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Super Kings eye royal win
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Ponting not excited with Warne's offer
Leander hopeful of Olympic medal Tribune News Service
Fisi confident ahead of 200th race
We have a long way to go: Pargat
Army to train Beijing-bound lifters
JKFA shortlists 22 for Santosh Trophy
Rajasthan Royals’ Yusuf Pathan jubilates after hitting the winning stroke against Kolkata Knight Riders during the IPL T20 match at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Tuesday. — PTI
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Chennai, May 20
The Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side is placed third after garnering 14 points from 11 matches but they are guarding against complacency and VB Chandrasekhar, their Cricket Administrator, ruled out lowering the guard tomorrow even if the opponents are as weak as the Bangalore Royal Challengers. “We are not under any pressure but confident of the team making the semifinals. We have three more matches to go and our aim is to win all three matches,” he said. The former national selector pointed out that teams from Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata were still not out of the reckoning and in such a situation, the Super Kings should not take any chance. As for tomorrow’s match, the Super Kings are eyeing a victory with big margin to improve their net run rate as well. The Chennai side can take heart from the fact that their Kiwi import Stephen Fleming has got into the grooves, while Parthiv Patel too was in song against the Kolkata Knight Riders. “They gave us a good start against Kolkata and such starts will surely help us win all three coming matches,” Chandrasekhar said. The Chennai team plays Rajasthan Royals at home on May 24 and Deccan Chargers away on May 27. The team seems to have overcome the absence of some of the top international players who have returned home on national duty. “After the departure of Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey and Jacob Oram, we were forced to rework our combination. It took some time before things fell in places. Now that we have found strong combinations, particularly in the middle order, we have no worries,” Chandrasekar said. The middle order sports a formidable look with Suresh Raina, S Vidyut, Albie Morkel and Dhoni himself lending depth to the line-up. Makhaya Ntini’s return to form also augurs well for the hosts, who now have enough firepower in their attack. In contrast, Rahul Dravid’s Royal Challengers look a slipshod combination which has struggled throughout the tournament. Sacking of CEO Charu Sharma and harsh words from owner Vijay Mallya have only compounded the crisis and with their semifinal hopes lying in tatters, Dravid’s men would have little motivation tomorrow. Teams (From): Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (C), VV Kadbe, P Amarnath, S Anirudha, R Ashwin, S Badrinath, L Balaji, Stephen Fleming, Manpreet Gony, Matthew Hayden, Shadab Jakati, Joginder Sharma, Chamara Kapugedera, Arun Karthik, Suresh Kumar, Albie Morkel, Abhinav Mukund, Muttiah Muralitharan, Makhaya Ntini, Parthiv Patel, Suresh Raina, S Vidyut. Bangalore Royal Challengers: Rahul Dravid (C), N Aiyappa, B Akhil, KP Appanna, J Arunkumar, Mark Boucher, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Bharat Chipli, Shreevats Goswami, Wasim Jaffer, Sunil Joshi, Jacques Kallis, Zaheer Khan, Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Anil Kumble, Misbah-ul-Haq, Devraj Patil, Dale Steyn, Vinay Kumar. — PTI
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Chennai, May 20
Speaking to the media on the eve of the Super Kings’ penultimate, match in the league phase, here today, Wessels said Dhoni was ruled fit to play tomorrow, but Parthiv Patel will keep wickets. “Dhoni will definitely play, but he may not keep. We are keeping our options open and will assess his condition tomorrow,” Wessels said. Dhoni had injured his finger during the previous game against Kolkata Knight Riders and had to hand over the gloves to Patel. Wessels said the final composition of the team would be decided tomorrow after another look at the pitch. On the Royal Challengers, who are currently at the bottom of the table with just four points from two victories, Wessels said they are still a dangerous side and we will not take them lightly. “They have nothing to lose. That will make them more determined. Hence we are not under estimating them,” he added. Wessels said the remaining three games were important for the Super Kings. “We have three games left and they are significant for us. We cannot be complacent. Obviously, we would love to win at home,” he said. Asked if T20 was a “young man’s game” and that the Challengers had many old players-aged 30-plus Wessels said “it is all about fitness and ability and so long as you can perform, age does not come into the picture. The Challengers have some very good players who can carry the day,” he said. — UNI
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Bangalore, May 20 Chasing 155 for a crucial victory, the Daredevils rode on Sehwag and Gambhir’s rollicking start to reach 158 for 5 with 10 balls to spare to notch up their sixth win from 12 matches and kept them in the reckoning for a semifinal berth. Earlier, after being put in to bat, Bangalore Royal Challengers continued their characteristic wobbly start to post a modest 154 for 7, raised mainly on Sreevats Goswami’s half century on debut (52) and Misbah-ul-Haq’s (47) late charge. Sehwag and Gambhir, who faced only 41 balls for their 90-run stand, were cautious for the first two overs but got into their groove after that with Gambhir, IPL’s top run-getter, punishing Dale Steyn and Sehwag doing the same to Zaheer. After the second over, the IPL’s top two run-getters got at least two fours in an over before Sehwag was out courtesy a brilliant catch by Bharat Chipli in the seventh over after hitting Praveen Kumar for three fours and a six in that over. Gambhir did not last long and was run out two overs later for a well-made 39 (31 balls, 6X4) trying to steal a second run Needing just five runs an over from the 10th over onwards, the visitors were cruising along nicely before the home team plotted a middle order collapse. From 121 for 2 in the 14th over, the Delhi side lost three quick wickets in a space of 11 balls, scoring just 11 runs in the process with Dilshan (4), de Villiers (21) and Karthik (6) making a procession to the hut. However, Shikhar Dhawan (16 not out) and Farveez Maharoof (13 not out) held on to their nerves to romp home. — PTI Scoreboard Bangalore Royal Challengers: Kallis c Karthik b Maharoof 25 B Chipli c Bhatia b McGrath 2 Goswami c Dilshan b Maharoof 52 R Dravid b Dilshan 9 Misbah-ul-Haq not out 47 CL White run out 1 B Akhil run out 3 P Kumar b McGrath 2 Z Khan not out 4 Extras: (w 9) 9 Total: (7 wickets; 20 overs) 154 Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-41, 3-73, 4-102, 5-105, 6-122, 7-126 Bowling: McGrath 4-0-15-2, Sangwan 3-0-51-0, Y Mahesh 4-0-25-0, Maharoof 4-0-13-2, Bhatia 4-0-47-0, Dilshan 1-0-3-1 Delhi Daredevils: Gambhir run out 39 Sehwag c Chipli b Kumar 47 de Villiers c Goswami b Steyn 21 Dilshan st Goswami b Kumble 4 S Dhawan not out 16 KD Karthik c White b Kumble 6 MF Maharoof not out 13 Extras: (b 1, lb 6, w 5) 12 Total: (5 wickets; 18.2 overs) 158 Fall of wickets: 1-90, 2-100, 3-121, 4-123, 5-132 Bowling: Steyn 4-0-26-1, Z Khan 3-0-37-0, P Kumar 2- 0-33-1, Kallis 2-0-16-0, B Akhil 3-2-0-21-0, Kumble 4-0- 18-2
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Mumbai, May 20 The visiting team, depending on homegrown bowling talent for the most part after the departure of Australian pace ace Brett Lee, would be up against the likes of the wily Shaun Pollock and his South African compatriot Andre Nel, the temperamental pacer with the ability to extract good bounce. Punjab XI's opening pair of the highly impressive Shaun Marsh and fellow-Australian James Hopes need to get off to a good start on what's expected to be another bouncy and pacy track to help their side, sitting pretty with 14 points, notch their third straight win after the loss to Chennai Super Kings on May 10. Marsh has been particularly impressive in the Twenty20 tournament and has the back-up support of classy Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene, his compatriot Kumar Sangakkara (if fit) and the under-performing skipper Yuvraj Singh in the top order to face up to the challenge posed by Pollock, Nel, Lankan Dilhara Fernando, who played in their previous tie in place of Pollock - and the highly inconsistent Ashish Nehra. Mumbai Indians, fourth in the table, would be eager to settle the score against the visitors to whom they lost by 66 runs in their away match on April 25 at Mohali after which came the infamous 'slapgate' leading to then stand-in skipper Harbhajan Singh's ban from the event. Things have changed drastically for the hosts since that day with Sachin Tendulkar having regained his fitness to lead the side which is now on a purple streak. It was Pollock who led the turnaround from the front when the champion player was unavailable due to a groin injury. Most importantly for the home team, Sanath Jayasuriya has rediscovered the sort of form which he's most known for and the visitors' attack led by the temperamental S Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan would be wary of what awaits them if they err even slightly in line and length with the former Lankan ace and Tendulkar at the top of the Mumbai batting order. Though Tendulkar has not fired big in his three matches so far, Jayasuriya has the added comfort of going for the big shots from the first ball with the champion batsman at the other end which has placed a huge burden on the rival opening bowlers to maintain a strict stump to stump line of attack. Even when Jayasuriya fell for 36 against Deccan Chargers in the last match at Hyderabad the rest of the batting line-up, including Tendulkar who made 23, contributed usefully so that the total reached close to 180, which was enough to deliver the killing blow later. — PTI
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Ponting not excited with Warne's offer
Melbourne, May 20 CA's Philip Pope today said the story was a "fairytale". "We should all have a bit of perspective. Stuart MacGill is looking as fit as I've seen him in the last few years. He's over in the West Indies taking wickets, he's preparing to play a Test match for Australia," he said. "I spoke to Shane when he came into the office before he left for India and this kind of story certainly wasn't on his agenda," he was quoted as saying by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "If Australia really needed me and there was no one else around, and Ricky (Ponting) thought I could do the job, you would weigh up the options," Warne said. Interestingly, Warne had also admitted his return would be a "fairytale" but said he would weight up the options in case Stuart MacGill was unavailable for Ashes and Ponting says 'please help us out'. "If Stuey (Stuart) MacGill fell over and broke his leg, and there were no other spinners around, and Ricky came out and said, 'Mate, can you please help us out for this one-off tour? We need you', that is something I would weigh up." "If you could just turn up and play Test cricket, that would be cool. I would definitely consider that" Warne said yesterday. Ponting also did not take the suggestion seriously and said he did not see it happening. "He (Warne) has never mentioned that to me about coming back for the Ashes and I don't think that will happen," Ponting was quoted saying in 'The Australian'. "If he (MacGill) keeps himself fit and has the desire and passion to keep playing cricket then I'm pretty sure he would be good enough to get the Ashes job done," Ponting said.
— PTI |
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Leander hopeful of Olympic medal Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 20 While replying to the felicitation of former Olympians at the launch of the 19th edition of the Limca Book of Records here today, Leander hoped that it would be yet again a lucky omen for him when he competes in the tennis event of the Beijing Olympic Games in August this year. Leander said he has had a long association with the Limca brand as his first major win was when he competed in the Limca tennis circuit in the country as a 14-year-old, won the Eastern Zone final to qualify for the Masters in Delhi where the best 16 players from across the country competed. Former Olympian hurdler Gurbachan Singh Randhawa, flag-bearer of the Indian contingent in the 1960 Rome and 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Winter Olympics medal winner Shiva Keshavan (luge) and Special Olympics gold medallist in cycling Rushi Gulati were the other sportspersons honoured along with Leander. The latest edition of the records book contains a special 21-page chapter on Indian Olympians because of the Beijing Olympic Games. |
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Fisi confident ahead of 200th race
Monaco, May 20 ''Monaco will be my 200th race start, and it feels a long way away from my debut that's for sure, but I still feel as good and as confident as I did back then,'' Fisichella said. ''Rubens' (Barichello) record of 257 starts will be hard to beat, but there is definitely a feeling of satisfaction to reach this milestone that only a handful of other drivers have got to,'' he added. ''Even more satisfying is to know that I have a lot more to give and am still motivated to do well.'' There are 18 Grand Prix on this year's F1 World Championship calendar and they all count for the same amount of points, but the Monaco Grand Prix stands above all the others in terms of pure spectacle, glamour and prestige. Both Force India drivers Fisichella and Adrian Sutil have strong experience of the challenges of the twisty, bumpy 3.34km circuit and have enjoyed good performances there throughout their careers.
— UNI |
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We have a long way to go: Pargat
New Delhi, May 20 "We have a long way to go still, as we need to do a lot of hard work to build on the positives gained in the Azlan Shah Tournament", observed the former Indian captain at a reception organised for the team by Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Suresh Kalmadi, who is also the head of the Ad Hoc Committee constituted to run the game till the issues in the Indian Hockey Federation were sorted out. Pargat said India's performances were not flawless and there were "many weaknesses". "But the positives gained from the tournament was that we could identify the problem areas and can now work on to rectify them". He said after losing the first first two matches "we slowly but surely picked up momentum to win the rest of the matches to reach the final, though luck was with us. Even in the final, we played better hockey than Argentina, and were unlucky to lose narrowly". Pargat said if Indian hockey aspired to regain lost glory, then an effective hockey calendar needed to be formulated for short-term and long term gains, including the upgradation of coaches. Pargat also gave due credit to former coaches M.P.Singh and Joachim Carvalho for their contributions to the team, though their approach might have been different from the present management. He said a player of Sandeep Singh's calibre should have been in the Indian team for the Olympic qualifiers in Chile. "Had he been there, the scenario would have been different". Pargat said the fact that India beat three of the four teams who had qualified for the Beijing Olympic Games at Ipoh proved that "we are still a major force in the game, and it was just a question of harnessing the talent and fine-tuning the players for the big events". Pargat also made it clear that there would not be any pick and choose policy while selecting players for major international events. "Fit and experienced players will always get precedence. We have to take the best players", he averred. The former Olympian said though Sandeep Singh had displayed remarkable improvement in his drag-flick, which fetched him a record nine goals, he still needed to firm up his act. "Sandeep got into his rhythm, though he has to improve the timing of his scoops and drag-flicks with 100 per cent concentration". Pargat said Rick Charlesworth, the former Australian Olympian, "was the adviser on technical matters, like the team composition, which player to be fielded where...etc". Pargat said with some of the junior players now graduating to the senior ranks, there was a pool of 30-40 players who could be called up for national duty, which was an encouraging sign, as the IOA gears up to put hockey back on rail. Pargat was also impressed with the performances of custodian Adrian D'Souza and S.V.Sunil for his "pick up". Pargat said the right approach was necessary to get the best out of the players. IOA president Suresh Kalmadi said the Azlan Shah display will spur the Ad Hoc Committee to get into action mode to revive the fortune of hockey. "We will organise matches, tournaments and give foreign exposure to the team. We will do whatever needed to be done for the revival of Indian hockey". And Kalmadi also promised that the Ad Hoc committee will hold office "till it's a must". Coach Bansal said the strategy of the team was to study the weaknesses of the opponents and then exploit them. He said the goals conceded by India were due to the lapses of the defence. "Whenever our forwards lost the ball, we conceded goals". But the coach was satisfied with the high per cent penalty corner conversions by India, particularly the improvement shown by Sandeep Singh, though he felt that the drag-flicker could be more effective if he slightly varied the angle of his flicks. "But he's at least two steps ahead of Jugraj Singh (who was considered the best drag flicker till he met with a serious accident)", he added. Punjab Olympic Association president Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa said the Punjab Government had offered to train the Indian team for the 2010 World Cup, slated to be held in Delhi.
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Army to train Beijing-bound lifters
Patiala, May 20 The senior national camp for weightlifters will now be held at the ASI from today till the team flies for the Olympics in the first week of August. This will be for the first time that the government has asked the army to impart training in any sports discipline to the army. Sources reveal that the decision to hand over the training to the army is an attempt to reign in wayward lifters. It is pertinent to mention here that normally when lifters attend camps at the NIS here, there is no restriction on them on buying banned drugs, under the garb of medicines, from various chemist shops dotting the NIS campus leading to an increased usage of dope. However, with the camp now being shifted to the ASI, the lifters, sources reveal, will not be allowed to move out of the campus at Pune. In 2004, just before the Athens Olympics, speculation was rife that the government may hand over training in some disciplines to the army but the suggestions failed to take any concrete shape. The Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) is a body mired knee deep in controversies. The latest in the line to be caught on dope was Kavita Devi who, during an out of competition test conducted by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) at the NIS in April this year, returned a positive dope test. Kavita, who competed in the 75 kg in the Asian meet held at Japan earlier this month had returned positive for anabolic steroids. Now once again the beleaguered IWF has been caught on the wrong foot with junior national weightlifter Paritosh Upadhaya having tested positive for an anabolic steroid.
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JKFA shortlists 22 for Santosh Trophy
Srinagar, May 20 After a month long coaching of 30 footballers from all over the state; 22 members were selected by the JKFA. About 31 teams from all over the country would participate in the championship being held in Srinagar and Jammu from May 25. Addressing a press conference here the chief spokesman of JKFA Prof Bashir said 30 players were short listed after three-day trials conducted by the JKFA on April 21.
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Kolkata, May 20 Rajasthan were on top right from the beginning, barring a spell in the chase when wickets fell in a flurry. Warne decided to stick to his policy of fielding first, with the pitch offering assistance to the bowlers. They managed to restrict Kolkata, and a regular stream of wickets ensured the home side could manage only 147. Kolkata stayed in the hunt by picking up four wickets - which included a double-wicket maiden by Umar Gul. Sohail Tanvir couldn’t do much at no.3 and Saha took an acrobatic one-handed catch to get rid of Smith. Watson seemed to be in the mood, but he was soon to be bowled after trying to heave an in-swinger across the line. Earlier, David Hussey and Ganguly led the fightback adding 31 runs as Ganguly tried to break the shackles by stepping out to send Shane Warne packing over square leg to bring up the day’s first six. Hussey (11) hit back-to-back fours off Siddharth Trivedi in the 10th over to speed up the run rate and the Knight Riders reached a below par 59 for two at the halfway stage. Spinner Yusuf Pathan then rattled Hussey’s citadel with a quick offbreak and new man Das made his aggressive intentions clear with a over the boundary Ganguly’s far-from-comfortable stay in the middle came to an end when he played a cross-batted heave off Siddharth Trivedi and finished in the safe hands of Mohammed Kaif at long on. Das, looking a man in form, dispatched Pathan into the mid-wicket stand for his second six but got a life a little later when Tanvir failed to hold on to a skier at But Tanvir (3/26) made amends in the very next over as he got the Bengal batsmen bowled with a beautifully delivered yorker as the Knight Riders became 118 for 5 in 17.3 overs. But eventually Kolkata were left clueless. Yusuf Pathan’s powerful strokes quickly took the
game away. Gul had troubled the batsmen, but Yusuf wasn’t to be daunted. He steered a full toss past midwicket, although he was lucky an inside-edge the next ball missed the stumps. Kaif, who had been dominated by his partner, took a hat-trick of fours in a phase where he showed his ability to clear the infield. It required only one good partnership to overhaul the modest total, one which had been set up by accurate bowling and shrewd
captaincy. — PTI Scoreboard Kolkata Knight Riders Butt lbw Patel 24 Hafeez c Asnodkar b Patel 4 Ganguly c Kaif b Trivedi 32 D. Hussey b Pathan 11 Das b Tanvir 31 Shukla c Asnodkar b Tanvir 15 Saha not out 11 Agarkar run out 5 Gul c Kaif b Tanvir 7 Sharma not out 2 Extras: (lb-2, w-3) 5 Total: (8 wkts; 20 overs) 147 Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-40, 3-71, 4-95, 5-118, 6-123, 7-129, 8-142. Bowling: Tanvir 4-0-26-3, Patel 4-1-22-2, Watson 4-0-36-0, Trivedi 3-0-26-1, Warne 3-0-21-0, Y. Pathan Rajasthan Royals Smith c Saha b Gul 24 Asnodkar c Saha b Sharma 5 Tanvir c Butt b Gul 13 Kaif not out 34 Watson b Ganguly 19 Y. Pathan not out 48 Extras: (lb-4, w-3) 7 Total: (4 wkts; 16.3 overs) 150 Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-42, 3-42, 4-69. Bowling: Dinda 4-0-32-0, Sharma 3-0-23-1, Agarkar 3-0-30-0, Gul 3.3-1-30-2, Ganguly 2-0-24-1, Shukla 1-0-70. Player of the match: Y. Pathan
(Rajasthan Royals)
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The first time Leander Paes attended the launch of the Limca Book of Records in 1996, it proved lucky for him as a few months later, he struck a bronze medal in the Atlanta Olympic games--only the second individual Olympic medal for India then, after K.D.Yadav's medal in wrestling.
New Delhi, May 20
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