India hockey team beats
Malaysia, finishes 5th

DOHA, Dec 14: India did not allow their pride to sink further by handing out a 4-0 thrashing to Malaysia and finishing fifth at the Asian Games men’s hockey event here today......more

Kalmadi against inclusion
of cricket in Asian,
Commonwealth Games

DOHA, Dec 14: Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Suresh Kalmadi today voiced his strong opposition to a reported move to include cricket in the Asian Games.........more

Indians are never
without
expectations: Smith

JOHANNESBURG, Dec 14: Indians were "conning themselves" if they believed they would not be burdened by expectations when they take on South Africa in the first cricket test, home team captain Graeme Smith said today. ...more

England turn tables
on Australia in third test

PERTH (Australia), Dec 14: Ashes debutant Monty Panesar spun England back into the series on the opening day of the third cricket test against Australia at the Waca ground here today, claiming five wickets as the home ......more

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 JPCC enters Twenty-
20 Cricket semis

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 14: JP World Cricket Club defeated Chetna Cricket Club by 9 runs today to secure a berth in the semifinal in the .......more

District Jammu Taekwondo
Championship concludes

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 14: Rahul of Sky Sports stood first in below 15kg followed by Danar Ali and Adit Vaid of KC Gurukul, who finished 2nd and 3rd respectively as the .....more

Semi-finals to be
played today

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 14: J&K Bank will take on R&B (Srinagar) in the first semifinal while JCT Academy to face J&K SRTC in the second semifinal tomorrow in the ongoing ......more

Science College to face
DC Kathua for title clash

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 14: GGM Science College will lock horns with Degree College Kathua tomorrow in the final of the ongoing Inter Collegiate Kho-Kho (Men) tournament being played at Jammu University.....more
     
 

India hockey team beats Malaysia, finishes 5th

DOHA, Dec 14: India did not allow their pride to sink further by handing out a 4-0 thrashing to Malaysia and finishing fifth at the Asian Games men’s hockey event here today.

After being knocked out of medal contention for the first time in Asian Games history, India avoided any further embarrassment by putting it across the Malaysians without much difficulty at the Al Rayyan Stadium here today.

Emerging drag-flicker Raghunath pumped in two goals in the 13 and 61st minutes while Rajpal Singh (41st) and Gurbaj Singh (64th) chipped in a goal apiece to seal the fate of their rivals.

The Indians turned on the heat from the word go and kept tormenting the Malaysian defenders with fast counter-attacks and could have won by a much bigger margin had they not frittered away some of the scoring opportunities.

Adopting an offensive strategy, the Indians fired the first salvo when Raghunath, whose drag-flicks have started paying dividends, converting a penalty corner.

The Indians attacked relentlessly but could not add any more goals in the opening session which saw the Malaysians initiating a few moves but without much success.

Captain Dilip Tirkey was happy with the performance of his team in the last game.

"The team played well. The defence was good, especially our goalkeeper who saved three penalty corners from Malaysia. Raghunath also played well," Tirkey said.

Raghunath said the team had set a target for the classification match.

"We had a target for this game. We had to prove that we are a team that could play in the finals. It was a good game for us," he said.

"We have to work on our mental toughness to be able to match strong teams at the highest level. The first ten minutes against China cost us," he added. (PTI)
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Kalmadi against inclusion of cricket in
Asian, Commonwealth Games

DOHA, Dec 14: Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Suresh Kalmadi today voiced his strong opposition to a reported move to include cricket in the Asian Games.

‘’i am not in favour of including cricket in either the Asian or Commonwealth games,’’ Kalmadi replied to a question whether he was aware of the Olympic Council of Asia’s (OCA’s) move to discuss the inclusion of the sport in the games.

‘’i am not keen on cricket, it overshadows all other Olympic sports in India and if it is included in Asian Games, other sports will suffer,’’ he added.

‘’I am not against cricket but it is not a part of the Olympic movement and we are all here as supporters of the Olympic movement,’’ he said.

Kalmadi was of the view that in every other country there were more than three or four sports at equal footings but in India there was only cricket and it had become a sort of religion so if included in the continental extravaganza, it would dwarf other disciplines. (UNI)

Indians are never without expectations: Smith

JOHANNESBURG, Dec 14: Indians were "conning themselves" if they believed they would not be burdened by expectations when they take on South Africa in the first cricket test, home team captain Graeme Smith said today.

"We have been on three tours to India and we know they are never without expectations, so for India to believe that they won’t have one for the first test is actually conning themselves. The expectations are always there," Smith said ahead of the match beginning at Wanderers here tomorrow.

The skipper was reacting to his rival Rahul Dravid’s remarks on wednesday that they would prefer being underdogs and going into the first test without any expectations.

"We have a set of bowlers who like knocking down some big names and this Indian team has a lot of big names. I am very happy the way our bowlers are hitting the right channels and pace in the nets. They are highly motivated and searching for success." ." (PTI)

England turn tables on Australia in third test

PERTH (Australia), Dec 14: Ashes debutant Monty Panesar spun England back into the series on the opening day of the third cricket test against Australia at the Waca ground here today, claiming five wickets as the home side were dismissed for 244.

Needing at least a draw to keep their Ashes defence alive, the tourists were energised by the finger spin of Panesar and produced some of their best bowling of the series to dismiss the Australians cheaply after they won the toss and chose to bat.

The home side struck back late in the day to have England 51 for two at stumps, with Andrew Strauss on 24 and Paul Collingwood on 10.

The Australians removed opener Alastair Cook and No.3 Ian Bell cheaply, Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee picking up a wicket apiece, while Shane Warne dropped Collingwood at first slip off Stuart Clark late in the day.

Although local player Mike Hussey held the Australian innings together with an unbeaten 74, Panesar grabbed 5-92 from 24 overs and a rejuvenated Steve Harmison took 4-48 to rock the home side’s hopes of wrapping up the Ashes here.

Panesar, controversially overlooked for the first two tests, claimed his third five-wicket haul in his short test career and became just the fourth left-arm spinner to claim five wickets in a test at the WACA.

Called into the attack just minutes before lunch, Panesar had an immediate impact and celebrated when he claimed opener Justin Langer’s wicket with his seventh ball and the last delivery before the break.

Langer was clean bowled when he pushed forward defensively and played down the wrong line.

It was the start of an extraordinary day for Panesar.

He took some damage from the recalled Andrew Symonds, who hit two sixes in three balls and took 17 runs off Panesar’s 13th over.

However, the spinner had his revenge in the following over when Symonds cut at a shortish delivery and got a thin edge to wicketkeeper Geraint Jones, who snared the catch at the second attempt.

Panesar’s next over saw him claim the prized wicket of Adam Gilchrist, who walked when he was caught without scoring by a diving Ian Bell at short-leg after the ball came off the pad and brushed his gloves.

Australia then slumped to 214 for seven when Panesar struck again to remove an aggressive Shane Warne, who attempted to cut him and got a fine edge into the gloves of Jones.

Panesar grabbed his fifth wicket when Brett Lee stretched forward and was adjudged lbw by umpire Aleem Dar.

While Panesar was the hero, embattled paceman Steve Harmison bounced back strongly to pick up four wickets, including a sharp catch off his own bowling to remove the dangerous Michael Clarke for 37.

Harmison was under siege after claiming just one wicket in the first two tests, but claimed the crucial wicket of Australian captain Ricky Ponting, trapped lbw for two. (AGENCIES)

JPCC enters Twenty-20 Cricket semis

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 14: JP World Cricket Club defeated Chetna Cricket Club by 9 runs today to secure a berth in the semifinal in the ongoing GKR Memorial Twenty-20 Cricket Tournament being played at GGM Science College today.

In the quarterfinal, JPCC won the toss and opted to bat first. They accumulated 120/9 in the stipulated 20 overs. Raman Dutta and Anoop were the top scorers with 43 and 33 runs respectively.

Raman struck 4 hits to the fence while Anoop pierced 5 boundaries.

For CCC, Manjeet bowled exceptionally well to scalp five wickets whereas Sonu and Ravi snared two wickets each.

In reply, CCC managed 111/7 in the allotted 20 overs. Vicky played a gutsy knock of 32 runs with the help of 3 boundaries while Manjeet also chipped in with 17 runs. Anoop was declared the Man of the Match.

For JPCC, Manik grabbed four wickets followed by Raman, who took two wickets. The umpires in the match were Pappu Dogra and Joginder Kumar. The scorers were Rajeev and Joginder.

District Jammu Taekwondo Championship concludes

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 14: Rahul of Sky Sports stood first in below 15kg followed by Danar Ali and Adit Vaid of KC Gurukul, who finished 2nd and 3rd respectively as the two day long District Jammu Taekwondo Championship was concluded at Indoor Sports Complex, M A Stadium today.

V K Singh, (IPS), Director, SSG was the chief guest on the occasion, who gave away medals to the winner and runner up judokas. Zorawar Singh, Principal, KC Public School, N S Bhhatal, Ajay Sharma, Vivek Basan and Kuldeep Handoo were also present on the occasion.

The final results:

Below 35kg (Girls): Priya (1st), Simi (2nd) and Pushpa (3rd).

Open Sub Jr Girls: Sadaf (1st), Radha Kumari (2nd) and Priya (3rd).

Below 15kg Sub Jr Girls: Shabnam (1st), Megna (2nd) and Sophia Khan (3rd).

Below 20kg: Anjali (1st), Komal (2nd) and Siafat (3rd).

Below 28kg: Pragya (1st), Anuvadeep (2nd), Kashish and Akanksha (3rd).

Boys:

Below 18kg Sub Junior: Sidhanin Sharma (1st), Harshit Singh (2nd), Shivaansh (3rd) and Aryan Koul (4th).

Below 20kg: Tarun (1st), Shivam (2nd), Ojas Gupta (3rd) and Akhil (4th).

Below 24kg: Harshvardhan (1st), Amir Bashir (2nd), Vimanyu (3rd) and Ashwani (4th).

Below 28kg: Devashish (1st), Davesh Katoch (2nd), Rohan (3rd) and Anil Sharma (4th).

Below 32kg: Shoaib Khan (1st), Umesh Chander (2nd), Rohit Singh (3rd) and Yamarth Kesar (4th).

Below 34kg: Sunil (1st), Gagandeep (2nd) and Ramandeep (3rd).

Below 38kg: Shubam (1st), Rahul Sharma (2nd), Asif Ali (3rd) and Zafal (4th).

Below 40kg: Laxmi (1st), Sandeep (2nd), Ravi (3rd) and Sarbjeet (4th).

Below 45kg: Anil (1st), Arslan Singh (2nd) and Ankush (3rd).

Below 50kg: Zuhaib Khan (1st), Sikander (2nd), Ankush (3rd) and Tribhan (4th).

Below 55kg: Anjan (1st), Karan (2nd), Karan Singh (3rd) and Sahib Singh (4th).

Open Jr Category: Arvind (1st), Babu (2nd), Ajeet (3rd) and Ravinder (4th).

Semi-finals to be played today

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 14: J&K Bank will take on R&B (Srinagar) in the first semifinal while JCT Academy to face J&K SRTC in the second semifinal tomorrow in the ongoing 1st Christmas Gold Cup Football Tournament being played at Mini Stadium, Parade.

In the first quarterfinal, R&B sealed a thrilling 4-2 win over Young Star in a tie breaker after both teams remained goalless in the allotted time.

The goal scorers in the tie breaker for the winner team were Farooq Ahmad, Mohd Shafi, Bashir Ahmad and Nisar Ahmad. For Young Star,Anil Kumar and Ramesh scored goals.

In the second quarterfinal, J&K Bank registered a convincing win over Vijay Club by 5-0 in a one sided contest.

Shokat Wadoo struck early in the 12th minute to score the first goal in for J&K Bank. At half time, J&K Bank was leading by 1-0.

In the second half, J&K Bank played with more aggression by launching continuous attacks on Vijay Club’s defence.

In the 60th minute, Mohd Mozzam scored the 2nd goal for the winner team followed by another in the 63rd minute. Vijay Club never really looked out of sorts today as they lacked the much needed coordination.

Waseem Khan and Manoj Kumar scored the 4th and 5th goals for J&K Bank to complete a facile win.

In the third quarterfinal, JCT Academy thrashed Young Heroes by 3-1. Sehaj Pal Singh scored the first goal for JCT in the 15th minute followed by Amandeep, who scored an excellent field goal to stretch their lead further.

At half time, JCT was leading by 2-0. Sehajpal Singh again scored the team’s third goal and his 2nd in the match in the 38th minute. For Young Heroes, Rajesh Kumar scored the only goal in the 75th minute.

Science College to face DC Kathua for title clash

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 14: GGM Science College will lock horns with Degree College Kathua tomorrow in the final of the ongoing Inter Collegiate Kho-Kho (Men) tournament being played at Jammu University.

In the semifinals played today, GGM Science College beat MAM College by 11-9 in a keen contest while Degree College kathua trounced PG Department by 10-5 points.

Both the semifinals were officiated by Ravinder Singh Bali, Anil Sharma and Ajay Gupta.

The tournament is being organised by the Department of Physical Education, Jammu University.
 


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