sport so much,” she said.
—AFP |
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Foreign coaches fail to click in boxing
New Delhi, August 9 Though Indian boxers made a killing at the 1986 Seoul Asian Games, winning nine medals in 11 weight categories — five silvers and four bronze medals — they have not been able to replicate that feat. Instead of building on that remarkable performance, the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF), with the assistance of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the Central Government, hired a foreign coach from Russia to train the squad for the 1990 Beijing Asian Games. But thus resulted in a slide, in spite of crores being spent on foreign coaches. Cuban coach B.I. Fernandes has been at the helm for the past few years, but Indian boxers have done nothing of note to justify his presence. The last big win was in the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games when Dingko Singh won a gold. Heavyweight boxer Gurcharan Singh entered the quarterfinal of the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, but bowed out in controversial circumstances. The graph has been going down steadily so much so that India failed to qualify for the World Cup Boxing Championship held in Moscow recently. Only three countries qualified for the big prize money event from Asia — Kazhakstan, Thailand and South Korea. The International Boxing Federation rejected India’s request for entry with the observation that no Indian boxer met the qualifying standard. India was once ranked second in boxing behind South Korea in the region. But now, the country is fighting to keep its head above water. But the IABF is keen to revive the fortunes of Indian boxing . IABF President Abhay Singh Chautala has instructed its secretary Muralidharan Raja to ensure that the boxers bring home medals, instead of the coaches making hollow promises. The federation is also planning to seek the help and support of those who had played a vital role in making boxing a sport to reckon with in the past. Though the foreign coach takes home a hefty pay packet of over Rs 1.5 lakh per month, the standard of foreign has not really gone up, though there is no dearth of talent. “We have plenty of talent, but it’s a question of harnessing them through the correct methods”, observed former national coach and Dronacharya Award winner Om Prakash Bhardwaj. Bhardwaj, saddened by the plight of the Indian boxers, has been voicing his thoughts about the changes readed to be brought about to raise the standard of Indian boxing. The IABF is now keen to lend a hear to his views, and even wants to associate people like him for the rejuvenation of the sport. Bhardwaj had quit as the national coach when the government decided to bring in a foreign coach prior to the Beijing Asian Games. He protested to the then Union Sports Minister Margaret Alva in 1989 before quitting. He received the Dronacharya Award for training the pugilists to one of their best-ever performances in the 1986 Asian Games. Bhardwaj has been pained by the decline of Indian boxing, and the recent request by the national federations to the government to engage foreign coaches for the teams’ preparations for the 2006 Commonwealth Games at Melbourne and the Asian Games in Qatar, has dismayed him. “We will be doing a disservice to Indian sports if foreign coaches are brought in recklessly at an enormous cost to the government, without getting anything in return”, he said. He said the federations were eager to bring in coaches to absolve themselves of any responsibility. “If the sportspersons fail, the blame can be pinned on the foreign coaches, as it’s the taxpayers’ money which is wasted in engaging foreign coaches”, Bhardwaj said. Bhardwaj said two Cuban coaches had been associated with the Army Sports College at Pune for the past few years, yet only one Services boxer figured in the team for the Commonwealth Youth Championship. And Services had finished second behind Railways in the overall team standing at the last National Boxing Championship held at Hisar. “Why engage a foreign coach if the results are not encouraging”, he wondered. |
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Selection of basketball team fair: Dhaliwal
Jalandhar, August 9 Addressing a press conference here, Mr Dhaliwal said there was no interference of senior PBA officials in the selection of players for different championships. “Some of the office-bearers are trying to tarnish the image of the association by instigating the players against the association, which is highly deplorable. I have already apprised the PBA President Mr R.S. Gill of the recent developments and urged him to take disciplinary action against the office-bearers responsible for creating unnecessary controversies,” he said, adding he was ready to face any action if allegations of nepotism were proved against him. He appealed to the players and their parents not to fell prey to ulterior motives of such office-bearers and contact directly the PBA President for redressal of their grievances. “We will raise the selection issue in the next meeting of the association and action will be demanded against erring office-bearers,” he said, adding that the PBA was the most democratic and transparent sports body in the country. Accusing Parjinder Singh Noorpuri, an office-bearer of the association, of not discharging his duties in a proper manner during the selection of the team, he maintained that Noorpuri failed to visit the state championship at Hoshiarpur, forcing the association to appoint Mr Balkar Singh Brar as convenor of the selection panel by replacing Noorpuri. Meanwhile, Sajjan Singh Cheema, a renowned basketball player and Arjuna Awardee, urged the PBA President to personally intervene in the matter and ensure that complete justice was done to the deserving players. “There was nothing like nepotism in the selection process. Some persons are raising hue and cry just to suit their own interests. I had already met Mr Gill to seek action against such persons,” he added. |
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Haryana sports calendar released
Chandigarh, August 9 The Major Dhyan Chand Sports Day would be observed on August 29 and functions would be organised at all district headquarters on this day and a state-level function would be held at Shahbad. He said the state-level women’s sports festival would be organised at Yamunanagar from September 7 to 9, while inter-centre gymnastics competition would be organised at Bhiwani from September 19 to 21. State rural sports meet for boys (under-16) would be held at Rohtak from October 3 to 5 and district school tournament (boys and girls) would be held at all district headquarters from October 10 to 11, he added. He said state rural sports meet for girls (under-16) would be held at Narwana from October 27 to 29. Inter-centre yoga competition would be held at Kurukshetra from November 7 to 9 and state school tournament for girls will be held at Hisar from November 16 to 18. Similarly, zila akhara, kumar and kesri competitions would be held at all district headquarters from November 29 to 30, state school tournament for boys at Sonepat from December 6 to 8 and state level akhara, Haryana kesri and kumar competitions at Charkhi Dadri, Bhiwani from December 20 to 22. The spokesman said all-India women’s sports festival, group-III for volleyball, kabaddi and kho-kho events would be held at Kurukshetra from December 1 to 4 and all-India rural sports tournament, group-I for the events of archery, kabaddi and kho-kho for boys and girls at Rohtak from December 10 to 13. The all-India rural sports tournament, group-III for athletics, hockey for boys and girls and wrestling for boys only would be held at Bhiwani from January 5 to 8, 2006, and all-India Civil Services tournament for cricket and volleyball would be held at Faridabad, he added. |
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HC tells AICF to hold elections
Chennai, August 9 Appointing Justice A.K. Rajan to supervise the elections, Mr Justice D. Murugesan also directed that he be paid Rs 50,000 for his services. As per the AICF’s constitution, the federation’s AGM had to be conducted before September, 2005. Giving the direction on petitions filed by Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Delhi chess associations, the Judge said Srinivasan could avail of the services of AICF Secretary D.V. Sundar and Treasurer N.K. Misra, both nominated by him, for holding the elections. Charging Koya with “misfeasance and malfeasance”, the three associations alleged that from 1993 onwards, during his second term as AICF Secretary, Koya had started drawing honorarium. — PTI |
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Ramesh leads in chess tourney
New Delhi, August 9 Ramesh led the field with 7 points, ahead of eight others. In the second place with 6.5 points each were Valay
Parikh, IM Sriram Jha, Vikramaditya Kamble, Himanshu Sharma, Rishi Pal Singh,
M.R. Lalith Babu, B.T. Muralikrishna and Diwakar Prasad Singh. In other upset results, Dronavalli Harika suffered her first defeat against Rishi Pal Singh while Parimarjan Negi lost twice to be on five points. Third seed B.S. Sivanandan drew with
P.D.S. Girinath while N. Sanjay held C.S. Gokhle to a draw. Jha settled for his first draw in the tournament against Parikh in 47 moves. World under-12 champion N. Srinath defeated IM Verghese Koshy in 29 moves. |
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Badminton squad
Indore, August 9 Team: Men: Arvind Bhatt, Abhinn Shyam Gupta, P. Kashyap, Anand Pawar, Sagar Chopra and Chetan Anand. Women:
Aparna Popat, Saina Nehwal, Trupti Murugunde, B.R. Meenakshi, Aditi Mutatkar and Krishna Deka Raja. Men’s Doubles: Rupesh Kumar-Sanave Thomas and J. Ismail-V. Diju. Women’s doubles: Jwala Gutta-Shruti Kurien, Saina Nehwal-Aparna Balan and Oly Deka-Krishna
Deka Raja. Mixed Doubles: Jwala Gutta-V. Diju and Aparna Balan-Rupesh Kumar. Another pair for the men’s doubles will be announced later.
— PTI |
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Football
players take to streets New Delhi, August 9 The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), controlling the stadium, allowed the Delhi police to turn it into a ‘jail’, forcing the players and officials to play football on the busy road on Delhi Gate, holding up traffic for a while. The players and officials vacated the road only after MCD and Delhi Government officials assured them that first preference would be given for soccer activity at the stadium.
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Hyderabad, August 9 |
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London, August 9 |
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