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Pak over-obsessed with Champions Trophy: Mani Chanderpaul is ICC Player of Year Yuvraj Singh (L) poses with Australia's Simon Taufel at the ICC Awards ceremony in Dubai on Wednesday. AFP
Cricket drought in Pak
Advani completes a double
Pankaj Advani poses with the trophy of the world title for the time format at the IBSF World Billiards Championships in Bangalore on Wednesday. AFP |
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Paralympics
CAB wants Ganguly to play for Bengal
Anand draws again, slips to joint 5th
Indian colts hold ManU youth team
Raikkonen vows to fight on
Mohan sets hurdles record
Sr National Boxing
LIC, Indian Navy in semis
2nd days play washed out
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Pak over-obsessed with Champions Trophy: Mani
Lahore, September 10 ''Pakistan need to be more smart in the existing circumstances and not insist on hosting the tournament. It should have and can still allow it to be shifted to some other venue instead of facing financial losses,'' Mani told 'Geo News'. ''The PCB should have taken the initiative and asked the ICC to shift the event to some other venue last month and made some financial gains instead of finding itself in a no-win situation,'' he added. Stating that the PCB could suffer losses between $ 5 to 10 million, Mani said if the Champions Trophy had been shifted last month, the International Cricket Council (ICC) would have earned around $ 50 million and every participating nation would have received their share of $ 3.5 million. But he hastened to add that the situation is not beyond repair and Pakistan could still make good their losses. ''They can easily demand that they be allocated a future CT as compensation and also get paid their share of $ 3.75 million,'' Mani said. The 63-year-old from Rawalpindi felt that the Australians are responsible for creating the notion that Pakistan is an unsafe place to visit and advised the PCB to discontinue cricketing ties with the world champions. ''I think they are the real culprits in convincing other teams not to tour Pakistan for security reasons. Pakistan should tell them clearly you come first or we will not tour your country,'' he stated. ''Australia has not toured Pakistan since 1998 and in this period they have been to India several times where also there have been bomb blasts,'' he said. The Champions Trophy, which was originally scheduled to be held in Pakistan next month has postponed to late next year following security concerns raised by Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa. The ICC executive committee is meeting in Dubai for a final decision on the fate of the tournament. UNI
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Chanderpaul is ICC Player of Year New Delhi, September 10 The Guyanese left-hander claimed the most prestigious cricket prize for 2008 by landing the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy at the annual awards function held in Dubai. Chanderpaul edged out Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene and South African strike bowler Dale Steyn for the top accolade. The Guyanese left-hander scored 819 runs at an average of 91.00 for just eight tests, hitting three hundreds and six fifties, during the voting period from Aug. 9 2007 to Aug. 12. Steyn grabbed the Test Player of the Year award after taking 86 wickets in 14 tests at home, in India and England. Indian wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the top-ranked one-day batsman who also led the side to the World Twenty20 win last year, was the ODI Player of the Year. Yuvraj Singh, who hit six sixes in one over against England in that tournament, claimed the Twenty20 International Performance of the Year award. The awards panel was chaired by former West Indies skipper Clive Lloyd and included Australia's Greg Chappell, former South Africa all-rounder Shaun Pollock, ex-Sri Lanka opener Sidath Wettimuny and former Bangladesh batsman Athar Ali Khan. Reuters
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Cricket drought in Pak
Karachi, September 10 "If teams don't tour Pakistan and if we don't get away series then the sport will suffer in Pakistan and people will lose interest in it," Malik said here. "I just think the ICC cannot allow this situation to get out of hand. Being the governing body of the sport it needs to use its influence on member countries to compensate for the postponed events this year," he added. Malik told reporters that he was disappointed and depressed at the lack of international exposure for Pakistan. "It is very frustrating for the players the way two important events have been postponed this year. It is so depressing that despite being a major cricket playing nation we will not be able to play a Test match this year," he said. Australia postponed its Test tour in March and then the eight-nation Champions Trophy was also deferred by the ICC last month because of security concerns by South Africa, England, Australia and New Zealand. To make matters worse Pakistan's effort to organise an alternate series to replace the postponed Champions Trophy have also not met with success. South Africa turned down a proposal to host Pakistan and Sri Lanka in a tri-series this month, while a planned one-day series in Sri Lanka has also run into problems as the host country's demand was not accepted by the broadcaster who had shown interest in telecasting the five matches. Pakistan played its last Test against India in December and their next series is not scheduled until January when India tours Pakistan. Malik noted that some teams had made it a habit to raise the security issue before every tour. PTI
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Bangalore, September 10 The 23-year-old Bangalore lad thus completed a fine double following his win in the IBSF World title in points format in which he trounced Geet Sethi on September 5. The defending champion, who had tamed nine-times world champion and legendary cueist Geet Sethi in the semifinal yesterday, made the contest one-sided in the first two sessions before Joshi made last ditch efforts in the final session. Joshi, known for his fighting qualities made a gallant attempt to bridge the gap with a break of 557 in the final session but an early lead helped the youngster win the title. Pankaj began with a break of 219 in the third visit in the first session and then repeated the feat by notching up big breaks of 327, 231 and 274 later in the session to race to a commanding 1274-151 lead at the end of the two hour session. He increased his lead to 1812-1033, despite Joshi making a determined comeback in the second session. Joshi had breaks of 338 and 364 but the huge deficit he had in the first round made it impossible for him to bridge the gap. In the third session, Joshi showed his fighting spirit by compiling an amazing 557 in his 37th visit and reduced the lead by 433 points but Pankaj always kept a triple century lead over his Mumbai opponent to emerge the winner. UNI
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Paralympics
Beijing, September 10 The 19-year-old, who was born with a right arm that ends at the elbow, played without success in last month's Olympic team competition but returned to the Peking University Gymnasium this week with loftier ambitions. "My goal is the gold, of course," said Partyka, who has progressed to the semifinals with three consecutive 3-0 wins over her group opponents, including Athens bronze medallist Li Yuqiang of China. "Both Games were very important for me. In the Olympics, there were lots of players better than me, but here I know I can win the gold medal," she told Reuters in an interview. "A lot of people think I will win the gold medal very easily but it's the Paralympics, everybody wants to win. It's a big pressure but I hope I can play very well." To retain the women's singles title she won in her disability class in her second Paralympics four years ago, she will have to beat another Chinese player in the final on Thursday. "Table tennis is very popular in China so the atmosphere in the venue is very nice," she said. "It's not like in Europe where there are sometimes no spectators."Partyka, who took up the paddle at the age of seven, serves using her shortened arm to toss the ball into the air and her excellent footwork ensures she feels no disadvantage against able-bodied competitors. She participated in her first Paralympics in Sydney in 2000, the youngest athlete of the Games at 11 years old, and four years later in Athens she won gold. At the world team championships earlier this year, she defeated Singapore's world number six Li Jia Wei, a victory Partyka will "remember for a long time". "Once I won some matches and tournaments I knew that I was good at it, I started having some dreams," she said. "I had a lot of dreams. I also dreamt about the Olympics, so now my dreams have come true." The world number 148 said she took part in the Beijing Olympics just for the experience and now has her sights set on London 2012. "The most important thing for sure is the next Olympics, and after four years I'd like to take part in both team and in singles," she said. "I know I have to practise a lot if I want to be a top player but I believe that if I play a lot and practise a lot, I have the chance to be in the top 20 in the world - I'd love that." Reuters
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CAB wants Ganguly to play for Bengal
Kolkata, September 10 CAB will have a word with Ganguly as uncertainty prevails on his availability till the announcement of the Indian Test team for the home series against Australia. Left out of the Rest of India squad for the Irani Trophy, meant to feature probables for the Australia series, Ganguly's chances of making it to the Test squad hence stands remote. With retirement theory being widely speculated by many, it remains to be seen whether the sidelined Ganguly, known for making comebacks, performs his way back into the side by representing Bengal in the Plate Division. "The president (Jagmohan Dalmiya) will speak to Ganguly in a few days. He is available for Bengal, there's no confusion over that. But he has to wait for the Test team announcement for the Australia series, though he has an outside chance. But we'll speak to him soon, confirming his availability," CAB joint-secretary Arun Mitra said. Dalmiya, meanwhile, asserted that Ganguly will not shun Bengal as far as playing in the Ranji Trophy is concerned. "Where is the question of him (Ganguly) not playing for Bengal arising? He is a Bengal player, so automatically he will play for Bengal. There's no confusion in this regard," Dalmiya told PTI. Incidentally, Ganguly is not turning up for his daily morning routine at Eden Gardens these days. Even as Ganguly in an interview to a British daily said he was not mulling retirement and has couple of years left in him, it's widely seen by many that it's the end of the cricketing career for the former India captain. PTI
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Anand draws again, slips to joint 5th
Bilbao (Spain), September 10 In a dramatic turn of events in the highest prize money tournament, overnight leader Magnus Carlsen of Norway was beaten by Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine while Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria too found his nemesis in Levon Aronian of Armenia. With two of the highest ranked players in the standings going down, the field was thrown open but it was of no help to Anand who is still looking for his first victory here. As things stand, despite the loss, Carlsen remained atop the tables on 11 points and Topalov is still on his heels a full point behind in the soccer-like scoring system that gives three points for a win and one for a draw. Aronian also came within striking distance of Carlsen on nine points while Ivanchuk elevated himself to the sole fourth spot on eight points. Anand and Radjabov share the fifth spot. Both are winless and have had six draws and a loss each. The game against Radjabov did not require too much effort from Anand once the position reached a kind of deadlock wherein playing for a win for either player was quite risky. Anand's Sicilian Taimanov gave Radjabov a slight advantage but the Indian caught the important central squares to thwart any further progress by his opponent. Radjabov played on till move 29 before signing the peace through repetition of moves. The Carlsen-Ivanchuk match was a very interesting battle where the Norwegian played white and faced the Queen's gambit declined. Famous these days to play highly complicated variations, Carlsen went for a dubious 13th move and later criticised it himself in the post match conference. PTI
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Indian colts hold ManU youth team
Manchester, September 10 For India, Malswamfela again produced a consistent performance to open the score to give visitors an early 1-0 lead in the fifth minute, which was later equalised by Manchester United. Malswamfela completed a brace as he made it 2-2 in the 53rd minute in the second half. A penalty for Manchester United made it 3-2 for the home side. However, the Indians, playing a tough opponent amid heavy ground conditions due to overnight rain, were able to hold Manchester United with the third equalizer coming about 20 mins before the the final whistle. Lalrindika found the net after a milee in front of the rival goalmouth. Earlier, in their first game, the Indian boys had lost by a narrow 1-2 margin to Everton Youth team on September 4. Speaking to AIFF.Com, coach Narayana Menon expressed satisfaction at the performance of the team. UNI |
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Raikkonen vows to fight on
Rome, September 10 Raikkonen crashed out of the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa on the penultimate lap on Sunday to end the race pointless. He was running second at the time and had he made it to the finish line he and not team-mate Felipe Massa would have been awarded the race victory following Hamilton's 25-second penalty for an illegal manoeuvre in passing Raikkonen. Hamilton cut the Bus Stop chicane to pass Raikkonen on that penultimate lap and although he gave the lead back to the Finnish world champion, he passed him again straight away before the next bend, leading to the sanction which dropped him to third. Raikkonen started the race 13 points behind Hamilton but the Englishman's six points has opened up that gap. And with Brazilian Massa just two points behind Hamilton, the chances of Raikkonen overhauling the deficits to both drivers in the five remaining GPs look less than slim. "I'll fight to the end," said Raikkonen in an interview on the Cavallino motor racing website. "I'll do everything to win, for the team and the fans." The next race is this weekend in Monza, considered Ferrari's home GP. "This is Ferrari's home race and it would be fantastic to win the Italian GP for the first time. "I've got nothing to lose and so I'll give everything, I'll push to the limits." Raikkonen has come under a lot of criticism this season with retirements in three GPs, a finish out of the points in Monaco, a lowly eighth in Australia and with podium finishes in less than half the races.
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Kochi, September 10 Krishan Mohan's feat bettered both the meet and national records set by Naunidh Singh at 14.05. P. Muthu Swami of Railways bagged the silver with 14.26, while Naunidh, representing the Police, had to settle for the bronze with 14.27. The Railways continued their dominance of the championship, taking their overall tally to 27 medals, which included 11 gold, nine silver and seven bronze. Railways' Anil Singh bagged the gold in the men's javelin throw with a distance of 74.11m while Kasinath Naik of Services got the silver with 72.66m and Purandhar of Karnataka bagged the bronze with 71.78m. In the women's 100 m hurdles, Anuradha Biswal brought cheer to the Orissa camp, bagging the gold with a timing of 14.08 seconds. J.J. Shobha and Shreema Priyadarshini, both of Railways, got the silver and bronze with a timing of 14.25 and 14.29 respectively. In the men's 20,000m walk, Services' Harwinder Singh sauntered off with the gold with a timing of 1:35:21.38, as Ashok Kumar Patel of Railways and P.S. Jalan of Services came second and third with a timing of 1:35:32.20 and 1:36:11.46 respectively. In men's high jump, Railways bagged both gold and silver with Hari Shanker Roy topping with 2.16m and Benedict Starley coming second, also with 2.16m but with more number of failures. A. Karithikeyan of Tamil Nadu got the bronze with 2.10m. UNI
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Sr National Boxing
Bathinda, September, 10 Manoj was warned twice for hitting below the belt during the bout. In the last round, he was at 21 points while his opponent Som BDR Pun of SSCB was at 16. But he was disqualified for flouting the norms of the game which led his supporters to lodge a protest. In the fly 51 kg bout, Sunil of Haryana was disqualified for misbehaviour and for moving out of the ring. In fact, he had lost the game with the score at 14-8 to M Suranjay Singh of SSCB. The applause by the SSCB supporters added insult to injury due to which he lost his patience and had a heated argument with the judges. Other results: Light Welter 64 kg: SB Tamang (AR) bt Sandeep (Har) WP; Vijay Thapa (Meg) bt Vinod Kumar (J&K) 24-9; S Prem Kumar (Kar) bt Devanshu K (UP) 21-8 Welter 69 kg: Jagat (AIP) bt Vijay (Har) 25-24; Dilbagh Singh (RSPB) bt Dharminder (Tri) OS Light Fly 48 kg: Manwar Hussain (RSPB) bt Bishwajit Nandal (AR) WP; Vipin Kumar (Utk) bt Amit Kumar (Har) 18-9; Amandeep Singh (Pun) bt Umesh Yadav (MP) 23-5; Sanjay Kolte (SSCB) bt Mahimai (Kar) 23-12; Hemant Kumar (Jha) bt Dilip KR Pouri (CISF) 18-4; Ashwani Sharma (AIP) bt Santosh (Goa) 17-9 Bantam 54 kg: SK Thapa (AIP) bt Hitesh Kumar Shahu (Cht) 17-9; Tiorak Kharparan (Meg) bt Saubam Santosh (Jha) through walkover; N Santosh Kumar (AP) bt Subhash Debnath (WB) 16-12.
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LIC, Indian Navy in semis
Fatehabad, September 10 LIC along with Indian Navy, have qualified for the semifinals from group B. LIC have won two matches and lost one. In a day-night match on Tuesday, Indian Air Force defeated United Arab Emirates by eight wickets. |
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