Table Tennis tournament begins

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 8: Stag State and Inter-District Table Tennis Championship begun today with matches of Cadet Boys and Sub Junior Boys were played.

The results are: Arya Jain beat Pranab, Kanav Sharma beat Vipul Sharma, Bhavik Jain beat Manjot Singh, Sarvagya beat Ranjan, Gavinder Singh Poonch defeated Abhi, Rohit Pal of Udhampur defeated Parth Vasudev, Parnav Mahajan beat Tanuj Jain, Amanpreet Singh beat Ankit Kandhari, Sahil Khajuria beat Kanav Sharma, Samandeep Singh beat Parteek Khajuria, Jayesh Singh beat Akshay, Shivendu Sharma beat Abheek Jain, Tavleen Singh beat Ishan Verma, Priyankar Dutta beat Shorya Sharma, Karan Choudhary beat Amanpreet.

The results of Sub-Junior Boys in first round: Abirat Mahajan beat Gourav Wahi, Bhanu Parhap Poonch beat Tanuj Jain, Akshay Pandita beat Sahil Khajuria, Navjot Singh beat Abhar Sharma, Abhimanyu Mahajan beat Sarvagya, Jvesh Singh beat Arjun Jain, Gaganpreet Singh of Poonch beat Kanav Sharma, Ishan Tandon of Poonch defeated Shivam Sharma, Manmeet Singh beat Sahil Sethi, Kanav Sharma beat Arvind Sharma, Amanpreet Singh beat Shorya Sharma, Samandeep Singh beat Rehan Kakkar, Gurinder beat Bhavik Jain, Karan Dewan beat Sahil Gupta, Atinder Pal Singh beat Ashish Gupta, Amanpreet Singh beat Shivendu Sharma, Karan Chowdhary beat Apoorab, Gurinder beat Sahil Gupta, Arjun Anand beat Priyankar Dutta.

The results of second round, Arjun Kohli beat Akshay Vij, Bhanu partap beat Abiral Mahajan, Akshay Pandita beat Tavleen Singh, Navjot Singh baet Suchait Mattoo, Jyesh Singh beat Abhimanyu Mahajan, Gaganpreet Singh beat Taresh Baru, Ishan Tandon beat Parteek Khajuria, Prabhas Sharma beat Rohit Pal, Manmeet Singh beat Tapas Sharma, Kanav Sharma beat Pranav Mahajan, Amanpreet Singh beat Abhimanyu Gupta, Gurinder beat Karan Dewan, Samanpreet beat Abheek Jain, Amanpreet Singh beat Shivendu Sharma, Baljeet Singh beat Karan Chowdhary and Arjun Anand beat Gurinder.

India confident of winning 2010 C’wealth
Games bid, says Kalmadi

NEW DELHI, Nov 8: Having captured the attention of the world by successfully staging the Afro-Asian Games, India is now all the more confident of winning the bid to host the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi said today.

A day before 50-member delegation leaves for Jamaica to take part in the Commonwealth Games Bid Committee meeting which will decide the host for the 2010 games on November 13, the IOA chief sounded optimistic about Delhi’s chances of pipping Hamilton (Canada), the other city bidding for the games.

"I can say our chances are very high. The CWG delegates who visited Delhi are quite satisfied with the infrastruture and facilities here. I am sure they will support India’s bid," Kalmadi told reporters here.

"Though I can’t say how many votes we will get, a fairly sizeable number is with us."

Kalmadi said India, which have never hosted the games, would not leave any stone unturned to fulfil the long cherished dream of hosting the prestigious event.

"We will be taking famous personalities to Jamaica who will be addressing the final presentation on 13th. Though most of the members must have made their minds as to whom they are going to support, it would be an attempt to capture the floating votes," Kalmadi said.

Those who will be speaking at final presentation include former Indian cricket captain Sunil Gavaskar "who is immensely popular in the Carribean countries."

Ace shooters Anjali Bhagwat, Morad Ali Khan and cueist Michael Fereira will also be present to make India’s case stronger.

The delegation would also include Sports Minister Vikram Verma, Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Vijay Kapoor and Minister of State for External Affairs Digvijay Singh.

Canada would be sending a 70-member delegation led by their Prime Minister to the meeting but Kalmadi seemed least perturbed by it.

"We are fully prepared for the final show. Leader of opposition Sonia Gandhi has already given a message and the Prime Minister will be giving one today. We will be lobbying hard in Jamaica to get the nod."

In Jamaica India are to host an "India nite" on November 11. A joint dinner co-hosted by India and Canada will be the highight of the next day which will also see both the countries showcase their cultural heritage.

On the judgement day, both the countries will be given 30 minutes each to present their bids before the Commonwealth Games General Assembly which will be followed by a question and answer session.

Finally the 71 members of the CGF will cast their votes and the winner would be requested to sign a host city contract for the 2010 games. (PTI)

Durand Cup Football Tournament
East Bengal thrash AI, to clash with Salgaocar in final

NEW DELHI, Nov 8: Defending champions East Bengal never felt the absence of star striker Baichung Bhutia as they thrashed Air India 3-0 to move into the final of the 116th Durand Cup Football Tournament here today.

The convincing win by the National Football League winners helped them set up a title clash with NFL runners-up Salgaocar at the Ambedkar Stadium on Monday.

Air India neither had the firepower to score against the Kolkatans nor had the skill to stop Subash Bhowmick’s men who were leading by two goals — Malsawmtluanga (23rd) and Chandan Das (37th) — at halftime.

Changing ends, Mike Okoro got on the scorer’s list after a solo display inside the box in the 65th minute to complete the drubbing.

It was the best crowd attendance at this year’s tournament but they never got any real exciting stuff as East Bengal overpowered their opponents with a double strike before the end of the first half in the one-sided encounter.

In the absence of Bhutia, who is recovering from a right calf muscle injury, Malsawmtuluanga was East Bengal’s key player till he was replaced at the end of the first half.

The first goal came after East Bengal went in probing through the right. A cross from the left found Malsawma perfectly in postion and the diminutive winger placed it to the right of Air India goalkeeper Raju Ekka and the ball hit it the right post before rolling in.

Malsawm was in great touch today and at least three times he put Mike Okoro through. But East Bengal’s foreign striker was guilty of missing the target from close range.

Two minutes after East Bengal’s opening strike, Malsawm again went in, past his marker and found Okoro who could only manage a weak shot which went straight to the ‘keeper’.

Okoro was again the culprit, the very next minute, failing to make use of a good cross from the left by Subhas Chakraborty.

Air Indian forwards Suprit Jathanna and Stephen H Mar (substituted by Abbas Ali Rizvi) could never really threaten the East Bengal defence marshalled by their towering skipper Suley Musah and it required a long throw in by defender Naushad Moosa in the 33rd minute to cause a flutter among the Kolkata side’s supporters.

The ASEAN club champions increased their lead three minutes later and part of the blame for conceding the second goal should go to Air India ‘Keeper Ekka’.

After the Air India defence was again exposed, Ekka stood rooted to his ground as Chandan Das beat him with a fine right footer following a good move by Subhas and Okoro.

The second half saw East Bengal coach replacing Malsawm with Dipankar Roy and after his side took an unassailable 3-0 lead, Bhowmick sent in Raman Vijayn to get some match practice calling back Roy 13 minutes before the end of the match.

Okoro scored the third goal making full use of an over ruling by referee S M Balu after the assistant referee ruled him offside.

From near the touch line Okoro reached the box in no time, beat the rival ‘keeper and a defender with ease and rolled the ball in even as the Air India players rushed to Balu to protest. (PTI)

Toss vital in New Zealand-Australia game today

GUWAHATI, Nov 8: Winning the toss tomorrow is going to be a vital factor in deciding the fate of the match between New Zealand and Australia at Nehru Stadium here tomorrow.

Curator of the Nehru Stadium ground Sunil Chandra Baruah said the atmosphere inside the ground gathered heavy dew in the early morning and the side bowling first were likely to wrest the advantage utilising the weather in the early hours of the match.

Commenting on the wicket, he prepared at the stadium under the guidance of Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) pitch committee member Prabir Mukherjee for the match, Mr Baruah said the top soil of the wicket had been relaid last year after which only one Ranji Trophy match played.

He said the wicket would be a typical hard batting wicket with plenty of runs on it. The ball would tend to remain low as the match would progress. The wicket does not have much spin on it, Mr Baruah added.

Meanwhile Australia, who arrived here from Delhi this noon, preferred to skip the workout at the nets today and remained confined to their hotel.

Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting and their coach John Buchannan once visited the ground, saw the wicket before refurning to their hotel. (UNI)

Aligarh wins Varsity Hockey Tournament

ALIGARH, Nov 8: Hosts Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) won the North Zone Inter-University Hockey Championship beating defending Champion CCS University, Meerut by a solitary goal here today.

In the keenly contested match, Tasoob scored the all-important goal for the hosts.

Though boys from Meerut mounted pressure on the AMU defence and earned a penalty corner, goals eluded them throughout the match.

Meanwhile in another match Kurukshetra University beat Punjabi University, Patiala to secure the third position.

AMU Vice-Chancellor Hasan Matinul Islam gave away the prizes to the winners. (UNI)

Mobile shutdown during one-dayer today in Guwahati

GUWAHATI, Nov 8: Reliance mobile has decided to shut down its STD and ISD facilities in Guwahati from this evening, much to the chagrin of the media and organisers of the triangular series cricket match between Australia and New Zealand here tomorrow.

Sources of the only mobile phone service provider in the state today said the shutdown was for 24 hours to upgrade its services.

Asked why the upgradation exercise was undertaken now when cellular services would be most essential on the day of the match, the sources said the decision was taken by Reliance head office.

The local office of the company here also expressed its "helplessness" in informing its head office to postpone its upgradation activities in view of the match. (PTI)

Today’s match most crucial: Ganguly

KOLKATA, Nov 8: Indian captain Sourav Ganguly today said the match against New Zealand on November 15 would be the most crucial one for India and must be won to reach the final of the triangular series.

"We have two more matches left. Australia has already qualified, so the New Zealand match will be crucial. If we win the match, we will have a chance to qualify for the final," Ganguly told newspersons after a workout at the Eden Gardens here.

India, who were now level on points with the Kiwis after losing the Cuttack match by four wickets, would meet New Zealand in the last league outing at Hyderabad following the Bangalore exchange against Aussies on November 12.

Ganguly, who underwent a two-hour long training session at the Pankaj Gupta Indoor Coaching Centre at the gardens, would be leaving for Bangalore tomorrow morning.

"I am fit. I am ready to play," he said.

He, however, reserved comment on the causes of India’s poor show in last two matches against the Aussies and New Zealand, both of which they lost comprehensively.

"I cannot comment from here on what went wrong. Let me first go there and join the team," he said.

The stylish left hander, who underwent two back to back surgical procedures for a painful abscess on left thigh, would return to action after about a month since the first test against New Zealand at Ahmedabad. (PTI)

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