Daily Excelsior.........sports

Zee Sports to telecast
live Challenger Trophy

CHANDIGARH, Oct 2: With Zee Sports telecasting live the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy one-day series from October 10-13, millions of Sachin Tendulkar fans can now watch the batting maestro stage a comeback to............more

India rout Italy 5-0;
Australia held to
goalless draw by Kiwis

NEW DELHI, Oct 2: Jasjeet Kaur slammed three goals while Saba Anjum struck two as a rejuvenated India pumped in four second half goals to blank Italy 5-0 in their second match........more

Vaidosova downs
Jankovic in
Korea Open final

SEOUL, Oct 2: Hard-serving Nicole Vaidosova rallied from an early deficit today and beat top-seeded Jelena Jankovic 7-5 6-3 in the final of the Korea Open...........more

Pak bans two women
footballers and coach

LAHORE, Oct 2: Pakistan has imposed a two-year ban on two women footballers and their coach who got into a fist-fight with rival players in the final of the country's first-ever women's football championship, officials said today......more

Piyush wins opening
snooker tie

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 2: Piyush Kumar among six junior cueists won their opening round matches in junior snooker to advance into the second round of the 15th Jammu District Open Billiards and Snooker Championship.......more

MAM bags overall
trophy in boxing

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 2: Government MAM College bagged overall trophy in the inter-college boxing competitions which were.......more

RCC wins cricket
tourney by 4 wkts

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 2: A match winning knock of 59 and four wickets by Shafiq Ahmed today guided RCC to a fine four............more

Kantey Club wins
opening tie in Pawan
memorial cricket

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

KATHUA, Oct 2: Kantey Cricket Club (KCC) defeated JMDCC Ghagwal by 50 runs in the opening match of the Ist Shaheed......more

Zee Sports to telecast live Challenger Trophy

The tournament will feature cream of Indian cricket forming ranks of three teams — India, India A and India B — vying for top honours and all the matches will be played under lights, according to a joint release issued by Numbus, Zee Sports and the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA).

Supposed to be a key determinant in choosing the India team for the home series against Sri Lanka later this month, the Challenger Trophy will have the 36 best available players in India in action.

Team India captain Sourav Ganguly will lead the seniors team, while stylish Hyderabdi VVS Laxman has been made captain of the India A team. Local favourite Dinesh Mongia will skipper the India B team.

Commenting on the acquisition, Gary Lovejoy, Chief Operating Officer, Zee Sports said, "we are delighted to acquire the broadcasting rights for the Challenger Trophy. This tournament will act as a catalyst for selection in the national team. The telecast will include preview and review shows, special programming, world-class graphics, special interviews and match reports."

PCA president I S Bindra said, "it was our dream to make domestic cricket as important as international cricket and today we at the Punjab Cricket Association are delighted to see at least 45 domestic cricketers basking under the glare of the television cameras instead of a handful international cricketers during a Test or a one day international match."

"With this one single stroke of marketing, the elite domestic cricket of the country will generate as much interest as cup finals in England and Australia. Even international cricketers will be attracted to play domestic cricket. The huge gap that exists today between the so-called stars and the unsung domestic cricketers will be bridged considerably," he felt. (UNI)

India rout Italy 5-0; Australia held to goalless draw by Kiwis

NEW DELHI, Oct 2: Jasjeet Kaur slammed three goals while Saba Anjum struck two as a rejuvenated India pumped in four second half goals to blank Italy 5-0 in their second match in the 7th Indira Gandhi International Gold Cup Hockey Tournament at the National Stadium here today.

In the second match of the day, Australia were held to a goalless draw by New Zealand.

Meanwhile, India shruged off their initial intertia to drub Italy in their second match. For them, Jasjeet scored in the third, 52nd and 70th minutes, putting behind her last match's misery while Saba (62nd, 68th) scored her second successive brace in the tournament.

India led 1-0 at breather.

The hosts got off to an early lead with Jasjeet sounding the board from a Subhadra Pradhan free-hit with the match barely into its third minute. Subsequently, it was the same story with the Indian forwards who entered the rival goalmouth with gusto but proved goal-shy as Italy somehow continued to survive by the skin of their teeth.

The second half saw Italy trying to upstage the hosts, mounting pressure from the right flank. They almost scored in the 41st minute but Indian captain Helen Mary threw herself to thwart a Faustini Francesca attempt.

India managed to dent the Italian citadel in the 52nd minute when Mamta Kharab dribbled past a couple of rival defenders before breaking into Italian goalmouth. Fed by her, Saba Anjum who sent a cross that somehow managed to go past the goalmouth melee and reach an unmarked Jasjeet who pushed the ball into the cage from handshaking distance (2-0).

The last 13 minutes saw waves of Indian attacks tearing apart the Italian defence as the hosts' right flank worked like a well-oiled machine producing three more goals.

India got their third goal in the 62nd minute when an overlapping Jasjeet darted down the right flank and unleashed a defence-splitting pass for Saba Anjum who tapped the ball well, shook off her marker with a turn and beat the onrushing goalie with a neat push (3-0).

Another six minute and the Jasjeet-Saba duo did it again for India with help from Sanggai Chanu. Jasjeet's long pass found Chanu, who worked like a Trojan in the match, and the latter broke into the goalmouth before unleashing a deadly pass for Saba who completed her brace in the match with perfect finishing (4-0).

Indian eves did not relax their grip over the match in the last quarter and it was a brilliant long pass from Adline Kerketta in the dying minutes that took the entire Italian defence by surprise before reaching Jasjeet who beat the goalie with an angular run and shot it home to complete the humiliation for the rivals (5-0).

Italy had the best chance to reduce the margin first in the 28th minute when Faustini Francesca found only the goalkeeper at her mercy but fumbled, allowing Indian defenders to snatch the ball and again in the dying minutes, she faltered.

Indian coach M K Kaushik, however, was not entirely happy with the result and said poor penalty corner conversion still remains a woe.

''I have nothing to say about the field goals but we wasted seven penalty corners today. We could not properly push on three occasions and could not translate the others. This is a serious concern because our next two games are against the top two teams -- New Zealand and Australia,'' he said.

India play New Zealand in the next game on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Australia and New Zealand produced the best match of the tournament so far and the sparse crowd was treated to some fast hockey.

Australia dominated the match but a solid Kiwi defence did not allow them to score.

Kiwi goalkeeper Kayla Sharlaan stood lke a rock under the bar and besides saving a number of penalty corners, thwarted a penalty stroke.

Australia got eight penalty corners in the match but could not convert one while New Zealand also wwasted five short corners. (UNI)

Vaidosova downs Jankovic in Korea Open final

SEOUL, Oct 2: Hard-serving Nicole Vaidosova rallied from an early deficit today and beat top-seeded Jelena Jankovic 7-5 6-3 in the final of the Korea Open.

Vaidosova entertained the crowd by grunting, yelling "no!" after losing points and punching the air in despair. She said later her game lacked consistency.

"It was definitely a little shaky. There were a lot of shots I could have done...But on the key points I played better," she said after the match.

Jankovic of Serbia and Montenegro was leading by four games to three in the first set before the 16-year-old Czech broke her serve. Jankovic lost the set in spectacular style by smashing her serve into her own half of the court.

"It was a big mistake. I just couldn't concentrate," said Jankovic, who looked tired compared to Vaidosova and was forced to take a break in the second set. She said later she almost retired after catching a bad cold the day before.

Vaidosova, who has two WTA tour titles to Jankovic's one, let loose a flurry of aces to dominate in the second set and win the match in little over an hour as Jankovic's service game went from bad to worse.

"At one point in the match I thought I was going to throw up, I think maybe it was 6-5 (in the first set)," Jankovic said. "If it wasn't a final maybe I would have retired." (AP)

Pak bans two women footballers and coach

"WAPDA (Water and Power Development Authority) captain Munaza Nazeer, player Khalida Noor and their male coach Qasim Shah have been banned for two years after they fought with opponent Punjab team in the final last week," said Pakistan Football Federation president Faisal Saleh Hayat.

They are the first Pakistani sportswomen to face a ban in the country.

"We want to set a precedent that indiscipline can never be tolerated," said Hayat, also a federal minister.

The players have the right to appeal against the ban.

Pictures of the free-for-all -- showing women from the two teams clawing at each others' Islamically-correct outfits of trousers and long-sleeved shirts -- were splashed all over local newspapers.

The players nearly came to blows again at the prize ceremony when they exchanged heated words.

The biggest fear of violence before the game had been prompted by Islamic hardliners, who earlier this year caused a riot during a mini-marathon in Lahore because women were participating.

To avoid any trouble, players in the football tournament were not allowed to wear shorts or T-shirts and male spectators were banned. (AFP)