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Cara Black completes doubles double
Federer tames Djokovic to reach final
Rain halts Murray charge |
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Chandhok needs to be consistent: Mallya
Win still eludes Anand
Mahindra United lift Durand Cup
4-nation hockey tourney likely
Ambani ‘keen on’ Newcastle takeover
Monika case: CBI launches probe
Referee declaring Amandeep Singh of Punjab winner on the second day of the championship on Sunday.
Tribune photo: Malkiat Singh
Indian Navy down Air India
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Cara Black completes doubles double
The top seeds saved two set points in the second-set tiebreak before completing their first US Open triumph together without losing a set. "I don't know whether to sing the anthem, cartwheel or just encourage you all to vote," Huber said in a courtside interview. "I am just the proudest American right now." Tenth seeds Raymond and Stosur, runners-up at Wimbledon this year, where they beat Black and Huber in the semifinals, broke in the opening game but were outplayed in the rest of the set. Raymond and Stosur led 6-4 in the second-set tiebreak, but Huber and Black won four straight points to clinch the title and their eighth tournament win of the year. The win gave Black her a second US Open title this year after she teamed up with India's Leander Paes to win the mixed doubles, when she beat Huber and Briton Jamie Murray in the final. — Reuters
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Federer tames Djokovic to reach final
New York, September 7 "I am so excited to be back in the final again," the second seed said in a courtside interview.
"I've worked hard all season to do well in the big ones. (To win) here at the Open would mean a hell of a lot to me." Having struggled en route to the semi-finals, Federer, chasing his first grand slam title of the year but 13th overall, played an almost perfect opening set. Third seed Djokovic, who beat Federer on his way to his first grand slam title at the Australian Open in January, looked flat early on but lifted his game to move ahead 4-1 in the second set. The Swiss hit back to be on even terms at 4-4 but Djokovic broke in the 12th game to level the match. Federer continued to exert more pressure on the Djokovic serve and one break, in the 11th game, helped him snatch the third set. Games stayed on serve at the start of the fourth set, but an unfortunate netcord by Djokovic landed out to give Federer the break in the fifth game. That seemed to knock the air out of Djokovic's lungs and after Federer won a tight service game to lead 4-2, he broke again in the next game before clinching victory with a forehand winner.
— Reuters |
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Rain halts Murray charge
New York, September 7 With the remnants of Tropical Storm Hanna expected to roll through the New York area for the rest of the day, play was suspended for the day and the match will resume on Sunday, weather permitting. Murray, serving powerfully and dominating the Spaniard from the baseline with his deeper groundstrokes, swept through the first set in just over half an hour before clinching the second 7-5 in a tiebreak. The Scot, competing for the first time in the last four at a grand slam, had ripped 44 winners past Nadal, including 17 aces, when their match was forced into a second day. Nadal, French and Wimbledon champion, has not lost to the Scot in five previous meetings but, like his opponent, was competing in his first U.S. Open semi-final. Sixth seed Murray was bidding to become the first Briton since Greg Rusedski in 1997 to reach the U.S. Open final. Murray, a winner of three ATP titles this season, broke Nadal in the third game of the match when the Spaniard hit a forehand long and again in the seventh with a forehand pass down the line to lead 5-2. With threatening rain clouds looming, the 21-year-old Briton served out to wrap up the first set in 33 minutes after Nadal netted a backhand pass. Nadal had to work hard to hold serve in the second, saving two breakpoints in the fifth and 11th games before the set went into a tiebreak. After an early exchange of mini-breaks, Murray clinched it 7-5 when the struggling Nadal hit a backhand wide. Against the run of play, the Spaniard broke Murray in the first game of the third set when the Briton hit a forehand long. The next four games went with serve until play was suspended . The players were kept courtside for a further three minutes before the rain intensified and Murray and Nadal left the arena. — Reuters
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Chandhok needs to be consistent: Mallya
Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium),
September 7 "I think he is still a year away from the race seat but I would love to give Karun a go as a test driver first," Mallya said at the Belgian Grand Prix. "I need to see him winning GP2 consistently, not an odd one here and there. He has it in him to do it and when he does it, sure I would love to have an Indian driver in the car if I could," Mallya
added.
"But at the end of the day, I cannot be encouraging the team's performance on one hand and then doing something that might compromise the result.” The liquor barron said Chandhok still needs to be consistent as he has still not reached a point where he can be grabbed by the Formula One team but added that he was hoping that the driver would soon do it. The 24-year-old Chandhok has won two races in the GP2 support series including his first at Spa last year and in Germany this season. Chandhok is considered as the best prospect in India after Narain Karthikeyan who had raced for Jordan, which no more exists, in 2005. Currently, Force India has three foreign drivers in Vitantonio Liuzzi of Italy as its test and reserve driver while compatriot Giancarlo Fisichella partners Germany's Adrian Sutil in the race lineup. Mallya, however, made clear that the 35-year-old Fisichella, who has already won a race with Renault and now in his 13th season, would be a part of his team in 2009 as well. "This team desperately needs the experience of Giancarlo, has needed it, and as we design a brand new car for 2009, needs it even more," he said. — UNI
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Win still eludes Anand
Bilbao (Spain), September 7 The lead positions in the category-22 tournament remained unchanged as all fifth round games ended in draw and consequentially, Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria remained atop the tables in the event that follows a soccer-like scoring system with three points for a win and one for a draw. At the half way stage, Topalov is on nine points, Carlsen remains sole second on eighth points while Levon Aronian has six. Anand shares the fourth spot in the event along with two other contestants Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan and Ukrainian Vassily Ivanchuk with four points apiece and five rounds to come. Anand was surprised by Carlsen early in the opening as the Norwegian star went for the Schielmann defense in the Ruy Lopez that is fast getting a reputation for a counter-attacking opening. Anand came out in the middle game with better chances and an extra pawn but apparently missed on a tactical sortie on the 20th that cost him a Rook for a Bishop. The Indian ace was soon on the defensive and had to find the right path to equalise. A knight manoeuvres ensured that for Anand as he won back the lost material and the ensuing queen and pawns endgame was just a draw. The game lasted 36 moves.
— PTI |
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Mahindra United lift Durand Cup
New Delhi, September 7 Though Mahindra United were held as the favourites, they were shaken out of their wits when Churchill Brothers took the lead in the 12th minute through Robert Lalthlamuana's first time shot, off a direct pass from Khantang Paite, which took Mahindra custodian Subhashish Roy by surprise. But the setback propelled Mahindra to mount a series of attacks on the Churchill goal to put the Goan team under tremendous pressure, which brought the desired reward for the Mumbai outfit as their star striker Chidi Edeh struck twice, in the 19th and 32nd minutes, to put them in the lead. The equaliser came off a header following a free kick while Chidi scored the second goal when he latched on to a free ball and tapped in without wasting time (2-1). When the match was heading towards a Mahindra victory, Churchill levelled the score four minutes before the final hooter when Savio Monteiro headed in a chipped ball from skipper Odafa Onyeka (2-2). In the first half of extra time, both teams squandered open scoring chances, but Mahindra found their saviour in substitute K Thoi Singh who pushed the ball home off a cross from Ajyan on the left with the Churchill defence caught on the wrong foot. Churchill paid a heavy price for missing easy scoring chances while Mahindra made light of their missed opportunities to come up with goals when they needed them the most. Mahindra and Churchill had played a 1-1 draw in their quarterfinal league match, but since then, Mahindra United had been gaining in strength, which they displayed in good measure tonight to wrest the cup and a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh. Mahindra had earlier won the Durand Cup in 1998 defeating East Bengal 2-1 and in 2001 blanking Churchill 5-0.
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4-nation hockey tourney likely
Chandigarh, September 7 Hosts India will be the fourth team in the tournament that has preliminary sanction or clearance of the International Hockey Federation. Officials of the Indian Olympic Association, including Secretary-General Randhir Singh, had browsed the subject with the FIH chief Els van Breda during the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing. She had given her go ahead provided proposed teams or their managements accepted the invite. “We have already sent the invitations and hope to hear from them by end of this month or early next month,” says Pargat Singh, Director of Punjab Sports Department. The teams are looking at availability of their players in last week of January or first week of February. “Once players confirm their availability, we will go ahead with the preparations,” says Pargat holding that all matches will be played in floodlights. “We have proposed a total prize money of $ 100,000. The winners will get $ 30,000 while the runners up will get $ 20,000. The third placed team will get $ 15,000 and the fourth $ 10,000. “Besides there will be a man of the match award of $ 1000 in each of the 14 matches proposed to be played during the tournament. Then there will be some special cash prizes for best players of the tournament in goalkeeping, defence and forward line also,” Pargat added. The FIH is keen to see India back in top eight teams of world hockey. It is why it has offered India holding of Champions Trophy either in 2011 or 2012 after the 2010 World Cup. The next edition of the Champions Trophy will be perhaps first where there will be no Pakistan in the tournament that finished a poor eighth in the Beijing Olympic Games.
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Ambani ‘keen on’ Newcastle takeover
London/New Delhi, September 7 Reports said Ambani's representatives will start negotiations tomorrow with the Premier League club owner Mike Ashley, who has been in the centre of hate by fans for forcing Keegan out. "He (Ashley) is ready to sell (the club) with talks planned with the Reliance Communications Group led by Indian businessman Anil Ambani on Monday," the 'Sunday Mail' reported. "Billionaire Ambani is the sixth richest man in the world with a personal wealth estimated at 21billion pound sterling. He and his group plan to take control of a Premier League club and look for new revenue streams in the Indian market, with Newcastle considered ripe for the taking due to their current instability and Ashley's careful book-keeping," the report added. Officials of India's biggest telecom company, however, denied such a move. Reliance Communications head of Corporate Communications, Gaurav Wahi dismissed any such plans by his company to take over the Premier League club. "We have denied this earlier and we have no plans to take over Newcastle United or any other English club. All these media reports are inaccurate," Wahi told PTI from Mumbai. — PTI
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Monika case: CBI launches probe
New Delhi, September 7 The CBI registered the Preliminary Enquiry (PE) against "unknown persons" after a request was made by the Manipur Government to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for a thorough probe into the entire incident. Monika, in her deposition before the T S Krishnamurthy Commission, had alleged that the actions of SAI as "unreasonable and mala fide" and also that she failed to go to Beijing Olympics because of the "deliberate lapse" on the part of the IOA. The weightlifter hailing from Manipur, in her petition, had blamed SAI for the whole controversy which led to her withdrawal from the Indian Olympic contingent just hours before her scheduled departure to Beijing. "If the report (dope test) was at all positive, why did the SAI not inform the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) 48-72 hours prior to the departure as required under the provisions of WADA?" she questioned. Monika said SAI, being an institution, ought to have acted reasonably and fairly and the sports body's "ill treatment" to her was "highly condemnable". — PTI
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Amandeep outboxes Lal Chand
Bathinda, September 7 Results: Light fly 48kg: Mohan Lal (Del) bt Bikash Singh (Asm) 21-6; Bishwajit Nandal (Ar) bt (at RSC) Pawan Kumar (Bih); R Lalthazuala (Tri) bt P Raghuvaran (Tn) 30-6; Manwar Hussain (RSPB) bt S Ramu (AP) 22-9; Paramjeet Singh (Chd) bt Vipin Kumar (Utk) 9-6; Salman Anwar (Mah) bt Sunil Shukla (Jha) 14-12; Amit Kumar (Har) declared RSCOS fighting with Pushkar P Bhosle (Goa); Rajesh Saini (Raj) declared RSCOS fighting with Chakarvarti (Guj); Aman Deep Singh (Pun) bt Lal Chand Shaw (WB) 19-5; Thoiba (Nag) bt Prakash Darjee (Aru) 20-8; Umesh Yadav (MP) bt Dilip S Negi (Aip) 19-13. Light welter 64kg: Muanpuia (Miz) bt (at RSC) Gautam Kumar (Bih); S Prem Kumar (Kar) bt Vivek Ramudamu (Skm) 12-9; Faiz Ahmed (MP) bt Santosh Bimole (Goa) 16-3; Jhonson Decruz (SPSB) bt (at RSC) Shyam Singh (Tri) Welter 69 kg: Jitendra Mann (Del) bt Pradep Kumar (MP) 18-5; Anil Kumar Burman (Wb) bt Yogesh S Nishad (Mah) 14-7; Vijay (Har) bt Shibhao Sharma (goa) 22-1; Dharminder (tri) bt Eymain Ali (BSF) 17-6; Ranjit Singh (Pun) bt A Harish (ker) 24-4. Sidelights
Compiled by: Rajay Deep
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Indian Navy down Air India
Sirsa, September 7 Put into bat, the Navy team scored 128 runs for the loss of six wickets in their allotted quota. In reply, Air India was all out for 120 runs in 19.4 overs despite a solid innings of 48 runs of 47 balls by opener Rohit Kumar. The man of the match award was shared by Yash Pal Singh and Ajit Chandela. In a match played last night, Indian Air Force scored 99 runs for nine wickets in 20 overs. In reply, the hosts scored 91 runs for the loss of nine wickets. Tapan's efforts earned him the man of the match award.
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Andy Murray's bid to reach a first grand slam final was thwarted by the weather on Saturday when his U.S. Open semi-final against world number one Rafael Nadal was halted by rain with the Briton leading 6-2 7-6 2-3.
New York, September 7
Indians played me well: Mendis