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Tri-Series Final
Rift in Pakistan team?
Poland coach blasts referee
Greece look to change tactics
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Vastic earns Austria a draw
Romanian forward Adrian Mutu celebrates after scoring the first goal for this team against Italy
on Friday. — AFP photo
Familiar foes set for crucial clash
Indian challenge ends
Sunitha Rao put up a gallant fight before losing in third round. — AP/PTI photo
Federer eases into Halle quarterfinals
Gilly awe-struck by IPL glitz
Punjab edge out K’taka, enter final
Steering rod spoils Naren’s run
Gill for early completion of stadia Nadal wins tiebreak shootout
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Tri-Series Final
Dhaka, June 13 With runs flowing from the top order blades and the bowling attack mowing down rival line-ups with regularity, Dhoni hardly had a reason to worry as his team bulldozed Bangladesh and pounded Pakistan with characteristic ruthlessness in two lop-sided league contests to storm into the final. In contrast, a depleted Pakistan reached the summit showdown not before India had inflicted on them their worst defeat against the arch-rivals. The 140-run thumping in fact had a ripple effect with a livid Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Nasim Ashraf shooting off a stinging e-mail to team manager Talat Ali seeking immediate explanation and questioning the team's ability, along with that of coach Geoff Lawson and the captain Shoaib Malik. And with Ashraf set to attend tomorrow's final, Malik and his teammates would surely feel the heat. In contrast, Dhoni's team has hardly put a foot wrong since their arrival here and the India captain said he was expecting the openers and new ball bowlers to give the side a good start tomorrow. "I am really happy about the team performance. We have played two matches and in both ties, we had good starts both in batting and bowling. I wish the same kind of performance continues in the final against Pakistan also," Dhoni said. Openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir have been firing on all cylinders, continuing exactly from where they had left it in the Indian Premier League. They put on 155 runs for the opening stand against Pakistan and added 85 last night against the hosts to provide the perfect start and the brisk rate in which they scored allow the subsequent batsmen to get their eyes in before sending the opponents on a leather-hunt. New ball bowlers, especially Praveen Kumar, has shown a penchant to draw the first blood and peg back the opponents to the back foot, while RP Singh too is among wickets. Piyush Chawla too ran through Pakistan middle order with his guile and there is no reason why the young leggie cannot do an encore tomorrow. Dhoni, meanwhile, is taking nothing for granted and is insisting on focussing on the process, rather than guessing the outcome. "Let's not think about the result but we should win the game as we have been doing so often. Every game is a fresh game and we need to carry on the momentum to some, even though you always start afresh. We have to repeat all the good work that we have done in the last two matches," he said. "Of course we will be carrying our confidence but you have to start from the scratch again in the final. It is all about playing the game to your potential and to your strength. That is what is important rather thinking about beating the rivals," Dhoni added. He also seemed oblivious of the hype that generally surrounds an
Indo-Pak tie. "The final against Pakistan is just another game. We are going to play them for the second time. The team wants to play a good game of cricket and we would like to give our best tomorrow," Dhoni said. Teams (From): India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C), Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, R P Singh, Piyush Chawla, Pragyan Ojha and MS Gony. Pakistan: Shoaib Malik (C), Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal, Misbah-ul-Haq, Yonus Khan, Muhammad Yousaf, Shahid Afridi, Fawad Alam, Umer Gul, Sohail Tanvir, Wahab Riaz, Nasir Jamshed, Sohail Khan, Rao Iftikar, Bazid Khan and Naumanullah. —
PTI |
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Rift in Pakistan team?
Karachi, June 13 After the team received a drubbing form the arch-rivals India in the tri-series league match, Lawson had said, "It is incorrect to say that there is no harmony in the team." However, the sources in the team say some players are not happy with Lawson and captain Shoaib Malik. "If you were here in Dhaka you would clearly see there is a split in the team with seniors like Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Shahid Afridi forming their own group and keeping a distance from the captain and coach," one source in the team told PTI. "Some of the players are not getting along with Lawson after his recent radio interview in which he hit out directly at them and criticised them for their attitude and performances without taking any names." Lawson's decision to go and play golf, instead of arranging a practice with his team one day after the big defeat against India has also been played up in the Pakistani media. "Lawson himself is proving to be a totally different coach from late Bob Woolmer and some players are now openly discussing within the team if the former Australian is qualified for the international job. —
PTI |
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Vienna, Jun 13 Poland were leading through Roger Guerreiro's 30th-minute goal when English referee Howard Webb awarded a penalty after seeing Sebastian Proedl held by Mariusz Lewandowski as the players jostled to reach a free kick yesterday. Ivica Vastic converted to revive Austria's hopes in Group B and leave Beenhakker fuming. ''It's impossible to accept,'' he told reporters. ''At the start of the tournament we were told referees had been specially instructed to look for wrestling in the box and for what in German we call 'schwalben', people who dive to get a penalty. ''Since the tournament started I've seen free wrestling at free kicks and corners and several divers but no yellow cards. ''Today was nothing unusual yet they allowed Austria to retake the free kick. On the second one there was the usual wrestling we've seen in the last five years,'' added Beenhakker. ''I don't know why the referee saw what nobody else saw, maybe he just wanted to show he was a big boy. ''I've been 43 years in this business, I always accept referee's decisions but this is something I really can't understand in relation to other situations.'' Poland lost their opening game 2-0 to Germany but, after riding their luck in the early stages on Thursday when Austria missed three good chances, were looking back on track as the clocked ticked down. — Reuters
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Greece look to change tactics
Klagenfurt, June 13 Greece coach Otto Rehhagel is expected to scrap the tactic of a five-man defence, which was eventually prised open by the Swedes in Salzburg, and opt for a more attacking 4-3-3 lineup. Fanis Gekas should start as his pace will trouble Russia's defence but there is a question mark over whether Angelos Haristeas and Yannis Amanatidis will make the starting XI. Rehhagel could opt for the experienced Nikos Liberopoulos, who has often scored from long range and is good at set pieces, to replace either of them. He might also deploy attack-minded defender Christos Patsatzoglou to close the gap between the back four and a midfield that looked shaky on Tuesday. ''We promise you that we will be a different team. We can't tell you if we will win or lose but we won't be the same team as against Sweden,'' captain Angelos Basinas said. —
Reuters |
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Vastic earns Austria a draw
Vienna, June 13 The 38-year-old attacking midfielder became the oldest man to score in the finals, surpassing the record held by former Portugal player Nene who was 34 when he netted against Romania in 1984. Earlier, Brazilian-born striker Roger Guerreiro gave Poland a fortunate first-half lead. Guerreiro, who was only granted citizenship in April, was clearly offside when he scored his first goal for his adopted country from a 30th-minute scramble at the Ernst Happel Stadium. Austria and Poland have one point in Group B, with Germany on three and Croatia top on six and certain of a place in the uarter-finals. Second place in the table will be decided on Monday when Germany play Austria and Croatia meet Poland. The co-hosts paid the price for squandering a host of early opportunities that could have comfortably won them the game. Having only threatened Croatia in the final 20 minutes on Sunday, Hickersberger told his side to go out guns blazing against the Poles. The message got through and his team should have been 3-0 up inside 20 minutes after Poland's ramshackle defence was repeatedly split wide open for a player to run through. Martin Harnik failed twice with Boruc at his mercy and Christoph Leitgeb fared no better in his one-on-one with the keeper as a rampant Austria put Poland to the sword. Unrecognisable from the side who qualified as group winners ahead of Portugal, Poland had been struggling to string two passes together before Guerreiro put them ahead. Ebi Smolarek picked out Marek Saganowski with a long pass to the far post but his effort was blocked and Guerreiro steered the ball home in his fourth game for Poland. — Reuters
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Buffon salvages draw for Italy
Zurich, June 13 Striker Mutu put Romania ahead 10 minutes into the second half when he pounced on Gianluca Zambrotta's poor back header. But Italy levelled immediately as Christian Panucci prodded the ball over the line following a Giorgio Chiellini header. Italy, humbled 3-0 by Netherlands in their opening Group C game on Monday, will feel hard done by after striker Luca Toni had a goal wrongly ruled out for offside before the interval. He powerfully headed in from close range and television replays showed he was clearly behind the last defender when Zambrotta played the ball into the packed box. "Today we deserved to win but luck didn't accompany us," said Italy coach Roberto Donadoni. "Zambrotta played a great match and that incident (back header) doesn't cancel that out." Italy, who have only one point and anxiously await the outcome of the France-Netherlands game later on Friday ahead of their meeting with Les Bleus on Tuesday, made five changes with Alessandro Del Piero coming in and captaining the side. They also switched to a 4-3-1-2 formation from 4-3-3 and were much more vibrant, creating several chances in the air as they tried to boost their flagging hopes of reaching the last eight. Romania had their share of first-half chances with Cristian Chivu hitting the post from a free kick which deflected off defender Panucci. Mutu had a shot saved by Buffon after beating Italy's offside trap while the keeper was also forced into a smart stop from Gabriel Tamas's fierce free kick from distance. Romania midfielder Mirel Radoi was taken off on a stretcher after a clash of heads with team mate Razvan Rat in the 23rd minute. — Reuters |
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Familiar foes set for crucial clash
Innsbruck, June 13 ''Sweden are a very difficult side to play against,'' Spain coach Luis Aragones told reporters this week. ''They play at great pace on the counter-attack and have some excellent forwards. They are definitely a team to worry about.'' Opposite number Lars Lagerback expressed similar sentiments about the Spanish before the Group D game in Innsbruck. ''We know all about Spain having played them in qualifying,'' he said. ''They like to keep the ball and are very dangerous in attack. We will have to be patient and play our own game, like we did against Greece.'' ''Spain are a quality team. If some of the players that are sitting on their bench had Swedish passports, I would certainly have them in my team.'' Spain finished two points ahead Sweden in qualification although honours were even in head-to-head meetings, the Scandinavians winning 2-0 in Solna in October 2006, but then going down 3-0 in Madrid in November last year. The two sides notched up convincing wins in their opening matches on Tuesday, Spain crushing Russia 4-1 and Sweden beating defending champions Greece 2-0. It means a victory for either side on Saturday would move them to within touching distance of the quarter-finals; with a place in the last eight guaranteed for the victors should Greece's late kickoff against Russia end in a draw.— Reuters
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Indian challenge ends
Birmingham, June 13 Sunitha, placed at 160 in the WTA charts, was up against world number 29 and put up a spirited fight before crashing out 3-6 7-5 6-1 in over 2 hour contest. The second highest ranked Indian broke her fancied Ukrainian opponent in the very first game of the match and once more in the opening set to take lead. However, the fifth seed lived up to her reputation and drew parity in the second by breaking her rival thrice in a set, which saw fortunes fluctuating to either side. The third and deciding set belonged to Bondarenko as perhaps Sunitha gave in to big match pressure and missed out on booking her first WTA quarterfinal berth. She was outplayed as she could win just one game and with her defeat Indian challenge ended in the prestigious Tier III tournament. Earlier, Sania Mirza's campaign had ended in the doubles event as well when she and her American partner Bethanie Mattek lost the first round to Russian-American combine of Natalie Grandin and Raquel Kops-Jones. The fourth seeded Indo-American pair fought well from a set down but eventually lost 4-6 6-3 4-10 to crash out of the tournament. — PTI |
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Federer eases into Halle quarterfinals
Halle (Germany), June 13 Having won Wednesday's first-round match against Germany's Michael Berrer in just 61 minutes, the Swiss master needed only eight minutes more to seal a 7-5, 6-3 win to ease past qualifier Jan Vacek from the Czech Republic yesterday. Federer lost Sunday's Roland Garros final to clay-court king Rafael Nadal and traditionally plays at Halle to help him prepare for Wimbledon as he bids to win his sixth consecutive title in south-west London later this month. But the 26-year-old admitted he had not had things his own way against Vacek despite the quick game. "This match was difficult, like I expected," he said. "I could not really play my normal game which was annoying. "He always kept me on the backfoot and and though I served well, I gave him too many free points in the first set." And although Yesterday's win was his 56th consecutive win on grass, Federer says he is taking nothing for granted on his favourite surface. "It is a good feeling and it gives me a lot of confidence," he said. "I do have this record in mind, but I learned not to underestimate anybody anymore. I made that mistake here in the 2000 quarter-final against Michael Chang. "I thought I had him, but ended up losing 5-7, 2-6." Federer revealed he has lost weight recently. "After my injury I put on a little, so I decided to do something about that. "Right now I do so much sports again so I lost some pounds - I am in good shape and feel fine, however I am 88kgs not 80 like it says in the media guide." And after watching his countrymen suffer Euro 2008 heart-break after losing 2-1 to an injury time goal against Turkey on Wednesday night, Federer said he was very disappointed. "This is terrible - it is very disappointing and it hurts," he said having flown to Halle from his home in Zurich. "We did not deserve that - to lose so late in the game. But I think we will continue to be good hosts and maybe we will surprise a few people in our last game against Portugal." In the last eight today, Federer will play fifth-seed and last year's finalist Marcos Baghdatis after he beat Frenchman Fabrice Santoro 6-4, 6-3 late yesterday afternoon. And the 2006 Australian Open finalist is relishing his first meeting with Federer on grass. "Roger is five-times Wimbledon Champion, so all I can do is serve better, try to play my game, come forward to the net more often and give it my best," said the 22-year-old Cypriot. There are three Germans in Friday's last eight with number one Philipp Kohlschreiber playing Sweden's Robin Soderling, Nicolas Keifer facing France's Michael Llodra and Andreas Beck up against James Blake of the USA. — AFP |
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Gilly awe-struck by IPL glitz
Melbourne, June 13 "It was quite overwhelming to see an event capture the attention and mindset and imagination of a country quite like it," Gilchrist said. "The only thing I can think of that was comparable was maybe the Olympics when they were in Sydney. But the Olympics was about two weeks, this was 45 days every night," he was quoted as saying by 'The Australian'. "It felt like that at 8pm the whole country would tune in no matter what the game was or who was playing. It was front page of the papers pretty much every day," said the Australian, who donned the Deccan Chargers' jersey in the IPL. "As much as the concept and the tournament was successful, that passion for cricket in India grows more and more. The whole concept will be looked back on as a landmark in the history of cricket," said the star stumper-batsman. Ponting, on the other hand, sounded apprehensive of the aftermath of the dollar deluge. "I've always been a little bit worried that if money keeps growing and growing and growing in that version of the game then all of a sudden young kids who are 14, 15, 16 now and want to make cricket their career may not even consider playing for their countries," Ponting told the daily. "They might be trying to get a crack at the IPL or a competition somewhere like that and hopefully make a name for themselves and totally turn their back on the international game. That's what I'm worried about," he said. — PTI |
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Punjab edge out K’taka, enter final
Srinagar, June 13 Both teams were goalless at the end of 90 minutes of regulation time. In the tie-breaker Punjab converted 4 chances while Karnataka could find the net only netted only thrice. Punjab will take on Services in the final on Sunday as they look to retain their crown. —
UNI |
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Steering rod spoils Naren’s run
Antalya, Turkey, June 13 Naren and his co-driver Nicky Beech straightened the rod themselves to resume with the run but the incident forced them to curtail the five kilometre run to only two. — UNI |
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Gill for early completion of stadia New Delhi, June 13 Major SAI stadiums like the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, National Stadium, the Indira Gandh indoor stadium, Karni Singh shooting ranges and the Talkatora swimming pool complex, are undergoing major makeovers, bringing to a virtual halt all sports activity in Delhi. The Shivaji Stadium, which is under the New Delhi Municipal Corporation control, and the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association tennis stadium, are also being given extensive face-lift, while construction work on the Games Village on the banks of the Yamuna river, near the sprawling Akshardam complex, has also begun. With the metro rail link passing through the Games Village is expected to be completed by end of next year, Dr Gill felt that all the stadiums could be put to extensive trials before the Commonwealth Games begin in late 2010. The minister was taking a proactive role in monitoring the progress of the construction work of the stadiums and noted that he would review the progress from now on on a monthly basis. Dr Gill said though a lot of ground had been covered on the construction front, he would be fully satisfied only after the "successful hosting" of the Commonwealth Games. The minister said he had started meeting all the stakeholders, including Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, SAI, DDA, NDMC etc. to take stock of the situation as "we all are committed to make the games a grand success". The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had yesterday approved an outlay of Rs 678 crore for the training of the country's elite sportspersons for the 2010 games. Dr Gill also said that he would strive to get the Cabinet's approval for a Rs 20 crore shooting range. He said Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had assured him all possible help for the smooth and successful conduct of the Games and no effort would be spared to make them a games to remember. |
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Nadal wins tiebreak shootout
London, June 13 The top seed saw 35 aces fly past his racket but showed plenty of grasscourt skills of his own to sneak through to face defending champion Andy Roddick in the semi-finals. Roddick was not even required to take to the court on Friday after his quarter-final opponent Andy Murray withdrew with a thumb injury sustained the previous day against Ernests Gulbis. Nadal, who demolished everybody he faced at Roland Garros to win his fourth French Open title without dropping a set, was taken the distance for the second day running after his tussle with Japan's Kei Nishikori yesterday. Karlovic, the tallest player on the tour at 2.08m, has the most feared serve in tennis and used it to full effect to blunt the Spanish claycourt king's normal game. Nadal only had two break points in the whole match, both of which he failed to take. However, his own swinging left-handed delivery was equally impressive as Karlovic was denied even one break opportunity of his own. — Reuters |
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Dhaka, June 13
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Podolski struggling with ankle injury