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Ponting
slams ‘rowdy’ crowd
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ICC seeks explanation
Dubai, October 18 The International Cricket Council on Thursday demanded a second explanation from the BCCI within seven days on reported racist crowd behaviour during the just-concluded India-Australia one-day series.
South Africa cruise to victory
Woolmer
Case
Simarjeet
holds one-stroke lead
Military
World Games Durand Cup prize
money hiked
Korea blank India in volleyball
Harikrishna beats Topalov
Shahabad girls
retain title
Sangrur are
kho-kho champs
Ravi Inder
props up Punjab
Ritwik in quarters
U-19 football
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Dubai, October 18 Reacting to reports of racist behaviour from the Mumbai crowd, ICC CEO Malcolm Speed has asked the BCCI whether the Anti-Racism Code was in place at the venue and if it was effective enough. Speed also said the ICC had received a response from the BCCI on its previous letter regarding the alleged monkey chants hurled at Andrew Symonds at Vadodara. “The BCCI has undertaken to obtain reports from independent sources,” he said. — PTI
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Symonds mistook hostile antics for racism: Pawar
Melbourne, October 18 Reacting to reports that Symonds had been subjected to monkey chants in Vadodara, Nagpur and Mumbai last night, Pawar assured that International Cricket Council’s (ICC) anti-racism code would be strictly adhered to, but he also felt that it was not a case of racism. “We respect that we have to protect the individual player. There is a complaint and we will take an appropriate action,” Pawar was quoted as saying by Sydney Morning Herald. “I believe this is a misunderstanding; a language issue. There are many languages spoken in India, and I don’t understand many of them myself. Still, it is the responsibility of the Indian board to execute that (the ICC’s anti-racism code). There have already been steps taken,” he added. He also dismissed the idea that the incident would have any adverse effect on the relationship between the two cricket boards. “This will not at all affect our relationship with the Cricket Australia. We have a very strong relationship and we are hoping that will continue,” he asserted. After Pawar announced that the BCCI would look into the complaint, the local media here dubbed his comments as “back down by the BCCI”, pointing out that the board had initially refused to acknowledged the incident in Vadodara. According to media reports here, match referee Chris Broad has written to the ICC confirming racial comments were indeed hurled by the crowd during the fifth match at Vadodara. Symonds and the entire Australian team are miffed with the Indian crowd, and skipper Ricky Ponting too lashed out at yesterday’s hostile spectators at the Wankhede Stadium after the match, which the visitors lost by two wickets. “Some of the other stuff that went on was totally unnecessary. I just hope that it does not happen again at another cricket venue that I play in because it leaves a bad taste in everybody’s mouth,” Ponting said. The daily also admitted that reports of an Australian cameraman capturing racial crowd behaviour during the Nagpur ODI was actually a rumour. — PTI
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South Africa cruise to victory
Lahore, October 18 Ntini sliced through the top order with the new ball, taking four for 69 as Pakistan were bowled out for 249 in 46.3 overs in reply to South Africa’s 294 for five. The paceman struck in his second, third, fourth and sixth overs as the home team stumbled to 55 for four. Mohammad Yousuf stood firm with 53 before Shahid Afridi belted 47 with five fours and two sixes to lead a late surge. Afridi put on 43 for the eighth wicket in 25 balls with debutant Sohail Tanvir, who cracked two sixes in his 26. After Charl Langeveldt removed Misbah-ul-Haq (20), Yousuf and Kamran Akmal (35) put on 60 for the sixth wicket. Jacques Kallis then struck twice to have Yousuf caught at short mid-wicket by captain Graeme Smith and clean bowling Akmal. Earlier, Gibbs hit 102 and De Villiers made a brisk unbeaten 103 as the tourists took full advantage of a Pakistan attack minus front-liner Mohammad Asif. Gibbs hit 11 boundaries and a six during his aggressive 128-ball knock, while De Villiers upped the tempo in the last five overs, hitting nine boundaries and three sixes in his 95-ball innings. De Villiers went on the rampage after Gibbs was run out, hitting two sixes and two fours in one Tanvir over to enter the 90s. He then hit a six and a boundary to reach his third one-day hundred off 93-balls. — Agencies Scoreboard South Africa Gibbs run out 102 Smith run out 34 Kallis c&b Afridi 8 De Villiers not out 103 Kemp lbw Tanvir 1 Boucher c Younis b Iftikhar 14 Pollock not out 5 Extras
(lb-16, nb-3, w-8) 27 Total (5 wkts, 50 overs) 294 Fall of
wickets: 1-85, 2-97, 3-234, 4-238, 5-288. Bowling: Tanvir 9-1-52-1, Iftikhar 10-1-57-1, Gul 8-0-54-0, Afridi 10-0-48-1, Hafeez 10-0-44-0, Malik 3-0-23-0. Pakistan Hafeez c Botha b Ntini 6 Nazir c Kemp b Ntini 16 Younis c Boucher b Ntini 12 Yousuf c Smith b Kallis 53 Malik c Gibbs b Ntini 18 Misbah c Boucher b Langeveldt 20 Akmal b Kallis 35 Afridi c De Villiers b A Morkel 47 Tanvir b Langeveldt 26 Iftikhar run out 9 Gul not out 1 Extras (b-1, lb-1, w-4) 6 Total
(all out, 46.3 overs) 249 Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-30, 3-37, 4-55, 5-92, 6-152, 7-172, 8-215, 9-246. Bowling: Pollock 10-2-30-0, Ntini 9-0-69-4, Langeveldt 9-0-53-2, A Morkel 6-0-18-1, Botha 7.3-0-30-0, Kallis 5-0-47-2.
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Malik, Younis sign up for IPL
Mumbai, October 18 “Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan, Mohammad Asif and McCullum signed up with the IPL yesterday, taking the number of international cricketers who have signed up so far to 29,” said IPL’s chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi. “We are close to signing up more players in a week’s time for the IPL which will start around April 16 after the completion of South Africa’s visit to India (for a three-Test series),” said Modi after the IPL’s first governing council meeting here today. Modi also rubbished reports from the New Zealand Players Council stating that the IPL was offering the worst contracts ever by saying, “No one has complained about the contracts when signing them”. The BCCI vice-president said the tournament would run for 44 days with a total of 59 matches, including two semifinals and a final. “Two matches will be held per day, at 5 pm and 8 pm, at different centres. The eight franchisee teams will have the option of playing with four foreign players on the ground but can sign up more if they want,” Modi said. Modi, refusing to divulge financial details of the venture or about the names of the companies who had shown interest to be franchisee partners of the IPL, said a lot of interest has been generated towards this end. “The player auctions will be held in January, 2008. At the moment, the players have been given a token amount by the IPL and after the auctions will be paid by the franchisees, who will reimburse to us the amounts paid to them,” Modi explained. “All players have been approached individually by the IPL and the contracts negotiated. They have signed a three-year contract,” said the IPL-in-charge. On the issue of media rights and telecast deals, Modi said three TV production houses were likely to be signed up. He clarified that the running of the IPL would in no way impact the holding of tournaments like the Asia Cup scheduled to be held in Pakistan in April-May, 2008. “The IPL is like any other domestic tournament. Has the running of domestic tournaments stopped international matches from taking place? That’s the reason teams have been given the option to sign up more foreign players if they want, with the condition that only four can play in a particular game,” he said. The franchisees would be decided through a tendering process, he said but again refused to disclose whether some of the country’s top corporate houses have shown interest in becoming franchisees. — PTI
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Woolmer Case
Kingston, October 18 Pathologist Nathaniel Cary spent the three-hour morning session yesterday answering the questions from Kent Pantry, Jamaica’s director of public prosecution, in the probe into the shocking death of the 58-year-old former England player. Woolmer was found unconscious in his room at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel on March 18, a day after Pakistan were embarrassed by Ireland in a major upset at the Cricket World Cup. Cary told the court that Jamaican government pathologist Ere Sheshiah, who conducted the first postmortem, made a mistake when he suggested murder. —
AFP
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Euro 2008 Qualifiers
Paris, October 18 France’s Thierry Henry went past Michel Platini as his country’s most prolific scorer with 43 goals. The Barcelona star’s double guided Les Bleus to a 2-0 win over Lithuania yesterday. That victory lifted France to the top of Group B, ahead of Scotland and Italy, with the World Cup winners enjoying one game in hand. The Scots arrived in Tbilisi topping the standings after Saturday’s 3-1 home win over Ukraine but Alex McLeish’s men were brought back to earth with a painful bump by a 2-0 defeat to Georgia. Scotland now have the not inconsiderable job of having to win their final Group B match against Italy on November 17 to ensure their presence in their first major tournament since the 1998 World Cup. England’s 1-2 defeat to Russia means they will lose out qualifying for a major international championship for the first time since the 1994 World Cup if Russia bag maximum points from their remaining qualifiers against Israel and Andorra. The plastic pitch at the Luzhniki Stadium failed to prove England’s flexible friend although everything looked to be going to plan after Wayne Rooney put Steve McLaren’s side into a 29th-minute lead. But the Manchester United striker was then turned unwittingly from hero to villain when Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo ruled that his tug on Konstantin Zyrianov was inside the area. TV replays suggested it was a harsh decision, but substitute Roman Pavlyuchenko stepped up to convert the 69th-minute penalty. Three minutes later, Russia snatched the winner, with Pavyluchenko tapping in a rebound past Paul Robinson. McLaren was in no doubt who was to blame for this Moscow mugging, lamenting: “I’ve just seen the penalty again and it was an absolute disgrace, it was outside the box.” — AFP
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Simarjeet holds one-stroke lead
Chandigarh, October 18 But it was Noida’s Dipankar Kaushal who played the best par 72 card of the day to occupy the second position at 146. Oil India’s Harjinder Singh Kang of Chandigarh was three strokes behind at 149 after he played a two-over par 74 today. Chandigarh’s Abhijeet Chadha and Delhi’s Karan Vasudeva were a further stroke behind in tied fourth place at 150. While Chadha shot 75, Vasudeva brought in a card of 74 today. Lt. Col Lakra shot a 76 to occupy the sixth position at 152 while Aman Guron, Gagan Verma, Manav Das and Rahul Bajaj were in tied seventh place at 153. As many as 40 golfers made the cut of 18-over 162 to proceed into the deciding rounds. Simarjeet started well shooting birdies on the second and seventh holes to make the turn at two-under. However, on the back nine, Simarjeet dropped shots on the 13th, 17th and 18th. Simarjeet said: “The greens were playing better today but my putter let me down on the 17th and 18th. On the 17th, I two-putted from 5 feet, while on the closing hole I missed a par putt from six feet.” Scores (after 36 holes): Simarjet Singh 72+73=145, Dipankar Kaushal 74+72=146, H.S. Kang 75+74=149, Abhijit Singh Chadha 75+75=150, Karan Vasudeva 76+74=150, Lt-Col S.K. Lakra 76+76=152, Aman Guron 78+75=153, Gagan Verma 78+75=153, Rahul Bajaj 78+75=153, Manav Das 79+74=153, Ashbeer Saini 73+81=154, Ahbishek Jha 74+80=154,Ram Pal 77+77=154, Tarun Goghale 78+76=154, Sanjeev Singh 79+75=154, Lakhbir Lucky 80+74=154, Vikram Rana 82+72=154.
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Military World Games
Hyderabad, October 18 HK Belwal, P Narjit, Satya Raju, D Bhagyarajan and Mohinder Thapa won their bouts. India today did not add any medal to their earlier three. In athletics, Om Prakash finished ninth in 3000m steeplechase (8:55.51 min), way behind gold winner Hamid Kipkosgie (8:37.80) of Morocco. The Indian quartet of Anil Kumar, B. Ramu, Sreenivasan and Sameer Mon finished sixth in 4x100m relay race clocking 40.75s. Shooter Vijay Kumar narrowly missed a podium finish as he lost out in tie-shoot for the bronze in the 25m centre fire pistol (Individual men). Earlier, the Indian volleyball team lost to Korea 15-25, 23-25, 19-25 in a super league match. — Agencies
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Durand Cup prize money hiked
New Delhi, October 18 The winners will be richer by Rs 8 lakh, while the runners-up will get Rs 6 lakh. The semifinalists will be given Rs 1.5 lakh each, while the quarterfinalists will earn Rs 45,000 each. Besides, five promising players will be given Rs 10,000 each, Rs 20,000 each to the best player and the best coach, and Rs 5,000 each to the player of the match in the semifinals and the final. Neville Tuli of Osian said at a media briefing here today that the prize money would be more than doubled to Rs 50 lakh next year. Though the absence of East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, who finished fifth and seventh, respectively, in the National Football League last year, will rob the Durand Cup of some sheen, defending champions Dempo, runners-up JCT, Air India, Punjab Police, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Churchill Brothers, Salgaocar, Viva Kerala, Sporting Clube de Goa, Army XI and Mahindra United are in the fray. The seeded teams will be joined by four qualifiers from the preliminary rounds. Chairman of the Durand Cup organising committee Maj-Gen KJS Oberoi and secretary-general Lt-Col Joginder Singh said there was some problem in getting the big clubs of Kolkata this year as the dates of the Durand Cup dates, normally held in December, were advanced due to the NFL and India’s World Cup qualifying matches, scheduled to be held later this year.
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Korea blank India in volleyball
Hyderabad, October 18 The hosts, who qualified for the four-team league after beating Brazil 3-1 in the last Group B match yesterday, put up a spirited performance against the last games’ bronze medallists but lost 15-25, 23-25, 19-25. India play China tomorrow before taking on Qatar the next day. In handball, India will be fighting for the fifth to eighth classification spots after going down 23-26 to Lithuania today.The victory put Lithuania in the semifinals from Group A as the number two team behind South Korea, who finished unbeaten in the five-team group. Also in Group A, Greece defeated Turkey 32-26 to make India’s task that much easier.India were fighting to avoid finishing at the bottom of Group A and had to ensure that they did not lose by a margin of more than four goals to get into the classification matches ahead of Turkey, who tied with the hosts on one point. — Agencies
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Harikrishna beats Topalov
Bilbao (Spain), October 18 After losing to Norwegian sensation Magnus Carlsen from a strong position, this was an excellent comeback by Hari, who won one and drew one game to reach five points in the unique event where the winner gets three points for a victory and one point is awarded for a draw. Grandmaster Bu Xiangzhi, the lowest-ranked player in the six-player double round-robin event, emerged as the sole leader on eight points after beating Carlsen 1.5-0.5. The Chinese player won the first game and drew the next to keep his slate clean. Three points or one victory behind Xiangzhi is the group of Carlsen, Harikrishna and world’s youngest ever Grandmaster Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine.
— PTI
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Shahabad girls retain title
New Delhi, October 18 Speedy forward Ritu Rani, who received the ball on the right flank and then dribbled across the goalmouth before effecting an angular shot to open Shahabad’s account in the seventh minute, added four more goals to her name, to emerge the best player of the match. Two minutes after the first goal, Ritu and captain Ramandeep Kaur got into a passing bout before Ritu found the mark again. Sandeep Kaur scored the fourth penalty corner in the 26th minute for a 3-0 half time lead. On resumption, the domination of the Shahabad girls, who played with short passes to display their marvellous dribbling skills, was so total that the cornered Ranchi lasses could only make a couple of intrusions into the Haryana dee. The Shahabad girls were well-served by the precision strikes of Ritu and the incisive moves down the right flank by captain Ramandeep, which paved the way for most of the goals. The Ranchi girls virtually stayed laden-footed and watched helplessly as the Shahabad eves invaded their goal area. Shahabad, whose biggest victory was the 17-0 drubbing of Beer Bahadur Singh Sports College, Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh), in the Super League, received a cash prize of Rs 96,000 while Ranchi pocketed Rs 64,000.
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Sangrur are kho-kho champs
Sangrur, October 18 MP from Sangrur and president of the Punjab Olympic Association Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa gave away the prizes to the winners. He also announced a grant of Rs 50,000 for the Punjab Kho-Kho Association. Results: Women: Sangrur defeated
Patiala. Ludhiana finished third. Men: Patiala beat Sangrur. Ludhiana got third position. U-18 (girls): Sangrur beat
Ropar. Patiala stood third. U-18 (boys): Sangrur beat Jalandhar. Ludhiana finished third.
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Ravi Inder props up Punjab
Patiala, October 18 At draw of stumps on a truncated day’s play, Punjab had reached 189 for 4. Earlier, Delhi skipper Gaurav Chabbra won the toss on a moisture-laden wicket. The match started 225 minutes late as the organisers made frantic efforts to make the pitch, which had been rendered soggy due to a downpour which had lashed the city on Tuesday evening, ready for the contest. The Delhi skipper’s decision to field first seemed to have misfired when Sunny Sohal and Ravi Inder put on 79 runs for the opening wicket. The hosts suffered their first jolt when Sohal mistimed a Vikas Tokas delivery and skied the ball for the wicketkeeper to pouch the catch. One-drop batsman Karan Goel (17) did not survive for long but Ravi Inder found an able ally in Mayank Sadhana. Punjab could have been better placed had Ravi Inder not played a hasty shot just when the umpires were ready to call it a day. His low but hard cut shot was well held by Shah Nawaz at gully off medium pacer Sohib Parsad. Brief scores: Punjab (1st innings) 189 for 4 (Ravi Inder Singh 81, Sunny Sohal 39, Mayank Sadhana 33 n.o.; Narinder Singh 2-32, Sohib Parsad 1-15).
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Ritwik in quarters
New Delhi, October 18 Ritwik rallied to beat Lezaud 9-11, 11-8, 11-10 (3-1), 6-11, 11-1 in the first round to advance to the last-eight stage of the $6,000 event yesterday. — PTI
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U-19 football
Bathinda, October 18 In another match on the opening day, hosts DPS crushed Guru Ram Das Public School, Lehra Mohabbat, 4-0.
— TNS
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