New Delhi, January 27
Kolkata's tryst with the ICC World Cup was received a major blow when the International Cricket Council (ICC) when a venue inspection team decided that the Eden Gardens will not be ready in time to host the India-England match on February 27.

Construction workers pull a rope as they finish roof construction of a stand at the Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata on Thursday. India suffered a sporting humiliation when its most famous ground was declared unfit to host its first fixture for next month's cricket World Cup. — AFP

The venue inspection team, which included Tournament Director Ratnakar Shetty, members of the Central Organising Committee (COC) and the ICC, in their report submitted today, has given the go-ahead to four stadia while Eden was given a failure notice.

According to an ICC release, the team, following the inspection tour of Sri Lanka, cleared the venues at Colombo, Hambantota and Pallekele. In India, Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, which is also undergoing renovation work, was also approved, "subject to finishing work being completed within specified time frames not exceeding 14 days".

The report, however, determined that Eden would not be ready within an acceptable time-frame and, as per the release, "of particular concern was the fact that host venue obligations in relation to cricket operations, media, broadcast and sponsorship facilities were not finalised and/or confirmed by the venue".

ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat informed the Board of Control for Cricket in India of the decision and the BCCI will now consider an alternate venue for approval, the release added.

"All venues had ample time in which to prepare for World Cup matches," Lorgat's statement said. "We had been understanding and had provided extensions to the deadline dates but unfortunately we are now at a point where we must carefully manage our risks.

"The COC had provided venues with a deadline of 30 November, 2010, to complete all construction work and then to be match-ready by 31 December, 2010," he further said. "An extension was granted by the ICC for five venues, which were again inspected over the past week. Sadly, Eden Gardens in Kolkata was unable to meet the final deadline date of 25 January, 2011.

"Regrettably, Eden Gardens has not made sufficient progress to justify the level of confidence required to confirm that the venue would be ready in good time. This was no easy decision to take and while it is most unfortunate, it is absolutely necessary," said Lorgat.

In terms of relocating the match, Shetty said: "We will work with the new venue, the tour operators and the ticket distributors to manage the logistical challenges that will surely arise."

While the clearance to Wankhede was pretty much taken for granted, Eden's case is mystifying, given that the renovation work has been in progress for a long time. There were also reports that the venues in Sri Lanka, specifically the new ones in Hambantota and Pallekele, were so far from being ready that the planned ODI series with the West Indies was cancelled and is now to begin from January 31, with rain being given as the reason. Even the revised schedule doesn't have any matches at these new venues and all the matches are to be played in Colombo.

Kolkata, January 27
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who was ignored by IPL franchises at the players' auction, today rubbished speculation that he was now being approached by Kochi through an open bidding process.

The most successful India captain, who found no takers from the 10 franchises in the IPL auction, said it was a media speculation that he was in talks with the team owned by Rendezvous Sports.

"I don't know much about Kochi, it seems you guys know more... Well till now, I've not been approached by any team," Ganguly told reporters during a promotional programme here.

Media reports had said the Kochi IPL had contacted other teams to get a no-objection certificate (NOC) from them to rope in the left-hander. As per the IPL rule, Ganguly can again be part of the IPL through an open bidding process if all the 10 franchises have no objection to the move. — PTI

Johannesburg, January 27
India coach Gary Kirsten is not in the running for a similar job in the South African side but could be involved with Mumbai Indians in the IPL, a report said today. According to the report, Kirsten's good rapport with Sachin Tendulkar could lead to the former South African opener being appointed in a top position in Mumbai Indians which is to appoint a director of coaching before the IPL IV.

"Indian cricket had hoped to persuade Kirsten to change his mind about not renewing his contract, but gave up on it this week. Future options for Kirsten could involve the Indian Premier League," a report in 'The Times' said.

"The close relationship that Kirsten has with Sachin Tendulkar may lead to co-operation between the two at the Mumbai Indians, who are expected to appoint a director of coaching before the next IPL season," it said.

"Kirsten could easily take up such a position while still developing his international academy that is in the planning stage at Claremont Cricket Club in Cape Town," it added. Kirsten, who will quit as India's coach after the World Cup ends in April, is reluctant to take up the Proteas job when caretaker Corrie van Zyl steps down, also in April. The report also said current India bowling coach Eric Simons could not be ruled out as a possible candidate to replace Kirsten.

"The Indian cricket board has not yet started a process to recruit a successor to Kirsten, but it is not unlikely that it will approach Simons as a candidate. Simons, a former Proteas all-rounder and national coach, was highly regarded by the Indian team when he came aboard this summer," the report said. — PTI 

Jalandhar, January 27
Indian Hockey team skipper, Rajpal Singh, buoyant about the recently-announced World Hockey League, said today that the series would benefit the players and give a much-needed fillip to the sport in India. “Some sense should prevail with Hockey India (HI) to help the game grow,” Rajpal said, adding that there is still a year to go for the million-dollar prize money tournament.

The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF), along with some private promoters, had announced the launch of the World Hockey Series in December last year. Rajpal was here as chief guest on the concluding day of the Balwant Singh Kapur Memorial hockey tournament.

Talking about the HI’s response of banning the players participating in the World Series, Rajpal said emphatically, “The players have just signed the agreement with Nimbus Sports and IHF and have not started playing yet. The tournament will take place around this year-end or in the beginning of 2012 and it is yet to be seen how it will executed.” Asked about the Indian team’s preparations for next year’s London Olympics, Rajpal said, “Right now, the team combination is good and it will definitely benefit us in the qualifying rounds for the Olympics.”

The skipper even said that though the team could not register a win in the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games, it has surely come a long way. Talking about Spanish coach Jose Brasa’s relation with the team, the skipper said that he was an excellent coach and the team improved a lot under his training.

“There is no doubt that despite our defeats we performed well. The team is in good form and at this point all that we require is a good coach to further upgrade us ahead of the Olympics,” he stressed.

Answering a query on whether the team requires a foreign coach, Rajpal said Indian or foreign did not matter. What mattered was ‘good character’. “As a team, we want to improve further and excel in the game. Moreover, the process to select the coaches is on and we would be getting one soon.”

Jalandhar, January 27
Government Model School, Jalandhar, clinched the title, thrashing rivals Bihar Regimental Centre (BRC), Danapur, 6-0 in a one-sided final of the 7th All-India Balwant Singh Kapur Memorial School Hockey Tournament at the Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium here today.

Former captain of the Indian Hockey team Rajpal Singh (3rd L) at the Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium in Jalandhar on Thursday. Tribune photo: Malkiat Singh

This is the third win in a row for Model School.

In another match for the third and fourth positions held yesterday, Lyallpur Khalsa School, Jalandhar, defeated Sports School, Jalandhar, 4-0.

Model School took command right from the word go and opened their account in the 16th minute with a field goal from skipper Akashdeep Singh. In the 24th minute, Talwinder Singh posted a field goal.

Three minutes later, Lovepreet Singh scored another field goal. In the 31st minute of the game, Gaganpreet Singh scored through a penalty-corner conversion. Till half-time, the winners were leading 4-0.

In the second half, it was again Gaganpreet who scored off a penalty-corner in the 55th minute. Another goal came in the 69th minute through the stick of Mandeep Singh steering the score to 6-0.

Indian hockey team captain Rajpal Singh gave away the prizes. A cash prize of Rs 1 lakh went to Model School, Rs 60,000 to BRC, Danapur, Rs 40,000 to Lyallpur and Rs 20,000 to Sports School, Jalandhar.

The selection committee also awarded the best players with a cash award of Rs 5000 each. The awardees were - Kamalpreet Singh (Lyallpur Khalsa, best goalkeeper), Varun (Government Model School, Jalandhar, best fullback), Niyaran Mundu (BRC, Danapur, best half-back), Akashdeep Singh (Government Model School, Jalandhar, best forward).

Karanbir Singh of Sports School, Jalandhar was named the Most Promising Player and the top-scorer of the tournament was Sanjay Tirkey from BRC Danapur.

Wijk Aan Zee, January 27
Viswanathan Anand scored a crushing victory over Alexei Shirov of Spain in the 10th round to maintain his position at the top in the 73rd Tata Steel chess tournament here. Anand's victory came about the same time when American Hikaru Nakamura triumphed over Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and the two maintained their co-leader status moving to an identical seven points out of a possible 10.

In another major surprise of the tournament world number one Magnus Carlsen suffered his second defeat with white pieces in the tournament bowing to Russia champion Ian Nepomniachtchi in a hard fought game.

The other two over night leaders - Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and Levon Aronian of Armenia played out draws with Dutch duo of Jan Smeets and Anish Giri respectively to remain a half point behind the two leaders. With just three rounds to come it remains crowded at the top and it seems a close call between the top four placed players.

Carlsen, after the devastating loss, shares the distant fifth spot with Vachier-Lagrave and Nepomniachtchi on 5.5 points and will now need a miracle to find himself in the leading group. Anand faced the Slav defense against Shirov who played black and gained the upper hand. — PTI