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Parties during IPL took a toll on fitness: MSD
IOC, Ministry locked in war of letters
England take
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Aus knock out WIndies
Anand relieved after ending ‘black’ jinx against Topalov
Thomas and Uber Cup
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Parties during IPL took a toll on fitness: MSD
St Lucia, May 12 The defeat was also India’s third successive in the Super Eights stage, a disappointing low for the inaugural champions. Dhoni said the six-week-long IPL was in itself not responsible for the debacle. “Our performance does not have anything to do with IPL,” said Dhoni. “I wouldn’t say the IPL was a set back for our preparation. In fact, it has helped us in match preparation for the World Cup. It has thrown up players like (Suresh) Raina, Rohit (Sharma), (Ravindra) Jadeja, (Pragyan) Ohja and (Amit) Mishra. It has groomed a lot of talent.” Dhoni rejected criticism of the team and said he is least affected by what is said about it. “As Far as the sloganeering goes, I am not bothered about that. We try and do our best. We play for our country and we are more respectful to our country than those who do these sort of things. They can do whatever they want to,” fumed Dhoni. He said Indian had done their best although the results have not been too good. “Whenever we go out there we try to do well. But you won’t do well every time. We tried our best and did whatever we could have, but we still ended up being on the losing side,” said a despondent Dhoni. The wicketkeeper-batsman commended the Sri Lankans for their all-round show yesterday. “They batted really well in the end overs. Also, they bowled very well after the 13th over and made it difficult for us to score. They were looking to bowl yorkers and to keep the ball outside off stump. You can't do much when someone bowls perfect yorkers. Me and Raina were out there in the middle. It was really tough. But we were looking to slog everything thing,” he said. —
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England take on Sri Lanka
Gros Islet (St Lucia), May 12 With their maverick top order batsman Kevin Pietersen returning to the ranks after a brief break to watch the birth of his first child, England's batting order would have a formidable look about it. Pietersen has been in sensational form but even without him, England hardly broke a sweat as they upended New Zealand to prove that they don't rely on an individual or two to see them through. In Craig Kieswetter and Michael Lumb, England have an opening pair which scores at a brisk rate and with Pietersen, set to return at Ravi Bopara's expense, and Collingwood to follow, their batting line-up is quite capable of laying the foundation for a big total. In the middle order, the exciting Eoin Morgan, Luke Wright and all-rounder Tim Bresnan have the penchant to assert themselves early which suits the team. Their bowling department also has the necessary variety. Bresnan and his new-ball colleague Ryan Sidebottom have more often than not given the early breakthrough while Stuart Broad has been among the wickets as well. In the slow bowling department, Michael Yardy has been parsimony personified while Graeme Swann has struck regularly. England’s might notwithstanding, it is not going to be a cakewalk against the Sri Lankans who are high on confidence after sneaking through to the last four stage. Unlike England, consistency has not been Sri Lanka’s strong point in the tournament and even after beating India, they had to wait for an Australian triumph over the West Indies before a semifinal berth could be theirs. The islanders, however, would take heart from their success against India, especially with Tillakaratne Dilshan returning to form and youngsters like Angelo Matthews and Chamara Kapugedera coming to the party. —
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IOC, Ministry locked in war of letters
New Delhi, May 12 The IOC has asked the Ministry not to impose its guidelines restricting the tenures of the office-bearers “in a mandatory manner” on the organisations of the Olympic Movement in India “until a dialogue is established”. “Otherwise, we would unfortunately be obliged to consider the protective measures provided for in the Olympic Charter”. In a letter, datelined May 10 from Lausanne, to Union Sports Minister Dr M.S.Gill, IOC NOC Relations Director Pere Miro said measures, which relate to the internal operations of those organisations, “must not be decided or imposed by law or an external body’s decision, but must be decided freely and democratically by the competent organs of those organisations, on a case-by-case basis, and this must be reflected in their respective statues/constitutions).” Miro said he had been directed by IOC president Dr Jacques Rogge to write to Dr Gill in response to the letter dated 7 May, 2010 which the IOC received from joint secretary in
the Sports Ministry Injeti Srinivas. Miro said the IOC letter on 3 May to Raja Randhir Singh, IOC member, had made it clear that “the issue is not whether a limitation on the number of terms of office and/or an age limit within the organisations of the Olympic Movement (including the National Olympic Committees and the National Sports Federations) is appropriate or not. Each one has an opinion on these issues, which, as far as we are concerned, we fully respect”. But in a quick riposte, Injeti Srinivas replied to Dr Rogge that the Ministry had carefully studied and analysed the IOC letter, and understood the contrast in its present position, which “seems to indicate that what is eminently desirable for the IOC and has been put in place by the votes of the NOCs, need not be followed by the NOCs themselves, and they may continue to have office-bearers of unacceptable lengths of tenure, going on to advanced ages”. Srinivas pointed out that the IOC had changed its internal rules in 1999, in order to have a reasonable age limit of 70 years, a maximum presidential term of 12 years, and an office-bearer's term of eight years, followed by a break. “This has been done perhaps, keeping in mind, that in recent past you have had presidents and office-bearers whose lengthy tenures had invited world comment”, the Ministry letter noted. The IOC letter, however, stressed that the autonomy of the Olympic and sports organisations was one of the basic principles that “govern the Olympic movement, which everyone, including the public authorities in each country, must respect if those organisations wish to continue belonging to the Olympic Movement”. Although the IOC has adopted its own internal rules in reltion to these matters (which are applicable to the IOC only), “the Olympic Charter leaves it up to each NOC, as a responsible and autonomous entity, to freely and democratically decide whether they wish to apply similar measures’. The IOC said the minimum requirements stipulated by the Olympic Charter are respected “i.e. that the officers and members of the executive body of an NOC are elected and re-elected at least once every four years”. The IOC letter, however, made it clear that it was willing to “resolve this matter amicably” through open discussion, for which it was pleased to accept the Ministry’s “proposal and to organise a meeting as soon as possible in Lausanne”. The Ministry had said that it would send a senior official to the IOC headquarters to sort out the contentious guidelines limiting the tenures of the office-bearers and putting a cap on the age-limit of such office holders to 70. |
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Aus knock out WIndies
Opting to bat after winning the toss, the West Indies were dealt an early blow when Dirk Nannes bowled in-form skipper Chris Gayle (4) off the innings' second delivery. The other opener Shivnarine Chanderpaul (24) departed soon when a miscued shot off Mitchell Johnson's bowling was caught by David Hussey. In his 18-ball cameo, Chanderpaul struck four boundaries. His departure triggered a collapse and the hosts were reduced to five for 60. Ramnaresh Sarwan, the highest scorer for the team with a 31-ball 26, just didn't get enough support at the other end. With wickets tumbling around him, he could not give the acceleration which the West Indies needed desperately. For Australia, Hussey sparkled in the only over he bowled as he picked up two wickets conceding just three runs. Johnson also finished with reasonably good figures of two for 22 in his four overs. Australia's chase got off to a flier courtesy Warner, who was his usual destructive self. The opener smashed a 12-ball 25, studded with four fours and a six, before being caught at slip by Gayle off Jerome Taylor. Shane Watson (5) departed in the very next over and Clarke's run out by Dawyne Bravo after a rather slow 24-ball 16 created some anxiety in the Australian camp. —
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Anand relieved after ending ‘black’ jinx against Topalov
New Delhi, May 12 It came as a fitting reply to Topalov's pre-match bragging that he would have the edge against the Indian because of his white pieces. “I think I have lost my four or five games against Topalov with black but with white I won my last three. So it was very important to win this with black,” a content Anand said. “May be it is fitting in a way that finally I corrected this problem that I have been having with the black pieces,” he said. “In general, for the last four years we have been beating each other with white, so it was getting a bit one-sided,” Anand said. Graceful as usual, Anand lauded his opponent Topalov for showed great determination and fighting spirit to take the 12-game encounter down to the wire. “He is one of the strongest players in the world. I think he is one of the grittiest and I feel a decade older after this match,” Anand said. Anand has triggered off a chess revolution in the country and asked how much effect his latest triumph would have on the mind of the Indian chess players, the champion chess player said, “Right now I can’t think of any sort of legacy. I am just relieved that I am still gonna wake up tomorrow as world champion.” —
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Thomas and Uber Cup
New Delhi, May 12 Top Indian man and woman shuttlers Parupalli Kashyap and Saina Nehwal gave a scare to their higher-ranked opponents Taufik Hidayat and Yihan Wang before eventually bowing down 12-21, 21-10, 17-21 and 21-14, 11-21, 18-21 respectively. However, all other Indians suffered straight-game defeats as their campaign ended on a disappointing note. In the Thomas Cup quarterfinal, Kashyap was the first to take the court and the world number 33rd shuttler came back strongly to win the second game 21-10. In the decider, Kashyap was ahead 10-8 before Hidayat made it 10-10. But from there on, Hidayat stamped his authority and the closest scoreline Kashyap could reach was 13-14 before the world number five Indonesian wrapped up the game 21-17 and the match in one hour and one minute. Indian doubles duo of Sanave Thomas and Akshay Dewalkar then lost 16-21, 17-21 to Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan before Arvind Bhatt was outplayed 8-21, 10-21 by Simon Santoso in the third match. In the Uber Cup, world number six Saina looked set for an upset victory in the first match by winning the first game 21-14 against Wang. Saina produced some superb smashes and net winners against her world number one Chinese opponent. But Wang came back strongly and gave back to the Indian with better smashes and net winners to win the second game 21-11. —
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India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni refused to blame the IPL for the team’s Twenty20 World Cup debacle but conceded that after-match parties and hectic travelling during the glitzy league did take a toll.
Gros Islet (St Lucia), May 12
St Lucia, May 12
New Delhi, May 12
“Most of the players were fit and fresh. Players also need to be smart, not only about cricket but about other things going around in the IPL. We have to respect your body and give some time for it to recover because there is more to it than playing matches. Attending parties and travelling takes a toll,” Dhoni said after India’s five-wicket loss against Sri Lanka yesterday that knocked them out of the event.
St Lucia, May 12
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