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| Tendulkar, Laxman’s epic partnership puts India on top SYDNEY, Jan 3: Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman kindled hopes of a historic series win with a record-breaking 353-run partnership to put India firmly in the driver’s seat in the decisive fourth cricket test against Australia...............more International
Chess Congress HASTINGS (ENGLAND), Jan 3: Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte was involved in yet another short draw with grandmaster Stuart Conquest of England in the........more Laxman
dedicates his SYDNEY, Jan 3: Even though he was instrumental in marring Steve Waugh’s farewell party in the Australian skipper’s swansong Test, V V S Laxman had a pleasant surprise for the rival skipper as he dedicated his ton.........more List of
top 10 SYDNEY, Jan 3: List of top 10 leading century-makers intest cricket history after Sachin Tendulkar joined Steve Waugh in second place with 32 in the final Test between India......more |
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Harleen, Sonal win 3 medals for J&K in Senior National Gymnastics Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Jan 3: The gymnasts of J&K—Harleen Singh and Sonal Gupta won three medals—one gold and two bronze........more 5th State
Indian Style Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Jan 3: The 5th J&K State Indian Style Wrestling Championship will be held at Dewan Mandir Akhara here on January 10 and 11........more Leh will
soon have Excelsior Sports Correspondent LEH, Jan 3: Leh will soon have an Ice Hockey ring of international standard. At present, the ice hockey is being played....more State
level Inter-District Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Jan 3: Tasvir Ahmed of Poonch bagged first position in the 1500 metres event of boys Under-17 age group in the ongoing.....more |
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| Sunny Club wins match in Rahul Memorial Cricket Tourney..... |
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Tendulkar, Laxman’s epic partnership puts India on top SYDNEY, Jan 3: Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman kindled hopes of a historic series win with a record-breaking 353-run partnership to put India firmly in the driver’s seat in the decisive fourth cricket test against Australia here today. Tendulkar broke his lean patch with a magnificent unbeaten 220 and Laxman struck a classy 178 as the duo plundered runs at will during their marathon association to put India at a commanding 650 for five at close on the second day. The Indian maestro gaves glimpses of his vintage batsmanship to not only record his 32nd test century but also throw a dampener on Steve Waugh’s farewell party as the world champions struggled to stem the run deluge. Parthiv Patel (45) was giving Tendulkar company at stumps on a highly productive day for the visitors which saw a number of records fall by the wayside. The Indians rattled up 366 runs, one of the highest totals in a day, to ensure themselves against a defeat and there by strengthening the chances of retaining the Border-Gavaskar trophy. Tendulkar’s long-anticipated century, coming after a gap of 14 months, has now ranked him in the second position in the list of century makers alongwith Steve Waugh with Sunil Gavaskar (34) being the only player ahead of him. Tendulkar certainly did not find his form at the right time for retiring captain Steve Waugh and in the company of Laxman might have presented the Indians a perfect new year gift. The 353-run association between Tendulkar and Laxman was the highest ever for the fourth wickets by any team on Australia soil, surpassing the 341 put on by Graeme Pollock and Eddie Barlow of South Africa at Adelaide. It was also the highest ever for India against any opposition, bettering the 281-run stand between Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly against New Zealand at Ahmedabad in 1999. Besides, it also eclipsed India’s previous best for the fourth wicket against Australia which was held by Dilip Vengsarkar and Gundappa Viswanath who made 159 runs between them at Bangalore in 1978-79. It was Laxman’s third triple century partnership against the world champions while Tendulkar, undefeated with a career-best 220, became the highest scorer for India at the SCG when he went passed Ravi Shastri’s 206 in 1991-92. Amidst these tumbling of various records, Australians were feeling the heat of chasing the leather for two full days. Bowlers were feeding the batsmen with loose balls and catches were dropped, and TV cameras once caught Waugh questioning the commitment of his teammates by pointing his finger to the baggy green cap. Lee was either too short or too full in his length. Only when he had the new ball swinging a bit, as it did during the dismissals of Chopra yesterday and Ganguly today, did he look capable of taking wickets. Jason Gillespie kept plodding a lonely furrow while leg-spinner Stuart MacGill stuck to a defensive line and length. Whenever he did attack the stumps, the batsmen put him away to the boundary with contempt. It was ironical that the team which prides itself on playing attacking cricket should resort to negative tactics to curb the opposition. Waugh instructed his bowlers, not for the first time in the series, to operate a line outside the off-stump, so as to cut down the stroke making. Yet, runs did flow from the time Laxman, overnight 29, cracked five boundaries off Lee’s two overs early in the day to race to his half century. Throughout the day, the Indians kept scoring at a rate of more than 3.5 an over and in the last session the spurt grew to above five. First to reach his century was Tendulkar who was mightily relieved to reach the milestone as he threw up his arms and thanked the heavens. His hundred came off 212 balls and contained 16 hits to the fence. He showed little laspe of concentration and there was not one false shot from him today. Obviously, builiding a big partnership was the task on hand, and the champion batsman stuck to it with tremendous determination. His third 200 in tests came after 536 minutes of stay at the crease during which he faced 395 balls and hit 29 fours. While Tendulkar was focussed on playing percentage cricket, Laxman at the other end was playing his own virtuoso. His class was stamped on the wristy on-drives, the checked push to the cover fence and the elegant glides through the slips. A nudge to backward square-leg off Nathan Bracken gave Laxman his seventh test hundred whih came off just 167 balls and contained 16 fours. The Hyderabadi, who has become the chief tormentor of Waugh’s men after notching up his fourth century in eight tests against Australia, was coasting towards his double hundred when MacGill floundered his straightforward pull shot at midwicket. Gillespie, the unlucky bowler, however nipped one back in the same over to break through the tiring defences of Laxman. After 103 runs were added in the morning session to the overnight total of 284 for three, another 108 came in the post lunch session. Ganguly came and went back in same speed but there was more despair for the hosts as Parthiv Patel showed more gumption to slash Lee over the packed slip cordon repeatedly. The Indian total kept swelling and soon it bettered the 636 of England at the same venue in 1928-29 for the best total by a visiting team down under. (PTI) |
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International
Chess Congress HASTINGS (ENGLAND), Jan 3: Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte was involved in yet another short draw with grandmaster Stuart Conquest of England in the sixth round of the premier event of Hastings International Chess Congress here. With just three rounds remaining in the category 13 tournament, top seed GM Vladimir Epishin made his strong presence felt with a clinical victory over compatriot international master Alexander Cherniaev and emerged as the sole leader on 4.5 points. GM Vasilios Kotronias of Cyprus follow the leader a half point behind while GM Jonathan Rowson of Scotland is a close third on 3.5. In joint fourth place are Kunte, defending champion GM Peter Heine Nielsen of Denmark and erstwhile leader Mark Hebden of England with 3 points each in their kitty and Keteryna Lahno of Ukraine stands seventh on 2.5 amongst 10 contenders. Kunte played his second successive white in the event against conquest but could not break the defences of the Englishman who is struggling with his form here. The game started with a slav defence but Conquest, transposed it into a closed grunfeld with black pieces and had an easy game on hand as Kunte allowed a thematic central breakthrough early in the middle game. At the time of peace agreement on move 19, two minor pieces and a couple of pawns had been traded and the position was just about level. Epishin, rated 2658, before the start of this event lost a whopping 25 ELO’s as the new rating list came in the new year. However, Epishin seems determined to make amends and so was evident in his game against Cherniaev who played black. After starting out with semi slav, Cherniaev found himself in a transposition to the queen’s gambit declined position and found it hard to equalise as Epishin made a decisive foray in his territory. Through a perfectly timed manoeuvre, the Russian won a pawn and it was soon curtains for Cherniaev. The game lasted 34 moves. Another fine victor of the day was IM Kateryna Lahno who proved her potential as a world beater in a tactical skirmish against Mark Hebden. Playing white, Lahno seized the initiative in a Ruy Lopez game and uncorked a fine blow to win an exchange in the early stages of the middle game itself. The rest was easy and Hebden called it a day on move 47. Rowson stuck to the queen pawn opening as white and faced the kings Indian defence from Kotronias. The pawn sacrifice variation of the Samisch yielded the latter adequate counter play on the king side and Rowson decided against pressing hard. The draw was agreed to in just 24 moves. Nielsen tried hard but did not succeed against the solid defence of gormally. The dane could boast of a definite advantage after a rather passive play by gormally in the middle game arising out of a queen’s Indian defence. However, exchanges at regular intervals enabled gormally to improve his position and the truce was signed when his counter play on the queen side began to look threatening. The game ended after 32 moves. (PTI) |
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Laxman dedicates his ton to parents, Waugh SYDNEY, Jan 3: Even though he was instrumental in marring Steve Waugh’s farewell party in the Australian skipper’s swansong Test, V V S Laxman had a pleasant surprise for the rival skipper as he dedicated his ton to his parents and also to the Australian skipper. "I would dedicate this century to my parents who have been great support to me through my ups an downs, and also to Steve Waugh who is playing his last test match. Steve has always been an inspiration to me. He has been a great cricketer and his batting has always been great pleasure to watch, and also to learn a lot, personally to me," said Laxman in a post-match press conference. Laxman made a chanceless 178, and was effective in leading the Indian charge when Sachin Tendulkar was finding some problems in the innings. Meanwhile, the stylish Hyderabadi rated this century high in the order of the seven centuries he has scored so far. "This would certainly rate as one my best innings. Scoring against Australia with a good bowling line up of Gillespie, Lee and MacGill is always special, more so when the century is achieved in Australian back yard", he said. Laxman also said that batting today was easier than it was yesterday. "On the first day, the ball was stopping and coming, but today it was coming nicely on to the bat, so batting was all the more fluent today. However, the pitch has started to take turn, and the turn may increase with the passing of days," said Laxman. Laxman, who earlier forged a few marathon innings with Rahul Dravid, shared a record fourth wicket stand of 353 runs with Sachin Tendulkar today. Saying that he quite ejnoyed batting with the little champion, Laxman added, "I respect both Rahul and Sachin as batsmen and also as individuals. They both have different batting styles, but both of them are great batsmen. Batting with Sachin, on the other hand, is such a learning experience for me." (UNI) |
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List of top 10 century makers in Test cricket SYDNEY, Jan 3: List of top 10 leading century-makers intest cricket history after Sachin Tendulkar joined Steve Waugh in second place with 32 in the final Test between India and Australiaon Saturday (tabulate under player, centuries, tests played) Sunil Gavaskar (India) 34 125 Steve Waugh (Australia) 32 168# Sachin Tendulkar (India) 32 111# Don Bradman (Australia) 29 52 Allan Border (Australia) 27 156 Gary Sobers (West Indies) 26 93 Greg Chappell (Australia) 24 87 Viv Richards (West Indies) 24 121 Javed Miandad (Pakistan) 23 124 Brian Lara (West Indies) 23 101# (# match in progress) (AGENCIES) |
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Harleen, Sonal win 3 medals
for J&K in Senior Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Jan 3: The gymnasts of J&K—Harleen Singh and Sonal Gupta won three medals—one gold and two bronze—in the recently concluded Senior National Gymnastics Championship held at Chandigarh from December 26 to December 30, 2003. Both the gymnasts of J&K have also been selected amongst four for National Coaching Camp for the preparation of forthcoming World Cup in Rhythmic Gymnastics to be held at Azerbaijan from April 4 to 7. Harleen won one gold and a bronze medals and Sonal Gupta bagged bronze medal in the Senior National Gymnastics Championship. Harleen got gold medal in the rope event in a tough competition with the two times National Games Champion and three times National Champion Rajni Sharma of Punjab, who got second position in the event where as Sonal Gupta got bronze in the same event. In the individual all round competition, Rajni Sharma of Punjab got gold medals securing 46.90 points where as Amrita Harari of Delhi got silver medal by securing 46.50 points and Sonal got 4th position by securing 45.80 points. Another gymnast of J&K Seema Mehra, who despite being a junior gymnast, performed well in the championship. She got 9th position in the individual appratus finals. In the Artistic Gymnastics, Sukhvinder Kour and Ajau Pal Singh also performed good and qualified for the individual all found finals competition in women and men sections. |
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5th State Indian Style Wrestling Championship on Jan 10 Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Jan 3: The 5th J&K State Indian Style Wrestling Championship will be held at Dewan Mandir Akhara here on January 10 and 11. This was unanimously decided in a meeting of J&K Indian Style Wrestling Association held under the chairmanship of its president Shiv Kumar Sharma, who is also the treasurer Indian Style Wrestling Association of India. He said that TA/DA will be provided by the Association besides momentoes and meals to the winners and runners-up alongwith certificates. The weighing-in will start at 10 am and bout will start at 1 pm at the same venue. The Championship is being sponsored by the J&K State Sports Council. The Championship is being organised on traditional "Mud Akhara" and the decision of the referee in every bout will be final. Mr Sharma also hailed the efforts of Sports Minister Haji Nissar Ali and Secretary Sports Council Dr Manoj Pant for allocation of funds for domestic activities besides an amount of Rs 30,000 for holding of State Championship to raise the standard of the traditional game of wrestling in the State. According to Bansi Lal Tidyal, all affiliated districts, clubs, Akharas, JKAP, BSF and CRPF wrestlers of the State will only participate in the Championship and the competitions will be held in the weight categories of 50 Kg, 55 Kg, 60 Kg, 66 Kg, 74 Kg, 84 Kg and 90 Kg and above upto 120 Kg in men section only and the gold and silver medalists will undergo 10 days coaching camp at Jammu. After the camp, the team will be finalised for participation in the forthcoming Senior National Wrestling Championship to be held at Nasik from January 22. The meeting was among others attended by Inderjeet Khajuria, senior vice-president, Bansi Lal Tidyal, honorary general secretary, Prem Choudhary, chairman technical committee, Girdhari Lal, vice-president, Prithvi Raj Sharma, treasurer, Vijay Kumar, Kewal Magotra, Krishan Lal Sharma, executive members and Romesh Chander. |
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Leh will soon have Ice Hockey ring Excelsior Sports Correspondent LEH, Jan 3: Leh will soon have an Ice Hockey ring of international standard. At present, the ice hockey is being played in a make shift agriculture pond at Kargoo. This was stated by Deputy Commissioner Leh Tushi Dorje while inaugurating a six-day Inter-Club Ice Hockey Tournament here. The tournament is a prelude to the players to participate in the Chief Minister’s Ice Hockey Championship which is being held at Leh in mid January. Mr Dorje said that a new strength has come up among youth in ice-skating and ice-hockey and assured that the first district administration would give its due attention to promote the game. He appreciated the endeavours of the Sports Department and Ladakh Winter Sports Club in infusing a spirit among the youth by providing necessary logistics to the players. Responding to a demand of an ice-hockey ring of international standard, he said that the Government was keen to construct it in near future and added that Karzoo agriculture pond which provide water to the agriculture fields during summer and facilitates the youth for playing ice-skating and ice-hockey during winter would be developed for the dual purpose. Appreciating the talents of the ice-skaters of Leh district, who bagged first position in recently held National Ice Skating Championship in New Delhi, Mr Dorje urged the youth to participate in ice-skating and ice-hockey which is facility gifted by nature to Ladakh. Nine hockey teams including three women of six Ice Hockey Clubs are participating in the Tournament. One Sports Club of Kargil district is also participating in the Tournament. Chief Minister’s Ice Hockey Championship is being conducted in the mid January in which a team of Himachal Pradesh is participating for the first time. An ice hockey team of Canadian Embassy is also reaching Leh to display an exhibition match during the Chief Minister’s Ice Hockey Championship. |
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State level Inter-District
School Athletic Meet Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Jan 3: Tasvir Ahmed of Poonch bagged first position in the 1500 metres event of boys Under-17 age group in the ongoing State level Inter-District School Athletic Meet being played at University Ground here. On the day two qualifying results, Tasvir Ahmed bagged first position in the 1500 metres event of boys Under-17 age group. Paramvir of Jammu and Shabir of Pulwama bagged second and third positions respectively in this category. The results: 1500 mts U-19 boys: Khurshid Ahmed of Udhampur—first, Amrik Singh of Poonch—second and Sujan Ali of Jammu—third. 1500 mts U-17 girls: Jassi of Pulwama—first, Dipika of Jammu-second and Sunita of Udhampur—third. 1500 mtrs U-19 girls: Heena Khan of Jammu—first, Soma Kumari of Udhampur—second. Discus U-14 boys: Liaqat Ali of Kathua—first, Rashid of Doda—second and Irfan Ahmed of Srinagar—third. Discuss U-17 boys: Rahul Kumar of Udhampur—first, Balram Sharma of Jammu-second and Tariq Ahmed of Srinagar—third. Discus U-19 boys: Naresh Kuamr of Udhampur—first, Javed of Pulwama—second and Rafiq Sadiq of Baramulla-third. Discus U-14 girls: Kamlesh of Doda—first, Deepika of Jammu—second and Bandana of Kathua—third. Discuss U-19 girls: Seema Devi of Jammu—first, Shahida Banu of Baramulla—second and Sahfiqa of Anantnag—third. Long Jump U-14 girls: Sheena Khan of Srinagar—first, Sushma Devi of Udhampur—second and Ishrat of Anantnag—third. Long jump U-19 girls: Reema of Jammu—first, Farida Khan of Poonch—second and Jeevan Jyoti of Kathua—third. Triple Jump U-17 boys: Atul Kumar of Udhampur—first, Bilal Ahmed of Srinagar—second and Farooq Ahmed of Anantnag—third. Triple jump U-19 boys: Ashwani Kumar of Udhampur—first, Bashir Bhat of Baramulla—second and Parveen Kumar of Jammu—third. The meet is being organised by Department of Youth Services and Sports. Sunny Club wins match in Rahul Memorial Cricket Tourney Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Jan 3: Sunny Cricket Club today defeated Rahul Cricket Club by seven wickets in the on-going Rahul Memorial Cricket Tournament being held at Devi Chand Municipal Park, Rehari Colony. Batting first, Rahul Cricket Club made a total of 106 runs by losing all wickets. Sourav was the highest scorer and he contributed 27 runs to the total. He was followed by Vikas, who made 25 runs. Besides, Sunny who made 10 runs, all other batsmen of the Rahul Cricket Club could not reach double figure mark. The total of Rahul Club included 19 runs through wides and three through No-Balls by the Sunny Cricket Club. For Sunny Cricket Club, Ankit clinched two wickets while Bunty and Sachin got one wicket each. In reply, Sunny Cricket Club reached the target of 107 runs by losing just three wickets. Nankit and Naresh were the highest scorers and they contributed 43 and 32 runs respectively. Both the players remained not-out. The three batsmen of Sunny Club who lost their wickets were Veenu (9), Vicky (0) and Sumi (0). For Rahul Club, Sourav clinched one wickets. Ankit of Sunny Club was declared man of the match for his overall performance. Press secretary of Jammu and Kashmir Youth Congress Ashok Anand was the chief guest on the occasion. All India
Inter-University Gymnastics Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Jan 3: Shilpa Gupta of Government College for Women Parade won one gold and two bronze medals in the All India Inter-University Gymnastics Championship held at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar recently. She won gold medal in the Hoop Event of the Rhythmic Gynastics finals and a bronze in the rope event and individual all round. Kurukshetra University won the team championship by securing 155.35 points, GNDU Amritsar got second position and Punjab University Patiala got third position by securing 141 points. In individual all round championship, Surekha of Kurukshetra University and Renu of Punjab University Patiala were declared best gymnasts. Both secured 61.85 points each whereas shilpa Gupta of Jammu University was declared all round third for securing 61.80 points. In Hoop event, Shilpa won gold by securing 16.20 points and Jashandeep of Punjab University Patiala bagged second position by securing 15.85 points. Surekha of Kurukshetra University got third place for securing 15.30 points. India toughest opponent: Gilchrist SYDNEY, Jan 3: Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist today said the on-going four-test series was the "toughest" he had played at home and rated the Indian middle order as "the best batting line-up in the world". "This is easily the toughest series I have played at home against a visiting team. When we were in India in 2001, I rated it the toughest series abroad I had been involved in. So in a way, India has been tough opponents both at home and abroad," said the talented keeper. India rattled up 366 runs while losing just two wickets today to take complete control of the series deciding fourth cricket test with a total of 650 for five. "This is easily the best batting line-up in world cricket, probably in many, many years. It is rare when all the batsmen are firing as well as the Indians are doing in this series." VVS Laxman’s strokeplay during his classic 178 left gilchrist completely stumped for its sheer beauty and timing. "Everytime he plays against us he comes up with something special and the next thing we read after the series is he is dropped! it leaves me completely bewildered." Gilchrist also praised Sachin Tendulkar who cracked a career-best unbeaten 220. "As for Sachin, well he played like Sachin. He was very disciplined on the first day and denied himself which I would say made him appear tentative. But he was in his groove today and played a marvellous innings." Gilchrist said though he has often stood behind the stumps for two days running, those had been in rather happier times when his side had enforced a follow-on. (PTI) SYDNEY, Jan 3: Factbox on India’s Sachin Tendulkar, who scored 220 not out against Australia in the fourth test today to join Steve Waugh in second place on the list of all-time century-makers with 32. Born: April 24, 1973, Bombay. Right-hand bat, right-arm slow bowler. Widely regarded as the world’s best contemporary batsman in tests and one-day internationals. Test record (includes match in progress): Debut v Pakistan, Karachi, November 1989. 111 matches, 9,184 runs at 56.70, 32 centuries, highest score 220#. 31 wickets at 45.96 ODI record: debut: v Pakistan, Gujranwala, December 1989. 321 matches, 12,685 runs at 45.14, 36 hundreds, highest score 186#. 113 wickets at 47.40 One of only four batsmen to make in excess of 9,000 test runs and the all-time leading scorers in one-day internationals. Equal second on the list of test century-makers, two behind Sunil Gavaskar’s record of 34, and the all-time leader in one-day internationals. A teenage prodigy, Tendulkar made his test debut in 1989 aged 16, India’s youngest ever player. He scored his first test century, against England at old trafford, as a 17-year-old. Two unsuccessful terms as India captain, the first aged 23 in 1996 but axed 17 months later after his batting suffered. Re-appointed in 1999 but stood down after 3-0 test series loss in Australia. Made his previous highest score of 217 against New Zealand at Ahmedabad in 1999. Failed to score a test century in 2003, the first time he had missed out on a hundred in a calendar year since his debut in 1989. But broke his drought in the first match of 2004. During the same match, he shared a record 353-run fourth wicket partnership with Vangipurappu Laxman, the highest ever stand by a visiting pair in Australia. (AGENCIES) |
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