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youngest wicketkeeper in world TRENT BRIDGE (ENGLAND), Aug 8: Parthiv Patel, at 17 years and 158 days, today became the youngest ever wicket keeper to play in a cricket test match..........more Tirkey retained Captain, BANGALORE, Aug 8: Full back Dilip Tirkey was today retained captain of the Indian hockey team .....more Azhar still hopes TRENT BRIDGE (ENGLAND), Aug 8: Affirming that he is still "crazy" about the game, former.......more Indian team for MUMBAI, Aug 8: The Indian cricket team for the ICC Champions Trophy Limited Overs Tournament......more |
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Maj A S Jasrotia Memorial Cricket
Tournament Shine Star sails into final Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Aug 8: Shine Star Cricket Club, R S Pura today sailed into the final of the 4th Major Ajay Singh Jasrotia Memorial Cricket Tournament by defeating Sonnet Cricket Club by one wicket in second semi-final. Elected to bat first after winning the toss, Sonnet Cricket Club made a total of 134 runs in 15 overs by losing only four wickets. Bikka was the lone batsman from the Sonnet Cricket Club side who played brilliant cricket and contributed 72 runs with the help of six hits over the fence........more District
Rajouri Yoga Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Aug 8: District Yoga Association, Rajouri organised Yoga Championship at Sports Stadium, Rajouri under the supervision of J&K Yoga Association...........more |
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delight for Indian chess .... Sehwag’s century puts India in control.... Jeev placed second after a six-under 66 round .... Weightlifter Rai denies taking stimulant, says he is innocent... |
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Patel becomes youngest wicketkeeper in world TRENT BRIDGE (ENGLAND), Aug 8: Parthiv Patel, at 17 years and 158 days, today became the youngest ever wicket keeper to play in a cricket test match. A toe injury to India’s first choice ‘keeper Ajay Ratra proved to be a blessing in disguise for Patel who earned his cap in the second test against England which began at trent bridge today. Patel eclipsed Pakistani wicketkeeper Hanif Mohammed’s record which stood at 17 years and 300 days when he made his debut against India in New Delhi in 1952-53. Earlier, Budhi Kundaran had the distinction of being the youngest wicketkeeper for India having played his first test match at the age of 21 years and 88 days. He had made his debut against Australia at Bombay in 1960. Hailing from Gujarat which has given india two of its best wicketkeepers - Kiran More and Nayan Mongia (both of whom play for Baroda) - Patel also becomes the third youngest ever to play for India behind Sachin Tendulkar (16 yrs, 205 days) and L Sivaramakrishnan (17 years, 118 days). He also becomes the 17th youngest among the test cricketers worldwide. However, the baby-faced patel will have to prove his prowess before the wicket first as India had elected to bat on winning the toss. The odds were heavily stacked against Patel as team sources had earlier indicated that Ratra, with a century against his name in the West Indies, would be preferred over the former who stands just 5 feet 3 inches in his socks. But destiny had it otherwise as Patel got an opportunity to prove his mettle at such a tender age and given the fact that the national selectors have yet to find the right man to fill the wicketkeeper’s slot, it has thrown open the doors for the youngster. But this also means that the job at Patel’s hands is a bed of thorns in a team which has seen ‘keepers come and go at regular intervals. And he will have to be extraordinary if he has to survive the axe. The only surprise inclusion in the England bound Indian squad, Patel got the selectors’ nod even before he had played in a Ranji trophy match. He was chosen purely on the basis of his stint at the national cricket academy and after visiting expert Rodney Marsh had spoken highly of him. Yet to appear for his 12th class examinations owing to his cricketing commitments, Patel burst on the international scene when he skippered india to the Junior World Cup in New Zealand in January this year. Thereafter, he kept wickets for the Indian ‘A’ side on the tours of South Africa and Sri Lanka. (PTI) |
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Tirkey retained Captain, Dhanraj Pillay returns BANGALORE, Aug 8: Full back Dilip Tirkey was today retained captain of the Indian hockey team for the upcoming four-nation tournament in the Netherlands and the Champions Trophy in Germany. Mercurial forward Dhanraj Pillay, who was not part of the team that took part in the recent four-nation tourney in Australia, has also returned to the squad. Indian Hockey Federation president K P S Gill told reporters here that except for Sandeep Michael of Karnataka, who would be playing only in the four-nation tournament to be held at Amsterdam from August 22 to 25, the rest of the team would proceed to play in the Champions Trophy in cologne from August 31 to September eight. A preparatory camp for the two tournaments is on at the Karnataka State Association stadium. Australia, South Korea and the Netherlands are the other teams in the four-nation tournament. While in the elite Champions Trophy India will compete with Australia, Germany, South Korea, the Netherlands and Pakistan. Gill said India would field "more or less" the same team for the coming Asian Games, adding, Chief Coach Rajinder Singh would continue in his post. The team: Goal-keepers: Devash Chauhan (IOCL) and Bharat Chetri (Karnataka). Deep defenders: Dilip Tirkey (Indian Airlines), Jugraj Singh (Punjab), Kanwal Preet Singh (Punjab), Dinesh Nayak (Tamil Nadu). Mid-fielders: S S Gill (BPCL), Viren Rasquinha (IOCL), Vikram Pillai (Mumbai), Ignatius Tirkey (Services), Bimal Lakra (Indian Airlines). Forwards: Dhanraj Pillay (Indian Airlines), Deepak Thakur (IOCL), Prabjot Singh (IOCL), Daljit Singh Dhillon (Punjab), Gagan Ajit Singh (Punjab), Arjun Halappa (Karnataka), Tejbir Singh (Punjab), Sandeep Michael (Karnataka). (PTI) |
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Azhar still hopes to play for India TRENT BRIDGE (ENGLAND), Aug 8: Affirming that he is still "crazy" about the game, former India skipper Mohammad Azharuddin hasn’t given up the hope of playing for India again firm in the belief that the "cruel and unfair" ban on him will be revoked. Azharuddin, who was served a life ban by the Cricket Board for his alleged involvement in match fixing, feels hurt for not being able to play his 100th test match because of an "arbitrary and biased" probe and wanted right-minded people to take a "close look" at his case. The former captain, who was in England for nearly three weeks, felt he was done in on the issue of match-fixing, when a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team named him as guilty and the Cricket Board banned him for life after its Enquiry Commissioner K Madhavan held him and Ajay Jadeja guilty. "It will not be proper for me to make a comment on the subject. But right minded people should look closely at the issue and make up their minds," he said. The former cricketer in his main petition had questioned the appointment and method of inquiry by Madhavan, terming his probe, which formed the basis for initiating action against him as ‘malicious, illegal, arbitrary and biased’ and sought the inquiry report to be treated as `null and void’. He also questioned the cricketing experience of the then BCCI President A C Muthiah, saying "he, being an industrialist, suffers from lack of experience or knowledge of the game". Azhar did not want to dwell in public on his legal fight against BCCI on his ban as the matter is sub-judice but wanted right-thinking people to look at the issue deeply and arrive at their own conclusions. The stylish batsman, meanwhile, is busy looking after his fitness and misses no opportunity to train at the Arshad Ayub Academy in Hyderabad. "Cricket has been my life and I am still crazy about it. I train hard and people who know me say I am fitter than when I was playing cricket," said Azhar as he pondered over his improbable return to the Indian side. Azhar is grateful to his family and those who have stood by him in the past few years of extreme stress and said he is a person who likes to be positive at all times and move on in life. "I like to move on in life and be positive. I will only do what I can to the best of my ability", he said. Having been in England in the last three weeks, Azhar didn’t see the Indians play in person but watched them on television nevertheless, catching up with his old friends, doing some charity work and even batting for a cricketer’s cause. "I made 25 or 30 in a charity game for a middlesex player, Paul Weekes, the other day. But primarily I was here to seek professional opinion on the health club I am planning to open shortly in Hyderabad." Azhar and his actress wife Sangeeta Bijlani have big plans for the health club, to go with the Azhar-Sangeeta Management Services (ASMS) they have been operating for the last couple of years. The Health Club is going to be opened right opposite the Banjara Hotel in Hyderabad. It will be spread over an area of 7,000 square feet and will have top class facilities like SPA, Beauty Parlour and Professional Gym, Azhar said. The last couple of weeks have seen past cricketers come out in open and support Azhar, including those like former BCCI chief Raj Singh Dungarpur and Kapil Dev. "I think everyone owes Azharuddin an apology including the present Indian team," Dungarpur had said in a cricket seminar organised in London during the Lord’s test last week. The function, among others, was attended by Azhar. Kapil Dev, after he was named Wisden’s Indian cricketer of the century, praised Azharuddin a great deal during his acceptance speech but the latter wasn’t present. Azharuddin, who was one of the nominees for the award, was reportedly asked by wisden not to attend the function after inviting him in the first place. Even as the event organisers tried to clear their name, Azhar had no doubt he was not treated rightly on the issue and his lawyers are planning legal action. Mohammad Anas Baqai, whose biography of India’s former skipper ‘Azharuddin the legend’ is due to hit market shortly and who has seen him from close quarters in the past couple of years says "Azhar’s innate strength is amazing. The recent controversies have only made his resolve stronger." "In the last six months especially, Azhar has seen a ray of hope in winning his court battle and gone on an overdrive about his fitness and training and goading his two sons, Asad (12) and Ayaz (10) to play cricket", he said about the man who still longs to play his 100th test. (PTI) |
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Indian team for ICC Trophy to be picked on Aug 12 MUMBAI, Aug 8: The Indian cricket team for the ICC Champions Trophy Limited Overs Tournament to be held in Sri Lanka from September 12 to 29 would be picked here on August 12. The Cricket Board (BCCI) Secretary, Niranjan Shah, told PTI today that in all probability the selectors would meet here to select the 15-member team. (PTI) |
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Maj A S Jasrotia
Memorial Cricket Tournament Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Aug 8: Shine Star Cricket Club, R S Pura today sailed into the final of the 4th Major Ajay Singh Jasrotia Memorial Cricket Tournament by defeating Sonnet Cricket Club by one wicket in second semi-final. Elected to bat first after winning the toss, Sonnet Cricket Club made a total of 134 runs in 15 overs by losing only four wickets. Bikka was the lone batsman from the Sonnet Cricket Club side who played brilliant cricket and contributed 72 runs with the help of six hits over the fence and one hit to the fence. He played very freely and continued to loft ball near and wide. For his marvelous performance, he won a prize of Rs 5000 from Chopra Invertors, Rehari Colony. He was followed by Pardeep who made 25 runs and Raja who contributed 15 runs. For Shine Start Cricket Club, Sanjay, Sonu, Pranav and Anil clinched one wicket each. Shine Star Cricket Club chased the intendent target in 14th over by losing nine wickets. Pranav played brilliant and scored 67 runs by facing only 21 runs. Inderjeet made 20 while Sanjay and Irshad contributed 10 runs each. For Sonnet Club, Raman Thaploo clinched three wickets, Shiv took two wickets while Vicky and Anil got one wicket each. Pranav was declared man of the match and he won the prize of Rs 500 from Chopra Invertors, Rehari Colony. Laxmi Cricket Club enters semi final JAMMU: Laxmi Cricket Club today entered semi-final of the JK Cable Cricket Cup Under-25 by defeating Sonnet Cricket Club by 56 runs. After winning the toss, Laxmi Cricket Club decided to bat first and made 141 runs by losing all wickets in stipulated 25 overs. Amit (Sr), Amit Gupta and Varun were the main scorers from Lakshi Club side who contributed 35, 24 and 20 runs. For Sonnet Cricket Club, Vivek clinched three wickets, Mohit and Nikhil got two wickets each and Haq clinched one wicket. Sonnet Cricket Club could not achieve the intended target and all its batsmen continued to lose their wickets after regular intervals. Sonnet Club managed to score only 85 runs by losing all wickets in 22.3 overs. Harish, Vivek and Haspreet were the main scorer who contributed 14, 12 and 11 runs respectively. For Lakshi Club, Sudershan, Nimit and Varun clinched two wickets each. Mehta Cricket Club will take on International Cricket Club tomorrow. The Tournament is being organised by Green Field Cricket Coaching Centre under the supervision of Varinder Sharma. BJDCC beats Friends (Jr) JAMMU: Baba Jamuna Dass Cricket Club defeated Friends (Jr) by 17 runs in the on-going Nerolac Cup. Batting first, Baba Jamuna Dass made a total of 131 runs in 15 overs by losing 9 wickets. Ninda made 56 runs, Ajay contributed 15 while Ankush scored 13 runs. For Friends (Jr) Tinku clinched four wickets while Raman and Sonu got two wickets each. Friends (Jr) could not achieve the target and the whole team was bowled out at the total score of 114 runs. For Baba Jamuna Dass, Ankush clinched three wickets and Ninda got two wickets. Ninda was declared man of the match for his overall performance both in batting and bowling. Sachin and Arnold were the umpires while Tempoo was the scorer. |
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District Rajouri Yoga Championship concludes Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Aug 8: District Yoga Association, Rajouri organised Yoga Championship at Sports Stadium, Rajouri under the supervision of J&K Yoga Association and sponsored by J&K State Sports Council. Dr M B Magray, president District Yoga Association, Rajouri presided over the function while Mr M S Tariq, Education Minister and MLA Rajouri was the chief guest on the occasion. As many as 85 compititor of different age groups took part in the Championship. Mr Tanveer Ahmed, Yoga Coach of J&K State Sports Council and Mr Mahesh Sharma, Physical Director Degree College, Rajouri and Mr Mohd Farooq performed the duties of judges. Mr Javaid Ahmed Sore and Sarfraz Ali Shah, famous singer presented a Gazal on the occasion. In the age group between 8 and 11 years, Waseem Akram bagged first position, Altaf Hussain, second, Waseem Iqbal, third, Ahsan-Ul-Haq, fourth and Sayeed Tohsin Ali Shah, fifth position. Mohd Akhlaq Mirza bagged first position, Badshah Hussain, second, Sayeed Ajaz Ali Shah, third, Adnan Choudhary, third and Bilal Ahmed Lone bagged fifth position in the age group between 11 and 14 years. In the age group of 17 to 21 years, first position was bagged by Shahid Mehmood, second by Mohd Salman, third by Yaseer Mehmood Choudhary, Fazal-ur-Rehman, fourth position and Yasar Latief bagged fifth position. Best demonstrator in the Championship was Mohd Akhlaq Mirza. |
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Double delight for Indian chess TORQUAY (ENGLAND), Aug 8: Indian chess had more to cheer when International Master R B Ramesh won his second GM norm to add to yesterday’s WGM norm achievement by S Meenakshi at the British Open Chess Championships at the Riviera Palace here. Ramesh upstaged compatriot grandmaster Abhijit Kunte to achieve his second GM norm and the Indian Oil Corporation employee now needs one more to complete the requirements of the grandmaster title. Meenakshi won her maiden WGM norm in style holding GM Mark Hebden of England to a draw. In addition to the WGM norm, the Indian Airlines’ scholarship holder also obtained her IM norm with this result. Meanwhile, the lead position remained unchanged as GM Luke McShane of England drew with GM Pentyala Harikrishna to maintain his slender half point lead. Seven players remain on the heels of the englishman with just two rounds remaining in this 10000 pound sterling (Rs 7.5 lakh) first prize tournament. They are GM Jonathan Speelman, GM Peter Wells, Stewart Haslinger (all from England) GM Joseph Gallaghar (Switzerland) GM Jonathan Rowson (Scotland), Harikrishna and Ramesh. Top seed GM K Sasikiran came back into the reckoning for top honours with a resounding victory over Paul Littlewood of England. Sasikiran has 6 points and is in joint 8th position along with GM Bogdan Lalic, IM Pert Nicholas (both England) and IM S S Ganguly. The Chennai-based Ramesh will cherish the victory against Kunte with white pieces for a long time. He has had a brilliant run here against an opposition with an average Elo Rating of 2462. Ramesh knew he needed for a victory and he did precisely that as Kunte went for an erroneous plan in the middle game. This was Ramesh’s third victory against a grandmaster in this tournament after he beat John Emms of England in the fifth and Dibyendu Barua in the eighth round. His only loss came against Harikrishna in the sixth round. It was a marathon topsy-turvy battle at the top as Harikrishna, black, faced the Rossolimo attack against his sicilian defence for the second time in this tournament. The early part of the middle game posed some problems for Harikrishna as he was saddled with a weaker pawn structure. However, as the pieces got exchanged at regular intervals, mcshane’s advantage slowly vanished. Not the one to give up easily McShane tried hard and eventually won a piece but by then all his pawns were off the board. In the rook and knight versus rook endgame Harikrishna gave no chances and the game was drawn after 106 moves. Speelman gave a brilliant display of attacking chess to outclass world juniors girls champion Koneru Humpy. Speelman employed the Reti opening and got the game transposed to a reverse Benoni wherein humpy failed to find the right plan. (PTI) |
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Sehwag’s century puts India in control TRENT BRIDGE (ENGLAND), Aug 8: Virender Sehwag hit a scintillating century as the Indian batsmen showed a lot better application than they did in the first test and finished a truncated opening day of the second cricket test against England here today at a comfortable 210 for four. Coming as an opener, Sehwag batted for nearly four and a half hours to carve out his second test century, a 183-ball106 that held the Indian innings together in the first two sessions of play. Sehwag was associated in two good partnerships with Sachin Tendulkar and skipper Sourav Ganguly before being clean bowled by Craig White soon after overtaking his previous highest test score of 105, scored against South Africa in his debut match last year. India took a brave decision of electing to bat first on a pitch that had a lot of sideways movement, ignoring the fact that England had packed as many as five fast bowlers in theirside. However, they did not have the greatest of starts withopener Wasim Jaffer (0) and Rahul Dravid (13) being sent back by Matthew Hoggard with just 34 runs on the board. Sehwag put on 74 runs with Tendulkar for the third wicket and 71 with Ganguly for the fourth to rebuild the Indian innings. Tendulkar was out for 34 while attempting an in discreet shot but Ganguly was still there on 29 when badlight forced the end of day’s play with 24 overs still remaining to be bowled. V V S Laxman was the other not out Batsman, having made22. Scoreboard India 1st innings W Jaffer b Hoggard 0 V Sehwag b White 106 R Dravid c Key b Hoggard 13 S Tendulkar b Cork 34 S Ganguly batting 29 V V S Laxman batting 22 Extras (b-1, lb-3, w-1, nb-1) 6 Total (for 4 wkts, 66 overs) 210 Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-34, 3-108, 4-179. Bowling: Hoggard 21-6-54-2, Cork 11-3-45-1, Harrison 14-7-33-0, Flintoff 14-3-37-0, White 6-0-37-1. (PTI) Jeev placed second after a six-under 66 round NEW DELHI, Aug 8: Ace Indian golfer Jeev Milkha Singh carded a brilliant bogey-free six-under 66,today, to be tied for the second place on the opening day of the 120-million-yen Sun Chlorella Classic, an event on the Japanese PGA tour. According to information received here, Jeev made three birdies in either half of his journeys as he finished the day one stroke behind leader Brad Andrews of Australia. Andrews also had a bogey-free round and finished at seven-under 65. Also in tied second place at 66 were Brendon Jones of Australia and Lin Chien-Bing of Taiwan. Talking on phone, the 30-year-old Chandigarh based professional this was a very satisfying round because I am shooting a low number after several days. I have been playing well but I was just not able to convert it into a good score. I am now looking forward to the next three days and would hopefully maintain my rhythm. Jeev started with four successive pars before making back-to-back birdies on the fifth and sixth holes. Another birdie on the 416-yard par-4 ninth saw him make the turn at three-under. On the back nine, he added birdies on the par-3 12th, par-4 15th and the par-5 18th holes. While his iron play was immaculate, Jeev’s putting was in good shape too, as he completed the round in just 26 putts. I putted very well today and converted most of the birdie opportunities, said Jeev whose best finish this season on the Japanese tour is a dismal tied 20th in Tsuruya Open in the six events he has played thus far. I am confident of doing much better than that, added Jeev who became the only Indian to qualify for the prestigious US Open earlier this year. Scores(after 18 holes):65-brad Andrews 66- Jeev Milkha Singh, Brendan Jones, Lin Chien-Bing 68- Toru Taniguchi, Zhang Lian-Wei, Tsuneyuki Nakajima, Naomichi Ozaki, Yoshimitsu Fuzukawa, Christian Pena. (UNI) Weightlifter Rai denies
taking stimulant, BANGALORE, Aug 8: Weightlifter Satheesha Rai, who failed a dope test after winning two gold and one bronze in the 77-kg category at the Commonwealth Games, today denied that he had taken a stimulant and said he was innocent. Rai told reporters here that he had been taking normal food supplements in the last several years but had never taken a stimulant. "Winning the gold at the Commonwealth Games is not a big thing. I don’t require stimulants to win medals," he said. Rai said he had never tested positive with these food suplements in the past, adding that he had been taking vitamins and ‘Ginseng and Ashwagandha,’ among others. Before leaving for Manchester, Sports Authority of India (SAI) had conducted a dope test and it was negative, Rai said. Stating that he had represented India on more than 16 occasions in the past like Olympics, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, Rai said he had undergone dope test 35 times and had never tested positive. Expressing shock over being tested positive, Rai said "it (taking stimulant) is beyond my imagination. I am unaware of the fact." To a question, he said he had not been stripped of medals. Medals that he won had been taken back by Director of Indian Olympic Association A S V Prasad, and they were with the latter now. Asked if some adulterated drug could have contained stimulant, he said he had not taken any new supplements and was sticking to the same ones he had been consuming over the past several years. (PTI) Serena Williams reaches 3rd round MANHATTAN BEACH, CALIFORNIA, Aug 8: Serena Williams celebrated her first match as the world number one with a 6-4 6-2 win over Russia’s Lina Krasnoroutskaya to reach the third round of the Los Angeles Open. Williams was one of the few seeds to win on a day when Daniela Hantuchova slumped to her second early round defeat in two weeks after being dumped out of the tournament by Eleni Daniilidou. The top seed took the opening set on the strength of a single break of serve at 2-2 as she ran off 12 of 14 points in building a 4-2 lead in her first outing yesterday since claiming the Wimbledon title. But Krasnoroutskaya, playing only her second match since injuring her ankle in the opening round of the Australian Open in January, offered more of a challenge in the second set. As Williams struggled to put her first serve into play and made numerous volleying errors, Krasnoroutskaya worked her opponent from side to side and struck several crosscourt winners. Although Williams broke to lead 1-0, she failed to capitalise on two points for a 3-0 advantage and then had to fight off two break points at 3-2. After holding serve for 4-2 Williams then broke again when Krasnoroutskaya left a ball that fell in, but she was far from happy with her patchy performance. "I didn’t feel too good out there. I was definitely very rusty," Williams said. "I made tons of errors and haven’t been playing like this in a while. We all have some tough days and I was glad I was able to get through the match tonight. I’m always like this in my first match here but normally I’m able to pick it up next match around. (AGENCIES) |
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