New Delhi, October 19
The future of the beleaguered Deccan Chargers hung in balance as the Supreme Court today refused to stay the termination of its Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise agreement with the cricket regulator, BCCI, for its failure to provide a bank guarantee for Rs 100 crore.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir dismissed the plea of Deccan Chronicles Holdings Ltd (DCHL), promoter of the Hyderabad team, to extend the deadline for furnishing the bank guarantee till October 25.

BCCI’s senior counsel CA Sundaram said the Board was set to auction the franchise afresh as the contract with DCHL stood terminated as on October 12, the extended deadline for making the payment.

BCCI said it did not want the continuance of Deccan Chargers in the IPL for four reasons. First, the holding company was in heavy debts owning as much as Rs 4,500 crore to various banks. Second, it had not paid the players for the last IPL season. The franchise had not made payments to the suppliers as well. Further, it had misused the franchise rights which had affected IPL’s international reputation.

The auction of IPL players was slated for October 21 and at this juncture the Deccan Chargers could not be given further time to provide the bank guarantee, BCCI said.

Further, the Deccan Chargers had lost its place in the IPL after the Bombay High Court stayed the arbitrator’s order for maintaining status quo in the matter till further hearing.

BCCI had already initiated the process for inducting new teams into the IPL by inviting bids for 12 cities - Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Cuttack, Noida, Dharamsala, Indore, Kanpur, Kochi, Nagpur, Rajkot, Ranchi and Vizag. The next IPL season is slated for April 2013.

The BCCI had decided to terminate the contract with DCHL at the IPL Governing Council meeting in Chennai on September 15 and this was challenged by DCHL in the Bombay HC.

Now, DCHL is left with the only hope of succeeding in the arbitration proceedings pending in Mumbai. In today’s order, the SC clarified that the dismissal of DCHL’s plea “would not prevent the arbitrator from continuing the proceedings.”

Meanwhile, the BCCI on Friday clarified that all the dues to be paid to the players of Deccan Chargers for the last season have been met.

“The BCCI wishes to clarify that all players dues for the last season have been met in respect of players who represented Deccan Chargers in IPL 2012,” BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale said in a press release on Friday.

(With agency inputs)

The washout of Mumbai Indians game against Yorkshire has meant that they will now have to win both their remaining games to stay in contention for a semifinals’ place.

Yorkshire were demolished by the Sydney team and so it was expected that the Mumbai Indians would also be able to get full points, but the rain Gods had different ideas and so the defending champions now have a tough time ahead. They play another Indian franchise, the Chennai team and their matches have always been well contested.

Sachin Tendulkar of Mumbai Indians is run out by Dan Hodgson of Yorkshire during their rain-hit match in Cape Town on Thursday night. — AFP

The Chennai team has lost their earlier games and so are on the verge of being knocked out unless of course they win against Mumbai and also their last game. In fact this game will decide which team goes home.

Mumbai has not quite got the start they need and so have struggled to put a big total on the board. In fact apart from the Titans and the Sydney teams, the openers of other teams have not prospered much and that has meant that the big stroke players coming after them have to first do the repair job and then look to accelerate the scoring.

The extra bounce on South African pitches does not make it easy to get under the ball and get it in the middle as on the subcontinent pitches. Most times the ball hits the makers name and only the very powerful get it away for a six. The big sixes hit so far have invariably been in the straight direction where the bats arc is at its best. Yes, the slog sweep also gets many boundaries and sixes, but it is not as good-looking a shot as the straight batted lofted ones.

The Chennai team also is looking to get their combination right and they have even dropped ‘Mr. Consistent’ Mike Hussey, in doing so. It has not worked since the totals have just not been enough and the opposition is getting there quite comfortably. They have to try and balance the four overseas players and that has not been easy.

Skipper Dhoni has batted aggressively and so also has his able lieutenant, Suresh Raina, but that has simply not been enough since the bowling has been taken apart. Ashwin has not been as accurate as he usually is often drifting down the leg side attempting his ‘flicker’ and Bollinger has been hot and cold.

It should be an interesting game as the games between these two teams usually are and unfortunately one of them will go out after this game — if the weather allows it to be played, of course. — PMG

Capetown, October 19
Facing elimination from Champions League Twenty20 after a loss and a washed-out game, Mumbai Indians’ bowling coach and mentor Shaun Pollock said the team’s fate is no longer in its own hands.

“It’s disappointing for us. The Lions have won two games and the way the schedule has been made, they play before us, which means qualification for the semi-final is out of your hands,” Pollock said after the rained-out match against Yorkshire.

“That’s a bit sad. If they win that game, they’ll have already won three and the Sydney Sixers have won three as well. And even if we win our remaining two games, we’ll have only two and a half. We had to win this game but you can’t control the weather. Unfortunately, ours was not the first game,” he added.

Pollock refuted suggestions that the bowling is too reliant on the pace duo of Mitchell Johnson and Lasith Malinga.

“Dhawal Kulkarni bowled really well in the last IPL game he played, against the Chennai Super Kings; so he’s a fantastic prospect.

“We’ve got Dwayne Smith and Kieron Pollard. We also have Harbhajan (Singh) and Pragyan Ojha, who have played international cricket; and we’ve seen in this tournament before that spinners have played a part. So no, we’re not over-dependent on Johnson and Malinga,” he said.

Pollock also rejected the notion that IPL teams were struggling in the CLT20.

“The Delhi Daredevils have won the one game they’ve played. The Chennai Super Kings haven’t played as well as they’re expected to. We have lost just one match,” he said.

“If you look at KKR, they have been very successful in Kolkata, where their bowling attack suits the wicket, but not here,” he added. — PTI

Bangalore, October 19
Golf is a perfect example where tradition is alternately cherished and derided. Some of golf’s traditions are so ritualistic that it is hard to justify them in a modern environment. To be sure, other sports too grapple with clashes between tradition and modernity and as such golf is not unique.

Its administrators are as pig-headed as those in the next sport, as the concept of scoring in golf reveals.

Take the case of Singapore’s ace golfer, Mardan Mamat. He is in Bangalore playing the Hero Indian Open. The professional, three-time Asian Tour and 2004 Indian Open champion had a good outing, with KGA’s ultra-modern electronic scoreboard beaming an impressive three-under 139 as his two-day score.

The strategically positioned gigantic electronic scoreboard with its eye-catching colour codes for birdies, eagle, bogey and double bogey looks striking. Opposite it, near the 18th green and to the left of the KGA Club House is a massive television screen beaming live coverage of the event. These two gizmos are as modern as they come for this ancient game.

But for Mamat these are ineffective substitutes for that little pencil which he has to dig-out of his pocket and, by mandate, enter scores on a scorecard after each hole. Mamat has had a problem with this simple task, not once, but twice in his professional career and on both occasions he was disqualified!

The latest was in the British Open earlier this year where, although he returned the correct score of 72, he had pencilled a birdie three instead of a four on the sixth hole and a five instead of a four on the eighth hole. This confusion caused him to be disqualified.

Earlier, Mamat had a similar problem in the first round of his home country’s Barclay Singapore Open $5.8 million event when his marker KJ Choi entered a 68 rather than a 69 for him and Mamat signed and submitted the card. He was disqualified under Rule 6-6d (signing an incorrect scorecard).

While the rule makes perfect sense in an unsupervised amateur event, it is wholly out of place in a multi-million dollar professional tournament where golf-scoring gadgets and machines are the order of the day. Marshalls and officials with hand-held mobile scoring devices, walkie-talkies, etc alert and activate a whole range of back-end offices, web-sites, television channels, media rooms and referees’ office at the end of each hole. Consequently, there are scores of people inside and outside the course who are aware of every stroke that a professional golfer executes. In such a scenario, it makes no sense to disqualify a player who erroneously submits a card.

The rule was made probably for a 20th Century world where the ability to track scores hinged purely on golf’s cherished spirit of the game based on honesty, integrity and courtesy. But when none of these attributes is compromised, and yet a golfer gets the chop, it means that a tradition has now been reduced to a meaningless ritual. Woe be the day when a PGA champion is disqualified on this meaningless out-dated rule.

Bangalore, October 19
Gaganjeet Bhullar in tied sixth and Shiv Kapur in tied 10th place turned out to be the best Indians at the halfway stage, even as the visiting professionals took centre-stage after two rounds of the Hero Indian Open golf tournament at the KGA here today.

Bhullar added a 69 to his first round 68 to move to five-under, while Kapur played a wobbly 71 to be four-under after 36 holes.

The halfway cut came at three-over and a total of 81 golfers, including 21 Indian professionals and five amateurs made the weekend rounds. Local lad S Chikkrangappa (72-68) is among five amateurs who made the cut.

Richie Ramsay of Scotland birdied four of his last five holes to fire a 66 and race to a three-shot lead ahead of three players including Thai duo Panuphol Pittayarat and Chapchai Nirat, and Jaakko Makitalo of Finland.

The bunch in second place all returned matching 68s.

In-form Bhullar, who won his fourth Asian Tour title in Macau last week, led the local charge with a round of 69 for tied sixth position and is five shots off the pace.

Bhullar has kept his bid for the title alive as he peppered the greens with acute iron play.

“I felt good and was enjoying myself because I found a lot of fairways and hit a lot of greens in regulation. I’m still looking forward to hitting some low numbers in the next two days,” said Bhullar, currently in fifth position on the Order of Merit.

“I had a great start with three birdies on the trot in my first four holes, but then on the second nine, the front side of the course, I had a bit of a wobble that cost me three shots. That left me a lot of work to do over next two days,” he added. — PTI

New Delhi, October 19
With the exit of Paramveer Singh Bajwa, Punjab’s hopes of figuring in a title clash ended in the Fenesta National Open Tennis Championship at the DLTA court here today. Paramveer fell to top seed B.R Nikshep in the boys under-14 semifinal, but not before putting up a good fight. But when it came to the big points, Nikshep raised his game to get the winners. Nikshep will meet Sanil Jagtiani in the title clash. Sanil had to battle hard to beat Alex Solanki 7-5, 6-4.

Perhaps, for the first time in a long time, the boys under-16 title clash will not feature a seeded player. In the semifinals, Garvit Batra of Delhi beat Sai Nikhil 7-5, 6-2 while Shashank Nautiyal overwhelmed higher-ranked Prajwal Dev Seed 7-6, 4-6, 6-1. Shashank started on the wrong foot, literally, when he was broken in the very first game, but broke back in the next game, and remained in the hunt, despite losing the second set. He came back roaring in the third set and virtually rushed through it with Prajwal looking like a spent force.

Seedings held good in the girls’ under-16 singles, as the top two seeds will clash for the title. Top seeded S Snehadevi had another easy outing when she tamed fourth seed Akshara Iska in the first semifinal at 6-1, 6-0 while second seed Pranjala Yadlapalli beat Ramya Natrajan 6-4, 6-2.

The top seed was knocked out in straight sets in the girls’ under-14 semi-final. Mihika Yadav stunned Sruta Gungunati 6-2, 6-1 while Vanshika Sawhney got the better of Himani Mor 7-6, 6-4.

In the doubles contests, Vishu Prasad and Deepak Vishwakarma beat Tejas Kapoor and Raswant Ravi in the boys’ under-16 final while Himani Mor and Vanshika Sawhney beat Jhanvi Gupta and Vineeta Singh 6-2, 7-5.

In the under-14 age group, Nitin Sinha and Vikash Singh beat Shramay Dhawan and Sumit Singh 6-4, 7-6 to win the boys title while Nandini Sharma and Mihika Yadav beat Zeel Desai and Sehal Mane 7-6, 6-2 for the girls’ title.

New Delhi, October 19
Vijay Kumar, the winner of a shooting silver medal at the London Olympics, has been honoured with the ‘Services Best Sportsman’ award for the year 2012 at the Army Headquarters in New Delhi.

The award is given to the best sportsman from the three defence forces — Army, Air Force and Navy.

The award, which includes a trophy and Rs. 1 lakh, was presented to the ace shooter by Navy Chief Admiral DK Joshi on Friday.

“I am honoured to have been given such a prestigious award. It makes me really happy that my efforts are now being applauded and appreciated by the Services,” Vijay Kumar said.

Vijay Kumar won a silver medal at the July-August London Games in the individual 25 metre rapid fire pistol.

The current world No. 3 had earlier won three gold medals and one silver medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games held here.

Meanwhile, the Himachal Pradesh shooter will be flying to Bangkok on October 22 to participate in the prestigious ISSF World Cup Finals. — PTI

New Delhi, October 19
He has faced consistent mechanical issues in his HRT car but Narain Karthikeyan says despite problems he has proved that he has the speed to deserve a better place on the grid.

Karthikeyan endured six retirements due to mechanical problems and other issues but he also has a season-best 15th place finish at the Monaco Grand Prix in the 2012 calendar so far. He has also competed well with his Hispania teammate Pedro de la Rosa and beaten him in qualifying in some races.

Now that top places have been filled for the next season, and with just one or two places remaining to be grabbed, Karthikeyan feels he has done enough on the speed front to deserve a better seat.

Nico Hulkenberg would leave Sahara Force India to join Sauber which means the Indian team will look for Paul Di Resta’s teammate.

He said he is good enough for Force India. I would definitely like the possibility since I have proved that I have the speed to deserve a shot higher up the grid. But I think they have their own plans.” — PTI

BRIEFLY

Haryana, Punjab, UP eves in hockey last 8
Bhopal: Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Jharkhand completed the quarterfinal line-up with emphatic victories in their concluding league matches of second Hockey India Senior Women’s National Championship. In the quarters, Railways will take on Uttar Pradesh, Haryana will face Chandigarh, Odisha will play Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy will take on Punjab. Haryana entered the last eight stage after registering a 22-0 victory over Andhra Pradesh. Deepika Sharma scored five goals to help Uttar Pradesh blank Bengal 13-0, while Punjab outplayed Jammu & Kashmir 18-0.

Sangwan wins Usha junior title in thriller
Chandigarh: Piyush Sangwan birdied the final hole in regulation play to tie the scores and then proceeded to beat S Sidhartha from Coimbatore to grab the overall honours at the Usha-IGU Punjab Junior Golf Championships. Piyush, who began the day trailing Yashas Chandra (77), ended with a 75, the same as Sidhartha. Yashas faltered on the final day with a 77 and ended third overall at 296.

CSA chief Majola fired over bonus scandal
Johannesburg: Suspended Cricket South Africa (CSA) chief executive Gerald Majola has been dismissed for his part in a bonus scandal following a disciplinary hearing, the organisation announced on Friday. Majola was found guilty on nine charges, including accepting bonuses, not declaring them to the board and wrongdoing around travel claims. Advocate Karel Tip, who chaired the disciplinary hearing, said Majola should be dismissed. The CSA said in a statement that they would “implement (the recommended sanction) with immediate effect.” Majola was suspended in March this year after an independent inquiry found that 4.7 million rand ($540,000) in bonuses had been paid to CSA staff without clearance from the board or the remuneration committee.

2019 Asiad venue to be decided on Nov 8
Macau: The host of the 2019 Asian Games, for which three cities are in the race, will be decided on November 8. The 31st Olympic Council of Asia (OCA)’s General Assembly is scheduled at the Macau East Asian Games Dome in China on November 8. The most important item on the agenda of the meeting is the choice of the host city for the 18th Asian Games in 2019. Surabaya (Indonesia), Hanoi (Vietnam) and Dubai (UAE) are in the running to host the sports extravaganza. — Agencies