Anand to
meet Gelfand
WIJK
AAN ZEE (The Netherlands), Jan 22: World champion
Viswanathan Anand might have recovered a lot of
ground but he will still have to do a lot of hard
work for a pedestal finish in the Corus
International Chess tournament here.
The Indian ace,
who scored two successive victories to reach 4.5
points out of eight games so far, is currently on
joint fourth spot in his favourite hunting ground
where he has won five titles so far.
In the ninth round
after the second rest day, Anand meets Boris
Gelfand of Israel.
The category-20
field has seen the rise of Norwegian sensation
Magnus Carlsen like never before but the teenager
faces an uphill task in the last five rounds when
he set to meet Hungarian Peter Leko, Loek Van
Wely of Holland, Anand, Vladimir Kramnik of
Russia and Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan.
A half point
cushion in a very strong field looks good with
five rounds to come but it might not be enough
for Carlsen given the opponents he still has to
meet.
Carlsen is on 5.5
points, a half point ahead of Kramnik and Levon
Aronian of Armenia show share the second spot.
In the
‘B’ group being played simultaneously P
Harikrishna is on joint fourth spot on 4.5 points
and meets compatriot Koneru Humpy in the next
round. An improved performance might see Hari
finishing among the toppers but his form is cause
for concern.
The Indian has
already misplaced two clear better and a couple
of other promising positions so far. (PTI)
PG Deptt
clinch Tennis, Kabaddi titles
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU,
Jan 22:
PG Department once again proved their
supermacy by winning Inter Collegiate Lawn Tennis
and Kabaddi championships played at Jammu
University here today.
In Lawn Tennis
final, PG Department got the better of MAM
College by 2-0. In the first single, Abhik Gupta
prevailed over Nitin Kesar by 6-0 and 6-2 while
Sahi Aggarwal had also easy outing against Vidhay
Shrikul 6-1 and 6-3.
Earlier, PG
Department defeated DC Kathua in the first
semifinal while MAM College got walkover DC
Udhampur in the second semifinal.
The matches were
officiated by Mahesh Sharma and Ravish Vaid under
the supervision of Ramesh Magotra.
In Kabaddi, PG
Department got past DC Kathua by 7 points to
clinch the title.
Gulzar and Raiyees
were the outstanding performers for the winner
team whereas Saif Ali and Bharat Bhushan also
played well for DC Kathua.
The officials in
the match were Ajay Gupta, Anil Sharma and Gagan
Kumar.
Both the
tournaments were conducted by Department of
Physical Education, Jammu University.
Australia
should be scared of me: Sreesanth
NEW
DELHI, Jan 22: S Sreesanth has not set his foot on
Australian soil yet but the spunky Kerala
speedster has already issued a warning, asking
Ricky Ponting’s men to watch out for him in
the forthcoming tri-series there.
A renowned
Australia antagonist, Sreesanth is aware that
spotlight would be on him Down Under because of
his frequent run-ins with Ricky Ponting and his
teammates, especially Andrew Symonds.
That, however,
does not bother the pacer.
"I’m not
scared of anyone. On the contrary, I think
Australia should be scared of me because I’m
back. And I’m back after a rest too,"
he told reporters here today.
Having featured in
numerous eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation with
Symonds during Australia’s ODI series last
year, Sreesanth knows he would be under scrutiny
but does not lose his sleep over the prospect.
"Well, I
always loved spotlight," he quipped.
Perhaps aware that
India’s ongoing Australia tour has already
seen enough bad blood, Sreesanth, however, vowed
that he would never overstep the line.
"Sreesanth
will always remain Sreesanth. I love the game and
play it with passion. I would always follow my
heart.
"But having
said that, I know the rules of the game and I
would never overstep. I would never do something
that can affect the spirit of the game," he
said.
"I know how
to control my aggression. I can assure you that
the passion would be same but I would not cross
the limit," said Sreesanth who was here for
the gatorade speedster 2008, a talent hunt to
find India’s next pace sensation.
Repeated queries
about another possible confrontation with Symonds
irked the pacer who said, "I don’t know
why people keep talking about it.
"It’s
not about any particular batsman and I can tell
you that I’m not scared of anyone."
The sprightly
pacer would be making a comeback from a shoulder
injury that kept him out of action since the ODI
series against Pakistan.
In his absence,
the trio of RP Singh, Irfan Pathan and Ishant
Sharma have done an excellent job in Australia
but Sreesanth did not look worried about how to
find a place for himself in the attack.
"There is no
competition among us. For me, everything is fine
as long as India keeps winning," he said.
"Like
I’m not averse to learning from the
Australians, I would also approach fellow Indian
pacers to share with me how they succeeded
there." (PTI)
He rued missing
the Test series against Australia but said he
could not do anything about it.
"Of course I
missed the Test series. But in cases like
injuries, it’s beyond your control."
That, however,
could not stop him from celebrating India’s
Perth Test win in Bangalore.
"I was
training at the National Cricket Academy (NCA)
where we watched the match in large screen. It
was a great win so we had a party and great fun.
"I would stop
cars on the road and ask drivers to say ‘Jai
Mata Di’ and ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’.
It was great fun," Sreesanth said.
Set to join his
teammates for the Twenty20 match and the
tri-series, also featuring Sri Lanka, Sreesanth
said his shoulder had healed completely and he
thanked Team India physio John Gloster and
Ayurveda.
"I never
wanted to put my shoulder under the knife for
that would have ruled me out for 6-7 months. That
would have been a risk.
"Initially I
did not trust Ayurveda but it worked magic for
me. Fourteen days of treatment followed by 14
days of rest, it was not easy. But I’m happy
it paid off," he said. (PTI)
Bhupathi-Sania
in mixed doubles semis
MELBOURNE,
Jan 22: An
upset second round win followed by a walkover in
the quarterfinals ensured Mahesh Bhupathi and
Sania Mirza a berth in the last four of the mixed
doubles event at the Australian Open here today.
The unseeded
Indian team quelled the challenge of Simon
Aspelin and Lisa Raymond, seeded second in the
event, 6-3 2-6 10-7 before benefitting from a
walkover given by seventh seeded Czechs Martin
Damm and Kveta Peschke.
In the boys’
singles, Yuki Bhambri kept the Indian flag flying
by advancing to the third round while curtains
were drawn on Karunuday Singh’s campaign.
The eighth seeded
Bhambri rallied to beat Slovakia’s Zalan
Klempa 3-6 6-4 6-2 in his second round match and
will take on Japanese Tadayuki Loughi in the
pre-quarterfinals.
Karunuday went
down fighting 6-7 (4-7) 4-6 against
Tsung-Hua-Yang of Chinese Taipei in the same
round.
Sixth seeded
Bhupathi and Mark Knowles of Bahamas would take
on top seeded pair of Mike Bryan and Bob Bryan in
the men’s doubles quarterfinals tomorrow.
(PTI)
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