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| Central Districts sitting pretty against India NAPIER, Dec 6: Unable to cope with the lively conditions, India made an unimpressive start to their New Zealand tour managing just 209 in their first innings on the opening day of their warm-up match against Central Districts here today. .....more Haryana
beat Delhi ROHTAK, Dec 6: Continuing their winning spree, Haryana trounced Delhi by seven wickets in the one-day North Zone Ranji Trophy league cricket match at the Maharaja Aggarsain Stadium here today............more Musharraf
wants ISLAMABAD, Dec 6: Expressing his admiration for top Indian cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar, Pakistan.........more NAPIER, Dec 6: Indian captain Sourav Ganguly made light of his main batsmen’s poor show on the opening day of the three-day game against........more |
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Mr India aims at becoming Mr Universe By Sanjeev Sharma JAMMU, Dec 6: Mr India, Daljeet Singh, who has to his credit Commonwealth and Asians medals also, is aiming at winning......more Forum for
transparency Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 6: The Jammu University wing of the Jammu and Kashmir Players’ Forum has called for bringing......more Red
Cross’ Inter-State camp Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 6: Divya Khajuria, who was part of the J&K contingent which took part in the Inter-State........more MANDI (HP), Dec 6: The first match of the 10th All India HIM Gold Cup Hockey Tournament.....more |
NAPIER, Dec 6: Unable to cope with the lively conditions, India made an unimpressive start to their New Zealand tour managing just 209 in their first innings on the opening day of their warm-up match against Central Districts here today. With the famed batting line-up failing to negotiate the seaming deliveries, the tourists were forced on the back foot by the end of the day as Central Districts reached 69 for one with former test players Craig Spearman batting on 40 and Mathew Sinclair on 17. Barring captain Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar, none of the other Indian batsmen could hang around for long after being sent in to bat, falling tamely to some lively bowling by a little-known opposition attack led by Michael Mason and Andrew Schwass, both of whom took three wickets apiece. Tendulkar and Ganguly scored 44 and 48 respectively and added 53 runs for the fifth wicket to pull the Indians out of the woods after they were reduced to 84 for four just before lunch. The Indians again lost four wickets in the post lunch session before the last three batsmen - Harbhajan Singh (29), Ashish Nehra (14) and Tinu Yohannan (4 not out) - fought bravely to help the team cross the 200-run mark. India lost a couple of wickets within the first seven overs of the match when opener Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid returned to pavilion with the score reading 20. Sehwag after making a quick 12 off 16 balls was caught by Sinclair with Mason providing the breakthrough. The visitors suffered another jolt in the same over as Dravid snicked a ball low to the wicketkeeper M Sigley before opening his account. Sanjay Bangar (21) and Tendulkar led the recovery through a third wicket association of 50 runs before both fell in quick succession just before the lunch break. Tendulkar, who looked a bit tentative at the start of his innings, took some time at the crease adjusting to the conditions before opening out with some flourishing square cuts and on-side drives. Tendulkar, who faced 63 balls and hit six boundaries, fell when his defensive prod left a gap for a Lance Hamilton delivery to hit the stumps. Bangar batted in his characteristic defensive manner and looked set for a long innings before an extravagant attempt to push a rising delivery into covers took the edge to the wicketkeeper. Indians, 93 for 4 at lunch break, began another recovery act through Ganguly and V V S Laxman (9) who took the score to 137 before another collapse left them stuttering at 161 for 8. Laxman, without any visible footwork for most of his innings, edged Lance Hamilton behind the stumps while Ganguly perished in identical fashion with Matthew Mason being the bowler. The Indian captain struck five fours in his 81-ball knock. Parthiv Patel (7) looked promising in his brief stay at the crease but Ajit Agarkar (0) was similarly clueless in conditions where the ball moved all day. Just when it looked like the Indian innings will fold up before the tea break, Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra hung on resolutely much to the frustration of captain spearman who employed Glenn Sulzberger’s off-spin in the 57th over to break the partnership. Sulzberger received some stick from Harbhajan and Nehra but claimed both of them eventually to bring the visitors’ innings to a close. Indian bowlers could not take more than one wicket in the 18 overs they bowled today. Nehra took the wicket of Peter Ingram who was caught by Sehwag after making 10. But Spearman and Sinclair ensured that there were no further setbacks as they flayed the Indian bowling attack to put their team in a comfortable position. (PTI) |
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Haryana beat Delhi by seven wickets ROHTAK, Dec 6: Continuing their winning spree, Haryana trounced Delhi by seven wickets in the one-day North Zone Ranji Trophy league cricket match at the Maharaja Aggarsain Stadium here today. With today’s win, Haryana has notched up five points while Delhi are yet to open their account. Winning the toss and electing to bat, Delhi were, however, restricted to 171 in 48.2 overs by fine bowling spells of Mishra, Joginder and Sonu. Mishra bagged three wickets while Joginder and Sonu two each. The other wickets were shared by Vashisht and Narwal, while Sarandeep Singh was run out. Hosts Haryana, powered by sterling knock of 64 by Chetan Sharma off 94 balls and helped by Parinder Sharma’s knock of 38 off 61 balls cruised to 173 for the loss of three wickets with ten overs and five balls to spare.(PTI) |
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Musharraf wants India play in Pakistan ISLAMABAD, Dec 6: Expressing his admiration for top Indian cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar, Pakistan president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf has made a strong case for the Indian cricket touring Pakistan early next year. Musharraf, after a meeting with the International Cricket Council president Malcolm Gray yesterday, said that he hoped India resumed its cricketing ties with Pakistan with their scheduled visit in 2003 soon after the World Cup. During his meeting with Gray, Gen. Musharraf was quite outspoken about his admiration for some of the top Indian cricketers, especially batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar, media manager of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Sami Burni told PTI here. Burni said in his meeting with Gray, which was aimed at making case for ICC to prevail on all the top cricketing countries to resume playing test and one-day cricket in Pakistan, Musharraf also sounded confident that India would certainly permit its team to tour Pakistan. Burni said that the President’s optimism was based on India’s decision to permit its large team of athletes to take part in the forthcoming SAF Games to be held here early next year. Musharraf, however, had reportedly told Gray that if India failed to turn up then Pakistan would not keep up its commitment to tour India in 2004. Musharraf reportedly has said that he believed that there was great deal of goodwill existed between the two countries as the Pakistan’s polo team which visited India recently came back with very happy memories. Gen. Musahrraf said he permitted the polo team to go to India against considerable opposition within Pakistan. (PTI) |
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NAPIER, Dec 6: Indian captain Sourav Ganguly made light of his main batsmen’s poor show on the opening day of the three-day game against central districts today, saying that he was confident of his team bouncing back into the match. "We will get better as the days go on," said Ganguly after the day’s play which saw India’s top batsmen struggling on a lively track to manage only 209 runs. "It is the first time the boys had a hit. We had no nets since the time we’ve come to New Zealand. It is going to get better tomorrow and day after," said Ganguly, who top-scored for the side with 48. "The conditions here are similar to what you have in England and Zimbabwe - it will seam around and there would be grass on the pitch. "I hope the second innings is much better than what it was today." Ganguly agreed that the first day could have been better for the visitors but drew comfort from their performance in England recently. "We toured England and scored 600 and 500. So there is no need to panic. It is all in the mind. The top six have a lot of experience. I don’t think it should matter," he said. Ganguly said the team was a bit jet lagged but declined to use it as an excuse for the dismal showing with the bat. "We certainly are a bit jet lagged and struggling to find our feet. But it is no excuse because we are professional sportsmen." Central Districts coach Mark Greatbatch said too much wrist work by the Indians was to be blamed for dismissals of most of the batsmen. "They went at the ball with their hands. When the ball is doing a bit, you need to keep your hands nice and close. Play straight and not with your wrists. "They need to keep the full face of the bat opposed to using the wrists which Indian players are very good at doing. "They have got to play a bit better than that because the wickets here would do a bit," said the former New Zealand opener. Greatbatch also complimented his bowlers for skittling out India cheaply but added it could have been better had they held their catches. "It was not a perfect day. I think if we had held our catches we could have been starting our innings much early." (PTI) |
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Mr India aims at becoming Mr Universe By Sanjeev Sharma JAMMU, Dec 6: Mr India, Daljeet Singh, who has to his credit Commonwealth and Asians medals also, is aiming at winning the coveted Mr Universe title for the country. Once top Gymnast of the nation, who six years back shifted to the game of body building in 1996, has already launched his campaign for the highest title of Mr Universe. This 65 kg weight group body builder was talking to EXCELSIOR on his visit to the city of temples to witness the District Udhampur and State Body Building Championships held recently. Keeping the title of Mr India with him for the last three successive years, Daljeet has also won silver medal in South-Asia and bronze in Asian Body Building Championships (1999). Simple and polite speaking, Daljeet informed this scribe, "in fact my parent game is Gymnastics, which gave me strong muscles and flexible body and it was due to the Gymnastics that I was able to perform so well in the Body Building during all these years". "I have 13 years successful career in Gymnastics and in 1990, I attained the peak of becoming National Champion. Prior to becoming the champion in senior category, I won various competitions at the junior level", informed Daljeet. Serving with Punjab Police as Assistant Sub-Inspector, this 34 year lad from Punjab is known to every body in Punjab Police. Kuldeep, who is visiting the state from the last two years to witness the competitions in Jammu, had all praise for the good crowd support. "In Udhampur, there was excellent crowd support to the performers on the stage. They respected us and greeted with cheers when we went to the stage for some demonstration", said Daljeet. He added, it was a well organised and well attended State Championship in Jammu’s Mini-Stadium. "The way a healthy crowd turned up at the venue and witnessed the event till late in the night, I can say with confidence that the new generation is fast going for maintaining and building good bodies". "Without giving any harm, body building gives youngman a healthy physique and good personality", he quipped. Jr North India Champion wants a gold in World Championship Mr North-India in junior group, Jagjeet Singh, who was also accompanying Daljeet to Jammu, has set his eyes on the forthcoming Junior Mr World Championship wherein he wants to win a gold medal. The Junior World Championship is scheduled to be held in Portugal in the month of January next. Tall and handsome, Jagjeet, who is also serving with the Punjab Police as ASI also belongs to Punjab. He used to contest in above 70 kg weight group. This 19 years old boy had aimed at becoming body builder in his life right from the childhood. |
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Forum for transparency in
JU sports Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 6: The Jammu University wing of the Jammu and Kashmir Players’ Forum has called for bringing transparency in the affairs of sports and demanded that a sports council, on the lines of cultural council, should be formed by the authorities for the varsity without wasting more time. Pleading the cause of sportspersons at the highest learning institution, the Forum highlighted a tall list of problems being faced by them. The callous and non-sporting attitude of the people at the helm of affairs has forced the Forum to take the bold initiative of exposing them. While, pointing out at the non-serious approach towards raising the Campus teams, the Forum also hinted at some kind of ‘corruption’ by the people associated with sports. Questioning the authorities concerned, Chandan Singh Chowhan, chairman of the JU wing of the Forum asked for the where-abouts of the funds amounting to lakhs of Rupees, raised at the time admission, if the players are not being provided proper kits and refreshments in the Inter-college and Inter-University competitions. Chandan Singh informed that the JU contingent has been participating in various Inter-University competitions without proper kit thus facing humiliation from the other participating Universities who otherwise come in full dress. Raising a genuine point of meager refreshment, Chandan said the players are getting the same amount of Rs 10 to Rs 12 per day which their seniors used to get decade ago. Secretary of the Forum, Gourav Jamwal said that the non-sporting attitude of the temporary heads of the Department of Physical Education has led to discouragement of the budding players. Narrating a recent incident, Gouarv said, "recently, the PG Law and Science won the Inter-college Cricket Tournament, which is an achievement, but alas! No body patted us and extended any word of encouragement or announced any incentive for the team. While, on the other side, the college managements always call the winner teams and highlighted them by exposing them to media". Giving details about another incident, he said, "the Campus PTI failed to raise the PG Law and Science Football team for the ongoing Inter-College Tournament despite the fact that players wanted to play". He complained that most of the time, the Departments never publicise the informations regarding sports events and their schedule dates, and when players come to know about the activities themselves, they are not being accommodated. Since JU has not yet honoured the gold medal winner in the recently held All India Inter-University Chess, Vivek Bharati, Chandan Singh disclosed that the Forum will honour him alongwith the medal winners in the forthcoming National Games. |
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Red Cross’
Inter-State camp Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 6: Divya Khajuria, who was part of the J&K contingent which took part in the Inter-State National Integration-cum-Red Cross Youth Training Camp held at Pune recently, finished second in the paper presentation. She gave brief report of Red Cross Society in J&K and its various programmes launched in the State. She made the delegates and volunteers from across the nation present there, aware of the fear in the minds of the people due to the militancy in J&K. Divya narrated the militancy related incidents took place in Jammu, including that of on the Raghunath Temple catching the attention of each and everyone listening to her. Her paper read, "Even God’s place like temples were not left. The scene sent shiver down the nerves of people. It was a mental trauma. The whole scenario became dreaded in a while. Policemen alongwith civilian laid down there in lap of death. Even though we love our State more than anything, but, now the psyche of people has become so that even a Diwali crackers sounds like a bomb blast to the people". She informed the gathering that Red Cross is holding mediative sections to calm the perturbed minds of people of J&K. "A nation doesn’t become big with its tall buildings and super structures but, it becomes big with its people who are dynamic and industrious for actions speak louder than words and Red Cross has surely proved it". A 16-member team, including Divya, represented J&K State in this camp and also participated in other cultural and creative activities. Divya is a part-II (Home Science) student of the Government College for Women, Gandhi Nagar. |
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MANDI (HP), Dec 6: The first match of the 10th All India HIM Gold Cup Hockey Tournament played at the Paddal Stadium here today between Steel Authority of India and Una ended in a goalless draw. Both the teams struggled hard to overcome each other but failed to earn even a single goal. In the second match of the day, Himachal Police routed Delhi Transpot Corporation 4-0. Himachal Police displayed good placing and passes in the game. Munish fired two goals while Jaswant and Jitender netted one goal each. In the third match of the day, Core of Signal defeated Rail Coach Factory 1-0 in an exciting match. (UNI) |
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Rains force matches to be called
off in CHENNAI, Dec 6: Rains today played spoilsport washing out two matches — Australia vs England and South Africa vs Sri Lanka - at the Petro World Cup cricket for the Blind here today. Heavy rains started when Australia had just begun their innings after being sent in to bat by England, forcing the umpires P Chandrasekaran and B Das to call off play. The rains caught everyone by surprise as Chennai had not experienced rains for nearly three weeks now and the Northeast monsoon, which set in October, was retreating. When play was called off, Australia’s RSS Moxly (1) and C J Backstrom were at the crease. In the other match, South Africa were 66 for one when rains brought an abrupt end to the tie. R Lakshan, who was run out, was the lone batsman to be dismissed for 20. R P S Rajapaksha was batting on 28 and J Srikantha on 18. All the four teams were awarded two points each. (PTI) |
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