 |
|
|
India-SL-b’desh
Ranji Trophy
JCT to play Pune FC on January 9
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Pargat replies to HI letter
Chennai open
Inter-varsity Handball
|
|
B’desh vs India: 2pm
Of course with the classy Jayawardene there he may have to bat after him but that in fact makes for an even stronger batting lineup. Sangakarra continued with his batting form and it was his presence at the other end that helped Samaraweera to play himself in and then unfurl his range of shots. Sri Lanka have in Perera a destructive batsman who comes in to bat just when the opposition thinks they are now looking at the tailenders. He hits a long ball and it was he who took the game away from India with his belligerent batting when the asking rate was over 8 runs an over when he came in to bat. The dew is certainly a factor in the subcontinent at this time of the year and so organisers must look to have a late morning start to ensure that teams bowling second do not have to contend with trying to come to grips with a wet ball. Pakistan plays a lot of its games with an 11 am start, which means that the dew factor is limited to a dozen overs at best for the team defending a score and not for more than 40 overs as is the situation now. Winning the toss should not mean winning the match. Bangladesh, the hosts will have to lift their game against the Indians for with Lanka winning both their matches it will be between these two teams to try and qualify for the finals. Bangladesh is struggling with its bowling attack and that could well be due to the dew factor but in the absence of Mortaza its new ball attack doesn’t look sharp enough to trouble the Indians. Shakib can keep a lid on the runs with his spin but he needs support at the other end and that wasn’t seen in the game against Lanka. Not that the Indian bowlers were all that impressive against Sangakkara and company and they too will have to bowl a lot better than they did in their first game. What has been the noticeable feature about the Lankans has been the commitment shown while fielding and if the Indians and Bangladesh teams also show improvement there then we could be in for an exciting series. — PMG Indians relax indoors
Dhaka: Indian cricketers enjoyed the rest day by chilling out in the confines of the team hotel as going outdoors being not advisable due to security concerns. The team did not have a practice session today ahead of their crucial second match against Bangladesh tomorrow. The players had light workouts at the hotel gymnasium in the morning and in the afternoon they hung out at the poolside. Yuvraj Singh had a long swimming session at the pool at the ground floor of the hotel and that was the best shot the few Indian cameramen covering the tri-series got today. Ashish Nehra, Gautam Gambhir and Amit Mishra, besides maverick pacer S Sreesanth, spent some time at the poolside with the Delhi trio seen having a great time among themselves with animated conversations. Jayawardene, two others flown in to prop up SL
Three Sri Lankans cricketers, including former captain Mahela Jayawardene, were flown in today to prop up a side which is struggling to put 11 fit men together in the ongoing cricket tri-series. Besides Jayawardene the other two players are uncapped wicket-keeper Lokuge Dinesh Chandimal and Mahela Udawatte.
— PTI |
|
Mumbai, Karnataka set up final clash
Mumbai, January 6 The huge 289 runs first innings lead, that the 38-time champions took yesterday, was enough to pilot Mumbai into the five-day final against Karnataka. Karnataka, six time winners, have also made the summit clash by the virtue of their first innings lead. The final match will begin in Mysore from January 11. Mumbai have entered the final for the 43rd time. The hosts were today bundled out for 187 in their second essay with Delhi spin twins Vikas Mishra (6/49) and Aditya Jain (4/43) shared all the wickets between them. Chasing 477 to win, Delhi then made 160 for four with left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan (40) being the top scorer. Mumbai left-arm slow bowler Iqbal Abdulla grabbed three for 53, before play was called off by mutual consent. Delhi's inability to grab the early advantage of having reduced the holders to 85 for three before lunch on day one was the turning point, according to Mumbai captain Wasim Jaffer. The visitors allowed Mumbai to surge to a match-deciding first innings score, Abishek Nayar's gutsy 156 being the cornerstone. Karnataka draw with UP, enter final
Bangalore: Karnataka stormed into the Ranji Trophy final by virtue of their 367-run first innings lead after their semifinal match against Uttar Pradesh ended in a draw at the Chinnaswamy stadium here today. Karnataka, who had last won the coveted cup in 1998-99 season, will meet 38-time champion Mumbai in the summit clash at Mysore, slated for January 11-15. Resuming at their overnight 43 for three, Karnataka declared their second innings moments before tea at 247 for eight. CM Gautam celebrated his call to the South Zone squad for the Duleep Trophy with an enterprising 100 not out on a withering fourth day track. It was Gautam's third Ranji century in eight matches. RP Singh bagged four wickets while Piyush Chawla finished with 3 for 72 for visitors Uttar Pradesh. UP lost the wicket of Tanmay Srivatsava in their inconsequential second innings before the umpires called off the game an hour before draw of stumps. UP had made 22 for one in 12 overs. Karnataka face a daunting opponent in Mumbai in the final. In 19 matches, Mumbai have trounced Karnataka outright in nine matches while conceding the first lead in four games. Despite the ominous record, Dravid deemed the boys should go out and enjoy the game. "We have a very young team. We got to go out and enjoy ourselves irrespective of who your opponent's are," said Dravid.
— PTI |
|
JCT to play Pune FC on January 9
Chandigarh, January 6 The league, which was on a break due to other domestic tournaments, will commence with lots of mouth-watering soccer action set to roll out. JCT play the first of the three matches against League debutantes Pune FC on January 9, and will be looking to hit some winning form at home. The club will badly miss the services of their star winger and main scorer earlier in the season, Baljit Sahni. Sahni was in sensational form before he got injuredin an accident in Goa. The second match is scheduled for January 28 aginst Sporting Clube de Goa and the last match of the announced home fixtures will be played on February 2 against Mumbai-based Air India. All the matches will start at 2pm, local time. Advantage Bagan against Churchill
Kolkata: Reigning champions Churchill Brothers will have to leave behind the confidence hitting molestation charges against their top three players when they take on Mohun Bagan in an I-League clash here tomorrow. Their top-striker Odafe Onyeka Okolie, mid-fielder Ogba Kalu Nnanna and goalkeeper Arindam Bhattacharya were arrested on the charges of outraging the modesty of an airhostess while flying from Goa to Kolkata. It remains to be seen how the Nigerian top-striker Odafa, who is the highest paid footballer in the country, cope with the controversy and perform in the new round of I-League. Leading the standings after eight matches, things have not been going in favour of the Goans who faced a semi-final exit after being ousted by minnows Shillong Lajong FC in the Federation Cup in Guwahati.
— PTI |
|
Pargat replies to HI letter
New Delhi, January 6 Pargat sent his letter and a copy of the minutes to HI president A.K.Mattoo today. It is learnt that when Pargat met HI treasurer N.Batra, the HI office-bearer “verbally” told him about some “complaints” received about the merger process of Hockey Punjab. Pargat had reportedly told him to give in writing whatever complaints he had received, but Batra put nothing. Hockey Punjab sources said their papers were much in order, and they had nothing to hide. The sources said Hockey India was playing "delaying tactics" in giving affiliation to Hockey Punjab and other State associations who were not willing to toe its line as some "big bosses" of the Indian Olympic Association were keen to get into the Hockey India bandwagon without breaking any sweat. HI also fears that ex-Indian captain Pargat Singh, who had once challenged super cop KPS Gill in the Indian Hockey Federation election, may throw his hat in the ring for the post of HI president. "Hence, HI's game plan seems to be to buy time in giving affiliation to a powerful body like Hockey Punjab so as to stonewall any bid by them to contest for the Hockey India elections", the source added. |
|
Chennai open
Chennai, January 6 With Somdev's defeat Indian challenge has ended in singles event as Rohan Bopanna and Prakash Amritraj have already exited following first round defeats. As usual Somdev was slow off the blocks and began by dropping his serve in the very first game of the match. But at the same time Tipsarevic was also struggling and none of them could hold serve till fifth game of the first set. Once the Serbian got a break he was unstoppable and had Somdev on his knees. Somdev would now look to do well in the doubles event where he has already made the quarterfinals along with partner Sanam Singh. Somdev's defeat would also dent his ranking next week as being the finalist here in 2009, he was to defend points. Defending champion and second seed Marin Cilic of Croatia advanced to the quarter-finals of the Chennai Open with a 6-7 6-3 6-4 victory over Spaniard Marcel Granollers on Wednesday. World number 14 Cilic needed nearly three hours to overcome his 91st ranked opponent and the second seed will next play Santiago Giraldo. Cilic is favourite to win the event again after Tuesday's first round exit of Swedish top seed and world number eight Robin Soderling. The Croatian lost a close first set on tiebreak but came back strongly in the second as he broke the Spaniard three times. Cilic broke Granollers in the opening game of the third set but the gritty Spaniard foughtback to take a 3-2 lead, only for Cilic to regain the momentum with some delectable forehands. Serbian fourth seed Janko Tipsarevic beat Indian wildcard and last year's finalist Somdev Devvarman in a second round match 6-2, 6-1. — PTI/ Reuters Amritraj: Indians should better fitness Indian tennis players are mentally strong but they need to improve their fitness to match their competitors from West, feels veteran tennis player Vijay Amritraj. "Our tennis players are mentally strong. However, they are physically poor when compared to the players in Western countries," Amritraj said. He said especially the new comers need to keep themselves fit both in mind and physic. Praising Somdev andSania, Amritraj said the standard of Indian tennis has increased over the years. — PTI
|
|
Delhi men, eves shine
Gagan K. Teja Tribune News Service
Patiala, January 6 Dr Rajkumar Sharma, director sports of the university, who is the competition director, informed that 42 men teams and 36 women teams from different universities are participating in this tournament. Today’s Results: Women’s Section: Delhi University beat MGKV, Varanasi by 30-3 (Varuni 7 goals, Tanisha, Neelam 4 each); MJPRU, Bareilly, beat GGDU, Bilaspur by 4-3; HNBGU, Srinagar (UA), got walkover against LPU, Phagwara; HPU, Shimla beat Dr BRAU, Agra, by 16-1 (Priyanka scored 7 goals, Chandni 4); MDU, Rohtak, beat Dr RMLAU, Faizabad, by 20-7 (Savita scored 6 goals, Priyanka, Rachna 5 each); CSJMU, Kanpur, defeated PTU, Jalandhar by 16-4 (Akanksha Gupta scored 6 goals, Pooja 3). Men’s Section: DDU, Gorakhpur, defeated APSU, Rewa by 14-7; Thapar University, Patiala beat Lucknow University by 27-11 (Karandeep of Thapar Universtiy scored 13 goals); Kanpur University beat Kumaun University, Nainital by 22-14 (Sandeep Tiwari of Kanpur University scored 5 goals), Delhi University beat Utkal University, Bhubaneshwar, by 20-9 (Tejinder Singh of Delhi University scored 7 goals); Dr RMLAU, Faizabad beat Pt. RSSU, Raipur by 24-13 (Nishant of Faizabad scored 8 goals, Ankur Singh 5); CCSU, Meerut beat GGDU, Bilaspur 41-24.
|
| 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 | |
Sri Lanka may not have had a great tour of India but when it comes to a multi-nation tournament or an event where more than two teams play, they seem to have the wood on India. While it is still pretty early in the tournament here to make any predictions, Sri Lanka have, with their facile win over India and that too without four of their main players, shown that they have recovered from the losses in India and will be the team to watch out for.
The action in the ONGC I-League is set to get underway and soccer lovers from the region are set to get there share of it too. JCT FC, the Phagwara-based outift will be playing three home matches in the months of January and February, the Club announced today.
Sri Lanka may not have had a great tour of India but when it comes to a multi-nation tournament or an event where more than two teams play, they seem to have the wood on India. While it is still pretty early in the tournament here to make any predictions, Sri Lanka have, with their facile win over India and that too without four of their main players, shown that they have recovered from the losses in India and will be the team to watch out for.
Thilan Samaraweera has a terrific record in Test cricket but surprisingly he hasn’t played a lot of one-day cricket. The Lankan middle order after Dilshan’s promotion to the opening spot has been like a revolving door and players like Chamara Silva, Kapugedera and Samaraweera have been in and out through that door. Maybe with the brilliant century at almost a run-a-ball he will now be a certainty to play in that position for a few more games.
