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India need to plug bowling loopholes
Australia bounce back to beat Korea Hingis arrives for Sunfeast Open
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Santosh Trophy
Indian golfers lie
second
JCT Mills in final
Using wrestling to keep
youth off drugs
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India need to plug bowling loopholes
Kuala Lumpur, September 15 Tendulkar cracked a scintillating unbeaten 141 in the first match against the West Indies yesterday, not only proving that he had plenty of cricket left in him but also silencing his detractors for at least some time. The Mumbai batsman gave glimpses of his sublime form of yesteryear by blasting 13 boundaries and five sixes during his knock which is bound to leave the Australians, who have been at the receiving end of his fury on a number of occasions in the past, a trifle worried. While Tendulkar’s return to form after an injury-induced layoff of nearly six months is heartening news for the Indian camp, the form of the frontline bowlers is a worrying factor for the team. After being done in by the Duckworth-Lewis method in the rain-hit match against the West Indies, who were declared winners by 29 runs, the Indians will be under more pressure now. Rahul Dravid and his men may feel that they were distinctly unlucky to lose the match after scoring 309 for five and considering that the West Indies had collapsed like a pack of cards after a solid start against Australia, but they have no option but to put the defeat behind them and focus on the next game at the Kinrara Oval. The Indian team management may again opt to go in with a five-pronged bowling attack instead of relying on part-timers to perform the fifth bowler’s role. But pacemen Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Munaf Patel and RP Singh, who have been highly indisciplined and ineffective, will have to come up with an improved show to contain the rampaging Australians. Captain Dravid has acknowledged that his bowlers were much too inconsistent in the opening match against the Caribbeans. “We could have bowled better in the first 20 overs. We needed to pitch the ball in the right areas. We will have to improve on that,” Dravid said. Yuvraj Singh, a key component in the one-day squad, is expected to return to the team after sitting out the first match because of fever. The return of Yuvraj may mean that Mohammed Kaif will be left out. The Australians, on their part, are in no mood to take the Indians lightly, particularly after Tendulkar has shown that he could still wield the willow like a genius. “Sachin is the best player I have seen and the best player I have played against. He has a good record against Australia and when I look at his overall record, something like 75 hundreds in international cricket, that are just an amazing statistics,” Australian captain Ricky Ponting said. “He’s obviously a world-class player and having him back at the top of their order makes India even more formidable”, he said. The Australians are keen to try out some of their fringe players in this tournament and it is quite likely that they will continue to experiment in tomorrow’s day-night encounter. The strongly built Matthew Hayden, who has the habit of tormenting India with his big knocks, is likely to get a chance after sitting out of the first match. The presence of Hayden at the top of the order and captain Ponting at number 3 means that India’s new-ball bowlers have absolutely no margin for error.
Sachin, McGrath set to renew rivalry
Glenn McGrath is keen to renew his rivalry with Sachin Tendulkar, but the top Indian batsman sought to play it down on the eve of the India-Australia clash. “I have always enjoyed bowling to the best batsmen. Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar are two of them. I didn’t get to bowl to Lara in the other match, so I am that much keen to bowl to Sachin. I am looking forward to the challenge,” McGrath said. Tendulkar, on the other hand, refused to enter into any psychological warfare. “To play him will be a challenge. It is not going to be easy. But I don’t like to look at it as battles between individuals,” the world’s leading run-getter in the shorter version of the game said. “It is a cricket match between India and Australia, and the other 20 players will also be participating. Both McGrath and Tendulkar are returning to international cricket after a lengthy lay-off for different reasons. The 36-year-old Australian was away eight months to be with his wife who underwent treatment for cancer while the Indian was out of action since March after a shoulder surgery. McGrath has dismissed Tendulkar six times each in Tests and one-dayers, and has taken 32 wickets from 22 one-dayers at 26.28 against the Indians, which is slightly above his overall average of 22.45. “McGrath is a great bowler. One doesn’t need to be told about that,” said the 33-year-old batsman who has 14,289 runs under his belt from 364 matches. “We are all looking forward to the game. It should be an exciting match.” Tendulkar seems to have his tail up at the mention of Australia, against whom he has scored 2,157 runs in 44 ODIs at 49.02, which is higher than his career average of 44.65. Teams (from): India: Rahul Dravid (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Irfan Pathan, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Mohammad Kaif, Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Munaf Patel, Dinesh Mongia, S Sreesanth and Ramesh Powar. Australia: Ricky Ponting (captain), Michael Hussey, Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark, Michael Clarke, Mark Cosgrove, Dan Cullen, Brad Haddin, Mathew Hayden, Brad Hogg, Phil Jaques, Mitchell Johnson, Simon Katich, Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath, Damien Martyn, Andrew Symonds and SR Watson.
— PTI
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Australia bounce back to beat Korea Today’s matches 9th-12th place playoffs India vs Argentina (1.30 pm) Japan vs S. Africa (6.30 pm) 7th place playoff Holland vs
New Zealand (6.30 pm) 5th place playoff Pakistan vs England (9 pm) Live on Ten Sports Monchengladbach, September 15 Twice down by a goal in a thrilling semifinal clash, the never-say-die Aussies slammed four goals in the second half to stamp their authority and march into the final in style at the Warsteiner Hockey Park here. In a high-class encounter of aggressive and near-flawless hockey, Koreans gave the No 1 ranked Australians a run for their money through goals by drag-flicker Jong Hyun Jang (31st minute) and Seong Jung Kang (41st). But, the Kangaroos came back to fire four goals through strikes by captain Bevan George (38th), Travis Brooks (51st), Jamie Dwyer (61st) and M McCan (70th) and smash the Koreans' golden dream. The valiant and incredible saves by Korean custodian Dong Sik Ko as well as the advantage of getting the lead twice in the match went in vain for Korea, semi-finalists at the 2002 World Cup, as they met a similar fate tonight. The Koreans, enjoyed a good first-half when they had Australia on the ropes with a series of penetrative attacks before forging ahead when Jong Hyun Jang converted the third penalty corner. Australia caught up in the 38th minute when George diverted Luke Doerner's well-disguised pass from a penalty corner. But the Koreans regained the initiative as Kang, cutting in from the right, found the net with a wrong-foot flick that caught goalkeeper Stephen Mowlam off-guard. The Aussies kept their composure and came up with another variation from a penalty corner, this time Travis Brooks finishing a brilliant one-touch passing bout involving Troy Elder and George. Hereabouts, the Australians stepped up the pace and took control of the game and Dwyer deflected a Mark Knowles diagonal and with seconds left, McCann exchanged a 1-2 with Brooks to flick home the fourth goal. It was a brilliant tactical win for the Aussies who played an uncharacteristic game in the first-half when they strove to slow down the pace with little of their patented aggression in evidence. The Koreans made the best of the situation with the opponents preferring to lie back and ride the punches that, however, could not deliver a knock-out. Rather, the Aussies tended to play a waiting game and making the Koreans do the running. The strategy nearly backfired with the Koreans coming close to scoring before Jang converted for the first goal. The Australians then switched gears to equalise and as the match progressed, they stepped on the throttle and after equalising a second time, they piled on pressure that finally cracked the Korean defence. It was Australia's third entry into the final, having won the Cup in 1986 and finished runners-up to Germany in 2002. England beat Kiwis
A last-gasp goal by James Tindall helped England beat New Zealand 4-3 in a classification match for 5th-8th positions at the hockey World Cup here today. In the playoff for the fifth place tomorrow, England will take on Pakistan, who beat the Netherlands 3-2 today.
— PTI
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Hingis arrives for Sunfeast Open
Kolkata, September 15 The world number nine Swiss player, who became the youngest Wimbledon champion at the age of 15 years and nine months, flew in to the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport accompanied by her mother and personal support staff. Chaos reigned for some time outside the airport terminal as a posse of lenspersons and electronic media personnel rushed for vantage positions to capture footage of the tennis star on her maiden visit to India. The Slovakia-born player, who turns 27 on September 30, would be turning out only in the singles in the tournament. Hingis — known for her sharp groundstrokes, good anticipation and outstanding net play — has won 41 singles and 36 doubles titles. She became the youngest player to grab the number one spot at the age of 16 years and six months. Meanwhile, among the others who came today were world No. 82 Russian Anastasia Rodionova and world No. 64 Ukranian Yuliana Fedak. The rest of the brigade included Annie Keothavong, Abaigail Spears, Sabine Lisicki and Alberta Brianti. Spears is a feed-up player who is getting a direct entry into the draw of 32 as a wild card. Sania seeded fifth
With Sania Mirza’s WTA ranking plummeting to 70, the Indian ace has been seeded fifth at the Sunfeast Open. Martina Hingis is the top seed in the 32-player draw. Sania, who was the third seed in last year’s edition of the tournament, will now be seeded behind Hingis, Croatian Karolina Sprem (50), Ukrainian Yuliana Fedak (64) and French Aravane Rezai (66). Hungarian Melinda Czink (84), who defeated Sania in this tournament last year, has been seeded eighth. Sunfeast Tournament Director Jaideep Mukherjea said, “Going by the rankings, she has been seeded fifth.”
— PTI, UNI
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Santosh Trophy
Faridabad, September 15 Chandigarh matched Services for the major part of the first half but MG Ramachandran’s 42nd minute strike gave Services a 1-0 lead at half-time. Services resumed the second half with renewed vigour and N Gerneilal buttressed the lead in the 53rd minute, while A Thirunavakarasu made it 3-0 within another 10 minutes. There was no respite for Chandigarh as Shaji A D’Silva scored the fourth goal for his side. For Chandigarh, Deepak Hooda scored the consolation goal in the 89th minute. Earlier today, a complacent Assam survived a late Sikkim burst before beating them 5-3. Assam sent an ominous signal by pumping in four goals in the first half as the hapless Sikkim defence crumbled, with Robijit Zigdung (5th, 14th minute), Abel Sema (30th) and Brijab Mushahary (38th) finding the target. Despite trailing 0-4, Sikkim didn’t give up and struck thrice in succession through Bir Bhadhur Pradhan (48th), Chunku Sherpa (72) and Ruben Rai (81st) to make it 3-4. Akum Ao’s 90th-minute strike sealed the game in favour of Assam. Meghalaya stun Mizoram
Gurgaon: A far-from-impressive Uttar Pradesh were good enough to blank unfancied Andaman and Nicobar 3-0 in a Cluster II match here today. In the morning session, Meghalaya stunned Mizoram 1-0 in another Cluster II match at the same venue. The Uttar Pradesh team, with couple of players from top clubs like Mahindra United and Vasco, could have won the match by a bigger margin but they missed several sitters against lowly Andaman and Nicobar. The scorers for the winners were Hadi Hassan Khan (12th minute), Peter Siddiqi (63rd) and former international Jatin Bisht (89th).
— UNI
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Indian golfers lie
second
Kuala Lumpur, September 15 Mardan Mamat and Lam Chih Bing fired a third round of eight-under-par 63 in the fourball format today with the former showing solid putting, including an eagle on the par-five 13th hole of the Seri Selangor Golf Club. The Singaporeans had a three-day total of 12-under-par 201 while India were at nine-under 204. Kapur, ranked sixth on the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit, and Ghei, tied for the overnight lead, are now sole second with Malaysian duo Danny Chia and Iain Steel in third place after an equally impressive 63. The top two teams will qualify for the World Golf Championships-World Cup in Barbados in December. The Indians had six birdies against a lone bogey and they hope to make one final bid to win the title tomorrow. Jeev tied 15th
Sapporo: Jeev Milkha Singh birdied each of the three par-fives and returned a card of one-under 70 to be at tied 15th position on the second day of the 100 million yen ANA Open at the Sapporo Golf Club here today. The Indian ace, who has had a string of top-10 finishes in Japan this year, is now four-under 138 for two rounds. He is five shots behind sole leader Tomohiro Kondo, who had six birdies, an eagle and one bogey in his seven-under 64 and a total of nine-under 133. Kondo, led by a shot over Yokoto Shinichi (67), is at eight-under 134. Jeev, starting on the 10th bogeyed the 12th, but recovered ith a birdie on 17th to turn in even par. On the front nine of the course, Jeev birdied the fifth and ninth and dropped a shot on seventh. Tetsuya Haraguchi (69) and Ryuichi Oda (65) were tied for third at seven under 137, while five players, including overnight leader Chawalit Plaphol (71), were tied for fifth at six-under 136. Jeev, the leader on the UBS Asian Tour Order of Merit, is currently 18th on Japan Tour Money List and is aiming to finish at least inside the top 10 by the end of the season. Atwal set to miss cut
Farmington (USA): Arjun Atwal was in danger of missing yet another cut after returning a card of seven-over 79 on the opening day of the 84 Lumber Classic. Atwal was lying 132nd, way below the expected cut line at the Mystic Rock golf course here. This season, Atwal has already missed 16 cuts in 26 starts and at 139th place on money list and he could be forced back to the Qualifying School with limited exemptions for next season. Atwal had bogeys on the second, fourth, 10th and 11th and he dropped four shots on the 17th when he went into the water. His only bogey came on eighth and he needed 33 putts on a tough day. Nicholas Thompson, who came through the qualifying school on 2005 and is currently 181st on the Money List, shot an eight-under 64 as he took advantage of an early starting time. The course was wet and the greens had softened because of overnight rain. Meanwhile, Michelle Wie’s sixth attempt to become the first woman in 61 years to make the cut in a PGA Tour also looked bleak as she shot a five-over 77.
— PTI
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JCT Mills in final
Chandigarh, September 15 Diminutive striker Sunil Chhetri, utilising his rich international experience, opened the account for JCT in the 10th minute and later bolstered the lead through another opportunistic strike in the 30th minute. Mohun Bagan Football Academy managed to pull one back with only a minute to go for the long whistle. In the final, JCT will meet the winners of the match between Air-India and Tata Football Academy.
— TNS |
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Colts thrash Pakistan
Karachi, September 15
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JCT Mills, AI in final Chandigarh, September 15
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Using wrestling to keep youth off drugs Ropar, September 15 He was here on the first day of the release of the film along with other team members. Parminder, who hails from Dhumchheri village here, started his carrier as a wrester at the age of 12. He won “Rustam-e-Hind” title by defeating a number of wrestlers of from India and neighbouring countries, including Pakistan. “My father was a wrestler and he wanted me to be famous. So I started practising right from the childhood,” he said. Aiming to reform the youth in the state through wrestling, he said there was an urgent need to channel the energy of the youth involved in drug abuse by providing them with a platform to keep them fit and occupied. “This is my second film. I had played a small role in Punjabi film ‘Yaran Naal Baharan’.” Labh Janjua, who has sung “Pyaar kar ke pachtaya” in Hindi flick “Pyaar Ke Side Effects” and contributed three songs for “Rustam-e-Hind”, was also present. Janjua, now established in Mumbai, said he had got a number of offers in Hindi films. “Mundean to bachke” for Hindi hit “Boom” was the main breakthrough for me. Thereafter, I got a number of offers,” he added. “I have contributed in 12 Punjabi films and belted out a number of cassettes. But I have worked hard to reach this stage,” he said. Expressing regret that a number of people had launched websites on his name in London, he said he would file law suits against the violators there. |
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