Sports in India

India rejects blame on its IPL selections

2010-01-22T02:02:00.000-08:00

India recently denied and rejected Pakistan's blame on New Delhi regarding the absence of Pakistani players from the present selected line-up of IPL. Clarifying the suspicions India's officials quoted that Pakistan should introspect into the issues that have actually strained the bilateral ties as this issue raised is baseless with the fact that 17 Pakistani officials have actually been granted Visas.

The issue raised and suspicions creeping in are just a few days before the official conference between the Foreign ministers of the two countries to be held in London over the issue of Afganistan. With Pakistan's rhetoric on the perceived snub to Pakistani players, Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said on Thursday that the Indian Government has nothing to do with the proceedings of IPL and neither had a role to play in the selection process. He also added that Pakistan should draw a clear demarcation on what is the issue that is related to Government's intervention.

The entire issue has escalated with the strong words being used by an internal minister of Pakistan saying that the insult borne to Pakistani players shows that India is not serious towards the peace talks between the two nations. The Government of India has expressed its condemnation strongly over the issue which also included the perception of Pakistani players not getting Visas to which the government elapsed the fact that 17 Pakistani players have been offered Visas.

Modi want assurance of Aussie players to be available in IPL 2010

2009-12-22T03:15:00.000-08:00

The third edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) is scheduled to begin in March-April 2010 and the IPL chairman Lalit Modi is worried about participation of Aussie players as they would be playing for their state team at that time. Modi asked the state sides to make sure the availability of the players, who are playing for their franchise, by releasing them beforehand the tournament.

It is to be mentioned here that event schedules of BCCI and Sheffield Shield are clashing. On the other hand, IPL organizers are also demanding for No-Objection Certificates from the boards of the nation's boards whose players are to participate in the mega T20 event. Modi was quoted as saying by the 'Australian' that the players might be penalised or terminated of contracts but discussion will be there before tanking any extreme action. On the other hand, a couple of State teams are very particular to be there in domestic event rather than playing in IPL.

MS Dhoni to miss 2 ODIs due to slow over-rate

2009-12-19T01:59:00.000-08:00

Indian skipper Mahindra Singh Dhoni will be missing two ODI against Sri Lanka. Thanks to slow over rate in the second one-day international played between India and Sri Lanka on Friday. The bowling side, India, did take 45 minutes more than scheduled. The extra time was taken during the final stage of the second innings of the game. These extra 45 minutes did cost Indian captain ban of two ODIs against Sri Lanka. However, it is also to be seen that the ban will come into effect immediately. In the very ODI, Dhoni hit a classic century and took India twoards a very impressive total but wan in vain. India scored 301 runs in 50 overs game and Sri Lanka chased it with the help of century by Dilshan.

Sri Lanka levelled the series by winning the second ODI. Still 3 ODI are to be played between the teams and Indian side will definitely affected by the absence of Dhoni. It is believed that Indian opener Gautam Gambhir would be named as a captain in absence of Dhoni. Nevertheless, no official comment on the development.

No 'Sahara' for Indian cricket team but Sahara

2009-12-02T03:30:00.000-08:00

It would be written in rare cases in the history of Indian cricket. Surprised! But yes, there is no other sponsor was found for the team this time thereby forced to retain Sahara only as a sponsor for the next six months. The sponsorship contract between Sahara and the BCCI is coming to an end on 31 December, 2009 and the latter is looking for a new sponsor but failed completely.

The on going contract was made in 2006 for Rs around 314 crore. On Wednesday, the BCCI Marketing Committee has to extend the contract in view of no new sponsor. BCCI secretary N Srinivasan informed after the meeting that after six months, the board will issue a fresh tender for bidding for the same. Mr Srinivasan added that World Sports Group has been awarded the ground and title rights for Twenty20 International matches to be played between India and Sri Lanka at Rs 3.15 crores per match.

Apart from Twenty20 matches, there is one another attraction for Indian cricket fans that is a luxury small car launch in India. It is Volkswagen Beetle which would be launched along with Volkswagen Touareg on 4th December, 2009. So enjoy, cricket and luxury car in India very soon.

Forward Rajpal becomes Captain of Indian hockey team

2009-11-13T04:24:00.000-08:00

The Indian hockey team will depart for the FIH Men's Champions Challenge I tournament in Salta, Argentina from December 6 to 13 with a new skipper: Rajpal Singh. Rajpal, one of the best forwards in Indian team, will lead the team for the upcoming event only. The team will depart from India to Madrid on November 23 for a one-week training-cum-competition tour en-route to Salta. Other than India, New Zealand, Belgium and China (group A), while South Africa, Argentina, Pakistan and Canada are in group B.

India will take on New Zealand in their first match on December 6. India will play against China and Belgium on December 8 and 10 respectively. In the last version of Champions Challenge at Boom, Belgium, India had to content at fourth place. However, the Indian team was lucky enough to won the first edition of the Challenge in Germany in 2003. The winner of the upcoming Champions Challenge will qualify for next year's elite Champions Trophy.

Squad: Adrian D'Souza, PR Sreejesh. Defenders: Sardar Singh, Sandeep Singh, Gurbaj Singh, Bharat Ajitesh Roy, Dhananjay Mahadik, V Raghunath (all are goalkeepers ).

Tushar Khandker, Arjun Halappa, Vikram Pillay, Roshan Minz, Danish Mujtaba, Vikas Sharma (Midfielders), Rajpal Singh (Capt), Gurvinder Singh Chandi, Shivendra Singh, Deepak Thakur, Sarwanjit Singh, Mandeep Antil, Prabhjot Singh (Forwards) and Chief Coach is Jose Brasa while National Coach would be Harendra Singh.

Yuvraj Singh awarded Karizma ZMR

2009-11-02T03:47:00.000-08:00

The second cricketer of Indian team, Yuvraj Singh, won the Man of the Match award in the third ODI against Australia in Delhi. Yuvraj Singh, an all-rounder, scored a well knocked 78 runs and lead India to register a superb win over Australians. He was also awarded with Hero Honda Karizma ZMR PGM FI. The Karizma ZMR was launched a few months back in India. This new premium bike became a hot favourite in Indian youth.

Hero Honda tied-up with the seven match series between India and Australia and promoting the bike that results in positive for the company. The company, Hero Honda, also launched refreshed version of its best selling Hero Honda Hunk and Hero Honda Splendor Plus. Earlier, Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was awarded the same bike, Honda Karizma ZMR, in the second ODI that was played in Nagpur. Now India is leading the series by 2-1.

India starts well, Sachin departs

2009-10-28T02:50:00.000-07:00

Australia won the toss and elected to field first in the second ODI of Hero Honda Cup between Australia and India. Indian openers, Virendra Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar, gave India the needed start. But Tendulkar got out in the fourth over at the score of 21. Australian bowler Peter Siddle got Mr Tendulkar.

Tendulkar was not up to expectation once again. On the other hand, Sehwag showed his colours and hit five boundaries till 8 th over in progress. After the dismissal of Sachin, Gautam Gambhir joined Sehwag and played his natural cricket. Till the 8th over, Gambhir was at 11 with two boundaries. India kept the per over run rate of 6.12 at the end of 8 the over. Australia conceded 6 extra runs with one bye and 5 wides. Yuvraj Singh has been included in the playing eleven in place of Virat Kohli.

Better balance in the team is needed: Dhoni

2009-10-01T04:48:00.000-07:00

Indian cricket team skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni stressed the need of better bowling all-rounders and fielders. Dhoni, now, want to see a balanced side that comprises of better bowlers and fielders. He was speaking to the press after knocked out from the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy. He said that the team made a few mistakes in the first match and allowed the opponent to score runs.

Worse fielding added to the worries of the team. He called for a improvement of 15 to 20 per cent. Dhoni asked the team mates to bat well especially the blowers. The captain also agreed that he wanted Pakistan to win as it would give the team a chance to enter in the next round. He informed that they were watching the match between Pak and Aussies.

Kashyap crashed out in Japan Open

2009-09-24T05:50:00.000-07:00

P Kashyap, the only player player survived in Japan Open, crashed out from the tournament. He was defeated 10-21, 10-21 by third seeded Peter Hoeg Gade in straight game. His journey of title ended with this loss in men's singles pre-quarterfinal in Tokyo. Kashyap started off well and quickly opened up a 4-0 lead but Gade crawled back to draw parity at 7-7 and from there on didn’t give any chance to the Indian to stage a comeback.

In the second game, the Dane cruised along right from the start as Kashyap’s game crumbled and he was left to do the catch up act. The result draws curtain on Indian campaign as ace Saina Nehwal, Jwala Gutta and V Diju crashed out of the tournament after suffering contrasting defeats in the first round.

Paes lift 10th Grand Slam, Wins men’s doubles in US Open

2009-09-14T04:53:00.000-07:00

Indian top tennis player Leander Paes won the men’s doubles title of US Open. It is his 10th Grand Slam. He and his partner Luaks Dlouhy defeated Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. However, he lost the finals of doubles mix a couple of days ago. In the mix doubles he partnered with Kara black. On the other hand, Mahesh Bhupathi could not lift the title this too in a period of seven years.

For Paes it is his fifth men's doubles Grand Slam crown, 41st overall, and second with Dlouhy. It was also second title of the year for the seasoned Paes, who won French Open in June along with Dlouhy. Interestingly, Mahesh’s last victory came at the US Open only when he triumphed with Max Mirnyi in 2002. He had won the Australian Open mixed doubles title with Sania Mirza at the start of the season.

Yuki replaced Sanam in Davis Cup tie

2009-09-08T22:51:00.000-07:00

Yuki Bhambri has got place in Indian Davis Cup team for the World Group play off tie against South Africa. Yuki will join the team with Somdev Devvarman, Rohan Bopanna, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi. Announcing Yuki’s name for the Davis Cup All India Tennis Association (AITA), it said that Yuki will replace Sanam Singh who is a reserve player for the tie against Chinese Taipei.

The matches will start from 18 and last till 20th of September. The coach of team will be Nanadan Bal while S.P. Misra has again been given the responsibility of non-playing captain. This will be crucial tie for India as there are chances of entering into the World Group after a gap of 11 years.

This chance also comes as a fruit to India since Australia didn’t come up to India for security reasons and India advances. A selector said that Bopanna is fully fit after an injury.

Nanao advances in World Boxing

2009-09-04T04:49:00.000-07:00

Another good news for India has come from World Boxing Championship in Milan, Italy. After clearing first round by Jai Bhagwan, Nanao Singh also joined him for the second round. It may be recalled that top Indian boxers are already pushed out of the championship. Asian champion Suranjoy Singh (51kg), Olympian Akhil Kumar, Jitender Kumar (54kg) and Manoj Kumar (64kg) are the pugilists who lost their opening round bouts. But in the 48kg event, Nanao Singh did his best when he finish 21-6 win over Mamishzade Elvin of Azerbaijan in the first round.

Nanao dominated the game all the time. He was leading 7-2 at the close of the first round. The boxer managed to keep scoring points and stormed in the second round easily. But the road ahead will not be a bad of roses for him as he has to fight with Thai Pongprayoon Kaeo. Nanao could not give answers to the punches of Pongprayoon at the finals of the Asian Boxing Championships and had to contended with silver medal.

Vijender will not miss Khel Ratna ceremony

2009-08-25T22:33:00.000-07:00

Olympic bronze medallist boxer Vijender Singh don't want to miss a life time opportunity that is Khel Ratan ceremony on 29 August at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. It may be recalled that Vijender was selected for Khel Ratan. In order to be present at the ceremony, Vijender has postponed his departure for the World Championships by a couple of days.

In fact, he had to depart for WC on August 27 with his nine member team but now he will fly on the night of August 29. Indian Boxing Federation (IBF) has allowed him to attend the ceremony along with team's assistant coach Jaidev Bisht who is to be awarded Dronacharya award the same day. Now Bisht will departure on the night of August 29.

In fact IBF had requested to held a separate award ceremony for these two but they didn't get any positive response from the sports ministry. So the IBF allowed the sportsmen to attend the ceremony themselves. It may be recalled that Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virendra Sehwag didn't attend the same kind of award ceremony for some reasons and had to face criticism.

Vishnu booked seat for quarterfinals

2009-08-20T04:16:00.000-07:00

Vishnu Vardhan, top-seed in the ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament, outplayed his British rival Max Jones 6-1,3-6, 6-3. This win get him the quarterfinals' berth. Vishnu won the first set with classic game and lost the second one.

But he bounced back in the third set to register a deserving win. He will take on Rupesh Roy in the last eight. Rupesh Roy won his match against Manuja. After the win Vishnu said that he was not up to the mark and it will take some time to adjust on the court.

He felt the balls heavy and attempted to just play his game. “I like playing Rupesh. We have played a lot right from the junior days. He makes you play so much more and is a tough competitor,” said Vishnu as he viewed the quarterfinal outing.

India still in the race of semis'

2009-08-10T06:01:00.000-07:00

BOSTON: Indian women's hockey team registered a convincing win over Chile. After this 3-1 win over Chile, Indian team is still in the race of semifinal at the Women's Junior Hockey World Cup here. For India Poonam Rani scored two goals in the 28th and 62nd minute. Roselin Dung Dung joined Poonam and scored a point in the 68th minute.

The first goal of the match was scored by Andrea Greene in the 15th minute for Chile. With this win, India now have six points but are behind England, Australia and Korea in the six-team Pool E. The Indians had gone down to England by a solitary goal in their pool opener.

In Sunday's match, Chile took the initial edge but the persistent Indians won the game with a strong comeback in the second half. The Chileans earned several penalty corners in the first half but apart from Andrea's strike, Indian goalkeeper Jasdeep Kaur did well to save all.

Gagan three steps away from top 200

2009-08-03T23:50:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: Indian golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar's stunning performance is to take him to the top 200 world ranking. In addition to this, he is at seventh place in the Asian Tour Order of Merit.

Thanks to his maiden winning performance in Asian Tour title in Jakarta last month followed by back-to-back victories. However, Bhullar could not win the Brunei Open recently. As of now, he is at 203 world rankings. Among the other names from India, Jeev Milkha Singh tops the chart with 41 world golf rankings while Jyoti Randhawa captured 164th ranks.

Nevertheless, Bhullar is well ahead from US-based compatriot Arjun Atwal (310) and Delhi pro Shiv Kapur (422). Bhullar also continued to climb the Asian Tour Order of Merit ladder, occupying the seventh place, thanks to the USD 150,366 he earned from 10 events.

Thai stalwart Thongchai Jaidee leads the Order of Merit chart with USD 749,290 against his name, while Randhawa (246,745) is placed third in the list.

Multi-layer domestic competition system made China mighty

2009-07-28T21:11:00.000-07:00

JAIPUR: Multi-layer domestic competition system made China a superpower in international table tennis map. It is reveled by China's cadet boys team coach Liu Heng. He was here for the 15th Asian Junior Table Tennis Championship. He also suggests India to adopt the system.

Liu Heng said that India is also an emerging nation in the world table tennis. He said that like China, India has also a number of talented paddlers. Suggesting the multi-level domestic competition system for India Liu Heng said that it would take some time after applying it in the country as China took 20 to 30 years for fruitful results.

China asserted their supremacy in the four-day Asian junior event in the pink city by clinching seven medals while the hosts finished without any. Heng is quite happy with the fact that China has started opening their training facilities to other countries, including India. As part of the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games preparation, a team of Indian paddlers recently underwent a month-long training camp in China.

India knocks the door of Golf World Cup

2009-07-24T20:51:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: This year may be called golden year for Indian sports world. Boxing, archery, cricket, women's boxing, chess, snooker, shooting, tennis and golf are among the top games where Indian players emerged as winners. This time golf made news for the country. India has been given a chance to have a direct participation in Golf World Cup. All credit goes to Indian golfer Jeev Milkha Singh.

Due to his personal performance, the country has been selected among the six Asian nations who will participate in Golf World Cup that is going to be held in November 26-29 this year. India, Thailand, Korea, Chinese Taipei, Japan and China will take part in the 2009 Omega Mission Hills World Cup to be played in China. 42nd ranked Jeev Milkha Singh will represent India, Thongchai Jaidee will spearhead Thailand's challenge for the second straight year, Lin Wen-tang will lead Chinese Taipei, US-based Charlie Wi will represent Korea while Ryuji Imada, who featured for Japan and finished tied third last year, will return for another crack at the prestigious team title.

China qualify automatically as host nation of the World Cup and will be represented by Liang Wen-chong who makes his fourth World Cup appearance. Jyoti Randhawa of India is the second highest ranked Indian at 154 who is to represent the country if Jeev unavailable for the event, according to the norms of World Golf.

No financial penalties on Australia, forfeited

2009-07-17T02:15:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: In a Board meeting a few days back has said that no financial penalties will be levied on Australia for not attending matches in India due to security concerns.

Whereas any agencies express doubt about the security. The Board of Directors of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) has said that the financial penalties had forfeited the Asia-Oceania zonal tie in May that was scheduled to be held in Chennai.

Apart from this landmark decision, the Board said that the next tie between the two countries would be a home tie for India, and restored the normal choice of ground rule for future ties between the two countries.

Three Indians made to the finals at Russian boxing tourney

2009-07-11T04:46:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: Indian pugilists dominated even at Magomed-Salam Umakhanov Memorial Boxing Championship as three Indians stormed into the finals of different weight category. Amandeep Singh, Akshay Kumar and Manpreet Singh won their respective games in the semi-finals.

If they lose in the finals, three silver medals will be sure to come to India. Amandeep knocked out crowd favourite Aschabov Ibragim in the first round of his semifinal to make a thumping entry into the finals of the 48kg category. Akshay beat Armenian Ognasen Azat, who retired in the third round of the 56kg category semifinal trailing 0:3, according to information received here.

Meanwhile in the 91kg category, Manpreet defeated Khomaster Artur of Germany 10:7. However, there is a possibility that Manpreet might not take part in the final after suffering a cut on his nose in his last four bout. A total of 112 boxers from 18 teams are participating in the tournament.

Yuki Bhambri clears first hurdle of ITF Futures

2009-07-08T00:12:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: Indian tennis star Yuki Bhambri, Fourth-seed in the ongoing tournament, outperformed Nihal Kapoor 6-2, 6-0 in the first round of the USD 15,000 ITF Futures tournament. Now he would play against Israel's Tal Eros in the second round.

Unseeded Eros declared winner of the first round match against N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth when the latter opted out of the contest. Eros was leading 1-6,7-6(5), 2-1. Yuki had skipped the junior Wimbledon championship and won last week's event to claim his third title on the men's circuit.

Now he is eyeing another title in his hands. Last week's finalist and sixth-seed Rohan Gajjar also booked a second round berth. He advanced when Nikunj Siwach retired while trailing 3-6, 1-2. Gajjar will take on Fariz Mohammed, who also moved to the next level when his opponent Ashwin Vijayragavan retired after losing the first set.

The score was 7-6(0), 1-0 in favour of Mohammed. National champion Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan, seventh seed, rallied to beat Vignesh Peranamallur-Chandrasekhar 3-6, 6-3, 6-1. However, it was all over for Navdeep Singh, who lost 3-6, 6-7 (0) to top-seed Japanese Kento Teakeuchi.

Pawar re-elected MCA President

2009-07-04T01:27:00.000-07:00

MUMBAI: Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar re-elected as a President of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) for the year 2009-11. He was elected unopposed for no candidate against him.

Its his fourth tenure as a President as he completed eight years on the post. At the MCA AGM in September 2008, the bye-laws of the association were amended to give the President the option to contest for a further four terms of two years each. Meanwhile, union minister for heavy industries Vilasrao Deshmukh on Friday filed his nomination papers for the post of vice-president of MCA.

This move is believed to reduce the power of Pawar in cricket. Besides, Deshmukh, former captain Dilip Vengsarkar, Pravin Barve and Shripad Halbe are also in the fray for the two vice-president posts, the polls for which are scheduled for July 10.

Its too hot to practice for Indian footballers

2009-07-01T01:17:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: Indian footballers are forced to practice in the evening in Dubai for the Nehru Cup. This time Dubai is experiencing scorching heat and this make the players to be in indoor practice or do swimming or sweating in gym. Together after a much-deserved break, the players are sweating it out at The Sevens, a rugby stadium on the outskirts of Dubai, under the watchful gaze of coach Bob Houghton."The weather is quite hot, in fact hotter than Delhi I guess," said India and East Bengal midfielder Mehrajuddin Wadao.

Central defender Gourmangi Singh shared a similar opinion. "It's very hot here too, we can feel the real heat in the training," said the Churchill Brothers player. However, both agreed facilities were world class at the stadium which hosted the Rugby Sevens World Cup in March. "The facilities are really good. The training field, gym has its class," said Gourmangi. "The facilities are excellent and we are training hard," Mehraj said. The team, which landed in Dubai on Friday, will fly out to Barcelona on July 7 where they will train for a month in their bid to defend the Nehru Cup title.

Gayle lost 20% match fees

2009-06-27T00:24:00.001-07:00

KINGSTON: The West Indian skipper Chirs Gayle fined 20% of his match fees for a slow over-rate in the first ODI against India on Friday. While his teammates has been fined 10% each for maintaining the same. The match referee Chris Broad found West Indies two overs short of their target at the end of the Indian innings after time allowances were taken into consideration.

As per the ICC Code of Conduct guidelines, individual players are fined 5% of their match fee for each over that is bowled beyond the allotted time limit, while the captain is fined double that amount. West Indies lost the match by 20 runs, chasing 340. Their next game is on Sunday at the same venue.

Another feather in India's cap, WSB franchisee for the nation

2009-06-24T21:34:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: After dominating Asian Boxing arena, the Indian boxing is to shine on the world map as the nation got the franchisee in World Series of Boxing (WSB). The series is likely to begin in September this year. WSB Chief Operating Officer Ivan Khodabakhsh confirmed the news but deny to give further details as the deal of finalising the franchisee is underway. Khodabakhsh told that India is among the eight franchisees that have selected by the International Boxing Association (AIBA) so far.

By July, the whole process would be over and the details of the selected franchisees will be revealed," said Khodabakhsh, also the AIBA Sports Director. He, however, refused to divulge the name of the corporate house that has obtained the Indian franchise. A total of 12 city-based franchisees four each from Asia, America and Europe and worth USD 10 million will fight it out in an inter-continental series that borrows heavily from professional boxing.

Each franchisee will have a team of at least 10 boxers with a maximum of three foreign imports in it. The franchisees will also get a pool of reserve boxers. The boxers' contracts, worth a minimum of USD 30,000 and a maximum of USD 300,000, will initially be of three years and they will get fixed salaries apart from bonus for every bout won. AIBA has so far shortlisted 100 pugilists for the event and the franchisees will take their pick during the this year's World Championships in Milan.

Saina books berth for semis', to take on Lan Lu today

2009-06-20T01:53:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: India's top shuttler Saina Nehwal booked berth for semi-final of Indonesian Open Super Series by defeating Hye Youn Hwang of Korea. She had to struggle for 45 minutes to down her rival. Sixth-seed Saina beat world number 18 Hwang 21-7, 13-21, 21-15 in a tough women's singles quarter-final. Saina will now take on Chinese Lan Lu, seventh-seed in the tournament, in the last-four level on Saturday. Lu beat second-seed Yihan Wang in the other quarter-final match.
Saina made short work of Hwang in the first game as the Korean huffed and puffed but could not read the Indian's game.

In the second game, however, the Korean bounced back and after leveling 7-7 opened up a lead of 7-10. Saina was made to do the catching up job as Hwang pocketed the game quite easily. In the decider, Saina was lagging 5-8 when the Hyderabad girl unleashed a flurry of smashes to pocket five straight points to grab the lead at 10-8 before downing her rival.

Saina, Aditi advances to the second round

2009-06-17T03:14:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: Indian women shuttler advanced to the second round of Indonesian Super Series in Jakarta while men were outplayed in their respective matches on Wednesday. Saina Nehwal and Aditi Mutatkar registered wins in the first round. On the other hand Arvind Bhat and Anana Pawar faced defeats in men's event in the first round. Sixth seed Saina beat Bulgarian Petya Nedelcheva 21-18 21-12 in a 30-minute clash, while Aditi also made a good start to her campaign defeating Nicole Grether 21-19 19-21 21-7 in a hard-fought battle that lasted 51 minutes in the other women's singles.

Arvind bowed out of the tournament after losing 20-22 12-21 to Yu Hsing Hsieh of Chinese Taipei in 30 minutes. Anand also could not recreate his form and lost to fourth seed Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia 15-21 21-13 18-21 in 53 minutes. Meanwhile, India's new women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa started their campaign in a positive note winning 21-19 21-23 21-16 against American pair of Mona Santoso and Cynthia Tuwankotta in 35-minute battle.

Scuba diving to become popular in India soon

2009-06-13T03:49:00.000-07:00

BANGALORE: India has a vast coastline and thus has a potential of becoming a booming industry in scuba diving over the next five years. The under water sport, scuba diving, is an adventurous game and famous in some of the coastline areas in the world. At present, there are 22 dive centres in India which is expecetd to touch upto 50 in the next five years.

"We believe the time has come for India to become a major force in the world of scuba diving," said Rohaan Sulaiman, President Bangalore Dive Club, which will be launched on June 14. Worldwide, the scuba diving industry, including the hospitality factor was estimated to be USD 47 billion, said Madhava Reddy, Founder Director of Planet Scuba India, a scuba diving inland centre, with a PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) five star diving centre.

"Today the contribution of scuba diving may be minuscule, but in five years, with the plans under implementation, this adventure will be a significant contributor to sea-based tourism," he said. Information received also suggest that some prominent names were evincing keen interest in developing it. Lack of resources and infrastructure could have been the reasons why the sport had not picked up earlier in India despite having a vast coastline, huge population and an economy that was growing, Reddy said.

Provisional list of archers announced for World Youth meet

2009-06-10T05:10:00.001-07:00

KOLKATA: The provisional list of archers is announced on Tuesday who will represent India in the World Youth archery championship to be held in Ogden, Utah July 12-09. The Archery Association of India (AAI) released the list after a three-day trial held at the Sports Authority of India (SAI). AAI secretary general PN Mukherjee said the AAI will compare the results of the trials with that of prevailing world standards and send only those archers who have some realistic chances of winning medals for India.

The teams are: Junior (U-18)

Recurve (boys): Atanu Das and Pawan Xalxo (both Steel Plant) and Hemanta Basumatary (Assam)

Girls: Seema Verma and Sumita Kumari (both Steel Plant) and Balmai Hansda (Jharkhand).

Compound (boys): Ksh. Nikhon Singh (Manipur), Arjun Rao and Sanjay Swansi (both Jharkhand).

Girls: Asrita Kerketta, Priyanshu Kachap and Kiran Majhi (all Jharkhand).

Cadet (U-16)

Recurve (boys): Sanjay Boro, Prashant Nath (both Assam) and Mangal Ho (Jharkhand).

Girls: Deepika Kumari, V. Sharada and Padya Singh Sardar (all Steel Plant).

Compound (boys): Abhyudaya Srinet, Sudhakar Paswan (both Jharkhand) and Ritul Chatterjee (Andhra
Pradesh).

Girls: S. Jayalakshmi (Maharashtra), Prerna Bhagat and Neelam Kumari (both Jharkhand).

India clinched three silver and two bronze in Sardinia

2009-06-03T03:22:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: After a good show of boxers in the world, Indian wrestlers showed their strength. In a recently ended wrestling event, the Indian team won five medals including three silver and two bronze. The medals were won in the Free Style, Greco Roman tournament at Sardinia, Italy. Eighteen teams from major wrestling countries including Russia were competing in the event which ended May 30, according to a statement by Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on Tuesday.

Among silver medal winners there are: Anil Kumar (55 kg free style), Hardeep Singh (60 kg free style), Anil Kumar (96 kg greco-roman) and bronze medallist are Naresh Kumar (84 kg free style) and Joginder Kumar (120 kg free style).

T20 match to assist victims of attacks on Sri Lankan team

2009-05-30T02:52:00.000-07:00

In order to assist victims of the attacks on the Sri Lanka cricket team, ICC is decided to have a T20 match between India and Pakistan. The match will be played on June 3 before the ICC T20 World Cup begins. The venue for the match will be Oval. ICC president David Morgan said in a statement that the board intended to do something for the families of the victims of the terror attacks on the Sri Lanka team and match officials in March in Lahore.

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt said. “The PCB provided support to the families of the victims immediately after the attack and it is encouraging to see the rest of the cricket world coming together in this way.'' India defeated Pakistan in the inaugural edition of the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007. The defending champion opens its defence of the title in Group A along with Bangladesh and Ireland. Pakistan's opponents in Group B are host England and the Netherlands.

WBC is the preparation for CWG 2010: Padukone

2009-05-27T01:51:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: The World Badminton Championship's (WBC) results for Indian teams will be the base for the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2010. Prakash Padukone, who is involved in training and selection of the Indian contingent for the World Championships, said that performance of the team in this championship would give a fair idea of the future work required to be done before the CWG 2010.

He said that India is allowed to field players in every formtat of World Badminton Championship to be held at Gachibowli stadium in Hyderabad from August 10-16. This wild card entries would give a chance to more players to take part in the prestigious championship. Now, the team will consist of Arun Vishnu, Aparna Balan, K Tarun and Shruti Kurian, who will get an opportunity to represent India for the singles and the doubles team respectively.

Shuttlers P Kashayap and Sayali Gokhale will comprise extra team for the event. According to the format, 64 highest ranked players qualify to participate in the World Championship and the Indian singles team comprises Chetan Anand, Arvind Bhatt, Saina Nehwal and Aditi Mutatkar. The doubles team has Rupesh Kumar, Sanave Thomas, Akshay Dewalkar and Jishnu Sanyal while the mixed doubles team would present the seasoned pair of V Diju and Jwala Gutta. The other team to make it through the ranking criteria is Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan.

Defending champ India to return without medal

2009-05-16T03:38:00.000-07:00

MALAYSIA: Defending champion India will have to return home without any medal in the Asia Cup hockey. This time the team has finished fifth position after defeating Japan 5-1. India were out of medal contention after losing to Pak and drawing with China in the first two matches.

It may be recalled that India won Azlan Shah Cup recently. But it could not keep the track on. In the last match which was played against Japan, Tushar Khandekar scored two goals (64th, 69th minutes) while Rajpal Singh (2nd minute), skipper Sandeep Singh (21st) and Prabhjot Singh (66th) sounded the board once each. For Japan, Sakamoto Hiroki (31st minute) was the lone scorer.
India loosened their grip in the second half as they went defensive, but Japan failed to take advantage. Latching on to S.V Sunil's pass, Tushar hit a reverse to make it 3-1.

China spoils India’s medal hope

2009-05-12T23:54:00.000-07:00

MALAYSIA: India's hope to win another tournament after Azlan Shah Hockey cup was spoiled by China. The winner of Azlan Shah Cup, India, settle for a 2-2 draw against China here on Tuesday. Indian hockey team's poor performance continued in the match against China. As a result of it, the Indian team is out of the medal race.

India was defeated 2-3 by arch rival Pakistan in its first league match of the tournament. Experienced Indian captain Sandeep Singh (31st and 34th) converted two of India’s four penalty corners to put the team in the drivers seat. At this time the team was enjoying a lead of 2-0. But the Indian defence was not up to the mark and the team had to contented with a draw. China bounced back in the game with Lu Feng Hui (45th) and Yu Yang (59th) sounded the boards. After it Indian players tried hard to tickle the score board, but all in vain. Whereas, Chinese were successfully stop their rival's attack.

The Chinese, who spoilt India’s medal hopes in the 2006 Asian Games with a 3-2 victory, reduced the lead in the 45th minute when Hui found the net with an indirect variation off the team’s first penalty corner. Chinese forward Yang drove the final nail in India’s coffin in the 59th minute with a delicate touch from a free hit following a costly defensive lapse.

Crucial match between MI and Kings XI tomorrow

2009-05-11T02:34:00.000-07:00

CENTURION: The match between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab is going to be held tomorrow. This is a crucial match for both the teams as each one wanted to win it to ease ones's path to semi-finals. In the points table both are looking similar. Mumbai Indians has managed 09 points while Kings XI has got 10 out of 10 matches each. However, as far as run rate is concerned, it is not very much different.

Sachin Tendulkar's men endured a three-match losing streak before finally managing a win against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday night. Punjab's team looking more balanced now after Australian pacer Brett Lee, who impressed with both bat and ball in the nail-biting win over Deccan Chargers in his first IPL match this season, joined the side. Among the batsmen, Mahela Jayawardene scored a fifty against Deccan and will have to play a key role in the middle order. Kumar Sangakkara and skipper Yuvraj Singh have been in good touch and it would be quite a task for the Mumbai bowlers to contain them if they get going.

Sreesanth becomes easy target for the opposition: Hayden

2009-05-08T00:29:00.000-07:00

CENTURION: Australian crickets never leave a chance to comment on Indian cricketers. They say that it is a part of play. It was applied in Indian Premier League II too. Australian opening batsman Matthew Hayden told reporters in a post match press conference that Sreesanth becomes an easy target for the opposition as he loses his cool in pressure match situations.

He went on saying and remarked that he was an overrated bowler and so he (Hayden) thought the bowler was a great target for them to go at. Sreesanth always loses his cool under pressure and he think that night was a good example of that. It may be recalled that Matthew Hayden smashed, on Thursday, Sreesanth all over the ground taking 32 runs in 19 deliveries off Sreesanth before getting out to him just short of the three figure mark. TV cameras showed Sreesanth lashing out at Hayden as the latter headed towards the dugout.

Daredevils' fifth win gives top position

2009-05-06T01:56:00.000-07:00

DURBAN: Gautam Gambhir's first captaincy experience in Indian Premier League is proving fruitful to the team and him. In his captaincy, Delhi Daredevils not only posted a win against Kolkata Knight Riders on Tuesday. but also tops the tally in the chart. Now the points tally is changed completely except bottom placed Kolkata Knight Riders.

The number one position is captured by Daredevils, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals in the second and third spot respectively. In the match between Daredevils and KKR, runs were flowing and most of the mistakes were done by KKR. Batting first, KKR scored a fighting total of 153 for three. Morne van Wayk batted well and manage to make 74 off 48 balls. In reply, Daredevils chased the target easily in the 19th over.

Thanks to the mistakes by fielders and poor bowling performance. Gautam Gambhir punished the bowlers and scored an unbeaten 71 runs. With David Warner (36), Gambhir gave Daredevils an explosive start that set up the win. The win was Daredevils fifth from seven matches and they are now sitting at the top.

A good total is needed to win: Sachin

2009-05-04T03:00:00.000-07:00

JOHANNESBURG: 'Take catches, win matches' is not the right theory for T20 cricket. Mumbai Indian skipper Sachin Tendulkar thinks something different. He said that batsmen need to put up a good total if they are to win matches in the Indian Premier League. He suggested it to team-mates after lost a match against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

In the match played on Sunday, Mumbai Indians managed to score 149 runs with half-centuries from Sanath Jayasuriya and Dwayne Bravo. Chasing a target of 149, Royal Challengers achieved the target with 11 balls to spare. Jacques Kallis (69) and Robin Uthappa (60) were only batsmen who bat in the side. In a post match ceremony, Tendulkar they would have scored more than 150. He stressed that a good total was needed badly by good batting performances.

Tendulkar also urged the team to lift themselves so that wins come regularly. He pointed out that one win and one lose, has become a trend for them. In this match Tendulkar himself could not perform well. He got out only 11 runs. The defeat pushed them to sixth in the table with seven points from seven matches.

Last WC hero's couldn't book ticket for T20 WC

2009-05-04T00:54:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: Among major contributors in 2007 World Cup could not book their seat for T20 World Cup to be held in England in June. These include likes of Ajit Agarkar, Piyush Chawla, hard-hitter Robin Uthappa, S Sreesanth, fighting fitness problems and Joginder Sharma. These changes were based on the performance in the time afterwards 2007 World Cup, current form and fitness. However, Mahendra Singh Dhoni was again named as the captain and Virender Sehawag as vice-captain. The 15-man squad was announced in the meeting of the BCCI's selection committee headed by chairman of selectors K Srikkanth in Mumbai on Monday.

The new team for T20 World Cup is as follows: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag (vice-captain), Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Rudra Pratap Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Pragyan Ojha and Irfan Pathan.

According to a report of a news agency, the selectors last month had announced 30 probables and pruned the list on Monday. But some of the probables couldn't book their bearth bus to England. These include wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik, Tamil Nadu opener M Vijay, Mumbai trio of Ajinkya Rahane, Dhawal Kulkarni and Abhishek Nayar, Tamil Nadu batsman S Badrinath, Delhi batsman Virat Kohli, Bengal duo of Manoj Tiwary and Wriddhiman Saha, Haryana leggie Amit Mishra, Tamil Nadu pacer L Balaji and Madhya Pradesh stumper Naman Ojha. Tamil Nadu off-spinner R Ashwin, who was named back-up for Harbhajan Singh, also failed to survive the pruning exercise.

Ten Malaysian athletes to take part in Grand Prix

2009-05-01T02:12:00.000-07:00

KOCHI: Ten Malaysian athletes is expected to take part in the NIFE Indian Grand Prix Athletics Championship 2009. Totally 150 athletes will show their talent in the championship. Athletic Federation of India Joint Secretary and Co-ordinator of the championship told reporters that the first leg of the championship will be held in Kochi on May 3. Whereas the next two leg would be held in Coimbatore on May 8 and in Chennai on May 14, respectively.

The first leg would be held at the Maharaja's College Synthetic Track. There would be ten events in the men's and 8 in the women's section. He added that those athletes who are in the ongoing coaching camp for the 2010 Commonwealth Games would participate in the Grand Prix. Samirmon, B G Nagarajan, Abdul Najeeb, Bilas Neelgund, Ajaykumar, P K Anoop, A Aravind, Rithesh Anand, Amiya Mallik, Arunjith, Vishal Saxsena, Chatholi Hamza, Ravinder K Singh, Sandeep K Singh, Naresh Yadav, Rajeev R, Sajeesh Joseph, Prakash Varma and Pankan Dhimti will be participating in the 100 m, 400 m, and 800 m events.

Jeev rises, Randhawa slips

2009-04-27T06:44:00.000-07:00

Jeev Milkha Singh rose a place to 36th in the current golf rankings. Whereas Jyoti Randhawa missed by three places and is on 113th place. Among other Indians, Arjun Atwal is placed 244th, while SSP Chowrasia is ranked 358 in the official ranking. Randhawa missed the cut at the Ballantine Championship, co-sanctioned by European and Asian Tours, with a below-par two-day total of 149 to slip from his previous week's 110th place. However, Jeev, who took a break last week after missing the cut in Verizon Heritage on the PGA Tour, moved one placed up the ladder.