S P O R T S

irani trophy Vijay’s ton leaves Rest assured vs Mumbai
Mumbai, February 6 Opener Murali Vijay stroked his way to his second successive century in the Irani Cup as Rest of India dominated Day 1 of their five-day fixture against Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium here today.   Murali Vijay played some fine cover drives during his 116-run knock for RoI against Mumbai on Day 1 of the Irani Trophy on Wednesday. — PTI

No need to fret over why I am not playing Tests: Vijay
Mumbai, February 6
Despite being a prolific scorer in domestic cricket, Murali Vijay has played only 12 Test for India in the more than four years but the Chennai batsman says it makes sense in moving forward than staying demoralised.

Watson’s 122 seals series for Australia Canberra, February 6 Shane Watson celebrated his return to international cricket with a sparkling innings of 122 to drive Australia to a 39-run victory over West Indies in the third One-dayer and an unassailable 3-0 series lead. Out of the Cup, India to play Pak for pride Cuttack, February 6 Sent crashing out of the Women’s World Cup by Sri Lanka, India would seek to restore some pride when they take on arch-rivals Pakistan in their 7-8th classification match here on Thursday. Harmanpreet Kaur after her dismissal against Sri Lanka.

India suffer 2-4 defeat in Palestine’s friendly fire Kochi, February 6 Playing their first international match at home after the Nehru Cup, India suffered a 2-4 defeat against Palestine in a friendly football game at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here today. HIL impact: Oltmans thinks it’ll be great, Charlesworth unsure Mumbai, February 6 They are a part of it but renowned coaches, Ric Charlesworth and Roelant Oltmans, differ about Hockey India League’s benefits in the struggling host country which finished 12th at the London Olympic Games. Punjab and Dehli players in action during their Hockey India League match in Jalandhar on Tuesday. — PTI

Return of Nadal Vina del Mar (Chile), February 6 Rafael Nadal made a successful comeback after a seven-month injury absence with victory in the first round of the Chilean Open doubles on Tuesday. The former world number one and Argentine partner Juan Monaco overpowered second-seeded Czechs Frantisek Cermak and Lukas Dlouhy 6-3 6-2 in 65 minutes at the Pacific coastal city of Vina del March. Spanish left-hander Nadal had been out with a knee problem since losing to Czech Lukas Rosol in the second round at Wimbledon in June. Rafael Nadal, playing a competitive match after eight months, volleys at the net while his partner Juan Monaco looks on in Vina del Mar, Chile, on Tuesday. — Reuters

Hamilton crashes his new Merc Jerez, February 6 Lewis Hamilton’s first day of Formula One testing with Mercedes ended after 15 laps on Wednesday when his car suffered brake problems and ploughed into a tyre wall. The 2008 world champion was unhurt in the crash, at the Jerez circuit’s Dry Sack corner made notorious in 1997 when title rivals Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve collided there in the decisive 1997 European Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton (extreme right) walks away from his car after crashing it into a tyre wall during the second day of testing in Jerez, Spain, on Wednesday. — AFP

Cuba’s new revolution: Pro-am series set to hit boxing
London, February 6
Cuban boxing made a comeback at the Olympics in London last year and now there is a chance that a form of professional boxing could return to the giant halls in Havana after a 50-year gap.

irani trophy
Vijay’s ton leaves Rest assured vs Mumbai

Mumbai, February 6
Opener Murali Vijay stroked his way to his second successive century in the Irani Cup as Rest of India dominated Day 1 of their five-day fixture against Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium here today.

With good contributions from No.3 batsman Manoj Tiwary (37), Ambati Rayudu (51) and Suresh Raina (36 not out), the RoI ended Day1 at 330 for five.

Vijay compiled an aggressive 116 and also put on a quickfire 144-run stand with opening partner Shikhar Dhawan (63) to lay a strong foundation.

The RoI, without captain and opener Virender Sehwag who pulled out at the eleventh hour due to an upset stomach, dominated the day completely.

At stumps, Raina 36 and Captain Harbhajan (0) were at the crease.

For Mumbai, who opted to field after winning the toss, captain Abhishek Nayar was the most successful bowler with figures of two for 49, while the other three wickets were shared equally by Shardul Thakur, part time bowler Rohit Sharma and Kulkarni.

Mumbai’s new ball bowlers could not justify the faith when Nayar opted to field. Perhaps the decision to put the opposition in to bat was inspired by the hosts’ successful ploy against Saurashtra in the Ranji Trophy final played at this ground recently.

RoI openers Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan took advantage of the loose balls by striking a flurry of boundaries to help the team race to 100 mark in the 28th over. The 28-year-old Vijay, who has a century to his credit in 12 Tests, played some fine cover drives and hit 17 fours and a six in his 206-ball innings, while Dhawan was merciless to the ball pitched short and struck 11 fours in his 101-ball essay.

However, both also had luck on their side. When on 40, the left-handed Dhawan edged left-arm spinner Vishal Dabholkar to the left of slip fielder Wasim Jaffer who was a bit late to react, while Vijay was bowled off a no-ball when on 79.

Mumbai grabbed two wickets in the second session and three more in the final to fight their way back.

Shardul Thakur drew first blood by breaking the opening stand when he saw off Dhawan.

Nayar, easily the most impressive of the bowlers with his ability to move the ball both ways, struck two quick blows in 13 balls on either side of tea to bring Mumbai back into the game. But the other frontline bowlers, including Kulkarni who scalped nine in the Ranji final against Saurashtra, were a disappointment. — PTI

Scoreboard

Rest of India (1st innings)

Dhawan b Thakur 63

Vijay b Nayar 116

Tiwary lbw b Nayar 37

Rayudu c Jaffer b Rohit 51

Raina batting 36

Saha lbw b Kulkarni 17

Harbhajan batting 0

Extras: (lb 4, w 1, nb 5) 10

Total: (5 wkts; 90 overs) 330

Fall of wickets: 1-144, 2-222, 3-231, 4-309, 5-330

Bowling

Javed 14-4-41

Kulkarni 17-3-64-1

Thakur 12-1-55-1

Dabholkar 18-2-64-0

Nayar 19-9-49-2

Chavan 5-0-33-0

Rohit 5-2-20-1

No need to fret over why I am not playing Tests: Vijay

Mumbai, February 6
Despite being a prolific scorer in domestic cricket, Murali Vijay has played only 12 Test for India in the more than four years but the Chennai batsman says it makes sense in moving forward than staying demoralised.

Vijay was third opener after Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir in the recent four-Test series against England but did not get to play a single game.

The 28-year-old batsman today led Rest of India to a commanding total of 330 for five with a 116-run knock against Mumbai in the Irani Cup.

“It’s a challenge being the reserve opener. But as a professional you can’t crib over it. You have to take it and move forward, that matters a lot rather than sitting and saying you are not playing a match. Whenever I get an opportunity I would like to give it my best shot,” Vijay, who has scored 4310 runs in 59 first class matches with an average of 46.84, said. “Obviously it’s a big game for me and the motivation level was high. I just wanted to give my best shot.” He hoped the platform laid by him and fellow-opener Shikhar Dhawan with their 144-run stand would stand the team in good stead.

“Every knock is important. Myself and Shikhar gave a good start to the team and hopefully we can build on it,” he said.

Vijay did not agree with the suggestion that the home team attack was not up to the mark. — PTI

Watson’s 122 seals series for Australia

Canberra, February 6
Shane Watson celebrated his return to international cricket with a sparkling innings of 122 to drive Australia to a 39-run victory over West Indies in the third One-dayer and an unassailable 3-0 series lead.

The 31-year-old opener’s 111-ball knock on Wednesday helped Australia to 329 for seven in their 50 overs and West Indies flirted with reaching the big victory target before James Faulkner (4-48) polished them off for 290 with 15 balls to spare.

Darren Bravo top scored with 86 for West Indies, who will be playing only for pride in the remaining two matches in Sydney and Melbourne after a third emphatic defeat.

It was the first ODI ever played in the nation’s capital and the Manuka Oval track certainly gave the batsmen plenty of opportunity to score runs. Watson, who missed much of the domestic season through injury, reached his seventh ODI century in 102 balls and then conjured up two fours and two sixes in the next nine balls before holing out to Kieron Pollard at backward square leg.

“I’ve been dreaming of that for the last four weeks,” Watson said. “It was one of those days that you dream of when even from the first ball it feels like everything’s coming off the middle of your bat. I’m just so excited to be out here and playing.”

Phil Hughes offered able support with 86 runs before being caught behind off the bowling of Darren Sammy, while the innings of Glenn Maxwell (4) and George Bailey (44) were both ended by stunning leaping catches from Pollard on the boundary.

West Indies started their run-chase at a slow pace but soon picked up with typical flourish to match Australia’s run rate at around the 30 over mark.

Left-arm seamer Faulkner made two crucial interventions, however, the first when he bowled dangerman Gayle (2) and Darren Bravo in the space of four balls to leave West Indies at 215-5.

He returned to end the match by claiming the wickets of Narine (1) and Sammy (8) in three deliveries. All four of his victims in the match were bowled. — Reuters

Scoreboard

Out of the Cup, India to play Pak for pride

Cuttack, February 6
Sent crashing out of the Women’s World Cup by Sri Lanka, India would seek to restore some pride when they take on arch-rivals Pakistan in their 7-8th classification match here on Thursday.

The humiliating 138-run defeat against Sri Lanka last night also meant that India will now have to go through the qualifiers to feature in the next edition of the World cup four years later.

The collective failure of the top order batsmen in their last two matches even in home conditions has hurt the team badly and India will need to regroup quickly to prevent an equally demoralising Pakistanis emerging victorious. The pressure will be on the Indians who have been hit hard by a sudden slump in form of their key batsmen after a comfortable 105-run win against the West Indies in the tournament opener and the inexperienced bowling attack has only compounded the misery for the hosts.

Both India and Pakistan have several issues to address leading up to Thursady’s game at the Barabati Stadium. While India have struggled with the indifferent form of their bowlers, Pakistan have a lot to answer in their batting department.

The last two games against England and Sri Lanka saw Indian bowlers leaking close to 550 runs with the visitors finding it easy against the pace and spin trio of Jhulan Goswami, Nagarajan Niranjana and Ekta Bisht. In the batting department, barring Harmanpreet Kaur, Karu Jain and Tirushkamini, no other batswomen could be able to convert the starts into a good score.

India would hope that the openers provide them a good platform after they missed out against England and Sri Lanka. India would be in no mood to take their neighbours lightly and would like to put their best foot forward Thrusday’s match .

On the other hand, Pakistan have more reasons to worry than the Indians as neither their batting nor bowling has clicked. — PTI

India suffer 2-4 defeat in Palestine’s friendly fire

Kochi, February 6
Playing their first international match at home after the Nehru Cup, India suffered a 2-4 defeat against Palestine in a friendly football game at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here today.

Clifford Miranda and Syed Rahim Nabi scored for India in the 17th and the 39th minute respectively while for Palestine, Ashraf Alfawaghra scored a hat-trick while Husam Abusalah scored the other goal. Arata Izumi became the first Person of Indian origin to play for country in the national football team in the match.

If India were by far the better side in the first half and went into the interval enjoying a 2-1 lead; the brace scored by Palestine within three minutes after resumption never allowed India to come back into the match.

In the first half, the hosts, Cheered on by almost 40,000 spectators, started on a positive note and were the better team. The calm in defence, the composure in the midfield and the interchanging between the front two, Alwyn George and captain Sunil Chhetri upfront, rattled the strong Palestine side, which had fielded nine players.

There were short-passes as much there was switching as much there was interchanging. The team adjusted according to the situation – slowing the procedure when needed and pressing the accelerator the very next moment. Palestine were never allowed to settle down.

But it was a different story in the second half and india failed to make a comeback in the match. — PTI

HIL impact: Oltmans thinks it’ll be great, Charlesworth unsure

Mumbai, February 6
They are a part of it but renowned coaches, Ric Charlesworth and Roelant Oltmans, differ about Hockey India League’s benefits in the struggling host country which finished 12th at the London Olympic Games.

Four-time Olympian and former Australia skipper Charlesworth, the coach of the fifth-placed Mumbai Magicians, is not sure whether the HIL would help Indian hockey.

“I don’t know. It’s hard to say. The young players would get experience, but this is not like international hockey,” said Charlesworth.

On the other hand, his counterpart with the Uttar Pradesh Wizards, celebrated Dutch coach Oltmans, sung praises about the $2 million prize money league saying it would certainly uplift Indian hockey.

“One of the reasons for this league is for the improvement of Indian hockey. I am not saying too much about it, as you know, until after the league when I will face my new job (as technical director of the Indian men’s team).

“The players will learn a lot and that’s very important for the future of Indian hockey,” said Oltmans, who was the coach when the Netherlands won the men’s hockey gold in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

“Everyone in India should be really proud about this fantastic league. These matches are really of international standards and that is really good for everyone.

“(In HIL) Young players are playing with top players — every team has top players...Indians as well as foreigners — and I think it’s tough. We have made 22 journeys, 22 flights.”

“We (would) have 14 matches in four-and-half weeks, so you can imagine what that means. Still these players are able to put up a performance like this today, I am proud of them,” said Oltmans after his side knocked out the Magicians with a 1-0 margin of victory.

Yesterday, Charlesworth, while saying that the HIL cannot be replicated in any other country, suggested a southern hemisphere league involving teams from sub-continental rivals India, Pakistan, besides fellow-Asian country Malaysia along with Australia and New Zealand.

“I don’t think it can be like this. Other countries have their own leagues. I would like to see a southern Australian league — India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand — or the Indian Ocean league, if you like to call it, with international teams or a couple of teams from each (of these) countries. That’s an interesting prospect,” Charlesworth said.

“But I don’t think you would get a league like this (HIL) anywhere else. I think India is a unique environment with its capacity to support something like this. In our country there are other games much bigger than this (hockey).

“We will get drowned out by them,” added the Australian, who had coached his country’s women’s outfit successfully in two World Cups and as many gold medals in the Olympics.

Talking about his team’s dismal show which saw it lose 10 out of 11 games played so far to get knocked out of the semifinal reckoning, Charlesworth said his top strikers Glenn Turner and Saari Faisal have not delivered which was hugely disappointing.

“We scored 20 goals and 16 of them have been corners. It’s clear we haven’t finished well up front. We have two good strikers (Glenn) Turner and (Saari) Faisal, international goal scorers, who haven’t scored any goals yet. That’s disappointing and at the other end I don’t think we have played as well as we could. Summing up further he said, “We have had 30 goals scored against us, 20 of them in my opinion were savable. We haven’t done well in that area, that’s something which is disappointing.” “I am not relieved (that it has ended), but a little disappointed. We have not played well enough, that’s pretty clear,” he said.

Oltmans was pleased that his team won but felt they should have scored more goals.

“In today’s match there was only one team that deserved to win. The only (disappointing) thing is so far we don’t close the game early enough. Today, we had enough chances to score more goals even but we missed a penalty stroke, missed some corners and a few real good open chances. We have to improve.”

“The good thing is we did not give away so much. We conceded only two penalty corners one in the first minute and anonther in last. In between, our defence was well-organised. We knew we had to at least draw but we came here to win. There are some areas we have to improve,” Oltmans said. — PTI

Return of Nadal

Vina del Mar (Chile), February 6
Rafael Nadal made a successful comeback after a seven-month injury absence with victory in the first round of the Chilean Open doubles on Tuesday. The former world number one and Argentine partner Juan Monaco overpowered second-seeded Czechs Frantisek Cermak and Lukas Dlouhy 6-3 6-2 in 65 minutes at the Pacific coastal city of Vina del March.

Spanish left-hander Nadal had been out with a knee problem since losing to Czech Lukas Rosol in the second round at Wimbledon in June.

Later, Nadal wasn’t too keen to talk about the knee. “The knee... I said it when I got here I would prefer not to keep talking about the topic,” Nadal said. “At the end of the day the doctors have said it’s OK. There is no risk of making it worse. My knee keeps hurting. But the fact I am playing here is a thing of joy.”

“If it hurts, it hurts and we’ll put up with it. I am here to play tennis, with or without pain. ... I’m happy to have played an official game, although it was doubles.”

“If one day it is worse, and one can’t compete at 100 per cent, then it can’t be done,” he said.

“It’s a good feeling to be back. We’ll see how the knee reacts,” Nadal said. “The moment and the surfaces were the right ones and playing for the first time in this country was a great opportunity.

“Playing doubles is less aggressive, so we’ll see how things go tomorrow in singles,” he added after he and Monaco had taken advantage of four of their seven chances to break the Czechs’ service. “I chose this tournament because it is the perfect time and surface.”

The 26-year-old’s planned return at the end of last year was delayed due to illness but he will compete on his favorite clay surface at three Latin American events this month.

The former world number one, now ranked five, had to withdraw from the Australian Open after his recovery from tendonitis in his knee was hit by a stomach virus. He also missed the London 2012 Olympics and the US Open.

On Wednesday, Nadal plays a second-round singles match against Argentine qualifier Federico Delbonis. After the Chile tournament he will compete at the Brazil Open in Sao Paulo next week and the Mexico Open in Acapulco from February 25. — Agencies

Hamilton crashes his new Merc

Jerez, February 6
Lewis Hamilton’s first day of Formula One testing with Mercedes ended after 15 laps on Wednesday when his car suffered brake problems and ploughed into a tyre wall. The 2008 world champion was unhurt in the crash, at the Jerez circuit’s Dry Sack corner made notorious in 1997 when title rivals Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve collided there in the decisive 1997 European Grand Prix.

The car’s wheel tracks showed Hamilton had been a mere passenger with no response from the steering as it went off the track.

“Lewis suffered a loss of rear brake pressure, the front brakes enabled him to slow the car but he couldn’t avoid the barrier,” said Mercedes.

“We have traced the problem to the hydraulic brake line connecting to the right-rear calliper,” the team added on their Twitter feed.

The front left suspension and aerodynamic parts were damaged in the impact and a spokeswoman said the car would not go out again on Wednesday because of the time needed to repair it.

Hamilton, 28, had been second fastest with a best lap of one minute 19.519 seconds when he brought out the red flags an hour and 48 minutes into the session. — Reuters

Cuba’s new revolution: Pro-am series set to hit boxing

London, February 6
Cuban boxing made a comeback at the Olympics in London last year and now there is a chance that a form of professional boxing could return to the giant halls in Havana after a 50-year gap.

In 1962 Fidel Castro was instrumental in banning the sport of professional boxing. It was considered “vicious, exploitative and corrupt” and Resolution 83-A outlawed it and made redundant the few remaining active professionals. Most of the quality professionals, men such as Jose Napoles, had moved to America the year before.

At about the same time, a Russian adviser, Andrei Chernevenko, in the country to help Castro’s young nation stay safe from a Yankee invasion, helped launch the amateur programme.

It took less than decade for the Cubans to become the greatest amateur boxing nation, rulers of the Olympic ring and arguably sport’s most dominant squad.

During the last 20 years a lot of the best Cuban amateurs have come in from the cold, often absconding from training camps dressed as women or climbing over walls and dashing to waiting helicopters. Guillermo Rigondeaux, Joel Casamayor and Yuriorkis Gamboa, all exceptional Olympic champions, absconded to glory, taking a lot of young fighters with them. The defections sucked the heart and soul out of the Cuban system and at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 the mighty nation failed to win a gold in the boxing ring. In Athens, four years earlier, they had won five, but three of their gold medal heroes had defected. In London last year, with security improved during the previous Olympic cycle, there was a gold medal haul of two and a few controversial losers.

It now seems likely that a Cuban team will take part in next year’s World Series of Boxing tournament and that Cuban boxers are expected to join the APB league when it is launched later this year.

The WSB allows amateur boxers to compete over five rounds of three minutes each round, without vests or headgear. The boxers receive money for each fight, there is a bonus for a win and to all intents and purposes the men are full-time professionals. However, the boxers retain their amateur status and can compete in the Olympics.

In the Seventies various American promoters offered the recently deceased three-time Olympic champion Teofilo Stevenson millions of dollars to fight Muhammad Ali. Stevenson famously replied: “What is a million dollars compared to the love of the Cuban people?” Big Teo was Castro’s right-hand man. A lot has changed in Cuba since then. — The Independent

Cuban boxing going pro again

• In 1962 Fidel Castro was instrumental in banning pro boxing
• Around the same time, an amateur programme was launched. Soon, Cuba had the world’s best amateur boxers
• But during the last 20 years, lots of Cuban boxers have defected
• Now, 50 years after ban, Cubans are set to join pro-am boxing