Assam, Bengal start campaign with win

GUWAHATI, Nov 30: Assam and Bengal started their East Zone women T20 cricket campaign with a win at nfrsa Stadium, Maligaon here today. In the first game Assam defeated Tripura by 35 runs while Jharkhand go down to Bengal by 10 runs in the second encounter.

The match between Assam and Tripura was a low scoring match. Electing to bat first, Assam were bowled out for mere 65 runs. Jyoti Sharma (14) was the top scorer for the team. Among the Tripura bowler Priyanka Acharjee was the most successful with ball as she collected 3 wickets for 14 runs. However, their fine bowling performance was overshadowed by even deadlier show by Assam bowlers. Tripura could manage just 30 chasing Assam’s 65. Neeta Kumbang claimed 3 Tripura wickets for seven runs and was well supported by Monika Das (2-3).

In the other match of the day, it was Bengal skipper Jhulan Goswami who made the difference between the two sides. Riding on a fine unbeaten knock of 41 runs of Jhulan Goswmai Bengal piled up 111 runs for the lost of three wickets in their 20 overs. Archana Das, who also remained unbeaten, added 23 runs on the board. Jharkhand managed to score 101 runs for the lost of 9 wickets in their 20 overs. Jhulan Goswami and Kathakali Banerjee claimed three wickets each to romp victory. Seema Singh (23) was the top scorer for Jharkhand. There would be no matches on Tuesday. THE SENTINEL

Jeev, Jyoti shoot best card of the week, lie ninth

Shenzhen (China), Nov 28: Jeev Milkha Singh and Jyoti Randhawa delivered a seven-under 65, their best round of the week but still felt they left far too much out on the course on the third day of the Omega Mission Hills World Cup golf here on Saturday.

Despite their lip-outs and near-misses, they are now 16-under and tied for ninth, two down from overnight seventh.

India are the second best Asian team after Japan, who at 19-under after a third round 64, are tied fourth with South Africa (62). The leaders continue to be Ireland with Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell. But their lead was now down to just one shot. The Irish pair shot 32 on either side of the Olazabal course for a 64 to go to 26-under, but snapping close on their heels are the defending champions, Sweden and Italy.

The Indian pair came here without a practice round together as they had a visa scare with Randhawa getting delayed in getting his papers. He arrived in the nick of time Wednesday to be able to tee off on Thursday. “From being almost not here to possibly finishing in top-10, seems good,” said the optimistic Randhawa, who had a share in India’s best-ever World Cup finish in ninth place in 2005 with Arjun Atwal. “This is my fourth World Cup, last year Jeev and I were 17th. I also played with Gaurav Ghei in 2007.”

Pankaj knocked out

Hyderabad, Nov 22: Unheralded 30-year old Greek Cypriot Anthony Brabin dealt Indian hopes a big blow when he knocked out National champion Pankaj Advani 5-3 en route to the pre-quarter-finals of the ONGC-IBSF World Snooker Championship here on Sunday.

However, bringing some cheer to the Indian camp were the Mumbai-based Yasin Merchant who overcame compatriot Alok Kumar 5-1 to advance to the round of 16. Local challenger Lucky Vatnani, who took out Girish Rajashekar 5-2, and Kamal Chawla, a 5-4 winner over Alex Borg of Malta, also reached the pre quarters.

Meanwhile, China’s Tian Pengfei, despite notching two century breaks of 118 and 101, was beaten 4-5 by Thailand’s Supoj Saenia 4-5 while title favourite Alfie Burden of England struggled to beat Nader Khan Sultani of Afghanistan 5-3 in a scrappy encounter.

Gaurav wins ONGC Masters Golf

Noida, Nov 21: Gaurav Pratap Singh registered his first professional win after a nail-biting finish in the ONGC Masters 2009 at the Noida Golf Course here on Saturday. Singh came through on his home turf despite firing a three over 75 in the final round. He ended the tournament with a total of three under 285. Vijay Kumar of Lucknow finished a close second at two under 286 while Delhi’s Gaurav Ghei was a further stroke back in third place. Singh (70, 70, 70, 75) enjoyed a comfortable lead for most of the day though he had two experienced campaigners such as Vijay Kumar and Gaurav Ghei on his tail. Singh made a solid start, making pars on the first six holes. He then pulled his drive to the left on the seventh and subsequently three-putted to drop a double bogey. A birdie followed on the very next hole. Singh’s poor hitting form on the final day resulted in his first bogey of the day on the 11th. The 25-year-old then earned a valuable birdie on the par five 14th, where he made a nice recovery thanks to a great chip shot. Singh led by three strokes from Ghei after the 16th. The leader then three-putted from nine feet to make bogey on the 17th, while Ghei and Vijay Kumar picked up birdies on the same hole. So the leader group approached the 18th tee with Singh at four under, Ghei at three under and Vijay Kumar at two under. Singh then found the water hazard with his tee shot on the 18th but held on to his nerve as he came up with an excellent nine iron third shot that landed 15 feet from the pin and helped him make a good bogey for victory. Ghei, on the other hand, missed the fairway and an up and down to make double bogey on the final hole and thus finished third. Meanwhile, Vijay Kumar missed his 30-feet birdie putt on the 18th by a whisker and had to settle for second place. Vijay would have headed for a playoff with Singh had he made a birdie on the closing hole. “I did not expect it to get so close at the end. I was targeting a score of 70 today but my poor driving let me down. I have no complaints. I finally registered my first win and cannot describe how good it feels to be holding that trophy,” said Singh. (IANS)

Merchant advances to knock-out stage

Hyderabad, Nov 19: Yasin Merchant notched the tournament’s highest break of 134 en route to the knock-out round of the ONGC-IBSF World snooker championship here on Thursday along with a clutch of Indians, including Pankaj Advani and Geet Sethi.

Merchant, the former Asian and National champion, posted the 134 in the first frame against Pakistan’s Mohammed Asif who, despite a brave fight, could not stop the Indian from posting a 4-1 win in the concluding league match. Asif, with three wins, however, qualified for the knock-out rounds.

The century break notwithstanding, Merchant, the 42-year old from Mumbai, had to bring into play his vast experience to overcome the 27-year old Asif who is playing in his first World championship. The Pakistani had his chances, but missed a few sitters that proved costly.

In the first frame, after Asif broke the bunch, Merchant began with a long red and went on to compile a century that hinged on the last two reds that were near the side cushion. He sliced the 14th red into the top corner pocket and then cleared the table.

Meanwhile, Advani, who has posted three century breaks so far, raced to a 4-1 win against compatriot Sandeep Gulati to top his group with a clean record.

Yuttapop Pakpoj of Thailand made a 118 break on way to routing India’s MS Arun 4-0 to head group R with an all-win record after four matches and advance to the knock-out round.

In the women’s category, Vidya Pillai topped her group by winning all her five matches. In her last league outing, Vidya outplayed Kathy Howden of Australia 3-0, while fellow-Indian Chitra Magimairajan received a walk-over from Bahrain’s Nahla Sunni who went down with a stomach upset and did not turn up for the match.

Speaking to IANS, Nahla said she was down with an upset stomach after eating pizza last night. “I have submitted a medical certificate and also apologised to my opponent for not turning up for the match,” she said.

Chitra, with four wins, however, made it to the knock-out round, the draw for which is to be made around 10 tonight, according to an official announcement.

“I was hoping to get some valuable match practice today ahead of the knock-out round, but the situation is not in my control,” said the Bangalore-based Chitra.

In the Masters section, seven Indians, led by Sethi, qualified for the knock-out round. The others were: BV Srinivasa Murthy, SA Saleem, K Venkatesham, K Ranjan, Devendra Joshi and H Kamaraj. (IANS)

Hockey players up in arms against coach Brasa

New Delhi, Nov 18: A rattled Hockey India (HI) president A K Mattoo is flying down to Pune following a reported revolt by senior players spearheaded by deposed captain Sandeep Singh against coach Jose Brasa.

The seniors are apparently unhappy with the way the Spanish coach is going about his job. Sandeep, who has pulled out of the camp complaining a back problem, seems to differ with Brasa over drag-flicking. A source close to Sandeep said Brasa wanted the drag-flicker to use a longish, flat stick but the player is unwilling to make any change in his stick or the way he drag-flicks. When contacted, Sandeep told that he would not like to discuss the “nature of his back problem till he talked to HI officials. Please, I don’t want to talk about my back problem before I talk to HI officials,” he said. The senior national team is preparing at Pune’s Balewadi Complex for the Champions Challenge tournament at Salta, Argentina, from December 6-13. Five players, including Ignace Tirkey and Prabodh Tirkey, who are not in the squad for Salta but they are part of the core group preparing for the Commonwealth Games, are also miffed with Brasa.

Armstrong tipped to improve in 2010

CADEL Evans and Lance Armstrong might be as rusty as each other in January's ProTour season-opener, the Tour Down Under, but the Australian champion yesterday tipped his seven-time Tour de France-winning rival would be a more awe-inspiring proposition in 2010 than he was this year.

While Tour Down Under organisers are overjoyed at having both Evans and Armstrong entered in the week-long stage race in Adelaide, Evans played down the prospect of either rider producing anything outstanding.

''It's fun racing against someone when they're bad and you're bad actually, so in that regard we'll probably be able to enjoy it more than at the Tour [de France],'' Evans said of the race that will likely be just the start of a meticulously planned preparation for the July Tour de France for both he and Armstrong.

By mid-2010 however, Evans forecast Armstrong, in his second season back from retirement, would be performing at a level that exceeded what he produced this year. Next year Armstrong will head up the new Radio Shack team, which he has formed after re-booting his career with Astana at the beginning of this year.

''I think we'll see Armstrong at another level in 2010,'' Evans said.

Evans' new team, BMC, only has a professional continental licence - a rung below the top ProTour level - but it was granted a wildcard entry to the Tour Down Under because of the involvement of the Australian, who became road world champion in September.

Only 7 per cent Indians prefer Test cricket: survey

Melbourne, Nov 17 (PTI) Cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar may feel that Test cricket has become more entertaining but an MCC survey has revealed only seven per cent of Indian fans chose the longest format as their preferred form of the game. The poll, commissioned by the Marylebone Cricket Club, covered 500 fans each from three countries -- India, South Africa and New Zealand.

Interestingly, 58 per cent of Indian respondents from India chose Twenty20 Internationals as their favourite format while for 31 per cent ODI was a preferred form. Suprisingly, highly succesful Indian Premier League got just four per cent Indian voters'' support, ''The Age'' reported.

In the three countries overall, 13 per cent said they preferred Tests to the limited-overs contests. The survey also shows that despite reports of public fatigue, ODI remains the most popular format with 36 per cent of the fans across the three countries choosing it.

The key findings of the poll were presented to the International Cricket Council''s Cricket Committee earlier this month in Dubai, where both groups reaffirmed their commitment to preserving all three forms. In India, 58 per cent of respondents said the emergence of Twenty20 had reduced their interest in Test cricket, while 23 per cent of South Africans and 13 per cent of New Zealanders felt the same.

More PTI PDS AT.

Roddick knee injury to keep him from London finals field

London, Nov 18 (DPA) Andy Roddick withdrew from the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals due to a knee injury he suffered six weeks ago. The US player is being replaced in the eight-man draw by Swede Robin Soderling.

Roddick limped out of the Shanghai Masters with the injury last month. He had earned a berth at the season finale for a seventh straight year - the second-longest active streak after number one Roger Federer's eight consecutive invitations.

Three-time Wimbledon finalist Roddick played the semi-finals in 2003 and 2004 in Houston and 2007 at Shanghai.

Soderling, who beat Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros, was first alternate for the tournament, which begins Sunday at The O2 arena in London. Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga now becomes first alternate.

Soderling is the first Swede to play the season wrap-up since Thomas Johansson in 2002.

Roddick resumed light practice this week but said Tuesday he would not be fully fit for the tournament.

'I'm really disappointed to miss the World Tour Finals,' Roddick said. 'I love playing in London, and I've heard so many good things about the venue. However, I have not fully recovered from my knee injury, and I won't be able to compete. One of my goals in 2010 will be to qualify for this event again.'

The line-up features Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Juan Del Potro, Nikolay Davydenko, Fernando Verdasco and Soderling.

The draw will be made Wednesday, with the eight players drawn to play a minimum of three round-robin matches to determine which four players advance to the knockout semi-finals Saturday.

Indo Asian News Service

Australian mountain biker loses appeal against jail term

Former Australian mountain bike champion Chris Jongewaard has lost his appeal against a two-year jail sentence over a hit-and-run driving accident, local media reported on Wednesday.

Jongwaard was sentenced in September to two years in prison, with a non-parole period of nine months, over an incident in 2007 when he knocked down a fellow professional cyclist.

The cyclist was seriously injured and unable to ride professionally again.

Jongewaard was found guilty of driving without due care and leaving the scene of an accident.

Jongewaard appealed but the three judges who heard his appeal dismissed his application for the jail term to be suspended.

"It's a significant fact that, for all Mr Jongewaard knew, he had left someone seriously injured and lying on the roadway, exposed to further damage from motor cars," Chief Justice John Doyle said.

Jongewaard was selected in the Australian team for last year's Beijing Olympics but lost his place after being charged by police over the incident.

(Reporting by Julian Linden; Editing by Ian Ransom; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Assam-Jharkhand Ranji tie from today

GUWAHATI, Nov 16 – In a crucial Plate Division match of the Ranji Trophy, Assam will meet Jharkhand from tomorrow at the Nehru Stadium here.

It has been counted as the most vital match for the whole team as till date Assam have only one point in their kitty after two match. On the other hand, the visitors have already collected four points also from two outings so far.

Assam has already suffered an outright defeat in the hands of Rajasthan in the opening match while the team got the lone point from the match against Goa which was virtually washed out. Due to inclement weather condition in Goa, only one day’s play was possible on November 14.

Assam made two changes in the team. In place of Krishna Das and Pritam Debnath, Sib Sankar Roy and Rajdeep Das were brought in the team.

The host team has to depend heavily on the performances of Amol Mazumder, Dhiraj Jadhav and Sairaj Bahutulay as the local batsmen, except Parvez Aziz, are yet to hit form.

Star player and the higest Ranji run-getter, skipper Mazumder, is yet to fire and all eyes will be on him in the coming days. Also if Muzumdar scores some runs, the middle order ofAssam will get a much needed boost.

The Jharkhand team is studded with some young talents like captain Saurabh Tiwary, Shiv Prakash Gautam, Rajiv Kapoor, Manish Singh Vardhan, etc., who are in pretty good form in the current season.

All the batsmen have scored plenty of runs in the matches against Tripura and Vidarbha. Tiwary had cracked 136 against Tripura while Gautam’s score was 95. Rajiv Kumar showed consistency in both the matches scoring 75 and 87 respectively.

Considering the performances of the Jharkhand batsmen, it is believed that some tough days awaits the Assam bowlers.

Weather may play a vital role as the last nights shower dampened the ground. The toss will be crucial tomorrow as the team batting first may face some difficult condition in the morning.

Both the teams had their workout session this morning at the playing venue.

The teams: Assam – Amol Mazumder (C), Dhiraj Goswami, Parvez Aziz, Sairaj Bahutulae, Dhiraj Jadhav, Sarupam Purkayastha, Kunal Saikia, Abu Naschim Ahmed, Sujay Tarafdar, Deepak Sharma, Ranjit Mali, Abhijit Sinha Roy, Arlen Konwar, Sib Sankar Roy, Rajdeep Das.

Jharkhand: Saurabh Tiwary (C), Manish Vardhan, Sujit Roy, Ishank Jaggi, Rameez Nemat, Varun Aaron, Rahul Shukla, Kuldeep Sharma, Siddhartha Raj Sinha, SP Gautam, Mihir Diwakar, Rajeev Kumar, Tejashwi Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem, Kundan Singh.

Dravid, Dhoni help India recover from dire straits

AHMEDABAD, Nov 16 (PTI): Rahul Dravid and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni cracked sparkling centuries as India staged a remarkable recovery after a dramatic top-order collapse on the opening day of the first cricket Test against Sri Lanka here today.

Dravid produced a gritty unbeaten 177 and found an able ally in captain Dhoni (110) as the duo pulled the team out of the pits and steered India to a commanding 385 for six at close on an eventful opening day.

Tottering at 32 for four in the eighth over following a triple strike by rookie left arm pacer Chanaka Welegedara, India were hoisted up by Dravid’s 27th ton and his three figure partnerships with Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni, for the fifth and sixth wickets.

The Indians, despite the early jolts, scored at a brisk pace right through the day but fell just one run short of the record first day total made by India, 386 against South Africa at the Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai in 2007-08.

The hallmark of Dravid’s innings, his second hundred against the visitors, was his shot selection and the ability to stay put when the Lankans were on top in the morning. He slowly and surely upped the tempo before playing splendid drives, flicks, square cuts and pull shots.

After being rocked by the cheap dismissals of openers Gautam Gambhir (1), Virender Sehwag (16), Sachin Tendulkar (4), entering his 21st year in international cricket, and V V S Laxman (0), it needed a determined and ever-so-steady Dravid to stem the rot and he did it with aplomb.

The fifth wicket stand between Dravid and Yuvraj Singh, that spanned either side of the luncheon interval and was worth 125 runs in 129 balls, put the shaky innings on an even keel after India had opted to bat first on winning the toss.

After the departure of Yuvraj (68), who played a typically aggressive knock with 13 fours, Dravid forged forces with Dhoni to first consolidate the innings further and then take it to a higher plane with a 224-run partnership for the sixth wicket.

Dravid, in scoring his second hundred at this venue, also moved past former Australia skipper Steve Waugh to stand fifth in the all-time list of run-getters in Test cricket. The Indian middle-order mainstay stood fifth in the queue at the end of the day after passing the 11,000-run mark just before stumps when on 177.

The day began in disastrous fashion for India, barring the winning of the toss by Dhoni, as they were done in by some good swing bowling chiefly by Welegedara, playing in only his second Test, and careless batting.

Welegedara led the Lanka assault on the much-vaunted India batting line-up and dismissed the top three batsmen in a fiery opening spell to leave the hosts struggling at 31 for three.

Swinging the ball in late, the 28-year-old Lankan struck three big blows, including two in four balls, to bring down the home team on its knees and raise visions of a repeat of the last Test here when India were bowled out by South Africa for 76 in 20 overs in the opening session in April, 2008.

Welegedera’s first spell read a splendid 7-2-28-3 and his victims were openers Gambhir, Sehwag (16) and champion batsman Tendulkar, whose celebrations as he stepped into his 21st year in the international game were rudely halted by the superb bowling.

Assam to take on Jharkhand in crucial Ranji tie today

Assam to take on Jharkhand in crucial Ranji tie today

By our Sports Reporter

GUWAHATI, Nov 16: Assam will play against visiting Jharkhand in a crucial Ranji Trophy Plate group match in Nehru Stadium from Tuesday. The match is very much important from Assam’s point of view as the home team has only 1 point from the previous two outings. The Amol Mazumdar-led Assam will take the field hoping to pocket maximum point to keep the hope alive to reach semifinal of Plate group. Assam has dropped Pritam Devnath and Krishna Das for the match while Sib Sankar Roy and Rajdeep Das take their place in the squad. THE SENTINEL

I am not a god: Tendulkar

NEW DELHI, Nov 15: Legions of fans may adore him as god of cricket but Sachin Tendulkar insists that he is only a mortal who loves playing for his country.
“I’m glad so many people follow my career. But I am not a god. I just love cricket, playing for India,” said Tendulkar, who completed 20 years in international cricket on Sunday.
India opener Virender Sehwag had said Tendulkar was not just a legend of the game but was actually the god of cricket. Incidentally, former Australia opener Matthew Hayden also once famously said, “I have seen god, he bats at number four for India.”
Tendulkar said he was just a cricketer, who happened to enjoy the support of a sea of humanity.
“I’m an individual but there is a huge force behind me, a big team. My teammates, family, kids, friends and fans. When I go out to bat, I play on their behalf,” he said.
“I had not thought of playing for so long for the country but thanks to the support from all quarters I could play for 20 years for my country,” he said. In his illustrious 20 years of international cricket he has broken numerous batting records but Tendulkar said twice in his career he had thought his career was over.

Bhupathi, Paes crash out

PARIS, Nov 12: Indian challenge in the ATP Paris Masters tennis tournament ended after Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes, along with their respective partners, crashed out of the doubles event following unexpected second-round defeats. The third seeded pair of Bhupathi and Bahamian Mark Knowles lost 4-6, 7-6, (6) 7-10 to the unseeded Swede-Australian combination of Simon Aspelin and Paul Hanley. Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy, who were seeded fourth, also went down to unseeded rivals, losing 7-6, (5) 4-6, 5-10 to the Australian-American pair of Jordan Kerr and Travis Parrott in the euro 2,750,000 event. Paes and Dlouhy were the first to take the court and had to fight hard in the opening set itself, saving five break points before prevailing in the tie-breaker. But they were in for tougher times in the second set and lost their serve once. Bhupathi and Knowles also failed to convert the only break point they earned as Kerr and Parrott made it 1-1 before wrapping it up in the super tie-breaker. Later, Bhupathi and Knowles fought back from a set down but the effort couldn’t win them the match as Aspelin and Hanley held their nerve in the super tie-breaker to move into the quarterfinals. (PTI)

China regains Asia Cup with facile win

Bangkok: With a display that underlined the elements of authority, athleticism and technical elegance, China inflicted a 5-3 defeat on India to regain the trophy in the Asia Cup hockey championship for women here on Sunday. China had won the trophy last in 1989 at Hong Kong.

Power failure delayed the start by around 45 minutes leading to speculation whether the title match could be played at all.

There were even suggestions of allowing the team to share the trophy because the qualifiers for the World Cup had already been spotted. But there was no need to take such an unconventional decision as power returned and the match began amidst cheers from the crowd.

There was another delay forcing a late resumption after half-time owing to a heavy downpour.

China’s long wait has been bridged by the growing stature of the country in competitive hockey both globally and in the continent.

Peaking at the right moment and putting it across with a telling measure of pace, precision and persistence, China laid India low in almost every segment in the first half. But, it had to face a sustained spell of aggression during which India scored two more goals.

Strong comeback

Unfazed by an early reverse, when Surinder Kaur converted a forward pass by Mamta Kharb, the Chinese came back with such force that the rival defenders were forced to chase shadows. Song Ling commanded the mid-field, and was the chief creator who kept the frontline at its full potential.

Her lovely pass to Fu Rong obtained the equaliser.

The confidence born out of the goal clearly mirrored in the patterns that China wove around the Indian defenders. Ma Yibo slammed in a scorcher of a penalty corner to help China gain the lead.

Minutes later, Song provided another astute pass for Zhag Yu to enlarge the lead.

Notwithstanding the early lead, India failed to build up the tempo. While the mid-field struggled to contain the rival sallies, the attack clearly lacked the tenor and harmony to stress China’s defenders.

Streaks of aggression

When play resumed after a break of about 30 minutes, India showed streaks of aggression and three penalty corners, in a space of five minutes, signalled trouble for China.

Mamta Kharb shot from a goal-mouth scrimmage following a penalty corner. But even before the cheers died down, De Jiao Jiao tapped in a cross from Li Hong Xia, followed by Ma Yibo.

India surged back into contention despite a yellow card for Asunta Lakra. Dipika Thakur unleashed a terrific shot to hoist India’s third goal. For China, Ma Yibo got the yellow card.

Korea clinched the bronze medal in a thrilling match at 4-3 against Japan, the winner surfacing out of a superbly executed penalty corner from Soo Kyung Lee, three minutes before the final whistle. The teams shared six goals at half-time.

India’s defender Subadra Pradhan was declared the player of the tournament.

Sultan Azlan Shah, President, Asian Hockey Federation, gave away the trophy and presented gold medals to China.

The results:

9-10: Chinese Taipei 2 (Pe-Ling Su, Chia Jung Chen) bt Thailand 1 (Kannika Lewwrungcroj).

3-4: Korea 4 (Hye Lyong Han, Soo Kyung Lee 2, Bomi Kim) bt Japan 3 ( Rica Komazawa, Mie Nakashima, Misaki Ozawa).

Final: China 5 (Fu Rong, Ma Yibo 2, Zhang Yu, De Jiao Jiao) bt India 3 (Surinder Kaur, Mamta Kharb, Dipika Thakur).

Final standings: 1. China, 2. India, 3. Korea, 4. Japan 5. Malaysia, 6. Kazakhstan, 7. Hong Kong, 8. Singapore, 9. Chinese Taipei, 10. Thailand, 11. Sri Lanka.

OIL FC through to Gold Cup soccer final

DULIAJAN, Nov 8 – Champions and host OIL Football Club made it to the final once again in the 5th OIL India Challenge Gold Cup Football Tournament 2009 organised by Oil India Limited here at Nehru Maiden today. The OIL team beat Indian National Football Club of Delhi by 5-3 in the first semifinal.

In the well contended match, Jyotish Basumatary of OIL FC initiated the score in the 22nd minute which was equalized by Manjit Singh of Indian National FC in the 70th minute.

Then in the tie- breaker, the winning team’s HL Rauta, Mintu Boro, Mathews Tangjom and Biplob Sonowal found the target. For Indian National FC only RK Singh and Virender Kumar scored.

Dally L of the losing team was sent off in 67th minute and Binoy Sarkar and Virender Kumar were cautioned for rough play.

Tomorrow Vasco Sports Club of Goa will clash with Punjab Police of Jallandhar in the second semifinal.

Cricket lovers saddened by Indian team’s poor show

GUWAHATI, Nov 8 – Expectations of thousands of spectators, who turned up from every nook and corner of the State hoping to see their favourite cricketers put up a spirited show, were dashed to the ground as the hosts surrendered meekly before Australia at the city’s Nehru Stadium today.

Dejection was writ large on the faces of scores of fans – young and old alike – after they witnessed a string of failures by some of the biggest names in Indian cricket.

The Sehwags, Gambhirs, Tendulkars and Yuvrajs, to name a few, all failed to live up to the expectations and there was hardly anything positive to take back, apart from the two half-centuries by Ravindra Jadeja and Praveen Kumar.

But, for most of the spectators, it was skipper Mahindra Singh Dhoni’s ‘wrong’ decision that cost Team India the match and the series.

“Batting first on a wicket favourable to seamers was a blunder. How could an experienced player like Dhoni take such a senseless decision after winning the toss?” Samiran Barthakur, a disappointed fan, said while expressing his anguish.

Another fan, Rajiv Hadique, was of the view that irrespective of the result, a close encounter was all that the spectators had come to see.

“We would not have minded had India lost after putting up a spirited fight. But the result was a foregone conclusion after the first 15 overs of the Indian innings. Skipper Dhoni has to share the blame for this fiasco,” he said.

The dejection among the fans was all the more since the last scheduled one-day match here between India and England was called off after the England team cut short its visit following the Mumbai terror attacks last year. In 2006 also, another India-England match was washed out without a single ball being bowled.

“The match was a widely anticipated one and the run-up to it – with the series tantalizingly poised – created the perfect atmosphere for the fans. But unfortunately, things turned out to be an anti-climax due to the inept display by India,” Rajiv said.

India Club ranking tennis inaugurated

GUWAHATI, Nov 8 – The Silver Drop 12th India Club Open Tennis Championship, 2009, an all-Assam ranking event under All Assam Tennis Association, was formally inaugurated at the club premises this evening by Muscle Mania Mr Universe 2009 Mahadeb Deka, who was also the chief guest of the glittering opening ceremony.

The events in the prize-money tourney include boys’ and girls’U-10, U-12, U-14 and U-18 besides men’s singles, above 35, 45 years and veterans, organisers said, adding that all are upbeat and looking forward for some exciting matches despite the dampener in the form of Assam bandh call tomorrow. The tournament is scheduled till November 14.

National Sepaktakraw at Kohima

KOHIMA, Nov 5: The Organizing Committee of the 13th Junior National Sepaktakraw Championship has reviewed the arrangements of the championship at the Indira Gandhi Stadium near here and discussed the security and other steps taken so far.

Official sources today said the Chairman of the Organizing Committee, Parliamentary Secretary for Youth Resources and Sports Naiba Konyak presided over the meeting at the IG Stadium yesterday and took stock of all preparations undertaken by various subcommittees on reception, accommodation, power, water supply, transport, ground management, food, volunteers, technical equipment, security, souvenir and publicity.

Nagaland Governor Nikhil Kumar will inaugurate the 13th Junior National Sepaktakraw Championship on November 10 at the IG Stadium, while Nagaland Chief Minister will be the Guest of Honour.

The Championship will continue till November 13 for all the final events. Altogether 21 State teams from various States from all over the country will participate in the championship, sources said. (UNI)

Anand beats Karpov, clinches four-game series

Ajaccio (France), Nov 3: World Champion Viswanathan Anand tamed former World Champion Anatoly Karpov of Russia in successive two encounters to win the rapid four-game chess series 3.5-0.5 here. The Indian, who was leading the series 1.5-0.5 after winning the first game and drawing the second with the Russian at Bastia, beat Karpov in both the remaining games to ensure a spectacular victory. It was a Queen’s gambit declined by Karpov in the first game and Anand got an opening advantage after Karpov did not place his queen properly. Karpov’s position became passive and he was saddled with the task of just defending with little counterplay to the end of the match that lasted 30 moves. “His Queen was in trouble as I had ways to threaten it. After (gaining the advantage) white is better and pressing, he slowly ran out of time trying to defend,” Anand said after the first game. In the last game Anand was in no mood to relent either. Playing the black of a Nimzo Indian defense, Anand faced the Capablanca variation and gained early lead in development.

As the game progressed, Karpov missed the thread of the position completely amid complexities and had to pay heavy dividends as Anand's forces simply cruised into his territory. Karpov resigned after 32 moves. Anand will now move to Moscow to take part in the Tal Memorial chess tournament, commencing from November 5, which is arguably the toughest event of the year. The field of the championship includes Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, Magnus Carlsen of Norway and Levon Aronian of Armenia, among others. (PTI)

Benitez’s days are numbered at Liverpool: Whelan

London, Nov 2: Liverpool legend Ronnie Whelan has criticised the Reds’ manager Rafa Benitez for his tactics and warned: "His days are numbered at Liverpool".

Whelan savaged Benitez for taking off striker Fernando Torres during their 3-1 defeat against Fulham to protect him for Wednesday’s Champions League against Lyon.

Torres was taken off after an hour with the teams level at 1-1. Liverpool went on to finish the game with nine men after Philipp Degen and Jamie Carragher were shown red cards.

"It’s all gone wrong with the manager and he’s shown exactly where his priorities lie. He wants to win the European Cup, so he can get a job in Europe. For me, his days have got to be numbered at Liverpool," The Sun quoted Whelan, as saying. "Why after such a great result against Manchester United, do you want to take a huge step backwards after losing to Arsenal in the Carling Cup as well? I don’t see where he’s coming from," he added.

Whelan further said that Benitez was taking those players off, who were the only ones who could have helped Liverpool win the game.

"He drags them all off because he’s got a game on Wednesday. When I saw the team I thought he’s not bothered about this game. He’s putting all his eggs in one basket and I can’t see why he’s done it," Whelan said.

The defeat against Fulham was Liverpool’s eighth loss this season and their sixth in seven games. They are now nine points behind remier League leaders Chelsea. (Agencies)