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Australia’s Shane Warne celebrates taking the wicket of AB DeVilliers of South Africa on the second day of the first Test in Perth on Saturday.
Champions Trophy |
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Chennai Diary
FIH, IHF lock horns over
payment of dues to DD
Raina hits ton against Punjab
Korean cyclists reign supreme
Rahul Bakshi wins golf title
Gurbaaz bags maiden title
Big win for Jalandhar boys
Chandigarh Hockey Academy win
Army XI lift Durand Cup
Kurukshetra, Hisar in final
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Warne breaks Lillee’s record
Perth, December 17 Australia were 38 for one in their second innings at the close, exactly level with South Africa. Justin Langer was unbeaten on 15 with nightwatchman Brett Lee yet to score after Matthew Hayden threw his wicket away in the last over of the day. Scoreboard Australia (1st Innings) 258 South Africa (1st Innings) De Villiers b Warne 68 Smith c Ponting b Bracken 34 Gibbs b Lee 21 Rudolph c Langer b Lee 8 Prince lbw Warne 28 Kemp c Hodge b McGrath 7 Boucher c Hayden b Warne 62 Pollock b Lee 34 Nel not out 4 Langeveldt lbw Lee 0 Ntini c Hodge b Lee 12 Extras
(b-4, lb-2, nb-12) 18 Total (all out, 81.2 overs) 296 Fall of wickets:
1-83, 2-127, 3-135, 4-145, 5-167, 6-187, 7-264, 8-282, 9-283. Bowling:
McGrath 18-3-59-1, Lee 22.2-1-93-5, Bracken 12-3-46-1, Warne 29-4-92-3. Australia (2nd innings) Hayden c Boucher
b Langeveldt 20 Langer not out 15 Lee not out 0 Extras (nb-3) 3 Total
(one wkt, 11 overs) 38 Fall of wicket: 1-37. Bowling:
Pollock 5-1-12-0, Ntini 5-2-24-0, Langeveldt 1-0-2-1.
— Reuters |
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Champions Trophy
Chennai, December 17 While the pre-tournament favourites and Olympic champions Australia take on the Netherlands in the gold medal game, defending champions Spain face Germany in the bronze medal match. The hosts will clash with Pakistan for the wooden spoon. In fact, it will be the fourth consecutive classification match India and Pakistan would be playing in the tournament. On all three previous occasions, India lost the match and the bronze medal. But this time the Asians have been relegated further down to fight for fifth and sixth positions. The loser in tomorrow’s game may also lose the berth in the next edition of the tournament. There was some relief in the Indian camp today after Ten Sports, the TV channel telecasting the event, had shown in slow motion that in the second half of India’s match against the Netherlands, Gagan Ajit had touched the ball with his stick resulting in the ball entering the Dutch goal. The goal was disallowed by the Australian umpire on the plea that Gagan had kicked the ball. Though this revelation does not make any difference to the outcome now, but it reflects on the umpiring decisions that went against India in their last game. “Crying over umpiring decisions will not help but improving their game will,” was the cryptic comment made by the International Hockey Federation chief, Mrs Els van Breda Vriesman. She was impressed by India’s good performance yesterday and wanted that India should address its weaknesses and improve if they want to regain the lost glory of the past. Manager Harmik Singh and coach Rajinder Singh were not satisfied with the performance of the team. “A spirited performance without scoring goals means nothing in international hockey. We have many grey areas and until we start scoring from the chances we get, we cannot hope to go further. Time at our disposal is short,” they said, hoping that more focus on physical conditioning and conversion of chances into goals would get their attention when the boys reassemble for training for the World Cup. Both Harmik and Rajinder feel that India needs a couple of good inside forwards and an effective half line. “The entire burden is on the deep defence. How long it can take the load. Half line and forward line has to assert itself and provide some relief to the deep defence. “We will go all out for a win tomorrow so that we stay in the Champions Trophy,” said Rajinder. On the other hand, Pakistan after holding Australia to a 3-3 draw are more confident of giving an improved performance tomorrow. “We will not settle for anything less than a win tomorrow,” said Asif Bajwa, coach of the team. Both Bajwa and Rajinder agreed that both India and Pakistan played their best game yesterday as there was no pressure on the players. “We still had an outside chance of making it to the bronze medal game. It is why we went for a win but the last minute goal ruined it,” rued Rajinder, still blaming different interpretation of same rules in the same match as the reason for his team’s
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Chennai Diary Prabhjot Singh A double-leg four-nation tournament planned by Punjab as a part of the build up for the Indian team for the 2006 hockey World Cup has been sanctioned in principle by the international hockey federation (FIH). “We have given our go ahead provided the proposed tournament fits into the planning of the teams Punjab wants to invite,” said Els Van Breda Vriesman, President, FIH. Talking to The Tribune here this morning, she confirmed that Olympian Pargat Singh, who is now Director of Sports, Punjab, met her yesterday and discussed the holding of this tournament. “I told him to talk to the teams concerned. I introduced him to the President of the Netherlands Hockey Board who in turn wanted Pargat to talk to the coach, Roland Oltmans. If the tournament fits into the planning of the teams, then we will be too happy to allow it,” Mrs Vriesman said. “I wish India plan it well so all the teams they invite would come.” Pargat Singh, who arrived here yesterday, held meetings with senior officials accompanying the teams of the Netherlands, Australia, Spain, Germany and Pakistan. “I am confident we will get the top four teams for our tournament. We want to run this tournament as a build up for the Indian team for the World Cup which the Indian Hockey Confederation wants us to run on the lines of what the Punjab Government did in 1975,” said Pargat Singh. Punjab has proposed that for preparing the Indian team for the 2006 World Cup, it was ready to take up the challenge, provided it is allowed to run the double-leg four-nation tournament in end March or beginning of April. “We propose to give guarantee money to each participating team. In case the teams agree we will have matches in the evenings at the floodlit Sector 42 Hockey Stadium in Chandigarh and Surjit Singh Hockey Stadium in Jalandhar,” added Pargat Singh, who also discussed the proposal with the Honorary Secretary of the IHF, Mr K. Jothikumaran. Meanwhile, the work on the installation of flood lights at the Sector 42 stadium in Chandigarh has started. “We will be ready to test the lights in the last week of December, said Dr J.P.S. Sidhu, Joint Director of Sports, Chandigarh Administration. Dr Sidhu, who is also here, briefed the IHF officials about the progress made in the installation of the lights at the stadium. The IHF has proposed holding of the second Premier Hockey league (PHL) in Chandigarh from January 5 to February 5. “Yes, we have considered the fog factor also. But the general feeling is that matches of the league would not be disturbed by fog as flood lights tend to generate enough heat to improve the visibility in the stadium to near normal,” added Dr Sidhu.
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FIH, IHF lock horns over
payment of dues to DD
Chennai, December 17 “There is no question of the FIH paying to the Doordarshan for generating the signal. As far as terrestrial rights are concerned, they are to be guaranteed by the Indian Hockey Federation. The agreement signed a couple of years ago clearly stipulates that the IHF has to provide us the terrestrial rights and the ground signal. Now it is between the IHF and the Doordarshan. We are not paying,” asserted the President of the International Hockey Federation, Mrs Els Van Breda Vriesman. The IHF sources maintain that it is the FIH which has to pay for the terrestrial rights to Doordarsan for generating the signal for the coverage. “Since the rights for TV coverage of all major tournaments rest with the FIH, how can we pay this huge amount from our pocket,” they said. “Whatever the host nation spends on holding a major FIH tournament, including guarantee money, almost everything is paid back to it from sponsorship money. But in cases where terms of agreement are not respected by the host country, payment of share money is not made. In case the Indian Federation does not honour its commitments, we may not release its share of sponsorship money,” asserts Mrs Vriesman. She maintained that generating the signal for television coverage is the responsibility of the host nation and FIH cannot be blamed or burdened for it. Talking about the guarantee money, she says that if the host of a Champions Trophy pays 77,000 Euros as guarantee money, it gets compensated to almost the full with release of its share of international sponsorship. There is no FIH tournament in which the hosts run into huge deficit because of the guarantee money, she said. |
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Raina hits ton against Punjab
Lucknow, December 17 Raina played brilliantly and completed his second ton of the season off 170 balls with the help of 18 fours. He scored 127 before being stumped by Pankaj Dharmani off Rajesh. Raina was the main contributor in three major partnerships for the hosts as he added 57 runs for the second wicket with skipper Jyoti Yadav (14), 67 runs for the third wicket with Rizwan Shamshad (16) and 72 runs for the fourth wicket with Ravi Kant (35). Off-spinner Rajesh Sharma was the most successful bowler for the visitors claiming two wickets .
— PTI |
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Korean cyclists reign supreme
Ludhiana, December 17 In the 4 km team pursuit for junior men, Korea clocked 4.34.019 sec to finish ahead of Kazakhstan (4.35.627 sec) and Japan (4.38.682 sec). In the 4 km team pursuit for elite men, the South Korean quartet clocked 4.25.462 sec to win the gold medal. Iran (4.28.979 sec) and Japan (4.33.440 sec) finished second and third, place, respectively. Korea's Ha Seon Ha secured 27 points to fetch the gold medal, her second individual gold, in the 15 km point race for junior women. She was followed by Jing Chen of China who collected 26 points for the silver medal, while Chinese Taipei's Yu Chieh Lu finished third with 13 points. South Korea's fourth gold medal came through Choi Seon Jae in the keirin race for junior men. Japan's Kohara Masamichi won the silver while the bronze medal was bagged by China's Wang Quiming. Sun Un Gu of Korea won the gold medal in the 20 km point race for elite women. The silver and bronze medals went to Mayuko Hagiwara of Japan and Nora Zian Alias of Malaysia, respectively. In the last event of the day, Korea's Cho Ho Sung came out triumphant in the keirin race for elite men. Japan's Kita Tsuru Tsubasa had be to content with the silver while China's Zhang won the bronze medal. |
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Rahul Bakshi wins golf title
Chandigarh, December 17 Both players shot a final round of three-over 73 and in the ensuing playoff, Bakshi chipped in a birdie from 40-feet for the title. Amanjyot, who shot one-over 71, finished third with a tally of 11-over 291. Abhijit Chadha and Amit Bakshi clinched the first prize of Nokia Communicator 9500 in the Nokia parent-child putting competition. Scores:
Category A (15-17 yrs): 289 Rahul Bakshi (70,76,70,73), Kunal Balhara (74,71,71, 73); 291 Amanjyot Singh (72,76,72, 71). Category B (13-14 yrs):
306 Abhijit Chadha (80, 74,75, 77); 313 Madhav Soi (79,78,76,80); 315 Rommel Majumdar (79,84, 73,79). Category C (11-12 yrs):
241 Chikka Rangappa (79,81,81); 330 Tarundeep Chadha (85, 87, 80 ,78), Ashbeer Singh Saini (85,84,82,79). Category D (10 and under):
227 Viraat Badhwar (77, 76, 74); 242 Rahul Ravi (83, 83, 76); 258 Abhishek Kuhar (90,83,85). |
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Gurbaaz bags maiden title
Kathmandu, December 17 Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia finished tied second with 2002 winner Uttam Singh Mundy at seven-under 209 at the par-72 course. It was second-time lucky for Mann who narrowly missed the title last year. Starting the day at tied-fourth position, Mann played it safe on the first nine with a lone birdie on the seventh surrounded by a sea of pars. A birdie on the 10th was followed by an eagle on the 11th. The 12th however saw the Chandigarh pro pull his pitching wedge into the bunker and subsequently drop two shots. Thereafter birdies on the 12th, 14th and 17th saved his day.
— UNI |
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Big win for Jalandhar boys
Chandigarh, December 17 Sardar Balwant Singh Kapur Memorial Hockey Tournament for schools at Jalandhar today. In another match, Government Model Senior Secondary School, Jalandhar, defeated Government High School, Kurukshetra, 8-1, with Lakhwinder and Amritpal scoring a brace each. Later, Khalsa School, Kolkata, edged out Raj Government Senior Secondary School, Sangrur, 2-1 with both goals coming in the second half through Amit Sharma and Sukhbir Singh. In the last encounter, Town High School, Sundergarh, held Government High School, Maqsudan, to a 2-2 draw although the latter had taken the lead initially through a penalty stroke converted by Inderpreet Singh in the tenth minute. |
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Chandigarh Hockey Academy win
Chandigarh, December 17 For Ropar Hawks, Kulbir Singh and Manveer Singh scored a field goal in the 11th and 21st minute. For Chandigarh Hockey Academy, Deepak Kumar scored a superb field goal in the 23rd minute. After the lemon break, CHA-42 equalised through Deepak Kumar in the 40th minute followed by a field goal by Harman Preet in the 53rd minute. Two minutes later Kulbir Singh of Ropar Hawks equalised. Ranjosh Singh of CHA-42 scored the match-winner in the 70th minute. In another match played today, Punjabi University, Patiala, beat DAV Hockey Academy, Chandigarh, 3-2. Punjabi University’s Avtar Singh opened the account for his team during the 43rd minute and made no mistake in converting a penalty in the 46th minute. This was followed by a field goal by Sunder Singh during the 60th minute. Prem Singh and Gurtej Singh scored for the losers.
— TNS |
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Army XI lift Durand Cup
New Delhi, December 17 Both the teams failed to score in the regulation time and extra time and the Army side was second time lucky to emerge winners in the tie-breaker after their semifinal win against JCT, Phagwara. Tournament highest scorer Macpherlin Omagbemi Dudu’s left footed penalty kick was saved by Army substitute goalkeeper Abungobi Singh to the wild jubilation of near full capacity crowd dominated by Army supporters, after four Sporting players — Chidi
Edeh, Nicolas Rodrigues, Rajesh Meetei and Hardeep Saini — found the net.
— UNI |
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Kurukshetra, Hisar in final
Hisar, December 17 Eighteen teams from across the state are participating in the tournament, organised by the Haryana State Women’s Hockey Association. Meanwhile, elections for the office-bearers of the association was also held on the sidelines of the event. While Ms Krishna Sampat Singh was re-elected president, Mr Prem Singh Malik was elected general secretary and Mr Azad Singh Malik treasurer of the association. |
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