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Bridging the gap!
Sreesanth fined
Dalmiya refuses to
quit CAB
Ponting wants Ashes to stay in Australia
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Sunil, Bopanna move up
India slips to 157th in FIFA rankings
Asia Cup: Eves thrash Pak
Sports clubs
get grant
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Bridging the gap!
Chappell also showed a willingness to revise his strategies for better results while revealing the hurt of the past few days when the team was not doing well. The Aussie did not wince at the mention of Ganguly and spoke freely about his observations on the Bengal batsman. “It was never personal on my part, it was about the direction the team needed to take collectively. Sourav perhaps needed that time away to come back focused,” Chappell told reporters at the team hotel today. “It’s the same with Zaheer Khan. They have a lot to offer to Indian cricket and it can go forward,” said Chappell, adding it was time to let go those clouds hanging over their perceived relationship. “I always thought Sourav had a lot to offer as a batsman but in Zimbabwe last year perhaps the captaincy was not allowing him the mental space.” Commenting on Ganguly’s knocks at the Wanderers, Chappell admired the former Indian captain for his mental application in the middle. “He always had a strong will, a very strong desire to represent India in Tests and certainly from a mental perspective, it was a very good effort on his part.” Win echoes in Lok Sabha New Delhi: Under attack till last week, the Indian cricket team, particularly Sourav Ganguly and S Sreesanth, today came in for praise in the Lok Sabha for their remarkable victory in the first Test against South Africa. Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee congratulated the team for its historic win as soon as the House met for the last day of the Winter Session. “I congratulate Sreesanth and the Indian team. I also congratulate Sourav Ganguly and (VVS) Laxman and Zaheer Khan,” he said responding to sentiments expressed by the members over the team’s performance in South Africa. The Indian team, which was trounced in all the four one-dayers preceding the Test series, struck with vengeance in the opening Test, winning by a huge margin of 123 runs yesterday to register their first-ever Test victory on South African soil. The team had been castigated over its poor performance in the one-day series with even Parliamentarians regretting its debacle. The Speaker also congratulated Lok Sabha member Navin Jindal for winning a silver medal in the skeet event of National Shotgun Shooting Championship here yesterday. “He (Jindal) has done us proud. I am sure the House will join me in congratulating him,” Chatterjee said. — PTI
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Sreesanth fined
Johannesburg, December 19 Sreesanth was found guilty of two Level 1 offences at a hearing conducted by Elite Panel ICC match referee Roshan Mahanama, following the conclusion of the match on Monday. In the first charge, Sreesanth was fined for not holding the “spirit of the game”, as after dismissing Hashim Amla in South Africa’s second innings, he ran towards the batsman. “We do not want robots out there but we do want players to control their emotions once they get onto the field because they have to realise they are role models for all those watching... Sreesanth, by his actions, showed a lack of respect for the departing batsman and to his credit he acknowledged that by pleading guilty to the charge,” said Mahanama after fining Sreesanth 20 per cent of his match fee for the offence. The other charge against Sreesanth related to a breach of clause 1.1 of the Code, which concerns the ICC Logo Policy. Contrary to this, Sreesanth wore a black garment under his shirt while batting and then later in the day, after this had been pointed out, although he took to the field in a white garment under his playing shirt, it displayed a commercial logo. Commenting on the matter, Mahanama said: “It gives me no satisfaction to punish a player for a breach of the logo policy but the rule is there in print and both sides were reminded of it before the series. “The fact that Sreesanth breached the policy not once but twice showed a lack of respect and although he once again pleaded guilty it was still appropriate he was fined for his actions,” he said in a statement. ICC Logo Policy states that all garments worn under the playing shirt in a Test match must themselves be plain white and this was something that was also referred to in the match referee’s pre-series meeting. On-field umpires Mark Benson and Daryl Harper, and third umpire Karl Hurter reported both the conduct breaches.
— Reuters
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Dalmiya refuses to
quit CAB Kolkata, December 19 “There is no question of my resigning from the post of CAB president. The 38(V) amendment, as per which it is claimed that I cannot hold any post in any affiliate association, is an illegal and unregistered rule,” Dalmiya told newsmen here today. He claimed the rule had not been registered within a fortnight as required. Dalmiya also alleged that “the principle of natural justice was denied to him before expelling him for life from the Board” and hinted at challenging the December 15 decision of the BCCI Special General Meeting. He said different Board officials had been issuing statements against him “which only showed their bias against me.” Dalmiya said he had been taking legal opinion in the matter and would decide about challenging the Board’s decision in a few days. —
PTI
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Ponting wants Ashes to stay in Australia
Sydney, December 19 The tiny ceramic trophy, which has symbolised cricketing rivalry between the two nations since 1883, is normally housed at London’s Marylebone Cricket Club but is touring Australia for only the second time in nearly 124 years. Ponting, whose team has now held the urn for all but 15 months of the last 19 years, says it is time for the fragile urn to take residence Down Under. The urn visited Australia for the country’s bi-centenary celebrations in 1988 and had been due to return to Australia in 2002-03, but the trip was cancelled as cracks were found in its stem.
— AFP
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Manjit basks in glory
Jalandhar, December 19 With her morale sky high after winning two medals in Doha, Manjit now plans to concentrate on honing her skills in practice sessions here. “Of course, the Asian Games experience will give me confidence the next time I step on the track,” Manjit said. Manjit said she was aiming for gold in 400m, but due to some mishap she could not perform well. “I have no regrets. I tried my best, but I couldn’t because I had burn injuries on my legs. My Russian coach Uri told me to concentrate only on the 4x400m relay race before the semifinal of 400m. But I was determined to prove myself,” she said. “I was excited when I won the medals. We proved that Indians can outdo opponents in every game,” remarked an elated Manjit, who is now eyeing glory at the biggest stage. She also thanked the boisterous crowd that was present at the Jalandhar railway station to welcome her. She was given a grand welcome by Punjab Police and residents of the city. Manjit and Palwinder were taken to the town in a procession. People showered them with flower petals along the route. “For the past few years, I have been putting in hard work and planning thoroughly,” she said. “Determination, security and resources are must for success and so is the training under an experienced coach,” she said. She has been promised a cash award and a promotion to the rank of DSP. “Whatever has been promised to me is sufficient to motivate newcomers,” she said. Palwinder was confident about his performance before the competition and gave credit to the government and the police for his success. “The Doha games were well managed than the Busan Asiad,” he remarked. Manjit’s father Harbhajan Singh said she constantly incorporated various techniques in her training regime to improve her performance.
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Santhi’s family to seek CM’s help
Pudukottai, December 19 Speaking to reporters at his house at Kathakurichi in Pudukottai district, Soundararajan said he was unhappy by the turn of events and pointed out that his daughter had won medals in various events held in three countries. “No one raised the gender issue after she won these medals,” he said. He said the state government’s gesture of giving a cash award of Rs 15 lakh to Santhi had relieved him of the huge burden of having to meet expenses of his children. “All these years, I had to work hard to bring them up. I will now use the money for their education,” he said. Soundararajan also expressed his gratitude to all the well wishers who have praised her
achievements despite the controversy. The Indian Olympic Association yesterday confirmed that Santhi Soundarajan had failed the gender verification test and has been stripped of her medal. Its a tragedy,
says sister
Pudukottai: The residents of athlete Santhi’s Kathakurichi village have received with utter dismay and disbelief the news about the athlete being stripped of her Asian Games silver medal following a failed gender test. Santhi’s younger sister Sarala wept over the “tragedy” that has befallen her elder sibling. Recalling the pride and happiness with which her parents had received the news of Santhi’s achievement, Sarala said she had never dreamt of such a turn of events. Santhi’s sisters, Sarala and Janaki who had gone to their uncle’s house at Karaikudi to watch the felicitation function at the CM’s residence on television, today returned to the village struck with despair. The festive mood of the otherwise sleepy town has suddenly given way to despair with people not ready to accept the new turn of events. They viewed the stripping of the medal as a “grave injustice” meted out to their “daughter” and suspected “foul play” and “conspiracy” aimed at tarnishing her image. “She had made the entire village proud. We know her from childhood onwards. She is like any other girl in the locality. There is nothing unusual about her other than that she is quite hardworking,” 60-year-old Muthulakshmi said. “This is a conspiracy by some vested interests,” she alleged. President of the Kathakurichi village, N Suryamurthy appealed to Chief Minister M Karunanidhi to take steps to restore the medal to Santhi, who has done not only the village but also the state proud through her achievement. He also expressed happiness over Karunanidhi’s decision to reward the young talent even after coming to know about the gender test. The villagers, on hearing the news yesterday, had attempted to block roads in protest following which six among them were taken into police custody. Transgenders’ body supports athlete
Chennai: Sexual minorities in Tamil Nadu have thrown their weight behind beleaguered athlete S Santhi. “We express full solidarity with her. This should be an eye-opener to the humanitarian discrimination faced by people with ambiguous gender,” Tamil Nadu Aravanies (transgenders) Association President P Asha Bharati told PTI. “Santhi, they say, does not have the full sexual characteristics of a woman. But she has done for this country what millions of normal men and women could not achieve,” she said. Santhi had proved that sexual minorities were not inferior to others but is still being punished for no fault of hers, she added. “If at all sexual minorities want to participate in such events, is there a category for them? This is just one face of the social exclusiveness that we face throughout our life,” Bharati said. Sunil Menon of ‘Sahodaran’, a gay rights group here, also demanded that rules of such events be changed to accommodate those with ambiguous gender. “As per reports, Santhi was denied a job by the Railway Board. Doesn’t she have the right to live, to earn a livelihood,” Bharati argued. “Santhi has to support her poor parents who are labourers in a brick kiln. Is it fair to deny her a job just because she does not have the complete characteristics of a woman?” The sexual minorities face a lot of human rights violations, she said, adding they did not get ration cards, voting rights or passports. Also, the Indian Penal Code’s section 377 on ‘unnatural sex’ denies them their basic right, Bharati said. They are denied jobs both in the government as well as private sector, Menon said. He, however, lauded Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi who went ahead with rewarding Santhi with Rs 15 lakh and a television set in spite of the controversy. “This is a recognition of the capabilities of the athlete who has achieved great heights despite all odds,” he added. The Indian Olympic Association had yesterday said that Santhi had failed the gender test and would be stripped of her 800m silver medal she won at Doha.
— PTI
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Sunil, Bopanna move up
New Delhi, December 19 Sunil Kumar, who has put on considerable weight, however, proved very agile on the court to quell the resistance of the Korean player with ease. The former national champion served and returned with confidence and authority to reel off points at will with the Korean often getting stranded elsewhere in the court. But another Chandigarh boy, Tushar Liberhan, had to draw out his tenacious best to outwit qualifier Arjun Goutham 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-2) while city-mate Sanam Singh survived a mid-match slump to score a 6-4, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3 victory against Tsung-Hua Yang of Chinese Taipei. Top-seeded Rohan Bopanna, just returned from Doha after playing in the Asian Games, used his booming serve and wide court coverage to intimidate his doubles partner Mustafa Ghouse to score a 6-4, 6-4 victory. Breaks in the third game of the first set and seventh game of the second was enough for the Davis Cupper to subdue Ghouse though he had to stay on the court for one hour and 23 minutes to emerge victor. Second-seeded Alexey Kendriouk of Kazakhastan also justified his seeding when he ousted Aditya Madkekar 6-2, 6-4. The US-based Stephan Amritraj, son of former Indian Davis Cupper Anand Amritraj, just could not get going in the face of the solid all-round game by fourth seed Aisam Qureshi of Pakistan to lose at 2-6, 2-6, while Hyun-Woo Nam of Korea stunned eighth seed Shivang Mishra 6-2, 6-1 in a lop-sided contest. Wild card Purav Raja of India put up a stiff fight before losing to Pierre-Ludovic Duclos of Canada at 4-6, 6-7 (5-7) while Franck Dalla-Santa of France was made to sweat it out before conquering Sarvar Ikramov of Uzbekistan at 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 6-4.
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Fabio is player of the year
Zurich, December 19 Cannavaro received the award at glittering gala evening in Zurich, after gaining the most votes in the poll of national team coaches and captains.
“The competition is scary, so strong. It’s not usual for a defender to sit between Ronaldinho and Zidane,” he added shortly before the award ceremony. “Of course it must be a great compliment for the coaches I’ve had this year. It also underscores the way I am playing — and look at the matches we are playing in the teams I’ve had, and at Real. “I can’t ask for anything else, with the World Cup and Golden Ball award — you can’t do any better than that,” said Cannavaro, who moved from Juventus to the Spanish club this year. France’s retired three-time World Player winner Zidane, who finished his career in controversy after being sent off in the World Cup final, was second. Brazil and Barcelona's 2004 and 2005 winner Ronaldinho failed to win an unprecedented three titles in a row and was third. Cannavaro, who marshalled Italy’s steadfast defence in Germany this summer, was the first defender to carry away the world player of the year award, which has been the preserve of strikers and midfielders since 1990. “It is more difficult for a defender to come this far, because you have Zidane and Ronaldinho who do all these wonderful things,” he told reporters. Only fellow Real Madrid defender Roberto Carlos (1997) and Italian Paolo Maldini (1995) have come close before as runners-up.
— AFP
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India slips to 157th in FIFA rankings
New Delhi, December 19 India are now just above Maldives whom they beat 2-1 at Doha, but the defeat at the hands of the Iranians and a draw against Hong Kong in Group D league engagements of the Asian Games football competition meant they lost 23 points from previous month and ended the year 30 places down the ladder since previous year-ending 127th. India also were pushed down the Asian rankings chart at 32nd, being overtaken by South Asian neighbours Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, who were placed at 144th and 145th, leapfrogging 14 and 11 places respectively. Only Pakistan (164th) and Nepal (170th) were below India, according to information received here today. Meanwhile, there was no change in the top 20 FIFA list from previous month and Brazil have been crowned Team of the Year for the fifth time in succession despite their quarter-final exit in the World Cup, piping world champions Italy at the post for the top award. Asian countries disappointed at the year-ending list with Iran ranked highest at 38th and Japan and Korea ending the year at 47th and 51st.
— UNI
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Asia Cup: Eves thrash Pak
Jaipur, December 19 Indian eves elected to bat and set a challenging 244 for 7 for Pakistan and restricted their arch-rivals to 141 for 8 in 50 overs. India have already qualified to play in the final against Sri Lanka on December 21 while Pakistan will return home without a single win in the double round-robin league of the tournament. Opener Sunera Paranjpe scored 52 runs and stitched an 83-run partnership with S Naik (21) for the opening wicket giving India a good start. Skipper Mithali Raj (22), Tirush Kamini 34, Rumeli Dhar 42 and Anjum Chopra 3 not out contributed to the team in their stipulated 50 overs. Pakistan's Sana Mir took 3 for 37 and Sabahat Rasheed picked 2 for 38. Chasing victory, Pakistan received an early jolt when opener Bismah Mahroof fell to Sunera on duck. But skipper Urooz Mumtaj, who opened the innings, played a good knock of 33. — PTI
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Sports clubs
get grant Fatehgarh Sahib, December 19 A large number of people had gathered for the function and it virtually turned out into a massive election rally. Addressing the gathering. Dr Harbans Lal, Chief Parliamantry Secretary recounted the work done by him for the betterment of the Sirhind constituency and assured that he would continue to serve them. He highlighted the development work done by the Congress government in the state. He compared the five year rule of Mr Parkash Singh Badal and Capt Amarinder Singh. He said that a new era of developments has started in Punjab and Punjab was marching towards progress, where the Akalis had misled the people in the name of religion and promoted family interests. Mrs Prem Lata, president Mahila Congress, Vaid Hari Krishan, senior Congress leader, Mr Lakhbir Singh Rai, president DCC, Mr Subhash Sood, Mr Naresh Sharma, Mr R.N. Sharma, Mr Charanjeev Sharma president MC Fatehgarh Sahib also addressed.
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Sharath posts win in Spanish League Chennai Open Irina slips Romesh hockey Shivika wins title
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Johannesburg, December 19
