Vijender in World boxing quarter-finals

NEW DELHI: Olympic bronze medallist and middle weight (75kg) top seed Vijender Singh moved into quarter-finals of the World Boxing Championships after beating Steve Rolls of Canada 4-2 in Milan.

Vijender made into the pre-quarters of the event by outscoring Kazakhstan’s Belgibayev Azamat with a convincing margin of 14-8.

Round one of the pre-quarters ended with the Canadian ahead by 1-0. Although Vijender had managed to land a couple of lusty blows on the target, they did not find favour with the judges. In round two, Vijender capitalised on his hieght advantage and better arm span to score two straight left and right combination punches, to move ahead and finish at 2-1.

The Indiancorner was clearly agitated as they felt that atleast two more legitimate scoring blows delivered by Vijender should have got judges nod.

In round three, Steve Rolls closed the lead to 3-2 before Vijender who was continuously cheered by his Indian supporters, was able to increase the lead to 4-2.

With the seconds ticking away, Vijender intelligently kept the Canadian at arms length by great footwork and sharp jabs.

Vijender Singh now meets Derevyanchenko Sergiy of Ukraine who defeated Killici Adem of Turkey in the other pre quarter-finals match.

In any case this is one of the best performance by Indian boxers at the World Championships in recent times.

In the last World Championships held at Chicago in 2007, Anthresh Lakra (57kg) was the lone Indian to reach the quarter-finals. Thus, the performance of Vijender Singh (75kg) and Dinesh Kumar (81kg) in this World Championship is a record by itself.

TOI

Rafael Nadal storms into US Open quarter-finals

NEW YORK:

NEW YORK: Rafael Nadal assured a jump past Britain's Andy Murray back into the world number two ranking by advancing to the US Open quarter-finals More Pictures on Tuesday while the Scotsman crashed out in humbling fashion.

Spanish third seed Rafael Nadal, trying to complete a career Grand Slam, advanced to the US Open quarter-finals on Tuesday by defeating French 13th seed Gael Monfils 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 6-1, 6-3.

Nadal, who clinched a return to second in the world rankings with the triumph, will play for a spot in the semi-finals against Chilean 11th seed Fernando Gonzalez, whom he has beaten in six of nine previous matches.

Also Read: Man arrested after running on court to kiss Nadal

"He's a very good player," Nadal said. "Unbelievable forehands. If I don't play my best it's going to be impossible."

Nadal showed no sign of pain after a two-month layoff with knee tendinitis, calling his knees "very good", or from a right abdominal muscle injury that was treated during his third-round victory on Sunday over countryman Nicolas Almagro.

"I had a few problems but I am in the quarter-finals here for the third time and I'm very happy," Nadal said. "I'm just trying to enjoy my comeback. It's a big result for me. It's much better than what I expected."

A spectator, camera in hand, ran onto the court moments after the match and was able to reach Nadal and give congratulations before security guards pulled him away. Nearly as shocking as the surprise intruder was Murray's fourth-round exit, the second seed never looking on form as Croatian 16th seed Marin Cilic reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final with a 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 victory.

Monfils broke Nadal in the fourth game of the match and served for the first set at 5-3 but was broken in five points, the last on a netted forehand.

In the tie-break, Monfils won five of the last six points, two on aces and the last when left-hander Nadal pushed a forehand wide.

Nadal saved a break point and held in the opening game of the second set, then swatted a fiery forehand winner on his first break chance for a 4-2 edge.

Monfils broke back but then gave the game back by netting a forehand and Nadal held serve to claim the set, then broke to open the third when Monfils sent a forehand beyond the baseline, pressing his edge to seize momentum.

Nadal took another break in the fifth game when Monfils pushed a forehand wide and another on a double fault to win the 28-minute third set.

An error-gifted break in the fourth game put Nadal ahead. Monfils struck back to break in the next game but double-faulted away a break in the eighth game and Nadal held serve to win after two hours 45 minutes when Monfils netted a forehand, this 63rd and last unforced error.

Nadal is trying to become just the seventh man to complete the career Grand Slam, joining Roger Federer, Andre Agassi, Fred Perry, Don Budge, Rod Laver and Roy Emerson as the only men to win each of the four major titles.

TOI

Paes-Black in US Open mixed doubles final

NEW DELHI: India's Leander Paes and Cara Black of Zimbabwe beat Su-Wei Hsieh and Kevin Ullyett to enter the US Open mixed doubles finals on Tuesday.


Leander Paes and Cara Black defeated Su-Wei Hsieh and Kevin Ullyett 6-2, 3-6, 10-5.

The Indo-Zimbabwean pair started off well as they clinched the first set 6-2 quite easily but their opponents bounced back to level the scores 1-1 by claiming the second set 6-3.

Paes-Black had to fight it out in the marathon final set, which went on for 15 games, to make their way into the finals as they sealed the set and the match 10-5 in their favour.

Earlier on Monday, Paes and Black had beaten Rennae Stubbs and Robert Lindstedt 7-5, 3-6 (10-6) to make it to the mixed doubles semi-finals.

TOI

ICC Champions Trophy 2009

Tue 22 12:30 South Africa v Sri Lanka, 1st Match, Group B, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 Centurion (D/N)

Wed 23 12:30 Pakistan v West Indies, 2nd Match, Group A, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 Johannesburg (D/N)

Thu 24 07:30 South Africa v New Zealand, 3rd Match, Group B, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 Centurion

Fri 25 12:30 England v Sri Lanka, 4th Match, Group B, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 Johannesburg (D/N)

Sat 26 07:30 Australia v West Indies, 5th Match, Group A, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 Johannesburg

Sat 26 12:30 India v Pakistan, 6th Match, Group A, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 Centurion (D/N)

Sun 27 07:30 New Zealand v Sri Lanka, 7th Match, Group B, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 Johannesburg

Sun 27 12:30 South Africa v England, 8th Match, Group B, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 Centurion (D/N)

Mon 28 12:30 Australia v India, 9th Match, Group A, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 Centurion (D/N)

Tue 29 12:30 England v New Zealand, 10th Match, Group B, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 Johannesburg (D/N)

Wed 30 07:30 Australia v Pakistan, 11th Match, Group A, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 Centurion

Wed 30 12:30 India v West Indies, 12th Match, Group A, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 Johannesburg (D/N)

October 2009
Fri 02 12:30 A1 v B2, 1st Semi-Final, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 Centurion (D/N)

Sat 03 12:30 B1 v A2, 2nd Semi-Final, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 Johannesburg (D/N)

Mon 05 12:30 Final, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 Centurion (D/N)

Champions Compaq Cup, 2009

Tue 08 09:00 Sri Lanka v New Zealand, 1st Match, Champions Compaq Cup, 2009
Sri Lanka won by 97 runs Colombo (D/N)

Fri 11 09:00 India v New Zealand, 2nd Match, Champions Compaq Cup, 2009 Colombo (D/N)

Sat 12 09:00 Sri Lanka v India, 3rd Match, Champions Compaq Cup, 2009 Colombo (D/N)

Mon 14 09:00 Final, Champions Compaq Cup, 2009 Colombo (D/N)

Antiguan Baptiste appointed Kenya coach

Former West Indies fast bowling all-rounder Eldine Baptiste has been appointed Kenya cricket coach on a two-year term until June 2011, the team announced on Wednesday.

The 49-year-old Baptiste, who played 10 Tests and 43 One Day Internationals for his country, becomes the second West Indian to take charge of the Kenya team after Roger Harper in 2006. He replaces South African Andy Kirsten whose contract expired in May.

"Eldine brings to the national team a wealth of cricketing experience having been a national player himself for West Indies, and in recent years after retirement from cricket has held several coaching positions," Cricket Kenya chief Tom Tikolo said.

"Most notable is that he was head coach of the Stanford 20/20 Super Star Series 2008, which went on to win the series and prize money of 20 million dollars," he added.

Eldine, who has also served as head coach of South African side Kwazulu Natal, joins Kenya when the national team is preparing for a tour of Zimbabwe later this month and South Africa in November.

"His immediate role will be to prepare and train the Kenya national team by defining and setting out the performance program for the team's training. He will be responsible for all direct coaching and management issues of the team," Tikolo said.

Soruce:Cricbuzz

White looking to bowl again

Australian batsman Cameron White has revealed he still harbours ambitions of resurrecting his stalled bowling career to improve his chances of being a permanent fixture in the national team.

White began his domestic and international careers as a spin bowler who could bat, but recently, his batting prowess has proved to be more destructive.

After batting in the middle order for the majority of his Australian career, the Victorian skipper has now been earmarked as a front-line batsman in the current one-day series against England.

Coming in at first drop in the first two matches in Australian captain Ricky Ponting's absence, White has had an immediate effect, hitting knocks of 53 (career-high) and 42 to be one of Australia's leading batsmen so far.

But, in 10 ODIs this calendar year, White has only been asked to roll his arm over on five occasions for a modest combined return of 3-68.

However, despite admitting to feeling as settled as ever at the international level in the No.3 slot, White said he has been working on his bowling in an attempt to once again be a strike bowler for both his state and country.

"I changed a few things," White told CATV regarding his bowling action.

"I felt as though I need to always keep improving at my bowling to help play more games for Australia and hopefully that can help me improve and become a better bowler."

"But at this stage I probably just need to work at it in the nets now and need to put it in a game now at some stage, whether that's at international level or hopefully get an opportunity to roll some overs out back with Victoria once I get a chance."

"I've shortened my run-up a little and just trying to get side on a little bit earlier and basically get side on at the point of delivery to give myself a better chance to bowl the ball and be a bit more accurate."

White, who has taken a total of 250 wickets for Australia and Victoria in all forms of the game, believes batting at No.3 is more stress-free than entering the fray with four or five wickets lost.

"Obviously you get to get in against a new ball, get a bit more time to set your innings up rather than if you're batting at seven or even a six at times," he said.

"You're basically trying to score at a run a ball and hit boundaries from then on in (when coming at No.7), so I really enjoy batting at three ... (it) just gives me a bit of time to play really correctly and set my innings up."

Meanwhile, White said he was excited by the prospect of the inaugural Twenty20 Champions League competition in October where he will captain the Bushrangers against the world's best domestic sides.

"For a lot of the guys it will be a new thing," he said. "First time in India so really looking forward to getting the team over there and hopefully we can get through the round games and who knows what happens from there."

One of Victoria's opponents in the preliminary stage will be the Delhi Daredevils - the IPL team which star Bushrangers Twenty20 bowler Dirk Nannes has decided to represent in the tournament.

However, White denies there'll be added spice when the two teams meet.

"Dirk's made his decision, he's going to play for Delhi, spoken to all his Victorian team-mates about why he's made that decision, so we're comfortable with that so we'll just move on from that," White said.

© Cricbuzz

Razzaq given clearance to join KKR

Pakistan Cricket Board

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) gave its go-ahead to all-rounder Abdul Razzaq to sign a contract with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for the third edition of the IPL.

Razzaq had met Ejaz Butt to inform him about the offer he has received from the Shahrukh Khan-owned IPL franchise and seek his permission to play for KKR.

After the meeting the PCB chairman allowed the cricketer to join the Kolkata based team.

Razzaq, who quit the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) earlier this year, has made his comeback to the Pakistan side during the Twenty20 World Cup in England, this June and also played an ODI series against Sri Lanka last month.

The 29-year-old right-hander was all delighted to receive the PCB's permission to join the IPL.

"It is great news for me and I'm now looking forward to giving my best for the Knight Riders," Razzaq said.

© Cricbuzz

Kirsten backs Tendulkar's ODIs proposal

India's cricket coach Gary Kirsten today gave a thumbs up to Sachin Tendulkar's idea of splitting the one-dayers into four innings of 25 overs each to revive the format, saying the senior batsman's proposal should be given a thought.

"It is a good idea. I know it has been suggested before somewhere down the line," Kirsten told reporters.

Tendulkar had suggested that ODIs be split into four innings of 25 overs a side to negate the luck factor associated with winning the toss and bring some excitement to the format which is fighting for survival in the face of the Twenty20 storm.

Kirsten said the the option can be explored.

"I think what he is doing is that he is just opening it up to see the different options that could be brought about in the one-day game. A player of his stature, one should listen to him," he said.

Tendulkar had said he hit upon the idea during the 2002 Champions Trophy when India played two finals against Sri Lanka due to rain disruptions but no result could come forcing the organizers to declare the two sides joint winners.

"I thought 110 overs and no result, that's when I thought of this (splitting the match into four innings of 25 overs a side)," he had stated.

© PTI

Pakistani players are involved in match fixing, claims Umar

KARACHI, Sep 6: In another sensational claim, former Pakistan batsman Qasim Umar has accused two senior cricketers of the national team of being involved in match fixing and using drugs. Umar, who has now turned to religion for solace, told the daily “Jang’ newspaper, on Sunday, that he would disclose the names of the players at an appropriate time. “Right now I don't want to take any names because both these players are influential persons and they can have me killed. I fear for my life,” Umar claimed. “I am silent now for some reasons but when the time comes I will unmask their faces,” he said. Incidentally, Umar was banned for life in the late 80s for accusing former captain Imran Khan and some other players of smuggling drugs in their kit bags to England.

Vijender in pre-quarters

Milan, Sep 6: India’s Olympic bronze medallist Vijender Singh moved into the second round of World Boxing Championships with a 14-8 win over Belgibayev Azamat of Kazakhstan in the 75 kilogram category. But there was some bad news too for India here on Saturday, as Asian silver medallist Thokchom Nanao Singh lost his pre-quarterfinal bout to Thai boxer Pongprayoon Kaeo in the 48 kg category. Vijender’s score might look convincing but the Indian had to fight hard for the win. Vijender started cautiously in the first round and within the thirty seconds the Kazakh took a 0-3 lead. (PTI)

Sehwag wants to play more Tests than T20

Mumbai, Sep 2: The public might be enchanted with the Twenty20 format but swashbuckling Indian opener Virender Sehwag prefers to play Tests and ODIs more than the shortest form of the game that has taken the cricket world by storm. “Personally I would like to play more Tests and ODIs than T20 games which I know have become extremely popular. I would like to play at least eight to 10 Tests in a year,” Sehwag said at the media conference here to announce the list of nominees for this year’s LG-ICC annual awards. Sehwag batted for all three formats even as some past cricketers, including spin legend Shane Warne, have written the epitaph of the 50-over game.

More heartbreak for India

New Delhi, Sep 2: The disappointment continued for Indian boxers at the World Championships with Asian bronze medallist Jitender Kumar being disqualified during his bantam weight (54kg) opening round in Milan, Italy today.

Up against old nemesis and sixth seed Yunusov Anvar of Tajikistan, Jitender was disaqualified after being given the mandatory three warnings for three different offences. The 22-year-old Indian, who created a flutter last year by making the quarterfinals of Beijing Olympics, was first warned for clinching his opponent in the opening minute of the eventful bout.

The second warning came in the next round when he was penalised for “pushing and downing” Anvar. The third one, that led to his disaqualification, was given in the deciding round for a right upper cut. Jitender was trailing 7-17 when the referee disqualified him. “It’s heartbreaking. It’s difficult to keep your composure once you have been warned.” (PTI)

Dhoni, 9 other Indians nominated for ICC awards

Mumbai,
Mumbai, Sep 2 (PTI) India's splendid run in Test and one-day cricket in the past one year was Wednesday amply reflected in the ICC's Annual Awards nominations as captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and nine other cricketers were listed in various categories.

Dhoni was nominated in three categories - ICC Cricketer of the Year, Test Player of the Year and ODI Player of the Year awards- while Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Sing and Yuvraj Singh were some of the other top players to make the list in different categories.

Gambhir and Harbhajan Singh were the other Indian nominees for the prestigious Cricketer of the Year award.

VVS Laxman joined the trio of Dhoni, Gambhir and Harbhajan to be in the line for the Test Player of the Year award while Yuvraj and Sehwag were also in the fray for the honour of ODI Player of the Year.

TOI

Opening ceremony of 2011 WC in Bangladesh:ICC

Mumbai,

Mumbai, Sep 2 (PTI) The opening ceremony of the 2011 Cricket World Cup will be held on February 17 in Bangladesh and the first match would take place on February 19 in the same country, the ICC announced Wednesday.

The ICC had earlier said both the opening ceremony and the opening game would be held on February 19 in Bangladesh.

But the full match schedule with venues would be announced on November 9, it was decided by the Central Organising Committee (COC) of the mega event that met here Wednesday to continue preparations for the tournament.

The venues where the matches would be held in the three host nations ? India, Bangladesh and Sri Laka - would be inspected in October/November, the COC decided.

Tournament director Ratnakar Shetty said the meeting was a productive one and the organisers were operating at a brisk pace to make it a great success.

PTI

Tried to mix Gavaskar's defence, Richards' aggression: Sachin

NEW DELHI: Sachin Tendulkar

NEW DELHI: Sachin Tendulkar on Tuesday said he made a conscious effort to blend Sunil Gavaskar's defence with Viv Richards' ruthlessness to evolve a batting style of his own.

Since his 1989 debut against Pakistan, Tendulkar has been lording over the bowlers, who continue to struggle to breach his near-impregnable defence and often find themselves at the receiving end of his aggressive hitting.

Tendulkar revealed he modelled his batting style on Gavaskar and Richards, two players he idolised.

"Sunil Gavaskar, needless to say, and Vivian Richards are the batsmen that really inspired me," said the champion batsman with more than 29,000 international runs under his belt.

"I wanted to be as solid as Sunil Gavaskar and as destructive as Vivian Richards, because that combination was always going to be lethal. I felt truly inspired by these two individuals on the field," Tendulkar said.

Over the last two decades, Tendulkar's appetite for runs never waned and the Mumbaikar said he never ran out of motivation.

"I don't need anyone to come to me or motivate me or prepare me before a big game," Tendulkar said.

"I've always been motivated and I love this sport. I grew up loving this sport and as each day goes by, I fall in love with this game more and more.

"The desire to go out there and win matches for my nation is growing, and it continues to grow. I'm proud of the fact that I've been able to play for 20 years and I'm still motivated, and I still want to go out there and do better," he said.

Despite his iconic status, Tendulkar remains a team man and he underlined the importance of working as a unit.

"Team work for me is practising together and also trying to get the best out of each other. That can only happen if you go out of your way to help your team-mate. You must be prepared to sacrifice for your team-mate, which will eventually end up giving a positive result for your team," he said.

TOI

Salman Khan to promote Indian football

brand ambassador of Indian football

NEW DELHI: Bollywood actor Salman has been roped in as the brand ambassador of Indian football by the All India Football Federation to promote the
game in the country.

Salman, who was present at the Ambedkar Stadium on Monday night to watch India's Nehru Cup title victory over Syria, has agreed to promote the game, AIFF acting president Praful Patel said.

"Salman is a national icon. He had come to us and said he wants to promote football. So we have made him our brand ambassador. It is not going to incur any cost to us and he had approached to us voluntarily," Patel said.

"We have to see how he can help promote football in the country," he added.

Salman, who had shown interest in buying an Indian Premier League side when the league will be expanded to 10 teams in 2011, took a walk at the periphery of the pitch waving to the crowd who filled up the 20,000 capacity Ambedkar Stadium to the brim.

TOI

India beat Syria to lift Nehru Cup

India beat Syria to lift Nehru Cup

NEW DELHI: Defending champions India beat Syria 5-4 in the penalty shootouts to lift their second successive Nehru Cup title at the Ambedkar Stadium on Monday.

Goal-keeper Subroto Paul, who saved three penalties to become India’s saviour, was awarded the man of the match.

Climax scored the first goal for India in the penalty shootouts. Renedy took the second penalty and missed as he hit the pole. India goal-keeper paul revived the home team's hopes as he stopped the second penalty diving to his left. Sunil Chhetri again gave India the lead by scoring in the third penalty. Again Indian goal-keeper stopped the Syrian penalty to retain the lead. Mehraj missed the penalty would have given India the title. Syria again levelled again by scoring in the fourth penalty. Sukumar Singh again scored to give India the lead.

Before the penalty shootouts, India were granted a free kick because of a foul committed on Indian captain Bhaichung Bhutia in the 114th minute in the extra-time and Renedy didn't let the opportunity go waste as his kick swung from right to left to beat the Syrian captain and goalkeeper.

But Syria scored the equaliser in the dying minutes to dash India's hopes and the final went into penalty shootouts.

Coach Bob Houghton's decision to rest key players in the last inconsequential league match against the same opponents paid dividends as the senior players came afresh for the final encounter of the five-nation football tournament.

It was a heated, tensed and keenly contested encounter in which the referee had to intervene many times to calm down the players. Indian captain Bhaichung Bhutia was handed yellow card in the first half of the game. However, the first half ended without a goal.

India were awarded a free kick soon after the commencement of the second half when skipper Bhutia was fouled. But the free kick taken by Steven Dias was stopped by the Syrian goal-keeper.

The heat was not limited to just the players. The Syrian coach Fajer Ebrahim lost his cool in the 60th minute when two off-sides were given against his team in quick succession. He got into an argument with the linesman and that led to India coach Bob Houghton gesturing towards the Syrian camp while pointing his fingers and saying something.

In 89th minute when an off-side was again given against Syria, a frustrated Ebrahim argued with the linesman again. This time Haughton was only staring at him without saying anything.

In the extra time, a support staff of Syria was sent off for arguing with the linesman following an ugly incident in which Bhutia was tackled from behind by a Syrian player which led to some pushing and shoving.

The highly contested match was watched by Bollywood star Salman Khan and AIFF acting president and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports M S Gill.

Two years ago at the Ambedkar Stadium, the home team had beaten the Syrians in front of a 20,000-strong crowd to win their maiden Nehru Cup title.

TOI

Wasim Bari appointed appointed acting COO of PCB

Karachi,

Karachi, Sep 1 (PTI) The Pakistan Cricket Board today appointed former Test captain Wasim Bari as its acting chief operating officer after the Governing Council signed a summary for the dismissal of Saleem Altaf.

The Board said Bari would continue to work as COO until a new appointment is made.

Sources said Altaf, who has been in the Board since 2004, has more or less accepted his fate this time and didn't appear to have any intentions of challenging his dismissal.

"This time the Chairman (Ejaz Butt) has done everything according to the book to sack Altaf and has got the Governing Council members behind him," a well-placed source said.

The source said last time Altaf was sacked as COO by former Chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf in June last year he didn't follow rules and regulations.

PTI

Nine out of 12 hockey World Cup spots booked

New Delhi,

New Delhi, Sep 1 (PTI) Nearly six months to go for the much-awaited FIH men's hockey World Cup and nine out of the 12 teams have already booked their place in the flagship event to be held here from February 28 to March 13.

Apart from hosts India, Canada (champion of the third Pan American Cup), Korea (champion of the eighth Asia Cup), South Africa (champion of the Africa Cup of Nations, 2009), Australia (champion of the sixth Oceania Cup) have qualified for the event.

England (champion of the 12th EuroHockey Nations Championship), Germany (silver medalist of the 12th EuroHockey Nations Championship), Netherlands (bronze medalist of the 12th EuroHockey Nations Championship) and Spain (fourth ranked team of the 12th EuroHockey Nations Championship) have also made it to the mega-event.

PTI