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Upbeat India eye series win
Bartoli blows away Serena’s defence
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BCCI makes ‘third eye’
blink
Malhotra seeks office space for NSFs
Parminder Dhindsa elected CFI president
Gurdas Mann backs Edu-Football league
CRPF Cup concludes
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Bridgetown, June 27 The Indians have in fact never won at the venue since it first played host to them in 1953, losing seven while drawing a game here and that draw came way back in 1971. Dhoni walked in with his troops at the Kensington Oval on a greyish Sunday afternoon and spent longer time with them in the nets than he usually does. He also made a departure from his usual practice of not inspecting the pitch and almost shared a conclave on the 22-yard strip with Harbhajan Singh and two selectors presently in the Caribbean — Narendra Hirwani and Surendra Bhave. The Kensington Oval has tested the technique of Indian batsmen — indeed of any visiting batsman — over the years and the mention of just a few legends, Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith, Malcolm Marshall and Joel Garner, has sent shivers down their spine. However, that's time bygone and today the hosts lack the firepower almost to the same degree as the visitors are oozing confidence. West Indies are aware they let go a splendid chance in Sabina Park last week and that the Indians are only going to get better from now on. A troubled West Indies have thus sought the services of cricket's best-known psychologist Rudi Webster who, over the next five days, would try to get them out of a defeatist mindset. "It's happened too often. We have lost critical moments of play for too long now," West Indian skipper Darren Sammy had lamented after the first Test which India won by 63 runs. Webster needs a good hose-pipe of wit and wisdom to wash the hosts off their sins of omission this season. It must be ominous to the West Indies that the Indians are not too happy with the way they won at Sabina Park. Dhoni said on Saturday his team was getting anxious when the last-wicket West Indian pair had entrenched itself in the middle on the fourth afternoon. The Indians didn't find their skills or concentration up to the mark and indeed chose the free fifth day of the Jamaica Test to practice on the centre pitch. West Indies are unlikely to tamper with their pace attack and the only change from the first game ought to be the induction of Marlon Samuels even as game-changer Chris Gayle continues to cool his heels in the stands due to his feud with the Cricket Board. The Jamaican showed glimpses of his fine touch in the one-day series and would lap up this moment of career resumption. Samuels played his first Test in three years against Pakistan this season and promptly hit a half-century. He has a decent average of over 43 against India from three Tests, including a century. India too may make a change and medium-pacer Munaf Patel could be included in place of leg-spinner Amit Mishra. Munaf hasn't played in Tests for over two years but he has been an important cog in India's wheels this season and deserves a promotion on a pitch as juicy as the Kensington Oval suggests itself to be. A few awaiting landmarks could also fire up the Indians. Harbhajan Singh needs just four wickets to reach 400-wicket mark; Ishant Sharma requires four for his 100 Test wickets; VVS Laxman needs 85 for complete 8000 Test runs while Dhoni 59 for his 3000 Test runs. — PTI
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Bartoli blows away Serena’s defence
London, June 27
Williams, 13-times grand slam champion, made a succession of unforced errors, roaring in anguish after one poor shot, but she showed all her battling qualities to save five match-points in the second set and force a tiebreak. Bartoli continued to serve strongly and she earned another two match points in the tiebreak, the second of which she converted to take it 8-6. Maria Sharapova downed China's Peng Shuai 6-4, 6-2 in the Wimbledon fourth round on Monday to reach the quarterfinals for the first time since 2006. The first set was a closely-fought affair with little between the Russian fifth seed and the Chinese number two, but Sharapova was able to impose herself much more in the second set against the 20th seed. Sharapova was being cheered on by her fiance Sasha Vujacic, the Slovenian basketball player with the New Jersey Nets. "It's great," Sharapova said after wrapping up victory in an hour and 21 minutes. "I'm giving myself an opportunity to go even further so I'm quite happy about that. "I have to be realistic about the fact that I hadn't gotten past the fourth round in a few years so this a step forward and it's just about taking care of business in the next round." She will face either Danish world number one Caroline Wozniacki or Slovakia's 24th seed Dominika Cibulkova on Tuesday for a place in the semifinals. Peng, who was the only remaining Chinese in the singles following French Open winner Li Na's shock second round defeat, is on a career-high world ranking of 20 and is the highest-ranked player without a singles title to her name. The 20th seed had equalled her best-ever Grand Slam performance, having made the fourth round at this year's Australian Open. — Agencies
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BCCI makes ‘third eye’ blink
New Delhi, June 27 The ICC Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC) meeting concluded in Hong Kong today with some key recommendations. The most notable among those was the unanimous recommendation of ‘universal standards’ for “the usage of technology in decision-making (Decision Review System) in all Test matches and One-day Internationals subject to availability and commercial considerations. The agreed standards will include infra-red cameras and audio-tracking devices”. The CEC also agreed that “further independent and expert research will be carried out into ball-tracking technology and its accuracy and reliability. The continued use of ball-tracking technology as a decision-making aid will depend on bilateral agreement between the participating members”. The BCCI, on its part, was quick to chip in and add that their stand on the DRS stood largely vindicated. “The BCCI has always expressed its willingness to embrace technology, for the betterment of the game,” honorary secretary N. Srinivasan said in a release. “However, the current ball-tracking technology, on which the DRS system is based, is not acceptable to the Board. “The BCCI is agreeable to the use of technology in decision-making, which will include infra-red cameras and audio-tracking devices. This position has not changed,” the release said and added that the CEC “also decided that the continued use of the ball-tracking technology as a decision-making aid will depend on the bilateral arrangement between the participating teams”. Which essentially means that so long as the infra-red camera and audio-tracking devices were not in place, BCCI would say no to DRS. Given that most cricket boards around the world a loathe to implement these systems, given their prohibitive costs, BCCI would therefore get its way with saying ‘no’ to DRS. So, irrespective of how many complaints Mahendra Singh Dhoni has about the umpiring, he will have to wince and bear it. Change in ODI format In some interesting recommendations, the CEC fell in line with the ICC Cricket Committee’s recommendation and restricted elective powerplays in ODIs to between the 16th and 40th overs of each innings. Also back in vogue is the use of two new balls per innings - one from each end. Both decisions are to come into effect from October 1. These innovations include a review of the maximum number of overs that a bowler can bowl; an increase from one to two for the number of short balls permitted per over; no compulsory requirement for close catchers; and a maximum of four fielders outside the 30-yard circle during non-powerplay overs. Further, the cricketers will have to keep their fitness at top notch since the “CEC agreed with the Cricket Committee’s recommendation to abolish runners in international cricket”. As regards the 2015 World Cup, to be played in Australia and New Zealand, the CEC recommended that there should be a qualification process but did not make a recommendation to the ICC Executive Board on the number of teams that should compete. So, the associate members are still out of the running.
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Malhotra seeks office space for NSFs
New Delhi, June 27 Malhotra said the IOA and the NSFs vacated their office spaces at the Nehru Stadium and IG Stadium when renovation/construction works started there for the Commonwealth Games. The IOA chief pointed out that the CWG Organising Committee was footing the NSF rent bills, but the OC has now stopped paying the same. “Now that all five Sports Authority of India stadia have been handed back to the SAI and there are large rooms lying vacant, these should be allotted to the Sports Federations to set up their offices,” Malhotra noted. He emphasised the need for the Sports Ministry to work “in tandem with the NSFs to achieve the common goal of winning international medals, for which it is necessary that all the sports federations are given appropriate office space”. “The Sports Ministry should honour its prior commitment of allotting office space to NSFs in the SAI stadia, which should be done immediately,” he argued in his letter to Maken. Malhotra also suggested that in order to put the SAI stadia to optimum use, they should be allotted to the concerned NSF to organise national and international events. “Otherwise the international standard stadia will decay and turn into ruins as had happened to the IG Stadium and the Nehru Stadium after the ‘82 Asiad,” he said.
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Parminder Dhindsa elected CFI president
New Delhi, June 27
Justice S.N. Dhingra of the Delhi High Court was the returning officer while Tarlochan Singh, senior vice-president of the Indian Olympic Association, was the observer. According to CFI secretary-general Onkar Singh, 20 out of the 21 affiliated units of the federation, attended the AGM. Former Sports Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, who completed two four-year terms, did not seek re-election in accordance with the tenure and age-limit guideline of the ministry. Onkar Singh and Bani Ghosh were elected as the general-secretary and treasurer, respectively. The AGM stressed the need for broad-basing the sport of cycling in the country.
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Gurdas Mann backs Edu-Football league
Chandigarh, June 27 This league will not only nourish the young talent but also streamline the activities of the players for their all-round development. Mann agreed to associate with event and lend all support. He donned an YFC T-shirt and said his dream was to see India play the World cup. He further said YFC was a right step towards the betterment of Indian football. He recounted his closeness to Olympian footballer Jarnail Singh and urged NRIs to make soccer big in the country, like they had done for kabaddi. The singer also kicked off a seven-a-side match of under-12 kids. He signed the official league ball and urged people to support the project. YFC has opened five centres in nearby villages like Jandiala, Bilga, Bundala, Sarhali, Aloona Tola and Shankar with the help of local partner NGOs. These centres will be operational for 10 months a year. All the kids will participate in a seven-a-side football league and also attend Life Skill Education workshops. The matches will also be exclusively broadcasted. The league will commence in September and conclude in January and many corporate houses are coming forward to associate with the event.
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CRPF Cup concludes
Srinagar, June 27 Chief Minister Omar Abdullah gave away prizes to the participants at the closing ceremony. He also gave away special awards to reputed referees and players of the State with National and international fame. Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that sports serve as a health elixir for the youth and nurture them both physically and mentally. “A holistic programme of construction of sports stadia and play fields all across the State has already on to give considerable fillip to the sports activities,” he said adding that development of sports at district level is also receiving equal attention. Abdullah said that the sportspersons in Jammu & Kashmir are talented enough to compete at National level and prove their mettle.
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Bridgetown, June 27
London, June 27
Chandigarh, June 27
Fleming welcomes India's decision to accept DRS
Valencia