 |
|
|
Anju wins gold, but fails to glitter |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Champions Challenge
All Indians make cut
India maul Guam in rugby
Spikers upset Kazakhstan
Joshna crashes out
|
|
Belfast, June 23 Chasing a revised target of 171 from 39 overs following an over 2-1/2 hour rain interruption, the Indians benefited from an unbroken century partnership between left-handers Sourav Ganguly and Gautam Gambhir and wrapped up the match with four overs to spare. Former captain Ganguly played the guiding role to perfection with an unbeaten 75, while Gambhir went about the hunting task ably with 80 not out. The unbroken stand between the two southpaws was worth 164 runs. After restricting the hosts to 193, the Indians helplessly watched inclement weather delay the start of their chase at the Stormont ground. But there was no hint of frustration as they went after the revised target of 171 in 39 overs in a methodical manner. Sachin Tendulkar’s dismissal for four in first over did little to dent the visitors’ determination as Ganguly and Gambhir put the Irish attack to the sword. Earlier, rookie leg-spinner Piyush Chawla and left-arm seamer Rudra Pratap Singh produced tidy bowling spells. Chawla, who made his ODI debut last month against Bangladesh, picked up 3 for 29 and his Uttar Pradesh teammate RP Singh grabbed 2-36. Right-arm pacer S Sreesanth also picked three wickets but was expensive, conceding 50 runs. The Irish innings revolved around a defiant half-century by wicketkeeper-batsman Niall O’Brien (52). O’Brien, who hit four fours in his 77-ball knock, shared a vital 48-run stand for the seventh wicket with captain Trent Johnston to boost the scoreboard which was reading a sorry 111-6 at one stage. Johnston made a relatively quickfire 34 off 44 balls. India were without wicketkeeper-batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni and paceman Zaheer Khan, while Rohit Sharma made his international debut. Dhoni suffered an unspecified injury, while Zaheer was yet to recover fully from the groin injury he suffered in the Afro-Asia Cup. Scoreboard
Ireland Porterfield b Agarkar 16 Carroll c Karthik b Sreesanth 7 Joyce c Ganguly b Sreesanth 18 N O’Brien c Rohit b RP Singh 52 Wilson b Chawla 13 K O’Brien c RP Singh
b Chawla 3
White c Karthik b Chawla 8 Johnston c Yuvraj b Sreesanth 34 McCallan b RP Singh 4 Fourie not out 4 Whelan st Karthik b Tendulkar 5 Extras (lb-12, w-16, nb-1) 29 Total (all out, 50 overs) 193 Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-47, 3-56, 4-75, 5-83, 6-111, 7-159, 8-168, 9-187. Bowling: Sreesanth 10-0-50-3, RP Singh 10-2-36-2, Agarkar 10-2-27-1, Ganguly 6-1-15-0, Chawla 10-2-29-3, Tendulkar 4-0-24-1. India Ganguly not out 75 Tendulkar b Whelan 4 Gambhir not out 80 Extras (lb-7, w-7) 14 Total (1 wkt, 35 overs) 173 Fall of wicket: 1-9. Bowling: Whelan 8-0-56-1, Fourie 7-0-23-0, K O’Brien 4-0-25-0, Johnston 7-0-25-0, McCallan 8-0-32-0, White 1-0-5-0.
— PTI
|
|
Anju wins gold, but fails to glitter
Guwahati, June 23 Another star attraction, Sri Lankan sprinter Susantika Jayasinghe, too, turned in an ordinary performance as she settled for the silver in the women’s 100m race. Anju’s gold-winning effort of 6.28m was way below her personal best, although the hot and humid conditions could be blamed for her below-par showing. Compatriots Susmita Singha Roy and M Priya Devi finished second and third, leaping 5.82m and 5.79m, respectively, at the Indira Gandhi stadium. Susantika clocked 11.25 seconds to finish a poor second behind Uzbekistan’s Khubbieva Guzel (11.24) while Vu Thi Huong (Vietnam) was third (11.47). In men’s discus, Vikas Gowda again disappointed with a throw of 58.96m to come second behind Shamimi Abbas of Iran (64.91m). Wu Tao (China) got the third place with a distance of 57.64m. In men’s shotput, Kuwait’s Gulam Ahmed recorded a distance of 18.60m to claim the gold. Thailand’s Playeng Chatchawd (17.95m) and India’s Sourav Vij (17.65m) settled for silver and bronze, respectively.
— PTI
|
|
|
London, June 23 The duo were expected to come together at the French Open last month but their combined doubles ranking fell outside the cut-off mark. Bhupathi’s recent improvement since then to the 20th place in the ATP rankings seems to have helped their case, though. Sania brushed aside apprehensions about facing Yaroslava Shvedova, who had beaten her on her way to winning the title at Bangalore Open earlier this year, in the opening round of women’s singles. “Not a bad draw, considering that this is a Grand Slam,” the 20-year old Indian told PTI. The Hyderabadi girl has a 1-2 win-loss record on grass this year going into the Grand Slam event where she had usually been at her best in previous two years. “She’s hitting the ball well but lost two very tight matches against two top-30 players, Maria Santangelo and Francesca Schiavone,” Sania’s father Imran Mirza said. “Coming back to top-level play from surgery is never an easy prospect and it takes a while to get back the confidence to win,” he added. Former ATP Tour player Gabriel Urpi of Spain, who coached Sania at Roland Garros, assisted her at the Ordina Open in Holland last week and would be tutoring her at Wimbledon as well. In women’s doubles, Sania will combine with Israeli Shahar Peer. — PTI
|
|
Champions Challenge
Boom (Antwerp), June 23 Goals by Hayden Shaw (63rd) and David Kosoof (69th) handed the Kiwis three points as New Zealand hit back strongly towards the close after seeing off early Indian challenge in a match that was mostly played in heavy rain. India promised much early on when they pinned the Kiwis in their own half, but could not convert the openings against a team that played a waiting game while leaving a bit more in the tank for a final push. India’s best moment were when they received two penalty corners on either side of the break, but Sandeep Singh failed to convert those and with the forwards unable to break through a well-organised Kiwi defence, the best India could hope for was a draw. The first half was difficult for both teams following heavy showers just before start of the match. Consequently, neither team could quicken the pace. The conditions did not particularly suit the Indians, who thrive on speed. The scrappy exchanges also did not make for scoring opportunities, which were few and far between. The Kiwis, though, had the best of chances with Phillip Burrows and Casey Henwood taking shots at the Indian goal. While Burrows shot wide from the top of the circle, goalkeeper Adrian D’Souza deflected Henwood’s attempt to keep Indian hopes alive. At the other end, the Indians had more of the ball initially as they applied pressure on the Kiwi defence that stood up well to repeatedly frustrate the rival forwards. The Indians dominated the midfield for much of the half with tight marking and covering. As such, the Kiwis barely made a move until they resorted to hitting long to their lurking forwards. Past the 12th minute, India received the only penalty corner of the half, but Sandeep was off the mark with his drag-flick. It was only late in the first half that the Kiwis came into the game with a few strong runs down the flank and using the long ball to launch swift counter-attacks. The rain eased off in the final moments of the half, but with the pitch still soggy with water, both teams appeared content to play out the final minutes to take the breather on level terms. The sun shone briefly at the start of the second half before the rain returned with a vengeance as the conditions deteriorated. The Kiwis stepped up the pace on resumption and came up with a few threatening moves. D’Souza was kept busy under the Indian bar as the Black Sticks forced three penalty corners in succession, all of which he blocked with aplomb. But the Kiwis kept coming at the Indians and off their fourth penalty corner, man-mountain Hayden Shaw found the net with a powerful drag-flick. The penalty corner was awarded after Sardara Singh brought down a Kiwi forward inside the 25-yard line. South African umpire Deon Nel awarded a free-hit, but his Korean colleague, Hong Lee Kim intervened and changed it to a penalty corner off which Shaw struck. Down by a goal, India threw caution to the winds and went on the attack while leaving the back open. The Kiwis made the best of the chance and a swift counter-attack saw Kosoof slamming to the board after a combined move with Burrows to seal the issue. India next take on England tomorrow.
— PTI
|
|
New Delhi, June 23 Driving for Tara DTM team, Armaan jumped from fourth place on the starting grid to pole position at the second corner and maintained the lead to win the race. With only four laps to go it started to rain, bringing some nervous moments to Armaan’s pit crew. After having backed off considerably, Armaan opened the gap again in the wet and with just two laps to go there was a big crash involving his team-mate Hafiz Koh. This brought the safety car out for the last lap and Armaan took the chequered flag in style behind the safety car. March Lee from Hong Kong took advantage of the wet in the last few laps and made a very brave move on James Winslow to take second place with Winslow taking the final place on the podium. After being the quickest in all three sessions in free practice, Armaan lost his way a bit in qualifying. This put a lot of pressure on the young Indian driver, who had nothing but bad luck the previous round after qualifying on pole. “I basically tried to push too hard in the faster corners and in trying to balance the car for the fast corners we lost our way a bit,” Armaan said. “The others gained 3.5 sec from practice to qualifying and I was able to gain only two seconds. However, I knew I had a good race car and that’s all that mattered. “It feels good to win after all that happened the last round and I want to thank my team and my sponsors (JK Tyres) for standing by me and backing me to the hilt. “I hope to do well in the 2nd race tomorrow and I will be focusing on the start as I start from the front.” — PTI
|
|
Munich, June 23 After the second-round, which was delay by two hours due to storm, Randhawa stood at an aggregate of five-under 139 while Jeev Milkha Singh (72) was three-under 141 and in tied 40th place down from overnight 21st. Shiv Kapur (72) lying on the borderline, was tied 52nd, up from 61st. Fasth endured a two-hour delay due to storm and added a seven-under-par 65 to his opening round 67 to lead the way over fellow Swede Peter Hanson (66). Cromwell (USA): Arjun Atwal shot a one-over 71 and safely ensured passage into the weekend round at the Travelers Golf Championship in stormy weather conditions. Atwal is now tied 34th at one-under 139, seven shots behind the leaders. — PTI
|
|
India maul Guam in rugby
Mumbai, June 23 Fly-half Vartazarian was on hand to convert five tries scored by the home team, besides being successful with three penalties and a drop-goal, as India ran away to a 24-0 first-half lead before closing out the one-sided encounter in similar fashion in the second half. The tries in the match played under heavy rain came through the efforts of winger Ganesh Sawant, captain and winger-cum-forward Nasser Hussain, centre Mufaddal Indorewalla, full-back Francis Brown and winger Bikash Jena. Guam, made up of several players from the national academy squad, were never in the picture barring brief spells in either half when they made deep inroads into the Indian territory without being able to gain any points. The visitors are ranked six places higher, at 82, but it made little difference to the Indian team who rode roughshod over their rivals to emerge convincing victors. Their last encounter in Guam had ended in an 8-8 draw. India, coached by David Higgins of England, next take on the Philippines in Manila on July 1 in the triangular series being organised for lower-ranked teams in the world to help them gain experience and improve their standings.
— PTI
|
|
Spikers upset Kazakhstan
New Delhi, June 23 The Indians won 22-25, 23-25, 38-36, 25-17, 15-11 to record their second win in the tournament. India seemed out for the count when they lost the opening two sets despite putting up a spirited effort. However, they stayed alive winning a marathon third set 38-36 which proved to be the turning point of the match. The Indians dominated the last two sets to script a memorable win in an hour and 45 minutes at the Liaquat Gymnasium yesterday. Spikers P.S. Srikanth and Mandeep Singh troubled the opposition. “The boys committed some mistakes in the early stages but once things heated up they played well,” Indian coach Sridhran said. India, who lost their opening match in the tournament to Iran, had beaten Sri Lanka in their second game.
— PTI |
|
Los Angeles, June 23 The Indian was thoroughly outplayed in the first game, failing to win a single point and it continued in the second as well as Raneem went 5-0 up. Joshna then staged a comeback in the third game to win it by striking some delightful drops and volleys. However, the effort turned out to be a flash in the pan as Raneem capitalised on her errors to seal the fourth game and the match in her favour after 27 minutes. Earlier, Dipika Pallikal had crashed out in the opening round itself. — PTI
|
|||||
|
Rana Sodhi is COA president
Chandigarh, June 23 Col AS Judge and Jagbir Singh have been chosen life president and treasurer of the association, respectively. The president was authorised by the House to nominate other office-bearers and executive members, the names of which will be announced in a day or two. Several members of the body, including some office-bearers, were conspicuous by their absence. The office-bearers who did not turn up at the annual general meeting were senior vice-president Chander Shekhar, treasurer Vijay Pal, joint secretary CK Jerath and TC Gupta, vice-president. Making allegations of flouting rules for holding the elections, Chander Shekhar and Vijay Pal alleged that they were not intimated about the date of the elections. “According to the rules, it was mandatory for the secretary to give 10-day notice to all voters. However, no notice was sent,” said Chander Shekhar, Additional DGP, Law and Order, Punjab, and president of the Chandigarh Hockey Association. He also raised doubts over the votes of new COA members. “Giving permission to nine new members to vote was illegal as the membership of these units was never issued by the general house. No minutes of the last general house meeting were circulated,” said Chander Shekhar. There were only 30 affiliated units of which presidents and secretaries-general can take part in the elections, he added. “In their last notice, issued by Talwar, it was held that the date of the elections would be announced after consultation in the executive meeting, but no such meeting was held. How did they hold elections without convening a meeting,” asked Vijay Pal. Denying the charges, Rana Sodhi said some members were absent as they were abroad, while some could not turn up due to personal reasons. Talwar said 23 units’ office-bearers of a total of 37 units participated in the elections. “All were informed well in time,” he claimed. Vijay Pal said they had filed a writ this afternoon in the court of Senior Civil Judge JS Bhinder against the conducting of the elections. The latter gave June 27 as the date to the Sodhi group for filing their reply.
|
|||||
Justine Henin clinches title Dilip Sardesai Judo bronze Sasikiran loses Illyas apologises
|
| 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 | |
Henry on his way to Barcelona