|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Kiwis look to regain confidence against
More repairs at Wankhede
Ashish Kumar wins gold
Chowrasia, Jeev going strong
Asian Games gold winner Suresh Babu passes away
IBF announces teams for World Cships
|
|
Hambantota, February 19 The two sides will face off at the new Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium in Hambantota, located in the south of the island nation. There were serious concerns whether the construction at the venue would be ready on time but after missing the ICC deadline by more than two months, the organisers managed to complete the venue just ahead of the match. Sri Lanka will miss the services of middle-order batsman Chamara Silva, who had to remain in Colombo to attend to a death in the family. Silva will rejoin the squad on Monday in Colombo. Sri Lanka are one of the favourites to win the World Cup, but captain Kumar Sangakkara said he's not looking too far ahead. Sangakkara said he prefers to take one game at a time. "More than the last match (final), we need to do well in the first match which is tomorrow. That's the most important thing. Our job is to try and win the first game more than try and win the tournament," Sangakkara said. "You can't take Canada lightly. If you take the warm up game they played against England, they lost only by 16 runs. Every team raises the game when the World Cup comes and we need to raise our game and if we do that we can do well," Sangakkara reminded. The Sri Lankans will go into the game without knowing what the conditions will offer. None of their players have played at the venue, which has hosted two domestic games and another between Sri Lanka 'A' and Pakistan 'A'. "This is the second time we are coming here and when we see the ground, it looks nice. When I got down, I was surprised to see the progress they have made. We trained at the ground and there doesn't seem to be any issues. We need to play well whatever the conditions that we get," Sangakkara said. The Sri Lankan captain who has played in two World Cup tournaments will be leading the side for the first time. "It's a great privilege and an honour, not just to captain a World Cup team, but to captain this particular team. They are a wonderful bunch of guys and the best we have in Sri Lanka," he said. The hosts are likely to play two spinners with Ajantha Mendis partnering Muttiah Murlaitharan. Nuwan Kulasekara is likely to share the new ball with Lasith Malinga. Canada, on the other hand, have played in three World Cups including the last two, but haven't won a game since beating Bangladesh in the 2003 edition. Their only previous World Cup game against Sri Lanka was in the same tournament in South Africa and it lasted just 140 deliveries as Canada were bowled out for 36 runs, the second lowest total in ODI cricket. There's lot of Sri Lankan influence in the Canadian side as the team is coached by former Lankan wicketkeeper Pubudu Dassanayake. Former opener Chandika Haturusinghe is the assistant coach of the side and he would have a fair knowledge about the opposition. PTI
|
|
Kiwis look to regain confidence against Kenya
Chennai, February 19 Under their newly-appointed coach John Wright, the Black Caps would be keen to regain confidence, having lost 14 of their last 17 One-day International matches, including 10 in the sub-continent that has exposed their inability to play on the turning wickets in this part of the world. Since the Kiwis' arrival here on February 10, they have been candid in admitting their weakness in coping with the sub-continent conditions, particularly against spin, which was evident in their collapse after a good start in a warm-up game against India that they lost by 117 runs. On the eve of their opening match against Kenya, they seemed to be in a doubtful frame of mind, considering the remarks made by wicketkeeper-batsman Brendon McCullum yesterday that a confidence crisis is dogging the team after their meek surrender to Indian spin bowling. And even though his teammate Martin Guptill expressed hope of the team bouncing back ahead of their first World Cup game, but there is little doubt that confidence in the Kiwi camp is at its lowest. But all said and done, the New Zealanders, who have had mixed luck in practice games winning against Ireland in the first game, only to be comprehensively beaten by the co-hosts India in the next still start as favourites against the Kenyans tomorrow. The tide is expected to turn in the Black Caps favour sooner than later with Wright, who was the coach of the Indian cricket team, having loads of experience in sub-continent conditions, working hard with team, besides bowling coach Alan Donald making significant contributions. PTI
|
|
More repairs at Wankhede
Mumbai, February 19 On Friday, the Mumbai fire brigade had refused to give a clean chit to the stadium and the city's fire chief warned that the facility had failed safety tests. Wankhede Stadium has been undergoing renovations from the past two years and the BCCI was required to get clearances from the Fire Brigade and the Mumbai Municipal Corporation. While the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has already given the all-clear and is ready to issue an Occupation Certificate for the stadium, the Fire Brigade is insisting on more safety measures to be carried out. "We are issuing a letter to the Mumbai Cricket Association asking for more safety measures to be carried out," Fire Chief Uday Tatkare said today. However MCA officials have already been asked to carry out changes to the basement of the stadium, Tatkare added.
|
|
Ranchi, February 19 Putting behind the disappointment of his Uttar Pradesh team ending with a silver medal in the team competition yesterday, Kumar notched up 83.95 points to take the yellow metal, leaving behind SSCB's Rakesh Patra for the silver. Patra scored 79.80 points. Kumar's state-mate Aditya Singh Rana (76.85) secured the bronze medal in the main field of nine gymnasts. Yesterday, the SSCB men had won gold in the team competition and Andhra Pradesh had to satisfy with the bronze. Continuing their brilliant performance, Maharashtra women won the Artistic Gymnastics team competitions late last night. Maharashtra, which scored 219.45 points to edge past West Bengal (211.95 points) to finish at the top, clinched its seventh gold so far in the Gymnastic competitions. With 188.25 points, Andhra Pradesh girls took the bronze. On Thursday, Maharashtra won six gold medals in the Rhythmic gymnastics. PTI Karnataka lose in Basketball
Uttarakhand defeated Karnataka by 82-79 in a thrilling group B basketball tie of the 34th National Games at the Harivansh Tana Bhagat Indoor Stadium here today. Mohit Bhandari scored 34 points for Uttarakhand while Riyazuddin added 17. A Arvind and Srinivas Naik scored 20 points each for the losers. Karnataka also lost to Chhattisgarh 71-40. |
|
New Delhi, February 19 Larrazabal had an eagle on his closing hole to move into clubhouse lead but Chowrasia, winner of the first-ever European Tour event in India in 2008, was just one shot behind the Spaniard after a round of 67. Keeping pace with him was Sujjan (68) and Argentina's Rafa Echenique (67). And one shot behind them was Jeev Milkha Singh at nine-under but he has five more holes to play in his third round. Home favourite Jeev, looking for his first international title at home is nine-under-par through 13 holes while Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee is seven-under-par through 13 holes. A total of 24 players have yet to complete their third round and will resume play tomorrow morning. Chowrasia looked to have regained the form that led him to his first win. PTI
|
|
Everton beat Chelsea in FA Cup
London, February 19 Neville fired past Petr Cech after Ashley Cole had blasted his penalty high and wide as Everton completed a remarkable fightback and ended Chelsea's dreams of becoming the first club for 125 years to win the FA Cup three times in succession. After the teams fought to a goalless stalemate in 90 minutes of end-to-end soccer, Chelsea took the lead in the last minute of the first period of extra time when Frank Lampard scored with a low volley from eight metres out. That appeared to be enough to see Chelsea through, but with a minute of extra time remaining Leighton Baines equalised with a left-footed free kick to force the match into a shootout. Reuters
|
|
Asian Games gold winner Suresh Babu passes away
Ranchi, February 19 He was 58 and is survived by his wife, one son and a daughter. Here, as Kerala contingent chef-de-mission, the former long jumper and chief national athletics coach, was declared dead at around 11:30 am due to liver cirrhosis after he was rushed to Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences this morning. The news of Suresh Babu's death gave a big jolt to the spirited Kerala contingent who, riding on their track and field performance, are on eighth spot on the medals standings with 13 gold, 11 silver and 11 bronze. Confirming the news, K S Babu, an official of the Kerala Olympic Association told PTI, "He died at around 11.30am. His family members have been informed." A charter flight is taking his mortal remains to his home in Kerala, organisers of the National Games said. Holder of national titles in jump events and decathlon, Suresh Babu dominated the track and field between 1972 and 1979 as he was awarded with Arjuna. At the tender age of 19, Suresh Babu first represented India at the 1972 Munich Olympics. But his claim to fame came after two years in the the Tehran Asian Games when he won his first medal -- a bronze -- in the decathlon. In the following year, he clinched the title in the Asian Championships in Seoul. In between, he captained Indian Universities athletics team to the World Universities Games at Moscow in 1973. Leading the Indian athletics contingent in the 1978 Commonwealth Games at Edmonton in Canada, Suresh Babu concentrated on long jump and earned the country a bronze. But his biggest moment of glory came in the 1978 Asian Games in Bangkok where he went on to grab the long jump gold. His winning effort of 7.85 metres was far short of T C Yohannan's 8.07m in the previous edition but nevertheless he had maintained an Indian tradition with the yellow metal in long jump. PTI |
|
Los Angeles, February 19 Washington Wizards point guard John Wall made a Rookie Challenge record 22 assists and 12 points to take MVP honors and help defeat the sophomores for the second straight year. "It was so easy, our coach wanted us to run a couple of plays, but we were pushing the ball and our team did a great job of finishing," Wall told reporters. Sacramento Kings' DeMarcus Cousins added a game-high 33 points and 14 rebounds to team with Wall in the victory. In a game full of showmanship and little defense, the sophomores were led by Oklahoma City Thunder second-year guard James Harden, who had 30 points, along with San Antonio Spurs' DeJuan Blair who recorded 28 points and 15 rebounds. Reuters
|
|
IBF announces teams for World Cships
New Delhi, February 19 The IBF held selections at the ongoing Youth and Junior camps at Trivandrum and Vishakhapatnam respectively. The selection committee for youth women comprised Arjuna awardee Devarajan, Dronacharya awardee and chief coach D Chandralal. The committee for junior women consisted of Arjuna awardees Rajendra Prasad and Mohd Ali Qamar, E Chiranjevi and coach-in-charge I Venkateshwara Rao. IBF Secretary Brig PK Muralidharan Raja and Arjuna awardee Mehtab Singh were also there PTI |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
One of the favourites 
for the trophy, Sri Lanka kickstart their World Cup campaign against minnows Canada, well aware that any slip-up could cause embarrassment at the hands of a side which would be eager to prove its worth at the biggest stage of cricket here tomorrow.
Chennai, February 19
Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist Ashish Kumar dazzled in the men's all round individual gymnastics competition, winning the gold at the Khelgaon here today.
