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Buoyant India raring to devour Pakistan
Rain ends play early on day two
India down Argentina to finish third
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Manavjit clinches gold
Haryana releases sports calendar
Sixth Wushu championship held
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Buoyant India raring to devour Pakistan
Abu Dhabi, April 17 The desert venues have not been particularly lucky for the Indians but Rahul Dravid and his men, riding the crest of a successful run in one-dayers, will be keen to settle old scores with their arch rivals. The two rivals have not played a match in the UAE since March 26, 2000, as the Indian Government had banned the team from playing in off-shore venues like Sharjah during the height of the match-fixing scandal. But the lifting of the ban has allowed the two Cricket Boards to arrange the two-match series to raise funds for the earthquake victims of India and Pakistan. The Indians have hardly had any time to savour their 5-1 triumph over England, flying in here the very morning after the seventh and final match in Indore on Saturday. The victory was still hanging heavy, evident in the confident stride of the players as they geared up for another contest with their traditional foes, albeit at a new venue in the UAE — the Zayed Stadium which would be hosting its first ever ODI. Hopefully, the new ground and new city will help the Indian team bury the ghosts of Sharjah which had been unkind to them — be it Javed Miandad’s six off the last ball or the controversial leg before decisions or the partisan crowds. However, it should not be problem for this young Indian team to look ahead and not back since not many in the present line-up carry the burden of those humiliating defeats handed out to them by Pakistan who enjoy an enviable record of winning 18 of the 24 matches against their arch rivals in the off-shore venue of Sharjah. But a new city and a new ground means India would start on a clean slate and keen to write history afresh. With the kind of form that Rahul Dravid’s men have shown in the shorter version of the game of late, which includes a 4-1 drubbing of Pakistan in Pakistan, it should not be surprise if the Indians run away with the glittering DLF Cup. Although the cause is for charity, the teams are expected to show least of it to one another with Dravid making it clear that the team did not want to break its winning habit and rival skipper Inzamam-ul Haq revealing his desperation to make amends for the disaster at home early this year. The proceeds from the first game would go towards relief of earthquake victims in India and Pakistan while profits from the second match would be shared by the two cricket boards. India, playing their first match in six years in the Emirates which they had shunned after the match fixing scandal rocked the cricketing world in 2000, are however, not without their share of problems which mainly concerns the poor form of Sehwag and Kaif. But with Dravid himself in regal form and the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina in the ranks, batting does not look to be much of a problem for the men in blue. That goes for bowling as well — Irfan Pathan with his knack of getting early wickets has been supported well by Kerala seamer S Sreesanth although R P Singh and Munaf Patel have yet to come to the party. Pakistan also come into this short series, both matches of which would be day/night affairs, riding high on confidence following their clean sweep of Sri Lanka. In fact, the one-day series defeat to India has been the only real blip in what has otherwise been a splendid season for Bob Woolmer’s team. Shoaib Akhtar would be missed but Pakistan’s latest revelation — swing bowler Mohammad Asif has been ruffling quite a few feathers with his lethal bowling. Woolmer admitted India were on a roll at the moment but reposed faith in his side to see off the challenge posed by their arch rivals. “Obviously India are not an easy team to beat. They are playing well at the moment but we have the players to match them in every department of the game,” said the Englishman after his team’s practice yesterday. The track at the swanky Zayed Stadium promises to offer help to both batsmen and bowlers as the curators have worked hard to ensure a sporting track for the matches expected to be watched by a sell-out crowd. Teams: India: Rahul Dravid (captain), Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Venugopal Rao, Munaf Patel, S Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Ramesh Powar, Rudra Pratap Singh and Robin Uthappa. Pakistan: Inzamam-ul Haq (captain), Imran Farhat, Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Kamran Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Danish Kaneria, Abdul Razzaq, Mohammad Asif, Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Rana Naved-ul Hasan, Faisal Iqbal and Abdul Rehman.
— PTI See the action live on DD (National) from 5 pm onwards. |
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Musharraf, Pawar to watch action live
Abu Dhabi, April 17 “President Musharraf arrived here today to watch the first ODI,” President of Abu Dhabi Cricket Council B. R. Shetty told PTI. Shetty said UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan will also watch the match to be played at the Sheikh Zayed stadium here tomorrow. Among other dignitaries, BCCI President Sharad Pawar and Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel will be present during the match being organised to raise funds for the benefit of victims of the October earthquake in India and Pakistan. A host of Indian film personalities will also make their presence felt during the match. Actor Salman Khan has already arrived here to take part in a charity dinner tonight while other stars like Kareena Kapoor, Zayed Khan
and Esha Deol are also expected to be here. During tomorrow’s one-dayer, a spectacular laser and firework show will enthrall the spectators during the break. Around 200 acrobats will add colour to the occasion.
— PTI |
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De Villiers, Kallis lead SA recovery
Centurion, April 17 De Villiers’s scrapping 97 and a timely 62 from Jacques Kallis in his 100th
Test lifted South Africa to the close on 280 for nine, a lead of 229, after
earlier struggling on 73-4. Number six batsman De Villiers faced 161 balls and hit 13 fours. The home side were dismissed for 276 in their first innings, to which New Zealand replied with 327. Inconsistent bounce and consistent bowling by the New Zealanders today took their toll and South Africa lost three wickets before they erased the deficit of 51 runs. The South Africans’ problems started in the third over of the day when medium pacer Chris Martin trapped Graeme Smith in front for seven. Three overs later they were 19 for two after Herschelle Gibbs, who scored two, failed to move his feet to a delivery from left-arm paceman James Franklin and edged a catch to Scott Styris at second slip. Boeta Dippenaar looked good in his innings of 16, but it ended when he steered a delivery from medium pacer Jacob Oram to Stephen Fleming at first slip. South Africa were reduced to 73 for four in the third over after lunch when Franklin induced a loose drive from Ashwell Prince, who was caught behind by Brendon McCullum for 11. That brought De Villiers to the crease and he and Kallis shared 67 for the fifth wicket. But Kallis was out in the fourth over before tea when he fetched at a wide delivery from medium pacer Styris and was caught by Daniel Vettori at fine leg. De Villiers and Mark Boucher put on 54 for the sixth wicket before Boucher drove at a delivery from medium pacer Kyle Mills and edged the ball onto his stumps to be bowled for 21. Left-arm spinner Vettori trapped Shaun Pollock in front for 10 as South Africa slipped to 205 for seven. But De Villiers and Boje tilted the balance back towards the home side with a stand of 65 that was ended in the third over before stumps when De Villiers drove uppishly at a ball from Oram and was caught by Franklin at extra cover. Scoreboard
South Africa (1st innings) 276 New Zealand (1st innings) 327 South Africa (2nd innings) Smith lbw Martin 7 Gibbs c Styris b Franklin 2 Dippenaar c Fleming b Oram 16 Kallis c Vettori b Styris 62 Prince c McCullum b Franklin 11 De Villiers c Franklin b Oram 94 Boucher b Mills 21 Pollock lbw Vettori 10 Boje c McCullum b Astle 31 Steyn not out 5 Ntini not out 0 Extras (b-12, lb-1, nb-5) 18 Total
(9 wkts, 90.6 overs) 277 Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-19, 3-42, 4-73, 5-140, 6-194, 7-205, 8-267, 9-273. Bowling: Franklin 14-2-60-2, Martin 19-3-54-1, Mills 18-5-44-1, Oram 18-3-46-2, Vettori 15-0-42-1, Astle 5-1-15-1, Styris 2-0-3-1.
— Reuters |
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Rain ends play early on day two
Chittagong, April 17 Nightwatchman Jason Gillespie and skipper Ricky Ponting were not out on 28 and 19 runs, respectively, when the teams went off. Australia resumed the day on 76-1 after they had bundled out Bangladesh for 197 yesterday. Jaques, who made his test debut against South Africa in Melbourne last year, hit 66 before being caught by Shahriar Nafees at mid-wicket off spinner Mohammad Rafique. Rafique had also removed opener Matthew Hayden for 29 on Sunday. Jaques hit a huge six and eight splendid fours, while Gillespie’s 28 had six boundaries. Ponting faced 29 balls and hit two boundaries. Australia lead the two-Test series 1-0 after a three-wicket victory in Fatullah last week. Scoreboard
Bangladesh (1st innings) 197 Australia (1st innings) Hayden c sub b Rafique 29 Jaques c Nafees b Rafique 66 Gillespie not out 28 Ponting not out 19 Extras (lb-6, w-3) 9 Total (2 wickets, 46.4 overs) 151 Fall of wickets: 1-67, 2-120. Bowling: Mortaza 9-1-30-0, Hossain 12-2-48-0, Rafique 13-4-30-2, Razzak 12.4-3-37-0.
— Reuters |
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India down Argentina to finish third
Monchengladbach, April 17 India who had lost to Germany 1-4 and Spain 3-5, salavaged their reputation by winning the last match to end the tournament with three points. For the winners, who led 3-0 at half time, Sandeep Singh(11th) and Rajpal Singh (18th, 25th) were the scorers. Paulon (61st) and MacCormick (66th) scored a goal each for the losers. Once again it was goalkeeper Bharat Cheteri who saved India’s blushes as he pulled off some excellent saves which enabled India to chalk out their only win of the tourney. India looked in comfortable position having setup a 3-0 lead by half time but the Latin America champions came back strongly and rattled their rival’s defence scoring two goals within a span of five minutes. Indians were distinctly lucky to have survived tha late charge by their rivals who muffed up a penalty corner and then a clear goal in the closing minutes. Indians launched a furious counterattack and forced a penalty corner in the 11th minute, Sandeep Singh’s drag flick hit a defender and got deflected into the goal (1-0). Rattled by the sudden goal, Argentina launched counter attacks but Indian goal survived as the rival strikers Callioni, Ibarra and Garetta muffed up the chances. In the 18th minute a tearing counter attack by Indians created panic in rival circle as Khandekar set up a good opening for Rajpal who made no mistakes in sending the ball home (2-0). Seven minutes later the Indian team increased their tally when Rajpal deflected the ball home following a free hit(3-0). Indians had a chance to take their tally further up but Arjun Halappa missed a sitter in the 29th minute. There was no let up by the Indians as the second session began but their forwards could not translate the openings into the goals. After being under pressure for 10 minutes, Argentina counterattacked and the Indian defence came under pressure and showed signs of cracking up. Cammareri and Callioni made few incisive moves which earned their side a penalty corner but Retegui's shot was superbly saved by Chetri. Indians had a great chance to score following a counter attack but Arjun Halappa once again missed an opening created by Tejbir. The Argentina counter attack fetched them a stroke following a melee in the circle. Though Chetri saved Retegui’s scope but on the rebound Paulon shot home (1-3). This happened in the 61st minute and then five minutes later it became 2-3 when following another penalty corner Retegui relayed the ball to Maccormick who shot home. Earlier, Spanish Striker Eduard Tubau wreaked havoc with a hat-trick as India conceded two late goals to lose 3-5 to Spain in their second match. India displayed a superb fightback in the second half to level the score 3-3 after trailing 2-0 at the break. But the defensive lapses cost them the match as the European champions pumped in two goals in the last seven minutes.
— UNI, PTI |
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Harinder eyes hat-trick in Hero Golf
Chandigarh, April 17 The Hero Golf Chandigarh Open-2006 forms the 16th leg of the Amby Valley PGAI Tour 2005-06 season. With this professional event being one of the most-favoured stops on the Amby Valley PGAI Tour, the event sponsors, Hero Cycles and Hero Honda, have upped the prize money to Rs 12 lakh from Rs 10 lakh. Hero Honda Motors who have been supporting the game for nearly a decade, have added one more event to the calendar — the Hero Honda Open East (held late last year) — thus totaling four events for a total prize money of Rs 48 lakh during the current season of the Amby Valley PGAI Tour. With many changes including an extended field of 120 professionals, the winner stands to take home a cheque for Rs 1,89,840 in the newly structured prize money break-up. The runner-up will be richer by Rs 1,30,440. The tournament will be played as a stroke-play competition over 72 holes (four rounds) and the leading 60 players and ties will play the moneymaking rounds when the cut is applied after round two on Wednesday. Apart from Harinder Gupta, who won the Hero Golf Chandigarh Open in 2003-04 season as an amateur and went on to defend the title as a professional, the strong field includes all the top players from the Amby Valley Order of Merit list for the current season, including the leader Mukesh Kumar, No 2 S.S.P. Chowrasia, No 3 Feroze Ali, No 4 Ashok Kumar and No 5 Vijay Kumar. Chandigarh is a nursery of Indian golf and has produced several stars like Jeev Milkha Singh, Harmeet Kahlon, Amandeep Johl, Amritinder Singh, Uttam Singh Mundy, Gurbaaz Mann and K.P.S. Sekhon, who are Asian and other tour regulars. Apart from the first three named, all others will be seen leading the local challenge in this edition of the Hero Golf Chandigarh Open. The field also includes talented youngsters like the leading rookie Vikrant Chopra, Shamim Khan, who is fresh after the victory in the SRF Open Matchplay Championship a couple of days ago, Vinod Kumar, who finished runner-up to Shamim, and Amardip Malik. The par-72, 7052-yard Chandigarh Golf Club is regarded as one of the longest in the country. The par-5 seventh measuring 613 yards is the longest hole in the country and of course the toughest at the Chandigarh Golf Club. The greens are true and despite the onset of summer, the course has a greener look. Considering the field and the challenging layout, the golfing public of Chandigarh can look forward to an exciting affair on the greens and fairways of the Chandigarh Golf Club. At a Press conference this afternoon, both the Chandigarh Golf Club President, Mr G.S. Sandhu, and the course captain, Mr Sandeep Singh Sandhu, were confident that with the greens playing better the players would return better scores. Mukesh Kumar, who had a practice stint on the lush course of the Chandigarh Golf Club, was all praise for the greens. |
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Manavjit clinches gold
New Delhi, April 17 Manavjit aggregated 119 points in qualifications and fired a final round of 23 at the Dr Karni Singh ranges. Anwer Sultan, who had a forgettable outing in Melbourne, claimed the silver with 137 (117+20) points while Mansher Singh bagged the bronze with 135 (114+21). Amit Sanghi scored 128 points to top the skeet field, which saw a close finish. The Andhra shooter, who was leading on day one, hit 111 and 17 in the qualifying and the final rounds respectively to pick the gold medal. Baba Bedi was just a point adrift at 127 (110+17) to take the silver while Amardeep Rai’s bronze came with 126 (107+19) points.
— PTI |
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Haryana releases sports calendar
Chandigarh, April 17 The Director-General of School Education, Mr K.K. Khandelwal, said Pre-Nehru Inter School Hockey Championship would be held at Gurgaon on August 3 and 4. The Pre-Subroto Mukherjee Football Championship would be held in
Fatehabad from August 3 to 5 and swimming championship would be held at Gurgaon from August 3 to 6 for under-14, 17 and 19 swimmers. The championships of yoga, boxing, badminton, table tennis and roller-skating would be organised at Panchkula from October 3 to 6, in which boys and girls (under-19) would participate. Cricket and volleyball tournaments would be organised at Sirsa and hockey, handball and football competitions at Rohtak from October 3 to 6. During the same period, volleyball, basketball and athletics championships for girls would be held at Karnal and handball, kho-kho and judo championship for girls at Kurukshetra. Gymnastics, kabaddi, wrestling and acrobatics championships would be held at Ambala during the same period. Cricket tournament would be held at Rewari from October 8 to 11 for under-14 and under-16 players. Kho-kho championship would be organised in Mewat, Kabaddi, wrestling and boxing championships at Bhiwani and basketball, judo championships at Sonepat. Championships of cricket, football and hockey would be held at Yamunanagar for under-19 girls. Lawn tennis, karate, baseball championships would be organised at Hisar and athletics championship at Narwana from October 8 to 11. The athletics championship for disabled children would be held at Panipat from October 8 to 11. |
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Sixth Wushu championship held Ambala, April 17 In the sub-junior section (boys), Rajat was first in the 20 kg category, Ajay second while Abhay and Aman were third. Rishabh was first in the 20-24 kg category, Shubham second, while Sahil and Keshav were third. Anupam was first in the 24-28 kg category, Tarang second, while Lalit and Mayank were third. Ankit was first in the 32-36 kg category and Yoginder was second. Manpreet was first in the 36 -40 kg category, Nitin second, while Gaurav and Vinod were third. In the junior section (boys), Sumit was first in the 45 kg category, Piyush second while Smran was third. Deepak was first in the 45 - 48 kg category and Pankaj was second. Nitin was first in the 48-52 kg category, Ravi second while Naveen was third. Inderjeet was first in the 52- 56 kg category, Deepak second while Rama was third. Sourabh was first in the 70 -75 kg category, Sanjeev second while Divya Prakash was third. In the senior section (boys), Rajesh was first in the 48 kg category and Rinku was second. Jeet Rai was first in the 80 - 85 kg category, Pawandeep second, while Aman was third. In the sub-junior section (girls), Aastha was first in the 20-24 kg category and Preeti was second. Shivani was first in the 24-28 kg category and Pooja was second. In the junior section (girls), Sonika was first in the 45 kg category and Neetu was second.
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Atwal finishes tied 17th Jeev jumps Eurasia series Atapattu ruled out Goswami cricket Sania slips |
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