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Badal
presents CHANDIGARH, June 23: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today presented........more
Sampras
still hungry LONDON, June 23: Pete Sampras says his desire for a record-breaking eighth triumph....more HARARE, June 23: India will look to re-assert their supremacy over Zimbabwe when they take on the hosts in their...more WTA points Bonanza awaits women tennis players NEW DELHI, June 23: It will be a crucial week for up-and-coming Indian women....more |
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Dogra beats Patel Club Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, June 23: Dogra Cricket Club defeated Patel Cricket Club by 56 runs in the pre-quarterfinals of the Ist Hot Weather Tamar Cup Cricket Tournament being organised by the Rehari Cricket Club at...more Amjad Memorial Cricket Tourney begins at Poonch Excelsior Sports Correspondent POONCH, June 23: First Amjad Memorial Cricket Tournament in memory of Amjad Khan, a young cricketer who died a very young age, began today at College ground, here today. ....more Central, Maintenance Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, June 23: Central Air Command (CAC) today upset the defending champion South-Western Air Command, while last year runners-up, Maintenance Command blanked Eastern Air Command.....more Jammu-Ladakh expedition on wheels flagged off Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, June 23: Eighth Jammu-Ladakh-Manali expedition on jeep and mobikes was today flagged off for Srinagar by Mr Ashok Singh Manhas, Managing Director Bawa Constructions from Talab Tillo, here this morning.....more |
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Badal presents Rs 10 lakh to shooter Bindra CHANDIGARH, June 23: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today presented Rs 10 lakh to ace Marksman Abhinav Bindra for winning a bronze medal in the recent World Cup Shooting Championships in Munich. Felicitating the shooter at a function here, Badal said the State Government would fulfill Bindra’s requirement of equipment. Presenting the cheque for Rs 10 lakh and a citation to Bindra, Badal said a few posts in police departments would be offered to all those players belonging to the state who had excelled at the national and international levels. "It’s the responsibility of the State Government to encourage sports," he said. Bindra’s recent performance in the World Cup had placed him among the top 10 shooters of the world in the 10-metre air rifle event. (PTI) |
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Sampras still hungry for Wimbledon victory LONDON, June 23: Pete Sampras says his desire for a record-breaking eighth triumph at Wimbledon is undimmed and retirement is only a distant cloud on the horizon. "The hunger that isn’t there for some other events does come back at Wimbledon because it is special to the sport of tennis and to my career," the 29-year-old American said earlier this week. "This is where i have done the best, breaking the Grand Slam record last year. It’s a very special place to come back to," added Sampras. Last year’s victory at the Grasscourt Championships marked the 13th Grand Slam title for Sampras, surpassing Roy Emerson’s long-standing record and moving Sampras to tears on centre court. Despite his titles drying up and relinquishing his number one crown, "Pistol Pete" fired a warning shot to any pretenders eyeing his all England crown. "The gap between me and the younger players has closed. I haven’t been playing as well or as much and the young players are very eager," said Sampras, who defeated Australian Patrick Rafter in last year’s Wimbledon final. "But I feel that I’m certainly a threat when I get to the majors. You always gear up for the majors and Wimbledon is one of the biggest majors we have in the game," he added. Sampras, who will be looking to equal Bjorn Borg’s record of five successive singles titles in the open era when the championships starts on Monday, insists that retirement is not on the cards. "The thought of retirement has never really crossed my mind. It’s such a final word that I plan on playing this game for many years." "As long I still enjoy it, as long as I am still in contention for the slams I will continue," he said. Age and marriage — Sampras married Bridget Wilson in September last year — have also changed his attitude towards the gruelling round of tournaments across the world. "When the day comes when I’m not enjoying it or if don’t have that drive anymore that will be the time. That day is far from here," he said. "As you get older and have achieved a lot, you still want to find that passion and that motivation and keep on playing well. And all that is still there," he said. Sampras is confident in the knowledge that if he retired tomorrow he would be considered by many to be one of the greatest players the sport has known. "I feel like I have got a lot of good years left in me. I’m still playing fine," he said. "I’m not as consistent maybe as I was five years ago when I was (number) one in the world, but the game is still there. There’s no question that I can still play well." (REUTERS) |
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HARARE, June 23: India will look to re-assert their supremacy over Zimbabwe when they take on the hosts in their opening match of the Triangular one-day series here tomorrow. With a 26-6 win-loss record, India obviously have an edge against their rivals and start favourites against the home side devoid of charismatic Andy Flower and which has a new captain at the helm. Grant flower took over as the new captain of Zimbabwe after Heath Streak stepped down just ahead of the opening match against West Indies today. That the Indians have left the setback of the four-wicket loss in the second test far behind was in evidence in the thumping 10-wicket win over Zimbabwe ‘A’ in a practice match yesterday. But probably the most important reason for the Indians to feel confident about their prospects would be the absence of Andy Flower, the most prolific Zimbabwean scorer against India. For the same reason, Zimbabwe would be a bit worried, for it is the inspirational Andy Flower around whom the entire innings of the team revolves. He has played the sheet anchor role on so many occasions that it has become almost impossible to think of a Zimbabwe side without him. The Indians have some more reasons to cheer about. The four players called specially for the one-dayers looked in fine touch in the practice match yesterday with Virendra Sehwag making a blistering unbeaten 75 off just 53 balls. Sehwag is almost a certainty for tomorrow’s match along with Hemang Badani who too has been quite consistent in the limited overs matches. Captain Saurav Ganguly must be feeling a little better after scoring a few runs yesterday and the team would be hoping his bad run with the bat finally gets over here. Sachin Tendulkar, V V S Laxman, Rahul Dravid have all looked good here though the big innings has eluded them so far. They have got accustomed to the conditions though they need to adhere to streak’s advice of exercising a bit more patience while batting. All-rounder Reetinder Singh Sodhi and middle-order batsman Dinesh Mongia, who joined the one-day team alongwith Sehwag and fast bowler Harvinder Singh, would find it difficult to make it to the team considering they are yet to have a feel of the conditions here. It would be interesting to see the bowling composition of the team. With Delhi Seamer Ashish Nehra being asked to stay back after performing exceedingly well in the test series, India have four pace options and at least three of them are certain to play considering the seamer-friendly wickets here. For Zimbabwe, 17-year-old schoolboy Tatenda Taibu, who makes his debut against west indies today, has been entrusted with the job of keeping the wickets in the place of Andy Flower. In the absence of Andy Flower, his brother and new captain Grant Flower, who had a tremendous test series against India, will have to shoulder the major responsibility. Stuart Carlisle and Dion Ebrahim have shown their hunger for runs and Alistair Campbell in long overdue for a big innings. In the bowling department, David Mutendera and Mluleki Nkala form a formidable combination in the company of streak and Andy Blignaut. Grant flower and Brian Murphy will take care of the spin department. Teams (from): India: Saurav Ganguly (Capt), Sachin Tendulkar, V V S Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Hemang Badani, Virendra Sehwag, Dinesh Mongia, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Samir Dighe, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Debasish Mohanty, Ajit Agarkar, Ashish Nehra, Harvinder Singh. Zimbabwe: Grant Flower (Capt), Alistair Campbell, Dion Ebrahim, Stuart Carlisle, Guy Whittall, Heath Streak, Brian Murphy, Mluleki Nkala, Andy Blignaut, Tatenda Taibu, Dirk Viljoen, David Mutendera. (PTI) |
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WTA points Bonanza awaits women tennis players NEW DELHI, June 23: It will be a crucial week for up-and-coming Indian women tennis players with the 5,000-dollar ITF Women’s Masters beginning from Monday. The Masters, which offers invaluable WTA points to the players in a draw of sixteen in singles, starts after the end of the three legs at Mumbai, Indore and Delhi. Winner of the Mumbai and Delhi legs — Sonal Phadke — begins here as the top seed while the Indore leg winner, Archana Venkatraman, is seeded second. The winner of the Masters would take home a crucial five WTA points and 800 dollars while the award for the losing finalist stands at four WTA points and 500 dollars. Apart from this, a semi-finalist would get two WTA points and 125 dollars, a quarter-finalist 1.5 WTA points and 75 dollars while a first round loser one WTA point. Looking at the performance in the preceding weeks, Sonal looks favourite for the title. In both Mumbai and Delhi, she defeated Samrita Sekar for the title while at Indore, Archana had defeated Sheetal Goutham in the finals. According to the final circuit points, Sonal leads with 40 points and Archana and Samrita both have 30 points each. Sheetal has 21 points and Arthi Venkatraman has 20. Apart from Sonal and Archana, others in the seedings list are Samrita (third) and Sheetal Goutham (fourth). Sonal faces Nandita Chandrasekhar in the opening round while Archana clashes with Yamini Thukkiandi. Among other matches, Samrita meets Vishika Chhetri and Sheetal clashes with Arthi. Looking at the first round draw, Sonal seems to be headed to a quarterfinal clash against the talented Ankita Bhambri, the latter facing Tara Kambargimath in her first round. Other notable players in the draw are Isha Lakhani who runs into Liza Pereira and Megha Vakharia who plays against Marutha Devi. Two foreign players also figure in the draw — Laila Shetty from the US and Annie Trepanier from Canada. In the doubles, which gives five WTA points each to the winning pair and four each to the finalists apart from 350 and 200 dollars respectively as prize money, Sheetal and Liza start top seeds in a draw of eight. They clash with the duo of Ankita and Isha in their opening round. Second seeds Karishma and Sonal play their first round match against Lata Assudani and Rati Kumar while third-seeded Preeti Rao and Samrita run into the foreign pair of Amanda Parson Seigei and Annie. The fourth-seeded Venkatraman sisters — Archana and Arthi — run into the pair of Yamini and Nandita. (UNI) |
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Dogra beats Patel Club by 56 runs in Tamar Cup Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, June 23: Dogra Cricket Club defeated Patel Cricket Club by 56 runs in the pre-quarterfinals of the Ist Hot Weather Tamar Cup Cricket Tournament being organised by the Rehari Cricket Club at M A Stadium, here today. Earlier, Dogra Club won the toss and decided to bat first. They set a target of 173 runs in the stipulated 25 overs for the loss of six wickets, which Patel Club could not chase and bowled out for 117 runs in 20.4 overs. Vinod Parkash and Ranjit Bali were the main scorers with 28 and 36 runs. They were followed on the scoreboard by Inderjeet and Pranav with 19 runs each. From Patel Club, Bansi Lal took two wickets, while Rohit and Narinder Singh shared one each. In reply, Patel Club bowled out for 117 runs in the 20.4 overs. Babu Ram was the maximum scorer with 25 runs off 27 deliveries including four boundaries, while Pinku scored 23 runs hitting three fours. Narinder Singh contributed 10 runs off 21 balls with three boundaries. Akash Mahajan emerged as the most successful bowler with four wickets for 21 runs in five overs. Munish and Inderjeet took three and two wickets respectively. Today’s match was officiated by Omkar Singh and Sanjay, while Ashwani was scorer. Tomorrow’s fixture: JCC V/s Cantt Cricket Club at 7.30 am. |
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Amjad Memorial Cricket Tourney begins at Poonch Excelsior Sports Correspondent POONCH, June 23: First Amjad Memorial Cricket Tournament in memory of Amjad Khan, a young cricketer who died a very young age, began today at College ground, here today. The opening match was played between Chamber of Commerce XI and Glamour Club. In all, 14 teams from different clubs from Surankote, Mendhar and Rajouri will participate in this tournament. The tournament was declared open by Mr Harbhjan Singh Anand, who was chief guest in the inaugural function. |
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Central, Maintenance enter final of Air Force Hockey Championship Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, June 23: Central Air Command (CAC) today upset the defending champion South-Western Air Command, while last year runners-up, Maintenance Command blanked Eastern Air Command (EAC) to reach the final of the ongoing inter-command Air Force Hockey Championship being played at K K Hakhu Stadium, here today. In the first semi-final, title holder SWAC could not stop the rejuvenated CAC forwards, who played an attacking game and remained in command in the last 15 minutes game. Both the goals were scored by centre-forward Cpl D S Gill through penalty corners. The CAC were looking quite aggressive right from the beginning. The first chance of a goal in shape of a penalty corner came their way in the very third minute, but they could not cash that. Afterwards, both sides played a dilly dallying battle and foiled attempts made from either sides till the end of the first half. However, in the second half, CAC’s changed strategy gave them first goal in the 45th minute through centre-forward, D S Gill. The one goal lead boosted the moral of the CAC, who then never looked back and remained in the opponent’s citadel resulting into two penalty corners awarded in their favour in the 60th and 62nd minute, but without any result. It was only in the 64th minute that CAC got a penalty corner and converted that into the second goal. The goal was again scored by D S Gill. Even after taking two goals lead, CAC continued their efforts for more goals and got fifth penalty corner of the match in the 66th minute. When contacted SWAC coach, Madhu Sudan Seth, who himself played all the matches, said, "we lacked practice. Moreover, I could not get the complete team which last year won the championship. Whereas, the other side of CAC had attended a camp at Dayanand Astroturf Stadium in Lucknow before this championship, informed a coach of another team. In the second semi-final, the title contender, Maintenance Command blanked Eastern Air Command 3-0. Maintenance Command dominated the field thus sparing little chance for EAC to strike in their goal area. The half finished with one goal lead. Sgt S Kujur made the first goal through a penalty corner in the 11th minute. The second goal was scored by left-out Cpl Mohinder Pal in the 58th minute, followed by the third goal in the 63rd minute through Sgt Thapa. However, EAC got six penalty corners but they failed to convert any of them into goals. While, five PCs were awarded in favour of Maintenance Command. In the tomorrow’s matches, the third, fourth, fifth and sixth places will be decided. The first match will start at 7 am. It will be followed by the second at 8.30 am. The final will be played on June 25, for which the time has yet to be decided by the organising committee. |
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Jammu-Ladakh expedition on wheels flagged off Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, June 23: Eighth Jammu-Ladakh-Manali expedition on jeep and mobikes was today flagged off for Srinagar by Mr Ashok Singh Manhas, Managing Director Bawa Constructions from Talab Tillo, here this morning. Over a fortnight long expedition which will cover a distance of around 2453 kilometers, is being organised by the Adventure Sports Club under the aegis of J&K Motor Sports Association. The ten-member team, including three first-timers, left Jammu on three bikes and one 4x4 jeep under the captainship of Jai Sachhar. During the expedition, the team will touch Srinagar, Battalic Sector (Kargil), Leh, Nubra Valley, Pongong Lake, Chasul Border, TSO Morririe Lake, Keywng, Manali and will be back to Jammu on July 8. Braving the most adverse climatic conditions of cold dessert, the team will touch Indo-Pak border, Indo-Sino-Tibet borders for the first time. Talking to EXCELSIOR before their departure, the team members said that the only threat they face during the expedition was that of adverse climate. Due to lack of oxygen at the high altitudes, they face blood pressure problem, they added. The ten-member team included Umesh Joshi, Vikram Singh, Jai Sachhar, Surinder Kumar, Lovkesh, Raj Kumar, Balbir, Sidharth, Parshotam and Ajay Sharma. Prominent among those present on the occasion were Ajit Singh Wazir, Sports Officer, J&K State Sports Council, Som Raj Gupta and Sidharth Sharma, members State Sports Council, besides, Ankush Abrol, former Ranji player and permanent invitee of the State Sports Council, Surinder Singh Bagal, outstanding cricketer of J&K and Praval Sharma, publicity secretary of the Association. |
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