 |
|
|
Dav Whatmore out, Ford may be in
Battle of continents begins today
WADA welcomes new drug detection method
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Houghton assesses first year at the helm
Jeev recommended for Khel Ratna
Commonwealth table tennis
Jyoti ends tied 17th
|
|
Dav Whatmore out, Ford may be in
Bangalore, June 4 Dav Whatmore, the former Sri Lanka and Bangladesh coach who has been a front-runner all along, was out of the reckoning after the decision by the BCCI Search Committee, appointed to find a successor to Greg Chappell, which met here this evening. “We have decided to invite Ford and another coach of foreign origin for discussions on June 9 in Chennai,” board treasurer N. Srinivasan, a member of the Search Committee, told reporters after the meeting. “We have not been able to reach the second person so far but we hope to do it soon,” Srinivasan said. “We had made contact with Whatmore before. By implication you can say that Whatmore is out (of contention),” he added. It was speculated that the unnamed foreigner was former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga. The move to call him for discussion seemed more of a ploy to please Sunil Gavaskar, who has been a staunch believer in an Indian coaching the Indian team, than giving him a serious consideration. Ford, who coached South Africa between 1999 and 2001 and currently Director of Coaching with Kent County Club, threw his hat in the ring only yesterday. Whatmore on the other hand has been vocal about his keenness to coach the Indian team. The 53-year-old Australian led Sri Lanka to World Cup success in 1996 and then Bangladesh to a shock victory over the Indians in the recent World Cup in the West Indies. He sought and met BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah and former captain Ravi Shastri, another member of the Search Committee and Indian team’s cricket manager, during the recent series in Bangladesh. Ford worked as assistant to the late Bob Woolmer with the South African team before taking over from him after the 1999 World Cup. The 46-year-old guided the team during immediate difficult period after the 2000 match-fixing scandal. Ford also has the credit of guiding the Natal team which featured many of the current and recent South African players, like Shaun Pollock, Lance Klusener and Jonty Rhodes, besides the late West Indian fast bowling legend Malcolm Marshall. After being removed from the post, he joined Kent where he has been Director of Coaching. Earlier, the BCCI’s proposal to prune the Ranji Trophy Elite Group from the present 15 to 10 could not be passed at the meeting of the technical committee today with members failing in reaching a consensus on the issue. The meeting, which was held under the chairmanship of Sunil Gavaskar, discussed the issue at length with the meeting time being extended to even four hours. However, no consensus could be reached.
|
|
Battle of continents begins today
Bangalore, June 4 The series has already lost some gloss with star cricketers like home icons Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sri Lankan aces Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan of the Asian squad opting out of the tournament. The tournament will start with two Twenty20 matches — the women’s Twenty20 tie will mark the opening of the tournament while the men’s clash, to be played under lights, will follow next at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. It is also for the first time that any international Twenty20 match is being played in India. But uncertainty prevails over the two matches with the met office forecasting thundershowers for today after a heavy spell of rains last night. The two matches would be followed by the first 50-over ODI between the two continents on Wednesday before the scene of action shifts to Chennai for the last two ODIs to complete the series. Withdrawal of top players is a big setback for the tournament even before the start. While Asia have been hit hard with the pull-outs, Africa too are set to miss the services of Graeme Smith and top all-rounders Jaques Kallis and Andrew Hall. Besides, veteran South African Shaun Pollock has decided to play only as a batsman in the series. However, the home fans will be encouraged by the presence of vastly experienced campaigners like Sourav Ganguly and Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya and the Mahela Jayawardene-led team should throw some tough challenge at the Africans in the ODI series that concludes on June 10. Coming to men’s Twenty20 tie tomorrow, only one Indian player, pacer S Sreesanth, has been included in the Asia team led by newly-appointed Pakistan captain and all-rounder Shoaib Malik, whose leadership skills would be tested as he would have to shepherd players of four sub-continental teams to play as a unit. Besides, the team has a good sprinkling of all-rounders, led by their captain Malik and his compatriot Abdur Razzak, Sri Lanka’s Tilakaratne Dilshan and Farveez Maharoof and Bangladesh’s Mushrafe Mortaza. The African squad for the Twenty20 tie is largely made up of little-known players who are rookies at the international level and could find it difficult to cope up with the conditions and opposition on the re-laid tracks of the stadium. The International Cricket Council has posted umpires only for the three 50-over ODIs while the Twenty20 ties would be officiated by umpires affiliated to the hosts, Karnataka Cricket Association. In the first edition of the tournament in South Africa, the ODI series was drawn 1-1 with one match rained-off. Teams for men’s Twenty20 match: Asia: Shoaib Malik (capt.), Tamim Iqbal, Imran Nazir, Mohammad Ashraful, Tilakaratne Dilshan, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal, Abdur Razzak, Farveez Maharoof, Mushrafe Mortaza and S. Sreesanth. Africa (from): Alex Obanda, M. Ouma, N. Odhiambo, Tanmay Mishra, Goolam Bodi, Thandi Tshabalala, A. Morkel, M. Morkel, L. Bosman, K. Dabengwa, Tawanda Mupariwa and F. Kasteni. Hours of play: women’s match: 3.30 pm to 4.50 pm; 5.10 pm to 6.30 pm; men’s match: 7.30 pm to 8.50 pm; 9.10 pm to 10.30 pm. — PTI
|
|
|
WADA welcomes new drug detection method
Sydney, June 4 The Australian researchers have discovered that growth hormone is not an effective performance-enhancer unless it is combined with testosterone, and that makes it easier to detect in drug tests. Ken Ho and Anne Nelson, of Sydney’s Garvan Institute, presented their research at the annual Endocrine Society conference in Toronto, Canada, at the weekend. For the past 30 years, growth hormone has been regarded as the scourge of clean sport because it was believed to build strength and power, and was undetectable until the past few years. However, the researchers are confident that the drug can now be detected for weeks after it is taken. WADA chief executive David Howman said the Garvan Institute’s research confirmed that blood-testing was the best way to catch athletes who took growth hormone and that the anti-doping agencies would now expand their testing regimes. Howman said the interesting thing about the Australian research was that it highlighted the “cocktail effect of using growth hormone with testosterone.” “The cocktail factor is one we worry about,” he told Monday’s The Australian newspaper. “We think a lot of banned substances are used in a cocktail and the tests that we have don’t necessarily look for those results. It alerts us to the issue, it’s a timely wake-up call.” Ho said the research team had begun is study with the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness of new drug tests for growth hormone but mad two important surprise findings. “Using high but safe levels of growth hormone we didn’t find ay effect on performance. It puts on fluid rather than muscle,” Ho told the newspaper. “The second interesting finding was that when taken with testosterone it does enhance performance, but the growth hormone is also more easily detected and it aids performance n only one particular aspect, which is sprint power. “The tests we did were to establish the best performing test against doping, and the one we favour can detect growth hormone for weeks after doping. Cheats who use both drugs will be more easily detected.” Howman said WADA’s growth hormone-testing program, which began 18 months ago, had been initially delayed by logistical difficulties. “There’s been old-up in rolling out the kits required for hat because the American company we had contracted to do that went into a merger and the merged company dropped the contract,” he said. “But now we have a European company in place so we are heading in the right direction.” The Australian study recommends using a blood test to measure protein levels in the body hat increase when the subject uses the drugs. — AFP
|
|
Paris, June 4 Australia’s Hewitt, 26, who fell to Nadal in four sets in the same round last year, still boasts a winning record against the claycourt king. He now leads 4-3 although all three meetings on clay have resulted in wins for Nadal. Meanwhile, Igor Andreev tamed a leaping Marcos Baghdatis with a 2-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 win today to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time. The unseeded Russian will be heading into uncharted territory after adding the 16th-seeded Cypriot to his list of high-profile victims in Paris. The conqueror of Andy Roddick in the first round, Andreev took his time to find his range on Suzanne Lenglen court but it was not long before Baghdatis was left attempting futile jumps in the air as he tried to chase down the Russian’s soaring winners. A final mishit shot into the stands ended Baghdatis’s challenge and put Andreev into the last eight against sixth seed Novak Djokovic. Djokovic, the youngest player left in the French Open, and veteran former champion Carlos Moya, the oldest man standing, moved into the Roland Garros quarterfinals today. Serbian Djokovic was only seven when Swede Jonas Bjorkman made his debut at Roland Garros but whatever he lacks in experience he made up for with youthful exuberance. Powerful, razor-sharp and fleet-footed, the 20-year-old sixth seed made mincemeat of Spain’s Fernando Verdasco, winning 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 on a humid day at the French Open. Bjorkman, at 35 the oldest man to reach the fourth round since 1972, started well enough against former champion Carlos Moya before the exertions of the past week caught up with him. Moya, no youngster himself at 30, now carries the flag for the older generation after a 7-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory. Djokovic, the youngest player in the last 16, proved again that he has the game to loosen the Nadal-Federer stranglehold as he joined compatriots Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic in the quarterfinals. Kitted out in bright yellow shirt and black shorts, Djokovic buzzed across the red clay, stinging Verdasco with winners from every conceivable angle. A single service break was all it needed in the first set and he went 4-0 up in the second to establish complete control against the highest-ranked player he has faced here so far. Verdasco, who had a 2-0 career record over Djokovic, made a match of it in the third set but even luck was against him. Twenty-third seed Moya, the 1998 champion and still a force on clay, recovered from a sluggish start to take the first set on a tiebreak and then cruised through the second. Bjorkman, who came back from two-set deficits in the first two rounds here, needed treatment on his shoulder at the end of the second set and although he gamely hung on in the third, there was no way back on this occasion. Earlier, Russian Nikolay Davydenko chose the perfect time to snap a run of four straight defeats by David Nalbandian yesterday, edging through a punishing fourth-round contest 6-3, 7-6, 3-6, 7-6 to reach the French Open quarterfinals. Bhupathi-Radek advance Mahesh Bhupathi and Radek Stepanek stormed into the men’s doubles quarterfinals but Rupesh Roy was knocked out of the boys’ singles in the first round today. Bhupathi and Stepanek shocked seventh seeds Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram of Israel 7-6, 6-4 in the third round to book their last-eight berth. Eighteen-year-old Roy went down to Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania 6-7, 2-6 to bow out of contention.
— Agencies
|
|
Houghton assesses first year at the helm
New Delhi, June 4 Addressing reporters after one year in the office, Houghton was asked how much India progressed under him. “No progress,” was his terse reply. Houghton was clearly unhappy with the lack of international matches for the senior national side, which slipped to 165 in the FIFA rankings. The senior team played only three full internationals since Houghton took over as various domestic and other commitments kept it from playing more games. “We played two Asian Cup qualifiers against Saudi Arabia and one against Japan. This is too few in a season. The present ranking does not reflect the quality of the Indian side but the amount of full internationals it has played,” Houghton said. Only results in full internationals played by the senior national team count towards FIFA rankings. He said the domestic calendar, as it has been over the years, was the main obstacle to raise the standard of the team. “The calendar is not conducive at all. We have to sort it out. There are too many matches in a short period which results in injuries and prevents proper recovery,” the Englishman, who took China to the World Cup finals, said. Thanks to injuries, top players like Deepak Mondal, Ajayan, Climax Lawrence and Mahesh Gawli have hardly played under the present coach. “There needs to be a compromise if we are to realise our goals, which are to be among the top 10 and eventually the top five in Asia, which will give us a chance to qualify for the World Cup,” he said. Various traditional local leagues and inter-state competitions insist on having the top players, who get overworked and unable to give their best for the national team. “There are a lot of self-interest groups involved here,” he alleged. Citing example, Houghton said he had to release eight players from the national camp six days prior to an important Asian Cup qualifier last year for a East Bengal-Mohun Bagan match in the Kolkata league. “That is unacceptable and would not be allowed in any other country,” said a miffed Houghton. Besides giving sufficient recovery time between matches, the coach suggested making competitions like the Santosh Trophy, local leagues and Durand Cup age-specific competitions. Accordingly, the All-India Football Federation has now decided that players in a national camp will not be allowed to play any league matches in the 14 days prior to a senior international. “A choice needs to be made. The way things have been it will not be possible to improve the standard of Indian footbal,” Houghton said. The professional national league starting on September 30, however, intends to give more space between the matches. Things, however, look better now with India concentrating on senior internationals and scheduled to play about 15 matches in the coming 12 months.
— PTI
|
|
Jeev recommended for Khel Ratna
New Delhi, June 4 Son of the legendary ‘Flying Sikh’ Milkha Singh, Jeev ended his seven-year title drought last year when he lifted the Volvo China Open and went on to add three more titles to top last year’s Asian Tour Order of Merit. “We recommended Jeev for Khel Ratna because he had a phenomenal season last year. He is the first Indian golfer to break into top 50 and ended the previous year ranked 37th. He has done the country immensely proud,” secretary-general of the Indian Golf Union, Satish Aparajit, told PTI. Jeev thus joins Indian cricket captain Rahul Dravid, tennis ace Mahesh Bhupathi and woman pugilist MC Marykom in the race for the coveted honour, which carries a cash award of Rs 5 lakh. — PTI
|
|
Commonwealth table tennis
Jaipur, June 4 In women’s section, however, both Poulomi Ghatak and Mouma Das sailed to the quarterfinals. Sharath Kamal was in sublime touch as he overcame Rushtom 11-7, 11-9, 11-5, 9-11, 11-5 to set up a clash with Cai Xaio Li of Singapore. But apart from the Chennai paddler, the rest of the pack in men’s section just fell apart in the prequarters. Soumyadeep Roy once again lost to Gavin Rumgay of Scotland after having been beaten in the first round team event on the first day of the championship. Soumyadeep’s poor form caught up with him as he lost an advantageous position to go down 11-6, 11-9, 10-12, 11-13, 11-6, 7-11, 9-11. Saha lost to Commonwealth Games silver medallist William Henzell of Australia 7-11, 7-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-13. A Amalraj, who upset veteran Nigerian Monday Merothun yesterday in the first round, also bowed out after losing to Zhilong Brad of New Zealand 12-10, 11-6, 11-5, 5-11, 8-11, 11-8. In women’s section, national champion Poulomi stuttered a bit but kept her nerves at crucial moment to edge past Karen Li of New Zealand 12-10, 7-11, 11-7, 11-9, 6-11, 11-3. Mouma went past Cecilia Offiong of Nigeria 11-8, 11-6, 9-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-8 to reach the last eight stage. Top seed Gao Ning in men’s beat Kyle Davis of Australia 11-4, 11-4, 8-11, 11-1, 11-9 but second seed Yag Zi faced a tough time in surpassing Seun Ajetunmobi of Nigeria 11-7, 11-5, 8-11, 5-11, 11-7, 10-12, 11-6 in a thrilling encounter. India suffered another jolt in the men’s double with Sharath and Somyadeep losing 9-11, 9-11, 9-11 against the Malaysian pair of Mohd Shakirin and Kian Beng Chai in the first round. The top Indian pair looked completely out of touch and missed some easy chances to bow out of the championship. All the three Indian pair in fray in mixed doubles quarterfinals also made a quiet exit. Three Singaporean pair and one Nigerian combination made the semifinal line-up in mixed doubles. — PTI
|
|
Celtic Manor, June 4 Shiv Kapur also picked up his game in the last round and shot a three-under 66 to sign off at the tied 43rd spot with a total of two-under 274. South African Richard Sterne clinched the title after returning a 65 to finish with a score of 13-under 263. Glenview (USA): Arjun Atwal missed the top-10 finish by a whisker as he signed off at tied 18th after returning a final-round card of four-under 68 at the LaSalle Bank Open golf tournament on the US Nationwide Tour here. Atwal, who has limited exemption on PGA Tour and is on Nationwide Tour, the second rung tour in the US, signed off with a total of 11-under 277. — PTI
|
| 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 | |
In
Video (
Second seed Nadal, aiming to become the first man to win the title three times in a row since Bjorn Borg in 1980, was in a class of his own for most of his match against the former Wimbledon and US Open champion, who has dropped to 16th in the ATP rankings and was seeded 14th. 
