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Sri Lanka take 47-run lead
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Revive hockey at grassroots level: Aslam
Ranjit Singh Awards function on July 5
Indian to manage Pak kabaddi affairs
Italy’s unbeaten run continues
Geet Sethi wins world pro title
Narang books 2nd Olympic quota berth
Men bow out of medal contention
IG honours Punjab boxers
Swimming meet
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Windies make breezy start
St John’s (Antigua), June 3 Chris Gayle, the stand-and-deliver left-hander, unleashed a fierce assault before departing for 72, studded with 12 fours and a towering six to long-on off S. Sreesanth. Anil Kumble did the trick with a googly that took the Jamaican’s outside edge, but a blossoming Ramnaresh Sarwan was still there. India enjoyed early success on a pitch still generating some bounce. Munaf Patel, slipping his deliveries through speedily, beat Darren Ganga for pace to trap him leg before wicket. But Sreesanth provided too much width to Gayle and went for 14 in one over. Vikram Rajvir Singh, making his Test debut, started much too excitedly to concede a dozen runs in his first over. The West Indies went into lunch on 81 for one, with Sreesanth and VRV Singh bleeding runs rather profusely. At stumps yesterday, the Indian manager, Ravi Sawant, shocked the media by claiming that Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan Singh had been “rested” for this Test with this year’s Champions Trophy and the 2007 ICC World Cup in mind. Test cricket is the highest level of the game. Since when has one-day cricket become more important? It’s such incorrect priorities that renders the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) a menace to Indian cricket. Sawant went on to elaborate that since others in the squad had come all this way, they had to be given a chance. One wondered if he was aware that some are inevitably included in a party to be groomed for the future. VRV Singh, surely, falls into this category. He may be fast, he may be promising, he may even prove his critics wrong, but it was cavalier to throw him into the cauldron so soon. Earlier today, India, 235 for nine overnight, folded up for 241, with Sreesanth remaining unbeaten on a sterling 29. He had the previous day put on 47 runs in a splendid rearguard effort with Kumble for the eighth wicket — which put the specialist batsmen to shame. It wasn’t an unplayable pitch. But it demanded patience. Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman and Yuvraj Singh all got their eye in, but failed to capitalise. Even Rahul Dravid, who looked like doing so, attempted to run a ball down to third man — a stroke that’s only justified when there is one or no slips — only to spoon it to second slip, albeit of a no-ball overlooked by umpire Simon Taufel. Yuvraj was deceived by a chinaman from Dave Mohammed, while Mahendra Singh Dhoni succumbed to “foot paralysis” in the face of an away-going ball from Corey Collymore, the best of the West Indian bowlers. Scoreboard India (1st innings) Jaffer c Ramdin b Edwards 1 Sehwag c Lara
Laxman c Ramdin
Dravid c Lara
Yuvraj b Mohammed 23 Kaif c Ramdin b Bravo 13 Dhoni c Lara b Collymore 19 Kumble b Bravo 21 Sreesanth not out 29 VRV c Sarwan b Bravo 2 Patel b Edwards 0 Extras
(lb-8, w-2, nb-9) 19 Total (all out, 92.5 overs) 241 Fall of wickets:
1-10, 2-51, 3-72, 4-126, 5-155, 6-179, 7-180, 8-227, 9-231. Bowling:
Edwards 18.5-3-53-2, Bradshaw 24-3-83-0, Collymore 17-7-27-3, Gayle 4-0-6-0, Bravo 22-9-40-4, Mohammed 7-1-24-1. West Indies (1st innings) Gayle c Dravid b Kumble 72 Ganga lbw Patel 9 Sarwan not out 40 Lara not out 12 Extras
(lb-9, w-1, nb-8) 18 Total (2 wkts, 30 overs) 151 Fall of wickets:
1-18, 2-137. Bowling: Sreesanth 9-0-60-0, Patel 10-2-38-1, VRV Singh 5-0-29-0, Kumble 6-1-15-1.
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Nottingham, June 3 The touring side, already 0-1 down in the series, had looked in serious trouble after being dismissed for 231 on the opening day. But at close of play today, they had turned the game on its head by dismissing England for 229 in their first innings and then taking their overall lead to 47 with nine second-innings wickets remaining. Kumar Sangakkara was 22 not out with Upul Tharanga on 17. Sri Lanka’s bowlers were as good as their front-line batsmen had been bad yesterday. Muralitharan, who had helped put on 62 for the last wicket on the opening day, yet again played the central role, taking three for 62. Pietersen made 41, while Paul Collingwood top-scored with a painstaking 48. England, resuming on 53 for two after dismissing the touring side for 231 on the opening day, collapsed to 118 for five before Collingwood helped to salvage the innings. A blameless Trent Bridge pitch and a blazing sun suggested a profitable day for batsmen but Sri Lanka’s bowlers wrenched back the initiative. Scoreboard
Sri Lanka (1st innings) 231 England (1st innings) Trescothick run out 24 Strauss b Vaas 7 Cook b Malinga 24 Pietersen c Jayawardene Collingwood lbw Vaas 48 Flintoff c Jayawardene Jones st Sangakkara Plunkett b Jayasuriya 9 Hoggard c Jayawardene Lewis c Dilshan Panesar not out 0 Extras (b-2, lb-13, Total (all out, 91.1 overs) 229 Fall of wickets: 1-25, 2-39, 3-73, 4-117, 5-118, 6-151, 7-184, 8-196, 9-229. Bowling: Vaas 26-5-71-2, Malinga 23.1-3-62-2, Muralitharan 31-10-62-3, Jayasuriya 11-4-19-2. Sri Lanka (2nd innings) Vandort b Hoggard 5 Tharanga batting 17 Sangakkara batting 22 Extras (nb-1) 1 Total
(1 wkt, 14 overs) 45 Fall of wicket: 1-6. Bowling: Hoggard 5-1-18-1, Lewis 3-0-13-0, Flintoff 3-0-12-0, Panesar 3-2-2-0. — Reuters
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Hewitt humbles Hrbaty
Paris, June 3 In the women’s section, Justine Henin-Hardenne put on a display of unrelenting aggression to beat Tathiana Garbin 6-4, 6-0. The defending champion left her Italian opponent reeling, winning the last nine games to move into the fourth round. Henin-Hardenne next faces Russia’s 2004 champion Anastasia Myskina, who breezed past Serbian Ana Ivanovic 6-2, 6-3. The Belgian leads their head-to-head 6-2 but three of their last four meetings have been three-setters. Another Belgian, Kim Clijsters, staggered into the fourth round with a below-par 6-3, 6-4 win over Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues. Second seed Clijsters produced a scrappy display in a match which featured 10 breaks of serve. Clijsters will next meet Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova for a place in the quarterfinals. Hantuchova beat Nathalie Dechy of France 6-3, 3-6, 10-8. Elena Dementieva’s tortuous run at the French Open was halted when she lost 6-4, 7-5 in the third round to Israeli Shahar Peer. The Russian sixth seed, a losing finalist at the claycourt Grand Slam in 2004, survived tight tussles in the previous two rounds before finally succumbing to a determined Peer. Other results (third round): Men’s singles: Roger Federer (Switzerland) b Nicolas Massu (Chile) 6-1 , 6-2, 6-7(4), 7-5; David Nalbandian (Argentina) b Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) 2-6, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4; Tomas Berdych (Czech) b Nicolas Kiefer (Germany) 6-1 (Kiefer retired); Tommy Robredo (Spain) b Lukas Dlouhy (Czech) 6-1, 6-4, 6-2, Martin Vassallo Arguello (Argentina) b Raemon Sluiter (Netherlands) 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1; Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) b Carlos Moya (Spain) 6-1, 7-5, 6-3; Mario Ancic (Croatia) b Albert Montanes (Spain) 6-1, 6-2, 6-4; Gaston Gaudio (Argentina) b Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) 7-5, 7-5, 7-6(7). Women’s singles: Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Germany) b Maria Kirilenko (Russia) 6-2, 7-6(2); Gisela Dulko (Argentina) b Shenay Perry (USA) 6-1, 6-1. Mahesh-Hingis advance
Mahesh Bhupathi and Martina Hingis crossed the first hurdle with a straight sets win in the opening round of mixed doubles. The Indo-Swiss pair, who had won the mixed doubles crown at the Australian Open earlier this year, defeated Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden and Stephen Huss of Australia 7-5, 6-2.
— Agencies
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Chhattisgarh girls retain title
Ludhiana, June 3 The match began at a brisk pace with players of both teams trying to make their presenc felt. The current champions seized the initiative by surging ahead in the initial moments of the encounter. Kanwaljit played extremly well and she was ably assisted by Navneet Kaur. The reigning champions managed to hang onto the lead till the breather (38-27). Trailing by 11 points, Delhi eves pulled up their socks in the third quarter. They not only wiped out the lead but gave their opponents a run for their money. Delhi’s playmakers Raspreet and Akanksha played the pivotal role as their team managed to gain a slender lead at the end of third quarter. Stung by the reversal, Chhattisgarh girls went all out in the deciding quarter. Pushpa and Navneet Kaur were able to pierce through the Delhi defence and steered their team to wrap up the cliffhanger (81-73). For Chhattisgarh, Kanwaljeet Kaur scored 32 points, followed by Navneet and Pushpa who contributed 19 and 14 points, respectively. For the losers, international Raspreet Kaur and Akansha fought valiantly netting 29 and 20 points, respectively. while Harjeet Kaur made 14. In the matches to decide third spots, Kerala beat Punjab 71-55 in the girls section while Chhattisgarh boys proved too good for Rajasthan, whom they drubbed 78-38. UP cagers bag crown
In the boys section, Uttar Pradesh survived a scare before romping home victorious 83-67 to register their maiden title win. Delhi lads gave a sterling performance to gain one point (18-17) lead at the end of the first quarter. UP players bounced back in the next quarter leading 44-34 at the breather. The third quarter witnessed a fierce battle as UP players had to toil hard to earn each basket. At one point, the Delhi boys were just trailing by a point (56-57). From thereon, Delhi fumbled at crucial junctions and missed many sitters. UP players, on the other hand, kept their composure and went on to add points to their kitty. For UP, the main contributors were Vishesh, who scored 16 points, Rajnish and Sokendera netted 12 points each, while Humayun with 19 points carried the battle into the rival’s territory. Deepak and Sarwan contributed 20 and 14 points, respectively.
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Revive hockey at grassroots level: Aslam
Jalandhar, June 3 He said the tournaments which had been stopped should be restarted as the best talent from all over the country used to participate in these meets. This is also the reason why Indian hockey is not clicking at the international level. Calling for an overhaul of the system managing the game in the country, Aslam has called for a democratic set up. The hockey great also called for reconsidering the latest amendment to the Punjab Hockey Federation (PHF) which states that the in service police chief would be the controlling authority of the affairs of the federation. He said it did not bode well for the game in the state. He also called for a foreign coach to be selected to coach the national team. Terming the present set up of hockey academies like breeding chickens in a farm, Aslam said the talent in the rural areas thus gets ignored. He rued the fact that the IHF was the only federation which did not even have a selection committee. He also alleged that the IHF general secretary was playing musical chairs of sorts, wherein the hockey coaches are changed and the players are dropped so that no one player can become a cult figure. The popular players in the present age attract influence and money and thus they are not allowed to stay for long. He said the need of the hour is to go back to the basics. With the control of the game in hands of the Punjab Police and other agencies like railways and banks, he felt that their role had come to an end. The game must also be taken out of government control as there is no dearth of funds for the game. He said an Australian coach for the team could bridge the gap between the Asian and European hockey. The IHF authorities have got sponsorship to the tune of Rs 25 crore from the Sahara group and the government is also footing bills of Rs 50 lakh per trip of the Indian team. With such stakes involved, the government must take corrective measures he added.
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Ranjit Singh Awards function on July 5
Patiala, June 3 The awards will be given at a function, to be held at Chandigarh on July 5. A decision to this effect was taken today by the state government. Earlier, a decision to revive the awards was taken by the Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh during the Indo-Pak games in December 2004 but due to some inexplicable reasons the awards were put on a back burner. The awards were last given in 1997. The awards will be conferred upon 122 sportspersons of Punjab who have excelled in various disciplines at the national and international level and have brought laurels to the state and country. The awards have been finalised after several meetings of the apex screening committee, headed by the Chief Parliamentary Secretary Rana Gurmeet Sodhi. Mr Sodhi, while talking to TNS this evening, said the Maharaja Ranjit Singh award would carry a prize money of Rs 1 lakh apart from a citation. He added that earlier the prize money was Rs 20,000. The state government would also honour sportspersons of Punjab who have bagged gold, silver and bronze medals at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games and they would be given cash prizes of Rs 7 lakh, Rs 5 lakh and Rs 3 lakh , respectively. Mr Sodhi added that the Punjab Government has also decided to give a cash award of Rs 1 crore to any player of the state who would bag a medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The Chief Parliamentary Secretary also said the Punjab government had opened the vistas for foreign coaches and in this connection, Robert Reid, a US-based basketball coach, had been roped in to train budding hoopsters of the state. He said there would be no dearth of foreign coaches for games like shooting, wrestling and boxing of which Punjab was a nursery. Mr Sodhi added that a new hockey astro turf would come up at the Guru Nanak stadium in Ludhiana and Rs 2 crore will be spent on improving the infrastructure at existing stadiums across the state. In the next phase, scholarships would also be given to budding sportsperons.
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Indian to manage Pak kabaddi affairs
Jalandhar, June 3 The PKF has also written to the president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) that Mander, who is also the secretary-general of the British Columbia Kabaddi Federation, Canada, will take care of the visa formalities on behalf of the federation and bring a 25-member Pakistan team to India. The Pakistan team has been invited by the SGPC to play matches at Tarn Taran Sahib, Amritsar, on the occasion of Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji’s 400th martyrdom day next month. The matches are scheduled to be played on June 12. Mander was instrumental in bringing the Pakistan kabaddi team to India in 1996. He has done a coaching course from the NIS, Patiala, and has been a kabaddi coach with the Punjab Sports Department. Presently, he is the editor of sports magazine Khed Sansar.
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Italy’s unbeaten run continues
Rome, June 3 Yesterday scoreless draw with Ukraine, 48 hours after a 1-1 stalemate with Switzerland, extended the Azzurri’s unbeaten run to 18 matches but the players know they will have to perform much better to put together a good run in Germany. “We have to improve progressively. It would be wrong to be at our best as early as June 12 (when they play Ghana in Group E),” he was quoted as saying in La Gazzetta dello Sport today. “If we want to go all the way at the World Cup we have to peak around the middle of the tournament.” The area that will have given him most concern is his attack. Francesco Totti’s performances against Switzerland and Ukraine showed how far he still has to come before regaining his best form. The Roma striker, who has only made three competitive outings since fracturing a bone in his ankle in February, has often been described as the lynchpin of Italy's World Cup bid. On this week’s evidence he could be more of a liability. In Totti’s absence, Lippi has usually fallen back on Alessandro Del Piero but the Juventus forward is also out of sorts and struggled to link up with fellow strikers Alberto Gilardino and Luca Toni during the Ukraine match. At least the players are optimistic that there is still time to iron out the problems. — Reuters
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Geet Sethi wins world pro title
Mumbai, June 3 Sethi, yesterday regained the world crown which he lost in 1998, besides pocketing the winner's purse of 5,000 pounds sterling by winning his fifth professional world title after having won it four times in the 1990s. The Ahmedabad-based Sethi, who lost in the quarter finals in the previous edition of the event, had beaten last year's champion Chris Shutt of England in the semis by over 400 points, according to information available here. Lagan had got past another Indian cuiest Ashok Shandilya, a gold medallist in the last Busan Asian Games, in the semi finals after the latter had ousted compatriot and national champion Devendra Joshi in the quarter finals by 100 points. In addition to the five world pro titles, Sethi has also won three International Billiards and Snooker Federation-organised world championships, the last one being in 2001. Sethi will play in the World Team Snooker championship in the US in August for India seniors.
— PTI
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Narang books 2nd Olympic quota berth
New Delhi, June 3 Narang had earlier secured an Olympic quota place in his pet 10 m rifle event by winning the gold medal at the World Cup in China. With one quota place already in his kitty, Narang needed just the Minimum Quota Score (MQS) to qualify for another category. He shot a series of 100, 98, 100, 98, 99 and 100 to ensure he would get a chance to compete in 50m prone which he had taken up only recently. Meanwhile, Gagan Narang cut a sorry figure in the Milan World Cup and came a disappointing 45th, while compatriot Sanjeev Rajput was a shade better, finishing 44th in the men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions event today. In the women’s section of the event, India’s Kuheli Ganguly could not make her mark and finished 43rd with a score of 558. Kuheli shot 191 (97, 94) in Prone, 177(88, 89) in Standing and 190 (95, 95) in Kneeling, according to information received here.
— UNI
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Men bow out of medal contention
Turin, June 3 On a day when Armenia almost made sure of winning the gold with a comprehensive 3-1 victory over Czech Republic, the top seeded Russian men suffered a setback at the hands of United States going down by a minimal 1.5-2.5 score. After the disaster against Israel even two big victories now seem inadequate for a medal for the team led by World No 2 Viswanathan Anand. Anand and P Harikrishna drew their games while Krishnan Sasikrian and Sandipan Chanda ended on the losing side. Eves still in
the hunt
The fairer sex, however, kept themselves in contention for a medal with a 2-1 victory over Romania with Swati Ghate emerging winner on the third board while Koneru Humpy and D Harika drew on other boards.
— PTI
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IG honours Punjab boxers
Patiala, June 3 The boxers were honoured at a simple but impressive ceremony by Inspector-General (IG), Patiala zone, Mr S.M. Sharma, in the presence of former chief coach of the Indian boxing squad, Mr G.S. Sandhu, Punjab Sports Department’s senior coach, Mr Harpreet Singh, Patiala District Sports Officer (DSO) Mr S.S. Gill and other national and international level sportspersons. The boxers who were felicitated were 11 times senior national boxing champ in the super heavyweight category Harpal Singh, international boxers Harwinder Singh, Balkar Singh, Parminder Singh, Amandeep Bhatti and Gupreet Sandhu. The national level pugilists who were honoured were Bipranbir Singh, Puneet Kumar, Mandeep Singh, Manjinder Singh, Gurpreet Waraich, Didar Singh, and Jaswinder Singh. Among the state medalists who were given the honour were Sandeep Dutta, Nirpal Singh, Gurbir Singh, Gagandeep Dutta, Vipan Kumar, Ram Singh, Bikramjit Singh, Manpreet Singh, Monty Khosla, Dheeraj Kumar, Mangal Singh and Bharatpal Singh. The Inter college winners who were felicitated were Pushkar Singh, Anil Kumar, Lakhbir Singh, Davinder Singh, Kushdeep Singh and Firoz Khan. Interestingly all these boxers are trainees at the Government Multipurpose school boxing centre run by the Punjab Sports Department’s coach Harpreet Singh.
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Swimming meet
Sangrur, June 3 In the 50 m backstroke event (girls group IV), Kajal Saini of Sangrur won the first position and Romi Mandal of Ropar secured the second place. The third place went to Richansha of Sangrur. In the 50 m freestyle ( girls group I), Ramneet of Sangrur won the first position while Prabhjot and Lajdeep of Ropar and Patiala secured second and third places, respectively.
— OSR
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