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Gayle, Bravo prop up Windies total
England go one up in series
Domestic matches to have D/L system
Chandigarh lift Swift Cup
Saina wins Philippines Open
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French Open
Chess Olympiad
Punjab boys register win
Houghton appointed football coach
Seven-a-side soccer title for JCT Mills
Vibhuti shines
in pool
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Gayle, Bravo prop up Windies total Port of Spain, May 28 But it was calypso time here at Queen's Park Oval for a different reason. Patrons had packed the stands to bid farewell to Trinidad and Tobago's greatest cricketer, the left-handed Brian Lara, who was taking a last bow at his home ground. The music blared, the hips wiggled. In response, he could have delighted more, but he didn't disappoint either, scoring a cultured, albeit pensive, 36 before he was run out in pursuit of a second run. Both teams rung changes. A battle weary Irfan Pathan was given a much needed respite and Ramesh Powar was also rested, as paceman Patel and opener Uthappa were given a game. The West Indies made four alterations to the side that clinched the series on Friday, with Sewnarine Chattergoon, Dinesh Ramdin and chinaman and googly exponent Dave Mohammed making their first breaks in the current engagement. Rahul Dravid called correctly to make it 4-1 with the toss. He fell back on the tried and tested route of a chase. But misfortune befell the Indians in the very first over when Dhoni did not elevate himself enough to accept a snick from Gayle off the second ball of the innings. As Shantha Sreesanth expressed his agony with a wayward line and length, the tall, gangling left-hander cashed in with booming drives and searing cuts. Dravid responded by introducing off-spin at both ends. This quietened Gayle, who has apparently still not mastered spin. Particularly restrained by Virender Sehwag - the pick of the Indian bowlers - he got somewhat carried away by first slog sweeping him - a fine shot - then reverse sweeping for another four, before completely missing the line. But his half century off 61 balls with 10 boundaries had made India pay dearly. Again the bowler to conspicuously catch the eye was Ajit Agarkar. His dodgy knee not withstanding, he swung the very first ball of his spell into the left-handed Chattergoon, who shouldered arms only to see the ball clatter on to his off-stump. It was a splendid start for a man who took his 250th ODI in the previous match. Lara joined Sarwan to a thunderous welcome from the capacity crowd. But the pair managed only 47 runs off 86 balls, with the latter striking just a solitary four in his 23rd ODI half century. No sooner he reached this milestone, he attempted to drastically to change gears. He charged out to the fast medium Sreesanth. It was much too good a delivery to be treated in this manner. The Prince of Port of Spain's last hurrah was not an extended affair. He, too, pottered around before memorably waltzing down the pitch to Harbhajan Singh to smack the Sikh off-spinner for a straight six. This stroke alone gave his ardent fans their money's worth. As for India's senior slow bowler, he again finished wicketless. While he has not been inordinately expensive in this series, Harbhajan's comparative lack of scalps has been one of the causes of the series defeat. Scoreboard West Indies Gayle b Sehwag 51 Chattergoon b Agarkar 0 Sarwan b Sreesanth 52 Lara run out 36 Bravo not out 62 Hinds c Sehwag b Agarkar 32 Smith b Patel 1 Ramdin not out 1 Extras
(b-1, lb-3, w-13, nb-3) 20 Total (6 wkts; 50 overs) 255 Fall of wickets:
1-8, 2-90, 3-137, 4-165, 5-243, 6-251. Bowling: Sreesanth 10-0-62-1, Agarkar 10-1-44-2, Patel 10-0-64-1, Harbhajan 10-0-52-0, Sehwag 10-0-29-1.
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England go one up in series
Birmingham, May 28 Muralitharan finished with 10 wickets in all, taking four for 29 in England’s nervous run chase to follow his six for 86 in the first innings. It was the 15th occasion he had taken 10 wickets in tests. His team mate Michael Vandort earlier scored 105 but there was not enough support to set England a tougher run-chase and the last five wickets clattered for 12 runs in 33 balls. However, Muralitharan struck some psychological blows before Friday’s third and final Test with the dismissals of top order batsmen Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood. Trescothick was lbw for nought after he misjudged a doosra from Muralitharan's fourth delivery and the 10th of the innings. Strauss looked unhappy when umpire Aleem Dar judged that he had got a deflection from his bat onto pad and was given out caught at slip for 16. Kevin Pietersen, the first innings hero with his 142 from 157 deliveries, was lbw to Muralitharan’s doosra for the second time in the match. Collingwood edged to the wicketkeeper for three. Left-hander Alastair Cook, with an average of 68 from three tests before this match, was 34 not out and skipper Andrew Flintoff hit Muralitharan for a straight driven boundary to win the match and finish on four. In the morning the introduction of the new ball changed the tone of the game after England had toiled for 14 overs without a breakthrough Paceman Liam Plunkett finished with three for 17 in the innings and six for 60 in the match. Scoreboard Sri Lanka (1st innings) 141 England (1st innings) 295 Sri Lanka (2nd innings) Vandort c Jones Tharanga c Jones Sangakkara c Collingwood Jayawardene lbw Hoggard 5 Samaraweera st Jones Dilshan lbw Hoggard 59 Maharoof c&b Flintoff 13 Vaas c Collingwood Kulasekara c Collingwood Malinga c Strauss b Flintoff 2 Muralitharan not out 0 Extras
(lb-8, w-1, nb-11) 20 Total (all out, 93.2 overs) 231 Fall of wickets:
1-2, 2-38, 3-43, 4-56, 5-181, 6-219, 7-223, 8-223, 9-231, 10-231. Bowling:
Hoggard 22-8-64-3, Flintoff 19-3-50-2, Plunkett 13.2-6-17-3, Panesar 28-6-73-2, Mahmood 9-2-19-0, Collingwood 2-2-0-0. England (2nd innings) Marcus lbw Muralitharan 0 Strauss c Jayawardene Cook not out 34 Kevin lbw Muralitharan 13 Collingwood c Sangakkara b Muralitharan 3 Flintoff not out 4 Extras
(b-2, nb-9) 11 Total (4 wkts, 27.2 overs) 81 Fall of wickets:
1-9, 2-35, 3-63, 4-73. Bowling: Vaas 7-2-12-0, Malinga 7-1-29-0, Muralitharan 12.2-3-29-4, Dilshan 1-0-9-0.
— Reuters
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Domestic matches to have D/L system
New Delhi, May 28 The Technical Committee of the board, which met at Bangalore yesterday, also recommended a host of other proposals for the 2006-07 domestic season. The committee, headed by Sunil Gavaskar, suggested adoption of powerplay and withdrawal of supersub, as was done by the International Cricket Council recently. It also recommended staging mostly day and night matches during Ranji Trophy and Deodhar Trophy tournaments, a BCCI press release said. The panel favoured preparation of separate wicket under the supervision of umpires during matches while laying stress on monitoring of pitch and outfield as per ICC guidelines. It also suggested that the match referee should be given more power in the decision making. BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah, chief selector Kiran More and other BCCI officials including M.P. Pandove, Lalchand Rajput, S.K. Bansal and D.P. Azad attended the meeting.
— PTI
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Chandigarh lift Swift Cup
Panchkula, May 28 Earlier, batting first, Uttaranchal made 144 for seven. Mohammad Imran remained unbeaten on 59. Harikishan Kali claimed three wickets. The other wicket takers were Sanjay Mahajan, Ravi Dhaliwal and former Test player Yograj Singh, who took one wicket each. Chasing an easy target of 145 runs, Chandigarh batsmen gave no chance to the Uttaranchal bowlers. In his blistering knock, Sandeep hit 10 fours and one six. The other contributors were Kali with 38 and Saida Khan who retired hurt on 27. The winners achieved the target in 17.3 overs. The man of the match award went to Sandeep Kohli, whereas Harkishan Kali was declared man of the series. The chief guest, Mr Gopal Munjal, Managing Director, Ind-Swift, distributed the prizes to the winners. Brief scores: Uttaranchal: 144 for 7 in 20 overs (Harshvardhan 27, Rajat Chawala 27, Mohd Imran not out 59, Harikishan Kali 3 for 22). Chandigarh: 145 for 3 in 17.3 overs (Sandeep Kohli 64, Sajid Khan retd hurt 21, Harikishan Kali 38, Shekhar 2 for 29).
— TNS
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Saina wins Philippines Open
New Delhi, May 28 The 16-year-old unseeded Indian shocked seventh seed and world No. 66 Pei Xian Julia Wong of Malaysia 21-15, 22-20 in a thrilling final at Pasig City, Manila. Showing amazing tenacity even when pitted against the big names, the 86-ranked Saina had toppled top seed and world No. 4 Xu Huwaien of Germany en route to the final. “I just cannot believe it. I never thought that I could win the tournament. It will take some time for the victory to sink in,” Saina told PTI over phone after her win. “After coming so far, I was confident of winning the final because I had beaten her (Wong) in straight games before and I knew that I just needed to stay focussed and not make mistakes,” she said. Saina, however, does not have enough time to celebrate her first big success at the international level, as she would be playing in the Indonesian Open starting this week. Saina, coached by former All England champion Pullela Gopichand has been in devastating form in the tournament, accounting for world No 31 S. Mudukesan of Malaysia in the opener before beating Sachiyo Imai of Japan. But the biggest casualty of Saina’s firepower was the German Xu Huwaien in the quarterfinal. Saina turned the tables on Huwaien after a gruelling three-game encounter. “That was the biggest win. After beating the top seed, I thought I could win the tournament and I kept on playing my natural game. My movement, dribbling were very good throughout the tournament,” she said. Saina’s coach Gopichand was equally ecstatic about her feat. “It is a remarkable achievement. It is really great. It’s not easy to beat such top quality players in a big four-star event, but she always had the potential to do that. Even in the Commonwealth Games she had beaten top players,” Gopichand told PTI from Hyderabad. At the Indonesian Open Saina would have to qualify for the main draw as it is a six-star event and all the top players would be fighting for the honours. “The Indonesian Open would be tougher. But my confidence level is really high after this victory.”
— PTI
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Federer labours through first match
Paris, May 28 The world No. 1 and top seed has not played since his Rome Masters final defeat by Rafael Nadal two weeks ago and trailed 3-0 in the first set before eventually subduing an opponent playing his first match at tour level. With the Swiss struggling for timing, Hartfield dominated the first set and served for it at 5-4 before Federer clawed his way back. The 25-year-old Argentine owes his ranking of 156 to good performances on the lesser Challenger circuit and he forced a tiebreak in the second set but lost it 7-2 as Federer slowly found his range. Hartfield began to struggle physically in the third set and Federer eventually wrapped up victory with some ease, sealing his second match point with a forehand winner after two hours 36 minutes. Another Spaniard, Tommy Robredo is a potential quarter-final opponent of Federer. Today the seventh seed and Hamburg Masters winner eased past Czech player Tomas Zib 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 in his first-round match on Court Suzanne Lenglen. Russian 14th seed Dinara Safina, runner-up at the Italian Open in Rome earlier this month, beat compatriot Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 7-5 in the first match on centre court. Japan’s Ai Sugiyama recovered strongly from losing the first-set tiebreak against Greece’s Eleni Daniilidou to win 6-7, 6-0, 6-3. — Reuters
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Indian men beat Germany
Turin, May 28 After a rather subdued start, the Indian men are back into reckoning in the biggest chess event which saw top seed Russians suffering a shocking 1.5-2.5 defeat at the hands of Holland in the sixth round. Russian national champion Sergey Rublevsky failed to hold his ground against Dutchman Friso Nijboer. Third seed Armenia gained lost ground as they scored a much-needed 2.5-1.5 victory over Uzbekistan by notching a win on the second board while drawing the rest of the games. With 16.5 points, Indian men are on joint fifth position while Armenia is the sole leader with 18 points in their kitty after six rounds. For India, world No. 2 Viswanathan Anand and second ranked Indian player Krishnan Sasikiran achieved draws on the top two boards while Harikrishna and Ganguly scored victories over Christopher Lutz and Alexander Grafm respectively on the third and fourth board to script a grand victory. Viswanathan Anand, on the top board could not break the ice against a solid Arkadij Naiditsch while Sasikiran’s attempt to complicate against Artur Jussopow also did not materialize. Eves defeat Slovenia
The Indian eves yet again came out with flying colours scoring a 2-1 victory over Slovenia in their sixth round game. Koneru Humpy drew her game playing on the top board while D. Harika achieved the same result on the second. Much was expected from National women champion Swati Ghate and she came up with yet another splendid effort to score a victory. The Indian eves are on third spot with 13 points while Russia continues to lead the table after six rounds.
— PTI
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Punjab boys register win
Ludhiana, May 28 In their opening encounter, Punjab lads who finished runners up in the last edition of this championsip at Pondicherry had recorded a comfortable win (83-44) over Maharashtra. Punjab win’s architects were their skipper Sukhbir Singh Dhillon besides Gurmeet Singh and Dilawar Singh who chipped in with 12, 13 and 10 points, respectively, while battle for Pondicherry was spearheaded by Ando and Hari who contributed eight and six points each. In another group B encounter, Maharashtra lads overwhelmed Goa 62-14. The winners were leading 35-9 at the half time. Anant, Kunal and Varun scripted Maharashtra’s win with contributions of 10, 11 and seven points, respectively. In a group F match, Delhi boys defeated Madhya Pradesh 77-49 after leading 31-20 at the end of second quarter. In the girls section, Chandigarh, after losing their opener yesterday against Chhattisgarh, registered a comfortable win over Gujrat 59-25. Sonika and Pinky with 25 and 14 points, respectively, steered Chandigarh to a win. In another match, Uttar Pradesh, powered by Pratima and Renu’s contribution of 11 points each besides Preeti’s attempt of 10 points, outplayed Haryana 46-23. Jharkhand eves beat Pondicherry 44-28 and Maharashtra got the better of Madhya Pradesh 60-54. Earlier, in the boys section, Rajasthan proved too good for Manipur whom they beat 65-26 and Kerala defeated Himachal Pradesh 63-34 while in the girls section, Punjab toiled hard to outnumber West Bengal 48-25; Kerala outclassed Haryana 58-29 while Rajasthan pipped Jammu and Kashmir 61-4.
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Houghton appointed football coach
New Delhi, May 28 The Briton’s appointment comes after All-India Football Federation President Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi accepted the recommendation of the Technical Committee to the effect. Houghton becomes the second foreigner to coach India after Cypriot Stephen Constantine who lost his job to Sukhwinder Singh in the beginning of 2005. “AIFF President P.R. Dasmunsi has accepted the recommendation of the Technical Committee. Hougton will join the team from the 20th of June,” AIFF General Secretary Alberto Colaco said in a statement. Houghton and Irishman Brian Kerr appeared for interviews before the Technical Committee on Wednesday and the panel has plumped for the Englishman as he has rich experience of coaching in Asia. The Englishman had been before in charge of Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan and he also guided China to the World Cup in 2002. Houghton played for Fulham FC from 1966-69 and Brighton from 1969 to 1970. In his 30-year long coaching career Houghton has plied his trade in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, North America and Asia with unprecedented success. At present, Houghton is coaching Shenyang Ginda in the Chinese Super League.
— PTI
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Seven-a-side soccer title for JCT Mills
Chandigarh, May 28 The two teams were on even terms initially and it was only as late as in the 78th minute that JCT managed to break the deadlock when Jaswinder Singh managed to find the net off a counter attack. The goal turned out to be the match winner and Jaswinder was deservedly chosen for the man-of-the-match award. The winning team received a cash prize of Rs 15,000 besides football shoes for all members. Runners-up BSF were awarded a cash prize of Rs 11,000. The tournament, which was played under floodlights, was organised by the Nawab Sher Mohammed Khan Sports and Welfare Club, Malerkotla.
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Vibhuti shines
in pool Patiala, May 28 The immensely talented Vibhuti, a third standard student and the youngest swimmer to take part in this edition of the meet, took to the pool like a duck to water in the 50m backstroke event (group-V) and made a huge impact by being placed second after the winner Jasmine Sohi also of YPS. The third place was also bagged by a YPS swimmer Akanksha Bajaj. In the 50m breast strokeevent (group-V) Jasmine Sohi once again triumphed and was followed by Vibhuti Syal and Akanksha in that order. Other results: 200m free style (boys-I): Vikash- 1, Harmanjit Singh- 2, Manik Mahajan –3. 100m butterfly (boys-I): Mayank Batish –1, Harmanjit Singh-2. 100m backstroke (boys-I): Harshit Narang –1, Jhoney Bhatia –2, Lovejeet Singh –3. 200m medley (boys-I): Harmanjit Singh –1, Jhoney Bhatila –2, Mayank Batish –3. 200m breaststroke (boys-I): Jhoney Bhatia –1, Karan Vir Singh –2, Dhiraj Inder Singh Dhindsa –3. 100m breaststroke (boys-I): Harshit Narang-1, Dhiraj Inder Singh Dhindsa –2, Karanvir Singh –3. 50m butterfly (Boys-I): Mayank Batish-1, Ankur Rao –2, Avninder Singh-3. 200m freestyle (Girls-I): Era Kaila –1, Amanjot Kaur-2. 100m backstroke (girls-I): Lazdeep Kaur-1, Amandeep Thakur –2, Gurpreet Shergill –3. 100m breaststroke (girls-I): Amanjot Kaur-1, Amandeep Thakur-2. 50m freestyle (girls-I): Lajdeep Kaur-1, Gurpreet Shergill-2, Amanjot Sandhu-3. 100m freestyle (girls-I): Amanjot Sandhu-1, Lazdeep Kaur-2, Gurpreet Shergill-3.
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