New Delhi, October 21
Just when it appeared Indian hockey was heading towards better times, Terry Walsh, the head coach of the men's team, resigned on Tuesday, blaming "sports bureaucracy' for the sudden decision.

Expressing anguish over the bureaucratic system, Walsh tendered his resignation to the Sports Authority of India (SAI). Constant travel was another reason cited by the Australian behind his decision to put in his papers.

The Australian was also reportedly not happy with the deduction of tax from his salary, which is borne by the Sports Authority of India.

Coming as it does after he guided the team to a gold-medal finish in the Asian Games, the decision and its timing has left everyone surprised.The sparring between the SAI and Hockey India, too, may have pushed him into taking the drastic step. With both the bodies taking pot-shots at each other for some time now, Walsh was apparently under pressure. Ahead of the Asian Games, the SAI had issued a veiled threat to him that nothing but an Asiad gold could save his job.

In a letter to the SAI Director General, Jiji Thomson, Walsh said it had become difficult for him to operate professionally within the bureaucratic confines. “I am finding considerable difficulty adjusting to the decision-making style of the sports bureaucracy which I believe, in the long term, is not in the best interests of the Indian hockey or its players... I am not willing to continue with the constant time away from my family. My current commitment places too much stress on my personal life,” he wrote. His contract expires on November 19, well ahead of the FIH Champions Trophy in Bhubaneswar from December 6-14. Walsh, who has given a one-month deadline to the SAI to sort matters out, would become the third foreign hockey coach after Jose Brasa and Michael Nobbs to part ways with the team midway.

Soon after his resignation, Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal formed a two-member committee, comprising Thomson and Secretary Sports Ajit Mohan Sharan, to look into the matter and report within 24 hours. “Let the report come, only then we can see what could be done. It's a serious issue,” said Sonowal.

Later, in a press statement, Thomson refused to accept that Walsh resigned due to bureaucratic difficulties. “During my interaction with him in the World Cup in The Hague in June 2014, we had a brief interaction on the lack of bench strength. Other than that, he hasn't made any complaint ever,” said Thomson.

“Today, Walsh visited our office and met Sudhir Setia, Executive Director (Teams). He expressed anguish regarding working in a suffocating atmosphere in the federation. We are totally unaware of what might have happened in Hockey India,” he added.

Hockey India presdent Narinder Batra, however, blamed the SAI for creating a suffocating environment for Walsh and other foreign staff. Batra, who has been bombarding Thomson with letters and RTI inquiries, said such a “disaster” was waiting to happen for some time.

New Delhi, October 21
The deep-rooted sports bureaucratic system has claimed another victim — Terry Walsh, the head coach of the men's hockey team. Walsh resigned within three weeks of guiding the Indian hockey team to the Asian Games glory, citing administrative hurdles in his job. Walsh opened up to The Tribune on the reason behind his sudden decision. Excerpts:

What are the reasons for your resignation?

I was not particularly happy about the decision-making process that exists in the bureaucracy of the Indian sport. It's frustrating when you have to deal with it day in and day out. The bureaucratic style of functioning is completely different from my style. I find it difficult to work in such an environment. That's the reason on professional front. On a personal front, I've been in India for long, away from my family. These are the two reasons, there's nothing more to it.

You are the third coach to part ways with Indian hockey citing bureaucratic difficulty.

The bureaucratic system is deep-rooted here, and it's not doing any good to the sport. My contract expires on November 19, and they (HI and SAI) still have a window to work things out. If we want to go forward, they have to build a professional atmosphere before my contract ends.

Have you met Hockey India and SAI officials? What was their reaction?

We (me and SAI) spoke openly about everything. There's no animosity between us. They have one month to put things back in order. It's time for others to make decisions.

Are you going to take back your resignation if things do move in right direction?

I am not going to take back my resignation if I don't see any change in the decision-making process. It (resignation) can be reviewed, but as things stand now, I don't see myself taking it back.

What kind of changes you want to see in the system?

I want the High-Performance team to have a greater say. The other part is flexibility in the bureaucratic process. The system can't be changed overnight, but you can work out some arrangement. We need certain things in a professional environment which should be easily accessible.

There's a talk that you have resigned following a pay dispute with SAI?

It's nothing to do with the pay dispute. I don't know where that comes from? I have a problem with the system, why are you linking it with the pay dispute? The methodology that's used here in India... I am unable to adjust to that.

What about team’s future?

The team will be fine. It's true that I have a fairly heavy influence on what's been going around, but the team is not reliant on one person. I am replaceable.

What hurt you the most?

The psyche of Indian sports is like if you fail, you will have a big review, but if you are successful, you don't have a review. What about the administrators? What about their review? The process of putting in place that World Cup review committee was nonsense.

Hyderabad, October 21
Cracking the whip, a livid Board of Control for Cricket in India today suspended all bilateral tours with West Indies and decided to initiate legal proceedings against the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) for abruptly cancelling its tour of India last week.

The tough stand by the BCCI, which has incurred heavy losses for the abandonment of the series, was taken by the Working Committee which met to decide the future course of action. “The BCCI will initiate legal proceedings against WICB due to the abrupt cancellation of this tour. All bilateral tours between BCCI and WICB stand suspended,” BCCI Secretary Sanjay Patel said in a brief statement.

The BCCI also appreciated the gesture of the Sri Lankan cricket board for accepting the offer of playing a five-match ODI series at such a short notice.

“The members appreciated the gesture of Sri Lankan board for having accepted our request to play five ODIs starting from November 2. This tour is in lieu of their scheduled tour to India next year which will be reciprocated by India touring Sri Lanka in July/August 2015,” the statement said.

The venues for the five ODIs will be Cuttack, Hyderabad, Ranchi, Kolkata and Ahmedabad and the detailed itinerary will be announced shortly. The BCCI statement, however, did not specify the exact period of suspension of cricketing tours between the BCCI and the WICB.

IPL chairman Ranjib Biswal said the West Indies players will be allowed to compete in the league, putting to rest speculations of them being ignored from the event. “West Indies players will be playing in IPL. IPL-8 will begin from April 9 next year and the franchises will get 11 days for preparation of the T20 league after the end of the World Cup," he said. — PTI

• Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was rested for the first three One-day Internationals against Sri Lanka next month and Virat Kohli will lead the side in his absence. Bengal's Wriddhiman Saha made a comeback to the national side to take the place of Dhoni in the 15-member team. Ravichandran Ashwin too returned after being rested for the WI series in place of spinner Kuldeep Yadav while pacer Varun Aaron replaced injured Mohit Sharma. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the other player who has been left out from the squad that played against the West Indies.

• Team: Virat Kohli (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Murali Vijay, Varun Aaron, Axar Patel.

Chandigarh, October 21
As the North Zone players were busy getting into some sort of touch in the first and last training session on the eve of the Duleep Trophy semifinal clash against Central Zone, their skipper Harbhajan Singh called in sick. Gautam Gambhir will lead the side in the absence of the off-spinner.

Will Harbhajan's absence make any difference? Harvinder Singh, the former India pacer who's coaching the visitors, doesn't think so. “The PCA wicket doesn't offer much help to the spinners; so I think it won't matter much," he said. The former India pacer thinks the contest between Central's pacers and the North's batsmen will decide the fate of the match. While the hosts have big names like Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh, along with the young performers from the domestic circuit, shouldering the batting responsibility, Central have a potent bowling attack with Ishwar Pandey and Pankaj Singh.

Will the big guns boom against the spirited Central attack? Fingers crossed.

Singapore, October 21
Training for next month’s New York City Marathon was something Caroline Wozniacki does not recommend to her colleagues on the tour but the Dane admitted the extra stamina may have helped her overcome Maria Sharapova in a classic on Tuesday.

In the opening White Group contest at the WTA Finals in Singapore, Wozniacki and Russia's Sharapova battled for three hours and 13 minutes before the world number eight prevailed 7-6(4) 6-7(5) 6-2 in a thrilling and high-class encounter.

Wozniacki beat the World No. 2 in a three-set battle on her way to the U.S. Open final last month and the 24-year-old Dane believes that getting in shape for pounding the streets of the Big Apple had helped her emerge victorious both times. “I think Maria is well known for being very tough, especially in the third set, her record is very impressive in three-set matches, so honestly, now with all the training I have been doing and all the running I have been doing. I can keep running," Wozniacki told reporters.

“I kept saying to myself in the third set that ‘if you can't get through this, if you are going to get tired now, how are you going to get through that marathon? So you better keep going’ and I did. "I felt good out there and that I could keep going for a while."

As well as a stubborn opponent, Wozniacki also needed to overcome a terrible line call late in the second set when she was out of challenges and dumbfounded by the inability of both the umpire and official to spot a ball that had drifted way wide.

“It was a pretty important point and it was very far out. I thought she (the line judge) was joking when she didn't call it out. The ball was so far out it was hard to miss," Wozniacki said.

"We had been out there for two hours and 45 minutes and I was not going to let that ruin my match. I had not been out there that long to lose and if I had to win the game two or three times before I actually won it then so be it. "At the end of the day, I didn't have any more challenges left so maybe that was my fault." — Reuters

Chennai, October 21
Former Hull City wingback Bernard Mendy scored through a stunning bicycle kick as hosts Chennayin FC beat Kerala Blasters 2-1 in an Indian Super League match here on Tuesday.

Chennayin FC now have two wins from as many matches while Kerala are at the bottom of the table having lost both their games in the inaugural tournament.

The Chennai outfit got the lead through their Brazilian import Elano Blumer via a spot-kick while Scottish striker Iain Hume’s powerful volley from close range brought the equaliser.

However it was the magical goal by Mendy in the 63rd minute that made even Sachin Tendulkar, clad in canary-yellow Kerala Blasters jersey, applaud while Amitabh Bachchan, co-owner Abhishek Bachchan and mega star Rajnikant erupted in joyous celebration.

It was an indirect free-kick taken by Elano that curled inside the box while East Bengal captain Harmanjot Singh Khabra headed it towards the edge of the six-yard box. Mendy, sensing a chance immediately, swerved his body to take a brilliant bicycle kick which saw the veteran David James failing to react at the suddenness and perfect execution. It was a game that was dominated by the Chennai team playing in their navy blue jerseys.

They enjoyed better ball possession and could have scored as early as the first minute when Abhishek Das put in a cross for Balwant Singh, whose header missed the target by a whisker.

It was in the 14th minute that East Bengal stopper Gurvinder Singh’s ill-timed tackle saw Das sprawling inside the penalty box. The referee pointed at the dreaded spot and Elano did not make any mistake in putting it past James.

For Blasters, the problem has been the slowness of a distinctly overweight Michael Chopra, who has clearly left his best days far behind. The former Newcastle United striker doesn't have the same reflexes and Hume found himself all alone inside the box as CS Sabeeth found it difficult to match the Scotsman's pace.

It was a perfect set-piece movement where Victor Forcada took a corner kick which right back Nirmal Chhetri, while overlapping, headed it down. The ball rebounded off a Chennai defender and Hume smashed it home with a rasping volley. — PTI

Moscow, October 21
CSKA Moscow came from 2-0 down to earn a 2-2 draw against Manchester City in a Champions League clash played behind closed doors on Tuesday.

First-half goals from Sergio Aguero and James Milner put the visitors in command, but the Russian side fought back after the break, with Seydou Doumbia's strike giving them a lifeline and Bebras Natcho's 86th-minute penalty earning them a share of the points.

The result is damaging blow to City's hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages and left them with two points from their opening three Group E games, four behind leaders Bayern Munich and two adrift of AS Roma in second.

BRIEFLY

De Villiers anchors SA to comfortable win in NZ
Mount Maunganui: South Africa captain AB de Villiers anchored his side to a six-wicket victory over New Zealand. De Villiers (89 not out) combined with JP Duminy (58 not out) in an efficient 139-run partnership after a tight and varied New Zealand bowling attack had given the hosts the sniff of an unlikely victory when they reduced them to 97 for four in the 25th over at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui. Brief scores: South Africa 236/ 4 (De Villiers 89*, Duminy 58*) bt New Zealand 230 (Ronchi 99, Tahir 2-37) by six wickets

Eye on top spot, Australia fret over selections
Dubai: Australia are fretting over the composition of their final XI as Michael Clarke and his men embark on their journey to reclaim the World No.1 ranking in the two-Test series against Pakistan starting on Wednesday. Australia will have to win both Tests to go one point clear of South Africa but there is still little clarity about the side who would walk out for the first match. There is some uncertainty about the opening partnership, with David Warner recovering from a groin injury and Chris Rogers failing twice in the tour match.

Para Asian Games: India bag three medals on Day 3
Incheon: India added three more medals on the third day with swimmer Sharath Mahadevarao Gayakwad grabbing his third medal in the Para Asian Games. Narender bagged a silver in men's javelin throw - F42/44 event before Karamjyoti added a bronze. — Agencies