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India eye
for win to GWALIOR, Nov 10: The ideal batting track at the Captain Roop Singh...more
Kafelnikov
begins MOSCOW, Nov 10: Top seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov has begun the defence....more Stockholm Open STOCKHOLM, Nov 10: Top seed Thomas Enqvist has demonstrated his...more |
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Football League Tournament Jammu Sports-A beat Cantt Star in senior division Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Nov 10: Jammu Sports-A defeated Cantt Star.....more 21st
State Table Tennis Champ Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Nov 10: Chandpreet has won the cadets title...more Four-member
J&K Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Nov 10: Four-member team of Mountaineering......more Sportsmen
denied Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Nov 10: Some of the top ranking sportspersons of the state who are the regular....more JALANDHAR, Nov 10: International Harbjahan Singh’s brilliant....more |
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India eye for win to take edge in series GWALIOR, Nov 10: The ideal batting track at the Captain Roop Singh Stadium here awaits the exploits of Indian skipper Sachin Tendulkar to begin from where he left at Hyderabad with the hosts itching to take a lead in the five-match one-day series against New Zealand in the third tie to be played tomorrow. Sachin Tendulkar’s epoch-making unbeaten 186 in the second one-dayer and his 331-run second wicket partnership with Rahul Dravid which ethched their names in the world record books enabled India to level the series with an emphatic 174-run win, but still the task of the Indians remains unfinised. The Kiwi attack might have looked pedestrian as Sachin and Dravid fired on all cylinders in Hyderabad, but no team in an international match can be taken lightly. After their test series defeat, the visitors had come back in the game gallantly handing out a 43-run defeat to India in the first match at Rajkot. Sachin said the team was "confident but not overconfident" and would go all out to win. "At the moment we are focussed on how to win the match," Tendulkar told reporters after the Indian team had a net session at the Roop Singh Stadium here. Basking under the glorious victory, the Indian skipper, however, in his post-match reactions clearly betrayed his aversion to experimentation at this stage. The Indian selectors though made changes in the team keeping in mind its 76-day tour down under beginning towards the fag end of the month. India’s frontline seamers Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad have been rested while Devang Gandhi replaced an injured Sadagopan Ramesh. Srinath and Prasad were replaced by Tamil Nadu seamer Tirunavukkarasu Kumaran and Mumbai pacer Ajit Agarkar. Kumaran, a new face in the Indian side, found favour with the selectors after his ten-wicket haul helped the rest of India drub defending champions Karnataka by an innings and 60 runs in the five-day Irani Trophy. He will also be in the flight to Australia as also Agarkar. Agarkar was last with the Indian team during the World Cup before injury forced him out. He had given a certificate of match fitness after bowling in a times shield match in Mumbai recently. Now it remains to be seen whether Kumaran would find himself ahead of either Debashish Mohanty or Agarkar as Sachin is likely to have only two seamers. "It is too early to comment on him (Kumaran). I observed him at the nets today, and need more time to comment," Sachin said. In the batting line-up, the Indian skipper has little to decide on and Devang Gandhi, who had a succesful stint as an opener in the test series against the black caps, will have to cool his heels in the pavilion. The toss could prove vital in the final analysis and if making first use of the wicket, India should have no difficulty in putting up a formidable total with its top-order batsmen in good nick. Even under pressure of a target of 350, the Indians gave a fantastic chase to score 306 in the opening tie. "It looks nice and good to bat on," Sachin said about the pitch. The toss would be "slightly important", he added. "The bowlers will have a bit of advantage in the early hours. If it is a batting track, that does not mean it has nothing for the bowlers," he said. In Hyderabad, the visitors sorely missed fast medium bowler and useful bat Dion Nash who is down with back injury. There were too many loose and wayward deliveries for the Indians to score off with elan. Skipper Stephen Fleming has to stem this rot to make a match of it. Absence of Nash and non-availability of key batsman Craig McMillan for the entire one-day series has been a big blow to the team. "We did not bowl too well in the previous match," Fleming said and added that he was looking forward to come back in the series. He indicated some changes but refused to divulge the composition of his team. The tourists do not have outstanding cricketers like Sachin, but their one-day specialists Roger Towse, Chris Harris, Chris Cairns and Nathan Astle could still make all the difference on their day. Daniel Vettori is also capable of spinning the wit out of the rivals if the track offers reasonable turn. Curator of the ground Sanjeev Agarwal expects the track to be ideal for stroke-making as in the past. "However, the moisture in the morning could help the seamers a bit," he adds. The lush green outfield is also expected to be fast to the advantage of the batting side. The city has been cooler in comparison to Rajkot and Hyderabad with noon temperature hovering below 30 degrees celcius. Since 1988 when international cricket came to the city for the first time, the venue has hosted eight one-day internationals so far and India’s greatest disappointment in the ground has been the loss to lowly Kenya last year. Indians have won four of the seven matches they have played at the venue. Teams: India (from): Sachin Tendulkar (captain), Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Ajay Jadeja, Vijay Bharadwaj, Robin Singh, M S K Prasad, Nikhil Chopra, Anil Kumble, Debashish Mohanty, Sunil Joshi, Devang Gandhi, Ajit Agarkar and T Kumaran. New Zealand(from): Stephen Fleming(captain), Craig Spearman, Nathan Astle, Roger Twose, Chris Cairns, Adam Parore, Chris Harris, Scott Styris, Daniel Vettori, Shayne o’Connor, Chris Drum, Gary Stead and Matthew Horne. Umpires: K Parthasarthy and S K Gupta Third umpire: Sudhir Asnani. Match refree: Ranjan Madugulle(Sri Lanka) (UNI) |
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Kafelnikov begins Kremlin title defence with easy win MOSCOW, Nov 10: Top seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov has begun the defence of his Kremlin Cup title by crushing Frenchman Arnaud Clement 6-3, 6-2 in under an hour. After breaking clement twice in each set yesterday, Kafelnikov said he was intent on becoming world number one again next year. He held the world’s top spot for six weeks this year. "We’ll have a new (points ranking) system so you’ll see a lot of changes, a lot of new guys at the top next year." Clement admitted he had been outplayed by Kafelnikov. "After the first two games I realised that he was too good for me today," he said. Former Kremlin Cup winner Goran Ivanisevic overcame a shaky start to move into the second round with a 6-4, 7-5 win over third seeded Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean. "I started pretty badly," said Ivanisevic. "I was down 0-40 in the first game and had a break point against me in the second, but it was okay after that." Ivanisevic has had a disappointing year but has always done well here. "I just hope I can finish the year on a good note," he said. Two other seeds were beaten yesterday. Nicolas Escude beat Younes Al Aynaoui of Morocco, the fourth seed, 7-6, 7-6 and fellow Frenchman Cyril Saulnier, a qualifier, knocked out eighth seeded Czech Jiri Novak 2-6, 7-6, 6-4. (REUTERS) |
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Stockholm
Open STOCKHOLM, Nov 10: Top seed Thomas Enqvist has demonstrated his awesome indoor court power as he led a pair of marauding Swedish compatriots to easy wins into the second round of the 8,00,000-dollar Stockholm Open. The world number seven accounted for one of three Spanish victims on day two at the Kungliga Hall last night. Enqvist destroyed any chances of Fernando Vicente 6-1, 6-0, taking less than an hour. The Swede lost just three points on serve in the first set, won five of nine break points and saved the only break point he faced. Enqvist, the 1995 and 1996 champion here, was glad to be home after a long season. "This is my favourite event of the year," he said. "It’s always fun to come back and play." "I got off to a good start, everything worked for me today. Usually, I’m a bit nervous in the first round." Enqvist will play for a quarter-final place against German Jens Knippschild. Swede Magnus Gustafsson was untroubled by a 13-year age gap between himself and Spanish opponent Juan Carlos Ferrero. The 32-year-old notched a 6-3, 6-1 result to advance. The final Swede on court had to knock out a countryman to advance. But Magnus Norman did not let sympathy get in the way of victory during his 7-5, 6-4 results against Mikael Tillstrom. Another hapless Spaniard went down on the carpet, victim of a seed. That winner was german Tommy Haas, the tournament number four, who defeated Francisco Clavet 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 to stay in the thick of the battle for a possible Alternate’s place at the season-wrap-up finale in Hanover starting November 23. Haas can gain the substitute’s post if he reaches the final on Sunday at the Kungliga Hall. But to do that, the world number 14 German will have to oust Henman in a semi-final - assuming both men reach that far. Haas needed two breaks in the final set to establish control, and lost one of them. But the German held his margin and won the contest on the third of three match points when Clavet returned long after 92 minutes. Hanover main-draw player Nicolas Lapentti rebounded from a semi-final loss at the weekend in Paris, storming into the second round 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) over Holland’s Peter Wessels, ranked 91st. Lapentti lost in straight sets on Saturday at Bercy to eventual champion Andre Agassi. In other opening-round matches, South African Wayne Ferreira knocked out the first finn in 11 years to qualify for a main draw spot here, beating Ville Liukko 7-6 (7-3), 6-3. Belgian qualifier Filip Dewulf ousted Germany’s Rainer Schuttler 6-4, 6-2. (DPA) |
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Football
League Tournament Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Nov 10: Jammu Sports-A defeated Cantt Star 2-0 in the senior division in the ongoing Football League Tournament being organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Football Association, Jammu wing at Mini-stadium, Parade, here today. Earlier, the first half remained barren, inspite of the fact that winners had got two open sitters which they missed. Emaneul and Noel Yusuf had aimed the target with their powerpacked shots, but were foiled by the alert guard at the net. However, in the second half, two goals were scored. First goal came in the 45th minute through Rinku Gill, whereas second was scored by Sanjay in the 48th minute of the match. In the Junior division league tie which ended in a controversy, NGR Club defeated Gorkha Brothers 3-2. The final decision will taken by the organisers lateron. The problem started when Gorkha Brothers lodged protest against four unregistered players, who were playing for NGR Club. However, were pacified by the organisers, with an assurance that action will taken lateron. According to Gorkha Brothers, these four unregistered players were Bharat Bhushan, Dr G P Sharma, Kuldeep and Bhushan. Earlier, Pawan Kumar, Harvind Singh and Dr G P Sharma had scored goals from winners side in the 9th, 45th and 48th minute of the match respectively. From losers, Gagan Bist and Mohinder Rana scored goals in the 45th and 58th minute making it 3-2. In another match in the Junior division, National Club beat Zion Club in a one sided affair 4-0. Devinder Kumar scored goals in the 20th and 31st minute of the match, while Shanu Kishan and Samunder Nath raised the tally adding goals in the 23rd and 52nd minute respectively. Today’s matches were officiated by Messrs Shiv Pal Sharma, Michal, Raju Sandhu, Pawan Kumar, Ramesh Kumar, Rakesh Sanju and Samson Gill. Tomorrow’s fixture: Vijay Hero V/s Young Christain; Christain Star V/s Nagrota Club; Young Star V/s Churchill Brothers. |
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Sportsmen denied facilities at JU Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Nov 10: Some of the top ranking sportspersons of the state who are the regular stuedents of the University have been allegedly denied playing facilities by the Director Physical Education, University of Jammu. These players have also lodged a verbal complaint with the Registrar and Dean Students Welfare, University of Jammu. The Post Graduate students were complaining that the Director Physical Education has locked the Gymnasium hall which is the only sports venue in the University, for unknown reason. When these players approached for opening of the hall, the Assistant Director ‘straightway refused’ to oblige and asked them to come in the evening. These players, most of whom belonged to far off place are unable to come in the evening and wanted to practice during the University time. |
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JALANDHAR, Nov 10: International Harbjahan Singh’s brilliant hat-trick helped defending champions Border Security Force (BSF) earn full points as they defeated Air India, Mumbai 3-2 in a league match of the 16th Surjit Hockey Tournament here today. Both the teams dished out fast, attacking hockey, and BSF opened their account in the 16th minute through a penalty corner by international outside left Harbhajan. Their joy was, however, short-lived as the continually attacking airmen restored parity in the 27th through international forward Davinder Kumar. The paramilitary men again took the lead in the 43rd minute when Harbhajan dribbled past the defenders and sounded the boards. Once again, Davinder found the mark to equalise for Air India. Harbhajan then scored the winner and completed his hat-trick. In other matches, Punjab Police beat Rail Coach Factory 4-2, while Punjab and Sind Bank routed PSEB, Patiala 4-0. (PTI) |
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