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Return of Rafa
Sania-Cara win China Open
IBL fracas: Life ban on cards
for Jwala Gutta |
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Smith, Sachin take MI to final
India colts beat SA in final
to win series
South eye Duleep Trophy final
Lewis sent me a baton after watching biopic: Milkha
Brathwaite cracks ton as 2nd Test ends in draw
Manveer is Punjab’s fastest
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Return of Rafa
Serb Novak Djokovic, who will lose top spot when the new rankings are announced on Monday, brushed aside Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-4 6-2 in the other semi-final to set up a mouth-watering final against arch-rival Nadal. Berdych, trailing 2-4 in the opening set, tweaked his back while running for a backhand slice and needed a medical time- out. He did return to the court but after a few points decided he could no longer continue, handing the 27-year-old Spaniard an easy passage to Sunday's final. Nadal, who boosted his grand slam singles tally to 13 this year by winning the French and U.S. Opens, has not been ranked number one since July 2011 but has produced a stunning run since returning from a long injury layoff in February. “(This is) a great year, one of the best years of my career without any doubt," Nadal told reporters. “(It) sure is special be back to the top position of the rankings after more than a half year without playing tennis. "At the end, it's just a number... What (makes) me happy is (everything) I did to be back where I am today." He has lost two finals since his return, winning 10 tournaments and adding over $10 million in prize money in 2013. The semifinal victory extended Nadal's winning run to 21 matches and another triumph on Sunday would give him his first China Open title since 2005. "(It) will be a great finish (to) the season if I am able to finish the season (at) the No. 1 spot," the Spaniard added. "For that, I am sure I need to win more matches if I want to be there. "I (won't) go to sleep tonight feeling that I am the best player of the world. That's something that I never thought, and I don't... think (that) now today. “I played a very complete season, and that's why I am the best in the rankings today." His job will not be easy, though, as Djokovic might have a point to prove. The Serb was broken by Gasquet in the fourth game of the opening set but came back strongly to advance. Serena thumps Radwanska to set up final with Jankovic
World number one Serena Williams and Serbian eighth seed Jelena Jankovic set up a final showdown in the China Open after their contrasting victories in the semi-finals on Saturday. The top-seeded American, who has now won 72 matches in 2013 and a prize purse of more than $9 million, hit 31 winners to thrash Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2 6-2. But former world number one Jankovic had to rally from a set down to notch up her first career win against ninth seed Petra Kvitova 6-7(7) 6-1 6-1. The 32-year-old Williams, who will be eyeing her 10th title of the season, received medical attention on her back during the second set but it provided no respite for Radwanska. “Playing against Agnieszka, she plays like magic, she can move the ball left and right — she can do anything with her shots,” Williams said. Kvitova, who won her second WTA title of the year last week in Tokyo, edged Jankovic in the tiebreak to bag the first set but a flurry of errors in the second set handed the momentum back to the Serb. “I lost to her the last two times we played. She has always given me a lot of trouble and didn't allow me to play my game,” Jankovic told reporters. “Even today in the first set she was controlling the points. I was still there, but didn't feel comfortable. But in the next two sets I felt like I went on top of her and took control. Then as the match went on I think she got a little bit tired....” The Serb had no qualms in admitting that she had to be at her best to even have a chance against Williams. — Agencies This is a great year, one of the best of my career. — Rafael Nadal |
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Beijing, oCTOBER 5 Sania and Cara had won Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo last week and the two players have now won nine matches on the trot. It is fifth title of the season for the Indian ace and 19th overall. Sania had won the New Haven event with Zheng before teaming up with Cara. Earlier, she captured titles in Dubai and Brisbane with Bethanie-Mattek Sands. After Bethanie-Mattek decided to put all her energy on the singles, Sania has teamed up with four different partners -- America's Liezel Huber, Italy's Flavia Pennetta, China's Jie Zheng and now Cara. — Agencies
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IBL fracas: Life ban on cards
for Jwala Gutta
New Delhi, October 5 Akhilesh Das Gupta will seek a response from Jwala Gutta following BAI disciplinary committee's recommendation. “The disciplinary committee has recommended a life ban or suspension for a certain period of time on Jwala Gutta for her role in the IBL controversy,” a senior BAI official told PTI. “The recommendation has been circulated to the member associations but no decision has been taken as of now. It has not been implemented.” S. Muralidharan, chairman of BAI’s disciplinary committee, said: “I don’t want to talk about it much. It is the discretion of BAI president Gupta and on an unconditional apology, Jwala can be set free. But she should feel apologetic for what happened.” A controversy had erupted during the August 25 tie when Delhi smashers had threatened to pull out against Banga Beats over the last-minute replacement of injured singles player, Hu Yun of Hong Kong with Denmark’s Jan Jorgensen. As an icon player of Delhi Smashers, Jwala was involved in the whole matter, which was resolved after Beats finally left out Jorgensen and played Arvind Bhat, who was already part of the team. Jwala was then served a 14-day showcause notice by BAI for her conduct during the tie, which was delayed by half an hour. Jwala had replied to the notice, saying that ‘it was a decision by the Delhi franchise and not an individual move.’— PTI |
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clt20 semifinal M.S. Unnikrishnan Tribune news service
New Delhi, oCTOBER 5 In a repeat of the 2011 final when they emerged the champions, Mumbai Indians will face-off against Rajasthan Royals in the title clash here tomorrow. Sachin, who had scored only 20 runs with 15 being the highest in the previous four Champions League matches, thus ended his lean patch, though the runs came after a sedate start as he took time to get into his batting groove. He opened up after carting Kheshan Yannick Ottley two successive sixes to long on and deep extra cover boundaries in the sixth over to nearly catch up with Smith. When Sachin was on three from as many balls, Smith had raced to 17. Still, Sachin fell far behind as Smith pulled ahead to get his half century, and eventually, when Sachin slashed Sunil Narain into the gloves of captain Denesh Ramdin for 35 (31b,2x4,2x6), he had taken run-haul to a whopping 50,009. Narain was the pick of the bowlers, as he picked up three wickets in four overs for 17 runs. With Sachin’s exit, Mumbai Indians suffered a sudden collapse as Ambati Rayudu and Smith fell in the same over to lose three big wickets for just six runs. Earlier, Trinidad and Tobago thrived on the batting mite of Evin Lewis, whose 46-ball 62 (4x6, 5x,4), was the corner stone of their total of 153 for 5. Brief Scores: Trinidad & Tobago 153/5 (Lewis 62, Ottley* 41; Coulter-Nile 1/20, Pollard 1/16); Mumbai Indians: 157/4 (Smith 59, Sachin 35, Karthik 33, Sunil Narine 3/17)
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India colts beat SA in final to win series
VISAKHAPATNAM, October 5 Put in to bat, India made 267 for 6 in their 50 overs before bundling out the South Africans for 66 in 28.1 overs. Mumbai Sarfaraz Khan starred for the hosts with an unbeaten 67 and a couple of wickets to his credit. Opener Akhil Herwadkar (25) and skipper Vijay Zol (71), steadied the ship with a 51-run second wicket stand. Following Zol's wicket, Sarfaraz continued his fine form with his 58-ball knock, which included half a dozen fours. Chasing the target, South Africa lost half of their side in less than 20 overs with just 51 runs on the board. Brief Scores: India U-19: 267/6 (Zol 71, Sarfaraz 67 no, Justin Dill 3/63); South Africa U-19: 66 all out in 28.1 overs (Aamir 3/18). — PTI
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Chennai, October 5 South captain Vinay Kumar declared their innings at 600 for nine in 171.1 overs. Overnight batsman Malolan Rangarajan remained unbeaten at 58. While Rakesh Dhruv (3/183) was the highest wicket-taker for West, Murtuza Vahora took 2 for 41. In reply, West made a poor start as skipper Wasim Jaffer (11) was caught by Vinay Kumar off Malolan. Aditya Waghmode and Ankit Bawne steadied the innings but the former was dismissed by Abhinav Mukund. Ankit, who remained unbeaten on 62, was the lone batsman who put up resistance. Manpreet Juneja was clean bowled by Abhinav for a duck. Yusuf Pathan gave away his wicket playing an atrocious shot off Aushik. Then, Malolan dismissed both Hiken Shah (15) and Rohit Motwani (0), trapping them in front of the wicket. Brief Scores: West Zone: 156/6 (Bawne 62*, Waghmode 57, Malolan 3-50) trail South Zone 600/9 dec (Pandey 213, Aparajith 212, Dhurv 3-183) by 444 runs. — PTI
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Lewis sent me a baton after watching biopic: Milkha
New Delhi, october 5 “A few days later I got a gift from Lewis, which to my amazement was a baton,” Milkha said here today. “On the baton was written 'A present from Carl Lewis, multiple Olympic gold medallist to legendary Milkha Singh. I salute your achievements'." “I was touched as I thought I got the ultimate acknowledgement for my hard work from none other than one of the greatest athletes in the history of sports,” Milkha added. Carl Lewis had watched Milkha's biopic in the US with an Indian friend. He was touched my Milkha's story — which, admittedly, is not true to life and includes several embellishments to make it more attractive to movie-goers — and called him up. “He does not know Hindi and his Indian friend must have done the translation,” Milkha said. "When he called me, he told me that he was amazed how a village boy who ran barefoot rose from scratch to become a world record holder," added Milkha, who finished fourth in the Rome Olympic Games in 1960. “He said in the US, athletes are given scientific training and taught about the importance of fitness, how many hours an athlete needs to do sand running and how to start from the blocks etc,” Milkha said it was unfortunate that India does not have any great athletes any more, despite not lacking in talent.
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Brathwaite cracks ton as 2nd Test ends in draw
Shimoga,October 5 In reply to West Indies A's 406 in the first innings, India A were all out for 359, conceding a slender 47-run lead to the visitors. With a result out of question, West Indies A reached 223 for three in 81 overs in their second innings when the umpires decided to call off the match due to bad light around 3.30 pm. For the West Indies A, Brathwaite top-scored with 104 not out, while Deonaraine delighted the crowd with some aggressive shots during his 93-run innings before he was trapped leg before by Baroda lad Bharghav Bhatt. Brathwaite, riding high on his two fifties in the series, played a Shivnaraine Chanderpaul-style game, grinding the ball and attacking those landing in the hitting zone. The left-handed Guyanese batsman did not get much support from Kieran Powell and captain Kirk Edwards as the visitors were in a hole at 43 for two. Brief Scores: West Indies A: 406 and 233 for 3 (Brathwaite 104*, Deonarine 93) drew with India A 359 (Nayar 89, Jagadeesh 86, Kaul 64, Cummins 3-58). — PTI
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Manveer is Punjab’s fastest
Bathinda, October 5 For the 18-year-old, a class XII student at Patiala’s Model Senior Secondary School, the excitement of winning the title was lesser than the pain of losing the 200m event a day before. “I participated in the two events only and hoped to bag gold in both. But in the 200m event, I had a bad start,” she told The Tribune. “It is still hurting me a lot even though I have won this event and everyone’s calling me the fastest runner.” She beamed with happiness when told that by clocking 12:21 seconds, she performed better that Manjinder Jyoti, who was the fastest woman of the state last year with a time of 12.48s. “I don’t know how much time I took to win,” she said. “But I’m happy to know that I’m faster than the last year’s winner.” “My dream is to win a medal for India at international events. That’s when I would really make my family proud,” she said. Overall title for Jalandhar
Jalandhar lifted the overall trophy for the second consecutive year, with 33 points. Sangrur finished second with 26 points, ahead of Ludhiana (22). Team trophies
Athletics: Jalandhar; Basketball: Jalandhar; Badmindton: Sangrur; Hockey:
Jalandhar; Kabaddi: Sangrur; Kho kho: Sangrur; Handball: Ropar; Gymnastics: Patiala; Swimming: Ludhiana; Table tennis: Ropar; Volleyball: Sangrur; Lawn tennis: Ludhiana
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New Delhi, october 5
Beijing, oCTOBER 5
