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Roger sets up date with history Paes-Black enter mixed doubles final |
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More Indians in ICC Hall of Fame: Morgan
Windies set India stiff target
Lanka, Pak return to Tests
Court clears Boonen to race
Haryana Jr Chess tourney begins
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Roger sets up date with history
London, July 3 If Federer wins the final he will better Sampras’ record of 14 Grand Slams By downing Haas in just over two hours, the Swiss became the first man to reach seven successive Wimbledon finals since the abolition of the Challenge Round in 1922. It did not take him long to turn his thoughts to what will be at stake on Sunday. “It’s unbelievable to be back into another Wimbledon final," said Federer, who shares the record of 14 majors with American Pete Sampras. "I've had a lot of pressure over the years so this is just another great opportunity for me to get into the history books, it's not the only reason why I'm playing tennis because I love it but going for something that big this coming Sunday it's quite extraordinary."
American Andy Roddick ended Briton Andy Murray's Wimbledon dream on Friday by winning their men's semi-final 6-4 4-6 7-6 7-6. Third seed Murray was bidding to become the first British man since Bunny Austin in 1938 to advance to the Wimbledon men's final. Sixth-seeded Roddick, a former world number one and winner of the 2003 U.S. Open, broke Murray in the final game of the first set. Murray broke back immediately to level the match 1-1 and held three break points in the first game of the third and set point in the tiebreak but could not take advantage. Federer did not care about facing Roddick in the showpiece match as he holds a commanding 18-2 record against the American. "I don't mind. I've had some great matches with Roddick over the years, twice here in the finals which I thought were fantastic," said the 27-year-old, who achieved another milestone on Friday by becoming the first man to reach a record 20th grand slam finals. "I have a great record against him so obviously that would be a good thing. He's never to be underestimated with the wonderful serve he has and his great fighting spirit.” Federer has every right to feel confident as on Friday he did not face a single break point and there has been little indication that anyone will be able to match his precise footwork or sublime touch at these championships. Federer had won nine of his previous 11 meetings against the surprise semi-finalist but he had been wary of the threat Haas posed since the German came within five points of wrecking his French Open dreams last month. The second seed, whose five-year Wimbledon reign was ended by Rafael Nadal last July, was in no mood to put his heavily pregnant wife Mirka through another nerve jangling ordeal and after teasing Haas for about 80 minutes, he moved in for the kill. — Reuters
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Paes-Black enter mixed doubles final
London, July 3 The Indo-Zimbabwe pair beat their 12th seeded opponents 6-4, 6-4 in a 71-minute semifinal contest. Paes and Black, who won the US Open mixed doubles last year, were rusty at the start and were broken in the second game by the Australian-Spanish pair who go up 2-0 and then 3-0. The top seeds, however, fought back with stunning ferocity to break their opponents in the fifth and seventh games to pocket the first game 6-4 in 35 minutes. The second set went on serves till the fourth game after which Paes and Black tightened their game to break their opponents once and pocket the set 6-4 in 36 minutes and the match. In the summit clash, Paes and Black will meet the winner of the other semifinal match between ninth seeds Mark Knowles (Bahamas)/Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Germany) and unseeded Jamie Murray (Great Britain)/Liezel Huber (USA). — PTI
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More Indians in ICC Hall of Fame: Morgan
New Delhi, July 3 The ICC said that the list would be updated annually and would have an adequate Indian representation. “This is not the final list. I do believe that a number of magnificent Indian cricketers deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. We will soon develop a mechanism and have plans to add more players to the list on an annual basis,” ICC president David Morgan told PTI in a telephonic interview from London. Former captains Bishan Singh Bedi, Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev are the three Indians in the 55-strong list that includes 22 Englishmen, 11 Australians, 13 West Indians, three from Pakistan, two South Africans and a lone New Zealander. Strangely, not a single Sri Lankan made it to the list. Morgan said when updated, the list would look balanced. “There would be balance among nations, on merit,” he added. The list does not contain cricketers who have retired post-1995. The eminent Indian cricketers missing from the list include C K Nayudu, Lala Amarnath, Vijay Merchant, Vijay Hazare, Vinoo Mankad, Polly Umrigar, Subash Gupte, Erapalli Prasanna, B Chandrasekhar and G Viswanath. Among the Englishmen, W G Grace, one of the pioneers of the game, has been included but not Ranjitsinhji. Morgan also took the opportunity to rubbish notions that India has been a bully inside ICC, arm-twisting the governing body because of its financial clout. “I have never regarded India as a bully at the ICC. I refer to my experiece with India at the ICC under the leadership of Mr Dalmiya, Mr Pawar and now Mr Shashank Manohar. I do not accept that India acts in a bullying fashion,” Morgan said. — PTI
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Windies set India stiff target Gros Islet, July 3 The hosts braved the stop-start game, which witnessed as many as four rain interruptions and brought the overs down to 27 per side, to post a competitive total after India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and opted to field. Sarwan (62) was involved in two crucial partnerships, 51 runs with Runako Morton (22) and another 48 with Shivnarine Chanderpaul (15) before he was run out going for a non-existent second. Gautam Gambhir's strong throw found Sarwan short of the mark. His 58-ball stay included five fours and a six. He carried on the momentum provided by captain Chris Gayle (27), who gave the hosts a rollicking start after the match started two hours and five minutes late following a rain delay that first reduced the match to 41 overs a side. Gayle hit Ishant Sharma for a couple of boundaries in each of his first two overs. Left-arm pacer Ashish Nehra received similar treatment in his second over, another couple of boundaries, before rain intervened with the West Indies at 27 for no loss from 3.3 overs. — PTI Scoreboard Gayle c Dhoni b Nehra 27 (14) Morton st Dhoni b Harbhajan 22 (34) Sarwan run out 62 (58) Chanderpaul c Nehra b Pathan 15 (14) DJ Bravo c Dhoni b Nehra 13 (19) DM Bravo b Nehra 21 (15) Ramdin not out 14 (6) Taylor c Ishant b Harbhajan 1 (2) Extras (lb 7, w 3) 10 Total (7 wickets; 27 overs) 185 Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-78, 3-125, 4-135, 5-169, 6-172, 7-185. Bowling: Ishant 5-0-35-0, Nehra 5-1-21-3, RP 5 -0-34-0, Harbhajan 5-0-35-2, Yuvraj 2-0-19-0, Rohit 1-0-7-0, Yusuf 4-0-27-1.
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Colombo, July 3 Their last meeting in a Test grabbed world headlines for a bloody ambush outside Gadaffi Stadium that killed six police officers and a driver and wounded seven Sri Lankan cricketers. The Sri Lanka team bus was approaching the ground for the third day's play of the second Test when more than a dozen heavily armed men ambushed the vehicle. The incident forced the visiting team to return to Colombo immediately and the match was abandoned. Sri Lankan batsman Thilan Samaraweera's rare feat of scoring two consecutive double-hundreds was a highlight of the series along with Younis Khan's triple-hundred for Pakistan in the first Test. Samaraweera had a bullet lodged in his thigh in the attack, raising concern for his cricket future. But the bullet missed important tissues and ligaments in the leg, allowing him to make a comeback. Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara, who is leading the national team for the first time in a Test match, says Samaraweera has fully recovered and has prepared well for the series. — AP Injured Muralitharan to sit out
GALLE: Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan has pulled out of the first test against Pakistan with a knee injury. Muralitharan, who holds the record for the most Test wickets, has injured his patella tendon. Selectors have called up off-spinner Suraj Mohamed and left-arm spinner Rangana Herath as cover for the opening test, which starts on Saturday. Herath has been rushed back to Sri Lanka from England where he was playing club cricket while Mohamed took three wickets against Pakistan in a warm-up game this week. —
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Monaco, July 3 “ASO takes this decision into account. The management of the Tour de France believes that, considering the great champion that Tom Boonen is, he will relish the opportunity that has been given to him and that he will have an exemplary attitude during the event,” they added. Tour organisers ASO (Amaury Sport Organisation) had banned Boonen from the race, which starts on Saturday, after the Belgian failed an out-of-competition test for cocaine in April. Boonen launched a court case against ASO but earlier this week a judge said she could not rule on the matter, sending it before the French sport arbitration court. — Reuters
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Haryana Jr Chess tourney begins
Gurgaon, July 3 Chief Guest and other guests were welcomed by School chairman Col. Kr. Pratap Singh, Nirmal Yadav, principal & Naresh Sharma, general secretary of Distt. Chess Association, Gurgaon. Gen. Sarin said he was surprised as well as happy to see such a gathering in the game of chess as these days everybody was following cricket. K.K. Yadav assured the association of every help, including financial. Others present were acting president of Distt. Association Sharmendra Singh, Anil Kumar Parnami, Desh Rattan Gulati, Raj Pal Singh Chauhan, Umed Sharma and M.P.Garg.
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Roger Federer stood one match away from a record 15th grand slam title after he snuffed out the challenge of Germany's Tommy Haas 7-6 7-5 6-3 to reach the Wimbledon final on Friday. The five-times champion edged his 31-year-old rival in a display of sheer brilliance before a mesmerised Centre Court crowd, ending the contest with a brilliant slam-dunk smash.
Roger Federer stood one match away from a record 15th grand slam title after he snuffed out the challenge of Germany's Tommy Haas 7-6 7-5 6-3 to reach the Wimbledon final on Friday. The five-times champion edged his 31-year-old rival in a display of sheer brilliance before a mesmerised Centre Court crowd, ending the contest with a brilliant slam-dunk smash.
The presence of just three Indian cricketers in International Cricket Council's Hall of Fame may have generated a controversy in the country but the game's governing body today made it clear that more Indians would be added to the elite list.
KIEV
Karachi: