Cape Town, April 16
From a platform secured by railings on an open top float, mounted on a truck, Yuvraj Singh, captain of King’s XI Punjab, with actress Preity Zinta beside him, waved to hundreds of people who lined the route of an Indian Premier League parade through the elegant boulevards of this beautiful city’s business district to provide a curtain raiser to the 2nd edition of the Twenty20 cricket tournament starting on Saturday.

Other KXIP players and owners of the Chandigarh-based franchise also lent their presence, acknowledging occasional cheers from the crowd, as music blared from the passing vehicle.

A section of the audience was delighted to catch a glimpse of Zinta and hollered out her name. She responded with a flying kiss.

All eight teams of the IPL were represented in the procession, which included colourful brass bands and entertainers drawn from civilian organisations rather than uniformed personnel.

But a majority of India’s top cricketers as well as England’s Andrew Flintoff, a major new attraction in this year’s edition of the Twenty20 contest, were conspicuous by their absence.

Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Mahendra Dhoni were among the missing in the spectacle.

But South African-born Kevin Piertersen, the other big Englishmen making his debut in the league, indeed appointed captain of Bangalore Royal Challengers, was noticeable by his presence.

The Kolkata Knight Riders’ team boasted its owner and Bollywood star, Shah Rukh Khan, but not Saurav Ganguly, whose monopoly over his side’s captaincy could end if coach, John Buchanan has his way.

The hair-brained scheme of rotating multiple skippers may satisfy the Australian theoretician’s ego, but is unlikely to excite Kolkatans.

“Come on,” yelled Shilpa Shetty from the defending champions, Rajasthan Royals’ bus, imploring the crowd to support her team. Their helmsman, Shane Warne, mischievously disguised in a bushy moustache, stood next to her.

The floats emerged in the order of standings in last year’s inaugural competition, starting with the winners and finishing with the Deccan Chargers.

Clearly the IPL marketing machinery has been compelled to slip into overdrive to arouse local interest in a relocated event.

The organisers claim, the opening ceremony followed by two back-to-back matches at Newlands in the suburbs of this metropolis are sold out.

To sustain such enthusiasm will be a challenge and require expenditure, which would not have been necessary in India.

Meanwhile, the duration of matches will be extended by 15 minutes to extend a seven-and-a-half minute “time out” to each team after 10 overs of an innings.

Commercial time on TV will be sold at the rate of $1 million for a two-and-a-half minute segment during this period.

New Delhi, April 16
Shane Warne's midas touch to minnows Rajasthan Royals in the inaugural IPL season may be a part of cricketing folklore but a new book reveals that the Australian spin legend was not the original choice for captaincy.

In their book 'IPL - an inside story', Alam Srinivas and T R Vivek say Jaipur owner Manoj Badale was "saddled with Warne" by chance in the first players' auction.

"In fact, Warne was never the over-riding original choice for the captaincy of the Jaipur team. Badale made it clear during an exclusive e-mail interview with us. 'Warne's views could only be factored in after the first (players') auction and it is clear given the choice of Graeme Smith, that we did not build a team around Warne. But rather we picked a team based on individual roles and records'".

The book gave an eyewitness version, by a franchise CEO, of the first auction where Jaipur just happened to buy Warne because no one else was buying him and the auction appeared to be in disaster.

"Warne's was the first name that came up as the 78 players' names were picked up. But no one was willing to pick him up at the reserve price. The auction was headed for disaster within the first few minutes.

"Since (Lalit) Modi has some interest in the Jaipur team he made an eye contact with Badale and Co. and nudged them to start bidding. Jaipur raised the placard... hoping other teams would jump into the fray... But no other team bid for Warne. Jaipur, it seemed, was saddle with Warne."

The authors also wrote that the legendary spinner was "not a strategist" but someone who can just goad people to give 100 per cent on the field.

They said Warne was an "insecure" person who feels "compelled to be liked by others" and is greedy for praise.

"It is his ability to earn respect and love of his teammates. Warne can goad people to give 100 per cent on the field," the authors wrote.

"Excuse me, you would say, but isn't that what captaincy is all about? Isn't that how Ganguly and Ponting became great captains? Please read our words carefully. We never said that Warne is not a good leader. All we said was that he is not a strategist," they argued.

"Even his trait to extract the best out of his players, to make them die rather than fail only proves it," they added.

The book also attempted to justify their point with Warne's coach Terry Jenner's view on the bowler's behaviour.

"He (Jenner) could see something else too, behind the bravado, that many people missed, and this was the insecurity that is so obvious in Warne today. He desperately wanted people to like him, to praise him, to say how good he was," the book quoted from Paul Barry's biography on Warne.

"Warne will only listen to people that he thinks can help him go somewhere. He shies away from control, authority or demands for rational behaviour. In its extreme form this syndrome is a mental illness called narcissistic personality disorder; Warne appears to be suffering from milder version," the book added from his biography.

The authors observed: "Therefore, throughout the IPL, one witnessed this twin emotions in Warne's captaincy. He went out of his way to be loved by his teammates and rejected anything that did not fit his scheme of things." — PTI

New Delhi, April 16
Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Dr M.S. Gill has taken strong exception to sportspersons absenting from the investiture ceremony to receive their Padma and Arjuna awards from the President of India at Rashtrapati Bhawan.

He said it was discourtesy and disrespect to the awards and the President if sportspersons selected for such honours fail to turn up or send "substitutes" to receive them.

Dr Gill was referring to Harbhajan Singh's absence to receive his Padma Shri Award at Rashtrapati Bhawan on April 14.

Dr Gill said sportspersons, like all Indians, must treat functions held at Rashtrapati Bhawan with the highest respect. "It's a great honour to receive an award from the President", he noted.

Dr Gill said as Sports Minister, he was responsible for four awards - Arjuna, Dronacharya, Tensing Norgay and Dhyan Chand - and he was very particular that sportspersons chosen for these awards were personally present to receive them.

He said he was surprised to see "substitutes" receiving some of these awards last year, following which the Sports Ministry issued a circular to all the sports federations asking them to ensure the presence of the awardees themselves.

He said if a sportsperson was unable to personally collect the award, then he or she should inform the ministry in writing, citing the reasons.

He said henceforth, such absentees would not be allowed to receive the awards at Rashtrapati Bhawan on a later date. They would have to come to the Minister's office to collect them.

Dr Gill said he would be sending a "strong" circular to all the national sports federations, with a copy to the Union Home Secretary, that it should be made mandatory for the sportspersons to be personally present to receive any award given away by the President.

Charleston, April 16
Sania Mirza put up a spirited challenge against multiple Grand Slam winner and second seed Venus Williams before going down in a tough three-setter in the second round of the $ one million WTA Family Circle Cup here.

The Indian ace, fresh after her doubles title win at a Florida WTA event last week, fought valiantly against Venus but ran out of steam as the world number five American used her experience to pocket the encounter 1-6 6-3 2-6.

The match, however, started on an expected note with Venus coming out all guns blazing against Sania. The American won nine of the first 11 games to race on to a 6-1, 3-1 lead.

Down by a set and break in the second, Sania made a remarkable comeback into the match with the help of her monstrous forehand.

She took seven of the next nine games to win the second set 6-3 and then take a 2-1 in the third.

But from there on, Venus utilised her experience and capitalised on the Indian's unforced errors to force her way back into the match and went on a roll, taking five straight games to seal the victory.

After registering the win, Venus credited Sania for her braveheart display and said the Indian had a lot of potential.

"It's always fun out there. These kinds of matches are good to pull out. It was a great opening round, and now I'm ready for the next one," she said.

"Sania has a lot of talent and a lot of power, and she uses it to her advantage. She was really going for it and she had nothing to lose. But I've been in these situations before, and I've come through," she added.

Venus will next take on 16th seed German Sabine Lisicki, who prevailed over qualifier Lenka Wienerova 6-4 6-3 in another second round match. — PTI

Ludhiana, April 16
The JCT beat Mumbai Football Club scored a 1-0 win in the last league match of the ONGC I- league match series at Guru Nanak Stadium and escaped relegation today.

Jagpreet Singh emerged the hero striking home in the eight minute in the do-or-die match. The victory saved the home team drudgery of playing in the qualifiers next time. With the victory, the JCT are placed ninth.

The Air India lost to Sporting Clube de Goa to be 10th. Jagpreet Singh was also adjudged the Man of the Match. It was he who converted a spectacular goal from a pass from Amandeep Singh.

Eduardo Da Silva was the captain of the home team and was clearly the crowd favourite till he was substituted with Paul Macjames in the second half.

Felix Aboagye and Balwant Singh from the JCT were shown the yellow cards. Paul Macjames was shown the red card at the end of the match for his unruly behaviour.

Pradeep M and Romenjit Singh from the visiting team had to be carried off from the field following injuries.

The JCT dominated the first half of the match till a late rush by the visiting team which resulted in a couple of close shaves.

Edu missed a goal in the early first half and set one up soon after. In the beginning of the second half, Macjames came close to scoring.

More than 25 old timers were there to watch the match. They were anxiously evaluating JCT chances of victory.

They could be seen shouting at the top of their voice and appreciating good moves of players from both the teams.

JCT has never been relegated. The team was the champion in the first edition way back in 1997.

New Delhi, April 16
Chidi Edeh struck two leisurely goals as Mahindra United crushed the title hopes of Mohun Bagan with a 2-1 victory in a last round match of the I-League Football Championship at the Ambedkar Stadium here today.

Chidi struck once in each half to put Mahindra in a comfortable position. As the Mumbai team were about to celebrate victory, substitute Vincent Cardozo Branco headed in, in the opening minute of the four-minute injury time play to get a face-saver for the Kolkata team.

Bagan were in line for the title after locking with table toppers Churchill Brothers
on 43 points, but Mahindra effectively halted their victory match with a well-
crafted victory.

Mahindra played compact, purposeful soccer while Mohun Bagan were aimless and failed to cash in on their chances.

Their famed forwards Baichung Bhutia and Jose Ramirez Baretto failed to get their acts together, and as a result, Bagan just could not breach the Mahindra defence.

On the other hand, Chidi Edeh and Mohamed Rafi struck a purple patch upfront
to create many good moves for Mahindra, with Chidi scoring two goals with
effortless ease.

Chidi, whose first good shot was stopped by Bagan custodian Sangram Mukharji in the 27th minute, however, made no mistake in the 41st minute when a one-two between him and Rafi drew Sangram out.

Chidi moved across the goal mouth and placed the ball nicely into an empty goal to open the account (1-0).

Chidi wasted a good chance in the fifth minute of the second half when he shot straight into the hands of Sangram, but made up for the lapse 10 minutes later when he found the mark again, off a Rafi pass, to take the wind out of Bagan sails.

Bagan were let down by Bhutia and Baretto with their sloppy performance. Bhutia was also booked with a yellow card for charging at the rival custodian.

Despite making some late charges, the Indian captain failed to impress. With Mahindra's victory over Bagan, the final placings of the league will be altered.