Birmingham, March 9
Star Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal’s dream of winning her maiden All England Championship went up in smoke as the Indian suffered a straight-game defeat to world number eight Intanon Ratchanok of Thailand in the semifinals of the women’s singles competition here today.

Intanon Ratchanok celebrates her win over Saina. — AFP

The world number three Indian went down 15-21 19-21 to the young and dynamic Intanon in a 40-minute match at the National Indoor Arena. This is the third time Saina has lost to Intanon. She was beaten at the Sudirman Cup in 2011 and also at the Super Series Final last year.

The 18-year-old Intanon mixed the strokes and used her drops and tosses to fluommox Saina. The Thai girl had better control over her strokes and controlled the rallies with her varying pace to make it difficult to come back in the match after pocketing the first game at 21-15.

In the second game, Saina had open up a narrow 5-3 lead but the Thai girl used her accurate placing and varied stroke to reel off five straight points to move ahead 8-5. Inthanon kept doing the good work to lead 18-14.

But she hit a couple of points wide to allow to narrow the gap. An error of judgement gave Intanon two match point.

Saina saved one with a smash but she faltered at the nets next to gave the Thai a place at the finals.

The court coverage of Inatanon was fantastic as she used the court really well to go up 6-4 in the first game. The more experienced Saina however levelled the scores at 6-6 and the match went on even keel.

What hurt Saina more was her error in judgement as she let go a lot of shots anticipating that it will be going out.

The 18-year-old Thai girl was certainly a far more superior player on the day. There were quick smashes and those deceptive drop shots at the net which the Olympic bronze medallist didn’t have any answer.

Intanon however raced away from 13-13 as she won a number of points with some delightful precision smashes down the line.

She completely outmaneuvered Saina with her net-play and coming up with those forceful smashes in between.

At 20-15, there was another error of judgement on Saina’s part as she conceded the first game at 21-15.

In the second game, Intanon again dominated the show as she got a 8-5 lead. Saina’s efforts to engage her into long rallies was not paying any dividends as the Thai girl looked equally good in retrieval as well as in attack.

A frustrated Saina then made an unforced error as her forehand smash hit the net.

Down 7-10, a deft drop shot helped her pull back a point and Inathanon’s backhand shot hit the net.

Just as it looked that Saina can make a comeback at 9-10, Intanon’s down the line forehand smash made it 11-9. The comeback was beyond question as Inathanon raced to a five point lead at 14-9.

Saina closed the gap at 17-18 but the cushion remained with Intanon as the winner closed the match The Indian saved a match point at 18-20 but at 20-19, a drop shot from Saina hit the net much to the delight of the Thailand girl.

Saina had reached the semifinals by outlasting Wang Shixian of China 23-21, 19-21 and 21-16 on Friday.

Late on Friday night, India’s Parupalli Kashyap was knocked out of the men’s quarterfinals. China’s Chen Long beat Kashyap 21-16, 21-10 in a match that lasted just 43 minutes.

Kashyap had beaten Kenichi Tago of Japan in straight games 21-18, 21-12 to reach the quarterfinals. — Agencies

Ipoh, March 9
A young Indian side put up a spirited fight before going down 3-4 to six-time champions Australia in the opening encounter of the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey tournament here today.

India, who have fielded a second string side did challenge their superior opponents but conceding two goals within two minutes of the second half became the turning point of the game. For Australia, Matt Gohdes scored in 24th and 39th minute while Glenn Simpson (39th minute) and Trent Milton (53rd) were the other scorers.

Drag-flicker Rupinder Pal Singh converted both the penalty corners in the 40th and 68th minute while Malak Singh scored a brilliant field goal from an acute angle in the 51st minute. The winners lead 1-0 at the break.

Australia took control of the game within the first 10 minutes during which Indian goalkeeper P Sreejesh effected a couple of smart saves when Tim Bates took a few of shots.

However, the Indian defence finally caved in the 24th minute when the Aussies got their first penalty corner. While Sreejesh saved the hit, Gohdes who had pushed the ball, snapped it hard from the rebound to give his team a 1-0 lead.

The Aussies started with a bang in the second half as they got two goals within two minutes. First it was a penalty corner, which Glenn Simpson converted with the Indian defence being sold a dummy by one of the Australian players standing in the opposition striking circle.

Before the Indians could get their acts together, it became 3-0 as Gohdesh got his second goal in the 39th minute.

In the 41st minute, India managed to get their first short corner which Rupinder Pal converted. His drag flick was a powerful one which didn’t give the Aussie defence a chance.

India’s coach Michael Nobbs said he had enough reasons to be pleased with the performance of his wards. “Australia’s two goals early in the second half unsettled us. But I am happy with the way the boys fought back and managed to narrow the gap,” Nobbs said. — PTI

Dunedin, March 9
Alastair Cook and Nick Compton made some amends for England’s poor first innings by grinding out a 231-run partnership to eat deep into New Zealand’s lead of 293 on the fourth day of the first Test on Saturday.

Captain Cook was dismissed just before stumps for 116, leaving Compton to resume on the fifth and final day of the match on 102 not out along with nightwatchman Steven Finn, who had yet to score.

England ended the day on 234 for one, a deficit of just 59 runs, after applying themselves far more diligently than in their first innings, when they were bundled out for 167.

Cook and Compton’s obdurate stand on Saturday not only edged the visitors closer to safety but sent a message to New Zealand’s young pace attack that the rest of the three-match series would be much more of a test of their abilities.

Mindful they needed to bat time to at least save the Test, both openers played cautiously and a potential run out when Compton was on 94 was the only chance in their record first wicket stand before Cook’s dismissal. Cook and Compton’s effort bettered the 223 runs put on by Graeme Fowler and Chris Tavare in 1984 as the highest England opening partnership in a Test against New Zealand.

Cook brought up his 24th Test century with a paddle around the corner off Bruce Martin for his 13th boundary. — Reuters

England 1st Inngs 167 New Zealand 1st Inngs (overnight 402/7)

McCullum c Anderson b Broad 74

Watling b Broad 0

Southee b Broad 25

Martin c Prior b Finn 41

Wagner not out 4

Extras: (lb-8) 8

Total: (9 wkts decl) 460

Fall of wickets: 1-158, 2-249, 3-267, 4-310, 5-321, 6-326, 7-370, 8-447, 9-460

Bowling

Anderson 33-2-137-4

Finn 26.4-3-102-1

Broad 28-3-118-3

Panesar 22-2-83-1

Trott 2-0-4-0

Root 5-1-8-0

England 2nd Inngs

Cook c Watling b Boult 116

Compton batting 102

Finn batting 0

Extras: (b-6, lb-9, nb-1) 16

Total: (1 wkt, 87 overs) 234

Fall of wickets: 1-231

Bowling

Southee 18-2-48-0

Boult 19-5-33-1

Wagner 20-4-64-0

Martin 25-7-61-0

Williamson 5-1-13-0

Dhaka, March 9
Lahiru Thirimanne and Dinesh Chandimal scored maiden Test hundreds as Sri Lanka took a strong grip on the first cricket Test against Bangladesh on the second day on Friday.

Thirimanne made 155 not out and Chandimal was unbeaten on 116 as they recorded a fifth-wicket stand of 203 to take Sri Lanka to a first innings total of 570 for four declared at tea on Saturday. Buoyed up by the batsmen, Sri Lanka’s bowlers made an early breakthrough, capturing the wickets of openers Jahurul Islam and Anamul Haque.

Bangladesh, though, fought back with an unbeaten half-century from Mohammad Ashraful to end the day on 135-2 at the Galle International Stadium.

Jahurul (20) was out as he tried to get out of the way of a delivery from Shaminda Eranga but only succeeded in gloving a catch to Chandimal.

Ajantha Mendis, playing his first Test since May 2011, took a wicket off his first over when he bowled Anamul with a flighted delivery for 13.

Ashraful and Mominul Haque stopped Sri Lanka making any further inroads to their batting with an unfinished stand of 70. — Agencies

Brief scores

Sri Lanka: 570/4 decl (T Sangakkara 142, Thirimanne 155, Chandimal 116) vs Bangladesh: 135/2

Sydney, March 9
Coach Mickey Arthur has admitted he was scared ahead of touring India with a young Australian Test team after veterans Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey decided to retire last year.

Australian captain Michael Clarke arrived in Chandigarh. — Photos: PTI, Tribune

Arthur conceded both Ponting and Hussey, who had 247 Tests, 19,613 Test runs and 60 centuries between them, were in their minds for the Ashes series, and their retirement has derailed their plans to beat England in their own home turf in July, Australian media reported.

Arthur said he was pretty scared when he looked at the schedule because they had been building a top six and a team, adding results on this Indian tour are probably not that fair a barometer, as they (the Australians) “were nearly the finished article, then they lose (almost) 300 Test caps”.

Arthur added in his thinking, Ponting and Hussey were coming to the Ashes, and they had them pencilled in to go to the Ashes, so they had some stability in the top six.

Arthur further said they thought they had experience, some good young players and it was the perfect blend, but they then lose both those players.

Forced to play a new hand in India, Arthur has watched helplessly from the dressing room Australia’s ceaseless and subtle capitulations, the reports said. — ANI

New Delhi, March 9
With the jailed Ajay Singh Chautala on his way out after completing three terms, former IAS officer PC Chaturvedi is tipped to become the new President of the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) when the body holds its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on March 17.

Chaturvedi, who is a senior vice president with the TTFI, will take over from Chautala, who is currently lodged in jail following his conviction in a teachers recruitment scam in Haryana. "We have received a nomination for the post of the President from P C Chaturvedi. The AGM will be held on March 17 in Lucknow," said TTFI general secretary Dhanraj Choudhary said.

The TTFI, in a special body meeting called in January, had amended its constitution by incorporating the provisions with regard to age and tenure as given in the National Sports Code. — PTI