S P O R T S

Rain spoils keen contest
England Lions pile up 296; India’s reply ends at 32-0
Northampton, August 18
The warm-up one-dayer between India and England Lions was abandoned due to heavy rain at the Northamptonshire County Club ground here today.Chasing a target of 297, India were 32 without loss in 6.5 overs with Sourav Ganguly batting on 18 and Robin Uthappa on 12 when it started raining and the players went off the field. Play was later officially called off.

Rs 100m ICL bait for Asif
Lahore, August 18
Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif has been offered a whopping sum of 100 million rupees to play in the Indian Cricket League (ICL).

Cricketers eyeing Stanford league too
New Delhi, August 18
With the Indian Cricket League making lucrative offers, many players are keen to cash in on the lucre pouring in and are even considering playing in another multi-million dollar league, the planned Stanford Twenty-20 tournament in the West Indies.

India A thrash Kenya, reach final 
New Delhi, August 18
Ruthless India A inflicted an 80-run defeat on a hapless Kenya in a rain-marred match to booked their berth in the final of the ongoing triangular series at Nairobi today.Put into bat by Thomas Odoyo, Indian batsmen made merry on a toothless Kenyan attack to pile up 280 for 7 in 46 overs with handsome contributions from Praveen Kumar (64), Mohd Kaif (51) and Cheteshwar Pujara (67).

Lin to take on Sony in final

Kuala Lumpur, August 18 Chinese star Lin Dan marched into the men’s singles final of the World Badminton Championship here today, even as fellow world number one and team-mate Zhang Ning suffered a shock defeat. ON CLOUD NINE: Indonesia’s Sony Dwi Kuncoro celebrates after beating China’s Chen Yu in the men’s singles semifinal at the World Badminton Championship in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday. Sony won 18-21, 21-13, 21-15 to set up the summit clash with China’s Lin Dan. — Reuters photo Paes-Damm enter semis New Delhi, August 18 Leander Paes and his Czech partner Martin Damm moved into the men’s doubles semifinals at Cincinnati Masters after their opponents retired midway through the match.The Indo-Czech duo advanced after fifth seeds Paul Hanley of Australia and Zimbabwean Kevin Ullyet withdrew while trailing 3-5 in the first set of the quarterfinal of the $2,200,000 ATP event. — PTI

Federer, Hewitt reach semis Mason, Ohio, August 18 Roger Federer overcame a momentum-changing second set Friday, recovering to beat Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters.   Henin, Yan Zi in semis Roger Federer of Switzerland returns a shot from Nicolas Almagro of Spain during their quarter-final match. — Reuters photo

Anand pips Aronian in rapid chess
Mainz, August 18
The World Rapid King and defending champion Viswanathan Anand avenged his defeat at the hands of Aronian in chess 960 final’s by beating him on the first day in the 2nd game of the Grenke Leasing World Rapid Championship in Rhinegoldhalle here.In the opening game yesterday, Anand playing with White against his traditional rival Rustom Kasimdzhanov opened with e 4 and Kasimdzhanov replied with e5.

Syria outplay Bangladesh

New Delhi, August 18 Syria scored two second-half goals without reply to take full points off Bangladesh in the ONGC Nehru Cup International Football Tournament at the flood-lit Ambedkar Stadium here tonight.The Syrians, far superior to Bangladesh, played percentage soccer in the first half to not only gauge the strength and weakness of their opponents, but also to conserve their energy on this muggy evening.

Team for Osaka athletics meet
Patiala, August 18
Thirteen men and women athletes will represent the country at the World Athletics Championship slated for August 25 to September 2 in Osaka, Japan.

Materazzi lets the secret out Milan, August 18 Italian defender Marco Materazzi has finally revealed the exact line he used to provoke Zinedine Zidane into headbutting him in last year’s World Cup final.“I prefer the whore that is your sister,” he said in a interview with the TV Sorrisi e Canzoni magazine which comes out on Monday, the Italian media reported today.

Harris sends Punjab reeling
Chennai, August 18
Australian Institute of Sports and TNCA XI scored outright wins and secured eight points in their opening league matches on the third and final day of the All India Invitation Buchi Babu Cricket Tournament here today.

Rain spoils keen contest
England Lions pile up 296; India’s reply ends at 32-0

Northampton, August 18
The warm-up one-dayer between India and England Lions was abandoned due to heavy rain at the Northamptonshire County Club ground here today.

Chasing a target of 297, India were 32 without loss in 6.5 overs with Sourav Ganguly batting on 18 and Robin Uthappa on 12 when it started raining and the players went off the field. Play was later officially called off.

Earlier, sparkling half-centuries by Vikram Solanki and Luke Wright powered the Lions to an impressive 296 for 8 from 50 overs.

Wright’s hurricane innings (56, 40b, 8x4, 1x6) and a responsible knock by captain Vikram Solanki (60, 65b, 6x4) gave the Lions a good start before the Indians spinners pegged the hosts back.

Off-spinner Ramesh Powar and leggie Piyush Chawla combined effectively, bowling in tandem as they derailed the Lions after Wright had given them a blazing start.

The spin pair conceded 104 runs for their 20 overs collectively, taking four wickets between themselves. That put the brakes on the Lions’ scoring as they slipped from 108 for 1 in the 18th over to 149 for 5 in the 25th over.

However, Ravi Bopara (37) and Paul Nixon (39) did a good rescue job, adding 77 runs for the sixth wicket before Chris Schofield (35) and Tim Bresnan (32 not out) provided the necessary fireworks at the death, scoring 61 runs in seven overs for the seventh wicket to boost their tally.

Zaheer Khan (7-0-57-0) and Munaf Patel (9-0-60-1) were off-colour today, while Powar did well to claim 3 for 52 from 10 overs.

Earlier, after Mahendra Singh Dhoni called correctly in his first match as Indian captain, Ajit Agarkar gave his side a perfect start removing Darren Maddy (6) in the fourth over of the innings. But once Wright came to the wicket, he made short work of the Indian bowling.

The tall right-hander from Sussex played some exciting strokes all round the park to dominate a second-wicket stand of 96 runs off 81 balls with Solanki as the Lions motored along at six runs per over till the 25-over mark.

The 22-year-old Wright signalled his arrival by driving an unimpressive Zaheer through the covers and pulling another short one for two boundaries in the first over he faced. He smashed Munaf for three consecutive boundaries in the bowler’s first over before hooking Agarkar for a six over fine leg.

Wright reached his 50 by helping a full toss from Piyush Chawla to the mid-wicket fence. It took him just 34 balls in which he struck eight fours and a six.

Just when the Lions looked like running away with the game, Powar came up with an impressive spell. He removed the dangerous Wright in his first over as the batsman tried to flick one off his legs and the ball came off the face off his bat for Dhoni to take a one-handed catch.

Once Wright was dismissed in the 18th over, the Indians immediately seized the initiative, claiming four wickets for 41 runs in 7.4 overs to reduce the Lions to 149 for 5 in the 25th over.

Solanki was a bit subdued at the start as he watched Wright take the attack to the bowlers. But two fours off a Zaheer over kept him going. Another pull off a hapless Munaf and a lovely cover drive off Powar were fine shots, too, as the Lions captain brought up his 50 in the 20th over of the innings. It took him 54 balls and he hit four fours.

Solanki then opened up his shoulders, taking the aerial route against Chawla, hitting him to the boundary at long-off before having a lucky escape off the very next ball when his outside edge clipped Dhoni’s glove on the way to the third-man fence.

However, Chawla deceived him with a googly that trapped him lbw for 60. — PTI

Rs 100m ICL bait for Asif

Lahore, August 18
Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif has been offered a whopping sum of 100 million rupees to play in the Indian Cricket League (ICL).

Sources in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) confirmed that the ICL has offered Asif Rs 100 million for a three-year contract, and the pacer is carefully assessing the various aspects of the offer before taking a final decision next week.

It was reported earlier that both Asif and Shoaib Akhtar had refused the ICL offers last month, the Dawn reported.

Meanwhile, sources said that the PCB was getting concerned about the congregation of several Pakistan players in London, and are wary of their intentions to join the ICL.

They said Younis Khan, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Abdul Razzaq, Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmed and Shahid Afridi are all in England these days where a former Test captain and wicketkeeper is intensely lobbying for the ICL.

Earlier, former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad came out in the support of the ICL. — ANI

Cricketers eyeing Stanford league too

New Delhi, August 18
With the Indian Cricket League making lucrative offers, many players are keen to cash in on the lucre pouring in and are even considering playing in another multi-million dollar league, the planned Stanford Twenty-20 tournament in the West Indies.

"I know some of the players who are considering it. If as a professional you can ply your trade and make some money in the process, what's wrong in it," one India international, now out of the national team reckoning, said.

The tournament, proposed by Texan billionaire Allen Stanford who has promised to pump in $ 100 million into West Indies cricket, is similar to the ICL in concept.

But while the ICL has been opposed by the BCCI, the Caribbean event has the support of West Indies Cricket Board which has even set aside dates (January 25 to February 24, 2008) for the same in its domestic calendar. The tournament, however, is yet to be approved by the ICC which seems to want a pie from Stanford's largess.

The ICL has received a overwhelming response from the players, though.

Sridharan Sriram, 31-year-old from Tamil Nadu, became the first India player to sign on the dotted line for a three-year contract from the Essel Group venture. The left-hander, who in recent years has been representing Maharashtra, played for India in eight one-dayers without much success before being confined to oblivion.

The Chennai-born cricketer is currently playing in North Lancashire league in England.

And there could be more such discarded players following in Sriram's footsteps, like Railways all-rounder Sanjay Bangar. — PTI 

India A thrash Kenya, reach final 

New Delhi, August 18
Ruthless India A inflicted an 80-run defeat on a hapless Kenya in a rain-marred match to booked their berth in the final of the ongoing triangular series at Nairobi today.

Put into bat by Thomas Odoyo, Indian batsmen made merry on a toothless Kenyan attack to pile up 280 for 7 in 46 overs with handsome contributions from Praveen Kumar (64), Mohd Kaif (51) and Cheteshwar Pujara (67).

Later, Pragyan Ojha (3-30), V Yo Mahesh (3-28), Praveen Kumar (2-34) and Pankaj Singh (2-37) shared the spoils as they skittled out Kenya for a paltry 200.

Praveen Kumar was the automatic choice for the Man of the Match award for his all-round show.

Despite losing Parthiv Patel (1) early in the innings, the swashbuckler in Praveen was in no mood to relent and soon the Kenyan bowlers discovered they were in for some harsh treatment.

Praveen, who had slammed an unbeaten 27-ball knock of 57 in the last game against Kenya, blasted 64 off just 55 balls today with the help of seven boundaries and three sixes before he was run out. — PTI

Lin to take on Sony in final

Kuala Lumpur, August 18
Chinese star Lin Dan marched into the men’s singles final of the World Badminton Championship here today, even as fellow world number one and team-mate Zhang Ning suffered a shock defeat.

Defending champion Lin, known as Suer Dan to his legion of fans, downed team-mate Bao Chulai 21-12, 22-20 and looked in formidable form heading into tomorrow’s final.

Lin takes on Indonesia’s Sony Dwi Kuncoro, who won a gruelling three-game encounter with China’s sixth seed Chen Yu.

With the crowd cheering his name, the Indonesian ninth seed threw everything at Chen, often diving to the floor in desperate attempts to reach for shots.

Zhang, China’s great hope in women’s singles, was stunned by Hong Kong’s Wang Chen, who used contrasting pace to down the Olympic champion 21-11, 21-15 and reach her first-ever world final.

Wang said her strategy was to play fast and furious in the first game, but slow down the pace in the second when she knew Zhang would come out firing.

Wang, the Asian Games champion, faces a showdown with China’s fifth seed Zhu Lin, who easily dispensed with team-mate Lu Lan 21-10, 21-13.

Zhang, the Olympic champion and veteran of the Chinese team, joins a string of stars who have fallen in this wildly unpredictable tournament.

Malaysia’s chances of winning their first-ever title were snuffed out when the men’s doubles duo Choong Tan Fook and Lee Wan Wah went down fighting to Indonesia’s Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan. — AFP

Federer, Hewitt reach semis

Mason, Ohio, August 18
Roger Federer overcame a momentum-changing second set Friday, recovering to beat Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters.

Federer will face Lleyton Hewitt in the semifinals.

Hewitt coasted through a 6-2, 6-4 win over a heat-sapped Carlos Moya earlier in the day.

For a few minutes, it appeared that a tournament full of upsets might have the most stunning one yet.

Almagro got the crowd behind him during the second set, when he matched Federer shot-for-shot, moved him around the court and won the only break point of the set.

"I had one really bad game and it cost me the set," Federer said. "It happens. I'm happy that it doesn't happen every match." It was only the second set he'd ever won off Federer, who is 5-0 career against the Spaniard. It was the only one he would win on this day.

Federer quickly regained control, breaking Almagro's serve to go up 2-0 in the third set. After Federer held serve to go up 4-1, Almagro tossed his racket away in frustration, then got his left calf massaged during the break.

Henin, Yan Zi in semis

Toronto: World number one Justine Henin and second seed Jelena Jankovic refused to be blown off course by recording quarter-final wins on a wild and windy day at the Toronto Cup.

With just two matches under her belt since a semi-final loss at Wimbledon, Henin appeared frustrated by the gusting winds that buffeted players all day at the Rexall tennis centre, yesterday.

But the battling Belgian stood her ground and weathered an early challenge from sixth-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova to post a 7-6 6-3 win and secure a semi-final date today with Chinese qualifier Yan Zi.

Ranked 169 in the world, Yan continued her Cinderella run advancing when Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli of France retired trailing 6-2 3-0 with the flu to become the third Chinese player to reach the semi-final of a WTA Tier I event.

Jankovic closed in on her fifth title of the season, taming Virginie Razzano of France 7-5 6-2 to set up a final-four showdown with another Frenchwoman, Tatiana Golovin, who toppled third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 2-6 7-5 6-1.

''Today was the strongest (winds) I have ever experienced,'' Jankovic said. — Agencies

Anand pips Aronian in rapid chess

Mainz, August 18
The World Rapid King and defending champion Viswanathan Anand avenged his defeat at the hands of Aronian in chess 960 final’s by beating him on the first day in the 2nd game of the Grenke Leasing World Rapid Championship in Rhinegoldhalle here.

In the opening game yesterday, Anand playing with White against his traditional rival Rustom Kasimdzhanov opened with e 4 and Kasimdzhanov replied with e5. After the set moves the game was played on Ruy Lopez lines.

Anand played a technically perfect game, occupied all the relevant squares and did not give Kasimdzhanov any chance to improve his position. Realising the mess in which he was, Kasimdzhanov surrendered to the Rapid King on the 45th move.

With one win in hand Anand was more aggressive against Aronian.

In this Ruy Lopez game, by the time Aronian realized what is happening on the board, Anand surrounded the black pieces and finally gave a check to Aronian’s King on the 37th move with Rf7+.

Aronian, however, survived the attack but than could not bear the pressure of Anand’s onslaught and surrendered meekly on the 40th move.

With two victories at hand Anand was more at ease against Frenchman Etienne Bacrot. Playing with black this time Anand replied with e5 to Bacrot‘s opening move of e4.

In this game also, Anand took to Ruy Lopez lines which gave him the earlier two wins. Though he had some problems in the middle game but was able to keep them away.He played a relaxed game and agreed for draw when offered on the 37th move.

Anand spoke to UNI after the games, ''It is nice to win two games. In the third game I was slightly worse but with no problems. It is a nice start. Tomorrow I have three more games and if you are one of the two top that you still have a long way to go.''

In other games, Aronian defeated Bacrot in the first game and lost the 2nd to Anand and drew with the third game with Kasimdzhanov. Bacrot beat Kasimdzhanov in the 2nd game. In the 2nd Round Anand will have 2 blacks and One white in the next 3 games to determine the finalist.

Standings after three Games: Viswanathan Anand 2.5 Levon Aronian 1.5 Etienne Bacrot 1.5. — UNI 

Syria outplay Bangladesh
M.S. Unnikrishnan

New Delhi, August 18
Syria scored two second-half goals without reply to take full points off Bangladesh in the ONGC Nehru Cup International Football Tournament at the flood-lit Ambedkar Stadium here tonight.

The Syrians, far superior to Bangladesh, played percentage soccer in the first half to not only gauge the strength and weakness of their opponents, but also to conserve their energy on this muggy evening. They went on the offensive in the second half, which made them richer by two goals and left Bangladesh gasping for breath in the end.

The Syrians struck the first goal three minutes into the second session when their stocky lead striker Maher Al Sayed put the ball in with a rasping drive after Wael Ayan and Zyad Chabo had done the spade work.

Thirtytwo minutes later, Zyad Chaabo latched on to a pass from Ali Dyed, cut past two Bangladesh defenders before despatching the ball in with a powerful drive.

Though the Syrians worked up their moves with crisp passes, they mostly attempted long-range shots, so as not to allow the rival defenders to regroup and crowd the penalty box.

The first half witnessed insipid fare with the Syrians playing at a very leisurely pace. Both teams made a couple of probing missions into each other’s territory and ironically, the players who came closest to scoring for either team wore jersey No. 12. While Motassem Alaya blasted wide for Syria, Mohd Zahid Hossain made a hash of a golden chance for Bangaldesh.

But on resumption, Syria stepped on the pedal to enhance the pace which the Bangladesh team, coached by former Indian national coach Syed Nayeemuddin, found too difficult to cope with.

The substitution of Mohammed Alzeno, who came in for Mahmoud Al Amena, early in the second half in the midfield, added punch to the Syrian attack as Alzeno fired a number of salvos at the Bangladesh goal, many of them making close shaves, to keep rival custodian Biplab Bhatacharjee on his toes.

Syria justified the wide gap between their ranking, 113th, and Bangladesh’s 172nd.

Kyrgyzstan meet Cambodia in the third match of the tournament tomorrow evening.

Team for Osaka athletics meet

Patiala, August 18
Thirteen men and women athletes will represent the country at the World Athletics Championship slated for August 25 to September 2 in Osaka, Japan.

The coordinator in the ongoing coaching camp here at the NIS, Sanjay Garnaik, revealed that, but for Anju Bobby George and Vikas Gowda, all the Osaka-bound athletes who are training here at the NIS, will leave Patiala for Delhi on August 20 morning from where they will fly to Japan. Anju is training in Bangalore, while Vikas Gowda is in the USA.

The chief national athletics coach, Bahadur Singh stated that, realistically speaking, not much was expected from our athletes since the best talent in the world will be seen in action. Even India's best bet, Anju Bobby George, is not in her peak form as her recent performance in Leverkusen (Germany), where she cleared 6.51M, indicates. The athletes are:

Men: Shot put : Navpreet Singh. Discus : Vikas Gowda Triple jump : M.Ranjit 400MH : Joseph Abraham

Women: Long jump: Anju Bobby George. Discus : Krishna Punia and Seema Antil Relay 4x400 : Chitra K. Soman, Iyleen Samantha Mandeep Kaur, Simi Jose, Anu Mariam Jose, Manjit Kaur. Coaches : Bahadur Singh, Robert Bobby George

Foreign experts: Yuri Ogrodonik (sprint coach) Dr.Petrovenko (recovery expert)

Masseur: Pawan Kumar Masseuse: Ina.— UNI

Materazzi lets the secret out

Milan, August 18
Italian defender Marco Materazzi has finally revealed the exact line he used to provoke Zinedine Zidane into headbutting him in last year’s World Cup final.

“I prefer the whore that is your sister,” he said in a interview with the TV Sorrisi e Canzoni magazine which comes out on Monday, the Italian media reported today.

Materazzi had previously said that he had mentioned the French midfielder’s sister in the verbal jousting between the two in the Berlin final, but had never given the exact words.

Zidane, who retired after the final, was sent off for the headbutt and Italy subsequently won on penalties. — Reuters

Harris sends Punjab reeling

Chennai, August 18
Australian Institute of Sports and TNCA XI scored outright wins and secured eight points in their opening league matches on the third and final day of the All India Invitation Buchi Babu Cricket Tournament here today.

While the young Aussies defeated Punjab by 93 runs, thanks to a five-wicket-hall by medium pacer Ryan Harris, TNCA, after a shoddy display in the first innings, raised their game to score a comfortable seven wicket win over Assam.

Chasing a daunting target of 257 in 45 overs, the Punjab batsmen were never in the hunt and were bowled out for 163 in 35.2 overs. Only Sunny Sohail offered some resistance, scoring 35.

Ryan Harris ripped through the innings claiming five  wickets. — UNI