London, September 22
‘Now call it off!’, ‘Games in crisis’ screamed British tabloids about the forthcoming Commonwealth Games to be held in the Indian capital saying the shoddy preparations for the mega event were a blow to India's pride.

Pictures and reports of the collapse of the bridge near the main Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and poor living conditions in the Games Village hogged the newspaper space, with the leading daily 'The Guardian' asking 'Does this look ready to you?' Labelling the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, a public relations disaster, the British media made the comparison saying while China had delivered a first class infrastructure for the Beijing Olympics, while India's efforts were in chaos.

The sad events in Delhi with number of nations raising question marks over the health standards and living conditions in the Games Village were accorded lead positions in prime time TV bulletins. The question marks over the cleanliness standards in the Games infrastructure were interspersed with reports of pull out by three top English athletes including the world triple jump champion Phillips Idowu due to concerns over security.

In a leading article titled 'Wounded Pride and Public Relations, 'The Independent' made comparisons between India's efforts to stage the games and China's spectacular staging of the Olympic Games in 2008. It said: “It is tempting to make comparisons with China. The stereotype is that efficient China delivers first-class infrastructure and prestige building projects while chaotic India struggles. It is undoubtedly true that China has leapt ahead of its Asian economic rival in terms of the development of transport and energy infrastructure in recent years.”

Other reports said that the Commonwealth Games were 'in crisis', and noted that the event was supposed to showcase to the world the rise of India as a major economic power, but had been compromised by corruption and inefficiency. In a report from Delhi titled ‘Does this look ready to you? Chaos in run-up to Commonwealth Games’, The Guardian reported: “This was billed as the moment when India would stride proudly out on to the world stage. But today saw the 19th Commonwealth Games sinking only further into chaos and recrimination”. — PTI

Johannesburg, September 22
The last-over heartbreak against Mumbai Indians in the previous match still fresh in his mind, Bangalore Royal Challengers batsman Virat Kohli said he was happy that he could take his team to the semifinals of the Champions League here yesterday. In their last tie against Mumbai Indians, Kohli, despite hitting two fours in the last over, couldn't take his team home as they fell short by just two runs.

However, in their do-or-die match today, the Delhi batsman blasted a couple of sixes and a four in the 17th over to help his team overhaul the 160-run target and beat Lions to seal a place in the semis. "Really happy to be there till the end, and the team won.

I was really disappointed that I couldn't finish it off in the last game despite taking it to the last ball. Happy to do it this time," said Kohli, who scored an unbeaten 49, said.

"T20 games turn in one over. I was waiting for it, and it came in the 17th over. I messed up with Uthappa's run out and apologised to him. He is a good friend, doesn't mind that," he added.

RCB skipper Anil Kumble praised Kohli and said he had full faith on the young batsman. "As long as wickets were there, and Virat was in with Whitey, we knew it was about one good over," he said. "Virat also bowled well and his spell was critical. Virat and my spell at the middle overs was crucial. Dillon and Steyn also bowled really well in the end.

"I was disappointed with my performance in the previous game. But no better time to step up than in the next game. Nice to go back to Durban. Hope Chennai makes it there," he said.

His counterpart Alviro Petersen, however, backed his team and said they put up a good fight. "We fought all the way and played as a team. Our success should not be measured by where we finished, but by the obstacles we crossed. We were about 20 runs short. Kumble tied us up a bit. The best team won - all the best to Bangalore for the semis," he said. — PTI

London, September 22
England’s world champion triple jumper Phillips Idowu became the latest star to pull out of the scandal-marred Commonwealth Games due to security reasons, saying his family is more important than a medal.

The pull out of Idowu came hours after his compatriots -- Olympic 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu and 2006 Melbourne Games gold medallist 1500m runner Lisa Dobriskey -- decided to withdraw from the Games due to injuries. The build-up to the Games has been marred by complaints over unhygienic conditions at the Athletes' Village while a footbridge near the main venue collapsed yesterday, injuring 27 people. Before that, in a firing incident, two foreign tourists were injured on Sunday.

31-year-old Idowu, who won gold in 2006 Melbourne Games, said in his Twitter page that he was withdrawing from the mega event as he cannot risk his life because he has two children to take care of. “All the press today about bridges collapsing and 23+ people being hurt, floods and uninhabitable living conditions, getting my daughter ready for school this morning and seeing all of that put me off. I can't afford to risk my safety in the slightest. Sorry people, but I have children to think about. My safety is more important to them than a medal,” he tweeted.

“I understand people will be disappointed that I will not be competing. I am disappointed. These games mean a lot to me. It's the champs in which I won my 1st medal. And four years ago won my 1st gold, which kicked off the success I have in my career to date,” said Idowu.

Ohuruogu suffered a cramp during a training session last weekend and she does not want to take risk as she has not fully recovered from her quad injury she suffered in June. “I am disappointed to miss the Commonwealth Games after working so hard to get fit since my quad injury in June. However, with the 2012 Olympic Games on the horizon the last thing an athlete wants to do is risk re-injury to the same muscle,” the 26-year-old said.

"It was very important for me to be cautious in dealing with my previous injury, and although training was progressing well, intense competition over three days may prove to be more harmful than good and may compromise the long-term functioning of the muscle. — PTI

Patiala, September 22
The provisional suspension on 11 players caught guilty of doping has been lifted today after the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel headed by Dinesh Dayal, Former Additional District Judge, Delhi, and consisting of Dinesh Khanna, former national badminton champion and Dr N.K. Kadia, medical doctor, heard the cases of 11 dope tainted players, including six wrestlers Rajiv Tomar, Joginder Singh, Sumit, Rahul Mann, Gursharan Preet Kaur, Mausam Khatri, shot putter Saurabh Vij, discuss thrower Akash Antil and swimmers Jyotsna Pansare and Richa Mishra and netball player Megha Choudhary today.

Giving information in this regard, Director General of NADA Rahul Bhatnagar informed that the Panel heard the arguments from both the sides and taking into cognizance the fact that WADA had approved the shifting of the banned substance methylhexaneamine from the list of non-specified substances to the list of specified substances withdrew the provisional suspension of these athletes. He said, “The Panel has withdrawn the provisional suspension because now in the Anti Doping Code there is no provision for a provisional suspension for specified substances.”

He further informed that though the provisional suspension on 11 players has been lifted today but the final verdict for 10 of them would be declared on September 25 as Megha Choudhary’s case has been closed today itself. He said, “Netball player Megha Chaudhry had tested positive for 19-Norandrosterone. After hearing, the Panel was of the view that the presence of this substance in the urine sample of the athlete was due to the intake of another substance called Norethistrone, which is not a banned substance. The Panel has therefore, now revoked her provisional suspension and closed her case withdrawing the charges against her. She is therefore, now eligible to participate in any competition.”

The panel will give its decision on the punishment to the athletes and if they are let off with a warning they may be able to take part in the Games. Also the hearing of swimmer Amar Muralitharan and weightlifter Sanamacha Chanyu have been scheduled for September 25 because the Panel could not hear their cases today. The final verdict for them might be declared with these players,” he added.

Now what remains to be seen is whether these players will be let off with a warning and if yes, will they be included in the team.

New Delhi, September 22
In an extremely tough draw, India were today drawn against world number one Serbia, for their first round tie in the elite World Group of the Davis Cup. For India, who retained their World Group berth by beating Brazil 3-2 in the play-offs, it will be an away tie, to held from March 4 to 6 next year. The draw was made in Brussels today.

The formidable Serbians have already qualfied for the this year's final after beating Czech Republic 3-2. They will clash with France in the Championship tie in December. Serbia, top seeds in the elite 16-team World Group, have world number two Novak Djokovic and two other top-50 players in Janko Tipsarevic (34) and Viktor Troicki (47) in its ranks apart from Nenad Zimonjic, world number three in doubles.

At present, India do not have any top-100 player, though Somdev Devvarman (117) and Rohan Bopanna (473) showed that in Davis Cup rankings counts for little as they disposed off challenges from world number 27 Thomaz Bellucci and 74th ranked Ricardo Mello, respectively in the play-offs against Brazil last week.

India's non-playing captain S P Misra rued luck was not on their side but vowed to put up a fight against the strong opponents. "It's worst possible draw for us. We could have got a home tie, had any of the other five teams from Spain, Russia, France, USA and Czech Republic been drawn against us," Misra told PTI.

"Nevertheless, we will fight it out. Nothing is decided till you play the last rubber.” — PTI

Chandigarh, September 22
Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson is all set to take up the role of mentor of young pacers of his team. Talking to media persons at Sector 16 Cricket Stadium here today, Johnson said that he would like to help his young teammates like Peter George and James Pattinson by providing them tips during the training sessions.

“In fact I would enjoy it and even I have talked to my coaches on the issue,” said Johnson. He was of the view that playing against the Indian team, consisting of the likes of Tendulkar, Dravid and Sehwag, that too in India, would always be challenging.

“I am sure our young bowlers have a good chance to learn a lot while playing under humid conditions here,” said Johnson.

However, the senior pacer felt that India’s No. One Test ranking was not a big issue for them as far as the factor of psychological edge for the host team was concerned. “We are looking forward to win the two-match series”, said Johnson adding that it (series) held significance in wake of forthcoming Ashes and next year’s World Cup.

Meanwhile, the continuous overnight rain in the city forced the team to restrict their training session to gym and stretching exercises only, under the supervision of their fitness trainer and team coach. The team members, including skipper Ricky Ponting spent over one hour at the stadium.

BRIEFLY

Jaipur welcomes QBR
Jaipur: The Queen's Baton Relay for this year's Commonwealth Games was accorded a rousing reception on its arrival here on Wednesday. Soon after arriving from Bharatpur, the Baton was handed over to Athens Olympics silver medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. The Baton was then handed over to Arjuna awardees Gopal Saini, Kuldeep Singh Garcha, Shriram Singh, Rajkumar, Surendra Kataria and Hanuman singh among others. As it passed through the streets and other historical monuments, a large number of sports lovers, officials, school children and players gathered to have a glimpse of the Baton. — PTI

Gambhir awarded by AIMA
Kolkata: India opener Gautam Gambhir was on Wednesday conferred 'Managing India' award by President Pratibha Patil at a felicitation programme organised by the All India Management Association (AIMA). Gambhir, who missed two Tests and the ODI tri-series in Sri Lanka after suffering a knee injury, received the award at the AIMA convention at a city hotel here. The southpaw has been named skipper to lead the Board President's XI in a three-day practice match against Australia in Chandigarh from September 25. — PTI

Indian eves thrash Albania
Russia: Led by Dronavalli Harika, Indian eves started off with a clean 4-0 first-round victory over Albania in the 39th Chess Olympiad here. The Indian men also scored a similar victory over Wales in which Grandmaster P Harikrishna was stretched by little known Tim Kett for a long time in a Semi Slav defence game. After initial blues, Harikrishna finally turned the tide. Top rated and first board player Krishnan Sasikiran played a thematic game to outwit Richard Jones from the white side of a Queen pawn game. — PTI

Real Madrid's Gonzalo Higuain celebrates his goal against Espanyol during their Spanish First Division soccer match at Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on Tuesday. — Reuters

Sania-Camerin in quarterfinals
Tashkent: Sania Mirza and her Italian partner Maria Elena Camerin entered the doubles quarter-finals of the Tashkent Open with a straight-set win over Lyudmyla and Nadiya Kichenok, here on Wednesday. Sania and Camerin got the better off the Ukrainian sisters 6-2 6-3 in the first round in just an hour's time. Sania and her Italian partner will now face Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania and Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia, who shocked third seeds Akgul Amanmuradova and Darya Kustova 7-5 7-6(13). Both Sania and Camerin have already crashed out of the singles event. — PTI

IPL meet on Sep 27
Mumbai: The Governing Council of the Indian Premier League will meet here two days before the Cricket Board's AGM and the only item on the agenda is the accounts for IPL-III held in March-April this year. "The Governing Council of IPL will meet in Mumbai on the September 27. The lone item on the agenda of the meeting is the accounts for IPL-III which then would be presented at the AGM," BCCI sources said on Wednesday. The AGM, at which the Governing Council will be re-constituted and its tenure reduced to one year through an amendment to the Board's memorandum of rules and regulations, is to be held on September 29 at the BCCI's headquarters. — PTI

Rain washes out Gurmit hockey
Chandigarh: Rain played spoilsport in the inaugural match of the 40th S N Vohra All India Gurmit Memorial Hockey Tournament at Hockey Stadium, Sector 42 here on Wednesday. While the first match between RCF, Kapurthala and Ropar Hawks was forced to stop midway due to heavy showers, the second match between Chandigarh XI and India Navy has been postponed to Thursday at 9.30 am. A total of 20-minute game was remained when the first match was stopped by the referee. Both the teams, RCF and Ropar Hawks were goalless at that time. The organizers have decided to continue the match on Thursday. — TNS