 India
keen to clinch final berth today
HOBART,
Feb 25: Needing
to win their last game to ensure a berth in the
cricket tri-series final, India’s ability to
handle pressure will be tested as they take on
Sri Lanka in a must-win match here tomorrow.
The Indians, who
have not shown the desired consistency in the
tournament so far, have no option but to defeat
the islanders in the day game to qualify for the
best of three finals tomorrow itself.
In case they lose,
they still have a chance of making it but for
that to happen, Sri Lanka have to lose to
Australia in their last league match. But the
Indians are not to keen to wait till the last
game.
Mahendra Singh
Dhoni and his band of young warriors have their
task cut out for the crucial encounter against
Sri Lanka, who are equally determined to put it
across the Indians in what promises to be a
thrilling contest between the two Asian rivals.
While India need
one victory to guarantee a place in the final,
the task for the Lankans is a bit more difficult
as they have to win both their remaining matches
to secure a place in the summit showdown.
Australia have
already qualified with 26 points from seven
matches while India are at the second spot with
12 points from six outings. Sri Lanka are at the
third slot with six points from as many matches.
Dhoni wants his
team to seal a place in the finals here rather
than wait anxiously for the outcome of the
Lanka-Australia match.
"In any case,
we would like to seal the match against Sri Lanka
and not leave it to the last game between
Australia and Sri Lanka. This game is very
important for us."
Dhoni hoped for an
improvement in his luck with the coin. "May
be I will have a coin from Sholay, where either
way you win," said the calm-headed Indian
captain.
Dhoni has been
utterly disappointed with the poor showing of the
top order, whose failure was a major reason for
India falling short by just 18 runs while chasing
the huge target of 318 runs.
"The
run-making for the top order hasn’t been the
story till now and it could make things so much
easier for the lower order batsmen," said
Dhoni.
India’s top
four wickets, including the ones of openers
Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag, have been
falling cheaply and Dhoni said if needed he was
open to shuffle the batting order.
"We have a
few options, (Robin) Uthappa can open with sachin
but the way Gautam (Gambhir) has settled in at
number three, I don’t want to disturb
him."
The Indians would
hope that Tendulkar, who has not been in the best
of form in the tri-series, clicks tomorrow in
order to lay a solid foundation for the team.
The Indians had
reverted to the four-bowler strategy in the last
game and it remains to be seen whether they
continue to adopt a similar ploy for the clash at
the relatively smaller Bellerive Oval.
Though Dhoni
praised the young bowlers’ effort on the
batting-friendly Sydney Cricket Ground pitch, the
Indian bowling yesterday looked helpless on a few
occasions and the bowlers went for a lot of runs.
Now they have to pull up their socks to be able
to contain the free flowing Sri Lankan batsman.
Sri Lanka, on the
other hand, also have their share of problems.
Their batting has not lived upto expectations and
the experienced batsmen have to contribute more
to be able to challenge their rivals.
Sri Lanka captain
Mahela Jayawardene said they badly needed to
improve their batting to win the next two
matches.
"We have to
win both the games. If we get our batting sorted
out, we have a very good chance," he said.
(PTI)
Bitterness
creeps in again, India lodge complaint
HOBART,
Feb 25:
The bitterness in the relationship between
Indian and Australian cricketers has again crept
in with the Indian team management today lodging
a written complaint with the match referee about
the provocative behaviour of the home team.
The Indians, whose
tour of Australia have been marked by a racism
row and a series of on-field altercations, have
threatened to take a "befitting action"
if Ricky Ponting and his men persisted with such
behaviour.
"We have
written to the match referee Jeff Crowe and we
will take a befitting action if it
continued" Indian team manager Vimal Soni
said.
Young fast bowler
Ishant Sharma this morning was docked 15 per cent
of his match fee for finger-pointing a departing,
abrasive Andrew Symonds from the middle in
yesterday’s tri-series game in Sydney.
It led the Indians
to draft a strongly-worded letter to Crowe in
which they have mentioned specific incidents of
"provocation" by the Australians.
"We accept
the match referee’s decision for Ishant to
have transgressed the level 1.6 ICC code of
conduct," Soni said, adding "we also
wanted him to have a look at the provocation
which Australians have been repeatedly providing
in the series."
"Much has
happened in recent past and we didn’t want
to open up old wounds by making a complaint
against the Australians. But we have mentioned
specific incidents in the letter to match
referee," he said.
The specific
incidents, it is learnt, concerned the repeated
jabbering which Ponting reportedly kept directing
at Harbhajan Singh in yesterday’s game as
well as left-handed opener Matthew Hayden being
accused of constantly calling Harbhajan a
"mad boy."
Harbhajan, along
with his skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, drew the
attention of two umpires at Hayden’s
specific provocation when the big stand between
Hayden and Ponting was taking place in the first
half of yesterday’s match.
Another incident
which came up for mention in the match
referee’s hearing this morning was the
gloves Dhoni wore in the initial part of
Australia’s innings.
"We changed
the gloves once. Crowe pointed it out to us
(during the Australian innings), even though
according to rules the particular gloves
completely met the specific regulations,"
said Soni.
The rules state
that the webbing of a wicketkeeper’s gloves
should not go beyond the length of thumb and the
finger.
"But since on
extension of hand the cusp was visible, we
decided to change the gloves," reacted Soni.
As for
Ishant-Symonds spat, the Indians were adamant it
happened as a result of the provocation by the
Australian allrounder.
"Our plea was
Symonds provoked Ishant and that’s why he
did what he did," said Soni.
"The match
referee has promised he would have a word with
the Australian captain on the matter."
Ishant was called
up for hearing by Crowe this morning in sydney
after the two umpires lodged a complaint about
the Indian’s gesture towards Symonds, who
was bowled for 59 in the 45th over of the
Australian innings in yesterday’s match at
the SCG. (PTI)
India
cannot afford to relax in qualifiers: Pillay
NEW
DELHI, Feb 25: Keeping a keen eye on India’s
progress, hockey great Dhanraj Pillay cautioned
the players that they cannot afford to let slip
an inch in the qualifiers if they want to make
the cut for the Beijing Olympics.
Pillay said though
eighth-ranked England would be the main opponent
to beat in the chile qualifers, to be held from
March 1 to 9, India must not take other teams for
granted.
"Obviously
England is the major hurdle before us. But the
whole world closely watches the Olympics and
World Cup qualifiers. Every team comes
well-prepared for these events. So we should not
take any side lightly as losing one point would
pile the odds against us," Pillay told in an
interview.
The four-time
Olympian said though the present team was not one
of the strongest sides India ever had, yet its
preparation was good enough to see them through.
"The training
was good. They were completely focused on it and
the players were not allowed to play for their
departments. Also, they returned from a camp in
Australia. They appear to be well prepared,"
he said.
"But we
should not be over-confident. Because England
look very confident and they have said they can
beat India," he said.
About the
unpleasant episode involving forward Rajpal Singh
and coach Joaquim Carvalho during the Indian
team’s preparatory stint in Perth, Pillay
said such incidents should not be brought before
the media.
"Differences
happen in a team and it’s a normal
thing," he said. (PTI)
RRCC
wins Cricket tourney
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU,
Feb 25:
Red Rose Cricket Club (RRCC) overwhelmed
Chhani Cricket Club (CCC), Sarore Adda in the
final to clinch the cricket tournament played at
Morare-Chak (Bishnah) today.
R S Chib, Member,
J&K Legislative Council was the chief guest
on the occasion who distributed prizes among the
winners.
Rajinder Singh
Charak (Bindu) of CCC was adjudged man of the
series.
In all eight
cricket clubs of tehsil Bishnah participated in
the tournament played in the memory of late Raj
Kumar and Raman Kumar, both local residents of
Morare-Chak.
The organising
committee of the tournament was headed by Nanak
Chand.
District
Taekwondo Championship held
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
KATHUA,
Feb 25:
The first District Kathua Taekwondo
Championship organised by Taekwondo Federation of
India held today.
About 100 players
participated in the championship. Chander Grover,
Principal, HOC Higher Secondary School, Billawar
was the chief guest on the occasion who
distributed prizes among the winners.
Amit Grover,
President, District Kathua Taekwondo Association
was also present.
Final Results:
20-22kg (Boys):
Ankush (gold), Prinshu (silver) and Rohit
(bronze).
Below 24kg: Atul
(gold), Minal (silver) and Anmol (bronze).
Below 28kg: Manik
(gold), Tarun (silver) and Vivek (bronze).
Below 32kg:
Meeyank (gold), Danish (silver) and Rajat
(bronze).
Below 36kg: Amit
(gold), Sanjeev (silver) and Sourav (bronze).
Below 45kg: Rahul
(gold), Bavinder Singh (silver) and Vicky
(bronze).
20-22kg (Girls):
Supriya (gold), Priya (silver) and Ruchika
(bronze).
Below 24kg: Tania
(gold), Meenu Gupta (silver) and Pooja (bronze).
Below 28kg: Pooja
Singh (gold), Neha Gupta (silver) and Mehak
Sharma (bronze).
Below 38kg:
Ruchika Mehta (gold), Vadisha (silver) and Heena
(bronze).
Below 38kg (Boys):
Nitin (gold), Tarun (silver) and Varun (bronze).
Anandrathi
Corporate Cricket Tournament
JP World, Chamber of Commerce
register wins
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU,
Feb 25: JP
World and Chamber of Commerce notched up
convincing wins today in the ongoing 2nd
Anandrathi Corporate Cup Twenty20 Cricket
Tournament being played at Jammu University
Ground.
In the first
match, JP World prevailed over Jehlum Industries
by 39 runs.
JP World won the
toss and opted to bat first. They posted
challenging 187/2 in the allotted 20 overs with
Guru Partap played a brilliant knock of 98 runs.
He struck as many
as 14 crispy hits to the fence. Manish Dogra
supported him well by smashing 47 ball 57
containing 6 boundaries.
For Jehlum
Industries, Romi took the only wicket.
In reply, Jehlum
Industries bowled out for 149 runs. Sahil and
Ankit were the top scorers with 23 and 27 runs
respectively.
Rajinder (20),
Romi (19) and Rajat (18) were the other notable
contributors.
For JP World,
Irshad and Pranav took three wickets each while
Praveen grabbed two.
Ajitpal and Manik
fetched a wicket each. Gurupartap was adjudged
man of the match.
In the second
match, Chamber of Commerce outplayed GMT by 4
wickets.
GMT after winning
the toss opted to bat first. They suffered a
batting collapse and the whole team was perished
for paltry 82 runs.
Mugander and Ashok
top scored with 17 and 12 runs respectively.
For Chamber of
Commerce, Anil and Manik snared three and two
wickets respectively.
Manjeet, Prince
and Sourab chipped in with one wicket apiece.
Chasing a modest
83 to win, Chamber of Commerce survived some
anxious moments before overhauling the target for
the loss of six wickets.
Vivek Singh played
a fine knock of 20 runs equally well supported by
Abhishek (13), Prince (19) and Manjeet (17).
Anil Balgotra was
declared man of the match. The umpires in the
matches were Rajesh Dogra and Santa Singh.
The scorer was
Rajeev Pakhetra.
Trials
for All India Civil Service Football
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU,
Feb 25:
The General Administration Department has
asked those State Government’s gazetted and
non-gazetted employees, who are willing to take
part in the All India Civil Service Football
Tournament being held at Bangalore, Karnataka
from March 12 to 19, to report to sports officer
J&K State Sports Council M A Stadium Jammu
for trials on February 28 at 4 p.m for selection
of the Football team to represent the State.
It has been
further informed that the interested person
should not be above 35 years of age on January 1,
2008. However, an outstanding player above 35
years of age, if selected on the basis of
performance in the trials will also be
considered.
Ajay
selected for World TT Championship
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU,
Feb 25:
After his excellent performance in the
recently concluded 15th National Veteran Table
Tennis championship held at Jallandhar where he
won a bronze medal in men singles event and
silver medal in team championship, Ajay Sharma
has been selected to represent the country in the
forthcoming World Veterans Table Tennis
Championship slated to be held at Brazil in
April.
He (Ajay) would
lead the team in above 40 yrs category.
Earlier, in the
national championship, Ajay produced the biggest
upset of the tournament beating top seed Vivek
Alwani of Maharashtra.
MCC wins
Jagdamba Cricket Tournament
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU,
Feb 25:
Hosts Mahanpur Cricket Club (MCC) defeated
New Age Degree College by a whopping 100 runs in
the final to win Jagdamba Cricket Tournament
played at Mahanpur (Basohli) today.
MCC made 187 runs
in the allotted overs. In reply, New Age Degree
College skittled out for paltry 87 runs to suffer
a heavy defeat.
Kaka of the winner
club was declared man of the match while Sunny of
New Age Degree College adjudged man of the
series.
J P Singh, SSP
Kathua was the chief guest on the occasion while
Binam Tosha, Additional SP, Kathua was the guest
of honour.
In all 17 teams
participated in the tournament organised by the
J&K Police.
LCC
holds working committee meeting
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU,
Feb 25: A
working committee of Laxmi Cricket Club (LCC) was
held wherein Kamal Rohmetra was unanimously
elected as its Chief Patron.
Ramesh Pargal has
been elected as Patron.
Kewal Krishan and
Anil Gupta were elected as chairman and vice
chairman respectively.
Vijay Kumar
Sabharwal has been nominated as president while
Rupinder Singh Bedi as vice president.
Pawan Gupta has
been elected as general secretary whereas Sunil
Gupta as secretary.
Amarjeet Singh has
been elected as joint secretary while Sanjeev
Sharma has been given the charge of publicity
secretary.
Sanjay Bali has
been nominated as Treasurer. Advisory and
Organising committees were also formed for
smoothly conducting of tournament by the club.
Jaideep
beats Anjali in Chess final
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU,
Feb 25:
Jaideep Kour edged out Anjali Thakur in the
final to clinch chess title in girls section on
the second day of the ongoing 14th Annual Sports
Meet of Dogra College of Education.
In boys section,
Hari Om Singh trounced Amraram Bahti to clinch
the title.
In table tennis,
Anjali Thakur overcame Anita Gupta by 11-9 and
11-10 in the first singles in girls section while
Suresh Dhaka beat Abbas by 11-7 and 11-6 in boys
section.
Triangular
Billiards/Snooker Tournament concludes
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU,
Feb 25:
The Triangular Series of Billiards/Snooker
tournament organised by J&K Rural Sports Club
concluded at Rehari Colony with the winners
decided in all three categories.
In Snooker, Anshul
Mahajan got the better of Vikrant Sehgal by 2-0
frames (53-46 and 44-19 to clinch the title while
Tarun Tandon emerged victorious in Pool category
defeating Vidit Gawri by 3-1.
In Nine Ball game,
Vidit Gawri overwhelmed Vaneet Dutta by 3-2 in a
keen contest.
Ashok Parmar, Vice
Chairman, Jammu Development Authority (JDA) was
the chief guest on the occasion.
Narinder Singh,
President, J&K Rural Sports Club, Rajesh
Dutta, Sandipan Dutta, Rajesh Sharma, Dr Rohit
Gupta, Yogesh Sharma, Sumit Singh and Rahul
Mangotra were also present.
The tournament was
a part of Rural Welfare Games being organised by
the club.
Narinder Singh
presented the vote of thanks.
Vimal,
Anita clinch Carrom titles
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU,
Feb 25:
Vimal Bhat got the better of Monis Ayubb by
37-35 points in a pulsating final to clinch boys
title as the State Carrom Championship organised
by J&K Carrom Association concluded at SOS
(HGS) Gole Gujral today.
Navleen finished
third. In girls section, Anita prevailed over
Sonali Pandita to emerged winner.
Mohd Ayubb,
Principal, SOS (HGS) was the chief guest on the
occasion who distributed prizes among the winner
and runner-ups.
Sharapova
beats Vera to win Qatar Open
DOHA,
Feb 25: Maria
Sharapova maintained her unbeaten record in 2008
by claiming her second title of the year with a
win over fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva at the
Qatar Open on sunday.
The Australian
Open champion won 6-1, 2-6, 6-0 against her
unseeded but impressive opponent, producing a
ferocious final set performance which once again
underlined her as the player to beat right now.
She had a decent
test from the world number 27, who is coming back
well herself from wrist and ankle injuries, and
at times showed some of the rhythm, deception and
fluency which once carried her into the
world’s top ten.
Sharapova’s
improvement since last year has come not only
from overcoming her shoulder problems but careful
attention to injury-avoiding detail, as the
manner in which she worked her way carefully into
this match suggested.
"I made a
slow start and then played really well to win the
first set," she explained.
"But
she’s the type of opponent who’s going
to play her best tennis when she’s behind
when she has nothing to lose.
"I felt my
energy going down in the third set and I needed
something to get me going. And there were a
couple of rallies at the start of it when i
scrambled to win them, which gave me a lot of
confidence.
"What I have
to do is to play the right way and stay on top -
not to have any let-downs. I am better able to do
that now because I am physically strong, and
don’t have a problem with long
matches."
Sharapova
nevertheless started as though her old ailment,
the right shoulder were giving her trouble again.
She served at a modest pace, made three unforced
errors in the first five rallies and delivered a
double fault. (AGENCIES)
Ishant
Sharma fined 15 per cent of match fee
SYDNEY,
Feb 25: Indian
paceman Ishant Sharma was today fined 15 per cent
of his match fee for showing a "send-off
finger" to Andrew Symonds after the
Australian all-rounder was dismissed in the
cricket tri-series ODI at SCG here.
The Delhi
speedster, who has seized the imagination of
cricket fans, was charged under ICC code of
conduct 1.6 rule violation which pertains to
showing disrespect to opposition player or team
on the field.
The 19-year-old
was earlier fined for showing his disappointment
when Symonds was not given out at the
controversial Test match on the same ground last
month.(PTI)
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