New Delhi, March 13
India's beleaguered chief coach Joaquim Carvalho may get another brief tenure with the Indian Hockey Federation making it clear that his resignation will not be accepted.

Carvalho had decided to step down in the wake of India's failure to qualify for the Olympics for the first time in 80 years but IHF chief K.P.S. Gill said it would be unfair to put the entire blame on the coach.

"We have not received his resignation. So there is no question of accepting it. He is still the coach," Gill told PTI in an interview.

The IHF supremo said he had called Carvalho for a meeting here on March 18 and would discuss the Chile debacle in detail.

"It's not fair to blame just one individual for the defeat. There were many factors and we will discuss and analyse everything," he said.

Asked whether the IHF had accepted the resignation of its vice-president Narender Batra, who is known to be a bitter critic of Gill's 'autocratic' style of functioning, the IHF boss said "Yes, we have accepted his resignation."

Batra had not only resigned from his post, but had also asked the IHF top brass to relinquish their posts owning moral responsibility for the Santiago fiasco.

Gill said that there was nothing wrong with Indian hockey and the failure to qualify for the Beijing Olympics was mainly because of "one bad day" during the qualifying tournament.

Gill also said the IHF may hire the services of a foreign coach to help the team prepare for the 2012 London Olympics.

"My basic instinct is that we should rely on our own coaches in the process of rebuilding the team. But I think we may need the inputs of a foreign expert to help us develop," he said.

Asked specifically whether the professional from abroad would be in the capacity of a technical advisor or a coach, Gill said "It will be a foreign coach. We may have him to prepare the team for the 2012 Olympics."

On the controversy surrounding Technical Advisor Ric Charlesworth, who did not accompany the team to Chile, Gill quipped "There is no controversy at all."

Charlesworth, the former Australia skipper and one of the legends of the game, had accused coach Carvalho of scuttling his trip to Santiago as he did not want him anywhere near the team.

Gill, however, had a different explanation for Charlesworth's no show in Chile. "He did not go to Chile because his contract has not yet been finalised. The moment everything is finalised, his role would be put in black and white," he said. — PTI

New Delhi, March 13
Under-fire IHF President K.P.S. Gill today made it clear that he was not going to oblige his detractors by resigning.

Gill said that he would remain hockey boss for about three more years. He said India's failure to qualify for the Olympics for the first time in 80 years has thrown a "real challenge" at him and he would leave the post only after the team regained lost ground.

"The team was doing well till we failed in the last Olympics. I expect this team to pass through the same phase and I am sure it can bounce back again. I give myself two to three years. Once that happens, I will go,” he told PTI in an interview here.

"It is no doubt a setback. A challenge has been thrown at my face and I accept the challenge. I want to prove to the world that it is not because of the lack of talent or capability. I want Indian hockey on top again," he said.

The IHF supremo said the nature of qualification process put immense pressure on the team.

"It was a matter of how the team played on a particular day. One bad day can afflict any team, that day (final match against Great Britain) we played 10 per cent of our potential."

Gill said "umpiring assaults" on India played a big part for the team's failure to book a berth for the Beijing Olympics and he would take up the matter with the International Hockey Federation (FIH).

"The umpiring blunders have been happening time and again. I had taken it up for the first time in 1997. This kind of discrimination has to go. Such things can break the morale of any player," he said. — PTI

Dubai, March 13
After a volatile tri-series Down Under, India and Australia are set to face off again in September as the two teams find themselves in the same group for the ICC Champions Trophy scheduled to be held in Pakistan.

India has been pooled with Ricky Ponting's defending champions, arch rivals Pakistan as well as the dangerous West Indies in Group A. The other pool features South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and England.

The groupings were finalised on the basis of teams' rankings in the ICC ODI Championship table as on March 12, which was the cut-off date for the determination of the seedings for the Champions Trophy.

Australia were sitting atop the charts on the cut-off date, just ahead of the Proteas, who can take over the number one ranking if they beat Bangladesh in the third one-dayer of their series in Mirpur tomorrow.

India, who were joint winners of the Champions Trophy with Sri Lanka in 2002, are placed fourth, one better than Pakistan while West Indies are the lowest ranked of the eight participating teams, even though they won the 2004 Champions Trophy and lost in the final of the last edition.

New Zealand are ranked third and Sri Lanka sixth, one ahead of England. The event will be played in a round-robin format with the top two sides from each group progressing to the semifinals with the winners of these matches contesting the final.

The ICC Development International Board had decided that the 2008 tournament would feature the eight top teams as per the ICC ODI Championship table exactly six months prior to the scheduled start of the tournament. — PTI

Bangalore, March 13
Left-arm fast bowler Zaheer Khan has virtually ruled himself out of the upcoming Test series against South Africa, saying he needs four to six weeks to be match-fit. The first Test starts on March 26 in Chennai.

"I am not (yet) ready for international cricket. I should be okay in four-six weeks," said Khan, who pulled out of the first Test against Australia last year because of an ankle injury.

"I have started bowling, but doctors have advised me not to push myself. That's one thing I have learnt with experience. I will play some domestic cricket before I take a call," said the speedster.

"I have been advised to start with one-dayers and club games. The progress after rehabilitation has been good," he said.

Khan, who is part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore team, launched here last night, said he is slowly increasing the workload.

"I want to return to international arena only when I am fit, not 100 per cent but 120 per cent," he said.

Bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad said Khan, who returned last week from a three-week rehabilitation programme in Johannesburg, needs time to regain full fitness. — PTI

New Delhi, March 13
Sachin Tendulkar has more bats than any sport goods shop as he has kept all the bats with which he scored 81 Test and one-day centuries so far.

The master batsman, who has scored 39 hundreds in Tests and 42 in one-day internationals, however, said he did not know how many bats he had collected so far.

"I have all the bats with which I have scored hundreds (in Tests and one-dayers). I don't know how many bats I have but I have kept all of them," he said.

Tendulkar, who scored three centuries — two in Tests and one in the tri-series finals — on the recent tour of Australia, singled out two shots against paceman Mitchell Johnson as his 'defining moments' of the tour Down Under.

"Probably, the two shots that I played over the wicketkeeper's head off Mitchell Johnson during the first final in Sydney," he said.

"Similarly, off Brett Lee in the Perth Test. Also, those straight drives off Lee in the Melbourne one-day which we won," he told 'Mid Day'.

The 34-year-old cricketer, with a career spanning over 18 years, said his obsession with the game had only increased with time. "Yes, it has. I am enjoying everything and it is fantastic."

Tendulkar said foundation for the Perth Test win was laid in the second Test in Sydney which was the "turning point" of the series.

"That partnership (with Rahul Dravid at Perth) was extremely important. That sent a strong message to the Australian dressing room. But it was the Sydney Test which changed things and caused the turnaround. We just carried that momentum into the next Test at Perth and in Adelaide. It was from Sydney where things started working differently," he said.

Tendulkar's advice to team-mates for the Test at the WACA, touted to have the fastest pitch in the world, was to spend time in the middle.

"The only thing I told my team-mates was that if you spend some time at the crease in Perth, it is the toughest place for bowlers... There are always opportunities to put the ball away and that's the way I would approach it... is what I told them." Tendulkar agreed that a "couple of more" warm-up games in Australia before the start of the Test series would have helped the Indian team.

"Ideally, one would have liked to have a bit more practice. The one warm-up game we played was washed out. That was tough but you don't make excuses," he said. — PTI

Durban, March 13
Andre Nel’s exclusion from the squad for the Test series in India has given rise to a fresh controversy in South African cricket with the tall paceman reportedly considering his future with the national side.

Nel was omitted from the Proteas team to take on the Indians in three Tests starting in Chennai on March 26 and his spot has gone to Charl Langeveldt, a player of colour.

Nel did not turn up to receive his man of the match award for his spell of four for 27 against Bangladesh in South Africa’s seven wicket victory yesterday.

According to reports here, Nel has expressed deep disappointment at being dropped for the India tour and had initially refused to play in yesterday's one-dayer, but was eventually persuaded to do so by the team management.

Johannesburg: The chief executive of South Africa’s players’ association today urged axed fast bowler Andre Nel not to make a decision regarding his future in the heat of the moment.

There were reports that he was planning to abandon South African cricket to take up offers to play in the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) or become a Kolpak player in England, ineligible to represent his country.

Tony Irish, chief executive of the South African Cricketers' Association, said he hoped Nel would wait until he had calmed down before making any major decisions.

“It's important that he doesn't make decisions about his future in the heat of the moment,” Irish told Reuters today.

''Any player that wants to join the ICL should consider all the implications because it is removing players from mainstream cricket and could be a dead-end for their career.

“The problem is that, unfortunately, the other national boards seem to be clamping down on it because of the pressure exerted on them by the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India), which is very unfortunate.

“Andre is only 30 and has a few years of international cricket left in him,” Irish said. South African captain Graeme Smith said Nel had been angered by his omission.

“He was emotional and upset, but we were all emotional; not only Nella. I don't think everyone slept as well as we would have liked to before a match,” Smith said after the series-clinching win over Bangladesh.

Team manager Logan Naidoo, who is also Cricket South Africa's deputy president, confirmed Nel had lost his place because of the colour of his skin.

“We have to try to select a team that can be the best in the world but we must, at the same time, look at transformation targets. Andre has been the unfortunate player to be on the receiving end this time around. We sympathise with him for what has happened,” Naidoo said.

CSA president Norman Arendse, who had refused to approve the Test squad to play Bangladesh, prompting a crisis in South African cricket last month, said he had nothing to do with the selection of the squad for India.

“You must ask the selectors about Andre Nel, they're the ones who selected the squad,'' Arendse told Reuters.

Media reports had suggested that the selectors had originally chosen Nel, but that Arendse rejected the squad and insisted on six players of colour. — Agencies

New Delhi, March 13
Seventh seed Sunitha Rao failed to match the guiles of giant killer Ekaterina Dzehalevich (Belarus) and lost 5-7, 2-6 as the Indian challenge came to an end in the $50,000 ITF women's tennis tournament here today.

In an encounter which lasted 100 minutes, Ekaterina survived some initial hiccups but once she got going, Sunitha's challenge faded away.

Ekaterina, who had shocked second seed Mathilde Johansson (France) in the second round, made fewer unforced errors compared to Sunitha who looked tentative most of the time.

The Indian raised the hopes of her supporters when she broke Ekaterina in the third game and then held her own serve to go up 3-1.

She had a chance to further consolidate her lead in the fifth game but missed a couple of easy smashes.

Ekaterina levelled the score at 3-3 by breaking the Indian who committed a double fault and then missed a smash. — UNI

Panchkula, March 13
Everybody knew that Lahore Badshahs is a powerful team. But the exact extent of their firepower became known in their ICL Edelweiss 20s Challenge match against Hyderabad Heroes at Tau Devi Lal stadium here today.

Badshahs, who had snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat against Chennai Superstars on March 11, just toyed with Hyderabad Heroes. Enjoying complete sway over their hapless rivals, they emerged comfortable nine-wicket winners.

The spin of the coin was the only thing which went Hyderabad’s way. After that it was a hard swim against the tide for them throughout until their ordeal ended when Badshahs, needing 87 to win, coasted home losing just one wicket with 10.2 overs to spare.

Batting first, Hyderabad batsmen made a meek surrender. Strangely enough, none of the batsmen showed the aptitude or gumption to stay at the wicket.

Though their star cast was not as formidable as that of their rivals, they had some decent players like A.T. Rayudu, Anirudh Singh and Stuart Binny as batsmen and an array of dangerous all rounders like Abdul Razzak, Nicky Boje, Justin Kemp and Chris Harris in their ranks.

Boje was the only player who redeemed himself, scoring a valuable 39 not out which saved Hyderabad from total ignominy. But for his efforts, Hyderabad batting would have struggled to last even 10 overs. After Boje, Razzak, with 10 runs, was the most successful batsman.

Lahore bowling line-up was formidable, resembling almost a regular Pakistan bowling attack with the likes of Rana Naved and Mohammad Sami and all rounder Azhar Mahmood and former dreaded off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq bowling in tandem.

Though Azhar Mahmood was the most successful bowler, all the three seamers combined to hurtle Hyderabad to doom.

The domination of the seamers was so complete that by seventh over six batsmen were back in the pavilion with pathetic 31 runs on the board.

Mahmood started the slide in the first over castling opener Jimmy Mehar. Inzamam then showed fine reflexes to run out Anirudh in the second over of the innings.

Rana struck next in the fourth over of the innings, evicting Rayudu. One jolt each was dealt in the fifth, sixth and seventh overs as six batsmen were cooling their heels in the pavilion with 31 on the board.

Former South Africa all rounder Boje then came good. Batting sensibly along with Razzak, he added 38 runs to the total for the seventh wicket stand, the highest of the innings, to give a semblance of respectability to the score.

The faint hopes that had risen for Hyderabad were dashed again when Mahmood returned to polish off the tail as the side was bundled out for a paltry 86. With his five-wicket haul, Mahmood emerged the wrecker-in-chief while Sami and Rana claimed two scalps each.

Chasing this total proved a cakewalk for Badshahs as Imran Nazir waded into the rival bowling attack. He notched up 32-ball 62 not out and the Badshahs cantered home in just 9.4 overs.

Scoreboard

Hyderabad Heroes innings

Anirudh run out 5

JP Maher b Azhar Mahmood 5

AT Rayudu c Inzamam b Naved 3

STR Binny b Azhar Mahmood 6

Kemp b Naved 5

Harris c Naved Latif b Sami 0

Boje not out 39

Abdul Razzaq b Sami 10

I Khaleel b Azhar Mahmood 8

PIS Reddy lbw Azhar Mahmood 0

PK Reddy c & b Azhar Mahmood 0

Extras (lb-2, w-3) 5

Total (all out, 18.4 overs) 86

FoW: 1-6, 2-13, 3-19, 4-21, 5-25, 6-31, 7-69, 8-86, 9-86, 10-86

Bowling: Azhar Mahmood 3.4-1-13-5, Naved ul-Hasan 4-0-19-2, Sami 3-0-12-2, Saqlain 4-0-23-0, Shahid Nazir 4-0-17-0

Lahore Badshahs innings

I. Farhat c Khaleel b Razzaq 4

Imran Nazir not out 62

H. Farhat not out 18

Extras (lb-4, w-1, nb-1) 6

Total (1 wkt, 9.4 overs) 90

Fall of wicket: 1-4

Bowling: Razzaq 3-0-15-1, PK Reddy 3-0-36-0, Kemp 2-0-13-0, PIS Reddy 1.4-0-22-0

Player of the match: Azhar Mahmood.

Wellington, March 13
Tim Ambrose and Paul Collingwood rescued England's innings after New Zealand's Jacob Oram had inspired a top-order collapse to ensure the second Test was evenly poised at the end of the first day's play today.

Ambrose and Collingwood came together with their side teetering at 136 for five during the middle session to combine for an unbeaten 155-run sixth wicket partnership and guide England to 291 for five at the end of play.

Oram had produced a tight spell that consisted of nine overs, four maidens, six runs and two wickets after the lunch break and Kyle Mills, Mark Gillespie and Chris Martin grabbed a wicket each to seize control of the match at tea.

Ambrose (97 not out) and Collingwood (48 not out), however, fought back after tea with the wicketkeeper, playing his second Test, notching his second half century and highest Test score.

Australian-born Ambrose scored 55 in the first innings of the first Test at Hamilton's Seddon Park.

The 25-year-old was the more aggressive of the pair, striking 15 boundaries and two sixes off 137 balls.

He pushed to complete his maiden Test century in the final over of the day, slashing at three deliveries from Oram, only just to miss each and frustrate the New Zealand slip cordon.

Collingwood was more circumspect but still managed six boundaries and was two runs short of his ninth Test half-century.

England had begun the day well with captain Michael Vaughan (32) and Alastair Cook (44) putting on 79 runs and batting through until the lunch break after Daniel Vettori had won the toss and put them in on a green-tinged Basin Reserve wicket.

Oram, however, struck straight after lunch when he bowled Vaughan on the second ball, and sparked a collapse that saw England slump to 136 for five.

Ambrose and Collingwood, however, ensured England ended the day on even terms with their second productive partnership of the series.

They had a 90-run partnership in the first innings of the first Test. New Zealand had won the first Test by 189 runs.

Scoreboard

England (1st innings)

Cook c McCullum b Oram 44

Vaughan b Oram 32

Strauss c Sinclair b Mills 8

Pietersen b Gillespie 31

Bell c McCullum b Martin 11

Collingwood batting 48

Tim Ambrose batting 97

Extras: (b-5, lb-7, nb-8) 20

Total (5 wkts, 90 overs) 291

FoW: 1-79, 2-82, 3-94, 4-126, 5-136.

Bowling: Chris Martin 19-1-76-1, Mills 24-2-77-1, M. Gillespie 17-1-70-1, Oram 22-9-25-2, Vettori 8-0-31-0. — Reuters

Amritsar, March 13
India Blue today won the inaugural match of the first South Asia Universities Hockey Men Championship by defeating Sri Lanka in a one-sided affair here today.

Pakistan and India Red drew 2-2 in the second match played at the Guru Nanak Dev University. Four teams from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are participating in this four-day Championship.

In the first match of the day, India Blue beat Sri Lanka in a one-sided affair by 18 field goals to nil including one through a penalty stroke.

The first goal was scored by Lakhwinder Singh in fifth minute, Jujhar Singh scored 2 goals, Pavninder Singh and Major Singh scored three goals each while Ajay Kumar and Amit Bhargav scored four and five goals, respectively. In the second match, India Red were able to draw the match with Pakistan 2-2.

The first goal from the Pakistan side came through Rehan in the 29th minute of the game while the second goal was also scored by him through a penalty corner in the 35th minute of the match.

India Red got a penalty corner and Bikramjeet Singh struck the goal in the 50th minute while the equaliser came at the 67th minute of the game through Kaushlander Singh.

New Delhi, March 13
With the hockey team out of the Olympic fray, only 23 Indian sportspersons, in six disciplines, have so far made the grade for the Beijing Games.

Shooters head the list with nine while only six have so far made the cut in athletics. The other disciplines in which sportspersons have qualified for Beijing are: archery (4), boxing (2), swimming, wrestling and table tennis (one each).

The athletes will get more opportunities to make the cut while India may also get a berth in tennis, if Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi join hands, on the basis of their ranking.

Qualifying events for some of the disciplines are still on, and the final number of sportspersons will be known only later.

But still, the number of Indian sportspersons qualifying for the Beijing Games may fall far short of expectations considering the money spent by the government for the training and coaching of the Olympic probables.