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Bhajji spares Punjab blushes
Ton-up Suryakumar rescues Mumbai
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Catches just don’t win matches, they win big moolah too
Schumi's accident may be result of faulty ski bindings
Federer the fan lives his dream
Del Potro stands firm as seeds tumble
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Bhajji spares Punjab blushes
Vadodara, January 8 Punjab scored a competitive 304 in their first innings as Harbhajan and No 9 batsman Sandeep Sharma (51) added an invaluable 105 runs for the eighth wicket after J&K seam trio of Samiullah Beigh (2/56), Ram Dayal (3/59) and Umar Nazir (4/66) reduced them to 146 for seven. At stumps, J&K were 11 for one after opener Obaid Haroon (4) edged one from Sandeep to wicketkeeper Gitansh Khera. Using the helpful conditions, the J&K bowlers — especially seamer Dayal — caused a lot of discomfort for Punjab's top-order batsmen, including Yuvraj Singh (10) but the more experienced Punjab team finally wriggled out of trouble. Coming back after a shoulder niggle that kept him out for more than six weeks and five matches, Harbhajan clobbered eight fours and six sixes in his 80-ball knock before he was out trying a slog-sweep off Parvez Rasool over short fine leg. It was a duel between the two offies in which Harbhajan clearly emerged as the winner over his talented younger opponent. Harbhajan in fact punished Rasool as he hit him for five sixes in seven balls with a couple that landed outside the Moti Bagh ground over deep mid-wicket fence. Rasool had a poor outing with the ball as he went for 64 runs in 13 overs. The 33-year-old also hit some crisp drives on the up off medium pacer Mohammed Mudhasir (0/55) and Nazir. When Rasool pitched it wide, he was promptly on the backfoot to cut him past the point fielder. Brief scores: Punjab 304 (Harbhajan 92, Sandeep 51, Yuvraj 10, Nazir 4/66, Dayal 3/59); Jammu & Kashmir 11 for 1. — PTI
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Ton-up Suryakumar rescues Mumbai
Mumbai, January 8 Coming in to bat when Mumbai were tottering at 101 for four after lunch, Yadav (120) and Vinit Indulkar (82), playing his first match for Mumbai after returning to its fold following a three-season stint with Himachal Pradesh, hit back in style to help the hosts steady the boat. Maharashtra bounced back late in the day when medium pacer Anupam Sanklecha dismissed both the batsmen, while Samad Fallah took the wicket of Shardul Thakur (4). At stumps, Iqbal Abdulla (9 not out) and captain Zaheer Khan (5 not out) were at the crease. Brief scores: Mumbai 306 for 7 (Suryakumar 120, Indulkar 82) Casual Bengal fritter away big advantage Kolkata: Youngsters Sudip Chatterjee and Abhimanyu Easwaran showed maturity beyond years with a brilliant 163-run partnership before another familiar middle-order collapse saw Bengal end the day at 274 for eight against Railways here today. Left-hander Sudeep (96) played a responsible knock and was ably supported by right-hander Easwaran (65) as they resurrected the innings. In the middle-order, only reserve Test specialist Wriddhiman Saha (60 batting) managed a good score as he added 41 runs for the undefeated ninth wicket stand with Ashoke Dinda (17 batting). From a comfortable 166 for two, Bengal were reduced to 233 for eight, losing six wickets for 67 runs. Skipper Laxmi Ratan Shukla (17), veteran Sourashish Lahiri (2), young Writtick Chatterjee (0) were out cheaply. Brief scores:
Bengal 274 for 8 (Chatterjee 96, Easwaran 65, Saha 60*, Anureet 4/75) Uthappa, Nair keep Karnataka steady
Bangalore: Robin Uthappa roared back into form with a century, while Karun Nair also cracked a brilliant hundred as the two overcame early jitters to help Karnataka reach 297 for five against Uttar Pradesh on the opening day of their quarterfinal match here today. The cynosure of all eyes on the day was Nair as he, apart from scoring a ton, was also involved in two century partnerships at crucial points in the game, which helped Karnataka steady their wobbly ship. Put in to bat by UP, Karnataka lost three of their top batsmen for a duck each. From 15 for three at one stage, Uthappa and Nair joined hands to put on a solid 120-run partnership for the fourth wicket to consolidate the innings, before Nair coupled with Chidambaram Gautam (89 not out) for another crucial 162 runs for the fifth wicket to bail the hosts out of trouble. Brief scores: Bengal 297 for 5 (Uthappa 100, Nair 100, Gautam 89 batting). — PTI |
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Bops-Qureshi in semis, Leander, Stepanek crash out
Sydney, January 8 Bopanna and his Pakistani partner, seeded third, faced stiff resistance from Trat Huey of Philippines and Briton Dominic Inglot before prevailing 6-7(3) 7-6(5) 10-3 in the quarterfinals. They now face giant-killers Lukas Rosol and Joao Sousa, who dumped the top seeded American pair of Mike and Bob Bryan 3-6, 6-3, 14-12 in their quarterfinal. For Paes, it has been a nightmarish start to the new season. At the Chennai Open, he did not get to hit a single ball as his partner Fabio Fognini pulled out due to an injury. And on Wednesday, he and Stepanek, seeded second, were ousted 4-6, 4-6 in 65 minutes by the French pair of Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin. After losing the first set, Paes and Stepanek saved a break in the opening game of the second set off the Czech's serve. They had a chance to break their opponents in the next game but the Frenchmen saved. Paes and Stepanek were leading 2-1 when rain forced suspension of play for about 45 minutes. The Indian was broken in the seventh game which handed an opening to Benneteau and Roger-Vasselin, who extended their lead to 5-3 by holding serve in the next. Stepanek held his serve to stay in the match but the second seeds could not stop Roger-Vasselin from serving out the set and the match in the next game. The winners will now take on Australian pair of James Duckworth and Samuel Groth. Paes now heads to the season's first Grand Slam, the Australian Open, without much match practice. Yuki Bhambri out of Australian Open qualifiers
Melbourne: Yuki Bhambri failed to clear the first hurdle as he bowed out of the Australian Open qualifiers after losing the opening round match to 28th seed Italian Potito Starace, here on Wednesday. The 21-year-old Indian youngster made a good comeback after losing the first set but could not maintain the momentum against world number 153 opponent, losing 3-6 6-1 2-6 after one hour and 45 minutes. After making it an even affair with his second set win, Yuki could not cash in on the chances he got in the decisive third set as he squandered three of the four breakpoints and dropped his own serve thrice. Starace, a top 30 player in 2007, won 85 points to 79 of Yuki. The Italian hit 26 winners while Yuki 23. However, Yuki is set to make his Grand Slam debut as he will compete in the doubles event of the Australian Open with New Zealand partner Michael Venus, with whom he won the wild card play-off event in China. Yuki had reached the singles semifinals in that event, where the winner was awarded a wild card entry into the Australian Open. — PTI |
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Catches just don’t win matches, they win big moolah too
Wellington, January 8 The 28-year-old Morton took a spectacular one-handed catch while sitting on the Seddon Park bank off a Kieran Powell six to win the prize as part of a local beer brand's competition at New Zealand's limited-overs matches. “He smashed it pretty hard, so it was going pretty quick,” Morton told Fairfax Media in Hamilton. “My dad was sitting next to me and he yelled out, 'Michael'. I stood up and then I thought it was going to drop down in front of me, but it sailed straight into my hand.” “They're pretty short boundaries, so I knew it was going to go pretty fast. “If it was a skyer, plenty of people would have had a chance to get underneath it, but it was pretty flat, so no-one really had any reaction time.” Morton was the first person to succeed in the competition, which had staked NZ$100,000 for the first one-handed catch by a fan at each of the 12 limited-overs matches against West Indies (five ODIs and two T20s) and India (five ODIs). The closest anyone had come to taking a catch was in the third match in Queenstown when several members of the crowd, who were required to wear a branded T-shirt to be eligible for the prize, were diving around in attempts to snare the ball. New Zealand hit 22 sixes in that match with Corey Anderson belting 14. Morton, who told Sky television he regularly sat in the same spot for cricket matches at the ground, said he would need to discuss with his wife how to spend the money. — Reuters
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Sardar wants good start to the action-packed year
New Delhi, January 8 “We are a young team and still learning. We have prepared well for the tournament. We have a tough challenge ahead of us. Hopefully the boys will be at their best. We are hoping for a 4th-5th place finish. But we will have to work really hard for it,” Sardar said at the trophy unveiling ceremony of the inaugural edition of the competition. The participating teams are viewing this competition as a platform to assess their preparation for the FIH Hockey World Cup in Hague this May. “We have an exciting year ahead. There couldn’t have been a better opportunity to test ourselves in a competition like this. We have high hopes from this year. Hopefully the team will also step up to the challenge,” he said. Seven top nations, besides India, would be vying for the title in the tournament to be held at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium from January 10. India face England in their opening pool encounter on the opening day. The Indian side, which last played at the Asia Cup in September, will be competing in the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games besides the World Cup later this year. “There are lot of important tournaments lined up for us. We would want to build some momentum in this tournament to have successful year,” he added. All captains of the participating nations were present at the ceremony to unveil the trophy. — PTI
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Bharat Ratna for Dhyan Chand demand grows louder
New Delhi, January 8 Dhyan Chand's son and former hockey player Ashok Kumar led the rally which featured several yesteryear stars such as Zafar Iqbal, Dinesh Chopra, Rajesh Chauhan and former coach Harendra Singh. The clamour for Dhyan Chand to be conferred with the highest civillian honour has grown considerably after retired cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar became the first sportsperson to be bestowed the honour. “We appeal and urge to confer Bharat Ratna on Dhyan Chand,” the memorandum read. Dhyan Chand's name has already been recommended by the Sports Ministry for the honour. — PTI
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Schumi's accident may be result of faulty ski bindings
Grenoble, January 8 The bindings are designed with a mechanism that automatically releases the boots from the skis in the event of a crash in order to prevent a skier's legs being twisted by the skis as they tumble down a slope and if the safety release failed it could have meant Schumacher's skis were released unnecessarily, causing him to lose control and hit a rock. According to a news report, French authorities are investigating the possibility from the accident late last month, and are now probing the theory that the safety release mechanism on Schumacher's bindings may have failed. A report mentions that the investigation is also focusing on Schumacher's speed when he fell on a small off-piste section between two relatively gentle ski runs. The German has been in an induced coma since the accident on December 29. — ANI
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Federer the fan lives his dream
MELBOURNE, January 8 The 17-times grand slam champion beamed with pride after enjoying a few rallies with the 75-year-old, who was dressed in traditional whites and impressed a packed crowd with his movement ahead of Federer’s exhibition match with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. “Hitting with Rod Laver for me clearly is an absolute dream come true,” Federer said after a crowd-pleasing 6-7(5) 6-3 7-5 win over Tsonga in the fund-raising event for his charity, the Roger Federer Foundation. “It’s in his arena as well, it’s named after him and he deserves it so much.” “He told me that his wrist was hurting less on the forehand so he asked me to play there a bit more often. While I was playing my racket was feeling extremely heavy, that means I was very nervous which I really was because you don’t want to miss a shot.” “I was happy we had some rallies. What an honour it was for me and I hope that the crowd enjoyed it and I’m very thankful that he was willing to do something like this because it’s not normal in any way and that’s why I really appreciate it.” The 32-year-old Federer has won four of his 17 major titles in Rod Laver Arena and famously burst into tears when receiving the second of his winner’s trophies in 2006 from the Australian, the only man to complete two grand slams in calendar years. Laver has returned the admiration and said during the Melbourne launch of his autobiography in October last year that the Swiss could hit back from his disappointing 2013 by winning the year’s first grand slam. Federer heads into the grand slam seeded sixth and after losing the final of the Brisbane International to fellow 32-year-old Lleyton Hewitt of Australia. — Reuters
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Del Potro stands firm as seeds tumble
Sydney, January 8 The Sydney warm-up to the Australian Open has proved a graveyard for the seeds this week but the former US Open champion avoided an early flight to Melbourne by coming back to win 1-6 6-3 6-4. Rated a dark horse to win the title at Melbourne Park and add to his sole grand slam triumph at Flushing Meadows in 2009, the top seeded Argentine will next take on Radek Stepanek for a place in the last four. Other seeds struggled, with No.3 Andreas Seppi from Italy bundled out by Australia’s Marinko Matesovic 6-3 6-4 and sixth seed Julien Benneteau of France dumped in straight sets by Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky. Defending champion Bernard Tomic advanced with a hard-fought 6-3 4-6 6-4 win over Slovenian qualifier Blaz Kavcic. — Reuters
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volleyball
jr national Tribune News Service
Dehradun, January 8 In the boys category, the hosts thrashed Himachal Pradesh 25-22, 25-18, 25-17 while in the girls category, Uttarakhand edged past Andhra Pradesh 3-2 (25-27, 25-17, 25-23, 23-25, 15-10). In other matches in the girls section, Uttar Pradesh beat Punjab 25-21, 25-14, 25-16 while Haryana were comfortable winners over Jammu and Kashmir with a score of 25-06, 25-04, 25-01. In the other matches in the boys category, the southern teams of Tamil Nadu and Kerala registered easy wins against Jharkhand and Odisha respectively. Chhattisgarh defeated Madhya Pradesh 3-0, while Goa outplayed Manipur 3-1. Jammu and Kashmir beat West Bengal 3-1 to start their campaign on a high note. Tamil Nadu trounced Bihar 3-0, while Delhi faced minimal challenge in their 3-1 win over Gujarat. The tournament was inaugurated by Uttarakhand Governor Dr. Aziz Qureshi, who said that such events were going to motivate the youth of the state to take up sports and would help in promoting tourism in the state. The tournament features 27 teams in the boys section and 24 teams in the girls section, with 800 players in total.
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Nothing going right for Moyes United
SUNDERLAND, January 8 United were looking to bounce back from successive home defeats by Tottenham Hotspur, in the league, and Swansea City, in the FA Cup, but instead they lost again, and to the Premier League’s bottom side. Ryan Giggs, who had earlier hit the crossbar, gifted Sunderland the lead with an own goal and despite Nemanja Vidic equalising early in the second half, Fabio Borini’s 65th-minute penalty gave the hosts victory. Having eliminated Chelsea in the previous round, Sunderland remain on course to reach a first domestic cup final since 1992, when they lost to Liverpool in the FA Cup final. For United manager David Moyes, however, the gloom grows ever darker, with his hopes of claiming a piece of major domestic silverware in his maiden season severely compromised ahead of the second leg on January 22. The importance of the fixture was evident in the fact that both managers made seven changes to the sides they fielded in the FA Cup at the weekend, although United were once again without the injured Wayne Rooney. Eager to exploit any uncertainty in the visiting ranks, Sunderland looked to get balls into the box at the earliest opportunity and saw Borini drag an early shot wide from just outside the area. However, emboldened by the purposeful running of Adnan Januzaj, United began to assert control of the game. Giggs sent a deflected 25-yard shot against the crossbar, while Januzaj had a goal ruled out for offside and Vidic planted a header wide from a corner shortly before half-time. Sunderland emerged unscathed, though, and in first-half stoppage time they exploited defensive inattention from United to go ahead. From Sebastian Larsson’s deep free-kick, Wes Brown stole in behind Michael Carrick to volley the ball back across goal, and in attempting to prevent Phil Bardsley from prodding home, Giggs succeeded only in scoring himself. The timing of the goal felt like a sucker-punch, but United regrouped at the interval and equalised within seven minutes of kick-off in the second period. Tom Cleverley curled a left-wing corner to the back post and Vidic outjumped former team-mates Brown and John O’Shea to power a header past Vito Mannone. For the umpteenth time this season, however, United’s momentum was to desert them. Jonny Evans had to hobble off with an injury, and after Borini had sliced wide and Larsson had drawn a sharp save from visiting goalkeeper David de Gea, Sunderland restored their lead. — PTI
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