 |
|
|
Warm-up tie COUNTDOWN: 4 DAYS TO GO...
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Telecast row
Lok Sabha passes feed-sharing Bill
Aussies look to avenge defeat
Wake-up call for Kiwis: Coach
Delhi Police to assist NSG
Jyoti makes flying start
Anand draws, inches closer to title
All England Badminton
Ex-PFA secretary Kapoor dead
Churchill down Mohd Sporting Patiala pugilists pack a strong punch Brar gymnastics body chief
|
|
Warm-up tie
Montego Bay (Jamaica), March 8 As the quadrennial event hurtles towards the formal launch on March 11, other big guns too would be keen to pick a few vital clues from the opposite camp. Australia take on England at Kingstown in St Vincent; Pakistan go up against South Africa in St Augustine, Trinidad; and New Zealand square up against Sri Lanka in Bridgetown, Barbados. Pakistan and New Zealand in particular have much to gain and lose after their sloppy first practice game. Any slip-up now wouldn’t do any good to their confidence. Back home, however, it’s the India-West Indies game that would keep fans awake well into the midnight since the latter have some invaluable tools to play with in their own backyard. The West Indies are adept at making best use of low and slow Caribbean wickets where the batsmen have to grind and bowlers have to show an uncommon discipline. It also needs to be backed with electric fielding and then alone a side’s fate can be shaped. India would also like to see Virender Sehwag fire as well as Robin Uthappa and Dinesh Karthik get some runs under their belts. Aware as captain Rahul Dravid is about the team’s needs, he also wants to address a few unsettled issues with regard to the combination. He admits it would require an immense balancing act to eke out a win at the same time work out a few theories on which the team has been working of late. West Indies have issues of their own and returning Ramnaresh Sarwan is in urgent need of some runs. Captain Brian Lara too returns to the side after missing out against Kenya. — PTI
|
||
|
Gutsy Gibbs to the fore
Gopal Sharma 
Australia had put an almost insurmountable total of 434 for 4 on the board, the first 400 plus total in the history of one-day international cricket. Ricky Ponting had played an innings of his life, blitzing South Africa with a 105-ball 164 at the Wanderers in Johannesburg last year. This was by any yardstick was a winning total on any surface and against any opposition. Ponting believed it would be like any other day in the office. Rightly so since he had arguably the world’s best bowling attack at his disposal. The target looked beyond the reach of South Africa even after skipper Graeme Smith played an absolute blinder of an innings and blazed his way to 90 off just 55 balls. His departure brought a sigh of relief in the Aussie camp. However, it did not last long as they were soon hit by a blizzard named Herschelle Gibbs. Going after the bowling attack right from the word go, Gibbs played an innings of belligerence and intimidation rarely seen at this level of the game. Hard-hitting and a superb timer of the ball, Gibbs made a mockery of the Aussie attack, playing strokes to every part of the ground. It was a once-in-a-lifetime innings which left the mighty Aussies shell-shocked. Gibbs raced to a 79-ball century. Such was his dominance that he hammered an incredible 175 from 111 balls, hitting 21 fours and seven sixes. Mark Boucher provided the finishing touches as South Africa achieved the unthinkable, emerging triumphant in a high-octane contest, which saw nearly nine hundred runs being scored in a day! Aussies lost by one wicket with a ball to spare. What makes Gibbs dangerous is his ability play powerful strokes in the wide arc from the point area to square leg. When in touch, he can change the course of a game within a couple of overs. A team man to the core, Gibbs has played several high-quality knocks for South Africa. Besides, Gibbs is the most agile fielder in the side. Patrolling the cover area, he has the knack of hitting stumps from a distance. Though a proven match-winner, controversies have always dogged his career keeping him in news. In a crucial match in the 1999 World Cup, Gibbs turned “villain” when he dropped a sitter off Australian captain Steve Waugh’s bat. The famous Waugh riposte “You have just dropped the World Cup, son!” is still fresh in the minds of cricket enthusiasts. Soon thereafter, his name figured along with skipper Hansie Cronje in the infamous match-fixing controversy for which he was banned from international cricket for six months. In October last before the Champions Trophy, he was questioned by the Delhi police in this connection. Early this year, he was banned for two Tests for making racist remarks against a Pakistan fan during the Centurion Test. Controversy or no controversy, his team-mates as well as the South African cricket board have always stood by the flamboyant batsman. They know what Gibbs is capable of. This underlines Gibbs’ value as a performer. Graeme Smith would be expecting a significant contribution from him so that the Proteas banish the tab of ‘chokers’ once and for all. — TNS
|
|
Yuvraj keen to shine with bat, ball
Trelawny (Jamaica), March 8 The 25-year-old middle-order batsman shone with his power shots on debut as a teenager in 2000 and then overcame criticism of his attitude to mature into a dependable player and superb fielder in the last two years. The Punjab player tore left knee ligaments in October to leave his team concerned for the World Cup but stroked a series-winning 95 not out at home against Sri Lanka last month to display his form and fitness. “I’ve worked really hard on my fitness,” Yuvraj told reporters yesterday. “It wasn’t easy coming back from such an injury but you have to build on it. “I’m sure by the time I play my first game on 17th, I’ll be 100 per cent. “That innings (95 not out) was very important for me to build up for the World Cup because I was out for four months and had no runs behind me.” India face group B opponents Bangladesh in their first match on March 17 in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. Sri Lanka and Bermuda are the other teams in the group. Yuvraj, an outstanding fielder at point, grabbed four wickets bowling his slow left-arm spin in the 182-run victory over unfancied Netherlands on Tuesday. Skipper Rahul Dravid praised the youngster as key to the team’s search for an effective fifth bowler. However, the main focus on Yuvraj - with 4,412 runs from 163 one-dayers - will be his batting. He has scored fifty or more 33 times, including seven hundreds and India have lost only eight of those matches. “I’ve had a good run in the one-dayers in the last two years,” he said. “Whenever I go in to bat, I think I need to play till the end, finish the game off. “The captain has faith in me and that is what I’m going to try and do in this World Cup.” “I’m very happy my contributions have ended up in the team winning, I'll be the happiest to contribute to the team’s victory every time but it is not possible all the time.” However, Yuvraj felt it would not be easy for batsmen. “The ball doesn’t come on to the bat so you have to spend time in the middle, assess the wicket, opposition and what score you need to put on the board.” He is expected to team up as a part-time spin bowlers with Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag. “That is an advantage in my team, it is easy to find a fifth bowler,” said Yuvraj, rating highly the title hopes. “We play well in such wickets in India also,” he said. “But it is going to be do-or-die for every team.” — Reuters
|
|
Kolkata, March 8 A golden ring in the lower part of the trophy came off as one of the organisers tried to raise it to enable people to have a better look at it during a function at the Metro Tower. An official of LG Electronics, which as the global partner of the ICC World Cup 2007 organised the display here, however, denied any damage to the trophy, though a senior staffer was seen putting back the ring. An LG spokesperson admitted that the golden ring did come off but claimed that there was no harm to the trophy. “We later displayed it before the Victoria Memorial. It was kept there for an hour. And, the trophy is now going from the city in the same condition it arrived in the morning,” the spokesperson said. Asked whether it was the original World Cup trophy, the spokesperson said “Yes, of course.” The trophy arrived in the city this morning from New Delhi. It will now go to Mumbai before returning to the West Indies.
|
|
Telecast row
New Delhi, March 8 BCCI Vice-Presidents Shashank Manohar and Lalit Modi, Treasurer N. Srinivasan, and Marketing Committee member and former chief I. S. Bindra will meet at colleague Arun Jaitley’s residence to discuss Nimbus’ threat to pull out of the four-year deal worth $612 million. But even as the BCCI frantically tries to salvage the situation, the big question that has cropped up is whether the recent broadcast Ordinance will result in significant devaluation of the cricket telecast rights. Nimbus chairman Harish Thawani denied his company has threatened to renege its contract with the BCCI, but his letter certainly has made it clear that its product would be very much diluted if it had to share the live match feed with Doordarshan. “The letter (from Nimbus) talks about material damages and the reduction in income. But we have put that aside for now and are trying to find a solution,” BCCI Vice-President Rajeev Shukla said after an emergency meeting of the Board here yesterday. At the heart of the matter is Nimbus’ insistence that Prasar Bharti should restrict its transmission of the live match feed to its terrestrial channel and encrypt its signals, both of which have been rebuffed. — PTI
|
|
Lok Sabha passes feed-sharing Bill
New Delhi, March 8 The Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Bill, 2007, replaces the Ordinance issued in this regard. The Ordinance was brought forward after some private channels approached the court, questioning the government’s downlinking and uplinking policy guidelines. Replying to the debate on the Bill, Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi said a comprehensive legislation on broadcasting will soon be brought in Parliament. “It will be the first of its kind in the world. No country would have such transparent legislation,” he said. It will be brought in after consulting all stakeholders, including the Sports Ministry, Prasar Bharati and the channels.— UNI
|
|
|
Aussies look to avenge defeat
Kingstown, March 8 “It’s a game we want to win,” captain Ricky Ponting told reporters. “Obviously I want to win every game that I can. Hopefully, we can go through winning every game, that’s what we want to do as a team.” Ponting, whose side lost five games in a row this year, including both matches in the tri-series final against England after the visitors appeared down and out, said it was important to start winning again. Australia defeated Zimbabwe by 106 runs in the first of their two warm-up matches on Tuesday after England had crushed Bermuda by 241 runs on the previous day. Australia used eight bowlers on Tuesday without succeeding in dismissing Zimbabwe after England had disposed of Bermuda for 45 in 22.2 overs. In common with all the other teams in the warm-up stages, they have been forced to reshape their strategy after witnessing first hand just how slow the pitches are likely to be in the Caribbean. Accordingly Australia will be looking for some overs from part-time off-spinner Brad Hodge while Ponting suggested Mike Hussey’s occasional slow-medium could even be used while Australia wait for all-rounder Andrew Symonds to recover from a torn right bicep.
— Reuters
|
|
Bridgetown, March 8 The Kiwis had been expected to carry on from the stunning 3-0 rout of champions Australia last month but they came unstuck on Tuesday when Bangladesh pulled off an unlikely two-wicket victory in the 3Ws stadium. “It’s either the best thing that could have happened to us or the worst thing. We’re going to look at it as the best thing,” Bracewell told reporters yesterday. “It’s a wake-up call. (It gave us a chance to) get used to the conditions and respecting opposition that we’re going to come across in our pool play.” New Zealand will face Sri Lanka in their final warm-up game tomorrow before beginning their World Cup campaign on March 16 against England. With minnows Canada and Kenya lined up as their other opponents in Group C, Bracewell admitted his team can no longer take victory for granted against the smaller nations. “Teams that you’re expected to beat but if you’re complacent and not quite ready, then on these sorts of wickets they can kick your butt,” he said. “We came across a reasonably sticky surface yesterday, a lot slower, even a lot slower than the wickets we practice on. It was a bit tacky in the morning and it gives us an indication of what the 9.30 starts are going to be like. “Then it’s that matter of getting through those first 15 overs of that tackiness if you’re going to bat first, making sure you’ve got wickets in hand. “It was also interesting to see the wicket take a lot more turn in the afternoon than it did in the early part of the day. There were a lot of things to learn out of the game and we’re going to take the positives from it.” Sri Lanka had also played their opening warm-up match on the same ground but had no problem beating Scotland by 159 runs. With such an authoritative display on the ground that had caused New Zealand so much grief, Bracewell now believes the Asian side could be one of the front-runners for the title. “We must execute up front with both bat and ball,” he said. “We need to take the intensity up another notch. Sri Lanka, given my observation of their game against Scotland, they have probably shifted as one of the tournament favourites as they have greater flexibility across the board for these conditions, with their spin and upfront swingers. “They probably have the best tools available and we have to adapt to that very quickly,” he added. — Reuters
|
|
Delhi Police to assist NSG
New Delhi, March 8 Deputy Commissioner of Police Madhup Tiwari on Thursday left for the West Indies to assist the NSG in coordinating and providing security to members of the Indian team during the mega event, a spokesperson for Delhi Police said. Delhi Police sources said the departure of DCP Tiwari came following a letter from the Home Ministry to send a team of Delhi Police officials to the West Indies to assist the NSG in coordinating security for the Indian cricketers. A team of the NSG is already in the West Indies to assist organisers of the World Cup to provide security to the players, especially the Indian squad. Delhi Police and NSG personnel will keep a strict watch at World Cup venues, where the team is scheduled to play its matches, the spokesperson said. India will play all their preliminary group matches in Port of Spain. — UNI
|
|
Jyoti makes flying start
Singapore, March 8 Randhawa exploited to the hilt near-perfect scoring conditions at the par-72 Laguana National Golf and Country Club, firing in seven birdies and a superb eagle on the par-four second hole as against two bogeys to end the day just one stroke off the pace. Aussie Marcus Fraser and Wen-chong Liang of China lead the pack after returning an eight-under 64 round one. Among other Indians in the fray, Gaurav Ghei returned a four-under 68 card to grab the tied 15th spot, while Shiv Kapur and Jeev Milkha Singh played an identical three-under 69 round to take the tied 33rd spot with 23 others.
— UNI
|
|
Anand draws, inches closer to title
Linares (Spain), March 8 With just two rounds to go in the category-20 event, the Indian ace took his tally to 7.5 points out of a possible 12 and will now meet Hungarian Peter Leko and Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine in the last two rounds. On the other hand, 16-year-old Magnus Carlsen of Norway continued with his impressive run and remained on the heels of Anand after splitting point with top seed Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria. Carlsen took his tally to an impressive seven points and remained in sole second spot. The other two games of the day ended decisively with Russian Peter Svidler accounting for an out-of-sort Leko and Ivanchuk going down rather tamely against another Russia Alexander Morozevich. As things stand, Svidler moved to sole third spot after the victory with 6.5 points and maintained the tag of being the only unbeaten player in the tournament while Aronian was pushed to fourth spot on six points. Topalov, Ivanchuk and Morozevich share the fifth spot having 5.5 points apiece while Leko, after his dismal show, is now firmly in the cellar on 4.5 points. In the remaining two rounds, Anand’s main contender will be Carlsen only as the Norwegian boy-wonder has to meet Svidler and Leko in final outings here. — PTI
|
|
All England Badminton
Birmingham, March 8 World number 32 Saina was not allowed to settle down and dictate terms by her opponent, ranked 25 places lower and the 17-year-old Indian needed 43 minutes to chalk out a 20-22, 21-15, 21-19 victory in women’s singles. Saina now runs into third seed Wang Chen of Hong Kong in the second round. However, top Indian shuttler Chetan Anand was outplayed by third seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia 12-21, 4-21 in men’s singles first round. In women’s doubles, Jwala Gutta and Shruti Kurian also lost their opening-round match to Vita Marissa and Polii Greysia 16-21, 21-7, 10-21. Earlier, Anup Sridhar, P Kashyap, Anand Pawar and Nikhil Kanetkar had failed to qualify for the main round. Sridhar had lost to Sato Shoji of Japan 21-8, 17-21, 16-21 in a qualifying round final, while all his three compatriots fell in the earlier rounds. — UNI
|
|
Ex-PFA secretary Kapoor dead
Chandigarh, March 8 Kapoor also served as the vice-president of the All-India Football Federation and was chairman of the selection committee for the 1986 Asian Games.
|
|
Churchill down Mohd Sporting
Margao, March 8 For Churchill Brothers, Odafe Okolie scored in the 60th and 66th minutes, while George Ekeh scored in the dying moments of the second half. The lone goal for Mohammedan Sporting came through Subhasis Roy Chowdhury in the 20th minute. With this win, Churchill Brothers took their points tally to 10 from eight outings with two wins, four draws and two losses. Mohammedan Sporting remained at the bottom with six points from an equal number of outings. — UNI |
|
|
Patiala pugilists pack a strong punch Patiala, March 8 School pugilists won six gold medals in the meet. The Punjab Sports Department (PSD) has been running a boxing centre under the guidance of senior boxing coach Harpreet Singh at the school and over the past few years the centre has been in the forefront of producing innumerable state and international-level boxers. In this edition of the championship, six boxers trained bagged gold medals in their respective weight categories. They are: Pushkar Singh (light flyweight), Nirpal Singh (light welterweight), Brinder Singh (welterweight), Kuldeep Singh (middleweight), Parminder Singh (light heavyweight) and Manpreet Singh (super heavyweight). Out of these, Parminder Singh, an international player, has been a member of the junior Indian squad that took part in various international tourneys. The stellar performance of the pugilists ensured that Patiala topped the packing order by garnering 27 points, while SAI Training Centre (Mastuana Sahib) with 22 points and Sangrur with 14 points were placed second and third, respectively.
|
|
|
Brar gymnastics body chief Patiala, March 8 The other office-bearers are: senior vice-president - D.I.S. Brar; vice-president - Susham Singla; secretary general - Ravinder Kumar Rishi; finance secretary - G.S. Kang; and technical adviser - Nirbhay Sharma. Punjab Gymnastics Association (POA) secretary P.S Virk was the observer at the meeting.
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
