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| Sehwag to lead Indians against Australia ‘A’ HOBART, Dec 18: Virender Sehwag will lead the indians in the three-day cricket match against Australia ‘A’ beginning here tomorrow with the visitors keen to try out new combinations to prepare for the crucial Melbourne test match...............more AMRITSAR, Dec 18: A 14-member Pakistani veteran cricket team today arrived here to participate in the three match goodwill series against their Indian counterparts..........more Akram
finds HOBART, Dec 18: Legendary left-arm paceman Wasim Akram found more than one fault in Australia’s approach to the second cricket test in Adelaide but still rated Steve Waugh and his men as the best team in international cricket................more IISCO
retainsn All BURNPUR, Dec 18: Hosts Indian Iron and Steel Company (IISCO) retained the All India Inter-Steel Plants Football...............more |
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Jammu District Volleyball
Championship Pinto Club to clash with Pallanwala Club in final Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 18: Pinto Club Jammu will clash with Volleyball Club Pallanwalla in the final.......more North
Zone Under-22 Cricket Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 18: Jammu and Kashmir scored 188 runs by losing seven wickets....more WAC,
Maintenance Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 18: Western Air Command and Maintenance Command today....more Jammu
District Chess Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 18: Defending champion Sumit Grover will take on Arvindu for the tile clash.....more |
Sehwag to lead Indians against Australia ‘A’ HOBART, Dec 18: Virender Sehwag will lead the indians in the three-day cricket match against Australia ‘A’ beginning here tomorrow with the visitors keen to try out new combinations to prepare for the crucial Melbourne test match. The Indians, fresh from their historic win in adelaide, will rest three of their frontline batsmen —Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman, but Sachin Tendulkar is likely to take the field to get some useful batting practice. With the two opening batsmen not being able to get the big scores in the first two matches, the performance of the Sadagopan Ramesh will come under the scanner and the left-handed opener would be eager to prove his worth. Left-arm spinner Murali Kartik, who is yet to play a match since arriving as a reinforcement last week, will also be keen to impress the team management. The match is quite significant from Australia’s point of view as it would give the selectors the chance to have a close look at the performance of some of the fringe players —particularly seamers — for a place in the national side. Australia are in dire straits after trailing the four-match series 0-1 and in desperate need of a pacer to bolster the injury-plagued bowling attack for the December 26 Melbourne Test. The home selectors are concentrating on youth and that is why Greg Blewett and Michael Bevan have missed out on getting a berth in the Australia ‘A’ side. Shaun Tait is the biggest punt the selectors are gambling upon in their selection puzzle as the bowler has pace which prompted test captain Steve Waugh to comment "he’s probably the quickest, along with Brett Lee". Tait, a strapping fast bowler from South Australia, knows he would be asked to intimidate the talented batting line-up of the vistors with his pace, though it is quite dfferent to the qualities of Glenn McGrath, a bowler he admires and a legend who now has been ruled out of the test series due to injury. "I’m not really a zone bowler that bores them out," said Tait "I’m more of a bowler trying to bowl as many wicket balls as I possibly can." Tait clocks regularly in the 145 km/h region and has been given a "licence" by his Captain Michael Hussey to go hard at the Indians. "I think it’s good to have a licence like that, I can concentrate on just bowling fast. "They might not come out straight away how I want them to but there’s always bound to be a good ball in there which is a wicket ball. "Indians have faced fast bowling before and they can handle it but we’ll have to see how it goes. You never know." The two Australian gambles — Tait and his fellow quick Ppaul rofeyare— were both a little surprised at their selection in the Austraian A squad. Tait had returned from a groin injury that sidelined him for three weeks so he said he was "surprised" to be packed because "I thought my name might’ve been chucked down a couple of steps." Rofe has been a consistent performer in his four seasons with South Australia and has taken 19 wickets at 23.32 this season. Tait has taken his wickets at 35.5 but his raw pace has brought spectators to the ground. Australian selectors are waking up to the fact their fast bowling brigade is not young anymore — Glenn McGrath is 34, Andy Bichel is 33, Jason Gillespie 28 and Brad Williams 29. Joining Tait and Rofe are relatively experienced Damien Wright of Tasmania who has 21 wickets this season, and former test batsman Matthew Nicholson, who has resurrected his career with a move to new South Wales from Western Australia. Leg-spinner Cameron white is the third debutant for Australia a which will be captaind by Western Australian batsman Michael Hussey. Some other members of the team are queenslander Martin love, who posted an unbeaten 300 last month, and victorian Brad Hodge, who is averageing 115.8 this summer. But for the contest to take place, weather has to clear up and the forecast is not encouraging. It has been drizzling relentlessly for the last two days in hobart. Teams: Indians (from): Akash Chopra, Virender Sehwag, Sadgopan Ramesh, Sachin Tenudlkar, Deep Dasgupta, Anil Kumble, Laxmipathy Balaji, Murali Kartik, Irfan Pathan, Ashish Nehra, Ajit Agarkar, Parthiv Patel. Australia A: Michael Hussey (captain), Michael Clarke, Chris Rogers, Martin Love, Brad Hodge, Cameron White, Wade Seccombe, Matthew Nicholson, Damien Wright, Paul Rofe, Shaun Tait. (PTI) |
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AMRITSAR, Dec 18: A 14-member Pakistani veteran cricket team today arrived here to participate in the three match goodwill series against their Indian counterparts. The team, led by Pakistani cricket star of yesteryears Sadiq Mohammad, crossed over through the Wagah Joint Border Post this afternoon. The team was recevied by former Indian opener Chetan Chauhan. They left for Jalandhar later in the evening where they will play the first match tomorrow. The second and the third matches would be played in Delhi and Agra on December 21 and 24 respectively. (UNI) |
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Akram finds Australians still top of heap HOBART, Dec 18: Legendary left-arm paceman Wasim Akram found more than one fault in Australia’s approach to the second cricket test in Adelaide but still rated Steve Waugh and his men as the best team in international cricket. Despite criticism of the arrogant batting in the second innings which led to their humiliating defeat against India this week, Akram urged restraint in reviewing the Australians as the world champions. "You have to judge a team by their performance and they have been very, very consistent," the former Pakistan captain, who is here as a television commentator, told PTI in an interview. "They score at four an over in every test. It doesn’t matter what grade of cricket you are playing, four an over is a hell of a lot," remarked Akram following India’s historic win in the Adelaide test. "Hayden, Ponting and Langer—once they get in, they only get out after (making) hundreds," said the Pakistani, the only player to have claimed more than 400 wickets in both forms of the game. Still, Akram was surprised as to how the Australians approached the final two days of the second test. "They needed to occupy the crease and get some runs. They also couldn’t reverse swing on the final day. As a bowler, i would be reverse swinging the ball in a big way — it would have put batsmen in trouble." Akram, however, hailed India’s rise from a team of poor travellers to a world beating unit and linked their improved performance in recent years directly to their new fitness levels. "The difference is you have four or five players who have set new fielding standards. If you field well, your overall performance gets better. This has happened in the last two years. "They reached the finals of the World Cup, they won chasing 300-plus in the natwest final. Sourav has done a great job as captain — a leader is always the main man behind his team," said Akram. The talk of captaincy seemed to touch a raw nerve in Akram. He said he was hurt the way cricket boards in the subcontinent treated their captains. "Captaining a Pakistan side can be a pain. It’s not fun at all, I promise you. I resigned, I was twice sacked and it was not funny. "Have you ever heard an Australian captain being sacked ? No, they tell him before this is your last series and the next captain would be ready, two years before he’s due (to take over). "I don’t know why we can’t think that way in our countries. We don’t back each other. Boards get upset by players unnecessarily instead of backing them up." Even though it was a "roller-coaster" ride for Akram and his end wasn’t a rosy one, the great left-arm paceman is not regretting a moment of his career. (PTI) |
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IISCO retainsn All India Steel Football Tournament BURNPUR, Dec 18: Hosts Indian Iron and Steel Company (IISCO) retained the All India Inter-Steel Plants Football Trophy for the second consecutive year beating arch-rival Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO) 4-3 via tie-breaker in a keenly contested match at Burnpur Stadium in this steel city today. Earlier, IISCO defeated Bokaro Steel Plant by a solitary goal (1-0) while TISCO got the better of Durgapur Steel Plant 5-4 via tie breaker in the semifinals played here yesterday. Seven steel plants from all over India participated in the league-cum-knockout tournament. (UNI) |
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Jammu District
Volleyball Championship Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 18: Pinto Club Jammu will clash with Volleyball Club Pallanwalla in the final of the Jammu District Volleyball Championship for Boys being played at MA Stadium, here. Pinto Club Jammu defeated Higher Secondary School Arnia in the semi-finals by 2-1. Zafar Hussain, Naresh Singh and Mulkh Raj played good game for the winning team while for the losing team, Labha Ram and Ashwani of Arnia played well. The first set was won by Pinto Club Jammu with the margin of 13 points but its players could not repeat performance in the second round and lost the set by seven points. In the third set, Pinto Club staged comeback but with many problems. This set saw nail biting contest, but finally Pinto Club emerged as winner with a margin of just two points. In the second semi-finals, Volleyball Club Pallanwala defeated Volleyball Club Allaha by 2-1. Sunil Singh and Ranbir Singh played excellent for their team Volleyball Club Pallanwala while for Allaha Club, Sham Lal and Ashwani played well. Earlier, Tiger Club got walkover Railway Colony Jammu and Pinto Club defeated Tiger Club Jammu by 2-0. The second match was totally one-sided with players of the Pinto Club Jammu dominating the match and not allowing the opponents to play freely. In the third match, Volleyball Club Pallanwala defeated Volleyball Club Salehar by 2-0. Sunil Singh and Lalit Kumar of Pallanwala played good game. The final match of the Championship will be played tomorrow between Pinto Club Jammu and Volleyball Club Pallanwala at MA Stadium Sports Complex. A total of 10 teams participated in this Championship. |
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North Zone Under-22
Cricket Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 18: Jammu and Kashmir scored 188 runs by losing seven wickets in the three-day match against Delhi when the match was abandoned due to rains in the North Zone Under-22 Cricket being played at Delhi. Elected to bat first after winning the toss, Jammu and Kashmir scored 188 runs by losing 7 wickets when rains abandoned the match on day one. The openors for J&K—Javed Ahmed and Imran Thakur could not stand firm against the tight bowling spell by the Delhi bowlers and lost their wickets when the total was just three. They were followed to pavilion by Mayank Goswami and Inderjeet Singh, who contributed three and nine runs respectively to the total. But the unbeaten 103 runs by Hardeep Singh Prince helped the team in piling up 188 runs. He was on the pitch when the match was abandoned. While Hardeep Singh held the wicket strongly at one end the players at another side continued to lose their wickets. Only Ved Parkash could withstand the tight bowling of Delhi for sometime and contributed 27 runs while Mudassar Malik and Yonus Ahmed lost their respective wickets at the individual score of eight and four runs respectively when Hardeep Singh was hitting the ball near and wide. Pranab Mahajan was playing at the individual score of 11 runs and Hardeep Singh at 103 when the match was called off. The bowlers of the Delhi contributed 20 runs to the total of J&K through extras. |
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WAC, Maintenance Command win
matches Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 18: Western Air Command and Maintenance Command today won their respective matches during the ongoing Air Force Inter-Command Hockey Championship being played at K K Hakku Stadium, here. By way of winning these matches, both the Commands have strengthened their position in the Tournament. The third match of day between South Western Air Command (SWAC) and Eastern Command ended in a draw with none of the team scoring any goal. In the first match, Western Air Command defeated Air Headquarters by seven goals to two. Till the half time, Western Air Command scored two goals while Air Headquarters could not score even a single goal. But in the second half, Air Headquarters managed to score two goals as against the five by Western Command, thus losing the match by five goals. For the winning team, Kispota scored four goals in the 9th, 48th, 66th and 68th minutes. It was only due to his marvelous play that Western Air Command left behind Air Headquarters in scoring goals. Sushil Kumar opened the account for his team by scoring first goal not only of the match but also of the WAC in the 4th minute. Anil Kumar scored two goals in the 40th and 42th minutes. He converted both the chances of penalty corner into goals. For the losing team, Dinesh and Vijay scored one goal each in the 49th and 53rd minutes. In the second match, Maintenance Command defeated Central Air Command by one goal to nil. The solitary goal of the match was hit by Nambhi Raj of Maintenance Command in the 40th minute of the match. The third match which was played between South Western Air Command and Eastern Command ended in a draw with both the teams failing to score. |
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Jammu District Chess Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 18: Defending champion Sumit Grover will take on Arvindu for the tile clash in Jammu District Chess Championship being played at Government SRML Higher Secondary School, here. The defending champion was leading with five points in the fifth round of the championship while Arvindu was at second place with 4.5 points. Both will clash in the 6th round tomorrow to lift the title. In the 5th round, Asif Kaathwari was at third place with four points, Manik Choudhary, Ritwan Sountra and Ashwani Gupta with 3.5 points each, Aditi Sharma, V K Khera, Sushil Kumar, Kulbinder Singh and Ashok were at 3 points each. The youngest participant of the Championship, Agrim Pandotra and Lalit Gandotra were at 1.5 points each. The match between them in the fifth round today ended in a draw. The detailed results at the end of fifth round: Sumit Grover beat Harvinder Singh, Arvindu beat Ram Singh, Asif defeated Ashok Safaya, Agrim Pandotra drew with Lalit Gandotra, Aditi Sharma got walkover Sandeep Manhas, Manik Choudhary beat Joginder Singh Jamwal, Ritwan Sountra drew with Ashwani Gupta, Dinesh Rajput defeated M L Jogi, Sushil Kumar beat Davinder Sountra, V K Khera beat Kulbir Singh, Kamal Singh beat V S Jamwal, Anuj Gupta got walkover Ishan Verma and Rashpal Singh drew with Kulbinder Singh. Rajiv Gandhi Memorial Tourney in January Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 18: Jammu Sports Peaceful Association, in a meeting held here today under the chairmanship of its president Sanjeev Gandhotra, has decided to organise Rajiv Gandhi Memorial Tournament in the first week of the January, 2004. The interested clubs are appealed to contact on Phone Number 2455469 to get information about the tournament. In the meeting, Mr Gandhotra said that in order to fulfill the dream of the Rajiv Gandhi, free computer education will be provided to the youth of the State and negotiations have been going on with various computer training centres in this regard. He further said that the main objective behind providing free computer education was to fulfill the dream of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. |
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