India beats Chile to reach final

SANTIAGO, Mar 9: India ended its league campaign on a winning note with a 4-1 defeat of Chile en route to the final of the World Hockey Olympic qualifying tournament at the Prince of Wales Country Club here.

With their berth in the tomorrow’s final already confirmed following Britain’s 4-0 win against Austria, the Indians played freely and with confidence, but missed far too many scoring opportunities in the match played late yesterday.

The winner of the final will qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Drag-flick specialist V Ramachandra Raghunath was again in the thick of things scoring two goals (23rd minute, 61st), including one from India’s only penalty corner to take his tournament tally to 10. Prabhjot Singh (ninth) and Bharat Chhikara (23rd) scored one apiece.

For Chile, which defended with great fortitude, Felipe Montegu converted their lone penalty corner in the 63rd minute, much to the delight of the partisan crowd.

India thus finished second overall behind Britain with 12 points, followed by Austria (9), Russia (6), Chile (3) and Mexico (0).

Although dominating much of the game, the Indian forward line again missed out on far too many scoring opportunities even granting that the Chilean defenders were on the button with their marking and covering.

The Indians rested Gurbaj Singh and Shivendra Singh for the game and the reshuffled half-line was quite solid overall despite a few blemishes.

On their part, Chile played as well as they were allowed to and their limitations denied them more success. (PTI)

New Zealand’s Vettori outwits England for crushing win

HAMILTON, Mar 9: New Zealand thrashed England by 189 runs in the first cricket Test here today when England’s second innings disintegrated after Kyle Mills ripped through the top order.

Set a tempting target of 300 to win in 81 overs, England were all out for 110 with 26 overs and a full session of play remaining.

Ian Bell topscored with an unbeaten 54, one of only two batsmen to reach double figures on a slow wicket.

Mills finished with the remarkable figures of four for 16 off 13 overs while Chris Martin took three for 33 as New Zealand pulled off just their eighth victory over England in 88 Tests.

It was a performance engineered by New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori, the man of the match, who dictated terms from the time he won the toss and elected to bat.

He produced innings of 88 and 35 with the bat, and, bowling in tandem with Jeetan Patel, reduced England’s scoring to a crawl in the first innings.

He then lured England into chasing a result with a timely second innings declaration.

New Zealand added 30 runs to their overnight 147 before Vettori threw down the gauntlet at 177 for nine.

It was a challenge readily accepted as Alastair Cook reeled off three quick boundaries and England raced to 18 off the first three overs, well ahead of the required 3.7 run rate.

But four wickets in four overs from Mills put New Zealand firmly in command and the inevitable end for England came just before the tea break.

Cook was first to fall to Mills, chasing a wide delivery and edging the ball to Brendon McCullum behind the stumps to be back in the pavillion for 13.

Two overs later, England captain Michael Vaughan followed for nine, trapped in front of the wickets, and Andrew Strauss scored two before he was caught by McCullum.

With England’s hopes resting on Kevin Pietersen, the marque player surprisingly failed to offer a shot to a Mills delivery nipping back and the umpire had no option but to give him out for six.

The capitulation ended England’s hope of pulling off a win, leaving bell and Paul Collingwood to set up a dogged defence in an attempt to make the innings last through the final two sessions.

Collingwood survived 50 balls for just two runs before he was bowled by Vettori and then Martin dismissed Tim Ambrose, Ryan Sidebottom and Mathew Hoggard in quick succession to have England at 67 for eight.

While Bell remained defiant at one end, Steve Harmison added one to the total before falling to Patel and the innings ended with Monty Panesar caught behind for eight off Jacob Oram.

Panesar at least had the satisfaction of assisting Bell in a 33-run partnership, the biggest stand in the innings.

The only New Zealand wicket to fall in the morning was Vettori, caught by Cook off Ryan Sidebottom to give the England new-ball bowler his career best figures of six for 49, including a hat-trick.

It was also Sidebottom’s first 10-wicket match haul after taking four for 90 in New Zealand’s first innings of 470.

The second Test of the three-match series starts at Wellington’s Basin Reserve on Thursday.(AGENCIES)

Roddick beats Lopez to win Dubai Tennis Championships

DUBAI, Mar 9: For once, Andy Roddick faced an opponent who could match him serve for serve.

But while feliciano Lopez managed more aces than the American, he could not stop Roddick from winning his second ATP tour title in three weeks yesterday, rallying for a 6-7 (8) 6-4 6-2 win in the Dubai Tennis Championship final.

"This is as well as I’ve played," said Roddick, who did not drop his serve throughout the tournament.

It was Roddick’s first appearance in Dubai, and he ousted second-ranked Rafael Nadal and third-ranked Novak Djokovic during the week to become the first American winner of the tournament.

"I didn’t really know what to expect," he said. "A big part of my decision (to attend) was to be able to get a shot at some of the top guys."

Roddick has used his overpowering serve to dominate opponents throughout the tournament but met his match in the final, as Lopez served 24 aces to Roddick’s 22.

Lopez had some success returning Roddick’s serve in the first set, but could not keep it up throughout the match.

"It doesn’t give you a chance, not one time," Lopez said.

Roddick failed to convert a set point in the first tie-breaker, but kept pressure on his opponent with powerful forehands and sliced backhands.

He finally broke Lopez to take a 5-4 lead in the second set, and then again in the opening game of the third.

Roddick also won in San Jose last month, but yesterday’s victory will be an extra confidence boost as he revealed Thursday that he had split with coach Jimmy Connors. Roddick credited connors with vastly improving his backhand, and the 2003 US Open champion said he is ready to challenge for Grand Slam titles again. (AGENCIES)

ICL is not to compete with IPL: Kapil

DUBAI, Mar 9: Former Indian cricket captain Kapil Dev, who is the Chairman of the Indian Cricket League (ICL), said the ICL tournament is not being held to compete against anyone, in an apparent reference to BCCI’s Indian Premier League (IPL).

"The ICL is being staged to create opportunities for hundreds of cricketers who want to play this game and make it a career. It is not being held to compete against anyone,’’ said Kapil, who strongly believes that the younger generation of cricketers will gain valuable insight from this tournament that will help them in their game.

The ICL, to be known as Edelweiss 20’s challenge, will begin at the Tau Devi Lal cricket stadium in Panchkula today. Ahmedabad Rockets, led by Australian Damien Martyn, will take on Chandigarh Lions, captained by New Zealand allrounder Chris Cairns.

Kapil Dev was here to be the guest of honour for a cricket tournament for construction workers on March 7.

Dev also believes that "the competition between the two events will be good for the game.’’

The matches will be played in Hyderabad, Panchkula and Gurgaon and will be telecast live on Zee Sports, who had launched the event, and also on ten sports. Starting at 1900 hrs in India.

The ICL is offering Rs 123 million (3.8 million dollars) in prize money. The winning team will take away Rs 25 million (650,000 dollars) while second and third ranked teams will pocket Rs 12.5 million (300,000 dollars) and Rs 5 million (130,000 dolars) respectively. (UNI)

Re-organization of Sports Council on anvil: Haji Nissar

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 9: Minister for Youth Services and Sports Haji Nissar Ali has asked the officers to submit detailed proposal for re-organization of Sports Council. This was stated by the Minister while chairing 126th meeting of standing committee of J&K State Sports Council held today.

Members of Standing Committee Yogesh Sawhney,S. Rangil Singh, Sabia Qadri, Ajay Sharma, Haji Mirza Hussain, Major Gen. Mohammad Amin, Joint Secretary (J) Sports Council, Siddharath Sharma Joint Secretary (K) Sports Council Abdul Rauf, Commissioner Secretary, Technical Education and youth Services and Sports Pramod Jain, Secretary, Sports Council Ravinder Gupta and other senior officers of Planning, Sports Council and Technical Education departments attended the meeting. Threadbare discussions were held with regard to various agenda items including regularization of contractual engagements, expenditure incurred for various under execution works and arrangements for hosting National Football Championship, Santosh Trophy etc.

He further said any illegal appointment or engagement made by the Council should not be tolerated in future. Haji Nissar stressed the executing agencies of the Sports Council to speed up the execution of works on different playgrounds in the State so that all required arrangements can be ensured well before commencement of the Santosh Trophy.

JP World clinches Anandrathi Corporate
Cricket Tournament

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 9: Vimarsh Kaw’s fighting fifty went in vain as JP World got the better of Press Club by 12 runs in an exciting final to clinch 2nd Anandrathi Corporate Cup Twenty20 Cricket Tournament at Jammu University Ground today.

JP World won the toss and had no hesitation to bat first. They accumulated a competitive 136/7 in the allotted overs with Parveen top scored with 30 runs.

He faced 30 balls and pierced four delectable hits to the fence. Irshad (26), Gurupartap (26) and Pranab Mahajan (28) were other notable contributors.

For Press Club, Raman Dutta and Pardeep Bali snared two wickets each while Sanjay Sharma and Shafqat Baba took one wicket apiece.

Press Club at one stage were well on the course to overhaul the target with Vimarsh Kaw going great guns.

But a sudden rush of blood cost Vimarsh his wicket who departed at 52 off 50 balls containing seven boundaries.

After his dismissal, JP World bowlers had their tails up and tightened the noose around remaining batsmen. Despite a disciplined bowling performance by the bowlers, Press Club batsmen had to blame themselves for their dismal performance whomade a mess of a target with poor shot selection.

Press Club managed 124/9 in the allotted overs to concede a narrow defeat.

Ashwani Gupta and Ashok chipped in with 12 each but that wasn’t enough.

For JP World, Jagtar Singh was the pick of the bowlers with four scalps while A P Singh and Pranab Mahajan grabbed two and one wicket respectively.

Jagtar Singh was declared man of the match. Sohail Kazmi, Secretary, Press Club was the chief guest on the occasion.

Meanwhile, the prize distribution function of the tournament will be held on March 31.

J&K Police trounces Press Club

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 9: J&K Police prevailed over local Press Club team of R S Pura by four wickets in an exhibition cricket match played in memory of all Shaheed at Bana Singh Stadium, R S Pura today.

Jatinder Raina was adjudged man of the match. P S Katoch, SDPO R S Pura was the chief guest on the occasion while Rakesh Bittu, Cooperative Union State Chairman was the guest of honour.

Kuldeep Khajuria, SHO R S Pura alongwith other dignitaries were also present.

Jammu wins State Korfball Championship

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 9: Jammu cruised past Pulwama by 18-7 goals in the final to lift Bhai Gurbaksh Singh Memorial 6th State Korfball Championship played at Green Field, Gandhi Nagar today.

Baramulla overcame Poonch by 3-1 in a pulsating contest to finish third.

In the semifinals, Jammu beat Poonch by 15-5 whereas Pulwama edged out Baramulla by 6-4.

MLC T S Wazir was the chief guest on the occasion, who gave away trophies to the winner and runner up teams.

Earlier, former Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah visited the venue to witness the semifinals and also interacted with the players.

Priety willing to bid for women’s cricket too!

NEW DELHI, Mar 9: Bollywood diva Priety Zinta does not like the daily ‘Saas-Bahu’ sops that caricature women in a wrong way and said she prefers to watch sports than such nonsensical serials in the idiot box.

"I would rather watch sports or news channels or National Geography than watch such nonsense TV serials which caricature woman and tarnish their image," Priety said on the sidelines of the golden ovary award launch in the capital.

When enquired as why she didn’t do anything for the women cricket team, Priety said she would like to contribute to the women cricket team but unfortunately till now she has not got a chance.

"Unfortunately there has been no bidding for the women’s team or else I would have surely done something for the team," she said.

In an industry where mainly male-centric films are being made, Priety has portrayed a wide variety of roles in films like ‘Kya Kehna’, ‘Chori Chori Chupke Chupke’, ‘Sangharsh’, etc with equal equanimity and remains unfazed by the difference in pay structure offered by the film industry.

"It doesn’t matter if men are being paid more because films in India strive on men. They are given a larger canvas and are at a higher risk than an actress. Moreover, if you compare films with modeling, a female model gets paid more than a male model," she reasons.

However, the actress agrees that there is a wind of change sweeping bollywood these days.

"Things are changing in bollywood. With oddles of young talent, who are ready to experiment coming up and opening up of multiplexes, now a days a lot of films are being made which are not just black and white but are coloured with shades of grey. The changing demography of our society is thus getting reflected in the films as they are becoming more natural and real," she said.

Priety, who is also the brand ambassador of Godfrey Phillips bravery, ranked "security" and "economic empowerment" as the two biggest challenge that lie ahead of Indian woman.

"The most important issues that need to be addressed are security and economic empowerment of the women. It is high time that these issues are being recognised and taken care," she said. (PTI)

South Africa beats Bangladesh by nine wickets

CHITTAGONG, Mar 9: An unbeaten century by captain Graeme Smith led South Africa to an easy nine-wicket win over Bangladesh with 12.1 overs to spare in the first of their three limited-overs internationals today.

Smith hit a boundary with the day’s last ball to bring up his seventh one-day century, and take his side past the winning target of 179 in 36.5 overs.

Man of the match Smith needed just 118 balls for his century, with 14 boundaries and a six.

Herschelle Gibbs (57) combined in a 143-run opening stand with his captain before Shakib Al Hasan trapped him lbw to take Bangladesh’s only wicket.

Hashim Amla, a Test specialist who made his one-day today, finished not out on 9.

Earlier, a half century by opener Tamim Iqbal failed to get adequate support from the rest of Bangladesh’s batting order, as South Africa skittled the home side for 178.

Andre Nel claimed three wickets to take him past 100 in one-day internationals, while Charl Langeveldt, Albie Morkel and one-day newcomer Paul Harris all claimed two.

Bangladesh won the toss and the 30-run opening partnership ended when Junaid Siddique (6) was caught by Harris at mid-on off Langeveldt.

Nel then reached his milestone by dismissing Shahriar Nafees (12), who was caught behind by A.B. De Villiers, playing as wicketkeeper.

Morkel then had captain Mohammad Ashraful (8) trapped lbw, and Bangladesh was reduced to 89-4 when Shakib Al Hasan (6) was caught at midwicket by Gibbs to give Harris his first one-day wicket.

Harris too is a Test specialist, who made his debut today in the shorter version of the game.

Iqbal and Roqibul Hassan put on 42 runs for the fifth wicket, before the opener fell for 82 as he tried to loft Harris but holed out to Morkel at long on.

Iqbal’s knock came off 98 balls and included 9 fours and a six.

Bangladesh collapsed after Iqbal departed, and lost its final three wickets for just three runs.

The hosts inducted three uncapped players, middle-order batsman Roqibul, wicketkeeper Dhiman Ghosh and all-rounder Mosharraf Hossain.

Bangladesh had beaten South Africa by 67 runs in last year’s world Cup in the Caribbean. (AGENCIES)

PCB submits strong chargesheet against Shoaib Akhtar

KARACHI, Mar 9: Controversial fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar appears to be in deep trouble as the Pakistan Cricket Board has submitted a strong chargesheet against him, while coach Geoff Lawson has asked the PCB not to consider the maverick speedster for Test matches.

In a chargesheet submitted to the disciplinary committee hearing the case against Shoaib, the PCB has described the bowler as a lawbreaker in the game.

According to sources, the PCB has written that Shoaib has a record of breaching the terms of his central contract and he has remained in the spotlight for wrong reasons.

To make matters worse for Shoaib, Lawson has also suggested that the express bowler be selected only for the ODIs as he was not reliable for test cricket. "His future may lie in just being a odi bowler as his lack of reliability is not good for test match cricket," Lawson wrote.

The disciplinary committee met yesterday to go through the chargesheet submitted against the fast bowler, who is under a one year probation after being banned for 13 matches and fined Rs 3.4 million for having a brawl with teammate muhammad Asif in South Africa last year.

Now, the board has charged Shoaib with giving media statements against the policies of the PCB after he was dropped from the new central contracts list in January.

Shoaib accused the board of having double standards while dealing with the players and accused it of conducting ‘B’ grade matches at domestic level.

Shoaib, in his response to the PCB notice, has written rather passively to board Chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf. "I have every respect for you as one would for an elder brother. More so, because you have been quite a helping hand throughout your tenure," he wrote.

Shoaib also stated that it was not his intention to be critical of the PCB and he regrets any inconvenience caused by him.

But now it seems unlikely that the PCB is willing to be lenient with the bowler as they have told the disciplinary committee that his off-the-field activities did no more than tarnish the image of the country and the game.

"His outbursts in the media, brawls with his colleagues and team officials, disinclination to accept PCB policies on sponsorships and other issues, snubbing establishment procedures on fitness, paint him as a lawbreaker in cricket," the chargesheet says.

"PCB in the past faced the brunt of ignoring his acts. The board has been labeled as helpless when it comes to taking action against Shoaib," it adds.

The PCB has also informed the disciplinary committee that based on his recent performances and behavior, the governing body decided to downgrade shoaib’s central contract from ‘A’ category to special retainership.

Sources in the board have also pointed out that even former coach Bob Woolmer was never happy with Shoaib’s behaviour and commitment to the team.

Woolmer had even informed the board that during the second Test against South Africa in Port Elizabeth in early 2007, Shoaib refused to take the field saying he had a hamstring problem. But team physiotherapist Darryn Lifsun found no clinical signs of any injury, a source said.

"When I confronted him questioning his commitment, his response was to create a scene and swearing at me," Woolmer wrote in his report. (PTI)

ICL to be shown live in Pakistan

KARACHI, Mar 9: The second edition of the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) will have much stronger viewership with geo super sports channel airing the matches here in Pakistan.

ICL’s second tournament, which kicked off today in India, will be shown live on three different TV networks, including Zee Sports of the Essel Group, which floated the parallel league in India last year.

The first edition of the ICL was only covered live on Zee network which does not have a big viewership here but the gap seems set to be bridged this time.

"The increased coverage of the ICL matches which will also be shown, as usual, on Zee network means the league, despite its unofficial status, is moving forward and will get more attention and viewership for sure," Jamal Mir, who specialises in cricket event and media management told.

While Ten Sports is the official broadcaster of the matches for the Pakistan Cricket Board, Geo super covers domestic cricket in Pakistan.

"It will be interesting to see how the PCB is going to react to the two channels telecasting the unofficial ICL matches now," one former player said. (PTI)