 |
|
|
Malik to miss 3rd Test
Shoaib Akhtar bowls during a practice session at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Thursday. The third and final Test between India and Pakistan begins on Saturday. — AFP
Farhat fashions Lions’ win
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Sangakkara tops ICC ranking list
Miandad reveals ‘revolt’ of 1992
Boje accuses Gibbs of match-fixing
Kirsten’s pal set to join support staff
Punjab plans ‘intelligent’ cricket stadium
Roller skaters honoured
Sipaeya stuns Qureshi
Punjab to reward top players
Shooters win four medals
Volvo Masters
F1 a frivolity: Forum
Powerlifters win five gold
Winning start by RCF
|
|
Bangalore, December 6 Malik suffered an ankle sprain while playing football shortly after the defeat in the first Test at Ferozeshah Kotla ground in New Delhi and has been out of action since then. He has been advised rest for five more days which means that stand-in captain Younis Khan will again lead Pakistan in the third Test beginning at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Saturday. Pakistan team’s media manager Ehsan Malik told PTI that Malik was evaluated by a local orthopaedic doctor, who has advised to keep the ankle in a cast for five more days. “Malik was sent to a local orthopaedic surgeon for evaluation of his injury. He cut the plaster and found that there was still pain and tenderness in the region. There was also limitation of movement. So the surgeon has advised him another five days of plaster,” Ehsan Malik said. “His ankle has been plastered again,” he said, adding that “it was a grade-1 ankle sprain with a couple of ligament ruptures. At that time, it felt it would heal in a week but it is taking longer.” The media manager said other members of the team, including fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, who bowled in the second Test despite fever and chest infection, were “absolutely fine” now. “Everybody else is fine and healthy. Akhtar is fully fit now,” he said. Rain disrupts net practice Weather played spoilsport during the net practice of both teams at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here today. Indian players went to the ground first and after a brief warm-up session commenced their practice under bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad. VVS Laxman chose to bat at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) with some local boys who bowled with plastic balls. Sachin Tendulkar was not at the nets as he was taking rest, while Sourav Ganguly, who was suffering from fever, was expected to join the team later. The Pakistan team, which arrived for the nets 30 minutes after their Indian counterparts, too had to call off their net practice due to bad light and showers. The teams would have two more sessions tomorrow. Earlier, Pakistan players spent some time unwinding themselves. Kamran Akmal and Salman Butt watched Bollywood flick ‘Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal’ at PVR Cinemas in the upmarket Koramangala area. Some other players chose to closet themselves in the team hotel. Shoaib Malik watched ‘Jab We Met’ at the same multiplex last night. Prasad’s objection falls on deaf ears Before the Indian team began practice today, bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad objected to huge logos being painted on the turf from where the bowlers start their run-up. As soon as Prasad arrived at the stadium before noon, he told the men painting the logos on the turf that the paint would hamper the pace bowlers’ run-up. However, Prasad’s words fell on deaf ears as the painters continued to work on the three logos. The official suggested to Prasad that the Indian nets should be shifted to the other side of the ground, not realising that the area was earmarked for the Pakistanis’ practice.
— Agencies
|
|
Farhat fashions Lions’ win
Panchkula, December 6 Batting first, Hyderabad Heroes posted 134 for 7 in the stipulated 20 overs. Aided by some scintillating batting by Farhat, Lions cantered home in 16.2 overs for the loss of four wickets. Though all-rounder Abdul Razzak got his team of to a perfect start, rattling Hamish Marshall’s timber in the very first over, the dismissal had no effect on the scoring. T.P. Singh impressed with some authentic strokes to keep up the momentum before he gave a tame return catch to seamer Shahabuddin after making 16-ball 19. Manish Sharma (15) was content to play second fiddle to Farhat. Farhat, who stayed unbeaten at 74, faced 48 balls and hit seven fours and five towering sixes. For his brilliant batting, he was adjuded Man of the Match. The Hyderabad Heroes innings was built around 39-ball 39 by opener Anirudh Singh. He was supported by Rayudu (18-ball 22) and Chris Harris (22-ball 18). Chandigarh’s Dinesh Mongia, who recovered to play his first match of the competition, got the key scalp of skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq before cutting short Rayudu’s stay at the wicket. The Lions now have four points from three games. This brings them on a par with Chennai Superstars, who have played one match less. Scoreboard Hyderabad Heroes: Sahabuddin b Hall 0 Anirudh run out 39 Rayudu st Sarabjit b Mongia 22 Inzamam c Uniyal b Mongia 8 Harris c Marshall b Hall 18 Boje lbw b Hall 16 Mahmood run out 16 Razzaq not out 6 Khaleel not out 1 Extras (b 5, lb 2, w 1): 8 Total
(7 wickets; 20 overs): 134 Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-48, 3-63 , 4-80, 5-110, 6-110, 7-133 Bowling: AJ Hall 4-1-18-3; DR Tuffey 4-0-20-0; A Uniyal 4-0-37-0; CL Cairns 3-0-19-0; D Mongia 4-0-21-2; Chetan Sharma 1-0-12-0 Chandigarh Lions: Farhat not out 74 Marshall b Razzaq 4 TP Singh c & b Sahabuddin 19 Manish st Khaleel b Boje 15 Cairns c & b Harris 8 Chetan not out 7 Extras (lb 2, w 7, nb 1): 10 Total
(4 wickets; 16.2 overs) 137 (8.38 runs per over) FoW: 1-5, 2-44 , 3-119, 4-128 Bowling: Abdul Razzaq 3-0-23-1; Azhar Mahmood 3-0-29-0; KS Sahabuddin 3-1-17-1; PIS Reddy 2-0-14-0; A Absolem 1-0-16-0; AT Rayudu 1-0-17-0; CZ Harris 2-0-5-1; N Boje 1.2-0-14-1 Man of the match:
Imran Farhat
|
|
|
Sangakkara tops ICC ranking list
Dubai, December 6 The left-handed wicketkeeper-batsman scored 92 and 152 in his team’s victory in the first Test against England at Kandy to gain two positions to surpass Ponting and South African Jacques Kallis. Now both the batting and bowling charts are led by Sri Lankans as Sangakkara’s compatriot and ace-offie Muttiah Muralitharan leads the bowlers’ ranking list. Sangakkara has also jumped to joint-sixth position in the all-time rankings with 938 points after becoming the first batsman in the game’s history to register scores of 150 or more in four successive Tests. Australian Donald Bradman leads the all-time ranking list with 961 points. The 30-year-old player is the only batsman from the Asian subcontinent in the all-time top-10. Meanwhile, former India captain Rahul Dravid moved out of the top-10 bracket by losing one place to be 11th. Both Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman also lost one place each though they continue to be in the top-20 at 18th and 19th, respectively. Anil Kumble also lost one position to be seventh on the bowlers’ list, while Zaheer Khan has maintained his 12th position.
— PTI
|
|
|
Miandad reveals ‘revolt’ of 1992
Karachi, December 6 Miandad disclosed that Akram and Rameez had started a “revolt” against Imran during the 1992 World Cup and it was because of his timely intervention that Pakistan played as a team and went on to win the title. Miandad told a private television channel last night that Wasim and Rameez had the support of other players, who were not ready to brook Imran’s domineering attitude. “The ‘revolt’ took place before the semifinal against New Zealand. But I stepped in and convinced the players to play under Imran’s captaincy,” Miandad claimed. Miandad, one of the most colourful characters in Pakistan cricket who has coached the side thrice after his retirement, had a love-hate relationship with Imran, whom he had blamed for instigating a “revolt” against him in 1993 when Miandad was captain. Miandad was the obvious successor to the captaincy after Imran retired in 1992 after Pakistan had won the World Cup in Australia. But in 1993, Akram, Rameez and Waqar Younis led another revolt, this time against Miandad’s captaincy and the left-arm pacer was made the skipper of the side, which created bad blood among the players. Recalling the 1992 World Cup, Miandad said the players were not happy with Imran for not bowling more in the tournament because of his fitness issues and also due to his domineering attitude. “I know for a fact that the players had nicknamed Imran as “metre” for his attitude. The ‘revolt’ came before the semifinal but I managed to convince the players to play on. God then gave us success,” Miandad said. He claimed Imran suddenly decided to retire before the 1992 tour to England because he was aware of the revolt and didn’t want to carry on anymore. Miandad also claimed playing a big role in making Imran the captain in 1982. Imran has now formed his political party, Tehreek-e-Insaaf, and is a vocal opposition leader. He is Pakistan’s most successful captain and led Pakistan between 1982 and 1992 with considerable success despite breaking down for a one-year period in 1984-85 with a stress fracture of the back before making a successful comeback.
— PTI
|
|
|
Boje accuses Gibbs of match-fixing
Panchkula, December 6 “I have nothing to hide. Rather, I will be happy to be questioned by the Delhi police as I want to settle the matter,” said the left-arm spinner while talking to The Tribune during a practice session at a local academy here today. Alleging that his former teammate Herschelle Gibbs was involved in the illegal activity, Boje said he was not suspended or fined as mentioned in an English daily today. “It was Gibbs who was involved in match-fixing. I had nothing to do with all this,” said Boje, who represented his country in 43 Tests and 115 ODIs. Boje, here in India for the first time after the scandal came to light in 2000, is playing for Hyderabad Heroes in the Indian Cricket League. Boje was served a notice under Section 160 of the CrPC by the Delhi police yesterday for further investigations into the scandal. “I have been in the country for the past four weeks and probably knew that this would happen anytime. I am ready to go to the police to clear things up,” said Boje. On being questioned whether he avoided Indian tours intentionally afterwards, Boje said on the team’s first tour after the scandal, it was the decision of the South Africa Cricket Board not to send him. “During the next tour, for the ICC Champions Trophy, I was not selected. I never avoided any Indian tour intentionally,” said Boje. When asked when he would go to the police, Boje said, “I have not received any notice so far. It is with the ICL officials and there is no mention of any date for appearance as far as I know,” said
Boje.
|
|
|
Kirsten’s pal set to join support staff
New Delhi, December 6 Kirsten, who will formally take over the high-profile job in March next year, was keen to have Upton in the coaching team and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was expected to ratify his appointment in the Working Committee meeting in Mumbai on December 16. “Kirsten wants to have Upton in the support staff. The matter will come up for discussion in the Working Committee meeting. His appointment would have to be ratified by the committee,” a top BCCI source said today. Upton, a friend of the new India coach, currently works as a mental conditioning coach at Kirsten’s academy in Cape Town. He was also a fitness trainer with the South African cricket team from 1994-98 and also worked with the Western Province Rugby team. He then quit to concentrate on the psychological side of the game and became a mental conditioning coach. Although Team India did not have a full-time mental conditioning coach in the past, the two previous foreign coaches — New Zealand’s John Wright and Australia’s Greg Chappell — had sought services of specialist sports psychologists for brief stints during their tenure. While New Zealander Wright had turned to eminent Australian sports psychologist Sandy Gordon to have interactions with the players, Chappell had relied on West Indian Rudy Webster to motivate the players. The 40-year-old Kirsten had talked about including Upton in the support staff during his interview with the BCCI coach selection committee on November 26, saying that he could add value to the team. The source said the two-year contract offered to the former South African opener was identical to the one given to Chappell. “The terms and conditions as well as the financial package is almost the same as offered to Chappell,” the source said. If that is the case, Kirsten will get an annual basic salary of approximately Rs 74 lakh, besides other perks. Kirsten will be given a daily allowance equal to that of a player during matches and will get an annual travel allowance of Rs 8.60 lakh, a share of the logo money and a fixed amount for communication expenses when with the team.
— PTI
|
|
|
Punjab plans ‘intelligent’ cricket stadium
Chandigarh, December 6 Chief secretary Ramesh Inder Singh chaired a meeting of senior officials where the project was given the green signal. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal will lay the foundation stone of the stadium, the fifth in the state, on December 8. The new stadium, argue officials, would not only meet the long-standing demand of cricket fans but also give a much needed fillip to promotion of sports in general and cricket in particular. The start of work on the Bathinda refinery as well as coming of big cricket to the Malwa belt would usher in a new area of infrastructure and economic development, claim senior functionaries of the state administration. They maintain that this will be the first stadium in the world where not only the entire playfield but also the spectator areas would be mapped and connected to a central information system. Instead of waiting for the verdict of the third umpire, the wired system would enable everyone in the stadium get exact details on his or her handset or mobile phone about the trajectory or movement of the ball to know the fate of an appeal made by the fielding side. The stadium, which will have all its seats numbered, would provide direct connectivity to each spectator to the game being played on the field, including re-plays and close-ups. The stadium, which is basically a brainchild of Sukhbir Badal, working president of the Shiromani Akali Dal, has run into controversies even before the work could start on the project. The major criticism has been on account of the BCCI guidelines, which state that a international game or official match of the BCCI would be allotted to a state association or a unit only if it has under its control a stadium approved for holding international matches. At present, Punjab has four centres approved for holding international matches. They are PCA Stadium (Mohali), Yadavindra Complex (Patiala), Burlton Park (Jalandhar) and Gandhi Ground (Amritsar). Of these only the Mohali stadium is under the control of the PCA. Those criticising the move of the new stadium maintain that huge money spent on upgradation of facilities at Patiala, Jalandhar and Amritsar have gone down the drain as they are no more eligible to be venues of international matches. They say that what would be the guarantee that once the Bathinda stadium is completed and remains under the control of the Punjab Sports Department or Bathinda Development Authority, it would be approved for holding international matches. Bathinda has neither an international airport nor a five-star hotel which are the basic requirements for a city to be venue for international games. Though there are exceptions to these guidelines, including that of Green Park (Kanpur), yet making such a huge investment without a categoric assurance from the parent body controlling the sport, they say, would not be advisable. They want the Punjab Government to follow western model where focus is on providing more and more playfields than raising fixed features, like stands and halls, thus advocating for “green” and not “gray” playing arenas in the state.
|
|
|
Roller skaters honoured
Sirsa, December 6 These girls, who belong to the local Shah Satnam Ji Girls Education Centre, are captain Sandeep, Puja, Sonali, Yashdeep, Milan, Mira, Gurpreet and Sabdeep. The best scorer award of the tournament was bagged jointly by Sandeep and Yashdeep, while the best player award was won by Yashdeep. “The championship was held in Kolkata from November 28 to December 2. We defeated Japan 5-3 in the final,” said Sandeep. Addressing a gathering at a function organised at Panchayat Bhawan to welcome the players, deputy commissioner V. Umashankar said their names would be recommended to the chief minister for cash awards. The state government recently sanctioned Rs 10 lakh for hockey player Sardara Singh, who hails from Sirsa, he added.
|
|
|
Sipaeya stuns Qureshi
New Delhi, December 6 In a two-hour battle, the 24-year-old held his nerve to clinch a thrilling 3-6, 7-6, 7-6 win over overwhelming favourite Qureshi to book his maiden last-four berth in a Challenger tournament. Sipaeya is ranked 527nd on the ATP chart, way below Qureshi (129th). In the semis, Sipaeya will be up against Czech Republic’s Tomas Cakl, who rallied to beat American Alberto Francis 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
— PTI
|
|
|
Punjab to reward top players
Bathinda, December 6 These sportspersons include Doha Asian Games medallists in various disciplines, besides members of the hockey team that won the Asia Cup a few months ago. On October 3 this year, Gulzar Singh Ranike, sports and youth services minister, Punjab, had announced that Asiad gold winners from Punjab would get Rs 7 lakh, silver medallists Rs 5 lakh and bronze winners Rs 3 lakh as prize money. The names were finalised at a meeting attended by Parkash Singh Badal, special principal secretary to the CM KJS Cheema, principal secretary (sports) RPS Pawar, director (sports) Pargat Singh and other officials. Talking to TNS, Cheema said the recipients included athletes Manjeet Kaur and Mandeep Kaur, golfer Gaganjit Singh Bhullar, kabaddi player Manpreet Singh, wrestler Palwinder Singh Cheema, shooters Manavjeet Singh Sandhu, Mansher Singh, Harveen Sarao, Ranjan Sodhi and Avneet Sidhu. “Hockey players Prabhjot Singh, Sardara Singh, Gurbaj Singh, Baljit Singh, Jaswinder Singh and Rajpal Singh would get Rs 5 lakh each for the Asia Cup victory,” he added.
|
|
|
New Delhi: Indian shooters won a silver and three bronze medals at the 11th Asian Shooting Championship in Kuwait on Thursday.
In the junior free pistol team event, the team consisting of Zakir Khan (534), Amanpreet Singh (534) and Kapil Tomar (505) shot 1573 out of 1800 to win the silver. In the same event, Zakir won the individual bronze. The air rifle women’s team consisting of Priya Aggarwal (395), Suma Shirur (393) and Avneet Kaur Sidhu (390) won a bronze. Priya also entered the final of the air rifle event but missed the quota place. Navdeep Kaur gave Indian the third bronze in the junior women’s air rifle event.
|
|
|
Volvo Masters
Chandigarh, December 6 Fiftyfive of the top 60 on the UBS Order of Merit are battling it out in the last clash of the Asian Tour event. Shiv Kapur, winner of the 2005 title, and Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand, the defending champion, battled it out for identical two-under-par 70 scores. Twentyfive-year-old Kapur was just making pars and grinding along at the start of the round. But then he found something in his swing in the back nine to hit birdies on the 10th, 11th and 16th for the two-under score. Twentynine-year-old Rahil Gangjee of Kolkata also fired a two-under-par 70 to be tied 11th along with Kapur. But eighth-ranked Gaurav Ghei had a bad day, returning a three-over-par 75 to be placed tied 48th on Day One. Australian Scott Strange grabbed a first-round lead with a sparkling seven-under-par 65.
|
|
|
F1 a frivolity: Forum
New Delhi, December 6 In its representation, the forum said Formula 1 racing would increase high-speed driving in India, thereby aggravating road accidents. It also urged the government to ban advertisements that encouraged products relating to high-speed driving. Minister of state for shipping, road transport and highways K.H. Muniyappa told Rajya Sabha today that the forum cautioned that high-speed driving would have disastrous consequence on drivers in this country. Car racing is not exactly a popular sport in India, but thanks to sports channels, Indians, particularly youngsters, are increasingly becoming aware and enthusiastic about Formula One racing. Recently, there were reports of the global auto racing event coming to India in 2010. The forum’s contention is based on figures. It says the World Road Statistics 2006, which provides the data for 2003 in respect of India, indicates that the number of persons killed per lakh of population in the country is 8.08. Moreover, as per the preliminary tentative data, covering a majority of states and UTs, the number of deaths due to road accidents is estimated at 1,01,439 during 2006 as compared to 94,968 for 2005. The Centre says safety of road users is primarily the responsibility of the state governments concerned. However, some steps have been taken, such as making road safety an integral part of road design at the planning stage.
|
|
|
New Delhi, December 6 Mala Sukhwal and Jennis Joseph won the yellow metal in junior 52 kg and 67.5 kg categories lifting 272.5 kg and 340 kg, respectively. Pooja Kadam (52 kg), Sneha Varute (82.5 kg) and Vasudha (+90 kg) were the gold winners in the sub-junior category. Kadam, Varute and Vasudha had total lifts of 260 kg, 347.5 kg and 250 kg, respectively, according to a press release issued by the Indian Powerlifting Federation. The silver medallists were Ratna Mani (master; 75 kg), Deepali Kulkarni (senior; 90 kg) and Shuma (senior; +90kg), who finished second in their respective categories with lifts of 300 kg, 375 kg and 437.5 kg.
— UNI
|
|
|
Winning start by RCF
Nawanshahr, December 6 Mahilpur Football Academy beat Football Club, Mahilpur, 5-3 in the tie-breaker. Prof Jagmohan Singh, nephew of Bhagat Singh, inaugurated the tournament.
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Bangalore, December 6
Dubai, December 6
Panchkula, December 6
