Gagan Narang to participate in Commonwealth Games

Published>Tue, Aug 17 10 09:16 PM

New Delhi, Aug 17 (IANS) India's ace rifle shooter Gagan Narang said Tuesday that he would participate in the Commonwealth Games here from Oct 3-14.

Earlier this month Narang, who was overlooked for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna for the third consecutive time, felt he was demotivated and didn't want to take part in the Games.

But Narang, who won the bronze at the World Championship in Munich, said that the overwhelming response from well-wishers, family and the shooting fraternity has moved him.

'I have made up my mind to shoot in the coming Commonwealth Games. There is no short of motivation when you see so many people support you and they want you to succeed. Doesn't matter now if I did not get the award. It is a story of the past for me. I shall start training for the games shortly,' Gagan said in a statement issued by indianshooting.com.

'I was on a break after coming back from Munich, in this period I consulted my family, my coaches and the federation for my future course of actions. The only answer I got from all of them was shoot to prove a point. Although my achievements of the last four years have been ignored, I have decided to just keep doing my job from now on, which is to win medals and glory for India,' he said.

'I feel winning a medal for my county is even bigger than any award. If the government feels I deserve any award in future I will get it but from now on I would never expect it or will even talk about it,' Gagan said.

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Fennel on two-day visit to monitor Games' progress

Published>Tue, Aug 17 10 09:08 PM

New Delhi, Aug 17 (IANS) Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) president Mike Fennell will begin a two-day visit here Wednesday to monitor the city's preparedness for the Oct 3-14 Games.

Fennell, who arrived in India Tuesday evening, will be inspecting the stadia besides meeting the government officials.

'Mr. Fennell and I will be going to all the venues tomorrow except shooting and the next day we will be in a series of meetings with government officials, including the chief minister and Mr. Jaipal Reddy, and the Organising Committee executive board,' CGF chief executive Mike Hooper told IANS.

Final touches are still being given to the venues but Organising Committee vice chairperson Randhir Singh who visited all the venues except the Kadarpur Shooting Range, the venue for big bore shooting, Monday gave Aug 25 as the deadline when all the venues will be ready.

Randhir Singh said the Games Village will open Sept 16 when some of the foreign athletes will come here for registration.

Fennell's visit has comes at a time when the Games are embroiled in charges of corruption. Fennell himself had expressed concerns over these developments ahead of his visit.

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Gov Council to decide on number of matches in IPL IV on Aug 20

Tue, Aug 17 10 08:52 PM

Mumbai, Aug 17 (PTI) The Governing Council of the Indian Premier League is expected to decide on the number of matches in next year''s expanded fourth edition of the T20 league here on August 20. "The IPL meeting will decide how many matches should be held in 2011," highly placed sources told PTI today. After eight teams were in the fray for the first three editions of the cash-awash league, the highly popular event has been expended to feature 10 teams from next year. The sources said it was more or less certain that it was not possible to hold the full compliment of matches -- 94 -- if the event is to be held on a home-and-away basis with two semi-finals, third-fourth place play-off match and the grand final. "Playing 94 matches is not possible especially in the months of April-May-June when IPL IV is to be held. May be we will go for 73-74 matches in all," the sources said. "A three-member committee has been formed (former cricketers Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri) and they will give their opinion. There are 3-4 different opinions. We will finalise it during the meeting," they said. (More) PTI SSR VKV SSC

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Wrestler Satywart Kadian wins bronze at Youth Olympics

Published>Tue, Aug 17 10 08:38 PM

Singapore, Aug 17 (IANS) India won their second medal in the inaugural Youth Olympics here Tuesday with wrestler Satywart Kadian bagging the bronze in the men's freestyle 100kg event.

Kadian defeated Geno Petriashvili of Georgia 3-1 to win the second medal for the country after teammate Pooja Dhanda won a silver in women's freestyle 60kg wrestling event Monday.

Earlier in the day, Kadian fought back after losing to Cuban Abraham De Jesus Conyedo Ruano 0-3 in his first group match. The Indian came back to beat Parmvir Dhesi of Canada 3-0 and Andries Schuttl of South Africa 3-1 to finish second in Group B and book a place for the bronze medal match.

Ali Magomedabirov of Azerbaizan won the gold beating Jesus Conyedo Ruano 3-0.

In badminton, Sunil Kumar Prannoy continued his good run and entered the semifinals of the boys singles. The Indian shuttler defeated Tse-Feng Hsieh of Chinese Taipei 21-13, 18-21, 24-22 in a nail-biting quartefinal. He will face J. Kang of Korea next.

Another medal hope, Yuki Bhambri, beat Chi-Lian Huang of Chinese Taipei 6-2, 6-4 in the second round of boys singles to reach the tennis singles quarterfinals, where he will meet John Morrissey of Ireland.

It was a mixed bag for India in athletics.

Arjun qualified for boys discus throw final by finishing first in the qualification with a personal best throw of 63.90m.

Indrajeet Patel finished 9th in boys 3000m qualification round with 8:15.02sec and failed to qualify for the final.

In rowing, Yasin Khan and Gurpreet Singh finished fifth in the junior men's pair semifinals while Thomas Nimmy and Deo Mitali Sekhar came sixth in junior women's pair semifinal.

--Indo--Asian News Service

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Anelka banned for 18 games after World Cup row

Tue, Aug 17 10 08:18 PM

Striker Nicolas Anelka has been banned for 18 games by the French team after the players' World Cup revolt, the French Football Federation (FFF) said on Tuesday.

World Cup captain Patrice Evra was banned for five matches for leading a boycott of a training session in South Africa in June in support of Anelka, who was banished from the squad for insulting coach Raymond Domenech.

The FFF banned Franck Ribery for three games and Jeremy Toulalan for one. Eric Abidal, who was also involved in Tuesday's disciplinary hearing, escaped without sanction.

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Baltacha to spearhead Scot tennis squad at CWG

Tue, Aug 17 10 07:52 PM

Glasgow, Aug 17 (PTI) World number 55 Elena Baltacha was today named in the five-member Scotland tennis squad for the upcoming Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi. The star attraction of the squad announced by the Commonwealth Games Scotland (CGS) and Tennis Scotland is Baltacha, who reached the third round of the Australian Open and is the highest ranked woman player in Great Britain. 19-year-old Jocelyn Rae is the other singles player, who will compete in the women''s singles event while doubles specialist Mhairi Brown will pair up with Baltacha for the women''s doubles event. Baltacha and Brown had won a silver medal at the inaugural Commonwealth Youth Games in Edinburgh in 2000. Meanwhile, Grand Slam winner Jamie Murray, brother of highest ranked British singles player Andy Murray, and seasoned Colin Fleming will pair up as men''s doubles team. "It is always exciting to welcome a new sport to Team Scotland and we are delighted to have the tennis players now confirmed. Given the extreme pressures of the professional circuit we are delighted that players like Elena, Colin and Jamie have made the commitment to play for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games," CGS chairman Michael Cavanagh said. PTI AT SSC

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20-member Delhi team for Girls Sub Jr National Football

Tue, Aug 17 10 07:46 PM

New Delhi, Aug 17 (PTI) Midfielder Dolima Chibber will lead a 20-member Delhi team in the Girls Sub-Junior National Football Championship to be held at Haldwani in Uttrakhand from August 19 to September 4. Manisha Bhalla was named vice-captain of the team by DSA selection committee today after a 20-day open selection trial-cum coaching camp here. Delhi have been clubbed with Pondicherry and Sikkim in Cluster-II. They open their campaign against Sikkim on August 21, followed by a match against Pondicherry on August 23. The team will leave for Haldwani tomorrow. The team: Goalkeepers: Urvashi Tiwari, Ayesha Mathur. Defenders: Jaspreet Kaur, Arpita Singh, Mansi Puri, Jayanti Jha, Aishwaraya Subramaniam, Divya Goel, Kashika Sharma, Rai Joshi. Midfielders: Dolima Chibber (captain), Manisha Bhalla (vice-captain), Jaya Bhatia, Antra Surya, Tanya Manocha. Forwards: Deveena Sharma, Tanya Rizvi, Aaushi Nayyar, Aakansha Chaudhary, Sonia Lakra. Coach: Shabnam.

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Cric laws depriving Sehwag his 100 are like ''an ass'': Tharoor

Tue, Aug 17 10 07:22 PM

New Delhi, Aug 17 (PTI) Former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor today joined the bandwagon of ex-cricketers and experts who criticised Sri Lankan bowler Suraj Randiv''s deliberate no-ball, which denied Virender Sehwag a hundred in last night''s ODI match in Dambulla. Tweeting in the microblogging site, the former Minister of State for External Affairs said the laws of the sport which deprived Sehwag from scoring his 13th ODI century are like "an ass". "Had Sehwag run a single, while the ball was travelling into the stands, would he have scored a century? the Laws (of Cricket) are ''an ass''!," Tharoor tweeted. "To those saying the game was over the moment no-ball was called, not true. Sehwag could have been run out off a no ball! (That''s why Law=ass)". Then, he went on to justify the words he used in his tweets. He wrote: "By the way, ''the law is an ass'' is a quote from Charles Dickens'' Oliver Twist, not some new piece of unparliamentary invective to pillory me4 (me for)." Last night, Sehwag was just one short of his hundred when Randiv deliberately bowled no ball which was hit by the opener for a six. However, it did not count as six because the no ball amounted to India''s winning run leaving Sehwag on an unbeaten 99. Randiv''s antics drew sharp criticism from the batsman as well as many former cricketers, including Madan Lal. However, the issue seems to be cooling off after Sri Lanka Cricket Board and the bowler apologised.

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Pakistan wicketkeeper ruled out from England series

Published>Tue, Aug 17 10 07:18 PM

London, Aug 17 (IANS) Pakistan wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider will return home Wednesday with a fractured finger after being ruled out for the rest of the cricket Test series against England.

The lanky wicketkeeper, who seemed set to play in the last two Tests of the four-match series after scoring a fighting 88 on debut in Birmingham last week, said: 'I'm very patriotic, I take great pride in playing for Pakistan and wearing the green cap. I have a taste for international cricket now and I want to establish myself in the Pakistan team.'

'Injuries are part and parcel of the game, especially for a wicketkeeper and if it had been down to me, I would have played with a broken hand if my country needed me to. I would have played through the pain barrier,' Zulqarnain was quoted as saying by pakpassion.net.

'The injury actually occurred after the second Test match against Australia at Headingley and was aggravated when Stuart Broad threw the ball at me when I was batting. My natural instinct was to stop the ball from hitting me with my hand and unfortunately it hit the finger that I had already damaged,' he said.

Zulqarnain said that he would work hard on his fitness in a bid to make a comeback in the three-Test series against South Africa in the UAE this October.

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ECB's World XI may tour Pakistan to end cricket isolation

Published>Tue, Aug 17 10 07:12 PM

London, Aug 17(ANI): The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is planning to send an invitational World XI to play in Pakistan to end the country's sporting isolation following a terror attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore last year.

ECB Chairman Giles Clarke, who is also ICC's Pakistan Task Team chief, has said that the cricket community "must keep giving Pakistan cricket the chance to fund itself and move forward".

"Cricket cannot abandon a nation with such a magnificent history in the game, such wonderful players and such enthusiastic and knowledgeable supporters," The Dawn quoted Clarke, as having written in an article for The Wisden Cricketer magazine.

"It will be an historic moment when international cricket resumes in Pakistan and the first ICC team walks out," he added.

Counting the costs of no international cricket in Pakistan, Clarke said that the losses are "a brutal impact that few enterprises could survive".

The ECB chief further said that his board plans on hosting more international matches and series for Pakistan in the next few years.

"The atmosphere, the passionate support and, of course, the tremendous cricket played by the Pakistan team made it a compelling experience. The PCB's economic needs make it imperative," Clarke said.

No dates for the tour were revealed in a release issued by the magazine.

Leading cricket teams have refused to visit Pakistan following the 2009 attack on the team in Lahore, which killed eight people, as well as injuring seven Sri Lankan players and their assistant coach.

The security situation has forced Pakistan to hold its 'home' series against Australia and England in England.

In the last two years, Pakistan 'home' games have also been staged in the United Arab Emirates and New Zealand.

Pakistan, which was due to co-host the 2011 World Cup, was also stripped of its matches following the attack on the Sri Lankan team.

Pakistan was supposed to hold 14 matches, including one semi-final. Eight of Pakistan's matches have been awarded to India, four to Sri Lanka and two to Bangladesh. (ANI)

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LG ICC Awards 2010 set to take place in Bengaluru

Published>Tue, Aug 17 10 07:08 PM

Dubai, Aug.17 (ANI): The International Cricket Council (ICC) today announced that the seventh LG ICC Awards ceremony would take place in Bengaluru on October 6, 2010.

The event will be staged in association with Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA).

And, for the first time, this year's LG ICC Awards features a new category, the LG People's Choice Award.

This award will be chosen by cricket fans around the world who will get a chance to vote for their favourite player on-line from a short-list of five cricketers who will be selected by the ICC selection panel on the basis of some really innovative parameters, in sync with the values that embody brand LG.

ICC President Sharad Pawar said: 'It is a great honour for India to host the prestigious LG ICC Awards for the second time since its inception in 2004. I am looking forward to attending what will be my first major event since taking over the ICC Presidency in July.

"The LG ICC Awards are being decided at the end of some excellent and thrilling series, including two hugely successful ICC global events in ICC Champions Trophy 2009 and ICC World Twenty20 2010 and there are quite a few superlative performances to consider," he said.

The ICC selection panel will nominate the five LG People's Choice Awards candidates and the names will be posted on www.icc-cricket.com on 23 August and cricket fans will then have an opportunity to vote for the cricketer of their choice online until September 10.

The nominations for seven of the awards will be made by a five-man ICC selection panel chaired by ICC Cricket Hall of Famer, former West Indies captain and Chairman of ICC Cricket Committee Clive Lloyd. The panel also includes former India captain Ravi Shastri, former England fast bowler Angus Fraser, ex-Zimbabwe batsman and England coach Duncan Fletcher and former Australia opener Matthew Hayden. This panel will also select the ICC Test and ODI teams of the year.

The winners of those seven individual awards will be voted upon by a 25 strong panel of renowned former players, respected members of the media, and an elite umpire and an elite match referee.

Meanwhile, the nominations for the Women's Cricketer of the Year Award will be decided by a separate 25-person voting academy featuring former players and other experts on the women's game.

The Spirit of Cricket Award will be voted on by all the Full Member international captains as well as all members of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees while the Full Member captains and elite match referees will vote on the Umpire of the Year Award. (ANI)

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Kadian bags bronze; Yuki, Prannoy continue winning run at YOG

Tue, Aug 17 10 06:36 PM

Singapore, Aug 17 (PTI) Wrestler Kadian Satywart won a bronze in 100kg freestyle event, while shuttler H S Pronnoy and tennis star Yuki Bhambri kept their medal hopes alive as Indians had a good day in office in the inaugural Youth Olympic Games here today. After Pooja Dhanda won India the silver yesterday, Kadian fetched the second medal for the country after beating Petriashvili Geno of Georgia 3-1 in the 100kg Freestyle to clinch the bronze medal on the third day of the event. Earlier, Kadian finished second in Group B as he lost to Cuban Conyedo Ruano Abraham de Jesus 0-3 before beating Dhesi Parmvir of Canada 3-0 and South African Schutte Andries 3-1. She then beat Petriashvili Geno, who finished second in Group A, to win the bronze. In badminton, Prannoy pulled off a brilliant win over Chinese Taipei''s Hsieh Feng-Tse 21-13 18-21 24-22 in a 51-minute battle to reach the semifinals of the boy''s singles badminton event at the Indoor Stadium here. In tennis, sixth seed Indian Yuki Bhambri continued his good run and thrashed Huang Liang-Chi 6-2 6-4 to set up a clash with John Morrissey of Ireland in the prequarterfinals tomorrow. Among other Indians in fray, Arjun produced his personal best of 63.90m in boys discus to top the qualification event and qualify for the final round, while in boys 3000m qualification, Indrajeet Patel clocked 8:15:02 for a ninth place finish. In rowing, Yasin Khan and Gurpreet Singh advanced to the final round after finishing fifth in the junior men''s pair semifinals, while Thomas Nimmy and Deo Mitali Sekhar secured a sixth place in junior women''s pair semifinal to make it to the final round.

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Top Swimmers to take part in National swimming

Tue, Aug 17 10 06:26 PM

Jaipur, Aug 17 (PTI) Almost all top swimmers of the country will participate in the Senior National Swimming Championship to be held here from August 24 to 28. The Rajasthan Swimming president, Mahant Kailash Sharma told media persons that the championships would be the last opportunity for the swimmers to vie for a place in the Indian team for Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi from October 3-14. "The Indian team for the forthcoming Delhi CWG 2010 and the Asian Games would be selected here at Jaipur. This has made this championship more important because it would be last chance to touch the qualifying mark and book a seat in the Indian team," said Sharma, who himself has been a National level swimmer. "About 1200 swimmers and officials from 31 teams are expected to take part in the championship which will have a total of 54 events, including swimming, diving, water polo and synchronized swimming," he said. Winner of each category except the relay events would be awarded cash prize totaling Rs 7.5 lakhs. "The international level pool at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium would host all the swimming events and water polo competition while the diving competition would be conducted at the Rajasthan University pool," Sharma said. The pink city is hosting the senior national event for the fourth time. Earlier it had hosted it in 1964, 1973 and 1987 apart from hosting sub-junior national swimming in 2009. PTI DS SSC

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Blackburn confirm talks with prospective Indian entrepreneur

Tue, Aug 17 10 06:18 PM

36-year-old Indian entrepreneur, Ahsan Ali Syed, considering a takeover bid for Blackburn Rovers says he will give manager Sam Allardyce up to 100 million pounds ($154.7 million) to spend on new players if the bid succeeds.

The club confirmed on Tuesday that talks were being held with Syed who hopes to take control of Blackburn in the next month.

"Blackburn Rovers can confirm that officials have held a cordial and productive meeting with Western Gulf Advisory (WGA) staff and advisors concerning a proposed takeover of the club. The process is ongoing," it said on its website (wwww.rovers.co.uk).

The Daily Telegraph newspaper quoted Syed as saying he would make funds immediately available so that Allardyce could strengthen the squad in the transfer market.

Syed, 36, who lives in Bahrain, was quoted in the paper as saying: "As part of our first five-year investment we will make 80 million-100 million pounds available to the manager.

"He has done a fantastic job for the club with constrained resources, but I am sure that if he is given a free hand with the resources we can provide then Big Sam has the potential to make wonders."

He added: "For me the investment in Blackburn is more of a passion than a way to make a quick return from the balance sheets.

"I am not investing to make a return in two years and walk away, I am coming in as a fan to invest for the long term."

The English Premier League has introduced stricter new rules this season for anyone attempting a takeover and Syed added: "My proof of funds is quite evident. I am not acquiring this on hire purchase, I have sufficient liquidity to buy the club."

WGA is registered as a Swiss-Bahraini financial services company, said to control around 5 billion pounds of investments on behalf of the Syed family, which traces its wealth to trading and investment in the Hyderabad region in the 19th century.

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Trott backs 'out of sorts' Cook to fire

Published>Tue, Aug 17 10 06:08 PM

London, Aug 17(ANI): England batsman Jonathan Trott insists that struggling opening batsman Alastair Cook will recapture his form to silence critics.

Going into Wednesday's third Test match against Pakistan at The Oval, Cook has scored just 100 runs in his last seven Test innings.

"At the beginning of the Bangladesh series I was probably where he is now. It's only four Test matches since then so it's amazing how things change. But whenever I see Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss at the crease I feel very secure. I'm sure he'll be fine," The Independent quoted Trott, as saying.

Trott however said that having opened the innings once before, when skipper Andrew Strauss opted not to tour Bangladesh, he would be happy to do so again if required.

"It's not something I've thought a lot about as I don't think I'll have to open. But if it's something that's asked of me I think I could do it because it's my job as a number three to be able to score big runs from the first over if I have to," Trott said.

"(In) the last Test of the Bangladesh series I was asked to do it and it was fine. Whether it's opening or batting at seven, it's just as important to be able to contribute to the team," he added.

England currently leads the four match Test series 2-0. (ANI)

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Court allows women's hockey team to go to Argentina

Published>Tue, Aug 17 10 05:38 PM

New Delhi, Aug 17 (IANS) The Supreme Court Tuesday allowed the Indian women's team of Hockey India to go to Argentina to participate in the Women's Hockey World Cup.

The team will leave here Aug 21.

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Somdev out of Mason Masters event after a tough fight

Tue, Aug 17 10 05:22 PM

Mason (USA), Aug 17 (PTI) Somdev Devvarman bowed out of the ATP Western and Southern Financial Group Masters after losing a three-set thriller against Robby Ginepri here. The Indian qualifier lost 7-6 (3) 6-7 (4) 2-6 to the local wild card in a gruelling two-hour-and-34 minute first round match of the USD 24,30,000 hard court event. This is for the second time in a row that Somdev has lost in the first round of an ATP Masters series event. Meanwhile, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi have advanced to the second round of the doubles event with their respective partners after getting a bye in the first round.

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SC allows HI and IOA to send team for World Cup in Argentina

Tue, Aug 17 10 05:12 PM

New Delhi, Aug 17 (PTI) The Supreme Court today allowed the Hockey India (HI) and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to send women''s team to participate in the World Cup in Argentina beginning on August 26. The apex court noted that the players who have been selected for participation in the World Cup by the HI and the IOA are the same as identified and selected by the government''s Sports Authority of India. A Bench comprising Justices R V Raveendran and H L Gokhale made it clear that this was a temporary arrangement as the team has to be sent to Argentina by August 21 for country''s participation in the sporting event. The court passed the order after HI placed before it a communication by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) which said that it only recognises HI to represent Indian team in international event. Webb Roger, the acting Director General of FIH, in the communication had made it clear that HI can only send a team to participate in the World Championship. More PTI RKS KRS MRM

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