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European Tour |
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MAKA Trophy
I.P.S.C. TT tourney at Pinegrove
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“It is a good draw but not at all an easy one because there are quite a few quality players in there and obviously everyone has got a month break to practice and train themselves. So all of them would be fresh and raring to go,” Saina said. No threat to World C’ship: BWF
Hyderabad: Describing England's last-minute pullout from the World Badminton Championship as unfortunate, Badminton World Federation today insisted that there is no specific threat to the mega-event starting here tomorrow. BWF Chief Operating Officer (COO) Thomas Lund said he tried convincing the English team about the security situation but it had already decided to pull out by then. “I would not like to set any target and rather look at one game at a time and give my best that I usually do and see what happens. Preparation has been going on well. I am quite prepared and fit. I just want to go there and give my 100 per cent,” she added. Saina will play her first match in the tournament against the winner of the match between Polish Olga Konon and Russian Anastasia Prokopenko, in the second round. In men’s singles, Chetan will spearhead India’s challenge and the 15th seed will open his campaign against Ji Hoon Hong of Korea. “It is an okay draw for me. I am playing a Korean in the first round. I have never played him before but I have seen him play. So it would be a good match,” said Chetan, also ranked 15th in the world. “I would like to concentrate on my game and play freely and I know if I can do that I can pull it off,” he added. If the 29-year-old Indian gets past Ji, Chetan is likely to meet sixth-seed Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia in the second round. “Last year I defeated Kuncoro in the Denmark Open Super Series, so I am not scared of him. I just want to enjoy and play my natural game. I am not too worried about results and want to give my 100 per cent,” he said. Another prominent Indian in fray in men’s singles is world number 24 Bhat, who has been handed a difficult draw but the current national champion said it wasn’t “too bad.” “The draw isn’t too bad even though I play ninth-seed Yu Hsing Hsieh of Taiwan in the first round. I know I have not won against him in the last two encounters but I still feel he is beatable. I would like to take it one match at a time,” said Bhat. Wild card entrant Indians P Kashyap and Sayali Gokhale lock horns with Ireland’s Ali Shahhosseini and Jie Yao of the Netherlands in their openers respectively. Also there is world number 32 Aditi Mutatkar facing 11th seed Juliane Schenk of Germany in women’s singles first round.
— PTI
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European Tour
Terrassa, August 9 For the hosts, the goal-getters were Santi Freixa (3rd and 15th minutes), Xavi Ribas (14th), Albert Sala (26th), David Alegre (30th), Xavi Llenart (36th and 49th) and Victor Sojo (67th). India’s consolation goals were scored by Hari Prasad (51st) and Rajpal Singh (60th minute). To make it worse, goalkeeper Sreejesh was shown the yellow card midway in the first half after he had charged on Santi Freixa, leaving Vikram Pillay to don the custodian’s mantle for the rest of the match. Freixa had to be hospitalised for a serious knee injury which doctors said would put him out of the Euro Nations Cup at Amstelveen, Holland, later this month. Spain never allowed India to settle down in the lop-sided match and unleashed attacks at lightning speed, spearheaded by Freixa who was ably supported by wingers Edward Tabau and Xavi Llenart. India, who rested goalkeeper Adrian D’Souza, Dhananjay Mahadik, Prabodh Tirkey, Tushar Khandker, Ajitesh Roy and Shivendra Singh, appeared rusty and lacked the spark as seen against England and Belgium in the first half of their European tour.
— PTI |
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Kangaroos bounce back
“We’ve played some good cricket here and I am very proud of the guys for bouncing back and playing so well,” Australia captain Ricky Ponting said. “All credit to our bowlers. They bowled brilliantly on the first day and that set it up for us. We dominated the match from the first ball.” Graeme Swann, who made 62, had shared a dazzling century partnership with Stuart Broad in the morning session to frustrate Australia and ensure that England avoided a record margin of defeat. “We have to take this on the chin,” England captain Andrew Strauss said. “This is no time to panic. We need to stay calm and make sure we get the game plan right for the Oval.” England resumed on 82 for five following their collapse on Saturday and nightwatchman James Anderson struck the second ball of the day for four but he edged the next one from Ben Hilfenhaus to Ponting at second slip. Matt Prior played two sumptuous square drives for four but he fell for 22, nibbling at a Hilfenhaus outswinger and edging the ball to wicketkeeper Brad Haddin who took a brilliant diving catch. Broad was dropped by Peter Siddle on 18, a very difficult chance at mid-off, and he struck several crisp boundaries including four in one over from Stuart Clark. He reached his half-century, made from only 42 balls, with a crashing straight drive for four off Siddle and Swann also went on the attack, the pair adding 49 runs in three overs from Clark and Siddle. Broad was dropped again on 53 by Johnson running back at long-off and Swann’s quick single brought up the 100 partnership off 73 balls.
— Reuters Scoreboard England (1st innings) 102 Australia (1st innings) 445 England (2nd innings)
(overnight 82-5)
Strauss lbw b Hilfenhaus 32 Cook c Haddin b Johnson 30 Bopara lbw b Hilfenhaus 0 Bell c Ponting b Johnson 3 Collingwood lbw b Johnson 4 Anderson c Ponting b Hilfenhaus 4 Prior c Haddin b Hilfenhaus 22 Broad c Watson b Siddle 61 Swann c Haddin b Johnson 62 Harmison not out 19 Onions b Johnson 0 Extras: (b-5, lb-5, w-5, nb-11) 26 Total: (all out; 61.3 overs) 263 FoWs: 1-58, 2-58, 3-67, 4-74, 5-78, 6-86, 7-120, 8-228, 9-259. Bowling: Hilfenhaus 19-2-60-4, Siddle 12-2-50-1, Clark 11-1-74-0, Johnson 19.3-3-69-5. |
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MAKA Trophy
Patiala, August 9 Earlier the universities were not aware of the presentation made by other universities but this time a four-member committee was constituted to judge the winner. It comprised of one AIU representative, one sports ministry representative, one from sports federation and one from Sports Association of India. All universities were invited together to give their presentations in front of each other so as to avoid confusion. This year 10 universities, including all three universities of Punjab - Punjabi University, Patiala, Panjab University, Chandigar, and GND University, Amritsar - Kurukshetra University, Mumbai University, Delhi University, MDU University, Rohtak, Kaliku University, Kolkata University and Madras University presented their stake for the trophy. Though initially some universities objected to this decision but later it was believed to be in the best interest of all. Punjabi University director sports Rajkumar Sharma expressed his delight at the decision. “The committee has seen everyone’s presentation. The result for year 2007-08 will be declared very soon and hopefully there will be no confrontation,” he said. |
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Bridgestone Invitational
It was another bad day for Jeev Milkha Singh. The Chandigarh golf icon, ranked 41 in the world, carded a two over par 72 to slip to the tied 49th slot along with Ernie Els at three over 213 on the penultimate day of the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational on a wet day at the Firestone Country Club in Ohio, USA, yesterday.
Jeev who had a three-week rest along with his physio in Chandigarh recuperating from a muscle injury just could not get his game in order. He had a brace of bogies on the seventh and eighth to be two over par 37 at the turn. A double bogey on the 11th saw Jeev tottering at four over par after 11 holes. But then he managed two birdies on the 15th and 16th to finish the day at two over par 72. Jeev had pulled out of the British Open at Turnberry because he was not totally fit. This is Jeev's second appearance in the WGC at Akron. He finished 51st in 2007. But world number one Tiger Woods made the most of the rains as he charged with a five under 65 card to climb up the ladder to occupy the second slot at seven under 203, just three strokes behind Ireland's Padraig Harrington who carded a three under 67. The stage is set for a final showdown with American Jerry Kelly two strokes behind Woods and 10 golfers tied for the fourth slot at four under 206. |
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I.P.S.C. TT tourney at Pinegrove
Chandigarh, August 9 Officials from the Himachal Pradesh State Table Tennis Association (HPSTTA) will be conducting the tournament. The tournament will be played in the U 14, 17, and 19 categories on league-cum-knock out basis. The following schools are scheduled to take part in the tournament: The Doon School, Dehradun, Welham Girls’ School, Dehradun, Scindiya Kanya Vidyalya, Gwalior, Rajkumar College, Rajkot, Vidya Devi Jindal School, Hissar, Mayo College Girls’ School, Ajmer, Modern Public School, New Delhi, Mann Public School, Delhi, DPS RK Puram, New Delhi, PPS Ahmadnagar, (Maharashtra), YPS Patiala, Lawrence School, Sanawar, Phoinix Public School, Balgaon, Scindia School, Gwalior, Pestle Weeds College, Dehradun and the host Pinegrove school. IPSC, a confluence of residential schools is an SGFI recognised organisation. It was started in 1939 to promote sports and co-curricular activities amongst the students. It has a strength of 80 residential schools, including Sainik schools and Military schools. The winners shall represent the IPSC at SGFI Nationals in October this year. |
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Hyderabad, August 9
Leeds, August 9
