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Barca conquers Europe
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India scope
Santosh Trophy
Federer, Venus avoid Paris nightmares
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Barca conquers Europe
Rome, May 28 Messi usually uses his head to send instructions to his feet on how to humble defenders, and the combination brought him a season-high nine Champions League goals and 38 in total for Barca. The ninth was a looping header over goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar in 70th minute as Barcelona proved itself the best around by outplaying defending champion United and swinging pendulum of power back from English Premier League to La Liga. “This is the most important victory of my life,” Messi said last night. Samuel Eto’o put the Spanish champion ahead in the 10th minute at Stadio Olimpico and the triumph completed a sweep of titles for 38-year-old Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola in his first season, after wins in the Spanish league and cup. The former Barcelona star, who started as a ball boy at Camp Nou, joins five others who have won the title both as a player and a coach. The win was Barcelona’s third in Europe’s premier club competition following their earlier successes in 1992 and 2006 and completed a treble after their successes in La Liga and the King’s Cup. United was chasing its fourth European Cup title, and fourth trophy this season after winning the Premier League, FIFA Club World Cup and League Cup. But United was thoroughly outplayed by the Spanish side, which has 153 league and cup goals this season. Xavi Hernandez floated a diagonal ball into the United area to find Messi unmarked, and the Argentina striker renowned for his deft dribbling and shooting used his head to redirect it past Van der Sar. The loss left Man United manager Alex Ferguson at 25 titles in 23 seasons. He failed to match Liverpool’s Bob Paisley’s three titles in the competition. “We had the ball but didn’t use it very well. We defended fantastically all season but they were two shoddy goals. We didn’t play as well as we can, but they are a good team. We have to give them credit. Xavi and (Andres) Iniesta can keep the ball all night. They made it very difficult.” South Korean winger Park Ji-sung became the first Asian to play in a Champions League final. He almost scored for United in opening minute but his shot was deflected wide after the goalkeeper blocked Cristiano Ronaldo’s free-kick. It was the nearest United came to scoring all night. The victory also marked the first Champions League title for Barcelona striker Thierry Henry, who was on the losing side when Arsenal lost to Barcelona in 2006. “Finally, I’ve been waiting for so long to get this title and now finally today,” said Henry, who had been doubtful for the final because of a knee injury. “The last five minutes were the longest of my life.” — AP |
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Pep talk
Chandigarh, May 28 Guardiola’s legend at the Nou Camp needs little introduction. He was the captain of Johan Cruyff’s team that won the Catalans their first European trophy. So when last year he replaced Frank Rijkaard, there were doubts about his coaching credentials, but not about his commitment to the club. After three trophy-less seasons, the Catalan hero brought his club the honour of becoming the only Spanish club to do the treble of the La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League. It is amazing how a man with relatively no past experience has been so successful in his first year itself. But this is surely not without reason. There is the obvious Messi, Henry and Eto’o trio at work. But to make that trio work, Guardiola must get the credit. He has, primarily, sorted out the issue of playing the target man between Eto’o and Henry, by moving Messi into a free moving role. The Argentine plays centrally, but also falls deep when need be. He fills the gap created as Henry drifts to the left, and Eto’o to the right. Next is the midfield where Guardiola is spoilt for choice. He plays Iniesta in a link up role between Messi and Xavi, more like a catalyst. When full force, Yaya Toure plays the holding role, just ahead of the defence and providing cover to the midfield as well. Add Marques, Dani Alves and Pique to the equation and you have a sound enough defence in place. Even in the final, as predicted Toure filled in at the backline with Busquets filling in the midfield vacancy. United missed a trick and with all credit to Park, he never could test Puyol, and Ronaldo didn’t have much to play with in the centre. Messi showed his potential as he dropped deep time and again to add the numbers in the middle of the park. These were not strategic gems that Guardiola pulled out of a magic hat. Rather these were the signs of a manager, who knows how to make eleven star players gel like a team, and never look like 10+1. |
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Ronaldo doesn’t know if he’ll return to ManU
Rome: Cristiano Ronaldo’s future at Manchester United was thrown into uncertainty again after he said he didn’t know whether he would be playing for the English champions next season.
When asked after United’s 2-0 Champions League final defeat to Barcelona yesterday if he would be at Old Trafford next season, Ronaldo said: “I don’t know.” Meanwhile, Ronaldo has criticised club manager Alex Ferguson’s tactics in the Champions League final, saying they were not good enough to neutralise Barcelona’s front line led by Argentine star Lionel Messi. Ronaldo risked Fergie’s wrath by saying: “We didn’t do well. The tactics were not good and everything went wrong for us. We were only in it for 10 minutes and we never found ourselves again.” — Agencies |
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India scope
New Delhi, May 28 Irrespective of the outcome, India is set to return with four medals, country’s best-ever haul, in the event but it remains to be seen what the colour of these medals would be. In the last edition of the competition in 2007, India had clinched two gold and a silver medal. Sandeep (46kg) faces Javlonbek Eshmatov of Uzbekistan, a country which has a five-strong presence in the semis along with Cuba. “A very tough semifinal line-up. I am doing everything to motivate my boys. I have told them not to get intimidated by their tough opponents. But luck is also a factor,” coach MS Dhaka said. Namit (50kg) will be up against Talgat Berteulov of Kazakhstan. Shiva (52kg) will also square off against a Kazakh, Yerbolat Seidalliyev. Vikas (54kg), meanwhile, takes on Yunior Ernesto Valdes Boleri of Cuba. Rushmi keeps going
A strong-willed Rushmi Chakravarthi came from behind to tame Renee Binnie in a three-setter to storm into the semifinals of the $10,000 ITF Women’s Futures tournament here on Thursday. The sixth seed local hope carved out a hard fought 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-3 win over the unseeded Australian in the quarterfinals at the DLTA Complex here. However, it was curtains for Parija Maloo who lost her match 3-6, 4-6 to Chinese Ying-Ying Duan. Duan had knocked out top seed Ankita Bhambri in the previous round. Rushmi will next face fifth seed Israeli Keren Shlomo, who mauled unseeded Korean Soon-Mi SEO 6-1, 6-1 in her last-eight stage match. Dahiya shoots gold
Delhi shooter Sangram Dahiya helped India win two gold medals - individual and team - by winning the double trap event on the opening day of the first Junior Shotgun Competition in Ormitilla, Finland on Thursday. Sangram won the individual gold with a score of 178 (139+39) and aided his team consisting of Chetan Sansanwal (113) and Shyan Masood (107) to clinch the team title as well. Chetan finished sixth with a score of 158 (113+41) while Shyan, who failed to qualify for final round, ended up with a score of 107/150. The silver and bronze medals went to Italy (120+41) and Finland (118+42) respectively. Women’s rugby
For the first time ever an Indian women’s rugby squad is to take part in an international event, the Asian Women’s 7s tournament at Pattaya in Thailand on May 30 and 31. The 13-member squad is to be led by Pune’s Avani Sabade and coached by Fiji’s Usaia Buimuiwai, it was announced at a media conference on Thursday. President of Rugby India, Pramod Khanna, said that it was a historic occasion for both India and the contact sport. “It’s a great step in the evolution of this game in our country,” he said. —
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Santosh Trophy
Ludhiana, May 28 The quarter final league will commence on June 2. The selected players are Karanjit Singh, Anwar, Sarabjeet, Baldeep Singh, Jagpreet Singh, Randeep Singh and Balwant Singh from JCT; Ramanjit Singh, Rohit and Amandeep Batra from Punjab Police; Kulwant Singh, Amandeep, Chandandeep Singh and Hardeep Singh from JCT football academy; P Singh and Harpreet Singh from BSF; Pankaj Sura from Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala. Jagir Singh has been appointed coach of the team while Harjinder Singh and Dr Vishal Kumar will be the manager and physio, respectively.
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Federer, Venus avoid Paris nightmares
Paris, May 28
Federer appeared to be heading for his earliest grand slam defeat since 2003 when he struggled to find his touch for three sets on a damp day in Paris but found his range in the nick of time to subdue Argentina’s Jose Acasuso 7-6, 5-7, 7-6, 6-2. “I was not afraid to die, so everything was okay. It was sort of a fun match to be part of with so many ups and downs. I could have won the first three sets. Could have lost them also. (So) I’m thrilled to be through,” Federer told reporters. It was a sentiment shared by Venus. The third seed’s second-round tussle was suspended on Wednesday due to bad light after she had lost the first set. She returned to save a match point before crawling over the finishing line with a 6-7, 6-2, 7-5 win over Czech Lucie Safarova. Her sister, Serena, enjoyed an easier outing with a 6-2, 6-0 destruction of Spaniard Virginia Ruano Pascual. Jelena Jankovic snuffed out the challenge of Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova 6-1, 6-2 and Russian seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova was at her ruthless best in a 49-minute 6-0, 6-2 demolition of Kazakhstan’s Galina Voskoboeva. Men’s fifth seed Juan Martin del Potro marched on by beating Serbia’s Viktor Troicki 6-3, 7-5, 6-0, while 10th seed Nikolay Davydenko carved out a 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, 6-2 win over Diego Junqueira. French number one Marion Bartoli, the 13th seed, slumped to a 6-3, 7-5 defeat by Italy’s Tathiana Garbin. Bartoli blamed her defeat on a host of problems, from illness to the chilly conditions to the noise made by a small, feisty contingent of Italian fans. “I was a little tired and a little sick, I had a sore throat and my nose is running. It was very cold and the court was heavy. The ball was stuck on the strings and it was very slow,” said the Frenchwoman. Safin bids farewell
Marat Safin bowed out of his last French Open with typical flashes of brilliance and petulance on Wednesday in a 7-6, 7-6, 4-6, 3-6, 10-8 defeat by wildcard Josselin Ouanna that the former world number one was keen to forget. The hotheaded Russian, who will retire at the end of the year, clawed himself back from two sets down to force a decider where he saved two match points before bashing a wild forehand wide to send the 134th-ranked Frenchman into the third round. Paes-Dlouhy advance
Third seeds Leander Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy sailed into the second round of the French Open men’s doubles event with a straight-set win over locals Sebastien de Chaunac and Benoit Paire here. Paes and Dlouhy beat their rivals 6-1, 6-3 late last night to set up a clash with another unseeded duo of James Cerretani and Sergiy Stakhovsky. The Ukrainian-American pair defeated Spaniards Nicolas Almagro and Ivan Navarro 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in the first round. Bopanna-Erlich bow out
Rohan Bopanna and Jonathan Erlich crashed out of the men’s double event of the French Open after suffering a 4-6, 6-7 (10) defeat at the hands of Guillermo Garcia Lopez and Sergio Roitman. After conceding the first set, the Indo-Israeli duo had a good chance to draw level as they were leading 4-1 at one stage but allowed the Spanish-Argetine pair to claw their back. Guillermo and Sergio stretched the second set to a tie-breaker and converted their third match point to seal the fate of Bopanna and Erlich. — Agencies |
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Paris, May 28
