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Davis Cup
Bhullar wins DLF Masters
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Bedi and his ‘boys’ relive Ranji triumph
JP Atray Tournament
Taking ‘long’ strides
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Davis Cup
Johannesburg, September 20 Tenacity of Somdev and Voest engineered a prodigious tennis game which the Indian won 3-6 6-7(3) 7-6(5) 6-2 6-4 after an energy-sapping four hour and 38 minutes battle at the Ellis park indoor stadium. The hosts needed to win fourth-rubber to stay alive but India took an unassailable 3-1 lead with this triumph. India last played in 16-team World Group in 1998 when it lost 1-4 to Italy. Thrice India reached in the final of the World Group but ended up runners-up on all occasions. Voest, a man on mission, played like a true champion putting his heart and soul into the do-or-die match but Somdev showed that he had the class to beat champions. Down by two sets, Somdev created an incredible comeback as he overcame an early drop of serve to break Voest in the fourth game of the third set and won it via tie-breaker to keep Indian challenge alive. The prolonged battle started to take a toll on Voest as his shots became feeble, unforced errors began to flow and Somdev gradually took control of the match. He raced to a 5-1 lead in the fourth set by breaking the South African twice. The Indian wrapped up the set in the eighth game and it all boiled down to the fifth and decisive set. Heart-stopping show followed in the final set as Somdev and Voest raised the level of game by several notches. Every single point produced scintillating tennis. Somdev broke Voest in the fifth game to shot not lead though he had chance to break him in the first game as well. The South African hung in, saving three points in the seventh game but it was Somdev's day as he served out the set in the 10th game, converted his second match point. The second reverse singles, to be played between Rohan Bopanna and Izak van der Merwe has become inconsequential. The host players have played exceptionally well at the net so far in the tie and continuing with the trend Voest utilized the skill to great effect in today's contest. Voest's strategy of attacking the net reaped rich dividends as his defence was almost unreachable. Earlier, Somdev worked hard to set up points but a determined Voest foiled those attempts with smart tennis. He got plenty of chances to break his opponent but the South African did not let the Indian succeed. The first chance came as early as in the second game of the opening set following a couple of unforced errors by Voest but Somdev could not convert that. The South African though was not ready to the miss the chance when consecutive backhand and forehand errors by Somdev created a break chance for the hosts in the fifth game and Voest created a mini 3-2 lead. — PTI
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With this victory, the Kapurthala-lad took home the winner’s cheque of Rs 12,93,200 to overtake Mukesh Kumar in the Aircel-PGTI Order of Merit. Anirban Lahiri’s 66, the best round of the day, helped him secure the second spot with a total of 10-under 278, while Ashok Kumar (69, 70, 71, 69) fired five birdies and two bogeys in round four to finish third at nine-under 279. Defending champion Jyoti Randhawa’s dream of making it three in a row here were dashed as the veteran ended the tournament in tied fourth place with Shamim Khan with identical totals of eight-under 280. Even though Bhullar suffered a setback when he bogeyed the second, some good driving and iron-play earned him birdies on the sixth, seventh and ninth. As it turned out, he birdied the par four seventh in all four rounds and then went on to add two more birdies to his card with a couple of good approach shots on the 13th and 14th. Bhullar made pars on the last four holes to register the comfortable victory. — PTI
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Bedi and his ‘boys’ relive Ranji triumph
New Delhi, September 20 Even at the age of sixty-plus, Bishan Singh Bedi is a bundle of energy and fit, but for a caved in knee. And his exuberance and warmness can light up any gathering. No wonder, Bishan Singh Bedi was the cynosure of all eyes as the vintage Delhi and North Zone team of the Seventies got together to celebrate the landmark achievement of Delhi’s maiden Ranji Trophy triumph 30 years ago. The felicitation function was got together not by the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), but Delhi’s dashing opener of Bedi’s era Venkat Sundaram, at the upmarket Purana Villa at Jorbagh. “To honour the team now may be 30 years too late”, remarked Venkat. DDCA president.
Arun Jaitly, who sat through the function, promised to hold a function at the DDCA to relive those glorious memories of Delhi’s first Ranji Trophy triumph. Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Bishan Singh Bedi, old war horse Col. Surender Nath, Rajinder Goel, Chetan Chauhan, Madan Lal, Rakesh Shukla, Kirti Azad, Gursharan Singh, Surinder Khanna, Vinay Lamba, Ajay Sharma, Sunil Valson, Maninder Singh, Atul Wason, Vivek Razdan and Arun Khurana were the prominent cricketers present. Rajinder Goel, who has over 700 wickets in Ranji Trophy, drove down from Rohtak to attend the function. Those missing from the squad were Raman Lamba, who is no more, Mohinder and Surinder Amarnath, and heroes of Delhi’s recent past Ranji Trophy triumph Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir. Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi set the tone and tenor of the function when he remarked, with tongue in cheek, on spotting a panting 70-year plus Surinder Nath that “you are still around”. Everyone burst into a good laugh, though Nath came up, climbing up the steep steps of the venue, panting. “Nostalgia is an occasion when men become boys”, said Pataudi. Recalling Delhi’s first Ranji Trophy victory, Pataudi said Bedi provided “challenging leadership and cohesion though the facilities they got were meagre”. Kirti Azad, who was the “master of the ceremony”, in his inimitable witty manner, recalled that it was next to impossible to get into the Delhi and North Zone teams of the Seventies, as there were not slots available. North Zone made a great impact on India’s cricket firmament when they won the Duleep trophy for the first time ever in 1974, humbling the formidable West Zone. From then on, it was a steady climb, winning the Deodhar Trophy in 1977 and the Wills Trophy in 1979. But the ultimate feat was Delhi annexing the Ranji Trophy for the first time, taming the powerful Karnataka in their own backyard by 399 runs, with Surender Khanna scoring a century in each innings, and Madan Lal taking a match haul of eight wickets, in the four-day match. Delhi won all their league matches comfortably, including the semis against Bombay, before taming Karnataka. With the likes of Pataudi and Bedi leading from the front, Delhi and North Zone were on a roll, as they went on to win six Ranji Trophy titles in a quick succession, though the seventh title came 16 years later, in 2007, under the captaincy of Sehwag. Though there were subtle criticism of the DDCA, despite the presence of Jaitly, Madan Lal said candidly that “DDCA gave the platform for making me what I am. Bishan Paaji showed us the way.” Kirti said the greatest quality of Bedi as captain was that “he used to define the role of each player in the team.” Bedi said he would not have been a successful captain “without the co-operation of the team”. “Tiger taught us so much...he was the greatest Indian captain, and my first Test captain,” Bishan said, his booming voice resonating in the small hall. He said the golden days of Delhi cricket were “terribly, terribly nostalgic”.
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JP Atray Tournament
Chandigarh, September 20 Winning the toss Reliance-I Skipper put BPCL into bat and soon drew first blood by having Vinayak Samant taken up by Shikhar Dhawan of medium pacer Rahul Shukla for zero with the team’s total reading 11. Then an 110 run partnership for the 2nd wicket ensued between Vinayak Mane 55 off 95 balls with 6x4s and Bhavin Thakkar 50 off 102 balls with 3x4s. Thereafter Shitanshu Kotak unbeaten 52 off 55 balls with 4x4s and skipper Vinit Indulkar 55 of 32 balls with 6x4s and 2x6s stitched an 81 run partnership for the 4th wicket. The BPCL team made 273 for 4 in 50 overs. Rahul shukla 2 for 55, Ali Murtaza 1 for 50 and Ravinder Jadeja 1 for 50 were the main successful bowlers for Reliance - I. In the 2nd match played at sector 26, GGS Ground, Indian Railway edged out HPCA by two runs. Batting first Indian Railway scored 158 in 44 overs. In the last match played at DAV Sector 8 between Minerva CC and MPCA. MPCA Won by one wicket.
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Taking ‘long’ strides
Dehradun, September 20 “I am currently ranked 360 in the world and after participating in this tournament, I am hopeful of an improvement in my ranking,” says the 19-year-old lass. The lanky Poojashree feels that her height helps her serve speed and also accuracy. She also gets the advantage of attacking in a more efficient way as approaching a ball, moving for a shot or without an exaggerated movement becomes easier, courtesy her height. Poojashree recently won the same ITF tournament in Bangalore and in Islamabad before that. “In Bangalore also I was the top seed and I claimed the title. However, I was the semifinalist in the same ITF tournament held a few weeks ago in Delhi,” says the tallest girl of the tournament. The girl with four Grand Slam appearances to her credit says, “I played all main draws of Grand Slams and it was a good learning experience out there,” says the champion who hails from Mysore. The ace player who is only behind tennis prodigy Sania Mirza in India says that she has learnt a lot many things from her and gets inspired from her way of playing. “She is very good with her service and it is just a treat to watch her playing,” she tells. Poojashree started playing tennis at the tender age of nine and it was her father from who inspired her. “My father has played tennis at club-level. When I was small I used to watch him playing and gradually my interest developed in the sport,” she recalls. Since her childhood, she has been coaching under Nagraj at Mysore. “I learnt even the basics of the sport from him and he is my real mentor.”
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Johannesburg, September 20
Gurgaon, September 20
Break Point:
