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England retain squad
Bopanna-Qureshi score a hat-trick
Hamilton races to victory
Yomahesh runs through
Kenya batting
Jeev improves to 34th spot
No regrets due to delay: Beckham
Phelps caps off week with 6th title
Jalandhar to have sports complex
Grain sheds to be used for sports activities!
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India survive a scare
Leicester, August 5 Wasim Jaffer made 55, while Gautam Gambhir remained unbeaten on 53. Sri Lanka ‘A’ opener Michael Vandort struck a stroke-filled century as they declared their second innings at 265 for seven, setting the Indians a big target from 55 overs at the Grace Road ground. Of particular concern to the Indian camp would be the second failure of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who made one. Dinesh Karthik (9) was an early casualty when he played across and lost his middle and leg stump to Welegadara. Yuvraj Singh (33), who came in at number three, flexed his arms and smashed a few boundaries before departing. Wasim Jaffer, however, stuck it out at one end to play some attractive shots to keep the Sunday crowd entertained in the afternoon. Earlier, Vandort’s innings of 117 came off 186 balls with 18 shots to the fence. The 27-year-old had also impressed with his skill and patience in the first innings when he made 52. — Agencies
Scoreboard
Sri Lanka ‘A’ (1st innings) 266 India (1st innings) 238-4 dec Sri Lanka ‘A’ (2nd innings) Vandort c Bose b Powar 117 Udawatte c Laxman b Ishant 0 Perera run out 49 Warnapura c Karthik b Bose 0 Samaraweera c&b Powar 24 Lokuarachchi c Kumble b Laxman 16 Silva not out 17 Prasad c Karthik b Gambhir 21 Herath not out 11 Extras (b-1, lb-4, w-1, nb-4) 10 Total (7 wkts dec, 64 overs) 265 Fall of
wickets: 1-2, 2-115, 3-115, 4-196, 5-205, 6-217, 7-248. Bowling: Bose 13-3-56-1, Ishant 14-3-36-1, Powar 12-4-37-2, Kumble 9-1-48-0, Yuvraj 9-0-36-0, Laxman 3-1-16-1, India (2nd innings) Karthik b Welegedara 9 Jaffer c&b Herath 55 Yuvraj lbw Perera 33 Dhoni lbw Prasad 1 Gambhir not out 53 Laxman lbw Herath 3 Dravid lbw Prasad 15 Powar not out 14 Extras (w-2, nb-2) 4 Total (6 wkts, 55 overs) 187 Fall of
wickets: 1-9, 2-66, 3-73, 4-116, 5-126, 6-152. Bowling: Ganegama 7-1-27-0, Welegedara 10-0-44-1, Prasad 12-0-34-2, Perera 13-0-38-1, Herath 13-4-44-2.
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Ban Sreesanth for beamer, demands Atherton
London, August 5 Sreesanth delivered a beamer to Kevin Pietersen and later a two-foot no-ball to Paul Collingwood on the fourth day of the Trent Bridge Test. He also shouldered rival skipper Michael Vaughan, for which he was handed a fine of 50 percent of his match fee. Atherton said a beamer - whether bowled deliberately or not - was a serious offence, and asked Indian captain Rahul Dravid to set the right example by benching Sreesanth for the final Test, starting Thursday at The Oval. "If bowled deliberately, there cannot be a more cowardly action (than a beamer) on a cricket field. If bowled accidentally, it is still potentially lethal. Either way it should incur an immediate one-match ban," Atherton wrote in 'Sunday Telegraph'. "Since the match referee Ranjan Madugalle was silent on the issue, it is Rahul Dravid who should take the appropriate disciplinary action ahead of the Oval Test. "... Only one man, Sreesanth himself, knows whether it was deliberate ... But I have no doubt that Sreesanth's rancorous spell ... was the most glaring in the match of something that ran completely counter to the spirit of the game." Sreesanth immediately apologised to Pietersen but Atherton doubted his sincerity. "It seems to me that the apology is irrelevant. The damage could have been severe," he wrote. "Moreover, an apology doesn't necessarily mean it is sincere. With match referee on the prowl, any bowler with an ounce of survival instinct is bound to apologise." He pointed out that "there was a glaring absence of extenuating circumstances" when Sreesanth bowled the beamer. "The ball was not new and the lacquer had worn off, making it less likely to slip out of his hand. It wasn't wet, he had directional problems but hardly of the 'yips' variety." Atherton said that "by fining Sreesanth for a shoulder nudge ... and ignoring the beamer, the International Cricket Council has once again shown a liking for the irrelevancies over issues that matter." He felt that the hullabaloo over the England players throwing jellybeans at Indian batsmen overshadowed the Sreesanth episode. "It (bean-gate) was a puerile prank gone wrong; harmless, silly and unlikely to be repeated," he said.
— PTI
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England retain squad
London, August 5 The hosts retained the same bowling attack, which played in the lost second Test, as Chief Selector David Graveney said he was pleased with the inexperienced players' performance at Trent Bridge. "While India fully deserved their victory at Trent Brigde, there were many positive aspects to our performance. We were particularly pleased with the way our inexperienced bowling attack performed and they will be hoping to build on that in the final Test," he said. "Andrew Flintoff, Stephen Harmison and Matthew Hoggard are all making good progress in their recovery from injury but the selectors felt it was too soon to consider them," he added. Squad: Michael Vaughan (Capt), Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell, Matt Prior, Chris Tremlett, Ryan Sidebottom, Monty Panesar, James Anderson, Stuart Broad.
— PTI
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Bopanna-Qureshi score a hat-trick
New Delhi, August 5 The Indo-Pak Express overcame a strong opposition from Michel Kratochvil of Switzerland and Luxembourg's Gilles Muller 7-6 (8) 6-3 in the final of the hard court event on Saturday. The win came after their triumphs at Manchester and Nottingham on grass over the last two weeks. "It was the biggest Challenger (in terms of prize money) for us but playing wise it was the easiest compared to the last two," Bopanna told PTI from Segovia. "We are combining well and are definitely planning to play much more together, especially ATP Tour events since I will be ranked 90 (in doubles) after this week." Bopanna and Qureshi won 90 ATP points and a winners' cheque of 6,600 euros. The pair had earned 100 points and pocketed $ 1550 after their victories in the last two $ 25,000 events. For the 27-year-old India, it was his fourth title of the season, having won in Dublin, Ireland, with Austrian Adam Feeney on indoor carpet early last month. Bopanna also reached the final with Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay at Scheveninghen, Holland, a fortnight ago besides three semifinal finishes - with compatriot Mustafa Ghouse in Kyoto and Durban and Chris Haggard at Surbiton - this year. He will return to the courts after a well deserved break this week. Paes-Damm lose
in semis
Washington: Second seeds Leander Paes and Martin Damm went down 7-6, 6-7, 2-10 to the lower-ranked Israeli pair of Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich in the semifinal of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic here. In a keenly fought contest, the Indo-Czech pair squandered a set advantage as the Israelis rallied well to win the match tie-breaker and set a summit clash with top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan of the United States, who tamed Paul Hanley and Kevin Ullyett in the other semifinal. Ram and Erlich took an early lead (4-1), but Paes and Damm broke back in the ninth game and won the first set in the tie-breaker. After splitting the first 12 games of the second set and the first six points of the tie-breaker, the Israelis opened a slender lead by winning the next two points and went on to take
the set. Ram and Erlich were unstoppable in the match tie-breaker, winning the first eight points and quickly booking their place in the title match.
— UNI
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Sharapova, Schnyder in final
San Diego, August 5 No. 11 seed Schnyder of Switzerland defeated the more favoured Elena Dementieva of Russia 7-6, 6-0. Holder Sharapova had little trouble yesterday in defeating her fellow Russian, who appeared to be cramping late in the second set due to playing for three consecutive weeks. ''The quality of the first set was better than the second where I didn't have to give as much, but it can get tricky and I'm glad to get it done,'' Sharapova said. Chakvetadze had played Fed Cup and won titles in Cincinnati and Stanford before coming to San Diego. After playing for more than 2-1/2 hours in beating Wimbledon champion Venus Williams in a three set quarter-final on Friday night, she had lost some of her speed around the court. Sharapova ended the contest with 26 winners to only five from Chakvetadze and broke her fellow 20-year-old five times. Washington: American wild card John Isner continued his improbable run through the Washington Open field by defeating Gael Monfils Saturday to set up a match with top seed Andy Roddick in the final. The 416th-ranked Isner, playing in only his second ATP tournament, beat the ninth-seeded Frenchman 6-7 7-6 7-6, while Roddick ousted big-serving Ivo Karlovic 7-6 7-6. Isner, 22, who gained entry into the event when Fernando Gonzalez withdrew with a sore back, had upset Tim Henman, number eight seed Benjamin Becker and number two Tommy Haas en route to his semi-final appearance yesterday.
— Reuters
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Archery World Cup
New Delhi, August 5 In the clash for top honours, the Arjuna awardee pipped Zhang 111-110 in a nerve-wracking battle. Dola, who won the recurve team bronze yesterday, had got past Malgorzata Cwienczek of Poland 108-101 in the semifinal without much trouble. Yesterday Dola, along with team-mates Chekrovolu Swuro and L Bombayla Devi, registered a comfortable 208-198 victory over Poland to win the bronze for India. Hailing the performance of Dola and the women’s recurve team, senior coach Sanjeeva Singh said it should boost their confidence for future events. “It’s a morale-boosting effort for Dola and Co. However, we should not read much into it as top archers were not there at the competition. But it’s definitely an achievement to cherish and it tells us that we can hope to win medals in the Olympics,” he told PTI. Sanjeeva said the gold would inspire Dola, who had a forgettable performance in the World Championship in Germany earlier this year. “She did not do well in the World Championship. So it should put her back on the winning track,” he said. The Tata Archery Academy coach said it was disappointing that the men’s team failed to produce good results at Dover. He said the Asian Championship scheduled for next month would pose a tough challenge for the Indian archers before the Olympics. “Many of the top teams in the world would be there in the tournament. That would be the real test for them,” he said. Later this month, the selection trials and national camp for the Asian Championship would be held in Jamshedpur. Archery Association of India president VK Malhotra congratulated Dola and the women’s recurve team for their medal-winning feats. — PTI
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Hamilton races to victory
Budapest, August 5 The 22-year-old British rookie took his third victory and 10th podium finish in 11 races, 0.7 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi
Raikkonen.Germany’s Nick Heidfeld was third for BMW Sauber. Spain’s double world champion Alonso, who was stripped of the pole position and demoted to sixth place on the starting grid for unnecessarily impeding Hamilton in yesterday’s qualifying, finished fourth. As punishment for that same incident, but subject to appeal, leaders McLaren were barred from scoring points towards the constructors’ championship in the race. McLaren remained on 138 points, with Ferrari narrowing the gap on 119 with six races remaining. Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, third in the championship before today’s race, failed to score after starting 14th and slipped to fourth place overall. Hamilton has 80 points, Alonso 73, Raikkonen 60 and Massa 59 in a championship that remains very much a four-way battle with an appeal hearing into a spy controversy also hanging over McLaren’s hopes. The McLaren rookie led all 70 laps of a race that, in contrast to all the excitement and controversy away from the track in the build-up, was uneventful and processional until the closing stages when Raikkonen closed right up on the Briton. The Finn, pushing hard on a circuit that is a nightmare for overtaking, set the fastest lap of the race right at the end. Poland’s Robert Kubica, marking his first anniversary in Formula One, was fifth for BMW Sauber with Toyota’s Ralf Schumacher sixth. Germany’s Nico Rosberg was seventh for Williams, with Renault’s Finnish rookie Heikki Kovalainen taking the last point for the struggling champions. —
Reuters
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Yomahesh runs through
Kenya batting
New Delhi, August 5 Yomahesh cut through the Kenyan batting line-up on the opening day, claiming four wickets for 15 runs as the Africans were bundled out for a mere 97 in only 37.4 overs. Wicketkeeper-batsman Patel then struck an unbeaten 100 as India, in reply, reached 205 for four at stumps. S. Badrinath was the other unbeaten batsman with 29. The Kenyans elected to bat but had a disastrous start losing two wickets with only one run on the board. Skipper Steve Tikolo was the topscorer with 28 while Tanmay Mishra contributed 27. For India, Pankaj Singh and leg-spinner Piyush Chawla captured two wickets each while left-armer Irfan Pathan and Pragyan Ojha had a scalp apiece. The 37-run third wicket stand between Obanda and Tikolo and the 33-run sixth wicket stand between Jimmy Kamande and Mishra saved further embarrassment for the hosts. India also had a shaky start losing two wickets for 14 with Cheteshwar Pujara and Robin Uthappa returning to the pavilion early. But Patel, whose 126 ball knock includes 15 boundaries so far, steadied the ship with skipper Mohammad Kaif (25) adding 68 for the third wicket.
— PTI
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Jeev improves to 34th spot
Akron (USA), August 5 The Indian ace, who was Asian Tour’s No. 1 last year, had four birdies and six bogeys in a round that was very eventful. He is eight-over 218 as only three players remained under par after 54 holes. Defending champion Tiger Woods climbed up to lone second position after a 69 and was a stroke behind leader Rory Sabbatini, who carded a 206 total at the $8 million event. Chopra climbs to 13th
Reno (USA): Daniel Chopra recovered superbly from an early double bogey and fired five birdies before closing with a bogey for two-under 70 that saw him climb to tied 13th after being 25th at the midway stage of the $3.5 million Reno-Tahoe Open golf tournament. With a total of 210, Chopra is a stroke ahead of Kevin Na, who shot a 71 to be at the joint 18th spot. Atwal slips to 36th
Wichita (USA): Arjun Atwal played a modest round of one-over 72 and dropped to 36th from overnight 20th at the $500,000 Preferred Health Systems Wichita Open golf tournament. Michael Walton shot his second consecutive 66 on a windy third round to take a one-stroke lead. Walton’s round of 66 matched the second-best score on a day.
— PTI
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Rooney does the trick
London, August 5 United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar saved three penalties in the shootout, leaving Wayne Rooney to score with the decisive spot kick at Wembley. Stalwart Ryan Giggs gave United a 35th-minute lead with a sweetly struck shot but Chelsea’s new France winger Florent Malouda levelled with a fine solo goal just before halftime. Neither side created a clear-cut chance after the break, leaving the traditional curtain-raiser to be settled by a shootout in front of a crowd of more than 80,000. The penalty from England striker Rooney, whose team had lost that FA Cup final in May, helped United draw first blood in what is set to be another long battle between the two clubs for honours. “It was satisying to win, it doesn’t matter what competition,” said United manager Alex Ferguson. Chelsea counterpart Jose Mourinho told Sky Sports: “I don’t think the boys deserved to lose the game on penalties. I’m happy with the players but not happy to lose the competition.” Chelsea started with an unusual line-up because main striker Didier Drogba, captain John Terry and midfielder Claude Makelele were all sidelined, while forwards Andriy Shevchenko and Salomon Kalou were also missing. Terry’s place in central defence went to new Israeli signing Tal Ben Haim, while the gap up front was unconvincingly filled by winger Joe Cole in a strike role. Both sides needed time to find any real rhythm and it took over 20 minutes for the first chance to fall to Giggs, whose close-range effort was blocked. Left-back Patrice Evra worked a neat one-two with Cristiano Ronaldo before cutting the ball back in a crowded area and Giggs lashed home a rising first time shot. It was a superbly taken goal and a comfortable United side looked good value for their lead. Chelsea levelled against the run of play when Malouda broke down the left and hooked the ball round Rio Ferdinand before steering it past Van der Sar. The frustration for United was palpable, with Rooney getting a yellow card in stoppage time for a clumsy challenge on goalkeeper Petr Cech. It all went wrong for Chelsea in the shootout with Van der Sar saving from Claudio Pizarro, Frank Lampard and Shaun Wright-Phillips — leaving Rooney to add to strikes from Ferdinand and Michael Carrick and wrap up victory in the shootout. — Reuters
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No regrets due to delay: Beckham
Toronto, August 5 Beckham is likely to miss the Los Angeles Galaxy’s MLS game against Toronto FC, and if he does, it will be the fourth match he has watched from the sidelines since his token debut as a 78th-minute substitute in a friendly against Chelsea on July 21. Beckham damaged ankle ligaments playing for Real Madrid four days after spraining the same left ankle in England’s match against Estonia on June 6. He said he aggravated the injury further on June 17, when Real Madrid beat Real Mallorca to clinch the Spanish League title. But he said he couldn’t regret his role in Real Madrid’s run to the championship. “I sprained it playing for England, played again four days after for Real Madrid with the sprain and pulled the ligaments,” Beckham said here yesterday. “Then I played the last game of the season for Real Madrid with three injections to numb my ankle so you can imagine what my ankle looked like after the game.
— AFP
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Iran Asian b’ball champs
Tokushima (Japan), August 5 It was the first time that Iran - bronze medallists at last year’s Asian Games - won the continental title since the inaugural 1960 championship, with their previous best finish being the fourth place in 1993. Hamed Ehadadi was the game’s top scorer with 31 points, while Mohammad Nikkhah added 15 points to fashion the Iranian win. Earlier in the day, two-time former champions South Korea kept their Olympic hopes alive when they defeated Kazakhstan 80-76 to finish in third place. Ha Seung-Jin scored 25 points, Kim Joo-Sung added 18 points and Cha Jae-Young scored 11 points for the bronze-winning team. Lebanon and South Korea are now eligible for the final Olympic qualifying round, which will take place
next July. In the playoff round, Jordan beat Taiwan 97-74 to take the fifth place, and Qatar pipped Japan 86-82 to finish seventh. Olympic hosts China, who crashed out in the first round, have an automatic spot for the Beijing games.
— AFP
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Phelps caps off week with 6th title
Chicago, August 5 Bowman had told Phelps that if he beat one minute 45 seconds in the 200 freestyle and dipped below 54 seconds in the 100 backstroke, he could ditch the medley event. Phelps accomplished both in style, winning and narrowly missing a world record in the backstroke by three hundredths. ''The only reason I'm not swimming is I made a deal with Bob,'' Phelps told local television. ''It's weird not being in events I'm use to being in, but it's fun to be able to sit here and kick back and relax.'' He later helped Club Wolverine to victory in the 4x100 medley relay, bringing his five day total to six titles, four individual and two relays. Yesterday's sleep-in might be the last for Phelps for some time. The 22-year-old says he plans to train every day from now until the Beijing Olympics. ''From nationals on we're going to swim every Sunday,'' said Phelps, who will try for a record eight gold medals in Beijing. ''It's my one chance to do something big so why not, why not go out with a bang and do something different.'' Forty-year-old mother Dara Torres capped off a dazzling week, eclipsing her own American record to win the 50 freestyle in 24.53 seconds and complete a sprint double. Torres, who won her first national title 26 years ago, won the 100 freestyle on Wednesday, boosting her hopes of qualifying for a fifth Olympic team. ''I just take it one day at a time now,'' said Torres, who was joined on the podium by her daughter Tessa. ''When I was younger I use to set goals further ahead. Now that I'm older it's one day at a time.'' Other winners included Emily Brunemann in the 1,500 freestyle (16:23.77), Katie Hoff in the women's 200 medley (2:10.62), Ryan Lochte in the men's 200 medley (1:56.95), Ben Wildman-Tobriner in the 50 free (21.80) and Erik Vendt in the 800 free (7:49.75).
— Reuters
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Jalandhar to have sports complex
Jalandhar, August 5 A proposal to build the complex, to be equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, has been forwarded by the department to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for approval. Confirming this, Pargat Singh, director, sports, said talented players from the 5,000 sports wings will be scrutinised and the 500 finalists will be trained in 14 disciplines at the proposed complex. “Unlike the institutes at Patiala which cater to national teams only, local talent will be trained with the best possible facilities at the proposed centre of excellence with an eye on bringing results in competitions,” said Pargat. “Budding players will be trained at the centre in several disciplines, including football, volleyball, swimming, hockey, gymnastics, athletics, wrestling and boxing,” he added. The city has been chosen for the project because the Sports College already has facilities which need to be upgraded for the project. “Combining these facilities with those at the Burton Park will serve the purpose at a low cost,” Pargat said. The swimming pool at the Sports College is slated to be converted into an indoor one. “There is a need to make it an all-weather pool. About 45 acres of the Sports College and 55 acres of Burlton Park will be combined for a residential as well as sports complex,” he adds. The government has sanctioned Rs 2 crore for building the two hostels, said Pargat. “The department aims to work on an overall master plan so that even if financial grants keep coming in partially over a period, the project can be completed in phases over the next three to four years,” he added.
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Grain sheds to be used for sports activities!
Moga, August 5 Ajmer Singh Lakhowal, Chairman, Punjab Mandi Board, stating this here today
said that the proposal for the same has been forwarded to the state government after having been passed in the last meeting of the
Board. Separate sports wing would look after needs of players and equipment. Elaborating on the concept, he said there were as many as 147 grain markets and over 1400 sub-yards in Punjab with spacious sheds and other relevant infrastructure. However, this massive infrastructure is used only during harvesting season. Incidentally, the harvest season lasts for hardly two months all over a year. For remaining period these sheds lie unused and stray cattle ramble there. Following implementation of this plan the infrastructure worth crore could be utilised to its optimum value. He said that for proper utilisation of sheds games have been identified which could conveniently be played under these sheds. They are basketball, wrestling, Table Tennis, Volleyball, Kabaddi, Tennis and others. He added that a certain amount for development of sports would be allocated. Besides to encourage sports, players would be hired on contract. The chairman said that he already spoken to former Director Sports, Punjab Kartar Singh, himself a wrestler and all India Basketball coach Sajjan Singh. He said that they assured him full cooperation. He hoped that the plan would be introduced in this financial year which would help Punjab regain pride of place in national sports.
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