KOLKATA, Jan 30: Indian captain Saurav Ganguly is happy on the selection of the probables for the cricket coaching camp to select the Indian team for the forthcoming test series against Australia beginning next month.......more

Kumble’s absence
will affect
performance: Wright

BANGALORE, Jan 30: The absence of match-winning leg spinner Anil Kumble would "affect a lot" the performance of the Indian team in their home series against Australia, coach John Wright said today........more

Australia do it again in
6-wkt win over Zimbabwe

HOBART, Jan 30: All-conquering Australia beat Zimbabwe by six wickets in a record-breaking run-spree by both teams in a tri-nations series one-day cricket clash at Bellerive Oval here today........more

Life after tennis proves
a challenge for Becker

LONDON, Jan 30: Life after tennis has not been easy for three-time Wimbledon Champion Boris ........more

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Jan 30: Golden goal by P Dewan in the 4th minute of the extra time helped 5-Sikh Regiment.....more

Kartar Singh Memorial
Inter-club Cricket
Tourney begins

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

RAJOURI, Jan 30: In the opening match of the Kartar Singh Memorial Inter-Club Cricket Tournament organised......more

Bali gets District
Youth Award

Excelsior Correspondent

RAJOURI, Jan 30: Mr Mahesh Bali, a research scholar of University of Jammu and a resident......more

State women contingent
leaves for National
Sports Festival

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Jan 30: State women contingent sponsored by the State Sports Council has left for the XXVI .......more

Mr Balwant Thakur, Secretary, J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages presenting ‘Flowers in Kangri’ to the Prime Minister of India on behalf of the J&K State during a reception organised by the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee in the honour of Tableaux artists of J&K at Tri Murti Bhawan, New Delhi.

Sourav terms Surinder of J&K as ‘very promising’

KOLKATA, Jan 30: Indian captain Saurav Ganguly is happy on the selection of the probables for the cricket coaching camp to select the Indian team for the forthcoming test series against Australia beginning next month.

Expressing satisfaction at the selection today Ganguly, who returned here after attending the selection committee meeting at Mumbai last night said, "the probables will consist of deserving players. I am happy at the selection."

Saurav informed that Yuvraaj Singh was not called for the camp as he was not considered for the test matches. The probables had been called keeping in view the coming test series only.

Commenting on some new faces to be seen at the camp, Saurav mentioned the names of medium pacer Surinder Singh of Jammu and Kashmir and leg spinner Balaji Rao of Tamil Nadu. "I have heard both Surinder and Balaji are very promising. I want to see both of them in the camp. We need a good leg spinner in the team, specially in absence of Kumble."

The South paw said emphasis would be given on spinners and hinted that the pitches on the test match venue were likely to be spinning tracks.

The skipper attached more importance to the probables camp and the challenger series. "The camp and the challenger series are very important to me. These will provide opportunities to everybody. Whoever will be able to prove himself will get the chance," he maintained. (UNI)

Kumble’s absence will affect performance: Wright

BANGALORE, Jan 30: The absence of match-winning leg spinner Anil Kumble would "affect a lot" the performance of the Indian team in their home series against Australia, coach John Wright said today.

Asked how far Kumble’s absence would affect the team’s performance, Wright said. "They (Australians) are obviously in good form. India has a great record (against the Australians) but in the present day they will be a formidable opposition," he felt.

Wright was speaking informally to mediapersons after the launch of e-cricketpro, a software tool developed by Phoenix Global Solutions here.

Apparently a chastened man after the furore over his reported prediction of a whitewash of the Indian team on its tour of Australia last year, Cricket Board secretary Jayawant Lele rated India’s chances against the Aussies as very bright. "We should do well. On Indian wicket, I don’t think we should panic at all."

The Board yesterday announced the selection of 25 probables for the conditioning camp to be held at Chennai next month prior to the home series against Australia. (PTI)

Australia do it again in 6-wkt win over Zimbabwe

HOBART, Jan 30: All-conquering Australia beat Zimbabwe by six wickets in a record-breaking run-spree by both teams in a tri-nations series one-day cricket clash at Bellerive Oval here today.

Zimbabwe, sent in when Australian captain Steve Waugh won the toss, amassed 279 for six from their full quota of 50 overs - their highest-ever total against Australia.

But the home team, faced with their biggest challenge of the series, treated the opposition with near-contempt as they cruised to victory with six overs to spare in making 282 for four - their highest successful run chase on home territory.

It was the seventh win in a row in this competition by the seemingly invincible Australians.

Zimbabwe, on the other hand, still have only one win from six outings and are now in serious danger of missing a place in next months’s best of three finals of the $210,000 Aus (120,000 US) competition.

Their last chance will come Friday when they meet the West Indies in a crucial day-night battle royal at the Waca Ground in Perth.

The winner will almost certainly earn a passport to the big showdown with Australia for the major portion of the prizemoney.

Zimbabwe’s big total today - their best of the series - was built around a marvellous 124 from 142 balls by left-handed opener Alistair Campbell, who was named man of the match -some consolation for finishing a loser after such a superb knock.

Campbell and Guy Whittall (36) put Zimbabwe well on the road to their competitive total when they hammered 94 for the first wicket before whittall was run out by Australia’s new wicketkeeper Brad Haddin, who broke the stumps at the non-striker’s end.

Andy flower (51 from 44 balls, with six fours) and Stuart Carlisle (36 from 40 balls) also contributed in an even batting performance.

With Australia’s attack below par, only Glenn McGrath with 2-43 contained the Zimbabweans.

But Zimbabwe, whose attack has no depth, never looked like defending their big total.

Australia’s stand-in opener Andrew Symonds made 60 from 47 balls - though he had fortune on his side. He might have been out off the first ball of the innings, a lifting delivery hurled down by speedster heath streak - but an appeal for a catch behind off the glove was turned down.

That was a devastating blow for Zimbabwe, who seemed to be off balance after that big disappointment.

Steve Waugh, with a cool 81 from 71 balls, kept up the momentum. At the other end, opener Mark Waugh played an elegant hand, reaching his 100 with the winning shot of the match to the boundary.

The one Zimbabwe bowler who could hold his head high was leg-spinner Brian Murphy, with a fine return of 3-52 from his 10 overs.

He struck with his very first ball when he had Symonds caught in the deep by Dirk Viljoen and then snapped up Steve Waugh lbw and had Haddin caught.

SCORECARD:

Zimbabwe A Campbell stpd Haddin b Warne 124 G Whittall run out 36 S Carlisle c Symonds b Martyn 36 A Flower c Martyn b Warne 51 H Streak not out 10 G Flower b McGrath 3 D Viljoen b McGrath 1 dExtras (lb6, w8, nb4) 18 Total (for six wickets) 279

Fall of wickets: 1-94, 2-164, 3-265, 4-266, 5-269, 6-279.

Bowling:

G McGrath 10-1-43-2,

D Fleming 10-0-46-0,

I Harvey 10-1-54-0,

S Warne 9-0-51-2,

A Symonds 7-0-51-0,

D Martyn 4-0-28-1.

Australia M Waugh not out 100 A Symonds c Viljoen b Murphy 60 R Ponting c Mackay b Nkala 6 S Waugh lbw Murphy 81 dB Haddin c Whittall b Murphy 13 I Harvey not out 13 Extras: (b-3 lb-1 w-3 nb-2) 9 Total (four wickets, 44 overs) 282

Did not bat: D Martyn, D Lehmann, S Warne, D Fleming, G McGrath

Fall of wickets: 1/89 2/114 3/234 4/258

Bowling:

Streak 10-0-49-0 (nb-1)

Strang 6-0-42-0

Nkala 5-0-33-1

Mackay 4-0-33-0

Murphy 10-0-52-3 (w-3)

Viljoen 4-0-28-0

Whittall 5-0-41-0 (nb-1).

Result: Australia won by six wickets.

Next match:

West Indies v Zimbabwe (day/night), Perth,February 2. (REUTERS)

Life after tennis proves a challenge for Becker

LONDON, Jan 30: Life after tennis has not been easy for three-time Wimbledon Champion Boris Becker.

In a twist of fate reminiscent of the retirement problems of Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, Becker, the youngest player to take the Wimbledon title, has been battling in the law courts and ducking unwanted publicity.

Becker, who retired from tennis last year after a series of false departures, sealed his multi-million-dollar divorce from German-American actress Barbara Feltus two weeks ago.

He now faces allegations from a Russian-born model that he is the father of her baby and another wave of media attention after telling a television station he had started a romance with Sabrina Setlur, a rap singer once voted Germany’s most erotic woman.

"There is an incredible hysteria surrounding me at the moment," said Becker this week after newspaper reports that he had taken a paternity test in London to clear up the allegations that he was the father of a 10-month-old girl.

"After (German) Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, there were more articles about me printed in the last year than anyone else. That’s insane."

Becker’s seven-year marriage to feltus attracted the constant attention of the German public.

For some, the match between the red-headed Becker and the black feltus engagingly represented inter-racial and cross-cultural ideals in a country where mixed-race marriages are rare.

But the couple also received racist hate mail which spurred them to talk of raising their two sons, six-year-old Noah and 16-month-old Elias, in the United States.

Fast divorce surprises lawyers

After acrimonious proceedings in a public hearing in Miami and in a private hearing in Munich, the couple were divorced in the German court only a month after their separation, with an exceptional ruling that astonished German family lawyers.

Normally, under German law a couple must be separated for a year before a divorce is granted, unless it can be shown that a delay will cause hardship.

The Beckers’ divorce had at first been amicable but turned sour after feltus filed separate proceedings in the United States, claiming higher sums than those agreed in the couple’s pre-nuptial agreement.

Feltus was guaranteed five million marks under the original agreement but the German popular newspaper Bild said the terms of the Munich divorce gave her more than six times that amount, as well as shared custody of the children, and the couple’s home on Miami’s fisher island. The Beckers’ lawyers have not confirmed the amount.

The divorce that fascinated Germany’s tabloid press will not, however, have an impact on Becker’s business ties to America Online Ltd, the company said.

But the company, who featured the German player in a series of television commercials, may be wondering whether the image of Becker as a family man will still sell.

One advertisement showed Becker in a bathrobe discovering how to send an e-mail to his mobile telephone, while his wife called him in the background.

Mcenroe blames the media

Yet Aol are confident that Becker’s popularity, which has already increased their name recognition in Germany, will continue. (REUTERS)

Sadiq Memorial Football Tourney
Dewan’s golden goal helps Sikh Regt enter QFs

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Jan 30: Golden goal by P Dewan in the 4th minute of the extra time helped 5-Sikh Regiment, Pathankot to register 1-0 victory over R&B, Srinagar in a first pre-quarter match of the VIII Sadiq Memorial Football Tournament being held at Mini-Stadium, Parade, here today.

With today’s victory, Sikh Regiment, who being an outsider directly played in the pre-quarterfinals, has become the first side to find a berth in the last eights.

"The match would not have reached the extra time, had the boys not missed the opportunities that came their way during the game time", said the manager of the Sikh Regiment, Baldev Singh while talking to this correspondent.

Playing for the first time in Jammu Kashmir, power-packed Sikh Regiment played most of the time away from the goal area, providing ample time to the opponents to hold them till end of the stipulated time.

However, the R&B manager, Muzaffar Ahmed Mir, who himself is a active forward of the team expressed his satisfaction over the performance of the team. "The defeat at the hands of better side of Sikh Regiment was expected, but the way my boys held them in the game time, was quite satisfactory", he said and regretted that they should not have missed two chances that came their way.

After the goalless draw in the given time, Sikh Regiment attacked from all cylinders to score victory. Ultimately victory came their way in the 4th minute of the extra time, when P Dewan struck a goal on a rebound. Rajeev Rao had taken first attempt but the ball hit the right side of the goal bar and P Dewan did no mistake in converting that into a goal amist hooting from a huge crowd gathered around the R&B goal.

Sikh Regiment manager also complained that due to the short ground, boys were unable to make moves. "Furthermore, they have the habit of playing on the grassy field, which too reduced their performance, otherwise, the R&B was not a side to hold us draw", he claimed.

Sikh Regiment, which remained runners-up in the recently held Faghwara JCT Cup, is one of the title contestant in this tournament.

Latif Ahmed, Nissar Ahmed, Ramesh Chander and Muzaffar Ahmed were officials in this match.

In another scheduled match, Young Hero got walkover against Punjab Club, Malare Kotla, which did not report. With this walkover, Young Hero reached the pre-quarters stage and will take on Young Star on February Ist.

Tomorrow’s fixture: J&K Police V/s BSF, Jammu Frontier at 1.30 pm and BSF, Kashmir V/s Iqbal Club, Srinagar.