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Manavjit sets sights on Olympic gold
Jobless players on fast unto death
HP Ranji players get cash rewards
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Another tri-series on the cards
Sania to take on Dementieva
Turkish coach joins boxing squad
BSF rout PSEB
Vikramjit stars
in Indian win
Colts put up strong reply
Nikita wins 800m race
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Manavjit sets sights on Olympic gold
New Delhi, August 3 He was modest about his triumph as he felt that he had to do a lot more hard work to strike it rich in Beijing. But he will spare no effort to achieve his eventual goal, though his immediate target would be to make it good in the Asian Games at Doha (Qatar) in December. “The Olympic Games have a certain mystic, glamour and an Olympic medal is a dream come true,” he noted. Sandhu said he would not have perhaps hit the gold in Zagreb had not his consortium of sponsors, BILT, AIS and JCT, liberally loosened their purse strings to help him compete and train abroad. But he did not forget the contribution of the Government of India either in his success, as shooting being a costly sport, no individual can pursue it on his own without solid institutional financial backing. Manavjit said there was tremendous hard work behind his world championship triumph as there were over 125 shooters in the fray. He said his success could be attributed to hard work, discipline, and the right kind of training and concentrated effort. “A shooter can hit the bull’s eye only if he pursues the sport whole-heartedly. You have to devote full time attention to your chosen sports discipline to succeed at the highest level. It has to be a career in itself,” Sandhu said at a reception hosted here today by Sameer Thapar of JCT. The champion said he would continue to train with his Italian coach Marcello Dradi for four months every year in Italy, though not at a stretch, and compete abroad in other months. “Italy is home for trap shooting,” Manavjit said, while explaining his preference for the Italian coach. He said Dradi had played a pivotal role in helping him turn the corner and wants to keep the association going at least till Beijing. He also indicated that he would take time out after the Asian Games to tie the knot with his long-time sweet heart Kangan Ahluwalia. Manavjit Singh, who became only the second Indian trap shooter to win a medal at the world level after a gap of 44 years — Dr Karni Singh was the first when he struck a silver in the 1962 World Championship — said, “to be able to compete with the best in the world, it requires immense hard work, but nothing can happen without adequate sponsorship. I am extremely thankful to my sponsors BILT, AIS and JCT, who believed in my talent and gave me the necessary support to train with the best coaches and the best equipment”. Manavjit said the fact that he had booked his Olympic berth when he won a silver in the World Cup at Kerrville, Texas in May this year, helped him shoot the final round at Zagreb without much tension. He was sixth at the start of the final, and the guy who was leading was two points ahead of him, but he proved his mettle by climbing to the top with mental toughness in extremely dry conditions. “With hot weather and long delays between rounds, it was difficult to maintain concentration and avoid fatigue,” he recalled. Manavjit said the Olympic campaign in Beijing would be extremely tough as all the top shooters were expected to be there and the key to success would be in upstaging them, with loads of luck, of course. He said in the run up to the Olympics, he would plan his training schedule in such a manner that there will not be any “burn out”. The world champion said “confidence and aggression” was an important factor in success, and he looked up to his own father, Gurbir Singh, as role model and inspiration. He said he was fortunate that he has got his shooting system in place and he has only concentrate on his shooting to realise his Olympic dream.
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Jobless players on fast unto death
Chandigarh, August 3 Like Manjit, there are about 1,000 jobless persons from all over Punjab, all in the age group of 19-25 years, who have played up to national or state level in various disciplines. Sukhjinder Jainpur, who hails from Kapurthala, has also been sitting on fast unto death for the past week. Manjit, who hails from Jalandhar, told reporters here today that she had participated in many national meets, including the National Games. “Despite promises made to the unemployed teachers, the Punjab Government has failed to provide them with jobs,” she alleged. Manjit, who herself is a job aspirant under the sports quota, said she would continue with her fast till their demand was met. “Jainpur’s condition is deteriorating, but the authorities are showing no concern,” said Rajwinder Singh Dhillon, president of the Unemployed Teachers Union,and Mandeep Kundi, secretary of the union. “About 100 of the unemployed teachers from all over Punjab have been sitting in dharna here in rotation for the past several days. All of us have completed physical education course under Guru Nanak Dev University after spending huge sums. We have met Chief Minister Amarinder Singh in the past couple of months on three occasions, but all we have got are assurances,” Kundi lamented.
— PTI
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Pak face Test of nerve
Leeds, August 3 England’s innings and 120-run win, completed inside three days, in the second Test at Old Trafford last week left them 1-0 up in the four-Test encounter after a drawn opener at Lord’s. Pakistan had no answer in Manchester to fast bowler Stephen
Harmison, who took a devastating six for 19 as the tourists collapsed to a meagre 119 all out in their first innings. From then on Pakistan were always chasing the game and defeat was made all the worse Saturday when England slow
left-armer Monty Panesar dented their deserved reputation as fine players of spin by taking five for 72, including five of the top six. Meanwhile, the major handicap that has dogged Pakistan throughout this series — the absence through injury of leading fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif and Rana
Naved-ul-Hasan — remains. Trying to find a solid opening batting partnership has also been a problem. And with Imran Farhat set to miss the Headingley match because of a broken finger sustained while catching Kevin Pietersen at Old Trafford, Pakistan are on course to field their third different opening combination in as many Tests. Pakistan could now recall Salman Butt, dropped for the second Test, while fellow opener Taufeeq Umar, a late addition to the squad, is another possibility. Coach Bob Woolmer is also contemplating changes to Pakistan’s bowling attack after they went in with two leg-spinners, Danish Kaneria and Shahid Afridi, at Old Trafford. However, in the last 10 years at Headingley only one frontline England spinner has taken a Test wicket
(left-armer Ashley Giles dismissing India’s Rahul Dravid in 2002). That has left Woolmer thinking of playing four quicks and one spinner. Paceman Mohammad Sami, especially, struggled to make much of an impression in Manchester and Pakistan, for all their injury problems, have the likes of seamers Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Shahid Nazir and the uncapped Samiullah Niazi all available. For England, who could play Jon Lewis instead of Sajid Mahmood as the third seamer, all eyes will be on wicket-keeper Chris Read following his recall in place of the dropped Geraint Jones.
— AFP
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HP Ranji players get cash rewards
Solan, August 3 Refuting the charge of the state government that the HPCA was “captured” by non-Himachalis, Thakur said of the 85 members, there were 25 life members who were all Himachalis. He said various cricket associations across the country had life members. Though some members were staying outside the state, not one of them was a non-Himachali, he claimed. Thakur criticised the decision of the Indian Olympic Association to introduce the Sports Bill in Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. He said the Bill would deny participation to players from the state in various tournaments. The HPCA chief said a four-day match between India and Pakistan would be held from September 19 to 22 at Dharamsala. Lamenting the lack of government support, he said permission had not been granted to built a five-star hotel and an aerodrome for the convenience of foreign teams at Dharamsala. BAROG: Anurag Thakur has stressed the need for junior-level cricket tournaments in the northern region. Thakur was here to attend a meeting of office-bearers of the North Zone Cricket Association at a hotel this evening. He said efforts were on to start under-13 tournaments. Among others, Mr MP Pandove, Joint Secretary of the BCCI and Honorary Secretary, PCA, Mr Sunil Dev, Sports Secretary, Delhi, and representatives from Haryana, Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir atended the meeting.
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Another tri-series on the cards
Mumbai, August 3 The series will fall after India’s full tour of South Africa in November-December. The World Cup is to be held in the West Indies in March-April. Meanwhile, the proposed tri-series in Singapore and Malaysia would be tentatively from September 15 to 29, Shah said. “The series, involving seven matches, would need around 15 days to complete and it would commence not later than September 15 and end before the end of the month,” he said. The series, part of the BCCI’s scheduled offshore neutral venue ties, will feature India and Australia while a confirmation was awaited from the West Indies.
— PTI
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Sania to take on Dementieva
New Delhi, August 3 The Indian teen beat Srebotnik 6-3, 7-6 to move into the next level against the world No. 6 Russian, who ousted her in the first round of the Wimbledon this year. Sania started well against a tentative Srebotnik, who was struggling with her serve. The Indian was quick to take advantage of the Slovenian’s follies and converted all three break points that came her way to push the world No. 22 to back-foot. The Indian ace completely dominated the first set and hit 30 winners compared to Srebotnik’s 19 to seize the initiative. The next set, however, proved to be quite a test for Sania as a resurgent Srebotnik clawed back into the match. The Slovenian, however, was once again let down by her serve as she committed four double faults. Sania broke Srebotnik twice in the set but could not prevent the match from going into a tie-breaker in which the Indian held her nerves to seal the match in her favour. Paes, Mahesh lose
Fourth seeded Indo-Czech pair of Leander Paes and Martin Damm made an early, ignominious exit from the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington with a straight set, first round defeat against unheralded wild card pair of Ramon Delgado and Rick Leach. The vastly experienced Paes and his Czech partner came a cropper against Delgado of Paraguay and local favourite Leach and went down 3-6, 4-6. Elsewhere, Mahesh Bhupathi, pairing with Chris Haggard of South Africa at the 645,000-euro event in Kitzbuhel, Austria, went down 6-4, 3-6, 10-5 to Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber and Stefan Koubek of Austria. Meanwhile, it was all over for US-based Neha Uberoi, who followed her sister Shikha and crashed out of the Legg Mason Women’s Pro Circuit.
— UNI, PTI
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Turkish coach joins boxing squad
New Delhi, August 3 The Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) secretary-general, Col Muralidharan Raja, said at a media briefing here yesterday that a seven-member Indian boxing team was participating in the AIBA World Cadet Boxing Championship in Istanbul (Turkey), which will conclude on August 14. The team consist of Prem Prakash Pouri (46kg, Madhya Pradesh), Bhoopender (48kg, Haryana), Sunil (50kg, Haryana), Roshan Singh (53kg, SSCB), Durga Rao (54kg, SSCB), Balwinder Singh (57kg, Haryana) and Amit Karki (60kg, SSCB). The squad is accompanied by coaches M.S. Dhaka, Praline Kumar and the two foreign coaches.
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BSF rout PSEB
Chandigarh, August 3 In another match played at Jalandhar, hosts Border Security Force routed Punjab State Electricity Board 4-0. Veteran striker Gurjit Atwal put BSF ahead with a goal in the 19th minute and the lead increased to 2-0 when PSEB conceded a self goal. P.H. Boy Singh’s goal in the 66th minute made it 3-0 in favour of BSF while Kamal Kishore completed the rout with a goal in the 69th minute.
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Vikramjit stars in Indian win
New Delhi, August 3 The first and third goals came off penalty corners while the second was a penalty stroke. For the hosts, Harjeet Singh struck in the 68th minute. Singapore gave a tough time to India late in the match and the defence had to thwart some good moves by the hosts. Indian coach Romesh Pathania, however, felt there was much to learn from the match as the forward should have created more opportunities. In another match, defending champions Pakistan routed Malaysia 6-0. Abdul Haseem Khan scored a brace, while Abbas Haider, Kashif Ali, Adeel Hussain and Muhammad Irfan Ali Khan scored one goal each. — PTI
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Colts put up strong reply
London, August 3 Responding to the hosts’ 392 in the first innings, the Indians were 230 for three at stumps yesterday. The foundation was laid by a 64-run partnership between Uday Kaul (46) and Pervez Aziz (49). Later, Sumit Sharma (42) and Vikram Kohli (unbeaten 42) carried forward the good work. T.M. Srivastava was at the crease with 24 when stumps were drawn. Adil Rashid, who scored a hundred in the England U-19 innings, was the most successful bowler so far with two wickets for 88.
— PTI
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Nikita wins 800m race Pinjore, August 3 Other students of the school who excelled at the meet are: Boys U-17: Raghav Chadha (first in shot put), Rishabh Singh (first in 400 m race) and Rahat Narang (first in 100 m race) Mohit Rana, Rishabh Singh, Raghav Chadha and Rahat Narang won the 4x100 m relay race.
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Jeev tied 9th
Hokkaido, August 3
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