HYDERABAD, Oct 3: Former captain Mohammed Azharuddin, challenging life ban imposed on him by the Cricket Board for his alleged involvement in the match-fixing scandal, today said his charges against former BCCI president Dr A C Muthaiah and the Board’s Inquiry Commissioner Madhavan cannot be sought to be withdrawn as these constitute ‘the core of the case’...............more

Steve Waugh suffering
dangerous blood clot

SYDNEY, Oct 3: Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh has confirmed he is suffering from Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT), the potentially fatal condition better known as "economy class syndrome"...............more

Roddick to spearhead US
Davis Cup challenge

NEW DELHI, Oct 3: America’s latest tennis sensation Andy Roddick will be India’s main obstacle in...............more

7th Junior World Cup Hockey
India faces Canada
in their opener

HOBART (Australia), Oct 3: Runners up India will take on Canada in their opening match of the...more

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 3: The 14-member State Judo team today left for the forthcoming Sub-junior National Judo Championship........more

Semis line-up drawn
in Distt Poonch
TT Champ

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

POONCH, Oct 3: Defending champion Salil Raina, Sandeep, Nawaz and Rinchal have reached the semi-finals......more

J&K team leaves for
Himalayan Rally

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 3: The five-member Jammu and Kashmir motor-sport team today left for the Raid-de-Himalayan Car/Mobike rally beginning from October.....more

Distt Cycle Polo
Champ from Oct 4

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 3: Annual District Srinagar Cycle Polo Championship, organised by the J&K Cycle Polo Association, will commence from October 4 at Polo ground......more

 
General secretary of the J&K Judo Association, R C Thakur (sitting in the centre) posing with the selected Sub-junior judo team which left for Jaipur.

Azhar’s charges constitute ‘core of the case’

HYDERABAD, Oct 3: Former captain Mohammed Azharuddin, challenging life ban imposed on him by the Cricket Board for his alleged involvement in the match-fixing scandal, today said his charges against former BCCI president Dr A C Muthaiah and the Board’s Inquiry Commissioner Madhavan cannot be sought to be withdrawn as these constitute ‘the core of the case’.

Azhar’s senior counsel T Jagdeesh, during prolonged arguments in a city civil court on the writ petitions filed by Muthaiah and Madhavan, seeking striking down of certain averments in the main petition filed by the former captain, said Azhar’s charges against the duo constitute essential elements of the case and cannot sought to be struck down.

Reiterating that the method of inquiry commissioner was ‘malicious, illegal and arbitrary and biased in favour of BCCI’, he said the case ceases to exist if these charges were asked to be withdrawn by Muthaiah and Madhavan, both defendants in the case.

Azhar also questioned the competence of Muthaiah, saying ‘he (Muthaiah) being an industrialist suffers from lack of experience or knowledge of the game’.

Earlier, Ramesh Ranganathan, Sanjay Sinha and Suryanarayana, appearing on behalf of the defendants, said the charges levelled by Azhar against the two were ‘scandalous, vexatious and irrelevant’ and sought their deletion from the plaint first.

Second additional judge J Shyamsundara Rao, who heard the arguments from both sides, reserved his order for October 17. (PTI)

Steve Waugh suffering dangerous blood clot

SYDNEY, Oct 3: Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh has confirmed he is suffering from Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT), the potentially fatal condition better known as "economy class syndrome".

But Waugh said his case was not considered serious and while he was receiving daily medication to thin his blood he expected to be ready to lead Australia in this summer’s first test against New Zealand starting on November 8.

"It sounds bad but...It’s not considered to be too serious," Waugh said today.

"It has to be monitored week by week but i’ll be back before the first test match."

The 36-year-old Waugh developed a blood clot in his lower left leg when he tore a calf muscle during the third Ashes test against England at Trent Bridge in July.

The injury forced him to miss the fourth test, which Australia lost, but he returned to play in the fifth and final game, scoring an unbeaten century to complete a 4-1 series victory for his team.

DVT occurs when potentially dangerous clots form in deep blood vessels.

The condition often occurs after long periods of immobility such as those experienced on long flights and Waugh said he suspected the long-haul back to Australia may have contributed to his condition.

"I had some treatment when I got back home and noticed the soreness was more than what I’d expected or what I had in England," he said.

"I had an inkling something wasn’t quite right...So we decided to have all bases covered and that (DVT) was one of the tests we had done and it showed up."

Waugh’s new South Wales state team mate, Corey Richards, was also diagnosed with DVT after returning from Britain in July.

Richards has been undergoing blood thinning treatment for three months but is still struggling to regain fitness.(REUTERS)

Roddick to spearhead US Davis Cup challenge

NEW DELHI, Oct 3: America’s latest tennis sensation Andy Roddick will be India’s main obstacle in the Davis Cup world group qualifying tie to be played in North Carolina, USA from October 12 to 14.

In doubles, French Open champions Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi will face Wimbledon champions, Don John and Jared Palmer. Patrick McEnroe is the United States’ non-playing captain.

The United States Tennis Association confirmed yesterday the composition of the squad to play India, naming veteran Todd Martin and James Blake along with Roddick as candidates to play singles, according to a ray media release.

USTA bills Paes as the "bronze medallist in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics"; and he and Mahesh Bhupathi, a year younger, as "arguably the world’s best doubles pair".

Johnson and Palmer, presently ranked number two in the world and Paes and Bhupathi, just two slots below, could provide a fascinating second day doubles clash.

For us, India’s number one, 28-year-old Leander Paes will pose some real problems. Paes’s singles record in Davis Cup is staggering. His win-loss data of 34-17 puts him among the top 50 performers of all time in the tournament. This year, he has won all his four singles - that, too, in away ties - en route to the ensuing clash with the us.

But Paes is slightly handicapped that he has not played any tournament tennis since September 9. But he and India’s non-playing captain, Ramesh Krishnan complement each other perfectly. The latter does the planning and plotting, Paes the execution.

Barring the fact that they are playing at home, the us are quite vulnerable in singles. If Paes can win his opening singles and team up to win the doubles, it could be anybody’s tie, for it will then boil down to who can cope better with pressure.

However, India, thrice finalists in the Davis Cup, have never beaten the us - who have lifted the trophy 31 times -in six meetings between them in the tourney. India came closest to doing so in 1961, when, spearheaded by the redoubtable Ramnathan Krishnan, they went down 2-3.

In the absence of Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, 31-year-old Martin ranked 52 on the ATP tour is the USA’s most experienced cup player, with a career win-loss record of 11-7.

He last turned out for his country in the 2000 semi-final against Spain, losing the only singles rubber he played.

If Martin is nominated for the singles, the choice of the other is expected to be between 19-year-old Roddick, winner of three ATP titles this year and ranked 19th in the world, who faces the unnerving prospect of making his debut in Davis Cup.

Winners of the tie will earn the right to take part in next year’s world group - the top 16. India last reached this stage in 1998. (PTI)

7th Junior World Cup Hockey
India faces Canada in their opener

HOBART (Australia), Oct 3: Runners up India will take on Canada in their opening match of the 16-nation 7th Junior World Cup Hockey Championship starting here from October 9.

This is the first time that 16 teams will feature in the Junior World Cup. The previous six editions of the championship had field of 12 teams.

The teams have been divided in four pools of four teams each.

India are placed in Pool ‘C’ while defending champion and host Australia are in Pool‘A’.

Following are the pools

Pool‘A’: Australia, Chile, England, Ireland.

Pool‘B’: Holland, S. Korea, France, South Africa.

Pool‘C’: India, Canada, Scotland, Spain.

Pool‘D’: Germany, Argentina, Malaysia, New Zealand.

Top two teams from each pool will qualify for the next round. The eight teams will be divided in two group of four teams each-‘E’ and ‘F’.

The 3rd and 4th teams from first four pools will play for 9th -16th positions in Pool G and Pool H. (PTI)

14-member Judo team leaves for Sub-jr National

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 3: The 14-member State Judo team today left for the forthcoming Sub-junior National Judo Championship (boys and girls) to be held at Jaipur in Rajasthan from October 6 to 9.

The team included seven boys namely, Rayees Ahmed, Junaid Mubarik, Bhuvneshwar Singh, Vishal Singh, Suraj Parshad, Naresh Kumar and Sunny Samyal. While, in girls section, Nedha Rasool, Nippu Jamwal, Sheetal Sharma, Kiriti Jamwal, Jyoti Choudhary, Pankaj Sharma and Rukhsana Gulzar are representing Jammu and Kashmir.

Arshi Nad and Suraj Bhan accompanied the team as coach, while Vikas has been appointed as manager.