Mumbai, March 12
The Indian hockey team, which failed to qualify for the Olympics for the first time in 80 years, returned home in the wee hours this morning with coach Joaquim Carvalho blaming poor umpiring as one of the reasons for the debacle.

Joaquim Carvalho speaks to the media at Chatrapati Shivaji Mumbai Airport. — PTI

Carvalho, who had decided to resign owning moral responsibility for the fiasco, said there was nothing wrong with the preparation but the team failed to play to their potential when it mattered the most.

India lost to Great Britain 0-2 in the final of the qualifying event in Santiago and the disappointment was evident on the part of the players who looked grim and tired after the long flight home.

“The preparation went on the right lines and even now we have a very good team. I am not giving lame excuses, but it is just that we did not play to our potential and we lost the final,” Carvalho told reporters at the airport just after the team landed.

The coach was critical of the umpiring standard in the tournament, saying his boys were at the receiving end of "unnecessary booking".

"We played with ten players for 25 minutes (against Great Britain) and got cards, which was not deserving. The umpires reprimanded even those players who did not get a card.”

“They issued letters and called the players from hotel rooms after the matches at 11 pm at night. And after that the boys were kept waiting for more than one hour by the umpires,” he added.

Carvalho recalled a match in which the umpires issued warnings against his boys that if they commit a foul in one match they (players) will be pulled up in the next one.

He said he would take up the matter with the Indian Hockey Federation when he submits a report.

"I will certainly take up this issue when submit my report to the federation," he said.

Asked whether he would reconsider his resignation, he said, "I will have to consider with what the federation decides. I haven't spoken to Gill yet. But certainly with the resignation, the morale in the team is very low."

Carvalho said that the failure to qualify for the Olympics should not be seen as a need for making drastic changes in the team.

“As of now, I do not think there should be any drastic changes made to the team. I cannot suggest any structural changes, but I can only do so, as far as team building is concerned,'' he said.

Carvalho also ruled out the explanation of the team's lacklustre performance due to lack of experience. “We had enough experience in players like Dilip Tirkey, Prabhjot Singh and some of them had already played in the World Cup,” he said.

The coach also cleared the air regarding the controversy about consultant Ric Charlesworth not travelling to Chile reportedly at his behest.

''I do not know, who has not allowed Ric Charlesworth to go to Chile. I am not the authority to not allow him to visit Chile,'' he said.

Defending the team, Carvalho said the boys played well throughout the tournament and it was just one bad day that cost the team its ticket to Beijing Olympics.”

“It is a big setback as Olympics is a big event and every sportsman wants to be an Olympian and more so, I feel sorry for the young team. 14 of them would have gone on to be Olympians,'' he said. — Agencies

New Delhi, March 12
As if the failure to make it to the Beijing Olympics was not bad enough, India could miss out on hosting the 2010 men’s hockey World Cup as well if the FIH is not satisfied with the steps taken to revive the game in the country.

The world body has provisionally allotted the mega event to New Delhi, but the FIH Executive Board will decide in its meetings starting in Lausanne, Switzerland, on March 25, whether to confirm the proposal.

"The FIH Executive Board will discuss further steps to be taken on continuing the project 'Promoting Indian Hockey' and on the decision on the staging of the 2010 Men's World Cup in New Delhi," the president of the world body Els van Breda Vriesman said in an official statement.

She indicated that the hosting rights for the 2010 World Cup were subject to the Indian Hockey Federation getting its act together and showing some initiative in putting the game back on the track in the country.

"It has been made clear that the staging of the 2010 World Cup is related to the success of the project and the world body is still waiting for signs that things are really going to happen in India," Vriesman said.

FIH had done its bit by launching the 'Promoting Indian Hockey' project and getting Australian legend Ric Charlesworth as IHF's Technical Adviser, but it seems the world body is not satisfied that the K.P.S. Gill-led Federation is keeping its end of the bargain.

"The result (in Chile) shows that Indian Hockey now needs to implement the Operational Plans which have been provided nearly a year ago as part of the project 'Promoting Indian Hockey' without any further delay.”

"In these plans, Ric Charlesworth is going to play an instrumental role for a more structural development of Indian hockey in the long term, while he can also be of great assistance on the short term with the help of the Indian Ministry of Sports and the Indian Hockey Confederation," the FIH boss said.

"The project 'Promoting Indian Hockey', supported by the FIH, the International Olympic Committee and the Indian Olympic Association, should be taken seriously to achieve progress in the identified areas of concern, among them the national teams of India," she added. — PTI

Panchkula, March 12
From cruise mode to harakiri. This sums up the pathetic saga of Mumbai Champs as they crashed to an unexpected defeat against Kolkata Tigers in the ICL Edelweiss 20s Challenge match at Tau Devi Lal stadium here today.

Chasing a 147-run target set by Kolkata Tigers, Champs, sitting in a position of great strength at one time suddenly lost wickets in a jiffy to be bundled out for 144 to hand Tigers a narrow victory.

Kolkata Tigers, in fact, fought with tigerish resolve. Nantie Haywards and Andre Adams found their rhythm at the right time to pull the rug from under the Champs’ feet. Poor running between the stumps resulting in crucial run-outs compounded their woes.

Raviraj Patil must be very disappointed. Batting upfront after the early fall of opener S. Jayanth, diminutive Patil played a gem of an innings. His struck the ball clean which travelled quite a distance. When he struck along the carpet, he found boundaries with ease.

His task was rendered easier by S. Paul. Seeing Patil go great guns, Paul dropped anchor and was happy to play second fiddle to his more belligerent partner.

Mumbai Champs were in cruise mode as both strung together a 71-run stand in 55 balls. Though Patil did the bulk of the scoring, Paul also showed a lot of character.

Both were going great guns when Patil was deceived by Craig McMillan, who bowled a slower one and deceived the batsman. He mistimed his stroke completely and ended up giving a tame catch to be dismissed at 52. Patil’s whirlwind knock included two sixes and eight fours and he faced 30 balls. Soon thereafter, Lance Klusener cut short the stay of Paul.

Skipper Nathan Astle proved why he is such a dangerous batsman in this variety of the game. He took some time to settle down.

Once he got his eye in, he unleashed successive sixes in the 17th over and the bowler to suffer was Andre Adams. With victory there for the taking, Astle grew over ambitious and attempted another extravagant stroke and was castled.

The fall of the skipper’s wicket set the alarm bells ringing in the Champs’ camp. Adams next sent back J J Van der Wath lbw in the same over to jolt the innings.

In the next over, Haywards cleaned up Ramesh Powar for nought and S. Khanolkar was run out by an agile Rohan Gavaskar to leave the Champs’ innings in tatters. The mounting run rate proved a tough task for the tailenders.

The pattern continued as the last two wickets fell in the last over as the Champs fell short of the target by two runs.

Andre Adams for his three scalps as well his breezy unbeaten knock of 21 runs won the Man of the Match award. If Tigers posted 146 runs on the board, Gavaskar deserves credit for scoring an unbeaten 41 at more than run a ball, while A. Jhunjunwala impressed again with 29-ball 33.

Scoreboard

Kolkata Tigers innings

SG Das lbw Khirid 21

Klusener b Best 9

Jhunjhunwala st Subhojit b Khirid 33

McMillan b Kasprowicz 9

R. Gavaskar not out 41

D Dasgupta c & b Avinash 4

AR Adams not out 21

Extras (b-1, lb-4, w-3) 8

Total (5 wkts, 20 overs) 146

FoW:1-29, 2-43, 3-62, 4-92, 5-109

Bowling: JJ van der Wath 4-1-23-0, Best 4-0-43-1, Kasprowicz 3-0-23-1, RD Khirid 4-0-17-2, Astle 1-0-9-0, Avinash Yadav 4-0-26-1

Mumbai Champs innings

Subhojit c Adams b Klusener 27

WS Jayantha b Adams 0

RP Patil c PL Das b McMillan 52

Astle b Adams 30

JJ van der Wath lbw Adams 10

SN Khanolkar run out 2

KR Powar b Hayward 0

RD Khirid c Gavaskar b Hayward 9

Best run out 1

Kasprowicz not out 0

Avinash Yadav run out 2

Extras (b-2, lb-7, w-2) 11

Total (all out, 20 overs) 144

FoW: 1-5, 2-76, 3-93, 4-127, 5-128, 6-129, 7-130, 8-141, 9-141, 10-144

Bowling: AR Adams 4-0-35-3, Eklak Ahmid 2-0-15-0, Hayward 3-0-14-2, PL Das 1-0-9-0, S Singh 2-0-13-0, Klusener 4-0-23-1, McMillan 4-0-26-1.

Melbourne, March 12
Cricket Australia (CA) is reportedly considering plans to have a one-day series in Pakistan to make up for the postponed Australian team tour to that country.

According to The Australian, CA CEO James Sutherland last night said a short one-day series was "not impossible" given the players now had six weeks off.

This was reinforced by CA's general manager of cricket operations Michael Brown, who said a one-day series was "most definitely" a chance depending on how coach Tim Nielsen and his support staff wanted to organise the team for the West Indies tour.

Nielsen claimed he had already spoken to Brown twice yesterday about the best way to prepare for the West Indies now that Pakistan was off.

He expects Australia's coaching and support staff to meet in Sydney next week during the Pura Cup final to formulate a more detailed strategy.

"Players will have IPL on their minds and there's county cricket but it's a matter of what is the best preparation," Nielsen said.

Even if leading players could play a third of the IPL matches, they could make hundreds of thousands of dollars in a couple of weeks on a pro rata basis.

Australia's most sought after player, Andrew Symonds, who was auctioned off for about $1.5 million a year, could make 500,000 dollars in a fortnight. — ANI

Dhaka, March 12
AB de Villiers hit an unbeaten half century to steer South Africa to a seven-wicket victory over Bangladesh and an unassailable 2-0 lead in their one-day series today.

J.P. Duminy added an unbeaten 49 for a 119-run fourth wicket partnership to seal the three-match series. South Africa beat Bangladesh by nine wickets in the first one-dayer in Chittagong on Sunday.

Left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak took two for 32, while pacer Mashrafe Mortaza got the other wicket for 27.

Despite losing early wickets and playing under pressure from spin bowlers, South Africa faced an easy target of 174. — Reuters 

Scoreboard

Bangladesh innings

T. Iqbal b Nel 0

S. Nafees c de Villiers b Nel 5

Ashraful c Morkel b Nel 0

N. Uddin lbw Langeveldt 11

S. Al Hasan c Gibbs b Botha 52

R. Hassan c Smith b Langeveldt 63

D. Ghosh run out 0

A. Razzak c de Villiers b Nel 0

M. Mortaza c Harris b Langeveldt 20

M. Hossain run out 4

S. Rasel not out 0

Extras (lb-2, w-16) 18

Total (all out, 48.2 overs) 173

FoW: 1-0, 2-6, 3-18, 4-18, 5-137, 6-138, 7-138, 8-148, 9-173, 10-173

Bowling: Nel 10-2-27-4, Langeveldt 9.2-1-31-3, A. Morkel 6-0-21-0, Botha 9-0-47-1, Harris 10-1-27-0, Petersen 1-0-7-0, Duminy 3-0-11-0

South Africa innings

Smith b Razzak 28

Gibbs lbw Mortaza 3

Amla c and b Razzak 16

de Villiers not out 69

Duminy not out 49

Extras (lb-5, w-8, nb-1) 14

Total (3 wkts, 48.1 overs) 179

FoW: 1-13, 2-45, 3-60

Bowling: Mortaza 10-1-27-1, Rasel 8-0-35-0, Razzak 10-0-32-2, Mosharraf 10-0-34-0, Al Hasan 8-0-28-0, Ashraful 2-0-12-0, Iqbal 0.1-0-6-0.

Man of the match: Andre Nel

Durban, March 12
The trio of Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher and Makhaya Ntini have returned to the South African squad for the three-Test tour of India starting later this month.

Left-arm spinner Robin Peterson, who took career-best figures of five for 33 in South Africa's innings victory over Bangladesh in the second Test, retained his place in the squad which has Ashwell Prince as Graeme Smith’s deputy.

Peterson's good form saw him joining another left-armer Paul Harris in the touring party with Johan Botha being the unlucky player to miss out.

The squad has no place for out-of-form Herschelle Gibbs, who was not part of the Test series in Bangladesh as well.

Kallis, Boucher and Ntini were rested for the one-day series against the minnows.

Ntini's return will strengthen South Africa's pace attack which also has Dale Steyn in fine form with man-of-the-series awards in his country's previous three Test series.

Swing bowler Charl Langeveldt, who has not played a Test for more than two years, also finds a spot at the expense of Andre Nel.

The Proteas take on India in three Tests to be played in Chennai, Ahmedabad and Kanpur.

South Africa will travel directly from Bangladesh to India, with the first Test starting on March 26.

Squad: Graeme Smith (captain), Ashwell Prince, Hashim Amla, Mark Boucher, A.B. de Villiers, J.P. Duminy, Paul Harris, Jacques Kallis, Charl Langeveldt, Neil McKenzie, Morne Morkel, Makhaya Ntini, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn. — PTI

New Delhi, March 12
East Bengal’s defensive ploy backfired as they began their AFC Cup campaign with a solitary goal loss to Lebanon’s Safa Sporting Club in the lung-opener played in Beirut.

The Federation Cup champions, who went into the match looking for a draw, were outplayed in the first half and never recovered in the later session to concede a deserving three points to their opponents.

Safa's Cameroonian midfielder Bernard Rafael Mbassi netted the only goal of the Group B match in the 18th minute at the Beirut Sports City late last night.

Aloke Mukherjee's back four of M. Suresh, Surkumar Singh, M. Bolaji and Debabrata Roy had an off day, and with the midfield lacking in creativity, it was a torrid time for the red-and-gold brigade in the first half.

Safa, who were debuting in the continent’s second tier club competition, capitalised on the shaky East Bengal backline and got at least four clear chances at the rival goal early into the match and found the winner from one of them.

The first chance for the Lebanese Premier League side came in the 16th minute but medio Amer Khan's shot hit the crossbar. Two minutes later, Mohamed Korhani's pin-point cross from the left saw an unmarked Mbassi finding the back of the net.

Goalkepeer Subrata Pal had to come out of his line frequently to cover the holes in defence including the one when he charged out to deny a free shot to the Mbassi inside the box.

But, the India number one goalkeeper must have thanked lady luck when Khodr Salameh hit the left upright just before the break.

East Bengal's foreign import Edmilson Marques had an opportunity to level the score but his close range shot went over the bar.

The Kolkata team were the better side in the second half but their upfront came a cropper when it mattered the most as they muffed at least two clear chances.

Aloke Mukherjee's boys were saved from further embarrassment when Ramez Dayoub muffed a penalty a minute before the long whistle after substitute Rony Azar was brought down inside the danger area by Subrata Pal.

With the win, Safa rose to top of table following a 1-1 draw between Ahli Sana'a of Yemen and Jordan's Al Wihdat in another Group B match in Sana'a.

"We had a good game but Safa sealed the match with their goal in the first half and they were the better side," he said.

"In the second half, we were better and we could have completed a good comeback but missed a couple of chances to level the score," said the former India international.— PTI