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John Wright to coach World XI
Six more countries may get ODI status
HC notice to Centre, BCCI on telecast rights
Mongia stars in Leicestershire win |
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Shikha Tandon wins two
Junior taekwondo team bags four bronze medals
Atwal’s fine finish goes in vain
Aditya Mehta enters
Gupta forces a draw
JCT Football Academy go down fighting to PSEB
Indonesia's Taufik Hidayat shows his gold medal after defeating China's Lin Dan to win the men's singles
title at the World Badminton Championships in Anaheim, California, on Sunday. Hidayat won 15-3, 15-7. MES drub
Civil Lines by 144 runs
Badminton championship
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John Wright to coach World XI
New Delhi, August 22 ICC Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed said here today that John Wright was picked after taking into account his fine track record as a successful coach. “His credentials for the position are endorsed by his record as the most successful international coach against Australia in recent years. Under his guidance, India beat Steve Waugh’s team 2-1 in the famous 2000-01 series in India, followed by holding them to a 1-1 draw in Australia in 2003-04. His overall Test record as India coach against Australia includes four wins, four losses and three drawn matches”, Speed elaborated at a media briefing. Wright, looking forward to the challenging competitions in Australia, said in a recorded statement, “I have enjoyed some tremendous battles with Australia over the years as both player and coach, so this is another outstanding opportunity to pit my wits and skills against them. It will be a real privilege and a great thrill to work with so many
outstanding players during the series”. Wright played Test cricket for New Zealand for 23 years as a left-handed opening batsman. In 82 Tests, he scored more than 5,300 runs with 12 centuries, along with 3,891 runs in 149 ODIs. In addition, he coached the Indian team in 42 Tests and 130 ODIs. Wright’s appointment was recommended by former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar and endorsed by Speed. In a written statement released here today, Gavaskar said Wright’s appointment was a significant move in the build-up to October’s showdown with the world’s best team. “It will be a tough assignment to bring together players from around the world and mould them into a unit in a short space of time, but John’s experience and working relationship with many of the players likely to be involved make him the man best suited to succeed in our opinion”. Speed said the teams for the six-day Super Test and the ODI series would be announced by former New Zealand skipper Richard Hadlee tomorrow. He said a six-member panel, headed by Sunil Gavaskar and including Clive Lloyd and Richard Hadlee, had been working for the past three months to pick the best teams for the six-day Test and the ODIs. The selectors picked an initial squad of 30 for the Test in May. The number was reduced to 20 in July before a final squad of 13 would be announced tomorrow. For the ODI, there would be a 14-member team. But Wright was not part of the team selection. The combined prize money and match payments for the Super Test would be $ 1.390 million. The prize money and match payments for the ODI series would be $ 1.254 million. The Test would be played at Sydney from October 14 to 19. The three ODI matches would be played at Telstra Dome in Melbourne, the only ICC-approved indoor venue, on October 5,7 and 9. The profits from the event would be distributed to the ICC member countries to assist them in running the game. Speed said the Super Series was one of the three cricketing majors after the World Cup and the ICC Champions
Trophy, and would be accorded official status. He said the reason for making the Test a six-day affair was to enable “the best batsmen get the opportunity to make big scores”. Speed hoped that the Super Series might be a regular event, every two years or every four years. “I am very hopeful that it will be played on a regular basis”. He said after the inaugural edition, the ICC board would review whether the matches should have official status. |
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Six more countries may get ODI status
New Delhi, August 22 The six countries will be culled from the Netherlands, Bermuda, Canada, Ireland, Scotland, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Uganda, Namibia, Papua New Guinea, Denmark and the USA. The top six second-string, or associate, countries may soon play ODIs against the Test nations to give them more exposure at the highest level before the International Cricket Council (ICC) formally gives them the ODI and then Test status. “We are now able to rank the top six associates. So these are the teams that are in consideration for games against full members,” a source close to ICC said. “Matches against the associates will be ODIs only, if they take place,” the source said, when asked if the matches could be of longer duration. This issue of giving more experience to the associate members would top the agenda as the ICC tried to restructure the global Test schedule at the Scheduling Summit in Dubai on Thursday and Friday. The ICC move to extend the Test nations’ five-year Future Test Programme (FTP) to six years was in its last stages of discussion, and the plan to include the six associate members into the fold was part of the new FTP, that would come into play soon, said the source. The ICC had perhaps already ranked the six top associate members according to their performances, particularly after the recent ICC Trophy, a 2007 World Cup qualifying tournament for these countries. Five countries — the Netherlands, Bermuda, Canada, Ireland and Scotland — had progressed to the World Cup from the ICC Trophy. It is possible that the top six countries may include all of the above-named nations and some from amongst the UAE, Uganda, Namibia, Papua New Guinea, Denmark and the USA, all of which failed to qualify from the ICC Trophy held in Ireland last month. Representatives from all 10 Test nations and one representative each from the associate member countries, the players and the Asian Cricket Council would meet at the ICC’s new headquarters in Dubai Media City for the Scheduling Summit. A final decision on the six-year cycle, however, might not be taken this week. It would eventually be taken at the ICC board meeting in October but the discussions are in the final stages.
— IANS |
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Sourav Ganguly’s last chance
Chandigarh, August 22 More than the Test series, where the Indians are scheduled to take on a club-level Zimbabwe team, all eyes will be on the one-day tournament. If India are able to come good in the tri-series, only then can the Indian skipper hope to retain his crown and carry on, hopefully, till the 2007 World Cup. Otherwise, not only will the issue of captaincy be thrown wide open but Sourav’s own continuation in the Indian team might well come under a cloud. The way Rahul Dravid was deprived of his captaincy after the recent tri-series in Sri Lanka has not gone down well with many, even among the national selectors who debated for more than two hours before giving the job back to Ganguly. Therefore, Sourav’s performance, both as captain and more importantly as batsman, will be under the scanner right through the tour. One false step by Ganguly could see the mantle of captaincy being handed back to Dravid, whose cricketing credentials have never been questioned, not even after India were beaten all ends up in the final of the three-nation tournament in Colombo earlier this month. The three-nation tournament in Zimbabwe, like the one in Sri Lanka, has been reduced to a two-horse race given the state of cricket in Zimbabwe. The recent developments in Zimbabwe, where many senior players have quit the game, have seen the country field a below-scratch combination. It was this team which lost all 20 wickets against New Zealand in a day at Harare. Therefore, India should not have any difficulty putting is across the hosts, but New Zealand could be an altogether different cup of tea. India have always been slow starters in any tournament and their first match, against New Zealand in Bulawayo on August 26, could see the team stretched to the extreme, specially since they will be coming on to the field with no match practice behind them, having last played in the final at Colombo on August 9 where they lost by 18 runs to Sri Lanka. In any case, India should not find it difficult to make it to the September 6 final at Harare, but what is more important is whether they can overcome New Zealand as also whether Ganguly comes up to the mark. Both questions are difficult to answer at the moment. |
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HC notice to Centre, BCCI on telecast rights
New Delhi, August 22 A division Bench of acting Chief Justice B.A. Khan and
Mr Justice Madan B. Lokur asked the Centre and the BCCI to respond to
the petition by August 24, the next date of hearing. The last date for
submission of the ITT was August 26. In its petition, filed through
Pratibha M. Singh, Zee Telefilms said the present set of eligibility
conditions for the ITT was framed by the BCCI in such a manner so as to
try to “exclude” the petitioner and/or other Indian television
channels and favour ESPN-Star Sports. — PTI |
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Mongia stars in Leicestershire win
London, August 22 Chasing 187 for victory against the league leaders at Grace Road yesterday, Leicestershire lost the wickets of Darren Robinson, Darren Maddy and Hylton Ackerman early on but the Indian batsman steered his side to the target with seven balls to spare. Mongia had his share of luck when he was dropped by Murray Goodwin at point off Robin Martin-Jenkins when he was on 42. Leicestershire were floundering on 111 for five at that time. — PTI |
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Shikha Tandon wins two silver medals
Chennai, August 22 Bangalore’s Rehan Poncha came up with a superb show to set a new Indian national mark in the 400m individual medley but it was not enough for him to come in the medal bracket. Poncha finished fourth, surpassing the earlier Asian Age group best timing of 4 min 39.70 sec, according to information received from Virendra Nanavati, Secretary, Swimming Federation of India. Poncha’s effort of 4 min 39.40 secs eclipsed the previous national mark of 4min 42.57 set by J Abhijit (Karnataka) in 1995. Among the medal winners, apart from Tandon, on the third day today were Bengal’s Mamoni Mondal, who claimed a silver medal (3 metre spring board — 326.40 points), while the bronze were won by Nisha Millet (100m freestyle — 1:00.45 secs), Viraj Patil (high board — 484.50pts), Taniya Ganguli (3m spring board — 324.30 pts), Puneet Rana (200 metre breast stroke — 2:24.18secs), Aaroon D’Souza (400m freestyle — 4:18.66secs) and Rohit Hawaldar (1500m freestyle — 16:34.63 secs). The Indian boys’ quartet (Sagar Patil, Saroop, Arun D’Souza and Veerdhawal Khade) won the bronze medal in the 4x100 m freestyle relay. In water polo, the Indian boys team failed to qualify for the semifinals by a slender margin, losing 7-8 to Korea. The women’s team, tipped to be favourites for the gold, started their campaign with a confident 8-5 win against
Macao. India have so far collected two gold, seven silver and 13 bronze medals during the past
three days. — PTI |
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Junior taekwondo team bags four bronze medals
New Delhi, August 22 In the boys section, S. Johny Singh and M Oken Meitei from Manipur won bronze in bantamweight category and lightweight category, respectively. Lal Remkimi of Mizoram and Jayati Pathak of Haryana finished third in the girls section in the bantamweight category and featherweight category, respectively, a Taekwondo Federation of India press note said today.
— PTI |
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Atwal’s fine finish goes in vain
Reno (Nevada), August 22 Atwal’s final-day effort took his total to one-under 287, that gave him only the 59th place and $ 6,510 at the $ 3 million event at the Montreux Golf and Country Club. Vaughn Taylor, meanwhile, retained the title with a scoring record yesterday en route to his three-stroke victory over Jonathan Kaye. Taylor had an even-par 72 to join Vijay Singh as the only other repeat champion this year and also became the fifth wire-to-wire winner of the season. Kaye shot a 67 — his fourth round in the 60s — but missed three birdie putts from within 15 feet on the last three holes to finish at 18-under and second on the 7,472-yard course. Randhawa 70th
Akron (Ohio): Jyoti Randhawa fired his best round of the week, but it was still three-over as he ended the $ 7.5 million WGC-NEC Invitational golf tournament in the 70th place, the last among all finishers. The Indian, coming back to tournament play after a long injury lay-off, struggled through the week with rounds of 79, 77, 75 and 73 on the par-70 Firestone Country Club at Akron, Ohio. Tiger Woods won his fourth title when he birdied the 16th hole from 17 feet and earned a one-shot lead that he kept till the end over Chris
DiMarco, who finished before him. — PTI |
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Aditya Mehta enters knockout stage
New Delhi, August 22 Mehta was stretched by Chris Martin of Scotland to six frames during his 73-16 51-29, 36-60, 12-52, 64-32, 62-32 victory in Group A, according to information received here today. His defeat against David Morris of Ireland in the previous round had affected the standings of the 19-year-old Indian, who was seeded second in his group. But Mehta did not allow it to have a bearing on his performance as he got off to a good start against Martin, taking the first two frames with quite ease. Martin, however, surprised the Indian by taking the next two frames to level the score 2-2. The need to win the match to be better placed in the last 32 stage spurred Mehta to take the last two frames and seal the matter in his favour at the Juffair Dome. Mehta’s compatriot Pankaj Advani, who has already moved to the next level, kept his juggernaut rolling with a 4-0 win over Lim Jiasheng of Singapore in his last league match in Group D. The former world champion completed his league formalities in style with 63-2, 80-0, 67-24, 61-30 victory, laced with a break of 79. In the seniors category, Geet Sethi defeated Frank Schroder of Germany 3-1 in his penultimate league encounter. Sethi, a former world billiards champion, won 75-44, 63-51, 21-56, 64-31. He registered a break of 44 en route his victory. Sethi will play his last league encounter against Mohammed Yousuf of Pakistan, with whom he is tied in Group B. Top two players from each group will reach the next level.
— PTI |
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Gupta forces a draw
Abu Dhabi, August 22 The 15-year-old is now the best performing Indian in the event with 4.5 points along with double GM norm holder D.V. Prasad. After two straight defeats, Grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguly finally came good against Candidate International Master Parimarjan Negi and took his tally to a respectable four points out of a possible seven. Meanwhile, at the top of the table, the two overnight leaders Alexander Goloshchapov of Ukraine and Ashot Anastasian of Armenia played a draw to remain in joint lead along with Aleksej Aleksandrov of Belarus, all on 5.5 points. Five players, including top seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, share the second place half a point behind the leading trio as just two more rounds remain in the tournament with a total prize pool of $ 16,400. While much was expected from IM-in-waiting Abhijeet against
Maghami, the Iranian emerged as a much superior player. Playing the white side of a King’s Indian, Abhijeet got just a miniscule advantage in the opening that evaporated in no time once the middle game surfaced. Backing on counter play in the centre, Maghami was in his elements. Even the trading of pieces at regular intervals did not stop Maghami from gaining a decisive advantage in the endgame.
— PTI |
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JCT Football Academy go down fighting to PSEB
Chandigarh, August 22 JCT Football Academy retaliated with a fine move through Bawa Singh, but his powerful volley was saved by the agile PSEB custodian. Dilbagh of PSEB again looked dangerous on the right flank soon after when he centred for Dalip Kumar but the latter’s header again missed the target. A flurry of attacks by JCT Football Academy put PSEB under pressure midway into the second session. In the 50th minute, medio Gurinder Pal Singh’s powerful shot was saved by the PSEB goalie in the nick of time. Ten minutes later, another powerful kick by the JCT Football Academy medio struck the horizontal bar, leaving the young outfit frustrated. The match winner for PSEB came in the 65th minute, when the hard-working Dilbagh Singh sent a measured pass to Tajinder who found the target without much difficulty (1-0). |
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Hidayat routs Lin for world title
Anaheim, August 22 Full of confidence against a surprisingly subdued opponent, Hidayat raced to a 13-0 lead in the first game and was never really threatened as he became yesterday the first man to simultaneously hold the Olympic and world crowns. His performance capped a great week for Indonesia, who also struck gold in the mixed doubles and silver in the men’s doubles. Hidayat said he was surprised at the number of mistakes his opponent made in the first game, while the Chinese player blamed his performance on the gusty conditions in the air conditioned Arrowhead Pond stadium — home to the NHL’s Mighty Ducks. ‘’I did not expect to play so badly,’’ Lin said. The world number one’s defeat capped a disappointing week for a Chinese team that was expected to dominate the championships. There was some consolation for Lin, however, when his girlfriend Xie Xingfang won the women’s singles title with a 11-8, 9-11, 11-3 victory over Olympic champion and top seed Zhang Ning in an all-Chinese final. After her victory, the number two seed said her failure to make China’s Olympic team last year had helped motivate her. “Well, since I didn’t qualify for the Olympics I was really disappointed but after that I pushed myself really hard,’’ said Xie, who won six tournaments in the wake of her failure to earn selection for the Athens Games. Indonesia’s Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir added to the Southeast Asian nation’s joy with a 13-15, 15-8, 15-2 victory over Xie Zhongbo and Zhang Yawen of China in the mixed doubles final. In the men’s doubles final, Tony Gunawan and Howard Bach of the USA caused the biggest upset of the tournament with am stirring 15-11, 10-15, 15-11 victory over Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto of Indonesia. Spurred on by a raucous home crowd, the 13th seeded duo maintained the form that had led to victories over the top two seeded pairs on their way to the final, handing the host nation the first world championships gold. In the women’s doubles final on Saturday, top seeds Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen of China defeated compatriots Gao Ling and Huang Sui 17-16, 15-7.
— Reuters |
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MES drub
Civil Lines by 144 runs
Patiala, August 22 Brief
scores: MES cc: 181 for 5
(Simant Singh 27, Shivin Goyal 9, Ujwal Sharma 32, Kanwarpal Singh 34, Bharat Sodhi 15 n.o, Karan Kalia 12 n.o,
S. Dikshant 2 for 20, Narinder Singh 1 for 36, Karanpal Singh 1 for 46) Civil Lines School: 37 all out
(Kanwarpal Singh 3 for 16, Sukhwinder Singh 2 for 6, Ujwal Sharma 2 for 4, Bharat Sodhi 1 for 8) In another league match, a fine unbeaten knock of 60 by Abhi Goyal enabled NICS Cricket Academy to down Yadvindera Public School by 7 wickets. Brief scores: YPS: 107 all out (Aditya Bakshi 30, Gaurav 26, Sikandar 15, Abhi Goyal 4 for 13, Nitin 2 for 11, Prince 2 for
16) NICS Cricket Academy: 108 for 3 (Abhi Goyal 60 no, Nikhil 14, Ranjeet Singh 12, Rajeshwar 1 for 23, Aditya Bakshi 1 for 20, Manpreet Singh 1 for 5).
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Badminton championship
Patiala, August 22 According to Mr Baljinder Singh, joint secretary for the PDBA, the three-day meet will also act as trials to select the Patiala team which will take part in the Punjab State Badminton Championship slated to be held in Ludhiana in the first week of September. Players desirous of taking part in the meet should send their entries to Mr Vinod Vatrana, secretary, PDBA, by August 25.
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New Delhi, August 22
