MANCHESTER (England), May 30: Pakistan go into the "must-win" second and final test..........more

Steve Waugh

Waugh aims to re-open
England’s Ashes scars

WORCESTER (England), May 30: Australia aim to reopen "some old scars" .........more

World Badminton Champ
India crash 1-4 against a
superior Hong Kong side

SEVILLE (Spain), May 30: India’s only defeat in the group 3b league encounters.......more

Williams sisters
pull out of French
Open doubles

PARIS, May 30: Serena Williams has pulled out of the French Open Doubles Tournament to......more

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, May 30: Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Mr Anil Goswami flagged off the first batch of the 31 students including two teachers, under the banner of Tawi Trekkers.......more

HSS Jaganoo
bags Kabaddi title

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

UDHAMPUR, May 30: Higher Secondary School, Jaganoo defeated Higher Secondary School, Udhampur 32-16 to claim......more

Kashyap Club lists cricket
teams, elects body

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, May 30: After conducting series of trials, Kashyap Sports Club released....more

Despite Pawan’s heroic
knock Laxmi loses to
Choudhary Club

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, May 30: Despite the brilliant 82 runs knock by Pawan Gupta, Laxmi Club...more

Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Anil Goswami flagging off the first batch of trekkers at Jammu on Wednesday.

England are no world-beaters, say must-win Pakistan

MANCHESTER (England), May 30: Pakistan go into the "must-win" second and final test tomorrow talking themselves up while dismissing England’s pretensions to be world-beaters.

The tourists, despite being routed by an innings at Lord’s, remain convinced that they are the more talented side, even with England on the brink of a fifth consecutive series success.

Richard Pybus, however, acknowledges at the same time that he and his players have much to learn from their opponents as they prepare for Old Trafford.

"England are not a side of world-beaters but the whole is more than the sum of the parts," Pybus said.

"Their best bat is Graham Thorpe, otherwise they have quite a few guys who average high thirties, which means good test batsmen, not great ones.

"But at Lord’s everybody in their line-up did their job... The key was their discipline.

"We played incredibly poorly and did not do what we had planned."

England, who have beaten Zimbabwe, West Indies, Pakistan and Sri Lanka since last year, have not won five series in a row since 1969-71 under Ray Illingworth.

Pybus, who has described his charges as "arguably the most talented side in the world", acknowledged the host team had made huge bounds since establishing a squad with central contracts and introducing state-of-the-art medical and training back-up.

"We have to get up to date," he said. "I’ve known (England coach) Duncan Fletcher for some time and his sides are always superbly prepared. He leaves nothing to chance."

Pakistan looked anything but prepared at Lord’s.

One batsman after another was induced to nibble at away-swinging deliveries — 15 of their wickets were caught by wicketkeeper or in the slips — following a strangely unimpressive bowling display.

Their only ‘success’ came when Shoaib Akhtar broke England captain Nasser Hussain’s thumb, putting him out of the rest of the series.

Pakistan, according to their coach, "only know one way to play and that’s aggressively. But sometimes you have to temper that with patience and discipline.

"You are not going to thrash every ball to all parts when there’s quite a lot of lateral movement."

Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, the cornerstone of Pakistan’s series wins in England in 1992 and 1996, rediscovered some form in the final warm-up match against Leicestershire, swinging the ball appreciably as they shared nine wickets in the first innings.

"I know Waqar and Wasim were very disappointed with the way they bowled (at Lord’s)," added Pybus. "They’re both very proud men. There’ll be a big improvement for Old Trafford."

"Is it a must-win game? pretty much. If our big guns make contributions, we will genuinely be in the ball game."

"Waqar and Wasim didn’t contribute with the ball, Salim Elahi, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Yousuf Youhana didn’t make runs — if your top-five players don’t make contributions, you are not going to feature."

Pakistan look certain to include off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq this time after opting for an all-seam attack at Lord’s.

With all-rounders Abdur Razzaq, who made a half-century at Lord’s, and Azhar Mahmood, who took four wickets, both demanding inclusion, the tourists seem set to drop Shoaib for Saqlain despite the pace bowler’s gradual return to form.

Elahi is another man under pressure after his pair in the first game.

England, meanwhile, still deprived of key all-rounder Craig White and injured left-arm spinner Ashley Giles, are expected to play seven specialist batsmen again, replacing Hussain with the in-form nick knight.

Five of those batsmen — Michael Atherton, Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan, Ian Ward and Knight — are regular openers, while stand-in captain Alec Stewart has also spent much of his career at the top of the order.

The only other England decision will be whether to replace left-arm seamer Ryan Sidebottom, ineffectual at Lord’s, with Matthew Hoggard’s pace or the off-spin of Robert Croft.

Much will depend on the Old Trafford surface.

The ground, the venue of three draws in the teams’ previous meetings, has spent much of the start of the season under water, with only one day’s play possible to date.

Even at Lord’s, England needed three.(REUTERS)

Waugh says each ashes squad should make Gallipoli trip

MELBOURNE, May 29: Australia’s cricket captain Steve Waugh said today that stopping over to visit the world war one battlefields of Gallipoli should be part of the schedule for each four-yearly ashes tour.

"I’d like to see all Australian sides on their way to England come here," Waugh was quoted as saying from Gallipoli in the age newspaper.

"It’s a tradition we can start, and it’s something all sides would want to do".

"It’s got to be good for team spirit, the guys being here".

"It’s such a peaceful place, such a beautiful place. That’s the hardest thing, to realise what happened here."

Australia are ranked the best test cricket team in the world and are on their way to England this week for a three-month tour including five tests against England preceded by a one-day series involving England and Pakistan.

Australia are also the world’s one-day champions after winning the 1999 World Cup.

More than 8,000 Australian troops, under the direction of the British, died in battle against the Turks at Gallipoli in 1915, just 14 years after Australia became a nation.

"Speaking under a gentle sun in weather just as perfect as that day, April 25, 1915, when many of the 16,000 troops took shelter from Turkish fire on the narrow beach, Waugh spoke eloquently about his team’s first visit to the place where the young nation forged its identity," the newspaper said.

April 25 is a national holiday in Australia to remember the sacrifices of war.

Waugh said when he thought of Australian troops freezing in the trenches for eight months, he realised he had nothing about which to complain.

"People say we’re heroes, but really we’re not. The guys here were the heroes," Waugh said.

"We just go out and play sport."

Australian players including Steve and Mark Waugh, Glenn McGrath and Michael Bevan laid wreaths at memorials.

McGrath, who is just 30 wickets away from overtaking Dennis Lillee’s Australian fast-bowling record of 355 test wickets, was moved by the experience, the Herald sun newspaper said.

"One thing I always did on Anzac day (April 25) was put on my (war veteran) grandfather’s medal and walk down to the war memorial," McGrath was quoted as saying.

"That was something I was very proud to do then and it means even more to me now."(REUTERS)

World Badminton Champ
India crash 1-4 against a superior Hong Kong side

SEVILLE (Spain), May 30: India’s only defeat in the group 3b league encounters, a 1-4 loss to hong kong here today, was enough to dash their hopes of a promotion to group 2 in the 2003 edition of the Sudirman Cup (mixed team event) World Badminton Championships.

India’s best bet Pullela Gopichand won his singles rubber 15-10 15-5 in style against Tam Kai Chuen but Hong Kong proved their supremacy in the remaining matches.

India will now play against Russia tomorrow to decide the 17th-18th positions in the 53-nation event.

The team management had gambled with the strategy of fielding Gopichand in the men’s doubles encounter in place of the off-colour Jaseel Ismail and it was hoped that he would deliver two points in the men’s singles as well as the doubles while a third would come from the mixed doubles.

But in the end, Hong Kong, consisting entirely of players imported from badminton strongholds of China and Indonesia, proved too strong for India.

As expected, India began on a losing note, 105th-ranked B R Meenakshi proving to be no match for the graceful Chen Wang, a former Chinese, ranked 11th in the world. Wang won 11-7 11-0 to make it 1-0 for Hong Kong.

Wang was just too fast and too strong for the Indian girl, who seemed out of her depth against an opponent of such quality. The Hong Kong girl’s sharp, attacking strokes frequently caught Meenakshi off-guard and she took a quick 5-0 lead.

The Indian, though, fought back well to reduce the gap to 6-8, raising the level of her game and retrieving well to put Wang in a bit of bother. But that was about all as after taking the opening game, Wang was simply unstoppable, racing to an 11-0 scoreline for an emphatic victory for her side.

The Hong Kong team management decided to field left-handed Tam Kai-Chuen against Gopichand in the men’s singles, instead of its top player Heryanto Agus, whom Gopi had beaten easily at the Ipoh Masters last year.

Kai-Chuen, another former Chinese, plays much like his mainland compatriots - fast, attacking and sharp. But this is just the sort of game the All England Champion prefers to play against and he thrived on the speed that the Hong Cong lad was offering him, dominating the net en route to victory.

This was the best match Gopichand has played in the tournament so far and it looks as if he is settling down well to the heat and humidity of the San Pablo arena.

As usual, his mastery over the net proved too much for the world number 32 to counter and once he got the length in his tosses right, there was no stopping the Indian.

For a brief while, Kai-Chuen did manage to soak up the pressure, but then class told and the Indian, ranked sixth in the world, strode to victory in just over half an hour.

The crucial match of the day was the mixed doubles where India was hoping that the crack combination of Chetan Anand and Manjusha Kanwar would work a miracle and get India the much-needed second point against Njoto Albertus Susanto and Koon Wai Chee.

But the experienced Kanwar proved the weak link, playing a nightmare of a match, even as Anand did everything he could to keep the pair in the hunt. Eventually though, it proved to be a losing battle and the Indians capitulated to a 9-15 7-15 defeat, almost certainly ensuring that the Indians would remain in division 3 for another Sudirman Cup.

The young women’s doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Shruti Kurien did try very hard against Ling Wan Ting and Wang Chen but eventually the experience of their opponents prevailed and they went down fighting 10-15 12-15.

For the teenagers, this was a good outing despite ending up on the losing side and Kurien especially, acquitted herself very well, controlling most of the play from all parts of the court. If only the powerful Gutta had given her more support, the match might have ended up in India’s favour.

In the inconsequential men’s doubles, Gopichand, pairing with Markose Bristow, decided to avoid straining himself too much and opted instead for some more practice. Despite this, the Indians ran the world number 11 pair of Ma Che Kong and Yau Kwun Yuen very close - losing the opening game 13-15 before deciding to concede the match. (PTI)

Williams sisters pull out of French Open doubles

PARIS, May 30: Serena Williams has pulled out of the French Open Doubles Tournament to concentrate on the singles, the American sixth seed said today.

Serena was due to partner her sister Venus, with whom she teamed up to win the doubles title at Roland Garros in 1999.

Serena, who had not played competitive tennis since the Ericsson Tournament in March because a knee injury, struggled to a three-set victory over Sarah Pitkowski of France in the first round on Tuesday.

The pair’s withdrawal will also allow venus to concentrate on her grasscourt preparations for the defence of her Wimbledon title next month.

The second-seeded Venus suffered a shock first-round defeat on Monday to Austria’s Barbara Schett. (REUTERS)

Goswami flags off first group of trekkers to Dharamshalla

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, May 30: Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Mr Anil Goswami flagged off the first batch of the 31 students including two teachers, under the banner of Tawi Trekkers, for the Dharamshalla trekking programme, here today.

Sumit Khajuria and Narinder Singh, both trained mountaineers of the club, accompanied the group as leaders. While’s, Dr Shyam Magotra, a former secretary of Mountaineering Association of J&K, accompanied the group as medical officer, a handout issued here today informed.

During the four-day venture, the trekkers shall visit Dharamshalla, Chamunda Devi, Mcleodganj, Bhagshu Nag, Dharamkot, Dal and some other tourist places.

Besides the Dharamshalla trek, the Tawi Trekkers is simultaneously organising two other Himalayan trekking programmes in Dalhousie-Chamba and Kullu-Manali areas. Kullu Manali programme is starting from June , while the Dalhousie-Chamba trekking programme shall begin on June 8.

Over, 700 students from different educational institutions of Jammu have registered themselves with the Tawi Trekkers for this summer’s programme and it is being expected that the number may touch the 900 mark, the handout further said.