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Kallis wants Aussie scalp |
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Carvalho gets assurance from Charlesworth
Sania drops one rung to 30th
State Jr Soccer Championship Chandigarh, Punjab baseball champs
Nehru Hockey Chandigarh
u-19 squash team Top players for BILT Open Golf
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Nagpur, October 15 Fielding is one area where India stood thoroughly exposed and was visibly the biggest difference between the two sides. India also need to work out how to use the trio of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and Rahul Dravid in a better way. The ODI series was lost with the defeat in a high-scoring sixth game here yesterday, but India need to learn the lessons provided by the rubber. Australians have more players in the 30s than their Indian counterparts and some of them even older, but the fitness level of their players is way apart. "The Australians saved 10-15 runs in the field and, taking that into consideration, we were chasing not 318 but more like 330 or 335", skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said, indicating one big area of concern for the team. The Indian XI yesterday had just over 50 per cent players in their mid or late twenties with the rest in their 30s. Even the visitors were feeling the strain of playing in the heat and humidity of the sub-continent in spite of their superior fitness, and the Indians, especially the seniors like Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid and Zaheer Khan, were no different. Tendulkar displayed glimpses of his prime in his last two innings. The master batsman's dismissal after having put on 140 runs yesterday put the skids on the Indian run-chase with the asking rate having gone just beyond 7. Ganguly too visibly slowed down after hitting a spate of boundaries in the initial stage of his knock. The decision to send in a pinch-hitter at Tendulkar's fall was, however, negated by the surprising one that followed of replacing him with an out-of-form Dravid at two down. Dhoni defended what many felt was a blunder he had committed by saying that his predecessor had been padded up for a long time to go in at one-down. But the asking rate climbed with the two slowest runners in the Indian top-order at the crease. Confronted with the steep upward movement of the run-rate graph, Ganguly fell in trying to clear fielder Brad Hodge. The series, with one match in it left to be played at Mumbai on Wednesday, has clearly showed that bunching of the three senior batsmen at the top could lead to difficulties. With the upcoming series against Pakistan, it's perhaps time for the selectors to ponder whether all three seniors presence is needed in the playing eleven or the better option is to rotate them, as was indicated by selection panel chief Dilip Vengsarkar prior to the current rubber. Tendulkar has said in an interview a few months ago that the short gap between two ODIs and the travel in between them is making it difficult for him to recover completely. The other point for the selectors to take note is that while the hosts prepared turners in the last two ties, their spinners were outperformed by the Australian duo led by Brad Hogg. Dhoni said that Hogg was the type of bowler who's difficult to get away when the asking rate is steep. Andrew Symonds, the man in the centre of a race-related row, had set up the Australian win by bludgeoning Indian spinners on his way to 107 not out.
— PTI
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Lahore, October 15 ''I am not huge on personal goals but as a team the key goals for South Africa definitely would be winning the World Cup or beating Australia and England in England next year,'' Kallis said. ''Beating Australia would probably be the number one thing for me. It is a tough tour and they are the best in the world. ''You want to test yourself against them and beating them would be equivalent to winning the World Cup in a Test series and I would want to be heavily involved in it,'' South Africa's leading run scorer said. South Africa are scheduled to tour England then Australia in 2008. The 32-year old had a run glut against Pakistan in the recent two-test series scoring 421 runs with three hundreds since returning to the team after being dropped for the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa. He put his success there down to a good rest from cricket and pitches he felt comfortable on. ''I think in Pakistan they have the best batting wickets. The wickets are pretty flat and batter friendly and I just needed a slight adjustment from South Africa where the ball bounces more.''
— Reuters
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Carvalho gets assurance from Charlesworth
Hyderabad, October 15 Charlesworth recently talked to Carvalho to allay any fears that his assignment as Technical Director of Indian hockey might create any problem for the Asia Cup winning coach. Carvalho said Charlesworth called him to say, "we have the same wavelength. I will not interfere with your coaching methods and I do not want to take away whatever good you have done with the Indian team. "Ric has confirmed that he will not interfere with our preparation for the Beijing Olympics and the qualifier prior to the Games," Carvalho told PTI. "It will also be difficult for Ric to involve in coaching the team at such a short notice and his appointment is not considered by me as any worry," he said. Carvalho, however, made it clear that it would not be binding on his coaching team to accept Charlesworth's advices. "He (Charlesworth) has his stature as a coach and administrator. As far as I am concerned, my coaching staff will remain undisturbed. We have MM Somaiya as our technical director. "Any inputs by Ric for the betterment of hockey will be accepted only after the whole team management discusses those. Our interest (senior team's) has been put down firmly to Ric. We will not accept interference from any quarters," Carvalho said. "We welcome him in any capacity and theoretically, we want his inputs and all his plans to help betterment of Indian hockey. We have played alongside in the past. He is no stranger to me. We recognise him as a great player of repute," he said. Carvalho said Charlesworth might be useful for the men's team in arranging some practice matches with foreign sides before the Olympic qualifiers next year. "Ric will not be interfering in my coaching methods and skills of the players. We will decide before accepting his inputs but we will greatly appreciate his services in arranging couple of matches away from India before the Olympic qualifier as already discussed between us," he said. Carvalho said Charlesworth was aware about the unpleasant episode Indian hockey went through during the stint of German coach Gerhard Rach with the national side and could restrict himself while performing his duty. "What happened prior and after Athens (Olympics) under Gerhard (Rach) was not good. I remember the incidents prior and after the Athens Olympics when he was the coach and its bad effects," the Aussie told Carvalho. Citing examples of Paul Lissek and Terry Walsh's stints with Malaysia and Roelant Oltmans' association with Pakistan, Carvalho did not back the idea of hiring foreign coaching staff for any national side. "There was no appreciable improvement in the Malaysian standards and Pakistan winning the World Cup with Oltmans as its coach was not because of the latter since he was given a little leeway in preparing the team," he said.
— PTI
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New Delhi, October 15 The World Champion had no complains at all about the unruly scenes even as the organisers, one of the top IT education companies of the country for whom Anand is a brand ambassador, failed to control the situation. "I was touched on seeing the boisterous crowd. It felt very special that everyone came to airport for me at 1 am," Anand said later in the day. The waiting posse of photographers and cameramen almost climbed over each other to get a shot of the champion which didn't amuse Anand, who quickly made his exit. Asked if he felt any discomfort as he came out among the crowd waiting for him, Anand said he was "moved" and described people's behaviour as "enthusiastic". "I was just moved. It was an enthusiastic crowd," he insisted. This is Anand's first visit to India after becoming the undisputed world champion last month and he has busy schedule, including meeting President Pratibha Patil. Anand, who leaves for Chennai on Wednesday, will be formally felicitated by the All-India Chess Federation in his home city. His wife Aruna said it was very overwhelming the way Anand was hailed in Mexico immediately after he won the last round game and now here. "There the audiences immediately started making 'Mexican wave' when Anand won the last round. Here also it was very nice," she said. Anand agreed that being the World Champion would mean he was a brand ambassador of the game and would certainly promote chess. "It is really important to promote the sport when so many sports are vying for attention," he said and added that he would be making it possible through "NIIT's mindgames programme which has around 5000 children following chess at various levels". —
PTI
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Chance for Hamilton to create history
Paris, October 15 This could easily have been the script for the next Hollywood blockbuster from the pen of John Grisham but was, in fact, the recipe served up to motor racing fans in a season that few will forget in a hurry. The 2007 campaign may have left McLaren boss Ron Dennis with a few less hairs but no one can deny that all the drama on and off the track has injected much-needed life into a sport that can act as an antidote to even the most acute case of insomnia. He could never have realised it at the time but when Ferrari's sacked mechanic Nigel Stepney put the stamps on that infamous 780-page dossier and popped it in the post to his mate Mike Coughlan over at McLaren he did the sport a huge service. At least for the impartial armchair observer for in that treasonable act Stepney set off a chain of events that has kept F1 fans gripped to their seats throughout this turbulent but fascinating season. A season that draws to a close this Sunday in Interlagos where Lewis Hamilton is in a three-way fight to crown a remarkable debut year by clinching the drivers' title. From his third place in his first ever grand prix back in Melbourne in March, Hamilton has confounded convention and driven with the skill, verve and nerve of a Fangio or Schumacher. In so doing he's shredded the F1 record books. In Australia, he produced the best finish by an Englishman in his debut race since 1966, in Spain he became the youngest driver to lead a championship and if everything goes his way in Interlagos he'll become the first driver to win the championship in his rookie season. Spy-gate at one stage looked dangerously close to wreck his title bid when McLaren were found guilty of possessing data from Ferrari. In the end the sport's governing body the FIA chose to strip McLaren of their constructors' points and impose a record $ one million fine rather than penalising Hamilton and his teammate Fernando Alonso. He's also had to contend with the complete meltdown in his relationship with double world champion Alonso. Given the bitter rivalry that has developed between the two McLaren drivers it seems light years ago that Hamilton expressed his excitement at having Alonso for a teammate. "I look at having Fernando Alonso as my team-mate as a positive. I can only learn from him," he said before the fireworks started. Alonso, who along with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen can still win the title in Brazil, has fallen out big time with McLaren and Hamilton over his treatment at the British team since switching from Renault. As world champion he expected to be treated as number one and has become increasingly irritated at what he perceives to be McLaren's favouritism towards Hamilton. His persistent complaining has prompted the FIA to send one of their men to Interlagos this weekend to spy on McLaren's team strategy to ensure their stated race equality programme is all its cracked up to be. Sunday promises to be a fitting climax to this tightest finish to a world championship season since 1986. — AFP
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New Delhi, October 15 The 20-year-old's Kremlin Open campaign was far from satisfactory as she went down to Gisela Dulko of Argentina in the first round of the $ 1,340,000 event. The Hyderabad girl, though, managed to improve her doubles ranking as she moved one place up to be placed at 19th position. Interestingly, Sania had enjoyed a bit of success in the doubles format in the just concluded Kremlin Open where she, along with her Swiss partner Patty Schnyder, reached the quater-final round, losing to top seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber in a thrilling match. In the men's singles ranking, Rohan Bopanna's free fall continued as he dropped nine points to be placed at 260th, while Prakash Amritraj dropped two slots to 270th. Meanwhile, in the doubles ATP rankings, there were no major movements as both Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi held on to their last week's 17th and 21st positions respectively in the individual rankings. Interestingly, Bopanna moved seven places up to 79th position. — UNI
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Euro 2008
Belgrade, October 15 After an unimpressive start, England registered a fifth successive 3-0 victory with their triumph over Estonia on Saturday, and a win against Russia in Moscow would secure qualification with a match to spare. Such a result would also see Group E leaders Croatia through. Croatia, who top the group with 26 points from 10 matches, will also reach next year's tournament in Austria and Switzerland with a Moscow draw before they visit Macedonia and England in November. Group F front-runners Sweden are a win away from the finals ahead of their home match with Northern Ireland, who have a slim chance of staying in contention after consecutive defeats at Latvia and Iceland. Sweden have 22 points from nine matches as do second-placed Spain, who have played a game more but still look a safe bet to finish in the top two after a resounding 3-1 win at Denmark at the weekend. Third-placed Northern Ireland faded after a bright run and have 16 points from 10 games with a home match against Denmark and the final outing at Spain after facing the Swedes in Solna. The Czech Republic will be looking for a win against old rivals Germany in Munich in Group D to be mathematically sure of finishing ahead of Ireland and Cyprus, who play each other at Croke Park in Dublin. Germany have 23 points from nine matches followed by the Czechs on 20 from nine and Ireland on 15 from 10. Fourth-placed Slovakia are out with 13 points from 10 matches while Cyprus on 13 from nine can still theoretically finish second. Elsewhere, the most enthralling of tight three-way battles is in Group B, where surprise package Scotland need four points from their visit to Georgia on Wednesday and the home match against Italy on November 17 to end a decade-long barren spell. The Scots last played in a major tournament at the 1998 World Cup and Saturday's 3-1 home win over Ukraine will have boosted their confidence ahead of the tricky trip to Tbilisi. Group A leaders Poland made a big step towards the finals with a 3-1 home win over Kazakhstan as did Portugal in second place thanks to a 2-0 success at Azerbaijan. Poland are top with 24 points from 12 matches, Portugal have 20 from 11 ahead of their home match against Kazakhstan, while Finland kept alive their hopes after a 0-0 draw at Belgium left them in third position on 20 points from 12 games. Turkey put themselves under pressure with a 1-1 draw at Moldova as it left them only a point ahead of Norway and four behind holders and Group B leaders Greece ahead of their potentially explosive clash in Istanbul. Greece, beaten by the Turks 4-1 at home in the reverse fixture in March, have 22 points from nine games followed by Turkey on 18 and Norway on 17 with the latter two meeting in Oslo next month.
— Reuters
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Military World Games
Hyderabad, October 15 National Games winner Narjit Singh set the tone with a ruthless attack against Nampala Ruben of Namibia and emerged victorious in the 54kg category first round bout. His domination was such that the referee had to stop the fight after the Indian had taken 24-4 lead in the second round. Thoi Thoi did not have to face much challenge in his 19-9 victory over Benkhaoula Imad of Algeria. In the 64 kg, Satya Raju had to work harder for his 27-17 win over another Algerian Filali Nasreddine though Indian's superiority was never in doubt. D. Bhagyaranjan then toyed with Tello Moejane of Lesotho in the 69 kg first round bout with a 19-3 verdict. India's other medal hopefuls, including Doha Asian Games bronze medallist Verghese Johnson (+91 kg), Som Bahadur Pun (64 kg), AL Lakra (57 kg), will have their bouts tomorrow. India is fielding contestants in all 11 weight categories with the hope of fetching a rich haul of medals from this discipline. India lose to Korea, China India went down fighting to formidable South Korea 29-40 in their second league match of the men's handball competition today. The hosts, who drew with Turkey 30-30 in their first Group A match, gave a valiant fight but the difference in class showed that they had to play a chasing game throughout the match against their opponents who are among the top four in the last three World Military Handball Championships. The nippy Koreans exchanged the ball at lightning speed and never allowed the Indians to narrow down the gap in the score line which kept on increasing till it was a 10 goal difference at 13-23 at half time. The Indian militarymen, who had at least two international players in their ranks, did not lack in their efforts in front of a large home crowd at Saroornagar Stadium but could not match the Korean sharp shooting and solid defence and lost the 60-minute match at 29-40. Today's defeat would mean that India will have to come out with something extraordinary in Wednesday's match against Greece who are also no pushovers having finished among top six in the World Championships in 2001 and 2002. In volleyball also, the Indian men's team gave a tough fight to fancied China before going down in straight sets in a Group B league match. Goaded by cheering home supporters at KVR Stadium, Yusufguda, the Indians tried their best against their opponents who won silver in the last Games in Catania (Italy) but lost 26-28, 22-25, 18-25. In other matches, last Games' bronze medallists and reigning world military champions South Korea beat Qatar 23-25, 25-20, 25-17, 25-22 in Group A, while Netherlands saw off the challenge of Canada 25-20, 25-23, 23-25, 25-23 in Group A. India play their next match against Latvia tomorrow. — UNI
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State Jr Soccer Championship
Rewari, October 15 As many as 21 teams from various districts of the state participated in the tournament which began on October 12. Winners Rewari received a cash prize of Rs 21,000 while runners-up Hisar got Rs 15,000. Jhajjar and Jind received Rs 7,500 each. Rajiv Sharma, commissioner of Gurgaon Division, gave away the prizes. S.N. Vashishth, IG, Gurgaon Range, presided over the concluding ceremony. DC Chander
Prakash, SP Ram Singh Bishnoi and other senior officials of the district were present on the occasion.
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Chandigarh, Punjab baseball champs
Abohar, October 15 Punjab were declared winners in the women’s category while Delhi and Orissa came second and third respectively. On the last day of the tournament, Punjab trounced Orissa 6-0 in women’s category. Ranbir contributed 2, Jasleen, Sukhjit, Kuljit and Arshi contributed one each to the win for the host state. Orissa girls also lost to Delhi 1-3. Usha, Kavita and Manoka scored one each for Delhi. SDM N.S. Brar and DSP Parampal Singh awarded trophies to the winners and gift packs to all participating teams who represented eight states and UT
Chandigarh.
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Martial art achiever rues officials’ apathy
Srinagar, October 15 He won the gold medal in Kashmir Taekwondo Championship in 1996 and also bagged the bronze in an international event in Bangkok last year. Besides these, he has several wins to his credit in locals tournaments. An acclaimed exponent of several forms of martial art, Geer has been running around government offices for some kind of official recognition. "Lesser sportspersons have bagged jobs in other states. I have given my youth to kick-boxing and did Kashmir proud at several occasions. Are my successes no good for the government?" he asked. Geer, a taekwondo player, has also done well in kick-boxing, muay thai and karate. Third among four brothers and two sisters, he said he has been left with no option but to leave the state in search of a private job. "Instead of bringing happiness to my family, I have spent their fortune in chasing success in martial art. It seems to be of no good at the end of the day," he says glumly. He stresses that he is not desperate for a government job, though he does need a livelihood. "What distresses me is that I find the government has little time for sportspersons like me. There is no recognition, no felicitation," he said.
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Nehru Hockey New Delhi, October 15 Kavita Vidyarthi and Jameela Bano scored the other goals for the Gwalior side, while Pooja Kundu struck a field goal to reduce the margin. Government Senior Secondary School, Kairon (Amritsar), pumped in three second half goals to tame GV Raja Sports School, Trivandrum, 3-1. For the winners, Harwinder Kaur netted a brace, while Ramandeep Kaur scored one. For the Kerala team, Athira K. Aniyan shot home the consolation goal. In the other match of the day, Longtam Bijeta's
fifth minute strike helped NCC Directorate (Punjab) edge out Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya, Nangloi (Delhi), to a 1-0 win. —
PTI
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Chandigarh u-19 squash team Karnal, October 15 Other members of the u-19 Chandigarh team are: Ishan Wadera, Paramdeep, Abhay Sood, Ameek Sidhu and Armaan. Abhilakshay became the university champion in 2006 and went on to captain the PU team in the All-India Inter-varsity Championship at Annamalai University. Abhilakshay has also participated in four senior nationals. and two junior nationals.
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Top players for BILT Open Golf New Delhi, October 15 The PGTI tour event will offer a prize money of Rs 80 lakh, which is the richest professional golf tournament on the domestic/PGTI Tour. Among the fancied players competing are Asian Tour winner Gaurav Ghei, Ashok Kumar, Unho Park, Lam Chih Bing, Harmeet Kahlon and Shahid Javed Khan. The PGTI Tour commissioner Ajay Gupta said here today that the prize money has been hiked from Rs 70 lakh to Rs 80 lakh, and BILT has promised to sponsor the event next year as well.
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