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India fire the opening
salvo
Central shock South, lift Duleep Trophy
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Djoker’s delightful evening in Paris
Bryan brothers win 4th Paris title
Jaisha steals show,
wins 5000m gold
10-man United beaten in Manchester derby
One of the oldest around, Misbah hits fastest ton
When Sachin almost called it quits!
surjit hockey
world kabaddi league
Anelka joins the party
Punjab eves win handball Nationals
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India fire the opening
salvo
Cuttack, November 2 Suresh Raina (52), Virat Kohli (22) and Ambati Rayudu (27) also contributed to the total after the openers laid down a strong foundation. Left-hander Dhawan milked 14 boundaries and three sixes to score his sixth century before he chopped a ball from Ashan Priyaranjan on to his stumps when the scorecard read 231 in 35 overs. Three overs later, Rahane followed him to the pavilion after collecting 13 fours and two sixes that helped him score his second century.
The 25-year-old right-hander from Mumbai stepped out to hit a full-toss bowled by offie Suraj Randiv and the ball went straight into the hands of long-off fielder Mahela
Jayawardene. But the damage had already been done and later Raina, Kohli and Rayudu capitalised on the good start.
For Sri Lanka, off-spinner Suraj Randiv picked up three wickets for 78 runs. In pursuit of 364, Sri Lanka failed to get going from the start and never got a partnership. Experienced opener Tillakaratne Dilshan (18) slashed an outswinger from Umesh Yadav, edging it to wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha. Veteran Kumar Sangakkara (13) lost his wicket by edging an Ishant Sharma delivery, leaving the team in trouble at 61/2 in 13.2 overs. The responsibility then fell upon opener Upul Tharanga and veteran Jayawardene. But the left-handed Tharanga, who had played well for his 28, lost his wicket while trying to hit out against R Ashwin. Next man in Seekkuge Prasanna (5) offered a simple catch to Rahane at backward point off spinner Akshar Patel. Mahela Jayawardene did his best and collected six boundaries and one six before he was caught by skipper Kohli off Patel, leaving the team reeling at 130/5 in 25.1 overs. Skipper Angelo Mathews (23) too couldn't hang on for long and fell to a Suresh Raina delivery. — IANS
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Central shock South, lift Duleep Trophy
New Delhi, November 2 South had no answer to pacer Pankaj Singh and the spin trio of Piyush Chawla, Ali Murtaza and Jalaj Saxena, as they lost by nine runs and being bundled out for 291 in 88.4 overs. Central pulled off a come-from-behind victory to win the trophy after 10 years. The last time, they had defeated North Zone by nine wickets and this season they won by nine runs. South, on the other hand, paid the price of not playing spin adeptly when it mattered most. South Zone had put up 184/1, thanks to KL Rahul, whose unbeaten 121 on the fourth day came off assured cuts, authoritative pulls and elegant drives. Resuming the day with the overnight batsman Baba Aparajith, Rahul punished Ishwar Pandey for two fours in the second over to show his intent. Aparajith joined in too, and South needed less than 100 runs to win. However, the script started to change when Pankaj came on to bowl. The Rajasthan speedster brought one back enough to have Rahul leg-before-wicket for 130, which included 14 fours and five sixes. Three balls later, Pankaj disturbed the timber of Dinesh Karthik for his second duck of the match. From the position of strength – 203/1 — South slipped to 203/3. Aparajith found an able ally in R Prasanna, who was particularly harsh on Murtaza. He first carted him for successive sixes, and then hit him for a boundary past midwicket to close in on the victory. In the process, Aparajith completed his half-century off 120 balls. South reached 252/3 and it looked like slipping away from Central’s grasp. Chawla then introduced Saxena into the attack, and the move paid off. Going around the wicket, Saxena bowled an armer that caught Prasanna (29) plumb in front. Chawla sent back Aparajith for 56, cleverly stumped by Naman Ojha, and within no time, Saxena dismissed Hanuma Vihari (1) with a caught-and-bowled decision. At 260/6, with 41 still to get, the approach of the South batsmen could best be described as suicidal. They gifted their wickets to Central spinners on a platter. South skipper Vinay Kumar was guilty of one such shot, when he wildly swung past a quicker delivery from Murtaza, only to watch his leg-stump uprooted. Chawla trapped Pragyan Ojha (2) in front of the stumps, while Abhimanyu Mithun (0) was flummoxed by Murtaza, who sent in another quicker one to leave the No.10 batsman all at sea. The end came when Shreyas, who was trying to get in a big hit on a deteriorating pitch, stepped out and missed Murtaza’s flighted delivery. South lost their last seven wickets for the addition of just 49 runs. Brief scores: Central Zone 276; 403 (Bist 112*, Fazal 72, Gopal 4/60); South Zone 379; 291 (Rahul 130, Aparajith 56, Chawla 3-83, Murtaza 3-59) Reactions It was a very good show. The way we came back to keep their lead down to just 100 runs in the first innings and played after that was a big turning point. As a captain, I always believed that we can win this game. We played smart cricket and executed our plans well. — Piyush Chawla, central skipper I am disappointed with how we batted today. Losing nine wickets for 90 runs was not good at all. When I got out, that was the turning point. We needed 20 runs then, and I would have played the last over before lunch. Unfortunately, when it mattered, we couldn’t stay there. — Vinay Kumar, South skipper I was very happy with the way I played. I just went out there and I was watching the ball. I got value for my shots so I just kept my head down and kept playing for as long as I could. It would have felt much better if we had won the game. Hopefully, I can continue this form through the season. — KL Rahul , man of the match
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Djoker’s delightful evening in Paris
Paris, November 2 “I played the best match of the entire week today when it was most needed,” Djokovic said. His 600th career win extended Djokovic’s unbeaten indoors run to 27 and gave him his 20th Masters title while Raonic, who will have to do more than serve big if he wants to climb higher up the ladder, lost his second Masters. Both players will be taking part in the ATP World Tour Finals from Nov. 9-16 in London, where Djokovic will be favourite to secure the world No. 1 spot for 2014 after he more than doubled his points lead over Roger Federer. “I see it better now than one week ago, that’s for sure. It helps that I won the title in Bercy, that I’m playing well, and that I’m feeling good about myself on the court playing indoors,” said Djokovic. Djokovic stole his opponent’s first service game as he raced to a 3-0 lead against a nervy Raonic. The Canadian, who lost in the Montreal Masters final last year, saved three more break points in the sixth game, two of them with aces. In the following game, Djokovic fell 0-40 down on his serve but Raonic lacked the authority to convert the break points. Seven-times Grand Slam champion Djokovic called for a trainer to massage his right leg at the change of ends but the problem did not seem to bother him as he returned to the court to wrap the opening set on Raonic’s serve after two awful unforced errors by the Canadian. Things went from bad to worse for Raonic, who was limited to nine aces after bombing down 21 against Federer in the quarterfinals, as he produced a double fault to go 2-0 down. The Serb comfortably held serve and set up two match points in the eighth game, only for Raonic to save them with a service winner and a forehand passing shot. Djokovic, however, bagged his sixth title of the season with a forehand down the line winner on his third match point in the following game. — Reuters
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Bryan brothers win 4th Paris title
Paris, November 2 Both teams forced a break in the opening set before it went to a tie-break, which the Californians won 7/5. However the newly formed team of Matkowski and Melzer broke Bob Bryan’s serve in the final game of the second frame to snatch the set and force a match tie-break up to ten points. — PTI |
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Jaisha steals show,
wins 5000m gold
Jaisha, representing Railways, won the race in 16.13.61 ahead of teammate L Surya (16:19.99) and Kavita Raut (16:32.03) of ONGC. Jaisha said that she took part in the season-ending event as she wanted to give a gold to her employers. “In
the absence of Preeja (Sreedharan), I knew that I could win the gold. It
was easier to win the race in her absence but my timing would have been
better had she been here,” Jaisha added. Services athletes swept the
top three positions in the men’s 5000m with Nitender Singh (14:16.28)
coming first ahead of Kheta Ram (14:16.67) and Man Singh (14:17.39). Asian
Games silver medallist Manju Bala did not turn up in women’s hammer
throw though she entered her name for the event. In her absence, Gunjan
Singh of Railways won gold with a throw of 58.38m, while Ritu Dhiman
(Uttar Pradesh) and Sarita P Singh (Railways) were second and third with
56.26m and 55.65m respectively. Sapna of All India Police won the 20km race walk in 1:49:58 while Rani Yadav (Railways) and Rajni (All India Police) were second and third with timings of 1:52:29 and 1:52:48 respectively. In
the absence of national record holder KT Irfan, the men’s 20km race
walk event was won by Manish Singh Rawat of Uttarakhand in 1:33:17 while
Chandan Singh (Services) and Gurmeet Singh (Uttarakhand) were second and
third in 1:34:36 and 1:35:01 respectively. The women’s shot put was
won by Manpreet Kaur (16.39m) of Railways, while Navjeet Dhillon
(15.22m) of ONGC was second and Neha Singh (13.48m) of All India Police
was third.
— PTI Khushbir forced to
pull out by her coach?
In an unsavoury incident, Asian Games silver medallist Khushbir Kaur was
forced to pull out of the 20km race walk event midway into the competition by
her coach Alexander Artsybashev. Khushbir, representing ONGC, wanted to take
part in the early morning event against the wishes of Artsybashev, who,
according to Athletics Federation of India sources, did not want her to take
part on the ground that she could get injured. The Amritsar girl was leading
the race by a big distance before pulling out after covering around nine
kilometres. Another race walk coach, however, said that Khushbir pulled out
midway because of a pain in her legs. Artsybashev was even seen shouting at
Khushbir before the start of the event following an argument with national
chief coach Bahadur Singh. “You cannot treat an athlete like that,”
Bahadur was heard telling the Russian. |
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10-man United beaten in Manchester derby
London, November 2 The clubs’ 151st league meeting was decided by a goal from Argentina’s Sergio Aguero in the 63rd minute after United centre half Chris Smalling had been sent off in the first half for two yellow cards. With Rafael Da Silva missing the game and Marcos Rojo forced off in the second half, a makeshift United defence comprising Antonio Valencia, Michael Carrick and teenagers Paddy McNair and Luke Shaw came under increasing pressure. The surprise was that City were pushed back and suddenly looked edgy once they had scored. In the end, City were pleased to hang on for a fourth successive league win over the neighbours — the first time that has happened since 1970. The other depressing historical note for Van Gaal was that he has now presided over United’s worst start to a season since 1986, when Ron Atkinson was sacked and Alex Ferguson appointed. The result left United in ninth place, with 13 points from 10 games and no away wins. Celta Vigo stun Barcelona 1-0, Real go top
Madrid: Luis Suarez’s Barcelona home debut ended in a shock defeat as Joaquin Larrivey’s solitary strike handed Celta Vigo a famous 1-0 win the Camp Nou. Real Madrid took advantage of Barcelona’s slip up to move top of the table as they continued their free-scoring form with a 4-0 thrashing of Granada earlier yesterday and champions Atletico Madrid are up to second as they eased past Cordoba 4-2 at home. Just as in his debut defeat against Real at the Bernabeu last weekend, Suarez was left frustrated as Barca hit the woodwork four times and were denied on several more occasions by fine saves from Celta goalkeeper Sergio Alvarez.
— Agencies Robben gives Bayern win over Dortmund
Munich: A late Arjen Robben penalty gave Bayern Munich a dramatic 2-1 comeback win on Saturday that sent Borussia Dortmund sliding into the drop zone after their fifth straight defeat and worst-ever start to a Bundesliga season. The Dutchman sent keeper Roman Weidenfeller the wrong way in the 85th minute, after Franck Ribery was brought down, to lift leaders Bayern to 24 points, four ahead of second-placed VfL
Wolfsburg. “We are very satisfied,” coach Pep Guardiola said after his team avenged their season-opening German Super Cup defeat by Dortmund. “In the second half we played as we should.” The defeat, which featured two decisive blunders from defender Neven Subotic after he came on for the injured Mats Hummels in the second half, drops the Ruhr Valley club to third from bottom with seven points from 10 games.
— Reuters |
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One of the oldest around, Misbah hits fastest ton
Chasing an intimidating 603-run victory target, Australia were reeling on 36 for two at tea with David Warner (24) and captain Michael Clarke (two) in the middle. The day belonged to the 40-year-old Misbah, who is often criticised for his ponderous batting. Dropped by Peter Siddle at cover when on four, Misbah took just 21 balls to race to his half-century, bettering South African Jacques Kallis's record of a 24-ball fifty against Zimbabwe in Cape Town in 2005. Needing eight runs from two balls, he hit paceman Mitchell Starc for consecutive boundaries to match West Indies great Viv Richards's 1986 record of a 56-ball century against England at St John's, Antigua. The right-hander hit five sixes — including three in one Steve Smith over — and 11 boundaries in his stunning 57-ball knock at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium. Younis Khan (46) was the only Pakistan batsman dismissed in the morning session. — Reuters Brief scores: Australia 261 and 143 for 4 (Warner 58, Zulfiqur Babar 3/65); Pakistan 570 for 6 dec and 293 for 3 dec (Misbah-ul-Haq 101no, Azhar Ali 100no) |
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When Sachin almost called it quits!
New Delhi, November 2 The 41-year-old former batsman has finally opened up about the dark days he survived in a career which spanned over two decades. In his autobiography Playing it My Way, to be released worldwide on November 6, the reticent batting legend has dwelled on the frustrations he faced during his reign as captain — a phase which is considered the biggest debacle of his otherwise enduring love affair with cricket. “I hated losing and as captain of the team I felt responsible for the string of miserable performances. More worryingly, I did not know how I could turn it around, as I was already trying my absolute best,” recalls Tendulkar. “I confided in (wife) Anjali that I feared there was nothing more that I could do to stem the tide of defeats. Losing a string of very close matches had left me badly scarred. I had given it everything and was not sure that I could give even 0.1 per cent more. “...It was hurting me badly and it took me a long time to come to terms with these failures. I even contemplated moving away from the sport completely, as it seemed nothing was going my way,” reveals the diminutive right-hander in his book. This period of disillusionment dates back to 1997 when the Indian team was touring the West Indies. After drawing the opening two Tests, the Indians seemed to be heading for a victory in the third, chasing a mere 120. But in an inexplicable disaster, the tourists were bowled out for 81 with only VVS Laxman managing a double-digit score. — PTI
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Army thrash Punjab Police 4-1
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, November 2 However, defending champions Punjab and Sind Bank had an easy outing against Namdhari XI, winning 4-2 to start their campaign on a high. In the women’s section, Deepika scored a brace as Rail Coach Factory beat Punjab XI 5-1. In Pool B, Army XI took the lead in the 12th minute when Siraju AP converted a penalty corner. In the 19th minute Jagmeet Singh fired in the equaliser for Punjab Police. In the 29th minute, Siraju struck again from a penalty corner to put his team ahead. After the lemon break, Binoy Bhengra extended Army’s lead in the 54th minute. Three minutes later, Bhushan Kujur finished off the match with another goal. In a tight Pool C encounter, ONGC and PNB battled hard for a goal till Lakhwinder Singh Lally found the goal for the bank team. Both teams earned two penalty corners each in the first half, but failed to convert. Just when it seemed that the match would end 0-0, PNB earned a penalty corner in the 66th minute, which Lakhwinder converted to pull off a big upset. Today’s
matches
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Royal Kings beat Lions
Tribune news service
Bhopal, November 2 With this victory, Royal Kings have nine points in 17 matches, while Vancouver Lions have 12 points from 16 matches. The second match of the day, which was to feature leaders Khalsa Warriors and Lahore Lions, was not played as the team from Pakistan did not turn up. Warriors were awarded two points, pushing their tally to 29 points. Warriors will take on Punjab Thunder in the next match. Thunder agreed to step in and ensure the second match against Khalsa Warriors. The Lahore team claimed to have visa problems, but the organisers clarified that as many as 22 Lahore Lions members have visas and 14 of them have valid visas for Bhopal.
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Mumbai, November 2 The former Chelsea star’s strike curled above the defensive wall to the left post with a helpless goalkeeper, Sandip Nandy, diving in a desperate attempt. Anelka, who had missed the first three matches due to suspension, showed his class and also earned the much-needed three points for his side. The hosts looked like a new side in the second half, rejuvenated by their one goal lead. They attacked well, seemed eager to add a few more goals to their tally and came close to achieving it a few times. Mumbai had the chance to double the lead in the 58th minute when Stohanzl skied the shot. Indian forward Subash Singh was also guilty of missing a sitter in the 74th minute. Anelka did everything right to beat the three defenders and feed the ball to Singh who shot it over the cross bar. — PTI
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Novak Djokovic bolstered his hopes of holding on to his world No. 1 status until the end of the season with a 6-2 6-3 defeat of big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic to retain the Paris Masters title on Sunday.
Twin brothers Mike and Bob Bryan won their fourth doubles’ title in Paris and 32nd Masters trophy on Sunday as they defeated Poland’s Marcin Matkowski and Austrian Juergen Melzer 7-6 (7/5), 5-7, 10-6.
The 36-year-old American brothers, who are guaranteed to finish the year as the number one ranked doubles’ team, now head to the World Tour Finals in London on November 9 looking for a 10th tournament victory of the season.
Abu Dhabi, November 2
Royal Kings USA beat Vancouver Lions (62-54) to register their fourth win of the tournament at the Aishbagh Stadium on Sunday. Kings’ Bhupinder Singh (17 raids) was declared man of the match and the best
raider. While the early stage of the match saw Raiders holding sway, it was Royal Kings’ Iqbal Singh Thiara (3 stops) who tilted the match in his team’s favour after Raiders Gurlal Singh (3) and Tajinder Singh (4) scored points.
With this victory, Royal Kings have nine points in 17 matches, while Vancouver Lions have 12 points from 16 matches.
Mumbai, November 2
Raina, who was playing his 200th ODI, took only 34 deliveries to reach his 32nd fifty and forged useful partnerships with Kohli and Rayudu to help India set a big target.
New Delhi, November 2
Abu Dhabi, November 2
