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Jadeja takes the fight to Kiwis
Li oldest woman to claim Australian Open
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Delhi beat sloppy Punjab in opener
Saina, Sindhu to clash for crown
Srinivasan’s brother set to be IOA prez
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Jadeja takes the fight to Kiwis
Auckland, january 25 New Zealand were on the verge of sealing an historic series win over the world champions, after making 314 and then removing the cream of India's batting talent to have the tourists at 184-6 with less than 15 overs remaining. But Jadeja, who finished unbeaten on 66, and Ravichandran Ashwin who posted a career-best 65, ensured India stayed in the game. Between them they put on 85 runs in 55 balls for the seventh wicket before Ashwin fell to a spectacular catch by New Zealand century-maker Martin Guptill, leaving Jadeja to get India to the end as the tail-end batsmen fell around him. New Zealand need to win one more to claim the series victory, while India need to win the remaining two matches to draw. All-rounder Corey Anderson, who finished with five for 63, bowled the final over but could not contain Jadeja who belted two fours, a six and a single to go with two wides. Three overs from the end, New Zealand believed they had Jadeja caught behind but umpire Rod Tucker turned down the appeal even though replays indicated the ball had touched the bat. New Zealand, who lost the toss for the third time, were sent into bat on a fast-paced wicket and were all out for 314 on the last ball of the innings built around Guptill’s 111. Guptill and Kane Williamson featured in a 153-run stand for the second wicket and when it was broken in the 33rd over with the removal of Williamson (65) New Zealand felt confident enough to promote big-hitting Anderson up the order. The move did not pay off. Anderson was out for eight runs and was quickly followed by Guptill then Brendon McCullum (0). New Zealand were 230/5. Ross Taylor (17) and Luke Ronchi (38) staged a minor recovery but with Taylor’s run out the hosts collapsed as they lost four wickets for just 18 runs. At 288/9, it was left to some lusty hitting by Tim Southee to get New Zealand over the 300-mark before he was run out on the last ball. India had a scare at the start when Rohit Sharma was dropped by Jesse Ryder at second slip before they comfortably progressed to 64 without loss after nine overs. However, the momentum switched with a bowling change which saw Anderson remove Shikhar Dhawan (28) and Sharma (39) while Hamish Bennett, back in the New Zealand side after a three-year absence, removed Virat Kohli for six. Suresh Raina (31) and MS Dhoni (50) carried India through to 184 at the start of the batting power play. With the removal of Dhoni, there was reason for New Zealand to sense a revival but Jadeja with his 66 off 45 deliveries, including four sixes and five fours, kept India in the game. This knock will help Jadeja to get his thinking right, says Dhoni Captain MS Dhoni feels that Ravindra Jadeja's 45-ball unbeaten 66 in the tied one-dayer will help the left-hander to develop into a more mature batsman. “We are hoping that he (Jadeja) develops further as a batsman. The kind of talent that he has, we have seen him score plenty of runs in domestic the circuit. He just needs to get his thinking right and this innings should really help him do that,” Dhoni said. He also praised Jadeja's controlled left-arm spin bowling on these unresponsive New Zealand tracks, stating, “He has been quite consistent as a bowler for us. Wickets haven't turned here at all, but usually left-arm spinners are able to get turn wherever they bowl.” For Dhoni, the positive aspect is the expsoure of such a big run-chases in alien conditions. “This game is good exposure for the two (Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin) of them. There aren't many times that they have been in a situation like this. So this should help them grow as batsmen, especially Ashwin who has been working hard on his batting and he has a lot more to offer in batting department,” he added. — Agencies Scoreboard New Zealand India
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Li oldest woman to claim Australian Open
Melbourne, January 25 Heartbroken as runner-up last year and in 2011, the 31-year-old struggled on serve and battled an errant forehand in a tight first set, before finding her range in devastating fashion to become the oldest woman to win at Melbourne Park. Cibulkova gave up two match-points when the Slovakian pushed a backhand long and saved one of them when Li did likewise, but the 20th seed crumbled on the second to give the Chinese her second grand slam title after winning the 2011 French Open. Asia's first grand slam singles winner, Li raised her arms in triumph and after shaking hands with her opponent, went straight to her section of the players' box to embrace her coach Carlos Rodriguez and members of her entourage. “Finally I got her (trophy), last two times was very close,” the beaming fourth seed said at the ceremony. “Congrats to Dominika, she had a great tournament. Max my agent, makes me rich, thank you. Thanks for Carlos, who always believed I could do it. We worked so hard in the winter.
“These were just the most fantastic two weeks of my life and I think I'm going to cry,” the 24-year-old said. “I would like to congratulate Li Na, she had a fantastic tournament, she deserves to be here as a winner.” Found RangeAfter a nervous start for both players, Li was the first to settle and unleashed a blistering backhand down the line to gain a break point in the opening game against her feisty opponent, who promptly double-faulted on the next point. Under pressure from the counter-punching Cibulkova, Li notched two double-faults in a row to be broken back in the sixth game and the Slovakian then held with a big serve to move 4-3 ahead. Li broke Cibulkova for a second time in the 11th game and had a set point on serve at 6-5 but the 20th seed survived to take the opener into a tiebreaker. The temperamental Chinese found her range in time to march to a 5-1 lead in the tiebreak but Cibulkova marshalled her defences with aplomb, scrambling to chase down everything and pulled back to 5-3. — Agencies Nadal wary of Wawrinka despite 12-0 dominance
Rafael Nadal will not be lulled into a false sense of superiority despite holding a 12-0 record over Stanislas Wawrinka as the pair get ready for their Sunday showdown. Nadal takes an undefeated 2014 record into the Australia Day contest, having won his season start in Doha. But Nadal cannot take anything for granted against Wawrinka, who beat Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinal and followed up by taking out No.7 Tomas Berdych. “If you play a match, you play a Grand Slam final, that’s a different kind of match than I played against him in the past,” said Nadal. “Stan is playing better than ever. “He’s a player who is ready to win against everybody today. If I don’t play my best tennis, I am sure that he will win three sets against me,” he said. Which is dearer, French or Aus?
The first time to win the French Open I really didn't prepare for that. I didn't know what I should do after the win. Also nobody told me what I should do. I think now is different because I prepared to win a Grand Slam. Because this time I was thinking about if I win or if I lose, what kind of life I have. So for sure it's different than last
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Delhi beat sloppy Punjab in opener
Mohali, January 25 Sloppy defending by the home team saw it conceding silly goals despite dominating the better part of the match. For the winning team, the goals came from Talwinder Singh and Jason Wilson with Akashdeep Singh setting up two of the goals. For the home team, Affan Yousuf scored the only goal. The home team came out with a lot of intent, dominating much of the possession in the first half. The team found its rhythm in attack after the initial waywardness, but could not find the goal. Delhi were happy to sit back with the intention of slowing down the game, but constant pressure by the opposition forwards did not let the visitors settle. The pressure resulted in the first penalty corner for the Punjab team, when Gurmail Singh was brought down in the circle after he squeezed in through two defenders. Sandeep Singh stepped up but his drag-flick was deflected behind off the rusher. Against the run of play Delhi found the first goal after some sloppy defending by the Warriors in the circle. Twice the defenders failed to clear a loose ball and the unmarked Talwinder Singh made no mistake in scoring past the helpless keeper from five yards with seven minutes remaining in the first half. After the goal, Punjab had to absorb a lot of pressure from the leading team. The home team found the equaliser within five minutes when Affan Yousuf fired in from close range. SV Sunil, who had pulled all the defenders towards him with a piercing run into the circle, had slipped an unmarked Affan the ball. The first few minutes of the second half again witnessed immense pressure by the Warriors on Delhi’s defence, with one move almost providing the goal. Dwyer thought he scored but his teammate had carried the ball. Just like the first half, it was the Waveriders who scored against the run of play due to another silly error by the opposition. Akashdeep was allowed to run in along the base line after the defender failed to put in a hard tackle. The young forward supplied the ball to Jason Wilson at far post. The Warriors tried hard to find an equaliser but the Delhi defence stood firm. hil opener Delhi Waveriders beat Punjab Warriors 3-1 TODAY’S MATCHES LIVE ON STAR SPORTS
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Saina, Sindhu to clash for crown
Lucknow, January 25 Saina reached her first final in 15 months after prevailing over China’s Xuan Deng 21-14, 17-21, 21-19 while Sindhu surpassed Lindaweni Fanetri from Indonesia 21-6, 12-21, 21-17 to set up a their first-ever international match against each other. The two, however, have played at the Indian Badminton League (IBL) last year, where Saina won both the match-ups. In the men’s category, K Srikanth sailed into the final by overcoming compatriot HS Prannoy 21-18, 22-20 while young Aditya Prakash could not extend his dream run any further as he went down 10-21, 7-21 against ninth seed Xue Song of China in the other semifinal. The clash between Saina and Xuan turned out to be an edge-of-the-seat thriller even though 40 ranking places separated the two. Saina was untouchable in the first game as she kept a distance from start to finish even though Xuan kept fighting. In the second game, Xuan opened up a slender 6-4 lead but Saina swiftly made it 7-7. However, the Chinese gathered five straight points to grab the lead at 15-14 and with Saina succumbing to unforced errors, Xuan roared back into the contest. In the decider, Saina was erratic as her shots went wide and long and in a flash she was lagging 0-7. The Indian then slowly climbed her way to equalise at 8-8 when Xuan hit one long. The Chinese player then won three points in a row to lead 11-8. The left-handed Chinese kept the pressure on Saina but a terrific shot helped the Indian bridge the gap to 12-14. Even as the duo fought for each point, it was Xuan who maintained her two-point lead till 17-15. Saina then brought one back with a overhead smash, following up with an accurate baseline shot to equalise 17-17, and the two then moved to 19-19. Saina earned a match point with a disputed line call on her right. Xuan then hit out and Saina celebrated. — PTI
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Srinivasan’s brother set to be IOA prez
New Delhi, January 25 Ramachandran was the lone candidate to file the nomination for the President's post for the February 9 elections, which will also clear the decks for India's return to the Olympic fold after the IOA was suspended by International Olympic Committee on December 4 in 2012. The deadline for filing nomination papers for various post ended today. Ramachandran, the brother of BCCI President N Srinivasan, has been treasurer of IOA from 2008-12 and also in the executive council of 2012 led by Abhay Singh Chautala though the IOC did not recognise it. Ramachandran is currently serving as president of World Squash Federation as well as chief of SRFI. Hockey India Associate vice-president Rajeev Mehta will also be elected unopposed as secretary general. All India Tennis Association chief Anil Khanna will take over as IOA treasurer while Virendra Nanavati will be elected unopposed to the lone post of senior vice-president. The office bearers to be elected on February 9 will hold their posts till Dec 2016. Nine persons filed their nominations for the eight posts of vice-presidents for which elections will be held unless somebody decides to withdraw his or her nomination which can be done on February 1 and 2. Six candidates filed nomination papers for six posts of joint secretaries while 10 filed nominations for 10 posts of Executive Council members, according to the notification issued by Returning Officer Justice (Retd.) S N Sapra. — PTI Probable list of principal office-bearers President Senior vice-president Vice-presidents Rajeev Mehta
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Auckland, january 25
Melbourne, January 25
Mohali, January 25
Lucknow, January 25
“Thanks to my husband, now so famous in China, (my) hitting partner, fixes the drinks, fixes the racquets... You do a lot a lot of jobs. Thanks a lot, you are a nice guy. You were lucky to find me.” The pint-sized Cibulkova, who won plenty of admirers at Melbourne Park after upsetting Maria Sharapova and Agnieszka Radwanska on her way to the final, scrambled hard but was simply overpowered by Li's crunching groundstrokes in the second set.
