S P O R T S

We have let the nation down: Gambhir
Perth, January 17
Struggling Indian opener Gautam Gambhir today conceded that his team has let the entire nation down in the ongoing Test series against Australia and has failed to live up to the expectations. India trail the four-match series 0-3 and are in danger of a second successive Test whitewash abroad after the England debacle last year.

The opening pair of Gautam Gambhir (pic), and Virender Sehwag has not been able to give India a solid start throughout the series in Australia.

Laxman has no plans to retire: Teammates
Perth, January 17
He might be drawing flak for his flopshow in the ongoing Test series against Australia but veteran Indian batsman VVS Laxman has no plans of hanging up his boots just yet. Contrary to reports in India and some scathing reactions by experts and former cricketers back home, a fellow cricketer said, "He (Laxman) is not retiring yet.

Under-pressure Sehwag nonchalant at nets Perth, January 17 If Virender Sehwag was anxious about his role as India skipper for the fourth Test against Australia and his continued poor run with the bat, he didn't show it to the world during the nets at the WACA here today. Virender Sehwag has scored 118 runs from six innings in Australia.

Former players divided on IPL
New Delhi, January 17
India’s catastrophic performance in the Test tours of England and Australia has triggered a heated debate as to whether the cash-rich IPL is wrecking havoc with the players’ technique and temperament. While some former players consider the glamorous Twenty20 event as one of the prime reasons for the Test slump, others feel that one event cannot alter a player’s basic technique and approach towards the game.

Ministry responsible for JNS mess: IOA New Delhi, January 17 The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has expressed its outrage over the pathetic condition of the sprawling Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, which was the venue of a football match between India and Bayern Munich on January 10. The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium was one of the main venues of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

Stosur first big casualty on Day 2 Melbourne, January 17 US Open champion Sam Stosur crashed out in the first round of the Australian Open in straight sets today in a huge blow for local fans desperate to end a long drought at the national championship. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga celebrates defeating Denis Istomin at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Tuesday. Tsonga won 6–4, 3–6, 6–2, 7–5. — Reuters

Parampal misses out, India's wait for Oly quota continues
Doha, January 17
Parampal Singh Guron narrowly missed out on a place in the final of the men’s skeet event at the Asian Shooting Championship here to take the wait for an Olympic quota to another day. Guron, who was in 13th place overnight with a score of 71/75, started the day with a perfect round of 25 to move into contention for a place in the final.

Ajmal on top as England struggle
Dubai, January 17
Pakistan off-spinner Saeed Ajmal took a career-best seven-wicket haul to destroy England’s much vaunted batting line-up on the opening day of the first Test here today. The 34-year-old, whose claims of a mystery delivery surrounded the lead-up to the three-Test series, had figures of 7-55 which wrecked England to 192 all out on a slow turning pitch at the Dubai Stadium.

India score 2-1 win over South Africa
New Delhi, January 17
Star drag-flicker Sandeep Singh converted a late penalty corner to hand India a 2-1 win over South Africa in the second hockey Test here today. By virtue of this win, India now leads the five-Test series 2-0. The home team had yesterday defeated South Africa 4-0 in the series opener.

We have let the nation down: Gambhir

Perth, January 17
Struggling Indian opener Gautam Gambhir today conceded that his team has let the entire nation down in the ongoing Test series against Australia and has failed to live up to the expectations. India trail the four-match series 0-3 and are in danger of a second successive Test whitewash abroad after the England debacle last year.

"We have let the entire nation down and I will be the first one to accept it. There is a backlash which is happening back home and we are ready to accept it. We have given people the opportunity (to criticise us). We haven’t played good cricket and not lived up to the expectations, given the batting we have," said Gambhir after nets here today.

The left-handed opener has scored only 144 runs from six innings at an average of 24.00 and is only one of the batsmen of the Indian batting unit, which has collectively failed on the present tour. "I am not someone who would be hesitant to take the responsibility. I will be the first one to accept it. If you want to be number one, you have to perform well and start winning overseas, whether England, South Africa or Australia," said Gambhir.

The left-hander's problem is symptomatic of a larger malaise as he hasn't hit a hundred for over two years now. "If hundred is everything and I score one followed by four or five low scores, I don't think I would be satisfied. You want consistency. If a hundred is followed by innings when I don't reach double figures, I wouldn't be happy. You want to be consistent. If a 100 comes your way, well and good. It's a long journey from zero to hundred and as we all know, it's a one ball game for a batsman. But I am not thinking of putting together a hundred, rather consistent 50s will make me happy," he insisted.

Gambhir also urged to consider collective failure as an issue rather than singling out individuals. "What make us happy is winning the series not Sachin's 100th hundred. We would be far more happy if we win the series compared to if Sachin has got his 100. Conversely, if Sachin gets his hundred and we don't win, it isn't satisfying. It's all about winning the series rather than any individual performance." Questions flew thick and fast if the change of captaincy, now that Mahendra Singh Dhoni is all set to miss the Adelaide Test for slow over-rate, could bring a new spark from Virender Sehwag, and Gambhir said, "He will be aggressive. But I have always believed a captain is as good as the team.

"There has been no great captain, it's not the captain who makes the difference. It's the eleven in the field who make difference. It's not MS (Dhoni), an individual who takes the blame if the entire team hasn't performed. Same would be with Sehwag. It's the eleven who have to perform, it's not just him. We need to play well as a unit." It's been an accepted norm that openers need to fire, especially abroad, if the rest of the batting is to fall in place but Gambhir refused to agree with the notion entirely.

"Openers do help if they negotiate the new ball. It helps the rest of the batting. But they can't be blamed alone. I've already said I accept to have failed. But it's the entire batting unit, which has to take the responsibility. It can't only be openers or middle orders.”

Gambhir, meanwhile, gave full credit to the Australians for their excellent performance as a unit. "It's been challenging. Australia is a tough place to tour. But a lot of credit goes to them. I will not be hesitant to accept it. They have played some very good cricket as a unit overall. They have always kept the pressure and not let us off the hook." — PTI

Laxman has no plans to retire: Teammates

Perth, January 17
He might be drawing flak for his flopshow in the ongoing Test series against Australia but veteran Indian batsman VVS Laxman has no plans of hanging up his boots just yet. Contrary to reports in India and some scathing reactions by experts and former cricketers back home, a fellow cricketer said, "He (Laxman) is not retiring yet.

The impression that he has given to us is that he would inform everyone well in advance if he is to retire." Laxman carried this impression of defiance to the nets today at WACA as he strode out purposefully in the middle and had an extended batting session in sweltering heat.

And later at the press conference Indian opener Gautam Gambhir also jumped to Laxman's defence, saying, "My question is why one person? The top seven batters are equally to blame. We have failed as a unit, why then Laxman alone? He is a legend of Indian cricket. He has served Indian cricket for a very, very long time. There shouldn't be anyone who would be deciding. It should be him and him alone who should do so.

"If criticism has to happen, it should happen not to one person but to the entire batting unit who have let the team down. Neither media, fans nor former cricketers would decide if he is to retire. He is still working very hard, it's matter of just one innings and his confidence would be back." Laxman has made a mere 102 runs from six innings at an average of 17. He was equally abysmal in India's previous tour of England last summer when he made 182 runs from eight innings at an average of 22.75.

His series of failures with the bat have led to whispers in media, by "a senior board official" and reports by "informed sources" that Laxman would retire by the time the Adelaide Test begins on January 24.

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, now sidelined due to ban for slow over-rate, has been non-committal too when asked about Laxman's so-called imminent retirement plans. "As of now, there is nothing I know of officially. I wouldn't like to answer when there is a big if and a big but. I don't know from where it has come. Till Laxman comes and tells me, I wouldn't like to speculate on it," Dhoni had said after the WACA Test.

Laxman's long-term teammate Rahul Dravid was equally defiant in defence of his colleague. "I don't think the talk (of his removal) has affected him much. I haven't read and Lax is not bothered either. It's part and parcel of our job. You got to accept it while you continue to play. That's the way it goes. He is a pretty relaxed character and I'm sure he would come good in one of these Tests," Dravid had said.

The only Test now left for Laxman to prove himself is Adelaide where he has scripted one of his most glorious chapters for Indian cricket. Laxman once made 148 at the Adelaide Oval in 2003, bringing about a most spectacular turnaround in the annals of world cricket. Australia though scored 556, they still lost, thanks to a 303-run fifth wicket stand between Laxman and Dravid, which occupied the full third day and laid the basis of a four-wicket win. — PTI

Under-pressure Sehwag nonchalant at nets

Perth, January 17
If Virender Sehwag was anxious about his role as India skipper for the fourth Test against Australia and his continued poor run with the bat, he didn't show it to the world during the nets at the WACA here today. After batsmen -- from Rahul Dravid to Rohit Sharma to Virat Kohli to Gautam Gambhir -- had gone through some serious nets, Sehwag preferred to bat in shorts without any protection of pads, against throwdowns and slow bowling, at the WACA.

Sehwag is now at the helm of India's fortunes for the Adelaide Test, starting from January 24, after regular leader Mahendra Singh Dhoni was banned for slow over-rate during the third Test last week which India lost by an innings and 37 runs. Sehwag has a fearsome reputation as a devastating opener, scoring 8098 runs from 95 Tests at 50,93 average with 22 centuries including two triple hundreds, yet his form on the present tour has been downright dismal. Sehwag has scored 118 runs from six innings of three Tests at an average of 19.67.

Sehwag has pleasant memories of the last tour to these shores to lift him up where he scored 151 in the final Test at Adelaide Oval, the venue for the fourth Test of the present series. Indians came to the WACA this morning in two batches -- the first arrived at 10 in the morning and had most of the top order batsmen and bowlers Pragyan Ojha and Abhimanyu Mithun to accompany.

The second batch that came at 1100hrs included VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Sehwag himself, besides bowlers such as Ishant Sharma, Vinay Kumar and Ravichandran Ashwin. For all intent and purpose, it was a serious session.

The seriousness of the Indians though bordered on paranoid as they barred the media from standing straight in the background to nets.

Apparently it affected their visibility with the movement of the media in front. That the net bowlers were moving in the background all the same, made no headway by way of logic with the management. Dravid still fretted about his technique and chatted with coach Duncan Fletcher. The veteran spent close to two hours at the nets, trying to iron out the technical flaw in his forward defence which has so far resulted in five bowled out of six dismissals. — PTI

Former players divided on IPL

New Delhi, January 17
India’s catastrophic performance in the Test tours of England and Australia has triggered a heated debate as to whether the cash-rich IPL is wrecking havoc with the players’ technique and temperament. While some former players consider the glamorous Twenty20 event as one of the prime reasons for the Test slump, others feel that one event cannot alter a player’s basic technique and approach towards the game.

After being whitewashed 0-4 in England last year, India are staring down the barrel in Australia as well, trailing the four-match series 0-3 right now.

Former Indian captain Bishan Singh Bedi felt that IPL’s emergence is one of the primary reasons for India’s disastrous performance overseas. “If one starts putting things in a broader perspective, you must understand that this is exactly what happens when you have non-cricketers running the show. You want to run a professional body and at the same time you have all honorary posts,” Bedi told PTI.

“The game of cricket always had a philosophy but sadly IPL doesn’t have any philosophy. It's just a 'hit and run' game. Cricket is indeed a commercial game but the BCCI should have known where to draw a line as far as commerce is concerned.”

Bedi was also very vocal about the "role" of BCCI's technical committee which has now been in existence for nearly two decades. “The BCCI technical committee is supposed to be the most important committee, which should take all major decisions. Sunil Gavaskar headed it for a long time and now Sourav Ganguly is the chairman. Tell me what has been the contribution of this committee for the development of game? They have done absolutely nothing,” he stated.

But another former Test skipper Dilip Vengsarkar refused to blame it completely on IPL and said lack of proper planning by the BCCI is the prime reason for the dismal show. “IPL is not the only thing that is affecting the performance. The (tour itinerary) is faulty. There were not sufficient games before the start of the series or in between the Tests. The reserves in the team, like Rohit Sharma and wicket keeper Wriddhiman Saha have not played for more than a month,” said the former national chief selector. Vengsarkar felt the IPL should not be overdone and ideally be over in a month's time. — PTI

Ministry responsible for JNS mess: IOA
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 17
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has expressed its outrage over the pathetic condition of the sprawling Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, which was the venue of a football match between India and Bayern Munich on January 10. IOA acting president Vijay Kumar Malhotra held the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the Sports Ministry responsible for not properly maintaining the expensive stadium, renovated for nearly Rs 1, 000 crore for the Commonwealth Games.

“We saw the pictures of the pitiable condition of the stadium in the press and later received several complaints from sports fans and some foreign spectators about the state of the stadium where they had to clean the seats which were full of filth and dirt.”

He said the IOA, through its own investigation, found out that all the complaints were correct. Malhotra said though the match was played for a laudable purpose - farewell to Bhaichung Bhutia and collecting funds for Sikkim earthquake victims - the impression left on the minds of the paying public and foreign guests after seeing the condition of the stadium was one of disgust.

“Instead of seeing Incredible India, the foreigners witnessed the worst. This was SAI's way of promoting sports tourism. The condition of other stadiums are also no better and the way things are going they are going to become big junkyards”, Malhotra stated.

He reminded the Sports Minister and the SAI officials that in October last year, he had warned that because of lack of proper upkeep the costly stadium was turning out to be the most expensive junkyard in the world. He urged the Sports Ministry to put its own house in order and strictly monitor the upkeep of these expensive stadia. “Otherwise we may hear more horror stories about these stadiums”, he added.

Malhotra also advised the sports minister to use his energies in a constructive way. “Mr Maken should try to get the rules for the MPLAD scheme amended or revised to allow these funds also to be used for promotion of sports at the grass-root level, building of sports infra structure, holding of state, national and international competitions”.

“Once these rules are changed, the Minister should then convince every member of Parliament (both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha) to contribute at least 10 per cent of his/her fund available to them under MPLAD for sports-related schemes”, Malhotra suggested.

Stosur first big casualty on Day 2

Melbourne, January 17
US Open champion Sam Stosur crashed out in the first round of the Australian Open in straight sets today in a huge blow for local fans desperate to end a long drought at the national championship. Sixth-seeded Stosur lost 7-6 (2), 6-3 to No. 59-ranked Sorana Cirstea of Romania to continue her terrible run at home since beating Serena Williams to capture her first Grand Slam title in New York last September.

Stosur has had one win in three tournaments on home soil in 2012. She saved three match points while serving to stay in the match but finally lost it when her looping forehand drifted over the baseline to hush the Rod Laver Arena crowd on the second day of the tournament. No Australian has won the national title since Chris O'Neil in 1978.

Novak Djokovic won the men's US Open, one of his three Grand Slam titles in 2011. Anyone who didn't know it only had to look at his shoes today — if his emphatic first-round win wasn't evidence enough.

Djokovic started his Australian Open defense with a 6-2, 6-0, 6-0 win over Paolo Lorenzi of Italy, wearing a pair of red-white-and-blue shoes with images of his three major trophies on the sides and a Serbian flag on the heels. He gave up an early break but immediately broke back at love as he won the next 17 games, saving a breakpoint in the opening game of the second set.

On the women's side, second-ranked Kvitova and No. 4 Maria Sharapova advanced with lopsided wins. After surrendering her opening service game with a double-fault, Kvitova won 12 consecutive games in a 6-2, 6-0 win over Russia's Vera Dushevina. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan (6–4, 3–6, 6–2, 7–5) in their singles’ first round match. — AP

Parampal misses out, India's wait for Oly quota continues
India’s Gurpreet Singh and Pemba Tamang are in the hunt for a quota place after Day 1 of the men’s rapid fire pistol event

Doha, January 17
Parampal Singh Guron narrowly missed out on a place in the final of the men’s skeet event at the Asian Shooting Championship here to take the wait for an Olympic quota to another day. Guron, who was in 13th place overnight with a score of 71/75, started the day with a perfect round of 25 to move into contention for a place in the final.

With four quota places on offer, Guron needed to shoot another perfect round, but he crucially dropped one target to finish with a score of 120/125. The cut-off for the six-man final was at 121, which meant he finished 7th.

Mairaj Ahmed Khan shot a score of 119 to finish 13th while Asian Shotgun Championship winner Man Singh finished a lowly 28th after shooting 113/125. 2011 Dakar Rally Champion Nasser Al-Attiyah equalled the world record for qualification in skeet with a perfect score of 125/125.

The Qatari shooter did not drop the tempo in the final either, shooting another perfect score of 25 to equal the final world record of 150/150 as well as clinch a quota.

Abdullah Alrashidi of Kuwait won the silver as well as the quota with a score of 147 while the bronze was won by Sheikh Saeed Almaktoum of UAE with 146. Korea’s Kwang Soo Cho clinched the final quota place with a score of 145.

Qatar also won the team gold with a combined score of 362/375 while the Indian team of Guron, Khan and Singh came in at 6th place with a total of 352.

India’s Gurpreet Singh and Pemba Tamang are in the hunt for a quota place after Day 1 of the men’s rapid fire pistol event. Gurpreet shot a score of 291/300 to be in 4th place after the first course. But crucially there are two other shooters ahead of him on the same score that brightens his chances of reaching the final. — PTI

Ajmal on top as England struggle

Dubai, January 17
Pakistan off-spinner Saeed Ajmal took a career-best seven-wicket haul to destroy England’s much vaunted batting line-up on the opening day of the first Test here today. The 34-year-old, whose claims of a mystery delivery surrounded the lead-up to the three-Test series, had figures of 7-55 which wrecked England to 192 all out on a slow turning pitch at the Dubai Stadium.

In reply Pakistan finished on 42-0, with openers Mohammad Hafeez (22) and Taufiq Umar (18) unbeaten. They trail by 150 runs with all 10 wickets intact. Ajmal, whose previous best of 6-42 came against the West Indies at Guyana last year, bowled with variety, unleashing a straight delivery bowled with a round-arm action which kept low, seemingly his mystery one he named ‘teesra’ (the third one). — AFP

India score 2-1 win over South Africa

New Delhi, January 17
Star drag-flicker Sandeep Singh converted a late penalty corner to hand India a 2-1 win over South Africa in the second hockey Test here today. By virtue of this win, India now leads the five-Test series 2-0. The home team had yesterday defeated South Africa 4-0 in the series opener.

The Indians scored their goals late in both the halves through Chingelsana Singh (33rd minute) and Sandeep (68th), while Lance Louw (43rd) was the lone goal getter for South Africa at the Dhyan Chand national stadium here.

Despite the win, the Indians looked scrappy throughout the 70 minutes. India coach Michael Nobbs made nine changes in the starting line-up and gave the captain's armband to Tushar Khandekar, who played his 200th international match, in place of Sardara Singh, who was rested. — PTI