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Ready for Africa
SL Tour of India
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The fixtures for the 2010 FIFA World Cup have been announced and Brazil, Portugal and Ivory Coast will be fighting it out in the dreaded Group of death
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SL Tour of India
Mumbai, December 5 After conceding a mammoth 333-run first innings lead, the visitors were struggling at 274 for six at close on the penultimate day which was marked by Sangakkara’s resillient unbeaten 133 under immense pressure. The Lankans are still trailing by 59 runs at the end of the day and will have to bat out of their skins to achieve the near-impossible task of saving the game on a last-day Brabourne track which was expected to assist the bowlers. The Indians, on the other hand, will look to wrap up the remaining four wickets quickly tomorrow and clinch the three-match Test series with a 2-0 margin. Sangakkara and Nuwan Kulasekara were at the crease at stumps on an absorbing fourth day’s play which saw a keen contest between the bat and the ball. The Sri Lankan captain Sangakkara notched up his 21st Test century, his maiden one in India, to anchor the innings brilliantly but none of the other top order batsmen could stitch a substantial partnership with him to save the visitors. Sri Lanka’s hopes of staving off defeat entirely rest on Sangakkara who has to bat out the entire day alongwith the tailenders or take a big enough lead which will take the game out of India’s grasp. The Sri Lankan captain, who had never scored even a half century in India, began cautiously but played some delightful strokes at the fag end of the day. Resuming at the overnight score of 11 for no loss, the Lankans needed a solid start from their openers but that did not happen. The home team struck a major blow in the ninth over when Dilshan was sent back through a dubious umpiring decision. The right-hander, who was unlucky to be given out when in full bloom at 109 in the first innings, suffered at the hands of the umpires for the second time in the match as he offered no shot to a sharply spinning ball from Harbhajan Singh that was also rising after pitching. TV replays suggested the ball was not only missing the leg stump but was also climbing above the bails but Daryl Harper thought otherwise after an animated appeal by the bowler and his teammates. In the first innings, Nigel Long was the umpire who declared Dilshan out caught at short leg, again off Harbhajan, when the ball seemed to have gone off his pads without touching the bat. — PTI Scoreboard Sri Lanka (1st innings) 393
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Japan face China in final
Pune, December 5 The team from the ‘Land of the Rising Sun’ today raised the level of their game a few notches to squash hopes of Chinese Taipei girls to make it to the final of the tournament. Displaying excellent coordination and shooting skills, the eventual winners didn’t allow the rivals gain control of the game. Although, in the opening 15 minutes of the game both the teams were neck to neck, but Japan showed their class to surge ahead to gain nine points lead 37-28, at the break. Japanese girls’ sustain efforts saw them further improve the margin of victory in the second session too. Down by 18 points (38-56) at the end of the third quarter, Chinese Taipei girls, showed great courage to catch up with the opposition, but Japan team didn’t give an inch, denying scoring chances that put the issue beyond their reach. Despite losing, Chinese Taipei girls fought tooth-and-nail till the hooter. Naoko Chikahira (14), Hill Rina (13), Yume Negishi (13) and Moeko Nagaoka (13) were the main scorer for Japanese team. Unlike the first match, intense competition was missing in the second semifinal of the day between Korea and China. From Day One of the meet, China had proved themselves on the court, and today was no exception.
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Ring of life
Zirakpur, December 5 However, Love is not the only one following this stiff schedule as there are many other budding wrestlers who are practicing hard, supporting a hope of winning a medal in their eyes. Guljar Wrestling Akhara, a government-adopted one was started in 2005, at Zirakpur in Punjab, after the name of late Gulzar Singh Sandhu, a noted wrestler. Around 40 young wrestlers from different states like Himachal, Haryana and Punjab get training under the vigil eyes of SAI coach RS Kundu. Kundu, who did his advance training from Budapest (Hungary), said, “Earlier the wrestling centre was set up at Shivalik Public School in phase VI, by the SAI but after some time it could not be continued. Due to this many talented wrestlers came on road side.” He added “Then this wrestling centre was started in Dara Studio at Mohali by late Gulzar Singh Sandhu, its president. The young wrestlers brought many laurels for the Akhara under his training.” Considering the achievements of this akhara, Government of India adopted it under NSTC Day Boarding Scheme in 2003. They provided facilities like multi-gym of 12 stations, a set of mats and stipend for 20 wrestlers, which is Rs 1,000 per month per wrestler, were provided by the SAI. “Unfortunately in 2005, Gulzar Singh Sandhu died. He represented the country in national and international competitions. After his death, the authorities of Dara Studio had not given us further permission to run coaching centre,” stated Kundu. “I sold my house and bought a piece of land where I started the akhara,” said Kundu. Kundu said many international wrestlers like Nitin Rathee; world junior bronze medalist in 2008; Rajender Singh, Karmbir Singh, Shamsher Singh, Rakesh, Om Vir, Krishan Kumar were started their career with the akhara which has won 30 medals in various competitions like Asian/Commonwealth Games, Asian/Commonwealth championships, SAF Games, World Junior/Sub Junior Championship, Asian Junior/Sub Junior Championship and Grand Prix International Championships. He said providing a good diet to wrestlers is a major problem. The young wrestlers need only good diet and for that they are requesting Punjab government for some help. Kundu said for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games, Hardeep Singh an inmate here is reserve member in the camp. Hardeep has won medals in junior and national competitions. The young wrestlers are getting free accommodation and free training at the centre. They are also pursuing their studies at various schools and colleges. Vinod Pandey, a 19-year-old young wrestler said winning a gold medal in Olympic Games is his main aim. He said, “We have started morning practice session from 5 am to 7 pm and evening session in which wrestlers bout from 3 pm to 7 pm”. “If we get a proper diet we will definitely bring laurels for Punjab and India,” added another wrestler Shiv Narayan.
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