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Sri lanka’s Tour of India
Cwg 2010
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‘I am nowhere near Sachin’
Rajkot, December 16 Sehwag was all praise for the pitch which produced 825 runs and said it also had something for the bowlers as was shown by Indian bowlers Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan to stop the surging Lanka at 411 for eight. “One-day cricket is batsman’s game. It was a very good one-day wicket. Yet Ashish Nehra bowled 28 to 30 yorkers in his last five overs and Zaheer also bowled a lot of yorkers. That helped us win in the end,” said the opener who struck 17 fours and six sixes. “But when Tendulkar and I were batting we thought we could reach 350 as the wicket was that good. But then when I and MS Dhoni got together to raise the 300 in the 32nd over we felt we could get 400,” he said. Asked about the turning point of the match, Sehwag said, “That was the twin dismissals of Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara and Tilakaratne Dilshan during the batting power play. When they were batting so well it looked we may lose the match. It was their dismissals that turned the match in our favour.” Sehwag said his batting effort would not have been enough for his side to win as the Lankans almost chased down the huge total. “I could not have won the match alone. It was a team effort,” he declared. A modest Sehwag also did not agree to suggestions that his batting was as destructive as that West Indian legend Vivian Richards. “I don’t think I am anywhere near Sachin or Vivian Richards. It’s you media people who are making this up,” he said. He also felt that though the Indian fielders dropped a few catches initially, it was the fine fielding effort in the end that took them home. “We have dropped a lot of catches in the T20 and also dropped a few here. But later we realised that we need to focus on fielding well. We effected run-outs and fielded very well which contributed a lot to the victory,” he said. India effected three run-outs during the Lankan chase and took whatever came to the hand after dropping a few catches in the beginning to give lives to Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara and Upul Tharanga. Murali, Fernando out
of ODI series
The visiting Sri Lankan cricket team was today hit by an injury crisis after off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan and pacer Dilhara Fernando were ruled out of the ongoing one-day series against India due to finger injuries. While Muralitharan injured himself during the Test series, Fernando hurt himself during yesterday’s opening one-dayer here while attempting a return catch from Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. “Fernando hurt his finger during yesterday’s match. His replacement will be announced shortly,” visiting team manager Brendon Kuruppu said. Paddy Upton tests negative
Nagpur: Indian cricket team heaved a sigh of relief today after trainer and mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton tested negative for swine flu. Even though the Indian team arrived here today for the second ODI against Sri Lanka on Friday, Upton stayed back in Rajkot - venue of the first one dayer - to provide samples for H1N1 virus after he had showed symptoms of swine flu. “He was tested for swine flu symptoms but he tested negative,” Chief District Health Officer A S Sanghvi said from Rajkot. In the end, it was a huge relief for the South African and the Indian team as well as the results proved negative, clearing the deck for his joining the team here. —
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CoCom concerned about venue completion
M.S.Unnikrishnan Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 16 The CoCom, headed by Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) treasurer Austin Sealy from Barbados, was, however, happy that there had been noticeable progress over the last two months. “With effectively only nine months remaining, the intensity must continue, and in fact, works must be further accelerated”, Sealy noted. “We urge the construction agencies to ensure that no further delays are encountered as this will place the Organising Committee in a difficult position and compromise final preparations and Games’ readiness”, Sealy said. He said as for the other outcomes of CoCom’s meetings, “a series of action items have been identified and will be summarised in the commission’s final report.” The CoCom will present its final report to CGF president Mike Fennell, who will arrive here on Friday. Sealy said CoCom spent the last three days in Delhi evaluating preparations for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, to be held from October 3 to 14. The CoCom was expanded by three members for the present visit, which was its sixth to Delhi, to provide direct representation to the CGF member-associations, those responsible for sending the athletes to the Games. The additional members were chief executive of the Australian Commonwealth Games Association Perry Crosswhite, chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Council of Wales Chris Jenkins and president of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee Gideon Sam. “It was certainly helpful to have the representatives of the Commonwealth Games Associations as part of the CoCom. Each of them has vast experience of what are the specific needs of their athletes and their teams during the lead-in and competition period”, Sealy summed up. Other members were CGF vice-president Bruce Robinson (Canada), CGF leagal adviser Sharad Rao (Kenya) and CGF chief executive Mike Hooper. The CoCom was pleased with the revamped functioning of the 23 sub-committees of the Organising Committee under the charge of vice-president Randhir Singh, and many other key areas of the OC. “There has been a clear progress in a number of areas since September”, said Sealy. “We received detailed reports from the Organising Committee across key areas where we had previously identified delivery risks. These reports show an increased awareness of the works that must be undertaken”, he added. Mike Fennell will have discussions with key members of the Organising Committee on critical issues that have been identified by the CoCom. Sealy said each session was extensive “with opportunities for us to question the Organising Committee and the Government, and to provide feedback. There was a sharing of information. It was very much a two-way street". He said there was a sense of “energy and urgency” from chairman of the OC Suresh Kalmadi and the entire Delhi team ‘about getting on with the job, which is a positive, and it is clear that everyone is committed to making these games a success”.
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Man U cruise past Wolves to go level at top
London, December 16 Antonio Valencia added a third goal in a pedestrian second half to put United on 37 points, although Chelsea can restore their three-point lead against Portsmouth on Wednesday. Aston Villa, who beat United 1-0 at Old Trafford on Saturday, are third with 32 points after beating Sunderland 2-0 at the Stadium of Light. Birmingham City are up to sixth after a 2-1 home win against Blackburn Rovers, their fifth league win in succession. Bolton Wanderers moved out of the relegation zone, above Wolves, with a 3-1 home victory against fellow strugglers West Ham United who slipped to second from bottom. Wolves fans taking their seats on a bitterly cold night at Old Trafford were scratching their heads when the team was announced with all 10 outfield players who started against Tottenham left out of the side by manager Mick McCarthy. Premier League rules state that teams must play a full-strength side in every game, although a spokesman said it was unlikely that Wolves would suffer any punishment for a team selection that appeared designed to rest the first-choice side for Sunday’s match against Burnley. After holding United at bay for 20 minutes and even having a glorious chance volleyed over by George Friend, Wolves slipped away quietly once Rooney had tucked away his 12th league goal of the season following Ronald Zubar's needless handball. Vidic effectively killed the game when his header evaded Wolves keeper Marcus Hahnemann shortly before the break and Valencia got on the scoresheet, volleying in smartly after clever play from Dimitar Berbatov. It was a good night for the city of Birmingham. Goals by England duo Emile Heskey and James
Milner earned Villa their victory at Sunderland who had Lorik “It’s been a great few days,” manager Martin O’Neill said. “I was worried about this fixture but confidence is high and when confidence is high you can perform.” Cameron Jerome scored both Birmingham goals as they recorded their best sequence of results in the top flight since 1973. — Reuters
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Now wrestling grapples with doping Bathinda, December 16 After the beleaguered disciplines of weightlifting and athletics, grapplers have now been found using IOC banned drugs forcing the WFI mandarins to wake up from their slumber. Four grapplers - Mukesh Kumar and Sudhir Kumar, both of whom compete in the 66kg freestyle category in the domestic circuit, Surender (60kg, freestyle) and Birju Kumar who takes part in the 96kg Greco-Roman category have been found to have used IOC banned drugs. While the first three used anabolic steroids, Birju Kumar used a diuretic, a masking agent normally taken by sportsmen to wash away the presence of anabolic or other steroids taken by them on earlier occasions. G.S Mander, president of the WFI, who is in Jalandhar for the Commonwealth Wrestling Championship, said that, “The process of enquiry is still on and I am not in a position to comment. I will speak only after the results of the B samples come in.” Kartar Singh, secretary general of the WFI, too was guarded in his comments and toed his president’s line. A top WFI official admitted that, “All these four had sullied the name of the wrestling fraternity. Moreover the news could not have come at a worse time with the Commonwealth wrestling meet just about to commence in Jalandhar.” Joint Director (Sports Ministry) and incharge of NADA Rahul Bhatnagar could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. An IOA official, preferring anonymity, disclosed that NADA would be conducting more raids at national camps in an attempt to cleanse all sports disciplines from the scourge of drugs. “People who use such banned substances obviously stand to gain as far as their fellow competitors are concerned. Doping is the most obvious form of cheating in modern sport. It is good that NADA has upped its ante to ensure that Indian sport is not inflicted with the malaise of doping,” he added.
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Will end doubles slam drought: Bhupathi
‘DRS makes umpires look foolish’ Waqar shouldn’t be coach: Qadir Punjab 154/4 in reply Renault to sell F1 stake Capello blames Fergie Bring on Man United: Beckham
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London, December 16
