Multan, February 15
Indian captain Rahul Dravid today told his team-mates to concentrate on playing their natural game and not get conscious of the fact that they were just one win away from clinching a one-day series victory against Pakistan.

Dravid said his team was adept in both chasing and setting targets and needed to play just one good game to record a series win for the second consecutive time on Pakistani soil.

“We know we have to play well. We have to play one day of good cricket out of the remaining two to win the series. We are confident of doing it. We have shown in the last two games we can play well in all departments,” Dravid told reporters ahead of the fourth one-day encounter here tomorrow.

But Dravid said if the team played according to a plan without thinking too much about the outcome, a positive result would come automatically.

“We will not be concentrating so much on result as on planning and strategy and if we do it well it’s very good,”said the Bangalore stalwart for whom the one-day triumph would come as some sort of solace after the loss in the preceding Test series.

The Indian skipper said his team was equally comfortable while setting or chasing scores.

“We are playing good cricket and have won 11 games when we have chased. We are confident of doing both. We have specific plans when we bat first or chase. I do not think we prefer doing one over another,” Dravid said.

Dravid said his team was trying to develop the fifth bowler from among Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag (who has gone home to rest his injured shoulder) and Suresh Raina in order to include an extra batsman as the super sub.

Dravid praised wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Irfan Pathan for taking up important roles in the batting order.

Dravid was also effusive in his praise of Tendulkar who he said had never been under any real pressure.

When asked about Pakistan missing the services of the injured Shoaib Akhtar and Shahid Afridi, Dravid commented his team had also been depleted by the injury-forced absence of Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh.

“We are also missing Sehwag and Harbhajan. But injuries are bound to happen in international cricket.”

Dravid maintained that toss was not that important because of the 11 am start.

It’s very difficult to predict what will happen. A lot depends on conditions in the evening. The ball was moving a lot in the evening at Lahore, but if conditions are more or less the same throughout, then the toss won’t matter,” he said. — PTI

Multan, February 15
Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq is banking on his off-colour pacemen to hit form in time and stop India from clinching the one-day series in the fourth tie here tomorrow.

Inzamam said his bowlers had not played to their potential so far in the one-day series but had the ability to bounce back.

“The bowlers have not been performing well. We are also two bowlers short with Shoaib Akhtar and Shahid Afridi ruled out due to injuries,” Inzamam told reporters at a pre-match press conference today.

Inzamam, under pressure to perform both as batsman and captain with his side 1-2 down in the five-match series, was confident one of his key bowlers — Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, would find form in the remaining matches.

“Rana Naved has not been bowling well but we are all confident he will bounce back and be effective in the remaining two matches,” he said.

Inzamam said the conditions here would be helpful to bowlers and a score of 270 would be a challenging one.

“The wicket is good, but I expect a little bit of help for the bowlers. I think 270 would be a fighting total,” the Multan-born said.

He also defended his batting order changes in the face of strong criticism from former cricketers like Imran Khan and added that Afridi was sent to open in Lahore to ease pressure on the middle order.

He also said in Afridi’s absence Kamran Akmal or Imran Farhat would open the innings. “We thought Afridi would give us a good start in the first 5-6 overs. But it did not happen. Tomorrow we will open with Kamran Akmal or Imran Farhat,” the captain said.

He also defended the move to sent vice-captain and crisis man Younis Khan down the order instead of using him at number three as in Tests.

“The top order players have also scored earlier. Salman Butt did not score in the last two games but we have had success earlier (against England) with this batting order and don’t want to change it too much,” he said.

Inzamam said batting first had been a bit of a disadvantage as big scores have been chased successfully so far in the series. — PTI

Wagah, February 15
A 26-member Pakistan hockey team, including six officials, reached here today to participate in the Indo-Pak hockey series beginning from February 17.

The Test series would be played in two parts. The first leg would be played in India which included three matches. The first two matches would be held at Chandigarh on February 17 and 18, while the last match would be played at Jalandhar on February 20.

Mohammad Saqlain, captain of the Pakistan team, was visibly confident and said they were happy to play in India in general and in Punjab in particular.

Saqlain is not alien to the playing condition here. He played for Sher-e-Jalandhar in the recently concluded Premier Hockey League. He said there was no major difference between the playing conditions either at Lahore, Jalandhar or Chandigarh. Owing to common language and culture they felt at home while playing in this part of Punjab, he added.

Delving on the strengths of the Indian team he said they always emphasised on counter-attack and had some good players. He remarked that India had improved its short-corner capability, which had been plaguing it for long.

The remaining three matches of the second leg of the series would be played in Pakistan. The fourth match would be held on February 22 at Rawalpindi, on February 24 at Faislabad and on February 26 at Lahore.

Saqlain, who represents Allied Bank in the domestic circuit, said before arriving here they underwent a 10-day preparatory camp at Islamabad which concluded on February 13. He felt that the strong point of his team was the forward line which included world class players like Rehan Butt, Mudasar Ali Khan, Shakeel Abassi, Shabir, Adnan Zaki and Tariq.

Asif Ali Bajwa, coach of the team, said this was a big series for his team before the big battle in the Commonwealth Games to be held at Melbourne from March 10.

The Amritsar Hockey Association and Maharaja Ranjit Singh Hockey Academy accorded a warm welcome to the visitors.

New Delhi, February 15
Indian hockey captain Dilip Tirkey will miss the initial part of the Indo-Pak six-Test hockey series which will be played on home-and-away basis from February 17.

Tirkey, who got married on February 6, is likely to miss the first two matches at Chandigarh on February 17 and 18 because of “personal” reasons, sources said today.

The ace defender is likely to join the team on February 18 but it is not clear whether he will play the third Test at Jalandhar on February 20.

However, Tirkey, who missed out on India’s last international outing in the Champions Trophy in Chennai because of illness, will lead the side in the three matches to be played in Pakistan from February 22 to 26. — PTI

New Delhi, February 15
Harwant Kaur of Punjab hurled the disc to 51.24 metres to claim the gold in the two-woman discus throw field in the 1st National Circuit Meet, the first athletic meet of the season, at the Nehru Stadium here today.

Harwant Kaur’s victory was noteworthy for the fact that she was supposed to be in “hiding” to escape the sleuths of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). But Athletics Federation India (AFI) secretary-general Lalit Kumar Bhanot clarified that Harwant was not hiding, but was training at her village in Sabhra (Punjab), as after the training stint of the Indian athletes in South Africa, she had informed the International Athletic Federation through the AFI that she would be training in her village due to personal reasons.

But some other athletes who have been issued show cause notices by the AFI for abstaining from the national camps did not compete as they had not replied to the notices.

Today’s meet, along with the second Circuit Meet in Patiala on February 19 and the Federation Cup in Delhi from February 28 to March 3, would be treated as the selection trials for the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in March, though the AFI has already sent a provisional list of athletes to the Indian Olympic Association.

But even with a whittled field, some events witnessed impressive competitions while in some others, it was a totally one-sided contests.

V. S. Sureka of Tamil Nadu livened up the day’s proceedings by posting a national record in women’s pole vault. She scaled over 3.90 metres to overhaul the old record of 3.80 metres set by Chetna Solanki of Delhi last year.

The 800m races in both the women’s and men’s events were hopelessly one-sided as Pinki Pramanik of Railways and Ghamanda Ram of Services won with effortless ease. Both these athletes are in the reckoning for berths in the Commonwealth Games squad, and they expectedly won the titles.

In the women’s 800m, the first four places were taken by Railway athletes, but Pinki Pramanik was about 75 metres clear of the second-placed Sutapa Das as she breasted the tape with a time of 2:03.42 secs. Ghamanda Ram, who clocked 1:47.16 metres, was almost 40 metres ahead of Punjab’s Satnam Singh as he lunged towards the winning post. Daljeet Singh of Haryana took the third place.

With Railway athletes dominating the track, Punjab had their say in the throw events as Kulwinder Singh got their second gold when he cleared a distance of 64.20 metres in hammer throw. Anil Kumar of Railways, eyeing a place in the Commonwealth Games squad, won the javelin throw title with an effort of 72.62 metres, but the distance fell short of the qualification mark, which is the third-place performance of the last Commonwealth Games at Manchester.

Om Prakash of Haryana claimed the men's shot gold with a clearance of 17.22 metres while Hari Shankar Roy, who holds the meet record at 2.25, retained the gold by clearing 2.15 metres. S Srinivas of Railways and H M Jyothi of Tamilnadu claimed the 200m golds in the men's and women’s section, respectively while Santosh Kumar Patel of Railways raced to the 5000m gold.

Jaipur, February 15
India upset Thailand 3-2 in a cliffhanger in the Asian zone Uber Cup qualifier at the Sawai Mansingh Sports Complex here today.

Top shuttlers Aparna Popat, Saina Nehwal and the energetic duo of B.R. Meenakshi and Aparna Balan pulled off sensational victories and gave a thumping start to India’s campaign for entering the finals of the World Team Badminton Championship.

In other matches, Chinese Taipei beat Malaysia 3-2, Singapore trounced Pakistan 5-0 and Indonesia whitewashed Iran 5-0 in the morning session.

The day belonged to the Indians who started as underdogs against Thailand. But the experience of Aparna Popat set the tempo for the hosts as she got the better of world number 22 Ponsana Salakjit 2-1 in a thrilling encounter.

Aparna, who has just recovered from a wrist injury, lost the first game 12-21 but pulled up her socks to win the next two 21-19, 21-18 to give Indians a vital 1-0 lead.

Thailand restored parity when their doubles pair of Saralee Thungkongkum and Sathinee Chankrachangwong outclassed Jwala P. Gutta and Shruti Kurian 21-11, 21-15.

Monthila Meemak, world No 32, then subdued Trupti Murugande 2-0 in another singles winning both games 21-19, 21-15 to hand over a 2-1 lead to the visitors.

But the Indian doubles pair of B.R. Meenakshi and Aprna Balan fought back and pulled off the second doubles to level the scores at 2-2. Playing first time as doubles combination in an international match, Meenakshi and Balan beat Kulchala Worawichitchaikul and Sujitra Ekmongkolpaisarn 13-21, 21-16, and 21- 15 to keep the tie alive.

With the score tied up at 2-2, the Indian hopes were rested on young starlet Saina Nehwal. The upcoming star did not disappoint the fans as she kept her nerves to beat Sarojita Chansrisukot 21-17, 22-10 and present India a memorable win.

India now meet Singapore and then Hong Kong. — PTI

Ludhiana, February 15
In a nail-biting finish, hosts Punjab quelled a strong challenge from last year’s runners up Services 29-26 to win the title in the 34th Senior National Handball Championship for men which concluded at the indoor multipurpose hall of Guru Nanak Sports Complex here today. Punjab won the championship after a gap of one year. Last time, they had emerged champions in the 32nd edition of the meet at Renukoot.

The final witnessed some rough play as players of both the teams were seen over anxious to nip each other which resulted in referee’s showing two yellow cards of either sides and also gave marching orders to one of players from Services for indulging in foul play.

The referees were even forced to show yellow card to the coaches of both the teams.

Punjab men went into the lead immediately. Gaurav Sehgal and Sukhdev Singh impressed with their speed and skill. They were well feeded by Mohinder Singh and Naveen. Services’ men followed their opponents closely, however Punjab were able to establish lead, though slender (15-14), at half time.

For Punjab, the star performers were Gaurav Sehgal and Sukhdev singh who accounted for nine goals each while Naveen Kumar scored five goals. Sachin and Mohinder Singh contributed three goals each.

Thomas EA was the main scorer for Services. INC Singh made five goals while Praseed Kumar and A K Chauhan scored four and two goals, respectively.

Earlier, in the match for hardline cup, Chhattisgarh defeated Gujarat 38-25 after leading 20-14 at the half time.

Bangalore February 15
India’s Sania Mirza crashed out of the singles event of the $ 175,000 Bangalore Open as she lost to Camille Pin of France 6-1, 5-7, 2-6 in the second round here today.

Meanwhile, unseeded players Alona Bondarenko and Vania King booked quarterfinal berths today with crushing upset victories.

Ukranian Bondarenko, world number 126, breezed past Anastassia Rodionova (Russia), who is 10 places above her in rankings, 6-2, 6-1 in the second round of the WTA Tier-III event at the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association courts.

King (US-140) whipped Nicole Pratt of Australia (127) 6-0, 6-1. She will now take on France’s Camille Pin.

Italy’s Maria Elena Camerin shocked second seed Shahar Peer of Israel in the first round. Peer, world no 26 and former world junior number one who last week won the Pattaya City event in Thailand, lost 4-6, 2-6 at the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association courts. Hungary’s Melinda Czink also advanced to the last eight with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Ukraine’s Mariya Koryttseva.

“I am pretty happy with the way I played but it could be better,” said Czink who had beaten India’s Sania Mirza in the Sunfeast Open at Kolkata last year.

In another match, sixth seeded Jelena Kostanic of Croatia beat Daniala Kix (Austria) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to move into the second round.

The 24-year-old Kostanic, who reached the third round of Australian Open and reached her second career tour singles final at Pattaya City event in Thailand last week, will now meet Kala Kanepl of Estonia in the pre-quarterfinals. — PTI 

Patiala, February 15
Armyman Jaswinder Singh showed tremendous control over Diana to win the titles in the tent pegging individual (with sword) and tent pegging lemon and peg (with sword) in the International tent pegging competition being held at the Polo Grounds as part of the ongoing Patiala Heritage Festival here today.

Jaswinder Singh, turning out for India A in the competition which also features riders from Pakistan and Oman, garnered 26 points to triumph in the tent pegging individual (with sword) event. He was followed by Jaswinder Singh who, while turning out for Indian B on Quick Silver, accumulated 24 points to secure a second place finish. Saed Obed from Oman, atop Ravi, collected 23.5 points to be placed third while Pakistani rider Yakub Ali, astride Kiran, bagged the fourth place with 19.5 points.

In the tent pegging lemon and peg (with sword), Jaswinder Singh bagged 30 points to finish first while Sundar Singh, another rider from the disciplined forces, also garnered 30 points but had to rest contend with a second place finish owing to the complex system of separating two riders if they have the same number of points.

Jaswinder Singh, astride Quick Silver, closely followed the winner and the runners up but was placed third owing to a half point difference in his total tally. The fourth place was bagged by Nihal Singh, who lorded over his white horse-Raja to accumulate 28 points in a closely fought event.

Fatehgarh Sahib, February 15
The two-day 13th annual athletic meet of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Engineering College (BBSBEC) was inaugurated by college Principal Dr D.S. Hira at Nawab Sher Mohammad Khan Stadium here today.

Dr Hira appealed to students to participate in sports along with studies to improve their personality and leadership qualities. Students participated in march past and took oath before participating in the meet.

Sports director of the college D.S Seerha also addressed the students on the occasion.

Results: Boys: 1500 m: 1 Jaskamal Singh, 2 Jagbir Singh, 3 Harmandeep Singh; shot put: 1 Rupinder Singh, 2 Ravinder Singh, 3 Amritpal Singh; 5000 m: 1 Gurvinder Singh, 2 Jagbir Singh, 3 Gurpreet Singh; long jump: 1 Sushil Kumar, 2 Gurpreet Singh, 3 Parminder Singh; hammer throw: 1 Rupinder Singh, 2 Japinderpal Singh, 3 Mandeep Kumar; 4x100 relay: 1 Third Year, 2 Final year, 3 First Year.

Girls: 1500 m: 1 Kulbir Kaur, 2 Rajwinder Kaur, 3 Rajdeep Kaur; long jump: 1 Amandeep Kaur, 2 Gagandeep Kaur, 3 Navjeet.