Colombo, August 11
Indian cricket captain Rahul Dravid today said his team’s emphatic series victory when it last met Sri Lanka would not give them any psychological advantage in the upcoming tri-series since the hosts were very difficult opponents at home.

India had thrashed the Lankans 6-1 at home in October last year, but Dravid said their Asian rivals had come a long way since then.

“I don’t believe in such things as psychological advantage. The 6-1 win was a long time ago and lot of water has gone under the bridge,” Dravid said at a press conference ahead of the tournament, which has South Africa as the third team.

“All three teams start on even footing and it will be a matter of who gets used to the conditions fast and better,” the Indian skipper added.

Dravid said India would find their task that much harder as the Lankan team has been on a roll with good performances in England followed by the 2-0 Test series win over South Africa and the African team themselves were no easy meat.

“Sri Lanka have played well recently and the series in England has given them confidence. They have the momentum going and they are specially formidable at home,” he said.

“South Africa are ranked number two in the world. They have some explosive players and in the past two years, if you look at their record, they have been second only to Australia. They even successfully chased a target of 434,” Dravid said.

The Bangalorean said handling the middle overs in batting would be one of the key areas for India’s success.

“We did well against the same set of spinners when they came to India, hopefully we can do well here as well. The key is to bat well in the middle overs. One of the areas where we failed last time was that we did not play bowlers like Tillekaratene Dilshan and Sanath Jayasuriya well.” Dravid, however, warned about the danger of focusing only on tackling Sri Lanka’s spearhead Muttiah Muralitharan.

“We have played Murali in the past. He is a difficult bowler, especially at home under lights. So, the strategy for teams coming here has been about playing Murali.

“But we cannot focus on one bowler. They also have Chaminda Vaas and Dilhara Fernando, and Lasith Malinga has also been bowling well.

“We tend to forget that there is the whole South African team to be dealt with.”

Colombo, August 11
The south-west monsoon that had held itself back all through three weeks of the Sri Lanka-South Africa cricket Test series finally lashed the capital, throwing a spanner to the teams’ practice plans ahead of the tri-series beginning on Monday.

The Indian team that arrived here midnight last had to shelve their ideas of evening nets while South Africa and the hosts had their respective warm-up matches cancelled.

The African team, which lost the two-Test series 2-0, were to play a warm-up limited overs game against a second rung Sri Lankan team. The Sri Lankan seniors were to play a Twenty20 match between themselves in the evening.

The rains that started early last evening continued through the night and well into the morning today.

The Indian cricketers spent their time relaxing in the swimming pool and a couple of them also ventured out for a stroll on the sidewalk running parallel to the shoreline opposite to the team hotel, enjoying the sight of waves crashing under a severely overcast sky.

The downpour though had stopped by noon and the roads were beginning to dry up.

The South African team has moved out of Hotel Taj Samudra where they had been housed during the Test series, apparently to escape the security hassles that come with the Indian team.

The South Africans checked out and moved to Hotel Cinnamon yesterday afternoon, well before Rahul Dravid and Co. checked into the Taj. — PTI

London, August 11
England spin star Monty Panesar is not going over the moon by his coach’s flattering remark that he is the best finger spinner in the world, saying Harbhajan Singh and Daniel Vettori are better bowlers.

The left-arm spinner, who has taken 16 wickets in three Tests against Pakistan, was dubbed the best finger spinner by Duncan Fletcher yesterday.

But Panesar, the first Sikh to play for Britain, believes it is too early for him to be rated as the best. “I think there are other better finger spinners like Daniel Vettori and Harbhajan Singh, who have taken more than 200 Test wickets each,” he said.

Panesar wanted to be the next Wasim Akram and bounce batsmen but destiny had other plans and he ended up being a spinner, who metamorphosed into a cult figure and now finds himself as the frontrunner for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.

“It is like when I first started playing cricket, I wanted to be like Wasim Akram. I wanted to be a fast bowler and bowl bouncers. But again I think it was destiny, maybe I was meant to be a spin bowler,” the mild-mannered Monty told the Daily Mirror.

Being hailed as the new Ashes hope for an injury depleted England side, Monty says all the appreciation — especially from former greats like Ian Botham — flatter him but his learning process in international cricket had only just begun.

“It is flattering to hear those things from people who know everything about cricket,” he said. “But I still have got a lot to learn. I am working on my version of the doosra, but we will just have to see what happens with it. As I gradually add things, it is one of my ambitions to be the best. It would be nice once day to be recognised as that,” the shy left-armer added.

Panesar knows he is in the reckoning for the BBC award and admits that he does have an acceptance speech ready in case he wins. “You will have to see on the television. Assuming I win,” he told The Times.

He, however, still can’t understand the reason for all the attention he has been getting. “I don’t know why I seem to be so popular. I certainly didn’t expect it to happen when I first came to play cricket. When I was younger, I just wanted to play cricket for England. Maybe that is my destiny. Not in a religious sense, it is general belief about how things happen,” he says in a perplexed manner.

The spinner says even his first Test victim, master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, was destiny’s work, as he never dreamt of getting such a high profile wicket on his debut. “I didn’t expect to dismiss Sachin Tendulkar for my first Test wicket so I put things like that down to destiny,” he said.

Monty also insists that the celebrations that follow after he takes a wicket are not choreographed to amuse the crowd, the high-jumps and the missed high-fives are his natural reactions, which by default ended up becoming a hit with the spectators.

“It just happens naturally — it is not something I think about. There are no plans to choreograph anything else, it just happens. A few of my team-mates give me a bit of friendly banter about what I do — it is all good fun,” he added.

A deeply religious person, Monty says he tries to get to visit the temple once every month as it has a calming effect on him. The 24-year-old from Luton, however, is not very comfortable with queries on his religion and the multi-culturalism that he has come to symbolise.

“I don’t really think about stuff like that. It all sounds a bit too deep for me. I just like to concentrate on cricket,” he told in another interview to ‘The Times’.

“All I am really focused on is getting things right on the pitch when I get selected for England. It’s good for Britain when people, you know, live in a multicultural situation,” he added.

Away from cricket, the shy youngster loves the sound of R&B and considers Penelope Cruz as the most beautiful woman in the world. But is still not ready to reveal whether he has a girlfriend. “I don’t want to go there,” he said. — PTI, UNI

Vlissingen, August 11
Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua scored a hard fought victory over International Master Perez Rodney of Cuba to take the joint lead after the seventh round of Hogeschool Zeeland International Open chess tournament here.

It turned out to be another good outing for Parimarjan Negi as he held higher ranked Grandmaster Friso Nijboer of the Netherlands to an easy draw to remain in joint lead after the top four boards failed to yield any results despite tough fights.

With just two rounds to go in the nine-round Swiss event, seven players are joint leaders with six points each out of a possible seven. They are GM Vyacheslkav Ikonnikov of Russia, GM Michal Krasenkow of Poland, GM Erwin L’Ami of Holland, International Master Mikhail Klenburg of Ukraine, Nijboer, Barua and Negi.

In the penultimate round, it is going to be tough fight for Negi as he meets second seed Krasenkow while Barua will take on Nijboer in what is expected to be a bloody battle.

Apart from Negi and Barua, the other three Indians in the fray also had a good seventh round as none of them ended on the losing side.

IM-in-waiting Saptarshi Roy and IM Roktim Bandyopadhyay scored over Dutch rivals Zomer Koos and Plukkel Sjoerd, respectively, while Matthieu Freeke, another Dutchman, held IM Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury to a draw.

Things unfolded quite dramatically in the game between Barua and Rodney wherein the Indian played with white pieces. It was an Italian opening by Barua that only gave a minimal advantage and Rodney was quite up to the task in exchanging pieces at regular intervals to get a balanced queen and knight endgame with both sides having seven pawns each.

It was here that Barua showcased his brilliant endgame skills and punished Rodney for his slight inaccuracy on the king side. Winning a pawn soon after, Barua exchanged the queens as well and it was a long grind that ensued thereafter resulting in a full point for the wily Kolkata-based player after 60 moves.

Negi played the white side of a Classical Sicilian and did not get much in opening of the main lines of the Rauzer attack. Alert as ever, Nijboer sacrificed a pawn in the middle game to open lines on the queen side and Negi went for the trade of queens soon after to ease the tension.

As the game progressed, Nijboer had a semblance of an advantage but the 13-year-old was quick to neutralise that with active kingside play.

Running short of time, Nijboer had little option but to go for perpetual checks on offer and the peace was signed after 30 moves. — PTI

Castle Rock (USA), August 11
Jeev Milkha Singh opened his campaign at The International on the USPGA Tour with three points.

The event is unique as it encourages attacking golf with rich rewards for birdies and eagles.

Jeev shot two birdies and had one bogey to be tied for the 65th place.

Sweden’s Mathias Gronberg, going through a lean season, found form and took a two-point lead in the thin Colorado mountain air. The 36-year-old played aggressive golf and stacked up eight birdies and three bogeys for a total of 13 points on the modified Stableford scoring system. Gronberg finished with successive birdies to cap a fine day.

Arjun Atwal and Daniel Chopra were tied 104th with minus one point each.

Players get eight points for an albatross (three under), five for an eagle and two for a birdie. The penalty for a bogey is a deduction of a point while three are cut for a double bogey or worse.

Jeev, the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit leader playing in the USA for the first since the US Open, opened with a string of nine pars after starting on the 10th hole. He then birdied the first and fifth and looked well set for a decent finish before bogeying the par-five eighth.

Atwal, who also opened on the 10th, started with two bogeys, had another two on the 17th and 18th and then closed with two more on the eighth and ninth. In between, he had three birdies and another bogey. He finished with seven bogeys and three birdies, as did Chopra.

Chennai, August 11
The Indian hockey teams for the coming World Cup and South Asian Federation Games would be announced on August 16, the last day of the four-team Independence Cup starting here tomorrow.

The four national selectors, along with Indian Hockey Federation President K.P.S Gill, would finalise the team after assessing the players’ performance in the five-day tournament, IHF Secretary K. Jothikumaran said at a press conference here yesterday.

The SAF Games are to be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from August 18 to 27 while the World Cup from September 6 to 17 is in Monchengladbach, Germany.

Jothikumaran said the players for the World Cup would be selected from the probables who underwent a training camp in Hyderabad while the team for the SAF Games would comprise players from the development team with a couple of senior players.

However, he said even a development team player who is not among the World Cup probables could be chosen for the championship if his performance warrants it.

On the training camp at Hyderabad, he said the general feedback was that the team was shaping up well under new physical trainer Derick Knox of Australia.

Jothikumaran said the U-18 team, which took part in a tournament in Singapore recently, gave a good account of itself and gained valuable exposure despite going down to Pakistan in the final.

Talking about the Independence Cup, which would feature the Indian Senior, Indian Development, Indian Junior (U-18) and Tamil Nadu state teams, he said it was a unique event as all the national teams would be seen in action at a single tournament.

The teams would play each other once in the round-robin league and the top two finishers would qualify for the final to be played on August 16, after a rest day on Independence Day.

In the opening encounters tomorrow, Indian Juniors (U-18) take on Tamil Nadu while Indian Seniors clash with Indian Development team.

Jothikumaran said there were plans to make the Independence Cup a regular tournament.

Informing that ONGC was the main sponsor for the tournament, he said the IHF was expecting a couple of more sponsors before the start of the event. — PTI

New Delhi, August 11
Midfielder Zaidinmawia Hmar will lead India in the football competition of the South Asian Games starting in Colombo, Sri Lanka, later this month.

A 20-member squad consisting entirely of Under-20 players was announced yesterday and the All-India Football Federation is using the tournament to prepare the team for the AFC Youth Cup starting on October 29 in Bangalore.

All other countries at the SAF Games will field their senior teams.

The team will be under the supervision of chief coach Islam Akhmedov while B. Diengdoh will be the team manager and Hemanta Dora the goalkeeping coach. Dipti Kumar Ghosh will accompany the team as physiotherapist.

India open their campaign at the SAF Games with a match against Afghanistan on August 14. It then faces Nepal on August 16 and Bangladesh on August 19. The semifinals will be played on August 24 with the final scheduled for August 26.

India, which sent its U-20 side for the previous edition of the games in Islamabad in 2004, exited in the semifinals losing 1-0 to the hosts.

The Indian squad for the 2006 competition has three goalkeepers, four defenders, nine midfielders and four strikers.

Squad: goalkeepers: Shilton Paul, Souvik Mondal, Premjit Singh; defenders: Baljit Sahni, Rakesh Masih, Gobin Singh, Baldeep Singh; midfielders: Zaidinmawia Hmar (Capt), H. Noaba Singh, Lalkamal Bhowmik, Lalmarsawma Hmar, O P Lepcha, Hirohito Elangbam, Lalramluaha, Branco Vincent Cardozo, Malsawmdawngliana; strikers: Reisangmi Vashum, Vimal Pariyar, Sushil Kumar Singh, Beevan D’Mello. — PTI

New Delhi, August 11
Lack of proper infrastructure and security concerns have resulted in Jammu and Kashmir losing the opportunity to host the Santosh Trophy this year. The National Football Championship will now be hosted by Haryana.

After reviewing the preparations for conducting the Santosh Trophy in Srinagar, All-India Football Federation President Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad agreed that the infrastructure for 
conducting the tournament in the state capital would not be ready by next year.

The Santosh Trophy will now be held at Gurgaon and Faridabad from September 14, an AIFF press release said today. The detailed draw will be released next week.

Azad assured Dasmunsi that the work on improving the infrastructure in the state would continue and requested that Srinagar be granted the 
national championship next year.

The AIFF had almost made up its mind to stage the tournament in Jammu and Kashmir this year before several states, most notably Goa and Bengal, asked for a rethink citing the recent spurt in terrorist violence in the state.

Orissa and Tamil Nadu had also expressed interest in staging the annual championship. — PTI