Shanghai, November 10
Jyoti Randhawa overcame a disastrous start to hang on to his one shot lead at the midway stage of $5 million HSBC Champions golf event here today.

Randhawa led a sensational Indian challenge as Shiv Kapur (67) and Jeev Milkha Singh (70) also moved into the top 10 of the leaderboard to make it look an Indian summer.

After Jeev played the first two days with Tiger Woods, who stormed back into contention with a course record equalling eight-under 64, midway leader Randhawa will be paired with Woods and second place Retief Goosen (67) in the third round.

The Indian trio was the toast in a world-class field that saw Woods bringing in a sizzling 64 with seven birdies, an eagle and one bogey.

That eight-under brought Woods into tied third with 2004 US Open champion, Michael Campbell (70) and they are now just two strokes behind Randhawa.

The sole second place was held by Goosen, who began with three birdies in first four holes and then closed with a triplet of birdies and moved to nine-under for 36 holes.

Kapur climbed up from overnight 18th to tied eighth at six-under, while Jeev moved from overnight tied 15th to tied 10th at five-under. A fourth Indian, Gaurav Ghei (70) was lying tied 29th.

“I’m delighted,” said the mild-mannered Randhawa who had six birdies today but was set back by three bogeys.”

“I didn’t think I would end up leading the tournament after two days, especially in a field like this. But I guess I played well. I guess if I get to play with him it would be an honour,” Randhawa told the media before Woods had completed his round.

“For me just to have a round of golf with him is great but I will just try and play my own game. I will see if I can play my own game the next two days, and then see what happens.”

Randhawa, who has won on his last two starts - one on Asian Tour and one on Indian Tour - opened disastrously with bogeys on his first two holes on the 10th and 11th.

But the doughty former Asian Tour No. 1 fought back resolutely with birdies on next two holes to get back to even for the day. Another birdie on the 16th saw him turn in one-under.

Randhawa added birdies on the third, fifth and seventh which brought him to four-under and 11-under for two days. A late bogey on eighth saw him finish at 69 and 10-under for the 36 holes.

Randhawa apart, India’s other star of the day was young Shiv Kapur. The 24-year-old Delhi pro, winner of Volvo Masters of Asia in his rookie year in 2005, had a stunning start with four birdies in row. The putter seemed to be working like a magic wand.

However, he managed only one more birdie on the 13th, but the good news was he had no bogeys through the day.

Jeev gave playing partner Woods something to mull over as he began with three birdies in first four holes as Woods managed only pars on the first three holes.

But then Woods went on a birdie spree with four in a row from fourth to seventh for a front nine of 32.

The World No. 1 and Asia No. 1 put on a fascinating display as Jeev added a fourth birdie on eighth and they both turned in flawless four-under 36.

Then Jeev faltered with bogeys on 11th and 13th but Woods continued his strong display. The superstar came up with a brilliant eagle on 14th and a birdie on 18th to finish the day. — PTI

New Delhi, November 10
Saina Nehwal thwarted a spirited challenge from Bae Youn Joo of Korea to reach the girls’ singles final at the World Junior Badminton Championship in Incheon, South Korea.

World No. 32 Saina, who etched out a stunning performance to prevail over the Korean 25-23, 21-13 is now one win away from creating history.

Saina, seeded 14th, disposed of Bae in just 35 minutes to set up a title clash with top seed Wang Yihan of China tomorrow. Yihan defeated Kim Moon of Korea 21-16, 21-13 in the other semifinal.

For Saina, the Korean was a tough nut to crack but the 16-year-old was at her aggressive best and played with a purpose.

“It was a good fight. The first game was long and was tough, but I played with patience and won. In the second game, I engaged her in long rallies and it paid of,” Saina told PTI from Incheon.

“We were tied 13-all in the second game, but then she started netting too often and I played my shots,” she said.

Though Saina’s opponent in the final Wang Yihan is ranked 103 in the world, she has won her first international title - IBF World Cup - this year beating world No 2 and fellow Chienese Xie Xingfang. — PTI

Melbourne, November 10
Cricket Australia has ruled out taking any action against Damien Martyn after he apologised for pushing BCCI chief Sharad Pawar during the Champions trophy presentation ceremony in Mumbai.

“I would not want anyone jumping to conclusions about players being charged under the code of behaviour. I do not think that is going to happen,” Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland was quoted as saying in Herald Sun today.

Cricket Australia yesterday sent a letter to Pawar apologising for the entire episode.

Ricky Ponting has also apologised to Pawar, who attacked the Australian cricket team for behaving in “totally uncivilised” manner on the presentation dais.

Ponting rang up Pawar yesterday evening and said there was no intention to misbehave with anyone as all Australian players respected him.

Pawar told Ponting that as it was he had not made an issue of it and the BCCI did not lodge any official protest with Cricket Australia. — PTI

Jalandhar, November 10
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) registered a 4-1 victory over Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala, and reserved a berth in the semifinals of 23rd Indian Oil Surjit Hockey Tournament here today.

In another match, Namdhari XI thrashed CRPF 6-0 while in the women section, Central Railways, Mumbai, pipped Pepsu XI 1-0.

Forwards Deepak Thakur, Prabhjot Singh and Inderjit Chaddha along with medio Saradar Singh led the IOC charge. The winners were leading by 3-0 at half time. Indian Oil took lead in the seventh minute when Deepak Thakur scored a field goal (1-0). In the 10th minute, Inderjit Chaddha converted a penalty corner (2-0). In the 13th minute, Roshan Minz sounded the board (3-0).

In the second half, Rail Coach Factory mounted pressure on the IOC and reduced the margin. Roop Singh of the RCF, after dodging two defenders, entered the striking circle and sent the ball inside the goal (1-3).

In the 62nd minute, Deedar Singh scored a field goal for IOC (4-1). With this win, Indian Oil took six points from two outings and entered the semis of the tournament.

Among women, Central Railways, Mumbai, earned three points. Pepsu faced defeat for not availing the eight chances in the 20th, 35th, 44th, 45th, 58th, 59th 60th and 61st minutes of the match. Even still, Pepsu seemingly dominated the proceeding throughout the match. At the half time both teams were locked at 0-0.

In the 49th minute, Central Railways earned a penalty corner as their Reena Kanti converted the penalty corner for the winners (1-0). In the dying minutes of the match, Pepsu wasted a golden chance to score when Central Railways Ranjeeta made a goal line save.

In the last match, the Namdhari XI scored through penalty corner conversions in the 3rd, 52nd and 60th minutes and scored field goals in the 15th, 64th and 68th minutes.

New Delhi, November 10
The third edition of the Premier Hockey League (PHL), to be held in Chennai and Chandigarh from January 2, will be given an exciting package to make it more attractive for spectators, players as well as the hosts. A substantial hike in the prize money, more number of foreign players and innovations at many levels are expected to add sheen to the PHL, which has already carved a niche for itself on the national hockey calendar.

PHL III will witness 45 matches, including a best-of-three finals. The league moves into a single-tier format with the top seven teams of last year to fight for the title in a two-month-long tournament, unlike the past two years where the league had two tiers with five teams each.

Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) President KPS Gill and ESPN managing director R.C.Venkateish said at a media briefing here today that the winners of PHL III would be richer by Rs 40 lakh while the runners-up would pocket Rs 15 lakh - an hike of Rs 10 lakh and Rs 5 lakh, respectively.

Gill said Sher-e-Jalandhar would be led by Kanwalpreet Singh, Hyderabad Blues by Devesh Chauhan, Chandigarh Dynamos by Rajpal Singh and Orissa Steelers by former Indian captain Dilip Tirkey. Other teams will be led by Viren Rasquinha (Maratha Warriors), Arjun Halappa (Bangalore Lions) and Adam Sinclair (Chennai Veerans). He said three more Indian players would be selected after the conclusion of the ongoing Nehru hockey (Delhi) and Surjit memorial (Jalandhar) tournaments.

Veteran striker Dhanraj Pillay has not been able to find a place in any of the teams.

On the innovation front, the penalty shootout will be replaced by a “one-on-one”. Gill explained that if extra time failed to produce any result, a new shootout will be held where a player would start with the ball from the 25-yard line and have eight seconds to score. Within that time, he can dribble past the goalkeeper or can also score from a rebound.

The IHF President said each of the seven teams would have three foreign players each in their ranks and negotiations were on to rope in some of the star players from abroad.

Maurits Hendricks, the coach of the Spanish team, has been re-appointed the consultant for PHL and he is busy shortlisting the foreign players.

The IHF President also gave a sort of ultimatum to Indian coach Vasudevan Baskaran, hinting that his job would be on the line if he did not deliver the goods (read gold) at the Doha Asian Games in December. “If we do well there (Doha), we would continue with the set-up we have. Otherwise, we would have to look around to get a good foreign coach,” he added. India had finished 11th out of 12 teams in the World Cup in Germany, and Gill had then sounded a warning to the coach on the team’s return home. Doha will afford another chance for Baskaran to shape up or ship out.

Chandigarh, November 10
Pakistan duo Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Aqeel Khan outplayed Indian pair of Rohan Bopanna and Mustafa Ghouse 6-3, 6-7 (2), 10-6 in the third match of the third Test of the SAIL Indo-Pak Tennis Series held at the CLTA Tennis Stadium here today.

This win had put Pakistan in driver’s seat with 2-1 lead in the four-match home-and-away series. The fourth and final Test will be played at Delhi on November 12.

Qureshi and Aqeel started on a dominating note and grabbed the first set 6-3. Rohan Bopanna and Mustafa combined well to win the second set 7-6 (2) to make it 1-1. The deadlock was resolved by applying the super tie-breaker rule. The Pakistan pair raced to 7-2 lead before the Indian players tried to fight back. However, Aisam and Aqeel clinched the issue at 10-6.

Earlier, Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi made a flying start by beating Mustafa Ghouse 6-1, 6-7 (1), 6-2 in the opening singles. Mustafa substituted Rohan Bopanna.

Qureshi’s displaying his lethal serve fired four aces in a row and gave a one sided defeat in the first set 6-1. However, he lost the second set in a tie-breaker 6-7 (1) as Mustafa made it one-set all. Ultimately, Qureshi raced to a 6-2 win in the third set compelling Mustafa to surrender.

But, Karan Rastogi had restored parity by overcoming Aqeel Khan in the second singles in one hour and 17 minutes. Hitting his forehand and double backhanded stroke with fluency, Rastogi won in straight sets 6-2, 6-3.

In the Pakistan leg, India won the first Test in Islamabad 2-1 while Pakistan won the Lahore Test 3-0 yesterday.

Later, UT Administrator, Gen S.F. Rodrigues (retd), distributed the prizes. The winners got richer by $ 1500 while the Indian team received $ 1000. While speaking on the occasion, General Rodrigues promised to open an Asian Centre of Excellence in Tennis at the CLTA Stadium.

Results: Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (Pak) bt Mustafa Ghouse (India) 6-1, 6-7 (1), 6-2; Karan Rastogi (India) bt Aqeel Khan (Pakistan) 6-2, 6-3; Aisam Ul-Haq Qureshi and Aqeel Khan (Pak) bt Rohan Bopanna and Mustafa Ghouse (India) 6-3, 6-7 (2), 10-6.

New Delhi, November 10
Churchill Brothers of Goa, who have returned to the National Football League (NFL) fold after suffering relegation last season, scored a 4-0 victory against Madras Engineering Group (MEG), Bangalore, in a lop-sided qualifying round match of the 119th Durand Cup Football Tournament at the Ambedkar Stadium here today.

Later, Assam Rifles rallied to defeat Jammu and Kashmir Bank 2-1 to record their second victory.

Churchill Brothers, playing at a leisurely pace, kept possession of the ball to themselves and made the Army boys run in circles without gaining much.

Churchill forged ahead in the 22nd minute when Drupesh Dessai shot straight to bulge the net.

Their Nigerian import Odate Onyeka Okolie added the second goal in the 28th minute of the second half when he dodged past three defenders to blast the ball in. Ten minutes later, Nicholas Muyoti, another foreign recruit, received a cross from the right inside the box and sent the ball screeching into the net. Odate added the fourth goal, and his second, four minutes before the final hooter.