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Shoaib, Shabbir left out of Test squad
Friends of Hockey on the move
Liberals Hockey
PM to inaugurate NFL opener
Rastogi marches into final
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Ashis Ray Durban, December 29 With cloud cover and mugginess a frequent factor, the examination is more from the environment than the wicket. Indeed, the light was at best indifferent when India commenced their assignment of as much saving the match as anything else. The floodlights soon came into focus. But it was too late for Virender Sehwag, who perished at first slip. Indeed, greater disaster ensued for India as their batting heavyweight Rahul Dravid was adjudged caught behind without his bat having touched the ball. Wasim Jaffer, though, was still there on a fluent 22. Earlier, a top score of 63 from the seasoned Shaun Pollock (whose uncle, Graeme etched a phenomenal innings of 274 against Australia on this very turf in 1970) and his partnerships with Andrew Hall and Morne Morkel steadied South Africa after six wickets had tumbled for 44 runs in the morning. Given the amount of play liquidated by the weather, there has, effectively, been a mere two-and-a-half- days use of the pitch; and corresponding, only that much wear and tear. The highest fourth-innings total in Test history — 654 for five by England against South Africa in the “timeless” Test (albeit 67 years ago) was registered at this very ground. Five year ago, South Africa recorded 340 for five in the last innings here to beat Australia. Smith and AB de Villiers posted the best first-wicket partnership of the series before the crash. The latter was the first to depart, caught low down at second slip, following which Sreesanth, right index finger shuttling between forehead and chest in prayer, eyes looking askance at the heavens, struck thrice in two overs to dismiss the hapless Hashim Amla, the skipper and the centurion of the first innings, Ashwell Prince. Amla and Prince exited without opening their accounts. Herschelle Gibbs was surprised by Anil Kumble’s extra bounce and Mark Boucher was trapped in front. But any thoughts the Indians might have entertained of running through the rest of the South African batting were dashed by Pollock forging alliances with Hall, who has a Test hundred as an opener to his credit in India, and Morkel, promoted in the order after his first-innings cameo. The first partnership added 70 runs, before Sreesanth, who has added to his repertoire of piety folding of hands in thanksgiving every time he captures a wicket, hit Hall’s back leg to win an lbw appeal; and the second stand another 50 until Morkel holed out at long-off. Scoreboard South Africa (1st innings) 328 India (1st innings) 240 South Africa (2nd innings) De Villiers c Laxman b VRV 47 Smith b Sreesanth 59 Amla lbw Sreesanth 0 Gibbs c sub b Kumble 9 Prince c Ganguly b Sreesanth 0 Boucher lbw Zaheer 8 Pollock not out 63 Hall lbw Sreesanth 21 Morkel c VRV b Sehwag 27 Extras (b-5, lb-7, nb-12, w-7) 31 Total
(8 wkts dec, 67.4 overs) 265 FoW: 1-99, 2-108, 3-121, 4-121, 5-140, 6-143, 7-213, 8-265. Bowling: Zaheer 20-5-65-1, Sreesanth 19-4-80-4, VRV 10-2-64-1, Kumble 16-4-37-1, Sehwag 2.4-1-7-1. India (2nd innings) Jaffer not out 22 Sehwag c Smith b Ntini 8 Dravid c Boucher b Ntini 5 Tendulkar not out 0 Extras (b-2, lb-1) 3 Total (2 wkts, 13 overs) 38 FoW: 1-14, 2-34. Bowling: Nel 5-1-17-0, Ntini 6-2-14-2, Pollock 2-1-4-0.
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Pawar to fight for ICC chief’s post
Dubai, December 29 With just about 48 hours to go for the deadline for filing nominations, only Pawar and Morgan have filed their nominations for the post, official sources here at the ICC headquarters told PTI. “Officials of ICC Member countries must have been away for Christmas. But as of now, we have nominations from India (Pawar) and England (Morgan),” they said. “These nominations along with the other relevant documents received from the nominees are being sent to AC Muthiah, Chairman of the six-member nomination committee for their decision.” Incumbent ICC President Percy Sonn, who took over the top job in 2006, would be completing his term in June, 2008, but his successor would be named by June, 2007. The last date for filing nominations is January 1, 2007. Pawar filed his nomination after all four Test playing nations of Asia reached a consensus to support his candidature at the Asian Cricket Council meeting in Singapore. “All Test playing nations in Asia — India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh — have decided on the nomination of Pawar,” BCCI’s Chief Administrative Officer Prof Ratnakar Shetty said in Mumbai. The BCCI is also expecting to garner support from the West Indies, board secretary Niranjan Shah had said earlier this month while disclosing that the Asian Test playing countries wanted Pawar to become the next ICC chief. South African Sonn became the sixth ICC President on July 8 this year at the ICC’s annual conference in London by succeeding Pakistan’s Ehsan Mani. In case Pawar succeeds in his bid, he will be the seventh in the line after Lord Colin Cowdrey of England (1989-93), West Indian Sir Clyde Walcott (1993-97), India’s Jagmohan Dalmiya (1997-2000), Australia’s Malcolm Gray (2000-2003), Mani (2003-2006) and Sonn. England and Australia were the founder members of the ICC founded on June 15, 1909, and India became a full member of the body in 1926. Presently, ICC has 96 member countries (Full Members 10, Associates 32 and Affiliates 54). Prior to the appointment of Lord Cowdrey as President from 1989 to 1993, the ICC was administered by the Secretary of the Marleybone Cricket Club.
— PTI
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Shoaib, Shabbir left out of Test squad
Karachi, December 29 “They will be considered for the five-match one-day series in South Africa. We have advised them to go and play some more domestic games and get their rhythm and match fitness back,” Ehteshamuddin told a press conference in Lahore. The selectors, however, picked pacer Mohammad Asif, who along with Akhtar was earlier this month cleared of a doping offence and had a ban set aside. Squad: Inzamam-ul-Haq (captain), Imran Farhat, Mohammad Hafeez, Yasir Hameed, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Faisal Iqbal, Asim Kamal, Danish Kaneria, Umar Gul, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Asif, Shahid Nazir, Rana Naved, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal, Zulqarnain Haider.
— Reuters
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Friends of Hockey on the move
Chandigarh, December 29 Besides boasting of a synthetic turf at the Sector 42 Sports Complex, the city has an elite group of players, administrators and planners who have entrusted upon themselves the onerous task of reviving the sport right from the grassroots level. The group, Friends of Hockey, is spearheaded by three-time Olympic gold medallist Balbir Singh, who even at 83, sounds as enthusiastic for the new task as his 30-year junior Sukhvir Singh Grewal, another former international. Shivalik Public School, which will soon become the first private educational institution to have its own synthetic surface in its Mohali complex, has agreed to be the main sponsor of the new elite club, says Mr D.S. Bedi, Director of the school. They are not alone in their mission of getting the country back among the front-runners in the sport worldwide. They have been joined by Olympian and the Punjab Director of Sports, Mr Pargat Singh, former international Gurdishpal Singh, and several others as Chandigarh is now the home town of several Olympians and other internationals. Former Indian skipper, national coach and present selector Harmik Singh, 1948 Olympic champion team member Tarlochan Singh Bawa, international player and coach Narinder Singh Sodhi, Olympians Devinder Kumar, Sukhbir Singh Gill and Rajpal Singh, besides promising youngsters like Inderjit Singh Chadha are all from this city. Friends of Hockey are determined to make the city the new “Home of hockey”. Seeking help from all possible quarters, including the Chandigarh Sports Journalists Association, Friends of Hockey are planning a major event in the city in February/March next year where they plan to bring together not only scores of Olympians, coaches, administrators and promoters of hockey but also psychologists, sports medicine experts, senior officials of the Federation Internationale de Hockey (FIH) and also of those from some of the hockey-playing nations of Asia, including Pakistan and Malaysia. The idea is to get the continental hockey back in the reckoning. “We are planning to host a hockey fest — the first of its kind in the continent where players of all age groups would feature in matches, special competitions and exhibition games,” says Sukhvir Grewal. Youngsters would get a chance to play with some of greats like Balbir Singh Sr, Harbinder Singh, Ashok Kumar, Govinda, Pargat, Balbir Railways, Rupa Saini, Rajbir Rai and Ajinder. Some Olympians and coaches, including Malkit Singh (Uganda), Shiv Jagday (Canada and USA) and S. Miller (Canada), have agreed to be actively associated with Friends of Hockey.
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Friends Club shock CISF, enter semis
Ravi Dhaliwal
Nabha, December 29 Friends Club, Jagraon, shocked CISF, New Delhi, 5-3, PSB Academy clipped the wings of Air Force by an identical margin, Punjab Police blanked SRC, Ramgarh, 4-0, while Namdhari XI, aided by Bhupinder Singh’s hat-trick, downed Jagraon Police 7-6 to move into the last-four stage. Friends Club gave a spectacular performance as they downed a professional outfit like CISF after stretching them to the tie-breaker. The club is essentially a village outfit having its base at Rumi village, 10 km from Jagraon on the Jagraon-Raikot road. Despite the fact that they were up against much more experienced opponents, the players showed authority, adeptness and above all composure when the chips were down. For Friends Club, the spotlight was on goaltender Gurwinder Sonu who had an outstanding match as he saved two strokes during the tie-breaker and was also instrumental in making a couple of good saves during regulation time when the teams were locked 1-1. Gurwinder, whose native village is near Rumi, is a Canadian citizen and a key player for Punjab Field Hockey Club in Brampton (Ontario). In this year’s edition of the Canadian Inter-Club Hockey Tournament, he played a major role in the club winning the prestigious championship. Here on a holiday, he has been roped in by his friends to play in the Liberals tournament. CISF started off on an optimistic note and earned a series of penalty corners in the first half. However, the Delhi outfit found Gurwinder difficult to beat. The only time he lost his concentration was when CISF striker Abdul Rizwan managed to squeeze the ball between his pads for the team’s first goal. Friends Club struck when they were awarded a stroke during the last minutes of the contest from which Manpreet Singh scored the equaliser to send the match into the tie-breaker. Friends Club converted all their chances, while CISF managed to push home just three with Gurwinder Sonu palming off two of the strokes giving Friends a 5-3 victory. PSB Academy, coached by former Olympian Gundeep Kumar, showed a lot of resilience in taming Air Force. Gundeep, who played in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, shrewdly used the rolling substitution rule and tactfully managed his resources to enable his team notch up a 5-3 win, but not before the match went into the tie-breaker. Meanwhile, the tournament organising committee has made arrangements for Doordarshan to telecast the final live on Sunday at 1 pm.
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PM to inaugurate NFL opener New Delhi, December 29 Former champions JCT Mills, Phagwara, will take on newly promoted Mohammedan Sporting Club of Kolkata in the opening match in the Capital, which is a deviation from the established practice, save for the inaugural edition. Delhi had hosted the inaugural match as well as some other matches in the first edition of the NFL at the Ambedkar Stadium. But since then, the All-India Football Federation (AIFF) has been limiting the NFL matches only to those states from where the club teams qualified for the league. The AIFF decision to allot the opening match of the 11th edition of the NFL to the Delhi Soccer Association is to primarily give a boost to the prestigious championship. Of late, the NFL had been attracting the least attention and facing myriad problems, including non-availability of grounds at various locations. To surmount the non-availability of grounds, the AIFF plans to use alternative venues this time to hold matches which are not likely to attract a larger gathering. Thus, matches are likely to be played at the Barasat Stadium in Kolkata, Duler ground in Goa, Ambedkar Stadium in Delhi and the Devi Lal Stadium in Gurgaon.
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Jeev is Punjab Rattan
Chandigarh, December 29 The award was specially instituted for the reigning Asian golf king. At hand to see his sport legendary legacy go into a new generation was the 71-year-old Flying Sikh Milkha Singh and Jeev’s mother Nirmal Milkha Singh, who captained the Indian volleyball team. The president of the Punjab Golf Association, Mr S.K. Sharma, showered accolades on the Milkha Singh family. Giving away the Punjab Rattan Award to Chiranjeev, Mr Sharma said the PGA would take golf into the villages of Punjab to tap talent from the masses. He said the state level tournament would be held in late February or the beginning of March. The PGA would also hold special camps for youngsters where lady golf icon Irina Brar would give tips to budding golfers. He appealed to Chiranjeev to talk to budding golfers whenever he is in Chandigarh. Chiranjeev also received a trophy, a scroll of honour and a blazer of the Punjab Golf Association. Milkha Singh and Nirmal were also honoured. Chiranjeev said golf should be taken to the villages. He appealed to Mr Sharma to take the sport to the masses.
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Rastogi marches into final
New Delhi, December 29 The fourth-seeded Karan will meet Hyun Woo Nam of Korea in the title clash tomorrow. The unseeded Nam knocked out top-seeded Alexey Kedriouk of Kazakhstan 7-5, 6-1 in the second semifinal. The Kolkata-based Rastogi played a steady game to break Enev in the second game of the first set to bag it rather comfortably. But in the second set, the Bulgarian broke Karan in the second game, in which he fired two aces and committed as many double faults. But the energetic Indian lad quickly regained his form to break back in the very next game, and then broke Enev in the fifth and seventh games to wrap up the set and the match.
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