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Indian Masters
Rain may reign yet again
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Tendulkar gives tips to youngsters
Harbhajan & Co turn to bhajans
Clear players for IPL, Ponting urges CA
More Aussie cricketers for ICL: Jones
England sweep Twenty20 series
Davis Cup
Kasprowicz retires
Kila Raipur Sports Festival
‘Team-less’ college to skip tourney
GND varsity in softball final
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Indian Masters
New Delhi, February 7 Once again DGC proved to be lucky for Jyoti, who had won the Hero Honda Indian open here on his last appearance here in October 2007. On a day when several reputations got dented, Jyoti along with Shiv Kapur and C Muniyappa made a strong statement on behalf of Indian golf with super showing. Jeev Milkha Singh, however, was the exception. The famed pro gave a dismal performance and ended the day with five over 77 and will have to struggle hard tomorrow to make the cut. Jyoti started cautiously on his favourite course and shot two birdies on the 3rd and 6th on his way out in which he aggregated 34 but it was his return journey that enthralled his fans as he shot a birdie on the 12th and then fired eagles on the 14th and 18th to end the round and the day on a very satisfying note piping his close rivals Richard Finch (England) and Damien Mc Grane (Ireland) to joint second spot. Both carded identical 67. ''I played very well. I could not have asked for a better round,'' said a visibly pleased Jyoti. ''I watched two players before me putt on the 18th, I registered that in my mind and that helped me getting the eagle.I had done the same in the Indian Open in October,'' he said. In the morning session Shiv Kapur led the local charge after a four-under-par 68. Kapur, the 2005 Asian Tour’s Rookie of the Year, posted seven birdies against three dropped shots to finish joint third along with Spain's Jose Manuel Lara and Denmark's Thomas Bjorn. Unheralded C Muniyappa, who had a hole in one at the 12, carded creditable three under 69 and was clubbed joint fourth along with ten others. But it was the round World number 4, South African Ernie Els will like to forget. Half way through he seemed to have hit the road block with a quadruple bogey 9 on the 18th hole, having started from the tenth much to the bewilderment of the crowd. The DGC bushes claimed a high profile victim when he hit his second shot into the rough next to the green. He took a penalty drop but that did not help as he stayed in the bushes. It took him three more shots to get to the green and two more putts to end the ordeal. He had a round of 3 over 75 and was lying way down the leaderboard. The New Delhi-born Kapur was one over after four holes but he grinded it out at the historical par-72 course. ''I'm actually pretty proud of myself that I hung in there. Things were not going my way for the first sort of six or seven holes, I was actually over par at one stage. It's just one of those things that you learn in competitive golf that you have to learn how to grind it out, even when you don't have your A Game, you have to learn to post a score and I managed to do that. In all, 32 Indians were in the fray and it was an even day for most of them. Arjun Atwal, SSP Chowrasia Harmeet Kalhon and Digvijay shot identical two under 70. Rahil and Ashok Kumar had par 72 round while Amandeep Johl, Shamim Khan and Mukesh kumar returned identical one over par 73 cards. Gagan Bhullar, Gaurav Ghei, Sanjay Kumar, A S Lehal, Arjun Singh, Uttam Mundy, Ranjit Singh all had identical score of 75 while R Ganpathy and Vijay Kumar shot 76 each. Thailand's Chinnarat Phadungsil enjoyed a solid start to the season with a 69 together with Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin, Spain's Alvaro Quiros Garcia, Dutchman Maarten Lafeber and Englishman Benn Barham.
— UNI
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Rain may reign yet again
Sydney, February 7 The islanders had India on the mat at 83 for four at one stage in their previous rain-abandoned game but conceded 105 runs in the last 10 overs to allow the opposition to put a competitive total on the board. Lankan vice-captain Kumar Sangakkara admitted after the match that his side needed to do a bit of rethinking on how to bowl in the slog overs. "We have something to work on to keep the scores less in the last 10 overs," he said. The team will no doubt tighten up things in the slog overs against the hosts, who have a very strong batting line up, as any slip-ups could prove costly on a Sydney Cricket Ground track which was expected to favour the batsmen. The tri-series has still not seen a single match being completed as both the day-night encounters at Brisbane were abandoned because of rain and the forecast for tomorrow is also not too encouraging. The met office has predicted partly cloudy conditions with chances of rain during the day. If rain again plays spoilsport, it will come as a huge disappointment for the fans. After two washed out games, India find themselves on top of the points table with four points from two matches while Australia and Sri Lanka have two points each from one match. All the three participating teams will play against each other four times with the top two sides qualifying for the best-of-three finals. With the first two matches of the series washed out, both sides will be keen to post their first win at the floodlit SCG. The Australian batting will be bolstered with opener Matthew Hayden set to return to the team for the game. Paceman Stuart Clark will also be available after missing last Tuesday's clash with India for personal reasons. The Aussie fielding has left much to be desired in the last few weeks and the champion team will no doubt address the problem. Retiring wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist dismissed concerns about the home side's fielding after more catches were spilled against India in the series opener. "Look, as long as cricket is played, there is going to be dropped catches," Gilchrist said. The Australians have also indicated that Brett Lee, who has bowled brilliantly right through the Test series against India, will be given a break at some stage and it remains to be seen whether he takes the field on the morrow. Hours of play: 8.45 am to 12.15 pm, 1 pm to 4.30 pm.
— PTI
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Tendulkar gives tips to youngsters
Melbourne, February 7 Struck by persistent rain in the past week in Melbourne and Brisbane, which restricted them to unfinished games and indoor nets, the visitors had their first full-blown nets at the MCG. No sooner had trainer John Gloster made the squad go through their stretching exercises, Tendulkar took Robin Uthappa and Suresh Raina aside and spoke at length about the conditions and pitches which they would come up against in the coming weeks. Tendulkar then reserved a good part of his discourse for Rohit Sharma, who seemed eager to latch on to the pearls of wisdom from the great man. Indeed, Rohit made sure that he was tackling the deliveries in the desired manner by having his batting video-taped by team’s computer analyst Dhananjay. Lalchand Rajput, assistant manager of the team, said “Sachin has so much of experience and he is eager to share it with the youngsters. They would benefit greatly by his advice.” Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni appeared to enjoy himself in bowling to Raina and later spoke at length to a few youngsters on how to play short-pitched deliveries on these surfaces.
— PTI
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Harbhajan & Co turn to bhajans
Melbourne, February 7 This trend, which started after losing the Sydney Test last month, has gained wider acceptance among cricketers since they have withstood the test of the past few weeks remarkably well. Cricketers are being offered a wide range of relaxation CDs which range from devotional to patriotic songs and even holy chants or Vedanta shlokas. Once they have selected the song of their choice, they have been told by experts to sit cross-legged on the floor and then concentrate on the middle of a chart which has several rounded layers in various colours. Despite the stoicism the team has displayed on the tour, the stress at times has been overwhelming. The Harbhajan Singh issue is a case in point where nerves were frayed and polarisation of viewpoints was complete.
— PTI
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Clear players for IPL, Ponting urges CA
Sydney, February 7 Ponting said it would be “unfair” if CA stopped players from participating in the BCCI-backed venture to protect its sponsors. He said CA’s interference would be opposed by the Australian Cricketers’ Association. “There are already some globally-protected sponsors of CA, there are a couple of them,” Ponting told reporters on the eve of the tri-series match against Sri Lanka here tomorrow. “I don’t think CA would be able to make any of their other sponsors global sponsors. If they tried to do that, I’m sure the players’ association would have something to say about it. “It would be a little bit unfair if that was the case,” he added. BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi had yesterday warned that Australian cricketers were in danger of losing out on participation in IPL if their board continued to demand promotion of their sponsors during the league. Ponting compared IPL to the English County Championship and said CA should also look at the Twenty20 series as a domestic tournament. “IPL is a domestic competition (of India), as is county cricket. There’s never been any worry about CA releasing guys to go and play county cricket,” he said. “That’s the reason CA backed it all in the first place, because it was a domestic tournament and it wouldn’t be actually taking Australian players away from their domestic competitions or the Australian team,” he added. On his troubling back, Ponting said it would still take some time to recover completely. “My back has been better, I must admit. It’s just something that I have to get on top of,” he said. Sundar Raman appointed CEO Mumbai: The Indian Premier League on Thursday announced the appointment of Sundar Raman as the chief executive officer with immediate effect. Sundar joins IPL after having spent over a decade with the WPP group in India. In his last assignment as the managing director of MindShare, Sundar was responsible for increasing MindShare’s business in India, while providing strategic direction and operational focus. Sundar has also focused on building the MindShare brand, a press release said. Sundar joins IPL after rich experience in the media and entertainment business and has led the strategic media thinking for some of the biggest brands in South Asia, including Unilever, PepsiCo, Motorola, Samsung and Amex.
— Agencies
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More Aussie cricketers for ICL: Jones
Melbourne, February 7 ''The number is set to increase for this year's edition,'' Jones was quoted as saying in 'The Sydney Morning Herald'. ''There will be a couple of Australian players in there, yes.'' He, however, added that the ICL does not want players to break their contracts with their respective associations. ''But we are not here to ask players to break contracts with their organisations to play for us,'' he said. Law had led Chennai Superstars to victory in the inaugural edition in December. The next edition of the ICL's Twenty20 tournament will start in October this year.
— UNI
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Wellington, February 7 England followed up their 32-run win in Auckland on Tuesday with an even more emphatic victory to continue their perfect start to the two-month tour. England captain Paul Collingwood smashed a half-century to help his team compile a healthy total of 193 for eight before the tourists restricted New Zealand to 143-8 in reply. Collingwood blasted 54 off just 28 balls, including five boundaries and three sixes, and shared in a 102-run partnership with Owais Shah, who made a brisk 47. New Zealand’s hopes of winning disappeared quickly when they crashed to 94-7 in the 14th over. Jamie How (31) and Kyle Mills (30 not out) both made useful scores but the home side, missing several key players including their skipper Daniel Vettori and all-rounder Jacob Oram, were always too far behind to mount a reasonable challenge. Brief scores: England: 193 for 8 in 20 overs (Paul Collingwood 54, Owais Shah 47; Tim Southee 2-22). New Zealand: 143 for 8 in 20 overs (Jamie How 31, Kyle Mills 30 not out; Ryan Sidebottom 2-19, Dimitri Mascarenhas 2-25).
— Reuters
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Davis Cup
New Delhi, February 7 While the 22-year-old Somdev will be making his Davis Cup debut, Prakash will be pairing up with Mahesh Bhupathi for the first time. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit covered her eyes while taking part in the draw, which turned out to be in India’s advantage. India’s No. 1 Rohan Bopanna will meet Uzbek No. 2 Farrukh Dustov in the first singles, while Somdev will meet the visitors’ top gun Denis Istomin in the second singles. In the doubles on Saturday, Bhupathi and Prakash will meet Dustov and
Istomin, while in the reverse singles on Sunday, it will be Bopanna vs Istomin and Somdev vs
Dustov. India and Uzbekistan have a 1-1 record in the Davis Cup. India beat the visitors 5-0 when they clashed on grass in 2005 at Jaipur in the Asia-Oceania Group I first-round tie, while Uzbekistan avenged the defeat with a 4-1 win last year on clay indoors on their home turf. India later defeated Kazakhstan in the first round of the relegation playoff to remain in Group I. The Uzbek team has opted for their tried-and-tested players for both singles and doubles as they are determined to give their best shot, though the tie is being played on grass — a surface they are not very comfortable playing. India have opted to delegate responsibility evenly on all four players of the squad in a bid to wrap up the score 3-0 on the second day. “I believe in team effort. We took various factors into consideration while making the choice of players. The idea was to put the best team on the first day,” Paes noted. The non-playing captain said Prakash was still not fully free from his fitness problem, and an extra day’s rest will do him good. Uzbekistan’s Istomin was also surprised at India’s decision to “rest” Prakash from the singles, though he was happy with the draw and the look of the
grasscourt.
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Women’s Hockey
Jalandhar, February 7 In the first match, the Delhi girls took the lead in the 6th minute when Sangeeta Singh scored a field goal. Delhi missed a penalty corner in the 10th minute. In the 27th minute, the Mumbai eves earned an equaliser when skipper Sushma Kharab converted a penalty corner. The score remained 1-1 at half-time. In the second half, Nishi Chauhan sounded the board to make it 2-1 for Mumbai. Ten minutes later Usha Singh increased the lead through a a field goal. Delhi tried hard to stage a fightback but wasted a penalty corner in the 52nd minute. In the 61st minute, once again Usha Singh scored a field goal (4-1) followed by another field goal in the 66th minute (5-1). Three minutes later, Nishi Chauhan made it 6-1. With this win Mumbai have six points. In the second match of the day, Indian Railways crushed Karnataka 11-0. The third match of the day saw Indian Universities outplaying Andhra Pradesh 5-1. In tomorrow’s first semifinal, Indian Railways will take on Mumbai (12.30 pm) while Haryana will lock horns with Jharkhand in the second semifinal (2.30 pm).
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Mumbai, February 7 Force India presented its new challenger, the VJM 01, in its striking new livery of gold tungsten and white. The VJM 01 will run for the first time at the test session in Barcelona, Spain, from February 25 to 27. Prominent among those present at the unveiling ceremony were Mallya and Force India drivers Giancarlo Fisichella, Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi.
— UNI
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Kasprowicz retires
Melbourne, February 7 According to a report in The Courier Mail, the Queenslander, who turns 36 on Sunday, will play his final match, a domestic one-day tie against Western Australia, on Saturday. He was one of the top performers in Australia’s 2-1 Test series triumph in India in 2004, their first in 35 years. The seamer took four wickets in the first Test at Bangalore. In fact, 2004 was one of the highlights of Kasprowicz’s roller-coaster career as he took 47 wickets in the season. However, he lost his central contract last year due to a series of injury breakdowns. He played 38 Tests for Australia and took 113 wickets at an average of 32.88. Kasprowicz played 43 one-dayers and took 67 wickets at an average of 24.98.
— PTI
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Kila Raipur Sports Festival
Kila Raipur (Ludhiana), February 7 Since the event was single track timing, the qualifying round continued throughout the day. At least sixcarts secured a timing of less than 21 seconds in the first two hours. One pair hit the announcers stand after it lost its way. Another one had a close shave while certain others were way off the mark. The top 10 positions in today's race were: Jagrup Singh (Jargari village, 19.62 seconds): Jagrup Singh again (19.63); Avtar Singh (Sahebala, 20.25); Gursevak Singh (Ramgadh, 20.37); Harchand Singh (Dhandari, 20.47); Harbans Singh (Kotvangurai, 20.53); Jarnail Singh (Bangalikalan, 20.56); Gurmeet Singh(Jodhan, 20.60); Baljinder Singh(Dellon, 20.65) and Jinder Singh (Kanganlwal, 20.65 seconds). Greyhound racing is also being looked forward to by the visitors. "I want to see whether Prince belonging to Jagir Singh will be able defend his title in the "chase the rabbit" race, Rattan Singh, a local resident, said. Earlier, real rabbits were used for the race, now they have been replaced with artificial ones. The greyhound pups are imported from Ireland, England and the USA. Kabaddi stars have arrived for the big prize money event, including Bhola Singh from Roli, Inderjit Singh Dhariwal (Paddi), Zaildar Balbir Singh (Falwardar), Satti (Khote), Raju (Jagral), Kala (Dhariwal), and Harjinder (Ludhiana). The top teams include Tony Alankar from Tibba, Baja Khana Akademi, Moga Akademi and Patto Hira Singh Akademi. Despite a chilly day, large number of enthusiasts from the neighbouring areas thronged the venue.
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‘Team-less’ college to skip tourney
New Delhi, February 7 The organising committee of the tournament had invited the college to take part but the latter declined. The over Rs 2 lakh prize money tournament will start here tomorrow with runners-up Jawaharlal Nehru PG College, Bhopal, taking on Khalsa College, Yamunanagar. Talking to newspersons here today, Nehru hockey society secretary SK Verma said 12 teams, including defending champion and eight-time winners DAV, Jalandhar, will be seen in action.
— UNI
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GND varsity in softball final
Amritsar, February 7 In the semifinals, the hosts crushed Pune University 10-0, while Delhi University beat Panjab University, Chandigarh, 5-4. In the men’s section, Guru Nanak Dev University routed Mumbai University 12-0, while the match between Osmania University, Hyderabad, and
Delhi University ended in a 2-2 draw.
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