Ashwani
Kapoor Memorial Hockey
Jammu University outplays Gobind
Club
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU,
Feb 11: Jammu
University got the better of Gobind Club by 4-1
goals in a lop sided contest today to enter into
the semifinal of the ongoing Ashwani Kapoor
Memorial Hockey Tournament being played at K K
Hakku Stadium.
Jammu University
forwards breathed fire from the word go as Pawan
Kumar struck in the 8th minute to give his team
early lead.
Talvinder Singh
then came with a beauty in the 27th minute to
stretch team’s lead further to 2-0 at half
time.
Gobind Club in the
second half played with a much improved gameplan
which finally yielded dividends.
Amarjeet Singh
found the target in the 38th minute to open the
account.
Jammu University
on the other hand slammed two more goals to dash
the hopes of hapless Gobind Club to make any
comeback.
The goal scorers
were Sarabjeet Singh (43) and Pankaj Kumar (58).
The match was officiated by Dalbir Mehta, Jagjit
Singh and Karanjeet Singh.
Symonds
may face disciplinary action over IPL remarks
MELBOURNE,
Feb 11: All-rounder
Andrew Symonds faces disciplinary action from
Cricket Australia for his "outspoken and
inaccurate comments" in an unpublished
newspaper column in which he panned the board for
not allowing the players join the Indian Premier
League (IPL).
CA’s
spokesperson Peter Young said the board stood by
the decision to withhold the column because there
were several inaccuracies in the story that also
amounted to breach of contract.
"In the
contract there are requirements relating to
public comment and the obligation to not
disparage various parties and also it’s a
contractual issue," Young said.
Accordingly,
Symonds has been asked to get in touch with CA
chief executive James Sutherland.
Young said
‘The Sunday Telegraph’ had emailed him
the column with only a 30-minute deadline to get
it approved by CA lawyers before going to print.
"Had the
column been received in the morning, all parties
could have worked through the issue... The
problem we had with his comment yesterday is
it’s clearly based on a complete lack of
understanding of the detail of what’s going
on.
"What we
suggested yesterday was ‘let’s have a
discussion’ and our chief executive James
Sutherland rang and left a message asking Andrew
to give him a call," he said.
Young said
Sutherland would give Symonds a full picture of
the issue and try to convince him that CA wanted
its contracted players to participate in the IPL.
"As james
will explain to him, there are complicated issues
including issues that relate to protecting
Symonds’ own position under existing
contracts that we need to resolve and hope that
we can resolve," Young said.
Symonds had
criticised administrators for not allowing the
players to sign with the IPL.
"We
can’t quite work out what’s going on
with the chiefs at Cricket Australia, who seem to
be trying to run interference by putting up a
heap of red tape," Symonds wrote in his
column.
"To be
brutally honest, as players, we just can’t
understand the stance they’ve taken.
We’re all keen to have a hit if the tour of
Pakistan gets called off, but Cricket Australia
has played what looks like a bit of a trick
shot," Symonds said.
He also dismissed
the suggestion that a possible conflict of
sponsorship interests was at the centre of
CA’s predicament.
"It’s my
understanding Cricket Australia are trying to say
that Aussie players can’t play for teams who
are sponsored by competitors to Cricket Australia
sponsors.
"The way I
see it, Queensland are sponsored by XXXX and
South Australia are sponsored by westend - but
Cricket Australia is sponsored by Foster’s.
So CA is trying to say that’s a conflict of
interest and because of that we can’t
play?"
Young refused to
disclose details of CA’s discussions with
the BCCI over IPL but claimed the board strongly
supported the concept.
"It is not
just sponsorship issues. There are a range of
issues and the sponsorship issue is far more
complicated than what has so far been presented
publicly," Young said.
"We are keen
to see Australian players participate in the IPL
but on the basis that it doesn’t compromise
future tours or ICC events," he added.(PTI)
India
have set up a very competitive series: Chappell
MELBOURNE,
Feb 11: Former
Australian captain Ian Chappell has lauded India
for matching up to Ricky Ponting’s world
champion side in the ongoing one-day series,
saying the visitors have spiced up the tri-nation
tournament with their competitiveness.
India beat
Australia by five wickets yesterday to go on top
of the points table in the series also involving
Sri Lanka and Chappell was all praise for the
effort.
"... It was a
tough win for India but a very good one... I
think the message that they have also sent to
Australia, if they were not aware of it before
they certainly are now, that India really do
believe that they can beat this Australian side
and I think that it has set up, once again, a
very competitive series between these two
teams," Chappell said.
Australia came
into the match after thumping Sri Lanka by 128
runs in their previous match and Chappell said
India’s win was an indication that the
rivalry between the two teams was gaining
momentum.
"They
certainly have been the two teams that have
competed the best and competed the hardest for a
decade, and it’s a rivalry that is not
showing any signs of fading away," he was
quoted as saying by the ‘Cricinfo’.
Chappell described
the Indian bowling as "magnificent" at
the MCG and appreciated Ishant Sharma’s
never-say-die spirit.
"I thought
that the Indian bowling, particularly the three
main quick bowlers were magnificent. Ishant
Sharma, he is a very fast learner, and the good
thing about today’s performance was the fact
that he took a bit of stick from Matthew Hayden
early on — couple of those shots were a bit
lucky, they were edged over the top of the slips.
"And the runs
came quickly off him early on and being so young
the shoulders could have gone down. He could have
been a little negative in his approach, but he
was anything but negative. He kept running in
hard, he kept banging the ball into the pitch, he
got a little bit of movement, he got lot of
bounce and he got very good players out. So all
the signs from Ishant Sharma on this tour have
been very promising for India," Chappell
said.
"Sreesanth
did a terrific job. He is bowling very
confidently, he is bowling at a good pace and
moving the ball around. And the other guy, Irfan
Pathan has really got his confidence back as a
bowler. He varied his pace today; he bowled
cleverly and bowled a few slower deliveries. So,
it is good to see Pathan get his confidence back.
So the Indian pace bowling attack did a terrific
job."
He also praised
captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and young middle
order batsman Rohit Sharma.
"When India
did get into a bit of trouble, a couple of the
young players — Dhoni has shown that he has
a very good head on his shoulders and he handles
the pressure well and he is in very good batting
form.
"He helped
guide Rohit Sharma through; Sharma is a very
talented young player and I think he has got a
huge future, and the fact that he played with a
lot of freedom at the Gabba the other day and
played some wonderful shots, but then he had to
fight very hard for his runs here at the
MCG," he said.
"That will
help with his experience at learning how to play
this game at the highest level." (PTI)
Russia,
Germany, Sweden advance
to Davis Cup
quarterfinals
LONDON,
Feb 11: Russia
took advantage of an ailing Novak Djokovic to
reach the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup,
advancing to the next round along with Germany
and Sweden.
The Russians, who
lost to the United States in last year’s
final, earned their decisive point in the 3-2 win
over Serbia when Djokovic withdrew from the first
reverse singles match despite leading Nikolay
Davydenko 6-4, 6-3, 4-6.
Sweden rallied to
beat Israel 3-2, winning both reverse singles
matches yesterday, and Philipp Kohlschreiber gave
Germany the winning point in a 3-2 win over South
Korea in the best-of-five series by beating Lee
Hyung-Taik 6-0, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (1).
The United States,
Argentina, the Czech Republic, Spain and France
all reached the quarterfinals on Saturday.
(AGENCIES)
Ganguly
says he has accepted his ODI omission
KOLKATA, Feb 11: Breaking his silence over
his omission from India’s ODI team, Sourav
Ganguly today said that it was
"disappointing" when his one-day record
is only next best after Sachin Tendulkar, but he
had "accepted" the selectors’
decision.
A reticent former
Indian captain was unwilling to be drawn into any
discussion on his being ignored but even then his
hurt shows.
"I am
disappointed just like any other cricketer in not
being a part of the one-day side as I had a great
year last year and my one-day record is probably
the next best after Sachin. It is disappointing
but then I have accepted it", he told in an
interview.
Ganguly refused to
answer questions about reports that he and Rahul
Dravid were left out of the ODI team on the
insistence of skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
"I do not want to talk about it," he
said.
Following are the
other points made by the elegant left hander who
was named alongwith Sachin Tendulkar as the
BCCI’s "players for the period October
07 to January 08" for their exploits in the
Test series against Pakistan at home and against
Australia Down Under:—
On whether
experience should be sacrificed for youth and
whether India was going in the right direction in
preparing for the 2011 World Cup:
"I know my
answer, but I keep it with myself. I must say
that 2011 World Cup is still a long way away. But
I have a lot of faith in Dilip Vengsarkar
somebody whom I respect quite a lot and I am sure
good things will happen under him."
How many years the
‘golden four’ of Indian cricket —
Sachin Tendulkar, himself, Rahul Dravid and VVS
Laxman —expect to play?
"It is
difficult to say how many more years we all will
play. It depends on performance, because
that’s what matters in cricket."
On the general
view that he could play for at least another
three years:
"It all
depends on performance".
Does the Indian
team need a coach since it has performed well
without one and whether Indian cricket had learnt
any lessons from the Greg Chappell episode?
"The team has
got Gary Kirsten as the coach. He was with us in
Australia during the last two Test matches and we
look forward to exciting times ahead with him.
Regarding the Greg Chappell episode, I do not
want to talk about it.
On whether he has
spoken to Chappell after his remarkable comeback
or if he has any plans to speak to him:
"I do not
want to raise the Greg Chappell issue
again".
How does he rate
Anil Kumble as a captain and what are his
strengths?
"I think he
has done fantastically well as the captain. His
strength is his man management skills and the
tremendous confidence he has in his
players".
Has he spoken to
Shah Rukh Khan, who wants him to be the captain
of the Kolkata team in the Indian Premier League:
"I have not
spoken to Shah Rukh Khan yet. Let me speak to him
and then we will see where it goes.
About the recent
acrimony between Indian and Australian players:
"I really do
not want to talk about it much because a lot of
things have been spoken and done. It’s good
that they have all gone back to cricket because
that’s what matters at the end of the
day".
Whether unruly
behaviour by players can be checked by tough
umpires:
"I think the
umpires are tough in the field now a days. But
sometimes certain things happen at the heat of
the moment and the best thing is to sort it out
amicably".
Use of technology
in umpiring:
"I think
there should be a balance of technology in the
umpires role. But we must realise that we all
make mistakes and mistakes will happen always. As
a cricketer, I feel that if the field umpires get
a bit of help in the matter of the front foot no
ball from the technology as they have in tennis,
that they can concentrate and look only towards
the batsman and that can reduce mistakes, because
things happen fast in the cricket field".
(PTI)
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