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Shoaib’s career may be over, fears Inzamam

LAHORE, Nov 7: It may well be curtains for Shoaib Akhtar’s checkered career if the enigmatic speedster, who tested positive for nandrolone, fails to get the two-year ban lifted, fears captain Inzamam-ul Haq.

Admitting that facing a resurgent West Indies without Shoaib and the other dope-tainted pacer Mohammad Asif would not be easy, Inzamam said he was hopeful that the ban would be reduced but at the same time confessed Shoaib’s career might just have been over.

"At their appeal, I hope their bans will be reduced. Even if the bans are cut, though, it is difficult to see them making the World Cup if they miss the West Indies and South Africa series. Spinners and batsmen can play straight away and get back into their game but fast bowlers need time to get their rhythm back.

"If Shoaib’s ban is not reduced it will be very difficult for him to come back. It would be difficult for anyone who is 30-plus and out of the game for two years to come back from that kind of ban, not just him. I know Shane Warne was older and came back but he was only banned for a year and it is easier for spinners. Two years is a long time. I just hope he wins his appeal," Inzamam wrote in his diary for a website.

Admitting the twin bans were big blow to his team’s chances against brian lara’s squad, Inzy said, "our preparations for the West Indies series have not been helped by the bans on Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif. We have named a squad that we think will give us the best chance of victory but the action against Shoaib and Asif was a hard decision.

"They will be a big loss to Pakistan because they are special bowlers. We will still go into all our matches with the belief that we can win, especially the World Cup. This decision will hurt us more in the test matches," he opined.

The burly Multan player also admitted awareness level was abysmally low in Pakistan about the menace of drug.

"...I would say that it’s very difficult to know about these things in Pakistan. There is no awareness about the medicines. I think this is the reason why they have taken the tablets or banned substance. Asif, especially, has not been to any anti-doping lecture.

"In Pakistan if you go to the pharmacy without a prescription for a headache or an upset stomach, nobody is worried about what you have taken," he explained.

In Shoaib and Asif’s absence, lot would depend on Danish Kaneria and Umar Gul. Inzy singled out the former and said the leggie might prove Pakistan’s numero uno strike bowler.

"Danish and Umar Gul are now our only strike bowlers. We also have Shahid Nazir, Samiullah Niazi and Rao Iftikhar but they are containing bowlers, they are not wicket-taking bowlers. To win test matches you need strike bowlers who will take wickets, so in this department we are in serious trouble.

"Mohammad Sami is a strike bowler, is a good team man and has the pace and everything a fast bowler would want, apart from confidence...Danish is performing well and Mushtaq Ahmed bowled well in England again. Then there is Arshad Khan and Abdul Rehman, while we also have Hafeez and Malik so there are options. Abdul Rehman gives us nice variation with his left-arm spinners," he said. (UNI)

I had forgiven Darrell Hair

By Inzamam-ul Haq

I cannot say that I am pleased with the ICC decision that Darrell Hair will no longer umpire international matches, since that is not me. I do not take delight in someone’s plight. Personally, I had forgiven him for the Oval mis-happening where Pakistan, it has now been proved, was wrongly accused of ball-tampering.

But the International Cricket Council was in an unforgiving mood. Since the meeting was attended by heads of most national cricket associations, I would like to believe they arrived at the decision after due care.

Ban on Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif:

It has pained me to see the bans on Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif. Both are our lynchpins and they would be missed in the upcoming series against the West Indies. I do believe that they took the banned substances unknowingly and hence the ban on them is a tad harsh.

I have spoken to Shoaib since the ban came into effect and he, as can be expected, is devastated. Both his reputation and career have come crashing down. There is no knowing how his tomorrow would shape up. As of now, appeal against the sentence looks his only option. So is the case with Asif.

I really am in no position to comment on what transpired in the panel’s hearing since I was not there. I would not know if they failed to put up a strong defence or if the case against them was carefully structured.

I instinctively though feel that cricketers from the sub-continent would not do it on purpose. They are not drugs or medicine savvy. It must be inadvertent or at somebody’s behest. I doubt if the purpose was to enhance their performances.

I do not rule out though that cricketers around the world could be tempted to take recourse to drugs in order to recover quickly from injuries. They want to be back on field as early as possible and hasten their recovery process. Hence, the temptation.

The important thing to consider here is the cause of such spate of injuries. Most of it is because of unending saga of one-day cricket. There is no break till relentless cricket takes it toll. It is not as if cricketers from Pakistan alone are getting injured. The pattern is the same, be it in England or Australia.

The case of one-dayers is different from tests where you get to stay at a venue for at least seven days. In one-dayers, most of the time you are heading for airports after finishing a game. The constant traveling, waiting at the airports and all those check-in at the hotels are extremely draining. Cricketers are feeling the heat. (PTI)

CA to investigate into team’s behaviour

MELBOURNE, Nov 7: Cricket Australia today said it would investigate into the team’s reported rude nudging of Indian Cricket Board President Sharad Pawar during the Champions Trophy presentation ceremony in Mumbai.

"The players have only just arrived back in Australia and over the course of the next few days we will be finding out what, if anything, did or did not happen," CA spokesman Peter Young said today.

Young said the players were very thrilled to have won the Mini World Cup and had now dispersed to their respective states.

"I do know the Australian players were very excited to win the trophy. It is a bit of a holy grail because it was the only trophy in world cricket they had not won," he was quoted as saying by `The Age’.

Ricky Ponting’s men have been taken to task by the Indian media for nudging Pawar after their eight-wicket win over the West Indies in Sunday’s final in Mumbai.

Ponting gestured towards Pawar with his forefinger, asking him to give away the trophy while Damien Martyn was seen pushing Pawar with his right hand, urging him to get off the stage so that the team could pose with the trophy. (PTI)

Inter-Collegiate Men Cricket
GDC Udhampur registers 73 runs win over PG Deptt

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 7: Government Degree College Udhampur today defeated Post Graduate Department of Arts in the Inter-Collegiate Men Cricket Tournament being played at University of Jammu grounds, here.

Post Graduate Department of Arts won the toss and decided to bowl first. Government Degree College Udhampur made a total of 194 runs by losing all wickets in 38.4 overs.

Ashwani was the highest scorer. He made 41 runs in 41 balls with the help of six hits to the fence. He was followed by Imtiaz and Avinash, who scored 27 and 24 runs respectively by facing 27 and 38 balls.

For PG Department of Arts, Abishek clinched four wickets while Shrikant took three wickets.

PG Department of Arts could not chase the intended target and lost all wickets at a total score of 121 runs in 29.1 overs. Even 30 runs through extra could not help the team in chasing the target thereby helping GDC Udhampur to won the match by 73 runs.

Wasim and Paramjeet were the main scorers. They contributed 20 and 18 runs respectively to the total.

For Government Degree Colleg Udhampur, Lokinder and Ashwani clinched three and two wickets respectively.

Sandeepan Sharma and Rohit Dogra were the umpires while Naveen Sharma was the scorer.

The Tournament is being organised by Department of Physical Education of University of Jammu.

State Open Table Tennis Championship
Jyesh wins Cadet Boys, Shazar lifts Cadet Girls titles

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 7: Jyesh Singh won Cadet Boys title in the State Open Table Tennis Championship which concludedat Indoor Sports Complex of MA Stadium, here.

Jyesh Singh defeated Apoorav Sharma by 13-11, 8-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-4. In the Cadet girls final, Shazar defeated Lavanya Sharma by 11-7, 11-6, 11-9.

In Sub-Junior Boys final, Jyesh beat Shorya by 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 8-11, 11-9 while in the Sub-Junior Girls final, Shazar beat Lavanya Sharma by 15-13, 14-12, 12-14, 11-6.

Arjun Kohli defeated Shourya Sharma by 11-5, 11-5, 11-5 in the Junior Boys final while in the Junior Girls final, Deepinder Kour beat Nitani Bakshi by 11-3, 11-3, 11-4.

In Women’s final, Chandpreet Kour beat Savera Jamwal by 11-8, 11-7, 11-6 while in Men’s final, Arjun Kohli beat Jyesh Singh by 11-6, 11-9, 11-8.

In the Veteran final, V B Sadhotra beat Jeet Raj Kalsi by 7-11, 13-11, 14-12, 11-6.

In Men’s Doubles, Arjun Kohli and Sudhir Singh beat Naresh Gupta and Narinder Singh by 11-7, 11-7, 14-16 and 11-9.

Later, Member Parliament and President of the National Conference Omar Abdullah, who is also the president of Jammu and Kashmir Table Tennis Association, distributed prizes among the winners and runners-up.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Abdullah stressed on the need to keep politics away from the sports and suggested the office bearers of the Jammu and Kashmir Table Tennis Association to appoint senior sports person as president of the Association at his place.

"All Sports Associations should replace politicians with sports persons as their office bearers", he further said.

Chairman of the Association Sheikh Fazal Ahmed, vice-president Vicky Mahajan, MLA Ajay Sadhotra, Secretary State Sports Council Ravinder Gupta and Sports Officer Krishan Lal Sharma were among others who attended the prize distribution function.

Presentation Convent School bags Winner’s
Trophy in debate contest

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 7: An inter-school debate sponsored by YMCA, Chandigarh-Shimla and organised by Alexander Memorial School was held here today.

The topic for the debate was "the progress in science in the dawn of self-destruction" in which eight prominent schools of Jammu participated.

Sohan Lal, Presbyter Incharge Sat Paul’s Church, Jammu was the Chairman and Elizbeth Noel and Arvind Noel general secretary of YMCA Chandigarh, S Joshi, Principal Lawrence Public School Jammu were main guests. Dr Posh Charak of Jammu University and Atula Dhar of Jammu Engineering College were the judges.

Vasumana Pant of Presentation Convent School Jammu bagged first prize, Anmol Masson and Deepakshi Bhat of Alexander Memorial School were declared joint winners for the second prize. Surbhi Kesar of Presentation Convent School was awarded the most promising debator’s prize.

Presentation Convent School Jammu bagged the winners trophy and Alexander Memorial School bagged the runner-up trophy.

Esther William, Principal Alexander Memorial School and S K Munshi, School Coordinator were also present on the occasion.

Kamal to take on Jaideep in Sr Billiards final

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 7: Kamal Rohmetra to take on Jaideep Manocha in the final of the Senior Billiards in the 16th Jammu District Open Billiards and Snooker Championship being played at Billiards Hall of MA Stadium, here.

Kamal stormed into final of Senior Billiards by defeating Nikhil Kapahi by 626-326 points. The lead which Kamal got in the initial stage of the match continued to increase in the two hour long match thereby winning the semi-final by a huge margin of 300 points.

In the second semi-final, Jaideep outclassed last year’s runner-up Sohail Khalid by 416-324.

The final of the Senior Billiards between Kamal Rohmetra and Jaideep Manocha will be played on November 9, 2006. The final of Senior Snooker between Sumesh Turki and Ishan Choudhary tomorrow.

The Championship is being organised by Jammu and Kashmir Billiards and Snooker Association.