 Pankaj, Yasin in
quarter-finals
MUMBAI, Mar 6: Title contenders
Pankaj Advani and Yasin Merchant advanced
to the quarter-finals after overcoming
Shravan Mohta and Lucky Vatnani in their
respective matches in the Khar
Gymkhana-Shyam Shroff Memorial Open
Invitation Snooker Tournament here today.
Advani got
off to a good start, stealing the first
two frames but encountered steady
resistance from Mohta who came back to
win the next two frames to force the
decider in the final of best-of-five
frames contest.
Eventually,
the experienced Advani held his nerve and
won the group a match 59-36, 67-54,
34-61, 23-59, 76-31 to enter the
quarters.
Merchant
continued his fine form registered his
third consecutive win to book his place
in the quarter-finals as he rallied to a
pulsating 65-14, 24-67, 1-67, 54-41,
65-17 win over Lucky Vatnani of
Hyderabad.
Results:
Group A: Neeraj Kumar (Bihar) bt Kamal
Chawla (Rlys) 15-60, 32-61, 66-42, 84-40,
55-46; Pankaj Advani (PSPB) bt Shravan
Mohta (Nagpur) 59-36, 67-54, 34-61,
23-59, 76-31. Group B: Faizal Khan (Rlys)
bt Ashok Shandilya (Rlys) 65-50, 7 -63,
13-67, 60-28; Aditya Mehta (Mumbai) bt
Nikhil Ootam (Mumb i) 65-2, 74(73)-8,
42-66, 78(64)-12. Group C: Yasin Merchant
(Mumbai) bt Lucky Vatnani (Hyderabad)
65-14, 24-67, 1-67, 54-41, 65-17; Rafath
Habib (Rlys) bt Hasan Badami (Mumbai)
60-17, 62-42, 58-50; Manan Chandra (PSPB)
bt Hasan Badami 67-27, 83(66)-33, 51-55,
89-1; Manan Chandra bt Lucky Vatnani
40-63, 70-5, 95(61)-0, 16-100, 68-39.
Group D: Marzdi Kalyaniwala (Mumbai) bt
Sarang Shroff (Mumbai) 101-5, 39-70,
66-42, 64-28; Sourav Kothari (PSPB) bt
Rishabh Pandya (Mumbai) 61-28, 21-61,
69-52, 59(41)-62(50), 62(48)-30. (PTI)
Dhoni’s
warriors return to rousing welcome
NEW DELHI, Mar 6: The Indian Cricket
team, which created history by winning
the country’s first-ever tri-series
title on Australian soil, returned home
to rousing welcome with thousands of
euphoric fans today rolling out the red
carpet for their heroes.
Mahendra
Singh Dhoni and his young bravehearts
were accorded a heartwarming reception at
a felicitation function where the top
brass of the BCCI doled out hefty
incentives for their historic triumph
down under.
The bitter
memories of an acrimonious tour marked by
a racism row and constant on-field
bickering between the two teams seemed
all but forgotten as the Indians revelled
in their moment of glory.
Ferozeshah
Kotla was thrown open to the
capital’s cricket fans, who came out
in full force to catch a glimpse of their
stars. Over 25,000 turned up for the just
over an hour long function.
"I
thank all the fans for their support. I
think this is the kind of motivation we
need. It was a tough tour but the way my
players conducted themselves both on and
off the field was amazing. I hope we
continue to conduct ourselves similarly
in the coming tournaments," Dhoni
said in his brief speech at the
felicitation function.
"I
would also thank my team members without
whom it (winning the title) would not
have been possible. I hope we will
continue to entertain you like
this," he added.
The team,
which reached Mumbai in the morning, flew
into the National Capital by a chartered
flight at around 2.05 p.m.
The entire
squad that played in Australia during the
Test and One-Day series, except for pacer
Irfan Pathan, set aside the travel
fatigue to come for the function within
two hours of reaching Delhi.
The
victorious team was handed cheques of Rs
58 lakh each by BCCI president Sharad
Pawar amid thunderous applause from
adoring fans at the Kotla.
The BCCI,
which had been criticized for turning the
felicitation function of the Twenty20
World Cup winning team in Mumbai to a
political circus, seemed better prepared
this time.
The
players, for once, were seated in the
front row, unlike on the previous
occasion where they had been relegated to
the second row by BCCI officials and
politicians in Mumbai.
"Beating
Australia in Australia is an
unprecedented achievement. I congratulate
Dhoni and his team for this
achievement," Pawar said.
The BCCI
chief also lauded the Under-19
team’s World Cup triumph.
"This
is turning out to be a good year for
Indian Cricket. Virat Kohli led out
Under-19 team to World Cup victory, which
has proved that the decision to promote
youngsters was correct," he pointed
out.
Pawar said
youngsters have made the Indian team a
stronger unit. "The Indian team has
become stronger with the influx of
youth," he said.
Pawar also
advised the assembled fans not to
ill-treat cricketers when they lose.
"This
is a game. Sometimes you win, sometimes
you lose. When they win, you greet them
with enthusiasm. But, you should be
equally supportive when they lose and not
run them down," he said.
The board
also lauded the contribution of the
team’s support staff by giving Rs 10
lakh incentive.
Delhi’s
world champion under-19 cricketers, Virat
Kohli and Pradeep Sangwan, who were also
felicitated at the function were given Rs
2.5 lakh each.
Earlier, a
few hundred fans waited outside the
airport to catch a glimpse of Dhoni and
his young warriors.
Top
officials of the Cricket Board and the
Delhi and District Cricket Association
were present at the airport to receive
the team.
It was an
emotional home-coming for the players as
the waiting fans, many of them holding
placards and the tricolour, cheered them
lustily as they came out of a Indira
Gandhi International Airport terminal in
a flower-bedecked bus.
The
frenzied media and the fans, however,
could not interact and a have close
glimpse of their heroes as the bus drove
straightaway for the hotel without even
stopping at the gate.
Even the
information of which terminal they were
arriving kept on changing apparently due
to security reasons and newspersons had
to hurry from domestic arrival terminal
to the cargo terminal of the IGI Airport
at the last moment. (PTI)
England
chase big NZ total
HAMILTON, Mar 6: A late two-wicket
burst by Chris Martin rocked
England’s pursuit of New
Zealand’s first innings 470 after
batsmen had dominated the second day of
the first Cricket Test here today.
A maiden
Test century by recalled Ross Taylor, who
featured in a seventh-wicket stand of 148
with Daniel Vettori, lifted New Zealand
from a middle-order slump to an
impressive 470. Evidence of the role the
placid wicket played in New
Zealand’s innings was put in context
as Michael Vaughan and Alastair Cook
cruised to 84 without loss before Martin
struck twice in seven balls. (PTI)
Tri-series
at par with T20 triumph: Robin Singh
MUMBAI, Mar 6: Fielding coach
Robin Singh today rated the Indian
Cricket team’s victory in the
tri-series in Australia at par with the
triumph in the Twenty20 World Cup last
year.
"I
think it’s probably as good as the
T20 World Cup victory," Singh said.
He added
that the young talent in the team played
brilliantly and stood up to the test.
"It
feels pretty good, the guys played
brilliantly. Young guys stood up to the
test and Sachin (Tendulkar) led from the
front," Singh added.
On being
asked about the mood in the Indian team,
he described it as "brilliant".
He,
however, declined to comment whether the
team, at any stage, felt the absence of
senior players like Saurav Ganguly and
Rahul Dravid.
"I
think we won the series and that is
important," he added.(PTI)
Anandrathi
Corporate Cricket Tournament
Easy victories for SSC,
Chamber of Commerce, J P World
Excelsior Sports
Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 6: Simula
Sports Club (SSC), Chamber of Commerce
and J P World today registered easy
victories against their opponents in the
quarter final league matches of
Anandrathi Corporate Cricket Tournament
(T20), being played in University of
Jammu (JU).
In first
quarter final, SSC thrashed Coca Cola by
six wickets, while chasing a easy target
of 119.
Earlier,
Coca Cola won the toss and opted to bat
first. They managed to score a total of
118 at the loss of six wickets. Sudhir
contributed mainly for the batting side
with a 48 runs knock comprised of four
hits to the fence and a flier.
For SSC,
Sanjay bowled a brilliant spell of four
overs claiming three wickets at the cost
of just 16 runs. Azhar Dagga also claimed
two useful wickets.
Chasing
the total, Rohit Mattu led the charge for
SSC. He scored 48 runs in just 39
deliveries. Other notable contributions
came from Vikramaditya and Azhar Dagga,
who scored 31 and 14 not out
respectively. Sanjay was declared the LG
man of the match.
In second
quarter final, Chamber of Commerce got
the better of Anandrathi by 80 runs after
piling 142 at the loss of seven wickets.
Chamber of
Commerce also won the toss and elected to
bat first. Vivek Singh, Mosin Iqbal and
Manik contributed 36, 24 and 18 runs
respectively for the batting side while S
Gupta and Suresh claimed three and two
wickets respectively for Anandrathi.
Chasing
the target of 143, Anandrathi batsmen
never looked in a mood to chase and kept
on throwing their wickets at regular
intervals. Only Divya Pratap contributed
meagerly with 19 runs. Vivek Singh, Anil
and Manik did the damage from bowling
side, as they took two wickets each to
restrict the batting side.
LG man of
the match award was given to Vivek Singh
for his all round performance.
In the
third quarter final, J P World registered
an easy victory on Press Club by five
wickets.
Winning
the toss and elected to bat first, Press
Club batsmen could manage only 99 after
losing all their wickets. Karan Dogra and
Amit Baloria were the only notable
contributors, they scored 22 and 19 runs
respectively.
For J P
World, Pranav, Jarnail and Ajit Pal took
four, three and two wickets respectively
at very economical rate.
Chasing
the total, J P World batsmen lost five
wickets but managed to kiss the target
quite comfortably in the end. Manish
scored an unbeaten 56 runs, comprising of
seven hits to the fence. Guru also
contributed with unbeaten 28.
For Press
Club, Vijay clinched two wickets while
maintaining a tight line and length.
Pranav was declared LG man of the match.
Those who
officiated today’s matches included
Pappu Dogra and Santa Singh while scoring
was done by Rajeev Pakhetra.
Dravid
speaks on other side of "wall"
BANGALORE, Mar 6: It’s not Glenn
McGrath, Shoaib Akhtar, Courtney Walsh or
even Shane Warne whose delivery is more
fearsome for the Indian Cricket’s
"wall", Rahul Dravid, but it is
that of his two-year-old son Samit.
Dravid
himself told this to BBC’s Indian
Editor, Sanjeev Srivastava at the popular
radio programme "BBC Ek Mulaqat with
Rahul" today.
Talking to
Srivastava on how he spends time when he
is out of the team, the dependable
batsman said, "My son asks me new
questions. Sometimes I can’t answer
his questions."
"It
is very interesting to watch him grow. He
is very fascinating to me. My son chants
particular lines from a Hindi movie,
which he likes so much. But I can’t
sing, because I don’t know
singing," he said when Srivastava
asked him to sing those lines.
His eyes
turned flashy when he talked about his
tiny tot. Dravid, who had a busy
cricketing schedule, said he found
solace, at times, spending time with his
son as his wife also travelled sometimes
along with him. (PTI)
TCCS
celebrates Annual Day, launches college
magazine
Excelsior
Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 6: Trikuta College of
Computer Sciences celebrated its second
Annual Day function in General Zorawar
Singh Auditorium Complex in University of
Jammu (JU), here this afternoon.
Leader of
Opposition in State Assembly and NC
leader, Abdul Rahim Rather was the chief
guest of the function while Dr. Meenakshi
Kilam, Director Colleges Development
Council, JU presided over. Chairman,
chairperson and other members of the
college management were also present.
On the
occasion, the inaugural edition of
college magazine "Oorja" was
released besides the launching of college
web site.
In his
address, the chief guest (who replaced
Dr. Farooq Abdullah at last moment)
appreciated the efforts put in by Sri Sai
Educational Trust for the facilitation of
quality education at the doorsteps of
students of the State.
He also
expressed satisfaction over the fact that
almost all types of professional courses
are being available in State itself and
students have no need to go outside for
studies, as, now students from outside
have been coming here in large number for
the same purpose.
Also
speaking, Dr. Meenakshi Kilam emphasized
on the need to further improve the
quality of education in State
institutions. While appreciating the
progress made by Trikuta College, she
hinted to develop BCA course as flag ship
Under Graduate course in this region.
Earlier,
Dr. R L Sharma, chairman of the trust
detailed about the entire educational
activities being undertaken by the trust.
His speech was followed by presentation
of college report by Shabir Khan,
Principal.
Later,
students of the college presented a
colorful programme comprising cultural,
western and other items to mark the
occasion.
Cairns
warns of exodus to ICL
WELLINGTON, Mar 6: Former New Zealand
great Chris Cairns has warned the cricket
establishment it faces a mass exodus of
leading players if it does not accept the
rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL).
Cairns,
one of the world’s leading
allrounders and one of only six players
to achieve the 200 wickets-3,000 runs
double, told Bigstarcricket.Com that
players cannot afford to ignore the
lucrative salaries on offer.
"The
ICC are going to have to fix this,"
Cairns said, calling for players to be
able to play in the ICL and not be
banned.
Most
signed after retiring from International
Cricket, although the numbers do include
Shane Bond, Lou Vincent and Craig
McMillan.
But Cairns
said it was not just a New Zealand
problem.
"West
Indies will have this problem too, any
country in fact where players are not
that well remunerated." (PTI)
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