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monday is som’s day
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Athletes draw blank
New Zealand in India
‘I will like to be reborn like Viru’
McKay: I apologise to Indian fans
Clarke doubtful for 1st Ashes Test
Adopt anti-corruption code domestically, ICC to Boards
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monday is som’s day
Guangzhou, November 22 Somdev teamed up with Sanam Singh to clinch the title in the men's doubles event and inched closer to a historic singles gold by moving into the final on what turned out to be a fruitful day for him. Sania Mirza and Vishnu Vardhan had to be content with a silver in mixed doubles while the men's archery team comprising Rahul Banerjee, Mangal Singh Champia and Jayanta Talukdar bagged a bronze in the team event. With the addition of three more medals, India's medal tally climbed to six gold, 12 silver and 18 bronze. The day clearly belonged to Somdev as he pipped Japan's Tatasuma Ito 6-2 0-6 6-3 in the semifinals to set up the summit-clash with top seed Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan. Later, he and Sanam Singh combined superbly to win first gold medal for India in the tennis event in this edition of the Games as the sixth seed pair shocked second seed Chinese Gong Maoxin and Li Zhe 6-3 6-7(4) 10-8 in the final. However, gold eluded Sania yet again as she and Vishnu Vardhan, seeded sixth, lost the mixed doubles final 6-4 1-6 2-10 to second seed Taipei pair of Chan Yung Jan and Yang Tsung Hua. Somdev and Sanam's gold medal feat assumes significance as India landed here without star doubles pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, gold medallists of the last edition at Doha in 2006, who opted to play in World Tour Finals in London. Rohan Bopanna is also missing from the Indian line-up though he had failed to qualify for the World Tour Finals. Before Somdev, no Indian had managed to enter men's singles final and India had won only three bronze medals in men's singles in Asian Games. Leander Paes had won it in 1994 in Hiroshima Games and Mahesh Bhupathi and Prahlad Srinath had won it during 1998 Games in Bangkok. In the baseline slugfest, that lasted almost two hours, second seed Somdev pocketed the opening set against Ito, ranked 195, with a measure of comfort but was then blown off the court by the fourth seed Ito, who clinched the second 6-0. Things were looking difficult for the Indian world no. 106 when he and his rival traded service breaks in the first four games. Somdev then staged an excellent rally under pressure by saving two break points in the fifth game and eventually tilted the scale in his favour. — PTI
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Indian women make winning start in
kabaddi
Guangzhou, November 22 The Indian squad, led by Tejeswini Bai, was the dominant outfit in both raiding and defending against their South Asian neighbours but Bangladesh too had their moments. The Indians began in storming fashion by raiding their rival area with Tejeswani, Smita Kumar, Pooja Sharma Deepika Joseph in full flight and secured two Lonas by dismissing all the rival players off the court to earn two extra points. "Our girls were very fast and agile. Our raiders were good. Everybody played well," said team's coach Vijay Kumar, adding all the team members wanted to grab the gold medal as the men had done in 1990. "They want to start with gold, just as the men did it in 1990 and have not looked back after that," he said. Bangladesh, who were overwhelmed in the first half, came back well in the second with good efforts put in by Sharmin Rima, Dolly Shafaly, Hena and Rupali Akhtar.
— PTI |
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Men secure bronze in archery
Guangzhou, November 22 Incidentally, both men and women lost to world's top archers from South Korea in the semifinals before clinching the bronze medal. The Indians scored 28 and 29 for a total of 57 in the first set of six arrows, 56 (29 and 27) in the second set and flagged a bit to get 53 (26 and 27) in the third and 54 in the fourth and last set (27 and 27). They shot a total of eight 10s and bulls eyes. Taipei started off badly scoring only 52 in the first set (27 and 25), did the same as their rivals in the second scoring 58 (28 and 28) before outperforming the Indians in the third with 58 (28 and a fabulous 30). But Taipei could score only 50 (26 and 24) in the last when they needed 54 to tie with the Indians and force a shoot-off. In the semis, India were beaten by South Korea 222-216 before the latter went on to grab the gold by outsmarting hosts China 222-218. "It was a close one. We were not tense after losing to Korea in the semi finals as we knew we will be able to pull it off," said Talukdar about the bronze play-off with Taipei. Banerjee blamed the wind for the misses and said the archer who could hold his own in these difficult conditions emerged on top. "The wind was too heavy. Anyone who could keep calm could pull it off," he said. Champia saw an upswing in the Indian display here compared to Doha four years ago when only one team bronze was won. "There is definitely an improvement in our performance in Asian Games as we have already got two medals (both bronze) ahead of the (two-day) individual events commencing tomorrow," he said.
— PTI |
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Athletes draw blank
After opening their track and field campaign in a spectacular fashion with two gold and a silver yesterday, Indian athletes came a cropper today as they failed to collect a single medal on the second day of the competitions here.
Medal prospects Mandeep Kaur and Manjeet Kaur finished disappointing fourth and fifth with below-par performances in women's 400m final at the Aoti Main Stadium.
One-lap racer Mandeep Kaur, the leading timer in Asia this season and drawn on the outside lane seven, led the field till the back stretch before flagging behind to finish fourth in 52.99 secs. Defending champion Olga Tereshkova of Kazakhstan left the entire bunch behind at the final stretch and crossed the finish line in 51.97secs, her season's best. Japan's Asami Chiba improved upon her bronze in 2006 Asian Games in Doha by bagging the silver in 52.68 while the bronze went to another Kazakh Marina Maslyonko (52.70). National record holder Manjeet, gold medallist in 2002 at Busan and silver medallist four years later in Doha, finished a poor fifth in 53.27, two seconds below her personal best. In women's hammer throw, national record holder Hardeep Kaur started with a foul attempt before attaining her best effort of the day, 60.54m in her third attempt, to finish fourth. The Indian's effort was 2.40m less than bronze medallist Yuka Murofushi of Japan. It was an improvement on the police officer's 2006 performance where she had finished sixth. China made a 1-2 with defending champion and Beijing Olympics bronze medallist Zhang Wenxiu taking the gold with 72.84m and Wang Zheng (68.17m) grabbing the silver.
— PTI |
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3rd Test: Day 3 Dravid tightens India’s grip Sunil Narula Tribune News Service
Nagpur, November 22 Yes, some senior Indian batsmen (including Dravid) will be travelling to SA early to get accustomed to the bouncy wickets there. But, what still remains the real thing is getting real runs out in the middle. And, Dravid did that in ample measure at the Jamtha Stadium here today. At close of play on the third day, New Zealand had reached 24 for 1, still 349 runs behind. India had declared their first innings at 566 for 8. It was a marathon innings by Dravid. In all, 'the wall' spent 573 minutes at the crease and fell just nine runs short of his double-century (191). And, when he was dismissed, Dravid looked distinctly unhappy with himself for having played an improper shot. That speaks a little about his insatiable desire for runs. Nagpur is a special place for Dravid. His wife hails from this city. And, it proved a lucky venue for Dravid today. He had scored a century in the first Test of this series in Ahmedabad as well but, that one was a slow and scratchy effort. Here, Dravid looked completely in control. Flawless, right behind the ball, waiting for the loose one, ready to drill it to the boundary. Alongwith captain Dhoni, Dravid added 193 runs for the sixth wicket. Dhoni was just two short of his century (98) when he was deceived by a flighted ball from Vettori. But, the Indian skipper flayed his bat to good effect to smash 12 fours and a six. Let's face it, Dhoni is not the most attractive batsman to watch. Technically he is not sound, relies mostly on muscle power and uses his willow more like a sword. But, he is very effective and gets the job done. Almost invariably during his innings, Dhoni gives a chance. He gave one today as well. But, Tim McIntosh spilled the skier. Dhoni was on 42 at that time. Earlier, when play began this morning, there was just one thing in focus: Sachin's upcoming 50th Test century. However, it all turned out to be an anti-climax. Tendulkar fell in the second over of the day giving debutant Andy McKay his first Test wicket. He could add just four runs to his overnite score and was dismissed for 61. Laxman was surprised by Martin's pace, Raina looked lost and clueless. And, suddenly, India had lost three quick wickets. Dhoni joined Dravid at this stage and a long 193-run partnership ensued that took the game away from the visitors. Harbhajan came in all geared up to go for his third Test century in a row. But, this time around the Kiwis were better prepared and the fielder was in the right place when Bhajji top-edged an attempted sixer. But not to be kept out of the game for too long, Bhajji returned later in the day to jolt the Kiwis by trapping opener McIntosh in front of the stumps. India look firmly in control of the game now and the Kiwi batsmen will have to come up with a Herculean effort to save this one. It looks extremely unlikely at this stage and this venue's reputation of producing a result everytime is likely to stay intact. Scoreboard New Zealand 1st innings: 193 India 1st innings
(overnight 292-2):
Dravid c Guptill b Williamson 191 Tendulkar c Hopkins b McKay 61 Laxman b Martin 12 Raina c sub b Vettori 3 Dhoni c & b Vettori 98 Harbhajan c McCullum b Martin 20 Ishant not out 7 Sreesanth not out 0 Extras: (b-12, lb-5, w-4, nb-1) 22 Total: (8 wkts, decl, 165 ovrs) 566 Bowling: Martin 28-4-82-2, Southee 29-5-94-1, McKay 31-5-120-1, Vettori 58-7-178-3, Williamson 11-0-45-1, Guptill 7-0-27-0, Taylor 1-0-3-0. New Zealand 2nd innings: McIntosh lbw b Harbhajan 8 McCullum not out 15 Hopkins not out 1 Extras: 0 Total: (1 wkt, 11 overs) 24 Bowling: Sreesanth 3-1-13-0, Ishant 2-2-0-0, Ojha 3-1-2-0, Harbhajan 3-0-9-1. |
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‘I will like to be reborn like Viru’
Nagpur, November 22 The pitches will be bouncy and all that. But I will take this one. Surely feels nice. Whenever I get a big score it surely does take time," said Rahul after the third day's play here. There has been some talk of the senior batsmen getting on in years but Rahul has no complaints on that front. "I accept it as part and parcel of the game. When you are 23-24 you will have different questions asked of you. When you are 36-37, those questions will be different," he said. "I do not think much about that. I do my preparation before every game. Some days you click. Other days you don't. But, I'm not complaining. There is pressure. But I can only control things that are in my control," he said. "I guess all credit here must go to our bowlers. We are in a winning position because of them," said Rahul. Rahul Dravid is just one catch away from becoming the first player in Test cricket to complete 200 catches (other than wicket-keepers, that is) and that one could be coming soon. "My fingers have taken a lot of pounding. But it will come. Sooner or later," said
Rahul. |
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McKay: I apologise to Indian fans
Nagpur, November 22 "I apologize to the Indian fans. But, yes, it is fantastic that my first Test wicket is that of
Tendulkar. It would have been nice if I had picked up another couple of wickets. But this one is special," said the man from Wellington. "This is a daunting task for me bowling to such a formidable line-up. But, I had played a couple of
one-dayers before so that helped me," he said. "I wasn't surprised when I was given the new ball in the morning. I just wanted to bowl fast at Sachin and the one that got him really came out well and bounced as well," said McKay. He also praised Dravid's effort saying the Kiwi bowlers could have bowled better. "He played mostly in the
'vee'. And was prepared to wait for the lose one, which we gave him. We did not stick to our lines and he played very well," said McKay. And, McKay feels the Kiwis can save this. He surely is an optimistic guy. |
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Clarke doubtful for 1st Ashes Test
Brisbane, November 22 Clarke was unable to play for NSW in the most recent round of Sheffield Shield after aggravating the injury in an earlier match. Kountouris said Clarke's absence from training Monday was planned and his condition was being closely watched.
— AP
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Adopt anti-corruption code domestically, ICC to Boards
Dubai, November 22 The Board had met via teleconference to receive an update on the progress being made by the Pakistan Cricket Board in implementing the steps to preserve the integrity of cricket. The ICC said the Board expressed satisfaction at the progress of the work being undertaken by the Pakistan Task Team (PTT) and the PCB. ICC President Sharad Pawar said, "The PCB and PTT should be commended for their excellent work and everyone involved deserves special praise for the outstanding progress made since our last Board meeting.
— PTI
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Star tennis player Somdev Devvarman took centre stage by fetching a gold medal in doubles event and also becoming the first Indian to reach the final in men's singles as India bagged three medals on the tenth day of competitions in the 16th Asian Games here today.
Mary Kom,
Kavita in semis