S P O R T S

Afghans muddle, Lankans cuddle
Dhaka, March 3
Four-time champions Sri Lanka thumped newcomers Afghanistan by 129 runs to reach the final of the Asia Cup in Dhaka on Monday. The Islanders scored a challenging 253-6 with in-form Kumar Sangakkara hitting a solid 76 before they bowled their rivals out for a paltry 124 in 38.4 overs.

Brothers in arms Sri Lanka player celebrate after their comprehensive 129-run win over Afghanistan in Dhaka on Monday.

Kohli not shocked by loss to Pak
Mirpur, March 3
His team is on the verge of being knocked out of the Asia Cup after back-to-back losses but India's stand-in skipper Virat Kohli said he is not at all shocked by the prospect as his side is massively inexperienced even though it has shown "character".

Gavaskar slams the team, questions work ethics
Mirpur, March 3
The Indian cricket team's run of poor form has prompted former captain Sunil Gavaskar to come down heavily on the beleaguered players, questioning their “abysmal work ethic” following the side's defeat to arch-rivals Pakistan in the Asia Cup.

Harris, Johnson bowl Oz into commanding position

Cape Town, March 3 Ryan Harris took three wickets as Australia had South Africa reeling on 200 for six at tea on day three of the third and final Test at Newlands on Monday. The home team, replying to Australia's 494 for seven declared, still need 95 more runs to avoid the follow-on. Australia's Ryan Harris celebrates the dismissal of South Africa's JP Duminy on Day 3 of the third Test in Cape Town on Monday. Reuters

Heard blood-curdling screams: Neighbour Pretoria, March 3 The first witness at Oscar Pistorius' murder trial told the court on Monday she heard "blood-curdling screams" from a woman followed by shots, a dramatic opening to a case that could see one of global sports' most admired role models jailed for life. Oscar Pistorius at the murder trial on Monday. AFP

La Liga’s three to see Madrid, March 3 Cristiano Ronaldo scored a late equaliser as Real Madrid avoided a bruising derby defeat at Spanish title rival Atletico Madrid with a 2-2 draw. Ronaldo pounced on a loose ball inside the area to net the 82nd-minute equaliser — his 23rd goal of the season for the league leaders. Karim Benzema put Madrid ahead at the Vicente Calderon Stadium after three minutes but, instead of wilting, Atletico hit back with two goals to take the lead by half-time. Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo (L) is congratulated by Gareth Bale after scoring a goal against Atletico Madrid. Reuters

Unmukt impresses in Delhi's win over HP
New Delhi, March 3
Defending champions Delhi were back to winning ways on Monday as they comfortably beat Himachal Pradesh by five wickets in a North Zone leg match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy to put themselves in contention for a place in the knock-out round of the tournament.

hockey nationals
Bengal register 2nd win in row
Madrid, March 3
Susheel Gupta slammed a hat-trick to help Bengal thrash Mizoram 5-0 in a league match and register their second consecutive win in Pool C on the fifth day of the fourth Hockey India Senior Men National Championship at Major Dhyan Chand Stadium.

India lose to Pakistan in kabaddi
Jalandhar, March 3
All it took for the circle style kabaddi world champions to lose their halo of invincibility was a stroll across the Wagah border and a game against the hosts in the Indo-Pak Games in Lahore.

Bhat clinches German Open title (Germany), March 3 Seasoned campaigner Arvind Bhat reached a new high in his badminton career when he defeated Danish Hans-Kristian Vittinghus to clinch the men's singles title of the $120,000 German Open Grand Prix Gold on Sunday. Arvind Bhat and runners-up Hans-Kristian Vittinghus at the victory ceremony. Photo courtesy: German Open

Punjab men in semifinals, women lose
New Delhi, March 3
The Punjab men outclassed Haryana 89-62 in the quarterfinals of the 64th National Basketball Championship at the Thyagaraj Sports Complex here today. Punjab played as a compact unit, with Amritpal Singh (18), Ranbir Singh (18), Palpreet Singh (17) and Gurwinder Singh (13) contributing equally to help their team into the semifinals.

Afghans muddle, Lankans cuddle
The 129-run victory over the first-timers helps Lanka storm into the final of Asia Cup with a clean slate

Dhaka, March 3
Four-time champions Sri Lanka thumped newcomers Afghanistan by 129 runs to reach the final of the Asia Cup in Dhaka on Monday. The Islanders scored a challenging 253-6 with in-form Kumar Sangakkara hitting a solid 76 before they bowled their rivals out for a paltry 124 in 38.4 overs.

Sri Lanka won all their three matches to gain 12 points, leaving them to play a meaningless last game against hosts Bangladesh on Thursday before having a tilt at the title.

Afghanistan, who gave a good account of themselves by beating Bangladesh by 32 runs in their second match, found Sri Lanka's pace-cum spin attack too hot to handle and only captain Mohammad Nabi (37), Asghar Stanikzai (27) and Noor Ali Zadran (21) were among the runs.

Nabi hit a six and three boundaries off 43 balls before he fell leg-before to spinner Chaturanga de Silva in the 33rd over.

Mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis took 3-11 in his seven overs while Thisara Perera chipped in with 3-29 in his full quota of ten overs. Paceman Suranga Lakmal (2-30) and left-armer de Silva fetched 2-29 to complete the rout.

Only Nabi and Najibullah Zadran (11) could stay longer to put 48 runs for the sixth wicket before Afghanistan lost their last five wickets for a mere three runs.

Earlier, Sangakkara hit six fours and a six off 102 balls to hold the innings together when the batsmen faltered after Angelo Mathews won the toss and decided to bat.

Sangakkara came to the crease after opener Lahiru Thirimanne had gone for five in the sixth over, bowled by paceman Shapoor Zadran.

Fellow opener Kusal Perera scored a 49-ball 33 with four boundaries and a six, while Mahela Jayawardene made 14. But both fell to medium pacer Mirwais Ashraf, who finished with 2-29 in eight overs, to leave Sri Lanka struggling on 83-3.

Sangakkara, fresh from a match-winning hundred against India, added 74 for the fourth wicket with Dinesh Chandimal (26) to put his team on firmer ground.

Sangakkara was run out in the 38th over with Sri Lanka on 158-5, as Afghanistan kept the pressure on.

But Mathews provided a late flurry with an unbeaten 45 off 41 balls, adding an unbeaten 69 with Thisara Perera (19 not out) to get his team past the 250 mark.

Afghanistan had brought back Noor Ali and Dawlat Zadran for Karim Sadiq and Hamid Hassan from the line-up, which upset Bangladesh on Saturday, but they failed to keep the momentum. — Agencies

Today’s match

Pakistan vs Bangladesh (1.30 pm)

LIVE ON STAR SPORTS

Scoreboard

Kohli not shocked by loss to Pak

Mirpur, March 3
His team is on the verge of being knocked out of the Asia Cup after back-to-back losses but India's stand-in skipper Virat Kohli said he is not at all shocked by the prospect as his side is massively inexperienced even though it has shown "character".

India have lost consecutive matches to Sri Lanka and arch-rivals Pakistan in the five-team event and are all but out of contention for a spot in the final.

"I'm not shocked at all. I'm really proud of the way the boys fought it out. I'm really proud of the way the team showed character in the field and with the bowling as well. 245 against a team like Pakistan and on that wicket with the dew is not easy to defend, but I think the guys showed a lot of character," Kohli said after the one-wicket loss to Pakistan here.

The defeat was crushing for the fact that India could have nailed it had it not been for successive sixes struck by Shahid Afridi in the final over. "If you see the kind of batsmen they had and our bowlers with the inexperience they had, still to put up that kind of fight. I mean you see (Amit) Mishra, he gave only 28 runs in 10 overs, took two wickets, bowled brilliantly against the likes of Misbah, Hafeez, Umar Akmal and Shahid Afridi. So I think it was a commendable effort and I'm really, really proud of the way the guys fought it out," Kohli said. — PTI

Gavaskar slams the team, questions work ethics

Mirpur, March 3
The Indian cricket team's run of poor form has prompted former captain Sunil Gavaskar to come down heavily on the beleaguered players, questioning their “abysmal work ethic” following the side's defeat to arch-rivals Pakistan in the Asia Cup.

India suffered a nerve-wracking one-wicket defeat at the hands of Pakistan in Mirpur on Sunday night, virtually putting them out of contention from reaching the final of the five-nation tournament. India have lost two matches so far while winning just one against Bangladesh.

“India's work ethic has been pretty abysmal. It has let the team down. They have not practised well and there can nothing be something like optional practice. There was no excuse for anyone apart from Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli to miss practice a day ahead of the game against Pakistan,” said Gavaskar.

“This business of optional practice has to be thrown out of the window. This is not the case only in this tournament, but throughout.”

“You are not here to be in your hotel rooms or to be out in the shops. You are here to represent India, something which the team management has not been saying for the past two-three years. That's been the disappointing aspect. This also explains why Indian team hasn't won anything of note apart from the Champions Trophy,” said Gavaskar.

Gavaskar also lashed out at the top order, saying that the batsmen were over-confident and failed in shot-selection. “India threw away a couple of wickets unnecessarily and every time Pakistan have been asked to chase 250 recently, they have failed. So, we were a few runs short,” said the former skipper.

He also said that it was very easy for the batsmen to hit sixes at the Sher-e-Bangla cricket stadium, as the boundaries were shorter.

“The boundaries should be a bit longer. Sixes were hit easily in this stadium.”

Gavaskar, however, defended stand-in-skipper Kohli and said that he has shown promise. “For somebody who is captaining for the first time in a major tournament, Kohli has done well and shown promise. Losses to both Sri Lanka and Pakistan were suffered in the last over,” he pointed out. — PTI

Pakistan lauded by former players

Lahore: Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan led the chorus of appreciation for the Pakistan team after its stunning win over India, showering special praise on all-rounder Shahid Afridi for his electrifying cameo. “Afridi fulfilled his responsibilities as a senior player and I am happy to see him playing so well under lot of pressure,” Imran said. Mohammad Yousuf, a former Pakistan batsman, said Indian batsman appeared a bit overconfident. “I don’t know but I got this feeling they were overconfident and tried to play too many strokes and paid the price. But our bowlers must be praised as they provided the impetus for the win.” Pakistan’s former batsman and ex-head coach Mohsin Khan said Afridi had shown why it was necessary to retain faith in senior players like him. “I think everyone contributed in their own way but the way Afridi handled the pressure in the final over, that was the winning moment for Pakistan. He kept his nerves and won the match for Pakistan.” — PTI

Harris, Johnson bowl Oz into commanding position

Cape Town, March 3
Ryan Harris took three wickets as Australia had South Africa reeling on 200 for six at tea on day three of the third and final Test at Newlands on Monday. The home team, replying to Australia's 494 for seven declared, still need 95 more runs to avoid the follow-on.

Paceman Harris has figures of three for 44 after removing Graeme Smith for five, Hashim Amla for 38 and JP Duminy for four. Faf du Plessis (42) and Vernon Philander (18) were not out at the interval.

Du Plessis was given three lives.

Wicketkeeper Brad Haddin missed a regulation stumping chance before spilling an opportunity off Harris. The batsman was also dropped off the bowling of spinner Nathan Lyon.

Earlier, Alviro Petersen reached his half-century off 50 balls including taking 18 off one James Pattinson over.

Petersen fell for 53, caught down the leg side by Haddin off Mitchell Johnson.

His was the quickest 50 for South Africa against Australia since Barry Richards took 56 balls in Durban in 1970.

Smith's wretched series continued when he edged Harris to Haddin.

Dean Elgar (11) came in at number three and played a couple of confident strokes before getting an inside edge to a Pattinson delivery, Haddin claiming a brilliant catch.

Amla was undone by the reverse-swing of Harris who got a delivery to shape back in to bowl him.

AB De Villiers (14) was taken at second slip by Michael Clarke off Johnson and JP Duminy edged Harris to Haddin.

Brief scores: Australia 494-7 declared (Clarke 161*, Warner 135, Smith 84; Duminy 4-73); South Africa 200-6 (Petersen 53; Harris 3-44). — Reuters

Heard blood-curdling screams: Neighbour

Pretoria, March 3
The first witness at Oscar Pistorius' murder trial told the court on Monday she heard "blood-curdling screams" from a woman followed by shots, a dramatic opening to a case that could see one of global sports' most admired role models jailed for life.

Taking the stand after the Olympic and Paralympic star pleaded not guilty to murdering his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentine's Day last year, Michelle Burger, who lives in an estate nearby, testified she was woken up in the middle of the night by a woman shouting for help. "I was still sitting in the bed and I heard her screams," Burger told the Pretoria High Court. "She screamed terribly and she yelled for help. Then I also heard a man screaming for help. Three times he yelled for help."

Thinking it was a violent break-in — a possibility in crime-ridden South Africa — Burger said her husband called the private security firm guarding their upmarket housing estate in Pretoria's eastern suburbs, before the pair heard more shouts.

"I heard the screams again. It was worse. It was more intense," Burger told the court. "She was very scared. Just after her screams, I heard four shots. Four gun-shots. Bang, bang, bang, bang.”

“It was very traumatic for me. You could hear that it was bloodcurdling screams."

Throughout her testimony, the 27-year-old Pistorius sat impassively, staring at the floor. — Reuters

La Liga’s three to see
With 12 matches left, Real Madrid lead on 64 points, with champions Barca second on 63 and Atletico third on 61

Madrid, March 3
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a late equaliser as Real Madrid avoided a bruising derby defeat at Spanish title rival Atletico Madrid with a 2-2 draw. Ronaldo pounced on a loose ball inside the area to net the 82nd-minute equaliser — his 23rd goal of the season for the league leaders.

Karim Benzema put Madrid ahead at the Vicente Calderon Stadium after three minutes but, instead of wilting, Atletico hit back with two goals to take the lead by half-time. Koke smashed a low shot beyond Madrid goalkeeper Diego Lopez, who then watched Gabi Fernandez's swerving effort from 30 metres fly past him just before the break.

Madrid stayed three points ahead of Atletico, but Barcelona were able to cut their deficit to Madrid to one point after a laboured 4-1 win against Almeria at the Camp Nou. Barcelona led 2-0 by the 24th after Alexis Sanchez tapped a rebound into the empty goal before Lionel Messi curled an exquisite left-foot free kick around the defensive wall and into the top of the goal for his 15th league strike of the season. A rout looked in the cards until Angel Trujillo got free to head home a corner in the 27th, and the relegation-threatened club made Barcelona work for their points. Carles Puyol, who had made a rare start, scored an even rarer goal after Messi's header came off the bar straight to him in the 83rd minute. Xavi Hernandez scored moments later as the Catalans bounced back from a 3-1 loss to Real Sociedad last weekend.

The fifth meeting between crosstown rivals Atletico and Madrid since last May's Copa del Rey final kept its trademark liveliness and aggression, with Atletico knowing defeat would likely end their dreams of a first title since 1996. Atletico's defence played Benzema onside for the France striker to score his 15th of the season, leaving him alone to guide Angel Di Maria's cross into the box past goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. Ugly confrontations followed as teams used gamesmanship to try and gain an edge, with Arda Turan booked for protesting in 11th after Sergio Ramos tripped Diego Costa inside the area. — Reuters

Unmukt impresses in Delhi's win over HP

New Delhi, March 3
Defending champions Delhi were back to winning ways on Monday as they comfortably beat Himachal Pradesh by five wickets in a North Zone leg match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy to put themselves in contention for a place in the knock-out round of the tournament.

Chasing 231 for a win on a slowish track, youngsters Unmukt Chand (51), Jagrit Anand (61) and Milind Kumar (57 not out) struck half-centuries to clinch the issue for Gautam Gambhir's team.

An interesting incident happened after the match as Gambhir and controversial pitch curator Venkat Sundaram spoke to each other for a couple of minutes, apparently discussing about the pitch for the next game against Haryana. Gambhir and Sundaram had an ugly spat before the commencement of the tournament.

There were awkward moments during the meeting of Gambhir and Sundaram which happened in the presence of coach Sanjeev Sharma and another veteran Mithun Manhas.

As they were having a keen look at the strip, Gambhir took a ball and started bouncing it. Sundaram's face grew pale as the ball would not bounce above the knee. Having seen what he needed to, Gambhir then retired to the confines of the dressing room. As for the match, young Jagrit Anand, who only came to know half an hour before the match that he is playing instead of Virender Sehwag, who pulled out in the morning complaining of “sickness”, gave a good account of himself.

He and Chand added 79 runs for the second wicket. Chand hit three fours and a six in his 80-ball knock while Anand, who played with straight bat, hit four boundaries and a six facing 89 balls in the process.

Unmukt hit a lovely six off spinner Gurvinder Singh but was holed out immediately after the completion of his half century. Gambhir (14) did not have a good match as he nicked one to wicketkeeper Ankush Bains behind the stumps.

Milind, who cracked five fours in 68 balls, added 67 runs for the fifth wicket in less than 11 overs with Yogesh Nagar (31) to seal the issue for Delhi.

Punjab beat J&K by 8 wkt win

Punjab continued their good run at Jamia Millia Sports Complex by trouncing J & K by 8 wickets today. After a good show against Delhi in the earlier match Punjab batsmen continued their batting form. After restricting J&K to a modest total of 199 for 9 in the stipulated 50 overs Punjab achieved the target of 200 runs in 37 overs to log 4 points for the outright win to take the tally of their points to 8 in 3 matches.

Brief Scores: HP: 230 in 49.5 overs (Bipul 57, Prashant 49, Varun 4/54); Delhi 234/5 (Unmukt 51, Jagrit 61, Milind 57*). — PTI

hockey nationals
Bengal register 2nd win in row

Madrid, March 3
Susheel Gupta slammed a hat-trick to help Bengal thrash Mizoram 5-0 in a league match and register their second consecutive win in Pool C on the fifth day of the fourth Hockey India Senior Men National Championship at Major Dhyan Chand Stadium.

Apart from from Susheel, Asheesh Sengar and Sunil Shah scored a goal each to complete Bengal’s tally.

In another Pool C league match, Kunal Jagdale struck three goals as Maharashtra beat Vidarbha Hockey Association 6-1 to record their third win out of four matches, while the other ended in a 4-4 draw against Chattoshgarh.

Earlier in the day, Chhattisgarh defeated Delhi 2-0 in a Pool D league game.

Chhattisgarh took an early lead in the ninth minute through a field goal by Upendra Pillay before Shaheed Shaikh doubled the scorline in the 62nd minute.

Results: Pool C: Bengal Hockey Association 5 Susheel Gupta (38th, 46th, 53rd minutes) Asheesh Sengar (18th) and Sunil Shah (30th) vs Mizoram 0; Maharashtra 6 Kunal Jagdale (23rd, 34th, 56th), Manpreet Singh (37th, 44th) and Vinod Nimbore (70th) vs Vidarbha Hockey Association 1 Mohd Ajaz Qureshi (52nd); Pool D: Chhattisgarh 2 Upendra Pillay (9th) and Shaheed Shaikh (62nd) vs Delhi 0. — PTI

India lose to Pakistan in kabaddi
Rachna Khaira
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 3
All it took for the circle style kabaddi world champions to lose their halo of invincibility was a stroll across the Wagah border and a game against the hosts in the Indo-Pak Games in Lahore.

The Indian side, which trounced every opponent while defending their title in the Kabaddi World Cup about two months back, failed to show the same form and strength as they lost 51-34 to the hosts.

Pakistan nosed ahead right from the start, and went into the half-time break leading 30-13. Nothing changed for India in the second half, and they eventually collapsed to a crushing defeat. Raider Sandeep Singh fought valiantly, scoring nine points, but the Pakistan side was too good to be tamed by an individual effort.

The Indian women, also the world champions, however, played like the champions and notched up an impressive 38-15 victory. Unlike the men's team, they stayed in control right through the match. The Indian wrestlers fared even worse than the men's kabaddi team, losing in six of the seven bouts. Ranko Singh was the only wrestler to win his bout, beating Asad Iqbal Butt in the 74kg category. Other wrestlers couldn't match their rivals and fell one after the other.

“The teams were granted visa at the last moment, and this disturbed them a bit. Besides, many of the players from the world cup winning team were busy playing club tournaments across the world,” said S.L Lotey, Deputy Director Sports, Punjab.

Bhat clinches German Open title
Mulheim An Der Ruhr

(Germany), March 3
Seasoned campaigner Arvind Bhat reached a new high in his badminton career when he defeated Danish Hans-Kristian Vittinghus to clinch the men's singles title of the $120,000 German Open Grand Prix Gold on Sunday.

Bhat struck the form of his life at the age of 34 to win his first ever Grand Prix crown at the RWE-Sporthalle, upsetting 12th seed Vittinghus 24-22, 19-21, 21-11 in exactly an hour. This is the first time an Indian has won a German Open title in any category.

The first game of this thrilling clash turned out to be a close affair with both players exchanging the lead several times. Towards the end, the Bangalore resident made an amazing comeback from 18-20 down — saving four game points — to win the game. The Dane, however, turned the tables on the un-seeded Bhat in the second game. The world No.25, who was trailing 7-13 and then 12-17, won nine out of the last 11 points to level the match.

The third set was an even closer affair. The game was evenly poised with the Indian leading 12-11. But Bhat notched up the next ten points to win the encounter. — IANS

basketball nationals
Punjab men in semifinals, women lose

New Delhi, March 3
The Punjab men outclassed Haryana 89-62 in the quarterfinals of the 64th National Basketball Championship at the Thyagaraj Sports Complex here today. Punjab played as a compact unit, with Amritpal Singh (18), Ranbir Singh (18), Palpreet Singh (17) and Gurwinder Singh (13) contributing equally to help their team into the semifinals.

Haryana’s Deepak Rathi and Pradeep Chauhan with 19 each were the top scorers.

Meanwhile, the Punjab women were thrashed 111-58 by Delhi in their quarterfinal. Punjab were leading 19-15 after the first quarter but the confident Delhi team picked up its game and led 43-28 at half time. Delhi managed to score 30 and 38 points in the 3rd and 4th quarters. — PTI

Other Quarterfinals:

Men: Tamil Nadu (Mathew 18) bt Karnataka (Shetty 16) 87-54; Uttarakhand (Amritpal 50) bt Kerala (Nilson 19) 93-74; Services (Ram 29) bt Railways (Anand 21) 104-72.

Women: Railways (Pushpa 15) bt Tamil Nadu (Alagu 19) 90-50; Chhattishgarh (Kavita 24) bt Kerala (Neenumol 15) 76-46.