S P O R T S

beaten, bruised and banned
Perth, January 15
A spineless India suffered their second successive overseas series defeat in the most humiliating manner as a ruthless Australia pulverised them by an innings and 37 runs in just two and half days in the third cricket Test here today.

Knocked out: Rahul Dravid is dismissed by Ryan Harris on Day Three of the third Test in Perth on Sunday. India lost the match by an innings and 37 runs. — AFP

I am the main culprit, says Dhoni
Perth, January 15
Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni today took the blame on himself for a disastrous performance of his team against Australia, saying that he was the main culprit as the captain.

Tendulkar back for ODIs
Chennai, January 15
India today turned to its only in-form batsman Sachin Tendulkar to bolster its fragile batting line-up with the selectors naming the veteran in the 17-member squad for the next month's tri-series in Australia.

Laxman’s career over after Australia Test series: Reports
New Delhi, January 15
VVS Laxman's will be the first head to roll after the shambolic tour of Australia as India embark on the unpleasant task of phasing out their ageing stalwarts, local media reported on Sunday.

Celebrity Cricket League in Jan Chandigarh, January 15 Celebrity Cricket League (CCL), an initiative combining the two most popular forms of entertainment - cinema and cricket, is set to bring together bollywood and the southern film industry to play the game of cricket this January. (L to R) Genelia D'souza, Kangana Ranaut, Salman Khan, Sohail Khan and Suniel Shetty in Sharjah on Sunday. A Tribune Photograph

Nadal hits back over motivation doubts
Melbourne, January 15 A combative Rafa Nadal returned serve at sceptics who have questioned his motivation at the Australian Open on Sunday, saying the passion he lost towards the end of last season had returned and that he was fighting fit to take down 2011 nemesis Novak Djokovic.
Rafael Nadal serves during a training session in Melbourne on Sunday. — AFP

Africans dominate Mumbai Marathon Mumbai, January 15 Africans continued to dominate the Mumbai Marathon yet again with the visitors from the continent sweeping the honours in both the men's and the women's versions of the event. Laban Moiben from Kenya took home the title in the 42 km men's category while Netsanet Abeyo from Ethiopia was the winner in the women's section.

Athletes participate in the Mumbai Marathon on Sunday. Laban Moiben of Kenya won the race. — AFP

India eves beat Azerbaijan 3-0
New Delhi, January 15
Indian eves' preparation for the next month's Olympic qualifiers kicked off in style as they defeated Azerbaijan 3-0 in the first hockey Test at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, here today.

India’s pistol shooters fail to impress
Doha, January 15
India's 10m air pistol shooters today put up a disastrous show at the Asian Shooting Championships here to leave the team management fuming. No Indian was within sniffing distance of a final spot that would have provided an opportunity to bag a quota for this year's London Olympics.

Golf: Sharmila takes a share of lead
La Manga, January 15
Sharmila Nicollet played one of the best rounds of her professional career to shoot a five-under 68 at the par-73 South Course at the La Manga Golf Resort to take a share of the lead at the end of the first round of the Ladies European Tour Qualifying School Final Stage on Sunday.

beaten, bruised and banned
India handed innings defeat by Australia
Hosts clinch series 3-0
Dhoni banned for Adelaide Test
Sehwag to lead India

Perth, January 15
A spineless India suffered their second successive overseas series defeat in the most humiliating manner as a ruthless Australia pulverised them by an innings and 37 runs in just two and half days in the third cricket Test here today.

The hosts just took about 135 minutes to polish off the remaining six Indian wickets to take an invincible 3-0 lead in the four-match series. It was the seventh successive loss abroad for India after the 4-0 whitewash by England last year.

The highly-rated Indian batting line-up failed once again with the sole exception of Virat Kohli, who slammed an impressive 75, as the visitors were shot out for 171, around 15 minutes after the lunch break on the bouncy WACA pitch.

The Indian second innings total was just 10 runs more than the 161 in their first essay, in reply to Australia's first innings tally of 369.

The two sides now move to Adelaide for the fourth and final Test which starts on January 24.

India took lunch at 165 for six and they lost their final four wickets off only seven balls without any addition to the total to surrender the series and Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

In the first innings, India had lost their final six wickets for 30 runs.

The first two overs on resumption did not show any signs of such quick subjugation but it all unfolded quickly in Ben Hilfenhaus' 18th over, the 63rd of the Indian second innings.

Sensing his opportunity of a short ball, Vinay Kumar went for a slash but the ball from Hilfenhaus was too quick for it and the resultant healthy edge was smartly snapped by Michael Clarke at first slip. — PTI

Scoreboard

I am the main culprit, says Dhoni

Crestfallen: MS Dhoni looks on after Australia won the third Test by an innings and 37 runs in Perth on Sunday. — AFP

Perth, January 15
Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni today took the blame on himself for a disastrous performance of his team against Australia, saying that he was the main culprit as the captain.

"I need to blame myself as I am the leader of this side. Of course, I am the main culprit, so of course I blame myself," Dhoni said at the post-match press conference here.

Dhoni also defended the seniors batsmen who have come under sharp criticism for consistently failing in Australia as well as preceding series in England.

Asked whether the seniors should be phased out, Dhoni said that should come up only after the end of the series.

"We will have to see what is the thought of the seniors. It has to be a very careful decision that needs to be taken.

They have the experience and they can share it with the youngsters," he said.

The 30-year-old skipper said the main reason behind India's flop-show has been there failure to score enough runs consistently.

"I can only talk about the game so far and if you see the games that we had played in England, the Test natches here, it is only the one reason -- we have not put enough runs on the board, something that we need to be careful about because we want to give the bowlers that amount of runs to get the opposition out," he said.

"One or two bad innings, it can happen in Test cricket, but overall, the seven test matches, this is a bit too long for the batting line up to flop," Dhoni added.

Dhoni said it was one of the worst phase for Indian cricket and blamed the batsmen for failing them.

"The amount of cricket that I have seen, this is definitely one of the worst phase where we have not done consistently well. We have not put runs on the board. Bowling, I think because of injuries, we suffered a set back, over here, we have not been as consistent," he said.

"Overall, I don't think bowling is a real worry, we have not been consistently batting well, our line-up flopping consistently." — PTI

Tendulkar back for ODIs

Chennai, January 15
India today turned to its only in-form batsman Sachin Tendulkar to bolster its fragile batting line-up with the selectors naming the veteran in the 17-member squad for the next month's tri-series in Australia.

Paceman Praveen Kumar, who missed the Test series in Australia because of an injury, and speedster Irfan Pathan were named in the squad, announced by BCCI Secretary Sanjay Jagdale after a marathon meeting of the selection committee here.

Lanky Punjab spinner Rahul Sharma was also included but there were no major surprises in the ODI squad despite the team's dismal performance in the ongoing Test series, which India is trailing 0-3.

Tendulkar, who played his last ODI in World Cup final on April 2, is the only batsman who seems to be in good nick and will get an opportunity to record a historic 100th international century.

Of late, Tendulkar has not been playing the ODIs and has generally skipped most of the bilateral series in the last two years.

The ODI batting line-up more or less remain the same with Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and Manoj Tiwary retaining their places.

Zaheer Khan will spearhead the bowling attack which has Umesh Yadav and Vinay Kumar as the other pacemen.

Yuvraj Singh, who is still recovering from a lung ailment and injured Harbhajan Singh were not considered for selection.

ODI and T20 squad:

M S Dhoni (C), Virender Sehwag (VC), Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Unesh Yadav, Praveen Kumar, R Vinay Kumar, Manoj Tiwary, Rahul Sharma, Parthiv Patel, Irfan Pathan and Zaheer Khan. — PTI

Laxman’s career over after Australia Test series: Reports

New Delhi, January 15
VVS Laxman's will be the first head to roll after the shambolic tour of Australia as India embark on the unpleasant task of phasing out their ageing stalwarts, local media reported on Sunday.

India slumped to their third consecutive loss in the four-match series in Australia, with only next week's Test in Adelaide left for them to restore some pride. Laxman has managed just one half-century in six innings in the series, and newspapers reported on Sunday he would be axed if he did not retire.

"Laxman will retire at the end of the ongoing Test series in Australia," an unnamed official of the Indian cricket board (BCCI) was quoted as saying by the Indian Express newspaper.

"He is 37 and India's next Test series is still at least six months away. Plus his form has dropped significantly and his fitness, especially a troublesome back, is hampering him." Laxman would make way for a younger player when India travelled to Adelaide, bidding to avert a second successive 4-0 whitewash overseas, the report said.

"We need to plan for the future after the poor show in England and now in Australia. Youngsters need to be given a long run now. "Laxman has been one of our finest batsmen but he has run out of time as he has failed to make it count against Australia, a team he has dominated at his best," another BCCI official was quoted as saying.

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was unaware of the development. "As of now, there's nothing I know officially," Dhoni said at Perth. "I don't know where this came from, until Laxman comes to me and says something, I can't comment," he added. Of India's senior batsmen, only 38-year-old Sachin Tendulkar has looked good in Australia, twice coming close to scoring his 100th international century.

Rahul Dravid (39) continues to struggle, managing just one half century in six innings as Australia's bowlers ripped through his famous defence. Former player Anshuman Gaekwad was among those who advocated phasing out the seniors players to avoid a transitional crisis. "Sachin still has the class, Rahul is very hard working but I am not sure how long Laxman will be able to continue," Gaekwad recently told Reuters. — Reuters

Celebrity Cricket League in Jan
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 15
Celebrity Cricket League (CCL), an initiative combining the two most popular forms of entertainment - cinema and cricket, is set to bring together bollywood and the southern film industry to play the game of cricket this January.

For the first time in India, the film fraternities from West Bengal, bollywood and southern film industry - Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam will come together to play in the T20 format.

This multi-starrer action entertainer will be aired live on Sahara One and FILMY. The league will consist of six teams - Mumbai Heroes, Chennai Rhinos, Karnataka BullDozers, and Telugu Warriors along with Kerala Strikers and Bengal Tigers as new entrants.

Mumbai Heroes will be led by Suniel Shetty as its captain and Ritiesh Deshmukh as vice-captain. Superstar Salman Khan will be the iconic player for Mumbai Heroes with Bollywood damsels Sonakshi Sinha, Kangana Ranaut and Genelia D’souza as teams’ brand ambassadors.

The Mumbai Heroes team has added a new player to its fold - actor Bobby Deol. The other players include Aftab Shivdasani, Sonu Sood, Ashish Choudhary, Shabbir Ahluwalia, Raja Bherwani, Kabir Sadanand, Apoorva Lakhia, Sunny Singh, Angad Bedi, Varun Badola, Sharad Kelkar, Tushar Jalota, Varun Rao, Sachin Joshi and Sohail Khan.

Nadal hits back over motivation doubts

Melbourne, January 15
A combative Rafa Nadal returned serve at sceptics who have questioned his motivation at the Australian Open on Sunday, saying the passion he lost towards the end of last season had returned and that he was fighting fit to take down 2011 nemesis Novak Djokovic.

Nadal won a sixth French Open title but endured a disappointing season by his own sky-high standards, losing his world number one ranking and six consecutive finals to the Serbian.

Nadal, who suffered an early exit from the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals, admitted to losing his usual passion amid struggles with a shoulder injury at the end of the season, but said the media were making too much of it. "That's nothing crazy," he said. "That happens when you are a little bit more tired than usual. Maybe you're not doing your job all the time with the same passion because you're tired. That's part of the job."

Nadal plays American qualifier Alex Kuznetsov in the first round on Monday and said he had come to Australia "with big motivation, with big passion". "I'm happy. I am practising well. I'm enjoying everything. I will try to be ready for tomorrow."

Rarely one to make bullish statements about his leadup form into grand slams, Nadal has little cause to do so this year after bowing out of the Qatar Open with a surprise semifinal defeat to French world number 15 Gael Monfils. Some observers say the 25-year-old has been worked out by Djokovic, who has picked apart the Spaniard's game by pouncing on his serve and relatively weak backhand to dictate play.

Djokovic remains heavy on Nadal's mind and he nominated the Serbian as the man blocking his way to an 11th grand slam crown. "There are a lot of fantastic players around," he said. "Novak is the best because last year he had a wonderful year. He's the No. 1 today. He deserves to be there."

Testing time for Sania Mirza

Coming back from a knee injury, Sania Mirza face a stern test to improve her Grand Slam record when she opens her Australian Open campaign against Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova, here tomorrow.

The injuries crippled the later-half of Sania's 2011 season and she is short of match practice since the US Open. Only twice has world number 105 Sania managed to reach the second round of a Major in the last two seasons. Doing well is very crucial for her since she needs to improve her ranking to be eligible for a direct entry into the London Olympics.

Winning matches in Grand Slam helps ranking improve cosiderably but the road is tough for Sania. Her opponent Pironkova, who is currently world No 48, is a talented youngster, who reached Wimbledon semifinals in 2010 and quarterfinals last year, although she struggled at other Grand Slams in the same period.

Sania has played one event in lead up to Australian Open and lost in the qualifiers. Since Somdev Devvarman has withdrawn from the tournament, Sania is lone Indian representative in the singles.

In the doubles, yet again senior pros Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi will be contenders, albeit with different partners. Bhupathi has paired with Rohan Bopanna while Paes has partnered Radek Stepanak.

Paes warmed up for the Australian open in nice way, winning the Chennai Open pairing Janko Tipsarevic. Bhupathi-Bopanna reached the semifinals and are gradually improving as a team. — Agencies

Africans dominate Mumbai Marathon
Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service

Mumbai, January 15
Africans continued to dominate the Mumbai Marathon yet again with the visitors from the continent sweeping the honours in both the men's and the women's versions of the event. Laban Moiben from Kenya took home the title in the 42 km men's category while Netsanet Abeyo from Ethiopia was the winner in the women's section.

Moiben and the first runner-up, Ethiopian Raji Assefa, clocked 2:10:48, but the former was judged the winner on the basis of a photo-finish. John Kyui, another Ethiopian finished third with timings 2:10:54.

"Yeah, it's my first race in India and in Asia. People were cheering for us and everyone in Mumbai was very happy," said Moiben at the press conference after the race. Ethiopia dominated the women's round with its nationals Abeyo (2:26:12), Fatuma Sado (2:30:20) and Makda Harun (2:30:47) taking the top three spots. The top winners in the two categories got a prize money of $36,000 each.

The 42 km marathon widely seen as a tough race due to Mumbai's humid conditions saw Tanzanians Dickson Marwa and Simon Kasimili take the lead. However, after the first 15 km, Marwa had to make way for Kyui, Moiben and then Assefa.

Yadav India’s consolation

Army man Ram Singh Yadav, who qualified for the London Olympics on the basis of the 'B' he got in today's marathon was the only consolation for the hosts. He completed the race with timings of 2:16:59. The Olympic qualification timing has been set at 2:18 hours. In 2009, Yadav had set a record for Indians at 2:18:03, which he bettered this year.

Yadav was followed by fellow army men Elam Singh (2:18:27) and T A Rajesh (2:24:25). Yadav, who thought he could keep pace with the Africans, however had to let go of the advantage. "I tried to keep pace with the Kenyans for two to three kilometres, but I thought I would fall behind after 21-22 kms," he said after the race. He also hoped to improve his timings going ahead.

Yadav's coach AS Mathew from the army felt today's weather conditions had been the best ever since the start of the marathon. "It was the best weather since the inception of the Mumbai Marathon. It was to the advantage of the runners. Yadav had missed the qualifying mark earlier narrowly," Mathew said.

In the Indian women’s category, Lalita Babbar finished first completing the race in 2:53:35. Behind her were Kiran Tiwari (2:53:56) and Preethi Rao (3:01:34) taking the next two positions.

Stars shine

A number of celebrities including film stars joined more than 22,000 people participating in the six kilometre Dream Run event. "I have always admired those who run in the marathon every year and it is a great feeling to see people unite. This is the spirit of Mumbai and nobody can break this spirit," Ranbir Kapoor said.

India eves beat Azerbaijan 3-0

New Delhi, January 15
Indian eves' preparation for the next month's Olympic qualifiers kicked off in style as they defeated Azerbaijan 3-0 in the first hockey Test at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, here today.

The hosts, ranked 13th in the world, were by far the dominant side on display and scored through Anuradha Devi (19th minute), Soundarya (51st) and Joydeep Kaur (62nd) to take a 1-0 lead in the four-match series.

The Indians created most of their opportunities from the left-flank with Soundarya and Jasjeet Kaur combining well. The 15th ranked Azerbaijan side, on the other hand, lacked purpose in their attacks, which were far and few.

It was the home team which scored first when an unmarked Anuradha tapped in Soundarya's measured pass from the right flank. The Indians then stepped up the pressure on the Azerbaijan defence resulting in two penalty corners (22nd minute and 34th) in the first period, but they squandered both to go into the breather with a 1-0 cushion.

The scenario was no different after the change of ends as it was the home which controlled the possession. India's penalty corner conversion also improved in the second half as they utilised both their set pieces.

India earned their third short corner in the 50th minute and Soundarya made no mistake in deflecting home captain Asunta Lakra's hit. Joydeep then finished off the scoreline for the home team when she converted India's fourth and final penalty corner, eight minutes from the hooter with a fierce shot to which Azerbaijan goalkeeper Viktoriya had no answer. — PTI

India’s pistol shooters fail to impress

Doha, January 15
India's 10m air pistol shooters today put up a disastrous show at the Asian Shooting Championships here to leave the team management fuming. No Indian was within sniffing distance of a final spot that would have provided an opportunity to bag a quota for this year's London Olympics.

Commonwealth Games gold medallist Omkar Singh was way below his personal best as he shot a low 572/600 to bow out of contention. Having shot 584 to win the 2010 Commonwealth Games gold in New Delhi, Omkar had a realistic possibility of winning a medal in Doha.

He started the 2nd qualification relay with a series of 97 but then slipped badly in the 2nd series to shoot 93. After that, it was all downhill with scores of 97, 96, 97 and the worst card saved for the last where he managed only 2 10's. He ended his qualification campaign with an 8 of his last shot for a last card of 92.

It wasn't a great show in the first relay either, with Amanpreet Singh shooting 571 and Om Prakash a lowly 567. India finished 9th in the team standings, a massive 36 points behind gold medal winners Korea, who totalled 1746/1800.

It was a performance that left national coach Sunny Thomas fuming. "It is a miserable performance. The seniors were shooting like beginners. There is no excuse. All three of them were bad. Even if we had shot a par score of 580, a quota could have been possible.” — PTI

Golf: Sharmila takes a share of lead

La Manga, January 15
Sharmila Nicollet played one of the best rounds of her professional career to shoot a five-under 68 at the par-73 South Course at the La Manga Golf Resort to take a share of the lead at the end of the first round of the Ladies European Tour Qualifying School Final Stage on Sunday.