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Sachin, Yuvi, pacers battle flu
Zaheer, Yuvraj, RP down with flu
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ICL can use Eden Gardens, says minister
Yousuf, Razzaq omission
ICL can use Eden Gardens, says minister
BCCI plans own Twenty20 league
Sania makes history, seeded at US Open
Ronaldo spares Portugal blushes
Syria edge out India
Sridhar’s ranking rises to 29
Italy beaten by Hungary
GND varsity wins MAKA Trophy again
Gurbaaz, Harmeet tied 18th
Negi holds Beliavsky
Chandigarh lad upset in q-finals
Sanaa loses, Ankita wins
Spikers beaten by Brazil
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Sachin, Yuvi, pacers battle flu
Bristol, August 23 The tourists, who practised on Thursday afternoon, as usual, kept the composition of the XI for Friday's second day/night ODI against England here close to their chests. But - with a warm and sunny afternoon predicted - the recall of Ramesh Powar is gaining ground. One of social reformer Raja Rammohan Roy's great successes was the removal of sati - the awful practice of widows sacrificing their lives on their husbands' funeral pyres. Roy, latterly, lived and died in this western English city. The reform that Indian cricketers need after the defeat in the 1 st ODI is probably a reversal to five frontline bowlers - as compared to four - and a sea change fielding. The latter is, of course, a distant dream. If Powar returns, Gautam Gambhir could be the casualty. In any case, in testing conditions, there is no better candidate than Rahul Dravid at number three, with Dinesh Karthik, arguably, now an alternative. Otherwise, a long innings from Mahendra Dhoni can only help India's cause. If Yuvraj plays, he could be peppered with three-quarter length deliveries after his apparent discomfort on Tuesday. It will be interesting to see how he copes with this, for runs from him could have a stabilising effect on India. If they recover, the retention of Zaheer and Rudra Pratap is a no-brainer; and Agarkar, his inconsistency notwithstanding, cannot be chopped yet. In the event of a toss-up between Piyush Chawla and Munaf Patel, the former would probably be preferred, because of better batting and fielding potential. At the same time, the Gloucestershire county ground's short boundaries could be a spinner's nightmare. Chawla did not generate sufficient bounce or nip off the wicket at Rose Bowl. Notably, England are no longer the bunnies they were against leg spin and googly after considerable exposure to Shane Warne and Danish Kaneria in recent years. Consequently, the promising 18-year-old will have to conjure a more impressive bag of tricks to outwit the opposition. Meanwhile, England appear to be oozing confidence by not announcing a replacement for Ryan Sidebottom, who is unavailable for selection for the next two matches because of a persisting side strain. The pace, bounce and accuracy of Andrew Flintoff on Tuesday has been an energising experience for Paul Collingwood, still finding his feet as captain, not to mention the combined centuries by Alastair Cook (in only his sixth ODI appearance) and Ian Bell - the first time England achieved this since inflicting such a joint hammering on Bangladesh in 2005. England's trump card, though, is still Kevin Pietersen, the world's number two ODI batsman. England are seventh to India's fifth in the LG ICC ODI rankings. Indeed, India won 6-1 the last time the two sides met. But the form book refers to the past, whereas the present is a home encounter for the English, who, after the setback in the Tests, are determined to address the anomaly in their one-day record. In summary, akin to the bounce back after the anaemic showing in the 1st Test at Lord's, India need to catapult to a higher level of performance to overcome the challenge posed by a spirited English team. In the absence of a coach, it's up to the think-tank of Dravid and his senior colleagues to come up with lasting solutions.
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Zaheer, Yuvraj, RP down with flu
Bristol, August 23
The trio did not turn up for the practice session today, and with the team management remaining non-committal on their availability, speculation was rife was that they could miss tomorrow’s day-night match. The team management said the players concerned were rested as a precaution and a decision could be taken only tomorrow morning. Zaheer Khan and RP Singh were the two bowlers to come off with some respect from the first ODI, while the others were taken to the cleaners as India lost by 104 runs. Meanwhile, skipper Rahul Dravid egged his team to shrug off the disappointment of its heavy defeat at the Rose Bowl and look for ways to improve in every department. He also hinted at a possible change not only in the batting order but also in the team combination. “We will keep thinking about how we can improve. When you don’t get the results, you have to look at your side and consider who are the guys that are playing well, whether they should be playing up the order or not,” Dravid said. “We will definitely re-think our batting order, our combination, everything.” — PTI
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ICL can use Eden Gardens, says minister
Kolkata, August 23 The minister said all grounds belonging to the state government would be made available for the ICL and the players would get total support. “Whatever facilities we have, we will make available to the boys who have been punished, particularly by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB). I have no objection. All playing fields will be available for them as all these are available for the CAB. The owner of the fields is the state government, not any other body,” he told NDTV. “The Eden Gardens was looked after by CAB. Now the lease period is over and it is state government’s property. If Kapil and others like to play at the Eden Gardens, I would allow it. What is the harm in it?” he said. The maverick minister’s public support for the Subhash Chandra-owned Essel Group’s cash-rich venture has come as a surprise because current CAB president Prasun Mukherjee, who is also the city Police Commissioner, has the backing of the Sharad Pawar-led BCCI regime. The BCCI has decided not to recognise the league and has barred all defecting players from playing for India or at the domestic level, besides withdrawing all financial benefits. The ICL has managed to lure as many as 44 Indian first-class cricketers and seven overseas players, including West Indies great Brian Lara and former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, in the initial list for its proposed Twenty20 tournament expected to be held later this year. — PTI
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Malik opposed selection: report
Lahore, August 23 'The Dawn' claimed that Shoaib voiced his opposition to their inclusion when the national selection committee, headed by Salahuddin Ahmed, asked him to give his input on the team selection. Quoting sources, the newspaper said Shoaib didn't feel comfortable with the idea of having a senior player like Yousuf in the squad considering his lack of athleticism in the field coupled with a weak throwing arm. Shoaib had told the selectors that Razzaq was not worth a place for the Twenty20 format since his medium-pace bowling had lost the nip to unsettle batsmen. ''The ball barely reaches the wicket-keeper at a decent pace when Razzaq bowls these days,'' the captain, according to paper, had told the selectors. Karachi: Abdul Razzaq was dropped for the Twenty20 World Cup because he didn't take the practice matches seriously, Pakistan's national selector Shafqat Rana has claimed. Replying to accusations of ignoring merit, Rana argued that no player could be picked on basis of popularity or past performances and said that the Pakistan squad had been picked on merit according to the requirements of the tournament. Claiming that the selectors had no grudges against any player, Rana said, "The board did try to contact the senior players to take them into confidence but none of them bothered to respond to these calls, so they shouldn't complain of the board not showing respect for them." — Agencies
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ICL can use Eden Gardens, says minister
Kolkata, August 23 The minister said all grounds belonging to the state government would be made available for the ICL and the players would get total support. “Whatever facilities we have, we will make available to the boys who have been punished, particularly by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB). I have no objection. All playing fields will be available for them as all these are available for the CAB. The owner of the fields is the state government, not any other body,” he told
NDTV. “The Eden Gardens was looked after by CAB. Now the lease period is over and it is state government’s property. If Kapil and others like to play at the Eden Gardens, I would allow it. What is the harm in it?” he said. The maverick minister’s public support for the Subhash
Chandra-owned Essel Group’s cash-rich venture has come as a surprise because current CAB president Prasun
Mukherjee, who is also the city Police Commissioner, has the backing of the Sharad
Pawar-led BCCI regime. The BCCI has decided not to recognise the league and has barred all defecting players from playing for India or at the domestic level, besides withdrawing all financial benefits. The ICL has managed to lure as many as 44 Indian first-class cricketers and seven overseas players, including West Indies great Brian Lara and former Pakistan captain
Inzamam-ul-Haq, in the initial list for its proposed Twenty20 tournament expected to be held later this year.
— PTI
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BCCI plans own Twenty20 league
Mumbai, August 23 The plan is still at a formative stage and it is learnt that Sunil Gavaskar would be asked to head the organising committee of the league, to be called the Professional Cricket League. “We have been working on something for sometime now, but we are not yet ready to announce anything right now. When we are ready, we will let you know,” BCCI vice-president and marketing committee chief Lalit Modi said today. The proposal did not come up for discussion at the special general body meeting of the BCCI in Mumbai on Tuesday. “There has been no discussion on this topic within the
BCCI,” a top source in the board said. Although the BCCI official was not willing to shed much light on the new proposal, it is learnt that two or three foreign players will be allowed to play in each team. Jolted by the ICL’s massive recruitment drive, the BCCI has not only decided to ban defecting players but has also announced substantial hikes in match fees and prize money for domestic competition to prevent a fresh exodus.
— PTI
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Sania makes history, seeded at US Open
New Delhi, August 23
If Sania overcomes the challenge from her unseeded opponent, she will be up against the winner of the first-round match between 24th seeded Francesca Schiavone of Italy and Nathalie Dechy of France. While Sania has to her credit a WTA title, the 2005 Hyderabad Open, Kanepi is yet to make her mark on the WTA circuit despite having a few ITF titles to her name. New Haven: Sania Mirza failed to progress to the quarterfinals of the Pilot Pen Open here after she was beaten in the second round by eight seed Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine. The 20-year-old Hyderabadi battled hard against the 23rd ranked Ukrainian, only to lose 3-6, 6-0, 3-6. Bondarenko will face Hungarian qualifier Agnes Szavay in the quarterfinals of the $600,000 Tier II event. However, in doubles, Sania and Italy’s Mara Santangelo sailed into the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 7-5 win over the American duo of Corina Morariu and Meghann Shaughnessy. In the last eight, the third seed Indo-Italian duo will be up against wildcard Swiss-Slovak combination of Janette Husarova and Patty Schnyder. — PTI
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Ronaldo spares Portugal blushes
London, August 23 David Healy, the competition's top scorer, notched two goals to help Northern Ireland go second in Group F with a 3-1 victory over Liechtenstein. Three of the night's six qualifiers involved teams in Group A where Portugal and Serbia's dropped points enabled Finland to move above them in the table with a 2-1 win at home to Kazakhstan. Portugal found themselves a goal down in the 10th minute when Armenia's Robert Arzumanyan headed in a corner. Manchester United winger Ronaldo calmed the visitors' rattled nerves in the 38th when he robbed an opponent and weaved and jinked his way into the penalty area before sliding the ball into the net. Serbia suffered a worse fate in Belgium where two goals from Moussa Dembele and another from Kevin Mirallas gave the hosts a 3-2 victory. Finland went second in the group when goals from Alexei Eremenko Jr and Teemu Tainio got the better of Kazakhstan, who replied through Dmitriy Byakov. Poland lead the table with 19 points from nine games, two points ahead of Finland.
— Reuters
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London, August 23 Germany, who also won the last match played in the old stadium in October 2000, recorded their sixth victory over England since 1972, including the penalty shootout win at Wembley in Euro 96. ''It's always fantastic to win in England,'' said keeper Jens Lehmann. Germany coach Joachim Loew was without most of his first choice team, captain Michael Ballack heading a long injury list that also contained Bastian Schweinsteiger, Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski. England, also missing several players, including Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney and Owen Hargreaves, opened the scoring after good work by teenage right-back Micah Richards after nine minutes. Richards beat Pander to set up Lampard and the Chelsea midfielder lashed the ball past Lehmann for his 13th international goal on his 56th appearance. Germany levelled after 26 minutes when keeper Paul Robinson parried a cross by captain Bernd Schneider and Kuranyi tapped the ball in for his fifth goal in six matches since returning to the team after being dropped for last year's World Cup. Pander put Germany in front five minutes before halftime when he powered an unstoppable 25-metre left-foot shot past Robinson. England carried the game to Germany after the break and went close to an equaliser in the 66th minute when David Beckham, winning his 97th cap, crossed for substitute Kieron Dyer to shoot wide from close range. — Reuters
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Syria edge out India
New Delhi, August 23 Syria, having won three matches in a row, now head the table with a clean slate, while hosts India suffered their first defeat in three matches. Syria are through to the final, though they have one more league match against Cambodia in hand. India’s fate will depend on their last match against Kyrgyzstan on August 26. Kyrgyzstan meet Bangladesh before they take on India, which will give them an opportunity to make amends for the defeat they suffered against Syria. India had beaten Cambodia 6-0 and Bangladesh 1-0, while Kyrgyzstan’s only win had come against Cambodia (4-3), while they lost Syria 1-4. India have a superior goal difference than Kyrgyzstan, which may come in handy for them if it boils down to that for deciding the second finalist. Though Syria negated an early goal scored for India by Sunil Chetri to not only equalise but also forge ahead before half-time to lead 2-1, the hosts gave them a close run. Syria added one more goal on resumption to ensure their victory, though a brilliant long-range goal by substitute Ajayan Nair, in the 36th minute, enlivened the match, giving a ray of hope for India to at least pull level. And that could have been a possibility had not NP Pradeep’s powerful drive been palmed away by Syrian custodian Mowssab Blahouss a couple of minutes before the final hooter. The near-capacity stadium erupted into delirious cheer when Chetri’s right-footer crashed into the far corner of the net after Climax Lawrence relayed a Baichung Bhutia pass to him in the 13th minute. This was the kind of start India’s coach Bob Houghton had been looking for, but unfortunately, his players could not sustain the momentum, and conceded the ground to the Syrians. The latter systematically worked their way up, neutralising the score through Khaled M Alab aba, who headed in off a flagkick by captain Maher Al Sayed in the 24th minute, and then took the lead through Zyad Chaabo, who shot in on the run, to connect a measured cross from the left by Sayed, who had sped down the flank to create the pass. Chaabo also accounted for the spectacular third goal for Syria and he was deservingly adjudged the man of the match.
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Sridhar’s ranking rises to 29
Bangalore, August 23 Sridhar’s sterling performance at the World Championship in Kuala Lumpur - where he reached the quarterfinals after scalping Olympic gold medallist Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia and former All England champion Hafiz Hashim (Malaysia) - fetched him 6,600 points and helped him jump 11 places from 40th to 29th. Sridhar’s previous best ranking was 31, the Tata Padukone Badminton Academy said in a press release here. The 24-year-old old has become the highest ranked Indian men’s singles player currently, taking over from Chetan Anand, who is at No. 33.
— PTI
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Italy beaten by Hungary
Budapest, August 23 After an eventful but scoreless first half, Italy took the lead in the 49th minute with an Antonio Di Natale goal. The Udinese striker, who came on as substitute after the break, poked in to a lose ball that rolled into the left corner under Leicester City keeper Marton Fulop. The Italians then lost their rhythm. In the 62nd minute, defender Roland Juhasz equalised with a blast from 14 meters that thundered into the top left corner with Gianluigi Buffon stranded. Backed by a 40,000 strong crowd, Robert Feczesin tapped into the open net from six meters to complete the scoreline, yesterday.
— Reuters
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GND varsity wins MAKA Trophy again
Amritsar, August 23 Panjab University, Chandigarh, Punjabi University, Patiala, and Delhi University have reportedly bagged second, third and fourth positions, respectively. The trophy will be presented to the Vice-Chancellor and the university’s director, sports, by the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan on August 29. Jai Rup Singh, Vice-Chancellor, said it was a great achievement for the university to win the trophy for the 20th time during its 38 years of existence. The Vice-Chancellor congratulated sportspersons, Principals of affiliated colleges, coaches and officers and staff of the sports department for bringing laurels to the university. Dr Kanwaljit Singh, director, sports, said the university had won all-India inter-university titles in cross-country, netball, gymnastics, weightlifting and powerlifting in the men’s section during 2005-06, while in the women’s section, it had secured top positions in netball, hockey and gymnastics and was runners-up in cricket, cross-country, volleyball, rhythmic gymnastics and weightlifting. He said the university finished third in handball, yoga, rowing and powerlifting in the women’s section and also secured the third position in basketball. The university had to fight hard with Punjabi University for the MAKA trophy. It is learnt that a sub-committee was constituted by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) to inquire into the inclusion of 2,500 points in water sports by Punjabi University. Consequently, these points were omitted. Last year, the points claimed by the Amritsar university were removed on similar grounds. The MAKA Trophy, named after the first education minister, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, was instituted in 1956-57, is awarded to the university displaying all-round best performance in sports. The trophy for the 2004-05 session was won by Panjab University. Incidentally, the trophy has been won only by three universities since its inception. Guru Nanak Dev University has won it 19 times, while Delhi University and PU have done it 17 and 13 times, respectively.
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Gurbaaz, Harmeet tied 18th
Chandigarh, August 23 Kapurthala boy Gaganjeet Bhullar also overcame a string of bogeys to return a three-over card of 74 to occupy the tied 61st spot. Another Chandigarh boy, Amritinder Singh, just could not play his shots. He finished with a string of six bogeys and a six-over card of 77 to tie for the 110th place. The most impressive Indian golfer was Gaurav Ghei, who played a one-under card of 70 to be tied seventh. Among the other Indians, Arjun Singh (72) was tied 32nd, Chiragh Kumar (74) tied 61st, Digvijay Singh and Vivek Bhandari (77) tied 110th and Naman Dawar, Uttam Singh Mundy and SSP Chowrasia (79) all tied 130th.
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Negi holds Beliavsky
Amsterdam, August 23 Grandmaster Jan Smeets of Holland drew first blood for Parimarjan’s team Rising Stars against Experience, defeating GM Predrag Nikolic of Bosnia in a keenly contested game. The other four games of the first round were drawn, giving the Rising Stars a 3-2 victory with nine rounds still remaining. The victory for the Rising Stars had a demoralising effect on the Experience side, especially as all youngsters were given black pieces on the first day. The event is a 10-round match and each player has to play twice with each member of the other team. The winning team will be decided on the accumulated score after the 10th round and the best “Rising Star” gets a berth in the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Tournament.
— PTI
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Chandigarh lad upset in q-finals
Karachi, August 23 Mumbai-based Shinde recovered from the first set loss of 0-6 and staged a dramatic recovery to win the the next two sets 6-1, 6-1 to send Chandigarh's Shiva Sangwan packing. Joining Shinde in the last four was another unseeded player Nuttorn Tanchainant of Thailand, who overpowered ninth seed Jugal Marfatia of India 5-7, 6-4, 6-2. Jugal had earlier beaten compatriot and fifth seed Lakshit Sood in the second round. In the girl's section, fifth seed Carol Benito of Spain edged out fourth seed Indian Dipti Shrivastava 6-3, 6-2 to book a berth in the last four. Carol was joined in the last four by top seed Indian Inayat Khosla, who accounted for fellow countrywoman Richa Valecha 6-4, 6-2.
—UNI
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Sanaa loses, Ankita wins
Noida, August 23 Sanaa was completely outplayed by her Korean opponent in the $ 10,000 event. However, her sister fourth seed Ankita Bhambri made it to the last four round by defeating Varanya Vijukeanaboon of Thailand 6-4, 6-5 in a well fought contest. In the other quarterfinal encounters, third seed Tara Iyer accounted for compatriot Janaki Gunuganti 6-3, 6-1 while seventh seed Sandhya Nagaraj of India lost to Ukraine’s Anastasiya Vasyiyeva 2-6, 2-6.
— UNI
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Spikers beaten by Brazil
New Delhi, August 23 The Indians went down 22-25 23-25 13-25 to finish behind Argentina, Iran and Brazil in Pool E. They will now take on Poland in the 5th to 8th position playoffs. Mandeep topscored with 15 points amid the defeat.
This was Brazil's first win after defeats to Iran and Argentina. — PTI |
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Pace and bounce of Flintoff energises Collingwood
New Delhi, August 23
New Delhi, August 23
World number 28 Sania, seeded 26th in the season’s last Grand Slam event, would be facing the 44th-ranked Kanepi for the first time in her career.