DURBAN, Feb 7: Hansie Cronje has finally landed a job......more

Harbhajan appointed
as Deputy
Superintendent
of Police

CHANDIGARH, Feb 7: The Punjab Government has appointed prominent cricketer Harbhajan Singh ...........more

Indian World Cup team
is well balanced:
Former Olympians

MUMBAI, Feb 7: Three Olympians M M Somaiah, Merwyn Fernandis, and Iqbaljit Singh have said .........more

Australia thump West
Indies to book U-19
cricket final berth

CHRISTCHURCH, Feb 7: Australia eased into the final of the ICC under-19 World Cup with a.......more

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Feb 7: The former champions, the Reserve Bank of India and Bank of India, have set the stage for a much.....more

PNB J&K Region team
bags ‘best play’ trophy

Excelsior Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Feb 7: The Jammu Region team of the Punjab National Bank (PNB) bagged the best play ......more

Ist All India Civil Services Sports meet
Manoj Pant reaches finals
of Badminton, TT doubles

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Feb 7: Manoj Pant has today reached the finals of both Badminton singles and doubles of the Table Tennis in the....more

Cronje to take up job as finance manager

DURBAN, Feb 7: Hansie Cronje has finally landed a job.

After alleged shady financial gains in the match-fixing scandal which finished his career, the former South African cricket captain is to take up employment as finance manager of a stock-exchange listed company.

Cronje, who was banned from the game for life by the South African Cricket Board and also denied any role in that country’s cricket, not even as a commentator, will join bell equipment, supplier of heavy earth-moving equipment.

The chief executive of the company, Gary Bell, told the media here that Cronje had been "given the blessing of 99 per cent of the company’s customers".

He said Cronje will join the company’s finance team and will be one of the seven managers structuring financial and insurance packages for clients.

"Cronje, being in his second year of a masters degree in business leadership, has the right qualifications and interest for the job," Bell said.

"I’m confident the appointment will not have any detrimental effects on the company’s price share or perception in the market place as Cronje’s name is virtually unknown outside South Africa where we do most of our business.

"Inside the country his background could add some value to bell. Also, like anyone else, Cronje has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty in a court of law, and that has not happened yet," he said. (PTI)

Harbhajan appointed as Deputy Superintendent of Police

CHANDIGARH, Feb 7: The Punjab Government has appointed prominent cricketer Harbhajan Singh as Deputy Superintendent of Police in Punjab Police against the direct recruitment under sports quota.

Meanwhile, athlete Sunita Rani and hockey player Gaggan Ajit Singh were also appointed as Deputy Superintendents of Police in state police under the same quota, a press note said.

Earlier, Harbhajan Singh was also allotted one kanal plot by the Punjab Government in the upmarket locality of Baradari at Jalandhar. (UNI)

Indian World Cup team is well balanced:
Former Olympians

MUMBAI, Feb 7: Three Olympians M M Somaiah, Merwyn Fernandis, and Iqbaljit Singh have said the Indian World Cup Hockey team was well balanced and the chances of winning a medal were seven out of ten.

Speaking at the seminar "in hunt of a medal at Kuala Lumpur" here yesterday, former Indian skipper Somaiah, who played as a centre half for the country for a long time, said after lot of experimentations the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) has put up a strong combination and "there is no reason why we cannot do well in the World Cup this month".

"I feel the main target for India would be to make it to the semi-finals. The weather in Kuala Lumpur would be to the liking of Asian countries and the European countries would definitely find it difficult to get accustomed to the heat and humidity," he added.

"Countries in contention according to me are Germany, Australia, defending champions holland and Pakistan. So if we make it to the semi-finals we have chance of winning a medal, may be even a gold. I would give the team seven out of ten to win a medal," Somaiah added.

"There is flexibility as the young players are versatile. The team has experience in players like Dhanraj Pillay, who will be playing in the fourth World Cup, Baljeet Singh Dhillon and Sabu Varkey blended with youth like Sukhbir Singh Gill, Jugraj Singh, Thirumalvalavan, A Tirkey and Arjun Halappa," he added.

Fernandes said the team is united and in high spirit but the only concern was Baljeet Singh Saini’s fitness and it he is not fit he should not be taken. (PTI)

Australia thump West Indies to book U-19
cricket final berth

CHRISTCHURCH, Feb 7: Australia eased into the final of the ICC under-19 World Cup with a resounding 93-run victory over West Indies here today.

The result preserved Australia’s 100 per cent record in the competition and they enter Saturday’s final against South Africa as firm favourites after being a cut above the other sides throughout the tournament.

"We are delighted with the way the tournament has gone," said coach Wayne Phillips. " The boys played very well and they are going into the final feeling confident. Everything has fallen pretty well for us. We have a number of players who are in form with both bat and ball, and if that continues we will look to have a good competitive match on Saturday.

" We see South Africa as worthwhile opponents but if we play well we know we will have a chance of beating them.."

Australia have hardly been pushed at any stage of the competition and against West Indies in the rain delayed semi-final they cruised to victory with 10 overs to spare, restricting West Indies to 159 all out despite a classy 83 from Tonito Willett.

Heavy rain made play impossible yesterday but the weather improved on the reserve day and despite the damp conditions Australia batted first and made 252 for eight. (AFP)

RBI, BOI reach final of Inter-Bank Soccer
*Sanjeev’s save and goal helps BOI upset JKB in nail-biting finish

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Feb 7: The former champions, the Reserve Bank of India and Bank of India, have set the stage for a much awaited final of the 14th All India Inter-Bank Football Tournament fixed for tomorrow at Mini-Stadium, Parade (at University of Jammu in case of rains) at 2.30 pm, here.

While it was a nail-biting finish in the case of Jammu and Kashmir Bank(JKB) and Bank of India (BOI), whose fate was decided in the sudden death 8-7, the reigning champions Reserve Bank of India (RBI) were never in difficulty against Punjab National Bank (PNB) and beat latter 3-0.

Earlier, in the well fought semi-final played at University grounds, a save at the net followed by the golden goal by goal-keeper Sanjeev Verma shattered all hopes of the hosts of maiden entry into the finals.

Prior to the sudden death, Sanjeev Verma was never in picture because of the Narayan Mitra’s presence in the field upto the tie-breaker. Narayan, who played the full match and later failed to stop any of the free kick, was replaced by Sanjeev for the sudden death show.

However, Sanjeev proved lucky for the guests, who not only saved a kick taken by Shah Nawaz (JKB), but also converted the golden goal beating the JKB goal-keeper Iftikhab, who replaced Vikramjeet only for sudden death.

Earlier, in the stipulated time, Bank of India held J&K Bank 1-1. Soon after the game started J&K Bank dominated the field and made successive attacks on the opponent goal post, but their efforts yielded no results.

Deepak Sangral, who emerged star in the league round, failed to deliver the goods in the presence of two BOI players who not only marked him throughout, but also foiled his moves, thereby giving him little chance to strike at the net.

After the end of the barren first half, J&K Bank forward line again launched their aggressive attack which, however, yielded good results and hosts managed to take lead in the 50th minute through Ishfaq, who dodged the goal-keeper completely after getting a pass from the box line.

But, the JKB lead could not last long and in the 70th minute, BOI scored the equaliser through Averto Cados. Averto, who was given advantage of a free kick just out side the box on a foul play by the defenders, made a power-packed kick which hit the left goal post just touching the human wall and entered the net.

It was followed by the extra-time which again yield no results, thus forcing the referee to apply the tie-breaker rule. In tie-breaker both sides took successful shoots again ending the match in a 6-6 draw.

Those took the successful shoots from J&K Bank were Meraju Din, Deepak Sangral, Iftikhab Alam, Abdul Rashid and Ajay and Ishfaq, while Shah Nawaz missed. From BOI, Evinito Cardos, Navin Kottan, M K Karmugilan, Chandan Horizan, Parkash Mehta, Nitin Gona and Sanjeev Verma were the successful shooters.

In this match, SA Hamid was match commissioner, while Abdul Saleem was referee, Mohd Naseeb, assistant referee-I, S Hedge, assistant referee-II and Custodio Almida acted as reserve referee.

The second semi-final which was shifted from Mini-Stadium, Parade to GGM Science College due to rains, went in favour of the defending champions, RBI, who beat PNB 3-0.

Before losing their battle, PNB held RBI in a goalless draw up till the first half. However, in the second half, RBI scored three goals through Fillip Dicoster in the 47th minute, Chandan Dass in the 75th minute and Falguni Dutta in the 82nd minute of the match.

Mr SS Shetty was match referee in second semi-finals, while Rakesh Kumar Sharma was referee, Dramilo Disa, AR-I, Sunil Dutt, AR-II and R Subramanium was reserve referee.