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Rahane leads India to 165
Nadal,
Djokovic advance; Li out
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Jadeja to replace injured Gambhir
Champions Trophy must stay in India: IOA
Hussey revives Aussies
Roop, Mattu share lead
Gony stars in PCA win
Olga breaks curse as Daegu catches breath
Verma, Thulasi win titles
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Opener Parthiv Patel (10) fell after giving India a good start as he failed to pick up a slower delivery from Jade Dernbach. He was looking to swing it over mid-wicket, but was into it a touch early and ended up hitting it in the air to mid on, Broad didn't make many mistake and took an easy catch. Rahul Dravid playing in his first T20 international made a steady 31 off 21 balls with the help of three boundaries. But Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma failed to get going as England struck back. Suresh Raina chipped in with 33 runs. Earlier, Indian captain MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat. England, the world Twenty20 champions, gave debuts to Nottinghamshire opener Alex Hales and talented Somerset batsman Jos Buttler with Stuart Broad looking for his first win as captain following a nine-wicket defeat in his maiden match as skipper against Sri Lanka at Bristol in June. India, thrashed 4-0 by England in the preceding Test series and beset by injuries, handed a Twenty20 debut to veteran batsman Rahul Dravid. This match is set to be Dravid's first and last Twenty20 appearance for India as he is retiring from shorter international formats after this tour to concentrate solely on his Test career. Dravid was called up into the Twenty20 side after Gautam Gambhir was ruled out of the rest of the tour on Tuesday with concussion, joining Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh and Ishant Sharma on the sidelines. But medium-pacer Praveen Kumar, one of India's few successes this tour, returned after missing the fourth Test through injury. — Agencies Scoreboard India Parthiv c Broad b Dernbach 10 Rahane c Dernbach b Broad 61 Dravid c Morgan b Bopara 31 Kohli c Kieswetter b Broad 4 Rohit st Kieswetter b Swann 1 Raina c Broad b Bresnan 33 Dhoni c Hales b Dernbach 8 Ashwin run out 4 Praveen b Dernbach 1 Vinay not out 2 Munaf c Kieswetter b Dernbach 0 Extras (lb 7, w 3) 10 Total: (all out; 19.4 overs) 165 Bowling: Bresnan 4-0-33-1, Dernbach 3.4-0-22-4, Broad 4-0-37-2, Patel 3-0-34-0, Swann 4-0-28-1, Bopara 1-0-4-1.
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Nadal, Djokovic advance; Li out
Golubev, ranked 98th in the world, had the world number two on the run in both the second and third sets. But the Spaniard saved seven set points in the second and rallied from two breaks down in the third to keep his dream of a title repeat alive. "Well, I was a little bit lucky to win today in straight sets," admitted Nadal, who has endured early exits at Montreal and Cincinnati in the build-up to the Open. He was broken six times in the two-hour, 49-minute match, but held on to book a clash with France's Nicolas Mahut, who beat Colombian Robert Farah 3-6, 6-7 (4/7), 6-2, 6-4, 6-0. Golubev came into the tournament with just six ATP tour match wins this year. But his go-for-broke style, and his ability to pounce on the short balls Nadal gave him, was yielding winners when he took a 3-0 lead in the second set before Nadal managed to break back and narrow the gap to 3-2. Golubev immediately broke back, and fought off two break points to take a 5-2 lead. Serving for the set at 5-3, Golubev ran into Nadal's iron will - taking a 40-0 lead only to see the Spaniard save five set points in that game and two more in the next. Nadal edged ahead with a break for 6-5, giving himself a second break point in that game when he raced forward to scoop up a Golubev drop shot inches before it bounced a second time. Golubev's frustration was clear as he argued vehemently that the ball had bounced twice, a video replay that clearly showed Nadal had made the play not shown on the scoreboard in the 22,000-seat stadium. "My feeling was it was one bounce, but I didn't know," Nadal admitted. Djokovic advance All-conquering Novak Djokovic found the going even easier than expected at the US Open on Tuesday, as food poisoning hampered the challenge of first-round opponent Conor Niland but French Open champion Li Na got rude jolt as Romanian teenager Simona Halep knocked her out in straight sets. Niland, the qualifier from Ireland, ranked 197th in the world, wasn't expected to pose much problem for Djokovic, who has surged to the top of the world rankings with nine titles this season — including two Grand Slams. But a bout of food poisoning that lingered from Sunday morning had left the 29-year-old Niland physically weakened, and Djokovic needed just 44 minutes to take a 6-0, 5-1 lead before Niland called it a day. "I felt great on the court, and that's something that's really important for the start of the tournament," Djokovic said of his abbreviated appearance on the Arthur Ashe stadium. The quick match may prove a boon for Djokovic, who suffered just his second defeat of the season when he retired from the Cincinnati final against Andy Murray this month with a sore shoulder. "I don't think I'm lacking any time on the court or matches," said Djokovic, who has now won 58 of his 60 matches this year and lifted nine titles. 6th seed Na out
Romanian teenager Halep stunned Li Na 6-2, 7-5 to enter the second round. Halep, ranked 53rd in the world, needed just an hour and 33 minutes to dispatch China's sixth-ranked Li, who became the first Grand Slam champion from Asia with her victory at Roland Garros. Since that triumph, Li has become a heroine in her homeland, but she has struggled on the court, losing in the second round at Wimbledon to eventual semi-finalist Sabine Lisicki. Her run to the semi-finals at New Haven last week marked the only time she has put back-to-back match wins together since Roland Garros. Yesterday, Li looked out of sorts from the start, and Halep, 19, took full advantage to notch her first victory over a top-10 player in four attempts. After taking the opening set, Halep gained an early break to lead 3-1 in the second. Li
squandered a golden opportunity when she failed to convert a triple
break point in the sixth game. Li's exit leaves the women's field
without all three of this year's Grand Slam champions. — AFP |
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Jadeja to replace injured Gambhir
London, August 31 Gambhir, who is nursing a mild concussion which has left his vision blurred, was ruled out of the five-match series yesterday. Gambhir hurt himself when he fell backwards and banged his head against the ground while fielding in the final Test against England at the Oval. "He was diagnosed of mild concussion by the attending sports physician and neurologist. He was sent for a precautionary CT and MRI scan of his head and neck which was reported as normal. He has been resting since and his symptoms have improved. "However, he still complains of some visual disturbance and inability to focus on an object for long. The ophthalmologist (eye specialist) has reported Gautam's eyes as perfectly normal and the symptoms have been put down to the mild concussion," BCCI Secretary N Srinivasan said in a statement. "Gautam has been advised to take rest and is expected to recover spontaneously without any further medical intervention. He will be returning to India shortly. Ravindra Jadeja has been chosen as his replacement," he added. Gambhir has been replaced as the vice-captain of the side by Suresh Raina. "Suresh Raina has been nominated as Vice-Captain for the ODI series," the release said. In what is turning out to be a mightmare of a tour, Jadeja goes into the ODI series more than six months after his last ODI appearance for India (against New Zealand at Vadodara). India were whitewashed 0-4 in the Test series after a string of injuries ruled out key players such as pace spearhead Zaheer Khan and opener Virender Sehwag. The 22-year-old all-rounder has played 35 ODIs in all, making 535 runs at an average of 31.47. He has 29 wickets under his belt. The first ODI will be played on Sept 3 in Durham— PTI
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Champions Trophy must stay in India: IOA
New Delhi, August 31 “Hockey is India’s National game and it enjoys the support of millions of people,” Malhotra said. “The fans are keenly waiting to see best teams of the world once again playing at the stadium named after ‘Wizard’ Dhyan Chand.” FIH had been indicating for a while that they may shift the Champions Trophy out of India, in the backdrop of the wrangling between Hockey India and the Indian Hockey Federation. While the Sports Ministry has managed to thrash out a compromise between the two associations, it is at best a very fragile agreement. Malhotra said the IOA is aware that Government has tried to set up a "wholly unworkable arrangement by having two federations to look after hockey which is not acceptable to us (IOA). “This however does not mean that India should be deprived of the Champions Trophy” he said in the statement. “FIH should deal with HI and IOA and not with the Government on this issue.” Malhotra assured FIH Chief Leandro Negre that the dispute will be sorted out amicably. “In any case, FIH is already dealing with Hockey India (HI) and it should continue to do that,” he observed. He said the IOA was very keen that Indian hockey regains its glory and for that it seeks FIH’s support. “The huge success of World Cup and hockey competition in the Commonwealth Games is a clear testimony of the game’s popularity and it needs further push and encouragement,” he said and observed that any talk of shifting the tournament out of India will have an adverse effect on the game worldwide. “Whatever may be the India’s hockey standing at present, there is no doubt that the country remains a hub for the game as far as the fan following is concerned. “You will never get so much emotional response and eyeballs for the game as you get in India,” Malhotra said. “So holding the Champions Trophy here will be beneficial for everybody involved in the promotion of the game.” IOA is of the view that Government should not meddle in the affairs of the sport’s bodies and “we have made our stand very clear to the Sports Ministry”, Malhotra added. |
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Kolkata, August 31 The football-mad city however did not witness the same turn-out when Diego Maradona visited about three years back as the Kolkatans then had lined up on the streets while state government officials had come to welcome him at the airport. But the euphoria was exactly the same as the fans with many wearing the Albiceleste colours painted the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Dum Dum in white and sky blue. Holding Argentina flags and lifesize Messi cutouts, the fans poured in since 2am, more than one hour in advance of the Argentine star's arrival. There were also few Tricolours seen flying high among the white and sky blue colours. The football-crazy fans danced and cried deliriously, shouting "three cheers for Messi, three cheers for Argentina," as near stampede like scenes were witnessed outside the airport. "It's an achievement for Kolkata. I don't know what will happen to me when I see the God of football. Perhaps, I will faint," ardent Messi fans Arindam Ghosh and Uttam Saha who were part of a 50-member team of Bidrohi Club in Baghajatin stated. With the airport exit witnessing delirous scenes, the security seemed to be a concern to bring Messi out of the terminal to the team vehicles parked outside. The cheers and the jubilant scenes just got louder as the clock struck 3. 10 am, the scheduled time of the Qatar Airways flight from Doha. There were few spells of rain when Messi landed around 3.15am but that did not dampen the spirits. But soon the wait took the shape of high confusion among the anxious fans who seemed clueless about Messi's exit path as passengers from the same flight started coming out. —PTI
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Hussey revives Aussies
Galle, August 31 Former captain Ricky Ponting was the only other batsman to resist the Sri Lankan bowlers, making a fluent 44 even as the top order floundered around him. Seamer Suranga Lakmal and left-arm spinner Rangana Herath claimed three wickets each to give Sri Lanka the edge in the series opener at the Galle International Stadium. Hussey was last man out, leg-before wicket to Sri Lankan captain Tillakaratne Dilshan, after a heroic four-hour knock that included three sixes. Sri Lanka had one over to face before close, but the umpires called off play for bad light as soon as the batsmen had walked in. Herath, a 33-year-old playing only his 28th Test despite making his debut at the same ground 12 years ago, finished with three for 54 from 24 accurate overs. Lakmal, whose previous five Tests had fetched him just 10 wickets, returned with three for 55. There was no sign of the panic to follow when Australian captain Michael Clarke won the toss and decided to bat after the start was delayed by an hour due to overnight rains. Australia raced to 28-0 in six overs, 22 of them coming from the blade of Shane Watson, who smashed Chanaka Welegedara for four boundaries in one over. — AFP Scoreboard Australia 1st innings Watson c Jayawardene b Herath 22 Hughes c Paranavitana b Lakmal 12 Ponting c Mathews b Herath 44 Clarke lbw b Herath 23 M Hussey lbw b Dilshan 95 Khawaja b Welegedara 21 Haddin c Mathews b Randiv 24 Johnson c Jayawardene b Lakmal 14 Harris lbw b Lakmal 1 Copeland c Paranavitana b Randiv 12 Lyon not out 0 Extras (b 3, lb 2) 5 Total: (all out; Stumps) 273 Bowling: Welegedara 15-5-61-1, Lakmal 17-2-55-3, Herath 24-3-54-3, Randiv 21-2-76-2, Dilshan 9.4-1-22-1.
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Jeev leads Indian assault in Montana
Crans Montana, August 31 Also flying the Indian flag will be SSP Chowrasia, who won the Avantha Masters this year, Gaganjeet Bhullar winner of the Kensville Challenge, a European Challenge Tour event, Anirban Lahiri, who took the Panasonic Open besides eight-time Asian Tour winner, Jyoti Randhawa, who last week won on the Indian Tour, and Shiv Kapur, who has time and again come close to adding to his solitary Asian Tour win, the Volvo Masters in 2005. Jeev hit by a back injury last year believes he is on track to rediscovering his form, which won him four titles each in 2006 and 2008. He will have Colin Montgomerie, the successful European Ryder Cup captain in 2010 and former Asian Tour number one Simon Dyson for company in the opening two rounds at the Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club. "I'm pretty happy with my game. I've worked hard on it and I don't have any more injuries. I'm working on the right stuff and that's the main goal for me - to stay fit," said Jeev. The Asian Tour honorary member harbours hopes of breaking into the world's top-50, a feat he achieved early in 2010 but admits he needs to start winning to achieve his goal. “I'm on track to my goal of breaking into the world's top-50 again but I feel I need to win two or three times a year to do that," Singh said. — PTI
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Roop, Mattu share lead
Madhuban August 31 All four players shot identical scores of five under 64 at the par-69 course while Pappan, Aas Mohammad, Dinesh Kumar and Ramesh Kumar were tied in fifth place, just one stroke behind the leaders. Balwinder Singh Mattu of Punjab Armoured Police Golf Course in Jalandhar made six birdies against a bogey in his opening round. Mattu was on song from the very outset. He sank a 15 feet putt for birdie on the second and followed that up by landing his shots within three feet for birdies on the fourth and ninth. Balwinder missed a chip-in for eagle by a whisker on the 14th. Among other joint leaders, Dinesh Raghuvanshi made an eagle, four birdies and a bogey while Jumman had seven birdies and two bogeys. Jumman fired five birdies on the trot from the ninth through the 13th. Roop Singh had six birdies against a lone bogey in his opening round. As this is the seventh and final event of the PGTI Feeder Tour 2011 season, the winner of the Order of Merit for 2011 will be decided at the end of this event.
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Gony stars in PCA win
Sirsa, August 31 Batting first after winning the toss, the home team scored 153 for the loss of seven wickets in their 20 overs in the match played at the packed SSCA Stadium in the Dera Sacha Sauda. Maneel was the top-scorer for the home team with well-made 64 off 51 balls. Rajesh Bishnoi (38 runs off 27 balls) and Puneet (20 runs of 11 balls) were the other leading scorers for the SSCA team. Gony claimed four wickets for 20 runs in his four overs. Chasing the target, PCA surpassed the SSCA total in 18.2 overs with 69 runs coming from Mayank Sidana. He was declared Man of the Match. Gony was declared the Player of the Tournament as well as the Best Bowler for today’s match. The Dera Chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and his son Jasmeet Singh, who is also president of SSCA, presented the trophy and a cheque of rupees one lakh to the winning team and a cheque of Rs 75,000 to the runners-up. Six teams, including Haryana Cricket Association, LIC, Chandigarh, ICL, Chandigarh and Malik Sports, Delhi, participated in the tournament that began on August 29.
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Olga breaks curse as Daegu catches breath
Daegu, August 31 Olga Kaniskina grimaced her way through downtown Daegu to win the women's 20 kilometres walk title for a record third time — in the process breaking a curious curse that had developed in this southeast Korean city. For each of the previous four days of competition, the athlete who has featured on the cover of the official programme had suffered a shock, ignominious exit. Day one, defending pole vault champion Steve Hooker exited without completing a successful jump; day two Usain Bolt was disqualified from the 100m final; day three Cuba's Dayron Robles was stripped of gold for bumping in the 110m hurdles and on Tuesday, pole vault queen Yelena Isinbayeva failed to win a medal after a miserable performance. "I hope you are not on the cover tomorrow," the lissom Russian smiled to a table of fellow competitors as she left a Daegu cafe near the athletes' village on Wednesday. Wednesday's cover star Kaniskina ended the hoodoo, though, with her third title, crossing the line in a time of 1:29.42. "Thankfully no one told me about this before the race, they only told me after," Kaniskina laughed at a news conference. "I didn't know about it, but it was a good decision to put me on the cover."
The curse, while it lasted, was a welcome distraction from the disqualifications which marred the beginning of the championships. First the world's fastest man Usain bolt was scratched from the 100 metres final when he left the blocks too soon. Instantly peeling his vest off and slapping his hand against a wall, his title was taken by fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake. Twenty-four hours later, Cuba's Dayron Robles sprinted to gold in the 110 metres hurdles, only to be instantly stripped of it for bumping great rival Liu Xiang along the track. Instead gold went to Jason Richardson. Many felt the race should have been re-run as Xiang may have won gold had he not been impeded. The Chinese ace could be forgiven for being a little bitter about the incident but when asked what he would say when he next saw Cuba's Robles, he instantly answered: "Hello buddy". The disqualifications and the resulting fallout has split opinion in this south-east Korean city. It is ridiculous — do not deprive the sport, the fans and broadcasters of seeing the greatest of track and field performing in the greatest races, say one side of the argument. Rules are rules, say the other side, including London 2012 Olympics chief and former track great Sebastian Coe who likens a disqualification to a knockout blow in the first round of a boxing bout. "These things happen in sport," he said. "We mustn't get too hooked up on this. There's been DQs in the past, we have the rules, they're pretty clear, we don't play fast and loose with them simply because you get high profile DQs.” — Reuters
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City golfer shines in Canada
Chandigarh, August 31 Sikander, a class 8th student at the Canadian School in Sector 70 Mohali, has been a regular at the CGA here for the last four years and the coaches here have always felt that he has a lot of potential. Sikander took part in these tourneys in Edmonton and Calgary and says that the experience has taught him a lot. “It was big learning experience for me in Canada. The fairways are long and one has to be consistent with the hitting. The greens too are very fast and one needs to adjust quickly,” says Sikander, who is back here after his good showing in Canada. “I met the coaches in Calgary and Edmonton and asked them for their advise and tips but they were really impressed with my game and told me I should continue working hard in the same vein as my game is pretty steady. That was a big morale boost for me,’ says Sikander. These days Sikander is practicing hard at the CGA and is determined to win a few local tournaments here as well.
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Mumbai, August 31 Thulasi, who is a trainee at the Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad, celebrated her 20th birthday with a convincing 21-14, 21-14 verdict over former national champion Sayali Gokhale in the women's final to take home the winner's purse of Rs 28,000. In contrast, MP's Verma, the top seed, had to wage a grim struggle to lord it over second seed B Sai Praneeth in a battle. — PTI
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Youngster Ajinkya Rahane made a brilliant 61 from just 39 balls to lead India to 165 against England in the one-off Twenty20 match at Old Trafford here on Wednesday.
New York, August 31
Manchester, August 31
But 23-year-old Rahane, who has played in the IPL for Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals, did not show any nerves and played shots all around the wicket with confidence and struck eight boundaries in his impressive knock.
New York, August 31
Jadeja to replace Gambhir
PARIS