India
beat Belgium to stay in reckoning
IPOH (Malaysia), May 12: India warded off a
spirited second half resurgence by
Belgium to script a 6-4 victory and keep
themselves afloat in the Sultan Azlan
Shah hockey tournament here today.
The
Indians opened up a flattering 5-1 lead
by the half time but their opponents
fought back brilliantly to score three
goals in the second session. But the
young Indians managed to hold on their
lead to record their second successive
win in the seven-nation tournament.
Shivendra
Singh and Sandeep Singh rammed in two
goals while SV Sunil and Diwakar Ram
chipped in with a goal each in the fast
paced contest which saw India frittering
away a few scoring opportunities.
Alexender
De Sadeleere, Jerome Trueyns, Thomas
Briels and Charles Vandewgheles were the
scorers for Belgium who very nearly
caught up with the Indians in the second
session.
India have
now garnered six points from four matches
and have shown signs of an improvement
after losing their first two matches
against New Zealand and Argentina.
The team,
mainly comprising of juniors, started off
with a flourish by scoring as many as
five goals in the opening session, but
seemed to lose their rhythm after the
interval with the forward line failing to
break through the rival defence. (PTI)
Dravid,
Charu Sharma ignored players I wanted:
Mallya
NEW DELHI, May 12: The
internal bickering of the Bangalore Royal
Challengers today came out in the open
today with team owner Vijay Mallya
lashing out at captain Rahul Dravid and
sacked CEO Charu Sharma for the
side’s pathetic show in the Indian
Premier League.
Sharma,
however, dismissed Mallya’s strong
attack saying he had no role in the
selection of players.
Mallya
made it clear that he was not happy with
the squad, currently languishing at the
bottom of the IPL points table, which has
been ridiculed as a test team in Twenty20
jersey.
The liquor
baron said he had some players in mind
but Dravid and Sharma completely ignored
them and went ahead with their own plan
during the IPL auctions.
"I
had my own list (of players) but the fact
is Rahul Dravid and Charu Sharma had
their own list and at the end of the day,
I decided to take the back seat,"
Mallya told NDTV.
"I
was very tempted to bid for players whom
I wanted but they held me back. Obviously
things have turned out differently,"
he said.
He said
Sharma backed Dravid to the hilt and even
in the second auction, where the captain
was not present, the former CEO
discouraged Mallya to buy players of his
choice.
"When
Rahul Dravid was not present in the
second auction, I wanted to acquire some
players but Charu Sharma was very
tentative about them. I mean I bought
Misbah-ul Haq because I was determined to
do it. There were other players I was
discouraged about," Mallya said.
Sharma,
however, said he did not have any role in
players’ selection.
"How
could you think that I would have a say
in the selection of the playing XI when
you have great players like Rahul Dravid
and test captain Anil Kumble in the
side?" Sharma asked.
He said
the team lost a few close matches and
Mallya needed to have faith in the team
management.
"I
think they need to give more time to the
captain and the coach."
On his
sacking, Sharma said, "well, if I
say I’m not feeling hurt, I’d
be wrong."
Mallya,
however, dropped ample hints that he felt
Sharma did not contribute enough to the
team’s cause and that was the reason
behind replacing him with former test
player Brijesh Patel.
"Charu
Sharma was appointed CEO because I
thought he understood cricket and he
would add value to the team and the
entire Royal Challengers
initiative."
Mallya
said Patel’s appointment was
necessitated because he was tired of
complaints that the team did not have
good practice facilities in its base in
Bangalore.
"When
I was questioning the performance of the
team, all I was told was that practice
facilities are bad, then I was told there
was no bonding in the team...So
everything was blamed on a particular
event or lack of infrastructure", he
said.
"So I
said to myself things can’t continue
like this and I brought Brijesh Patel. He
is the honorable Secretary of the KSCA
(Karnataka State Cricket Association) and
who is a better person to provide match
facilities and whatever else the team
needs at its base in Bangalore. He
understands cricket as well," Mallya
explained.
The
flamboyant liquor-baron also made it
clear that IPL had an unmistakable
corporate face, which makes it evidently
distinct from other tournaments.
"At
the end of the day, people need to
understand that the IPL has a corporate
side to it, and a very definitive
corporate side. It is not at all cricket
in the traditional sense," he added.
Now that
the team’s semifinal hopes have gone
up in smoke, Mallya expects Dravid and
his teammates to win a few matches to
salvage some pride.
"I
want from Rahul Dravid to do the best for
the team and to produce some good results
for us because I don’t think Rahul
Dravid enjoys being at the bottom of the
league tables, and certainly I
don’t." Mallya added. (PTI)
Commercial
rafting suspended in Pahalgam
SRINAGAR, May 12: Commercial
rafting, one of the attractions for
adventure lovers and tourists in world
famous Pahalgam, has been suspended
following orders by local development
authority.
"We
have suspended the river rafting, a
popular sport, because of unnecessary
restriction imposed by the Pahalgam
Development Authority (PDA)," said a
Spokesman of the local rafting companies
who claimed to have invested Rs two
crores on the project.
He said
the local tour operators have been
operating commercial rafting on the water
of river Lidder since 2004, which helped
to revive the much needed adventure
tourism in the Valley.
Rafting is
a water based activity undertaken on
running rivers or in wild waters in a
rubberized inflatable boat. Manned by
trained river guides, this activity is
popular all over the world and is
attracting more tourists to such
destinations, where river rafting is
possible.
He said in
Kashmir all the adventure activities are
looked after by the Tourism Department,
but surprisingly, the development
authorities of different resorts are
unnecessarily creating hurdles in the
promotion of the tourism.
Spokesman
said Chief Executive Officers (CEO) of
some development authorities are
engineers, kas or belongs to any other
category, with least knowledge about
adventure tourism.
He said
the Tourism Department Kashmir had issued
permissions to 13 local rafting companies
for operating this much demanding tourist
product at Pahalgam from May I 2008.
"But,
to our dismay, the PDA had planned to put
the river to tender which was neither
agreed by the Tourism Department nor by
rafting companies," he said.
After
solving the dispute, the Tourism
Department finally issued permissions in
favour of 13 companies, but
unfortunately, the PDA has not allowed
the operators to undertake this tourist
activity in their jurisdiction till date,
instead the rafting companies have been
asked to operate it at Yennar village
which is about 18 kms down to Pahalgam.
There is
no safety and security arrangements
available there, he said, adding, this
segment of the river is not feasible for
commercial rafting at all.
He said
the companies have engaged nearly 150
river guides and rafting companies and
other travel agencies have already sold
this tourist product to their
counterparts in the country and abroad.
They
appealed to Chief Minister, Tourism
Minister and other intervene and save
this adventure sports. (UNI)
Inter-School
tournament begins
Excelsior Sports
Correspondent
JAMMU, May 12: The Inter School
tournament of Miran Sahib Zone for boys
and girls in the disciplines of kabaddi,
kho-kho and volleyball commenced at
Government Girls Higher Secondary School,
Miran Sahib today.
A total of
24 schools of the Zone are competing in
the tournament being organised by the
Department of Youth Services and Sports.
In the
events held today, Government Boys High
School, Simbal Camp got the better of
Government Boys High School Badyal
Brahmana by 6 points in U/14 kho-kho
(boys).
In U/14
kabaddi (boys), Government Boys Middle
School Kotli Mian Fatha prevailed over
Government Boys Middle School by 10
points to emerge victorious.
Government
Boys High School, Badyal Brahmana cruised
past Government Boys High School, Kirpind
by 3 points in a pulsating contest.
The
matches were conducted under the
supervision of PEM Chander Kanta, who is
also the organising secretary.
Earlier,
the tournament was declared open by
Sureshta Devi, Principal, Government
Girls Higher Secondary School, Miran
Sahib.
Kandi
wins Volleyball tourney
Excelsior Sports
Correspondent
RAJOURI, May 12: Kandi sealed a
thrilling 3-2 sets win over Budhal in a
nerve wrecking final to clinch the
volleyball tournament played at Budhal
today.
The final
set score was 25-23, 25-22, 25-21, 21-25
and 24-25.
In all, 8
teams namely Smoth, Sungri, Chasana
(Police), 60RR, 163 Brigade, Kandi and
Budhal participated in the tournament
organised by 163 Budhal brigade.
Brigadier,
163 Budhal brigade was the chief guest on
the occasion who gave away winner and
runner up trophies to the teams.
SSCC
to face JGKCC for title clash
Excelsior Sports
Correspondent
JAMMU, May 12: Super Star Cricket
Club (SSCC) defeated Oriental Cricket
Club (OCC) by 11 runs today to set up
summit clash with Jammu Gymkhana Cricket
Club (JGKCC) in the ongoing Summer Cup
Cricket Tournament being played at MAM
College Ground.
SSCC won
the crucial toss in the second semifinal
and opted to bat first.
They
accumulated 127 runs in the allotted 20
overs with Rakesh (24), Bunty (16) and
Harish (14) were the notable
contributors.
For OCC,
Srikant and Jonty shared two wickets
each.
Chasing
127 to win, OCC was perished for 116
runs. Srikant and Sunny were the top
scorers with 29 and 26 runs respectively.
For SSCC,
Amit and Rakesh snared four and three
wickets respectively.
Both were
jointly declared man of the match. The
umpires in the match were Rajesh and
Sunny.
The scorer
was Ashok.
Santosh
Trophy 2008
AIFF observers
satisfied over arrangements
Excelsior Sports
Correspondent
JAMMU, May 12: The two All India
Football Federation (AIFF) observers have
expressed their satisfaction over the
arrangements at both venues-Polo Ground
and Bakshi Stadium in Srinagar for the
successful conduct of the National
Football Championship-Santosh Trophy.
According
to Prof Bashir Ahmed Shah, chief
spokesman of Jammu and Kashmir Football
Association (JKFA), the
observers-Subrotto Dutta, vice-president,
AIFF and Nasir Ali, executive member of
AIFF who had inspected the playing
conditions and other necessary facilities
at the venues seemed content saying that
the arrangements are just perfect for the
State to conduct the prestigious
championship after a long gap of 30
years.
He further
said the observers assured that the AIFF
would provide technical support to the
JKFA to bolster the standard of the game
in the State.
Meanwhile,
the other two observers-Anil Kamath and
Col Mehta, who had earlier inspected the
Jammu venues-MA Stadium and GGM Science
College Ground on May 12 reached here
this evening.
Later, the
observers called on Ravinder Gupta,
Secretary Sports Council.
Safina
hails career-best win to take German Open
crown
BERLIN, May 12: Dinara Safina
hailed her win here as the biggest of her
career as she battled back from a set
down to beat Elena Dementieva in an
all-Russian final at the German Open.
The
22-year-old Safina had never lost to her
compatriot in their previous two meetings
on clay and overcame losing the first set
to claim a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 win in front of
5,800 spectators.
Safina’s
sixth WTA tour title was one that most
observers here feel she has deserved,
having beaten world number one Justine
Henin and ended Serena Williams’
17-match unbeaten run on the way to the
final.
"I am
the happiest person in the world and this
has been the biggest success of my
career," said Safina.
"When
I lost the first set, I thought,
‘there is no way I am going to lose
this, come on, give it all you have and
win these next two games’.
"The
drop shots were the key, I think about 18
of the 20 I tried came off and it has
something that has really improved during
the week.
"I
have found my game on clay, I just want
to stay fit and healthy in preparation
for Roland Garros.
"I
can enjoy it today, but tomorrow is
another day, I have to get back on court
and start working all over again."
With her
brother Marat Safin also winning his
qualifier at the Hamburg Masters series
yesterday, it was a good day for the
family.
"I am
really pleased for him, as well as
myself," beamed the Russian.
"Before
we left to come to Germany we had a bit
of a fight because he said I was doing
everything wrong.
"But
look, brother, I am on the right
path," she said in a personal
message to her sibling.
And with
her mother and coach Raouza Islanova
watching, Safina said she will treat her
mum to whatever she wants to buy from the
shops of Berlin as it was mother’s
day in Germany yesterday.
For beaten
finalist Dementieva it was a bitter pill
to swallow after taking the first set in
comfortable fashion, only to lose to the
daughter of her first ever coach.
"I
feel, after the first set, I let myself
down," said the Russian.
"She
was serving quite well, I feel like I had
some opportunities, but I didn’t
take my chances.
"I
was watching her other games and I knew
she was in good shape, she has really had
a good week here.
"We
started playing together when we were
young because her mum was my first coach,
the hard work she has been putting in is
finally paying off."
This was
only the fourth time in the event’s
28-year history as a WTA tour event none
of the top six seeds have reached the
final. (AGENCIES)
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