New Delhi, October 1
India made heavy weather of their 2-1 victory against lowly Malaysia in the opening match of the seventh Indira Gandhi International Gold Cup Women’s Hockey Tournament at the Shivaji Stadium here today.

There were chances galore for the hosts, who muffed seven penalty corners and one penalty stroke to just scrape through. All goals came in the first half.

India began well when forward Saba Anjum worked her way up from the right to create a melee inside the box, before flicking into the goal.

The free-flowing Malaysians, who thwarted the Indians’ bid to break into their citadel time and again, levelled the score when captain Norfaraha Hashim hit the mark with a sharp shot off their first penalty corner in the 21st minute.

India regained the lead two minutes later when Adline Kerketta’s hit off the fourth penalty corner rebounded after striking Malaysian custodian Enrnawati Mahmud. Saba Anjum made no mistake in connecting the ball this time.

Anjum was the livewire of the Indian attack as she weaved her way through to unsettle the Malaysian defence. But she did not get proper back-up from the other players, with the result that some threatening moves petered out near the goalmouth or fine sallies went unconnected.

The prodigality of the Indian team hit the lowest point when Jaspreet Kaur blazed over a penalty stroke. The stroke was awarded to India when Anjum was stick-checked.

Though India managed a face-saving victory, it was a very poor announcement of their depth and preparation. They rarely functioned as a cohesive unit as individualism broke the tempo of the clash.

The nippy Malaysian girls, on the other hand, played fast and attacking hockey and, but for the stone-walling tactics by the Indian defence, could have snatched an upset win.

India showed neither imagination nor variation while taking penalty corners. Predictable hits by Subhadra Pradhan, Kanti Ba and Jasjeet Kaur were easily baulked by Malaysian defenders. Misspasses and overdribbles by the Indians prevented them from cashing in on their moves.

The non-utilisation of the flanks for attacks robbed the Indian team of that surprise element as the Malaysian girls could easily plan their counter-moves to stop the hosts before they got into their menacing strides.

New Delhi, October 1
Harvinder Singh proved to be the talisman for Railways as he picked three crucial wickets to break the back of Rest of India on the opening day of the Irani Cup tie here today.

Right-arm pacer Harvinder first dismissed opening batsman Dheeraj Jadhav to cut short a fine innings before striking two vital blows in the afternoon session to drive a wedge through the Rest innings.The young Rest side, having elected to bat on a placid track, were all out for 223 half an hour from close. In reply, the Ranji Trophy champions were three for no loss, with Amit Pagnis on two and captain Sanjay Bangar on one at the crease.

The hosts owed their happy day at office also to left-arm spinner Murali Kartik, whose two key strikes opened the floodgates after a solid first-wicket stand between Jadhav and skipper Gautam Gambhir.

Also coming good was off-spinner Kulamani Parida who, after a dismal season last year, proved his good form by wrapping up the tail to finish with four for 61.

Things looked normal when Gambhir and Jadhav opened the innings. The two left-handers had little difficulty in negotiating Harvinder and J.P. Yadav as they put on 82 runs for the opening stand. But Gambhir fell to a rash stroke after setting himself for a big knock when he swiped at Parida, only to top-edge the sharp turner for a simple catch to Kartik.

Gambhir’s 47 came from 85 balls with five fours during a 115-minute stay at the crease.

Kartik then had Suresh Raina (17) caught behind as the left-hander played around his hips.

The first hint of Harvinder’s capabilities with the old ball came after lunch when he trapped Jadhav leg before in the fourth over on resumption.

The Maharashtra batsman faced 140 balls and hit four fours for his 53. Kartik picked up his second wicket when he had Y. Venugopala Rao caught by Vineet Saxena for six. Harvinder then dismissed Niraj Patel and Parthiv Patel, both left-handers, in identical fashion to trigger the collapse.

Scoreboard: Rest of India (1st innings): Jadhav lbw b Harvinder 53, Gambhir c Kartik b Parida 47, Raina c Wankhede b Kartik 17, Rao c Saxena b Kartik 6, Patel c Wankhede b Harvinder 28, Patel c Wankhede b Harvinder 17, Powar c Parida b Yadav 6, Ramkumar c Kartik b Parida 7, Sreesanth not out 19, R.P. Singh b Parida 16, Bose c and b Parida 0, Extras (b-1, nb-6) 7, Total (all out, 81.6 overs): 223, Fall of wickets: 1-82, 2-117, 3-119, 4-143, 5-168, 7-179, 8-188, 9-223, Bowling: Harvinder 18-2-57-3, Yadav 19-6-36-1, Bangar 13-4-34-0, Parida 20-1-61-4, Kartik 12-1-34-2; Railways (1st innings): Pagnis batting 2, Bangar batting 1, Total (no loss, 6 overs): 3, Bowling: R.P. Singh 3-1-3-0, Bose 2-2-0-0, Powar 1-1-0-0. — PTI

San Luis (Argentina), October 1
Viswanathan Anand scored a thumping victory over Grandmaster Michael Adams of England by unleashing a brilliant novelty in the third round of the World Chess Championship here.

With his third victory in two days, Anand remained in joint lead on 2.5 points along with Bulgarian Grandmaster Veselin Topalov, who grinded Russian Grandmaster Alexander Morozevich, in the round in which all four games were decisive.

It was a big contrast to the second round, when all games had ended in draws.

Also ending on the winning side was world’s strongest-ever woman player Judit Polgar of Hungary, who put it across defending champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan, while Peter Svidler added to the woes of Hungarian Peter Leko with a finely crafted victory.

As things stood, joint leaders Anand and Topalov were followed by nearest rival Svidler, who was on two points.

Another half point adrift was Polgar on 1.5 while Morozevich, Adams and Kasimdzhanov were next in line with one point each in their kitty.

One of the pre-event favourites Leko was on last spot with just a half point from three games.

Anand was in his element in the first game to finish in the day. The Indian ace uncorked a brilliant opening novelty and clearly enjoyed the fruit of hard work at home. Adams simply had no clue what hit him soon after the opening and by the time he understood, it was all over.

The Ziatsev system in the Ruy Lopez enjoyed the reputation of a dangerous opening and though Adams thought he was coming out with an opening surprise with black pieces, Anand was only too pleased to put on display a brilliant new idea, leading to a devastating attack.

For the first 22 moves, the players followed a earlier game played between two Indian International Masters, P. Konguvel and N.S. Babu, way back in 1999 and there too, the former had come out triumphant with his white pieces.

After Anand’s novelty on the 23rd move, there was little left for Adams, though he did his best to calculate a long tactical variation, apparently leading to wild complexities.

However, when the dust subsided, the Englishman not only lost his queen, but his kingside was completely shattered. With no hope left for salvation, Adams resigned on the 32nd move.

After the game, Anand confided that he had prepared his 23rd move seven years back. — PTI

New Delhi, October 1
Leg-spinner Anil Kumble and paceman Ashish Nehra have been rested while Sachin Tendulkar, who will make a comeback after a long injury layoff, has been named in the India Senior team announced here today for the N.K.P. Challenger series. The national selection committee also announced the India A team, to be led by V.V.S. Laxman, and the India B squad, to play under Dinesh Mongia, for the series, scheduled to be played fromOctober 10 to 13.

Teams: India Senior: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Y. Venugopal Rao, M.S. Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, J.P. Yadav and Vidyut Shivaramkrishnan; India A: V.V.S. Laxman (captain), Gautam Ganbhir, Suresh Raina, Hemang Badani, Neeraj Patel, Dheeraj Jadhav, Dinesh Kaarthick, Ramesh Powar, R.P. Singh, Laxmipathy Balaji, V.R.V. Singh, M. Nadeem and Manoj Tiwari; India B: Dinesh Mongia (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Robin Utthappa, S. Sriram, Sunny Singh, Satyajit Parab, Parthiv Patel, S. Sree Santh, Ranadeb Bose, Amit Bhandari, Ravi Kant Shukla, Piyush Chawla and Srikumar Nair. — PTI

Karachi, October 1
Anagha Deshpande and Kauna Jain struck sparkling half centuries to steer Indian women to a thumping eight-wicket win over Pakistan to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the four-match series at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore today.

Karuna scored a fine 59, that included eight boundaries, and Anagha hit an unbeaten 57, also with eight boundaries, as the visitors achieved the victory target of 158 with seven overs to spare.

Karuna and Anagha featured in a 122-run second-wicket partnership after Shweta Jadhav departed with the scoreboard reading nine.

Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat, but their decision backfired when the entire team was bundled out for 157 in 38.5 overs.

Shamsa Hashmi spared Pakistan the blushes with an 81-ball 51, that included five fours and a six.

Opener Taskeen Qadeer chipped in with a useful 44 and added 76 runs for the fourth wicket with Shamsa. For India, Rumeli Dhar, Soujanya Nath and Diana David picked up two wickets each. — PTI

Beijing, October 1
Digvijay Singh could not reproduce his feat of the first round, but carded a one-under 71 to stay atop the leaderboard after the penultimate round at the Crowne Plaza Open here today. Lu Wen-teh of Chinese Taipe came up with a a dazzling six-under 66 to join the Indian in the number one spot while Thai rookie sensation Chapchai Nirat, who was joint leader with Digvijay in the second round, had a horrible six-over 78, that pushed him down the leaderboard.

At the par-72 Grand Epoch City Golf Club, Digvijay did not have a good beginning as he bogeyed the first hole, but things brightened up thereafter as he avoided further trouble in the front nine, which was virtually a string of par shots, intercepted by birdies on the third and the sixth. Digvijay’s back nine was quite average and he had two bogeys — 16th and 18th — over the last three holes. But he squeezed in birdies on the 11th and 17th, which meant he completed the back nine without dropping a shot and his aggregate of 211 prolonged his stay at the top. Among others, young Shiv Kapur carded a sparkling four-under 68 and finished joint third, just a stroke behind the leader duo.

Shiv was consistent on either nine and had three birdies and a bogey in both front and back nine.

Shiv started dropping a shot in the first hole and then had bogeys on the 13th as well, but birdies on the second, fourth, fifth, 12th, 14th and 17th saw him back on track as he shot up the leaderboard.

Among other Indians in the fray, Vivek Bhandari carded one-over 73 to total 221, which saw him moving two rungs up to the joint 46th place. Uttam Singh Mundy finally looked at ease and carded a level-par 72, which took his tally to 223 as he finished 53rd. — UNI

Mumbai, October 1
Sachin Tendulkar today said he was still feeling a bit of pain in his elbow, but had been given the green signal by his doctors to play in the N.K.P. Salve Challenger series after being out of action for four months.

“It still pains a little, but my doctors have declared me fit to play. I enjoy playing in the Challenger Trophy. It gives a perfect platform for me to test my match fitness,” he said after a net session at the MIG Club in suburban Bandra, close to his house. Tendulkar had undergone surgery for his tennis elbow problem in London at the end of May and had not played competitive cricket since then, though he had indulged in light practice sessions. Today he batted in the nets too.

The ace batsman was given the go-ahead to play yesterday and was today named in the India Seniors squad, to be led by Sourav Ganguly, by the national selectors in Delhi, who chose the three teams to play in the Challenger series.

Tendulkar missed the first two tours of India in the new season, to Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, and also pulled out of the upcoming ICC’s Super Series in Australia after being named both in the one-day and Test squads.

He hoped to make his international comeback in the home series against Sri Lanka, starting on October 25. — PTI

Indore, October 1
The Indian junior squash championship, one of the biggest tournaments in Asian Squash calendar, will be organised here from October 4-8. The tournament offers nearly Rs 4.60 lakh as prize money to the winners in various categories, tournament coordinator M Rajopadhyaya told reporters here today. Besides India, players from Malaysia and Nigeria will clash under the u-19, u-17, u-15, u-13 and u-11 categories in the tournament, he said.

Twentytwo Malaysian and three Nigerian players have confirmed their participation in the championship, while 150 players from India will be taking part in the event, he said.

He informed that seeded players in the u-19 category, including Sandeep Jhangra and Vikram Malhotra (both Mumbai) and Feteh Singh (Daly College, Indore) will participate in the tournament.National champion in the u-19 girl's category Deepika Palekar of Chennai and Surbhi Mishra of Rajasthan have also confirmed their participation in the event, while Anvesha Reddy also of Chennai will be seen in action in the under-17 category, he said. — PTI