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Kolkata’s night out in
Delhi
Modi promising to fight what he once represented
Maxwell puts up another big show, stuns Chennai
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Pollard, Starc fined for ugly spat
Wawrinka loses, Rafa
cruises
Lin Dan, Lee Chong
Wei for Thomas Cup
HI to felicitate living legends of 1975 World Cup winning team
Wilson ushers in new United era with debut double
Hamilton ready to make his move on teammate Rosberg
Jr. Punjab state
basketball
IOA panel requests AIBA for more exposure trips
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Kolkata’s night out in
Delhi
New Delhi, May 7 That the Kolkata players lacked self-belief was evident in their last defeat against Rajasthan Royals —they lost six wickets for just two runs and lost the game they could have won easily. One thing which Gambhir and Uthappa realised on that fateful evening in Ahmedabad was that they can’t leave the job of chasing down the target to their shaky middle-order. So when Delhi Daredevils set them a 161-run target on Wednesday evening, the openers put up a century-plus stand to lead their side to a comfortable eight-wicket win, ending their prolonged losing streak.
While Gambhir struck a fine 56-ball 69, his second successive half-century after a terrible run, decorated with five fours and two sixes, Uthappa played the role of second fiddle to perfection, knocking off 47 runs off 34 balls with the help of five fours and one six. They raised a 65-ball 106-run partnership for the opening stand, laying a strong foundation and giving the middle-order an opportunity to build on the strong start. KKR openers made short work of the DD bowlers, and treated them with disdain. After the departure of Uthappa, who was adjudged LBW off Wayne Parnell, Gambhir combined well with Manish Pandey (23 not out) and took the side within a kissing distance of the target. Gambhir departed in the 18th over after being brilliantly caught by wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik. Kallis (10 not out) and Pandey then completed the formalities as KKR coasted to an easy eight-wicket victory with 10 balls to spare. Delhi batsmen have been putting up decent totals on the scoreboard, but it’s their bowling attack which has let down the team time and again. Delhi would now be eagerly waiting for the arrival of South African leggie Imran Tahir, and hope that the leg-spinner gives the much-needed teeth to their attack. With this win, Kolkata are now placed fourth on the points table, while Delhi are still languishing at the bottom. Earlier, Jean Paul Duminy and Kedar Jadhav combined well to take the hosts to a respectable 160 for five after Delhi’s top-order failed to fire in unison. Duminy smashed 40 off 28 balls, while Jadhav blasted 26 off 15 in their 55-run unbeaten stand, providing the necessary impetus in the end. Quinton De Kock (10) and skipper Kevin Pietersen (6) did not trouble the scorers much during their short stay at the crease as Delhi slumped to 26 for 2 inside six overs. Murali Vijay (24) and Dinesh Karthik (36) then stabilised the innings as the duo added 31 runs for the third-wicket. After the dismissal of the two set batsmen, it was left to Duminy and Jadhav to post a competitive total on a placid Kotla track. Blazing sun keeps spectators away
On Wednesday afternoon when Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders players converged at the Feroze Shah Kotla Stadium, there were few spectators to watch them slug it out under the blazing sun. Unlike in the evening matches, when the stadium is packed to the rafters, the 4 pm start to the match, that too on a weekday, attracted handful spectators, with most of the upper stands vacant. The Kotla stadium has a seating capacity of 45,000, but the first match of the home team in the afternoon session saw a sparse crowd. Even the presence of local boy Gautam Gambhir, though leading the opposition, South African legend Jacques Kallis and West Indian mystery spinner Sunil Narine failed to drag them out from their homes. “I have come here to watch Jacques Kallis. You don’t get a chance everyday to watch a legend play. I am a big fan of his all-round skills. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have come to watch a game on a weekday, especially when it’s so hot,” said a cricket fan.
— TNS |
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Modi promising to fight what he once represented
Chandigarh, May 7 This is extraordinary, even unbelievable. Modi was kicked out of the IPL in 2010 because of various improprieties, ranging from “behavioural pattern” (leaking confidential information to the media), wrongdoing in hiding the ownership patterns of two IPL teams (Mohali and Rajasthan), to benami funding of IPL teams, to rigging of the IPL franchise bids in 2010. Modi is a man whose passport has been revoked by the government in an effort to bring him back to India to be questioned by the Enforcement Directorate for his role in alleged violation of foreign exchange laws. He has refused to come to India as he claims he faces a threat to his life here, though he’s been known to have moved quite openly in the UK, Europe, South Africa and Asia. The biggest allegation against Srinivasan is that he is a tyrannical figure who has become too powerful, and who has put his own monetary interests over the BCCI’s and cricket’s interests. Modi too was an aggregator of power and money. Two of the IPL franchises are part-owned by his relatives. When Rajasthan went to assembly polls in early 2009, Modi had become a big poll factor — it was alleged that he had used his proximity to the chief minister, Vasundhara Raje, to ride roughshod over government officials. Within the BCCI, Modi, as the IPL architect and supremo, was complicit in Srinivasan’s conflict of interest situation which existed in 2008 and has grown bigger over the years. Under original BCCI rules, Srinivasan, then a senior BCCI official, could not have bought an IPL team; in violation of the BCCI rules, he was allowed to buy the Chennai franchise in early 2008. The rules were changed retrospectively, in September 2008, to legitimise this. Modi, now a picture of rectitude, did not oppose it then. Why? In times when Srinivasan was “Dear Srini” to Modi, Modi helped him fix the IPL bidding process in 2009 so that Srinivasan was able to buy Andrew Flintoff for his team. Modi was once friends with the men who are his enemies now. Essentially, he’d become too big for his boots and had ruffled important and powerful members of the BCCI, apart from central government ministers. Modi was thrown out of the BCCI in June 2013 after being found guilty of many misdemeanours. He did not have any friends left in the BCCI by this time, and all 30 member associations of the BCCI voted to kick him out. He was banished not on principles but because he had become a liability and had made powerful enemies. Those who presided over his expulsion were not blameless — but the list of Modi’s misdemeanours had become too big. His return as a crusader of morality in the BCCI seems impressive, but to expect him to cleanse the BCCI and uncover its officials is unrealistic. It’s him vs Them now, but not too far back, he was Them. |
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Maxwell puts up another big show, stuns Chennai
Cuttack, May 7 For Chennai, the match was all but over after Maxwell-inspired Punjab put up such a massive total on the board. The early loss of inform Dwayne Smith put paid to their slim hopes and eventually they reached 187 for 6 in the allotted 20 overs. Earlier, Maxwell, the most prolific scorer this season, continued with his incredible form and brutal assault to take Punjab to the highest total of the IPL-7 after his side was put into bat. Except for Mohit Sharma (2/15), all the Chennai bowlers were punished heavily with Ishwar Pandey (0/41), Dwayne Smith (1/36), Ravindra Jadeja (0/37) and R Ashwin (0/38) being at the receiving end as the 25-year-old Australian hit six fours and eight sixes in front of a packed crowd at Barabati Stadium. He stitched a 135-run partnership with David Miller (47 off 32 balls) for the third wicket from just 10.4 overs after the duo came together in the sixth over at 38 for two. The duo added a phenomenal 88 runs in the five overs after the halfway mark, scoring 17, 14, 21, 18 and 14 in each over with the 100-run partnership coming up in just 8.4 overs. Punjab added an incredible 162 runs in the second half of their innings with captain George Bailey chipping in with a cameo of 13-ball 40 not out towards the end to take his side to the fifth highest total in IPL history. Scoreboard
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Pollard, Starc fined for ugly spat
Kieron Pollard of Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Mitchell Starc have been fined for an ugly spat during the IPLmatch at Wankhede Stadium. Pollard (in pic at right) has been fined 75% of his match fee for throwing his bat at Starc, while the Australian bowler was fined 50% of his match fee for “conduct contrary to the spirit of the game” last night. “Kieron Pollard and Mitchell Starc were both fined after an incident in the first innings,” a statement from the IPL organisers stated. The unpleasant incident between the two players took place in the 17th over of the Mumbai innings when Starc continued with his delivery stride despite Pollard pulling out of his batting stance. I’ve not recovered from hamstring injury: Gayle
Royal Challengers Bangalore Chris Gayle said he has still not completely recovered from the hamstring injury, which had ruled him out for the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s first four matches. “I haven’t recovered fully. Still bearing some discomfort at this point in time, so I am just trying to monitor things as I go on. Those things are in places and you need to take it in stride as you go,” Gayle said. One needs to bowl without fear in T20: Harbhajan
Mumbai Indians spinner Harbhajan Singh says it is important to “have courage and bowl without fear” in the slam-bang format where batsman rule the game. “You cannot save yourself and think that you won’t go for runs. You will go for runs, but at the same time, you have to have the courage and bowl without fear,” Harbhajan said.
— Agencies |
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Wawrinka loses, Rafa
cruises
Madrid, May 7 Monaco failed to win a game on serve all match as Nadal, who suffered shock defeats in Monte Carlo and Barcelona, rolled off 10 straight games to seal victory in little over an hour. “Obviously once you lose a match it takes a bit longer to find the confidence in your movement and your shots,” Nadal said. “Once it went to 4-1 in the first set I felt I played a lot better and I am happy with the way I felt on court.” Nadal is the only top four seed remaining in the men’s draw as Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer withdrew due to injury and family reasons respectively, while Stanislas Wawrinka lost 1-6 6-2 6-4 to Austrian qualifier Dominic Thiem on Tuesday. Wawrinka started strongly against the 70th-ranked Austrian, who at 20 years and eight months is the youngest player in the top 100. However, he lost his way in the second set and was unable to recover in the third as Thiem pulled off his first ever win over a top 10 player to secure passage to the third round. Serena Williams also cruised into the last 16 with a 6-2 6-3 thrashing of China’s Peng Shuai. The 17-time Grand Slam champion powered through the first set against the world No. 42 for the loss of just one point on her own serve. Peng showed more resistence in the second, but couldn’t convert on two break points and Williams needed just one chance to seal the only break of the set, before serving out the match. Williams wore heavy strapping on her left leg throughout the match, but insisted there is no serious injury to worry about. Sania-Cara in quarters
Fifth seeds Sania Mirza and Cara Black had little problem in dispatching Hao-Ching Chan and Chanelle Scheepers as they scored a comfortable straight-sets victory to progress to the quarterfinals. The Indo-Zimbabwean team defeated the Taipei-Protea pair 6-4 6-1 in little over an hour.
— Agencies
Two sets of love
Roger Federer and his wife Mirka announced the birth of a second set of twins on Tuesday. The Swiss tennis ace revealed the amazing news on his Twitter account just hours after he announced he was pulling out of the Madrid Masters to be at the birth: “Mirka and I are so incredibly happy to share that Leo and Lenny were born this evening! #TwinsAgain#Miracle.” The two boys were born almost five years after the arrival of their twin sisters Myla Rose and Charlene Riva in July 2009. |
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Lin Dan, Lee Chong
Wei for Thomas Cup
New Delhi, May 7 As per the rules of the tie, the singles players are nominated to play the singles rubbers according to their world rankings and hence the last ranked player in the team has to play the third singles. The other singles members in the Chinese team include World No. 2 Chen Long, World No. 6 Pengyu Du and World No. 16 Houwei Tian, who has been picked ahead of World No. 7 Zhengming Wang as the defending champions look to rewrite history by becoming the first team to win the Thomas Cup crown for the sixth successive time. In the Uber Cup, the Chinese have named a formidable team with Olympic champion and World No. 1 Li Xuerui leading the charge along with World No. 2 Shixian Wang and World No. 3 Yihan Wang. World champion Ratchanok Intanon of Indonesia, who has recovered from her heel injury and World No. 5 Ji Hyun Sung from Korea will also be in action. Saina, Srikanth to lead Indian team
Meanwhile, the Indian team has been picked on the basis of rankings, with London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal leading the charge in the Uber Cup competition and world No. 21 K Srikanth shouldering the responsibility in the Thomas Cup. With many teams having gone with four singles and six doubles players — maximum number of players allowed in the squad is 10 — India have opted for a combination of five singles and five doubles players in both their squads. India squad: (Men): K Srikanth, P Kashyap, RMV Guru Sai Dutt, Sourabh Varma, B Sai Praneeth (singles) Pranaav Jerry Chopra, Akshay Dewalkar, Manu Attri, Arun Vishnu and B Sumeeth Reddy (doubles); (Women): Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, Arundhati Pantawane, Tanvi Laad, PC Thulasi (singles), Jwala Gutta, Ashwini Ponnappa, Aparna Balan, N Sikki Reddy and Pradnya Gadre (doubles). |
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HI to felicitate living legends of 1975 World Cup winning team
New Delhi, May 7 HI has invited all the 13 living members of the 1975 World Cup winning team in the capital where they will be presented with a token one-time payment of Rs. 1,75,000 each. “It’s a great honour for us to felicitate the legends who made us proud. These initiatives are an effort to make the present team believe that they too can do what their seniors have achieved in the past,” Narinder Batra, secretary general of HI said in a release. HI started the initiative of felicitating players in 2012, when all the living Olympic gold medalists were presented with a one-time payment of Rs 2 lakh, on the occasion of wishing the Olympic-bound squad. The former players who will be felicitated are: Ajit Pal Singh, captain of the team in 1975, Ashok Kumar, one of the two players who represented India in four World Cup tournaments, including in 1975, Aslam Sher Khan, Brig. Harcharan Singh, Leslie Fernandez, Varinder Singh, Ashok Diwan, Michael Kindo, BP Govinda, Brig. HJS Chimni, VJ Phillips, Onkar Singh and Kaliah PE. |
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Wilson ushers in new United era with debut double
London, May 7 Wilson, 18 years old and one of two debutants on show, scored in each half before Matty Fryatt pulled one back for Hull and Robin van Persie added a third for United in their final home game of a turbulent season. Wilson stole the headlines, but an emotional finish to the night focussed on those at the other ends of their careers. Club captain Vidic, who is leaving for Inter Milan in the close season, played his final home match, receiving a memento prior to kickoff from club great Bobby Charlton and a ‘thank you’ from Giggs who addressed the crowd in his role as interim manager at fulltime. Giggs had swapped his club suit for a tracksuit and made a substitute appearance that many speculate could be his last. With United set to appoint a new manager in the close season and Dutchman Louis van Gaal favourite to land the job, the future is uncertain for the 40-year-old Giggs after 963 club appearances and 25 major trophies. “We know it has been tough this season and over the years we have been spoiled with all the success we have had,” he said. “But the support this year has been fantastic and I am sure over the coming years we will bring you more success. Keep supporting us, you have seen a glimpse of the future. We always give youth a chance and that’s what this club is all about.” — Reuters
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Hamilton ready to make his move on teammate Rosberg
Barcelona, May 7 Hamilton has never won a grand prix in Spain but, after racking up three successive victories for the first time, the 2008 world champion can break new boundaries at the Circuit de Catalunya on Sunday. “I’m in a good place right now and I’m hoping that this will be the year,” said the Briton, who is four points behind Rosberg despite winning three races to the German’s one. “The circuit is fantastic, our car has performed well so far and I’m really looking forward to a good race.” Rosberg was on pole in Spain last year but has also never won there. Barcelona, the fifth round of the 19-race season that ends in Abu Dhabi in November, could also see the first big shake-up of the pecking order after the opening ‘flyaways’ in Asia and the Middle East. The return to the sport’s European roots, and its most fervent fans, sees the teams back in their palatial paddock ‘motorhomes’ and represents something of a fresh start.
— Reuters |
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Contrasting wins for Ludhiana teams
Our Correspondent
Ludhiana, May 7 This was Ludhiana team’s second win of the tournament, while Hoshiarpur’s second defeat. In the other boys’ matches, Patiala district thrashed Muktsar district 75-53, while Jalandhar district got the better of Amritsar district 78-65. In the girls’ section, Jalandhar district proved too good for Mansa district, easing to a 47-20 win, while Kapurthala district made light work of Bathinda district 25-7.
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IOA panel requests AIBA for more exposure trips
New Delhi, May 7 It was also decided that the women’s team will be sent for Asian Championships and World Champions to be held in October-November this year. “We will request the AIBA to allow two training trips for both men’s and women’s teams to prepare well for the Commonwealth Games. The Indian team will participate in a tournament (Chemistry Cup) in Germany this month,” ad-hoc committee President Tarlochan Singh said. “The men’s core group for the CWG would be picked through trials at NIS, Patiala from May 9 to 12. The trials for the final teams will be held later.” |
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Madrid, May 7
