 |
|
|
Safina, Roddick shown the door
Chandan lifts AI Blue to final
‘FIH interference bad for Indian hockey’
|
|
|
World boxing Championship
|
|
Safina, Roddick shown the door
New York, September 6 Safina made 39 unforced errors and nine double faults with only 12 winners and while Kvitova had 59 unforced errors, she fired 47 winners with only five double faults yesterday. Kvitova, a 19 year-old ranked 72nd in the world, will play Belgium’s 50th-rated Yanina Wickmayer for a quarter-final berth from a quarter section that is suddenly seedless. Asked why she abandoned her plan, the 23-year-old Safina blamed stress. “Tension, I would say. Let's say, first set I was too tense. Second set, I let it go. At least there were some emotions. And third set, three match points and I didn’t do anything on them. Disappointing. Very disappointing.” Safina did nothing to support her cause by dropping the first set, roaring back in the second, then surrendering an early break in the third set for the third match in a row. She battled back for a 6-5 lead and forced three match points on Kvitova’s serve in the 12th game of the last set, but the Czech sandwiched a backhand and forehand winner around a Safina mis-hit backhand to escape the threat and hold. In the men’s draw, Andy Roddick’s hopes of a second US Open crown, six years after his first, were blown apart by giant compatriot John Isner in the first major upset of the men’s tournament. The six-foot-nine-inch (2.03m) product of the US collegiate system stunned the fifth seed and top US hope 7-6 (7/3), 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 7-6 (7/5) in a 3 hours 51 minutes, third-round clash between two of the biggest servers in tennis. There were scares also for top seed and defending champion Roger Federer and fourth seed Novak Djokovic. Both dropped their opening sets but both bounced back to win in four. While defending champion and top seed Federer made it 14 in a row over former world No 1 Lleyton Hewitt with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 win, fourth-seeded Djokovic struggled to see off the challenge of US wildcard Jesse Witten 6-7 (2/7), 6-3, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4. Russian livewire Nikolay Davydenko, seeded eight, cruised past Switzerland’s Marco Chiudinelli 6-4, 7-5, 7-5 and he will go up against Soderling. Spanish 10th seed Verdasco meanwhile hit back from a break down in the final set to edge German veteran Tommy Haas 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (10/8), 1-6, 6-4. Paes, Bhupathi reach quarters
Indian aces Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes breezed into the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles event with their respective partners following straight set wins over their opponents in the US Open tennis tournament here. Top seeds Bhupathi and his American partner Liezel Huber eased past Jill Craybas and Eric Butorac of USA 6-3, 6-3 in a 54-minute second-round match to stay in hunt. They will next play either the Stephen Huss-Virginia Ruano Pascual pair or eighth seeds Nenad Zimonjic-Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Second seeded combination of Leander Paes and Zimbabwe’s Cara Black saw off Italian Flavia Pennetta and Serb Dusan Vemic 6-4, 6-4 in 74 minutes to set up a quarterfinal clash with seventh seed Rennae Stubbs of Australia and Robert Lindstedt of Sweden.
— Agencies |
|
Chandan lifts AI Blue to final
Chandigarh, September 6 Just when tumbling wickets, a power failure and some tight bowling threatened to derail their march to the final, Air India’s batsmen walked in, ran the singles, dashed the twos and saw their team home. But that was after, only after a sensational 114 by Chandan Madan, as Air India beat Tata Sports Club by 5 wickets.Air India Blue started in impressive fashion, with RP and Pankaj Singh striking early. But Ishank Jaggi and Nishant Shetty stuck it out to score 52 and 63, respectively. But RP struck again to remove Shetty and Gavaskar. Powar went cheaply afterwards. Ajit Agarkar played a blistering knock to see his side’s score, which was threatening to fall off the chart, look respectable. The Air India reply was a strong one. Manvinder Bisla went cheaply. But Chandan, who had scored a brilliant half century in the last game as well, was in a punishing mood. He was supported by Kaif, who also got himself a 56. Chandan kept going and was joined by Dhoni. The two ran hard.But Chandan, trying to clear the boundary was caught off the bowling of Powar. Rana joined Dhoni and the two stitched a small partnership But Dhoni too went, and Reetinder Sodhi joined Rana. The two negotiated a few balls, before Rana clobbered Mota for a four, to wrap up the match in style. The revised target was 246 runs off 45 overs. Brief Scores: Tata SC 267; Shetty 63. Air India Blue 247 for 5; Chandan 114.
|
|
‘FIH interference bad for Indian hockey’
New Delhi, September 6 “For the last two-three years, FIH have been interfering in Indian hockey. They first sent (Ric) Charlesworth here. India was ranked fifth then and now we are at 12th position. Their role in setting up Hockey India also raised so many questions,” Gill, the former IHF Supremo, said in an interview. Last year, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had disbanded Gill-led Indian Hockey Federation and had formed an ad-hoc committee to run the hockey affairs in the country. Recently India’s men and women associations merged to form Hockey India with A K Matto as its head. However, Gill later joined hands with Hockey India. Hockey India is due to hold elections for the formation of a democratically elected body but Gill neither denied nor confirmed running for the post of President. “I can not say anything at this stage. I re-aligned with hockey so that the national sport can be brought back on track but the pace is too slow,” he said. “From Vijay Merchant, Dilip Sardesai to Sunil Gavaskar Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni, all have maintained dignity and that is why cricket touched great heights. And our hockey players took more interest in off-field activities and only played a blame game,” he said. — PTI
|
|
Brazil beat Argentina, seal World Cup berth
Buenos Aires, September 6 In the region’s very tight qualifiers, Brazil has 30 points from 15 rounds of play, to Paraguay’s and Chile’s 27. Troubled Argentina is fourth on 22 points, with Colombia and Ecuador on 20 and Uruguay and Venezuela on 18. The first four teams will directly get a place in South Africa. The fifth-placed team will clash with a team from North or Central America or the Caribbean in a play-off, with the winner advancing to the World Cup. Brazil were clearly the best team on the pitch as they beat Argentina 3-1 away in Rosario. “Technical quality and the team that looked for the goal at all times prevailed,” Brazil coach Carlos Dunga said in a press conference after the game. Argentina coach Diego Maradona was visibly disappointed. “It’s always ugly to lose to Brazil, even more so when we were very excited about being able to win this match and getting closer to the World Cup,” he said “We defended high balls very badly, and we paid a high price,” Maradona noted. “We lost clearly.” Argentina started off well in Rosario. They had possession of the ball, although they enjoyed no clear chances. Only their superstar striker Lionel Messi got a shot on goal from a long-distance effort, but he was off target. In the 24th minute, however, Luisao made the most of Brazil’s first chance. Amid poor defending from Argentina, he headed the ball alone off an Elano free kick, and found the net. Only six minutes later, Argentine keeper Mariano Andujar blocked a shot from Maicon, but man-of-the-match Luis Fabiano took the rebound and made things 2-0. Brazil had everything under control from then on, at least until midfielder Jesus Datolo put the hosts back in the game with a great long-range shot. Argentina’s newfound hopes were shortlived, however. Only two minutes later, Kaka got a great ball through to Luis Fabiano, and the Sevilla striker brilliantly chipped the ball over Andujar. Barcelona’s Messi - a native of Rosario and arguably the best player in the world - put in a very lacklustre performance and was often imprecise, while Tevez contributed little more than effort for Argentina. In Asuncion, Paraguayan striker Salvador Cabanas scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot, just before half time, following a foul on Carlos Bonet. Bolivian keeper Hugo Suarez had a great game and blocked several other efforts from the hosts. In Santiago, Venezuela drew 2-2 with Chile to slow down the hosts' pace en route to the World Cup. Arturo Vidal opened the score for Chile with a header just 10 minutes into the game. However, Giancarlo Maldonado equalized in the 33rd minute and Juan Manuel Rey made things 2-1 for Venezuela from a free kick just before half-time. Rodrigo Millar rescued a valuable point for Chile in the 53rd minute. In Lima, Uruguay had many chances to pull ahead, but their strikers were seriously off target. Just five minutes before the end of the game, striker Hernan Rengifo gave Peru - the last-placed team in the qualifiers - an unexpected 1-0 win. Colombia got back in the race with a 2-0 home win over Ecuador in Medellin. Midfielder Jackson Martinez put the hosts ahead in the 72nd minute, while striker Teofilo Gutierrez set the definitive score in injury time. — DPA
|
|
World boxing Championship
New Delhi, September 6 The Thai was in control of the contest right from the start and took a 4-1 lead in the opening round. The diminutive Indian found the going tough against his taller opponent, who notched up 10 points in the second round. Having chalked up the massive lead, Kaeo took it easy in the third and final round before wrapping it up 16-4.
— PTI |
Riley reveals World T20 crisis
Port of Spain, September 6 Conde Riley, who resigned as WICB director yesterday, said West Indies were almost disqualified from the ICC World Twenty20 Championship just hours before their semifinal clash with Sri Lanka at The Oval on June 19. “When we went to England we were required to submit to the ICC what is called a squad terms contract where each player who is going to take part signs. On the morning before the match against Sri Lanka, Chris Tetley of the ICC informed the WICB secretariat that our team would be disqualified for the non-signing of these contracts by the players,” Riley was quoted as saying. “On that morning contact was made by Roland Holder (WICB’s cricket operations officer) after Chris Tetley contacted him and he (Holder) contacted then manager Omar Khan who at that point had to try and get these contracts signed to avoid our team being disqualified at the semifinal stage of the Twenty20 tournament. “After much to and fro and with the approval of (WIPA president Dinanath) Ramnarine and the WIPA the players signed the contract,” said Riley whose resignation came in the aftermath of the failed negotiations between the WICB and the WIPA on the vexed players’ pay dispute. Defending the WICB for not selecting the top players for the Champions Trophy Riley said they were handed a similar contract but refused to sign on the dotted lines. “This is a similar contract that was sent to the WIPA to have these players complete these contracts for formal transmission to the ICC.” — PTI
|
| 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 | |
New York, September 6
World number one Dinara Safina squandered three match points and crashed out of the US Open, losing to Czech teen Petra Kvitova 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7/5) in a third-round match.
New Delhi, September 6
