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Knights in the seventh heaven
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Germany make short work of SA
Walsh picks up positive from opening defeat
Sania-Cara enter quarterfinals; Bopanna bows out
Moyes ‘tempted’ by new offers but may take a break instead
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Knights in the seventh heaven
Bangalore, June 1
The much-anticipated final between Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders at the packed M Chinnaswamy Stadium was no exception either. If Wriddhiman Saha's whirlwind 55-ball 122 was the cornerstone of Kings XI Punjab's daunting 199 for 4, Manish Pandey, the young Karnataka batsman took the centre-stage in the second half with a belligerent 94 off 50 balls to guide KKR to their second IPL title.
Both the teams found unlikely heroes in the two Indian batsmen after their overseas players failed to light up the high-intensity summit clash. Pandey ensured that KKR's unbeaten run of eight matches leading into the final culminated in their second championship as he single-handedly guided his team to a nerve-wrecking three-wicket win over KXIP. It was Punjab's best chance to win their maiden IPL title in seven seasons as they came into the final with seven 190-plus and four 200-plus totals. KXIP, who had looked almost unstoppable during the league stage, had some hiccups of late. They were beaten comprehensively by KKR in Qualifier 1 at the Eden Gardens and failed to extract the revenge in Bangalore on Sunday. Despite losing their most successful batsman and Orange Cap holder Robin Uthappa (5) early on, KKR still played like a champion team. Pandey had come in to bat under tremendous pressure and it increased further when skipper Gautam Gambhir departed for 23. Pandey, however dug in his heels and tore apart the KXIP bowling attack with his brutal power-hitting. His 71-run stand for the third wicket with Yusuf Pathan (36) turned out to be crucial as it kept them in the hunt. Pandey, who was dropped by George Bailey on 60, made KXIP pay heavily for their mistake as he brought the equation down to run-a-ball before being dismissed by Karanveer Singh in the 17th over. Pandey hit seven fours and six sixes in his knock to take the title away from KXIP. Needing 5 run to win off the last over, Piyush Chawla struck the winning boundary to trigger off wild celebrations in the KKR camp. Earlier, Saha struck this season's fastest century to guide his team to 199 for 4. It was another fairytale stuff from KXIP batsmen as Saha and opener Manan Vohra hammered Kolkata's attack with a flurry of fours and sixes. Saha and Vohra went all out in the middle overs as they put on a 129-run stand in just 72 balls for the third wicket to pulverize the KKR bowlers. It was a sensational recovery by the Punjab team as Saha seized the initiative and took opposition bowlers to the cleaners. Scoreboard Kolkata Knight Riders
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The Hague, June 1 Germany, beaten by Australia in the final in 2010 at New Delhi, were winners of successive World Cup titles in 2002 and 2006. South Africa kept the German strikers at bay until they conceded a penalty stroke in the 27th minute that was converted by Christopher Zeller. Thilo Stralkowski increased the lead just seconds before half-time with a strike in the open play. The South African goal fell twice in the space of four minutes in the second session with Mats Grambusch (56th minute) and Oliver Korn (59th) firing on target to launch the German campaign with pull points in the first Group B outing. South Africa, ranked 12th in the world, began at a steady pace, and had the better of the opening salvos and Clinton Panther was unfortunate not to get a result from his first time strike, which called Nicolas Jacobi into early action. However, Germany began to ramp up the pressure towards the middle of the first half as first Christopher Zeller and then Mats Grambusch made forays into the South African circle. Erasmus Pieterse in the South Africa goal was the difference between a rout and a respectable defeat as he was called into action again and again. After Zeller’s opening goal, a period of German domination began. The constant and patient German movement eventually opened up an opportunity and Thilo Stralkowski was able to capitalise with a superb shot from the right-hand side of the pitch with just seconds left in the half. Germany added two more goals in the second half, despite some staunch defending from ‘the Lads’ and Pieterse in particular.
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India failed on many fronts, can’t blame luck
It was a heartbreaking finish but the Indian team can’t consider itself unlucky. On the contrary, the team was lucky to not lose by a bigger margin. Indian goalkeeper PR Sreejesh’s performance was outstanding. Belgium dominated throughout the match with much better hockey. They had the bulk of the possession and were far more dangerous upfront, with their forwards constantly troubling the Indian defence. The Indian forwards rarely held on to the ball long enough to create goal-scoring chances. India had only three shots on target, two of which resulted in goals. In the first half, especially, India managed just one circle penetration, which was a wayward cross from the right.
What really baffled me was why Sardar Singh was in the centre-forward position whenever the ball was with the opposition. Either it was lack of planning, or the coach was trying to outsmart the Belgians by mixing up the positions, a tactic that backfired. In the second half, the players went back to their usual positions and India’s game improved. But overall the game showcased the team’s weaknesses. Their defensive structure was not tight enough. Everyone rushed back to defend during an opposition attack but it was all very chaotic. Except for the first goal, the two goals shouldn’t have been conceded. The biggest weakness of the team, inexperience, was clearly visible. Jasjit Singh, who was debuting, was visibly and understandably nervous. His mistake led to the second goal, while the winner came after Mandeep Singh was dispossessed. The forward-line was where the inexperience was most obvious. They had trouble keeping possession, couldn’t create chances and, more troublingly, won only one penalty corner. With two specialists in the team, the forwards have to win more penalty corners. For India, the lack of experience will be a recurring point of worry throughout the tournament. They next play England. Their team is full of experienced players such as Ashley Jackson, who is also familiar with the Indian players from his time in the Hockey India League. He will create a lot of trouble for India. The writer is a former India captain
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Walsh picks up positive from opening defeat
The Hague, June 1 India conceded a match-winner to Belgium just 15 seconds from close to lose 2-3 after keeping their higher-ranked rivals at bay for most part of the match. They even led midway in the second session, a situation that seemed to have pleased Walsh. "I would say that we're now getting competitive against the big teams. Our show's much better than what we were doing earlier," said Walsh, asserting that the Indian players need to realise that the score-line is what matters in the end. "How we play, and how close we finish, the fact is that the scores matter in the end," he added, exhorting his players to realise the difference this last-minute goal made. India's opponent in the next outing tomorrow will be England, who were held to a 1-1 draw by Spain in their first Group A match yesterday. After falling back to defend for most of the first session that ended with a late goal for the Belgians, India came back strongly after the interval. Scoring twice in succession through Mandeep Singh and Akashdeep Singh, India enjoyed a short-lived lead midway through the second half, but some defensive lapses conceded victory to Belgium. "There were some good aspects to emerge from our game against Belgium. Having come this far, we should have held on to earn a point, but the last 30 second cost us dear," said Walsh, who took over as India's coach six months ago. European Cup silver-medallists Belgium are currently ranked No. 5 in the world, which is three places above India, but it was not until the third goal came just before the hooter that their coach Marc Lammers could breathe easy. — PTI
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Fed annexed
Paris, June 1 It's Federer's earliest exit at Roland Garros since 2004, when he was beaten in the third round by Gustavo Kuerten. After that, though, Federer made at least the quarterfinals at a record 36 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments, a streak that ended with a second-round loss at Wimbledon last year. Now he has bowed out before the quarterfinals at three of the last four majors. The fourth-seeded Federer owns a record 17 Grand Slam titles, including at the 2009 French Open. But he was hardly at his best Sunday, getting broken seven times, including twice while serving for a set. Wimbledon champion Andy Murray won a five-set marathon spread over two days against Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany to reach the last 16. The seventh seed from Britain won 3-6 6-3 6-3 4-6 12-10 after 40 minutes' play on Sunday. The thrilling tennis of late Saturday continued with no sign of the leg problems which had Murray grimacing in the Paris gloom. The pair resumed at two sets all and 7-7 and Murray had a match point at 9-8. Kohlschreiber saved it with a brave overhead after a great rally but Murray made no mistake on his second, scything a backhand return past his opponent. Murray plays 24th seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain who beat 12th seed Richard Gasquet of France in another resumed match on Sunday. No man from US left
Sixth seed Tomas Berdych brushed aside American John Isner 6-4 6-4 6-4 in the battle of the big servers to reach the quarter-finals. The Czech's superior all-round game was clear on Court Suzanne Lenglen as he dominated throughout. Berdych built a winning platform by breaking the 10th seed in his first service game in each of the first two sets, both of which lasted 34 minutes. In the third set, Isner delayed the crucial break until his second service game but Berdych was never troubled as he moved through to the quarter-finals where he will be waiting for Ernests Gulbis. Isner was the last man from the United States left in the draw. Novak Djokovic easily beat 13th-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 in only 1˝ hours to reach the quarterfinals. The second-seeded Djokovic needs a title at Roland Garros to complete a career Grand Slam. He lost the 2012 final and in last year's semifinals — both times to Rafael Nadal. In the quarterfinals, Djokovic will face No. 8 Milos Raonic of Canada, Bouchard beats Kerber
Canada's Eugenie Bouchard blazed past eighth seed Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-1 6-2 to reach her second successive grand slam quarter-final. Bouchard was all over the Kerber serve from the outset and the left-handed German was caught cold. She was 5-0 down before she could draw breath in the face of the Canadian's accuracy, movement and variety of shot. — Agencies |
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Sania-Cara enter quarterfinals; Bopanna bows out
Paris, June 1 However, they are now up against the top seeded pair of Su-Wei Hsieh from Taipei and China's Shuai Peng, to whom they have already lost twice this season. Bopanna and his partner Katarina Srebotnik, seeded second, frittered away a good start to lose the mixed doubles quarterfinals 6-2 4-6 5-10 to eight seeds Julia Goerges from Germany and Serbia's Nenad Zimonjic. Bopanna had made a second round exit from the men's doubles event with Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi.— Agencies
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Moyes ‘tempted’ by new offers but may take a break instead
LONDON, JUNE 1 The 51-year-old Scot, who lost his job on April 22 after less than 10 months in charge, says he has "moved on" from the experience as a "wiser and more knowledgeable coach and manager." Writing in the Sunday Times, and commenting at length on his departure for the first time, he said United fans should now appreciate that things are changing at their club. "It could well be that gone are the days of long-term planning at United. They were fully aware of the task I had. It was unfortunate I wasn't given more time to succeed," he said. "Since leaving, I have received some very good offers and am tempted by one or two of them. I have not closed the door on anything and am open-minded about my next step in management, and whether it will be in the UK or abroad. “Another possibility is that I may choose to have a break and enjoy watching and observing football throughout the world. What I do know for sure is that I have moved on." He also resisted any temptation to criticise his predecessor Alex Ferguson, who, it was reported when he left, did not give him his support as the crisis surrounding him grew. Moyes said: "I have spoken to Sir Alex Ferguson on several occasions in the past few weeks. We met recently at the LMA dinner in London. I had nothing but support from Sir Alex during my time as manager.” United ended the season in seventh place with Ryan Giggs as the interim manager. — Agencies
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Gaal springs no suprises in Oranje squad
Rotterdam, June 1 However, van Gaal has also included a lot of young home-based talent for the finals in Brazil for which they qualified with ease winning nine and drawing one of their qualifying games. There are 10 players from the Dutch championship including five from league runners-up Feyenoord, the most from any individual club. Van Gaal, who is in his second spell as national coach having been sacked when they failed to reach the 2002 World Cup finals, dashed five players' dreams of making the squad as he left out Karim Rekik, Tonny Vilhena, Quincy Promes, Jean-Paul Boetius and Jeroen Zoet. Van Gaal's squad, though, has been weakened by the absence through injury to another veteran, Rafael van der Vaart, French champions Paris Saint Germain defender Gregory van der Wiel and AS Roma playmaker Kevin Strootman the other two being Robben and van Persie. The Dutch, who play fellow Brazil-bound side Ghana later on Saturday in a friendly in Rotterdam, have been drawn in perhaps the toughest of the groups, Group B, which sees them face defending champions Spain, Chile and Australia. Brazil captain Thiago Silva out of Panama friendly
Teresopolis: Brazil captain Thiago Silva will not play in the World Cup warm-up match against Panama on Tuesday to give him more time to recover from slight leg niggles, manager Luiz Felipe Scolari said. “He is a player that won't be traveling with us but instead will work on his own,” Scolari said in a pitchside interview at Brazil’s training ground outside Rio de Janeiro. “Thiago is undergoing recovery work on his legs,” Scolari said. “We have two friendlies and it’s better to use him when he is in better or perfect condition in the second match.” Silva’s place alongside David Luiz in the center of defense will likely be filled either by Dante or Henrique, the Napoli center half who was the surprise pick in Scolari’s 23-man squad. Another player who could miss the Panama friendly is Bernard. The young winger was withdrawn from Saturday’s training match after he hurt his foot in a clash with Paulinho. Doctors attended to the Shakhtar Donetsk winger but later said his injury was not serious. Iran announce final squad
Tehran: Iran's football coach Carlos Queiroz announced the final squad for the World Cup.The Portuguese coach selected 23 players, comprising three goalkeepers, eight defenders, six midfielders and six strikers. Iran have been drawn in Group F along with Nigeria, Argentina and Bosnia and Herzegovina and will play Nigeria in Curitiba in their opening match June 16. Iran will face Argentina and Bosnia and Herzegovina June 21 and June 25, respectively. — Agencies |
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The goal in the final seconds on Saturday denied India one point and, more importantly, a confidence-boosting draw against Belgium.
It was a heartbreaking finish but the Indian team can’t consider itself
unlucky.
Paris, June 1
Paris, June 1
Orange Cap
because I
played with a broken toe, and I broke through a physical
barrier.
Purple Cap
strengths, so I'll work on those ahead of the next
season.
Challengers Bangalore are not in the final of IPL-7, but thousands of frenzied fans gave a grand reception to Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab. A large number of spectators lined up on both sides of the road to welcome the team buses when they arrived for the summit clash. The players were also seen clicking photographs of the frenzied scenes in front of them. Security forces had a tough time controlling the cricket-crazy crowd. It was a festive atmosphere inside the stadium as well as outside as the weekend crowd was treated to some dazzling dance performances by local artists before the start of the play. There was music and dance to entertain the fans, and popular Bollywood songs played to get the crowd grooving. Fans dressed in KKR and KXIP jerseys proudly displayed their final match tickets to TV crews stationed outside the venue, as if they had won a lottery.
The goal in the final seconds on Saturday denied India one point and, more importantly, a confidence-boosting draw against Belgium.
I couldn’t understand India’s first half strategy. Only three players were playing in their usual positions — the goalkeeper and the two defenders. Everyone else was playing out of position. Gurbaj Singh was not in his proper right-half position. SV Sunil was playing at the left though he is a right-out, while Yuvraj Walmiki, who likes playing on the left, was playing on the right.
