 |
|
|
Federer faces Soderling hurdle
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Mental fatigue did me in: Saina
Winner of the Indonesian Open, Saina Nehwal being felicitated after her arrival at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Shamshabad in Hyderabad on Sunday. — PTI Dhoni, RP rescue some
pride
Only 3 Indians in ICC Hall of Fame
Dhruv Pandove Trophy
Champions Challenge II
Alonso free kick gives Spain third place
|
|
Federer faces Soderling hurdle
London, June 28 The Swede has been in the Federer firing line 10 times and on each occasion he has come off second best. The most recent was in the French Open final and just three weeks on from that drubbing, Soderling is hoping to find a quick cure for his health problems if he is to have any chance of upsetting a man chasing a record 15th grand slam title. “My stomach has been pretty bad since Wednesday, so I didn’t eat a lot. I felt pretty bad,” said the 13th seed after reaching the second week of the grasscourt major for the first time. “And it’s tough to play against Roger. I’ve played him 10 times, and after the match I never felt like I played well. It’s not because of me, I think it’s because of him. It’s tough to play well against him, put it that way. I’d like to improve everything from Paris.” Revamping his game in just 22 days is almost a mission impossible. Gifted with a thunderous forehand, Soderling has the ability to leave many opponents huffing and puffing as they chase after his winners. He also employs a high-risk strategy of blunting his opponents strengths instead of exploiting their weaknesses. Those tactics can catch out most players but Federer is no ordinary rival. The five-times champion and favourite to reclaim the title snatched from his grasp last year by Rafael Nadal, has been at his free-flowing best during the opening week and there is little to suggest that anyone will be able to stop him from gliding into his seventh successive final here. The second seed left Lu Yen-hsun, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Philipp Kohlschreiber in a spin to make the last 16. “What stands out to me, is that I've beaten him so many times that it gives me an incredible amount of confidence, knowing that if I do play my game well, I should be fine,” said Federer, who has lost just once in his last 69 matches on grass. “It’s going to be interesting to see how he's going to enter that match after coping with such a long tournament in Paris and see how fresh he still is. But I’ve played him here in the past, and I’ve played him on grass a few times now. “Yeah, I’m definitely got to be ready for that match.” Soderling, however, was not quite ready to wave the white flag. In case anyone had forgotten, he etched his name into trivia books after becoming the first man to beat four-times French Open champion Nadal at Roland Garros just a few weeks ago and is now hoping to produce another shock. “It’s very tough to beat Rafa on clay, and it’s as tough to beat Roger on grass. But I made it once...” he mused. — Reuters
|
|
Mental fatigue did me in: Saina
Hyderabad, June 28 Buoyant after her Indonesian Open triumph, Saina seemed on course for her second title of the month but her surprise defeat at the hands of Chinese qualifier Xin Wang in the quarterfinals in Malaysia ended her dream run in the circuit. And Saina said it was due to mental weariness. “I was mentally tired, even though I was fine fitness wise,” the shuttler said a day after returning from Malaysia. “I lost really some easy points and went down to her. But I guess it happens when you play continuously on the circuit,” she added. The bitterness, however, is supplanted by joy as she talks about her triumph in Indonesia. “I must say that the victory was unexpected. I never thought it would come so early,” Saina said. “My hard work has really paid off and I’m extremely happy,” she said. Looking ahead, Saina said she was bracing for the World Championship in her home town in August. “Of course World Championship is the next big thing in my agenda. It would be an opportunity to play in front of the home crowd,” she said. Asked if that would put her under more pressure, Saina said, “Not really. I don’t take pressure and I’m quite confident that I would live up to the expectations.” — PTI
|
|
Dhoni, RP rescue some
pride
Kingston, June 28
Dhoni stitched together a record 101-run partnership for the ninth wicket with RP Singh to lead India's recovery after they were reduced to 82 for eight in 22 overs. Indian batting collapsed like a house of cards against a ferocious pace attack lead by West Indies pacer Ravi Rampaul, who produced a career best figures of 10-2-37-4 and Jerome Taylor who grabbed three wickets for 35. Rampaul combined with Taylor to rip through the top-order before joining hands with Dwayne Bravo (3/26) to polish the lower order of the Indian line-up. With a 1-0 lead in the four-match series, Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first but his decision backfired as India lost half their side inside 15 overs with three batsmen going for a duck. The visitors had a pathetic start losing Dinesh Karthik (4), Gautam Gambhir (0) and Rohit Sharma (0) -- to be left tottering at eight for three in 1.4 overs. Playing his first match in the tournament, pacer Ravi Rampaul struck twice in his first over but it was his partner Jerome Taylor who drew first blood removing Karthik in the fifth ball of the innings. Karthik's outside edge found Ramdin, while a lame poke at an outside delivery brought Gambhir's demise. Rohit also followed suit when his edge flew to Ramdin, who popped it to Runako Morton at second slip. Yuvraj Singh (35) and Dhoni then steadied the ship and indulged in singles and twos to take India across the fifty in 11 overs. Yuvraj played some scintillating shot, which included five boundaries and a flat six off Rampaul in the 10th over, before falling prey to Taylor, two overs later. With India on the backfoot, Skipper Chris Gayle's decided to take the fielding powerplay after 10 overs and it paid off straight away as West Indies scalped two wickets giving away just 11 runs to reduce India to 57-5 in 14.2 overs. After Yuvraj was sent packing, new-man Yousuf Pathan (0) also didn't last long and was done in by a short-pitch delivery off Dwayne Bravo. Ravinder Jadeja (7) also gave a catching practice to Denesh Ramdin off Rampaul, while Harbhajan Singh (7) edged one from Bravo. Praveen Kumar (1) also was back in the hut after some time as India reeled at 82 for eight in 22 overs. Running short of partners, Dhoni decided to take the third powerplay after the 22nd over and along with RP singh crossed the hundred mark in 27 overs en route to their record partnership. Singh (23) departed in the 48th over to put an end to the partnership, while Dhoni too fell five runs short of a well-deserving century when his furniture was rocked by a slower delivery from Taylor in the 49th over. His innings was studded with six boundaries and a couple of sixes. — PTI Scoreboard Karthik c Ramdin b Taylor 4 (5) Gambhir c Ramdin b Rampaul 0 (2) Sharma c Morton b Rampaul 0 (2) Yuvraj c Ramdin b Taylor 35 (33) Dhoni b Taylor 95 (130) Pathan c Gayle b D Bravo 0 (9) Jadeja c Ramdin b Rampaul 7 (12) Harbhajan c Ramdin b D Bravo 7 (14) Parveen c Gayle b Rampaul 1 (5) RP Singh c Benn b D Bravo 23 (75) Nehra not out 0 (3) Extras: (lb 4, w 12) 16 Total: (all out; 48.2 overs) 188 Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-6, 3-7, 4-54, 5-57, 6-70, 7-81, 8-82, 9-183, 10-188. Bowling: Taylor 9.2-0-35-3, Rampaul 10-2-37-4, D Bravo 9-0-26 3, Benn 10-1-37-0, Bernard 7-0-36-0, Gayle 3 -0-13-0.
|
|||
|
Only 3 Indians in ICC Hall of Fame
Mumbai, June 28 The ICC, while announcing Colin Cowdrey as the 19th cricketer to be formally inducted in its elite list of cricket greats, provided the list of persons who have been chosen for the Hall of Fame, but yet to be formally inducted. The list contains 22 Englishmen, 11 Australians, 13 West Indians, three each from India, Pakistan and two South Africans and a lone New Zealander. Apparently the list does not contain cricketers who have retired post-1995. “The Hall of Fame, run in association with the Federation of International Cricketers Associations (FICA), recognises some of the truly great players from crickets long and illustrious history”, ICC said while naming former England captain Cowdrey and its first chairman as its 19th formal inductee. The world governing council for the game, celebrating its centenary year, also said that further cap presentations will be made during the course of the year and a limited number of inductees, in addition to the 55 already chosen, will be named during 2009. Strangely, none from Sri Lanka has been found good enough to make the list though the island nation has won the World Cup, ICC’s showpiece event, in 1996. Even from among Indian cricketers the list does not include CK Nayudu, Lala Amarnath, Vijay Merchant, Vijay Hazare, Vinoo Mankad, Polly Umrigar, Subash Gupte, Erapalli Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Gundappa Viswanath and Dilip Vengsarkar, to name a few. Among the Englishmen the name of Dr WG Grace, one of the pioneers of the game, has been included but not Ranjitsinhji, the erstwhile Jamsaheb of Nawanagar, who invented the leg glance, scored close to 1000 runs for England and averaged marginally below 45 in 15 Tests. More than anything Ranji’s name has been permanently associated with Indian cricket with the national championship being named after him. — PTI
|
|
Dhruv Pandove Trophy
Chandigarh, June 28 Chandigarh won the toss and chose to bat first and ended the day at 434 for 8 in the stipulated 95 overs. Openers Jaskaran Vir Singh and Manan Vohra put on 89 runs partnership for the first wicket before Jaskaran Singh was bowled by Rahul Kanojia for 39. Brief Scores: Chandigarh: 434 for 8 in 95 overs; Manan Vohra (102), Naveen Dhiman (94), Rahul Kanojia (5/139). Mohali: 361 for 8 in 95 overs; Sachin Sohal (133) Bin Kanwar (106); Arjun Kumar (3/123). Mukatsar: 167 all out in 52.5 overs; Harjit Singh (63); Baltej Singh (6/59), Rahul Singla (2/36). Ludhiana: 148 for 3 in 42 over; Akhil Aggarwar 82 not out. Harjot Singh (2/43) and Amandeep Singh Sr. (1/27). Jalandhar: 384 for 9 in 95 overs; Abhishek Gupta (193) , Rahul Vij (96), Robin Dhillon (3/63), Bhavish Goel (3/150).
|
|
Champions Challenge II
Kazan (Russia), June 28 Rani scored in the 17th, 38th, 44th and 54th minutes. Veteran Saba Anjum (20th) and Chanchan Devi (49th) were the other scorers for the Indian team. With this triumph, India qualified for Champions Challenge I tournament, to be held in October in South Africa, which is the qualifier for elite Champions Trophy next year. Besides being the match-winner, Rani also finished as the event’s top scorer and was named the Young Player of the tournament. India’s S Kaur was named Player of the Tournament. Ireland won the bronze medal after defeating Ukraine in the third-place match. — PTI
|
|
Alonso free kick gives Spain third place
Rustenburg, June 28 South African substitute Katlego Mphela forced the match into extra time with a ferocious free kick with the last kick at the end of 90 minutes. Goals in the 88th and 89th minutes from second-half substitute Daniel Guiza had put the European champions 2-1 up heading into stoppage time. Mphela had given South Africa the lead in the 73rd minute, sending the home crowd into raptures. He had some difficulty bringing a bouncing ball under control but drilled home a left-footed shot from almost point blank range. Guiza, who had come on for Fernando Torres, equalised after collecting a through-ball from Alonso as the South African defence backed off and allowed him to shoot from close in. — Reuters |
|
What do you want me to say? I said I wasn't proud, but I'm not going to lie to anybody. I busted my wife on some of her … music. She brought up Rick Astley. I can't deny it. It's in my iPod. I bet it’s in your iPod, too, so shut up. — Andy Roddick, when quizzed on his music taste.
“You don’t understand the heat in Florida. I needed a sweater out there.” — A grinning Venus Williams after beating Carla Suarez Navarro in searing midday temperatures on Saturday.
“If I can win with only one shot, I don’t know, I’m a genius.” — Croatian skyscraper Ivo Karlovic responds to criticism about his one-dimensional serving game.
— Reuters
|
| 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 | |
London, June 28
Hyderabad, June 28
Mahendra Singh Dhoni waged a lonely battle with a defiant 95 as India succumbed to a spectacular batting collapse to be dismissed for a modest 188 by the West Indies in the second
one-dayer here today. Dhoni stitched together a record 101-run partnership for the ninth wicket with RP Singh to lead India's recovery after they were reduced to 82 for eight in 22
overs.
Mumbai, June 28
Rustenburg, June 28
Facing Roger Federer on grass is usually a daunting enough prospect but lining up against the Swiss with a dodgy stomach could make Robin Soderling feel more than a little queasy on Monday.
Former French Open winner Ana Ivanovic will draw on lessons from her last Wimbledon clash with Venus Williams when she plays the five-time champion for a place in the quarterfinals. The 21-year-old Serbian, who marched past Australia’s Samantha Stosur 7-5, 6-2 on Saturday to secure a meeting with Williams, said she had learnt a lot from playing the world number three in the semifinals two years ago. “I’m very excited. I can take a lot from that match,” she said referring to her 6-2, 6-4 defeat by Williams in 2007.
I don’t think a lot of them would last five sets.
Back maybe in’88 or ’89, he came to Basel. I was outside the stadium because there was such excitement that he would come. I was still very young. I think I went there with my sister and we just listened from the outside. —
Federer recalls a distant childhood memory of Jackson.
“Michael Jackson goes way beyond the black community. I mean everyone of every
colour, every nation, every race is Michael Jackson’s fan. The guy literally couldn’t walk the streets." —
Serena on the King of Pop, Michael Jackson 
LONDON: 
MADRID