India rejects blame on its IPL selections

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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'

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

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

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

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

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

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.