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| Bopanna, Sipaeya record contrasting wins in ITF Tennis Tourney MUMBAI, Dec 2: Undian Davis Cupper and top seed Rohan Bopanna and his compatriot and fifth seed Sunil Kumar Sipaeya recorded contrasting wins on way to the men’s singles second round of the 10,000 USD prize money ITF Futures Tennis Tournament at the Dr Ranade Centre here today.................more Sehwag
receives a vote of BRISBANE, Dec 2: The repeated failures of Virender Sehwag could be inspiring little confidence among cricket fans but the Delhi opener has received a vote of confidence from Indian coach John Wright ahead of the first test against Australia..............more Dravid
says Indians BRISBANE, Dec 2: Indian vice-captain Rahul Dravid today promised fans that the team would not get "overawed" by the reputation of the Australians in the test series which begins at Gabba on Thursday..............more Reid joins
Indian squad, BRISBANE, Dec 2: With their confidence severly dented after the hammering received from Queensland...........more |
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13th State Billiards & Snooker
Championships Kuldeep, Jaideep enter final of Senior Snooker Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 2: Kuldeep Sharma and Jaideep Manocha today sailed into the final of the Senior Snooker in the ongoing 13th State....more Bowlers
dominate second day's play Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 2: As the second day of the J&K-Bihar Ranji match was completely dominated by the bowlers mostly spinners of both.........more 4th
Udhampur District Excelsior Sports Correspondent KATRA, Dec 2: Fourth Annual Udhampur District Indian Style Wrestling Championship.......more GDC Poonch
beat Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 2: Degree College Poonch today defeated Degree College Udhampur by......more |
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Athletic Meet of Udhampur Distt concludes..... Jammu District Yoga Championship held...... India
should pick 5 bowlers for Brisbane Test.... |
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Bopanna, Sipaeya record contrasting wins MUMBAI, Dec 2: Undian Davis Cupper and top seed Rohan Bopanna and his compatriot and fifth seed Sunil Kumar Sipaeya recorded contrasting wins on way to the men’s singles second round of the 10,000 USD prize money ITF Futures Tennis Tournament at the Dr Ranade Centre here today. Bopanna, playing a solid baseline game, drubbed qualifier Ivan Anikanov of Ukraine 6-3 6-1 in one hour 10 minutes while the dimunitive Sipaeya needed two hour 35 minutes to pip another qualifier Kedar Tembe of India 7-6 (7-1) 4-6 6-3. Vinod Sridhar became the second Indian to sail into the second round today. Playing his serve and volley game to perfection the Indian crushed Mikhall Ledovskikh of Russia 6-0 6-2 in the battle of two unseeded players which lasted just 40 minutes. Another Indian and lucky loser Jaco Matthew lost his first round match to qualifier Adrian Gavrila of Romania 4-6 4-6 while two other qualifiers Murad Inoyatov and Eduard Khan (both from Uzbekistan) were made to sweat by their rivals. Inoyatov pipped lucky loser Sergei Krotiouk of Russia 6-4 4-6 6-1 in two hours 25 minutes while Khan needed two tie breaks to subdue Benot Foucher of France 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-2) in two hours 10 minutes. The Bopanna-Anikanov encounter turned out to be fairly one-sided with the Indian dominating the proceedings. In the first set the Indian broke his rival in the fifth and seventh games before serving out the set at 6-3. In the second Bopanna tightened the grip with a 3-0 lead before Anikanov could win the only game of the set on his serve in the fourth game. The Indian won as he pleased at 6-1. (PTI) |
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Sehwag receives a vote of confidence from Wright BRISBANE, Dec 2: The repeated failures of Virender Sehwag could be inspiring little confidence among cricket fans but the Delhi opener has received a vote of confidence from Indian coach John Wright ahead of the first test against Australia. "We back Sehwag and respect his enormous ability. He is very strong and bright. The way he plays his game on fast and true pitches, he could give us a rousing start," said Wright suggesting that the swashbuckling young player would still come out to open the Indian innings in the Gabba test, starting on Thursday. Sehwag had scores of 20, 23, 6 and 5 in the four innings on the tour so far and back home he was not too successful against Australia in the tvs cup. But Wright felt he had the ability to come good, provided he recaptures his form quickly. "We still rate him well but he obviously needs to find better form," he said. "Opening is a critical part of our success overseas. We hope we can improve in that area. If we can get through the first period, the middle order would have a chance. It is hugely important to us," the New Zealander, who took over the coaching job after india’s last tour to Australia in 1999, said. Wright admitted that the form of his bowlers has suffered because of surfeit of one-day games in recent times and said it has affected the spinners in particular. "This year in particular we have been playing a lot of one-day games. We have played only two tests and it does affect bowlers, more so the spinners," Wright said. The coach also remembered that Sachin Tendulkar had helped India win the Kolkata test in 2001 with his leg-spin bowling and hinted the master batsman might be asked to turn his arm over more in the upcoming series. "He could be the third spinner of the side. I agree that it is a resource we need to encourage. More so on this tour as it would balance our attack. My mind goes back to the 2-3 wickets he took in Kolkata and created an opening for us to win. "When it’s working for him and pitching for him, it works great. We have talked about that with him and that is a possibility with us," he said. Wright said the first day of the series will be extremely important for the team as it begins its quest to win matches in Australia. "We have certainly come here to win cricket matches. I know what this side is capable of doing on this tour. Surely, the first day of the series will be very important." (PTI) |
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Dravid says Indians won’t get "overawed" by Australians BRISBANE, Dec 2: Indian vice-captain Rahul Dravid today promised fans that the team would not get "overawed" by the reputation of the Australians in the test series which begins at Gabba on Thursday. "They are the number one side and therein lies the opportunity for us. We have a chance to show we can compete, there’s no point getting overawed," Dravid told reporters here. "They are a tough side and if you are going to match them over a course of four-test series, then you have got to have belief and confidence and fight through tough times. "There would be tough days on the tour. Hopefully, we could keep our chin up and keep fighting right through the tour," said Dravid nicknamed `The Wall’ for his strong defence. Dravid sought to underplay the reputation of the world champions and termed it as no different tour than they have undertaken in recent times. "I don’t see it as a last frontier. Indeed, we have a lot of frontiers to cross. We have a lot of challenges to meet and we see this tour as one of those challenges. It’s no different than any other tour," said Dravid. Dravid remembers all too well that he was a flop on the last tour to Australia. He made just 93 runs from six innings but does not want to get into a mindset where he would look to prove a point. "(On the last tour) I just wasn’t batting well. When you are not batting well against very good bowlers, then they make you pay. They punished me last time simply because I wasn’t playing good cricket," he said. "But I am not out here to make any points. I am just out to play good cricket. I am going to try and repeat what I have done over the last couple of years. I want to try and do the basics right." Dravid has enjoyed an extremely successful last two years, including four centuries on the trot in 2002. He began this season with a double century against New Zealand in the Ahmedabad test. The vice-captain also disagreed that India had not done too well in the lead-up games to the series and termed it a good opportunity for the team’s pacemen to do well on bouncy Australian wickets. "It was a good preparation for us in two games. We made a few runs and took a few wickets. Most of the guys had a good hit in the middle, spent time and had a good bowl. Touring teams do a lot of mixing and matching in three-day games and we were no different." "Our fast bowlers, I am sure, would be looking at the opportunity to bowl on these kind of wickets. In the end, they might be young and inexperienced but we believe they are talented. It’s a great opportunity for them to show they could bowl in the right areas," he said. (PTI) |
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Reid joins Indian squad, peps up the pacemen BRISBANE, Dec 2: With their confidence severly dented after the hammering received from Queensland Academy of Sports in the second tour game, India’s pace battery today got the "much needed help" with former Australian speedster Bruce Reid joining the squad. The 40-year-old, Reid, who has been appointed as the bowling coach for the four-test series against Australia, had a session with the pacemen before spending some more time with left-arm seamers Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan. Reid took the two speedster for a quiet session where he stressed upon them the correct wrist position and the arc in which the arm should swing at the point of delivery. Indian coach John Wright looked particularly happy that his bowlers were getting the assistance of one of the best left arm seamer, who had also helped Zimbabwe during their recent tour of Australia. "Bruce was highly recommended to us. It was a good opportunity for us to use his vast experience," Wright said. "Bruce has vast experience of bowling in Australia and he knows what is the correct length to bowl to. "Our attack is young and most of them only have a couple of years under their belt. We hope he would help them out with advice which would be useful for the test series," said Wright. "But then there is one thing to explain and another to execute it well." The Australians too regarded Indian team’s move to appoint Reid as their bowling coach as an important one with opener Justin Langer suggesting that the towering left-hander could help Indian bowlers to step up their performance on the current tour. "We are happy he (Reid) is not bowling for India. India has got three left-arm medium-pacers and he is an excellent coach. I know young players respond well to him. I am sure he would be beneficial to the Indians," said Langer. Former off-spinner and manager of the Indian team Shivlal Yadav also expressed happiness with Reid’s first day in office. "He certainly looks the man who knows his job. It’s too early to say how useful he would turn out to be as he has only joined the team today and attended just one session. But we are hopeful his association would prove fruitful for us," said Yadav. Reid, who gave nothing away through a nagging line during his playing days, took 113 wickets from 27 matches at an impressive average of 24.63. (PTI) |
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13th State Billiards
& Snooker Championships Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 2: Kuldeep Sharma and Jaideep Manocha today sailed into the final of the Senior Snooker in the ongoing 13th State Billiards and Snooker Championship being played at MA Stadium here. Kuldeep Sharma defeated Nishant Azad by 4-3 in the first semi-final and Jaideep Manocha beat Kamal Rohmetra by 4-2 in the second semi-final. The date of the final between Kuldeep and Jaideep has not yet been finalised. It was really a nail-biting match between Kuldeep Sharma and Nishant Azad and both played marvelous snooker. The first frame was won by Nishant Azad by 59-31 but in the second frame Kuldeep Sharma staged a come back and clinched the frame by 69-41. Winning of one frame by Nishant and another by Kuldeep continued for next four frames thus making it marathon semi-final stretched upto seven frames. In the last and seventh frame, Kuldeep Sharma trounced Nishant Azad by 45 points. This was the most interesting match ever witnessed in the Championship so far with both the cueists playing in such a way that none could guess as to who will be the winner. In the second semi-final, the winner Jaideep Manocha maintained edge over Kamal Rohmetra from the beginning which was evident from the fact that Kamal lost by two frames. Though Kamal Rohmetra won the first frame by 59-42 but he lost the next three frames by 60-53, 46-45 and 72-42 thus making the chances of his victory very bleak. In the fifth frame, he staged comeback and registered victory of nine points. But Jaideep Manocha restricted Kamal to two frames and clinched the last one by 59-36. Earlier, in the quarter-final league matches, Kamal Rohmetra defeated Sumresh Turki by 3-1. Though Kamal lost the first frame yet in the remaining three frames he continued to dominate Turki and clinched the same by 71-42, 80-35, 67-21. In the second league match, Jaideep Manocha defeated Ankit Khajuria by 3-0. Not only in the semi-final his performance in the quarter-final league match was also good. He clinched the match from Ankit by 75-34, 80-21, 60-19. The matches in senior billiards will begun from tomorrow. |
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Bowlers dominate
second day's play Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 2: As the second day of the J&K-Bihar Ranji match was completely dominated by the bowlers mostly spinners of both the teams by clinching 16 wickets, Jammu and Kashmir required 189 runs to register victory over Bihar. Resuming batting at 56 for five in the second day of the match today, Jammu and Kashmir made a total of 115 runs by losing all wickets. J&K batsmen could resume their first inning for one hour on the second day due to the strong bowling display by the Bihar. Majid Dar, who was playing at three when the first day’s match was closed, today could not add more than eight runs to his score while Vijay Sharma, who was also at three runs yesterday, was dismissed for 10 runs. Samir Khajuria scored 22 runs with the help of two hits over the fence and one to the fence. The another batsmen who made scores in quick succession was Surinder Singh. He made 13 runs with the help of one hit over the fence and one to the fence. The total of J&K’s first innings include seven runs through extras by the bowlers of the Bihar. In the first innings, J&K made a total of 115 runs by losing all wickets as against the 172 of the Bihar. Shaheed Khan of the Bihar was the most effective bowler as he clinched seven wickets by giving just 25 runs in 14.5 overs. It was due to his accurate bowling that J&K could play for only one hour. In the second innings, Bihar made a total of 159 runs by losing all wickets in 60.3 overs. For Bihar, M S Doni scored 15 runs, Anand Parkash scored 26 runs, C M Jha contributed 39 and Mihir Diwakar 23 runs. The other batsmen included Mohit Goyal and Sumit Panda 19 each. For J&K, Samjeer Khajuria clinched four wickets in the second innings. He was followed by Surinder Singh and Jagtar Singh, who clinched two wickets each while Vijay Sharma got one wicket. In the second innings, J&K scored 28 runs by losing one wicket. Vikrant Taggar was playing at eight runs and Kamaljeet was at 15 when the match for the second day was closed. J&K requirs 189 runs more to register victory over the Bihar. The lone batsman who lost his wicket in the second inning of J&K was Sajjad. |
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| 4th Udhampur District Wrestling
Championship concludes Excelsior Sports Correspondent KATRA, Dec 2: Fourth Annual Udhampur District Indian Style Wrestling Championship organised by Udhampur District Indian Style Wrestling Association concluded at Government High School Panjay in Panchari block. The championship was sponsored by the J&K Sports Council and Hotel and Restaurant Association, Katra. In the 30 kg category, Ashoo Ram of Lower Kalsote won first prize, Ajeet Singh of Moungri, second and Parshotam Singh of Panjar, third. In the 34 kg category, first prize was bagged by Surjeet Chand of Panjay, second by Falail Singh of Panjar and Romesh Chander of Panjar. In the 38 kg category, Surjeet Singh of Moungri got first prize, Kewal Singh of Moungri, second and Falail Chand of Panjar third. In the 42 kg category, Romesh Singh of Badhota, first, Rasal Chand of Panjay, second and Gurdev Singh of Mir third. In the 46 kg category, Mohd Aslam of Moungri, first, Surjeet Singh of Moungri, second and Pinku of Panjar, third. In the 50 kg, Partap Singh of Moungri, first, Vijay Singh of Roun Domail, second and Jeevan Kumar of Laddan Power House, third. In the 60 kg category, Kuldeep Singh of Ladda clinched first prize, Kuldeep Singh of Roun Domail, second and Sudesh Singh of Bamhag, third. According to Mr Shiv Kumar Sharma, president of Indian Style Wrestling Association the medal winner wrestlers will be called in the forthcoming State Championship being held in this month. Technical officers of the Championship were Kartar Singh, Madan Lal, Sandoor Singh, Lachman Singh, Biju Pahalwan, Kailash Dev Singh Kotwal and Jai Parkash. Mr Swantantra Dev Kotwal, chairman of Lord Shiva-Parvati Caves Shrine (Moungri) Development Board was the chief guest and he inaugurated the championship. |
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GDC Poonch beat Udhampur
College in Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 2: Degree College Poonch today defeated Degree College Udhampur by 7 goals to nil in the on-going Inter-College Hockey Tournament being played at Jammu University grounds. Though Pawan Kumar opened account for Poonch College by scoring first goal in the 9th minute of the match yet the next four goals were fired by Matvinder Pal Singh in quick succession and took the team towards the easy victory over the Degree College Udhampur. The seventh goal from Poonch College’s side was made by Devinder Singh in the 46th minute. The players of the Poonch College converted one penalty corner and one penalty stroke into goals while all other goals were field ones. The second match could not be played and Post Graduates Department of Arts got walkover PG Law and Science. In the women’s hockey, Degree College Poonch got walkover Kathua College as the latter’s team didn’t turn up. The officials of the match were M S Reen, Satvir Singh, Joginder Singh, Jasbir Singh and Amarjeet Singh. Annual Athletic Meet of Udhampur Distt concludes Excelsior Sports Correspondent UDHAMPUR, Dec 2: The annual Athletic Meet for Boys and Girls organised by the Department of Youth Services and Sports concluded at Sports Stadium, Udhampur concluded here today. Director Sher-e-Kashmir Police Training Academy, Udhampur S S Bijral was the chief guest on the occasion. Mr Vijay Singh Sambyal, Senior Superintendent of Police presided over the valedictory function. In all 250 Athletes representing various educational institutions took part in the Meet. The students of Arnas and Oriental Convent School, Udhampur presented a colourful cultural programme which received thunderous applause from the audience. The chief guest awarded a cash prize of Rs 500 and commendation certificate to Shweta Singh of AO Convent for her performance in the cultural programme. Mr Ashok Kumar, District Youth Services and Sports Officer, Udhampur highlighted all out achievements of the Udhampur district in sports, culture and allied activities and steps initiated for upgradation of play fields. Director SKPA and SSP presented medals to the position holders. Jammu District Yoga Championship held Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 2: Jammu District Yoga Championship held at MA Stadium today wherein 100 persons took part. The Championship was declared open by vice-president of Yoga Association Prof Ashutosh Sharma. In the 8-11 years age group of girls, Payal Aggarwal won the first prize, Sarlian Kour, second and Neha Tandan, third. In 8-11 years age group of boys, Irshan Fotedar bagged first prize, Parvinder Singh, second and Rashiv Gupta, third. In the 11-14 years age group of boys, Sahil Mehra, Sany and Ranjeet clinched first, second and third prizes respectively. In 11-14 years age group of girls, Sharni, Urvashi and Heena bagged first three positions while in the 14-17 years age group of girls, Minakshi, Vidushi and Rajvent got first three prizes. In the 14-17 years age group of boys, Rakesh, Harvinder and Taran Raina bagged first, second and third prizes respectively. The officials were Surinder Gupta, Rekha and Surinder Pathak. India should pick 5 bowlers for Brisbane Test By Allan Border It will surely cross the Indians’ mind whether to play two spinners in the first Test in Gabba. Spinners traditionally don’t play a huge role in Brisbane but as Shane Warne has shown in the past, you could do your stuff on the fourth and fifth day. For that to happen, the Indians will need to take the Australians on the final days, something a lot of visiting sides haven’t done against the world champions recently. They could do it if they play near to their potential as Australians are not used to be stretched. If that happens, spin bowlers could be decisive. I think the Indians should look to take their four best bowlers in the game. If two of their best four are spinners, then so be it. They could also show themselves positive and aggressive by having five bowlers since Australians tend to rattle up a huge score and then put the opposition under pressure. A lot of visiting sides show negative attitude, try not to lose ground to the Australians in the first game and then hope for headway as the series wears on but I’m not sure if this is the right way. The Indians need to get their attitude right and resist the Australians who surely would be looking to breathe fire and dominate them from the first session of the first Test. If Indians take six batters including a wicketkeeper who could bat and if they still lose trying to be positive, so be it. At least they would have shown a positive attitude at the start of the series. Harbhajan Singh to me lately doesn’t seem a bowler who has done too well in Test cricket. It could be because he has been too much into one-day bowling mode. It will be important for India if he retains his Test match bowling form. It is not beyond him either since quality players raise their game when it comes to big matches. He surely has a role to play because australians traditionally haven’t done too well against quality off-spinners. It is really positive on the part of Indians to seek out Bruce Reid’s services as a bowling coach. He was one great Australian cricketer whose career was cut short by injuries. He had the potential to be one of our all-time best bowlers. He has done tremendous work with Nathan Bracken and has been responsible for his elevation. If he could work with your left-arm pacemen, he could really give crucial inputs about the deficiency of australian batsmen and help put the pressure back on the hosts. I think the best way to get to the Australian batting is to bowl with controlled aggression. It wouldn’t help if they try to breathe fire and end up bowling rubbish. They would be whacked around if they show mindless aggression. They need to bowl a good line, maintain control and be aggressive and reid could play a role here. If the two left-arm pacemen could swing the ball, bring the ball in for right handers and bowl deliveries which leave the left-handers they could be handful. But they must bowl in the right corridor and show controlled rather than mindless aggression. Australia would surely look to target Sourav Ganguly. They have always done it against the visiting teams. He would be a target, as surely would be other batsmen, as their ability to cope with short-pitched stuff would be put to question. Sachin Tendulkar, as always would be a key batsman for for the Indians but it would be folly if they leave everything for the great man to deliver. They couldn’t be putting all their eggs in one basket and rely on him all the time. Other guys have to step up and play their roles. It can’t be if Tendulkar comes good everyone fires and if he fails the others perform as if they have no hope. This Indian line-up has a lot of quality and Rahul Dravids and Sourav Gangulys are all capable of producing big scores. If Indians could raise a huge total, their bowlers could bowl better and it would put the team in better shape. (PTI) Giles snares 3 wkts as Lanka totter in opening Test GALLE (SRI LANKA), Dec 2: England’s left-arm spinner Ashley Giles snared three wickets for 13 runs as Sri Lankan batsmen faltered after a sound start on the opening day of the first cricket Test here today. Squandering the advantage of batting first after skipper Hashan Tillekeratne won the toss, Sri Lanka were tottering at 138 for four after Giles’ penetrative spell ripped through the top order. Giles dismissed opener Sanath Jayasuriya (48), Mahela Jayawardene (17) and Tillekeratne (0), while opener Marvan Atapattu (29) fell to pace bowler Andrew Flintoff. At stumps, Kumar Sangakkara was batting on 39 and Thilan Samaraweera on one. The test’s opening day was disrupted by heavy showers that wiped out 30 overs despite play being extended by 40 minutes. Atapattu and Jayasuriya gave Sri Lanka a steady start through their 76-run opening stand, which came off 192 balls in 131 minutes. Atapattu was lucky not to be dismissed for zero when he edged the match’s second delivery from pacer Matthew Hoggard toward the stumps, only to see the ball hang precariously in his pad’s flap. Atapattu responded by pulling hoggard to the square-leg fence in the same over, while left-hander Jayasuriya opened the face of his bat to cut Richard Johnson for four in the sixth over. Trying to drive Johnson, former skipper Jayasuriya’s mistimed shot deflected to his pads when he was on 12. Jayasuriya then displayed the range of his strokes to hit eight boundaries from 110 balls before misreading the spin in a sharp turner from giles. He was caught bat-pad by forward short-leg Paul Collingwood, who made his debut after former skipper Nasser Hussain pulled out through illness. Atapattu gloved Flintoff’s rising ball to wicketkeeper Chris Read, ending his steady 156-minute knock. Giles then had Jayawardene caught by Collingwood at silly point and elicited an edge off Tillekeratne’s bat into Read’s gloves. Sri Lanka gave the first test cap to pace bowler Dinusha Fernando after his impressive show in a one-day victory against England in Dambulla last month. England’s team included spinner Gareth Batty, who plays his second test after being pulled out of the sea by half-a-dozen lifeguards yesterday. (AP) |
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