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5th ODI today
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Tendulkar is Warne’s greatest
Sania loses to Chakvetadze
Radwanska stuns Sharapova
Gay claims sprint treble
Soniya records golden double
IOA, federations to oppose policy
Jeev slips to tied 19th
Sandeep excels
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Pressure mounts on Dravid
Zaheer Khan’s twisted ankle adds to team’s woes Ashis Ray
Leeds, September 1 If Zaheer Khan fails to recover from a twisted ankle - and clarification on this will only emerge on Sunday morning — this might open the door for a switch in policy, with either Robin Uthappa or Gautam Gambhir perhaps replacing him. It would be a contradiction if, after bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad’s stinging criticism, Munaf Patel is brought back. But Yuvraj Singh must be given or take more responsibility. He must bat at either number three or four. He is among India’s top four batsmen in ODIs and the only one who is relatively fresh - not having featured in the Test matches. A long innings from the talented Punjab left-hander could make a material difference to India’s sagging fortunes, now that they are trailing 1-3 and need to win all three remaining matches to avoid defeat in the series. Unfortunately, differences of opinion seem to have arisen in the Indian camp after they suffered a psychologically shattering defeat in the 4th ODI in Manchester on Thursday. At the post-match media briefing, captain Dravid referred to fielding hurting the Indians. Unofficially, selection of the original 15 is being questioned by officials accompanying the team, who claim this is also the view of key members of the playing party. Dilip Vengsarkar, the chairman of selectors, is being charged with refusing to remove the Dad’s Army (read mid-30s) in the contingent, of not selecting better fielders and overlooking the vitality of an all-rounder. Interestingly, such shortcomings in the squad were not highlighted after India’s victory over South Africa two months ago. Now that the flaws have been exposed by a resurrected England unit, a search for scapegoats is underway. One of the two selectors who have joined the team is said to be a silent spectator at selection committee meetings. The blame is being deposited on Vengsarkar for the prolonged and collective omissions of Mohammed Kaif, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan - all excellent or good fielders. In the side that turned out at Manchester, only two - Yuvraj Singh and Piyush Chawla - could be identified as high quality fieldsmen. Since the five bowler formula was a success against South Africa - and there was no reason to abandon this to start with - the 15 was a bowler short. India short-listed seven batsmen in the 1st ODI, but returned to five bowlers in the 2nd encounter, which fetched victory, albeit narrowly. Reverses in the 3rd and 4th matches can be attributed to not batting first and a failure to finish the job, respectively. What better opportunity could India have got than pinning England down at 114 for seven - still 99 runs short of their target - with only two inexperienced batsmen at the crease. England’s unexpected triumph has sent their confidence soaring. Ideally, at least one of the five bowlers needs to be a genuine all-rounder. England have Andrew Flintoff, even Paul Collingwood, Ravi Bopara and Stuart Broad to fit this description. India’s World Cup and World Championship wins in 1983 and 1985 were founded on all-rounders. Headingley is the only English venue where India have two Test wins to their credit. Here, the ball unerringly swings in overcast conditions — unless it’s too cold and dry — but becomes easier for batsmen otherwise. A challenging assignment confronts India.
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Leeds, September 1 Following Thursday's match against India, Flintoff has been experiencing some discomfort in his left ankle and did not bowl during the England practice today. "Flintoff suffered a reaction following Thursday's match and has undergone scans on the ankle. It requires further review," the England and Wales Cricket Board said in a statement. The ankle discomfort Flintoff experiencing is in no way related to the knee injury he sustained earlier in the series, it added. Flintoff already has had three operations on his troublesome ankle. "Ongoing assessment and investigation into the injury will be carried out and a decision on Flintoff's availability for Sunday's NatWest Series match will be made following further assessment," the ECB statement added. England are already 3-1 up and a win here tomorrow would help them take an unassailable lead in the seven-match series. In case Flintoff sits out tomorrow, England might replace him with Chris Tremlett even though the management has another option in Jon Lewis. — PTI
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London, September 1 Warne, who released the last 10 names of his 50 greatest cricketers, rates the Indian ahead because of his 'mental toughness'. "I place him (Tendulkar) very slightly ahead of Lara because I found him slightly tougher mentally. It is such a close call," Warne writes in the 'The Times'. Strangely, no Australian features in Warne's top three - Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Curtly Ambrose. While Australians Allan Border and Glenn McGrath are ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, Wasim Akram, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ricky Ponting, Mark Taylor and Ian Healy make the rest of the top 10 in that order. Time and again Australia have been a mute spectator to Tendulkar's prowess and Test cricket's highest wicket-taker recalled those moments. "Like Lara, he has scored runs all over the world. I have seen him run down the pitch and hit Glenn McGrath over the top for six, and I have seen him hit me for six against the spin going around the wicket. I have been lucky to get to know him off the field as well. He is quiet and humble. A great player and a great man." As for Lara, Warne says, "Whether you played with him or against him, you were in awe of Brian Charles Lara. I loved his strut, his swagger and his ability to hit four after four with his high backlift and incredible placement. His number 3, Curtly Ambrose breathed fire in the hearts of Australians. "He turned a game and the series in Perth in 1992-93 with a spell of seven wickets for one run. Early in my career, I watched in amazement at his brilliance," he writes. Among other Indians who features in Warne's list are Anil Kumble (13), Rahul Dravid (14), Kapil Dev (40), Ravi Shastri (42), Dilip Vengsarkar (46). — PTI
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New York, September 1 Chakvetadze won the third-round match 6-2, 6-3. In the run-up to the US Open, Sania had lost to her Russian rival in the Stanford final and in the semifinal at Cincinnati. In mixed doubles, Sania and Mahesh Bhupathi shocked seventh seeds Elena Likhovtseva and Daniel Nestor to advance to the second round. The Indian pair beat the Canadian-Russian duo 6-0, 6-2 yesterday. — Agencies
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Radwanska stuns Sharapova
New York, September 1 The second-seeded Russian led 2-0 in the final set but 18-year-old Radwanska, seeded 30, won six straight games to clinch the biggest victory of her career. While Sharapova struggled on serve in breezy conditions and produced 12 double faults, Radwanska stood well inside the baseline to return serve and snatched the first set by the odd break. The second seed won eight successive games to lead 2-0 in the final set but Radwanska stormed back to hand Sharapova her earliest Grand Slam defeat since she lost in the third round at Flushing Meadows in 2004. Seventh seed Nadia Petrova was upset 6-4, 6-4 by Hungarian teenager Agnes Szavay in the third round. Russian Petrova had treatment for a left hip injury late in the first set but she was outplayed by the 18-year-old Szavay, who reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam event for the first time. Earlier, Serena Williams and Justine Henin came closer to a quarterfinal meeting, joining Serbian stars Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic in making the round of 16. In the men’s draw, world number three Novak Djokovic overcame painful leg cramps to outlast Radek Stepanek in a gruelling five-set thriller, while eighth seed Tommy Robredo rallied in the fifth set to thwart American Mardy Fish’s marathon upset bid yesterday. Former champion Lleyton Hewitt was ousted in the second round by hard-hitting Argentine Agustin Calleri. The 58th-ranked Calleri blasted 65 winners during the 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 victory on Louis Armstrong Stadium yesterday, keeping Hewitt on his heels for the final three sets. US eighth seed Serena made 35 unforced errors but managed to outlast Russia’s Vera Zvonareva 6-4, 7-6. Fifth seed Ivanovic eliminated Russian Vera Dushevina 6-1, 6-3. Third seed Jankovic rallied past French teen qualifier Alize Cornet 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. Serbian compatriot Djokovic, who reached his first Grand Slam semi-finals this year at Wimbledon and the French Open, conquered his 34th-ranked Czech rival 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/5), 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (7/2) after four hours and 44 minutes. Djokovic advanced to a third-round match against 59th-ranked Argentine teen Juan Martin Del Potro, who beat Austrian Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-1, 6-4. Robredo beat Mardy Fish 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-7 (7/9), 6-4 in three hours 29 minutes and will face 89th-ranked Latvian teenager Ernests Gulbis. — Reuters
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India toy with Lanka, record 20-0 win
Chennai, September 1 India kept the crowd thoroughly enthralled as a total of eight players featured in the record effort, with striker Prabhjot Singh leading the onslaught with five goals. The winners led 10-0 at half-time. Malaysia had defeated Thailand 20-0 at Hiroshima in the 1993 Asia Cup, while Pakistan also thrashed Thailand by an identical margin that year. In another match today, three-time champions Pakistan were shocked 1-3 by Japan in a Pool A encounter. In two high-scoring games, Malaysia defeated Hong Kong 13-1 in Pool A, while Korea swamped Thailand 16-0 in Pool B. Putting up a good team effort, the hosts, who toiled before managing to pull off a 1-0 win against China in their group opener last night, showed opportunism in pouncing on the 50th-ranked Sri Lankans. In fact, the day’s goal aggregate stood at 60. Prabhjot Singh, Shivendra Singh, Tushar Khandekar and SV Sunil tormented the rival defence, making foray after foray and tasted success on most occasions. The Sri Lankans, who were thrashed 12-2 by Korea in their first pool match, offered no resistance and were hardly seen in the Indian half. India forced a penalty corner in the very first minute, which they converted to go up 1-0. Prabodh Tirkey’s shot sailed into the net after kissing the stick of Lankan goalkeeper Jayasuriya, who had a tough time throughout. He did pull off some superb saves late in the match. Thereafter the Indians never stopped, and scored goals at a brisk pace making it a nightmare for the statisticians. After Ignace Tirkey put India on the threshold of the record, scoring the 19th goal in the dying minutes, Rajpal Singh got the 20th goal just before the hooter went off. The scorers for India were Prabhjot Singh (5), Raghunath (3), Shivendra Singh (3), Tushar Khandekar (3), SV Sunil (2), Ignace Tirkey (2), Prabodh Tirkey (1) and Rajpal Singh (1). Meanwhile, Japan took the lead in the 29th minute through Ono Tomonori. They scored their second goal seven minutes into the second half when Yamabori Takahiko converted a penalty corner. Though Pakistan reduced the margin with Shakeel Abbasi finding the mark in the 47th minute, Japan scored their third goal with Tomonori again doing the scoring three minutes later. Malaysia were surprised by an early goal by Hong Kong in the eighth minute through Mohamed Swalik but came back strongly to plunder the rivals, taking a 6-1 lead at half-time. Kevinder Singh Makbul and Baljit Singh Sorajab scored three goals apiece, while Zulkifli Md Rejab netted a brace. Jivan Mohan, Chua Boonhuat, Tahmad Tajuddin, Mohd Shari Abdul, Selvaraju Sandrakasi were the other scorers. Boonhuat was declared the player of the
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Mallya buys Spyker F1
Mumbai, September 1 Addressing a press conference here this evening, Mallya revealed it would be a 50-50 joint venture between him and Micheil Mol, a Director of Spyker Formula One, of The Netherlands. Revealing that the team would soon be rechristened, Mallya said, "naming would take some time but I'll try my best to have India somewhere in the name. Everything will be done after consultation with the team management." On the prospect of having an Indian driver, probably Narain Karthikeyan, the business tycoon said, "we would love to have an Indian driver but it would depend on other issues. “We have to arrive at a consensus for that." Mallya and Mol made a 90 million euro bid for the struggling F1 team and said "this offer has been accepted by the Board of Spyker Cars N V and exclusivity has been granted to the consortium Orange India Holdings Sarl to proceed with due diligence ... to achieve completion within 30 days." Dutch manufacturer of hand-built vehicles, Spyker Cars NV, owned the Spyker Formula One team, which it inherited from Midland for USD 106.6 million last year only to plunge in financial crisis. Mallya, a Member of the Parliament, is also the chairman of both the Federation of Motorsports Clubs in India (FMSCI) and Motorsport Association of India (MAI). Mallya's Kingfisher brand adorns Toyota cars and the flamboyant industrialist, also called the 'King of Good Times', recently said in an interview that having an Indian company involved in Formula One would help India get to host a Grand Prix. He sounded modest about the new team's prospect next season and said, "I don't expect the team to do something spectacular in 2008, the aim would be just to collect championship points." Mallya said he would be the Chairman and Managing Director of the Orange Indian Holdings and can co-opt four people in the Board of Directors, while the Mole family can have three. Mol, in a statement, expressed his satisfaction with the deal and said he was looking forward to this "competitive Indo-Dutch combination." "I have been an investor with Spyker and fully supported the acquisition from Midland. I'm very happy to partner Vijay Mallya in the exciting new venture," Mol said. Mallya also said that he was looking forward to see F1 in India. "Now that we have acquired an F1 team, I would love to see F1 coming to India sooner than later, maybe 2009 or by 2010. "I would like to help Indian Olympic Association and (IOA President) Suresh Kalmadi in every possible way to see F1 in India at the earliest. " — PTI
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Gay claims sprint treble
Osaka, September 1 The 24-year-old teamed up with Darvis Patton, Wallace Spearmon Jr and Leroy Dixon for the season’s best time of 37.78 to add a third gold to his 100m and 200m titles and match compatriot Maurice Greene’s feat at the 1999 championships. The Jamaican team of 100m world record holder Roman Sebrle confirmed his status as the world’s The 32-year-old Sebrle completed his collection of gold medals when he captured the major event to have eluded him with a combined total of 8,676 points, 350 less than the world record he set in 2001. The USA held off Jamaica in a thrilling finish to win the women’s 4x100 metres relay. The American quartet of Lauryn Williams, Allyson Felix, Mikele Barber and Torri Edwards tore around the Nagai stadium track in 41.98 seconds to pip the Jamaicans by little more than the thickness of a vest. Brad Walker of the USA beat Romain Mesnil of France on a countback to win the men’s pole vault. Ethiopia’s Olympic champion and world record holder Meseret Defar clinched her first world title with a decisive victory in the 5,000 metres. — Reuters
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Soniya records golden double
Karachi, September 1 In the boys' section Thailand's Nuttorn Tanchainant bagged the singles crown defeating third seed Tanveer Ashiq 6-3, 6-4. Third seed Indian Soniya Dayal outplayed top seed Sri Lankan Jithmie Jayawickrema 6-3, 6-1 in the girl's title clash, which lasted about one hour. Soniya had also won the first leg of the tournament here last week. Later Soniya, teaming up with compatriot Inayat Khosla edged past Jithmie and Sarah Mahaboob 6-2, 6-3 which enabled her to pick a double crown. The boys' doubles title went to Nehal Kapoor and Gugan Varma who overcame stiff opposition to beat the Sood twins - Lakshit and Chandril - 0-6, 6-3, 6-2 in a All-India final. Tara tames Chae for title
New Delhi: Tara Iyer beat Korean Kyung-Yee Chae 7-5, 6-2 in the final to clinch her third successive $10,000 ITF women’s tennis title here today.
— Agencies
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IOA, federations to oppose policy
New Delhi, September 1 Its draft has been put on the website of the union ministry for youth affairs and sports. They intend to enlist comments and reactions on the policy draft from various quarters. The government move, particularly to put a Sports Regulatory Authority in place and to have sports on the Concurrent List, has ruffled the feathers of the IOA and the sports federations. At a meeting of heads of national sports federations, chaired by IOA president Suresh Kalmadi and coordinated by secretary-general Randhir Singh at Olympic Bhavan here today, a resolution was unanimously passed to oppose the new sports policy. Hands went up in a show of solidarity when Kalmadi read out: “I promise that all federations should totally oppose the new policy and want the government and the sports ministry to continue with the old sports policy (2001) and strengthen the federations.” Kalmadi, in his opening remarks, said the government was getting busy with the national sports policy instead of getting down to work to complete the projects for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, though only three years have been left for the games. He said no coaching camp had been started for athletes, and no preparation had been made either for the Commonwealth Youth Games, to be held in Pune in 2008. He said the the policy draft had been finalised without consultation with the IOA. He said it should have been drafted after having deliberations with international sports federations, national sports federations and state Olympic associations. Kalmadi clarified that the IOA was not boycotting the meetings convened by the ministry to discuss the draft and would sent its comments in three to four weeks. Randhir Singh, who is also the secretary-general of the Olympic Council of Asia, said ever since he became a competitive shooter in 1963, there had been no change in the attitude of the government. He said an IOA delegation would meet the Prime Minister to apprise him of the implications of the new policy.
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Jeev slips to tied 19th
Chandigarh, September 1 The only other Indian participant on the European Tour, Shiv
Kapur, also began well with a five-under card of 68 to tie for the fifth spot. But he also slipped in the next two rounds, finishing tied 38th after the third
round. Jeev’s opening day’s round was all the more remarkable because the winner of the 2006 Volvo Masters was unable to play a practice round with his own golf clubs, which had been lost in transit. The 35-year-old Chandigarh golf icon had already toured the manufacturers trucks on the driving range and had assembled a new “set” from them and had been poised to use it in the first round before his own set turned up at his hotel at 9 pm on Wednesday
night. Jeev also enthused about the part played by his new caddie, the veteran Dave
Musgrove, who caddied for Sandy Lyle when he won both the 1985 Open Championship and the 1988 Masters
Tournament. Jeev was playing well on the second day also, sinking three birdies. But bogeys on the last two holes, including a double bogey saw him finish with one-over 74 to be tied
15th. Jeev started badly today, bogeying thrice on the first nine. But two birdies on the return nine, including one on the last hole, saw him finish at one-over 74 for a three-day aggregate of four-under
215. Kapur played a bad game today, double-bogeying on the 16th and 17th holes for a 76 card and a three-day aggregate of one-under 218.
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