Dehradun, January 10
The first South Asian Federation (SAF) Winter Games got off to a spectacular start at the ice skating rink here today.

The seven participating countries -- India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Maldives, Bangladesh and Bhutan took part in an impressive march-past to the tunes of an Army band. This was followed by a fascinating fusion of bharatnatyam and figure skating by US-based Ami Parikh. Later, artists from Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Kashmir and Uttarakhand performed their dances and programmes to display the culture of India to the visiting foreign nations.

The spectators burst into applause as the most-awaited moment — the performance by Sufi singer Kailash Kher — began. Earlier in the day, the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand opened the event and inaugurated an exhibition on State tourism and Winter Games along with Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Prateek Prakashbapu Patil.

Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports M.S. Gill couldn’t make it to the event. Governor Margaret Alva attended the opening ceremony. The CM expressed confidence that the Winter Games 2011 will work as a launching pad for future winter sports in Uttarakhand and will attract a large number of sports persons and tourists from India and abroad.

Patil, speaking on the occasion said, “The organising of the first SAF Games in Uttrakhand will open up many avenues in adventure and winter sports as well as creating better relations among South Asian nations.”

Durban, January 10
Sachin Tendulkar has for the first time admitted that the match-fixing episodes in 1999-2000 had initially affected his game and the Indian team had to go through a difficult and painful phase as "spectators looked at us with suspicion".

Tendulkar said he was not in the right frame of mind during India's disastrous tour of Australia where they were thrashed 0-3 in 1999-2000.

"I can tell you that I was never approached by anyone, neither we had any discussions about the same in the team meeting," Tendulkar told former South African Board President Dr Ali Bacher in an interview for Super Sport Channel.

"I remember that there was stage in 1999-2000 when it was very difficult as we were to play Australia. Before the series these things started making rounds. As a cricketer that's the last thing I want.

"You want your beloved game to be as clean as possible. I wanted the spectators to enjoy the contest and not look at us with suspicion. To play well, players need to be in right frame of mind and I can tell you that I was not in that frame of mind," Tendulkar said, recollecting the disastrous series.

The pain in his voice was evident as he gave the interview. "Every match you play and people pass on loose comments. This was really hurting me and the whole team," said the maestro.

Tendulkar felt that their historic 2-1 series win over Australia at home was the turning point.

"I was sure that we needed to put up a very special performance against Aussies so that cricket lovers forget what has happened in the past and start enjoying the game again and move on. With grace of God we managed to do that.

"We lost the first match at Mumbai. But in the next match at Kolkata we fought back from very bad position and won that match to level the series. Last match was even harder. At Chennai while chasing small total we lost 8 wickets but won that Test match and series too.

"I was happy for the fact we forced cricket lovers to forget about that bad chapter and start following cricket again." Recollecting the horror days of match fixing, Bacher revealed that the South African Board was indeed approached by bookmakers.

"We were directly approached by bookmakers to take their offer to the players through team meeting. Those were days when in couple of ICC meetings, I had raised this issue.

The issue was not properly discussed and I was told to get evidence and proof," said Bacher. — PTI 

Doha, January 10
Minnows India gave a spirited fight but found the Australian too hot to handle as they lost 0-4 to their formidable opponents in their opening match of the Asian Cup football tournament here today.

Australia, who have nine players from the 2010 World Cup squad in today's starting line-up, controlled most part of the match with their speed and aerial superiority and the Indian goal was under constant threat throughout in the Group C opening match at Al Saad Stadium.

To the credit of the Indians, who had to play without talismanic skipper Bhaichung Bhutia due to a calf injury, the match did not turn out to be mauling by their opponents, who are ranked highest at 26th in FIFA charts.

Star Australia forward Tim Cahill, who plays for English Premier League side Everton, scored twice (11th and 65th) while Turkish top side Galatasaray midfielder Harry Kewell and Brett Holman found the target once in the 25th and 45+2 minutes.

Playing in the continent's biggest stage after a gap of 27 years, India, the lowest ranked side at 142nd, expectedly found the going tough against their formidable rivals and title contenders who have come here with players based mostly in European top flight leagues.

Australia's German coach Holger Osieck fielded his strongest side and his players raided the Indian goal umpteen times and did not have much trouble to run away with a thumping victory. — PTI

BRIEFLY

‘Availability affected IPL chances’
London: Paul Collingwood today admitted that British players' non-availability for the whole IPL-IV played a big part in their snubbing by the team owners during the two-day auction in Bangalore. Only seven players from England were bought by the Franchisees and Ashes hero Kevin Pietersen was sold at a lower price than what he got from his previous owner. Pietersen was bought by Deccan Chargers for USD 650,000, which is USD 250,000 less than what he was given by Royal Challengers Bangalore in the last edition of the Indian Premier League. James Anderson, Graeme Swann, Chris Tremlett, Jonathan Trott, Tim Bresnan and Ian Bell were overlooked despite fantastic show in the Ashes series. — PTI

Flower warns of IPL effect
London: England coach Andy Flower is not too keen to see his players take part in the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League, citing that the T20 meet has already added to the busy international schedule of his cricketers. According to Flower, it's more important that the players keep themselves fresh for national duty instead of playing in the cash-rich league. Flower is concerned that the careers of England's top Test players, pace bowlers like James Anderson and Stuart Broad in particular, could be shortened by the heavy demands of IPL. — PTI

Fill my shoes: Ntini to Tsotsobe
Durban: Makhaya Ntini, the first and the most popular black cricketer to represent South Africa, urged young pacer Lonwabo Tsotsobe to step into his shoes. It was as much about emotion and show business as it was about cricket when Ntini brought curtains down on his illustrious international career at the end of the one-off Twenty20 match between India and South Africa here last night. "Fill these shoes for us as black people everywhere in the country and in the world," Ntini said referring to Tsotsobe, the only coloured cricketer in the current South African squad. — PTI

Lee’s future hinges on World Cup
Melbourne: The Australian pace veteran Brett Lee today hinted that an end to his cricketing future could be anytime near if he was overlooked by the selectors for the upcoming cricket World Cup in the sub-continent. Lee while expressing his desire to lead the Australian bowling attack during the mega event said, "I hope that I am in it, and want to lead the attack for Australia." Lee, who has already announced retirement from the Test cricket, was last month named in the provisional 30-man squad which is supposed to be altered to a 15 member unit during this month. The fast bowler however remains positive of making a comeback in the ODI side after being overlooked by the selectors for the series against Sri Lanka earlier. — PTI

Confusion over Beckham's loan
London: David Beckham will begin training with Tottenham today and the club hopes a loan deal with the Los Angeles Galaxy can still be finalized. Beckham wanted to play for Spurs for two months during the Major League Soccer offseason, despite the Galaxy's reluctance to allow its star to risk another serious injury. The former England captain injured his Achilles' tendon while at AC Milan last March and was out until September. Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp said yesterday morning that a loan was not possible after it became "all too complicated with the insurance issues" and a statement stated that Beckham would instead only train with the club. — AP

India far behind China: Houghton
Doha: Indian football team coach Bob Houghton today gave a thumbs down to the country as far as comparison with China in terms of development of the sport is concerned. In charge of the Indian team since 2006, the widely travelled Houghton, with decades of coaching experience, took care of China's national team from 1997 and 1999. Asked why Indian football was lagging behind its neighbour despite the country making rapid progress in other fields over the past few years, Houghton said: "In India we do not have one decent training ground, we only have one stadium in the whole of the country that meets the criteria to hold a World Cup qualifier, and that is an athletics stadium in Chennai." — PTI