Karachi, October 1
Controvesry-prone former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi on Saturday backed his ex-teammate Shoaib Akhtar's claim that Sachin Tendulkar was uncomfortable against his pace, saying that he had once witnessed the Indian batsman "trembling" while facing the pacer.

Afridi, who retired after revolting against the his own Board and has a history of making controversial remarks, said Tendulkar was uneasy against Akhtar, a claim which the pacer made in his recently-launched autobiography 'Controversially Yours'.

"He (Tendulkar) was scared of Shoaib. I have seen it myself. I was fielding at square leg and saw his legs trembling when Shoaib came on to bowl," Afridi told reporters without elaborating on which match he was referring to.

Afridi went on to state that Tendulkar was also uncomfortable facing young Pakistani spinner Saeed Ajmal during their World Cup match.

"During the World Cup, he also looked scared of Saeed Ajmal. It's not a big deal, players do feel the pressure at times and it becomes difficult," he said.

Afridi's comments in support of Akhtar come barely within days of the launch of the autobiography, which created a furore in India with several former players and BCCI officials slamming the speedster for making tall claims in the book.

Akhtar, who had a history of disciplinary violations and had also been banned during his career, had made disparaging comments about Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.

This is not the first time that Afridi has made provocative comments which may not go down too well with Indian fans.

After the World Cup semifinal loss to India earlier this year, Afridi had slammed the Indian media for its "very negative approach" and said the Pakistani media was a "hundred times better".

"In my opinion, if I have to tell the truth, they (Indians) will never have hearts like Muslims and Pakistanis. I don't think they have the large and clean hearts that Allah has given us," Afridi had said when he was asked about relations between the two countries. — PTI

Gurgaon, October 1
Himmat Singh Rai shunned extravagance to hit a steady even-par 72 to stay a stroke ahead of the chasing pack and clinch the Rs 95 lakh DLF Masters on yet another unforgivingly windy day at the DLF Golf and Country Club on Saturday.

Slow and steady all through the first three rounds, Rashid Khan came from behind and fired a four-under 68 to finish second, while Sanjay Kumar (73) reaped the benefits of his consistency to sign off third with a total of two-under 286.

Finishing a stroke behind was Gaurav Pratap Singh who carded an even-par 72. However, the unforgiving windy conditions took a toll on overnight leader Anirban Lahiri as the Bangalore golfer slipped to the fifth place after stumbling to a six-over 78 for a total of even-par 288.

Shamim Khan (73), SSP Chowrasia (74) and Deepinder Singh Kullar (75) finished tied sixth, while a stroke behind was the trio of defending champion Ashok Kumar (75), two-time winner Jyoti Randhawa (76) and Gaurav Ghei (74).

For first half of the day, things seemed too confusing as overnight leader Lahiri slipped and Himmat rose to prominence amid constant threat from Rashid, who had roared into contention from nowhere.

However, midway into the round it became evident that it would be a matter of Himmat holding on to his narrow lead. Lahiri too had popped out a yellow ball, knowing very well it was all but over from him.

"I played with a yellow ball in the end as I didn't want to miss out of having a bit of fun," Lahiri quipped later. Two strokes behind coming into the final round, Himmat didn't have the best of start as he dropped a bogey at the second but he made amends with a couple of birdies at the sixth and ninth to take the turn at one-under.

On resumption, he dropped a stroke on the 13th but steadied himself with a birdie on the next. However, wind got to him in the 17th, leaving him with just a one-stroke lead.

At the 18th hole, Rashid hit a good 80 yard tee-shot and kept it on the left. — PTI 

Jaipur, October 1
Contrasting centuries from Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane helped Rest of India reach a commanding 400 for three against Rajasthan at stumps on the opening day of the Irani Cup match. While Dhawan sent the below-par Rajasthan attack on a leatherhunt scoring a magnificent 177 off 165 balls, Rahane continued his good form of England tour scoring a patient unbeaten 117 off 212 balls.

The greenish tinge of the Sawai Man Singh Stadium strip didn't make much of an impact after Rest skipper Parthiv Patel decided to bat first. Deepak Chahar who made a sensational first-class debut last year had a disastrous start to the season as Dhawan pounced on him during the first spell. Chahar lacks pace and didn't get sufficient movement to force the batsmen into making mistakes.

When he pitched up, Dhawan drove him through the mid-off region, if it was wide it was fiercely square cut and when he dig it in, the Delhi southpaw was in perfect position to execute a pull-shot. With rookie left-arm seamer Aniket Choudhary making his debut, Dhawan and Abhinav Mukund (18) added 77 runs for the opening wicket. Mukund was however not in his element as he remained unusually subdued.

It was one-change bowler Sumit Mathur (1/65) who dismissed Mukund when the Tamil Nadu batsman was played on trying to open the face of his bat. Dhawan however batted with a lot of swagger as he hit 32 boundaries and a six in all. Dhawan got a reprieve on 80, when he miscued a pull shot off Aniket's bowling and Chahar misjudged a skier. — PTI 

New Delhi, October 1
Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Ajay Maken said here today that the National Institute of Sports Science and Medicine (NISSM) will be based at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi. He said the institute will cater to disciplines such as physiology, psychology, nutrition, biochemistry, biomedical, anthropometry and sports science. He said the purpose of setting up the NISSM was to give Indian sports a cutting edge, through modern sports medicine methods.

Maken said the institute will be modeled on the lines of the China Institute of Sports Sciences (CISS), in a bid to replicate Chinese excellence in sports. He said the institute will be a premier national institution and it will be registered as a society under the Societies’ Registration Act by November 1.

The institute will be established at a cost of Rs 200 crore, with an additional Rs 100 crore earmarked for strengthening the existing sports science and medicine infrastructure at various Sports Authority of India centres. It is expected to cater to integration of sports sciences into coaching departments and quality assurance wing.

The minister also announced that the SAI had prepared the concept paper for establishing a National Institute of Hockey at the Dhyan Chand National Stadium and work on it will start at the earliest. Maken also announced that the Nehru Stadium will be developed as a “football hub and stadium” with specialised pitch/turf at the central periphery.

He said the SAI will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the All-India Football Federation on October 15 to actualise this venture. 

One year after hosting the 10th Commonwealth Games in Delhi (October 3-14), India should have been riding high in the sporting world. Instead, a slew of scams, corruption, controversies, doping exposures etc., un-spooled after the Games, has tarnished the country’s name.

The Games were not only an outstanding success organisationally, but also competition-wise, as the hosts emerged with guns blazing — literally, with the shooters claiming maximum medals. India finished second on the medal table, behind Australia. This was the second CWG hosted by an Asian country, after Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, 1998. India had claimed 38 gold, 27 silver and 36 bronze medals for an overall tally of 101, compared to Australia’s haul of 74-55-48 (177).

The Government loosened the purse strings as never before to mount the Games as a showpiece event, but afterwards, skeletons started tumbling out of the Organising Committee cupboard. OC chairman Suresh Kalmadi, secretary-general Lalit Bhanot, and top official V.K. Verma were indicted by the Shunglu Committee, appointed to probe the Games scams, for their roles in the misappropriation of funds, which were authenticated by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG).

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, despite indictment by the panel and CAG, has managed to stay in power.

But Dr M.S. Gill, who was the Sports Minister during the Games, was not so lucky and was shunted out from the Cabinet.

New Sports Minister Ajay Maken began well but then ran into controversies as one of his first major steps was to divest Kalmadi from the post of OC chairman, leading to his arrest. Maken then reopened an old, festering wound when he pushed for age and tenure-limit legislation for office-bearers of the Indian Olympic Association and the National Sports Federations, though his draft Sports Development Bill came a cropper at the Cabinet Committee meeting, which referred the bill back to the Sports Ministry for redrafting.

Maken perhaps tried to swallow more than he could chew, as he also tried to bring cricket under the ambit of the bill, which was forcefully resisted by Sharad Pawar, Praful Patel, Kapil Sibal, P. Chidambaram etc. Pawar is the president of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the former chief of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), while Patel has his feet in cricket as well as football (he is the president of the All-India Football Federation).

The tussle to control hockey between the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) and Hockey India (HI) was another sore point, with the ministry brokering truce to bring them on one platform, though it was rejected by the IOA and the International Hockey Federation (FIH).

As fallout of the IHF-HI truce, FIH took away the Champions Trophy, from Delhi and has now threatened to pull out the Olympic qualifiers, slated to be held in February next year.

The ministry’s hands were tied, following a court order, reinstating IHF’s recognition and the Government had to fall in line. Now it has been caught between the devil and deep sea, following the FIH’s recent fiat of debarring India from the 2012 London Olympics and all other FIH-sanctioned events.

The doping scandal, detected in out-of-competition tests conducted by the National Anti-Doping Authority (NADA) and the World Anti-Doping Authority (WADA), caught out eight athletes, including three women who were part of India’s splendid 4x400m relay gold run in the CWG — Mandeep Kaur, Sini Jose and Ashwini Akkunji.

The stadiums, constructed/renovated at exorbitant costs, are in a state of neglect and disrepair, while the Games Village, touted as the best-ever, is mired in controversy and neglect. Those who paid through their nose to own a flat in the Games Village are yet to get possession, despite parting with the crores as advance payment.

The neatly mounted board at the main entry point to the village still proudly proclaims the ‘10th Commonwealth Games 2-14 October”. An amused Shera, the Games mascot, and the billboard stand as silent testimony to the Games that were, exactly a year ago.

BRIEFLY

Vijender falls at first hurdle
New Delhi: Olympic hero Vijender Singh was today ousted in the very first round, upstaged by his Cuban nemesis Emilio Correa Bayeux, but Jai Bhagwan entered the second round on a mixed day for Indian boxers at the World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan. Vijender, a bronze-medallist at the previous World Championships in Milan and the 2008 Beijing Olympics, lost 9-16 to Bayeux in the opening bout of the 75kg middleweight category. But Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist Jai Bhagwan thrashed Evaldas Petrauskas of Lithuania to enter the second round. Jai beat Petrauskas, a Youth Olympics gold-medallist, 15-8 to enter the second round where he will take on Czech Miroslav Serban. Serban beat Nuwan Thennakoon of Sri Lanka 16-10 in his opening bout. — PTI

McMahon’s academy kicks off
New Delhi: The first training session of the Steve McMahon Football Academy, the official academy of the Liverpool Football Club, was held today at the Genesis Global School, Noida. McMahon, a former England international and Liverpool star, and Formal England footballer Paul Masefield, who is coach and assistant to McMahon at SMFA, presided over the session. The academy will cater to children from the age group of under-8 to 16, aiming to target them at an early age so that maximum time can be spent with them in developing them into players of the future, not just for India’s National team but also to enable them to have an opportunity to play at the highest level in the European clubs. — TNS

Air Force enter quarters
NEW DELHI: Indian Air Force (IAF) beat Central Reserve Police Force 1-0 to enter the quarter-final of the 124th Durand Cup Football Tournament at the Ambedkar Stadium here on Saturday. Right wing-back M.C. Paneru slotted home the match-winner two minutes into the second half, following a corner kick. Air Force join the Group B quarter-final league along with Shillong Lajong FC and new entrants Sikkim United. — TNS

Wenger among greats: Stan
LONDON: Arsene Wenger is one of the world's greatest managers and his future at Arsenal is assured for as long as he wants to stay, the club's owner Stan Kroenke said in a rare interview on Friday. The 64-year-old American billionaire, whose portfolio of teams includes the St Louis Rams in the NFL, the Denver Nuggets in the NBA and the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer, has also been Arsenal's majority shareholder since earlier this year. Nicknamed "Silent Stan" by the British media, he finally spoke in depth for the first time since he started buying into Arsenal four years ago with an interview in the Daily Telegraph. — Reuters

Atwal makes cut
Las Vegas: Arjun Atwal allowed an excellent start in the first nine to go waste as he finished the second round in one-under 70, though he still managed to make the cut in the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open golf tournament here. Atwal, who shot 66 in the first round, is now six-under 136 to be placed tied 37th at the midway stage of the first event in the Fall series of the PGA Tour. Atwal, teed off from the tenth and bogeyed the 11th, but birdies on 13th, 15th, 16th and 18th saw him turn in three-under at which stage he was in line for a top-10. — PTI

Liverpool down Everton
LONDON: Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez scored to give Liverpool a comfortable 2-0 win at Everton in the Merseyside derby at Goodison Park on Saturday after the home side were controversially reduced to 10 men after only 23 minutes. Referee Martin Atkinson showed what appeared to be a harsh red card to Jack Rodwell for what looked to be a legitimate challenge on Suarez, with the defender winning the ball fairly, but clipping the Uruguayan as his momentum carried him forwards. Rodwell fiercely protested his innocence and walked off reluctantly, but his dismissal helped tip the balance Liverpool's way. As well as their two goals they also missed a penalty and hit the crossbar in the first half. — Reuters