Tait can break Akhtar's fastest delivery record: Pybus

Published>Tue, Jul 06 10 05:07 PM

New Delhi, July 6 (ANI): Former Pakistan coach Richard Pybus believes that Australia's express fast bowler Shaun Tait can break Shoaib Akhtar's record of bowling the quickest delivery.

Tait clocked 100 mph (161 kph), the fastest ever by an Australian, during the fifth and last one-day international against England at Lord's on Saturday, and Pybus believes the pacer would surpass Akhtar's 161.3 kph mark soon.

"The only one in that frame now is Tait who can break Shoaib's record," said Pybus, who was Pakistan's coach during the 2003 World Cup during which Akhtar's pace tested the speed guns.

"However, its not the speed of any particular ball that is of interest, its more the way the spell is constructed and the confrontation of a genuinely quick bowler and the skill of the batters to counter it," he added.

Pybus said that there several other bowlers who are able to touch the 100 mph mark, but more than speed it's the length and bounce that matters more for success.

"Kemar Roach may get up there as he matures in the next couple of years. Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel can bowl in the 90s but both rely more on constructing spells - Steyn with swing and Morkel with bounce and length," he said.

Commenting on Akhtar's return to international cricket after a long gap, Pybus said the Rawalpindi Express still has the ability to bowl quick, but he has lost the sting which threatened even the best batsmen in the world.

"It's great that Shoaib is back bowling quick again after his injury problems. Shoaib will bowl the odd quick ball, whether he can climb into the high 90's remains to be seen," he said. (ANI)

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Torres World Cup debate rages on in Spain

Published Tue, Jul 06 10 04:53 PM

Madrid, July 5 -- The debate about whether Fernando Torres should be in Spain's World Cup football starting lineup in the semi-final against Germany continued apace on Monday. The Liverpool striker has started all of Spain's matches in South Africa - except in the debut defeat against Switzerland, when he came on after an hour - but has looked slow and sluggish, without fitness, rhythm or confidence. The struggling 26-year-old Torres has not yet scored in the World Cup and has never come close to finding the net. In the Round of 16 clash against Portugal, Torres was replaced by Fernando Llorente after an hour. The Spanish attack improved without Torres - and David Villa scored the winning goal. Against Paraguay in the quarter-finals, Torres again got the starting nod from coach Vicente del Bosque but again looked out of sorts. He was replaced after another fruitless hour by Cesc Fabregas - and Villa's winning goal soon came. Now the question is whether Torres should start in Wednesday's semi-final against Germany. An online poll taken by Madrid sports daily Marca showed Monday that 75.2 per cent of readers think he should not. Marca suggested that Del Bosque should start with either David Silva - who has not played since the Switzerland fiasco - or Fabregas. A similar poll taken by AS showed that 67 per cent of readers think Torres should not start against Germany. AS held a massive debate about Torres Monday. One columnist, Manolo Lama, argues that it is "a lack of respect" to question Torres' first-choice status, and that the Germans are "afraid of him" because of his winning goal against them in the Euro 2008 final. Lama also claimed that Torres "opens up important spaces for Villa, who takes advantage of all his hard work". Another AS columnist, Manu Carreno, said that Torres should be given "a psychologial and physical rest" on Wednesday, and be "saved for the final," with Llorente taking his place. Torres has never been a unanimous popular choice for Spain, unlike goal-scoring hero Villa, mainly because his international scoring record is much poorer than Villa's. Torres has played 78 times for La Roja, scoring only 24 goals. He was doubtful to go to South Africa after an injury-ruined season for Liverpool which saw operations to remove damaged carliage in his right knee in January and April.

Del Bosque has been faithful to Torres - too faithful according to the media. On Sunday, however, he hinted that his faith might be wearing thin by saying that "Torres will continue to give us his work and personality...but he is not an automatic starter."

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Captaincy controversy breaks German harmony

Published>Tue, Jul 06 10 03:37 PM

Germany's World Cup harmony was disrupted on Tuesday after skipper Philipp Lahm said he had no intention of willingly giving up the captain's armband when Michael Ballack returns to fitness.

Lahm's comments in an interview with the newspaper Bild, were published on Tuesday and team manager Oliver Bierhoff had to answer a series of questions about the issue -- and the departure of Ballack from the team camp.

Bierhoff denied that the controversy, which broke out just over an hour before the German team were due to fly to Durban for their Wednesday semi-final with Spain, had upset the team.

"There is no dissent whatsoever, not even a hint of conflict," he told a news conference at the team's hotel.

Lahm is officially the World Cup captain while Ballack, who recently moved from Chelsea to German club Bayer Leverkusen, remains the team captain.

Ballack, who has missed the tournament due to an ankle injury, flew out to be with the team ahead of the quarter-final with Argentina but returned to Europe on Monday prompting speculation he may have been upset with Lahm's comments.

"It's not the case, Ballack visited the team in Sicily before the tournament and it was always agreed that he would visit for the quarter-final.

"UNFORTUNATE COINCIDENCE"

"It is an unfortunate coincidence that Ballack's departure and Lahm's statement coincided," Bierhoff told a news conference, adding that the midfielder's return was because he needed to continue his treatment on his ankle.

"He felt good and had excellent physiotherapy, luckily his injury is healing surprisingly fast... he needs a lot of rehab now, he needs special facilities and a lot of time.

"It emerged that Michael didn't want to take out any resources from the team. He knew that if his rehab was to proceed he needed more time from staff... he decided that it was better to continue treatment in Luxembourg," said Bierhoff.

Former AC Milan and Germany striker Bierhoff said that Ballack may return to South Africa if Germany reach the final.

In the comments to Bild, Lahm said: "It's obvious that I'd like to keep the captain's armband. The job gives me a great deal of enjoyment. Why should I then give it up by choice?

"If you do the job out there on the pitch and you have it under control, as in my case, you want more. You want more responsibility. You want to take care of it all. That is the case with me," he added.

Bierhoff said: "We have freedom of speech in the team and need players willing to speak their mind. It is rather like when a player says he is disappointed to be left out -- are you supposed to be annoyed that he is disappointed?

"But in the end, it is the coach who makes the decision over who is captain."

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Mir Iqbal trophy to feature 40,000 footballers

Published Tue, Jul 06 10 03:21 PM

New Delhi, July 6 (PTI) Over 40,000 under-16 footballers from 1500 schools would be vying for the top honours in the Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy for the National sub-junior Championship to be organised across 75 cities of the country. The grassroots level championship, sponsored by Coca Cola, is being organised to unearth promising youngsters for the Under-16 Indian football team for 2011. "We received an overwhelming response for the Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy tournament in 2009 and are proud to take the initiative to the next level by organising it in 1500 schools across 75 cities this year," said Alberto Colaco, General Secretary of the AlI India Football Federation (AIFF). The program is open to all young footballers in the age group of 12-15 years. The tournament has been organised by AIFF since 1977. In the first stage District Football Associations will organise a competition or skill trial among talented football players in the age group 12-15 years. District level teams will then compete within their state, where the State Football Association will select a team to represent the state at the Regional level. During the second stage, 31 teams will compete with each other across four zones -- North East, South, West, East and North. Top two teams from each zone will then advance to the national level. After this, 10 teams from the zonal level will qualify for the national level which will be played at New Delhi in December this year. In the end, two teams will play the national finals. PTI PM AT

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German injury worries ease ahead of semi-final

Published>Tue, Jul 06 10 03:17 PM

Germany's injury worries have cleared up ahead of Wednesday's World Cup semi-final with Spain, with team manager Oliver Bierhoff declaring that all the squad are fit for the clash in Durban.

Germany will be without suspended midfielder Thomas Mueller but Sami Khedira and Cacau, who have been training separately for the past two days, were available to coach Joachim Loew, said Bierhoff.

Central defender Arne Friedrich, who had a foot problem, also sat out training on Monday but will be ready to play.

"The most important thing is for the coach to be able to pick from all the squad except for Mueller," said Bierhoff who said the team would cope with the absence of the exciting 20-year-old.

"In a tournament a team settles and so Thomas's absence is a little link in the chain missing and he has been outstanding," said the Germany team manager.

"The team have reacted admirably whenever key players (have been) missing," he said.

Germany have several options for replacing Mueller with Cacau and Toni Kroos in the frame but the most likely choice is winger Piotr Trochowski, positionally more of a straight swap. (Writing by Simon Evans; Editing by Ossian Shine)

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Body of chess master Bobby Fischer exhumed in paternity row

Published>Tue, Jul 06 10 02:07 PM

London, July 6 (ANI): The body of American chess champion Bobby Fischer has been exhumed in Iceland in a bid to clarify if he is the father of a nine-year-old girl from the Philippines.

According to police district commissioner Olafur Helgi Kjartansson, Fischer's body was dug up from a cemetery near Selfoss in southern Iceland in the presence of a doctor, a priest and other officials.

Fischer died in Iceland in January 2008 aged 64. He left no will, and legal wrangling continues over his estate, the Telegraph reported.

The body was exhumed after Iceland's supreme court ruled that DNA testing was required to be done to determine if Fischer was the father of Jinky Young, whose mother Marilyn says she had a relationship with him.

Jinky, who lives in the Philippines with her mother, flew to Iceland to provide her own blood sample in December. (ANI)

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Rangaswami Cup: big wins for Punjab and Mumbai

Published Tue, Jul 06 10 01:51 PM

Bhopal, Jul 6 (PTI) Punjab crushed Bihar 9-0 while Mumbai trounced Chhattisgarh 7-0 in the 63rd Rangaswami Cup Senior National Men''s Hockey Championship played at the Aishbagh Stadium here. In another encounter, Goa defeated Himachal Pradesh 1-0 yesterday. Punjab captain Jasjeet Singh (17th and 46th minutes) and Karanjeet Singh (42nd, 64th) scored two goals each while Jagroop Singh (12th), Gagandeep Singh (32nd), Navjot Singh (34th), Manjinder Singh (58th) and Gauravjeet Singh (59th) hit one each. At the breather Punjab led 4-0. In the other match, Irphan Khan scored the first field goal for Mumbai in the 29th minute and after the first half they led 1-0. In the second half, Mumbai dominated completely over Chhattisgarh and hit six more goals. Gursev Singh converted a penalty corner in the 39th minute to give Mumbai a 2-0 lead, after which they scored five field goals through Alden D''souza (45th), Jayesh Jadhav (48th), Niyaz Rahim (52nd), Laxman Rao (58th) and Manish Yadav (63rd). In the third match, players of both Himachal Pradesh and Goa were unable to score till the breather despite some brilliant moves. In the second half, Ibrahim Mulla of Goa converted a penalty corner in the 64th minute and ensured his team''s first victory in the tournament.

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