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evidence against Jadeja in match fixing: BCCI NEW DELHI, July 11: Indian Cricket Board today justified the five-year ban on cricketer Ajay Jadeja in the Delhi High Court on the charges of match fixing, and said "there were plethora of evidence against him"............more Kumble returns to BANGALORE, July 11: Ace leg spinner Anil Kumble, out of cricket action since the beginning of this year due to shoulder surgery, has .........more Musharraf to miss the JAIPUR, July 11: Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf will miss the "pitch" his predecessor General ......more Thorpe boosts England as LONDON, July 11: England batsman Graham Thorpe is optimistic that he is finally getting ......more |
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2nd Summer Cup Open TT Champ Bhavna, Rashi enter Women’s final Arjun Anand bags Cadets’ title Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, July 11: State champion Bhavna Arora will take on budding peddler Rashi Anand in the Women’s singles final tomorrow.......more Hockey
camp By Sanjeev Sharma JAMMU, July 11: Delayed by two days, the coaching camp for the India-B hockey probables excluding ......more All competitors to face MOSCOW, July 11: All competitors at next year’s Winter Olympics in Salt Lake.....more Rafter’s father defends MELBOURNE, July 11: Losing Wimbledon finalist Pat Rafter’s father Jim defended his son as a......more |
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of evidence against Jadeja in match fixing: BCCI NEW DELHI, July 11: Indian Cricket Board today justified the five-year ban on cricketer Ajay Jadeja in the Delhi High Court on the charges of match fixing, and said "there were plethora of evidence against him". "There were plethora of evidence against him, some of them oral, on the basis of which action was taken," counsel for Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) K K Venugopal told Justice Mukul Mudgal while replying to Jadeja’s civil writ petition challenging the imposition of ban on him. Questioning the very maintainability of the petition, the BCCI counsel said no remedy through civil writ under article 226 lies against the board as it was not a statutory body. Nor is it performing any function of the state, he said. "BCCI is an independent body constituted under the societies registration act and if the petitioner (Jadeja) feels aggrieved for any of its action, or breach of contract, he can file a suit for damage as no case for violation of fundamental rights under Article 226 of the constitution can be made out against the board," he said. Venugopal said the High Court while hearing a civil writ by former cricketer Mohinder Amarnath a few years ago against the BCCI, had ruled that the board is not a statutory body. Amarnath had later withdrawn his petition, he said. Jadeja’s counsel P P Malhotra alleged that the BCCI’s action against his client was "malafide" as it was based on the CBI report, which neither recommended any action against the players nor had specified any offence against them. "The CBI report itself stated that no offence is made out against the players under IPC, Malhotra said. The BCCI counsel said, the Government in an affidavit filed before a bench headed by Chief Justice, hearing a PIL seeking probe into the the functioning of BCCI, had also said that the board was not a statutory body. As the court asked what is the status of Indian team when it represents the country abroad, Venugopal said "selection of players is made by the BCCI independently on the basis of merit and Government has no say in it." BCCI as a registered society, has its affiliation to the International Cricket Council (ICC). Every player selected by the board has to sign a contract with it. "Even if a player feels that the contract is breached by such a kind of action by the board, the only remedy for him will be to claim damages through a civil suit," he said. Jadeja’s counsel said that BCCI investigator, K Madhavan had drawn his conclusion about his client’s "involvement" in the match fixing only on the basis of CBI report, which had not specified any charge against the players. Madhavan had not afforded any opportunity to Jadeja to cross examine the witnesses, nor was he supplied any document. Such an action on his part was against natural justice as well as the Commission of Inquiry Act, he said. "CBI had relied upon the telephone bills of some persons whom Jadeja did not even know. If he had conversation with anonymous caller, who had contacted him, how can he be held responsible. Is conversation on phone, when some one contacts some body an offence," Jadeja’s counsel asked. The propriety demanded that CBI should have confronted Jadeja with the documents including the telephone bills while probing the matter, he said. (PTI) |
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Kumble returns to competitive cricket BANGALORE, July 11: Ace leg spinner Anil Kumble, out of cricket action since the beginning of this year due to shoulder surgery, has returned to competitive cricket, amid firm indications that he would be fit well in time for the South African tour in October. Kumble bowled 14 overs, taking three for 49, last weekend, enabling Young Cricketers (1) to score a narrow two-run win over Dooravani Cricketers (1) in a Karnataka State Cricket Association Group I division III league tie. This was first outing in a competitive atmosphere for Kumble after his shoulder surgery in January. "It felt good. It was nice to go out there in the middle and start bowling in a match again," he said. Kumble, who has bagged 550 international wickets - 276 in tests and 274 in one-dayers - had said recently he was feeling much stronger and would be ready for the South African tour, adding, he was doing fine but had to work on his bowling and get the confidence back. After returning about two months ago from South Africa, where the progress of his shoulder surgery was reviewed by specialist Dr Fergusson, Kumble has been bowling in the nets regularly and following the rehabilitation programme. He is bowling five overs per day now but needs to go up to 20 overs per day to think about test level and hopes to reach that level soon. He has said he did not want to hurry things and have a relapse and wanted to be 100 per cent sure. (PTI) |
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Musharraf to miss the ‘pitch’ Gen Zia laid JAIPUR, July 11: Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf will miss the "pitch" his predecessor General Zia-ul-Haq had laid more than a decade ago, but cricket diplomacy could be back during the much-awaited Indo-Pak summit. The famous cricket diplomacy played its part in reducing tension on the border when Gen. Zia came here in 1987 to witness the Reliance World Cup match between India and Pakistan. Back then Gen. Zia had been invited by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president S Sriraman and World Cup organising committee chairman N K P Salve when they visited Pakistan. According to Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) secretary Kishore Rungta, gen. Zia was on a "purely private trip". Gen. Musharraf, who will arrive here on July 16, comes on the invitation of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for Indo-Pak summit at Agra on July 15. The summit could see resumption of cricketing ties between the two countries. India last played a test match in Pakistan nearly 12 years ago. The last visit of the Pakistan cricket team to India was in 1999 to play in the Pepsi Cup. The Sawai man Singh Stadium here hosted one of the matches. Like Gen. Zia, Gen Musharraf too will visit the Dargah of Sufi Saint Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer, before returning home. Rungta said the RCA had sent a formal invitation to Gen. Zia, which was promptly accepted by him. An enthusiastic Zia had landed in Jaipur with a large contingent in three aircraft. He stayed at the Rambag Palace hotel. The RCA hosted a dinner in Gen. Zia’s honour at the Rambagh Palace. Nearly 150 guests came to the dinner. When he expressed his desire to see the historical ‘Amer Fort’ quick security arrangements were made for the visit, Rungta recalled. The General was presented with a diamond-studded gold button by the vice-president of RCA and when he hesitatingly tried to fix the button on Gen. Zia’s Sherwani, he was asked to open the buttons of the Sherwani. "Yeh mardon ki chhati hai," (this is a man’s chest) Gen Zia told him. When the Pakistan president returned home, the tension had died down on the border. Gen. Zia wrote a letter to the RCA president P M Rungta thanking him for the "wonderful arrangements" made for his journey and hosting a banquet in his honour." Writing in his own hand, the General extended an invitation to him to visit Pakistan with his family as his guest. The Pakistan High Commissioner would keep in touch with him for arranging the visit, Gen. Zia wrote. The visit never materialised. Gen. Zia presented gifts to the Rajasthan Governor, the Chief Minister and the top officials of RCA. He also brought fruits in huge quantity as gifts. During his visit, he was treated as a "state guest" by the Rajasthan Government and at the eleventh hour, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi deputed Union Minister Ram Niwas Mirdha to receive the General at the airport. It is to be seen whether cricket makes its presence felt when Gen. Musharraf and Mr Vajpayee meet.(UNI) |
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Thorpe boosts England as selectors mull captaincy LONDON, July 11: England batsman Graham Thorpe is optimistic that he is finally getting over the calf injury which has dogged him for six weeks. Thorpe, who is hoping to be fit for the second ashes test against Australia which starts on July 19, was badly missed by England in their crushing defeat in the first test at Edgbaston by an innings and 118 runs. "The anti-inflammatory medication I’m taking seems to be working and the calf is feeling a lot freer than before," Thorpe said in his personal column on the channel four website. "I will be seeing a specialist on thursday and then I’ll know what my chances are of playing in the next test." "As things stand now, I know the problem has improved over the past few days - and that’s the first time that has happened since I suffered the injury last month." "The past six weeks have been doing my head in and I’m desperate to get back out there playing again. Every morning I wake up hoping the injury will feel better and finally that is starting to happen." Thorpe is also a possible candidate for the England captaincy in the absence of Nasser Hussain, who has been ruled out for three weeks with a broken finger. But having played so little cricket the selectors are unlikely to land the surrey left-hander, who has captained England before, with the added burden of leading the team in the second test at lord’s. Former captain Mike Atherton, 33, and fellow opener Marcus Trescothick, an ex-England under-19 captain, are the leading candidates, according to chairman of selectors David Graveney. So far, only fast bowler Darren Gough has said he would like to lead the side at Lord’s. Wicketkeeper and former captain Alec Stewart has ruled himself out of the running. A spokesman for the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said today a decision on the captaincy was not imminent but was expected later in the week. The appointment could well be for more than one test because Hussain, whose little finger was broken by a ball from Jason Gillespie on Sunday, is not certain to be fit for the third test starting on August 2. The 25-year-old Trescothick, who has made a big impression in his 12 tests so far, has been recommended for the job by former England coach David Lloyd and the somerset batsman believes he is ready for another step up. "I am pretty sure I could handle the pressure," Trescothick told BBC Radio. "But until such time as someone wants to talk about the situation with me, I’ll just concentrate on my batting." (REUTERS) |
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2nd Summer Cup Open
TT Champ Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, July 11: State champion Bhavna Arora will take on budding peddler Rashi Anand in the Women’s singles final tomorrow, whileas Junior boys and girls have also reached the finals today in the ongoing 2nd Summer Cup Open Table Tennis Championship being held at Indoor Complex, M A Stadium, here. In the semi-finals played this evening, Bhavna had a tough time against veteran Manmeet Kour, who resumed her game after a gap of six years. She was, however, beaten by Bhavna by 2-1 (21-18, 17-21, 21-18). At the time when Manmeet had left the game way back in 1995 , she was a seeded player of the North-Zone and champion of J&K State. Her come back was being viewed as a positive sign for the game as a whole. Return of talented players like Manmeet will boost the morale of the young players, who will certainly improve their techniques watching their games. Now, in the final, Bhavna will take on Rashi Anand for the title clash tomorrow. Earlier, in the second semi-finals, Rashi Anand defeated State No.2, Chandpreet Kour in straight sets of 21-17, 21-16 to find the final berth. In the Junior boys, Anil Dutta and Nikhil Kesar have qualified for the final. Nikhil beat Aditya Kanwal 22-24, 21-18, 21-13, while Anil Dutta defeated Vishal Ghai in straight sets of 21-14, 21-13. In the girls section Rashi Anand and Chandpreet have entered the final stage. In the semi-finals played today, Rashi beat Amrita Singh 21-11, 24-22 and Chandpreet Kour beat fighting Shagun Mahajan in equal straight sets of 21-18, 21-18. Meanwhile, the cadet boys title went to Arjun Anand, who defeated Kashish Khajuria in the final 21-14, 21-11. In the semi-finals Arjun beat Aditya Pardeep 21-19, 21-9 and Kashish beat Suheel Gupta 21-11, 21-14. The championship is being sponsored by the United Cement Traders, stockists of Ambuja Cement and organised by the J&K Table Tennis Association. Other detailed results Men’s single first round: Maninder Singh beat Ashwani Sharma 21-16, 21-19; Nitin Kesar beat Devan Puri 21-19, 21-16; Aditya Kanwal beat Ravish Vaid 21-17, 21-18; Vikram Abrol beat Gurpreet Singh 21-17, 21-18; Ratnesh Puri beat Digpal Singh 21-18, 21-19; Nikhil Kesar beat Kanav Sharma 21-14, 21-15; Ajay Kumar beat Vicky Mahajan 21-16, 21-17; Vishal Ghai beat Deep Khajuria 21-17, 21-16; Anil Datta beat Ankur Sachdev 21-17, 16-21, 21-15. Junior girls’ singles first round: Chandpreet Kour beat Tanu Sharma 21-19, 21-16; Mohita Singh beat Nidhi Arora 21-12, 21-19; Shagun Mahajan beat Deepender Kour 21-18, 21-15; Amrita Singh beat Tulika Gupta 21-2, 21-6; Shaista Ganai beat Ankita Gupta 21-8, 21-11; Vidushee Sharma beat Divya Pathania 21-8, 21-13. |
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Hockey camp begins minus Pillay By Sanjeev Sharma JAMMU, July 11: Delayed by two days, the coaching camp for the India-B hockey probables excluding Dhanraj Pillay, finally began at the K K Hakhu Stadium here with majority of the players attending evening session under the guidance of official coach Baldev Singh of Haryana. The camp, which was specially allotted to Jammu astroturf because of it being one of the best turfs available in North India, is for the 30 probables. Later, these probables will be shortlisted for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup to be held in Malaysia from August 3 to August 13. On the first day today, the camp was held under the supervision of coach Baldev Singh, one of the three coaches as two others are yet to arrive here. It was for the first time in the two years history of the K K Hakhu Stadium that it was branded as "insecure venue" for the top ranking players of the country, when former captain Dhanraj Pillay of Maharashtra "refused" to participate because of "security risk". In fact, the venue for camp in Jammu was not acceptable to the ace striker and former captain Dhanraj Pillay, who is facing kidnapping threat from the Lashkar-e-Toiba militant outfit alongwith top Indian cricketers, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly (as conveyed by the Bombay Police). However, president, Indian Hockey Federation (IHF), K P S Gill, who selected Jammu as the venue for the camp, assured Pillay of all protection and remained strict to his decision of holding camp in Jammu. But Pillay, who was unwilling to stay in Jammu, ultimately conveyed the IHF that due to some family problems he cannot attend the camp. The coordinator for the camp, Jagjit Singh, who is general secretary of the Jammu and Kashmir Hockey Association told this Correspondent that IHF president K P S Gill had conveyed to him that Pillay was not attending the camp because of some family engagements. Even then, the Jammu and Kashmir Police has taken all the precautions for the security of other players attending the camp . They have been put at BSF Headquarters at Paloura and Police Lines, here, Singh said. However, the well placed sources told EXCELSIOR that Dhanraj Pillay had some other reasons to stay away from the camp at Jammu. He was upset ever since his name was not included in the list of India-A team which will play the Pre-world Cup Qualifiers in Edinburg next week. Moreover, he was not willing to play in the India-B side which is attending the camp at Jammu. It was for the first time that two players from J&K are attending the India camp. They are goal-keeper Subbaiah of BSF and Gurjeet Singh of Jammu and Kashmir Police. Earlier, the camp was declared open by the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Dr S P Vaid this evening. Interacting with the players, Vaid assured them of all kind of protection. From tomorrow onwards, the camp will be held in two sessions of morning and evening. In the morning, it will be held between 6 am to 8 am and in the evening the camp will start after 4. The list of 30 probables and three officials attending the camp include: Goal-keepers—Bharat Chetri, Baljit Singh and Subbaiah. Full-backs: Bikramjit Singh, J Tirkey, Dinesh Nayak, Anurag Raguvanshi, Aftaf Ahmed. Half-backs: B S Gill, M K Prakash, Prabhdeep Singh, Harmeet Singh, Natrajan and Sonu. Forwards: Mukesh Kumar; Sabu Varkey, Baljit Chawla, Tejbir Singh, Deepak Thakur, Inderjit Singh, Amarjit Singh, M Scothil, Gurjeet Singh, Parminder Singh, Chander Pal, Ravinder Singh, Anoop Anthony and Arshad Khan. Officials: Baldev Singh, coach, Ripudaman Singh, coach and Ramesh, trainer. |
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All competitors to face Salt Lake drug tests MOSCOW, July 11: All competitors at next year’s Winter Olympics in Salt Lake city may be tested for banned drugs before the start of the games, Olympic organisers announced today. The move, which would strike a major blow for the fight against doping, is unprecedented. Blanket testing has never been carried out before the Olympics. "Our goal to test 100 percent of athletes is an ambitious one," Salt Lake chief Mitt Romney said on Wednesday after a meeting with the International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s executive board. "This has never been done before but we are convinced the tests are crucial to deterring the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports and creating a fair field of play for 2002." Salt Lake organisers face a huge challenge to complete the project since around 2,500 competitors are expected to take part in the games next February. They plan to work with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and international and national sports bodies to try to deliver on the pledge. No out-of-competition tests were carried out by organisers before the last Winter Olympics in Nagano in Japan in 1998 although there was some random testing around the world in the lead-up to the games. Out-of-competition tests were performed in the run-up to last year’s Sydney Summer Olympics for the first time where there were around four times as many competitors as at winter games. But just four percent of the athletes were tested before the start of the games, Salt Lake officials said. The abuse of performance-enhancing drugs is just as significant in winter as in Summer Olympic sports. Bobsleigh drivers have been caught taking muscle-building steroids in the past and there is a major concern that dangerous, stamina-boosting drugs such as EPO, which increases the number of red cells in the blood, could be used in endurance sports such as cross-country skiing. The IOC introduced a test for EPO before last year’s Sydney Games and is working on making the test easier to use in time for Salt Lake. The Sydney tests involved urine and blood analysis and the IOC is working on validating a test just for urine. Athletes will be tested in the four months leading up to the start of the games on February 8. Salt Lake’s Organising Committee (SLOC) has no jurisdiction to perform tests until after the Olympic village opens at the end of January but will help the other drug-testing agencies to perform the tests. Once the village has opened SLOC will start out-of-competition testing. Tests are also routinely carried out on medal winners and other competitors once the games start but testing in the training period is widely regarded as being more effective in catching cheats. SLOC said the testing programme was likely to cost 1 million and it is working with the U S Government to obtain the funds. A meeting between sloc anti-doping chiefs and WADA to discuss the project will take place later this month. (REUTERS) |
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Rafter’s father defends son and backs Henman MELBOURNE, July 11: Losing Wimbledon finalist Pat Rafter’s father Jim defended his son as a winner today and backed beaten semifinalist Tim Henman, saying the Briton had been "crucified". Rafter, the Australian two-time U S Open winner and former world number one, lost last year’s Wimbledon men’s singles final to American Pete Sampras and on Monday went down 9-7 in the fifth set to Croatian wildcard and three-time runner-up Goran Ivanisevic. "But as far as I’m concerned, pat is a winner," Jim Rafter wrote in the Herald Sun newspaper. "...The way he handles defeat, I believe, makes him a great man." "I want to make this point because sometimes, when fans want someone to win so much, there can be a bad reaction when they don’t." "I saw this happen in London to Tim Henman." "When henman got beaten (in five sets by Ivanisevic), the press and fans crucified him." "They reckoned he was a loser, he couldn’t fight, he couldn’t do this, he couldn’t do that." "That was unfair to that lad. He put up a good fight and he deserved better." Jim Rafter said he had never been more proud of pat. "He is a true warrior out there on the court," Rafter said. "He is out there to win, but he’s never out there to win at any cost." "...Being a member of a large family (of nine children), I believe you have to battle more, there has to be a mutual trust in the family and there’s a responsibility for each other. "There’s no opportunity to become spoilt or selfish." Rafter said his son was a man of "real character" and said Australia’s World Cup-winning cricket and Rugby Union captains, Steve Waugh and John Eales, were of similar stock. "...We’re lucky we’ve got them. We should never turn on them," he said. Echoing the views of many of the more than four million people who watched the Wimbledon final on Australian television on Monday night, Rafter said of his son: ‘’...He was a winner and he made us proud.’’ The Herald Sun, the age and the Australian today all ran front-page pictures on Wednesday of a smiling Rafter with his arm around girlfriend Lara Feltham. In sports-mad Melbourne, home of the Australian Open Tennis Tournament, 1.11 million fans were watching the final on television around midnight local time, "the biggest one-city tennis audience in Australian TV history", the age said. The television ratings figures almost matches those of the biggest-drawing event in Melbourne each year, the Australian rules football grand final in September. (REUTERS) |
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