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Djokovic bids for hat-trick
‘'Rebel’ Somdev to begin campaign against Bjorn Phau
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Novak: Nadal’s woe is a warning for all
Dhoni has to bide his time during transition phase, says Ganguly
SECOND ODI
Punjab take on Delhi in HIL opener
Hockey India League (HIL) Chairman Narinder Batra along with the sponsors unveil the trophy in New Delhi on Sunday. Tribune Photo: Manas Ranjan Bhui
We have moved on from lows of Olympics: Sardar
Lanka register convincing win over Australia
Hapless Kiwis collapse against South Africa pace
Manchester United trump Liverpool
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Djokovic bids for hat-trick
Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro is the only man besides Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Federer and Murray to win a Grand Slam tournament since 2005, but the Serb said there were plenty of others who could threaten their dominance. "It's probably expected that the three of us, and Nadal of course, would still be main candidates to win all the major titles," Djokovic said. "But, you know, I wouldn't underestimate Del Potro, (Jo-Wilfried) Tsonga, (David) Ferrer, (Tomas) Berdych, anybody who is in the top 10. "I'm sure there's new young players coming up like (Bernard) Tomic, (Grigor) Dimitrov, (Milos) Raonic. "I don't think it's nice for me to predict that us three will be champions of all Grand Slams this year." However, the odds favour Djokovic who is targeting a third straight Australian title, a feat which has not been achieved in the professional era. Nadal is not playing due to illness, robbing Melbourne Park of a repeat of last year's epic final, when Djokovic finally tamed the Spaniard at 1:40 am after a record, 5hr 53min final which left him with bleeding toes. But Djokovic will face a stiff challenge from the newly assertive Murray, fresh from his first Grand Slam win and keen to avenge his final and semi-final defeats to Djokovic in Melbourne in 2011 and 2012. Also pressing hard will be Federer, holder of an unmatched 17 Grand Slams and still hungry for more even though, at the age of 31, he is conceding six years to his younger rivals. Murray, 25, said the Grand Slam breakthrough at Flushing Meadows in 2012 eased the pressure and set him up perfectly to build on the best year of his career. "Not just Grand Slams. You know, I kind of maybe always felt like I was having to prove something every time I went on the court because I hadn't won a Slam," he said in Melbourne. "You know, even when you win a Masters Series, people still asked me always about the Slams. So it's nice just to kind of not have to worry about that any more. "I think it will help me throughout the rest of the year, as well, on the tour because I just won't be worrying and thinking about the Slams all the time, I can focus on all of the events that I'm entered in." Murray, the world number three, was thrashed by Djokovic in the 2011 Australian Open decider, and narrowly lost out in their thrilling five-set semi-final last year. But the Scot then beat Djokovic on his way to London Olympics gold, and again in the US Open final as he became Britain's first male Grand Slam singles winner since Fred Perry in 1936. Meanwhile four-time winner Federer, keen to extend his long stay at the top of men's tennis, opted out of playing a warm-up tournament. The Swiss has not reached the Melbourne final since his last win in 2010. But he said it had allowed him to feel fresh and eager for more Grand Slam glory as he prepared for his 53rd straight major. "I purposely didn't play a lead-up tournament so that I'd be fresh for the beginning, hopefully going deep into the tournament. That's the goal obviously," he said. "I think it's nice sometimes doing it slightly different than every year the same thing. Otherwise it feels like a deja vu and that's not always a good thing. David Ferrer, who won the most matches (76) and titles (seven) last year, is the fourth seed and is in good form having claimed a fourth ATP Auckland crown by beating Philipp Kohlschreiber in straight sets Saturday. In Nadal's absence, he has a chance to climb above the fourth-ranked fellow Spaniard for the first time in his career. — Reuters |
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‘'Rebel’ Somdev to begin campaign against Bjorn Phau
Melbourne, January 13 Mahesh Bhupathi and Canadian Daniel Nestor is seeded fifth and will take on Spaniards, Pablo Andujar and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, in their first round. Rohan Bopanna and Rajeev Ram are seeded 12th and will meet local pair of Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios first up. The teams of Bhupathi and Bopanna could meet in the third round if the draw goes as per seedings. In the women's doubles, Sania Mirza and her American partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands, seeded 10th, have been drawn against Silvia Soler-Espinosa and Carla Suarez Navarro. — PTI |
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Novak: Nadal’s woe is a warning for all
Melbourne. January 13
But the Serb said Nadal's extended absence with knee problems proved that tennis remained unpredictable —and that there were a host of players waiting to take advantage if the top men falter. "I think we cannot predict anything. It's individual sport, so it only depends from you. Anybody can have what Nadal has at this moment," Djokovic said in Melbourne. "That's why you have to be so committed and professional for daily routines. Small details matter for long term, the preparations you do, the practice, the recovery. "If you are injured, you're off the tour. Your ranking is going down." Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro is the only man besides Djokovic, Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray to win a Grand Slam tournament since 2005. Nadal, an 11-time Grand Slam winner, missed much of last season with ongoing knee problems, and announced his withdrawal from the Australian Open last month citing a stomach bug. "It's probably expected that the three of us, and Nadal of course, would still be main candidates to win all the major titles," Djokovic said. "But, you know, I wouldn't underestimate Del Potro, (Jo-Wilfried) Tsonga, (David) Ferrer, (Tomas) Berdych, anybody who is in the top 10. I'm sure there's new young players coming up like (Bernard) Tomic, (Grigor) Dimitrov, (Milos) Raonic. "I don't think it's nice for me to predict that us three will be champions of all Grand Slams this year." Djokovic will start the tournament against France's Paul-Henri Mathieu as favourite for the trophy, which would take him level with Federer and Andre Agassi on four titles at Melbourne Park. He said he wasn't sure why nobody has won three Australian Open titles in a row since Roy Emerson completed a win of five straight in 1967, two years before tennis embraced professionalism. But the Serb, who has won three of his five major titles at Melbourne Park, including his debut Grand Slam win in 2008, said it remained his favourite of the four majors, despite its notorious heat and reputation for surprises. Last year, Djokovic outlasted Nadal over five hours and 53 minutes, a record for a Grand Slam final, to lift the title. Federer's warning: Ready for more Grand Slam glory Swiss great Roger Federer warned on Saturday that he was fresh and eager for more Grand Slam glory as he prepared for his 53rd straight major, defending his quiet start to the year. The 31-year-old has been playing Grand Slam tennis since 1999 and shows no signs of slowing down, but has altered the way he prepares for the big events and skipped any warm-up tournaments ahead of next week's Australian Open. He said it is all part of his plan to keep competing at the elite level for as long as possible and overtake South African Wayne Ferreira's record of 56 consecutive Slams. — Reuters Star Power
Olga Puchkova (Russia) v Maria Sharapova (Russia) Chang Kai-chen (Taiwan) v Samantha Stosur (Australia) Novak Djokovic (Serbia) v Paul-Henri Mathieu (France) Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) v Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) v Melinda Czink (Hungary) Venus Williams (U.S.) v Galina Voskoboeva (Kazakhstan) David Goffin (Belgium) v Fernando Verdasco (Spain) David Ferrer (Spain) v Olivier Rochus (Belgium) |
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Dhoni has to bide his time during transition phase, says Ganguly
Kolkata, January 13 Responding to the widespread criticism for Team India's repeated below-par performance, Ganguly said,"It comes in every captain's tenure. MS has to bide his time." "It's easy to comment from outside. You have to give the newcomers some time to settle down. Hopefully, they will do well in couple of years' time," he said. Ganguly said that it is easy for everyone to criticise a captain. "Captains are always criticised. Even in my time, despite having players' like Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman, the team took time to settle down. You have to be patient," Ganguly, who had taken over the captaincy from Tendulkar in a difficult phase in early 2000, said. About 2015 World Cup in Australia, Ganguly finds Bengal's pace duo of Ashok Dinda and Shami Ahmed as integral part of the side alongside batsman Manoj Tiwary who is nursing an injury. "They (Dinda and Shami) have 200 percent chance looking at the conditions in Australia. It's good for Bengal cricket. I am also confident that Tiwary will get a chance," he said. An in-form Cheteshwar Pujara might have been benched in the first ODI against England but Ganguly said the Saurashtra batsman would be part of the side soon. "I'm sure he would become a part of the side soon. It's just a matter of time." Ganguly said the responsibility lies with the selectors to make a team with future in mind and added that discarded duo of Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh would get ample opportunities. "The Test side needs Sehwag. Sehwag and Harbhajan will get ample opportunities to get back to form." Asked whether the ODI team was missing Sachin Tendulkar, Ganguly said, "He was not part of the ODI side for quite a long time and the team is used to playing without him. But it would become difficult without him in the Test side." "In the next one and half years, we would play about 15 Tests and it's not easy. It's the selectors job to make a side keeping that in mind." Ganguly also said the duo of Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma should be given more time to prove themselves. "Hope they would do better. In between, Virat Kohli has done an excellent job. We have to give them some time." — PTI
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Started off well in ODI series: Patel
Kochi, January 13
"It is a great start, especially after we lost the two-warm-up games. We just have to stick to the basics. In these conditions, it will be good to stay level-headed, stay calm, stay positive," he told reporters here today after the team's practice session here ahead of the second ODI on Tuesday. Patel said England would try their best to win the ODI series in India as well after emerging victorious in the Test rubber. "We have a good chance and can achieve it," said Patel. "It was incredible the way the team had learned to tackle the spinners," he said. Asked whether he would prefer to bat higher up the order, Patel said, "I would be happy to play in any position the team wants me to. We have quite a few hitters in the side like (Kevin) Pietersen, Eoin Morgan," he said. Patel was in superb form in Rajkot, cracking six fours and a six and adding 70 runs in the last six overs with Craig Kieswetter, which was crucial to England's nine-run victory. Meanwhile, the tickets worth Rs 1.2 crore have already been sold. — PTI
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Ajmal dominates PCB’s first ever annual awards
Karachi, January 13 Saeed, who had a successful tour of India recently, won the PCB best bowler awards for all three formats of the game but missed out on the prestigious cricketer of the year award. Opener Nasir Jamshed followed with two awards, including the PCB T20 and ODI batsman of the year, while Azhar Ali was declared Test batsman of the year. The left-handed opener recently had a triumphant tour of India scoring back to back hundreds in the one-day series. This is the first time the PCB has organized annual awards and chairman Zaka Ashraf said they would now be a permanent feature. "The aim is to encourage and recognize the stellar performers of the year in Pakistan and to reward them so that they have incentive to further excel," Ashraf said. — PTI
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Punjab take on Delhi in HIL opener
New Delhi, January 13
Though the visas of the nine Pakistani players have learnt to have been processed and cleared, the file regarding the six Services players was still awaiting clearance from the defence authorities, though the HIL auctions were held almost a month ago. “The file is with the Defence Ministry, and we are expecting the clearance of the players any time, at least before the opening match tomorrow”, said Hockey India secretary-general Narinder Batra. The six Services players include Punjab Warriors’ key striker S.V.Sunil. A top source said the delay in the clearance of the Services players was surprising considering Services have always been an integral part of the Indian team. Moreover, the HIL will have a franchisee based in Ranchi—Ranchi Rhinos—as Jharkhand is considered as a great nursery of hockey talent, many of whom end up playing for Services. No surprise, Hockey India has chosen Ranchi as the venue for the semi-finals and the final, which is an acknowledgement of the talent available in the fledgling State. Meanwhile, Hockey India has lined up a slew of cash awards for the HIL. The Punjab-based lead sponsors, Hero MotoCorp, will award Rs 25 lakh to the player of the tournament, while the best Under-21 emerging player of the tournament (either Indian or foreigner) will be presented a cash prize of Rs 20 lakh. Besides, there will be a fair play trophy, and man of the match award worth Rs 25,000 for every match and Rs 25,000 for the Hero goal of the match. And the Airtel Golden Goal award will fetch Rs 10,000 for each of the five goals scored in a shootout, and the winners will be decided by five chosen spectators. However, Hockey India has kept under wraps the big prize money for the title winners. The franchisees have gone into town with a major advertisement campaign and there is much interest for this novel hockey idea, though Hockey India has kept a strict check on free passes. The magnificent trophy for the HIL was unveiled here today by Hero MotorCorp MD Pawan Munjal. The theme and concept of the trophy is the “re-emergence of India as a hockey power” as the HIL was expected to inject a new dynamism to the game. Meanwhile, the inaugural match between Delhi Waveriders and Jaypee Punjab Warriors tomorrow was expected to be a cracker of a contest as both the teams are packed with some of the big names in the game. While Delhi will be led by the versatile Indian captain Sardar Singh, Punjab will be spearheaded by Australian great Jamie Dawyer. The Punjab team also boast of some of the finest Indian stars like Sunil, Shivendra Singh, Dharamvir Singh, Ignace Tirkey and many quality foreign stars while Delhi’s star draw will be Sardar Singh. Punjab team coach Jagbir Singh said their all-round strength will be their asset while Sardar said Delhi had the most balanced team, and were prepared to take all comers head-on. “We are well-tuned for the contest, as the Indian and foreign players had many practice sessions together in Delhi for the past few days to jell as a nice combination”, he added. Besides Sardar, the Delhi team consist of India players like Yuvraj Walmiki, Gurvinder Chandi, Gurbaj Singh, penalty corner specialist Rupinder Pal Singh and Danish Mujtaba. Jugraj said the six Australian players in the Punjab team afford them the flexibility of fielding a balanced Indian-foreign combination at all times. And they were hopeful of making a winning start to this mega league, which will make the hockey players richer in experience and money, than ever before.
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We have moved on from lows of Olympics: Sardar
New Delhi, January 13 Not even a single win came India's way during the London Olympics as the national game experienced one of its darkest hours but a strong showing in the Champions Trophy and Asian Champions Trophy instilled a fresh lease of life into Indian hockey. "We have left it behind and moved on. After London Olympics, we performed well at the world's best tournament, Champions Trophy and finished fourth. I, as a skipper, motivated players to perform well and forgot about Olympics," Sardar told PTI in a candid interview. "The players did well and their hard work paid rich dividends. We defeated world's best teams, New Zealand, England and Belgium in the tournament. In the Asian trophy, we were unlucky as poor umpiring cost us the final against Pakistan other wise we would have won it," he added. Reflecting on the London Games, Sardar said: "It was disappointing and hurt us. After we qualified for the London Olympics, our coach Michael Nobbs and trainer David John made us work hard for the remaining 5-6 months before the Games. We practiced day in day out. The team members were away from their homes and spent most of the time on the astro turf. "The one month camp in Spain before the Games, we played four-nation and three-nation tournaments and the world's best teams were there. We performed well in those particular tournaments. We were unlucky that when Olympics started and barring our first match, we did not perform well in the next matches," Sardar said. For Sardar, the script went awfully wrong at the London Games because of three reasons -- man-to-man marking was not up to the mark, players weren't aggressive in the 'D' and ball trapping was missing. — PTI
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Lanka register convincing win over Australia
Adelaide, January 13 Sri Lanka put the hosts in to bat after rain delayed the start at the Adelaide Oval and the bowlers capitalised on cloud cover and moisture in the pitch to restrict Australia to 170 all out from 46.5 overs. The tourists' reply started poorly when Upal Thuranga was caught behind off Clint McKay without scoring but Thirimanne (102 not out) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (51) dug in to help Sri Lanka reach 172-2 with almost 10 overs remaining. The series is level at 1-1 after two of the five matches, with the teams next meeting in Brisbane on Friday. The outcome hinged largely on the toss, with Sri Lanka able to tie down the Australian batsmen with the swinging ball before batting conditions improved. The tourists reduced Australia to 83-6 at one stage though Brad Haddin (50) and Ben Cutting (27) rallied for the hosts with 57 runs for the seventh wicket. Paceman Lasith Malinga, the pick of Sri Lanka's bowlers with 3-32 from nine overs, halted the recovery by dismissing debutants Cutting and Kane Richardson with successive deliveries. Earlier in the innings George Bailey (26) and David Hussey (29) were the only recognised batsmen to reach double figures and it was left to Haddin to make the score respectable with his 16th one-day half century. But Haddin, playing impressively in place of the rested Matthew Wade, hurt his hamstring while batting and had to hand over the wicketkeeper's gloves to Phil Hughes after 20 overs. Sri Lanka began the run chase conservatively after Thuranga's dismissal as Thirimanne and Dilshan inched their way to 66-1 from 20 overs.— AFP Scoreboard Sri Lanka
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Hapless Kiwis collapse against South Africa pace
Port Elizabeth, January 13 Unbeaten pair BJ Watling (41) and Dean Brownlie (44) provided stern resistance and the duo looked relatively untroubled as they added an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 73 off 27.2 overs to steer their team to the close of play. Opener Martin Guptill contributed 48 before being bowled by seamer Rory Kleinveldt who went on to have Daniel Flynn (0) caught behind with his next delivery. Kleinveldt ended the day with 2/31, while left-arm spinner Robin Peterson, who accounted for Brendon McCullum (11) and Kane Williamson (11), claimed two for 29. — AFP Scoreboard
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Former Test player Rusi F. Surti dead
Former Indian test cricketer Rusi Framroze Surti died in Mumbai on Sunday in a local hospital following a brief illness. The Australia-based cricketer, who was on a holiday in Mumbai, died at the Jaslok hospital where he had been admitted a few days ago following a 'stroke', according to his former Test and Gujarat teammate Nari Contractor.
“The stroke affected his brain and he died today. His two sons are here," added the former captain who was in the playing XI when Surti made his Test debut against Pakistan in Dec,1960 at the Brabourne Stadium. Incidentally the player, who was a brilliant fielder too, played his 26th and final Test also at the same venue – Cricket Club of India – against Bill Lawry's Australian team in November, 1969. Surti was an integral part of the team led by the late Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi during the 1960s and toured West Indies under Contractor in 1962. Contractor was hit on the skull by fast bowler Charlie Griffith on the tour which ended his Test career. He notched up 1263 runs at an average of 28.70, with 99 against New Zealand at Auckland in 1968-69 being his highest score. He scored nine half-centuries and bagged 42 wickets and took 26 catches. — PTI |
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Manchester United trump Liverpool
Reigning champions Manchester City, currently in second place, will reduce the gap on local rivals United to seven points if they win away to Arsenal in a match kicking off at 4pm local time (1600GMT) on Sunday. Van Persie gave United a 19th minute lead when he swept in Patrice Evra's cross from eight yards out. It was the Dutch striker's 17th Premier League goal this term, and 21st in all competitions, since he arrived at Old Trafford in a £24 million ($39 million) pre-season move from top-flight rivals Arsenal. United made it 2-0 nine minutes after half-time when full-back Evra's header from van Persie's free-kick deflected in off centre-half Vidic. But three minutes later Sturridge, on at the start of the second half for Lucas Leiva, marked his Premier League debut for Liverpool with a goal when he followed up the rebound after David de Gea saved skipper Steven Gerrard's shot from outside the box. It was Sturridge's second goal in as many games for Liverpool following his move from Chelsea after he was on target in the 2-1 FA Cup win over Mansfield last weekend.— Reuters
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India was still awaiting the clearance of six Services players—three each from the Army and the Air Force—on the eve of the inaugural Hero Hockey India League, which will kick-start with a match between Delhi Waveriders and Jaypee Punjab Warriors at the National Stadium.
Melbourne. January 13
Manchester, January 13