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INDIA-AUSTRALIA ODI Series
Fennell’s concerns are ‘being addressed’
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Force India hope to sign off with points
Training camp for football coaches
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INDIA-AUSTRALIA ODI Series
Nagpur, October 27 The home team sorely missed left-handed Yuvraj’s explosive batting in the middle overs as well as his left-arm slow bowling since he was forced out of cricket after sustaining a finger injury in South Africa before the Champions Trophy. The hosts will also seek to exploit the injury-induced absence of Australian pacers Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson as well as all-rounder James Hopes who have been ruled out of the day-nigh encounter. Down 0-1 in the seven-match rubber following their narrow four-run defeat in Vadodara on Sunday, the hosts would be keen to put an end to their inconsistent run in the 50-over format since their short tour of the West Indies in June-July. Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men have won only five out of a dozen matches they had played from the series in the Caribbean, losing an equal number while two ties have ended in no result. More than their inconsistency, a loss tomorrow would put them in trouble as they will have to win four out of the remaining five matches to win the series. The home team were outplayed by Australia in Vadodara but with the visitors’ pace department severely depleted due to unavailability of Lee and Johnson, besides all-rounder Hopes, due to injuries, Dhoni’s men will be fancying their chances. But for that to happen, the Indian top-order batting, that failed to click in Vadodara, needs to buck up while their bowlers, especially off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, will have to improve a lot. The availability of Yuvraj, who missed the first ODI, would enormously lift India’s hopes of restoring parity as he is capable of scoring at a fast clip that will ease the burden on the other middle order batsmen, especially Dhoni. With a strike rate of close to 90, Yuvraj, whose last ODI innings was 56 not out off 41 balls against Sri Lanka, provides the major thrust in the middle overs when the ball becomes a bit soft and, with him back, the Indian batting wears a much different look. He’s expected to come into the side at the expense of either Suresh Raina, who flopped with the bat at Vadodara, or Ravindra Jadeja, who bowled very well in the first ODI but failed with the bat. On the plus side for the home team in bowling was the performance of Ishant Sharma who, after a couple of nervous overs, settled down to show the rhythm with which be burst on the international scene spectacularly in 2007-08. Australia, on the other hand, are a severely depleted side with three players ruled out. Moises Henriques has been named as reserve as cover for James Hopes whose injury is more serious than those of Lee (mild right elbow strain) and Johnson (left ankle inversion strain). The visitors will have to test their bench strength tomorrow as Ben Hilfenhaus and Doug Bollinger, who represented Victoria in the Champions League Twenty20, are certain to be called up. Opener Shaun Marsh or rookie Jon Holland are in the running for Hopes replacement. The visitors have come for the series without Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin and Nathan Bracken and the latest injuries to other key players have only added to their difficulties.
— PTI Match begins at 1430 hrs |
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Fennell’s concerns are ‘being addressed’
New Delhi, October 27 Randhir said five of the nine functional areas under the organising committee, which Fennell had said needed revamping by inducting foreign experts in the relevant field, have been addressed. “We are leaving nothing to chance,” Randhir said. Randhir was also in favour of Rahul Gandhi playing a major role in the organisation of the games. “When I was shooting (in the 1982 Asian Games in Delhi) his father (Rajiv Gandhi) was actively involved in the conduct of the games,” Randhir recalled. Around 40 foreign experts have been appointed in various sub-committees to smoothen and professionalise their functioning, which will give chairman Suresh Kalmadi much lee-way when he meets Mike Fennell in London to take up the matter of repatriation of Chief Executive Officer Mike Hooper from Delhi to London. Hooper, who has been parked in Delhi for the last two years, reportedly takes home a pay packet of Rs 21 lakh per month, and the mounting cost of the organising committee is a cause of worry for the Government. The foreign experts being appointed at the behest of Mike Fennell is also being paid a hefty amount as salary, and the massive, high-rise office building of the Organising committee, Palika Bhawan, owned by the New Delhi Municipal Committee (NDMC), is being paid a monthly rent of Rs 5 crore. But with Randhir Singh, who is also the secretary-general of the Indian Olympic Association, taking effective control of the organising committee, the ball has been set rolling for fixing specific deadlines and addressing pending issues for the Organising Committee. “As a prelude, we held meetings with 17 national federations - all 17 disciplines are part of the games. We also held separate meetings with the sub-committee clusters to make things moving in the right direction”, Randhir added. He said one of the main issues relating to the federations was a “close integration with venue development”. “The federation representatives wanted to be associated with the venue development. The federation officials also touched upon the issue of procurement of equipment”, Randhir elaborated. |
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Force India hope to sign off with points
Abu Dhabi, October 27 Naturally, Mallya said, the idea would be to add some more points to the kitty on Sunday. “Brazil was a missed opportunity to score points. Adrian (Sutil) was in a prime position to get some decent points, perhaps even a podium, but it was not to be,” Mallya rued. “But the Abu Dhabi aero configuration is roughly similar to Brazil and Valencia, and even though we cannot expect rain, we can expect a reasonable level of performance in qualifying that should put us in a good position for the race,” he said. “We could technically move up a position in the championship as we’re just 13 points behind Renault, but it will be tough so we need to consolidate what we have already. Toro Rosso have been looking very strong in recent races so it’s a matter of personal pride to keep them behind. Ninth place in the championship is one position higher than last year and we need that improvement to validate all the progress we've made this year,” he added.
— PTI |
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JCT take on Dempo today
In trying to keep up with this start, they will take on Goan outfit Dempo FC at the Guru Nanak stadium in Ludhiana tomorrow. The match is bound to be a close fought affair and there will be an added zing to the game as well. The match will see former JCT crowd favourite Anwar Ali return for the first time after making a high profile move to Dempo in the summer. The match will also test JCT’s resolve as they put up a good fight against another Goan outfit, Churchill Brothers, in the previous game. The JCT forward line that includes the emphatic Baljit Sahni and Balwant Singh will be out to enhance their goal scoring reputation, and they will be ably supported by the mid-field run by Jagpreet Singh and the club’s only foreign recruit this year, Penn.
Match starts at 3 pm |
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Training camp for football coaches
Qadian, October 27 Maqbool Ahmed, a spokesman of the Ahmadiyya community, said that a five days football coaching clinic camp for Indian football coaches would be held in this town. The camp would start tomorrow and would come to an end November2. This would be the first camp of its kind in the country. He added that as per the statement of Hafiz Makhdoom Sharif, president Majlis Khudam-Ul-Ahmadiyya Bharat and Abdul Aziz Akhtar, sports officer of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamat, the coach Tomy Taylor, an international coach of Tanzania football team , Lee Taylor, a coach of Liverpool football club, UK and International football player and ex-coach of Liverpool, David Redhler would give training to the Indian coaches in Qadian. This camp was being held with the co-operation of Majlis Khudam-Ul-Ahmadiyya, Ahmadiyya sports club and CS Gill Director Elite Football club, UK. More than 50 coaches across the country would participate in this camp. The states like Goa, Delhi and Kolkata also showed interest to organise this camp in their states but International coaches preferred to organise this camp in Punjab, he said. |
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It had been an extraordinary tale of misfortune, podium, pole and bloopers for Force India and the born-again outfit now wants to sign off with some more points in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
here on Sunday. Force India chairman Vijay Mallya’s assessment is the outfit has exceeded its own expectation in the second half of the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship but he is candid enough to admit that things could have been even better.
Chandigarh, October 27
