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Pakistan fires the first salvo
Dhoni searching for maiden fifty
Lorgat gets clean chit, ICC says no evidence found
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hockey nationals
HI slaps ban on 21 players for breach of code of conduct
Terry keeps it real, sets sights on top-8 finish in World Cup
Archers win 2 gold, one silver in Asian meet
India loses its connect with FIFA WC
Bhullar tied-7th after Round 1 in Morocco
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Pakistan fires the first salvo
Lahore, March 13 Hafeez wants his team to get the ideal start by beating India. “India-Pakistan match is always a pressure match. As a player and a captain I am very happy that our first match is against India. From there we will take off and perform better in all matches during the tournament,” said Hafeez. Pakistan are placed in Group II in the main round alongside India, Australia, West Indies and one qualifier from the first round. Hafeez believed Pakistan had the momentum after a win over India in the Asia Cup. “I think we will have the momentum against India, thanks to the victory against them in the Asia Cup,” said Hafeez. The Pakistan skipper said that having played the ODIs in Bangladesh just ahead of the World Cup will stand them in good stead. Despite sounding positive against India, Hafeez said no team can be taken lightly in this tournament. “Lots of teams are playing Twenty20 now and you can’t take any team lightly. You have to be positive in your thinking against all teams. I think two things are very important in a big tournament, one is momentum, which we have, and the second is luck.” Hafeez hoped the dashing allrounder Shahid Afridi would regain fitness and join the team on March 17.
— Agencies |
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Dhoni searching for maiden fifty
New Delhi, March 13 Believe it or not, the captain is yet to score his maiden half-century in T20 Internationals, despite having donned the blue jersey in 43 of the 46 matches that India have played so far. Sounds weird but Dhoni’s aggregate of 772 runs is the most by any batsman without a single fifty in T20 Internationals. Incidentally, his highest score, 48 not out against Australia, came in a losing cause in Sydney. Dhoni has mainly batted at No 5 or 6 (13 times each) in the T20 Internationals which meant that, on most occasions, he got just a few overs to bat. And as a result, he has stayed unbeaten on 16 occasions out of 40 times he went in to bat during those 43 games. He has so far just missed three games — first, when he opted out of the 2010 tour of Zimbabwe where India played two T20Is under Suresh Raina’s captaincy; second, when he missed India’s tour of West Indies in 2011. Kohli ready for the grind
India’s Asia Cup performance under his captaincy was a disappointment but star batsman Virat Kohli said he was ready for the hard grind of the Twenty20 World Cup. Well rested. Time to get back to the grind now! — Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) India failed to reach the finals of the Asia Cup earlier this month at the same venue as they lost two of their round-robin matches to Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
— PTI Vaughan picks India as favourite
London: Former England captain Michael Vaughan has tipped India and West Indies as teams who can win the Twenty20 World Cup which begins at Mirpur in Bangladesh on Sunday. “Any team from the following could win the T20 WC... India, Aussie, SA, West Indies, Sri Lanka and good outside chances in NZ and Pakistan,” Vaughan tweeted. “I am going for India or West Indies. Both have power and plenty of good spin options. But it’s always worth a tipple on Pakistan at WCs..,” he said. India won the title in 2007 while the West Indies would go to Bangladesh as defending champions. |
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Lorgat gets clean chit, ICC says no evidence found
Dubai, March 13 David Becker, who was the ICC legal adviser throughout Lorgat’s tenure as CEO of the world body, had last year issued a statement suggesting that the BCCI’s flouting of the FTP could have legal implications and that it was “improper” to allow a member body to “blatantly disregard an ICC resolution”. In his October 2013 statement, Becker, also a former legal adviser of Cricket South Africa, had said that he had resigned from his ICC post because of what he considered “questionable governance” at the ICC and listed three examples, all relating to the “dominance of BCCI President N Srinivasan”. Lorgat was accused by the BCCI of having the knowledge of Becker’s statement and, in fact, of its preparation, prompting the ICC to commission an inquiry into his role in that statement. The controversy had also threatened to derail India’s tour of South Africa December last. BCCI had agreed to a shortened tour only after the CSA agreed to bar Lorgat from dealing with matters related to India and from attending ICC Executive Meetings as CSA representative. The adjudicator, in a joint statement issued by the ICC and CSA, said that there was “no evidence to support the allegations made against Lorgat”. As a result, any restrictions on Lorgat’s ability to act as CSA chief executive were removed. He can now resume acting as CSA’s representative on the ICC Chief Executive’s Committee and deal with affairs involving the BCCI. “An independent Adjudicator, appointed by the ICC to look into the content and distribution of media comments made about ICC Board by David Becker, who at that time was acting as a legal consultant to CSA in respect of their ongoing dispute over FTP Schedule, and the subsequent attempts to have them withdrawn, and, in particular, role of Haroon Lorgat, CEO of CSA, in these matters has found no evidence to support the allegations made against Lorgat,” the statement said. The independent adjudicator also exonerated Lorgat of the charge that he had allegedly tried to bribe and threaten journalists. Reacting to the development, Lorgat said, “With this unsavoury matter now behind us I look forward to getting on with the real challenges that we need to deal with. “It was a costly but necessary exercise once the allegations were made. I am pleased it is now behind us and I must thank my board for their unequivocal support,” he said. — PTI |
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Messi inspires Barcelona into quarters
Scores the first goal in their 2-1 win over Manchester City as the Catalans go through 4-1 on aggregate
Paris, March 13 Barcelona, who had come into their game on the back of some poor league form beat Manchester City, who had Pablo Zabaleta sent off, 2-1 for a 4-1 aggregate victory. While Barcelona's win saw them join domestic rivals Atletico Madrid in the last eight, City became the second English side in two nights to bow out, Arsenal having exited on Tuesday. Lionel Messi opened the scoring for Barca with his eighth Champions League goal of the campaign before Vincent Kompany levelled just before the final whistle. But there was still time for Dani Alves to strike the winner as Barcelona qualified for the quarterfinals for the seventh successive season. While victory will ease the pressure on Barcelona boss Gerardo Martino, defeat for City will increase demands for manager Manuel Pelligrini to deliver the Premier League title, as this latest setback came four days after they were knocked out of the domestic FA Cup by second tier Wigan. Barcelona forward Cesc Fabregas said that while others might be saying Barcelona were a shadow of previous sides, they were quite happy with how things were going. "Everything is good, it's not that bad," said the former Arsenal star. "We're in the final of the Cup against Real, we're four points behind in the league.” Down to 10 againFor Kompany there was a serious sense of injustice especially Zabaleta's dismissal for a second bookable offence when he objected to the referee failing to give a penalty. "Going for the second time down to 10 men (Martin Demichelis was sent off in the first leg) when it was a clear penalty, it's not easy conditions to come and play against such a good team.” "Over the course of the two games, whenever we were with 11 players there wasn't much between the two teams," he added. PSG, who Barcelona beat in last season's quarter-finals, kept alive their hopes of becoming only the second French side to win the trophy after Marseille in 1993 with a 2-1 win over German outfit Bayer Leverkusen for a 6-1 aggregate win. Goals by Marquinhos and Ezequiel Lavezzi cancelled out Sidney Sam's sixth minute opener to give Laurent Blanc's side their sixth successive win in all competitions. — PTI
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Gangpur-Odisha win Division B title
Lucknow, March 13 Both teams started fast with Gangpur-Odisha’s William Xalxo scoring in the first minute and Maharashtra captain, Vishal Pillay, replying in the 3rd minute. Locked 2-2 at halftime, the two teams went in the defensive mode in the second half. However, Minz managed to sneak in the winning goal in the 52nd min to seal the title. Earlier, Mumbai Hockey Association Ltd. beat Namdhari XI 3-1 to finish third. Meanwhile, Hockey Odisha beat Karnataka 3-1 in Division A of the championship. In the other match, Tamil Nadu defeated Food Corporation of India (FCI) 4-3 to register their first win. — PTI Chhattisgarh girls beat Kerala to win junior title
Chhattisgarh beat Hockey Kerala by a convincing 6-1 margin in the final of Hockey India junior women’s National championship (Division B) at the Chamundi Vihar grounds here today. Ishika Chaudhary scored a brace for the winning team. Sadhna Sengar opened the account in the sixth minute. Gangpur-Odisha bagged the third position with 2-0 win over Manipur. Captain Rinki Kujur opened the account in the second minute by converting a penalty corner, while Laxmi Ekka doubled the lead in the 28th minute. |
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HI slaps ban on 21 players for breach of code of conduct
New Delhi, March 13 The enitre 16-member North Central Railways women’s team has also been banned for six months. Punjab and Sind Bank players Sarvanjit Singh and Karamjit Singh and Air India’s Gurpreet Singh were also slapped with a six-month ban for an on-field spat during the 48th All India Bombay Gold Cup Tournament. The altercation resulted in all the three players getting a red card. All the three players will be on probation for a period of one year from October 1 and any repeat incident of such nature will immediately result in another ban of one year. Indian Army’s Bachitter Singh was also slapped with a six-month ban and Namdhari XI Team’s Harpreet Singh got a three-month suspension. Bachitter was punished for physically and verbally assaulting the on-field umpire, Virender Singh during the 3rd All India Sahizada Ajit Singh Hockey Champions Trophy 2013. Harpreet was banned from playing any tournament for a period of three months beginning for getting involved in a disciplinary case. Top eight finish a realistic goal, says hockey coach
Indian hockey team’s chief coach Terry Walsh feels that a top-eight finish in the FIH World Cup is a “realistic goal” and any improvement beyond that will be a “bonus” for the team “Our first target is to set realistic goals for the World Cup and it is to be in the top-eight. Going further from there will definitely be a bonus. The team is looking forward to convert the chances and score. We are giving great emphasis on our defence as that will be the core to win the matches,” said Walsh. A series of injuries might be plaguing India’s month-long preparatory camp for the World Cup but Walsh exuded confidence that his boys will be fit by the time the championship starts. “There are always injuries in a team. It impacts the preparation but you know someone will always be injured during the training. You just have to hope that it is not a significant one.”
— PTI |
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Terry keeps it real, sets sights on top-8 finish in World Cup New Delhi, March 13 "Our first target is to set realistic goals for the World Cup and it is to be in the top-eight. Going further from there will definitely be a bonus. The team is looking forward to convert chances and score. We are putting emphasis on our defence as that will be crucial to win matches," said Walsh. A series of injuries might be plaguing India's month-long preparatory camp for the World Cup but Walsh exuded confidence that his boys will be fit by the time the championship starts. "There are always injuries in a team. It impacts the preparation but you know someone will always be injured during the training. You just have to hope that it is not a significant one," said Walsh. "We are still 11 weeks away from the tournament. They have made good progress in the first few days." India began their preparation for the World Cup, scheduled from May 31 to June 15 at The Hague, Netherlands, with a month-long preparatory camp from March 9th at the Major Dhyan Chand stadium. Asked if the hectic Hockey India League (HIL) schedule is having an impact on the players, Walsh said: "We didn't come straight from HIL here. There was a rest period. Some may have little things but nothing major." Walsh said Asian Games and the World Cup are the two tournaments which India is targeting and it was not possible to peak in all the events in a hectic season. "World Cup is most important, apart from the Olympic Games. The Commonwealth Games is nowhere near, partly because the CWG doesn't give you an automatic ticket to the Olympics and India want to qualify through the front door," he said. — PTI Players banned The Disciplinary Committee of Hockey India (HI) has imposed ban on a few players and coaches for breach of code of conduct and bringing disrepute to the sport. The Committee recommended a ban of six months on Sarvanjit Singh and Karamjit Singh, Punjab & Sind Bank, and Gurpreet Singh, Air India, with effect from April 1, 2014 from all Hockey India and Hockey India sanctioned tournaments. The trio was hauled up for brawling during the 48th All India Bombay Gold Cup Tournament about four months back.
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Sindhu in quarters, Pawar bows out Basel, March 13 The seventh seed lost a cliff-hanger first game to Canada's Li Michelle but displayed grit and experience to win the next two to enter the last eight. The World Championship bronze medallist ousted her unseeded opponent 19-21, 21-16, 21-11 in 54 minutes to take 2-0 lead in career meets. Sindhu had also beaten the World No. 23 Li in straight games in December 2013 to lift her second Gold Prix Gold title at the Macau Open. She will next take on World No.2 and third seed Shixian Wang of China in the quarters. Fresh from her victory at the All England Open Badminton Championships last week, Shixian is in top form and Sindhu will have to play her best to take out the Chinese. However, Sindhu can take heart from the fact that she has an unbeaten 2-0 record against Shixian. Earlier, Mumbai's Anand Pawar crashed out of the men's singles third round after losing to Chinese Taipei's Tien Chen Chou. Despite a dominating performance in the first game, the Indian went on to lose the next two games tamely to the sixth seed to end his European campaign. Chou won 14-21, 21-12, 21-12 in 51 minutes to take a 3-0 career advantage over Pawar. — PTI
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Saina wins, Kashyap in third round
Basel, March 13 The London Olympics bronze medallist Saina opened her campaign in the women’s singles event with a straight game win over qualifier Chisato Hoshi of Japan. The sixth seeded Indian beat her Japanese opponent 21-12 21-12 in 34 minutes to progress to the second round. Saina will next face Sashina Vignes Waran of France later on Thursday, while the other Indian in fray in the women’s singles event -- seventh seed P V Sindhu will be up against Canadian Li Michelle in her second round duel. Kashyap, seeded third, took 33 minutes to dispose off Lukas Schmidt of Germany 21-15 21-14 last night to secure his place in the pre-quarterfinals of the men’s singles event. While Kashyap looked a little bit shaky a times, Pawar was at his clinical best as he fended off challenge from another German Tobias Wadenka 21-11 21-4 in just 24 minutes. Kashyap will next face Beryno Jiann Tze Wong of Malaysia, while Pawar has a tough task at hand as he takes on sixth seed Tien Chen Chou of Chinese Taipei later on Wednesday. |
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Archers win 2 gold, one silver in Asian meet
Bangkok, March 13 They eliminated Taipei team (224 vs 220) in the semifinal and Lao (224 vs 214) in the quarterfinal. Recurve men trio of Jayanta Talukdar, Tarundeep Rai and Kapil clinched the gold by thrashing Taipei in a one-sided final (6-0) in set system. The Indian combination reached the final after victories over Japan in the semifinal and Malaysia in the quarterfinal. In compound men section, Indian team of Abhishek Verma, Sandeep Kumar and Rajat Chouhan missed out on a gold narrowly against Iran. They lost 227-232 against Iran in the final to bag a silver. Recurve women team lost to Japan in the bronze medal match. Archery Association of India president V K Malhotra praised the players for their impressive performance. “We are proud of our archers’ performance in the first event of calendar year. The way they performed in the Asian Grand Prix gives us hope that they will earn good number of medals in other international competitions lined up this year.
— PTI |
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India loses its connect with FIFA WC
Chandigarh, March 13 However, due to criticism by some coaches and players, this year the manufactures of the official ball for the tournament have opted to make them in the company’s home country The maker of the official football, Adidas, will be manufacturing the ball — named ‘Brazuca’, ie the Brazilian way of life — in Germany. Rajesh Kharbanda, owner of the Nivia Group, which exported a majority of the replica of the official ball last time, says that this time too they’d be making only the replicas. “Like 2010, we would be making footballs for promotional activities,” he said. “They would not be of match-standard. Last time, the Indian market contributed, but the scenario is different this year.” Due to the criticism of ‘Jabulani’, the manufactures tested the ‘Brazuca’ over two-and-a-half years, including at the U-20 World Cup. Diego Maradona, the former Argentina captain, had said that the ‘Jabulani’ doesn’t “fly straight”. Following the testing process, changes were made to ensure “a good grip, touch, stability and aerodynamics on the pitch”, according to Matthias Mecking of Adidas. “It was tested in Rio, where conditions were warmer, and Sao Paulo, where it was cooler, in June and July, so as to replicate the conditions during the tournament,” he added. Recently, former Indian captain Bhaichung Bhutia played with the ‘Brazuca’ and said: “It has good grip, a good feel to it. I like it how the ball has no stitches, I don’t know how they have done it but it’s good, it has a nice feel.” India is ranked 152nd in the football rankings and has no chance of participating in the senior World Cup in the foreseeable future. However, India would host the U-17 World Cup in 2017. |
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Murray, Wawrinka crash out
Indian Wells (USA), March 13 In a tournament full of surprises, Federer and Djokovic struck a blow for the old world order with Federer beating Tommy Haas 6-4 6-4 and Djokovic coming back to down Croatia's Marin Cilic 1-6 6-2 6-3. Federer and Djokivic are the only players ranked in the world's top 10 to reach the quarterfinals after Wawrinka and Murray joined the big-name casualties when they both crashed to lower-ranked opponents. Wawrinka suffered his first loss this year when his 13-match winning streak came to a shuddering halt as he was beaten 7-6(1) 4-6 6-1 by South African Kevin Anderson. Murray was blown away by Milos Raonic, one of the biggest servers in men's tennis. Despite winning the first set, the Scotsman was unable to contain the raw power of Raonic, who triumphed 4-6 7-5 6-3 in a little over two hours.
— Reuters Sania-Cara in semis
Sania Mirza and Cara Black toppled second seeds to reach the women's doubles semifinals, while Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek crashed out of the men’s event. Fifth seeds Sania and Cara shocked Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 6-4 6-1. In the men's doubles quarterfinals, Paes and Stepanek, seeded fourth, went down fighting to Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka. The unseeded Swiss team won 6-3 6-7(6) 10-4.
— PTI |
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Bhullar tied-7th after Round 1 in Morocco
Chandigarh, March 13 He recovered with a birdie on the ninth to make the turn at two-under-par. He then birdied the tenth but faltered on the par-three 12th where he made a double bogey. However, Bhullar finished the day strongly with birdies on the 13th, 15th, 17th and 18th holes to card a five-under 67, three strokes behind leader Alejandro Canizares of Spain in the European Tour event. Meanwhile, SSP Chowrasia started the week with a three-under 68, placing himself amongst the top-ten after the first round of the $300,000 Solaire Open in Manila. Chandigarh professional Sujjan Singh shot a one-over 72, while Himmat Rai carded a three-over 74. |
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