 |
|
|
Federer sizzles, heat claims Djokovic
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
India start favourites
Ishant Sharma practises at Dambulla. — AFP
photo
Harbhajan praises Dhoni’s captaincy
SA caps dream run with ODI series win
‘Good platform for exposure’
ECB, BCCI agree 2-year IPL deal for English players
$330 million may make Messi costliest
|
|
Federer sizzles, heat claims Djokovic
Melbourne, January 27 Two days after Federer was surprisingly taken to five sets by Tomas Berdych, the 13-times Grand Slam winner wasted little time in thrashing the eighth seed in just 80 minutes. The 20-year-old del Potro, considered to be one of the rising players of the game having won four tournaments last year and the Auckland event earlier this month, had no answer to the Swiss. Such was Federer’s dominance, del Potro won just eight points in the second set and six in the third as the 27-year-old Federer advanced to his 19th successive Grand Slam semifinal. Earlier, Australia’s brutal January weather claimed another victim when defending champion Novak Djokovic quit midway through his quarterfinal against Andy Roddick. “Aussie Jelena” Dokic was given every chance to again thrill home fans having been scheduled on the cool night session, but the her dream run ended 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 at the hands of Dinara Safina. Wilting Serb Djokovic became increasingly distressed as temperatures on court soared above 40 degrees Celsius before becoming the fourth player in 24 hours to abandon his match. “Cramping and soreness in the whole body,” the world number three said when asked why he had quit while trailing 6-7, 6-4, 6-2, 2-1. Safina next meets fellow Russian and seventh seed Vera Zvonareva after she eased into the women’s semifinals with victory over Marion Bartoli. The Frenchwoman also wilted during the 6-3, 6-0 thrashing. — Reuters Bhupathi-Knowles in semis; Paes-Black out
Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles cruised into the semifinals of men's doubles but the top-seeded mixed doubles pair of Leander Paes and Cara Black were shocked in the second round today. The third-seeded Indo-Bahamian duo of Bhupathi and Knowles overcame a second set deficit to beat the Spanish pair of Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco 6-1 2-6 6-4 in one hour and 28 minutes. They next play Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Oliver Marach of Austria. However, Paes and Black, the reigning US Open champions, were outplayed 1-6 5-7 by the unseeded Swiss-South African combine in just 64 minutes. The winners broke Paes and Black twice each in both the sets while the Indo-Zimbabwean pair could break their rivals only once in the second set. Among the juniors Yuki Bhambri continued his impressive showing as he reached the pre-quarterfinals of the singles and quarterfinals of the doubles with Liang-Chi Huang. In the singles second round, Yuki beat local Stephen Hoh 7-6 (1) 6-0 while in the doubles he and Liang, top-seeded pair, beat Italian Marco Bortolotti and Vladzimir Kruk of Belarus 6-3 6-4. It was curtains for Kaza Vinayak Sharma, who lost his singles second round match 1-6 1-6 to Justin Eleveld. In girls' doubles, Kyra Shroff and her Canadian partner Eugenie Bouchard lost 4-6 1-6 to the sixth seeded pair of American Christina McHale and Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia in the second round.
— PTI |
|
India start favourites
Under the charismatic Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India have been in ominous form in both forms of the game and the 5-0 whitewash against England in the ODI series at home gives a fair indication of the side's might. In contrast, Sri Lanka have not been as convincing. Under their off-colour skipper Mahela Jayawardene, the islanders struggled against minnows Zimbabwe and lost to Bangladesh in a recent tri-series in Dhaka. Things looked better in the hastily arranged three-match ODI series in Pakistan where they lost the series opener before eventually clinching the series with back-to-back wins. Despite holding a slight edge over the hosts, the lone worry for Dhoni remains the spin attack which sports an inexperienced look in the absence of injured off-spinner Harbhajan Singh. Hyderabad left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, who has played just five ODIs so far, would spearhead the spin attack, while uncapped Saurashtra all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja would also be expected to chip in. Dhoni himself realises what it means not to have Harbhajan in the ranks but reckons he can always fall back on the part-time options he has in Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh. "Harbhajan has been our pick of the spinners for some time. Whether you are bowling first or second or bowling in powerplays, he is the person," Dhoni said. "But we have two spinners in the side, Pragyan Ojha and Ravindra Jadeja. I think they will try to fill in the space left by Harbhajan's absence. Of course, we have part-timers also who have done well. It is an opportunity for both the spinners to prove themselves," he added. Otherwise, there apparently is no chink in the Indian armour but Dhoni insists it would be fatal to lower the guard, especially playing Sri Lanka at their den. "It will be a tough series. It is tough to beat Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka though we had defeated them the last time around," Dhoni said. For Jayawardene, the key is to stick to the winning ways. "Our strategy will be to try and continue the winning momentum. It is going to be a tough series and we look forward to the challenge," he said. "We lost the first game against Pakistan. It was really tough for us to come back. We had a chat and we knew exactly what went wrong. Next two games was history," the Lankan skipper said. Still on paper, the balance looks tilted in India's favour considering the consistency they have shown in recent past. India have arguably the best opening pair at the moment with the Delhi duo of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir in cracking form. Despite his age, Sachin Tendulkar remains as hungry for runs as ever, while few can match Yuvraj Singh's striking ability in this format.
— PTI |
|
Harbhajan praises Dhoni’s captaincy
Jalandhar, January 27 The off-spinner lauded Gary Kirsten, saying the South African had played a vital role in making the dressing room a calm place even during tense situations. “Things have improved a lot over the past some time. With Kirsten as coach the environment of the dressing room has now improved in a positive manner. Even in a very tense situation, all players feel light in the dressing room,” he said. Confident over India’s victory in the coming days Harbhajan said, “India has almost become the top side in the world with fine performances in recent times but the status would be officially their’s only if they beat New Zealand in March this year”. “We are almost the number one team as we have already beaten world Champions Australia and a strong team like South Africa and if we beat New Zealand too. And it is for sure that Team India will achieve the number one status in international cricket in the time to come,” he said. India beat Australia 2-0 in a home Test series last year after drawing a three-match Test series 1-1 against South Africa in March-April.
|
|
|
SA caps dream run with ODI series win
Adelaide, January 27 The South Africans crushed the Aussies by eight wickets in what turned out to be a lopsided floodlit contest to take an invincible 3-1 lead in the five-match series. Opting to bat first, Australia put up yet another sordid batting display and folded up for 222 in 48 overs with only Ricky Ponting (63), James Hopes (42) and Cameron White (30) salvaging some individual reputation with the bat. South Africa's pace colleagues Makhaya Ntini (3/52) and Dale Steyn (3/49) did an excellent job with the new ball wrecking Australia's top and middle order. Chasing 223, South Africa needed 38.1 overs to overwhelm the target with Hashim Amla (80 not out), AB de Villiers (82 not out) and Herschelle Gibbs (36) starring in the chase. Australia remained the number one team in both forms of the game followed closely by South Africa and India, both of whom have beaten the Kangaroos in Test series in recent months. In one-dayers, Australia led the table with 126 points, followed by South Africa (123) and India (119). Australia had 126 rating points in the longer version of the game with South Africa (121) and India (118) in the second and third positions, respectively. — PTI Scoreboard Australia: Marsh c M Morkel b Steyn 13 Warner c M Morkel b Ntini 1 Ponting c McKenzie b Ntini 63 M Hussey lbw b Botha 28 D Hussey c Gibbs b J Morkel 24 Haddin c Kallis b Botha 3 White c de Villiers b Steyn 30 Hopes c McKenzie b Steyn 42 Johnson c M Morkel b Ntini 0 Hilfenhaus c de Villiers b M Morkel 5 Tait not out 4 Extras (lb-2, w-5, nb-2): 9 Total (All out in 48 overs): 222 Fall of wickets: 1-9 2-17 3-110 4-114 5-128 6-151 7-188 8-189 9-216. Bowling: Steyn 10-1-49-3; Ntini 10-1-52-3; A Morkel 6-0-35-1; M Morkel 9-0-41-1; Botha 10-0-28-2; Duminy 3-0-15-0. South Africa: Amla not out 80 Gibbs c Hussey b Hilfenhaus 38 Kallis c Marsh b Hopes 13 AB de Villiers not out 82 Extras (lb-5, w-5): 10 Total (2 wkts, 38.1 overs): 223 Fall of wickets: 1-58 2-79 Bowling: Tait 9-0-49-0; Hilfenhaus 8-0-49-1; Johnson 10-0-63-0; Hopes 7.1-0-28-1; Hussey 4-0-29-0. — PTI
|
|
Younis replaces Malik as captain
Karachi, January 27 "Younis will be captain until further notice," Butt said in Lahore following a day of meetings. "Bringing in Younis is a collective decision and we feel he is a very positive and aggressive captain and player." The change comes after Pakistan suffered one of their worst one-day international defeats when they were bowled out for 75 by Sri Lanka to lose by 234 runs and the series 2-1 at Lahore on Sunday. Butt said Malik, appointed skipper soon after Pakistan made a first round exit from the 2007 World Cup after Younis had rejected the job, lacked leadership against Sri Lanka. "We studied the reports of the manager and coach on the team's and captain's performance against Sri Lanka and the feeling is that Malik didn't have a very positive body language as captain," Butt said. Younis has scored 4,816 runs from 58 Tests and 5,306 runs in 181 one-day international matches. He has previous experience of leading Pakistan, taking charge during the 2006 Champions Trophy in India when then captain Inzamam-ul-Haq was serving a suspension. — Reuters
|
|
Punjab Gold Cup Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 27 The coach seemed in high spirits particularly after the team’s triumphs in the first two matches against Argentina. “Although we lost in the remaining two matches for a 2-2 draw of the series, we have been able to pinpoint the shortcomings and have tried to overcome them”, he added. He was particularly thankful to the Punjab Government for providing a platform to play against the Olympic champions Germany and the world’s number three team Holland. Seventh-ranked New Zealand was also a challenging team. The matches against such top teams would provide the players just the right exposure for the World Cup competition. “We are in the right spirits and a repeat of 1975 will be are aim”, said the confident chief coach. Soft-spoken Sandeep Singh agreed with the coach that the gesture of the Punjab Government would go a long way in preparing the boys for the 2010 World Cup. The hockey contingent has been housed in the Taj Hotel where they will be joined by the teams from New Zealand, Holland and Germany in the net two days. A lot of hockey fans had gathered at the Sector 42 hockey stadium to have a glimpse of the Indian hockey stars. And the players obliged a handful of autograph hunters. With the clearance of the major hockey tournament coming barely 10 days before the tournament there was hectic activity at the Punjab sports director’s office to make it a big hit. The organisers are hopeful of a representation from the Federation Internationale de Hockey (FIH), the body-controlling hockey in the world. This will be the first time that a state government will be hosting such a four-nation tournament. Associations and federations of that particular sports discipline usually hold these. They deputy Chief Minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, who also holds the sports portfolio, is eager to make the tournament a success. His dream is the revival of hockey in the country, particularly Punjab, which remained the nursery of the game when India won eight gold Olympic gold medals. The tournament will be held from January 31 to February 9 in a double-leg round robin system with rest days on February 2, 5 and 8.
|
|
ECB, BCCI agree 2-year IPL deal for English players
London, January 27 A joint statement issued by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said the England players would play in the IPL for a minimum of a three weeks in 2009 and 2010. The agreement put at rest the uncertainty for the availability of the England players in the IPL auction on February 6 in Goa. The two boards said they would be working together to create a 'window' for the IPL in 2010 within the confines of the current international fixture schedule. This year's IPL runs from April 10 to May 29 and England's ongoing tour of the West Indies ends with a one-day international in St Lucia on April 3.
— PTI |
|
$330 million may make Messi costliest
Madrid/Barcelona, January 28 Barcelona has set 150 million euros ($195 million) as the fee - required by Spanish legislation - for the young Argentine to unilaterally break his contract with his current employer. The figure is high enough to deter most of those who might consider signing him. But, based on rumours of possible buyers in Madrid, there are some out there eying both the 330-million-dollar figure and their own bottom line. However, other concepts should be added to that amount. VAT would be required, as well as an income tax of 46 percent, the Barcelona sports daily Mundo Deportivo noted on Monday.
— DPA |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
World number two Roger Federer set up an Australian Open semifinal showdown with American Andy Roddick after he demolished Argentine Juan Martin del Potro 6-3, 6-0, 6-0 in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Two days after Federer was surprisingly taken to five sets by Tomas
Berdych, the 13-times Grand Slam winner wasted little time in thrashing the eighth seed in just 80 minutes.
The 20-year-old del Potro, considered to be one of the rising players of the game having won four tournaments last year and the Auckland event earlier this month, had no answer to the Swiss.
Dambulla, January 27
Dambulla, January 27