Laxman hopes to play in World Cup

Bangalore, May 1
Stylish batsman VVS Laxman today said he was hopeful of finding a place in the Indian team for the cricket World Cup to be held next year. “I am hoping to get a chance to play the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies,” said Laxman, who has missed the event in 2003 in South Africa.

Laxman, who has already been selected for the Indian team for the upcoming tour of the West Indies, where India will play four Tests and five one-dayers, told reporters that he was looking forward to come up with a consistent performance there.

Meanwhile, Laxman today declared open the 40-day training camp for under-15 players at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) here. Speaking on the occasion, he exhorted budding cricketers to concentrate on fitness, including mental fitness, to be a successful player. He advised up-and-coming players not to worry about their selection in first-class cricket.

“Selection is not a criterion. You should not be thinking about that. Aim to become a better player. The result will take care of itself”.

“Always look for balancing bowling and batting,” he told 25 boys who would attend a camp at the academy.

Laxman reminded youngsters that they had a lot of opportunities as several tournaments for under-15, under-17 and under-19 level were played in the country.

Describing the academy as a prestigious institute for grooming youngsters, Laxman told them that Yuvraj Singh, Mohammed Kaif and Suresh Raina were products of NCA.

NCA Chairman Sunil Gavaskar said this was an opportunity for youngsters as they not only learnt from various coaches but also from among themselves.

The legendary batsman said the NCA had tried to ensure to raise the standard of the game, adding that players should also raise the level of their game if they wanted to play in first-class cricket. — PTI

Test ends in tame draw

Cape Town, May 1
South Africa and New Zealand drew the second Test in Cape Town today with bad light ending play early.

New Zealand were 121 for three in their second innings. Scott Styris was 54 not out with Jacob Oram on eight. South Africa were dismissed for 512 in reply to New Zealand’s first innings total of 593 for eight declared.

On the final day, Ashwell Prince scored his fourth Test century to take South Africa beyond the 500-run mark. Prince, who scored an undefeated 108, batted for six and a half hours in which he faced 285 balls and hit nine fours.

The left-hander reached his century in the ninth over before the lunch break with a straight drive for four off the bowling of left-arm paceman James Franklin.

Scoreboard

NZ (1st innings) 593-8 dec

South Africa (1st innings)

Smith c and b Patel 25

Dippenaar b Patel 47

Amla lbw Vettori 149

Kallis c Martin b Oram 71

Prince not out 108

De Villiers c Papps b Patel 13

Boucher c Fleming b Franklin 33

Boje lbw Franklin 0

Nel lbw Franklin 12

Steyn st McCullum b Vettori 13

Ntini run out 11

Extras (b-15, lb-10, nb-5) 30

Total (all out, 188 overs) 512

Fall of wickets: 1-36, 2-108, 3-252, 4-344, 5-361, 6-435, 7-435, 8-462, 9-495.

Bowling: Martin 20-7-62-0, Franklin 33-5-95-3, Vettori 63-10-147-2, Patel 42-8-117-3, Styris 10-2-33-0, Oram 18-10-24-1, Astle 2-0-9-0.

NZ (2nd innings)

Papps c Prince b Steyn 20

Fulton c Kallis b Ntini 11

Styris not out 54

Astle c Smith b Kallis 14

Oram not out 8

Extras (b-1, lb-9, nb-4) 14

Total (3 wickets, 37 overs) 121

Fall of wickets: 1-34, 2-41, 3-81.

Bowling: Steyn 9-3-26-1, Ntini 8-2-25-1, Nel 10-2-41-0, Kallis 5-3-5-1, Boje 5-1-14-0. — Reuters

Taylor-made win for Windies

St John’s, May 1
Jerome Taylor took four wickets as the West Indies completed a tidy 98-run victory over Zimbabwe in the second one-day international at the Antigua Recreation Ground.

Zimbabwe were dismissed for 144 in 46.2 overs chasing a victory target of 243.

Chris Gayle secured the win when he had Tawanda Mupariwa caught at deep backward square leg for 16 to give West Indies a 2-0 lead in the seven-match series, after they won Saturday’s opener by five wickets at the same venue.

Captain Brian Lara had called on his team, particularly new-ball bowlers Jerome Taylor and Fidel Edwards, to show a drastic improvement in their performance from Saturday and they responded.

Zimbabwe never recovered from the loss of their first three wickets — all to Taylor — for 11 runs inside the first six overs yesterday.

Taylor was the pick of the bowlers with a career-best 4-24 from his allotment of 10 overs to earn the man-of-the-match award for the second straight day.

Scoreboard

West Indies

Gayle c Taylor b Mahwire 49

Morton c Taylor b Mupariwa 16

Sarwan c Coventry b Mupariwa 55

Ramdin lbw Utseya 4

Chanderpaul c Taylor b Chibhabha 46

Lara c Mahwire b Mupariwa 5

Bravo b Rainsford 9

Smith b Chibhabha 30

Bradshaw not out 6

Taylor b Mahwire 6

Edwards not out 2

Extras (b-1, w-5, nb-8) 14

Total (9 wkts, 50 overs) 242

Fall of wickets: 1-70, 2-80, 3-85, 4-154, 5-162, 6-183, 7-218, 8-230, 9-238.

Bowling: Rainsford 10-1-32-1, Mahwire 10-0-58-2, Mupariwa 10-1-46-3, Chibhabha 7-0-39-2, Utseya 10-0-51-1, Strydom 3-0-15-0.

Zimbabwe

Rinke c Bravo b Taylor 6

Duffin b Taylor 1

Chibhabha c Ramdin b Bradshaw 67

Taylor b Taylor 0

Chigumbura c Gayle b Edwards 13

Strydom run out 5

Coventry c Morton b Bravo 0

Mahwire c Ramdin b Gayle 6

Utseya c Gayle b Taylor 0

Mapuriwa c Edwards b Gayle 16

Rainsford not out 9

Extras (b-2, lb-7, w-10, nb-2) 21

Total (all out, 46.2 overs) 144

Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-11, 3-11, 4-67, 5-91, 6-95, 7-114, 8-116, 9-116.

Bowling: Edwards 8-0-39-1, Taylor 10-3-24-4, Bradshaw 10-0-27-1, Bravo 5-1-13-1, Gayle 9.2-2-21-2, Smith 4-0-11-0. — AFP

Thomas Cup
India storm into quarterfinals

Sendai, May 1
Anup Sridhar upset world No. 33 John Moody as India whitewashed New Zealand 3-0 to storm into the quarterfinals of the world badminton men’s team championship for the Thomas Cup here today.

India, missing their number one shuttler Chetan Anand to an injury, sealed the victory in an emphatic fashion with Sridhar, Arvind Bhat, and Nikhil Kanetkar winning the three singles matches in the five-match pre-quarterfinal tie.

The two inconsequential doubles matches were abandoned.

India now take on Denmark, who reached the last eight stage after topping Group C, for a place in the quarterfinals to be played in Tokyo from Wednesday.

National champion Sridhar, ranked 64, provided a perfect start for India with a 21-15, 21-9 mauling of Moody in the first singles in just 26 minutes.

Bhat then tamed newcomer Henry Tam 21-17, 21-5 to give a 2-0 lead to India.

Kanetkar, who replaced Anand and was playing in his first match of the championship, faced stiff challenge from Craig Cooper but pushed his game one notch up in the final game to win 21-13, 18-21, 21-10 in 40 minutes. — PTI

India beat Slovenia, finish 35th

Bremen, May 1
India just about managed to cling to the men’s second division berth after finishing 35th following their 3-2 win against Slovenia in a playoff match at the World Table Tennis Championship here.

An off-colour India were stretched to the decider by minnows Slovenia but Soumyadeep Roy clinched the last match 3-1 against Bojan Ropasa to arrest India’s slide to the third division.

It was a disappointing end to India’s campaign as the Commonwealth Games gold medal winner team had gone into the championship confident of crossing the hurdle and earn a promotion to the top division.

But the prequarterfinal loss against a young English side dashed their hopes.

In the 35th place playoff against Slovenia yesterday, Achanta Sharath Kamal won two matches as India’s No. 2 paddler Soumyadeep Roy lost to Sas Lasan and rookie Jitender Kumar went down to Mitja Horvat. — PTI

Sethuraman secures maiden IM norm

Dubai, May 1
S P Sethuraman secured his maiden International Master norm with a brilliant victory over IM Sergei Simonenko of Turkmenistan in the eighth and penultimate round of the Dubai International Open chess championship here.

The Chennai-based teenager, who has so far lost only his third-round game (against a leader) in the event, took his tally to 5.5 points after a win with white pieces against the titled player.

The Indian just needs to appear for the final game against compatriot Grandmaster R B Ramesh.

Woman International Master Kruttika Nadig also made a strong stride forward towards her maiden Woman Grandmaster norm by scoring a thumping victory against WIM Atousa Pourkashiyan of Iran.

Besides, Kruttika is also running for the best lady player prize in this $ 40,000 prize money tournament.

The other Indian running for a norm was M R Lalith Babu, who also had it easy against local star Jasim A R Saleh.

Not much changed at the top of the tables as all overnight leaders played it safe to get easy draws. With just one round remaining, the lead was shared by Armenian GMs Gabriel Sargissian, Tigran Petrosian and Sergey Fedorchuk of Ukraine who all were on 6.5 points, while a pack of seven players followed on six points each.

Ramesh, double GM norm holder Parimarjan Negi and Sethuraman are the only Indians in contention of finishing in the top 10 as all are on 5.5 points each. — PTI

Pistol shooters come a cropper

New Delhi, May 1
Indian shooters had a forgettable outing as none could qualify for the final in the 25 m rapid fire pistol event at the ISSF World Cup at Resende in Brazil. 

Commonwealth Games gold medallists Vijay Kumar and Pemba Tamang finished 12th and 13th, respectively, despite recording an identical score of 576.

Vijay’s effort included 285 (97, 98, 90) in stage one and 291 (100, 98, 93) in stage two, while Tamang shot 289 (98, 99, 92) and 287 (97, 98, 92). Tamang was pushed behind Vijay because of a low-scoring last series.

Another Indian in the fray, Ramkishan Yadav, ended up being 14th yesterday. Yadav shot 575 (293+282). — PTI

Sporting Clube, JCT evenly matched
Amardeep Bhattal
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 1
Eyeing an improved performance in the 10th National Football League, last year’s runners-up Sporting Clube de Goa are gradually emerging from the shadows in quest of glory but their path is not without hurdles in the league’s decisive phase.

As the Goan outfit gears up for the 15th round tie against Punjab’s JCT Mills at Ludhiana’s Guru Nanak Stadium tomorrow, absence of key players is the major cause of worry for coach Clifford Chukuwama.

Among those who will be missing action tomorrow are defenders Rajesh Meetei and Suresh David, and midfielder Wilton Gomes, all of whom are nursing injuries. Dashing medio Bibiano Fernandes, a prolific scorer, and midfielder Vincent Pires are also doubtful after sustaining injuries in recent encounters.

But with dashing Nigerian striker Macpherlin Dudu Omagbemi and compatriot Edeh Chidi leading the charge, Sporting Clube can breathe easy. Dudu Omagbemi caused ripples in the Indian circuit last season and in the curent league he has already etched his name in record books by notching up the first hat-trick against Mohammedan Sporting at Kolkata on April 8. In all, Sporting Clube have scored 16 goals out of which Dudu alone has accounted for seven. Edeh Chidi, the promising striker from Ivory Coast, has four goals to his credit.

Sporting Clube, runners-up of the Durand Cup and Federation Cup, boast of an impressive line-up but one player who may be JCT’s bete noire is medio Hardeep Singh Saini. The diminutive Sikh, who began his career with JCT many years back, has maintained good form and his stints with Mohun Bagan and the now defunct Fransa Pax FC have stood him in good stead. It was his stunning goal against East Bengal at Kolkata on March 18 that nearly turned the tables on the former champions, who finally scraped through 4-3 in a high-scoring match.

With Luis Barreto under the bar, the Goan outfit’s defence may comprise players like Joe Rodrigues, Ajay Diwadkar, and Mathew Gonsalves with doubts persisting about the fitness of key defender Felip Gomes. With Nicolau Borges, Nicholas Rodrigues, Hardeep Saini and Nigerian Adebayo Adewusi, formerly of Fransa, marshalling the midfield, Sporting Clube’s attack to be spearheaded by Dudu Omagbemi and Edeh Chidi will receive support in good measure.

In the current league, Sporting Clube de Goa have won five of the 12 matches played so far and have drawn four. The team tasted defeat in three ties. The Goan outfit’s victories have come against Air-India (3-1); Salgaocar (1-0); Fransa Pax FC (3-0); Mahindra United (1-0); and Mohammedan Sporting (3-0). The team drew with Dempo (0-0); JCT (1-1); Mohammedan Sporting (1-1); and Mohun Bagan (0-0). Sporting Clube de Goa lost to East Bengal 3-4, Mohun Bagan 0-1, and Mahindra United 0-1.

JCT Mills, after the morale boosting victory against Mohammedan Sporting on April 27, are hoping for another memorable outing on home turf. The Phagwara outfit have so far won four matches and have drawn five, and only two points now separate them from the rivals. Brazilian striker Marcos Pereira and international Parveen Kumar are once again expected to play a dominant role with support from foreign recruit Johnson Banner and Rennedy Singh. Of late, striker Sunil Chhetri has also struck form, which has gladdened the hearts of JCT’s supporters. Another player to watch out for is the diminutive Baldeep Singh, whose snap shots and tackling are a treat for the crowd.

With international Kalyan Chaubey doing duty under the bar, JCT’s defence will be manned by Nigerian stopper back Julius Akpele and skipper Daljit Singh, whose powerful throw-ins often throw the rival defence into disarray. Coach Parminder Singh may also utilise the services of winger Jaswinder Singh, whose presence only adds to the team’s strength.

Sporting Clube de Goa, who arrived in Ludhiana two days back, had a light workout today. “It is an important match for us and we are not taking JCT lightly. Of late they have started playing well,” said coach Clifford Chukuwama in an exclusive chat with The Tribune today.

On the whole, JCT have an edge over the Goan outfit and if the mill men successfully check Dudu Omagbemi and Edeh Chidi, half the battle is won. In the away match, JCT held Sporting Clube to a 1-1 draw at Kolkata on January 15, thanks to a goal by Johnson.

The kick-off is at 4.30 pm.

BRIEFLY

India Seniors win series
Lahore: India Seniors beat their Pakistani counterparts by 30 runs in the fourth and final match at Gaddafi stadium here to clinch Seniors’ series 3-1 here on Sunday. Chasing a victory target of 258, Pakistan Seniors could manage only 227 for the loss of nine wickets. Earlier, India made 257 for the loss of nine wickets after Pakistan won the toss and put the visitors to bat. The visitors won the first and third one-dayers in Karachi and Sheikhupura while Pakistan won the second match in Sialkot. — UNI

U-19 World Cup
Dubai: Malaysia will become the first associate member to host the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup when it stages the sport’s biggest junior event in February, 2008. The International Cricket Council awarded the 2008 event to Malaysia at its executive board meeting here on Sunday and also handed over the rights to host the biennial event to Kenya, Canada and United Arab Emirates in succession. — PTI

Archery meet
AMRITSAR: Dola Banerjee, Jayant Talukdar, Renso Purty and Jhanu Hansda won the finals in their respective categories on the concluding day of the National Ranking Archery Circuit Tournament held at Guru Nanak Stadium here on Monday. Dola won the recurve (women) event with 108 points, while Reena Kumari and Sumangla stood second and third, respectively, with 97 points each. In the men’s recurve event, Jayant Talukdar won by securing 111 points, while N Ravinder of AP and Somai Murmu of SSCB got 107 and 106 points, respectively. — OSR