Sports

By Gurmukh Singh, IANS, Toronto : Just like Canadian field hockey where Indians form half of the national team, Indians are also leading the revival of cricket in this country. If president Banwarilal (Ben) Sennik and CEO Atul Ahuja of Cricket Canada are steering the sport to make it popular across the country, eight Indian-origin players are sweating it out to raise the nation's rankings in world cricket. "In fact, the president of our Maple Leaf cricket facility - the only one as per ICC standards - is also an Indian Rajinder Saini," says CEO Atul Ahuja amid laughter.

By IANS, New Delhi: India had a disappointing opening day at the Badminton Asia Championships with both P.C. Thulasi and Gayatri Vartak tumbling out of the women's singles qualifiers at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here Monday. Thulasi and Vartak won their first round qualification matches but fumbled in the second round. Vartak went down to Xin Liu of China 12-21, 11-21 while Thulasi lost to Ma Pai Hsiao of Chinese Taipei 8-21, 9-21.

By DPA, Sydney : A social-justice advocate has pulled out of Thursday's Canberra-leg of the troubled Olympic torch relay over human-rights concerns. Torchbearer Lin Hatfield Dodds described it as a difficult but well thought-out decision. "Choosing not to run is making a very clear and unambiguous statement, I hope, on behalf of myself but also on behalf of the Uniting Church and Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) that we will always choose to stand with those who are the least and those who are the most vulnerable," said Dodds.

By IANS, Cape Town: South Africa captain Graeme Smith wants to put India under some pressure in the final Test starting here Sunday by bowling them out under 250.

By IANS Agra : Around 1,600 shooters including 600 markswomen will vie for the top honours in the 17th All India Mavlankar Shooting Championship that started here Wednesday. "This is the biggest show so far. More than 600 female shooters have joined the competition. India is fast emerging as a shooters' paradise and we have in the recent past won many laurels," Municipal commissioner Shyam Singh Yadav, who is also a national coach, told IANS.

By IANS, Colombo : India scored 237 for nine in the third one-day international cricket match against Sri Lanka at R. Premadasa Stadium here Sunday. Mahendra Singh Dhoni top-scored with 76 while Suresh Raina chipped in with 53. Ajantha Mendis was the most successful bowler taking three wickets for 56 runs.

By DPA, Madrid : Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o and Deco are no longer wanted at FC Barcelona. That was the unequivocal message given, loud and clear, by new Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola at his official presentation Tuesday. "Deco, Ronaldinho and Eto'o are not in our plans," he said. It was an open secret for weeks that Barca were keen to offload this troublesome trio. Until now, however, this had not been stated clearly in public.

By IANS Sydney : Australia made 13 runs without loss in their second innings after Sachin Tendulkar made an unbeaten 154 to guide India to 532 in the first innings in reply to the hosts' 463 on the third day of the second Test match at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) here Friday. Australia is trailing by 56 runs. Phil Jaques was batting on 8 and Mathew Hayden on 5 at the close of play Friday.

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Trent Bridge : One of the interesting sub-plots of the drawn first Test at Lord's was the way England wicketkeeper Matt Prior got under the skin of Indian opener Dinesh Karthik.

"Come on Karthik, let's get the entertainer (Mahendra) Dhoni out here," or "Dhoni wouldn't have played that shot," were regular refrains from behind the stumps during the India second innings on day four.

By Sirshendu Panth, IANS, New Delhi: India narrowly saved the blushes with a late goal to finish 3-3 with South Africa in Pool B of the Hockey World Cup here Monday. Lloyd Norris-Jones (8th minute) put the visitors ahead, before the Indians struck through Sarvanjit Singh (17th) and Vikram Pillay (24th) to lead 2-1 at half time. But South Africa bounced back with strikes from Ian Haley (39th) and Austin Smith (47th) through penalty corners and went 3-2 up, much to the dismay of a large crowd at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium.

By IANS Chennai : Following is the scorecard at the end of India's first innings on the fourth day of the first cricket Test against South Africa here Saturday: Scoreboard South Africa (1st innings): 540 India (1st innings): Overnight 468 for one Wasim Jaffer c Kallis b Harris 73 Virender Sehwag c McKenzie b Ntini 319 Rahul Dravid c Kallis b Ntini 111 Sachin Tendulkar c Kallis b Ntini 0 Sourav Ganguly c Boucher b Harris 24 V.V.S. Laxman c and b Harris 39 Mahendra Singh Dhoni c Boucher b Steyn 16 Anil Kumble b Steyn 3 Harbhajan b Steyn 0 Rudra Pratap Singh b Steyn 0

By DPA, Madrid : Lionel Messi gave one of the best performances of his promising career in Madrid, scoring a handsome hat-trick as Barcelona beat Atletico Madrid 3-1 in a one-sided fifth round, first leg clash in the Spanish Cup. The Argentine youngster confirmed his status as one of football's brightest stars, at the same time that Barca confirmed their status as the top team in Spain. Messi missed Barca's 3-1 defeat of Mallorca Saturday because he returned late from vacation. On Tuesday, he made up for lost time by driving the flat Atletico defence crazy.

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By IANS, Leicester : A grandfather from Punjab and a popular athlete of the Midlands in England has won two medals at the annual event of the British Masters Athletic Federation in Leicester. Jhalman Singh, 72, won a silver medal in the long jump and a bronze medal in the shot putt. This is on top of the pentathlon gold he won in the 70-75-year-old category at a Masters event in Oxford last month. A retired engineer, he lives in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, and is currently training for another county competition in August, reports the Birmingham Mail.

By IANS Perth : Australian fast bowling spearhead Brett Lee said perseverance helped him to pick up the two crucial Indian wickets of Rahul Dravid and V.V.S. Laxman at the fag end of the opening day in the third Test at the Western Australia Cricket Association (WACA) Ground here Wednesday. "If we had them four-down for 300 it might have been a different story, but with those two late wickets, making it six-down, Australia are in a pretty good position," Lee told reporters here at the end of the day's play. Lee picked up three wickets while Mitchell Johnson claimed two.

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Kolkata : Mansoor Zaman of Pakistan pulled off a stunner, winning the third Kolkata International Squash Championship Friday by defeating Ong Beng Hee of Malaysia 11-8, 11-7, 4-11, 11-8.

The final was by and large a lopsided affair and it was the higher-ranked player who bowed to the deftness and aggression of young Zaman. For most part of the match the Pakistan player played from the front court and did not allow Beng Hee play his natural game. The second seed Malaysian was pressed to the hold court and could not attack.

By IANS Hong Kong : Six-time Major winner Nick Faldo will be a star attraction both on and off the course at next month's UBS Hong Kong Open golf. The English great has been invited as a special guest of UBS to take on an "ambassadorial" role at the tournament, to be staged at the Hong Kong Golf Club in Fanling Nov 15-18. Faldo will be part of a stellar field for the 49th staging of the UBS Hong Kong Open. Two-time US Open champion Retief Goosen and 2003 Masters winner Mike Weir will be joined by fellow PGA Tour stars K.J. Choi, Stuart Appleby and Trevor Immelman.

By DPA, Lausanne (Switzerland) : Churandy Martina of the Dutch Antilles has lost an appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to be reinstated as Beijing Olympics 200 metres silver medallist. The CAS Friday cited rules by the governing body IAAF that decisions by the race jury of appeal are final and cannot be fought. Martina had originally finished second in the Beijing race in August won by Usain Bolt of Jamaica, with American Wallace Spearmon coming third.

By IANS New Delhi : India's new Test captain Anil Kumble said here Tuesday that he would be the "voice of the team", and stressed that leading the country would be a challenge. Speaking at a press conference at which he was announced as a brand ambassador of the Manipal Education, Kumble, who would lead India against Pakistan in the first of the three Tests starting here Thursday, hoped that he would also take a bagful of wickets with his leg-spinners. "Leading the side is challenging. I'll do what the job demands," he said in his typical understatement.

By IANS, Colombo : India were 282 for four in the first innings, in reply to Sri Lanka's 425, at lunch on the third day of the third and the final circket Test here Thursday. V.V.S. Laxman was batting on 42 and Suresh Raina on 39 at the lunch break. Virender Sehwag made 109.

By IANS, New Delhi : It was a clever move by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) Thursday to bring the feuding Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi together to carry the Olympic torch and light the cauldron at India Gate. The symbolism was not lost on the people gathered at the India Gate lawns as there were doubts over the two multiple Grand Slam winners joining forces at the Beijing Olympic Games following differences over more than one issue.

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By IANS,

By Awais Saleem, IANS,

By Anand Philar, IANS, Tenth World Cup - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Feb 24-March 4, 2002) The run-up to the 10th World Cup witnessed some unprecedented hype in India considering that the venue, Kuala Lumpur, was the scene of their 1975 triumph. Of course, the Malaysian capital city in 2002 had little resemblance to the "small town" of three decades earlier. But it did not matter as "experts" declared that India were set for a repeat. As it transpired, the prediction was way off the mark.

By IANS, Mumbai: Mumbai Indians skipper Sachin Tendulkar, who turns 37 Saturday, bagged the awards for best batsman and best captain at the glitzy Sahara Indian Premier League (IPL) Awards ceremony here. The glittery event at the Grand Hyatt Friday night, however, was not attended by many of the top bosses in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Only former board president Inderjit Singh Bindra, who is principal advisor to the International Cricket Council (ICC), and Sunil Gavaskar from the governing council turned up for the show.

By IANS, Karachi : Powered by Alok Kapali's century, Bangladesh scored 283 for six against India in a Group B match of Asia Cup cricket at the National Stadium here Saturday. Kapail struck 115 in 96 balls while Tamim Iqbal contributed 55. For India, debutant Pragyan Ojha was the most successful bowler claiming two wickets for 43.

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By Xinhua Mexico City : India's Viswanathan Anand defeated Russian Alexander Grischuk in a 50-move Ruy-Lopez anti-Marshall Attack to regain sole lead in the World Chess Championship after the seventh round of the 14-round event. At the halfway stage, Anand leads with five points followed by Boris Gelfand of Israel in second place half a point behind. Defending world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia is lying third with four points, half a point ahead of Grischuk (3.5).

By IANS Sydney : At a time when the Australian cricket team is under fierce criticism from all quarters for their unsporting behaviour in the Sydney Test against India, Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) chief executive Paul Marsh came out in support of the beleaguered team saying that the accusations are hardly in line with the cricketer's charitable behaviour off the field.

By IANS New Delhi : An open bus ride Thursday from the airport to the Ferozeshah Kotla ground here for the triumphant Indian cricket team that won the tri-series in Australia has been cancelled as the players "are very tired" and want to get back home as quickly as possible. The celebration will now be confined to a felicitation for the team at the Ferozeshah Kotla, where entry will be free for the public, vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India Rajeev Shukla said Wednesday.

By IANS, Silverstone : India's Karun Chandhok delivered his first podium of the season with a third place finish in the second race of the GP2 series here Sunday. The Chennai-born Chandhok, driving for Ocean Racing Technology team, had the advantage of starting the second race from third position on the reversed grid and maintained his slot through the race that ended behind the safety car to cross the finish line behind Pastor Maldonado and Andreas Zuber.

By IANS, Dhaka : Bangladesh were restricted to 197 for eight at tea on the first day of the second cricket Test against India here Sunday. Mahmudullah was batting on 65 and Shafiul Islam 9. Zaheer Khan (3-54) and Ishant Sharma (3-65) took three wickets each. Pragyan Ojha took two for 36.

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By IANS, Jakarta : India's Saina Nehwal won her third title in Indonesia, beating Xuerui Li of China 13-21, 22-20, 21-19 in the Super Series Premier event here Sunday.

By IANS New Delhi : Ace Indian shooter Gagan Narang won the silver in the 50M rifle prone men's event and then helped his team win the silver medal in the 11th Asian Shooting Championship in Kuwait, Monday.

By IANS, Melbourne : Indo-Swede golfer Daniel Chopra opened with a hat-trick of birdies and finished with a card of two-under 70 for tied seventh at the end of first round of the Sportsbet Australian Masters here Thursday. However, things were not too good for India's Shiv Kapur, who had a disastrous second nine, the front stretch of the Huntingdale course, and finished with a card of six-over 78 that placed him tied 133rd and will miss the cut unless he comes up with a stunning second round.

By IANS, Dharamsala: Kings XI Punjab kept their faint hopes of making the play-offs alive by beating Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League here Thursday.

By IANS, Karachi : Former Pakistan captain Moin Khan hopes that the new office-bearers of the Pakistan Cricket Board will lift the ban on players playing in the Indian Cricket League (ICL). Moin, who is coach of Lahore Badshahs, the only Pakistani team to play in the ICL, said the players have every right to earn their livelihood. PCB chairman Nasim Ashraf has quit his post after the resignation of President Pervez Musharraf and a new set-up is expected to take over in September.

By DPA, Madrid : Barcelona scored their first win in the Spanish Liga in scintillating style, thrashing bottom placed team Sporting Gijon 6-1 away. Lionel Messi led the rout with two goals, while Xavi Hernandez, Samuel Eto'o and Andres Iniesta scored, too, plus an own goal from Jorge Garcia. Francisco Maldonado gave Gijon brief hope by making it 3-1, before local defender Gerard Autet was sent off - and the floodgates opened. "It's great to get our first win," said a delighted Iniesta. "It's also good to score a few goals, after having scored so few at the start of the season."

Chennai : The so-called 'winds of change’ that swept through the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) last winter seemed to have...

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By IANS, New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Monday said it has formed a team to take stock of the various Commonwealth Games projects undertaken in the city. The delegation led by the party's Delhi unit chief Vijender Gupta will visit various projects Wednesday to find out the progress made. The party will present its reports before the people and Lieutenant Governor Tejendra Khanna, a BJP statement said.

By IANS, Mumbai : Wayne Parnell of South Africa was sold to Delhi Daredevils for $610,000 in the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction here Tuesday. window.onload...

By IANS, Navi Mumbai : Scoreboard of the Indian Premier League match between Pune Warriors and Delhi Daredevils here Sunday: Pune Warriors: Jesse Ryder c Finch b Nadeem 60

By IANS, New Delhi : Following is the sports schedule for June 22, 2008: Football: Euro 2008 Fourth quarterfinal: Spain vs. Italy (Vienna, Ernst Happel) Cricket: BCCI felicitates 1983 World Cup winning team Badminton: Indonesian Super Series

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Montevideo (Uruguay): Uruguayan dailies Friday hailed footballer Luis Suarez, whose two goals led the team to a 2-1 victory over England in the FIFA...

By DPA, Paris : The French Football Federation (FFF) has confirmed that it intends to bid for the right to host Euro 2016. In a statement posted on the FFF's website Friday, the federation said a confirmation letter would be sent European football's governing body UEFA before the application deadline of March 9. "We are going into to this with the objective of winning," said FFF president Jean-Pierre Escalettes. It had been rumoured that France would look to co-host the event with Italy but the FFF have plumped instead for a solo bid.

By Fakir Hassen, IANS, Johannesburg : The Australians will fight back hard to save face in the remaining two games after South Africa scored a historic win in the first cricket Test at Perth Sunday, said former Proteas paceman Fanie de Villiers. "Watch out for Melbourne and Sydney, because the series is not won yet. As great as the victory in Perth as, it is the only place where I would put money on a South African victory," De VIlliers told the Afrikaans daily Beeld here.

By Abhishek Roy, IANS,

By IANS Lisbon : A flawless round of 67 with four birdies in the space of six holes on the back nine saw golfer Shiv Kapur make a fine start in the opening round of the Portugal Masters Thursday. Kapur was lying tied 18th, while Jeev Milkha Singh was tied 61st with a round of two-under 70 at the Oceania Victoria Club de Golfe.

By IANS, Chennai : Cricket coaches, bowlers and captains watching earlier matches and working out a strategy to tie down a star batsman of an opposite team is soon to become passé. A city-based tech company, Frontier Technologies India Pvt Ltd, has proposed using the giant digital screen on the ground to show the strong and not so strong points of a batsman on real time basis so that the bowling team can chalk out appropriate on-the- ground strategies.

By IANS, Dubai : International Cricket Council (ICC) president David Morgan and president-elect Sharad Pawar have come out in support of former Australian prime minister John Howard's nomination as ICC vice president. Pawar is set to take over as ICC president from David Morgan next month with Howard to step in as vice-president, a role which would see him take the top seat in two years' time. There is, however, a rift in international cricket with the governing bodies in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka intimating they would look to block Howard's nomination.

By Zofeen T. Ebrahim, IANS, Karachi : The Pakistan Cricket Board media advisor Wednesday said that the Indian Premier League (IPL) doors are closed for Shoaib Akhtar as the contract clearly mentions that a player who has been banned from his respective board cannot appear in the IPL. "They (IPL) will not allow him to play unless they make an exception or make amendments in the contract," said Aamir Bilal talking to IANS by phone from Islamabad. “And if they can take action against Harbhajan Singh and allow Shoaib Akhtar to play, that would create quite a dichotomy,” Bilal said.

By K. Hussain, IANS, Karachi : Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik is anticipating that his comeback pacer Shoaib Akhtar will regain full fitness ahead of September's Champions Trophy. Malik said Sunday that Shoaib's expected return to the Pakistan team is good news for the country pointing out that the Rawalpindi Express is a match-winning bowler. "Shoaib is a great fast bowler and has won many a match for Pakistan in the past," Malik said at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore where he and fellow team mates had assembled to give urine samples for dope tests.

By Sirshendu Panth, IANS, Kolkata : Classic V.V.S. Laxman and blazing Mahendra Singh Dhoni cracked centuries as India reigned supreme with a massive 347-run first innings lead after South Africans floored crucial catches on day three of the second cricket Test here Tuesday.

By IANS New Delhi : The South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship, scheduled to be held in December this year, has been postponed to May 2008 following a decision taken by the SAFF executive committee which met in Colombo last week. The All India Football Federation (AIFF) had requested for the postponement as the 2010 World Cup qualifiers as well as the professional and national football leagues in India would clash with the SAFF football event.

By IANS, Junagadh (Gujarat) : Over 200 mountaineers including an NRI woman will participate in a national level mountain climbing contest to be held at Girnar mountain May 10 here. The event will be flagged off by state Sports Minister Fakirbhai Vaghela. Of the 229 participants, Gujarat has 127 followed by Diu 45, Andhra Pradesh 11, Rajasthan 10, Daman 9, Karnataka and Delhi 5 each, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh 4 each, Chattisgarh 3, Punjab and Tamilnadu 2 each, and Bihar and Kerala 1 each.

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By Bharat Sharma, IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi: World champion Tejaswini Sawant says overcaution cost her the gold medal in the women's 50 metres rifle prone event at the Commonwealth Games Tuesday.

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By IANS, New Delhi:Cameroon came out with intent by completely outclassing Nepal 5-0 in the Nehru Cup football tournament here Sunday.

By Sanu George, IANS, Thiruvananthapuram : Kerala's famed snake boats attract thousands to the annual boat race in Punnamada Lake. Now, if all goes well, one of the over 100-ft-long boats may take to the waters of the Thames River as part of a trial run of the inaugural ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics. The huge boat unique to Kerala along with around 120 oarsmen would be showcased June 9 at an event attended by the Queen.

By IANS, Madrid : Valencia moved into third place in the Spanish La Liga football after winning the city derby 2-0 away to local rivals Levante.

By IANS New Delhi : Widespread resentment swept through cricket fans over Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and in-form V.V.S. Laxman being dropped from India's squad for the triangular one-day series with Australia and Sri Lanka in Australia. While cricket fans were angry at the decision of the national selectors, most former Test stars, some of them former selectors, have welcomed the move to build a team for the future, keeping in view the 2011 World Cup in the subcontinent.

By IANS

Kolkata : Gifted Bengal pacer Ranadeb Bose, picked up for the upcoming English tour for his maiden international appearance, wants to build his career by making opposition batsmen "uncomfortable to the extent of being tormented".