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| Betting scandal
rears its head once again SYDNEY, May 8: In a fresh twist to the cricket bettting scandal, three members of the Australian squad have claimed receiving anonymous phone calls in their hotel rooms during the third and final test against India in Chennai in March seeking information on the condition of the pitch and the state of the match...........more Rafter set for MELBOURNE, May 8: Australian Pat Rafter will make his comeback from an elbow injury at the World Team Cup a week before the French Open, his manager Steve Rafter said today............more Hungry Wasim looks for LONDON, May 8: It didn’t take Wasim Akram long to make his England tour intentions clear last week. Four balls of the opening match, to be exact. Balls four, five and seven. Three wickets without conceding a run.......more US to play India Davis Cup WHITE PLAINS (US), May 8: The United States will host their Davis Cup qualifying round tie with ....more |
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Ravi Kant helps Vishal lifts Veterans trophy Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, May 8: Brilliant ton and four wickets haul by Ravi Kant helped Vishal Cricket Club to lift.......more Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, May 8: State number two Avneesh Sharma has reached the Men’s singles....more Gurjeet
leading J&K Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, May 8: Gurjeet Singh, a student of Department of Law, University of Jammu.....more Mulkh
Raj Memorial Open Cricket Tourney Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, May 8: Heroic knock of 155 runs today guided Kishen Chand Cricket Club.....more |
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Betting scandal rears its head once again SYDNEY, May 8: In a fresh twist to the cricket bettting scandal, three members of the Australian squad have claimed receiving anonymous phone calls in their hotel rooms during the third and final test against India in Chennai in March seeking information on the condition of the pitch and the state of the match. Australian Cricket Board chief executive Malcolm Speed told a press conference in Melbourne today that he was informed about it through Captain Steve Waugh and team manager Steve Bernard and he, in turn, passed it on to the ICC anti-corruption unit as also the Indian police. The three members of the Australian squad making the claim were vice-captain and wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist, off spinner Colin Miller and coach John Buchanan. When contacted, Indian Cricket Board secretary Jaywant Lele told PTI on phone from Baroda that he was hearing of this latest revelation for the first time and added that the Board would take necessary steps on receipt of a report from ACB. Speed said "on the face of it, the calls were not illegal because no offers were made to the players. The good part was that it was reported and dealt with immediately". Gilchrist told Australian news agency AAP, "we get about 10 calls a day from Indian fans. This person was obviously of Indian descent. He said he was a very enthusiastic supporter and asked how I thought the game would go. "I said that hopefully we would do well and then he asked questions about the wicket and whether it would turn and would that help Warney (Shane Warne) and Miller. It didn’t really set off any alarm bells then but then I asked who he was and he asked more questions, I said don’t worry about it and hung up. It was reported to the management very quickly and they got us to write a statement and explain exactly what happened. Then it became a non-issue and we could focus on the game." The same caller reportedly rang up Gilchrist, Miller and Buchanan at about the same time. Speed said ACB did not know whether the caller was a gambler or a bookmaker and added that the Australian players were now well aware of the risk involved in such approaches. He said the players had been alerted that they must immediately report if they get such calls again. The ACB chief executive said Bernard also made certain that no other player or team official had received such calls. Speed refused to be drawn into talking about his meeting tomorrow with Buchanan, about whom there is speculation that he would not be a selector during the forthcoming tour of England. "I’ll be talking to John about a number of issues tomorrow," he said.(PTI) |
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Rafter set for injury return at World Team Cup MELBOURNE, May 8: Australian Pat Rafter will make his comeback from an elbow injury at the World Team Cup a week before the French Open, his manager Steve Rafter said today. Pat Rafter, 28, U S Open champion in 1997 and 1998, withdrew from the Masters series event in Monte Carlo last month because of the injury. He will partner fellow Australian Davis Cup player Lleyton Hewitt at the world team cup in Germany before the French Open, which starts on May 28. Steve Rafter said his brother was also planning to play some grass-court tournaments in June to prepare for Wimbledon, where he was runner-up last year. "Everything’s fine as far as we can tell, his Rehab’s been good and he’s ready to go," Steve Rafter said. "He doesn’t have a lot of time to play before the French but he’ll do his best." (REUTERS) |
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Hungry Wasim looks for an England encore LONDON, May 8: It didn’t take Wasim Akram long to make his England tour intentions clear last week. Four balls of the opening match, to be exact. Balls four, five and seven. Three wickets without conceding a run. Never mind that it was against the British universities. In fact, that was the whole point. In normal circumstances Wasim, the only player in history to take more than 400 wickets in both tests and one-dayers, would not need to turn out against a bunch of students on a chilly, damp morning at a sparsely-populated trent bridge. Especially after just returning from injury. These are not normal times, however. Wasim knows he is on probation after Pakistan’s new captain Waqar Younis — a man with whom he has not seen eye to eye in the past —suggested the England tour could be the ideal time to blood the team’s next generation of pace bowlers. Wasim responded on Friday with three wickets in his first and second overs as British universities were dismissed for 74 on their way to a hefty innings defeat. As a player, Wasim has little to prove. He is already assured of going down in history as one of the cricketing greats, alongside the likes of Gary Sobers, Kapil Dev, Ian Botham, Richard Hadley and his former mentor Imran Khan. He has won one World Cup, in 1992, and led his team to another final seven years later. His batting and bowling figures compare with the best. It is only his goodwill statistics that need sharp improvement. Indeed, Wasim’s image may never recover after he was implicated in a match-fixing investigation in Pakistan last year. He protested his innocence and was given the benefit of the doubt after former team mate Ata-Ur-Rehman accused Wasim of paying him to underperform in a match before withdrawing the allegation. But Pakistan, on the advice of investigating judge Malik Qayyum, still stripped Wasim of the captaincy and imposed a fine. Mud sticks. When Wasim’s marvellously talented Pakistan team, already qualified for the next phase of the tournament, contrived to lose to Bangladesh in the 1999 World Cup, the tongues wagged again. Cricket is Wasim’s only remaining weapon. If he cannot convince his detractors of his integrity, he can at least remind them that he can play. He and Waqar destroyed England in 1992 with an unprecedented exhibition of high-class bowling, giving the hosts a shock introduction to the art of reverse swing. He returned in 1996 to lead his team to their third successive series win here. Team coach Richard Pybus thinks Wasim is determined to produce an encore. "He’s sharp, fresh and hungry. A lot of passion is still burning," said Pybus. "He had a really rough time around the 1999 World Cup, with all the innuendo and people sharpening their knives. The guy’s only human. If you do well (in Pakistan) you are a god, if you fail everybody wants a piece of you". "He can relax here." Pybus just has to look at Wasim, Rather than his bowling figures, to know he means business. "There’s no comparison to his physical condition in 1999, when I last worked with him," he said. "He’s lost four or five kilos. And where is he now? in the gym." (REUTERS) |
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US to play India Davis Cup tie in North Carolina WHITE PLAINS (US), May 8: The United States will host their Davis Cup qualifying round tie with India in September at Joel Coliseum on the campus of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the U S Tennis Association has announced. The Americans were forced into the qualifying round after losing to Switzerland in the first round this year. The U S must defeat India to remain in the elite world group for the 2002 Davis Cup competition. "We’re very excited about bringing Davis Cup back to North Carolina," said U S captain Patrick McEnroe, who made his Davis Cup playing debut against the Bahamas in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1993. The surface has not yet been selected but a USTA spokesman said it would most likely be an indoor carpet. Joel Coliseum, home of the wake forest university basketball team, will hold around 6,400 fans for the match against India. Unless Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras have a last minute change of heart after bowing out of Davis Cup competition, McEnroe is likely to field a team of relative newcomers in the September 21-23 tie. "Right now is an exciting time in U S men’s tennis with the emergence of players like Jan-Michael Gambill and Andy Roddick," McEnroe said. "This will be an exciting and difficult matchup against a very talented Indian team." Roddick has emerged as the rising star of American tennis after capturing consecutive titles over the past two weeks. The U S have won all six of their previous Davis Cup meetings with india but this time face an experienced team led by Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi. Arguably the world’s best doubles pairing, Paes and Bhupathi were the first duo in more than 45 years to reach all four Grand Slam doubles finals in a calendar year when in 1999 they won Wimbledon and the French Open and were runners-up at the Australian and U S Opens. The pair claimed the doubles title at the U S men’s Clay Court Championships over the weekend in Houston, where Roddick captured the singles crown.(REUTERS) |
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Ravi Kant helps Vishal lifts Veterans trophy Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, May 8: Brilliant ton and four wickets haul by Ravi Kant helped Vishal Cricket Club to lift the Ist Mulkh Raj Memorial Veterans Cricket trophy beating the host Eleven Star by 13 runs in the final played at Parade ground, here today. Although, Vishal Club made a bad start, after winning the toss, when they lost the star batsman Ranjit Singh (1) and Varinder (18), but a splendid knock of 100 runs by Ravi Kant, who faced just 75 balls with 11 fours, brought the score to a challenging total of 224 for the loss of seven wickets. In reply, Eleven Star could not reach the required total and completed their quota of 30 overs for 208 with two wickets in hand. Other top main scorers from Vishal Club were Shahid, 39 and Satwant Singh 13. From Eleven Star, Kamal Sharma was the most successful bowler who took two wickets, while Vinod, Vivek, Lovely and Davinder shared one each. Batting second, Eleven Star made good opening, but in the later stages they failed to maintain the required run rate and completed 30 overs short of 13 runs for the loss of eight wickets. Openers Suraj and Jasbir Singh were the top scorers with 47 and 38(28) runs respectively, while Vinod Kumar (31), Davinder (18) and Farooq (12) were other main scorers. From Vishal Club, Satwant Singh and Ranjit Singh were other two successful bowlers, who claimed two wickets each. Ravi Kant was declared as man of the match for his all round performance. The final was officiated by Akash Mahajan and Sunil Gupta were umpires. Ramneek Gupta, the main sponsor of this tournament, was the chief guest in today’s final. Meanwhile, the organisres have decided to hold the prize distribution function on May 13. |
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Ist Justice I K
Kotwal Memorial NZ Invitational Badminton Tourney Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, May 8: State number two Avneesh Sharma has reached the Men’s singles semi-finals, while State champion, Rahul Sharma has lost to Ranbir Singh of Rajasthan in the quarter-finals, on the second day of the three-day Ist Justice I K Kotwal Memorial North-Zone Invitational Badminton Tournament here today. Rahul, who is suffering from muscle, earlier in the morning session, outplayed Ram Lakhan of Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) in equal straight sets of 15-7, 15-7 in the pre-quarterfinals. But, in the evening session, he was unable to play his game and surrendered before Ranbir Singh of Rajasthan in straight sets of 15-10, 15-2. Rahul’s oust depressed the J&K camp, but they still have a ray of hope in young and energetic Avneesh, who has managed his entry in the last four. Avneesh struggled a lot in the quarter-finals before he registered 2-1 victory over Varun Sharma of Chandigarh. Varun had won the first set 11-15, but Avneesh equalised the score by winning the second set easily 15-3. In the third set, Varun fought for every point, but he had no reply for Avneesh’s powerpacked smashes and lost the deciding set 15-12. The final score: 11-15, 15-3, 15-12. Other two shuttlers who have qualified for the semi-finals are Vivek of Chandigarh and Yogesh of Himachal Pradesh. Yogesh defeated the winner of Tara Chand Memorial title Rohan Kapoor of PSEB in straight sets of 15-3, 15-8. Vivek outplayed Mohd Saleem of PSEB 17-14, 15-5. In Junior girls singles State champion, Samarika Manhas registered easy victory over Deepa of Rajasthan 11-1, 11-3 to reach the semi-finals. In Men’s doubles, host pairs gave bad performance and two out of the three pairs lost their first stage matches. Som Raj Gupta and Arunav lost to Ram Lakhan and Navdeep of PSEV 9-15, 6-15. In the second doubles match, Vipan and Gurvinder of J&K were overpowered by Rohan and Chanderdeep of PSEB in equal straight sets of 15-8, 15-8. However, Rahul and Pawanjit Singh brought smile on the faces of the home crowd when they defeated Varun and Vivek of Chandigarh in a close 2-1 (13-15, 15-10, 15-8) contest. In another doubles match, the pair of Sukhvinder and Satvinder of Haryana outplayed Mohd Saleem and Munish of PSEB 15-5, 15-4. Both Chandigarh pairs have qualified for the Women’s doubles final. in the first semi-finals, Sharda and Mala Gaba outplayed Shveta and Parmita of J&K 15-6, 15-7 and in the second, Samarika and Nishu of J&K lost to Isha and Madhvi 3-15, 5-15. In the Junior boys doubles there are little hopes for J&K. Host boys have lost all their matches. Vikram and Arunav lost to Paras and Akash of Chandigarh 15-6, 16-17, 15-11; Vipan and Puneet surrendered before Sumit and Rohit of Haryana 15-5, 15-2 and Vikram Jolly and Amit were no match for Sahil and Mayank of Punjab, who won by 15-3, 15-7. In another match, Varun and Vivek of Chandigarh beat Piyush and Sachin of Haryana 15-8, 15-13. Other detailed results Men’s singles Rohan Kapoor of PSEB beat Satvinder of Haryana 15-10, 15-6; Yogesh of HP beat Neeraj of Punjab 15-0, 15-9; Ranvir Singh of Rajasthan beat Yadvinder of HP 15-2, 15-1; Sachin of Haryana lost to Saleem of PSEB 6-15, 9-15; Varun Sharma of Chandigarh beat Krishan Gupta of Rajasthan 15-4, 6-15, 15-11; Vivek Sharma of Chandigarh beat Sahil of Punjab 15-10, 15-12 and Avneesh of J&K beat Navdeep of PSEB 13-15, 15-5, 15-0. |
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Ist I K Kotwal
Memorial NZ Invitational Badminton Tourney Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, May 7: Host women made a good start when title contenders Madhvi Jolly and Samarika Manhas beat their opponents to reach the last four stage in the Women singles on the opening day of the Ist I K Kotwal Memorial North-Zone Invitational Badminton Tournament began today at Indoor Complex, M A Stadium, here today. The finalists of the last year’s open tournament, which was held in Chandigarh, Sharda (winner) and Mala Gaba (runners-up) of Chandigarh too have qualified for the semi-finals in the women singles beating their opponents in easy straight set games. In men section, state champion, Rahul Sharma and State number two Avneesh Sharma also won their respective ties to advance into the second round. However, in the Junior boys singles, Vikram Jolly of J&K lost to Varun of Chandigarh in equal straight sets of 4-15, 4-15. Whereas, in the second match, Vikram Saini managed his victory over Kundvi of Haryana in close sets of 15-13, 15-12. In Junior girls, Madhvi Jolly defeated Parmeeta of Chandigarh 11-7, 11-5 to reach the semi-finals. In another match in the same group, Mala Gaba of Chandigarh outplayed Neeta Mathur of Rajasthan 11-7, 11-5 to sail into the semi-finals. Earlier, the tournament was declared open by the former Minister and provincial president of National Conference, Mr Bodh Raj Bali amidst cultural programme by the tiny tots of the Cooperative School. Mr G M Jan, MLA, presided over the function. Later, 56 pages souvenir was also released by Mr Jan. Only two States of Chandigarh and Rajasthan have field their women teams for this tournament. So, the hosts J&K eves have a lot of winning chances in both Junior and Women groups, especially Madhvi Jolly and Samarika Manhas. In all, 40 players including 18 from Jammu and Kashmir have registered themselves for the singles and doubles events in the junior and Senior groups. They are from Chandigarh, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan. Team from National Capital Delhi could not report. The 18-member team of host Jammu and Kashmir is being represented by Rahul Sharma, Avnish Sharma, Pawanjit Singh, Som Raj Gupta, Arunav, Vipin, Makrand, Mohit Jain, Rajesh Aggarwal, Mohit Aggarwal and Vinit Aggarwal in Men section. In women, Madhvi Jolly, Samarika Manhas, Nishu, Jyoti, Kanchan and Shweta are the contestants. Today’s detailed results Men’s singles: Varun Sharma of Chandigarh beat Sukhvinder of Haryana 15-6, 15-10; Navdeep of Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) got walkover against Harinder Singh of Punjab; Avneesh Sharma of J&K beat Piyush of Haryana 15-10, 15-9; Ram Lakhan of PSEB beat Mayank Behl of Punjab 17-15, 15-10; Rahul Sharma of J&K beat Ram Karan of Haryana 15-12, 14-15, 15-6. Women’s singles: Sharda of Chandigarh beat Deepa Mathur of Rajasthan 11-4, 11-2; Madhvi Jolly of J&K beat Parmeeta Verma of Chandigarh 11-1, 11-1; Mala Gaba of Chandigarh beat Neeta Mathur of Rajasthan 11-3, 11-3; Samarika Manhas of J&K beat Isha Sharma of Chandigarh. |
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Mulkh Raj Memorial
Open Cricket Tourney Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, May 8: Heroic knock of 155 runs today guided Kishen Chand Cricket Club (KCCC) to a big 113 runs victory over Rani Park Cricket Club in the ongoing Ist Mulkh Raj Memorial Cricket Tournament being held here. Dhruv’s 155 runs which came off just 68 deliveries, included eleven sixes and 16 boundaries. In the last over Dhruv hit four sixes and one four to Nimit adding 29 runs to the record total of 297 runs in 25 overs match at the Parade ground. In reply, Rani Park Club failed to chase the score and bowled out for 185 in 23 overs. Rajat was the second highest scorer from KCCC, who contributed 38 runs off 25 balls with seven fours and one six, while Ashok added 13 runs. From Rani Park Club, Lucky took three wickets, while Nitin Verma and Varun took two and one respectively. Batting second, Varun played a fine inning for Rani Park Club, but the target was out of their reach and the whole side was bowled out in 23 overs for 185 runs. Varun faced only 49 ball and hit ten boundaries to reach the 70 runs mark. Nimit contributed 21 runs with four fours. From KCCC, Raj Kumar took three wickets, while Ashok and Samir shared two each. Raman bagged one. Later, Dhruv was declared as man of the match amidst cheers by the big crowd. Herry Singh and Rajesh Suri (Romi) were umpires in this match, while Yogesh Kumar was scorer. With today’s victory, KCCC has joined Dogra Cricket Club and Kulbushan Handa Cricket Club in the semi-finals. |
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