India to seek happy ending to bitter tour

BRISBANE, Mar 3: Having crossed the first hurdle, India will seek a happy ending to a bitter tour by clinching their first-ever tri-series title in Australia as they go into the second finals against the world champions at the Gabba here tomorrow.

India, just one match away from claiming the historic feat after they won the first match of the best-of-three finals at SCG yesterday, will be looking to carry the momentum in what promises to be another thrilling day-night encounter.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men would be on a mission, especially after the sub-continent giants were beaten in the controversial Test series and being at the receiving end of a series of provocations by the Australian cricketers.

India, however, may have to do without the services of their new pace sensation Ishant Sharma who suffered a finger injury in the first finals. Sharma still carries a swelling on his right middle finger and has been rendered a doubtful starter for the crucial game.

Fortunately though India has capable medium-pacers in Sreesanth and Munaf Patel in reserve. Young Praveen Kumar has shown an ability to withstand battering from the rival ranks and Irfan Pathan’s off-form the other night is seen only as a one-off situation.

The four, along with Harbhajan Singh, could answer to the call of five bowlers and leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, despite his brilliant return of none for 33 from 10 overs, could be put on bench.

India’s batting is also coming together at the right time and frankly, on form if not on reputation, the visitors look a better side than the hosts.

India is bowling and fielding with energy in the field and their batsmen are putting on runs and stands which will test Australia’s well-earned reputation to bounce back to the full.

Three of the top five wicket-takers in the series are Australians but strangely all three — Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken and Mitchell Johnson — were put to sword by rampaging Indian batsmen last night.

Australia pride themselves in playing the big games well which they would now be required to do twice over the remaining week.

Australia will be desperate for return of form of their key players — Ricky Ponting and Andrew Symonds. Opener Adam Gilchrist too, despite his couple of flourishes, has largely been a failure in the series.

For somebody who has been part of the most successful cricket teams of all ages, it would be ironical if Gilchrist in his departing series is witness to an unlikely loss to the Indians in the finals.

The pitch at Gabba is rated as one of the best for one-day cricket in Australia though with winter setting in, no team would prefer chasing under lights.

The indians, on the other hand, feel besieged and stirred at the same time as all hell has broken loose in Australian media about Harbhajan’s apparent mimicry of a monkey of which, strangely, no evidence exists.

As Australian media make one last attempt to hound out Harbhajan from the game, the Indian off-spinner is keeping his cool and relishing his success, the latest chapter of which was scripted in the first finals in Sydney’a poetic justice as his two scalps include his two most bitter provocateurs, Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds.

Harbhajan has claimed only seven wickets from nine games in the series so far but his average (33.28) and the superb economy rate of 4.22 per over has meant that he is a shining exception of a spinner in a series out-and-out dominated by the faster men.

Much as competitive cricket between the two sides have kept the fans enthralled, the never-ending controversy in the background have ensured that the rivals would probably never come to sit and share a drink in the bar, except possibly for when they are arranged for their franchisees to be showcased in the Indian Premier League (IPL).(PTI)

Bhupathi-Knowles win ATP doubles title

MEMPHIS (US), Mar 3: Mahesh Bhupathi ended his one-and-a-half-year drought of ATP doubles title by winning the regions Morgan Keegan championships here.

Bhupathi and his partner Mark Knowles of Bahamas, who were top seeded, pipped Thai twins Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana 7-6(5), 6-2 in one hour and 16 minutes at the USD 769,000 hard court event last night.

The Indo-Bahamas duo, playing 10th tournament together since teaming up after the US Open last year, did not drop even a single set in the event en route to their first title together.

The duo had reached semifinals at the Australian Open in January.

For Bhupathi it was 42nd career title while Knowles added 48th career crown to his kitty.

Bhupathi, who last won a doubles title in August 2007 in US, alongside Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia, said the win was hard earned.

"It’s good to have the first title of the year. We started off really well in Melbourne feeling pretty confident.

"We both served well, focused hard because we knew if we played well we could have a shot at the title," said Bhupathi.

Bhupathi and Knowles now head for Dubai where the duo is seeded fourth. Other Indian in the action would be Rohan Bopanna and Leander Paes who would be playing alongside their respective partners. (PTI)

India beat Austria 7-3

SANTIAGO, Mar 3: India recovered from a shaky start to beat Austria 7-3 for their second consecutive win in the world hockey Olympic qualifying tournament at the Prince of Wales Country Club here.

Rocked by a second minute goal, India bounced back in a splendid fashion as Dilip Tirkey (9th, 23rd), Shivendra Singh (51st, 55th), Ignace Tirkey (42nd), Bharat Chhikara (53rd) and Rajpal Singh (53rd) struck telling blows on Sunday.

Austria, who went into the lead when Robert Buchta scrambled the ball in from a counter-attack in the second minute, kept India on their toes with two penalty corner conversions by Christian Minar (28th, 59th).

India, after a poor start with their midfield play in tatters, made up for their first-half lapses with splendid attacking hockey in the second-half when they scored five goals in 13 minutes to take the game away from the Austrians.

Indians were surprisingly tentative against the European outfit that solely depended on quick counter-attacks which fetched them no fewer than seven penalty corners.

But the Austrian penalty corner drill was rather predictable and the Indians were rather fortunate to get away lightly.

For much of the first-half, the Austrians matched their fancied rivals move for move and goal for goal giving the Indians many an anxious moment.

However, with change of ends, the complexion of the game turned dramatically with India going on the rampage. Austrian defence was simply torn apart by the speed and skill of the Indian forwards who evoked memories of their 7-2 drubbing of Korea in the 2007 Asia Cup final at Chennai.

It was honours even at half-time with Austria surprising fancied Indians with pacy counter-attacks that stretched the rival defence thin. India, forced to frequently back pedal, tended to panic and committed a host of mistakes, most of which however went unpunished.

With the Indian midfield surprisingly ragged in the start which saw Austria scoring in the very second minute. A diagonal ball from left to right caught the Indian defence napping.

Benjamin Stanzl beat full-back William Xalco on the turn, ran 15 yards before crossing to Buchta who swatted home.

Indians were quick to recover from the early setback and forced a penalty corner that Dilip Tirkey converted with a well-angled hit to restore parity.

Gaining in confidence, India stepped up the pressure and received their second penalty corner. Yet again, Dilip Tirkey was successful with a direct hit and India went 2-1 up.

Thereafter, the Indians forced most of the moves, but further success eluded them as they wasted their third penalty corner with Dilip Tirkey’s shot easily parried.

It was a tough match,

says Carvalho

Chief coach Joaquim Carvalho today described India’s 7-3 win against Austria as a "tough" one but felt it would help his team to shape up for the remaining league matches against challenging opponents.

Down by a second minute goal and held to 2-2 in the first-half, India eventually scored at will to achieve a commanding win in their second match of the world hockey Olympic qualifying tournament, but Carvalho said Austria’s first-half performance shook up the team.

"Maybe our team needed a wake-up call and when Austria held us to 2-2, we realised we had a match on hand," Carvalho said in the post-match press conference.

"We made a few changes in our midfield and it helped us to take control of the game in the second-half when we scored five goals," he said.

But he hastened to add that "India needed a tough match" like the one against Austria "to shape up for the remaining three league matches against Mexico, Great Britain and hosts Chile" later this week as the tournament takes the first of the three rest days tomorrow (Monday).

The coach said the midfield was initially in disarray and the deep defence was rather slow to anticipate and meet any threat, and the early goal upset the rhythm of the team.

"We left huge gaps in the midfield and our interceptions were not up to the mark. The Austrians used the long ball that was not met by our midfielders. It put our deep defence under pressure and I thought, we were a bit slow in this department," Carvalho said.(PTI)

ICC rules out action against Harbhajan

BRISBANE, Mar 3: The International Cricket Council today ruled out taking any action against Harbhajan Singh, who has been alleged to have made monkey gestures at the Sydney crowd, for lack of evidence against the Indian off-spinner.

Harbhajan has also denied any wrong doing and the ICC’s decision may put the lid on the latest controversy to hit India’s turbulent tour Down Under.

Australian media reports claimed that Harbhajan had made monkey gestures towards the Sydney crowd during the first final of the tri-series against Australia yesterday.

"I have investigated the alleged incident with Cricket Australia’s ground security officials after reading newspaper reports and viewing related photographs that have been published.

"After reviewing all available information, I conclude that there is no need to take any action against Harbhajan Singh," match referee Jeff Crowe said in a statement.

Harbhajan, who was recently involved in a racism row with Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds, rubbished the allegations and said no evidence could be produced to prove him guilty.

When the Indian spinner was informed that the official broadcaster Channel 9 might not have any incriminating evidence to offer to the match referee to nail him down, the Indian spinner was not surprised.

"Obviously, they wouldn’t have anything because I didn’t do anything," said Harbhajan on arriving in Brisbane, looking to build on to his fabulous performance on Sunday with a series-sealing triumph at Gabba.

Harbhajan said he was stumped at the accusation that he was trying to make monkey gestures towards the crowd.

"Some of the verbal attack which the crowd was directing at me was despicable. It crossed all limits of decency. But my word, as a professional cricketer, my entire focus was ensuring that we as a team did well in the match."

Harbhajan was also accused of spitting time and again apparently to taunt the hostile crowd.

"When you have saliva in your mouth what do you do?" said Harbhajan, barely able to hide his irritation.

One of the regulations of the ICC and Cricket Australia (CA) is to ensure that crowd at a stadium does not make any racial slur or abusive gesture towards cricketers on the field and those found guilty of doing so, are to be evacuated immediately — worse, they could even be banned from attending matches in those stadiums in future.(PTI)

Police Martyrs’ Hockey Tournament
P&S Bank, BSF, PSEB, Punjab Police
secure berth in semis

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 3: Punjab and Sindh Bank (P&S Bank), BSF, Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) and Punjab Police have secured a berth in the semifinals of the ongoing 3rd All India Police Martyrs’ Memorial Hockey Tournament being played at K K Hakku Stadium.

All the four quarterfinals were played today. In the first quarterfinal, P&S Bank cruised past SSB with a convincing 8-1 margin.

P&S Bank went into the lead in the 8th minute when Kulbinder Singh drew first blood followed by Dalair Singh who struck in the 16th minute make it 2-0.

SSB had no answer to the brilliance of P&S Bank forwards who kept penetrating rivals defence time and again.

In the meantime, P&S Bank surged to a 3-0 lead as Rajwinder Singh produced a beauty with a field goal.

In the 33rd minute, it was again the turn of Dalair Singh to show his class thereby slamming the fourth goal.

At half time, the score card reads 4-0 in favour of P&S Bank.

In the second half, SSB managed to pull one back with Romi Kumar scored the lone goal in the 44th minute.

But by then, the writing was on the wall. P&S Bank on the other hand went on to add four more goals to their kitty.

Rajwinder Singh (50th 56th and 62nd) and Navpreet Singh struck telling blows to seal the issue.

The match was officiated by Satvir Singh, Sanjay Bhatia, Jasbir Singh, Amarjit Singh and P D Singh.

Naveen Aggarwal, IGP Home Guards/Civil Defence was the chief guest in the match.

The second quarterfinal was no contrast as BSF had no difficult whatsoever in packing Roper Hawks by 6-1 in another lop sided contest.

Sushil Khujurat opened account in the 20th minute with a brilliant field goal.

In the second half, BSF shown urgency as their forwards unleashed flurry of attacks to penetrate opponent’s defence which they did in style.

Harpreet Singh scored the second goal in the 48th minute to open the flood gates as BSF slammed as many as four goals to compounded on the miseries of Roper Hawks.

The goal scorers were Raj Singh (47th and 53rd), Habil Topno (48th) and Varinderjit Singh (66th).

For Roper Hawks, S R Rizwan scored the only goal in the 56th minute.

The match was officiated by Anurag Garg, R K Verma, K A Tarzan, Vijaypal Singh and Ashok Sharma.

The third quarterfinal between PSEB, Patiala and Haryana Police was undoubtedly the match of the tournament so far in which PSEB held their nerves to emerge victorious by 9-8 in a penalty shootout.

The contest was a real thriller, the foundation of which was laid from the very outset with PSEB took lead in the second minute through Ravinder Singh.

Both teams showcased their speed and skills much to the delight of average crowd at venue who witnessed a neck to neck fight.

PSEB somehow managed to take 1-0 lead at half time. Haryana Police bounced back with a vengeance as Mukesh scored equaliser in the 38th minute to make the contest tantalisingly close.

PSEB took lead in the 38th minute through Hardial Singh. Just when PSEB looked all set to finish things off, Mahavirat stunned with an excellent field goal in the 53rd minute to draw parity.

The cliffhanger was finally decided through penalty strokes in which PSEB had the last laugh.

The officials in the match were Jaspreet Singh, Sanjay Bhatia, V K Kohli, Khurshid Ahmed and P D Singh.

Dr S P Vaid, IGP Crime and Railways was the chief guest in the match.

In the last quarterfinal, Punjab Police prevailed over Punjab National Bank (PNB) by 2-0 goals.

The goals were scored by Gurjant Singh (14th) and Gabbar Singh (41st).

The match was officiated by Bhupinder Singh, Satvir Singh, V K Kohli, Ravinder Singh and Rajinder Singh.

A S Bali, SSP Security, Jammu was the chief guest in the match.

Anandrathi Corporate Cricket Tournament
JP World cruises into semis

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 3: JP World School trounced Chamber of Commerce by 5 wickets today to enter into the semifinal of the ongoing 2nd Anandrathi Corporate Cup Twenty20 Cricket Tournament being played at Jammu University Ground.

Chamber of Commerce won the toss and opted to bat first. They accumulated 101/9 in the allotted overs.

Manik (22) was the top scorer followed by Manjeet who contributed 16.

Vivek and Mohd Iqbal chipped in with handy 11 runs each. For JP World, A P Singh, Ashwani and Guru grabbed two wickets each.

Pranav and Irshad shared a wicket each.

In reply, JP World romped home losing just five wickets in the process.

Munish played a match winning knock of 38 runs studded with four hits to the fence.

Irshad (22) and A P Singh (11) were the other notable contributors.

For Chamber of Commerce, Manjeet and Manik took two wickets while Vivek chipped in with one.

A P Singh was adjudged man of the match.

Simula Sports Club (SSC) and JKP shared points in the second quarterfinal after the match stopped due to bad light.

JKP after winning the toss elected to bat first. They made 161 runs in the stipulated overs.

Shashi top scored with 68 off 43 balls. He pierced eight delectable hits to the fence.

For SSC, Sanjay took two wickets.

Shashi was declared man of the match.

The umpires both quarterfinals were Pappu Dogra and Santa Singh. The scorer was Rajeev Pakhetra.

Mangat felicitates Ladakhi sports persons

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 3: Minister for Health and Medical Education Mangat Ram Sharma today felicitated the Ladakhi sports persons who recently took part in the 5th National Winter Sports Games at Gulmarg.

Minister for Industries and Commerce Nawang Rigzin Jora was also present on the occasion.

In the recently concluded winter games at Gulmarg, out of total 17 medals bagged by the Jammu and Kasmir State, eight were won by Ladakhi participants including 3 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze.

D S Heritage Scholars celebrates Annual Day

Excelsior Correspondent

KATHUA, Mar 3: D S Heritage Scholars School celebrated its Annual Day today.

MoS for Power Department, Babu Singh was the chief guest on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister stressed upon the people and the management for imparting moral and quality education in their institutions.

The function began with the Guard of Honour followed by March Past.

Various cultural programmes were also presented by the students which enthralled the audience.

Ishar Singh Jasrotia, Chairman of the school delivered the welcome address.

The chief guest also distributed prizes to the children.

Test team to be picked on March 9

MUMBAI, Mar 3: The Indian team for the opening Test in the forthcoming three-match home cricket series against South Africa will be picked here on March 9.

"The team will be chosen in Mumbai on March 9," said cricket board Secretary Niranjan Shah today prior to departing for Australia along with BCCI’s CAO, Ratnakar Shetty.

The first Test is to commence at Chennai on March 26, with the second and third Tests scheduled for April 3-7 and April 11-15 at Ahmedabad and Kanpur.

Shah and Shetty are scheduled to witness the remainder of the triangular series best-of-three finals between India and Australia in which the visitors are leading the hosts 1-0. The second tie is to be held tomorrow at Brisbane.

"We will have discussions with Cricket Australia officials and finalise the itinerary of the Australian team’s visit to India in October/November," Shah told before leaving for the Kangaroo land.(PTI)

It was a tough match, says Carvalho

SANTAAGO, Mar 2: Chief coach Joaquim Carvalho today described India’s 7-3 win against Austria as a "tough" one but felt it would help his team to shape up for the remaining league matches against challenging opponents.

Down by a second minute goal and held to 2-2 in the first-half, India eventually scored at will to achieve a commanding win in their second match of the world hockey Olympic qualifying tournament, but Carvalho said Austria’s first-half performance shook up the team.

"Maybe our team needed a wake-up call and when Austria held us to 2-2, we realised we had a match on hand," Carvalho said in the post-match press conference.

"We made a few changes in our midfield and it helped us to take control of the game in the second-half when we scored five goals," he said.

But he hastened to add that "India needed a tough match" like the one against Austria "to shape up for the remaining three league matches against Mexico, Great Britain and hosts Chile" later this week as the tournament takes the first of the three rest days tomorrow (Monday).

The coach said the midfield was initially in disarray and the deep defence was rather slow to anticipate and meet any threat, and the early goal upset the rhythm of the team.

"We left huge gaps in the midfield and our interceptions were not up to the mark. The Austrians used the long ball that was not met by our midfielders. It put our deep defence under pressure and I thought, we were a bit slow in this department," Carvalho said.

Russian coach Horst Ruoss pointed out that his team played ‘flat out’ in the first-half and had nothing much left on resumption when India pumped in five goals in about 15 minutes.

"We were too eager in the first 35 minutes when we played our hearts out. In the second-half, our players were tired and once the Indians began to score, we were totally demoralised," he said.

Rouss said Indian players deserved the win.

"However, for our team, it was a privilege to play India who have so much of individual skill and we rate them as one of the top sides in the world. It was a good match, but I must concede that the better team won today," he added. (PTI)

Harbhajan handled himself pretty well, says Border

MELBOURNE, Mar 3: Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, again in a racial row, has drawn support from unusual quarters as legendary Australian captain Allan Border praised the bowler for his behaviour after he was baited by the SCG crowd.

"I was over that side of the ground and Harbhajan was copping a fair bit of stick from the crowd," Border said.

"I didn’t notice any gestures at all and I thought he handled himself pretty well. It’s not a big deal," he was quoted as saying by the ‘Herald Sun’.

Local media yesterday reported that Harbhajan apparently motioned as if to scratch his armpits with both hands in the same manner fans did to taunt Andrew Symonds in the one-day series in India last year. Reports said he also spat towards the crowd after being abused by spectators.

Harbhajan and Australian all rounder Andrew Symonds were incolved in a racism controversy during the Sydney Test while the Indian was also last week described as ‘obnoxious little weed’ by opener Matthew Hayden in a radio interview.

Border lamented that a great effort by Sachin Tendulkar on his possible farewell tour of Australia was being overshadowed by "a few bits of silliness in the outfield".

Australian middle order batsman Mike Hussey also denied any knowledge about the alleged incidents.

"I haven’t heard a single thing about it. I’m not so sure how serious it is." He told reporters in Sydney.

Hussey also said he believed too much was being made of things away from the game itself.

"I think the Australian and Indian public have had enough of all the controversy," he said.

"We just want to concentrate on the cricket." (PTI)

Darcis downs Soderling to claim second career ATP title

MEMPHIS, March 3: Belgian Steve Darcis defeated eighth-seeded Swede Robin Soderling in straight sets here Sunday to claim the second ATP title of his career.

Darcis, ranked 81st in the world, beat Soderling 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) to win the men’s title at this 944,000-dollar ATP-WTA hardcourt tournament - and cement his status as perhaps the most efficient player in ATP history when it comes to making match-wins count.

Darcis, 23, has won just 13 matches total on the ATP circuit, against nine defeats, but now owns two titles. The first came last year at amersfoort, where he won as a qualifier.

Going into that claycourt tournament, he was ranked 297th in the world and had never won an ATP match.

Since then he had receded again into anonymity, posting three more match victories, two of which came this year.

Darcis was perfectly placed in Memphis to benefit from the injury withdrawal of second-seeded American James Blake, and the second-round departure of third-seeded German Tommy Haas.

He made the most of his opportunity, beating seventh-seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer in the second round, then downing Benjamin Becker and Swedish veteran Jonas Bjorkman to reach the final.

He fired 13 aces past Soderling, who was playing in his second final in as many weeks, and became the first player to break the Swede’s serve this week.

Soderling’s victims in an impressive run here included top-seeded American Andy Roddick in the quarter-finals and fourth-seeded Czech Radek Stepanek in the semis. (AGENCIES)