Adelaide, March 7
A rejuvinated Sri Lanka would look to exploit the injury problems and bowling woes of Australia when the two teams clash for the title in the third and last final final of the cricket tri-series here tomorrow. Just ahead of the decider, Australia have lost skipper Michael Clarke to a left hamstring problem and fast bowler James Pattinson to a buttock strain.

Australia's cup of injury woes is overflowing as opener David Warner, who now has two successive centuries in the series, is also battling a serious groin injury. Brett Lee too has soldiered on with a broken foot. Australia have just not been able to gather momentum against the Lankans and solidity at the top is in danger too with injury rearing its head in the ranks.

So it will be a huge task for stand-in captain Shane Watson to lift the team and stop a rampaging opponent. The major disappointment for the world number one team is how ineffective their bowling has been in the series. They have thrice let teams chase totals in excess of 270 - once by India and twice by Sri Lanka and their 321 at Gabba was barely good enough to prevail over the spirited Lankans.

Australia have rued the lack of solidity at the top and now that they have it, there is a worry that their lower half isn't able to shift gears in the final overs. Australia have planned to keep wickets in hand for the final onslaught against the Sri Lankans but it has never come about as Lasith Malinga led attack has invariably pulled them back.

Before the second finals, Clarke had also been left shaking his head in disgust in the manner they were unable to plug the run-leaks in powerplay and death overs. The second final on Tuesday only reconfirmed the worry as Lankans posted their first 100 inside the first 16 overs.

Both Tillakaratne Dilshan, now the top scorer of the series with runs in excess of 500 and skipper Mahela Jayawardene are proving an irresistible force at the top and are invariably providing a launch-pad which takes the game away from the hosts. On the rare occasion that they have failed, like the first final in Gabba on Sunday, it's the lower half which has come to party with unexpected runs flowing from the likes of Nuwan Kulasekara and Dhammika Prasad.

Such is the spirit running in the veins of the Lankans that Malinga completed his overs despite being in obvious discomfort during the Australian innings last night and ended up claiming 3 for 40 in his 10 overs. A rattled Australia has called upon off-spinner Nathan Lyon to make use of the slow Adelaide pitch and after loss of faith in Ben Hilfenhaus, the shows of Brett Lee and James Pattinson are evoking similar disapproval.

Australia's dip in form has extended in the field as well as regular shys at stumps are missing the mark and wides and no-balls are being bowled at wrong times, such as the one last night when Clint McKay claimed Jayawardene in the second over itself, only to realize that he had bowled a no-ball. So superior appear the Lankans that despite dropping half a dozen chances in the second final, they were still overwhelming winners by eight wickets.

Tillakaratne Dilshan will once again be a key player as Sri Lanka look to keep the winning momentum going. 

Patiala, March 7
Refusing the Indian Army’s plea, which appeared in a section of the media, to include their sportsperson in the Indian Olympic squad ahead of a young shooter from Punjab, the senior functionaries of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) have made it clear that “only merit would be considered and the best squad already picked would go despite the Indian Army keen to field their marksman RVS Rathore”. This means the end or road for the double trap marksman RVS Rathore, who bagged a silver medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics and was replaced last month by Patiala girl Heena Sidhu.

Setting aside all speculations raised by a section of the media that Rathore still had a chance to be named in the London Olympics squad, sources confirmed that the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) would stick with the already announced squad.

Sources confirmed that certain individuals were trying to exert pressure on the NRAI to ensure that Rathore gets a nod for the Games. However, his chances diminished further after the entire top brass of the NRAI, unanimously picked Patiala shooter Heena Sidhu over other contenders including Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Anisa Sayyed, at a meeting held in Rudrapur in February.

“The decision to select Heena came following her recent performances and the fact that she was ranked number one, just two days prior to the competition and also that her current world ranking was 17, much ahead of other competitors”, said Heena’s father RS Sidhu.

A senior official of the NRAI rubbished suggestions that Rathore had to be included in the Indian squad as the Army desired so and the same would be explained, if necessary, to the sports ministry as well. “It is a matter of form and the probability of winning a medal and the Indian Army is no exception. There is no new evidence on our table that suggest that we should review the unanimous decision taken by our selection committee, last month”, claimed a senior NRAI functionary in a written text to The Tribune.

Meanwhile speaking on the matter NRAI president Raninder Singh told The Tribune that the NRAI bats for the entire country and not for an individual or organisation.

“The quota belongs to India and the NRAI believes that the best medal prospect be sent to London. The NRAI has stuck to its selection policy and favoured only merit. No other consideration shall be taken into account”, he added.

Since Gagan Narang and Sanjeev Rajput had already secured the two spots available for India in the men's rifle 3-position event, it was decided to exchange the superfluous quota place won in the Asian championship in Doha, for an entry for the 22-year-old Heena who had missed the Olympic quota on the last shot by 0.9 point in the same championship last month.

Sri Lanka showed the stern stuff they were made of by winning the second one day finals in a canter. It was a superb performance, and once again shrewd captaincy by Mahela Jayawardene ensured that despite the Australians having two century makers in their innings, the total did not go out of bounds.

His use of Dilshan to open the bowling and keeping Malinga back was a master stroke, since Malinga had shown in the previous games that he wasn’t quite able to control the movement of the new ball, and so strayed on the pads and got clipped for boundaries. By bringing him on to bowl with the ball slightly used and thus better gripped, Jayawardene gave his most potent bowler just the confidence that he needed, and how splendidly Malinga responded. His three wickets came when Australia were looking for the late charge that could have propelled them past 300.

David Warner, who played a blazing innings in the first finals, got another century but this was a strained effort compared to his first one, and if he had been a subcontinent batsman he would have been accused of playing for the century and not for the team.

The Aussie skipper, Michael Clarke however was in superb touch and he made up for Warner’s slow going by Warner’s standards of course, but he got out at a crucial time. Warner still wasn’t able to power the ball away and when he got out in the 45th over after duly getting his century, Australia had two new batsmen at the crease. It is never easy for new batsmen to strike the ball and find the gaps as easily as well set batsmen can, and Australia thus struggled in the final overs and ended up at least 30 runs short of what they would have wanted.

Having almost chased down 320 runs in the previous match the Sri Lankans knew that they needed a solid start and it would be easy after that. They got an electrifying start with both Jayawardene and Dilshan, playing some breathtaking shots and when the skipper got out in the 28th over he had set it up nicely for his team. It was unfortunate that he missed out on getting a century because it would have been his first against the Australians, but while he was there cricket was once again the game of skills and not just power. Very few batsmen in the world are good with both hands and Jayawardene is one of them.

Brian Lara was another who could use the top as well as the bottom hand equally well and so was difficult to contain, and so is the Lankan skipper. He was lucky of course, that he was out off a no ball but once reprieved, he made no mistake till he got out. Dilshan had bowled smartly and to that he added good common sense approach and got another ton in the competition. He can get a bit impetuous and throw his wicket away, but Jayawardene’s presence at the other end and the smooth flow of runs meant that Dilshan did not have to take unnecessary risks.

The experienced, Sangakkara then saw that there were no alarms even as Dinesh Chandimal showed what a fine prospect he is. It was a most emphatic win and that makes them the favourites to win the tri-series. — PMG

Jallandhar, March 7
After squandering at least 15 chances throughout the game, the home team of Shere-E-Punjab faced their first defeat in the ongoing World Series Hockey, at the Olympian Surjit Singh Stadium, here on Wednesday. Delhi Wizards defeated the home 2-1. The Delhi team came from behind after in-form players Manoj Antil and Gurvinder Singh scored a goal each to wrap up the points. Notably, the Wizards won without former India captain Rajpal Singh.

Shere- E-Punjab, as has been the case all through, dominated the first quarter of the game but failed to keep up the momentum in the rest of the match. The team raised many field attacks and won three penalty corners but failed to convert their chances into goals. For Delhi, within a span of 17 minutes, goalkeeper Kamaldeep Singh saved four shots and stopper Majeet Kullu, after charging towards drag flickers, managed to avoid at least two penalty corners. Kullu was named the Man of the Match.

The home team started off well and were awarded a penalty corner through skipper Prabhjot Singh in the starting minutes but missed out on a chance to score. Soon after, right full back VS Vinaya poured a long pass to Deepak Thakur, who deflected the ball goalwards, but goalkeeper Kamaldeep Singh managed to make a save again.

Later in the 11th minute, the home team were awarded a second penalty corner but again Kullu charged to deflect a scorching shot from Harpal Singh. After three minutes the team were awarded the third penalty corner but goalkeeper Kamaldeep again took charge. In the dying minutes, Kamldeep again stood firm and saved two back to back shots by Deepak.

Just after the start of the second quarter, rolling substitute Gagan Ajit Singh received a well measured pass from centre half Prabhdeep Singh (senior), right on the top of the opponent’s area, but Kamaldeep came down almost 10 steps to prevent the former international from scoring.

But Kamaldeep failed to prevent Matthew Hotchiks from scoring as Punjab took the lead in the 22nd minute of the game. Later the team again got a chance to double the lead but remained unsuccessful even after using Didar Singh in two back to back penalty corners.

On other hand, the visiting side also failed in their effort to make a comeback after missing two penalty corners in a row. Lack of combination was the reason for the situation as Shakeel Abbasi, failed to grab a pass from Bruno Lugun. As half-time approached, the home team continued to play the attacking game.

After the breather, finally the visiting side came back in the match and scored the equaliser through Gurvinder Singh, who smartly directed the ball inside the goal post from the right flank after receiving a long pass by Vikram in the 40th minute.

Finally, Manoj Antil put his team on course for a win after making it 2-1 after he dodged goalkeeper Dinesh Ekka in the 63rd minute of the game.

Chandigarh, March 7
The KGA in Bangalore is the home course for Anirban Lahiri and he showed he’s well-versed with the fairways and greens of this spectacular course by shooting a score of 3-under 69 on Wednesday. But that was not the day’s best score.

The day’s best - four-under 68 - came from three other pro golfers - Sri Lanka’s Anura Rohana (Team Chennai), Shiv Kapur (Team Delhi) and Harendra Gupta (Team Chandigarh).

At the end of Round One of the city-based Louis Philippe Cup, Team Chennai were in the lead with a score of 138. Three other teams were tied at the second spot with an identical score of 139. These three teams are - Delhi, Bangalore and Dev-Ellora Chandigarh.

Jeev Milkha Singh of Team Noida posted a first round score of one-under 71 and DLF Gurgaon’s Jyoti Randhawa played a steady round of 2-under 70.

Manav Jaini also of team Bangalore shot 70 to give the team a total score of 139, just one behind leaders Chennai. It’s the first time here for Jeev and he was all praise for the course. “The course is in excellent condition. It’s a demanding golf course. You have to play a few times to know where you should position yourself. Few pin positions were tough. The fairways are excellent, the greens are looking good. It was a positive start to the tournament and I am looking forward to a good start in round two. The greens were friendly and the putts were rolling in. Hopefully, I can repeat that tomorrow,” said Jeev after today’s round.

14- year-old Trisha S. Kumar was one of the main attractions today playing alongside Jeev and Anirban Lahiri and Jeev had special words of encouragement for Trisha.

“Trisha got a few birdies - which was fantastic. On the 15th hole she birdied it with an excellent golf shot. She has a lot of talent and is enjoying playing the game.” The top four teams after Thursday’s second round will progress to the semi-finals. There are ten teams taking part in this competition.

LEADERBOARD:

1. Team Chennai (138) 2. Team Chandigarh, 3) Team Bangalore and 4) Team Delhi (all on 139). 

London, March 7
AC Milan advanced to the quarter-finals of the Champions League after Arsenal fell agonisingly short of a remarkable comeback despite an emphatic 3-0 victory over the Italian champions. Arsenal had been left needing to pull off one of the biggest comebacks in European history after suffering a 4-0 first leg thrashing against the Serie A leaders in the San Siro last month.

But first-half goals from Laurent Koscielny, Tomas Rosicky and captain Robin van Persie fired the Gunners into an improbable 3-0 lead which left the Emirates faithful daring to dream that a miracle was on the cards.

However Milan regrouped well after the break and Arsenal were unable to find the fourth goal that would have levelled the tie, leaving the shattered Premier League giants reflecting on a 4-3 aggregate defeat.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger praised his side's display. "They can only be proud of their performance," Wenger said. "The team has fantastic spirit and showed some fight after the first tie, but unfortunately we go out. We had the chances for a goal, but we keep our winning run going which is important. We have paid the price for a bad first game.

Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri meanwhile paid tribute to the way his side had responded after their first half mauling.

"I just said to them at half-time that we couldn't change what had happened in the first half," Allegri said. "But I said to them it was important to remember that even at 3-0 we were still qualified." Arsenal had needed to make an early breakthrough to give their hopes of a miracle some momentum and they duly scored the goal they craved after only seven minutes to send the Emirates into raptures.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain swung in an inviting corner from the left, and as the jittery Milan defence appeared to be preoccupied with the position of van Persie, Koscielny popped up unmarked to head home.

The goal infused Arsenal with belief and within minutes they were sweeping forward hungrily once more. Theo Walcott surged down the right flank and fed van Persie, whose shot from a tight angle was well saved by Christian Abbiati. — AP