Mohali, October 25
Jubilation on the face of Stephen Fleming said it all. Fleming had just caught an easy catch to dismiss Kamran Akmal, the last Pakistan batsman, to signal the end of Pakistan innings and his team’s passage into the semifinals of the Champions Trophy.

Only yesterday on the eve of the crucial match against Pakistan he had talked about the lack of adequate bench strength and the lack of consistency shown over the years by the team. His players chose the right occasion and come together in a splendid fashion tonight to hand an impressive victory to the skipper as New Zealand emerged the first team to into the semifinals.

Put into to bat by Pakistan, the Kiwis notched up impressive 274 on the board. This target was never going to be easy for Pakistan. The New Zealand bowlers then rose to the occasion and bundled out Pakistan for 223 as Black Caps romped home by 51 runs.

Kiwis have always felt the absence of star players in the team. But the team has always made it up by their professional approach and steely resolve. Today was one such day when they showed all round discipline on the field and emerged worthy winners.

Batting first, they lost a couple of early wickets. But Fleming, playing record 194th match as skipper, proved why he is rated so highly as a batsman by his team-mates. He showed unflinching commitment and discipline. Batting along with all rounder Scot Styris, he first steadied the ship and then raised the momentum when the situation warranted.

Fleming and Styris, battling a sore knee, combined together to add 108 runs for the fourth-wicket stand which provided an ideal launching pad for the later order batsmen to provide the late thrust to the innings. Fleming scored 80, while Styris added 86.

Playing some powerful strokes, strapping all rounder Jacob Oram added 31 runs in 28 minutes, while wicketkeeper batsman Brendon McCullum launched a brief but audacious assault, adding 27 runs off 13 deliveries as Razzaq, who had impressive analysis until then, suffered the most. The score, which at one stage looked like touching the 250-run mark, reached 274 after the end of the stipulated 50 overs.

This target required good contribution from some frontline batsmen. But disciplined bowling by the rivals made things difficult for Pakistan. Pakistan kept on losing wicket regular intervals. In fact, they never looked like overhauling the tough target, expect for a brief period when Mohammad Yousuf and Shoaib Malik were batting together and strung together a 94-run stand for the fourth wicket.

Yousuf batted with a lot of determination and looked in fine nick. The duo looked like performing the role played by Fleming and Styris in the afternoon. But as Pakistan came near the target, Yousuf fell to Bond. He contributed 71. After his dismissal, the rest of the innings folded sooner than expected as Pakistan were dismissed for 223.

Oram’s performed with the ball as well. Pitching the ball in the right areas and hitting the deck hard with nagging accuracy, he choked the flow of runs. His superlative efforts fetched him two wickets. He conceded 25 runs in eight overs scalping two wickets.

Shane Bond, though failed to generate the type of pace he is capable of, emerged the most successful bowler and claimed three wickets.

The next match at the same venue between Pakistan and South Africa will decide the second semifinalist fro the group.

Fleming was adjudged the man of the match.

Scoreboard

New Zealand

Vincent b Gul 3

Fleming c&b Malik 80

Astle c Khan b Naved 15

Fulton lbw Iftikhar 7

Styris c Rao b Gul 86

Oram c Gul b Razzaq 31

McCullum c Malik b Razzaq 27

Franklin not out 9

Vettori not out 0

Extras (lb-8, nb-1, w-7) 16

Total (7 wkts, 50 overs) 274

Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-23, 3-60, 4-168, 5-240, 6-254, 7-270.

Bowling: Naved 8-0-44-1, Gul 9-1-47-2, Rao 8-2-41-1, Razzaq 10-1-60-2, Afridi 10-0-49-0, Malik 5-0-25-1.

Pakistan

Hafeez c McCullum b Oram 43

Farhat c Mills b Bond 6

Younis c Vincent b Mills 2

Yousuf c Fleming b Bond 71

Afridi c Bond b Oram 4

Malik c Astle b Vettori 52

Razzaq c Franklin b Bond 6

Akmal c Fleming b Mills 16

Naved c McCullum b Franklin 1

Gul run out 8

Anjum not out 0

Extras (lb-5, nb-4, w-5) 14

Total (all out, 46.3 overs) 223

Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-45, 3-65, 4-83, 5-177, 6-195, 7-202, 8-205, 9-223.

Ahmedabad, October 25
India will need a inspired performance by their off-coloured top order batsmen when they take on West Indies in a crucial group-A Champions Trophy match here tomorrow, fully aware that any slip-up could jeopardise their prospects of a semi-final berth.

The Indians need a victory to consolidate their chance of securing a place in the semi-final line-up but a lot will depend on how their famed but struggling batting line-up counters the slow track at the Sardar Patel Gujarat stadium.

The task before the Indians looks anything but easy, with the Caribbeans all pumped up after upsetting world champions Australia in their previous match.

India, West Indies and Australia are all on two points, and whoever wins tomorrow would become a serious claimant for a place in the last four.

But a win would bear more significance for India, who would take on formidable Australia in their concluding group match. In contrast, West Indies would have a relatively easy opposition in England, who are already out of the tournament after two back-to-back defeats.

The stage is set for a cracker of a contest with the hosts banking on their good record in home conditions and West Indies taking heart from their emphatic 4-1 victory against them in the ODI series in the Carribeans earlier this year.

Any battle between the two sides is billed as a duel between batting greats Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara, but there hangs an element of doubt over this mouth-watering proposition with the West Indies captain yet to fully recover from a lower back spasm.

The Caribbean team management has, however, exuded confidence that the star left hander would be fit for the crucial tie.

Tendulkar has been in fine form since his return to top flight cricket after an elbow surgery, and would have to play a big role to enable his side to go full throttle at the Caribbeans.

Frequent middle order collapses cost India dearly in the West Indies and the DLF Cup in Malaysia earlier this year. In their only match of the tournament, India again made heavy weather of an easy target by suffering a mini collapse while chasing just 125 against England.

The Indian think tank is toying with the idea of playing Dinesh Mongia and it would be a toss-up between him and the youngster Suresh Raina for a place in the final XI.

In the bowling department, Munaf Patel must be on a high after bagging his maiden ODI man of the match award by returning with impressive bowling figures of 3/18 against England.

Irfan Pathan, after a lean patch, also came good and spinner Ramesh Powar picked up three wickets in the last match. Both would be raring to have a go at the West Indies batsmen.

For West Indies, the return of Shivnarine Chanderpaul after a one-match lay-off because of food poisoning is a welcome development, but it has created a problem of plenty.

Runako Morton, who replaced Chandrapaul in the Aussie match, scored 90 to walk away with the man of the match honour. And the team management will have to do some smart thinking to accommodate him in the side.

But the area in the West Indies ranks that is being most talked about is the pace department where the new crop of bowlers have been drawing comparisons with even the side’s feared fast bowlers of yesteryears.

With Jerome Taylor getting the first ever ODI hat-trick for West Indies, the cricketing world is bound to keep a more vigilant eye on the performance of the pace battery, and the likes of Ian Bradshaw and Fidel Edwards would be all charged up when they go out on the field tomorrow. — PTI

Chandigarh, October 25
The Australian team received a jolt today when their key player Michael Hussey was injured during a practice session at the Sector 16 Cricket Stadium.

He was hit on his chest by the ball while he was trying to hit a shot. He was taken to a hospital at Mohali, where a CT scan was conducted.

According to sources, he got a soft injury in the right side of his ribs but no fracture was found during the scan. The injury could make him sit outside during the forthcoming one-day match between Australia and India on October 29 at PCA Stadium, Mohali.

“The reports of the CT scan confirmed the soft injury in the right side of the ribs. We have showed the reports to the physiotherapist of the Australian team, who accompanied the player to the hospital during the check up. Now he will decide after consulting with the doctors about Hussey’s chances of playing in the match,” said a hospital official.

Talking to TNS, the ‘late bloomer’ Hussey said that he was feeling pain in the chest but also asserted, “I am determined to play the match. I will be in the team definitely.”

Paris, October 25
Marco Materazzi is still awaiting a handshake from Zinedine Zidane.

The Italy defender was headbutted in the chest by Zidane after insulting the French captain’s sister in the World Cup final on July 9 in Berlin. Zidane got red-carded and Italy went on to win the title in a penalty shootout.

“I have made my apologies. In return I have not received the offer of a handshake,” Materazzi said today in an interview with French radio station RTL.

“Let’s not forget, I’m the one who received the headbutt.” Materazzi, who received a two-game ban for inciting Zidane, called himself “a great guy”, and said he had heard similar things about the Frenchman, who has since retired from soccer.

“When someone makes an effort to get to know me, they will see that, off the field, I am a great guy,” Materazzi said.

“When I asked what Zidane is like, I was told the same thing. We are two brave guys, and we did not deserve all that happened after the World Cup,” Materazzi added.

Since the World Cup, the Italian has published a book called “What I actually told Zidane”. — AP

Gurgaon, October 25
Punjab ended a two-decade-long title drought by winning their seventh Santosh Trophy defeating Bengal 5-3 in a thrilling penalty shootout here today.

Parveen Kumar, Jaspal Singh, Narinder Singh, Daljit Singh and Harpreet Singh were on target for Punjab during the spotkicks while Suman Dutta was the unfortunate player to miss out for Bengal.

Dipendu Biswas, Sanjeev Maria and Shyam Mondal were successful in their attempts.

Punjab were the better team in the first half and did most of the attacking. They were quicker off the blocks and displayed better cohesion.

They got a free-kick outside the Bengal box in only the second minute, but Shivraj Singh failed to trouble Bengal’s third choice custodian Abhra Mondal, who started between the posts as Kalyan Choubey failed to shake off his ankle injury.

Punjab’s star striker Parveen Kumar continuously troubled the defenders and showed good skills in the eighth minute to go past a couple of defenders before he was unfairly brought down.

Parveen then squandered a golden opportunity when he got at the end of a teasing cross from Daljit Singh only to miss the target with his unchallenged header.

Punjab’s lively midfielder Baldeep Singh was very active down the wing and the young Amrinder Singh, who is thought very highly of by coach Jagir Singh, displayed his potential and made the loss of their talisman Manjit Singh look 
manageable.

Bengal’s first meaningful attempt came in the 22nd minute when skipper Dipendu Biswas dribbled past two defenders in the penalty area before being crowded out.

The Punjab backline was not giving much joy to the Bengal forwards as the team from the eastern state was mostly restricted to their own half with only Syed Rahim Nabi left to run in the opposition half.

In the 32nd minute, Parveen again got behind the Bengal defence and only a last ditch tackle by Shyam Mondal saved the day.

Bengal started the second half with a shot from outside the box from Avinash Thapa which was tipped over the bar by Kameshwar Singh.

But they looked edgy at the back and their lack of co-ordination would not have filled their rookie goalkeeper with confidence. Their attack also lacked conviction.

However, for all the dominance exerted by Punjab, they failed to seriously test Abhra Mondal.

Dipendu tried to make things happen in the 70th minute when he showed good ball control in the opposition penalty area, but he delayed his shot resulting in the chance going abegging.

Soon after, Jaswinder got on the wings and floated a good cross but Parveen could not take advantage.

Bengal threw more men forward but the Punjab defence held firm. Dipendu floated a chip in the penalty area but Saumik Dey failed to make good contact.

The Bengal skipper was starting to run the show and his beautiful through ball just eluded Nabi. — PTI

Kangra, October 25
Shorokhov Nikolay of Russia bagged the first position with a score of 2038 points in the week-long Paragliding Himalayan Cup 2006 which ended here with a closing ceremony today.

Russian pilot Maslennikov Dmitry got the second position in the competition securing 1806 points and Ajay Kumar Sharma of India scored 1566 points and bagged third position in the competition.

In the Indian category, Ajay Kumar Sharma stood first while Sanjay Pendulkar and Khem Raj Thakur bagged the second and third positions, respectively.

Meanwhile, an unidentified Russian paraglider was reported missing during the flying today when he crashlanded after losing communication. The actual location and the identification of the pilot could not be established. — OC

Ludhiana, October 25
Tamil Nadu scrambled past Haryana and Services edged out Bengal to secure their berths in the super league phase of the 62nd National Hockey Championship at the Prithipal Singh Astroturf Stadium of Punjab Agricultural University here today. Tamil Nadu won the verdict 2-1 while Services came out triumphant 5-3.

The first pre-quarterfinal match played between Tamil Nadu and Haryana witnessed fine stick-work by players of both the teams. Gopi Nath and Aswin Balasubramanian of Tamil Nadu while Satish Kumar and Ajit Singh sparkled and initiated good moves. However, their attempts failed to fetch the desired results.

Although, Tamil Nadu managed to penetrate their rivals’ defence at times, they never really looked dangerous as Haryana lads kept crowding the goalmouth to foil these moves. Haryana players, too, threatened Tamil Nadu’s territory time and again but fumbled at crucial moments.

TN forced two penalty corners (18th and 23rd minute) but failed to capitalise on these chances. The much-needed goal came off Aswin’s stick in the 25th minute when Haryana goalkeeper, Ankit charged in to stop the ball and fell in front of the goalmouth. In a counter attack, Haryana earned a penalty corner but Jai Bhagwan’s shot was well padded away by TN custodian, M.G. Suresh.

Immediately after changing ends, TN had a close shave as Satish Kumar’s sizzler flew over the cross piece by a narrow margin. In the 37th minute, they got a penalty corner and Satish Kumar scored the equalizer.

Stung by this reverse, Tamil Nadu men went all out. They made repeated raids onto the Haryana citadel but failed to execute the moves into the goal. TN also managed to earn three penalty corners in quick succession but could make use of these opportunities.

TN got their sixth penalty corner in the 53rd minute and Aswin Balasubramanian successfully converted it to put his side ahead. This followed some quick moves by Haryana lads who made concerted attempts for the equaliser but on each occasion, luck eluded them as their forwards slipped in the danger zone. TN managed to hang onto the slender (2-1) lead till the long hooter.

In the second match, Services had to sweat it out to outplay their spirited opponents, Bengal. Services began the proceedings on a fast pace and pumped in two goals (3rd minute by A.K. Kiro and 6th minute by Suresh Kumar).

Bengal matched Services move by move, exhibited fine ball control and coordination but failed to achieve the desired result. Services increased the lead through Suresh Kumar just few seconds before the lemon break (3-0).

As the second session began, Anil Ekka of Bengal scored an opportunistic goal, much to the chagrin of Services’ custodian, P.T. Rao. He again sounded the board in the 37th minute reduce the margin 3-2.

Undeterred by this, Services added another goal in the 39th minute through Anil Ekka who completed a hat-trick. They further consolidated the lead (5-2) in the 48th minute through Elaizer Lakhra. Five minutes later, Jacarias Bhuggra of Bengal found the target through penalty corner conversion and went down fighting 3-5 in a cliffhanger.

Amritsar, October 25
Railways, Chandigarh, Orissa and Patiala kept up their standard of hockey reached the knockout stage of the 62nd Senior National Hockey Championship being played at Guru Nanak Dev University Hockey stadium here.

Inflicting insult on injury, Patiala rained fifteen goals on the Andaman and Nicobar team. Opening the onslaught in the second minute, Kulwinder Singh converted the first penalty corner and added two more to the tally in the 19th and 44th minute.

The goals came easy for Patiala as it added 11 goals before half time. In the second half, Patiala added four more goals to overwhelm the island team. Patiala won the match 15-0.

In the second match of the day, Andhra Pradesh scraped through to beat Pondicherry 6-5. Taking the lead in the eighth minute, the Pondicherry team scored through a penalty stroke, which was easily scored by Setia Maheshwar Rao.

Pondicherry could not convert three penalty corners awarded to them in the seventh, 44th and 61st minute. Both teams played aggressive hockey and waged a seesaw battle. AP edged out Pondicherry in the final tally. For AP, Ajay Babu scored two goals while M.S. Arun Ravi and captain Suresh scored one goal each.

In the third match Chandigarh trounced Orissa 5-1. Taken by surprise, the Orissa team notched up the first goal through a fine effort from Anil Eka. This triggered a wave of attacks from Chandigarh, which immediately managed to equalise through Dharamveer by a field goal. At half time, both teams were tied one all. Orissa boys tried hard to equalise but Chandigarh thwarted their moves through solid defence.

Jalandhar, October 25
A buoyant Bihar upset the Chhattisgarh applecart 2-1 in the last league match at the ongoing 62nd Senior Hockey Championship at the Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium here today.

Bihar is already out of reckoning in the tournament while Chhattisgarh has made it to the knockout stage which commences tomorrow. The team heading home charged the Chhattisgarh goalpost for most of the match.

Bihar dominated the field with frequent rallies to the opposition goal. All the goals were scored in the first half and Chhattisgarh defence was always on its toes. Chhattisgarh made a last minute try in the dying minutes with nearly the entire team moving to the forward line of the rivals, but to no avail. The Bihar goalpost was stormed with hits all of which missed the goal. Bihar goalkeeper displayed remarkable skill in saving at least four very close chances.

Prejan Barla opened the account for Bihar in the 11th minute through a field goal. Chhattisgarh team replied back immediately in the 14th minute through A. Quadeer who foxed the Bihar defence in rallying the ball to the nets. Soon, M.D. Javed, a Bihar defendant, dribbled the ball to the end line and guided it gently inside the goal post in the 18th minute.

No penalty corners could be converted by the teams today in both matches. As many as nine penalty corners were wasted in the match between Bihar and Chhattisgarh. In the earlier match between Manipur and Madhya Pradesh, none of the six penalty corners bore any fruit.

Madhya Pradesh defeated Manipur 2-1 in a rather tame encounter. The Manipur team gave a rather docile show today much against the pace exhibited in the earlier matches. The team continued with its run of poor results in the striking area. Asad Khan scored both the goals for the Madhya Pradesh team in the 19th and 67th minute. The only goal for Manipur was scored by P. Adeba in the 60th minute.

Chandigarh, October 25
The lush greens of the Chandigarh Golf Club bared its fangs today as lady golfers struggled to overcome some tough pins on the second day of the 14th Punjab Open Ladies Amateur Golf Championship here today.

Seasoned campaigner, Shruti Khanna of Delhi, had a tough time in the first nine as she struggled with her putting. She continued to face problems and finished with a bogey in the 18th hole. Although she played a seven-over card today, she continued to hang on to her lead because of her one-over card yesterday. She had a two-day aggregate of 152.

Saaniya Sharma, the local GCG girl, continued to play her steady game, to return the best card of the day (77). She finished the second round three strokes behind the leader.

The course continued to play slow resulting in error of judgement while putting. Another seasoned campaigner, Vandana Aggarwal, started very well, and it seemed she would overtake everyone in her stride. In the first nine she had a score of 37. But she faced a lot of putting problems in the return nine and finished with a card of 79.

Sharmila Nicollett of Bangalore struggled to find her putting today, ending with a bad 10-over card of 82 today. But this was enough to bracket her with Vandana Aggarwal with both returning identical scores of 156 for the third spot.

The day was marred by the disqualification of 14-year-old Laverry Kumar for signing a wrong score.

In the senior section, Madhu Brar consolidated her position to lead over Dalbir Sahi by five strokes. It goes to the credit of Dalbir Sahi, a super senior category player, that she has given a tough time to players many years her junior.

The scores (after the second round): Championship Bowl: Shruti Khanna 152, Saaniya Sharma 155, Vandana Aggarwal 156, Sharmila Nicollett 156, Nitika Jadeja 160.

Challenge Bowl: Kkarishma Thiagaraj 173, Khushboo Thiagaraj 181, Rakul P. Singh 183, Madhu Brar 184.

Bronze Plate: Amrita Sarna 204, Neelu Chopra 208, Simrit Wason 212.

Seniors: Madhu Brar 184, Dalbir Sahi 189, S. Ratia 192.

Sub-juniors: Shreya Ghei 171, Mihar Atwal 172, Karishma 173. 

New Delhi, October 25
The Indian archers returned home with their best-ever medal haul from an international championship — one gold, three silver and one bronze — in the just-concluded 9th Junior and third Cadet World Archery Championships held at Merida, Mexico, from October 15 to 21.

The archers were felicitated at the Nehru Stadium conference hall by Archery Association of India president Vijay Kumar Malhotra and showered praises on them for their commendable achievement. The Indian archers fought it out with 400 archers from 52 countries to triumph. In the last Junior World Championship in the UK in 2004, the Indian team

Giving details of the medal-winning feats of the archers, Prof Malhotra said Paltan Hansda became the Junior Compound world champion when he defeated Paul Tedforf of the United States in the challenge round. In the run up to the final, Hansda had got the better of Laursen Patrick of Denmark, Nathan Cameron of Canada and Dmitry Ayursheev of Russia.

Prabhat Kandir was forced to settle for the silver when he lost to world champion Romain Girouille of France in the Junior Recurve event. In the earlier rounds, he had beaten Shin Sungwoo of Korea and Aubert Thomas of France.

V Pranitha also had to be content with a silver medal after she lost to Jane Waller of Australia in the Recurve Cadet Women’s Division. On the way to the final, she had beaten Inna Stepanova of Russia and Beverley Stevens of Britain.

In the Team Compound Junior women’s event, the Indian team, consisting of Sweety Kumari, Niva Kerketta and M Rishita lost to the US team in the final after defeating Mexico in the semis.

The Indian cadet recurve men’s team, consisting of Ravindhar Hembram, A. Raju and Rajiv Basumatary lifted the bronze medal after defeating the Ukraine team. They had beaten Italy in the quarterfinal but lost to Turkey by one point in the semis.

Coaches Dharmendra Tiwary, Purnima Mahato, Sanjeev Kumar Singh and Ran Bahadur Tamang accompanied the team.