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FIH holds out veiled threat
Triple century was reply to critics, says Sehwag
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ICC CEO: Patel says no
Heroes deflate Champs
Selectors miffed by Malik’s no-show
Sukhbir heads Kings XI panel
Olympic flame arrives in China Bhutia refuses to be part of Olympic torch relay
Ministry meddling in team selection, says NRAI
Force India positive before Bahrain GP
Centre to launch new schemes
India’s 75-yr-old marathon wonder
Hockey camp begins
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FIH holds out veiled threat
Chandigarh, March 31 “The FIH reconsidered the conditional awarding of the World Cup 2010 to New Delhi. After having carefully studied the progress made with the project ‘Promoting Indian Hockey’ as well as the actions taken in the preparation of the World Cup 2010, the Executive Board noted that satisfactory progress had not been made in either area. “However, the Executive Board decided to give Indian Hockey some additional time, as provided for in the Memorandum of Understanding (signed in November 2007 between the FIH and the Indian Hockey Confederation), to urgently address those issues before taking a final decision. In the meantime, FIH is looking for alternative host countries in case the FIH would be forced to take the decision not to host the World Cup in India, “ an official communication of the FIH said today. This puts the Indian Hockey Confederation in a piquant situation. Holding of the 2010 World Cup in New Delhi has been the last straw that has been holding out sinking boat of Indian hockey. If the event is lost, the chances of revival of once national sport may suffer yet another severe set back. The changing stance of the FIH is intriguing. Instead of helping India back on road to recovery, the parent body has started using the project Promoting Indian Hockey as a tool to browbeat the IHC into submission. Even the provisional allotment of the event was humiliating for the IHC as all financial controls for the conduct of the event are to remain with the FIH and not the organising committee. The FIH wants to hold the World Cup in India but without giving the IHC its due role as is done in case of other host nations holding such tournaments. There has been a strong lobby in the FIH that continues to gun for the IHC and wants new people to take over and follow the FIH diktats for reviving the sport. Now when the FIH Executive Board has held out a virtual pull out threat, the IHC is left with no option but to succumb or stay out of World Cup also.K |
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Triple century was reply to critics, says Sehwag
New Delhi, March 31 "I was fit, but I was not played in Australia (in the tri-series)", Sehwag said, though he was quick to add that he had no issue with ODI captain Mahender Singh Dhoni. "I have no problem with Dhoni. There is no problem in the Indian team. We are like a team", he emphasised. When asked whether flat wickets like the one in Chennai only helped the cause of individual players and not the interest of the team, Sehwag replied that "good and bad" points could be attributed to the "flat track" in Chennai. "But individual performance also matters as it is tough to score runs and take wickets in international matches", he stated. Sehwag also took a dig at those who harped on the "flat wicket" aspect when he pointed out that why no mention was being made about the eight wickets taken by Harbhajan Singh on such a docile track. He hoped that Ahmedabad will have a sporting wicket "so that we can have a decisive (second) Test". About his lack of success in ODI matches he replied "I am too positive in ODI matches and because of that I get out often rather than the bowlers getting me out". Sehwag also refused to comment on Sachin Tendulkar as "I am nobody to comment on him. His records prove his credentials". Sehwag had a frank interaction with the media after Hindi film hero Akshay Kumar was introduced the "brand ambassador" of the Delhi Daredevils team, which will have red and black--the colour of "passion and emotion"-- as their colours, at an impressive function mounted here today by team franchise GMR. The dashing Akshay Kumar, who introduced himself as "Hari Om Bhatia from the Parothewali Gali of Chandni Chowk (Old Delhi)", said he was a keen student of the game during his formative years in Delhi, when he used to play cricket near the Red Fort ground. He said had he not accidentally entered the Hindi movie world, he would have certainly become a sportsman. "I have a sporting background as my father was a wrestler, who served in the Army, and I myself was very good in volleyball," Akshay said, while noting that his association with Delhi Daredevils was only his third endorsement deal, after Coca-Cola and Grasim. "I would endorse a product only if I can identify with it", he explained. Akshay made his entry in a dramatic manner, by playing classic cricket shots to the beat of synchronised tunes, with the flexible touch of a martial artist, which he is, with sweats pouring from his visage. The movie star said he could not have associated with any other team in the IPL other than Delhi Daredevils. Sehwag, captain of Delhi Daredevils, said his target in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 Championship would be to "to win the championship, play consistently and lead from the front". Sehwag said if players like Shoaib and Asif could not turn out for Daredevils due to their commitment with the Pak team, he would have the option of fielding McGrath and other and the young local players. He said it was a great opportunity to play alongside players from other countries. Shoaib and Asif said they would play for the Daredevils with the same kind of commitment and resolve with which they play for Pakistan. "We will play for Delhi like we play for Pakistan", Asif said. He said he was happy that Akshay was the brand ambassador of Daredevils as "I am a great fan of him, and Hindi films stars are a major draw with Pakistani public". |
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ICC CEO: Patel says no
Dubai, March 31 Exactly a fortnight after he was named to succeed Malcolm Speed, Patel said he carefully considered the ICC offer but preferred to continue with his present employers. But the ICC made it clear that Patel's withdrawal did not mean that they would settle for an "inferior" candidate and instead reconvene the recruitment committee. Former BCCI President I S Bindra was the only other candidate in the fray for the post, but the ICC has already appointed him on a new role of its Principal Advisor. ICC President-Elect David Morgan of England said they were disappointed but "committed to securing services of right candidate" in near future. "We are obviously disappointed that Imtiaz has chosen to withdraw his interest, having regarded him highly. However, the fact that Imtiaz has withdrawn does not mean that, by default, we will be left with a candidate who is, in any way, inferior to him," he said in a statement today. The next CEO will take over from Speed, who is set step down from the post after this year's ICC Annual Conference, slated between June 29 and July 4. Speed has held the position since July 2001, when he took over from the ICC's first CEO, David Richards. "In fact, we have been fortunate to have several high calibre candidates on the shortlist, all of whom bring something slightly different to the table... "We remain committed to securing the services of the right candidate and we anticipate being able to complete that task in the very near future," Morgan said. Patel indicated his decision in a telephone conversation with Morgan yesterday. Lorgat, Richardson in race
New Delhi: After Imtiaz Patel turned down the offer to take over as ICC's next chief executive officer, South Africa's former selection committee convenor Haroon Lorgat leads the race for the job, according to reports. According to Cricinfo, Lorgat, a South African chartered accountant of Indian-origin, has subsequently emerged as a strong candidate for the post and has already received a communication for a meeting with the ICC officials this week. "It's very premature to even talk about this subject," Lorgat was quoted as saying. "But obviously if the job is indeed offered to me, I would consider that a great honour," he said. Surprisingly, the other candidate in the fray is Dave Richardson, ICC General Manager (Cricket), also a South African.—
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Hyderabad, March 31 Electing to bat, Heroes scored 176 for two and then restricted Champs to 169 for nine in their quota of 20 overs. Raviraj Patil (51) and Robin Morris (56) hit blazing half-centuries to keep Champs in contention but failed to win the match. Once Patil was trapped before the wicket by Chris Harris, Champs find it difficult to control the soaring required run-rate. Patil hit six boundaries and three sixes in his 27-ball knock. Morris played a brilliant innings when chips were down for the Champs and raised hopes of his side's sensational win. However he was dismissed by Razzaq (3/31) in the final over, ending all hopes. Earlier, Razzaq played a scintillating knock, which was studded with nine boundaries and two shots over the fence. Rayudu, who came to the crease at the fall of opener J Maher (26), also played brilliantly for his 55-run knock, which came with the help of six boundaries and two sixes. Razzaq and Rayudu shared a 121-run stand for the second wicket to lay foundation for a big total. Razzaq was declared the man of the match. Scoreboard Hyderabad Heroes: Maher c SPaul b van der Wath 26 Razzaq not out 78 Rayudu c Best b Iyer 55 Kemp not out 4 Extras (lb 2, w 9, nb 2): 13 Total (2 wickets; 20 overs): 176 Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-156 Bowling: JJ van der Wath 4-0-27-1, Best 4-0-37-0, S Iyer 4-0-25-1, Avinash Yadav 4-0-21-0, N Astle 1.2-0-18-0, RP Patil 1-0-15-0, S Khanolkar 1-0-18-0, R Morris 0.4-0-13-0 Mumbai Champs: Jadhav c & b Abdul Razzaq 15 S Paul c Khaleel b Kemp 3 Patil lbw b Harris 51 Morris c Harris b Razzaq 56 Khanolkar b Reddy 2 Astle c Harris b Boje 3 Mandale c Boje b Absolem 25 Van der Wath b Harris 3 Iyer c Boje b Abdul Razzaq 0 Best not out 6 Yadav not out 0 Extras (lb 4, w 1): 5 Total (9 wickets; 20 overs): 169 FoW: 1-16, 2-22, 3-94, 4-97, 5-105, 6-139, 7-159, 8-163, 9-163 Bowling: Abdul Razzaq 4-0-31-3, JM Kemp 2-0-33-1, A Absolem 3-0-35-1, N Boje 4-0-20-1, PIS Reddy 3-0-22-1, CZ Harris 4-0-24-2— PTI
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Selectors miffed by Malik’s no-show
Karachi, March 31 The selectors were surprised when they were told to communicate with Malik, who was not available for the last 10 days citing his mother's poor health, on telephone in Mumbai to finalise the squad for the first two one-day games against Bangladesh. "It came as a surprise to us to know that Malik was in Mumbai. We were told he was not playing in domestic matches because of the illness of his mother," a selector said. — PTI
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Sukhbir heads Kings XI panel
Chandigarh, March 31 The celebrity couple accompanied by Punjab Cricket Association’s (PCA) president I. S. Bindra called on Sukhbir Badal at the SAD Bhawan in Sector 28 today. Bindra, who has been recently appointed as Advisor of the International Cricket Council (ICC), said they (the franchisee of Mohali team) had requested the SAD leader to take the responsibility, which Badal accepted. |
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Olympic flame arrives in China
Beijing, March 31 ''The century-old dream of the Chinese people to host the Olympic Games has been turned into a reality,'' said Xi Jinping, Hu's heir-apparent who is overseeing Olympic preparations. ''The torch relay will pull together the strength of the whole nation in making every effort to stage a unique and well-run Olympic Games and promote national development, social progress and people's well-being.'' But what was envisioned as a ''Journey of Harmony'' that would illustrate unity ahead of the August 8 opening of the Games looks instead like becoming a lightning rod for protests. At last week's flame-lighting ceremony in Greece activists unfurled banners condemning China's rights record, and yesterday a small group of protesters tried to block the flame's handover to Beijing officials. There was no direct mention of the protests today as Xi and Games chief Liu Qi littered their short speeches with the phrase ''peace and friendship''. ''We believe that with the joint efforts of the torch relay cities, and all parties concerned, the Beijing 2008 torch relay ... will achieve full success,'' Liu said. The flame, encased in a lantern, was escorted off a charter plane from Greece today and brought to Tiananmen Square, the focus of democracy protests that were crushed in 1989. Police and plainclothes security lined streets cordoned off with yellow tape and the ceremony passed without disruption in the square, overlooked by a giant portrait of Mao Zedong, father of Communist China. ''This is something the Chinese people should be happy about. The protests overseas are inappropriate because people abroad should also be happy for China's achievements,'' said Song Haifeng, 22, among thousands gathered outside the cordons. —
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Bhutia refuses to be part of Olympic torch relay Gangtok, March 31 Bhaichung's home state, Sikkim, has a sizeable population of Tibetan community members living in exile. Bhutia, also the striker of Mohun Bagan, had been invited by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), about three weeks back, to carry the torch in New Delhi on April 17. An invitation letter had earlier been faxed to him by Suresh Kalmadi, the president of the IOA. In a reply addressed to the IOA president, Bhaichung has refused the invitation citing that he sympathised with the Tibetan cause. Speaking to the media in Sikkim over phone today Bhaichung confirmed his non-participation in the Olympic torch relay which will pass through the national capital, Delhi. ''I sympathise with the Tibetan and their cause'' was all Bhaichung had to say about his refusal. He declined to elaborate on the topic apart from informing that he had written to the IOA on his refusal. It has been learnt that there were no such requests made to Bhutia by the Tibetan community members unlike the requests made to Aamir Khan. Bhutia's decision was made on his own after seeing the plight and the solidarity of the Tibetans. New Delhi is hosting the Olympic torch relay for the third time in succession. The Beijing Olympics torch relay, originally to pass through the financial capital of the country, will now pass through the national capital. Bhaichung's home state Sikkim also has a sizeable population of the Tibetan community who have been living in exile. — UNI
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Ministry meddling in team selection, says NRAI
New Delhi, March 31 The NRAI said that the Sports Ministry without giving any reason excluded four shooters from the team for the first World Cup to be held from April 17 to 27 in Beijing, where Olympic Games will be staged in August. The Sports Ministry excluded skeet shooters Man Singh, who won the gold medal in skeet at the Indian Masters in Patiala, P P Singh and Rozepal Singh, besides a trap shooter, whose name could not be known. "They deleted the names of four skeet shooters, including Man Singh, who scored 25/25 to win the gold in the finals at the Indian Masters here yesterday," NRAI General Secretary Baljit Singh Sethi said. "After I pleaded with them that they included Man Singh but such arguments certainly influence the mindset of a player," he added. Sethi said such practices by the Ministry would "destroy" the game in the country. "The Sports Ministry is becoming the super selection committee. Normally, the practice is that NRAI selects the team and sends the names to the Ministry for approval and they clear it," he said. "In the last 25 years we have not faced problem, but now we don't know who is mis-leading their officials that they don't even refer to us before deleting the names from team," Sethi said. "This is the Olympic year and such practice will surely demoralise the shooters. It will soon destroy the sport in the country," he said. When contacted, a top Sports Ministry official said he could not react to the issue without "any specific instance" but evaded the query when asked to react on Man Singh's exclusion, saying he was "busy in a meeting". — PTI |
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Force India positive before Bahrain GP
Manama, Bahrain, March 31 The 5.412-km Bahrain International Circuit is located in the Sakhir desert area south of Manama, the capital city of the Kingdom of Bahrain. The Hermann Tilke-designed facility follows the contours of the rolling sand dunes, giving a gently undulating track that combines long straights with tight, narrow corners. The Force India Formula One Team will be looking to carry forward the strong progress demonstrated in the opening rounds of the championship. At the previous event in Malaysia the team missed out on entering Q2 for the first time in over a season by the narrowest of margins - just 0.05 secs - and Giancarlo Fisichella raced competitively for 12th position overall. Force India has also improved its average lap time by over two seconds, the biggest improvement of the F1 grid, and now goes to Bahrain hoping to validate these improvements under race conditions and achieve its first double finish of Driver Adrian Sutil said, ''In Bahrain you need to be quite quick in a straight line, and the teams will be quite close together, but I think with the new upgrades we have in Bahrain we will be much closer than ever to the other teams. It's mainly a hairpin circuit, a few quick chicanes but mainly second gear corners, so it should suit us a bit better.'' ''I think we will be close to reaching second qualifying again. We saw in both Melbourne and Malaysia that Giancarlo was close, and it will be similar again I hope. I feel I've been unlucky in qualifying, and then of course in the race, but I am confident that we won't have the same problem again. I just need to have the opportunity to finish to show what we can really do. We saw in Melbourne that my first lap was very good and the car is more competitive than last year, for sure. I'm looking forward to racing again and getting my first finish of the year,'' he added. Another driver Giancarlo Fisichella said, ''I enjoy the Bahrain Grand Prix. It is a good track with a long straight that can be very enjoyable if you have a good engine, which we do. There are of course a couple of tricky corners and it is very demanding on brakes, so it proves to be a good challenge. ''My aims will same as in Malaysia: I want to complete the full distance and improve the race pace if we can, although in Sepang our lap times were already pretty competitive. The VJM01 feels well balanced, even if we know there is more to come from it. Hopefully with the new improvements in Bahrain we will be able to investigate some more set up options and should be able to get rid of the understeer that plagued us in Sepang. ''I think we can also try to get into Q2, but this always depends on us getting the perfect lap and maybe one of the others making a mistake - it's very close racing this year, particularly with Toro Rosso and Honda, and I think this battle will continue for the rest of the season. ''In Malaysia we were fighting hard with these two teams and were very close in lap times, especially with Rubens. I think to beat him we need to have a good strategy, but now we know what we have to do, we can look into it in Bahrain. With the race pace we have we can take some risks with the strategies until we know what suits us best. I am looking forward to it,'' he added. — UNI
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Vintage Davenport crushes Ivanovic
Miami, March 31 The Serb, who arrived in Miami after winning the Pacific Life Open title, had no answers to the aggressive game brought to the court by world number 33 Davenport. ''Obviously the first time you play against someone you try to get to know them and try to get rhythm in the beginning,'' Ivanovic said. ''But against her you just don't get it. She was playing extremely well.'' Ivanovic is the second top-10 player Davenport has beaten since returning to the tour last September after giving birth to her first child. Davenport won 13 of 14 points at the net and cancelled out her 20 unforced errors with 20 winners. The former world number one led 6-4, 3-0 when it appeared Ivanovic might fight back when she broke serve in the fourth game, but Davenport recovered the break immediately. ''My intensity wasn't up there today,'' Ivanovic said. ''When you play against such a champion, you need to be on the ball for each point.'' Davenport, who skipped the Sony Ericsson Open for many years because she thought playing both the Pacific Life Open and Miami was too difficult, was not surprised that Ivanovic struggled. ''Sometimes you never know what to do expect when you go out for a certain match on a certain day,'' Davenport said. ''Obviously, she's had a great year so far. ''But it's very tough to play Indian Wells and Miami back-to-back, doing well in Indian Wells.'' Russian third seed Kuznetsova, the 2006 champion, saved a match point before beating world number 27 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 1-6, 7-5, 6-0. Henin dispatched Sara Errani of Italy 6-2, 6-1 in just 64 minutes, breaking the world number 72 five times. ''It very hot out there,'' said Henin, whose best showing at the Miami tournament was reaching last year's final. ''It was quite difficult to breathe.'' Serena Williams overcame 60 unforced errors to beat Flavia Penetta 6-7, 6-3, 6-2 after trailing the Italian 3-0 in the second set. ''I really just started fighting,'' Serena said. ''I didn't want to lose. I talked to my mom on the phone. She has a way of talking to me. And I talked to my dad as well.'' Sixth seed Venus Williams spent only 67 minutes on court, taking care of wildcard Marina Erakovic of New Zealand 6-2, 6-1. — Reuters
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Centre to launch new schemes
Amritsar, March 31 He was here to honour students of Guru Nanak Dev University for their outstanding achievements in sports. GNDU Vice-Chancellor Dr Jai Rup Singh presided over the function. Srinivas said the Centre had decided to take steps to promote sports at rural level. For this, two new schemes of Panchayat Yuva Khel Abhiyan and Community Coaching Centers are being launched by the government very shortly. Under Panchayal Yuva Khel Abhiyan, he said sports fields and volunteers to impart coaching to the rural youth would be provided in the villages of various states. Similarly, community coaching centres would be established in various schools, colleges and universities for the development of sports at the grass root level. Srinivas said under this scheme about 200 scholarships would be awarded to encourage students studying in various schools and colleges to take up sports. More than 50,000 players would be involved in this scheme. He said Cuba has a population which is less than that of Delhi but is always in top five in almost all international sports meets. Making a case for better financial security for the players he said India could spend Rs 1 crore on a single player if he is able to win a gold medal at the Olympics. He congratulated the university authorities for the commendable achievements in sports at national level. He expressed the hope that its players would surely make a mark in the Olympics. The vice-chancellor said Guru Nanak Dev University in the recent past had enormously enhanced the cash prizes for its players. He said this year the university had distributed more than Rs 22 lakh as cash prize to promote sports.
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India’s 75-yr-old marathon wonder
Washington, March 31 Braving chilly temperature of about 4° Celsius and gusty 10-20 mph winds on Sunday, Roy finished fifth in the 70 plus age group with a time of 6:21:23 hours to the cheers of fellow competitors. It wasn't the best of times for Roy, who took to long distance running at the age of 50 after retiring from the Indian Air Force where he served as a cardiologist for 21 years. Five years back when he first ran in the 70 plus group in Norway, Roy finished the course in 4:18:00 hours. With osteo-arthritis in the right knee for the last two years slowing him down, Roy found the going a little tough on the uneven up and down route in the first half which he finished in 3:8:23. The second half took just four and a half minutes longer. Roy, who ran eight marathons in a span of eight months in 2007, plans to compete in at least three more this year. The next run would be in Delaware Marathon in Wilmington May 18 followed by the one in Grandmas Marathon at Duluth June 21. — IANS
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Hockey camp begins
Bangalore, March 31 Team Manager R. K. Shetty told UNI that the 40 probables will undergo rigorous training under Chief Coach Joaquim Carvalho and added almost all the players had arrived. However, the squad would be missing former captain and defender Dilip Tirkey who is suffering from an injury, drag flicker Sandeep Singh who was injured in the final of the K. D. Singh Babu tournament in Lucknow yesterday. However, Arjun Halappa, who was off the field for more than a year, was elated over his inclusion in the list of probables. The list of probables: Baljit Singh, Bharath Kumar Chetri, Sreejesh, Adrian D'Souza, William Xalxo, V R Raghunath, Diwakar Ram, Rupinder Pal, Manjeet Kullu, Sameer Baxia, Innocent Kullu, Gurbaj Singh, V S Vinoya, Arjun Halappa, Ranjit Singh, Sardar Singh, Probot Tirkey, Vikram Kanth, Igneous Tirkey, Ajittesh Roy, Birender Lakra, Amandip Ikka, Guruvinder Chandi, Rajpal Singh, Sivendera Singh, Tushar Khandekar, Prabhjot Singh, Roshan Minz, S V Sunil, Bharat Chikara, Cheeyanna, Damandeep Singh, Lalit Upadhay, Ravi Pal Singh, Inderjit Singh Chadda, Sarvanjit Singh, Senthil, Raja, Jaswinder Singh. Chief Coach: Joaquim Carvalho, Coach: M P Singh, Asst. Coach: M Ramesh Parmeshwar, Physio: Srikanth Iyengar, Video Analyst; A Prasanna, and Manager: R K Shetty. —
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