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Honours even on Day Two |
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Countering ICL
Akhtar, Afridi say no
Prabodh skipper for Asia Cup
Ludhiana to host Federation Cup
Indo-Pak duo close to
title win
Aussies down India in volleyball final
Atwal on birdie spree
JCT hold RCF to 1-1 draw
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Honours even on Day Two
Leicester, August 4 Earlier, Indian skipper Rahul Dravid anchored the Indian first innings with a well-crafted half-century. Dravid’s unbeaten 67 enabled the Indians to declare their first innings at 238 for 4 at tea in reply to the Lankan total of 266 in the game at Grace Road. Yuvraj Singh (15) was the other not-out batsman. Resuming the day at 25 for 1, India were well served by opener Wasim Jaffer (48) and Gautam Gambhir, who put on 85 runs for the second wicket. Gambhir retired hurt soon after lunch on 67, and though Mahendra Singh Dhoni (0) and VVS Laxman (14) were dismissed cheaply, Dravid looked in great touch as he took the attack to the bowlers under the blazing sun. The Indian captain cut, pulled and drove with great authority, having arrived at the crease just before lunch when Jaffer was out with the total on 105. He treated the spinners and pacers alike as he placed his shots between fielders and with lovely timing too. Jaffer was the only wicket to fall in the session, caught at mid-on by Akalanka Ganegama when he tried to go over the top. Both Jaffer and Gambhir enjoyed the conditions as they batted without much discomfort. Gambhir relished the cuts and pulls. Just before lunch, he smashed Prasad for two consecutive fours through extra cover. The left-hander retired after adding just three more runs after lunch. Dhoni was promoted in the order to number five. However, he was bowled by paceman Prasad for a duck. — Agencies Scoreboard Sri Lanka ‘A’ (1st innings) 266 India (1st innings) Karthik c Silva b Prasad 11 Jaffer c Ganegama b Herath 48 Gambhir retd hurt 67 Dravid not out 67 Dhoni b Prasad 0 Laxman c Prasad b Herath 14 Yuvraj not out 15 Extras (b-1, lb-3, nb-7, w-5) 16 Total (4 wkts dec, 68 overs) 238 Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-105, 3-190, 4-221. Bowling: Ganegama 12-4-29-0, Welegedara 13-4-38-0, Prasad 12-1-71-2, Perera 1-1-0-0, Lokuarachchi 12-0-34-0, Herath 18-1-62-2. Sri Lanka ‘A’ (2nd innings) Vandort not out 61 Udawatte c Laxman b Ishant 0 Perera not out 48 Extras (lb-2, w-1) 3 Total (1 wkt, 33 overs) 112 Fall of wicket: 1-2. Bowling: Bose 8-0-42-0, Ishant 9-2-23-1, Powar 9-3-27-0, Kumble 4-1-15-0, Yuvraj 3-0-3-0.
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New Delhi, August 4 A day after the BCCI made it clear that players taking part in the breakaway league would be banned for life from playing for India, the ICL bosses reacted strongly to the “unfair” stand taken by Indian cricket’s governing body and said it would not dissuade them from going ahead with the venture. “The BCCI is nobody to give such a direction. It is a private body. The ICL will be a reality and people will come to watch the matches,” Essel Group chairman Subhash Chandra told PTI. The ICL, a brainchild of the Essel Group, also said the hard stand taken by the BCCI was “very shallow” and would only “scare” the players. Kapil Dev, chairman of the ICL’s Executive Board, also launched a scathing attack on the BCCI and took a dig at president Sharad Pawar by questioning his commitment to cricket. “Pawar is a very senior politician. He is spending time looking after an important ministry, but does he have time for cricket? I can also say about him what he said about me,” Kapil said. This was Kapil’s response to Pawar’s reported comments that the former Indian captain was “busy with other activities” and had little time for the National Cricket Academy, of which he is the chairman. “I am disappointed. They are trying to scare players when people of the country want to play cricket. It is not fair for BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah to say like that,” Kapil said. “May be has his own reasons but that’s not the way to react,” Kapil said. Kapil felt that Shah’s threatening statement was very “shallow” and did not suit his stature. “Saying something like that is a very shallow statement from the secretary of our board, whom we respect a lot. If you scare people, they will never play to win. They will never fight.” Kapil defended the ICL against allegations that it would be reduced to a “veterans’ tournament” with most of the big names signing being recently retired players. The ICL plans to hold its inaugural Twenty20 league over a period of 45 days starting in October. — PTI
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PCB offers lucrative contracts
Karachi, August 4 The new contracts carry monthly retainers of Rs 250,000, Rs 150,000 and Rs 100,000 in three categories, besides several performance-based incentives for the 20 players, team manager Talat Ali told PTI. Ali said eight players - fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, captain Shoaib Malik, Imran Farhat, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul, Kamran Akmal and Yasir Hameed - signed the contract on the spot. "The players were very happy with the terms in the contracts offered to them. The ones who didn't sign are those who are based in Karachi and couldn't attend the meeting. But they are expected to sign them today," Talat said. "There is extra money for winning a series, a match, scoring a hundred, taking four catches and wickets," he added. According to local media, all rounder Shahid Afridi and fast bowler pacer Mohammad Asif have been offered large sums by the Zee-group, the ICL organisers. Asif had rejected the offer but Afridi was yet to take a decision, the reports said. About reports that some players had told the Board they wanted time to ponder over the clauses of the contract, Talat said the PCB wanted them to take time before signing them. "The Board told them they were free to consult their lawyers and advisers before signing them. But I know eight players signed the contracts on the spot. The rest should do it today," he said. Talat, who has been manager since 2006 and will continue for the next two years, said he had spoken to some of the players and he did not believe they would go for the ICL. "I think the incentives being offered to them plus the honour of representing your country is a far greater lure for them than the money on stake for playing in the private Indian League," he said. Talat said once the players signed the central contracts they were bound to be available for their country first and have to get permission from the Board to play in private and non-ICC events. — PTI
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Akhtar, Afridi say no
Karachi, August 4 Shoaib said hours after clearing a dope test that he was made a good offer from the ICL organisers but he considered playing for his country a far bigger honour. "I got an offer but for me playing for Pakistan is more important. We have some important assignments coming up soon and I want to play a big role for the team," Shoaib said. Shoaib, who is coming back from a spate of fitness problems having played just one test and four one-dayers in the last 15-months, said he had thought over the offer but then signed the central contract offered to him by the Pakistan board because nothing was more tempting than representing your country. "I can play for two to three years for my country which needs me and I don't want to sacrifice those years," he added. Afridi also followed the example of his teammate in rejecting the league offer. "It was good and tempting but I see a strong future for myself in the Pakistan team. I don't want to let my fans down," said
Afridi. — PTI
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San Diego, August 4 The 31-ranked Sania, unseeded this week, had upset 18th ranked Shahar Peer and world number 14 Dinara Safina en route to the last eight stage here. She had also defeated 17th ranked Patty Schnyder of Switzerland and Tatiana Golovin of France, ranked 19th, last week at Stanford. Sania is set to gain 110 points from her exploits at the $ 1.3 million WTA Tier I event to break into world's top-30 players for the first time when WTA updates its rankings chart on Monday. Sharapova, who advanced to the semifinals, will next face the winner of the match between Venus Williams and Anna Chakvetadze. Sharapova began the match by winning eight of the first nine points to take a 2-0 lead. The top seed lost only five points in the next three games as she increased her lead to 5-1 before wrapping up the opener in just 29 minutes. The second set followed a similar script with Sharapova breaking Sania at love. The Indian made matters worse for herself as she threw away the third game by committing two double faults. The 20-year-old Hyderabadi did manage to break Sharapova in the fourth game but the Russian broke back to sweep the final three games and seal the match. "I had a good start and was able to play my game. The two keys were serve and return. Sania is a solid player so it's good to get some matches like I've won this week behind my back," Sharapova, who is playing her first tournament after her fourth-round loss in the Wimbledon, said. Sania has already crashed out of doubles after the Indian and her Israeli partner Shahar Peer lost their second-round match on Thursday. — PTI
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Alonso takes pole position
Budapest, August 4 Hamilton, who leads the Spaniard by two points with seven races remaining, completed an all-McLaren front row at a circuit where overtaking is extremely difficult. The 22-year-old British rookie was fastest until the Spaniard pipped him by 0.107 seconds in the final lap of the session. Television images suggested Alonso was looking at his physiotherapist for a signal, with the man apparently counting off the seconds before being spoken to by team boss Ron Dennis. Hamilton, who said he had slowed before pitting to ensure that he was not held up, had to sit helplessly in his car behind Alonso with the seconds ticking away and the Spaniard failing to move off. The extraordinarily long wait left the Briton unable to get round the circuit in time to start a final flying lap before the chequered flag. Alonso, facing pointed questions about the incident afterwards, said he had been told by the team to wait but was less forthcoming about the reason why. “You can ask the team this question, because I am always monitoring the pitstop by the radio. They do the calculations, they find the gaps and I just drive the car,” he said. “I am always ready to go, as soon as they put on the tyres.” Germany’s Nick Heidfeld qualified third for BMW Sauber, with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen fourth. Ferrari’s Brazilian Felipe Massa, third in the championship and 11 points adrift of Hamilton, will start 14th after a troubled session. Briton Jenson Button, who took an emotional first Grand Prix win from the 14th place in a wet race in Hungary last year, qualified in his Honda at a disappointing 17th.
— Reuters
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Prabodh skipper for Asia Cup
Bangalore, August 4 Indian Hockey Federation president KPS Gill said he expected a good show from the strong team. “The team would perform better in the Asia Cup than it did in the Champions Challenge Tournament in Belgium and the Azlan Shah Tournament in Kuala Lumpur, where it finished third in both events,” Gill said. The selectors made three changes to the Champions Challenge team with striker SV Sunil of Services coming in for Bharath Chikara, midfielder Ignace Tirkey for Sunil Yadav and defender Raghunath for injured drag-flicker Sandeep Singh. Sandeep had to withdraw from the camp being held at the Sports Authority of India’s (ASI) Southern Centre on the outskirts of the city after he had a fall in the bathroom and injured his back. His absence will hurt India more as the team is devoid of an expert drag- flicker for penalty-corner conversions. Chief coach Joaquim Carvalho said, “We want to do better than the third-place finish in Belgium and Kuala Lumpur.” The squad: Goalkeepers: Baljit Singh, Adrian D’Souza. Defenders: Dilip Tirkey, William Xalco, Raghunath, Jaswinder Singh. Midfielders: Gurbaj Singh, Vimal Lakra, Sardara Singh, Prabhodh Tirkey (captain), Ignace Tirkey, Vikramkanth. Forwards: Rajpal Singh, Prabjoth Singh, Tushar Khandekar, Roshan Minz, Shivendra Singh and SV Sunil. Standby: Bharath Chetri, Sandeep Singh, Ajitesh Rai, VS Vinaya, Dharamdeep Singh, Birendra Lakra, Anwar Ali and Mayur Subbaiah. — UNI
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Ludhiana to host Federation Cup
New Delhi, August 4 Punjab has never hosted the championship since its inception in 1977 at Ernakulam (Kerala), though Punjab teams Border Security Force (BSF), Jalandhar and JCT, Phagwara won the title once and twice each. BSF were also runners-up once. Sixteen top clubs of the country, including the 10 National Football League teams, will compete in the championship. The last edition of the championship was held in Kolkata with Mohun Bagan pipping Sporting Club De Goa for the title. Mohun Bagan have won the Federation Cup the maximum number of times--ten--and were runners-up on four occasions. BSF won their lone title in 1979 at Guwahati (Assam) when they defeated Mafatlal Mills Bombay) 3-0 after drawing 2-2 in the double-leg final. But in 1988, BSF lost to Salgaocar Goa) by 0-1 in Delhi. JCT bagged the cup on both the occasions they entered the challenge round by taking the measure of East Bengal via penalty shoot-outs. The first time, in 1995 in Kolkata, JCT beat East Bengal 7-6 via sudden-death penalty shoot-out after locking 1-1 at the end of regulation and extra-time play while the next year at Kannur (Kerala), JCT downed East Bengal 5-3 via tie-breaker after sharing two goals during regulation play. The Championship would be held in a knock-out format till the pre-quarter-final round when two matches would be played daily--one in day light and the second under flood light.
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Indo-Pak duo close to
title win
Segovia, Spain, August 4 The Indo-Pak juggernaut was unstoppable and steamrolled higher-ranked opponents 6-3, 6-4 to enter their third final in as many weeks. The other Indian in the fray Mustafa Ghouse along with his partner Frank Moser of Germany crashed out earlier in the quarter-finals of the tournament losing to unseeded duo of Michel Kratochvil of Switzerland and Giles Muller of Luxembourg. Sun routs Ashutosh
New Delhi: Ashutosh Singh's hope of winning his maiden title were mercilessly crushed by Peng Sun as the Chinese Davis Cupper humbled him in straight sets in the final of the $10,000 ITF Futures men's tennis here on Saturday. Playing in his first ever singles final, Singh failed to replicate his strong forehand game that brought him this far, and capitulated meekly 2-6 1-6 at the DLTA complex.
— PTI
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Aussies down India in volleyball final
Kolkata, August 4 The final scoreline read 25-18, 25-16, 24-26, 20-25, 15-11 in favour of the men from Down Under. The Australians won the first two sets convincingly before the Indians staged a remarkable comeback by taking the next two, as the large crowd at the Netaji Indoor Stadium savoured every moment of the ding-dong battle. However, the Aussies regrouped and claimed the decider by keeping their composure during crucial points. Yesterday, India had defeated South Africa 25-20, 29-27, 25-18 in the first semifinal, while Australia had outplayed Pakistan 25-16, 25-20, 26-24 in the second. Pakistan won third position getting past South Africa 25-10, 23-25, 25-21, 25-21 in the playoff. The Aussies not only avenged their group league loss to the hosts, but also bagged a cheque for Rs 4 lakh. The Indians took the runners-up booty of Rs 2 lakh, but their excellent display also earned them a prize of Rs 5 lakh from West Bengal sports minister Subhas Chakraborty.
— PTI
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Atwal on birdie spree
Wichita (USA), August 4 Atwal, who was the Asian Tour No. 1 in 2003, scored six birdies in the second round. In the first, he had got five. He needs a few good finishes to find the way back to the PGA Tour via the top-25 route on the Nationwide Tour Money List. Jeev tied 41st
Akron (USA): Despite a superb start, Jeev Milkha Singh stuttered on the back nine to card four-over 74 on the tough and very long Firestone Country Club at the $8 million WGC Bridgestone Invitational golf tournament here. The Indian, who aggregates six-over 146 after the second round, is tied 41st at the midway stage of the tournament. Chopra makes cut
Reno (Nevada): Daniel Chopra returned an impressive three-under 69 to make the cut and move up to the tied 35th spot after the midway stage of the Reno-Tahoe Open on the US PGA Tour here. Chopra, who carded a one-under 71 in the opening round, is now four-under 140 for 36 holes at the par-72 Montreux Golf and Country Club.
— PTI
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JCT hold RCF to 1-1 draw
Chandigarh, August 4 RCF completed their league programme with 13 points from six matches, including four victories, one draw and one lost. They are leading the table after today’s match. An own goal by Gurwinder Singh in the 50th minute put RCF in the lead, while Baljit Singh Sahni restored parity for JCT in the 87th minute. The match between Punjab Police and JCT on Monday will determine the winners. If Punjab Police of Hoshiarpur beat JCT Academy, the cops will emerge champions on the basis of better goal average. A win against JCT Academy will put Punjab Police on a par with RCF with 13 points. RCF have scored five goals and conceded three with a goal difference of plus one. Punjab Police have netted eight goals and conceded three from five matches and have a goal difference of plus five. JCT have logged seven points from five outings, including one win and four draw.
— UNI
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India
declare at 238-4; Lanka ‘A’ 112-1 in 2nd innings
