Sania Mirza stuns Petrova, breaks into top 50
New Delhi, August 4
Sania Mirza celebrated in style her entry into the top 50 in world rankings with a 6-2, 6-1 upset win over world number eight Nadia Petrova at the $ 1.3-million Acura Classic women's tennis event in San Diego, USA.
(28k, 56k)
Sania Mirza hits a backhand shot against Nadia Petrova of Russia during the second round of the Acura Classic at the La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California, on Wednesday. Sania won 6-2, 6-1. — AP/PTI
England prosper in McGrath's absence
Birmingham, August 4
Australia, deprived of Glenn McGrath following a freak warm-up injury, weathered a battering before dismissing England for 407 on a hugely entertaining opening day of the second test on Thursday.
England's Marcus Trescothick sweeps as Australia's Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden (right) look on during the first day of the second Test at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Thursday. — Reuters
Former 100m world record holder Maurice Greene of the USA talks to the media in Helsinki on Thursday. — Reuters
Jayawardene steers Lanka to 4-wicket win
Ganguly is back, Yuvraj indisposed
No problem in playing under Rahul: Sourav
India spank Windies with clinical display
Injured Jayasuriya guides Lanka to win
India bank on Chappell for winning start
Sourav's ban reduced by two matches
Dravid's captaincy hangs by fire
Ganguly's fate to be known tomorrow
Sangakkara's ton puts Sri Lanka on top
Dravid blames batsmen for defeat
Dambulla, August 4
The famed Indian batting line-up got the stick from captain Rahul Dravid, who blamed it for wasting good starts after his team once again came a cropper against Sri Lanka.
India were 20-30 runs short in the end
I suspect India will have too many issues to ponder over after their loss to Sri Lanka on Wednesday. They started off well and then lost the plot in batting. The same happened when they bowled. Sri Lanka were just a whistle away from being blown away. Such lordliness from a team trying to take fresh roots would hardly be funny to new coach Greg Chappell.
Dalmiya not calling the shots, says Mahendra
Rubbishing claims that his predecessor Jagmohan Dalmiya was calling the shots from behind, BCCI President Ranbir Singh Mahendra said such claims were a figment of the imagination.
India to play two Tests in Zimbabwe
India will play two Tests and a one-day tri-series also involving New Zealand on their tour of Zimbabwe starting later this month, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced today.
Zidane comes out of retirement
Paris, August 4
France woke up from a year-long nightmare when Zinedine Zidane announced he had decided to play for his country again. "When I first heard it I thought it was a joke," said France midfielder Jerome Rothen.
Coaches reduced to clerks
Patiala, August 4
After their recent transfers by the SAI corporate office, a number of senior coaches have been assigned clerical duties by the SAI authorities. Of the hundreds of coaches either transferred or "re-adjusted" by the SAI corporate office, about 20 of them were asked to join their new places of posting at the Chowdhury Devi Lal Northern Centre, Sonepat.
Narain Karthikeyan looks ahead with hope
With six more races to go before the Formula-1 Grand Prix series reaches the grand finale at Shanghai (China), Narain Karthikeyan has a lot of catching up to do. Karthikeyan earned his lone point at the controversial Grand Prix at Indianapolis in the USA, where only six teams had competed.
The stunning win over the fourth seeded Petrova yesterday, her second against a top-10 player, saw the 18-year-old advance to the third round of the Tier 1 tournament as well as push her ranking up to 47th on the WTA Tour.
Sania becomes the first Indian since Ramesh Krishnan to break into the top 50.
Vijay Amritraj was ranked 16th in July, 1980, while Ramesh Krishnan was ranked 23rd in 1985. The latter's father, Ramanathan Krishnan, was ranked world number three before the Open era.
The highest ranking occupied by an Indian woman before Sania was 134 by Nirupama Vaidyanathan in 1997.
Leander Paes' highest singles ranking was 73.
Sania next faces Akiko Morigami of Japan, against whom she holds a 1-1 head-to-head record.
Going into the tournament, Sania needed about 90 points to enter the top 50. She has now accumulated 103.5 points (including bonus points) from her two main draw as well as two qualifying round wins.
Asked what was she aiming at next now that she had reached her goal for the year, Sania told reporters covering the match, "I only set short-term goals. It was the top 50 till now. Anything over this is gravy. I will wait and see."
Sania has been an absolute hit in the USA this season. It is not only the Indian diaspora which has been thronging the courts but also the locals. And the American media has ran special features on the Indian.
Sania, the first Indian to win a WTA title, might have turned her back on a pestering Indian media but she has been forthcoming with the reporters covering the event.
Talking to Los Angeles Times after the first-round win about the support she had received from her parents, Sania said, "My dad was a defensive batsman in cricket. But he advised me to be aggressive in tennis." — PTI
The home side, 1-0 down in the five-match series after being outclassed at Lord's, dominated the morning and afternoon, galloping at a one-day pace to reach 289 for four at tea, with Marcus Trescothick making 90. Kevin Pietersen, with a run-a-ball 71 and Andrew Flintoff, with an even quicker 68, including five sixes and six fours, put on a century stand for the fifth wicket to keep England on top.
But the world champions, who put England in on a slow-paced Edgbaston pitch, kept chipping away to take the last six wickets for 117. Shane Warne cleaned up the tail to take four for 116. Ponting had counted on some early movement. Instead, there were just early boundaries to all parts, Trescothick hammering three of them off Brett Lee through extra cover in the third over of the day. McGrath's freakish injury — he damaged right ankle ligaments after stepping on a cricket ball just before the toss — seemed to set the tone. The 35-year-old McGrath, the man of the match in the first test with nine wickets, stepped on a cricket ball during a game of touch rugby and damaged ligaments in his right ankle. He is also a doubt for the third test starting at Old Trafford next week. Michael Kasprowicz, McGrath's replacement, took three wickets for 80. Strike bowler Brett Lee, however, suffered. Hit for a string of sixes, he ended with one for 111 off 17 overs.
Pietersen, who made his debut at Lord's, has now hit three half-centuries in his first three test innings. Trescothick, meanwhile, again missed out on his first Ashes hundred.
England's approach today was in stark contrast to the first test when, strangled by McGrath and Warne, they made only 155 in their first innings and 180 in the second.
Trescothick smashed 90 off 102 balls to set the tone in a 112-run opening stand with Andrew Strauss (48).
Australia battled back with three wickets for 23 runs, two of them falling in four balls to Michael Kasprowicz, before Kevin Pietersen and Flintoff put England back on top.
Rain forced play to be drawn to a close soon after the end of England's innings.
Trescothick c Gilchrist b Kasprowicz	90
Strauss b Warne	48
Vaughan c Lee b Gillespie	24
Bell c Gilchrist b Kasprowicz	6
Pietersen c Katich b Lee	71
Flintoff c Gilchrist b Gillespie	68
G. Jones c Gilchrist b Kasprowicz	1
Giles lbw Warne	23
Hoggard lbw Warne 16
Harmison b Warne 17
S. Jones not out 19
Extras (w-1, nb-14, 9-lb)	24
Fall of wickets: 1-112, 2-164, 3-170, 4-187, 5-290, 6-293, 7-342, 8-348, 9-375.
Bowling: Lee 17-1-111-1, Gillespie 22-3-91-2, Kasprowicz 15-3-80-3, Warne 25.2-4-116- 4. — Reuters
"In the two games against Sri Lanka, batsmen have not batted in the last seven or eight overs. That has cost us badly," said Dravid, reflecting on his team's total of 220 for eight in yesterday's match in which many batsmen managed to get starts but did not build on them.
Sri Lanka overcame early troubles to win the match by four wickets to assure themselves of a place in the final.
"For them, one guy got 94 not out and that was the difference. We didn't have a batsman to bat through the innings," Dravid said.
"We are playing an extra batsman hoping he would score enough runs. We need to convert starts and top batsmen need to bat till the end."
Dravid did not deny the seventh-wicket pair of Mahela Jayawardene and Upul Chandana the credit for conjuring up the win but did blame him bowlers for giving away some easy runs.
"I had six fielders in the ring and they still managed to take singles. If we could have stopped that, it would have put a lot of pressure."
Dravid also defended his decision to let Ashish Nehra bowl his 10 overs at a stretch and not reserve a few for him to make an impression later in the match.
"Nehra was in brilliant rhythm, we had taken six wickets and needed that one killer punch. I went for the seventh wicket. You have to take the call sometimes."
There was also the issue of Harbhajan Singh bowling a poor line and his middle-and-leg-stump line being easily picked by Sri Lankan batsmen.
"He wasn't trying to bowl in the middle and leg stump. But it was turning quite big and he couldn't control it.
Dravid mentioned the fifth bowler's issue and said perhaps they needed to look at other options, like Suresh Raina, and see if he could come good.
Sanath, Vaas back
After missing a couple of matches due to a shoulder injury, veteran opener Sanath Jayasuriya is available for selection for the Colombo leg of the tri-series, Sri Lankan captain Marvan Atapattu said.
The 35-year-old opener, who is just 33 runs short of becoming the fourth batsman after Sachin Tendulkar, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Sourav Ganguly to complete 10,000 runs in one-day cricket, dislocated his shoulder while fielding in the tournament opener against India last week.
Atapattu also said left-arm seamer Chaminda Vaas, yet to play in the tri-series due to injury, had recovered and would be considered for selection.
"Vaas is coming back. He tried bowling with a short run-up today. We didn't play Sanath here because he could have dived in a game and aggravated his injury. We wanted to give him rest," Atapattu said. — PTI
It is stating the obvious that a lot of good starts were not built upon. India were 20-30 runs short in the end. Sourav Ganguly would have little complaint though he got out at the wrong time for India. Virender Sehwag did not make use of the chances but he deserves sympathy because the wicket was too slow.
It has not been a good bunch of one-day strips in the middle of the Dambulla stadium. Tilakaratne Dilshan is a part-time bowler in the Aravinda de Silva mould. He is the kind of bowler who relies on batsmen to make mistakes. And the Indians surely made mistakes. They played bad shots and a great platform was lost.
Dilshan was the last man you expected to cause such damage. Given the pitches at the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean would be similar to what we have in Sri Lanka, Dilshan could inspire hope for the team.
The other star for Sri Lanka was Mahela Jayawardene. He is the kind of player who relishes Indian bowling. There were concerns about his form and about the manner in which he got out in the first two games, missing straight deliveries while attempting to drive in the front.
But on Wednesday it bode good for him as he was able to flick deliveries to fine leg from the off and middle stump from the word go. The only regret for Mahela must be the run-out of Marvan Atapattu. This is the third time when the two have been involved in a harakiri and Atapattu has been at the receiving end.
It seemed to have had a decisive impact on the game when Sri Lanka were six down with less than hundred on the board. But Mahela retrieved the situation. Running between the wickets is a matter of trust and understanding. A little nod of the head and gesture from the eyes are all you need. It becomes a matter of concern when two senior players have been involved in more than one run-out. India struggled once their fast bowlers were through with their spells and it has been a feature for them throughout the tournament. Three matches is a long time for an alternative or a change in plan to emerge.
The opposition waits for the weaker bowler and as Indian batsmen have not made big totals in the first place, the weak links in bowling are being exploited to the full.
India played an extra batsman and reduced their bowling options once again. It is all the more disappointing that batsmen still have not been able to justify the trust in them.
VVS Laxman made a forgettable return to one-day cricket. His face was a giveaway as it showed him extremely uptight.
Laxman is a slow starter in one-dayers and there is no emergency in his batting, a faculty which was badly required after the openers had given a solid start.
He has been given a berth in the team in the absence of seniors and if he can not make use of this "divine intervention", he can as well bid goodbye to the next World Cup.
Irfan Pathan raises hope for India as an all-rounder in the making. He made some clean, whistling hits. He has a good batting technique and if a fast bowler can contribute 30-40 runs in dominating style, it could be extremely useful to the batting team.
I would not fault Rahul Dravid for India's embarrassing loss as it was the batsmen and bowlers who were guilty. Dravid himself did not make any contribution but the lbw verdict was debatable.
First his batsmen wasted a good start and then bowlers drifted too much down the legside. It was strange to see even Harbhajan Singh not being able to control his spin which fetched quite a number of wides and fours down the leg side to Mahela and Upul Chandana.
Harbhajan and the fifth-bowler duo of Ganguly and Sehwag let the pressure off which was so splendidly built by the fast bowlers. I am afraid it is increasingly looking the old familiar tale for the Indians in Sri Lanka. — PTI
"It is not true that Mr Dalmiya has been running the show. Regarding the itinerary for the Sri Lanka tour, Mr Dalmiya was involved because I was mourning my brother's death and that required his presence," Mr Mahendra said.
He also refuted charges that Mr Dalmiya had made Kolkata the hub of cricket administration and even the ICC representatives were seen visiting the eastern metropolis to sort out issues with the BCCI.
"One thing should be made clear that Mr Dalmiya is no outsider. He is a former President and we can seek his help any time," he said.
BCCI Secretary S.K. Nair also threw his weight behind Mr Dalmiya and said, "At the BCCI, we are always striving for better governance and for that we would seek anyone's help. And Mr Dalmiya was the outgoing President when the Sri Lanka tour was finalised."
"Regarding ICC representatives visiting Kolkata, people perhaps don't notice them when they travel to Thiruvananthapuram to meet me or call on Mr Mahendra. And there is nothing wrong with their Kolkata visit because the Joint Secretary (Gautam Dasgupta) is based there," Mr Nair said.
Mr Mahendra, meanwhile, made it clear that he was not happy with Team India's show in the ongoing Indian Oil Cup in Sri Lanka even though the newcomers impressed him.
"By and large I'm happy with the show of the young players but the team has not been able to give what we expected," he said.
Asked whether Sourav Ganguly, who came back to the side after serving the ICC ban, would lead the team on the tour of Zimbabwe, the BCCI chief said, "You better ask this question to the Chairman of the Selection Committee."
Mr Nair, meanwhile, informed that an ICC observer would visit India later this month to finalise the formalities for hosting the next year's Champions Trophy. — UNI
The one-day series, starting on August 24, will be followed by the Tests in Bulawayo (September 13-17) and Harare (September 20-24), according to the schedule released by the Board.
Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Anil Kumble and Irfan Pathan, if all selected, will join the squad in Zimbabwe after representing an Asian XI in three one-dayers against an Africa XI to be played in South Africa from August 17 to 21. — Reuters
"It's fantastic news," the Paris St Germain player told reporters. "He's the greatest player in the world."
Yesterday's twist came as a surprise after Zidane, who announced his international retirement after Euro 2004 a year ago, had said several times over the last few months that he would not change his mind.
"It's a good surprise," said former France coach Gerard Houllier, who now coaches French champions Olympique Lyon.
"When he's at his best, he can play in any side in the world, including Brazil," the former Liverpool manager said.
The 33-year-old, a three-times World Player of the Year, was under great pressure to come out of retirement with France struggling to qualify for the 2006 World Cup.
France, a disappointing fourth in their qualifying group behind Ireland, Switzerland and Israel, can certainly use Zidane's unique skills in their efforts to book a ticket to Germany for the finals. — Reuters
Ravi Dhaliwal
After their recent transfers by the SAI corporate office, a number of senior coaches have been assigned clerical duties by the SAI authorities. Of the hundreds of coaches either transferred or "re-adjusted" by the SAI corporate office, about 20 of them were asked to join their new places of posting at the Chowdhury Devi Lal (CDL) Northern Centre, Sonepat.
However, since the skewed transfer policy of the SAI has meant that scores of coaches have been posted where either there is no work or no coaching infrastructure, SAI officials are in a quandary over how to use their services.
The coaches who have been posted at the CDL centre are finding out that the nature of work assigned to them is entirely different from what they used to do as coaches. All of them find themselves sifting through papers and files for the whole day, allegedly on the orders of the CDL centre high-ups.
Mr Suresh Harmilapi, Regional Director, CDL Northern Centre, when contacted at Sonepat, confirmed that the coaches who had recently joined there were being made to do clerical work. He said this was due the fact that little or no infrastructure existed at their new places of postings.
Mr Harmilapi said once things were sorted out in the near future these coaches would be removed from the clerical assignments and asked to work as coaches wherever they had been posted.
A top SAI official admitted that this decision of the CDL centre authorities was turning out to be detrimental to the cause of the coaching community. He said instead of making them act as clerks, they should be sent to various schools, colleges and other institutes dotting Sonepat and other nearby areas where they could impart training to youngsters.
Another SAI official, preferring anonymity, disclosed that since the coaches had no knowledge of rules and regulations governing the SAI, the CDL centre authorities could not use their services in the establishment section. However, he stated that if the need arised they could be asked to scrutinise monthly or annual reports of their other colleagues working under the CDL centre.
Mr G.S. Anand, former Regional Director of the Northern Centre when it was based at Chandigarh, said all these coaches should be sent to educational institutions till they were properly adjusted under various SAI schemes. He said making them work as clerks was an unfair decision on the part of the CDL centre authorities.
After making an impressive F-1 debut at Melbourne, Karthikeyan could not complete in other races. He hopes to improve his position in the next few races as some of the tracks would be familiar to him, having competed on them and achieved some measure of success.
"If I keep doing the way I have been doing so far, I will be there in the F-1 Grand Prix next year", he said.
Karthikeyan feels that his chances of staying in the F-1 circuit next year is bright, and plans to stick to his present team Jordan.
Jordan, which will be renamed Midland-FM, has not yet indicated that it will not renew the deal with the Indian driver.
"F-1 is my metier for the next few years", he said, in between launching a series of promotional campaigns in Delhi, as he needs to shore up his finances to continue to race in F-1. His present sponsors, a consortium comprising Tatas, J K Tyres and Speed, are reported to have shelled out over Rs 26 crore to fetch a berth for Narain in Jordan.
He gets no money for himself, but only the enormous mileage, as perk.
He is seeking the support of more corporate houses to pursue his F-1 dream, and Reebok and the Punjab-based JCB India are the latest to sign him up as their brand ambassador.
Piers Hunnisett, Managing Director of Urasia Motor Sports Management, who has been hired by Karthikeyan as his personal manager, felt that the ace driver's chances of continuing in the F-1 Grand Prix circuit for the next season was very bright. "I am very positive that he will be there in the F-1 next season. Whether he will stay in
Jordan or not will depend on a lot of factors. This is a sport where money talks, and if some other driver comes up with more money, Jordan will obviously go for him", he explained.
Eight held for betting
Chandigarh: The Haryana police arrested five persons in Hisar district for betting on the India-Sri Lanka match played on Wednesday. Sanjay Mittal, Dinesh, Surender, Ashok and Musafir were arrested while the match was in progress, a police spokesperson said. Meanwhile, three persons were arrested in Junagadh city of Gujarat for allegedly running a betting syndicate for the tri-series. Acting on a tip-off, the police on Wednesday raided Vallabh Sadan building on MG road in the city and arrested the three while they were engaged the betting. At least 12 cellphones, a laptop and a television were seized from their possession. — UNI, PTI
Cricketers contribute
NEW DELHI: Cricketers of the national team contributed Rs 17.75 lakh to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund. The contribution was made through the Indian Cricket Players Association. The contributing players include Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, V.V.S. Laxman and Ajit Agarkar who donated Rs 1.5 lakh each. Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Mohammad Kaif contributed Rs one lakh each. — UNI
LAHORE: Pakistan Bridge Federation (PBF) has confirmed that the inaugural bridge series against India, scheduled in New Delhi from August 7 to 10, has been postponed. PBF secretary Ashfaq Yousuf Tola said the Bridge Federation of India (BFI) had conveyed their inability to host the series ''due to unavoidable circumstances''. ''The cancellation of the series in India has provided us the opportunity to rewrite history as now we would be playing host to the historic first series between the two countries,''he said. — UNI
Ekalabya award
BHUBANESWAR: Young Indian hockey player William Xalxo has been chosen for this year's prestigious Ekalabya award for excellence in sports. The award would be presented to Xalxo at a function to be held here on August 6, according to an Indian Metals Public Charitable Trust (IMPACT) release here on Thursday. Two other sportspersons, Monalisa Mohanty (Rowing) and Subhadra Pradhan (Hockey) will also be felicitated on the occasion and would be presented with citations, the release said. — PTI
BRUSSELS: Four time World Women chess champion Susan Polgar has made it to the Guinness Book of World Records. The oldest of the Polgar sisters trio, Susan is the only woman to have won Chess Triple Crown of World Rapid, Blitz and Classical Chess Championship. Susan played 326 simultaneous games winning 306, drawing 14 and loosing 3, an all time high of 96.39 per cent in 16 hours and 30 minutes. — UNI