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Maria Sharapova of Russia celebrates her victory over compatriot Vera Zvonareva in their fourth-round match at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Monday. Sharapova won 7-5, 6-4. — AFP
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Younis, Akmal steer Pak to victory
Cricket telecast row goes to court
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Dutch eves clinch Champions Trophy
Dempo stopper-back Bolaji Majeck (left) tries to keep the ball in control as JCT striker Edeh Chidi tries to dispossess him in a National Football League match at Ludhiana’s Guru Nanak Stadium on Monday.
— Tribune photo by Sayeed Ahmed
Dreev wins chess crown
Manish gets gold in Wushu contest
Khushdeep hits target, wins gold
Khalsa School boys enter semis Bikers ride on the beach in Dakar during the 15th and final stage of the Dakar Rally, on Sunday. French biker Cyril Despres won his second Dakar Rally crown. — AFP
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Sharapova, Hingis in last eight
Melbourne, January 22 Li looked set to become her country’s first singles quarterfinalist at Melbourne Park after winning the first set, but she withered away under sunny skies to lose 6-4, 3-6, 0-6. Clijsters had proved to be a roadblock for Daniela Hantuchova on eight previous occasions and the slender Slovakian again found the title favourite an impenetrable obstacle. The Belgian romped to a 6-1, 7-5 win in 79 minutes after a wild crosscourt error sealed Hantuchova’s fate. Fans scrambled for their earplugs on the Rod Laver Arena as top seed Maria Sharapova shrieked to a 7-5, 6-4 win in a Russian catfight against Vera Zvonareva. The 22nd seed could not fend off Sharapova, who won in an hour and 46 minutes. She will take on compatriot Anna Chakvetadze for a place in the semis. Chakvetadze avoided the fate of compatriots Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Dementieva, who were knocked out yesterday, when she reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-1 win over eighth seed Patty Schnyder. Nadal scrapes past Murray
In the men’s section, second seed Rafael Nadal won an epic clash with Briton Andy Murray 6-7, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals today. The 19-year-old Murray, seeded 15th, stood up to the Spaniard’s bludgeoning groundstrokes in the first set and controlled the tie-breaker to take it 7-3. Nadal came from a break down to level the match and made an early break in the third but Murray refused to lie down, taking the Spaniard’s serve twice to clinch the set. Murray wasted chances to break Nadal early in the fourth set and the world number two made two breaks of his own to level the fluctuating night match on Rod Laver Arena. Nadal broke for a 2-0 lead in the decider and the 20-year-old Spaniard romped through the final set to seal victory in three hours 51 minutes and reach the quarterfinals here for the first time. Nadal will play 10th seed Fernando Gonzalez in the last eight. Dashing Chilean Gonzalez ousted fifth seed James Blake of the USA in straight sets. The American, who grows a beard whenever he is on a winning run, will be enjoying a close shave for the first time in over two weeks after his 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 humbling by Olympic doubles champion Gonzalez. Argentine marathon man Nalbandian finally ran out of steam against Germany’s Tommy Haas, who won 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3. Nalbandian had already been on court for more than nine hours before today’s contest proved to be a road too far. Haas has been down this road before though, having reached the semifinals twice, the first time in 1999 at the age of 21. Third seed Nikolay Davydenko will be hoping his run to the latter stages here will give him the exposure he needs to secure a long-overdue clothing sponsor. The only man in the top 10 without a shirt deal, he wore down Czech Tomas Berdych 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, 7-6.
— Reuters
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Mahesh-Radek enter quarters
Melbourne, January 22 The Indo-Czech pair will now be up against the second-seeded Swedish-Belarussian pair of Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi in the last-eight match. In mixed doubles, the Bangalore-based player was not so fortunate in partnership with Daniela Hantuchova. The Indo-Slovak pair was defeated by the Serbian team of Nenad Zimonjic and Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 8-10 in just over two hours. Sania’s dismal campaign ends
Tenth seeds Sania Mirza and her Spanish partner Anabel Medina Garrigues fought hard but ran out of steam in the closing stages as they went down 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 2-6 to sixth-seeded Slovakian-Japanese pair of Daniela Hantuchova and Ai Sugiyama in the third round of women’s doubles today. In mixed doubles, Sania and Fabrice Santoro of France lost to the second-seeded pair of Mark Knowles (Bahamas) and Rennae Stubbs (Australia) 6-7, 6-1, 7-10 to end the Hyderabadi’s campaign in the first Gland Slam event of the year. Rupesh loses
India’s campaign in the junior section got off to a disappointing start as Rupesh Roy went down 6-2, 3-6, 3-6 to France’s Kevin Botti in boys’ singles.
— UNI
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Younis, Akmal steer Pak to victory
Port Elizabeth, January 22 Younis was 67 not out with Kamran Akmal on 57, the pair adding 99 for the unbroken sixth wicket to pull Pakistan out of trouble and reach the victory target of 191 just before tea on day four. South Africa were dismissed for 124 in the first innings, to which Pakistan replied with 265. The home side totalled 331 in the second essay. Makhaya Ntini and Shaun Pollock grabbed two wickets apiece to reduce Pakistan to 92 for five before Younis and wicketkeeper Akmal came together. Pakistan resumed their second innings on eight without loss, and fast bowler Ntini made the breakthrough in the seventh over of the morning when Imran Farhat, who scored seven, edged an expansive drive to Jacques Kallis at second slip. Two overs later, Yasir Hameed was run out for six by Andre Nel’s direct hit on the stumps at the non-striker’s end from extra cover. Pakistan slipped to 48 for three when Mohammad Hafeez was trapped in front by medium pacer Pollock for 32 with a delivery that seemed to be sliding down the leg side. Pollock might have dismissed Younis for five in his next over, but he failed to hold a return catch that would have reduced Pakistan to 51 for four. South Africa stayed in the hunt by taking the key wickets of Mohammad Yousuf and Inzamam-ul-Haq in the first nine overs after lunch. Yousuf scored 18 before steering a delivery from Pollock to Herschelle Gibbs in the gully while Ntini trapped Inzamam in front for one with a ball that seemed to hit the Pakistan captain outside the line of off-stump. However, Younis and Akmal took the game away from South Africa with safe strokes and steady scoring. South Africa won the first Test by seven wickets in Centurion. The deciding Test starts in Cape Town on Friday. Injured Shoaib, Gul to return
Pakistani fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul will return home from South Africa after sustaining injuries on the tour, an official said today. “Shoaib has been ruled out of action for at least two weeks with a grade one hamstring tear and has also developed fluid in his knee,” said Saleem Altaf, Director, Cricket Operations, Pakistan. Shoaib played his first Test in 11 months at Port Elizabeth and took four wickets in South Africa’s first innings but the injury prevented him from bowling in the second. Altaf said Gul had sustained an ankle injury which had not healed completely. Scoreboard South Africa (1st innings) 124 Pakistan (1st innings)
265 South Africa (2nd innings) 331 Pakistan (2nd innings)
Hafeez lbw Pollock 32 Farhat c Kallis b Ntini 7 Hameed run out 6 Younis not out 67 Yousuf c Gibbs b Pollock 18 Inzamam lbw Ntini 1 Akmal not out 57 Extras (lb-1, nb-1 w-1) 3 Total (5 wkts, 57.3 overs) 191 Fall of wickets: 1-29, 2-35, 3-48, 4-87, 5-92. Bowling: Nel 14-2-63-0, Ntini 19-6-50-2, Pollock 13-4-47-2, Kallis 6-0-17-0, Harris 5.3-0-13-0.
— Reuters
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Cricket telecast row goes to court
New Delhi, January 22 Nimbus’ Neo Sports has got exclusive telecast rights from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for $ 612 million for four years since February, 2006. After Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi had yesterday threatened to bring in a legislation, probably in the form of an ordinance, to bind all private broadcasters to share the telecast feed of sports events with Doordarshan, Nimbus swiftly moved the High Court seeking to restrain the government from imposing the December, 2005, guidelines on it. Nimbus counsel Gopal Sharma made a special mention of the filing of the petition before a Bench headed by Chief Justice M.K. Sharma, which fixed the hearing for tomorrow. Meanwhile, Prasar Bharati filed a caveat in the High Court to ensure that it was also heard and no ex-parte order was passed. Caveats were also moved in the Supreme Court and the Bombay High Court by the public broadcaster in the anticipation that Nimbus might move petitions there too. Nimbus said it was ready to share the feed of the matches with Prasar Bharati for telecast on Doordarshan on the condition that the latter had to carry the “dirty signals” (signals with ads booked by them). However, the public broadcaster insisted upon providing “clean feed”, which was not possible. The Union Government had issued a memorandum on January 19 asking Nimbus to comply with the December, 2005, guidelines, making it compulsory for all private channels to share the feed of all sports events involving India with the public broadcaster. Nimbus has challenged both the guidelines and the January 19 memorandum, terming them as “arbitrary”, and apprehended that the government might come up with an ordinance to impose orders on it, as indicated by Dasmunsi. It has sought to invoke the protection of its right to carry on its business and commercial interest as a private entity, which has got the licence for telecast in India and a valid contract with the BCCI.
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Chappell manhandled
Bhubaneswar, January 22 Chappell, who has often landed himself in controversies involving Indian fans since taking over as a coach in 2005, was pushed from behind by an irate fan who managed to break the security cordon at the Biju Patnaik Airport. The former Australian captain was walking towards the team bus when the man suddenly lunged towards him and tried to grab him, Superintendent of Police Amitav Thakur said. But Chappell moved away as the man, identified as Biranchi Maharana and an activist of political outfit ‘Kalinga Sena’, was immediately taken into custody and subsequently arrested, Thakur said. Maharana later told newsmen that he was protesting against the non-inclusion of cricketers from Orissa in the Indian Team. The SP denied reports that the former Australia captain had been slapped during the incident which comes barely a day after India recorded a thrilling 14-run victory in the series opener at Nagpur. He said around 50 Kalinga Sena activists had gathered outside the airport but were pushed out by the police. However, Maharana somehow managed to position himself among the cameramen and journalists. Kamalakanta Pande, a member of the Orissa Cricket Association, who claimed to be present at the spot, said the man appeared to fall on Chappell who moved away. The two teams were then whisked away to the plush Mayfair Lagoon Hotel where they would be staying. Chappell is not a popular figure in the Eastern parts of the country, particularly in West Bengal, with fans holding him responsible for the ouster of Sourav Ganguly from the team last year. Chappell refused to comment on the incident even as mediapersons crowded the team hotel for his reaction. Eyewitnesses said Maharana, after being taken to a police jeep, shouted slogans like ‘Kalinga Sena Zindabad’, ‘BCCI go back’ and ‘Chappell go back’. “Why are players like Debasis Mohanty and Shiv Sundar Das from Orissa not included in the Indian team,” he demanded. Incidentally, both Mohanty and Das have played for the country in the past before being sidelined. Security for the two teams was further tightened following the incident. Airfield police station inspector in-charge Utkal Das told PTI that Maharana had been formally arrested and a case registered against him under sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation), 120b (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intentions) of IPC. He was being forwarded to the court of the sub-divisional judicial magistrate here, he said.
— PTI
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Dutch eves clinch Champions Trophy
Buenos Aires, January 22 The Dutch forced two penalty corners in the second minute and Paumen, who scored twice in their World Cup final victory last October, slammed in the second one. The Netherlands’ steely defence then made it hard work for Argentina just to cross into the Dutch territory. In the bronze-medal match, Olympic champions Germany downed Australia 2-0. Rika Komozawa’s second-half goals led Japan past Spain 2-0 for the second time in two days and to the fifth place. The title was the Netherlands’ third in the past four years. For overall titles since the first tournament in 1987, they trail only Australia, who have won six. Argentina won their only title in 2001. Star striker Kim Lammers, who scored twice against Argentina in the round-robin match but missed the Netherlands’ last two games with an ankle injury, returned for the final and led many of the attacking plays. But she had only one scoring chance in the 14th minute, failing to convert a centre pass in the circle, as she was closely marked by the Argentine defence. In the 54th minute, Argentina came close to equalising from their only penalty corner but specialist Noel Barrionuevo’s shot was deflected by a defender. The Netherlands completed the tournament unbeaten with one draw, and captain Minke Booij was named the best player and team-mate Lisanne de Roever the best goalkeeper. Barrionuevo was the leading scorer with five
goals. — AP
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JCT hold Dempo to goal-less draw
Ludhiana, January 22 The gruelling tie saw action shifting from one territory to the other at rapid pace but the defenders stood firm to blunt the attacks at either end. The Goan outfit relied on Nigerian sharpshooter Ranti Martins, Anthony Pereira and Peter Carvalho upfront, with skipper Roberto da Silva effectively controlling the midfield. Roberto, a Brazilian, formerly of Mohun Bagan, was the main playmaker and was rightly picked for the ‘man-of-the-match’ award for setting up many an intelligent move. However, the JCT defence comprising dependable stopper backs Anwar and Harpreet Singh withstood the test with fortitude, keeping the marauding Dempo forwards at bay throught coordinated action. JCT, on the other hand, were dependent on Nigerian striker Edeh Chidi and international Sunil Chhetri with Rennedy Singh chipping in from the left flank. However, the Dempo defence also put up stout resistance through stopper back Bolaji Majeck, John Dias, Valeriano Rebello and international Samir Naik to thwart the millmens’ designs. Incidentally, the two teams also split points through a goal-less draw on this very ground in the 10th edition of the NFL last season. In the Durand Cup final on November 27, JCT had lost to Dempo 0-1 with a goal through Ranti Martins. Although JCT commenced the proceedings on a promising note, with striker Sunil Chhetri attempting a header early on, the replacement of injured wing back Daljit Singh in the ninth minute came as a setback to the mill men. However, the overlapping role of Baldeep Singh (Senior) lent strength to the defence and attack thereafter. The game was hardly 14 minutes old when JCT’s Nigerian recruit Edeh Chidi, formerly of Sporting Clube de Goa, moved in menacingly and sent a back pass to team-mate Adebayo who only managed to balloon the ball high over the bar. Off a counter attack, Dempo skipper Roberto da Silva aimed a powerful shot from the top of the box but JCT goalie Karanjit Singh punched the ball away, displaying full alertness. JCT had another good chance when they earned a free kick after Edeh Chidi was brought down deep inside Dempo’s territory in the 31st minute. The curling free kick by Rennedy Singh narrowly missed the mark as the ball sailed over. In the second half, Dempo winger Clifford Miranda’s free kick looked threatening and Peter Carvalho almost found the mark with a header but unluckily, the ball struck the pole. Soon after, JCT substitute Baldeep (Junior) aimed a powerful piledriver after Edeh Chidi had failed to connect a cross from the right but the ball sailed over the goal-line. Midway into the second session, JCT striker Sunil Chhetri having managed to cut in from the right, was brought down by Dempo defender Bolaji Majeck inside the box, prompting calls for a penalty. However, the calls went unheeded even as Chhetri was shown the yellow card for dissent. To bolster the attack, JCT brought in striker Parveen Kumar in place of Edeh Chidi while Dempo replaced Peter Carvalho with Jerry Zirsangha. However, the moves did not change the complexion of the game. With the minutes ticking away, Dempo mounted pressure. First Clifford Miranda’s angular piledriver missed the far post and then off a rebound following a corner, a JCT defender made a goal-line save. Another power-packed shot by Dempo’s Valeriano Rebello from the top of the box also sailed over. With today’s draw, Dempo now have seven points while JCT’s tally has gone up to five.
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Dreev wins chess crown
New Delhi, January 22 Half-a-point adrift Dreev were seven players, including three Indians. Equal on points were G Rohit, GMs Ahmed Adly of Egypt, Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh, four-time national champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly, International Masters Enamul Hossain and Abdulla
Al-Rakib of Bangladesh, and Vikramaditya Kamble. They all pocketed a little over Rs 50,000 for their efforts. Rohit emerged the most successful Indian player, reaping an impressive haul of two norms with a runner-up position in the star-studded field. The 18-year-old Rohit completed his third and final IM norm and maiden GM norm in a field comprising 300 players, including 13 GMs, six among whom were Indians. He was superb in his final round as he drew with
Adly. Ahmed Adly finished second runner-up. — OSR
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Manish gets gold in Wushu contest
Ambala, January 22 In junior boys, up to 45 kg, Sanjeev got gold, Kapil silver while Arun Kumar bronze. In 45 - 48 kg, Pawan got gold, Ashok silver and Yoginder bronze. In 48 - 52 kg, Deepak Semwal won gold, Sachin Gulia silver while Harish Kapoor bronze. In 52-56 kg, Jai Prakash gold, Rajesh Ahlawat silver while Kapil won bronze. In 56-60 kg, Manish Kumar gold, Krishan silver while Avtar Singh bronze. In 60-65 kg, Bhartesh won gold, Kapil silver while Hemant bronze medal. In 70 - 75 kg, Pankaj gold medal, Nikunj silver and Vibhor Verma bronze. In girls, up to 24 kg, Monika got gold medal while Arti silver medal. In 28-32 kg, Sakshi got gold while Akriti Rana silver medal. In 32-36 kg, Pratima gold medal, Chanchal silver medal while Pabni bronze medal. Upto 45 kg, Reetu gold medal while Sonia silver medal. In 52-56 kg, Monika gold medal, Sonia silver medal while Harminder Kaur got bronze medal. |
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Khushdeep hits target, wins gold
Patiala, January 22 Earlier, Khushdeep Kaur was adjudged the best shooter in the third Fatehgarh Sahib Shooting Championship held in December last year and won a bronze in the same event in the Punjab Shooting Championship at Mohali. Raja K.S. Sidhu, secretary-general, Punjab Shooting Association, is all praise for Khushdeep Kaur. He said she had the necessary talent and could win many accolades at the international level if her talent was channelised in a professional manner by her coach Ms Swaranjit Kaur. Punjabi University Director (sports) Raj Kumar Sharma said Kushdeep Kaur would be felicitated at a function to be held at the university campus shortly.
— OSR
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Khalsa School boys enter semis Ludhiana, January 22 In other matches played today, Ropar XI whipped Sarih 4-1, while Surjit Academy, Jalandhar, were held to a 1-1 draw by Baba Uttam Singh Academy, Khadoor Sahib. Faridkot XI overcame Gopal Dass Academy, Kurali, 1-0, while Ranjit Singh Academy, Amritsar, suffered their first defeat of the tournament as they went down 1-2 to PAU Academy, Ludhiana.
— OSR
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Ganguly fit to play 2nd ODI Chopra tied 45th Skier in coma Ranji Trophy Golden shoes  |
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Determined batting by Younis Khan and Kamran Akmal steered Pakistan to a five-wicket victory in the second Test against South Africa today to level the series 1-1.
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