 |
|
|
India-SL-b’desh
Chennai open |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Submit merger minutes, Punjab told
4-nation hockey tourney
Panchkula to host PGTI Players Championship
No need to push the panic button: Kalmadi
|
|
SL vs India samaraweera guides SL home
Mirpur, January 5
Star off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was the standout performer for the Indians picking up three wickets, but eventually his efforts too came up short, as the rest of the bowling looked ordinary and also came in for some stick. The Lankans started well, despite the absence of in-form Dilshan, and continued to keep the scoring rate in check, despite a few hiccups. Earlier, Fit-again Yuvraj Singh struck a well-paced 74 as India recovered from a top-order wobble to post a competitive 279 for nine. Yuvraj, who returned to the playing XI after missing four ODIs against the same opponents last month due to a finger injury, played a crucial knock after coming in to bat when India were 62 for two and shared a 99-run stand for the fourth wicket with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (37) to repair the innings. Dashing opener Virender Sehwag, who made a quickfire 31-ball 47 and Ravindra Jadeja, who played a 34-ball 39, were the other main contributors for India who were put into bat at Sher-e-Bangla Stadium. At one point of time India looked like they would cross 300 but they added just 20 runs from the last five overs, losing four wickets in the process after they were 259 for five at the end of 45th over which yielded 20 runs with Jadeja scoring three fours and a six from Welegedara, Raina (35), Harbhjan Singh (1), Zaheer Khan (2) and Jadeja fell in a heap towards the close. For Sri Lanka, Chanaka Welegedara was the most successful bower with figures of five for 66 while his pace colleagues Thissara Perera and Thilan Thushara chipped in with two wickets each Playing their first one-day international of the year in search of a consistent performance to become world number one in 50-over format, the strong Indian batting line-up made a shaky start against an inexperienced Sri Lankan bowling with three top order batsmen back to the pavilion by ninth over. Gautam Gambhir, who opened the innings along with Sehwag in absence of Sachin Tendulkar, was the first Indian to depart in the third over for a mere Ishant to make comeback in Test series
Chennai: Struggling paceman Ishant Sharma was today recalled to India's 16-member Test squad for the two-match series against Bangladesh starting January 17 in Chittagong. The selectors barely took 15 minutes to finalise the squad, to be led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, which expectedly had no major surprises. Sachin Tendulkar will return to action for the two Tests to be held in Chittagong (January 17 to 21) and Mirpur (January 24 to 28). Sudeep Tyagi also made his way into the team. As expected, veterans like Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, regarded as Test specialists, found a place in the side. —
PTI Scoreboard
Gambhir b Welegedara 8 (12) Sehwag c Thirimanne b Welegedara 47 (31) Kohli c Sangakkara b Welegedara 9 (12) Yuvraj c Lakmal b Perera 74 (84) Dhoni c Sangakkara b Perera 37 (70) Raina b Welegedara 35 (46) Jadeja c Kandamby b Thushara 39 (34) Harbhajan c Perera b Thushara 1 (2) Zaheer b Welegedara 2 (4) Nehra not out 4 (6) Sreesanth not out 1 (3) Extras (b 3, lb 3, w 12, nb 4) 22 Total (9 wickets; 50 overs) 279 Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-62, 3-71, 4-170, 5-198, 6-263, 7-264, 8-268, 9-275. Bowling: Welegedara 10-1-66-5, Lakmal 8-1-48-0, Thushara 10-0-62-2, Randiv 10-0-36-0, Kandamby 4-1-22-0, Samaraweera 2-0-12-0, Perera 6-0-27-2. Sri Lanka: Tharanga c & b Harbhajan 30 (48) Thirimanne c Gambhir b Sreesanth 22 (24) Sangakkara c Raina b Harbhajan 60 (80) Samaraweera not out 105 (106) Kandamby c Sreesanth b Harbhajan 8 (11) Randiv run out 4 (9) Perera not out 36 (15) Extras (lb 1, w 12, nb 5) 18 Total (5 wickets; 48 overs) 283 Fall of wickets: 1-48, 2-77, 3-199, 4-217, 5-226. Bowling: Zaheer 9-0-57-0, Nehra 8-0-55-0, Sreesanth 7-0-47-1, Harbhajan 10-1-47-3, Sehwag 5-0-26-0, Jadeja 4-0-31-0, Yuvraj 5-0-19-0. |
|
Chennai open
Chennai, January 5 Somdev started a little shaky but then went on to win the first set, which in a way, set up his sensational performance for the next set. The US-based Indian, who is ranked 126th in the world, got past the world no. 85 in just 1 hour and 36 minutes. But it was disappointment for another local favourite, Prakash Amritraj as he lost to Michael Russel if the USA 3-6. 1-6. In another big upset of the day, Swede Robin Soderling's preparations for this month's Australian Open suffered a setback on Tuesday when he lost 6-4 7-5 to American Robby Ginepri in the first round . "Everything went wrong. I tried my best but nothing went my way. I haven't felt like that in a very long time," world number eight Soderling told reporters after his error-strewn display against the world number 100. "It's not the ideal preparation for Australian Open. But hopefully I will feel better as I play more matches. I am next playing Kooyong exhibition tournament in Melbourne." Soderling, who began the new year by beating top-ranked Roger Federer in an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi, lost the opening set after he was broken in the seventh game following a spate of unforced errors. The Swede, who last year reached the French Open final and the quarter-finals of the U.S. Open, had beaten the American in their only previous meeting at the 2007 Hamburg Masters. The 25-year-old Swede blew a 4-1 lead in the second set after he allowed the American to save three break points and claw his way back. Ginepri, U.S. Open semi-finalist in 2005, broke Soderling again in the seventh game as the Swede missed three overhead shots to hand his opponent the advantage. "I had a little problem seeing the ball when I was moving back. Missed three overhead shots in one game," said Soderling. Ginepri said he was moving better and that had helped. "I felt good today, I moved well. It's always tough to play well in your first match of the season," the American said. "I have had more time to prepare. I was here on Thursday so had better understanding of the conditions. He (Soderling) came only two days back, so probably didn't have enough time." — Agencies
|
|
Submit merger minutes, Punjab told
New Delhi, January 5 Hockey Punjab secretary-general Pargat Singh had a meeting with HI treasurer N.Batra to take up the issue of the State body's merger with the apex body. Hockey India president A.K.Mattoo, in a letter to Pargat Singh today, had asked him to "submit the minutes of meeting of election in which Hockey Punjab was formed, alongwith the list of persons who attended the meeting, for us to consider your request for affiliation." The HI president stated that though, "There is an Affiliation Committee to look after the affiliation of the State units after the members are fully convinced about the unification of all units. It is not only Punjab which is yet to be granted affiliation, but there are many other States who have applied but are yet to be granted affiliation due to certain queries raised by the Affiliation Committee. Affiliation has already been granted to those State units who have completed the necessary formalities", Mattoo elaborated. Hockey India claimed that when Pargat met Batra, thelatter had apprised him about the "complaints which have been received from different quarters who have raised doubts about the authentication of the formation of Hockey Punjab". |
|
Stadium apprehensions led to cancellation
New Delhi, January 5 "At the moment we are reluctant to grant approval, since it is not clear to us whether there will be a pitch ready to play the tournament on and whether the other associated facilities (such as pitch watering, goals/nets, changing rooms and other infrastructure) will be in place in time," Wilson said. At the same time, FIH was also apprehensive of the availability of top teams for the event. "We also have concerns as to whether the teams you indicate that you will invite to play will be available at this late stage in their preparations for the World Cup," Wilson said. Hockey India president AK Mattoo yesterday did not give any reasons for the cancellation of the tourney which was expected to be a test event before the hockey World Cup and merely said that they were trying to pencil in a bilateral Test series against France. Players demand dues, threaten to leave camp The Indian hockey players have threatened to pull out of the ongoing national training camp in Pune if they are not paid their match fee for the recently concluded Champions Challenge I tournament in Argentina. — PTI
|
|
Panchkula to host PGTI Players Championship
Chandigarh, January 5 The Avantha Masters will feature one of the strongest fields ever on Indian soil as leading professionals from Europe, Asia and India are expected to participate at this event. The 2010 season will witness 24 events along with eight other events from the inaugural edition of the Feeder Tour. The complete schedule for the current season will be released by the end of March this year. Out of the four confirmed events in the first quarter the Panchkula Golf Club will host the Aircel-PGTI Players Championship from March 4 to 7. Carrying a prize money of Rs 40 lakh the tournament will see top golfers descending on the Panchkula greens. Kapurthala's Gaganjeet Bhullar is the defending champion for this tournament. PGTI Director Padamjit Sandhu is confident that 2010 will witness an increase of over 25 per cent in prize money as new events are added and existing ones become bigger. Sandhu, said, “We are grateful to our event sponsors and tour partners for reaffirming their faith and support towards growth of professional golf in the country. We are confident that 2010 will help consolidate the fundamentals for the growth of professional golf in India. Positive discussions are also on for new joint sanctioned events with Asian Tour in India,” he added. The newly-announced Feeder Tour, consisting of eight events, will also create more playing opportunities for players at the grassroots level across the country. |
|
No need to push the panic button: Kalmadi
New Delhi, January 5 "There is no need to push the panic button. We are going to have the best ever Commonwealth Games. I would like to assure the entire country that all the pending work would be completed within the set deadlines. The Delhi Games would be better than Melbourne and Manchester," Kalmadi, who is also the President of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), said. Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit had recently created a flutter by saying that she was nervous about the preparation and was praying to god for a successful Commonwealth Games. — PTI |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Thilan Samaraweera scored an immaculate hundred to guide Sri Lanka to a 5-wicket win over India in the second match of the tri-nation ODI series at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium here tonight. Samaraweera was well aided by some fine performances by captain Kumar Sangakkara andPerera. The match seemed to be heading for a close finish as the Indians picked up wickets at regular intervals, but finally the Lankan batsmen held their own and romped home.
Somdev Devvaraman kept the Indian flag flying high at the Chennai Open ATP tennis tournament, when he beat Germany’s Rainer Schuettler.
Confusion reigns supreme as to what led to the cancellation of the four-nation tournament in the capital but it now appears that the International Hockey Federation denied a go-ahead for the event because it had apprehensions about the preparedness of the National Stadium. In his e-mail to Hockey India officials in which he explained why the world body did not give permission for the event, FIH Umpires Development Manager Richard Wilson said they had concerns about the venue.
