Stenson joins chorus of disapproval over revamped 18th

Published>Fri, May 21 10 09:47 PM

Henrik Stenson, who last year won the tournament dubbed the unofficial fifth major, has joined the growing chorus of disapproval over the revamped 18th hole at Wentworth's West Course.

The 34-year-old Swede, hovering around the projected cut mark at the PGA Championship, had to risk all and go for the green in two at the treacherous par-five last on Friday.

Stenson drove into a bunker and then hit a majestic 240-yard five-wood before two-putting from 18 feet for his birdie four.

"I had no choice," he told Reuters after a second-round 71 gave him a two-over total of 144. "When I got a pretty clean lie in the bunker there was no doubt in my mind.

"I enjoy that shot but I'm not overly fond of the changes on the 18th and it definitely needs a bit of tweaking."

With a new moat ready to gobble up anything that lands short of an elevated green, most players are taking a safety-first approach by laying up in two.

World number three Lee Westwood was among those critical of the new-look 18th on Thursday and Stenson feels much the same.

"I would have liked to see the green not quite as raised to give the players a little bit more room," said Stenson who has dropped to 21st in the world after being in the top 10 following his 2009 Players Championship victory in Florida.

"There's no margin for error. If you bail out short of the green it should be a hardship but some of the bunkers just leave you completely dead.

"I think it will be re-evaluated at the end of the week but it's pushing too many players to lay up," added the tall Swede, resplendent in white tee shirt and loud, green-checked trousers.

STAY DRY

"It's fine to have a creak or something on the last hole but if you stay dry I think you still need to have some sort of shot left."

Stenson is without a title since his Sawgrass triumph and has struggled this season, with two eighth-place finishes representing a poor return for someone blessed with so much natural talent.

"My confidence is quite low," said the Ryder Cup stalwart. "I've been struggling with my swing in general for quite some time but my short game is pretty good and my putting is okay too.

"I feel like I've been playing pretty average for some time and I have some things to sort out. Of course I get frustrated.

"I know I can perform and play so much better and it's just not happening. I've got to work a little harder and stay patient and look to put it all together."

Stenson, a winner of six European Tour events, said he was finding it tough mentally to keep on an even keel.

"It's a combination of things of course," he said. "Once you hit it bad and you don't feel good about it, every bad shot gets to you more than it does when you're in good form.

"It's a bit of a battle at the moment and I just have to hope I get through it."

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Delhi High Court comes down hard on sports ministry

Published>Fri, May 21 10 09:27 PM

New Delhi, May 21 (IANS) The Delhi High Court rapped the sports ministry Friday while reinstating the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) two years after its supersession by the Indian Olympic Association. The government should play the role of an 'effective regulator' and the sports bodies should have a 'degree of autonomy' to function, the court observed.

Though Indian Olympic Association itself came in for criticism for 'illegally' disaffiliating the IHF in April 2008, the court's observations on the role of the ministry might have come as music to the ears of the Olympic associstion which has been waging a battle for autonomy for itself and the sports federations.

'Sports bodies have to have a degree of autonomy with the government playing the role of an effective regulator. They must be allowed to function in a democratic manner with persons really interested in developing the game participating in its affairs,' Justice S. Muralidhar observed while delivering the judgment.

IOA and national sports federations (NSFs) are on the warpath, opposing the ministry's efforts to fix the tenure and age limit of the their office-bearers.

The ministry Friday reserved its comments on the court order. A ministry official told IANS that Sports Minister M.S. Gill would comment only after going through the full judgment.

'He would not comment until he goes through the full court order,' a ministry spokesperson said when asked to react to the court observation that the government's role should be that of an 'effective regulator'.

After disaffiliating the IHF, headed by Kanwar Pal Singh Gill, the IOA appointed a new body Hockey India (HI) with blessings of both the International Hockey Federation (FIH) and the ministry.

The international body even made the formation of an elected HI as a precondition for India hosting the World Cup in Feb-March, but relented and gave time to hold the election after the event.

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Gill vows to fight back after High Court quashes IOC order

Published>Fri, May 21 10 09:07 PM

New Delhi, May 21 (ANI): Deposed president of Indian Hockey Federation (IHF), K.P.S. Gill today vowed to fight back after the Delhi High Court quashed the Indian Olympic Association (IOC) order disbanding the IHF in 2008.

The judgment is in the interest of Indian hockey and that the IHF will soon be back in action, Gill said.

"We stand vindicated by the order. We are already having the nationals and soon we will call the AGM of the IHF and take necessary steps to revive the game in the country," Gill said.

The Indian Olympic Association dissolved IHF over allegation of mismanagement of funds involving the then IHF secretary K Jyothikumaran.

Hockey India was formed after the merger of men and women associations and an ad-hoc committee was formed to run the hockey affairs. (ANI)

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Akmal gets Waqar''s backing

Published Fri, May 21 10 08:51 PM

Melbourne, May 21 (PTI) Kamran Akmal, who is facing allegations of match-fixing during Pakistan''s recent tour of Australia, got backing from his coach Waqar Younis who said he would consider the wicket-keeper for selection until the charges are proved. Intikhab Alam and Aaqib Javed, Pakistan''s coaches on the Australian tour, expressed suspicions over performance of Akmal who had dropped four catches and missed an easy run out chance in the Sydney Test. Video recordings of the proceedings of the inquiry committee that was formed by the Board in March to probe into the team''s poor performance show Intikhab and Aaqib saying they have suspicions over the performance of Akmal and all-rounder Rana Naved and have heard things about them in relation to match fixing. "If you don''t have any proof, you should just keep quiet," said Waqar who replaced Intikhab as head coach. "I won''t have a problem selecting Kamran, I think he was one of our better performers in the World Twenty20. There are some very ugly agendas and people trying to benefit here," he was quoted as saying by ''The Age''.

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INTERVIEW - Spain not taking Triesman allegations seriously

Published>Fri, May 21 10 08:47 PM

Spain had not taken seriously allegations of a Russian-Spanish match-fixing plot at the World Cup, said secretary of state for sport Jaime Lissavetzky.

"I read about it and I simply had to smile," Lissavetzky told Reuters in an interview on Friday.

"How could anyone in their right mind think that Spain, a democratic country, could do such things?" he added. "We didn't attach much importance to it."

Lissavetzky was reacting to allegations made by David Triesman, former chairman of the English Football Association and head of England's bid for the 2018 World Cup.

Triesman quit this week after the secretly recorded comments were made public in Britain's Mail on Sunday newspaper.

He was quoted as saying rival bidders Spain and Russia were conspiring to bribe referees at next month's World Cup in South Africa and FIFA have said they are working with Interpol to see if there was any substance to the allegations.

"Everyone has the right to make a mistake," Lissavetzky, who is half Ukrainian, told Reuters.

"I know that he (Triesman) sent a letter to the Spanish and Portuguese federations apologising," he added. "Nothing more needs to be said."

Spain and Portugal have applied jointly for the right to host the World Cup in 2018 or 2022 and Lissavetzky said in the wake of the Triesman allegations it was important to ensure there was "fair play" in the bidding process.

"The only thing I would ask is for fair play," he said. "We, of course, show respect to the other bids. We have always played fair here in Spain."

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Sharat Kamal to lead Indian challenge in World TT

Published Fri, May 21 10 08:27 PM

New Delhi, May 21 (PTI) Olympian Achanta Sharat Kamal will spearhead Indian men''s challenge at the Liebherr World Table Tennis Championships to be held in Moscow from Sunday. The other members of the men''s team include Soumyadeep Roy, Subhajit Saha and Arputharaj Amalraj Anthony. The women''s team will be led by experienced Mouma Das while the other members include Poulomi Ghatak, Shamini Kumaresan, Madhurika Patkar and Divya Deshpande. The men''s team is placed in Group E along with Belgium, Argentina, Israel, Canada and Bosnia while the women paddlers find themselves in Group H where they will take on Malaysia, Israel, Denmark, Turkey and Portugal. The entire Indian contingent will leave for Moscow tonight from Zhengding, China, where they were training and competing with the best of Chinese players.

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Twenty20 format popularising cricket: Irfan

Published Fri, May 21 10 08:23 PM

Chandigarh, May 21 (PTI) Former India pacer Irfan Pathan today said the Twenty20 format has helped in increasing popularity of cricket as the fans have embraced it wholeheartedly. "T20 format of game has given 200 per cent popularity to cricket. The change for good is always accepted by the people and they have welcome it to the fullest," Pathan said on the sidelines of selection of players for Ambuja Parivar League (APL) here. He said media criticism of players was welcome if it did not cross the limit. "It (media criticism) always helps in improvement. However, there should be certain limit to criticism," he said. Pathan said APL will raise the spirit of sportsmanship among its members. Pathan selected 15 players each of Chandigarh Challengers and Bathinda Warriors teams. He will also select players for other teams in Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar. The APL is a cricket tournament organised by Ambuja Cement to spot talent among its dealer network.

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