New Delhi, August 28
India would be chasing that elusive title, which has always remained beyond their grasp, when they take on Syria in the title clash of the 13th edition of the ONGC Nehru Cup International Football Tournament at the Ambedkar Stadium here tomorrow night.

Whether India will win or lose the cup clash, a capacity crowd is assured to witness the final, as the Nehru Cup has whipped up tremendous interest among soccer fans in the Capital.

The final will be telecast live by DD Sports and Zee Sports and aired by AIR FM Gold and Rajdhani Channel. The kick-off is at 6 pm.

Syria, who enjoy the 111th position to India’s 151st place in the FIFA ranking, will definitely start as the title favourites, but Indian coach Bob Houghton has asserted that the hosts would not concede an inch of ground without putting up a stiff fight.

Syria had tasted India’s fierce fighting ability in the league match when they scrambled back from the brink to make a match of it before losing narrowly at 2-3. And Houghton wants to take off from that unfinished point to exact revenge and help India mount the victory podium.

In the 12 previous editions of the Nehru Cup, India could never ever figure in the challenge round. Their best show was a fourth-place finish in the last edition, held ten years ago at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Cochin.

India had put up a spirited display to hold Iraq 1-1 before losing on penalties 4-2 in the semifinal, and then fell to China 1-2 in the contest for the third place.

Baichung Bhutia is the only player from that Indian squad to figure in the present edition, and he would be craving to get his name in the hall of fame of Indian soccer, if he could lead the team to the title tomorrow.

The All-India Football Federation (AIFF) brought in Englishman Bob Houghton as the chief national coach last June to help the Indian team turn the corner.

The AIFF felt a change of coach was very much in order when India lost to Japan 0-6 and Yemen 0-3 in the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. Therefore, it is a question of personal prestige for Houghton to ensure that India play their best soccer, for which, he will leave no stone unturned.

The short stature of Indian strikers like Baichung Bhutia and Sunil Chetri had been cited as a major impediment in the team making serious impact against professional foreign outfits. But Bhutia and Chetri have proved that they have the skill to get goals, even if they fall short in height.

The strength of the Indian team is that they have an eclectic scoring machinery with Stevan Dias, N. P. Pradeep, Ajayan Nair and Abhishek Yadav pitching in with their skills to bolster the efforts of Bhutia and Chetri. They proved this against Syria too when Chetri’s right-footer zoomed into the corner of the net to put the hosts ahead 13 minutes into the match, though it was a different matter that the Indian defence could not hold out as the Syrians mounted pressure to create fissures. But Ajayan’s long-range goal helped India run Syria close to create an electrifying atmosphere to rouse the passions of the spectators.

Syria, no doubt, have dangerous strikers in roving forward and captain Maher Al Sayed and sharp shooter Zyad Chaabo, who have shared ten of their 14 goals. They have speed, thrust and the uncanny ability to score from any angle.

Unless the Indian defence keeps a check on these two marauding forwards, it would be very difficult for India to realise their dream of winning the Nehru Cup. For Syria too, tomorrow’s clash will be their first title contest in the Nehru Cup. In their only previous outing, the tournament at Calicut in 1987, they could not progress beyond the league round.

Any which way, a battle-royal is set unfold at the flood-lit Ambedkar Stadium here tomorrow night.

Birmingham, August 28
Indian skipper Rahul Dravid made an honest confession after his team's defeat at Edgbaston that the side needs to lift its fielding standards by a few notches if they are to match England in the seven-match ODI series.

India once again put an embarrassing work in the field with plenty of mis-fields and overthrows to add to R P Singh's dropped catch of Alastair Cook at long leg and Mahendra Singh Dhoni missing an easy stumping of Owais Shah.

And indeed, India's pathetic work in the field contrasts sharply to some outstanding work by the young England side that showcased some brilliant cricket.

"England are out-fielding us more than anything else at this stage," said Dravid, in praise of his opposition before dwelling on his own plight.

"Your fielders can sometimes make your bowlers look better than they are and we are not doing that.

"We didn't field as well as we can, that was a disappointing part of our game, and they (England) fielded beautifully," he said.

"It makes a big difference in a game you lose by 40 or 50 runs. You give away 20 and they save 20, that's the game. It's an area we need to improve," Dravid said.

Dravid also underlined the quick dismissals of himself and Sourav Ganguly as one of the main reasons for his team failing to catch up with the England total.

"We knew one of us would have to go and try to make a big score," said Dravid. "The critical stage of the game was losing those two quick wickets which, when you've go in with six batsmen, we couldn't afford."

The Indian captain's decision to send in Dinesh Kaarthick at number three - when he could have come in himself or send Yuvraj Singh or even Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who has a fine record batting up the order - came in for a lot of criticism.

But Dravid defended the decision by pointing how England's decision to back Ian Bell was paying off.

"Look at Ian Bell, we are all talking about him but England have been patient with him and therein lies a lesson for everybody," Dravid said. — PTI

Birmingham, August 28
England skipper Paul Collingwood has described his young side's efforts against India as exceptional and attributed it to the fearless attitude of his inexperienced players at Edgbaston.

England proved themselves better than Indians in all departments of the game to win the third one-dayer by 42 runs and take 2-1 lead in the seven-match series yesterday.

"We are getting scores of around 300 all the time and that shows we are improving," said Collingwood.

"We have always said the best way to play one-day cricket is with a fearless attitude. It is getting filtered into our bloodstream, but it is still early doors," he said.

Having said that, in fitness of things, the England captain exercised caution.

"There are only three games gone so we won't get too carried away, but in many ways I was as satisfied with today's performance as I was at the Rose Bowl. I know that was what I called near-perfect but today the efforts from all the lads were exceptional."

Though England was missing out on the overwhelming presence of Andrew Flintoff and Dimitri Mascarenhas, they were aided by James Anderson and Chris Tremlett, who struck some telling blows that laid India low. Their fine bowling also received some excellent support in the field.

Collingwood singled out Tremlett for special praise, saying he was constantly improving.

"What you have seen at Edgbaston is that he's got the character to bounce back. We had a lot of faith in him. He didn't start off too well but came back and got those really important wickets at an important time. Things like that, and bowlers like that, can change a game.

"I think we saw in the Test series he has moved on leaps and bounds. He's improving all the time. He's a huge guy and he just needs to get that aggression going sometimes. He showed signs of that in this game."

With the first-ever Twenty20 World Cup coming up, it wasn't a surprise to see England playing safe by not including Flintoff.

"Obviously it was the decision made by the medical staff; they erred on the side of caution.” — PTI 

Mumbai, August 28
Only three Indian men have found it to the preliminary list of candidates in the running for the International Cricket Council's annual individual awards for 2007 and significantly, captain Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly do not find a place in it.

Re-invigorated left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan, veteran leg-spinner Anil Kumble and left-handed batsman Yuvraj Singh are the trio of Indian players who have been nominated for the individual awards by a five-member ICC panel headed by cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar, it was announced here today.

Zaheer and Kumble have been nominated for the 'Test Player of the Year' award along with 19 others while Yuvraj finds a berth in the 19-strong list of nominees for the 'ODI Player of the Year' award released today by the ICC.

Two other Indians, Rumeli Dhar and Jhulan Goswami, are in the running for the 'Women's Cricketer of the Year' prize.

"The first list would be pruned down by September 4 before the winners are announced at the ICC's awards' function at Johannesburg on September 10, the eve of the ICC World Twenty20 Cup," Speed told a media conference here today.

The period for which the performances of various players have been taken into consideration for nominations was August 9, 2006 to August 8, 2007, Speed said.

Nominees for Test Player of the Year: Mohammad Asif (Pak) Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI) Stuart Clark (Aus) Matthew Hayden (Aus) Michael Hussey (Aus) Mahela Jayawardena (SL) Zaheer Khan (Ind) Anil Kumble (Ind) Brian Lara (WI) Glenn McGrath (Aus) Muttiah Muralidaran (SL) Makhaya Ntini (SA) Monty Panesar (Eng) Kevin Pietersen (Eng) Shaun Pollock (SA) Ricky Ponting (Aus) Kumar Sangakkara (SL) Ryan Sidebottom (Eng) Shane Warne (Aus) Mohammad Yousuf (Pak)

Nominees for ODI Player of the Year: Shane Bond (NZ) Mark Boucher (SA) Nathan Bracken (Aus) Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI) Stuart Clark (Aus) Michael Clarke (Aus) Matthew Hayden (Aus) Michael Hussey (Aus) Mahela Jayawardena (SL) Jacques Kallis (SA) Brett Lee (Aus) Glenn McGrath (Aus) Muttiah Muralidaran (SL) Jacob Oram (NZ) Kevin Pietersen (Eng) Shaun Pollock (SA) Ricky Ponting (Aus) Yuvraj Singh (Ind) Mohammed Yousuf (Pak).

Nominees for Emerging Player: Ravinder Bopara (Eng) Shakib Al Hasan (Bang) Mitchell Johnson (Aus) Mushfiqur Rahim (Bang) Shaun Tait (Aus) Ross Taylor (NZ) Chris Tremlett (Eng)

Nominees Cricketer of the Year: Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI) Matthew Hayden (Aus) Michael Hussey (Aus) Mahela Jayawardena (SL) Jacques Kallis (SA) Glenn McGrath (Aus) Muttiah Muralidaran (SL) Kevin Pietersen (Eng) Ricky Ponting (Aus) Kumar Sangakkara (SL) Mohammed Yousuf (Pak)

Nominees for the Captain of the Year: Mahela Jayawardene (SL) Ricky Ponting (Aus)

Nominees for the Associate ODI Player of the Year: Ashish Bagai (Can) Andre Botha (Ire) John Davison (Can) Trent Johnston (Ire) Dwayne Leverock (Ber) Kyle McCallan (Ire) Tanmay Mishra (Ken) Eoin Morgan (Ire) Ashif Mulla (Can) Niall O'Brien (Ire) Thomas Odoyo (Ken) Peter Ongondo (Ken) Irving Romaine (Ber) Abdool Samad (Can) Ryan Ten Doeschate (Neth) Steve Tikolo (Ken) Hiren Varaiya (Ken) Ryan Watson (Sco)

Nominees for the Umpire of the Year: Mark Benson, Steve Bucknor, Daryl Harper, Simon Taufel.

Nominees for Women's Cricketer of the Year: Caitriona Beggs (Ire) Holly Colvin (Eng) Rumeli Dhar (Ind) Maria Fahey (NZ) Jhulan Goswami (Ind) Ashlyn Kilowan (SA) Johmari Logtenberg (SA) Urooj Mumtaz Khan (Pak) Shelley Nitschke (Aus) Rebecca Rolls (NZ) Sajida Shah (Pak) Lisa Sthalekar (Aus) Claire Taylor (Eng). — Agencies

Number 12 seeded Venus Williams of the US returns to Kira Nagy of Hungary at the US Open in Flushing Meadows, NY. Venus won 6-2, 6-1 — AFP photo

Cypriot 18th seed Marcos Baghdatis was the top-ranked player to lose on day one, losing to Max Mirnyi of Belarus 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (8/6). Spanish 21st seed Juan Carlos Ferrero lost to countryman Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. — AFP

New York, August 28
Sania Mirza overcame a dropped set to beat Estonian Kaia Kanepi 6-2, 6-7, 6-1 and move into the second round of the singles event at the US Open today.

Seeded 26th, Sania was made to sweat by her unheralded opponent for about one hour and 40 minutes before the Indian came through.

Sania, world number 27, will now meet 60th ranked Laura Granville in the second round, after the American routed Frenchwoman Olivia Sanchez 6-2, 6-2.

The Hyderabadi began well by pocketing the first set, conceding just two games, before the Estonian hit back. Sania did manage to stretch the second set to a tiebreaker, but Kanepi had the last laugh as stayed afloat and forced a decider.

In the final set, Sania was in her elements again and broke the Estonian twice. She dropped just one game in the set and was serving for the match when Kanepi buried a return into the net and bowed out. — PTI

New Delhi, August 28
A. Sharath Kamal lifted his fourth successive trophy, while Neha Aggarwal won her maiden senior title in the men’s and women’s singles competition, respectively, on the concluding day of the Inter-Institutional Table Tennis Tournament here today.

Sharath scored a handsome 11-7, 11-8, 9-11, 13-11, 13-11 win over his PSPB mate Shubhajit Saha at the Sri Fort Complex here.

Delhi girl Neha trounced veteran Mantu Ghosh of the PSPB 11-7, 11-9, 11-6, 11-6 to announce her much-awaited arrival into the senior circuit.

Earlier, defending champion in women’s singles Poulomi Ghatak went down to Mantu 11-9, 10-12, 7-11, 11-9, 13-11, 13-11, while Neha halted the stupendous run of giant-killer Mansi Bhagwat of the RSPB 11-4, 11-4, 11-4, 11-7.

In the men’s semifinal, Sharath Kamal got the better of RSPB’s Anirban Nandi 11-4, 11-9, 11-5, 11-6.

But Saha had to slug it out against Pathik Mehta 11-7, 5-11, 9-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 11-5 to sneak into the finals.

In the men’s final, Sharath started confidently and along with his usual strong forehand, it was interesting to see him coming up with some classy backhand shots.

Saha fought backhand after Sharath cruised through the first two games, but has himself to be blamed as he made errors and missed some easy chances. — PTI

Patiala, August 28
A fine 94 by Sumit Sharma and supporting knocks by Mayank Sharma (59) and Sharad Lamba (50) enabled Amritsar to pile up 315 for 8 against Patiala on day one of the final of the Punjab inter-district cricket tournament (u-22) at the Dhruv Pandove cricket stadium here today.

Scores:

Amritsar (1st innings): 315 for 8 (Sumit Sharma 94, Mayank Sharma 59, Sharad Lamba 50, Vipan 42, Munish Bhatia 35, Sarabjit Ladda 4 for 88, Hardavinder Singh 1 for 42).

Russia's Tatyana Lebedeva (L) and Lyudmila Kolchanova celebrate after the women's long jump final at the 11th IAAF World Athletics Championships, in Osaka on Tuesday. Lebedeva won ahead of compatriots Lyudmila Kolchanova and Tatyana Kotova. — AFP photo

Osaka, Japan, August 28
Estonia's Gerd Kanter grabbed world championship discus gold today to hand Lithuania's double defending champion Virgilijus Alekna his first taste of defeat in two years. A Baltic battle had been expected between the only to finalists to go over 70 metres this year but Alekna was carrying an injury Kanter proved a comfortable winner with his third throw of 68.94m.

''There will be a big party today, it is my day,'' the 28-year-old Kanter told reporters.

''Virgilijus is the best discus thrower ever and inspired me a lot in recent years. I think he will be back, you cannot count him out. It will be tough to beat him again at the Olympics.''

Alekna, who also won gold at the last two Olympics and had not lost for 37 consecutive competitions going back to August 2005, finished fourth with a best throw of 65.24m.

It was the first time the 35-year-old had finished outside the top three since the Seville championships of 1999 when he also finished fourth.

''Finally I lost, there is nothing to do,'' said Alekna, adding that he had picked up the calf injury last week.

''Life goes on and the time to rehabilitate myself will come. I will try for that at the world finals in Stuttgart and for sure next year at Olympics.''

Kanter, who owned the best throw of the year at 72.02 metres going into the final, looked the more at ease of the pair throughout the evening, opening with throws just either side of the 65 metre mark.

A huge roar when his third attempt soared towards the 70 metre tape indicated that he knew he had launched a medal-winning throw.

Still, he was not able to relax, remembering that he had also led in Helsinki two years ago until Alekna's final attempt.

Then, the big Lithuanian unleashed the first throw over 70 metres at the world championships to claim his second consecutive gold.

It was not to be on Tuesday, however, and Alekna's final effort just about kept in bounds at 63.75m and his dream of a third straight gold was gone.

Germany's Robert Harting took the silver medal with a throw of 66.68 metres, and Dutchman Rutger Smith threw 66.42 to add a bronze to the silver he won in the shot put at the 2005 world championships.

''I didn't suspect I would beat Alekna,'' Smith said. ''He's not in the best shape. It's a shame because I still believe he's the best ever.'' — Reuters 

Chennai, August 28
China, who could be the bete noire of host India, against whom they open their campaign, do not consider themselves to be among the favourites in the seventh Asia Cup Hockey Tournament to be played here from August 31 to September 9.

One gains this impression going by what Zhao Xiaoyu, vice-president of the Chinese Hockey Association says about the team. “Pakistan, India, Korea and Japan are the strong contenders.”

Zhao, who is also the manager of the team, said “We are here to play good hockey and prepare for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. We have a lot to learn from teams like India, Pakistan and Korea,” he said.

Asked about the performance of the team in the Doha Asian Games, where they shocked India, Zhao said he would still not consider China as a strong team.

“Luck played a part in that victory,” he said on the 3-2 win over India at the Asian Games.

Asked about the secret of the success, Zhao said “It’s difficult to say. Our boys are working hard under coach Kim Sang Ryul. Kim is taking it step by step.” He said the association was fully backing Kim to take the team forward.

Ryul, who had joined the team as the first coach, on a four-year contract in 2004, was away in Manchester to observe the teams at the Euro Hockey Nations Championships, which would decide the European qualifiers for the Olympics 2008, he said.

It may be recalled that the Korean coach in charge of the Chinese team was here 20 days before the Champions Trophy hosted by Chennai in 2005. They had played practice matches with some of the teams figured in the event then. They even lost the matches to the local sides too. But exactly after a year, the Chinese defeated the Indians in the Asian Games and went on to win the silver medal in the games.

Asked if hockey has gained in popularity back in China after the victory, he said the victory had influenced the youngsters, albeit not in a big way.

He also said “expensive equipment” was also one of the reasons for China’s youth not taking up the game. “Most of the hockey equipments like the goalkeepers’ gears and the sticks are expensive for the young Chinese.” he said.

Asked about the selection of players Zhao said they do not have many to chose from. “We have a national pool of 300 to 400 players to choose from. Our league is not strong”, he said. — UNI

New Delhi, August 28
Commonwealth champion Sunil Kumar of Haryana bite the dust as he was outpunched by defending champion H. K. Belwal of the Services in the flyweight category in the 54th Senior Men National Boxing championship here today.

Belwal won the 51kg quarterfinal bout on 47-28 points in a fierce contest which saw both the pugilists trying to stamp authority over the other.

Sunil, who won gold in the Commonwealth Championship in Liverpool last month, was the initial aggressor but trailed all through the contest. He was 7-14 behind at the end of the first round.

Sunil continued his aggressive performance in the second round also with a flurry of punches but without score and seasoned Belwal responded by notching up points continuously while defending, and the gap between the two kept on increasing.

Belwal was up 20-10 and 35-20 in the second and the third rounds and emerged victorious in the final round at 48-27.

In middleweight (75kg) category, Doha Asian Games bronze medallist Vijender of the Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) continued his devastating form, scoring an effortless victory over Kuldeep of Punjab to storm into the semifinals.

In a totally one-sided quarterfinal bout, Vijender was leading 23-3 in the second round, when the referee stopped the contest.

Vijender, who had won his earlier two round bouts on RSC verdict, will meet Ashok of Delhi who won a walkover when Gurdev of Arunachal Pradesh did not turn up.

In the 48kg category, World Cadet champion Balbir Singh of the Railways and Asian Cadet champion Sanjay Kishan Kolte of the Services booked their semifinal berths with easy victories.

Balbir outpunched Salman of Maharashtra 22-9, while Sanjay won an RSC verdict over K. Chiranjivi of Andhra Pradesh, when he was leading 21-1 in the third round. — UNI