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MELBOURNE, Dec 24: India look certain to elevate V V S Laxman as opener in place of the listless Devang Gandhi as they make a determined bid to shore up their struggling batting and reverse fortunes against Australia in the second cricket test starting here on December 26......more Medal winners in AHMEDABAD, Dec 24: Following are the medal winners in different categories....more National Basketball NEW DELHI, Dec 24: Powered by star player Parminder Singh Sr, his....more |
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Ramandeep to lead Indian Hockey team for
Spain tour Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 24: Asia Gold winner, Ramandeep Singh has been named ......more State
Billiards and Snooker Champ Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 24: Defending Champion Jaideep Manocha....more Excelsior Sports Correspondent SRINAGAR, Dec 24: Ambreen Amin, Shakti and Maymona...more MARGAO, Dec 24: Goa league champion Churchill Bros....more Indian challenge ends LUCKNOW, Dec 24: The Indian challenge ended in the ITF Women’s....more |
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MELBOURNE, Dec 24: India look certain to elevate V V S Laxman as opener in place of the listless Devang Gandhi as they make a determined bid to shore up their struggling batting and reverse fortunes against Australia in the second cricket test starting here on December 26. Skipper Sachin Tendulkar predicted the Melbourne Cricket Ground pitch will be quite bouncy, but declared his players were ready to take on the formidable Aussie pace attack, where new sensation Brett Lee looks set to make his test debut. You can’t approach test cricket in a negative frame of mind and fortunately all of us are positive, the master batsman told a crowded Christmas eve press conference ahead of the traditional test starting on boxing day. Indian batsmen will have to come up with a gritty display if they are to make amends for their embarrassing 285-run loss in the first test at Adelaide and coach Kapil Dev said the onus was on the batsmen. My worry at the moment are not bowlers. Our bowlers have acquitted themselves well. It is our batsmen who have to come good now, the world’s highest test wicket-taker whose match winning five-wicket haul at this venue helped India bounce back and square the 1980-81 series 1-1. Weather, however, could prove a major factor deciding the outcome of the test with showers forecast on all five days of the match. Tendulkar, who fell victim to dubious decisions in both innings of the first test, said he was not too bothered about Aussie tactics of unleashing an overdose of short-pitched bowling. I never had any problem with short-pitched stuff. But I can’t do much about those short deliveries which keep low, the master batsman said in an obvious reference to his unusual leg before dismissal by pace spearhead Glenn McGrath. Mcgrath’s attempted bouncer never rose and struck Tendulkar on his shoulder as he ducked but Australian umpire Darrel Harper’s decision was roundly criticised. Tendulkar said the Melbourne pitch might offer steep bounce but may not have much pace. His team’s morale was high despite the setback at Adelaide. Australian skipper Steve Waugh also felt the MCG pitch will behave as it had traditionally, offering fast bowlers much bounce in the first two days. Steve Waugh, who has backed his twin mark, under pressure to retain his spot in the middle order following a series of poor scores, did not say whether the 21-year-old new South Welshman Brett Lee will be preferred or Mike Kasprowicz will continue to play as the third seamer. Waugh felt if the weather turned out to be sunny, it would help leg spinner Shane Warne, who is six wickets short of equalling legendary paceman Dennis Lillee’s Australian test aggregate record of 355 wickets. It will be a good story if Warne gets his seven wickets here. Lillee also overtook Richie Benaud’s 248 test wickets at mcg only, he said. (PTI) |
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Medal winners in Asian Youth Chess Champ AHMEDABAD, Dec 24: Following are the medal winners in different categories in Asian Youth Chess Championship-99 played here today. Under-14 boys: 1. P Harikrishna (India) (7) (gold) 2. M R Venkatesh (india) (7) (silver) 3. Saptarshi Roy (india) (5) (bronze) Under-14 girls: 1. Giang Nguyen Thu (Vietnam) (7) (gold) 2. C Delphin (india) (6.5) (silver) 3. Tania Sachdev (india) (6) (bronze) Under-12 boys: 1. K Humpy (india) (7) (gold) 2. Sayantan Dutta (india) (6/29.5) (silver) 3. Deepan Chakraborthy (india) (6/24) (bronze) Under-12 girls: 1. Atousa Pour (Iran) (6.5/31) (gold) 2. Eesha Karwade (india) (6.5/30.5) (silver) 3. Krutika Nadig (india) (6) (bronze) Under-10 boys: 1. Abhijit Gupta (india) (6/29/24) (gold) 2. G Rohit (india) (6/29/23) (silver) 3. Son Nguyen Truo (Vietnam) (5.5) (bronze) Under-10 girls: 1. Mary Ann Gomes (india) (6.5) (gold) 2. Nogc Pham Bich (Vietnam) (6/27) (silver) 3. Souma Swaminathan (india) (6/25.5) (bronze). (UNI) |
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National
Basketball NEW DELHI, Dec 24: Powered by star player Parminder Singh Sr, his namesake Parminder Jr and Gagnesh Kumar defending champion Punjab will be the strong favourites to retain the men’s title in the 50th National Basketball Championship starting here tomorrow. Federation Cup winners Punjab, directly seeded into super league along with last year’s runners-up Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Services, Maharashtra, Railways and Uttar Pradesh, will kick off their campaign against West Bengal at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium. Twenty-three teams have been divided into five groups -two super league and three preliminary - in the men’s section while 20 teams led by reigning champions Railways and last year’s runner-up Kerala have been divided into five pools - in same format - in the women’s section of the tournament to be played on league-cum-knock-out format. Besides Railways and Kerala, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh and Punjab are the eight teams seeded into the women’s super league. In the men’s section eight teams from super league will make it to the knock-out stage and will be joined by two teams from the preliminary league - qualifying from among 13 teams and will be elevated to the super league for next year. The bottom-placed teams in the two super league groups will be relegated to the preliminary league next year. In the women’s section, six teams from the super league will join two from preliminary league for the knock-out quarterfinals. (PTI) |
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Ramandeep to lead Indian Hockey team for Spain tour Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 24: Asia Gold winner, Ramandeep Singh has been named as captain of the 18-member Indian Hockey team for the forthcoming Spain tour. This was stated by the Indian Hockey Federation president, Mr K P S Gill, here today. The team was announced after two-day trials conducted at K K Hakhu Astroturf Stadium, here by the president and general secretary of the Federation, Mr Jyoti Kumaran. All the Asia gold winners attending the camp, except Baljeet Dhillon have been retained in the team. Those who have been retained included former captain, Dhanraj Pillay, skipper Ramandeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar and Mohd. Riaz. While, the other team members announced are Judemenezes, R V S Parsad, Dilip Tirkey, Dinesh, Anurag Raghubansh, S S Gill, Thiru Malvan, Vimal Lakra, Brojen Singh, Ajit Singh, Baljeet Singh Chandi, Kamal Horo, Sameer Dat and Parabjot Singh. Talking to EXCELSIOR, Mr Gill said that the team which is a mix of both young and senior players will perform better in their forthcoming tours. He declared that the same team will participate in the Olympics to be held in Sydney. It may be recalled that Indian Hockey probables are presently attending a 21-day long camp at K K Hakhu Astroturf Hockey Stadium, here. |
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MARGAO, Dec 24: Goa league champion Churchill Bros kept their slate clean when they edged past Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) 2-1 to score their straight fourth win in a National Football League match here today. Churchill Bros, who dominated the barren first half scored through Medio Rocky Baretto (55th) and Francis Silveira (72nd). ITI who played defensive in the first half with the entire team defending the citadel with the exception lone forward Lulu reduced the margin in the 87th minutes through defender P Murlidharan off a free kick. Churchill Bros who play their next match against Salgacoar here on January 3 is leading the table with 12 points from all four win. While ITI, who will play against SBT on the same day at Bangalore have two points from two lass and two draw. Churchill suffered a setback when striker Andriy Malchevky who got the second booking from referee Gulab Chauhan will not play the crucial match against Salgaocar. Earlier he received yellow card against Mahindras. ITI Onyaka Okafor who missed the last match against Salgaocar on account of two booking received yellow card from referee Gulab Chauhan. Churchill Bros went offensive and attacked the rival defence with a varied pattern that kept the rival defence on the tight lease. (PTI) |
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Indian challenge ends as Sai, Manisha lose LUCKNOW, Dec 24: The Indian challenge ended in the ITF Women’s Circuit Tennis Tournament today with both Sai Jayalakshmy and Manisha Malhotra bowing out in the semifinals here. National champion Jayalakshmy could not match the power of Yugoslav top seed Katarina Daskovic and went down 6-2 6-3, while Manisha lost to the unseeded Urska Vesenjak of Slovenia 6-2 6-2. In the first semifinal, Daskovic gave her Indian opponent little leeway with her powerful groundstrokes and passing shots, and easily won the first set. In the second, Daskovic looked set to make a clean sweep as she raced to a 4-0 lead. But Jayalakshmi fought back to hold her serve in the fifth game. After Daskovic held her serve in the sixth to make it 5-1, Jayalakshmy broke her opponent and took one more game before losing the set. Second seed Manisha never recovered from a shaky start against Urska to surrender her match. In the doubles, Urska and her twin sister Masa will face the pair of Manisha and Po Ka Tong of Hong Kong in the final. (PTI) |
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