Excelsior Correspondent

SRINAGAR, July 07: Minister for Finance, Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Abdul Rahim Rather accompanied by Deputy Commissioner , Budgam, today visited Charar-e-Sharief town and took stock of the situation arising out of the devastating fire incident which broke out in the town yesterday. As many as 25 structures were destroyed in the fire mishap.

Interacting with the sufferers on the occasion, the Minister assured that immediate steps would be taken for the proper rehabilitation of fire victims. He said that the Government stands with the fire victims in the hour of grief.

The Minister issued on the spot instructions to district administration to assess the property losses and furnish a detailed report to the Government within two days so that adequate relief measures are taken in the right earnest.

Mr. Rather also directed the administration for providing urgent interim relief to the affected families in the shape of ration, tents, blankets and utensils, enabling them to carry on their normal activities.

Jora meets Union Tourism Minister

Excelsior Correspondent

NEW DELHI, July 07- Minister for Tourism and Culture, Nawang Rigzin Jora called on Union Minister of State for Tourism, Kumari Selja here today. During the meeting, the two leaders discussed various issues pertaining to development of tourism industry in Jammu and Kashmir.

Asking for Centre’s cooperation in creation of tourism-related infrastructure in the State, Mr. Jora that the sector is vital to the economy of J&K and promotion of tourism-related activities can help the State in generating wealth, including foreign exchange. He also invited Kumari Selja to visit J&K to take a firsthand appraisal of the tourism sector.

Kumari Selja assured Mr. Jora that liberal financial assistance will be extended to augment infrastructure so that the State is equipped to accommodate more and more tourists. She said she will be visiting the State in the second or third week of July and will take an overall view of the potential of J&K especially in adventure, pilgrim and heritage tourism.

FCC, YSS through to semis

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

DODA, July 6: Friends Cricket Club (FCC) and Young Shining Srinagar (YSS) have entered into the semifinals of the ongoing All India Master Gufran Memorial Twenty20 Cricket tournament being played at Sports Stadium here today.

In the first match, FCC overcame the challenge of Zakir Cricket Club (ZCC) by 50 runs.

Batting first, FCC accumulated 225/9 in the allotted overs with Vipan and Ashish top scoring with 84 and 63 runs respectively.

For ZCC, Jamshed and Irshad snared five and two wickets respectively. Chasing 226 to win, ZCC bundled out for 175 runs. Rohit Batt and Waseem scored 73 and 21 runs respectively.

For FCC, Parashant and Vipan shared two wickets apiece.

YSS had last laugh against Kolkata T-20 Cricket Association (KT-20) by 98 runs in a one sided affair.

YSS made 173 runs/9 in the stipulated overs. Muzaffar and Abid Nabi contributed 47 and 33 runs respectively.

For KT-20, Amit Anand and Nonihal Singh scalped three wickets each.

In reply, KT-20 skittled out for 75 runs. Abid Nabi and Parvaiz fetched four and three wickets respectively.

The match was officiated by Saleem-ur-Rehman and Ifroz Rather.

KCC beat Moon Light Kathua

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

KATHUA, July 6: Kaku Cricket Club (KCC), Hiranagar trounced Moon Light Kathua by 94 runs today in the ongoing Satish Sharma Memorial Cricket tournament being played at Sports Stadium, Hiranagar here.

KCC made challenging 235/5 in the allotted 30 overs with Varinder remained unbeaten on 44 followed by Mani (40), Rajinder (41) and Vishu (32).

For Moon Light, Ganesh and Kaka shared two wickets each. In reply, Moon Light bowled out for 141 runs in 26.4 overs.

Kali and Mita made 21 and 20 runs respectively. For KCC, Mani, Rajinder and Nishu snared two wickets apiece.

Family denies Dhoni’s Bollywood link-ups

NEW DELHI, July 7: Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s family today dismissed his reported link-ups with film actresses but made it clear that they would have no problems if the charismatic Indian cricket captain, who turns 28 today, decides to tie the knot with the girl of his choice.

Reacting to reports linking Dhoni to Bollywood star Deepika Padukone and south Indian actress Laxmi Rai, Dhoni’s brother Narendra told PTI that those were just media speculation.

"These are all media speculation. Mahi is very close to us and he shares everything with us. If he decides to marry someone, he will tell us before anybody else," he said.

Narendra said his family is not looking for girls and the cricketer was free to chose his life partner.

"We are not looking for a bride for Mahi. He is free to choose his life partner. We have left this decision on him. We will welcome his choice," he said.

"We don’t mind if he prefers love marriage," he added.

In fact, Narendra said, there was no hurry to get Dhoni married and cricket topped his agenda at the moment.

"We are not at all in hurry. His priority is his career and he is just 28. Marriage can wait for a couple of years." Narendra said.

Rather, the family would love to see him guiding India to 2011 World Cup triumph, he said.

"We all wish that he plays many more years and Team India wins 2011 World Cup under his captaincy," Narendra said.

He said the family misses Dhoni when he is on tours but is happy that he has remained polite despite his overwhelming success.

"We miss him when he is not around but we all know that he is very busy and has responsibilities. We are proud of him.

"Mahi has worked very hard to be there. Today he is an icon but did not changed at all. Our parents taught us to be grounded and he never forgets this. He is the same old Mahi for us," said Narendra. (PTI)

Prakash in Hall of Fame second round

NEWPORT (USA), July 7: Last year’s runner-up Prakash Amritraj breezed into the second round of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships with a straight-set victory over Thailand’s Danai Udomchoke here.

The wild card Indian won 6-1 6-4 in a 62-minute contest in the ATP grass court event.

Prakash saved all three break points he faced on serve while converting three of his five opportunities to storm into the second round.

He next faces the winner of the first round match between third-seeded American Sam Querrey and Spaniard Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo.

The 25-year-old Prakash had a dream run last year, reaching the final where he lost to Frenchman Fabrice Santoro.

He also reached the quarter-finals as a qualifier in 2007. His father, Vijay Amritraj, won the title here back in 1980 and 1984. (PTI)

Aus need to win Ashes to retain Test number one spot

DUBAI, July 7: Australia’s numero uno status in ICC Test rankings is at stake during the Ashes and Ricky Ponting’s men would drop to the second spot for the first time if England manage to even draw the series.

England could also overtake Australia at the end of the series, but to make that happen they will have a script history and win every Test, something which no English side has done in a series of five or more Tests since the start of the Ashes over a century ago.

Moreover, Australia’s lead over second-placed South Africa will also be trimmed down from nine points to just two points when the annual update is carried out on August 1 and all series completed before August 2006 fall off the table.

These results include Australia’s back to back 2-0 and 3-0 wins over South Africa in 2005-06, hence reducing the gap significantly.

After the annual update, Australia (128), will drop four points to 124 ratings points while South Africa will gain three points to rise to 122. England, which currently sits on 101 ratings points, will slip to 99 ratings points.

Meanwhile, India are at third spot with 117 points, two points adrift of South Africa and nine more than Sri Lanka (108).

In Test batsmen rankings headed by Pakistan captain Younis Khan (880), Gautam Gambhir is the highest-ranked Indian at third with 847 points, seven rating points adrift of Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara (854).

The next best Indian batsman is Sachin Tendulkar at 13^{th, followed by VVS Laxman (15th) and Virender Sehwag (20th).}

^{Among the bowlers, Harbhajan Singh is the top Indian at sixth with 735 points. Zaheer Khan (11th) and Ishant Sharma (20th) are the other two Indians in the top 20.}

^{South Africa’s Jacques Kallis leads the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders. (PTI)}

Yuki moves to 2nd round of ITF Futures

NEW DELHI, July 7: Bidding for his second successive title, fourth-seed Yuki Bhambri crushed Nihal Kapoor 6-2, 6-0 to set up a second-round clash with Israel’s Tal Eros in the USD 15,000 ITF Futures tournament here today.

Yuki had skipped the junior Wimbledon championship and won last week’s event to claim his third title on the men’s circuit.

Unseeded Eros advanced to the second round after N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth conceded the match during the third and final set.

Eros had lost the first set but bounced back and was leading 1-6, 7-6(5), 2-1 when Prashanth decided to opt out of the contest.

Last week’s finalist and sixth-seed Rohan Gajjar also booked a second round berth. He advanced when Nikunj Siwach retired while trailing 3-6, 1-2.

Gajjar will take on Fariz Mohammed, who also moved to the next level when his opponent Ashwin Vijayragavan retired after losing the first set. The score was 7-6(0), 1-0 in favour of Mohammed.

National champion Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan, seventh seed, rallied to beat Vignesh Peranamallur-Chandrasekhar 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

However, it was all over for Navdeep Singh, who lost 3-6, 6-7 (0) to top-seed Japanese Kento Teakeuchi. (PTI)

Sri Lanka win 1st test by 50 runs

GALLE, July 7: Sri Lanka snatched an incredible win over Pakistan in the first cricket Test, defending a meager 167 runs to claim the series opener by 50 runs today.

Pakistan resumed the fourth day within sight of a convincing win, needing 97 more runs to win with eight wickets in hand and two days to remaining.

But Sri Lankan left-arm spinner Rangana Herath (4-15) and seamer Thilan Thushara (2-21) upended the Pakistan innings, striking at regular intervals to hasten a batting collapse.

Herath struck in the second over, trapping first innings centurymaker Mohammad Yousuf (12) lbw for his overnight score. He soon dismissed Sulman Butt (28) caught by Tharanga Paranavitana.

Thushara then had Shoaib Malik (0) caught behind by Tillakaratne Dilshan and trapped Kamran Akmal (6) lbw.

Misbah-ul-Haq’s run out for seven left Pakistan on a precarious 85-7, with all their recognized batsmen back in the pavilion.

Herath wrapped up the innings when he had Abdur Rauf caught by Mahela Jayawardene at slip to hand his side a famous win to kick start the three-match series, the first between the two countries since the Sri Lankan team’s convoy was attacked by terrorists en route to a match at Lahore, Pakistan in March.

Pakistan was seemingly on top of the match from the start.

Visiting skipper Younis Khan won the toss and sent Sri Lanka in to bat, restricting the hosts to 292.

Mohammad Yousuf celebrated his return to test cricket with 112 runs, his 29^{th test hundred that helped Pakistan reach 342 in reply.}

^{Rookie bowlers Saeed Ajmal and Mohammad Aamer produced three wickets each to end Sri Lanka’s second innings for 217 runs, giving Pakistan what should have been an achievable target. Aamer returned 3-38 and took a match haul of six wickets while Ajmal recorded 3-34 and took five wickets in the match.}

^{Sri Lanka 1st Innings: 292}

^{Pakistan 1st Innings: 342}

^{Sri Lanka 2nd Innings: 217}

^{Pakistan 2nd Innings: (Overnight 71-2)}

^{Khurram Manzoor c Jayawardene b Mendis 15}

^{Salman Butt c Paranavitana b Herath 28}

^{Younis Khan lbw b Mathews 3}

^{Mohammad Yousuf lbw b Herath 12}

^{Misbah-ul-Haq run out 7}

^{Shoaib Malik c Dilshan b Thushara 0}

^{Kamran Akmal lbw b Thushara 6}

^{Abdur Rauf c Jayawardene b Herath 13}

^{Umar Gul b Mendis 9}

^{Mohammad Aamer c Dishan b Herath 6}

^{Saeed Ajmal not out 1}

^{Extras (B 13, LB 3, W 1) 17}

^{Total: (all out in 44.3) 117}

^{Fall of wickets: 1-36, 2-39, 3-71, 4-72, 5-72, 6-80, 7-85, 8-95, 9-110, 10-117.}

^{Bowling: Nuwan Kulasekera 7-1-25-0, Thilan Thushara 12-4-21-2, Anjelo Mathews 4-0-13-1, Ajantha Mendis 10-0-27-2, Rangana Herath 11.3-5-15-4. (AGENCIES)}

Celebrity football match to raise fund for Aila victims

KOLKATA, July 7: Film stars, TV personalities and cricketers have joined hands to play a charity football match to raise funds for the victims of cyclone Aila in West Bengal.

Mithun Chakraborty will lead the Film Artists XI while former India captain Sourav Ganguly is likely to lead the TV Artists XI in the tie to be held at Vidyasagar Krirangan in Barasat on July 12.

Organised by the West Bengal Motion Pictures Artists Forum, the match will be a 50-minute affair. The celebrities have also planned programmes by singer Usha Uthup, Nachiketa and others.

The fund collected from the match will be donated to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for the victims of Cyclone Aila that hit West Bengal on May 25.

"The initial response was slow... However, slowly we are receiving good response. We expect to raise Rs 25 lakh and above from it," prolific Tollywood actor Sabyasachi Chakraborty, who is the secretary of the West Bengal Motion Pictures Artists Forum, told.

"We expect people to turn up in large numbers and do something for the victims of Aila," he said.

He, however, added that participation of Ganguly was not yet confirmed. "He has been named the captain of TV artist side but he is yet to confirm." (PTI)

Mascarenhas scripts Rajasthan’s thumping win over Middlesex...

LONDON, July 7: Dimitri Mascarenhas’ all-rounder exploits scripted Rajasthan Royals’ thumping 46-run win over Middlesex Panthers in the one-off British Asian Cup Twenty20 match here at Lord’s.

In what was Royals captain Shane Warne’s swansong appearance on English soil, Mascarenhas blasted an unbeaten two-run-a-ball 32 to help the side reach 162 in their allotted overs.

The English all-rounder then returned to claim Neil Dexter and the dangerous Owais Shah as Middlesex managed 116 for seven wickets to fall 47 run shy of the victory target in the match staged to aid the British Asian Trust.

For the Royals, Faiz Fazal (27), Swapnil Asnodkar (41) and Mohammad Kaif (41) shone with the bat, while Dawid Malan (34) top scored for Middlesex before becoming Warne’s lone victim of the match.

Warne, who returns to Las Vegas where he is playing in the World Poker Series, finished with a decent 4-0-24-1 figure besides another win under the belt.

Put into bat, the Royals got off to a flying start as Fazal and Asnodkar put on 55 runs inside seven overs.

Left-arm spinner Murali Kartik did remove Fazal in the seventh over but with Kaif too playing smart cricket, runs were easy to come by.

Their 50-run association was snapped when Asnodkar fell to Malan. Naman Ojha (10) and Justin Langer (1) fell in quick succession too but Mascarenhas’ unbeaten 16-ball 32, with two fours and a six in it, took them past the 160-mark.

In reply, Middlesex never really got going. Returning to the Indian Premier League outfit after missing the second edition of IPL, Pakistani pacer Sohail Tanvir removed Billy Godleman (4) in the fourth over to draw first blood and Middlesex never really looked like chasing the target.

Mascarenhas dealt a body blow by first removing Owais Shah (1) and then getting rid of Dexter (26). Malan and Gareth Berg (26) did try their best but it was not enough in the end as Middlesex finished at 116 for seven.

For the Royals, Tavir once again underlined his stature as a Twenty20 bowler, claiming three wickets conceding 20 runs in his four overs.

Mascarenhas was the obvious choice for the Man of the Match award for his sterling show. (PTI)

Shoaib ruffles few feathers in talk show..

KARACHI, July 7: Controversial Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar appears to be heading for another confrontation with the cricket authorities after threatening to take legal action against the national team management.

Shoaib, a centrally contracted player with the Pakistan Cricket Board, has appeared on a television talk show to be aired late tonight in which he has apparently made statements that are likely to upset authorities once again.

The publicity ads of the show claim Shoaib as saying he reserves the right to take legal action against the team management (apparently for dropping him from the T20 World Cup team and raising question about his fitness).

He goes on to claim that there is a conspiracy to malign him and that he can still play for a few years for Pakistan.

No stranger to controversies, Shoaib was withdrawn from the T20 World Cup squad in late May after a PCB medical panel found him to be suffering from a skin infection that needed treatment for 12 days.

His ouster from the team also led to chief selector Abdul Qadir’s resignation who alleged team coach Intikhab Alam and manager Yawar Saeed were behind the move to drop Shoaib and they didn’t consult the selectors on this.

Under the terms of the central contract, players are not supposed to make controversial statements in the media but by the look of it, Shoaib seems to have done it once again on the television show.

Former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis though backed Shoaib to make a comeback to the team.

"Shoaib can still play for a couple of years for Pakistan and if that is possible then it is good for Pakistan cricket," Waqar told a newspaper.

"There is no doubt he is fast and is a very intelligent bowler," the former pacer added.

Shoaib, who turns 34 next month, has taken 178 wickets in 46 Tests and 223 wickets in 144 ODIs and eight wickets in seven T20 internationals. (PTI)