New Delhi, August 4
Tennis aces Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza today asked the Indian cricketers to shrug off all apprehensions about the vexed ‘whereabout’ clause of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) code and sign on the dotted line. Bhupathi and Sania stressed on the point that the WADA initiative was about weeding out drug cheats from the world of sports and both felt it was duty of every sportspersons to cooperate and contribute to create a dope-free world.

“I have been doing the ‘whereabouts’ this entire year. I think if the system allows for those who abuse it to be caught we should go with it,” Bhupathi said. “Lots of the tennis players had apprehensions early but we are all doing it,” he added.

Tennis stars Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams are the two most vociferous critics of the clause but both had no choice but to fall in line and sign it. Indian cricketers, however, believe that the clause, which makes it mandatory to disclose their whereabouts three months in advance, is intrusive and also poses security threats.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) came out in support of its players and has asked the International Cricket Council, a WADA signatory, to explore the possibility of having an anti-doping agency of its own. It has created an embarrassing situation for the ICC as no cricketer from any other country have expressed any reservation so far.

Echoing Bhupathi’s view, India’s first female Grand Slam title winner Sania Mirza said rules should be same for everyone and hoped the cricketers’ concerns could be addressed. “It would not be fair to all the other sports and sportsmen of the world to make exceptions to WADA’s rules and I’m sure any doubts that the cricketers have can be sorted out amicably through consensus before they sign on the dotted line,” Sania said.

Reminding that every sportsperson has a duty to support the anti-doping agency in its bid for a dope-free world, Sania said, “We all share the same goals as WADA, being a part of the world sports fraternity. In order to ensure that the sport is dope-free, WADA requires that the top 50 ranked singles and top 10 doubles tennis players of the world need to sign the ‘whereabout clause’ for off-season random dope testing and I have, myself been a signatory to that clause when I was in the top 50,” Sania added.

Former Davis Cup captain Leander Paes has also said that the stringent anti-doping code is necessary even if it intrudes privacy. — PTI 

Mumbai, August 4
To educate India’s domestic cricketers about the ICC’s WADA-compliant Anti-Doping Code, the Cricket Board is set to conduct an education programme over the next two months.

“The (ICC) Anti-Doping Code has to filter down to the domestic level and we are for the moment planning to conduct an education programme for domestic cricketers. We will think about all other things once we are through with this,” said BCCI CAO Ratnakar Shetty today.

“We will have to include the domestic coaches and physios also in the education progamme,” he said. Shetty was not prepared to talk on matters, including setting up of a medical panel or testing the samples taken from the players, insisting that the first step was to conduct the education programme at the domestic level.

“We plan to do it over the next two months”, he said. The Code has a controversial “whereabouts” clause, by which some top cricketers need to inform the dope-testing authorities about their whereabouts each day for three months in advance. The concerned Indian cricketers had raised objections by insisting to the BCCI their security was under threat if they sign this clause and their privacy would also get infringed. The Board has accepted their view and told the International Cricket Council it was an unacceptable part of the Anti-Doping Code. — PTI 

If I’m in the boots of Yuvraj Singh or Dhoni I would certainly not like to be disturbed when I’m on a holiday. Like every individual, the cricketers too need to have their privacy respected. 

— Sandeep Patil

Here I’m talking about Test cricket which is different from short-duration games like hockey. There should be different testing norms for cricket which can’t be clubbed with other sports. ICC could have discussed this with other boards and players. Then they could have sorted this out earlier. 

— Ajit Wadekar

During our days there was no doping menace. But I suppose things are different now. With so much money in the game there could be temptations to the youngsters to go awry which needs to be prevented. 

New Delhi, August 4
Indian football team’s month-long Barcelona tour yielded the desired result and will do a world of good to its Nehru Cup title defence, captain Bhaichung Bhutia said today. Bhutia said the side has achieved what they had set out for from their training stints at the FC Barcelona facilities.

“It is always good to have a pre-season tour. The facilities are great here in FC Barcelona and so it has been a very good tour. The boys are making the most of the facilities and we are in fine shape and ready for the Nehru Cup,” Bhutia said. He said the best part of the training tour has been the improvement in the fitness level of the boys, especially the youngsters, which will give them the confidence in the August 18-30 Nehru Cup.

“The fitness level of the boys has improved a lot and (coach Bob) Houghton has allowed all of them to play (in the first two practice games against Spanish third division sides). So they are in the mix, which is great,” he said.

Bhutia would not compare the trip to the team’s 2007 tour of Portugal ahead of the Nehru Cup which India won but said they have achieved what they had set out for from the tour. “I don’t want to compare the two tours. Portugal was very good and Barcelona is the same. The important thing is we had achieved what we had set out for from the Dubai and Barcelona tours. We got the match practice and chance to try out combinations,” Bhutia said.

Asked which of the opponents in the Nehru Cup would be the team to watch out for, Bhutia said, “In any international tournament every team would be tough to play against so we can’t take any team lightly.” On the new World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) code featuring the vexed “whereabout” clause, Bhutia said he has not encountered anything like that.

“I and other players have been subjected to testing before every international tournaments under AFC and that is not new. But I have not encountered this ‘whereabouts’ clause,” he said. FIFA had at first objected to the clause which required the furnishing of information by chosen players of there location three months in advance for out-of-competition testing before signing it on the condition of recommending only those players whom it considers “of high risk”, such as those who have earlier flunked dope tests or have recovered from injuries. India had played three friendly games against Spanish third division sides, winning one and drawing two. They play their final friendly tomorrow before flying home on August 7. — PTI 

Gaganjit Bhullar continues to ride on his rich vein of form finishing runner-up at Brunei on Sunday and clinching the first Asian Tour title at Jakarta 10 days back as he tees off at the Worldwide Holdings Selangor Masters at Petaling Jaya in Malaysia tomorrow. The 21-year-old Kapurthala lad, who made his British Open debut in July, will look to put his loss in Brunei behind him as he aims for his second Asian Tour title at the par-71 course.

Bhullar, who climbed up the Asian Tour Order of Merit to occupy the seventh slot after the Brunei Open, likes the challenging Seri Selangor layout as it reminds him of the courses at home.

The brightest young star on the Asian Tour, Gaganjeet Bhullar said: “I have been hitting the ball really well and putting well these past few weeks and my experience on the Asian Tour has certainly developed my skills. My confidence level has changed so much and I like this golf course and feel I can play well here.”

“To be honest, this course is playing better than what it was playing last year, the greens are in much better condition and the course is in good shape. This course reminds me of the courses we have back home in India. I don’t have much pressure playing in Asia because this is the place I was brought up, it reminds me as if I’m playing at home. I really enjoy playing on the Asian Tour and somehow I love playing in Malaysia.”

He added, “Over here there are a couple of holes where you have to think before you hit your shot because the greens are a little tricky but otherwise, this course is in an awesome shape. Right now, I'm really just enjoying myself out there.”

The rising Indian star will come up against a top field on the $3 lakh Asian Tour event, which includes defending champion Ben Leong of Malaysia, last week’s Brunei Open champion Darren Beck of Australia, Korea’s Noh Seung-yul, Thailand’s Prom Meesawat and Singaporean Mardan Mamat

All through the summer Arsenal supporters have been restive at the failure of Arsene Wenger to do what they believe is his duty, which is to spend the money, a.ka. Manchester City and Real Madrid, and wade the club’s place in the elite of English football. They may, heaven knows, have a point, but certainly they have some considerable consolation.

It is that their team retain, whatever happens, a marvellous commitment to the quality of the football they play. Certainly it is true that in a week when Test cricket was reminding us of its vast superiority over any other money-grubbing form of the game, it was still wonderfully refreshing, even in this football-saturated age, to see Wenger’s men at work against Rangers in the Emirates tournament.

What, you may ask, does a pre-season kickaround mean? Not so much, perhaps, beyond the fact that in this case it reminded us that Arsenal still have in Cesc Fabregas, Andrei Arshavin, Eduardo da Silva and the precocious Jack Wilshere players you would not only cross the street to see but negotiate quite a few motorways.

Arsenal fans have a genius for the expression of bewildered frustration but sometimes the rest of us are entitled to believe that they don’t really know they are born.

Of course you pay your money and you take your choice and if winning titles is your ultimate measurement of success in football and who can deny that it is? then well the Emirates is perhaps right not to be agog with anticipation for the coming season.

However, there are one or two things you can say with a degree of confidence. One is that the entertainment quota there will at times fly off the graph. The other is that it is a no-brainer that Arsenal will still finish above £100m, or whatever is at the latest count, Manchester City.

BRIEFLY

Flintoff sliding pretty quickly: Ponting
BIRMINGHAM: England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff was struggling in the Edgbaston Test and his fitness is “going downhill pretty quickly”, feels Australian skipper Ricky Ponting. “Visibly you could see he went downhill pretty quickly through the course of this game, so his injury is probably starting to take a bit more effect than what we actually realised. But we will prepare as if he is going to play and see what happens on the morning of the game,” he said. — PTI

Bomb scare at Ashes
BIRMINGHAM: The final day of the drawn third Ashes Test turned out to be a dramatic one off the field as a bomb threat during lunch break left the ground security staff in a tizzy. “We can confirm a short security alert at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground. Officers at the scene investigated and found this to be nothing of concern,” a West Midlands Police spokeswoman was quoted as saying. — PTI

Harmison, Sidebottom back
LONDON: England bolstered their bowling options by naming Ryan Sidebottom as well as Steve Harmison in a 14-man squad for the fourth Ashes test against Australia at Headingley starting this week. England, who lead the series 1-0 with two matches remaining, also included uncapped Warwickshire batsman Jonathan Trott in the squad for the match starting on Friday. Spinner Monty Panesar was left out. — Reuters

ACSU probing bookies link: Altaf
KARACHI: Pakistan Cricket Board on Tuesday said that ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit was looking into the incident of suspected bookies approaching Pakistani players during their recent tour of Colombo. PCB Chief Operating Officer, Saleem Altaf said that at the moment the PCB was aware the ACSU representative in Sri Lanka was inquiring into the matter of suspected bookmakers. — PTI

DDCA Star suffer first defeat
NEW DELHI: The DDCA Star XI Under-19 team suffered first defeat on their England tour when they lost to Scotland by by four wickets. DDCA won the toss and elected to bat. Scores: DDCA: 160 in 50 overs (Samarth 33, Jaideep 32, Philip 3 for 22). Scotland: 162 for 6 in 42.5 overs (Parkar 45, O Harris 23, Rishit 3 for 33, Apoorv Jain 2 for 29). — TNS

AIFF to seek 10 crore from BCCI
NEW DELHI: The All India Football Federation is planning to approach cash-rich Indian Cricket Board for financial assistance for its national team’s 2011 Asian Cup preparations. With little funds coming from corporate houses for the ‘Goal 2011 Project’, AIFF acting president Praful Patel is seeking help of his party chief Sharad Pawar to get financial assistance to the tune of Rs 10 crore, sources said. — PTI

BSF beat Punjab Police
Chandigarh: BSF and Punjb Police were involved in an exciting match of the Punjab State Super football League with BSF running out winners by 3-2. The match was clinched by a 82nd minute goal at Jalandhar. The next match is to be played between Harbhajan Sporting Club Mahilpur and RCF Kapurthala at the RCF Kapurthala gorund. The match begins at 4.30 pm. — TNS

U-21 Volleyball World C’ship India beat Russia
Chandigarh: India’s U-21 volleyball team scripted an awe inspiring performance by thumping former World Champions and 2007 runner ups Russia in a five set epic encounter 3 - 2 (25-22, 26-28, 33-31, 22-25, 15-11). The trio of Gurinder Singh, Naveen Raja Jacob and Captain Mandeep Singh led the attack by powering in 29, 26 and 14 points respectively. India who were expected to be the underdogs shocked Russia with spectacular blocks, attacks and serves. In the other second round match, Cuba blanked top seeds Iran 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-22) to start off the second round campaign. The 9-16 classification matches saw Canada coming from behind to beat Tunisia 3-1 (20-25, 25-20, 25-18, 25-23) in Pool H. In the other game from Pool H China beat Greece 3-2 (25-23, 23-25, 24-26, 25-12, 15-13) in a nail biting finish. — TNS