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Problems dog the three kings
Big challenge for out of form Sania, Somdev
Team India bar media from practice session
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Olympians demand Bharat Ratna for Dhyanchand with Sachin
Vettel roars to belgium gp win
Sutil earns six points for Force India, Resta finishes 11th
Blake wins 100m, Bolt disqualified
Advani falters in final hurdle
Reese retains title, Mayookha ranked 10th
Sherwood win Bhupinder Singh soccer tourney
Nowitzki awarded top German sports honour
Reds too strong for Wanderers
Manchester City demolish Spurs
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World number one Djokovic, the hottest player in 2011 with a 57-2 winning record, was forced to quit the Cincinnati Masters final against Murray when his weary right shoulder betrayed him. Defending US Open champion Nadal, who completed the career Grand Slam with his victory in 2010, has endured a torrid summer since capturing a record-equalling French Open in June. Early exits in Montreal and Cincinnati again prompted questions over the Spaniard's recovery from a left foot injury which had flared up at Wimbledon when he lost to Djokovic in the final. Nadal's mood wasn't improved when he burned his fingers on his right hand in a Cincinnati restaurant. Federer, meanwhile, is without a major since extending his record Grand Slam collection to 16 at the 2010 Australian Open. With the great Swiss having celebrated his 30th birthday, and surrendered a two-sets lead to lose in five to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Wimbledon quarter-finals, his career obituaries are already being penned. But Djokovic, Nadal and Federer, having won 28 of the last 31 Grand Slam crowns, are still comfortably the favourites for a final which falls on the emotional 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on the US. Certainly world number four Murray scoffed at suggestions they were particularly vulnerable. "I know come Monday they'll all be fine," Murray said. "I have a chance of winning for sure. Whether it's my best chance or not, no one has a clue like that." Djokovic said the cause of his problem was simple — he's a victim of his own success. "I've played so many matches this year," said Djokovic, this year's Australian Open and Wimbledon winner and the 2010 runner-up to Nadal at the US Open. "Considering the schedule, it's kind of normal to expect that at some stage you are exhausted." The Serb insists that his shoulder problem won't hamper his Flushing Meadows campaign. — AP
Big challenge for out of form Sania, Somdev
Going by present form and their tough draws, it would be a huge surprise if Sania Mirza and Somdev Devvarman move beyond the first round, and it will yet again be Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi who will carry the Indian hopes at the US Open, starting here from tomorrow.
Sania has not been in good form since her return to the circuit after Wimbledon. Of the five tournaments that she has played, thrice she lost in the first round and twice she fell in the qualifiers. Somdev too is not in his usual form this season. In the last 10 tournaments, he has managed to reach the quarter- finals only once and only thrice he reached the second round. As his first round opponent is none other than world number four Briton Andy Murray, Somdev has has no option but to go all out against his superior rival. It was a clash which was anticipated at the Commonwealth Games last year, but that did not happen as Murray had decided to skip the quadrennial event.
— PTI |
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Team India bar media from practice session
Grace Road (Leicester), August 28 But what it had got to do with the practice session at Leicester took some convincing. The liaison officer of the team though said, "the coach (Duncan Fletcher) has asked me and the security personnels to keep media off the practice session" -- an assertion which was confirmed by more than one security personnel guarding the gates of the nets. The assembled media was agitated for the interest now centres around how the defending world champions fare in the one-day matches after a 0-4 whitewash in the Test series. There is considerable concern on how Gautam Gambhir, suffering from blurred vision, is shaping up for the one-dayers and whether newcomers -- Ajinkya Rahane and Varun Aaron -- could be in with a chance to find a place in the playing XI. Yadav informed that Gambhir indeed had nets this morning though it was largely restricted to throwdowns from bowling coach Eric Simmons. It was also revealed by one of the players, returning to pavilion, that both Rahane and Aaron had stints at the nets. All this media could gather only by word of mouth as there was no visual or recording opportunity available for them.
‘Dhoni's hands sore’
Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni could be suffering from "sore hands" causing his wicketkeeping to deteriorate on the present England tour, is the verdict of former England wicketkeeper Paul Nixon. Nixon, who last night retired after powering his Leicestershire team to domestic Twenty20 title triumph, has also been an England 'keeper in the past and is the one who helped Dhoni out with his keeping when he first came on tour to these shores in 2007. "It looks like he has sore hands. He's too proud a guy to show it but he has sore hands. Otherwise, he is very aggressive and sure in his catching but (on this tour) he's been giving a lot," Nixon said this morning. "It's like being in the boxing ring. If your hands are tied, you can't throw a punch." Since Dhoni is not in the best of physical shape, Nixon believes he hasn't been doing those things consistently well enough which he passed it on him on the last tour. "As a wicketkeeper, while you are behind the stumps, your chin should be lower to your knees. Your shoulders should be square and level. He hasn't been doing it." "If you are not very square (in shoulders), you could end up doing a lot of twisting and there would be more catching errors. Your arms should be at your chin height. He's not doing it as consistently in this series." Nixon said the only way to get rid of soreness in your hands is to give it a good rest—an opportunity Dhoni hasn't had for a very long time now. "It (the soreness) isn't going to go away without rest. Sometimes, we are keen an artificial rubber-band kind of strip on fingers but then you lose feel of the ball. It's cumbersome on hands." — PTI |
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Olympians demand Bharat Ratna for Dhyanchand with Sachin
New Delhi, August 28 "It is true that Dhyanchand did not get his dues in the country but that's how Hockey administration is in India. It is regretful," Leslie Claudius, who is a three-time Olympic gold medalist (London 1948, Helsinki 1952 and Melbourne 1956) told PTI Bhasha. He was also the member of silver medal winning Indian team at Rome Olympic in 1960. He was in the national team when Dhyanchand was coach in 1959. "Dadda (Dhyanchand) deserved a lot more then the Padma award. People are demanding Bharat Ratna for Sachin. I am not against it but if Sachin gets before Dhyanchand, it will be a tragedy," said Gurbax singh, who is also Olympic gold medalist (Tokyo 1964). He also won Bronze four years later. "Joint Bharat Ratna can be conferred on Dhyanchand and Sachin. There is no doubt that Dhyanchand is all time best player India had ever produced. For Hockey Dhyanchand is what Pele is for Soccer and Bradman is for Cricket. They are synonyms of game they played," he said. A legendary centre forward Dhyanchand won three Olympic gold medals (1928 Amsterdam, 1932 Los Angeles, 1936 Berlin) and was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honour, in 1956. Gurbux made his debut in national camp in Patiala in 1959 when Dhyanchand was the chief coach . — PTI
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Messi Mania: Argentina, Venezuela to practise at Salt Lake
Kolkata, August 28 Organisers Celebrity Management Group (CMG), said Mohun Bagan wanted their officials to watch the practice session of Lionel Messi & Co. So they had to rule out the option. As per FIFA regulations, practice venue has to be different from the match pitch. "But the regulation is for grass pitches as by practice the surface gets damaged. But we have an artificial turf at Saltlake so we have no such problem," CEO of CMG Dharamdutt Pandey said. "We had almost finalised Mohun Bagan ground as the practice venue. But the visiting teams want it to be a closed- door affair to which Mohun Bagan objected. So we have finalised on the match venue," Bhaswar Goswami said. "I had a word with Mohun Bagan general secretary Anjan Mitra who said they would like to get the club officials to see the practice as it would be a lifetime opportunity. But the visiting teams strongly protested. They don't want any spectators during the practice," he said. Goswami, however, said he did not have any knowledge if Mohun Bagan wanted to sell out the practice to the general spectators. A recce team, led by Julian Camino, earlier were seemingly unhappy with the facilities at Mohun Bagan as the assistant coach of Argentina had said:"The practice venue, it seems, may be the one where they will play the match." But the biggest blow came when the police asked the organisers to get another practice facility ready, leaving CMG with the only option of using Salt Lake Stadium. Kolkatans slowly getting a grip
The Lionel Messi fever is slowly catching catch up in the Mecca of Indian football as 42,000 tickets has been sold for the marquee Argentina vs Venezuela International friendly on September 2. At the look of it, the ticket sales may appear to be a bit lukewarm but the organisers are leaving no stone unturned to avoid any slip up as it was witnessed when Diego Maradona sent the city into a frenzy about three years ago. Unlike Maradona's visit, there will be no special arrangement for the city crowd to welcome Messi when the Argentine sensation arrives with his Barcelona teammate Javier Mascherano late on Tuesday night as the duo will be taken to the team hotel on EM Bypass by a special security cover straight from the airport tarmac. Besides the match, the players will visit Missionaries of Charity, but it was not clear whether Messi will make it as he will only join the rest of the touring members on Tuesday night. But Celebrity Management Group, said everything could only be confirmed after the arrival of Argentine coach Alejandro Sabella, who will arrive along with 17 others tomorrow. —
PTI |
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Vettel roars to belgium gp win
Spa-Francorchamps, August 28 The 24-year-old defending champion recovered from a poor start and problems with blistering tyres to ride his luck and emerge on top ahead of Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber in a memorable one-two triumph. It was the German's first win in four races and only his second in six as he re-established his supremacy. Vettel came home 3.7 seconds clear of Australian Webber, who dropped back after a bad start and then recovered splendidly, with Briton Jenson Button claiming third for McLaren after a topsy-turvy race. Two times champion Fernando Alonso finished fourth for Ferrari ahead of Michael Schumacher, 42, the seven-times champion marking the 20th anniversary of his F1 debut with a dazzling drive into the points from the back of the grid. Schumacher's Mercedes team-mate and fellow-German Nico Rosberg came sixth ahead of another German Adrian Sutil of Force India with Russian Vitaly Petrov eighth for Renault. Brazilian Felipe Massa was ninth for Ferrari and Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado, who started 21st after a grid penalty for crashing into Briton Lewis Hamilton during Saturday's qualifying, finishing 10th for Williams. Hamilton, of McLaren, crashed out after 13 laps when he was involved in a collision with Japanese Kamui Kobayashi of Sauber. Vettel's win was his seventh of the season and 17th of his career and, if not one of his most impressive, enough to prove that as the season runs towards the final few races he remains the dominant force. Vettel now has 259 points and leads second placed Webber on 167 and Alonso on 157. Button is fourth with 149 and Hamilton fifth on 146. Vettel made a good start, but not good enough to stop a surging Rosberg to attack from fifth and, helped by Webber's getaway problems, unexpectedly take the lead as they rose from Eau Rouge and up the hill to Les Combes. — AFP
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Sutil earns six points for Force India, Resta finishes 11th
Spa-Francorchamps, Aug 28 Nevertheless, it was a brilliant race for both the drivers as they overcame poor grid position, with Sutil eventually earning six points for the side. It looked like a top-10 finish for Resta too, but with just six laps to go, the Scott driver surrendered his 10th position as Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Williams' Pastor Maldonado pushed him to 11th. Sutil raced consistently well to gain eight positions after starting 15th on the grid while Resta also did well by moving to 11th from 18th. It was one-two for Red Bull with defending champion Sebastian Vettel winning the race from Pole position and Mark Webber finishing second. McLaren's Jenson Button was third. Both the Force India drivers sneaked into the top-10 within the first six laps with Sutil zooming up to seven and Resta to number nine. Sutil conceded his place to Renault's Vitaly Petrov soon but an intriguing three-way tussle between Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, Red Bull's Mark Webber and the Force India was in store in lap number 10. Alonso, coming out of pits, was eighth and he deployed the DRS technique quite effectively, edging past both Webber and Sutil to take the sixth position. In another two laps, Resta moved to eighth just behind Sutil. In the next lap, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, while trying to pass Kamui Kobaysahi, collided with the Sauber racer and smacked into the barriers. The Briton's race was over. Safety car was on the track for four laps and Sutil moved to pits, taking advantage of the situation. He joined the race in the sixth position while Resta was 13th. Before the half-way mark four racers, including both from Toro Rosso, had crashed out. And in total five drivers failed to finish the race. Jenson Button was right behind Sutil and the Force India driver gave in to the McLaren driver, who used DRS to good effect. Sutil maintained his seventh position till the end of the race. Resta had re-entered top-10 when Massa suffered a puncture in his car in lap 30 and was forced into the pit lane. — PTI Hamilton crashes out McLaren's Lewis Hamilton crashed out of the Belgian Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday, bringing out the safety car. The Briton, winner at Spa last year, speared into the metal barriers at Le Combes after trying to pass Sauber's Japanese Kamui Kobayashi for fourth place. After a pause, the 2008 champion released the steering wheel and stepped out of the cockpit while the safety and medical cars were deployed. The McLaren's rear left wheel touched the Sauber's front right, a contact that sent Hamilton's car off the track. — Reuters
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Blake wins 100m, Bolt disqualified
Daegu, August 28 But Blake held his nerve for the restart and powered to victory, setting his season's best time of 9.92sec with American Walter Dix second (10.08) and veteran Kim Collins of St Kitts and Nevis winning bronze (10.09). "I can't find words to explain it. Usain Bolt has been there for me. I feel like I want to cry," said Blake, Bolt's training partner under coach Glen Mills. "I've been trained by one of the best coaches but I stayed cool and caught him (Collins). I felt I would win the race for Bolt." Bolt, the most marketable sportsman on the globe, has dominated the sprinting world in recent years. After storming to the 100m and 200m sprint double in then-world record times at the 2008 Olympics, Bolt matched his feat the following year at the Rome worlds, setting new marks of 9.58 and 19.19sec. The event in Daegu was deprived of the three previous fastest men this year - Bolt's team-mate Asafa Powell, American Tyson Gay, and Jamaican Steve Mullings. — AFP
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Advani falters in final hurdle
New Delhi, August 28 In a repeat of last year's final in the Point format, former champion Advani went down 3-6 to ten-time World champion Russell in the summit clash last night at The Ivy Rooms. In the last edition of the IBSF championship played in Pune, Advani had failed to defend both his titles and lost to English cueist Russell in both point and time formats. In 2008, Advani had won both the titles in the Point and Time formats, defeating compatriots Geet Sethi and Devendra Joshi, respectively. In the final, Russell controlled every thing from the beginning and demonstrated a fantastic billiards in first four games where he produced four unfinished breaks (three 150s and one 148) to almost outplay Advani. In the fifth frame, Russell again scored a break of 114 with just one game away from lifting the title. However, in the sixth game, a small mistake on an attempt of cannon kept him on wait for some more time as the Indian bounced back with a fantastic 143 break (unfinished) to narrow the deficit. One game win boosted Advani's confidence as the seven-time world champion again penalised the Englishman with 120 unfinished for his mistake on cannon. Already pocketed two games, Advani smashed an unfinished break of 143 in the next game to put Russell on the backfoot.— PTI
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Reese retains title, Mayookha ranked 10th
Daegu, August 28 Reese was the first woman to successfully defend the world title since compatriot Jackie Joyner-Kersee in 1991 and her victory gave the United States their first medal of the championships. Russian Olga Kucherenko of Russia stole the limelight from her glamorous compatriot Darya Klishina by taking silver with two jumps of 6.77, the latter coming with her final attempt to overhaul Reese. Latvia's Ineta Radevica snatched the bronze medal away from Belarussian Nastassia Mironchyk-Ivanona with her final jump of 6.76. Mironchyk-Ivanona (6.74) was fourth ahead of Sweden's three-times heptathlon world champion Carolina Kluft with Klishina a disappointing seventh. India’s Mayookha Johny (6.53) finished at 10th rank. — Reuters
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Sherwood win Bhupinder Singh soccer tourney
Chandigarh, August 28 Later, Sherwood College Nainital drubbed Vivek High Chandigarh 4-1 to win the second semifinal. Thus tables were set for the finals between Sanawar Red and Sherwood College Nainital. The final match that took place late in the afternoon saw the clash of the Titans on a soggy ground that retarded the speed of the game but not its spirit. The first half witnessed a defensive game by both the sides with both the teams playing tactfully by minimizing their fouls and faults that kept the scoring at bay. The second half warped the inertia when a deft dribble inside the 16-yard box enabled Abhay Mankoti of Sherwood to push the ball gently into goal, taking a 1-0 lead. Sanawar Red’s desperate bid to equalize was foiled by Sherwood’s resolute man-to-man marking. The second goal for Sherwood came from a direct shot by Yash Agarwal from the right flank.
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Nowitzki awarded top German sports honour
Berlin, August 28 German President Christian Wulff presented Nowitzki with the Silver Laurel Leaf, praising the Dallas Mavericks forward as one of the "giants of German sport." Nowitzki led the Mavericks to this year's NBA championship over the Miami Heat and was named the series MVP. Wulff praised his fellow German for remaining "modest and restrained" despite his success. Nowitzki frequently returns to Germany, where he and his sister run a foundation that supports children around the globe. Nowitzki will play for Germany at the European Championship which starts Tuesday in Lithuania. The two finalists qualify for the Olympics in London. — AP
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Liverpool, August 28 And that investment appears to be paying off after goals by new signings Jordan Henderson and Charlie Adam, either side of Martin Skrtel's header, left the Merseyside club looking down on their rivals for the first time in over two years. It is too early to get carried away with Liverpool's start which has also included a 2-0 win at Arsenal and a 1-1 draw with Sunderland. But it is clear that Dalglish's rebuilding programme is working. Liverpool now have seven points from three games. Last season under Roy Hodgson they needed nine games to get seven points on the board. Henderson and Adam both scored their first competitive goals for the club as Uruguay defender Sebastian Coates watched from Anfield's VIP seats ahead of an expected £7 million move from Nacional before Wednesday's transfer deadline. And the 20-year-old must have been impressed with what he saw as Liverpool required just 15 minutes to unlock the Bolton defence, despite having club record £35 million striker Andy Carroll starting on the subtitutes bench. The visitors thought they had escaped after Jussi Jaaskelainen's brilliant finger-tip save kept out Stewart Downing's volley following good work by Luis Suarez. But the visitors failed to deal with the loose ball and Henderson took advantage of some sloppy defending to rifle home from 16 yards. Owen Coyle's side responded through Martin Petrov, the winger testing Pepe Reina with a sweetly-struck 18th minute volley in front of the Kop. — Reuters
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Manchester City demolish Spurs
London, August 28
Dzeko struck twice in seven minutes before half-time as he converted a cross from debutant Samir Nasri and then looped a header over Brad Friedel after another Nasri delivery unhinged the Spurs defence. Nasri's two assists was double the total he managed in a whole season last term for Arsenal. The Bosnian striker completed his treble in the 55th minute when he slammed Yaya Toure's cross past Friedel. Sergio Aguero added the fourth — his third City goal following his club record £38 million move from Atletico Madrid — just five minutes later as the Argentina forward twisted past Michael Dawson before firing home. Man U humiliates Arsenal 8-2 Manchester United continued their perfect start to the season with a spectacular 8-2 win over an increasingly beleaguered Arsenal at Old Trafford. A Wayne Rooney hat-trick and a brace for Ashley Young, as well as strikes for Nani and Park Ji-Sung exemplified the gulf in class between the two sides, as Theo Walcott and Robin Van Persie replied with strikes worthy of mere consolation. —Agencies
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Atwal finishes 43rd Gangjee tied 53rd
WIPA files lawsuit against WICB Johnson gives up booze
Archery: Deepika bags gold India finish 8th in squash
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Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer face a worrying power shortage, but Andy Murray doesn't expect injury and faltering form to dim tennis' brightest lights at the US Open.
Spa-Francorchamps, August 28
Daegu, August 28
American Brittney Reese successfully defended her world long jump title with her first and only legitimate jump of 6.82 metres on Sunday. The 24-year-old spent a mostly frustrating evening watching red flags waving but the first of her six attempts, while well short of her season's best of 7.19
metres, proved good enough to retain the gold medal.
Berlin, August 28
Edin Dzeko scored four times as Manchester City demolished Tottenham 5-1 at White Hart Lane on Sunday to underline their credentials as serious challengers for the Premier League title.
Roberto Mancini's side produced a free-flowing performance that was a stark contrast to their more dour approach last season and champions Manchester United will have taken note as their rivals moved to the top of the table after opening the season with 12 goals in three successive victories.
New York, August 28
Roberto Mancini's side produced a free-flowing performance that was a stark contrast to their more dour approach last season and champions Manchester United will have taken note as their rivals moved to the top of the table after opening the season with 12 goals in three successive victories.
Sodhi signs for Tripura
Coe ‘secretly wed’ girlfriend
Struggling to convince Sania