S P O R T S

Thunder Down under
Melbourne, January 18
Rafael Nadal swiped his top ranking and his Wimbledon crown, Andy Murray stole his thunder when a number of bookmakers installed him as favourite for the Australian Open, but Roger Federer is still the man to beat when the first grand slam of the year kicks off tomorrow. The Swiss, who taught Murray a lesson in the final of the US Open in September 2008, is gunning for a record-equalling 14th grand slam singles crown in Australia and is exuding a confidence sufficient to chill the field.

Mumbai runs, Africa shines
Mumbai, January 18
Eager to put behind last November's terror attacks in Mumbai, more than 43,000 people thronged the streets to participate in the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon.

Standard Chartered International Marathon winner Kenneth Mugara (R) and 1st runner-up David Tarus pose for pictures in Mumbai on Sunday — PTI 

Jadeja, Praveen in squad for Lanka tour
Mumbai, January 18
Young all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was the lone new face in India’s 15-member squad for the Sri Lanka tour while Harbhajan Singh had to be left out because of a hamstring injury. The 20-year-old Jadeja was rewarded for his consistent performance with a place in the squad which also has Uttar Pradesh seamer Praveen Kumar, left out of the one day team after the ODI series in Sri Lanka in August last year, making a comeback into the one day fold.

Australia beat SA, level series
Hobart, January 18
A new look Australian bowling attack stifled South Africa's in-form batsmen as the hosts eked out a thrilling five-run win in the second ODI to level the five-match cricket series 1-1 here today.

Kerala win overall trophy in National track cycling
Patiala, January 18
Kerala won the overall team championship trophy in the National track cycling championship, which concluded at the Punjabi university velodrome here today. Punjab were placed second.

PSEB annex Gurdarshan football title
Nabha, January 18
Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) packed enough punch to pack off the youngsters of SN college, Banga, 2-0 in the final of the 32nd All-India Gurdarshan memorial football tournament, which concluded at the Ripudaman college ground here today.

Randhir resigns from hockey’s ad-hoc committee
New Delhi, January 18
In a sensational turn of event, Indian Olympic Association general secretary Randhir Singh has resigned from the ad-hoc committee for hockey, saying he did not want to be a part of any “nonsense”. 

Thunder Down under

Melbourne, January 18

Roger Federer

Andy Murray

Jelena Jankovic

Serena Williams

Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal swiped his top ranking and his Wimbledon crown, Andy Murray stole his thunder when a number of bookmakers installed him as favourite for the Australian Open, but Roger Federer is still the man to beat when the first grand slam of the year kicks off tomorrow. The Swiss, who taught Murray a lesson in the final of the US Open in September 2008, is gunning for a record-equalling 14th grand slam singles crown in Australia and is exuding a confidence sufficient to chill the field.

“It comes down to playing well here, being fit and ready to go,” the Swiss smiled today. “I feel the way I was hoping to feel just before the Australian Open. So I’m excited.”

Federer opens his campaign against Italy’s Andreas Seppi tomorrow night. Nadal starts against Belgium’s Christophe Rochus and insists a lack of match practice and two months off recuperating from tendinitis in his knee should not affect his attempts to win his first Australian title.

Murray is the player on everyone’s lips after a white-hot start to the season — in 2009 he has already beaten Nadal, Federer and Andy Roddick — and he faces Romania's Andrei Pavel.

“I don’t have a problem whether I’m a favourite or not,” the fourth seed said.

“I think when you do become a contender for a slam, obviously the seeding and stuff helps with your draws and whatnot. It gives you — it gives me anyway — that little bit of extra confidence.” Defending champion Novak Djokovic is seeded third and faces Italian qualifier Andre Stoppini on the opening day.

Women's top seed Jelena Jankovic begins with a match against Austria's Yvonne Meusburger. The Williams sisters take to the courts on Tuesday, second seed Serena playing China's Yuan Meng and Venus, seeded sixth, against Angelique Kerber. — Reuters

Mumbai runs, Africa shines
Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service

Mumbai, January 18
Eager to put behind last November's terror attacks in Mumbai, more than 43,000 people thronged the streets to participate in the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon.

The event which had the theme of peace and unity saw crowds streaming in before 6 am and remained on the streets till mid-day when most of the events concluded. The police estimated that at least 15 lakh people may have gathered along the road to cheer the marathoners.

Security was tight with the entire police force and para-military forces were deployed in strategic locations as a precautionary measure. Three helicopters hovered overhead along the marathon route to monitor the proceedings.

As usual, the Africans shone in both the main events for men and women. Kenya’s Kenneth Mungara won the Mumbai marathon with a record time of 2 hours 11 minutes and 59 seconds on Sunday morning beating compatriot Daniel Rono's record of 2:12.03 seconds, set in 2006 by a whisker. Mungara’s feat in Mumbai comes closely after winning the Toronto marathon in October last.

In the second place came another Kenyan, David Tarus who finished in 2 hours 12 minutes and 02 seconds. The third place was taken by yet another Kenyan John Kelai who was the winner in both 2007 and 2008. His timing: 2:12.03 seconds.

In the women’s event, Ethiopia's Haille Kebebush was winner breasting the tape in 2 hours 34 minutes and 8 seconds. Martha Marcos, another Ethiopian, came second in 2:34:15 while last year's winner Irene Mogaka was in the third place, clocking 2:37:28.

Among the Indian contestants, Ram Singh Yadav of the Army Sports Institute won for the third year in a row clocking 2:18:03. In second place was Deep Chand with a timing of 2.26.01 while in the third place was Narendra Singh at 2.26.41. Chand was a participant in the half-marathon last year.

The winner in the women’s event was Aruna Devi who almost lost out on the medal as the organizers committed a mixed up. She was announced the winner and separate ceremony organized for her. While Mugara took home $31,000 while Tarus and Kelai bagged $20,500 and $13,000 respectively. Yadav won Rs 100,000.

In all 2500 participants ran the full marathon including more than 150 international athletes and 52 women. A total prize money of US $250,000 prize-money was on offer at various events. Like in earlier years, the marathon was flagged off at the Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus where the terrorists ran riot just a few weeks ago.

The route passed through the Kemp's Corner flyover and turned around at suburban Bandra to conclude at the starting point - a distance of 42.195-kms.

The half marathon for men and women started 50 minutes before the full marathon and attracted 10,000 athletes which included 280 foreign participants. Among the scores of celebrities who turned up included stars like Vidya Balan, Gul Panag, Soha Ali Khan, Sharmila Tagore, Milind Soman, Arjun Rampal. Shreyas Talpade, Rahul Bose, Om Puri, Lillette Dubey, Dolly Thakur and Tina Ambani. The corporate world was represented by people like Anand Mahindra and Anil Ambani. "We will not allow ourselves to be scared by terrorists," Om Puri told reporters at the site.

According to the organizers, the youngest runner to participate was 12-year old Vishal Panchidi while the oldest was 77-year old Ashish Roy. Many runners who participated did so to raise funds for various charities.

Jadeja, Praveen in squad for Lanka tour

Mumbai, January 18
Young all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was the lone new face in India’s 15-member squad for the Sri Lanka tour while Harbhajan Singh had to be left out because of a hamstring injury. The 20-year-old Jadeja was rewarded for his consistent performance with a place in the squad which also has Uttar Pradesh seamer Praveen Kumar, left out of the one day team after the ODI series in Sri Lanka in August last year, making a comeback into the one day fold.

Ravindra Jadeja (left) has been picked in place of an injured Harbhajan Singh

Delhi batsman Virat Kohli, who was part of the ODI squad in the home series against England, was dropped from the team announced by BCCI joint secretary Sanjay Jagdale after a meeting of the selectors here today. India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was also present in the meeting to provide his inputs.

In Harbhajan’s absence, the two frontline spinners picked in the squad are Pragyan Ojha and Jadeja, who took 42 wickets for Saurashtra in the just-concluded Ranji Trophy with his left-arm spin. The squad would assemble in Chennai on January 25, practise under lights at the Chidambaram Stadium and then depart for Colombo the next day, Jagdale said in a statement.

It was not clear when and where Harbhajan picked up his injury as he had taken part in India’s recent 1-0 Test series victory over England, including the last match that ended on December 23 at Mohali.

Jadeja’s inclusion was on the cards after his fine form in the Ranji Trophy in which he also scored over 700 runs at over 67 per innings. While he was rewarded, a few others such as Mumbai’s leading run-getter Ajinkya Rahane and wicket-taker Dhawal Kulkarni were ignored along with comeback man Laxmipathy Balaji of Chennai who snared 36 wickets in seven ties.

Jadeja’s Saurashtra teammate Cheteshwar Pujara was also given the short shrift as the selectors kept faith largely in the players who had helped India vanquish England 5-0 after winning the previous rubber in Sri Lanka. Praveen Kumar, the 22-year-old Meerut-born player, did not have a great Ranji season but was recalled to the team after having missed out the entire ODI series against England.

The team consists of seven frontline batsmen, including captain and stumper Dhoni, three all-rounders, four pace bowlers and spinner Ojha. The first two ODIs of the series would be played at the Rangiri Dambulla International cricket stadium on January 28 and 30.

Colombo’s R Premadasa International Cricket stadium will host the third and fourth matches on February 2 and 5, besides the only Twenty20 match of the tour on February 10. The fifth ODI is scheduled on February 8 at Sinhalese Sports Club, also in Colombo.

The squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag (vice-captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja and Praveen Kumar. — PTI

Australia beat SA, level series

Hobart, January 18
A new look Australian bowling attack stifled South Africa's in-form batsmen as the hosts eked out a thrilling five-run win in the second ODI to level the five-match cricket series 1-1 here today.

Put into bat, Australia at one stage looked certain to reach the 300-mark before South African bowlers bounced back to restrict them to a moderate 249 for nine with Shaun Marsh and Ricky Ponting shinning with the bat. In reply, South Africa got handy contributions from Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Mark Boucher and JP Duminy but still fell six runs short of the victory target and finished 244 for six in the humdinger.

Needing 17 from the final over off Ben Hilfenhaus, Mark Boucher hit the bowler for a six but in the subsequent deliveries, boundaries were not easy to come by. Required a six off the last ball, Boucher could only manage a single as Australia levelled the series. Marsh’s fifth fifty in 10 games earned him the Man of the Match award. The third match of the series is scheduled in Sydney on January 23. — PTI

Kerala win overall trophy in National track cycling
Ravi Dhaliwal

Patiala, January 18
Kerala won the overall team championship trophy in the National track cycling championship, which concluded at the Punjabi university velodrome here today. Punjab were placed second.

The men’s trophy was bagged by Raliways while Punjab stood second. On the distaff side, the Kerela eves asserted their supremacy fully and gained the top slot while Manipur were second.

As expected the junior boys trophy was bagged by Punjab while the Kerala riders were placed second. In the junior girls section, Kerala eves were placed first while Manipur gave a close race but eventually ended up being placed second.

Punjab took a grip on the sub junior boys trophy while Maharashtra riders were placed second. Kerala won the sub junior girls trophy while Manipur bagged the second spot.

In today’s events, O.Bikram Singh of BSNL won the 1 km time trials race while Abhishek Rana of Railways and Rakesh Kumar, also of Railways, were placed second and third, respectively.

The 4 km individual pursuit was won by Harpreet Singh of Railways while Rajinder Bishnoi, also of Railways, and Jagdeep Singh of Punjab followed him in that order. The Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal distributed the prizes.

PSEB annex Gurdarshan football title
Ravi Dhaliwal

Nabha, January 18
Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) packed enough punch to pack off the youngsters of SN college, Banga, 2-0 in the final of the 32nd All-India Gurdarshan memorial football tournament, which concluded at the Ripudaman college ground here today.

The final, played on a soggy ground, turned out to be a dull and drab affair. Neither of the teams took chances as the match meandered towards mediocrity in both halves.

For the Patiala powermen, guided by former international Wazir Chand, the hero was once again their goaltender Balwinder Singh who had stood out for his technical brilliance in yesterday’s semifinal match

The Banga boys went full throttle ahead in the first half but despite repeated foray’s in the rival territory they failed to score primarily due to the efforts of keeper Balwinder. Much against the run of play the powermen scored when Kuldeep collected a loose ball and made his way ahead without the aid of any of his colleagues. Once in sight on the goalmouth, he sent in a grounder which brooked no resistance whatsoever from the Banga goaltender.

Just at the brink of lemon time, the Banga boys created a scare when their striker Atinder Mani took down a high ball and volleyed it towards the gaol. However, an unintended deflection by a defender saved the blushes for PSEB. PSEB managed a two goal cushion when Gurpreet Singh scored off a goal mouth melee.

Randhir resigns from hockey’s ad-hoc committee

New Delhi, January 18
In a sensational turn of event, Indian Olympic Association general secretary Randhir Singh has resigned from the ad-hoc committee for hockey, saying he did not want to be a part of any “nonsense”. 

Randhir, who was a member of the ad-hoc panel alongwith IOA president Suresh Kalmadi, its treasurer A K Mattoo, Uttaranchal Olympic Association president Rajiv Mehta and Mohammad Aslam, had put in his papers earlier this week alleging lack of co-ordination and transparency. — PTI