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Weather holds key to Kochi ODI
Ganguly to be rested
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Tax exemption for Australia ODI
India A clinch one-day series
England look to Stuart, Dimitri for ODIs
Hamilton wins Japanese GP
Gasquet wins Mumbai Open
Germany lift women’s World Cup
Mwaruwari stars in Portsmouth win
Ashutosh scores easy win
Administrator takes over HOA
Chamba-Mandi goodwill match on October 7
Tournament concludes at Ambala school
Rural sports meet begins
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Weather holds key to Kochi ODI
Kochi, September 30 The two curators have been 'battling hard' since there was a let up in the prolonged four-month-long spell of rains, a few days back. “The wicket prepared so far is hard and all right. But if it rains for some hours during the run up to the match, it's all over,” they said. Ramachandran said “If a full game is played after a spell or two, the wicket will become slow and the ball will not come onto the bat. We can't do anything if nature intervenes again,” he said, almost sounding dejected. “A large part of the outfield still has moisture,” he added even as two super soppers were working relentlessly round on the outfield. Two hand-held super soppers were also brought from Chidambaram stadium in Chennai in case rain intervenes after the match commences, they added. “Although the rains have stopped, there have been intermittent showers. But if it is just showers, the ground can be readied for the game,” Ramachandran pointed out. Asked what should be the rival captains’ option on winning the toss, Ramachandran said “I would suggest he bowls first.” Teams arrive: Even as the curators preparing the pitch and the ground at the Nehru stadium and the organising committee for the second ODI between India and Australia on October 2 are keeping their fingers crossed about rain playing spoilsport, the two teams arrived here to a rousing reception. The teams arrived amid very tight police security both at the airport and the hotel.
— UNI
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‘We are not afraid of anybody’
Kochi, September 30 Sreesanth, who observed that he was looking forward to play before his home crowd in the scheduled second ODI at the Nehru stadium here on October 2, reached ahead of the other team members and was present at the stadium for a brief while to have a look at the preparations in the midst of the threat of rain again washing out the contest. In a brief chat with the local newspersons, Sreesanth expressed fears about rain spoiling the match, even as he was looking forward to playing in front of the cricket lovers of Kochi, his hometown. He brushed aside queries about his 'sledging game' against the Aussies. ''It's all only on the field. Outside, we are all
friends.'' Sreesanth wants to emulate Tendulkar Sreesanth wants to emulate Sachin Tendulkar and come up with a five-wicket haul on his home ground when India take on Australia in the second cricket one-day international here Tuesday. Sreesanth said he wanted to achieve a five-for in front of his home crowd. "My ambition is to take five wickets in the match in my home ground where I did my training all through. "Sachin bhai has achieved it here twice. I would love to achieve the same," he said here today. On whether he would again target Australian opener Matthew Hayden, whom he had dismissed in the Twenty20 World Cup semifinal and in the first one-dayer yesterday, Sreesanth said all the Aussie batsmen would pose a tough challenge for the Indian bowlers. "Hayden is a good batsman. But he is not the only batsman in the Aussie team. All the wickets in any match are important," he said. The Kerala paceman said the Indian team was not worried about the pressure tactics the Aussies could apply to demoralise the home batsmen. "We are not scared. (After all) outside the ground we are friends and we respect all," he said.
Sreesanth said when he played his first match at this venue against England last year, he was a little nervous but now felt confident to perform before the home crowd. "(Then) I could bowl only five overs and claim a wicket at the expense of 30-plus runs. Now, I feel confident and relaxed. There is no pressure," he
said. Sreesanth said the confidence level of the team had gone up after the success in Twenty20 World Cup and the presence of senior players - like Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid - had added experience to the
side. — Agencies
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Ganguly to be rested
New Delhi, September 30 However, the good news for Team India is that Ganguly's injury is not serious and he will be available for rest of the seven-match series. "An MRI scan was performed on Sourav's right hamstring this morning and it has determined no injury to the region (neither soft tissue swelling/oedema, muscle fibre tears or any similar derangements)," BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah said in a statement today. Ganguly pulled his right hamstring muscle while fielding in the first ODI in Bangalore which was abandoned due to rain. The team management, however, has decided not to risk Ganguly by fielding him in the next match which will give him adequate time to recover. "Based on the findings, vigorous rehab approach will be commencing immediately. On report of team physio John Gloster and other analysis, the team management feels that Sourav will progress quickly and hence it was decided to give one game rest," the statement added.
— PTI
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Tax exemption for Australia ODI
Chandigarh, September 30 Additional Deputy Commissioner and Director of Chandigarh Sports Department I S Sandhu said that the benefit would be passed on to the spectators. “We have fixed Rs 75 for students’ blocks and Rs 250 for general blocks, which have more than 15,000 seats of the stadium”, said Sandhu. HCA general secretary Ranbir Singh Mahindra said that the tickets would start selling from October 4 through the branches of Union Bank of India and Chandigarh State Cooperative Bank. On the question of revenue sharing between HCA and Chandigarh administration, Finance Secretary S K Sandhu said the HCA has hired the stadium from the administration.
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India A clinch one-day series
Rajkot, September 30 Middle order batsman S Badrinath's (88; 4-43), all-round performance and skipper Mohd Kaif's (98) knock helped India A clinch the match that went down all along the wire. With this win, India (A) have won the three match one-day series 1-0. The first two matches were washed out due to rains in Ahmedabad and Baroda, respectively. Chasing a competitive target of 291 in 50 overs, the visitors were all out for 289 in the last ball of the final over. The Proteas needed 12 runs in the final over bowled by medium pacer Praveen Kumar with Johan Botha and Charle Langeveldt were at the crease. Kumar conceded just two runs of his first three balls, but Botha then hit two successive fours on fourth and fifth ball. Scoreboard India A: Praveen c Langeveldt
b Kleinveldt 1 Cheteshwar c Tsolekile b Kleinveldt 0 Kaif c Botha b Phillander 98 Parthiv c Ontong b Langeveldt 15 Suresh Raina c Langeveldt
b Morkel 45 Manoj Tiwari c Tsolekile b Morkel 4 S Badrinath not out 88 Amit Mishra not out 22 Extras:
(w-13, nb-4) 17 Total (for 6 wkts, 50 overs) 290 FoW: 1-1, 2-1, 3-26, 4-98, 5-105, 6-249. Bowling: Langeveldt 9-0-67-1, Kleinveldt 8-2-34-2, Phillander 9-0-48-1, A Morkel 10-1-64-2, J Botha 9-0-57-0, Jontong 5-0-20-0. South Africa A: Van Wyk Morne b P. Kumar 4 Peterson c Badrinath b Mishra 56 Gulam c (sub) Aniruddha
b Badrinath 54 Dippenaar st Patel b Ozha 6 Justin Ontong b Badrinath 20 A Morkel run out 61 Phillander c. Mahesh
b Badrinath 7 Thamsanga c Mishra b Badrinath 24 Johan Botha run out 32 Kleinveldt b P Kumar 15 Langeveldt not out 3 Extras: (lb-4, b-2, nb-1) 7 Total (all out, 50 overs) 289 FoW: 1-14, 2-90, 3-104, 4-136, 5-148, 6-180, 7-223 8-241, 9-270, 10-289. Bowling: Praveen Kumar 10-3-51-2, Ishant 6-0-40-0, Mahesh 3-0-21-0, Pragyan Ozha 10-0-57-1, Amit Mishra 9-0-56-1, Badrinath 10-0-43-4, Kaif 2-0-15-0.
— PTI
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England look to Stuart, Dimitri for ODIs
Dambulla, September 30 England is on a losing streak against Sri Lanka, which was the runner-up to Australia at this year's one-day World Cup. A narrow defeat at the World Cup in Antigua followed last year's 5-0 home series loss. "The last series was a bitter disappointment for us," England captain Paul Collingwood said. "There were a few things that we didn't do well and Sri Lanka were playing awesomely well. "But the good thing is that we have a few new match winners like Dimi and Stuart and if their good form continues it can be our series." The first three matches of the series will be played under lights at Rangiri Dambulla Stadium in the central tourist town of Dambulla. The teams will return to Colombo for the remaining two matches, also day/night games at R. Premadasa
Stadium. England will be tested by the second ranked team, but Mascarenhas and Broad impressed during a recent 4-3 series win over India.
— AP
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Ethiopian Gebrselassie sets marathon record
Berlin, September 30 Gebrselassie, 34, bettered the mark of 2:04:55 set by Kenya’s Paul Tergat on the same Berlin course on September 28, 2003. Running in near ideal conditions, Gebrselassie was already 32 seconds inside Tergat's pace at the 10 km mark. He maintained that margin through the half-marathon point, clocking 62.29 to Tergat's 63.01, and at 30 km when the last two of his five pacesetters retired. It was the third time the men's world record was set on the fast, flat Berlin circuit where more than a million spectators lined the streets to cheer the field of 40,000 runners. “This is wonderful, it's really special,” Gebrselassie told German television just minutes after crossing the finishing line with a big smile on his face. Thank you to the people of Germany.” Weather conditions were almost ideal with little wind and overcast skies for most of the race. The sun broke through the clouds towards the end, bringing the temperature up to 16°C. “Today it was perfect,” he said. “It was a little bit windy, but perfect. The audience, the spectators were great.” The course winds through nine districts of the German capital and has a total inclination of just 30m. Gebrselassie had tried to beat Tergat's record last year in Berlin and was on track until late in the race before falling a heartbreaking 61 seconds short.
— Reuters
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Hamilton wins Japanese GP
Fuji Speedway, September 30 The McLaren-Mercedes driver, who would be the first rookie to win the title, leads the standings by 12 points with two races left after the reigning double champion Alonso smash into a wall 42 laps into the 67-lap race.
— AFP
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Gasquet wins Mumbai Open
Mumbai, September 30 World no 14 and Wimbledon semifinalist Gasquet, carried his devastating form right through the tournament into the title contest to carve out an impressive 6-3, 6-4 victory over his 66th-ranked rival in one hour, 25 minutes. The 21-year-old Gasquet, nicknamed "Baby Federer", took home $65,850 and 175 ATP points for his superb run in the tournament which ended with his fifth career title and first this year after having lost in the final at Estoril in Portugal in May against Serb Novak Djokovic. The Indo-Pak combine of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam Qureshi went down in straight sets 6-7, 6-7 to the third-seeded pair of Jarkko Niemenen (Finland) and Robert Lindstedt (Sweden) in the doubles final of the $ 416,000 Mumbai Tennis Open here today. The unseeded South Asian duo, the number one singles players in their respective nations, lost the opening set going down 3-7 in the tie-breaker. Bopanna, ranked 85th in doubles and his partner Qureshi (ranked 124th), traded breaks early in the second set with their Scandinavian rivals before this set too was decided in the tie-break which the Indo-Pak duo lost 5-7 after they fought back from
3-5. — PTI
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Germany lift women’s World Cup
Shanghai, September 30 German midfielder Simone Laudehr's headed goal in the dying minutes sealed the win, after evergreen captain Birgit Prinz had coolly slotted home a crossed ball early in the second half. German keeper Nadine Angerer proved sublime in front of goal, maintaining her clean sheet for the tournament with several extraordinary saves in the second half. Despite dominating possession, Brazil's talent-studded attack failed to breach the German defence, with breathtaking runs from Daniela and tournament top-scorer Marta repeatedly cut off at the last moment. Germany's win follows their 2003 triumph over Sweden in Los Angeles. In the third-place play-off, two-time champions the United States beat Norway 4-1. Abby Wambach struck on either side of the break with Lori Chalupny and Heather O'Reilly also weighing in before Ragnhild Gulbrandsen got her sixth of the championships for Norway.
— Agencies |
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Mwaruwari stars in Portsmouth win
London, September 30 Arsenal won 1-0 at West Ham to keep the lead of the standings from defending champion Manchester United, which won 1-0 at Birmingham. At Fratton Park, Reading goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann made a string of saves but was still beaten seven times. Mwaruwari scored twice to put Portsmouth 2-0 up before Andy Hunt and Dave Kitson brought Reading level at 2-2. Hermann Hreidarsson and Mwaruwari made it 4-2 before Shane Long got a goal for Reading, but Niko Kranjcar, Sean Davis and Sulley Muntari, with a penalty, all scored in the last 15 minutes. Reading's Nicky Shorey completed the record tally with an injury-time deflected shot. There could have been a 12th goal, but Portsmouth goalkeeper David James saved a penalty. "I have never been involved in a game like that before," Reading manager Steve Coppell said. "It's hard to remember anything like that either as a player or a manager. While Portsmouth moved up to fifth place, Arsenal continued its unbeaten start with Robin Van Persie's fourth goal of the season keeping the Gunners ahead of Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool. Arsenal has 19 points, two more than defending champion Manchester United. Manchester City was a point further back after beating Newcastle 3-1, while Liverpool has 15 after a 1-0 win at Wigan. Chelsea slipped seven points behind Arsenal after a 0-0 draw against visiting Fulham that extended its winless streak to four league matches. West Ham beat Arsenal twice last season to help it narrowly avoid relegation, but Arsenal was comfortable at Upton Park yesterday and secured an eighth straight win in all competitions. Emmanuel Adebayor shot just wide in the second minute from Abou Diaby's cross and, although West Ham's Dean Ashton shot just over the bar from 20 meters (yards), the Gunners ahead in the 13th. Adebayor passed wide to Aleksandr Hleb, who crossed to the far post for Netherlands striker Van Persie to head the ball past goalkeeper Robert
Green. — AP
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Ashutosh scores easy win
New Delhi, September 30 Ashutosh just breezed past his Punjab rival in the opening set but got stuck in the second set though he pulled himself back to win the set and the match. But in a major upset, eighth-seeded Navdeep Singh of Delhi packed off third-seeded J Vishnu Vardhan of Andhra Pradesh 7-5, 6-4. In an all-Chandigarh encounter, sixth-seeded Tushar Liberhan fought back from a set down to overwhelm his city-mate wild card Vijayant Malik 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. But there was some consolation for Malik as earlier in the day, he had beaten Samir Patwardhan of Maharashtra 6-0,6-3 in the boys (under-18) singles first round. Another Chandigarh boy, Navinder Pal Singh crashed to Lakshit Sood of UP in three sets at 6-2, 4-6, 6-1. Jushuk Sharma, also of City Beautiful, had an easy first-round outing when he crushed Adit Jain of Delhi 6-1,6-1 while his city-mate Chandam Shaolin fell to Kaza Vinayak Sharma of Andhra at 6-1, 6-1. Deepinder Singh Bains and Akshat Joshi, also of Chandigarh, failed to cross the first round hurdle. But Shiva Sangwan of Chandigarh had a comfortable 6-1, 6-3 victory over C.R.Rohit of Andhra. In the girls section, Monica Menon of Delhi beat Noor Paul of Chandigarh 2-6, 7-6, 6-4.
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Administrator takes over HOA
Chandigarh, September 30 Jowel said here today his thrust as the administrator would be to protect the interests of sportspersons of the state and to monitor the affairs of various other sports bodies functioning in the state. He said with his appointment both factions would cease to exist till fresh elections were held. The HOA (Chautala) plans to hold the 21st Haryana State Games from October 2 at Sirsa. While Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal will be the chief guest at the opening ceremony, Haryana Governor A.R. Kidwai was scheduled to preside over the closing function. However, Kidwai recently conveyed to Chautala that due to certain legal problems about the association, he would not be able to attend the function. Jowel said any sports event organised by any faction would be illegal. He would take action against the faction concerned in accordance with the provisions of the Act. Terming the government action as illegal, Chautala said only that body could be superseded which received aid from the government. Since the Jindal faction was one which was receiving aid from the government, the Administrator could be appointed only in regard to that body. He said the Sirsa games would be held as planned. His body would continue to promote sports in the state unmindful of the government’s action. Chautala claimed the government had misled the Governor about the legal situation. Since his organisation was recognized by the Indian Olympic Association, it was the only HOA in the state. Chautala said he would file a contempt of court petition against the government because the Sirsa games were being held after obtaining permission from the court.
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Smit makes it four in a row
Mohali, September 30 Smit, who will be participating in the Asian Shooting Championship to be held in Kuwait in December, aimed 46 out of 50 shots to win the top honours. Gurjap Singh of Faridkot shot 40/50 to bag silver while Sorab Singh Gill from Moga got the bronze medal (38/50) in the event. In the team event, father-son duo of Raja K.S. Sidhu and Deep Singh Sidhu along with Sorab Gill won the gold medal. The team represented Bathinda in the championship. Faridkot (Simarjeet Singh Sekhon, Gurjat Singh and A.S. Cheema came second and Sangrur team consisting of Dhanwant Singh, Smit Singh and K.K. Ladhar won the
bronze. Bathinda’s Deep Singh Sidhu won the Skeet (NR) championships, aiming 26 out of 50 shots. Ludhiana’s Khushbaz Singh Jatana came second (24/50) and Gurinder Garcha came third (23/50).
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Chamba-Mandi goodwill match on October 7
Chamba, September 30 The Chamba team would leave for Mandi on October 5.
Major S.C. Nayyar, the spokesperson of the association, stated that the aim of this goodwill match was to strengthen the mutual bonds of affection and fraternity. The event would certainly rejuvenate the vanishing physical, mental and spiritual health of the retirees all around. “The players are senior citizens who are beyond the age of 58 years and are government retirees,” he said.
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Tournament concludes at Ambala school
Ambala, September 30 Shakti Rani Sharma, wife of local MLA Venod Sharma, was the chief guest on the occasion. Around 800 players of various DAV schools from north India participated in the tournament. Shakti Rani said sports was an important part of education and that it was important to play a game in its right sprit. Congratulating the winners, she asked the other players to work hard to achieve the goal the next time. District education officer Jile Singh and principal of the host school Yogender Kaushik also spoke on the occasion.
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Rural sports meet begins
Nahan, September 30 The meet was declared open by R.S. Negi, deputy commissioner, Sirmour, who announced a grant of Rs 25,000 for the organisation of the meet. Suman Rawat, joint director, Youth Services and Sports Department, welcomed the guests and sportsmen.
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