Karachi, June 18
After being elected chairman of the 2011 World Cup organising committee today, BCCI President Sharad Pawar vowed to make the event spectator-friendly with low-priced tickets for cricket-crazy fans in the subcontinent.

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Naseem Ashraf was named chief convener of the committee, which would be headquartered at Lahore.

Sujeeva Rajapakse of Sri Lanka was named treasurer of the joint committee which will meet again in November in India.

In the meeting at Bhurban, the organisers also decided to have a common visa, for which they would seek respective governments’ help.

The decision to keep the ticket prices within the reach of the common people of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh - joint hosts of the event - was taken after this year’s World Cup in the West Indies drew flaks for the low turnout during the matches in the Caribbean.

“The World Cup is an opportunity for us to showcase South Asia to the world and we plan to make it one of the most spectator-friendly and low-cost tournaments for them,” Pawar said at a press conference after the meeting.

“It is important to have a common visa for players, officials and the media in particular to make it a smooth event,” he said.

A common Caricom visa was also issued by the Caribbean community for the 2007 World Cup.

Ashraf said since Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka all had prior experience of hosting the World Cup, the determination was there to make it a memorable event.

The four South Asian countries got the hosting rights for the World Cup after much lobbying within the International Cricket Council (ICC) last year after Australia and New Zealand settled for the rights to organise the 2015 edition.

Much of the decisions taken at the meeting today centred around ensuring the mistakes of the 2007 World Cup held in the West Indies were not repeated.

The ICC and West Indies Cricket Board faced a lot of criticism during the 2007 World Cup over its duration and also the high price of tickets for the local population.

Pawar said the cooperation of the governments would be secured also to have a common visa for the World Cup.

Mahboob-ul-Anam of the Bangladesh Cricket Board promised to learn from the experience of the three other boards and to make the World Cup a big success in his country.

On more important issues, the meeting decided to discuss the terms of reference of the World Cup, including its duration, with the ICC later this year.

The meeting also decided to ask the ICC for special funds to develop and upgrade existing stadiums in the four host countries.

India is due to stage 22 matches, including the final, Pakistan 14, Sri Lanka nine and Bangladesh six.

“The ICC gave special funds to the West Indies to improve their stadia. We would like to have these for our tournament,” Ashraf said. — PTI 

London, June 18
In a joint effort to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Indian Test cricket, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and Bletchley Park Post Office will release a special stamp on July 19.

The stamps featuring the new Pataudi Trophy and the BCCI logo, alongside an England Lion, will be available in commemorative sheets of 10 stamps and two first-day match covers.

The Pataudi Trophy embedded in the stamp is in honour of Nawab of Pataudi, who in 1932 played for both England and India.

The first-day cover of the stamp, an artwork of MCC’s young artist Karen Neale, shows the match view from Lord’s Edrich Stand, while the second has a montage by Clare Pollitt taken from the collection of noted cricket historian Boria Majumdar.

The collection will be on display at Lord’s from July 19 for three months.

A limited number of 500 stamps for each cover will be issued and is priced at £10 per issue. — UNI

Indianapolis, June 18
Britain’s Lewis Hamilton won the US Grand Prix, underlining his extraordinary talent with a near-perfect display of racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway yesterday.

The rookie managed to resist a strong challenge from his Spanish McLaren team-mate and reigning world champion Fernando Alonso to record his second consecutive victory.

Hamilton claimed his maiden win in Canada last weekend and is yet to finish off the podium after seven races.

The 22-year-old has also extended his lead at the top of the world championship to 10 points from Alonso who was second, 1.5 seconds behind Hamilton, who took full advantage of his pole position.

Brazilian Felipe Massa was third for Ferrari ahead of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.

Another Finn, Heikki Kovalainen, was fifth for Renault and Italian Jarno Trulli finished sixth in a Toyota.

The Indianapolis crowd was estimated to be over 100,000 and, judging by the amount of replica McLaren team uniforms on display, Hamilton has struck a chord with the American people.

The victory also increased Hamilton’s chances of becoming the first rookie world champion since Italy’s Nino Farina in 1950.

Hamilton worked hard to stay in front of his team-mate but the major drama was further back where under-pressure Toyota driver Ralf Schumacher, Honda’s Rubens Barrichello and Red Bull’s David Coulthard all had their races ended prematurely by a crash.

The incident could be particularly damaging for Schumacher, whose race seat is rumoured to be under threat after a poor season so far.

It was McLaren’s third win in a row (after Hamilton in Canada and Alonso in Monaco last month), their third 1-2 in a row and their 152nd Grand Prix victory. — AFP

Oakmont, June 18
Tested to the hilt by a brutal Oakmont Country Club golf course, Jeev Milkha Singh showed tremendous grit and turned in a final-round card of five-over 75 to finish tied 36th in the US Open, his best show in a Major.

Playing his third US Open, Jeev ended a gruelling week with a four-round total of 18-over 298, 13 shots behind winner Angel Cabrera of Argentina (275).

“It was not the best of finishes, but I will take back a lot from here,” said Jeev, who had also made the cut in his previous two appearances at the US Open.

Cabrera became the first Argentine to win the US Open as he edged out world number one Tiger Woods (72) and Jim Furyk (70), who shared the second place, a shot behind Cabrera.

Overnight leader Aaron Baddeley of Australia stuttered to 10-over 80 and finished tied 13th.

Jeev maintained his proud streak of having played in all four rounds in all his four Major appearances and bettered his previous best outing of tied 37th at this year’s US Masters.

The Indian is due to play the British Open and the PGA Championship later this year.

Jeev picked up $37,159 for his effort.

Jeev was tied 62nd at his first US Open appearance in Bethpage in 2002 and was tied 59th at Winged Foot last year.

Birdies at Oakmont were at a premium and even then Jeev did well to sink seven of them in four days. In comparison, even Woods managed only eight. The difference of course was dropped shots, as Jeev had 21 bogeys and two doubles to Woods’ 12 bogeys and one double.

Undaunted by the conditions, Jeev battled courageously and dropped six bogeys against a lone birdie in his final round.

Cabrera, who collected $1.225 million for his win, admitted the feeling was yet to sink in.

“I never thought this was possible. It’s a great moment for me, I can’t believe it. Probably tomorrow, when I wake up with this trophy beside me in my bed, I will realise that I have won the US Open,” said the 37-year-old from Cordoba.

Cabrera is only the second South American to win a Major after compatriot Roberto de Vicenzo clinched the Open at Hoylake in 1967.

Caddie-turned-pro Cabrera has won three times on the European Tour winner but after leading at the halfway stage, he seemed to fade away with a 76 in the third round. But his one-under 69 yesterday meant he was the only player with two sub-par rounds of the total of eight that were shot during the week. — PTI 

Jalandhar, June 18
A city-based sports goods manufacturing company will supply a range of replica and training rugby balls to UK’s leading rugby firm Webb Ellis.

Former England player Rod Webb, development consultant for Webb Ellis, signed the three-year agreement with Chopra Synthetic Rubber Udyog, located in the Sports and Surgical Complex here.

Chopra Udyog would supply tens of thousands of rugby balls during the next three years, the orders for which would be placed from time to time according to requirement, said Rod Webb while talking to The Tribune here today.

Webb Ellis’ worldwide headquarters are at St Mathew’s Street, Rugby, UK, just 50 yards away from where William Webb Ellis “first picked up the ball in 1823 and ran with it, thus inventing the sport”. It is one of the world’s best-known rugby brands and supply products to France, Ireland, Argentina, Japan, USA, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.

“We have been working with Chopra Udyog engineers over the past few months to produce top-quality rugby balls,” said Rod.

Directors of Chopra Udyog, KV Chopra and Munish Chopra, said, “We are aware of Webb Ellis’ reputation in the sports goods industry and feel honoured that they have faith in the quality of our manufacturing.”

New Delhi: Renowned sports administrator L.N. Khurana, who died in the Capital on June 14 at the age of 95, was a vibrant supporter of the Olympic movement. The Olympic Silver Order was conferred upon him by the International Olympic Council.

On his return after receiving the honour, he remarked: “I deserved nothing short of the gold.” Though he was unable to win the honour, he saw to it that his nominee was chosen.

Khurana was a great partisan when his team was concerned, whether it was the Indian squad or a school outfit. “You must beat these beasts,” was his oft-repeated slogan to his boys before any match.

He had a bit of Pankaj Gupta in him. He wanted to be part of any Indian team that participated in an international meet abroad. He did accompany several teams.

An office-bearer of several national bodies, Khurana hopped from archery to wrestling. The more hats he wore, the more he craved for.

For three decades or more, Khurana was a pivotal office-bearer of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and the Delhi Olympic Association. In 1990, he reluctantly chose to say farewell to sports. It was hard for him to accept this fact that “all good things in life must come to an end one day.”

Khurana went to Moscow in 1959 on behalf of the Gymnastics Federation of India (GFI). He once represented IOA at a meeting in Christchurch (New Zealand). He was appointed secretary of the Indian contingent for the 8th Asian Games in Bangkok in 1978. He was also invited for the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. In all, he attended more than 25 international competitions abroad in one capacity or the other.

He was one of the pillars of Indian sports. He was also associated with DPS, St Columbus and Modern School (Barakhamba Road).

As he reached an advanced age, Khurana started circulating his “obituary” among mediapersons. With misty eyes, he used to say: “Retain this ‘postcard’ as you may have to write after my end comes abruptly.”

It is a great pity that neither the IOA nor any other association issued an obituary on his death.

China clinch Sudirman Cup
Glasgow: China lifted the Sudirman Cup for a record sixth time here after a 3-0 win over Indonesia in the final of the 10th World Badminton Team Championship.

The opening mixed doubles rubber was extremely close, but China’s Gao Ling and Zheng Bo recovered from dropping the opening game to beat Limpele Flandy and Vita Marisaa 19-21, 21-17, 21-19.

Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng defeated Kido Markis and Candra Wijaya 21-11, 21-13 in men’s doubles, while Olympic women’s singles champion Zhang Ning outplayed Adriyanta Fridasari 21-16, 21-9. — AFP

Sania slips to 46th
New Delhi: Sania Mirza’s second-round exit at last week’s DFS Classic saw her slip four places to 46th in the singles chart of the WTA rankings issued on Monday. The Indian ace has also slipped a rung to 42nd in doubles.

In the ATP charts, a hat-trick of ITF Futures titles saw Prakash Amritraj jump 66 places to the 498th rank.

In doubles, Leander Paes improved by one place to be ninth. Mahesh Bhupathi remained static at 20th. — PTI

Gaudio pulls out
Wimbledon: Gaston Gaudio withdrew from Wimbledon on Sunday. The 2004 French Open champion, who has never advanced past the second round at the All England Club, will be replaced by Juan-Pablo Guzman of Argentina.

At this year’s French Open, Gaudio led Lleyton Hewitt by two sets before losing 4-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 in the second round. — AP

Tait doubtful
Melbourne: Australian pacer Shaun Tait’s participation in the September 11-24 Twenty20 World Cup is in doubt as he undergoes an arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow on Tuesday.

“The operation rules him out of action until mid-August,” Australian team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said in a statement on Monday.

“This would leave him with a 50-50 chance of playing in the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa,” he added. — PTI

Butt vice-captain
Karachi: In a surprise move, the Pakistan Cricket Board on Sunday appointed opener Salman Butt as vice-captain to Shoaib Malik till the end of the year. Butt replaced Mohammad Asif, who was deputy for the one-day series in Abu Dhabi against Sri Lanka in May. — PTI