Anand draws with Adams,
Topalov takes sole lead

WIJK AAN ZEE (The Netherlands), Jan 22: Viswanathan Anand was quickly held to a draw by English Grandmaster Michael Adams in the seventh round of Corus International Chess Tournament here on Saturday. After a shocking loss against Gata Kamsky of United States in the . ......more

BCCI briefed by ICC

DUBAI, Jan 22: Indian cricket board, which has demanded a radical revamp of the future Test programme, was today "briefed" by the International Cricket Council about long term development plans, including scheduling. .........more

Indian team subjected
to jeers by home fans

FAISALABAD, Jan 22: A strong 15,000 crowd at the Iqbal Stadium may have thrilled the home team but certainly not the Indians as they were constantly jeered by partisan fans on the first day of the second cricket Test here. .....more

Dravid leads Indian
fightback after Afridi’s
blitzkrieg

FAISALABAD, Jan 22: Rahul Dravid once again stuck admirably to the self-imposed task of an opener as he led India’s fightback after Pakistan rattled ............more

line

 Skating contingent leaves
for National Championships

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Jan 22: Brushing aside all disputes, raised by some parents after not finding their wards in the selected lists, the 77-member strong Skating contingent today left for Kolkatta to participate in the 43rd National Roller .......more

Miss Fitness India event
in Jalandhar on Feb 11-12

JALANDHAR, Jan 22: The 1st Miss Fitness India and 44th National Junior Bodybuilding Championship will be held here on February 11 and 12 next. ......more

Jayasuriya stars as
Lanka turn up the heat

SYDNEY, Jan 22: Sri Lankan veteran Sanath Jayasuriya shrugged off jet-lag and a shoulder injury to flay Australia’s attack and set up a comfortable 51-run victory in a one-day triangular series match at the Sydney cricket ground today...........more

Team for Indo-Pak series
to be named on Jan 31

CHANDIGARH, Jan 22: The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) will announce the team for the coming Indo-Pak hockey series, from February 15 to 25, on January 31 here. .........more
     
 

 

Anand draws with Adams, Topalov takes sole lead

WIJK AAN ZEE (The Netherlands), Jan 22: Viswanathan Anand was quickly held to a draw by English Grandmaster Michael Adams in the seventh round of Corus International Chess Tournament here on Saturday.

After a shocking loss against Gata Kamsky of United States in the previous round, the 23-move draw against Adams did not prove enough for Anand to retain joint lead in this category-19 event and the Indian ace was pushed to second spot after world champion Veselin Topalov made mincemeat of local hopeful Ivan Sokolov.

With his fourth victory in the 14-players all-play-all tournament, Topalov (5 points) took a slender half point lead over Anand and world’s youngest ever Grandmaster Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine who was very impressive in scoring over junior world champion Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan in this round.

The fourth spot is jointly shared by Adams, Boris Gelfand of Israel and Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine who all are on 4 points.

Anand could do little against Adams who was well armed in the Ruy Lopez anti marshall. The variation chosen by Adams was similar to the one that Alexei Shirov opted for against Anand a few years back during the Mainz Chess Classics. From what transpired on the board, it was evident that Adams’ had done good home work.

He realized soon in the middle game that his position was not good enough to play for a win and the draw was signed after both players had traded a couple of minor pieces and pawns.

Topalov was back to his awesome winning ways. However, this time, he had to showcase his defensive skills as Sokolov threw everything at him right from the early stages of the middle game.

It started with a ruy Lopez Arkhengelsk variation wherein Topalov gobbled two sacrificed pieces and demonstrated that black did not have sufficient compensation. Sokolov’s effort lasted till the 37th move.

Karjakin played a fine positional game to beat Mamedyarov who was a bit subdued after having drawn all his preceding games in the tournament.

Playing another Ruy Lopez of the day, Mamedyarov was slowly pushed to the wall after trading of queens as Karjakin obtained a commanding position with his knight ruling the roost in the middle of the board.

The game ended in just 33 moves when it was clear that Karjakin will win a pawn and slowly the game too. The Azerbaijani Mamedyarov did not prolong his agony.

In the other decisive game of the day, Peter Leko finally found his first victory in the tournament at the expense of Anand-beater Kamsky. Interestingly this was also a Ruy Lopez that clearly signifies the emerging trend amongst the chess elite.

In the ‘B’ group being organized simultaneously, Koneru Humpy suffered yet another defeat when she was beaten by top seed David Navara of Czech Republic.

Norwegian teenage sensation Magnus Carlsen continued with his winning ways in this section and grounded Giovanni Vescovi of Brazil in a "classic effort". (PTI)

BCCI briefed by ICC

DUBAI, Jan 22: Indian cricket board, which has demanded a radical revamp of the future Test programme, was today "briefed" by the International Cricket Council about long term development plans, including scheduling.

BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah and marketing committee member is Bindra met ICC chief executive officer Malcolm Speed at the latter’s office here, a spokesman for the game’s world governing body said.

"It was a general meeting. It was about giving the BCCI an opportunity to understand ICC policies," ICC media manager Jon Long told PTI.

He also said the meeting was a follow-up on a letter written by speed to BCCI authorities after they announced earlier this week in Mumbai that they would not participate in the Champions Trophy from 2007 onwards.

The BCCI also announced a schedule that deviated from the FTP and saw India play Australia three times between 2007 and 2009.

Long, however, said Speed did not discuss with the BCCI officials either the Champions Trophy or FTP specifically.

"The appropriate forum to discuss that will be the ICC Chief Executives Committee meeting (February 14-16) and the executive board meeting (March 20-21). This was about letting them (BCCI) understand the development plans of the ICC. It was nothing more than a briefing," he said.

Shah and Bindra also held a separate meeting with other ICC officials a day earlier regarding this year’s Champions Trophy to be held in India in November.

"It was a routine meeting where the hosts of any ICC event is briefed about the operational aspects," Long said. (PTI)
 

Indian team subjected to jeers by home fans

FAISALABAD, Jan 22: A strong 15,000 crowd at the Iqbal Stadium may have thrilled the home team but certainly not the Indians as they were constantly jeered by partisan fans on the first day of the second cricket Test here.

"Sit back, enjoy but don’t misbehave," was what Pakistani vice-captain Younis Khan told a section of the crowd when he heard their chants yesterday.

"I don’t think it is right to keep on making remarks about players. They do tend to get upset because some of the remarks are definitely not in good taste," Younis told reporters after the day’s play.

"I would advise the crowd to continue to support their team without offending anyone and try to enjoy a good game of cricket which will create a good atmosphere in the series," said the batsman who made 83 in Pakistan’s first innings.

The Indian cricketers fielding near the boundary were subjected to some unpleasant remarks by the crowd despite the fact that the hosts were going strong and the visitors were being hit all round the park by the rival batsmen. (PTI)

Dravid leads Indian fightback after Afridi’s blitzkrieg

FAISALABAD, Jan 22: Rahul Dravid once again stuck admirably to the self-imposed task of an opener as he led India’s fightback after Pakistan rattled up a huge 588, built around Sshahid Afridi’s blazing century, in the second cricket Test here today.

Dravid was batting on 46 as the Indians reached 110 for one in their first innings, still 279 runs away from avoiding follow on. Accompanying Dravid at stumps on the second day was V V S Laxman, batting on 28.

Dravid’s resolute knock came after his bowlers took a hammering from Afridi who recorded his career-best 156, his second successive century in the series.

Skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq was the other century maker for the hosts, as he battled a back trouble to register his 25th Test hundred of 119.

The Indian reposte began on a confident note before Virender Sehwag, who cracked a belligerent double hundred in the first Test, perished after a cameo 31.

But with the pitch at the Iqbal Stadium so lifeless as it was at the Gaddafi Stadium at Lahore, it was not beyond Dravid to steer his team clear of any early loss of wickets.

The flamboyant Afridi bludgeoned his way to his fifth century in 22 Tests and third against India.

Afridi slammed 20 fours and six sixes in his blistering 128-ball knock, his second ton in successive Tests against the visitors after his 80-ball 103 at Lahore in the drawn opening Test, to lead the run-charge on day two.

The 25-year-old Karachi-based Swashbuckler fell when he skied Kumble to Yuvraj Singh, running in from the deep to accept the catch at square leg.

Afridi, whose previous best knock of 141 had also come against India in the memorable Test at Chennai in the two-Test series between the arch rivals in 1999, struck his third ton in seven matches against India.

Afridi reached his century with a pulled six off left arm pacer Irfan Pathan in 96 balls.

Inzamam, who resumed his last evening’s unbeaten innings after the fall of two wickets today, batted with a runner to make 119, hitting 12 fours and a huge on-driven six off Kumble after having faced 193 balls in his 251-minute essay.

Inzamam and Abdul Razzaq (37 in 90 balls) put on 40 runs before the latter chased a wide ball from Rudra Pratap and was caught behind off Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

The best figures of the innings was returned by rookie Rudra Pratap Singh (4 for 89) while Kumble and Zaheer picked three wickets each.

Afridi, and Abdul Razzaq, who accompanied the former to the crease to resume the innings at the overnight 379 for four after captain Inzamam did not commence his innings at the overnight 79 when play resumed, put on 88 runs between themselves.

Added to the 163 unconquered runs between Inzamam and Afridi last evening, the overall partnership for the fifth wicket between the three players was worth 251 runs in 296 balls, and came in only 205 minutes.

Inzamam batted with a runner to make his third century against India in 10 Tests, hitting 12 fours and a huge on-driven six off Kumble after having faced 193 balls in his 251-minute essay.

India batted for the second match running with a huge task facing them and were lucky that two edges either did not go to hand or were dropped.

Dravid’s edge off Mohammed Asif fell short of wicket keeper Kamran Akmal when he was on four.

Then Sehwag was let off at first slip by Imran Farhat, substituting for Inzamam, when on 12 in a score of 16.

The bowler to suffer was Akhtar who was struck for two successive fours by the flashy Indian opener off the first two balls of the innings.

The visitors lost Sehwag in the first over of the final session when he edged an attempted drive off Abdul Razzaq to substitute fielder Imran Farhat in the slip cordon.

It was a huge blow as the buccaneer Delhi batsman had come into the match on the back of his fabulous 254 in the drawn first Test at Lahore and a tally of 1236 runs from seven previous Tests against the hosts.

Sehwag, dropped by Farhat off Shoaib Akhtar at the same first slip position before tea, could not utilize the chance to make another big score against his favourite outfit and his dismissal, with India on 39 in the 12th over, lifted the home team’s spirits sky-high.

Dravid and Laxman kept a resolute vigil against all bowlers used by Pakistan, while making full use of the run-yielding balls.

The former was struck low on the pads at full stretch by leg spinner Danish Kaneria late in the day, but survived the leg before shout.

Both batted with customary elan with splendid drives to the off and straight and cuts embellishing their stay at the crease. (PTI)

SCOREBOARD

Pakistan: 1st innings (overnight 379 for 4)

Shoaib Malik c Dravid b Singh 19

Salman Butt c Dhoni b Zaheer 37

Younis Lhan c Yuvraj b Singh 83

Mohammad Yousuf c Dhoni b Singh 65

Inzamam-ul-Haq c Dhoni b Zaheer 119

Shahid Afridi c Yuvraj b Kumble 156

Abdul Razzaq c Dhoni b Singh 37

Kamran Akmal c Sehwag b Kumble 0

Shoaib Akhtar c Harbhajan b Zaheer 47

Mohammad Asif not out 6

Danish Kaneria b Kumble 0

Extras (3b, 4lb, 3w, 9nb) 19

Total: (all out in 136.2 overs) 588

Fall of Wickets: 1-49, 2-65, 3-207, 4-216, 5-467, 6-469, 7-509, 8-567, 9-584, 10-588.

Bowling: Irfan Pathan 19-4-106-0, Rudra Pratap Singh 25-3-89-4, Zaheer Khan 32-7-135-3, Harbhajan Singh 25-1-101-0 Anil Kumble 35.2-5-150-3.

India 1st innings

V Sehwag c (sub) Farhat b Razzaq 31

R Dravid batting 46

V V S Laxman batting 28

Extras (lb-1, nb-4) 5

Total (for 1 wkt, in 37 overs) 110

Fall of wicket: 1-39

Bowling: Akhtar 9-3-29-0; Asif 11-3-30-0; Razzaq 7-0-28-1, Kaneria 9-2-21-0, Afridi 1-0-1-0. (PTI)

 
 

Skating contingent leaves for National Championships

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Jan 22: Brushing aside all disputes, raised by some parents after not finding their wards in the selected lists, the 77-member strong Skating contingent today left for Kolkatta to participate in the 43rd National Roller Skating Championships.

The teams in different age groups and events of roller hockey, artistic and speed were flagged-off by the president of J&K Roller Skating Association, G S Khurmi.

Selected by a team of technical people provided by Roller Skating Federation of India, those skaters who attended the trials were satisfied with the selection procedure and the final out come.

The senior men hockey team is being led by Parikshat Singh Manhas, an international player, while Aditi Mahajan is the captain of senior girls roller hockey team.

Earlier, before finalising the teams, the Association organised a special preparatory camp at Shiva Roller Skating Institute, Pir Khow, near here, informed the Association president.

Meanwhile, Kamal Anand, skating coach from J&K has been named one of the technical officials for speed events of the championship.

Miss Fitness India event in Jalandhar on Feb 11-12

JALANDHAR, Jan 22: The 1st Miss Fitness India and 44th National Junior Bodybuilding Championship will be held here on February 11 and 12 next.

Over 300 bodybuilders and fitness athletes from 33 states and sports bodies will participate in the two day event being hosted by Punjab Amateur Bodybuilding Association, Indian Bodybuilding Federation(IBBF) executive vice president Dr Randhir Kumar said here today.

Dr Kumar told reporters that miss fitness India being the first ever national event in the country, would have three rounds as per the guidelines from the International Federation of Bodybuilders, Canada.

The miss fitness contest would be held in below 5’2'’ and above 5’2'’ height categories while the junior national body building championship will be held in under-55 kg, 60kg, 70kg, 75kg and above 75kg categories. (UNI)

Jayasuriya stars as Lanka turn up the heat

SYDNEY, Jan 22: Sri Lankan veteran Sanath Jayasuriya shrugged off jet-lag and a shoulder injury to flay Australia’s attack and set up a comfortable 51-run victory in a one-day triangular series match at the Sydney cricket ground today.

Jayasuriya’s inspirational 114 off 96 balls helped carry Sri Lanka to a formidable 309 for seven before dismissing a relatively inexperienced Australian line-up for just 258.

It was Sri Lanka’s second win from three matches in the series, while the Australians were left with two wins from four matches.

South Africa have just one win from three matches and are due to play Sri Lanka in Adelaide on Tuesday.

Sri Lankan coach Tom Moody had predicted Jayasuriya would influence the match and his words couldn’t have been more prophetic.

The 36-year-old, who only arrived in Australia on Friday after recuperating from a shoulder injury which he suffered on tour in New Zealand, smacked four sixes and 10 boundaries during his 19th century in one-day internationals.

He and Kumar Sangakkara piled on 163 for the second wicket, with the first 100 coming off 80 balls.

The run fest finally ended when a tired Jayasuriya was stumped by wicketkeeper Brad Haddin while trying to belt wrist-spinner Brad Hogg.

"If he scores more than 40 runs sri lanka wins 75 per cent of the games," Sri Lankan captain Marvan Atapattu said.

"It is nice to win against the number one team in the world and it gives you so much confidence going forward." Australian skipper Ricky Ponting was also complimentary.

"I thought they certainly batted extremely well, I mean Jayasuriya’s knock was something pretty special and he had Sangakkara out there with him to play very well around him," Ponting said.

"They had all the momentum going their way early on, and it just seemed that every ball they hit went through or over the field."

"We have seen Sanath do that to us before, he just gets on a bit of a roll and he just keeps on going and he has no fear, and today it came off very, very well."

Sangakkara also played a key role, making 78 off 95 balls. The pair had Ponting grasping for solutions.

Ponting substituted newcomer Brett Dorey who had been battered for 35 runs off four overs and brought on Hogg.

Hogg managed to stem the flood of boundaries but the Sri Lankans continued to pound the bowling of all-rounder James Hopes, who ended with 0-65 off six overs.

Sangakkara was eventually caught and bowled by Andrew Symonds and Mahela Jayawardene then joined the fray, making a rapid-fire 56 off 46 balls.

The Australians had gone into the match without veteran pace bowler Glenn McGrath who was being rested. They also dropped Phil Jaques, who made a brilliant 94 in his international one-day debut against South Africa on Friday.

Nathan Bracken, who was the best of the Australian bowlers with 2-40 from nine overs, was brought in for McGrath while Simon Katich returned from injury for Jaques. (AFP)

Team for Indo-Pak series to be named on Jan 31

CHANDIGARH, Jan 22: The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) will announce the team for the coming Indo-Pak hockey series, from February 15 to 25, on January 31 here.

The IHF secretary K Jyothikumaran here said that the team would be finalised during the two-day trials to be held on january 30 and 31.

He said the performance of the probables for the team was being closely watched and analysed at the ongoing Premier Hockey League (PHL).

The IHF has already selected 54 players for the national physical fitness camp being held under a panel of six coaches, said Jyothikumaran while talking to the media after the PHL tier II prize distribution function here.

It may be recalled that Olympian Deepak Thakur and Tejbir Singh were also later invited to join the camp on the basis of their performance in the ongoing PHL competitions.

The IHF secretary said that the selected players would attend the coaching camp in Chandigarh.

In the Indo-Pak hockey series, three matches each would be played in India and Pakistan.

On the Indian leg, the first Test will be conducted in Jalandhar on February 15 and second on February 17. The third will be played in New Delhi on February 19.

The matches in Pakistan will be held in Rawalpindi (Feb 21), Faisalabad (Feb 23) and Lahore (Feb 25).

On the issue of Rajinder Singh junior’s fate as the chief coach amidst rumours that he had tendered his resignation, Jyothikumaran said, "the IHF has not received any letter from Rajinder Singh. (UNI)
 

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