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India will be relieved tour is over
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FIH plays strong disaffiliation card
Sandeep, Sardar appeal against HI ban; could be let off
Saina, Jwala-Diju reach quarters of China Masters
Red Bull F1 car to zip down Rajpath
Nadal opens against Gasquet in Davis Cup semifinal
Manchester duo make a point
People envy my cash and looks: Ronaldo
Jeev starts well in Macau Open
Aus drop Khawaja, Harris against Lanka
US spoil Russia’s dream debut
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India will be relieved tour is over
Some others like skipper Dhoni and Dravid joined the team after the one day series in West Indies, and some others have gone home and come back for whichever format they were chosen for. Raina, Praveen and Munaf must have wondered why there were 4 days between the Lord’s one dayer and the last one in Cardiff when it is usually only two days between every one day game unless the next game is in the same city in which case there is a day’s gap between the games as happened between the Oval and Lord’s games in London. Raina and Munaf get just about a week off before they turn up for their franchises in the Champions league, but that is the schedule Indian cricketers have nowadays. No rest for the weary. This is India’s last chance to get on the scoring board. They will of course have breathed a sigh of relief that they salvaged a tie after Ravi Bopara went for a big hit when a single would have won it for England. With only the tail-enders to come in Bopara may well have thought that a boundary or a six would narrow the equation between runs needed and deliveries still to be bowled. Also it was the last of the batting power play overs and the final one would have allowed Dhoni to spread his field. Both teams would have felt disappointed with the result, England because they were looking for a clean sweep in all forms of the game and India because they were keen on winning at least one game on the England tour. England have lost the services of Stuart Broad who has been a game changer for them with both bat and ball this season, and that should work in India’s favour. Whoever comes in his place will certainly not be a dangerous bat low down the order and the white ball does not hold the same menace as we have seen from the manner in which those Indian batsmen who struggled in the Tests are smashing the ball into the crowds in the one dayers. The four day gap will have come in handy for Parthiv Patel to recover from his injury. He and Rahane have struck a good partnership though young Rahane in the Lord’s game started to slog unnecessarily even before the innings was a dozen overs old. It appeared as if the sledging by the England players had got to him but the sooner he realizes that the best answer to that tactic is to stay as long as possible and get big runs on the board rather than a few big shots the more he will score and the less he will be sledged. He has played within his limitations so far with proper cricketing shots and has looked impressive because of that, but going for ugly hoicks when that is not his natural game will only result in early dismissals. Dhoni in particular has shown that he is a master at recovery and if the openers get a good solid start then he will be able to get more runs for the team than when the team has lost half the side before 25 overs have been bowled. India have got better with every game in the one day series but still not good enough to win a game. Will a match in Wales, technically outside England, be the one win? — PMG |
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Fitting farewell for Dravid on India’s mind
Cardiff, September 15 Dravid, who has amassed 10,820 runs in 343 ODIs at an average of 39, has announced his retirement from one-day cricket after this series and he would be keen to go on a high, more so since the first four games of the series have only yielded 51 runs to him. The 38-year-old right-hander, nicknamed 'The Wall' for his rock solid defence and consistency, has scored 12 hundreds and 82 fifties in the ODIs and he would want to notch up a big knock tomorrow to make his swan song appearance memorable. Aside from this, the match is of academic interest only as England have already won the series.
The hosts are leading 2-0 after one match was rained out and another ended in a tie also due to rain interruptions. But Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men would be keen to get at least a consolation win on what has been a massively disappointing series. Dhoni has a difficult choice to make on the team selection as he can either look for a win or test the mettle of his reserves. If a solitary win from a horrendous tour is his motivation, it's unlikely he would give better performers of the side, men like Suresh Raina, Praveen Kumar and even himself a break. If the choice is to view the men for tomorrow, then medium-pacers Varun Aaron and Vinay Kumar and batsmen such as Manoj Tiwary and Subramaniam Badrinath should be on the starting block. Despite the series loss, India have run England close in the one-day series which is commendable given eight of their World Cup stars were missing due to injuries. — PTI
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Humbled Hockey
The varied struggles between Hockey India (HI) and the Indian Hockey Federation (FIH); the Sports Ministry versus the Indian Olympic Association (IOA); IHF vs. IOA; players vs. administrators and the International Hockey Federation (FIH) versus all the stakeholders of Indian hockey, has driven the game into a mire, though India’s title triumph in the inaugural Asian Champions Trophy has provided a whiff of fresh air.
If the FIH decision to move out the Champions Trophy from Delhi to Auckland, which has robbed India of a place in the prestigious event, was not jolting enough, FIH president Leandro Negre, who was in Delhi on Tuesday to have parleys with the ministry, IOA and hockey officials, gave no assurance of backtracking from its threat of disaffiliating Hockey India and pulling out the Olympic qualifiers from Delhi. Though he set no time frame for HI and IHF to form a single body, as is prevalent in other countries and to be tune with the Olympic Charter and IHF guidelines, he expected the merger to take place sooner than later. Negre emphasised that the FIH was committed to the development of Indian hockey but would not tolerate a multiplicity of authority, though he conceded that HI was a duly elected body and FIH was aware of that. “But we cannot recognise more than one unit for running the game,” he had stated. He was also aware of the pending court cases with regard to the legal standing of the IHF and HI, and the IOA’s known opposition to the Sports Ministry-brokered truce between IHF and HI as it recognised only Hockey India. IOA acting president Vijay Kumar Malhotra, after his meeting with Negre, had blamed the Sports Ministry for losing the Champions Trophy as it was a letter from the Ministry to the FIH in July, informing the world body about the unity forged between the two warring bodies, but maintaining their individual status nevertheless, which forced a re-think by the FIH about allowing Delhi to host the Champions Trophy. The FIH then issued a warning that the event will be shifted out of Delhi if IHF and HI did not merge and carried out the threat on the day Negre landed in Delhi, when there was no sign of a merger. Now, the Indian Hockey Confederation (IHC), which supposedly came into being with the merger of IHF and the Indian Women’s Hockey Federation (IWHF) for the consumption of the FIH (though the international body did not accept this so-called merger and disaffiliated IHF) has added fuel to the controversy by asking the Reserve Bank of India to stop payment of $500,000 owed to the FIH for hosting the Hero Honda World Cup in Delhi last year. The IHC contention was that it had signed the original Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the World Cup to be held as a joint venture with the FIH on November 6, 2007 before it was organised by the Hero Honda World Cup Society, in which both the FIH and the HI had stakes. IHC argued that releasing the withheld money to FIH would amount to violation of the Foreign Exchange Act of 1973. The FIH is already peeved that the IHF, in association with Nimbus, will be organizing the FIH unsanctioned World Series Hockey (WSH) on a franchise-based format, which will send the cash registers clicking and give a hefty pay packet to the players. The WSH will be clashing with the Champions Trophy and that was reason for the IHF to be upset. Negre’s visit to Delhi was to warn the stake-holders in India to fall in line or face severe consequences, which will include banning India from all the FIH-recognised events, including the Olympic Games, Asian Games, Champions Trophy, World Cup and the Commonwealth Games. This is reason enough for hockey community to panic, unless they thrash out a final solution in the next few months, nay weeks, to bring Indian hockey back into centre-stage. |
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Sandeep, Sardar appeal against HI ban; could be let off
New Delhi, September 15 Hockey India secretary general Narinder Batra said that the duo had e-mailed their appeal plea to him today and sought for a meeting with him next week. "Both Sandeep and Sardar had sent their appeals to me today. They have also expressed their desire to meet me and I will be meeting them next week any day after Tuesday," Batra told PTI said. "After I meet them, a five-member committee will be formed which will look into their appeal," he added. According to HI sources, keeping in mind next year's Olympic qualifiers, both Sandeep and Sardar could be pardoned with a warning if they accept their guilt before the five-member panel. "Sardar is presently the best midfielder in the world and Sandeep is one of the best drag-flickers. No doubt they have done a mistake but they are still young and they will be crucial to the team in the qualifiers," a source said. Both Sandeep and Sardar were banned for two years by HI's disciplinary committee after they quit midway the national camp in Bangalore last month ahead of the Asian Champions Trophy citing personal reasons. The two players were, however, given 30 days' time by HI to appeal against their ban. — PTI
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Saina, Jwala-Diju reach quarters of China Masters
New Delhi, September 15 The fifth seed Indian saw off unseeded Kurihara 21-11 18-21 27-25 in a marathon women's singles encounter that lasted for one hour and 12 minutes at the Xincheng Gymnasium. She will next take on top seed Chinese Yihan Wang tomorrow. V Diju and Jwala Gutta also notched up a 21-19 21-17 win over Yong Dae Lee and Jung Eun Ha of Korea in a 34-minute second round clash in the mixed doubles competition. The Indian duo will next take on Robert Blair of Scotland and English Gabrielle White in the quarterfinals tomorrow. However, Parupalli Kashyap was not as lucky as he ran into second seed Dane Peter Hoeg Gade and lost 21-18 21-15 in 45 minutes in the men's singles. India's top men's doubles pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas also could not cross the second round hurdle and suffered a 13-21 9-21 loss to fourth seeds Sung Hyun Ko and Yeon Seong Yoo of Korea in just 24 minutes. World number five Saina relied on her powerful smashes, while Kurihara, ranked 27th, played better at nets but it was the Indian who had the last laugh in a battle of attrition. In the first game, the Indian did not give any chance to the Japanese and broke off from 4-all to go 1-0 in the match. However, Kurihara was not the one to go down without a fight as she opened up a 10-5 lead in the second game and although Saina drew parity at 12-12, the Japanese held her fort to bounce back in style. Leading 11-5 in the decider, Saina suddenly allowed Kurihara to register five straight points to narrow the gap. — PTI
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Red Bull F1 car to zip down Rajpath
New Delhi, September 15 Red Bull Speed Street will see the Formula One car on the Rajpath at 2pm and the event will be held under the aegis of Union Ministry of Tourism and Confederations of Indian Industries. With its engine screaming and tyres burning in F1 style onto the streets of Delhi, there will be glamour, thrills and excitement. After Red Bull Racing driver David Coulthard became the first person to drive a Formula 1 car in India back in 2009, Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, will strut his stuff. — PTI |
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Nadal opens against Gasquet in Davis Cup semifinal
Cordoba, September 15
The Spanish are favourites with two top five ranked players in Nadal and David Ferrer as they bid to reach the final for the third time in four years in Cordoba's bullring. France, runners-up last year, are hoping to follow on from their 5-0 whitewash over Spain in last year's World Group quarterfinals. US Open runner-up Nadal and Gasquet have played nine times but the 15th-ranked Frenchman has never come out on top against the world number two. Fifth-ranked Ferrer takes on Simon, ranked 11, in Friday's second rubber. The Spaniard leads 2-1 in previous meetings, with both coming on clay, but Simon won their last meeting on a hard court in Cincinnati this year. Spanish doubles specialists Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco are scheduled to face Michael Llodra and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Saturday's doubles rubber.
Somdev has tough job at hand Tokyo: Somdev Devvarman has some heavy workload to shoulder as India, sans top doubles player Leander Paes, take on hosts Japan in their bid to re-enter the elite Davis Cup World Group here, starting from tomorrow. India had lost 1-4 to top seeded Serbia in the first round to once again face the play-offs, while Japan scored a convincing 4-1 win over Uzbekistan to give themselves a chance to make the 16-nation World Group for the first time since 1985. Back spasm has forced Paes to miss the flight to Tokyo and in his absence the doubles rubber on the second day of the tie has now become a tricky affair. Surprisingly, India have decided to field Somdev, instead of Rohan Bopanna, along with Mahesh Bhupathi in the doubles rubber against the home pair of Kei Nishikori and Go Soeda. It means that 64th ranked Somdev will have to play on all three days, starting with the opening singles of the tie against 174th ranked Yuichi Sugita tomorrow and then the reverse singles against Nishikori on Sunday. — Agencies |
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Paris, September 15 Napoli at least managed to grab a point away from home yesterday, better than their Serie A rivals and 2010 champions Inter Milan, who suffered a stunning 1-0 home defeat at the hands of Champions League debutants Turkish side Trabzonspor. Trabzonspor were only in the group stage because rivals Fenerbahce were kicked out over a domestic match fixing scandal. There were no such problems for other former champions Bayern Munich and Real Madrid as the Germans secured a fine 2-0 away win at Villarreal while Real beat Dinamo Zagreb 1-0 away. Napoli took the lead with a brilliant effort as Edinson Cavani slotted home after a great run by Christian Maggio only for Aleksander Kolarov to level minutes later with a superb freekick. City manager Roberto Mancini said that the occasion had perhaps got to his players. "Maybe some players wanted to win the game alone, because we played one touch too many in the first-half. "We wanted to win but the Champions League is hard." United also started well against Benfica but last season's finalists failed to take their chances, whereas Paraguayan striker Oscar Cardoso made no mistake for the hosts to break the deadlock. Cardoso controlled Nicolas Gaitan's delightful pass and fired home from the edge of the box. United levelled just before half-time through the evergreen Ryan Giggs as he cut in from the right and fired home from outside the box - to set the bar ever higher for the oldest player to score in the competition as at 37 years and 289 days he beat his own mark set in April. The Welsh great also set another benchmark making it 16 Champions League campaigns he has scored in, breaking the mark he shared with former Real Madrid icon Raul. United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said that Giggs's goal had settled them down. "Once we scored, we played well," he said. "Our possession was too cautious in the first half. It was the kind of possession that gives you a certain control but doesn't win you the game." Inter just could not break down the Trabzonspor defence and the hosts were left stunned when Czech right-back Ondrej Celustka gave the visitors the lead in the second-half. Trabzonspor's former Turkey national coach Senol Gunes said the difference had been that his players were not intimidated by their star studded opponents. — AFP
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People envy my cash and looks: Ronaldo
Madrid, September 15
Ronaldo, the world's most expensive signing, was roundly booed and whistled during the Group D opener in Croatia and was also the target of some robust challenges, one of which drew blood on his right ankle and required several stitches. The 26-year-old was unhappy with referee Svein Oddvar Moen and said top players were not getting enough protection. "We are very happy with three points we took, but I'm not so satisfied with the refereeing," he told reporters. "I hope we never have this referee again. People talk of fair-play, of protecting good players, but I never get any of that. I don't understand a thing. "I'm sad because I hear referees saying they will protect skilful players, but while some are untouchable it seems I can be mauled." Ronaldo was asked about the behaviour of the Dinamo fans, who gave him the kind of unfriendly reception he endures week in week out in La Liga and chanted the name of his Barcelona rival and World Player of the Year Lionel Messi. "I think that because I am rich, handsome and a great player people are envious of me," he said. "I don't have any other explanation." Argentine winger Angel Di Maria scored for Jose Mourinho's side in the 53rd minute as Real began their quest for a 10th title in Europe's elite club competition. — Reuters
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Jeev starts well in Macau Open
Macau, September 15 Jeev enjoyed a bogey-free 68 that put him in tied eighth, two shots behind the four leaders and in the middle of a traffic jam that has top 18 players within two shots of each other and another 12 players were one shot further down at two-under. Jeev was two behind the leaders -- American Anthony Kang, Swede Rikard Karlberg, Yih-shin Chan of Chinese Taipei and Englishman Nick Redfern -- all of whom had 66 each for a five-under par card. Three players — Wang Ter-chang, Brad Smith and Adam Groom — were at four-under. Jeev was the best among 13 Indians who entered the field here at the Macau Golf and Country Club. His 68 with three birdies and no bogeys placed sixth for the first round. Only three Indians came under par on a course that gave a lot of birdie opportunities. Shiv Kapur struggled on the greens but still emerged with a two-under 69 in tied 19th, while Himmat Rai still relishing his last week's win, shot 70 for tied 31st. Gaganjeet Bhullar and SSP Chowrasia were tied 59th at 72 each and Manav Jaini had a 73 in tied 77th, while Sujjan Singh and Mandeo Pathania carded 74 each to be tied 85th and in danger of missing the cut. Anirban Lahiri recovered well from a 10 on par-five fifth, where he had one unplayable and went out of bounds once. — PTI
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Aus drop Khawaja, Harris against Lanka
Colombo, September 15 Left-handed Khawaja was dropped to make way for former captain Ricky Ponting, who returns to the side after taking leave from the Pallekele Test for the birth of his second child. Skipper Michael Clarke and the selectors had a tricky decision to make after Shaun Marsh, who replaced Ponting in the second Test, scored a century on debut to cement his place in the side. "It's brilliant to have Ricky back, he was always going to walk back into the team," Clarke said ahead of a practice session at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) on Thursday. — AFP
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US spoil Russia’s dream debut
Queenstown, September 15 It was the States' third win in 19 World Cup games, the previous two both coming against Japan, but is likely to be their last of this tournament as they now face Australia and Italy having lost to Ireland in their Pool C opener. Russia's World Cup bow might have delighted the International Rugby Board, who are desperate to expand the game's boundaries, but local fans were more concerned with matters closer to home after captain Richie McCaw and fullback Mils Muliaina were ruled out of New Zealand's second game of the tournament against Japan on Friday. For the neutrals, however, Russia and the U.S. provided rich entertainment in difficult conditions in New Plymouth, where once again the goalkickers struggled to hit the target with both teams missing three of their five penalty attempts. — Reuters |
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Suresh
Raina
