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Upbeat India look to annex series
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Sneak thief at Wimbledon
Jeev jumps
to tied 5th
Massa grabs pole in France
Champions Challenge
Ford was offered 3-yr contract: Pawar
Joshna loses in quarters
AI thrash Punjab to
claim title
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Upbeat India look to annex series
Belfast, June 30 The six-wicket victory in the second game yesterday has not only restored the balance in the three-match series but has also presented India with an ideal opportunity to revive their sagging fortunes following the World Cup debacle. A viral bug and fitness problems to some key players took a toll on the Indians in the first game but Rahul Dravid has now found just the right combination to go for the kill against the South Africans, who also promised to field a full-strength squad. Sachin Tendulkar, who has shown glimpses of his vintage form with scores of 99 and 93 in the series, will have to play a big role in the crucial game at Stormont, where India will again miss the services of paceman S. Sreesanth, who has not recovered from flu. Ajit Agarkar, who had to sit out both matches with cold and fever, was expected to be available for the game, which will test India’s ability to handle pressure in a crunch situation. The series-levelling victory yesterday has not only strengthened the morale of Dravid’s men, but also reaffirmed the team management’s faith in the abilities of match-winners like Yuvraj Singh and Dinesh Karthik. Despite yesterday’s defeat, South African captain Jacques Kallis was delighted with the performance of fringe players like opener Morne van Wyk, offie Thandi Tshabalala and all-rounder Vernon Philander. With both sides determined to give their best, the Irish crowds are all set to get their money’s worth in the rare Sunday fiesta. Squads (from): India: Rahul Dravid (c), Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ajit Agarkar, Ranadeb Bose, Gautam Gambhir, Sourav Ganguly, Dinesh Karthik, Zaheer Khan, Rakesh Patel, Piyush Chawla, Ramesh Powar, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Rudra Pratap Singh, S. Sreesanth, Sachin Tendulkar, Robin Uthappa, Arjun Yadav and Yuvraj Singh. South Africa: Jacques Kallis (c), Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, Jean-Paul Duminy, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Hall, Justin Kemp, Charl Langeveldt, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn, Thandi Tshabalala and Morne van Wyk. Flu a blessing in disguise: Dravid
Indian skipper Rahul Dravid has said that the viral flu that affected nearly two-thirds of the team has proved to be a blessing in disguise as it had helped India discover a couple of new talented players. India’s pace department bore the brunt of the bug as seamers S. Sreesanth and Ajit Agarkar were laid down by illness and sat out of the two matches played so far. Their absence forced the team to go in for two slow bowlers, offie Ramesh Powar and rookie leg-spinner Piyush
Chawla. Both acquitted themselves well, particularly the 18-year-old Chawla who had played just one match before the series. “One of the really gladdening things for me is to have seen how these young spinners have bowled, especially in these tough conditions,” Dravid said on the eve of the decider. “They are used to playing in India, where it is warm and sunny and the ball grips and turns. But they have come here and immediately adjusted.” Dravid also said the team was not daunted by South Africa’s superior ranking and would “give them a run for their money” in the all-important encounter tomorrow. “The rankings do definitely say we are the second best team here. But one-day cricket is how you play on the day. It’s not really about rankings or numbers,” he said. “We knew we could give them a good run for their money and we believe if we play some good cricket we can end up with the right result.”
— PTI
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London, June 30 In the women’s section, defending champion Amelie Mauresmo shone amid the rain clouds on Centre Court with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Italian Mara Santangelo in the third round today. Serving first, after the match was delayed by almost two hours, Mauresmo set up break point against Santangelo with a lovely backhand crosscourt shot and the Italian went 2-0 down when she fluffed a forehand. A double fault from Santangelo and then a wide forehand gave Mauresmo another easy break for a 5-1 lead and the fourth seed sealed the set with an ace. Mauresmo broke Santangelo in the opening game of the second set but a couple of errors from the Frenchwoman, including a double fault, allowed the world number 29 to level at 1-1. Santangelo had two break points as Mauresmo served for the match at 5-2. Santangelo was unable to convert either, however, and another ace from Mauresmo put her safely through to the last 16. Maria Sharapova squeezed in a victory between downpours, beating Ai Sugiyama of Japan 6-3, 6-3 to book her place in the fourth round. — Agencies
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London, June 30 The 16th seeded Indo-Israeli combo took a little under 90 minutes to dispatch their opponents in a late second round clash. Putting up a thoroughly professional show at the grasscourt here, Sania and Peer showed no signs of an off-court controversy back home although they committed 35 unforced errors against 19 by their rivals. They also had four double faults against their names but sent down 47 winners to none from the opposition. The Indo-Israeli pair will now meet Hungarian Agnes Szavay Czech’s Vladimira Uhlirova, who defeated Iveta Benesova (Czech) and Galina Voskoboeva (Russia) 6-4, 6-7, 8-6. Meanwhile, in mixed doubles Sania will tango with Mahesh Bhupathi to take on David Skoch of Czech Republic and Janette Husarova of Slovakia in the first round. Play ruled out on middle Sunday Play was abandoned at Wimbledon today because of rain after only 75 minutes of action on the sixth day of the championship. The bad weather has so far interrupted all but two days of the tournament and the forecast remains grim well into next week. But organisers said that despite a wet first week, there would be no play on Sunday. “I can confirm that we are sufficiently on schedule and that, therefore, there will be no play tomorrow,” said Ian Ritchie, the chief executive of the All England Club. The middle Sunday of the tournament has traditionally been a rest day, but on three occasions, organisers had to use the day to get the timetable back on track. The last time it happened was in 2004, when play was held on this day after two days were washed out.
— Agencies
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Sneak thief at Wimbledon
London, June 30 One major theft has been reported in the men’s locker room, while players and coaches are concerned that it is the latest incident in a mini-crime wave which has plagued the tour all year. Former French Open champion Albert Costa, who coaches Spanish compatriot Feliciano Lopez, had a bag stolen containing 1,700 euros and $1,000 at the All England Club, the Daily Mail claimed. French player Michael Llodra has also had his wallet taken even though he was only away from his locker for 30 seconds. “We are aware of the incident and we have told our staff in the locker room to be extra vigilant, but it is difficult with so many people in the area. It is up to the player concerned to inform the police,” said a Wimbledon spokesman.
— AFP
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Paris, June 30 At a cold and breezy Le Golf National on the outskirts of Versailles, Jeev, tied 28th overnight, shot four-under 67 and is now three-under 210 after 54 holes. He is now four shots behind the leader Soren Hansen. Jyoti Randhawa shot one-over 72 and slipped from tied eighth to tied 11th. Detriot (USA): Arjun Atwal just about managed to make the cut after carding a one-under 71to languish at the tied 57th spot, while Indian-born Swede Daniel Chopra made rapid strides to tied 20th spot at the end of the second round at Buick Open here. — PTI, UNI
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Massa grabs pole in France
Magny-Cours (France), June 30 “It’s good to be back and fighting,” declared Massa, whose team has been outgunned by McLaren for the last three races. Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen will start Sunday’s race in third place for Ferrari next to BMW Sauber’s Polish driver Robert Kubica. Hamilton’s team-mate and double Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso, who is 10 points behind the 22-year-old British rookie after seven races, endured a nightmare day and qualified 10th. Massa’s pole position, with a lap 0.070 seconds faster than Hamilton’s best, was the Brazilian’s fourth of the season and seventh of his career.
— Reuters
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India pip Japan, to play for bronze
Anand Philar
Boom, June 30 Goals by Sandeep Singh (7th), Prabhjot Singh (22nd, 34th) and Dilip Tirkey (48th) set up the Indian win, with Kenichi Katayama (12th), Takahiko Yamamori (47th) and Kazuhiro Tsubouchi (65th) replying for Japan. The hard-fought victory, their third in five matches, helped India finish third on nine points behind New Zealand (11) and Argentina (10), while Japan remained on three points. In the bronze-medal match tomorrow, India will face England, who whipped Belgium 6-2 today. With no hopes of qualifying for tomorrow’s final, after the 3-3 draw between New Zealand and Argentina earlier today, the Indians played far more freely and were under less pressure. Attacking from the start, the Indians forged ahead in the seventh minute when Sandeep converted the first penalty corner with a powerful drag-flick to the roof of the net. It was a good comeback for the specialist who had failed with six attempts against Argentina. The Japanese, however, in a rare moment of opportunism, equalised in the 12th minute when Katayama deflected a quickly taken free-hit by Kazuhiro Tsubouchi to the board with the Indian defence caught flat-footed and unhappy with the free-hit decision. The Japanese goal fell a second time in the 22nd minute when Prabhjot flicked home a rebound off Nagaoka who stopped Sandeep’s penalty-corner attempt. India took a 3-1 lead past the 34th minute with Prabhjot driving the ball to net off Nagaoka’s pads after receiving a pass from Bimal Lakra, who made a good run from the centre-line unchallenged. With less than 30 seconds left to half-time, India were reduced to 10 players when Rajpal Singh was sent off with a yellow-card suspension. Japan, too, forced a penalty corner in the 47th minute and Yamabori converted, but the Indians hit back in the very next minute as Dilip sounded the board from their sixth penalty corner with a direct hit to give his side a 4-2 lead. The Japanese reduced the margin through Tsubouchi. Sunday’s fixtures (IST): Fifth-place playoff: Belgium vs Japan (4 pm); 3rd-place playoff: India vs England (6.30 pm); Final: Argentina vs New Zealand (9 pm). — PTI
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Belfast, June 30 “It is their (the critics’) job to have opinions. But when I hold the bat in my hand, it’s a tougher and bigger job. That is what I will concentrate on,” Tendulkar said on the eve of the third and final match in the Future Cup series against South Africa. Cricket’s longest-serving player on the scene had, like the rest of the Indian team, a nightmarish World Cup in the West Indies earlier this year. He had scores of 7 and 0 in the crucial matches against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, besides an unbeaten half-century against minnows Bermuda, and the team exited in the first round. That prompted calls for his retirement and he was in fact issued a show-cause notice by the BCCI for his comments in the media against the then coach Greg Chappell. Tendulkar and his opening partner Sourav Ganguly, were “rested” for the ODI series in Bangladesh, but both of them announced their return with a bang. The duo shared a 134-run partnership to help India overhaul South Africa’s score of 226 and level the three-match series 1-1. Tendulkar made 4 against Ireland in the lone match against the hosts last week but his 99 and 93 against the Proteas have made the pundits talk about a revival of Tendulkar of the old. The icing on the cake was reaching the personal milestone of 15,000 ODI runs, which no other batsman has reached so far, in the second match yesterday. He said his joy was two-fold since his knock gave the team victory and kept their hopes alive in the series. “It is satisfying, a wonderful moment. After playing for 18 years, I feel it’s just one of those things,” said the batsman who now has a tally of 15,043 runs from 387 matches at an average of 44.24 with 41 hundreds. “This match was extremely important for us, to keep alive the series. It’s obviously a happy feeling, especially when we ended up on a winning note.” Tendulkar said retirement was the last thing on his mind at the moment. “As long as the passion is there and as long as I enjoy getting out there on the park, I will keep doing it. At the moment, I’m enjoying it,” he said. Tendulkar was also dismissed in the 90s in the first game after being run out for 99. “If I could get to the 90s every time, I wouldn’t mind,” he quipped. — PTI
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Ford was offered 3-yr contract: Pawar
London, June 30 It was widely speculated that Ford had spurned the job because he was unhappy with the one-year contract offered to him but Pawar’s revelation has given a new dimension to the entire saga. Pawar said Ford’s contract was to be confirmed after the first year of his tenure but surprisingly the BCCI had not made it public till date. “He was offered a three-year contract, which was to be confirmed after the first year,” Pawar told PTI after attending the ICC annual meeting here. Smarting from Ford’s snub after he declined the job to continue his stint with the Kent County Club, Pawar said the board would be more careful in handling these matters. The BCCI found itself in an embarrassing situation when Ford, who was chosen ahead of John Emburey, turned down the offer and decided to stay with Kent. “Unfortunately, the person we selected didn’t join. We asked him if he was ready to join. He said it was just a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘whether’ he can join us. He said he wanted to talk to his county and consult them on when he can join us and then he did not join,” Pawar said. “Anyway, we have discussed it among ourselves and took suggestions from former players like (Sunil) Gavaskar and
(Ravi) Shastri,” he said. Pawar said the BCCI was now looking for another foreign coach, but there was no time frame for taking a decision in this regard.
— PTI
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Sizzling Shah sees England home
London, June 30 As they had on Thursday, England’s run chase yesterday was hampered by the regular loss of wickets, but this time their target was not so challenging and they found enough contributions to see them home. Chris Gayle (61) had top-scored for the West Indies, who were restricted to 169-7, 39 fewer than they had made the previous day. Brief scores: West Indies: 169-7 in 20 overs (Chris Gayle 61, Marlon Samuels 42, Paul Collingwood 2-21, Ryan Sidebottom 2-25); England: 173-5 in 19.3 overs (Owais Shah 55, Paul Collingwood 27, Ravi Rampaul 2-39, Darren Sammy 1-27). — AFP
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Humpy wins crown in men’s field
Vijayawada, June 30 Humpy, ranked No. 2 in the world in the women’s section, secured 7.5 points from nine rounds in the tourney to bag the title, family sources told UNI here today. The sources said this was also the first ever international title for the ONGC officer on the men’s circuit. About 80 players, mostly men from all over the world participated in the tourney held from June 20 to 28. Humpy would next participate in the Kaupthing Open to be held from July 7 to 14 at Differdange, Luxembourg. She would compete with top players like Gahimov Vugar of Azerbaijan, Balogh Csaba of Hungary and Laznicka Viktor of the Czech Republic, the sources said. — UNI
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Joshna loses in quarters
New Delhi, June 30 The Indian went down 3-9, 9-6, 9-3, 3-9, 4-9 to Manetta, who will now take on second seed Raneem El Weleily of Egypt in the semifinals of the $11,000 event. Joshna had earlier beaten Mexican Imelda Salazar Martinez 9-6, 9-1, 9-3 in the first round. This is Joshna’s second successive loss in the quarterfinals of a tournament. She had lost in the last eight stage of LA Open in Los Angeles last week.
— PTI
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AI thrash Punjab to claim title
Chennai, June 30 Air-India literally toyed with hapless Punjab, who were subdued and never allowed to threaten the Air-India goal, particularly by central defender Innocent Kulu, who was adjudged as the best defender of the tournament. Leading 3-0 through goals from Arjun Antil (14th min), Vinod Kumar (16th) and Danish Mujtaba (28th), Air-India increased the tally when Ashish Minz (38th) and then Arjun (47th) netted his second to complete the issue. In the match to decide the third place, Punjab and Sind Bank beat Tamil Nadu 5-2. PSB’s Paramjit Singh (5th), Omkar Singh (16th),Kuljinder Singh (44th and 70th) and Daler Singh (48th) were the scorers, while Tamil Nadu’s Saravanakumar (46th and 52nd) netted a brace of goals.
— PTI |
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