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Musharraf inquires about row
Woods wins title, Chopra tied 41st
champions Trophy
Anand bags Mainz crown
JCT Mills beat Punjab Police
Dhoni seeks gun licence
Chopra new DSA president
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Islamabad, August 21 Inzamam also told private GEO television that the International Cricket Council (ICC) should not let Australian umpire Darrell Hair take charge of any more matches involving Pakistan. “The pride of the nation has been hurt, we have been unfairly labelled as cheats,” Inzamam told GEO, explaining for the first time why he led the dressing room protest yesterday. “It’s not a question of myself and my team, it’s a question of my country. So we decided to protest and no player was ready to play.” Pakistan stayed off the pitch after the tea interval to register their anger at being penalised five runs by Hair and fellow umpire Billy Doctrove over allegations of ball tampering. The Pakistanis eventually came out but the umpires refused to let the match proceed. Inzamam complained about previous decisions by Hair, saying that a number of rulings on the first day of the third Test at Headingley had changed the course of the game. He also criticised Hair’s performance at Faisalabad last November when he ruled that Inzamam had been run out by a throw from England bowler Stephen Harmison, even though the batsman appeared to be taking evasive action. Hair further upset Pakistan in that match by sending Salman Butt back to the striker’s end after ruling that he had not completed a run. Butt was out next ball. “Why does everything happen against us from the end that Hair is umpiring?” Inzamam told GEO. “We hope that this umpire is not standing in our next matches, it would be good to avoid any more controversy. We expect the ICC not to put him in other matches involving Pakistan.” My players didn’t cheat: Woolmer
Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer and tour manager Zaheer Abbas both insisted their side had not been guilty of ball tampering. “I think there was a genuine feeling that, by inference, we had been cheating,” Woolmer told Sky Sports. “I asked every member of the team, under oath basically, whether they had at any time scratched the ball during the innings and they all said no. I looked at the ball and came to my own conclusions. “I didn’t see any undue tampering with the ball — and in 38 years of involvement in cricket I have seen tampering with balls,” former England all-rounder Woolmer added. “It had been hit into the stands on numerous occasions by Kevin Pietersen. I didn’t think there were any undue marks, but that is a personal opinion. “Having asked my team I can concur with them there was probably just damage from concrete and whatever.” Abbas said there was no way the team could simply accept the officials’ decision to penalise the side five runs for ball tampering. “Somehow you have to protest something.” He, too, stressed that Pakistan wanted to continue with the match. “We spoke to each other and we all came to the conclusion that we should go ahead and play. “At that point in time when we were ready to go in, the boys were late. We were late, there’s no doubt about it,” the Pakistan batting great admitted at the Oval today where the team was gathering its kit. “We have all, (the England and Wales Cricket Board and the Pakistan Cricket Board) requested that Hair should come back but he said ‘no, I don’t want to come back’. “We are here to play cricket, we are not here to make problems. The ECB and Pakistan have a very good relationship. We would love to have played. It could have been sorted out nicely,” he said. PCB lodges protest LONDON: Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan said today they had lodged a protest to the governing body, the ICC, over the ball-tampering charge and forfeiture of the fourth Test at the Oval against England. He also called for an independent inquiry into yesterday’s affair but pledged that Pakistan wanted to complete the England tour which included five one-day international matches and one Twenty20 game starting next week. — AFP, Reuters
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Dubai, August 21 “There are two charges brought forward by the umpires, one for changing the condition of the ball and the other for bringing the game into disrepute,” ICC spokesman Jon Long said in a telephonic interview. Both charges were brought against Inzamam for his role as Pakistan captain. The hearing will take place on Friday. The charge for bringing the game into disrepute is a level-three offence. The penalty, if found guilty, would be a ban between two to four Tests or four to eight one-dayers.
— Reuters
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London, August 21 The 53-year-old Australian is a big man with a stern demeanour and a strict interpretation of the rules. He rarely smiles or laughs while play is going on, and, with the exception of Sri Lankans, was generally well regarded among players until yesterday. Now he can add Pakistan to the list of countries where he’s not likely to be welcome. Although he and West Indies umpire Billy Doctrove jointly took the decision on Sunday to sanction Pakistan for ball tampering and then award the fourth Test to England when Pakistan stayed off the pitch in protest, Hair was seen as the main instigator. Pakistan lost a match they had hoped to win and the team was found guilty of ball tampering by the two on-field umpires, ending a miserable tour of England by the tourists. At least two denials of lbw decisions at The Oval Test were excellently judged and Hair is known for paying little heed to the most hysterical appealing. He made his international debut in 1992 and three years later created a storm by no-bowling Murali Muraltharan seven times in three overs in a Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, saying his bowling action was illegal. According to the letter of the law, Muralitharan’s action, using a bent elbow, which results from a congenital condition, is illegal and the International Cricket Council has had to tweak the rules to allow the Sri Lankan to keep bowling. In an autobiography he later described Muralitharan’s bowling action as “diabolical,” a view condemned in Sri Lanka and not accepted by the late Sir Donald Bradman, the greatest of all cricketers, who heaped criticism on Hair for penalising the spinner. Hair’s actions led to death threats from Sri Lanka and he was not on the first list of elite umpires appointed in 2002.He did not umpire Sri Lanka again until 2003 and Muralitharan did not play in another Test in Australia for a decade. Now, Hair’s stubborn refusal to bend to Pakistan, who denied any ball tampering took place, will mean he is unwelcome in Pakistan and his strict adherence to the laws of cricket may backfire on his international ambitions. — AP
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Musharraf inquires about row
Karachi, August 21 “President Musharraf
discussed the situation with Pakistan board chairman Shaharyar Khan and
captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, who aspired him on the crisis. He was very
sympathetic with the team over the sad affair,” a Pakistan team source
said in London. Musharraf, an avid cricket follower, is also the patron
of the Pakistan Cricket Board. He had followed Pakistan team to India
and Sharjah earlier this year. Musharraf normally does not involve
himself in cricket affairs and has delegated all administrative powers
to Shaharyar Khan and team affairs to Inzamam. — PTI
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India beat Pak in hockey
Colombo, August 21 Raghunath drew first blood for India in the 16th minute by converting a penalty corner, while Gurbaj Singh struck the second goal in the 61st minute to earn three points for India. The match had the ingredients of a typical India-Pakistan clash and both sides entertained the Sri Lankan crowd with fast and skillful hockey. India gained the penalty corner early in the match because of a foul on promising striker Gurwinder Singh Chandi. Drag-flicker Raghunath made the most of the chance by shooting home with perfection and giving India the lead. Chandi again played a crucial role in scripting India’s second goal. Chandi, after getting the ball from Dhanjay Mahadik from deep, passed it beautifully to Gurbaj Singh who did not make any mistake in finishing it off nicely. Rowers make golden sweep
Rowers signed off in style, capturing three more gold to make a complete sweep of titles today. Having started with a four-gold haul on Saturday, the Indian rowers claimed top honours during the day in lightweight men’s single scull, doubles scull and coxless fours, leaving their opponents far behind at the picturesque Bolgoda Lake. The Indians thus won all seven gold medals at stake in the event. Shooters call
the shots
Indian shooters maintained a clean slate to win both the team and individual gold medals besides a bronze in women’s 10m air rifle competition today. Radhika Barale shot to glory to take the top individual honour, besides ensuring the team gold along with Navdeep Kaur Dhillon and Raj Kumari at the Welisara shooting range here. In the individual event, Radhika shot 394 in the prelims and 104.1 in the final to aggregate 498.1 that was enough to fetch her the yellow metal. In the team contest, the Indians put up a cumulative score of 1,175 to take home the gold, while Bangladesh got the silver aggregating 1,154, and Pakistan (1,147) had to be content with the bronze. TT men win
team title
Indian paddlers claimed the gold in the men’s team event after a scratchy 3-1 victory over Sri Lanka today. The hosts gave the fancied Indians a scare by taking a 1-0 lead by beating Soumyadeep Roy before Commonwealth Games champion Achanta Sharath Kamal and national champion Shubhajit Saha fended off the surprise challenge. Roy lost to Thilina
Piyadasa, but Sharath beat Rohan Sirisena and Piyadasa, and Saha accounted for Tharindu
Samaraweera. Chinappa bags squash gold
There was no twist in the tale in the summit clash featuring the top two women’s squash players as Joshna Chinappa won her second successive South Asian Games individual gold by beating compatriot Dipika Pallikal in a lop-sided final at the Gymkhana Club today. Experience made all the difference as Joshna overcame Dipika’s initial onslaught to win the tie 9-6, 9-6, 9-1. Kabaddi: India rout Nepal
India started their kabaddi campaign in style, thrashing Nepal in both men’s and women’s categories today. Indian men went full throttle against the minnows, coasting to a comfortable 77-17 victory in a league match. In the women’s league, India registered a 76-14 win.
— PTI, UNI
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Woods wins title, Chopra tied 41st
Medinah (USA), August 21 Former PGA champion Shaun Micheel finished runner-up five strokes behind Woods. Chopra opened the fourth round with a birdie on the first but then double-bogeyed the par-five seventh, one of the easiest holes this week. He turned in one-over-par 37. He again managed a par on the par-five 10th, which most top stars birdied. This was where he had dropped two shots each on the first and third days. Chopra did have birdies on the 14th and 15th holes but bogeys on the tough 16th and 17th holes neutralised that and he ended with a 73 and in a tie for the 41st place which earned him $ 23,080. Chopra’s best came on the second day, when he carded a five-under 67 to move up to the 12th place. But in the third round, when he was playing with Spaniard Sergio Garcia, he shot a 76 and dropped to 40th and never recovered. The Asian challenge was led by Korean KJ Choi finished a creditable seventh. The Asian star had five birdies against four bogeys on the card of 71 in the year’s final Major and his four-day total of 10-under-par 278 was good for tied seventh place. American Micheel, who plied his trade in Asia previously and is a former Singapore Open champion, finished second after a 69, while Australian Adam Scott, who will defend his Barclays Singapore Open title next month was third. Woods’ 12th Major win put him in sole second place behind Jack Nicklaus, who has 18. Garcia, Englishman Luke Donald and Australian Adam Scott were tied for the third place, a stroke behind second-placed Micheel. Canadian Mike Weir held on to the sole second place until he made four bogies on the back nine and dropped to the sixth spot. US Open winner Geoff Ogilvy and defending champion Phil Mickelson finished ninth and 16th, respectively. — PTI
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Hiroshima, August 21 Led by a 27-point effort from Eduardo Mingas, African champions Angola also booked their spot in the knockout round, cruising past winless New Zealand 95-73 to maintain their 100 per cent record and grab a share of the top spot in Group B alongside Spain. In Sendai, Olympic champions Argentina also improved to 3-0 after dumping Venezuela 96-54 to move to the top of Group A, while defending champions Serbia and Montenegro finally notched their first win in the 24-team tournament, pounding Lebanon 104-57. Japan finally gave the home fans reason to cheer, defeating Panama 78-61 to keep alive their hopes of advancing, while France beat Nigeria 64-53. The victory moved France into second place in Group A with a record of 2-1, followed by Serbia and Montenegro, Lebanon, Venezuela and Nigeria all on 1-2. With the USA and other teams in Groups C and D getting the day off, the spotlight was firmly focused on a top- flight Group B clash between unbeaten Spain and Germany and a much-anticipated showdown between their NBA all-stars Pau Gasol and Dirk Nowitzki. Widely regarded as the two best players from outside the USA, Gasol and Nowitzki were expected to light up the championships in a match-up of European rivals. However, Gasol ran into early foul trouble and was anchored to the bench for most of the opening half. Still, the Memphis Grizzlies power forward contributed 16 points to the win as Spain avenged a semifinal loss to Germany at last year’s European Championship and a quarterfinal defeat at the 2002 World Championship. Jose Calderon, who will play next season for the Toronto Raptors, led Spain with 20 points, while Nowitzki had a team high 14 for Germany. “I thought they did a good job keeping the ball away from me,” said Nowitzki, who led the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA finals this year before losing to Miami Heat. “Really, they gave me no room to operate, I couldn’t get any rhythm. “I think the difference is we made crucial turnovers at crucial times and against good teams like Spain you can’t do that.” After reaching the final four at the 2002 World Championship, New Zealand are in danger of failing to advance from the preliminary round following three straight defeats. Guard Mark Dickel, who missed the first three games of the tournament serving a drug suspension, will be back in the Tall Blacks line-ups for New Zealand’s final two preliminary round games against Japan and Panama, which they must win to have a chance of advancing. Serbia and Montenegro were also in danger of slipping to 0-3 but got double-digit efforts from seven players to get a big win over Lebanon to keep their title defence hopes alive. — Reuters
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champions Trophy Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 21 The two teams will play one-dayers against Punjab XI on October 4 and 5. Several matches of the Champions Trophy are scheduled to be played at the PCA Stadium, Mohali. The president of the PCA, Mr Inderjit Singh Bindra, had asked the Chandigarh Administration for its help in hosting the two warm-up matches. The Adviser to the UT Administrator, Mr Lalit Sharma, has agreed to the proposal made by the PCA. It was finalised at a high-level meeting of the officialdom here today. Entry to the stadium for the warm-up matches would be free. The Sector 16 stadium has recently undergone major renovation. The pitches have been re-laid, new stands have been erected, a new media box has been constructed and the latest sprinkler system installed. The Haryana Cricket Association had hosted the Ranji Trophy semifinal between Haryana and Jharkhand at the venue in March last year.
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Anand bags Mainz crown
Mainz (Germany), August 21 The Indian won his sixth title in a row here, and ninth overall, a record that is unlikely to be surpassed according to pundits of the game. Anand, who was tied at 3-3 when the seventh game commenced, won the match against Teimour Radjabov 5-3 on the final day of the week-long chess extravaganza. Apart from Anand, the other Indian contestant also came out with flying colours in the Ordix Open rapid tournament, finishing joint third and fourth overall in the strongest open of the world in this variant of the game. Former world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan and twice world junior champion Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan tied for the first spot here both tallying 9.5 points out of a possible 11, while Harikrishna scored nine points to figure in the 3-7 place bracket.
— PTI
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JCT Mills beat Punjab Police
Chandigarh, August 21 A cross by Harish was followed by international Parveen Kumar’s brilliant header which put the mill men ahead by one goal in the 38th minute. Thereafter, the two teams had an equal share of the exchanges but the mill men hung on to the early lead till the end to romp home with full points. In another match played at Jalandhar, BSF rallied to hold RCF to a 1-1 draw. After Kuldeep Singh put RCF ahead in the 75th minute, BSF’s T.H. Boy Singh found the equaliser in the 90th minute, fetching a valuable point for his side. In the second division, Capt GPS Chahal SC lost to SGGS Football Society 1-3 while Youth FC, Rurka Kalan, prevailed over GS Parmar Football Club, Narur Panchhat, 2-0.
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Ranchi, August 21 Dhoni has applied for a gun licence fearing security threats to himself and the family. Ranchi Deputy Commissioner Pradeep Kumar said: “Dhoni has applied for the gun licence. But he has not submitted the papers needed for the same.” According to officials, Dhoni had applied for the licence some time ago citing security reasons, following his celebrity status that brings with it attendant problems. Said Home Minister Sudesh Mahto: “Dhoni can get a licence. He is young and popular in India. The state government can ensure his protection within Jharkhand, but the gun licence is also attached with social status.” Though Dhoni has not received any threats so far, his family members are taking no chances. — IANS
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New Delhi, August 21 The house then passed a unanimous resolution authorising Mr Chopra to select his team of office-bearers, which includes six vice-presidents, one secretary, one treasurer, three joint secretaries and nine managing committee members. — OSR
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