Mumbai, February 2
Star off-spinner Harbhajan Singh today said India has the resource to cope with the absence of Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and S Sreesanth in the forthcoming Test series against South Africa. Talking about the two-match series which starts in Nagpur on Sunday, Harbhajan said it would have been good to have the injured trio around but the team can still deliver the goods against Graeme Smith’s men.

“Of course it would have been good to have them. But whatever players we have got, they are good and have done well in the Ranji session. Hopefully they will continue their good form against South Africa as well,” the spinner said here. Dravid is nursing a fractured cheek bone, Yuvraj has a tear in his wrist while Sreesanth is out with a hamstring injury - all sustained during India’s recent Bangladesh tour.

South Africa captain Graeme Smith has announced that his team would leave no stone unturned to regain the number one Test team’s tag from India and Harbhajan also felt that it would be an intense affair between world’s top two teams. “Well, only time will tell who would come out on top. We haver full respect to every opposition but if we play to our potentials, we can beat any one,” Harbhajan said.

“Obviously when top two teams play each other, there has to be intense competition. You have to admit that South Africa is a very good Test side. But if we play to our potential and on our ability, we can beat any side - be it South Africa, Australia or any other team. That is our biggest strength,” he said.

Nagpur: South African pacers blew away the top half before Abhishek Nayar (100) and Shikhar Dhawan (70) resuscitated Board President’s XI with a 181-run seventh wicket stand on the opening day of the two-day practice match here today. Put into bat, the local team slumped to 56 for four and then 114 for six but they went on to post 318 with Nayar, Dhawan and Manish Pandey (43) starring with the bat.

South African captain Graeme Smith allowed all his teammates, barring stumper Mark Boucher, to roll their arms but Morne Morkel (3/24) and Wayne Parnell (3/66) impressed most. In reply, South Africa were 44 for no loss at stumps with Smith (30 of 37 balls) and Ashwell Prince (13) in the middle at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground.

Board President’s captain Rohit Sharma opted to bat first after winning toss and was left to rue the decision. Openers Parthiv Patel and Abhinav Mukund returned soon after scoring identical eight runs and Parnell dealt back-to-back blow when he removed Rohit (20) and Ajinkya Rahane (12) in successive overs.

The setbacks apparently had no effect on Manish Pandey, who played his natural attacking game before Morkell removed him. Manish needed just 42 balls for his brisk 43 which included five fours and two sixes. It was an ideal situation for Cheteshwar Pujara (17) to come up with something special but the Saurashtra run-machine was castled by Johan Botha as his side slumped to 114 for six.

That brought Nayar and Dhawan in the middle and the duo began the bail-out job with utmost care. They defied the South African attack for nearly 40 overs, rebuilding the innings with sensible cricket. Nayar helped himself to the occasional boundaries that were on offer while Dhawan ran hard between the wickets.

Smith gave both the specialist spinners - Botha and Paul Harris - long spells and sent down three overs himself but to no avail. The stand was eventually broken in the 69th over when Dhawan was run out, having contributed a 120-ball 70 with the help of 10 fours. Nayar kept going till he had completed his century and was the last man out after a 202-ball 140 that had 16 boundaries in it. — PTI

Patiala, February 2
Indian wrestling squad has left to take part in the Dave Schulz Memorial International Wrestling Tournament that would be held at Calarado Spring, USA, from February 3 to 6. Olympian Sushil Kumar and World Cup winner Ramesh Kumar will not be taking part in the tournament. The team is as under:

Women category: In 48 kg Nirmala Devi (Haryana); 51 kg Babita Kumari (Haryana); 59 kg Alka Tomor (Uttar Pradesh), 67 kg Navjot Kaur (Punjab) and 72 kg Anmol (Haryana). The coaches accompanying the women squad are P.R. Sondhi (chief coach), Monica Choudhary and Dr Perivinkel Kaur (physiotherapist).

Men category (Greco-Roman): In 55 kg Rajinder Singh; 60 kg Rabinder Singh; 66 kg Gurbinder Singh; 74 kg Rajbir Singh; 84 kg Manoj Kumar; 96 kg Ashok Kumar; 120 kg Dharminder. The coaches accompanying the squad are Hargobind Singh, Ravinder Mann and masseur Rahul Sharma.

Free-Style wrestling: In 55 kg Vinod Kumar and Anil Kumar; 60 kg Rahul Mann and Rajnish Kumar; 66 kg Amit Dhankar; 74 kg Narsingh Yadav and Sumit Kumar; 84 kg Ranvir and Naresh Kumar; 96 kg Mausam Khatri and Anil Mann and in 120 kg Rajeev Tomor and Joginder Kumar. The coaches accompanying the squad are Valadimir, Yashvir Singh, Vinod Kumar and G.S. Sangha. Gurpreet Singh was the masseur.

Ashok Kumar, Ashok Dhaka, Jagjit Singh and Gurmit Singh have been made the referees for the tournament and Gurmeet Singh

Jaipur, February 2
It’s not been long since the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) witnessed ugly power struggle and was denied opportunity to host a couple of ODIs, but it seems those at the helm of affairs have hardly learnt any lessons from the past.

Now, days ahead of the February 21 India-South Africa ODI, the Rajasthan State Sports Council (RSSC) and the RCA have locked horns to gain supremacy over the coveted SMS Stadium in Jaipur. The RSSC recently stopped the work on barricading the stadium ahead of the ODI, which has irked the RCA.

However, justifying the move, RSSC chairman Shivcharan Mali said, “We didn’t object to the repair work in south and east blocks of the stadium as it was necessary, though the RCA should have sought prior permission from the Council. Now, they are putting up check points near the main gate on the west side without permission, which prompted us to intervene.”

On the other hand, the RSSC move has not gone down well with the RCA whose secretary Sanjay Dixit has lodged a complaint with the RSSC, saying that the stadium belonged to the government. He urged the RSSC not to create any trouble and allow the ODI to take place smoothly.

Meanwhile, the tussle between the two sports bodies is not the only threat to the ODI. Some safety issues are also involved. In a letter to the RCA, the city police has expressed apprehensions that a part of the spectators’ gallery may collapse during the match, leading to a major mishap. The police is not convinced about the safety of spectators in the stadium, particularly in north and west blocks where deep cracks have surfaced.

The police fear that any untoward incident in either of the two parts will have a direct bearing on the law and order situation in the city. However, Dixit said they have constituted a special team of engineers to look into the issue and the problem would be sorted out before the match. Mali is a known loyalist of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot while the RCA is headed by Gehlot’s political rival and Union Minister CP Joshi who defeated Lalit Modi in the RCA polls last year. 

Kuala Lumpur, February 2
Bolstered by the return of ace player Sania Mirza and drawn into a relatively easy Group, India would aim to re-enter Group I when the Asia/Oceania zone Fed Cup tournament here tomorrow.

India have been grouped with hosts Malaysia and Singapore that do not boast of any top-class player.

Winners of both the pools competing in the Asia/Oceania zone Group II will clash in the play-off tie to decide which nation is promoted to Group I. India will play their first rubber on Thursday.

India were relegated to Group II last year after being blanked 0-3 by Taiwan in play-off tie of women’s team event.

Sania had pulled put of the tournament in 2009 citing an abdominal injury and also did not play in 2008.

Now that she is back with the team and the opponents are weak, India coach Enrico Piperno says they have a good opportunity to get back to Group I from where they can strive to earn a place in the World Group.

“Absolutely we have a chance. The team is quite motivated. We are in the right group. Kyrgyzstan and Hong Kong are on the other side. This is best we can expect.

I am quite confident since Sania is back with the team. She wants to play and help India get back to Group I. There is experienced Rushmi (Chakravarthy) and Sanaa (Bhambri) is also there. The team is excited,” Piperno said.

Piperno also believes that personal setbacks would not affect Sania’s on-court performance as she recently ended her engagement with Sohrab Mirza. — PTI

New Delhi, February 2
Olympic hero Vijender Singh broke the bronze jinx and fetched one of India’s two silver medals at the two-day Champion of Champions invitational boxing tournament in Guangzhou, China today. The 24-year-old Olympic and World Championship bronze medallist, who was bestowed the Khel Ratna award last year, lost 0-6 to China's Zhang Jin Ting in the in the middle weight (75kg) category final.

The other silver medal for India came through Olympian Dinesh Kumar, who settled for silver in 81kg after losing 2-10 to Chinese Meng Fan Long. This was Vijender’s second career loss to Zhang. The last time he got something better then a bronze at an international tourney was in the 2007 Asian Championships in Mongolia where he had clinched a silver medal.

“I am a bit disappointed that I lost to him again. The last time too I lost to him in China but it was a much closer affair and I lost by just a point at that time,” Vijender, who also got $1,000 as prize money, said over phone. “But I am glad to have broken the bronze jinx. Also, it was good preparation for the Commonwealth Championship in March. It was fun to be back in the ring after a long gap,” the Bhiwani boxer, who had not competed since the World Championship in September last year, added.

Dinesh, who was nursing a hairline fracture in his left hand before the tournament, also felt that it has warmed them up for the Commonwealth Championship scheduled in New Delhi. “It will help. International exposure ahead of a major tournament is always welcome,” he said.

The short prize money event also featured Commonwealth Games gold medallist Akhil Kumar (57kg) and former world youth champion Thokchom Nanao Singh (48kg), both of them lost in the opening round. Both Akhil and Nanao lost to Asian champions in their respective categories yesterday.

The organisers had invited only the top four Asian boxers in each category and with just two rounds played, only the finalists were awarded medals. The gold medallists also pocketed $3,000 as prize money. — PTI