Randiv has apologised to me: Sehwag

Tue, Aug 17 10 11:58 AM

Dambulla (Sri Lanka), Aug 17 (PTI) Indian opener Virender Sehwag today said Sri Lankan off-spinner Suraj Randiv, who denied him a hundred in last night''s ODI tri-series match by deliberately bowling a no ball, has apologised for his conduct. Sehwag was just one short of his 13th ODI hundred when Randiv, who had not bowled a no ball in the Test or ODI series this season, bowled one which was hit by the opener for a six. However, it did not count because the no ball amounted to India''s winning run leaving Sehwag on an unbeaten 99. Randiv''s antics were criticised by Sehwag in the post match press conference but the issue seems to be cooling off after the Lankan bowler offered apologies. "Randiv came to my room and apologised," Sehwag wrote on his Twitter page. India comprehensively won last night''s match by six wickets but the conduct of the Sri Lankan team upset the visitors'' camp. Minutes after the game, a livid Sehwag told reporters that Sri Lanka had used such tactics earlier also, pointing out that they had left Sachin Tendulkar stranded at 99 with a similar strategy in a match in Cuttack. Sri Lankan Cricket, on its part, has already conveyed its apologies for the incident to the Indians and has even promised action after getting the team manager''s report on the matter.

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Fast-bowling physio shows how it's done

Tue, Aug 17 10 11:26 AM

Dambulla, Aug. 16 -- Besides learning the art of bowling, a fast bowler also has to discover how to manage his body. In modern-day cricket, if a fast bowler is unable to manage his injuries, it's very unlikely that he will succeed at the highest level. But if you are a fast bowler and a qualified physiotherapist, the risk of suffering major injuries is reduced drastically. That is exactly what Andy McKay, the fastest bowler in New Zealand's national team at the moment, has managed. McKay, who has impressed with his speed, has been a qualified physio since he began playing first-class cricket. "Early on in my cricket career, I was working full time as physio in my winter season and playing cricket in the summer," McKay, 30, said on Monday. "But I am glad to say I haven't done any physio work for a year now. I used to do private practice in Auckland and then in Wellington but I haven't done any physio work since September last year." That would really be helping him to keep his body in shape, isn't it? "Yes and no," McKay said with a grin. "I quite like to have the old dumb fast bowler mentality of if it hurts, you just try and carry on. If I get a niggle I know if it is a good pain or a bad pain. Being a physio gives me an advantage to know what is good pain and what is bad pain." Even though McKay has been a cricketer since the age of four, it took him a long time to breaking into the Black Caps squad. But now that Shane Bond has retired, McKay is being considered as the fastest bowler in New Zealand. What turned the tide for him was to shift his base from Auckland to Wellington. "I am a bit of a late bloomer," McKay admitted. "I played seven to eight years of first-class cricket. "I put it down to my move to Wellington, had a good year with them, and was able to get a lot of consistent cricket at first-class level. I bowled very well with Dan Vettori, the captain of the side. He was happy with my pace. I got a call for the Bangladesh series. And managed to do quite well there." Now that McKay has had almost half a dozen one-day caps to his name, he is leaving no stone unturned in order to stake a claim for a Test spot. And in his endeavour, he is seeking help from none other than the great Richard Hadlee.

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Wrestler Pooja clinches silver at Youth Olympics

Tue, Aug 17 10 11:22 AM

Chandigarh, Aug. 16 -- Vijender's bronze at the Beijing Olympics got international fame for Bhiwani. Now, Pooja Dhanda's silver in the inaugural Youth Olympics in Singapore has placed Hisar, another sleepy town in Haryana, on the world map. On Monday, the 16-year-old wrestler opened the country's account at the Games by defeating three opponents without conceding a point. Pooja eventually lost 1-3 to Baatarzorig Battsetseg of Mongolia in the final to settle for silver in the 60kg freestyle category. "From Day One, I was confident Pooja will bring laurels for the country. Finally, the day has arrived," said coach, Subhash Chander Soni. Before the Youth Olympics, Pooja had won silver at the Asian Cadet Championship in Thailand. "After losing the final to a Japanese wrestler at the Asian meet, Pooja was disappointed and wanted to make up for the loss. Though I was expecting gold, a silver in a big tournament is no mean affair," Pooja's father, Ajmer Singh, told HT from Hisar. Pooja's passion can be gauged from the fact that after clearing her Class X board exams in 2008 with an impressive 87.5%, she could have opted for Science or Commerce. Instead, she chose Arts. The reason was she wanted to devote more time to wrestling. In her Class XII board exams this year, Pooja scored 86.4%. "My daughter has made me proud and I am waiting for the day when she will again grab a medal at the London Olympics," said her father. But initially, Ajmer had his doubts. "When we used to stay in the village, I was also of the opinion that girls were not made for sports. But when we shifted to Hisar and I saw girls pursuing sports, my mindset changed," he said. Pooja had also tried her hand at judo and won three international medals, including gold at the 2nd Youth Asian championship. It was the success of Geetika Jhakhar, an Arjuna awardee, which got Pooja interested in wrestling. "I want to wrestle like Geetika didi one day and earn fame like her," Pooja had told HT a year ago.

Or was there more to it?

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'India's image taking a beating'

Tue, Aug 17 10 11:08 AM

New Delhi, Aug. 17 -- Oscar-winning music composer AR Rahman said negative publicity about the Commonwealth Games was hurting India's image overseas. "I heard in London and other places that people were talking bad things about the Games and India. I think this is not right. A lot of progress has been made (in the preparations for the Games)," Rahman told reporters in the Capital, a day after his anthem for the Games was in-principle approved by a Group of Ministers. Named "Swagatham" (welcome), the song is a mix of Hindi and English lyrics with "energetic rock" and it is dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, he said. "I have been working on the song for six months. We will release it 10 days later after some fine tuning." But he clarified that the song was not going to sound like "Waka Waka", the chartbuster theme song of the recently concluded FIFA World Cup sung by Latina singer Shakira. "I don't think I would want to make it sound anything like Waka Waka," Rahman said.

"I will tweak the lyrics a bit and add some sound elements. But the song is about India, about energy, winning and not giving up. We want the crowd to sing along with us at the opening ceremony. It is simple but not simplistic," he said.

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PCB donates Rs 10 million for Pak flood victims

Tue, Aug 17 10 10:56 AM

Karachi, Aug 17 (PTI) The Pakistan Cricket Board has donated Rs 10 million to the Prime Minister''s relief fund for the victims of the floods that have ravaged the country. The board said the amount has been given to President Asif Zardari for the relief fund. President Zardari is also the chief patron of the PCB and there are reports there is growing pressure on him to make changes in the board following the national team''s dismal show in England. But a PCB official said that the amount donated by PCB staff and members of the national team from their individual earnings was the start of a campaign by the board to help the flood victims. "Millions have been displaced by the floods and we are also trying to organise an exhibition match in England between Pakistan eleven and international eleven to raise more funds," he said. Sources said the board was already in touch with the England and Wales Cricket Board and with the Dubai Sports City to seek help towards organising the exhibition match. "Abdul Rehman Bukhatir of the Dubai sports city has always been a huge patron of Pakistan cricket and he is also keen to help the board organize this flood relief match," one source said. The PCB official said details of the match, including dates and possible teams, would be finalised in a few days time after the PCB gets clearance from the home board for the match. "We want to help the government in the rehabilitation process of the people displaced by the floods," he said. Pakistan''s one-day captain Shahid Afridi has also been active in visiting the flood affected areas to raise funds for the victims.

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Padmini Rout wins Bronze in World Jr Chess Championship

Tue, Aug 17 10 10:52 AM

From Our Chess Correspondent Chotowa-Czarna (Poland), Aug 17 (PTI) Woman Grandmaster Padmini Rout was the lone Indian to sign off with a medal when she notched up the bronze after drawing her 13th and final round game with Deysi Cori of Peru in the World Junior Girls'' Chess Championship here. Scoring 10 points, Padmini, who still has a few years left to play in the world juniors, had beaten Alisa Melekhina of United States in the penultimate round. The gold medal was won by top seed and hot favourite for the crown Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia, who scored another fine victory at the expense of Ekaterini Pavlidou of Greece. Anna scored a whopping 11 points in all and finished half a point clear of Olga Girya of Russia who was held to a draw by Irina Andrenko of Ukraine. In the open championship being played simultaneously, Dmitry Andreikin of Russia won the gold medal ahead of compatriot Sanan Sjugirov. Settling for draws in contrasting fashion in the final round, both Andreikin and Sanan finished with an identical score of 10 points out of a possible 13 but the tie-break of the former was alway superior. The bronze medal went to Darius Sweircz of Poland who had the best tie-break score among four nine pointers. Indian hope Parimarjan Negi finished the tournament with a draw against Maxim Matlakov of Russia. Negi finished 11th in the tournament after scoring 8.5 points in all and was the best Indian performer. Among other Indians in fray, S P Sethuraman finished 32nd on 7.5 points while Swapnil Dhopade was a few places behind on the same score. Debashish Das, Anwesh Upadhyaya and Sagar Shah ended the event on seven points each while M R Lalith Babu, AR Arun Karthik and Ashwin Jayaram had an identical 6.5 points each. Among the other Indian girls, Bhakti Kulkarni did well to finish fifth on nine points while B Pratuyusha ended on 6.5 points in all. .

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Ganguly shocked by Atalik in Greek tourney

Tue, Aug 17 10 10:36 AM

Chalkida (Greece), Aug 17 (PTI) Grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguly suffered a shock defeat at the hands of GM Suat Atalik of Turkey in the seventh round on a disappointing day for the Indians in the first Negroponte International Open Chess Tournament here. Abhijeet Gupta and Vishnu Prasanna also suffered defeats and it seems the Indians are out of title race in this 25,000 Euro prize money tournament. Second of world champion Viswanathan Anand, Ganguly''s game was the shocker of the day as the Indian went down from what looked like a fine position out of a King''s Indian defense. Playing black, Ganguly faced the Bayonet attack but his relatively new plan gave him good counter chances on the king side which is typical of this opening structure. Atalik, however, attacked the queen side relentlessly and it was just a matter of one move that Ganguly missed and the evaluation of the position turned upside down. Atalik was threatening to push his pawns to glory when Ganguly resigned in the endgame. The Turkish player also emerged in sole lead following this victory and the closest Indians are all one and a half point adrift of the leader now. Abhijeet Gupta was outdone by Vladimir Burmakin of Russia. Abhijeet had survived a scare at the hands of Vishnu Prasanna in the previous round and his poor run continued for the second day running as Burmakin capitalised on an optical blunder to win a pawn. Abhijeet could not stage a fight-back that he is known to put and was eventually grounded after losing a rook for a minor piece. Vishnu Prasanna''s hunt for his maiden GM norm ended after his defeat against Robert Hess of United States. Playing white, Vishnu had things under control when all of a sudden he sacrificed a couple of pawns to look for the counter play that was not forthcoming. It turned out to be a bad plan eventually and Hess cashed in on his extra material after some thought. Tania Sachdev also went down to lose a handful of rating points. In the seventh round, Tania found her nemesis in Alexandros Panagiotopoulos of Greece. On the brighter side, former world junior girls'' champion D Harika played out a draw with Grandmaster Nikolov Momchil of Bulgaria while International Master Sahaj Grover got half a point against Grandmaster Elshan Moradiabadi of Iran. GM norm holder Vaibhav Suri also ended on the winning side like Soumya Swaminathan and Deepan Chakkravarthy while Asian junior champion M Shyam Sundar was held to a draw. MORE PTI COR PM

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Pain-free Safina looking to rediscover Montreal magic

Published>Tue, Aug 17 10 09:38 AM

Former world number one Dinara Safina celebrated her return to Stade Uniprix with a 6-3 6-3 win over Germany's Andrea Petkovic at the Montreal Cup on Monday and declared herself 100-percent pain-free after a horror run of injuries.

Russian Safina, who left to a standing ovation with the tournament's crystral trophy two years ago, enjoyed a more humble reception on centre court, with a small afternoon crowd greeting her victory with a smattering of applause.

"If I was not 100 percent there would be no reason to risk because the year is almost finished," Safina told reporters. "If I wasn't healthy I would take time off."

Injuries have seen Safina's ranking tumble to 70 after the 24-year-old took top spot last year.

Following a back injury that forced her out of Wimbledon, the Russian snapped a run of six consecutive losses by beating Alona Bondarenko in the first round of San Diego earlier this month, but was bundled out in the next match.

Kim Clijsters stalled her comeback run in the second round of the Cincinnati Open last week.

"It hurts (to be ranked 70th) but it's more important I'm here, I'm playing and I am healthy," she said.

The win over the 39th-ranked German on Monday was just her fourth since the Australian Open and none of them have been back-to-back.

Safina expects that to change in Montreal, one of her favourite venues.

"It's a nice feeling to be back, I've played some of the best tennis in my career here," said Safina. "I hope they will put me a bit more on centre court so I can feel the crowd. With their support I will try to do my best.

"For how long I don't know but I will give my best."

A return to form for Safina would provide a welcome boost for the tournament, which has suffered from the withdrawals of the Williams sisters and Maria Sharapova, who sustained a heel injury during her loss to Clijsters in the Cincinnati Open final.

After a rain delay, Estonia's Kaia Kanepi dumped out 14th seed Shahar Peer of Israel 6-3 6-3.

Belgian 13th seed Yanina Wickmayer eased past Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-3 7-6, while 16th seed Aravane Rezai tamed Czech Petra Kvitova 6-7 7-5 6-3.

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Roddick and Dent advance at Cincinnati Masters

Published>Tue, Aug 17 10 08:44 AM

Andy Roddick needed three sets to beat 46th-ranked Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-4 6-7 6-1, while fellow American Taylor Dent upset Feliciano Lopez to advance to the second round of the Cincinnati Masters on Monday.

Roddick, who has struggled for form and fitness in recent weeks, produced some powerful serves but had to stay alert against an opponent who played some enterprising if erratic tennis.

The Ukrainian came out on top in the tiebreak at the end of a very tight second set but Roddick broke early in the third to take a firm grip on the match.

Dent, who last won an ATP tournament in 2003, beat Spaniard Lopez 6-3 6-2 in perfect conditions on center court to set up a second-round clash with world number one Rafa Nadal.

Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka comfortably defeated Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 6-3 6-3 and will play the winner of the all-French match between Michael Llodra and Julien Benneteau.

Sam Querrey completed a good day for the United States by beating German Phillipp Petzschner 6-1 6-4.

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