S P O R T S

ALL IS WELL
It was the year when non-cricket sports also came to the fore and brought laurels for the country
New Delhi, December 31
Saina Nehwal broke the Chinese stronghold in badminton, Vijender Singh pushed the boxing envelope further while Pankaj Advani became billiard’s babyface world champion but everything paled in comparison as a cricket-crazy nation celebrated India’s rise as the number one Test playing team with unbridled verve and brio.

‘Kotla was too dangerous’
Colombo, December 31
Breaking his silence on the Ferozeshah Kotla pitch fiasco, Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara said the track did not look “normal” soon after the first five overs and was too dangerous to continue playing. “Even after 6-10 overs, we could feel that the pitch was not normal. But the Match Referee (Alan Hurst) said ‘I cannot do anything. It was a call for the on-field umpires to take’.

CWG 2010
Australia welcome English confirmation
New Delhi, December 31
The Australian Commonwealth Games Association (ACGA) has welcomed England’s confirmation of participation in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. “Team England’s rebuttal of the unnamed source reported by London’s Daily Telegraph saying that English athletes would not be taking part in the 2010 Commonwealth Games is very welcome”, said the Australian Commonwealth Games Association.

EPL
Man United, Arsenal win
London, December 31
Manchester United thrashed Wigan 5-0 and Arsenal beat Portsmouth 4-1 to diminish Chelsea’s advantage at the top of the English Premier League going into 2010. Wayne Rooney’s 15th goal of the season started the rout yesterday that moved second-place United to within two points of Chelsea.

Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney (R) vies with Charles N’Zogbia at Old Trafford on Thursday. — AFP

Railways, TN reach quarters
Ludhiana, December 31
Holders, Indian Railways along with last year’s losing finalists, Tamil Nadu scripted victories to storm their way in the quarterfinals on the fifth day of the 60th Pearls Senior National Basketball Championship here today. In a Group A match, Indian Railways, after some hiccups, managed to prevail over Uttar Pradesh 115-83 to top the group.

BSF in semifinal
Nabha, December 31
The decks were cleared for the last four stage with BSF, EME, Punjab Police and Corps of Signals completing the line up in the 34th All India Liberals hockey tournament here today. EME entered the field as the favourites and quite efficiently lived up to their billing and won 2-0. EME slotted in goals through Suleiman Hereng and Biju Singh. In fact the early goal by Hereng from a penalty corner sequence rattled the ITBP.

ALL IS WELL
It was the year when non-cricket sports also came to the fore and brought laurels for the country

New Delhi, December 31
Saina Nehwal broke the Chinese stronghold in badminton, Vijender Singh pushed the boxing envelope further while Pankaj Advani became billiard’s babyface world champion but everything paled in comparison as a cricket-crazy nation celebrated India’s rise as the number one Test playing team with unbridled verve and brio.

Elsewhere, old war horses Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi proved still enough competitiveness was left in their ageing bodies, Somdev Devvarman emerged as the next best thing in Indian tennis, Force India’s rags-to-riches story warmed the cockles of many hearts, while Indian golf witnessed the rise of Gaganjeet Bhullar and C Muniyappa.

On the other side of the ledger, the lifters continued to disgrace the country, hockey languished in turmoil, athletes toiled in obscurity and Delhi's preparation for the 2010 Commonwealth Games hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Cricket remained the passion and religion of the Indian populace which lapped up all three formats of the game. It turned out to be quite an eventful year for Indian cricket with the Indian Premier League proving to be a gold-rush which drew players in droves while the cult of Sachin Tendulkar completed two illustrious decades.

But the highlight of the year definitely was India’s emergence as the number one Test team after Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his teammates beat Sri Lanka at home.

It was a dream-come-true moment for the team and Dhoni proved a worthy successor of the rich heritage of his predecessors Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble. In the shorter formats, the scenario was less rosy.

Tendulkar, meanwhile, completed 20 years in international cricket and tributes poured in from all quarters for the batting great's durability. The biggest blot on the cricket landscape came toward the end when the India-Sri Lanka ODI in the capital was abandoned because of a dangerous pitch.

The incident had a ripple effect in Indian cricket and Delhi’s fate as an international venue now hangs in balance with the Ferozeshah Kotla facing a 1-2 year ban. Like cricket, boxing too provided some moments to cherish and much of the credit goes to Vijender Singh.

Whether it was winning India’s maiden World Championship medal in Milan or becoming the world’s number one middle weight boxer, the 24-year-old Vijender, along with female boxer M C Mary Kom, won the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, which was also a first for Indian boxing.

Indian boxing also found a new hero in a 22-year-old shy Manipuri pugilist Suranjoy Singh, who won the gold in the Asian Championships to end a 15-year drought. Meanwhile in Pankaj Advani, India had its new world champion after the babyface cueist upstaged nine-time world champion Mike Russell of Qatar to become the second Indian - after Geet Sethi - to win the World Billiards Championship.

Indian golf, on its part, remained on an upswing with Kapurthala pro Gaganjeet Bhullar, caddie-turned-pro C Muniyappa and seasoned customer Jyoti Randhawa winning Asian Tour titles. In a year when Jeev Milkha Singh, Arjun Atwal and Randhawa grappled with mediocrity, Bhullar and Muniyappa earned wins. Shiv Kapur came close to winning his maiden European Tour title in South Africa and Anirban Lahiri signalled he could be the next Indian to lift an Asian Tour title. Some of India’s finest achievements came in badminton with Saina living up to the expectations and the mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju cracked the top 10 chart.

Saina became the first Indian to win a Super series title when she clinched the Indonesian Open while the Jwala-Diju pair lifted the Chinese Taipei Grand Prix Gold crown in August to break into the top 10. Indian tennis had its moments of glory as well.

Somdev gave India a new identity by excelling in singles and old warhorses Paes and Bhupathi proved they are still a force to reckon with in doubles by winning three more Grand Slams.

Sania Mirza continued adding firsts to her name as she became India's first female tennis player to win a Grand Slam title when she triumphed at the Australian Open along with compatriot Bhupathi in the mixed doubles event in January.

Motorsports fans also had something to cheer about as Force India rubbed shoulders with the F1 bigwigs in a fairytale season. It was a heady August weekend at the Circuit de Spa- Francorchamps in Belgium and Giancarlo Fisichella earned the team’ first pole.

It broke a 29-race jinx and team owner Vijay Mallya proved he had not been talking through the hat when he promised points in 2009.

Fisichella soon joined Ferrari but Adrian Sutil kept up the good work with his fourth place finish in Italy. Indian football also showed signs of revival with Baichung Bhutia and his men winning the Nehru Cup and SAFF Championships and Praful Patel taking charge of the national federation. The highlight of Indian football was undoubtedly the retaining of Nehru Cup International title after beating 2007 runners-up Syria via tie-breaker in August. The tournament also saw Bhutia becoming the first Indian, 37th Asian and 152nd international footballer to have played more than 100 matches for his country when he led the side in a league match against Kyrgyzstan.

Archers made their mark with the men’s team winning the compound gold in the Asian Championship, followed by young Deepika Kumari’s Youth World crown and mixed success in the recurve section.

For Indian hockey, 2009 was an year of significant ups and downs. While the team won the Azlan Shah Cup and finished runners up in the Punjab Gold Cup, off-field incidents hogged the limelight suggesting all was not well with the national game. — PTI 

‘Kotla was too dangerous’

Colombo, December 31
Breaking his silence on the Ferozeshah Kotla pitch fiasco, Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara said the track did not look “normal” soon after the first five overs and was too dangerous to continue playing. “Even after 6-10 overs, we could feel that the pitch was not normal. But the Match Referee (Alan Hurst) said ‘I cannot do anything. It was a call for the on-field umpires to take’.

“We spoke to the fourth umpire as well. We cannot, from outside, make a request to the umpire. The two on-field batsmen had to make a request,” Sangakkara said after his team returned from India losing both the Test and ODI series. “The umpires were also waiting to see whether the pitch would improve. By the 23rd over, they knew that it did not even out. Then (Muthumudalige) Pushpakumara got hit and (Thilina) Kandamby nearly got hit,” he told reporters here.

“Kandamby spoke to the umpire who said they were also waiting for the pitch to improve but that it had not. So, it was a dangerous batting pitch to play on,” he added. After 23-odd overs, the match was abandoned as odd balls reared up alarmingly. As a fallout, Kotla now faces an international ban even though the Delhi and District Cricket Association officials alleged that the Lankans “chickened out” of the match fearing defeat.

Looking back at the disappointing tour, Sangakkara said among the few positives was the way some youngsters performed. “We saw how the young players Suranga Lakmal, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera and Suraj Randiv performed. Young players are starting to realise it’s anybody’s game now and we are going to see them pushing everyone for places, not just for the World Cup but for other tours as well. It’s a great step forward in Sri Lanka cricket,” he said last evening.

Chairman of Sri Lankan selectors Ashantha de Mel also felt that despite the poor results, the performance of the team was not all that bad. “I don’t think our performance was that bad. We play quite a lot of cricket. The main thing we need to improve is bench strength for people who got injured. There were 10 people who got injured when we were in India. We had five debutants in the ODI series alone. Despite all that we showed lot of character,” De Mel said. — PTI 

CWG 2010
Australia welcome English confirmation
M.S.Unnikrishnan
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 31
The Australian Commonwealth Games Association (ACGA) has welcomed England’s confirmation of participation in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. “Team England’s rebuttal of the unnamed source reported by London’s Daily Telegraph saying that English athletes would not be taking part in the 2010 Commonwealth Games is very welcome”, said the Australian Commonwealth Games Association.

In a communication today to vice-chairman of the Organising Committee of the 2010 CWG Randhir Singh, chairman of the ACGA Perry Crosswhite stated that he was “very pleased to hear that England has confirmed that it will send a full team to Delhi”.

“Australia is looking forward to renewing the traditional England-Australia rivalry at the Indian Commonwealth Games and I expect that the competition as to which nation will win the medals will be closer than ever”, he added. Crosswhite, who was a member of the CoCom (Coordination Committee of the Commonwealth Games) which visited Delhi recently to make an on the spot assessment of the overall preparation for the Delhi CWG, said it was “indeed unfortunate” that such prominence had been given to “a media report” the veracity of it had no truth at all.

“Having returned from Delhi, where I received briefing on security measures both planned and in place for the Games, I believe that the authorities for Games security in Delhi are doing everything they can to ensure a successful Games”, Crosswhite added.

Australia have been the top medal winners of the Commonwealth Games, and according to Crosswhite, the powerful Commonwealth country were once again looking forward to a huge medal haul. According to Crosswhite, Australia were planning to send a full team of over 600 athletes, coaches, managers, medicos etc. The team will be the largest ever to compete in an overseas Commonwealth Games, with the provisional selection of eight track and field athletes including world champions Steve Hooker and Dani Samuels.

He concluded that to date, he had not been asked by any athlete or official of the Australian contingent about security issues related to the Delhi Games. “To date, the questions have been about the weather predictions and the sports venues, what the food and village are going to be like”, Crosswhite noted. The 2010 Delhi Games, to be held from October 3 to 14, will be the largest Commonwealth Games to date.

EPL
Man United, Arsenal win

London, December 31
Manchester United thrashed Wigan 5-0 and Arsenal beat Portsmouth 4-1 to diminish Chelsea’s advantage at the top of the English Premier League going into 2010. Wayne Rooney’s 15th goal of the season started the rout yesterday that moved second-place United to within two points of Chelsea. Like Rooney, Eduardo da Silva also scored first for Arsenal in the 28th minute as the London club cemented its title credentials at the expense of bottom-place Portsmouth, which was fighting to prevent bankruptcy.

Arsenal is two points behind United, but has a game in hand over Chelsea and the 18-time English champions. United, though, was targeting a fourth straight title, and a sign of the strength of Ferguson’s squad was that he fielded a different lineup for a 99th consecutive match. Rooney was unstoppable against Wigan. The England striker connected with defender Rafael Da Silva's low cross at the near post in the 28th and steered the ball beyond Chris Kirkland.

United quickly doubled its advantage when former Wigan winger Antonio Valencia cut the ball back for Michael Carrick to sweep home. A third came on the stroke of halftime when Darren Fletcher found Rafael on the edge of the area and the Brazilian drilled a low shot past Kirkland and ran across to the bench to celebrate with twin brother Fabio. — AP

Railways, TN reach quarters
Anil Datt

Ludhiana, December 31
Holders, Indian Railways along with last year’s losing finalists, Tamil Nadu scripted victories to storm their way in the quarterfinals on the fifth day of the 60th Pearls Senior National Basketball Championship here today. In a Group A match, Indian Railways, after some hiccups, managed to prevail over Uttar Pradesh 115-83 to top the group.

The reigning champions resting most of the key players including their star performer Yadwinder Singh for the tough matches ahead gained control completely, giving no space to the rival outfit. In fact after today's defeat, Uttar Pradesh has been relegated to the lower pool for the next edition of the national meet.

For Indian Railways, the game revolved around Sunil Kumar, Harpal, Arjun Singh and Prakash who contributed 22, 17, 14 and 13 points respectively, while Abhinav netted 22 points for Uttar Pradesh followed by Santosh Kumar and Harjinder Singh who accounted for 18 points each to reduce the victory margin.

In another match, Tamil Nadu players saw them move up in the tournament as they outperformed Delhi 79-59. In the women’s section, Haryana 72 defeated Jharkhand 33, while Himachal Pradesh 49 beat Rajasthan 33.

BSF in semifinal
Ravi Dhaliwal

Nabha, December 31
The decks were cleared for the last four stage with BSF, EME, Punjab Police and Corps of Signals completing the line up in the 34th All India Liberals hockey tournament here today. EME entered the field as the favourites and quite efficiently lived up to their billing and won 2-0. EME slotted in goals through Suleiman Hereng and Biju Singh. In fact the early goal by Hereng from a penalty corner sequence rattled the ITBP.

True, they ventured to force the pace but, in the process sacrificed the harmony needed to break the rival defence controlled exceedingly well by veteran pivot S Barla. After the monotonous match, the proceedings were lit up by the Punjab Police versus Western Central Railway, Jabalpur encounter. Stunned by a third-minute goal, Punjab Police enmeshed themselves in a rash of errors and just about managed to level the score from a penalty corner converted by Jugraj Singh.

Things started getting a bit rough but the umpires did well to ruffle frayed tempers as Jugraj smashed in his and his teams’s second goal through yet another penalty corner-the speed and accuracy of which blinded the defense. In other matches of the day, a fighting CISF, Chandigarh went down fighting to Corps of Signals 1-2 while BSF triumphed against Ropar Hawks 5-2.