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

Federer stands head-and-shoulders above rivals

LONDON, Dec 13: His cream Wimbledon blazer got the fashionistas buzzing and an unexpected flood of tears showed his humility. Yet it was a streak as hard as diamond running thorough him that made Roger Federer almost invincible for the third season in succession.

Such was the world number one’s dominance in 2006 he reached the final in all but one of the 17 tournaments he contested and only two men beat the Swiss.

Amelie Mauresmo shed the tag of being the ‘most talented player never to have won a grand slam’ when she triumphed at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.

Like Federer, Justine Henin-Hardenne charged into all four Grand Slam finals. While Federer wielded his racket to devastating effect to walk away with three of the majors, the Belgian had to make do with a solitary success at the French Open.

The only notable trophy to slip through Federer’s fingers was at Roland Garros. His old foe Rafael Nadal flexed his bulging biceps to defend his crown and deny Federer a grand slam.

Having at last reached the final in Paris, however, Federer believes he can complete his collection.

"Being so dominant in all the other slams, I know I can win the French. Nadal or not, I know I could beat him too because I was so close," said the Australian, Wimbledon and US Open champion.

In Melbourne Federer predictably began the year by clinching his seventh slam with victory over surprise Cypriot finalist Marcos Baghdatis.

Despite being touted as arguably the best player ever to have picked up a racket, the sight of Federer, overcome with emotion, crying uncontrollably during the presentation ceremony was unexpected, however.

Grasscourt season

Nadal proved to be a thorn in his side as the Spaniard won all four of their encounters — in the finals at Dubai, Monte Carlo, Rome and Roland Garros — during the first six months of 2006.

Three of those meetings were on the Spaniard’s favoured clay, giving the world number two a 6-1 advantage in their head-to-heads and raised a few murmurings over Federer’s legitimacy as the world’s best player.

Federer knew the grasscourt season would allow him to redress the balance of power.

With no one able to match his sheer brilliance on grass, Federer’s stroll to a fourth successive Wimbledon crown was a foregone conclusion.

What was not on the cards, however, was that he would use the occasion to make a fashion statement.

Federer walked on court for his matches wearing a stylish cream blazer which bore a crest to signify his hat-trick of Wimbledon victories from 2003-05.

Although it proved to be hot topic during the opening days of Wimbledon, the Swiss let his racket do the talking when he avenged his string of defeats by Nadal in the final. (AGENCIES)

Sania’s gold dream shattered

DOHA, Dec 13: Sania Mirza’s quest for a maiden individual gold medal at the Asian Games went up in smoke as she suffered a heart-breaking defeat against China’s Jie Zheng in a high-voltage women’s singles tennis final here today.

The 20-year-old Sania, who had not conceded a single set en route to her march to the final, floundered at the final hurdle as her higher-ranked opponent recorded a 6-4 1-6 6-1 victory in the summit showdown which lasted one hour and 49 minutes at the Khalifa International Stadium.

Sania, ranked 66th in the world, had to be content with a silver medal and had herself to blame for the debacle as she committed as many as 45 unforced errors to allow Zheng to wriggle out of tight situations.

The result came as a huge disappointment for the large crowd, mainly comprising flag-waving Indian expatriates, who vociferously cheered the Indian star right through the contest held under a blazing sun.

The second-seeded Zheng, ranked 33 in the world, made amends for compatriot and top seed Na Li’s stunning ouster in the semi-final after a defeat to Sania.

It is the first time that Zheng has won an Asian Games individual medal.

The diminutive Chinese broke Sania in the sixth and tenth games to wrap up the first set in 38 minutes but the hyderabad girl had her chances to recover especially after breaking Zheng in the seventh game.

Two double faults in the sixth game of the first set proved to be very costly for Sania, who somehow could not display the same form which helped her dispose of the 21 ranked Na Li in the semifinal yesterday.

The Indian player raised hopes of a dramatic fightback by pocketing the second set 6-1, breaking Zheng in the third, fifth and seven games, much to the delight of the noisy crowd at the centre court.

But the sparks vanished again in the deciding third set as Zheng came back with a vengeance to break the Indian in the first, fifth and seven games to clinch the contest in style. (PTI)

IHF never allows team to settle: Ballal

BANGALORE, Dec 12: Eight years ago when the Indian hockey team won the gold at the Bangkok Asian Games the victorious team’s instrumental goalkeeper Ashish Ballal had to pay the price for the remarks he made in the electronic media.

Not only Ballal, but five others were sacked from the Indian team including Dhanraj Pillay with the Indian Hockey Federation President K P S Gill showing his high-handedness.

"The remarks were made before the team left for India. And before the Asian Games itself they wanted to drop some of the senior players. We seniors knew it and that’s why lot of hard work went into our efforts as we had to prove that we had the stuff in us," Ballal told PTI. But the egoistic Gill spoiled a winning combination which, had it been nurtured well, could have served Indian hockey in a more befitting manner maybe even to this day.

"It was quite a young team," Ballal said of the Bangkok combination.

"Most of the team members including the seniors who were sacked were very fit. They could have played easily for 5-6 years. Eventually, all of them continued playing at some level for the next 5-6 years. One of the wise vice-presidents of the IHF had then advised the federation for a revamp," Ballal added.

"But then look what has happened to Indian hockey now with the national team finishing nowhere among the medals for the first time in the Asian Games. What’s even more difficult to digest is the fact that India has to play in a qualifying tournament for olympics berth."

Ballal also said the Doha result was expected because of the lack of planning in the build up to the prestigious event.

"You cannot expect a miracle to happen with the kind of planning that they had. Have they played any of the top teams in the last one year? they had a couple of camps in Rourkela where no one knows what they really did. That’s a sorry state of affairs," said the former India custodian.

Ballal believes that no team can be built by cutting and chopping of coaches as well as players.

"This is evident in world hockey. No team undergoes so much dissection in a year as much as the Indian team. The dissection, if it’s not players-wise, it will be coaches-wise. When the coaches are set the players start getting changed.

"Unless and until there’s accountability which comes with money there will be no scope for improvement. If people are not paid, how can you hold them accountable. Here everybody does social service. We should have paid professionals doing service for the team," said Ballal.

He said chopping of players was nothing new to Indian hockey.

"It’s happening for the last 20 years and we’ve been continuously rotating players. Most of the players are dropped because of off-field events. I don’t consider these factors as reasons for dropping," said Ballal.

It’s not just Gill’s ego that’s spoiling Indian hockey, felt Ballal.

"It’s a combination of few other things. Gill being the president has to take the maximum blame for it. But I think equally responsible is the core group around Gill. The Secretary, the planning committee, the dummy selectors are the biggest factors for this team’s debacle," said Ballal. (PTI)

Kawa GKR Cricket Tournament
Chetna Club registers 41 runs victory over DNCC

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 13: Chetna Cricket Club registered 41 runs win over DNCC in the ongoing Kawa GKR Cricket Tournament Twenty20 being organised by the Roshini Cricket Academy in the GGM Science College grounds.

Elected to bat first after winning the toss, Chetna Cricket Club made a total of 159 runs in stipulated 20 overs by losing six wickets. Only two batsmen of Chetna Club—Manjeet and Rajinder played superb innings and contributed 58 and 53 runs respectively.

It was only due to these batsmen that Chetna Club could pile up 159 runs.

For DNCC, Honey was the most successful bowler and he clinched three wickets in four overs at the cost of 36 runs.

In reply to a total of 159 runs, DNCC could score only 118 runs by losing all wickets in 19 overs. It was due to the failure of the openors to give a good start to the team’s innings that DNCC lost the match.

Two batsmen of DNCC lost their wickets without making any score while three could not tough the double figure mark and lost their wickets at regular intervals.

Dixon was the highest scorer. He contributed 24 runs by facing 19 balls.

For Chetna Club, Ranju and Lakhvinder clinched three wickets each while Sonu took one wicket.

Pappu and Chunu were the umpires while Joginder and Sonu were scorers.

The Tournament is being sponsored by Shree Toyata, Indian Oil Corporation, Pepsi, Jammu Motors and Sangari Automobiles.

Athletic Meet of U-19 Boys, Girls concludes

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 13: Athletic Meet of Under-19 years Boys and Girls concluded at MA Stadium today.

In the 1500 metres girls final, Manu Devi of Domana Zone, Anju Bala of Jourian Zone and Shuban Sharma of Domana Zone bagged first three positions while in 3000 metres girls final, Rekha Kumari and Sunita Jamwal of Jammu Zone bagged first two position.

In the 200 metres boys final, Sanjeev Kumar of Jammu Zone bagged first position, Jatinder Kumar of Domana Zone secured second position and Faisal Rashid of Jammu Zone clinched third position.

Mandeep Kour of Jammu Zone, Pooja Devi of Jourian Zone and Manju Devi of Domana Zone bagged first three positions in 200 metres girls final.

In Boys Triple Jump final, Amit Singh of Jammu Zone, Raj Singh of Purmandal Zone and Faisal Rashid of Jammu Zone bagged first three positions while in 1500 metres boys final, Jagdish Chander of Jourian Zone, Bodh Raj of Dansal Zone and Parveen Kumar of Akhnoor Zone secured first three positions.

In five kilometres walk race, Shinda Kumar and Mangat Ram of Jourian Zone bagged first two positions.

The probables, who secured first position in Track and Field events will participate in the Inter-District State Level Athletic Meet under 19 years scheduled to be held at Jammu from December 17. The selected probables from the State Championship will be put under coaching camp prior to their participation in the National School Games scheduled to be held at Bombay from December 27.

The Meet was organised by Department of Youth Services and Sports under the supervision of District Youth Services and Sports Officer B N Bhat.

2-day Distt Jammu Taekwondo Championship begins

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 13: Two days District Jammu Taekwondo Championship started today at Judo Hall of MA Stadium.

The Championship is being organised by District Jammu Taekwondo Association under the aegis of J&K Taekwondo Association. About 125 students from different schools and clubs are taking part in the Championship.

The Championship was declared open by Kuldeep Handoo, International Medalist.

In the below 15 kg Sub-Junior boys, Rahul of Sky Sports, Dawar Ali and Adit Vaid, both of K C Gurukul bagged first three positions while in the below 20 kg Sub-Junior boys, Tarun of KC International and Shivam of Don Bosco clinched first two positions. Ojas Gulpta and Akhil of KC Gurukul clinched third and fourth positions.

In below 18 kg Sub-Junior Boys, Sidhant Sharma of Don Bosco, Harshit Singh and Shivash Sharma of KC Gurukul secured first three positions while in the below 24 years Sub-Junior boys, Harshvardan of Don Bosco, Aamit Bashir of Lawrence School, Vimanyu Mahajan of KC Gurukul and Ashwani of Oriental Academy bagged first four positions.

In Below 15 kg girls category, Sophia Khan and Siafat Khan bagged first two positions while in below 20 kg girls, Anjali of KC International and Kamal Kumari of JK Montessorie clinched first two positions.

Inter-Collegiate Tennis Tournament
PG Deptt, MAM College to lock horns in final

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 13: PG Department and MAM College entered in the final of the Inter-Collegiate Tennis Tournament being organised by Department of Physical Education, University of Jammu.

In the first semi-final, PG Department beat Kathua College in a keenly contested match by 2-1. In the first singles match, Dinesh Kumar of Kathua College upset Sahil Aggarwal of PG Department in straight sets 6-2, 9-7.

In the second singles, Abhik Gupta of PG Department defeated Vivek of Kathua College by 6-0, 6-0. In the third deciding match, pair of Sahil and Abhik of PG Department beat Dinesh and Vivek of Kathua College in a fully extended match. The score was 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

In the second semi-final, MAM College beat Commerce College by 2-1 in a close contest. In first singles, Atul Verma of MAM Colege lost to Sahil Arora of Commerce College by 1-6, 0-6 while in the second singles, Vikram Saini of MAM College beat Ajay Sharma of Commerce College by 6-3, 6-4. In the doubles match, Vikram and Atul of MAM College beat Sahil and Varun of Commerce College by 6-4, 6-4.

The semi-final matches were officiated by Gourav Arora and Avinash whereas the Tournament is being conducted under the supervision of Ramesh Magotra. The final match will be played tomorrow.