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India seek to plug loopholes against SA Defence lapses cost India the match Aussie eves outplay South Africa Archer Prasad in second round Indian boxers lack strategy: ex-coach
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Corporates not keen to sponsor Olympians New Delhi, August 16 Corporates like Samsung and LG may be spending over Rs 100 crore annually to sponsor Indian cricket players, but they have shown no interest to sponsor or support Olympians.
China, Australia dominate
Gong marches into badminton semifinals
Iraq enter last eight, Japan out Iran defiant
on boycott
of Israelis
Greek sprint duo’s hearing
postponed Ethiopia drops two champions
New payment system okayed Jayasuria aims to reach 10,000 runs in ODIs Bobby Fischer to marry supporter
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India seek to plug loopholes against SA Athens, August 16 The Indians showed glimpses of their old rhythm in the lung opener against defending champions the Netherlands but a few defensive lapses cost them the match 1-3. The players, however, will have to pick themselves up for the game against South Africa who have already caused a major upset by beating Argentina 2-1 in their first hurdle. The new coach, Germany-born Gerhard Rach, said after the match that the Indians did commit some defensive lapses which led to their downfall. But he promised an improved show by his wards who desperately need to win the match against the South Africans to keep their semifinal hopes alive. “We made some silly mistakes. We also had some problems in passing which upset the rhythm. The boys are young and they will learn from their mistakes. Hopefully we will not repeat those mistakes in the remaining matches,” Rach said. “It was not such a bad game, we did manage to create openings. But our forwards did not have enough patience to convert the opportunities. There are some things that we need to sort out,” he said. While the forwards failed to provide the finishing touches, the defenders were also guilty of periodic lapse of concentration which made the task difficult for the team. The South Africans have already proved to be the surprise package in the Olympics by launching their campaign with a stunning victory over Argentina and coach Rach conceded his team could not take them lightly. “They have a different approach and they have done well to beat a team like Argentina. So we have to play well, there is no question of being complacent,” he said The failure to convert the chances by the forwards has been a worrying factor for the Indians, an area which needs to be taken care of if the eight-time gold medallists wished to add another medal to their Olympic tally. Gagan Ajit Singh, Prabhjot Singh and Deepak Thakur looked nippy at times and managed to penetrate the defence but just could not find the net for a variety of reasons. The failure of the forwards to deliver upfront put considerable pressure on the defenders, a fact acknowledged by captain Dilip Tirkey himself. “Our forwards could not capitalise on the chances. If the forwards miss the opportunities, it puts pressure on the defenders,” the skipper said. “All three goals we conceded against Holland came off counter-attacks. We have to be more careful in the remaining matches. But our goalkeeper Adrian did a fantastic job to save so many attempts. The Indians have no worries on the injury front with young Sandeep Singh, who played the game against Holland with a bandaged hand, showing no signs of any discomfort. Tirkey, who was hit behind the ear during the late stages of their opening match, was also fit enough to take part in the crucial encounter to be played under floodlights at the Helliniko hockey ground. “It is okay. I had some ice treatment and the swelling is less now. I am fortunate that I was not hit on the face,” he said. The South Africans are known to play a tough game and the Indians will have to be ready to counter their on-court aggression. The defenders have their task cut out while the midfield will have to keep the supply line active if the Indians wish to put pressure on their opponents in what promises to be a keenly contested encounter. The Indians had played against some relatively weak opponents in the build-up to the mega event and the match against the Netherlands showed where they stood in terms of standard and they can now go back to the drawing board for their strategies. Rach has not changed the basic style of the Indians but there is certainly a change in the strategies and the functioning of the defenders and the midfielders. “They are a talented lot, but results cannot come overnight. We have to work on it. “But I am positive that they will keep improving and we can be a major force in hockey again.”
— PTI |
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Defence
lapses cost India the match The irony of India’s game against the Netherlands in the Olympic opener was that all three goals scored by the Dutch were not an outcome of great display of hockey but due to the lethargic defence lapses of our players. The Indian team, playing for the first time under a foreign coach, fielded Adrian D’Souza as goalkeeper in place of the regular Devesh Chauhan. Truly, this change was welcome and D’Souza proved to be up to the task. But the same cannot be said in favour of the young drag flicker Sandeep Singh, who had a nightmare of a match. His costly lapses will not permit him to sleep peacefully for many nights. His inaugural appearance at the Olympics cost the Indian team dearly in the first two minutes when he gifted a pass to the Netherlands forward Matren Eikelboom, who readily devoured the chance to give his team the lead. This error by Sandeep put pressure on the other newcomer Harpal Singh and Ignace Tirkey. This helped the Netherlands tighten the noose on India as they increased the lead to 3-0 by the last 15 minutes before emerging 3-1 winners and taking the vital three points from this match. It is easy to criticise our team’s performance but the facts and figures have to be revealed so that the players quickly rectify the errors and go into the rest of the four games with a positive frame of mind. As in the past, the same kind of mistakes are being repeated again and again by the defenders, costing us the medal at the Olympics. The question is who should accept the blame for the simple basic errors which even a schoolboy learns immediately from. It is high time the players, especially the midfielders and deep defenders, become sure about their trapping which is the basic quality needed in present-day hockey. If you are not sound in this aspect, however good your team is, it will not be successful and I would say one should not be called an Olympian if he does not know the basics of the game. On the contrary, the Dutch defenders were very sound in reverse tackling and almost all defenders challenged the Indian forwards whenever the situation demanded. Our wing-halfs, especially Ignace Tirkey and Sandeep Singh, were not positioned properly and allowed the Dutch forward line to dominate all moves and create many openings which put captain Dilip Tirkey under great pressure. The wing-halfs should have played much deeper in defence and should have stuck to man to man marking as was exhibited by their counterparts. Also, our mid-fielders — Vikram Pillay and Viren Rasquinha — tried hard for a breakthrough. But I fail to understand why frequent substitutions were made in the midfield. The coach should have gone in for permanent midfielders rather than shuffling them frequently. This caused more space, especially in the second half, which could have been avoided. The only bright spots for India were the performances of Adrian D’Souza, Vikram Pillay and Dilip Tirkey. The Indian team management should quickly look into the loopholes and start afresh for the next four games. This team still has a lot of fire and can bounce back to stake claim for the elusive medal. — PTI
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Aussie eves outplay South Africa
Athens, August 16 “Those were three points we desperately needed but we can still, without a doubt, improve our performance. The first half was a very ugly game,” coach David Bell said. Earlier, world champions Argentina took a while to wake up after an 8.30 am start but eventually pushed through Japan’s neat defence 3-1 for their second victory, staking their claim to a first Olympic gold. Australia got off to a messy start, mispassing and regularly allowing South Africa into the circle. It was only thanks to the quick reactions of goalkeeper Rachel Imison that South African striker Pietie Coetzee did not find the back of the net. Ball control was made much harder by a squally seaside wind whipping around the stadium but towards the end of the first half, Australia settled down and set up a field goal from Julie Towers and a penalty from Suzie Faulkner. Their third came from Peta Gallagher, who tapped in a cross. Argentina, known as Las Leonas (The Lionesses), were under pressure for the first 20 minutes against Japan until they smacked the ball diagonally across from deep left field, through a stunning midfield run by Luciana Aymar to scorer Ines Arrondo. Rika Komazawa scored Japan’s first Olympic goal to level but Argentina kicked into gear, wore down the midfield and set up two more goals. “We struggled to begin with but we’re Argentine — we find it hard to get up that early,” Marina di Giacomo said.
— Reuters |
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Archer
Prasad in second round
Athens, August 16 The 25-year-old Prasad, who had finished a lowly 48th in the ranking round on Saturday, raised his game by several notches to get the better of higher-ranked Yuji Hamano of Japan 155-150 in a close opening round match at the Panathinaiko
stadium. Majhi paid for a sloppy start to go down tamely to USA's Vic Wunderle 128-145 in the morning session before the promising Tarundeep Rai was shown the door by Alexandros Karageorgiou in the evening's last fixture. Rai faltered after a bright start when he picked up 28 points in the first series to ultimately go down 143-147 in a highly contested 19-minute encounter against the 18-year-old from the host country. Prasad showed good concentration and hit four ten pointers, maintaining a consistent lead from the start against the 23-year-old Japanese, who had finished 17th in the ranking round. Prasad, a key member of the Indian team that bagged the fourth slot at the world championship in New york last year, would now take on Hoff Ron Vander in the second round tomorrow.—PTI
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Indian boxers lack strategy: ex-coach
New Delhi, Aug 16 “Jitender had got a very good draw. If he had tackled his opponent in the first round, his next opponents were rather easy,” according to Bharadwaj, a Dronacharya Awardee. The lightheavy weight pugilist ended his Olympic campaign in the first bout itself after losing to Ukrainian Andriy Fedchuk in the second round of the bout which was stopped by the referee after consulting the ringside doctor. “I would say Jitender was unlucky,” said Bharadwaj, who watched the bout on television, adding that Indian boxers lacked the “killer instinct” and “determination” needed to succeed internationally. “Jitender is an orthodox boxer and had an advantage of scoring points against the southpaw Fedchuk. He did well in the first round but was trailing by one point. He realised in the second round that he should use right and left hooks and tried to do the same which was taken advantage of by his opponent who turned aggressive to attack Jitender with a flurry of punches, which opened a wound above his eye”, Bharadwaj pointed out. “Vijender surprisingly lost against lowly Mustafa Karagollu of Turkey who, I am sure, would lose in the next round itself,” the former coach said about the lightwelter weight bout yesterday. “Vijender was defensive from the beginning when he should have been aggressive. He turned attacking only in the last round but the damage had been done by that time.” Bharadwaj said in competitions like Olympics you need to have a “do-or-die” approach and should always try to put your opponent on the defensive. He criticised chief coach G.S. Sandhu for not being around for his boys and refreshing the boxers during breaks. “Sandhu should have been with the boys during the breaks. How can you expect a Haryana villager to communicate with Belarussian expert I.B. Fernandez in such a pressure situation,” he wondered. “Now I have some hopes on Akhil Kumar in the fly weight but cannot say anything about Diwakar Prasad, who will contest in the bantam weight.” Akhil will face Jerome Thomas of France and Diwakar will take on Hamid Ait Bighrade of Morocco in their first rounds. Bharadwaj was also critical about not using the facilities for success and taking things lightly. “They have got sponsors, who are providing all the facilities. They have attended a number of international training camps and competitions. If they still do not deliver, then who will?” he said. Meanwhile, an Amateur Indian Boxing Association official denied that the referee had stopped Jitender’s bout prematurely. “Jitender was unlucky. The referee was correct in stopping the contest as he was bleeding profusely,” he said. “In the Olympics there is no scope for wrong decisions,” he added. He, however, said Vijender could have won the bout had there been some way to alert him in time about the fact that he was trailing badly after the second round itself. “He rightly went on an all-out offensive in the final round, but by then it was too late”, he said.
— PTI |
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Corporates not keen to sponsor Olympians New Delhi, August 16 Members of the Lok Sabha have also expressed concern that despite adequate representation in the National Sports Development Fund
(NSDF), the private sector has not “contributed a single penny” to support players who are now competing in the Athens Olympics. The fund was set up in 1998-99 by the government with a seed money of Rs 2 crore to provide assistance to the best national players, who have the potential to represent the nation in the Olympics and other international tournaments. The government had promised that for every individual or institution contribution, the government would provide a matching grant. The fund has so far attracted only 23 individuals and institutions, mostly public sector banks and undertakings, who have contributed about Rs 1.81 crore over the past five years. It also includes a contribution by Kapil Dev of Rs 1.21 crore (including interest), that he had deposited in the National Welfare Fund for sports. The amount was later transferred to the
NSDF. The Union Minister of State (Independent charge), Ministry of Non-Resident Indian Affairs, Mr Jagdish
Tytler, today told the Lok Sabha that though contributions to the NSDF were totally exempted from payment of income tax, the corporate sector had shown no interest in making contributions to the fund. |
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China, Australia dominate
Athens, August 16 Zhu Qinan won the men's 10-meter air rifle for China's sixth gold of the Games. Earlier, Suzanne Balogh won the women's trapshooting to give Australia its fifth gold, one ahead of third-place Japan in the gold-medal count. Off the playing fields, Greek sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou got another reprieve from an IOC panel looking into their missed drug tests while police intensified an investigation of the purported motorcycle accident that left them hospitalised. The IOC hearing will now likely be held Wednesday, when both should be out of hospital and be able to attend the meeting. Elsewhere, international judo officials canceled a meeting to investigate whether a two-time champion from Iran who reportedly said he would not fight an Israeli opponent deliberately avoided the first-round bout by showing up overweight. Arash Miresmaeili, a favourite in the under-66kg class, was declared overweight at the morning weigh-in and disqualified for his first-round bout against Ehud Vaks. Iran does not recognise Israel and bans any contact with the Jewish state. A member of Denmark's sailing team was arrested on charges he struck and killed a British pedestrian while speeding in his car on the way to see his country's handball team play. The sailor, Niklas Holm, hit the man, identified as Errol
Strachan, on a suburban Athens street Sunday night, police said. Holm was released by a court after being charged with manslaughter and speeding. — AP |
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Winds play havoc at ancient stadium
Athens, August 16 In a sport where the elite expect to fire a handful of perfect 10s on the bull’s eye and scores on the outer rings of five or below are rare, total misses are extraordinary. Fortunately, the 122-cm (48-inch) diameter target is placed on a larger board so that misses do not fly behind the mark.
For added protection at the Panathinaiko Stadium, birthplace of the modern Games, a three-metre high barrier runs the width of the range, blocking any badly stray arrows from reaching the busy road that runs past the open amphitheatre. India’s Majhi Sawaiyan made the worst possible start, missing with his first two shots as he lost to Vic Wunderle of the USA, a silver medallist in Sydney four years ago. “There is some problem with the wind but this is part of the game,’’ said
Wunderle. “The main problem was that wind was coming from different directions and I had to keep adjusting my aim,’’ said Chen Szu-yuan of Taiwan, a first round victor.“At the same time I think the wind is an advantage as it helps show who the better archer is. Of course, you also need a bit of luck.’’ Similar conditions yesterday saw the women archers also put on a display of wayward shooting not seen before at an Olympics. Archers have been bracing for the swirling conditions at the hillside venue, fully aware of Athens’ seasonal August winds. Organisers have said the strong winds are not reason enough to postpone the competition. Only lightning can stop the action. Magnus
Petersson, the Swedish second seed and silver medallist in the men’s individual event in Atlanta in 1996 scored a 63-point victory. Third seed Marco Galiazzo of Italy hit 156 out of 180 points to book his place in the round of 32. Only a few hundred spectators were at the magnificent all-marble stadium for today’s first round 18-arrow shootout, but the significance of the Olympic homecoming to the 1896 venue was not lost on Wietse van Alten of the Netherlands.
— Reuters
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Moya tames wind and Enqvist, Dementieva out
Athens, August 16 But Russian fourth seed Elena
Dementieva, the 2000 silver medallist, suffered a surprise 4-6 6-0 6-3 first round loss to unseeded Australian Alicia
Molik. All the players had to cope with difficult conditions created by the gusting wind in the morning session at the Olympic Tennis
Centre. Moya saved three match points in the final set before prevailing, sealing victory with a clubbing forehand winner after nearly three hours on a sparsely attended centre court. The 1998 French Open champion had two match points in the second set tiebreak but in a see-saw decider Moya broke decisively for
8-7. Dementieva, one of four Russians in the top nine seedings for the women’s singles, was in control against Molik in the first set but the French Open runner-up’s game deserted her as the Australian took command thereafter. “It was pretty horrible out there,’’ Molik said of the conditions. Russian ninth seed Nadia
Petrova, meanwhile, disposed of Slovakia’s Martina Sucha 6-3 6-3 but Sweden’s Joachim Johansson upset men’s 12th seed Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand 6-2 6-3. Israeli 13th seed Anna
Smashnova-Pistolesi, only competing after a last-minute compromise over a sponsors clash, lost 6-2 6-1 to unseeded Tathiana Garbin of Italy. In the men’s doubles Americans Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish lost to experienced Indian pair Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes 7-6 6-3.
— Reuters
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Gong marches into badminton semifinals Athens, August 16 The 23-year-old world number one, making her first appearance at the Olympics, dropped just six points in her merciless defeat of Taipei’s Cheng Shao-Chieh and will now meet the winner of the quarterfinal between Dutch fourth seed Mia Audina and British number one Tracey Hallam. Cheng caused a major upset in the last round when she knocked out South Korean sixth seed Jun Jae-Youn, but the 18-year-old was unable to produce another upset and was hopelessly outclassed 11-3, 11-3 by the more experienced Gong. Gong’s compatriot, second seed Zhang Ning, also sealed a place in the last four, but her path was far from straightforward. The reigning world champion was pushed to the third set for the second successive match, but she eventually overcame Hong Kong fifth seed Wang Chen. Wang led 7-5 in the decider, but she ran out of steam and failed to take another point as Zhang wrapped up the match 9-11, 11-6, 11-7.
— AFP |
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Iraq enter last eight, Japan out
Volos (Greece), August 16 Unable to play any of its qualifying games on home turf because of the war and subsequent violent conflict in its own country, the Iraqi team scored its second victory of the Olympic Competition yesterday coming after a 4-2 triumph over star-studded Portugal. Iraq now have a maximum six points from two games and does not have to win its third game against Morocco in Patras on Wednesday. Both goals came in the last 23 minutes, Hawar Mulla Mohammed putting Iraq ahead at the Karaiskaki Stadium in Athens and Mahdi Karim heading the second five minutes later. Each goal sparked wild scenes among the Iraqi fans, some of whom ran onto the field. “This success is very important for our people and our country because we are facing a difficult situation,” Mulla Mohammed said. “We had no facilities and fields to train for a long period but we managed to qualify for the next stage of the Olympic tournament.” Portugal recovered from its shock defeat by beating Morocco 2-1 to stay in contention for a place in the last eight. Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Ricardo Costa scored for Portugal, who must avoid defeat against Costa Rica on Wednesday. Alberto Gilardino scored twice as Italy beat Japan 3-2 in a thriller in Volos to revive its chances of winning the gold medal for the first time in 68 years. Japan were knocked out after two high-scoring and thrilling losses. The result eliminated the Japanese, who had also lost 4-3 to Paraguay in another entertaining game, but Masakuni Yamamoto’s team, who had some 2,000 blue shirted followers in the stadium, made many friends with their enterprising soccer. Daniele de Rossi scored the first with an acrobatic overhead kick while Yuki Abe Curled in a 25-meter free kick for Japan and Daiku Takamatsu scored an injury-time second. The second goal sparked a violent melee in the Italian goal as the Japanese tried to grab the ball away from goalkeeper Ivan Pelizzoli. Ghana came from behind to beat Paraguay 2-1 in Thessaloniki with Stephen Appiah, who plays in Italy for Juventus, scoring the winner six minutes from the end. All goals came in the last 14 minutes with Carlos Gamarra putting Paragua ahead but William Tiero levelling five minutes later. Appiah’s winner means that Italy and Ghana are tied with four points at the top of the group and Paraguay has three. On Wednesday, Italy meets Paraguay in Athens and Ghana faces the eliminated Japanese in Volos. — AP
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Iran defiant on boycott of Israelis
Tehran, August 16 The comments by government spokesman Abdollah Ramazanzadeh set Tehran on a collision course with Olympic officials, who could punish Iran for letting politics intrude on its sporting ideals. Asked about Arash Miresmaeili’s failure to fight Israeli Ehud Vaks after turning up overweight for yesterday’s 66 kg bout, Ramazanzadeh told a press conference: “Our policy is not to recognise the Zionist regime in any international event. “We cannot accept the presence of anyone in international events under the flag of that regime.”Miresmaeili was quoted as saying that he refused to fight out of solidarity with the Palestinian people and an Iranian Olympic official said today he had been ordered not to take part. Ramazanzadeh, however, described the double world judo champion’s action as voluntary: “We thank all our athletes who voluntarily follow our policy in international events and consider them our real national champions and heroes of peace.’’Asked whether the boycott could harm the Olympic ideal of athletes meeting in peace and free of politics, he said Israel could show a spirit of peace by ending its occupation of Palestinian land, a familiar call by the Islamic republic. “The spirit of peace and friendship suggests that occupation must end and international organisations should help to end it,’’ the government spokesman said. “Those who have occupied land despite the will of its residents should not be given the opportunity to take part in official events.’’ — Reuters
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Mutlu wins third Olympic gold medal Athens, August 16 The tiny Turk, who weighed in at 55.93kg after winning a battle to lose a kilo in three days, was in irrepressible form as he edged aside the opposition. He took the gold with a total of 295kg with China’s Wu Meijin, the reigning world champion in the 56kg weight category, lifting the silver medal with 287.5kg. To round off a great night for Turkey, Sedat Artuc took bronze with 280kg. “I expected Wu to challenge me and I trained on the basis of what kilos I thought he would lift,” said Mutlu. “There may come a moment when my co-athletes do better than me — then I will stop lifting. “I lift with my whole soul, my heart, my whole self really. I love competing and I love weightlifting.” It was a remarkable comeback for Mutlu who missed the whole 2002 season while recovering from surgery after a bad injury. A place amongst the legends of the sport drove him on and his victory at the 2003 World Championship, where he competed in the higher 62kg division, underlined his intentions. — AFP
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Greek sprint duo’s hearing postponed
Athens, August 16 Asked whether his request for an adjournment had been successful, Michalis Dimitrakopoulos said: “Yes. We have won the first fight.” The disciplinary commission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had interrupted their meeting today to consider the request and subsequently approved it. A delegation was sent to the hospital where the two athletes have been since a motor cycle
accident late on Thursday night to get a medical certificate on the “I have asked for a postponement for Wednesday because these top athletes who fight for their history and their name have the right to be there in person,” their lawyer said earlier. — Reuters
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Ethiopia drops two champions ATHENS:
Ethiopia have dropped women’s 10,000 metres world champion Berhane Adere and men’s defending Olympic marathon champion Gezahegne Abera from their Olympic line-up.
The 31-year-old Adere will be replaced by All-Africa champion Ejegayehu
Dibaba, who had been earmarked for the 5,000 metres but now will run only the longer event. Ethiopia’s three-woman team for the 10,000 m will be completed by defending Olympic champion Derartu Tulu and world silver medallist Werknesh
Kidane. — Reuters
British protest ATHENS:
British team officials are to protest to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after swimmer Sarah Price gashed her legs minutes before the start of her 100 metres backstroke semifinal on Sunday. Price, sporting cuts on both shins, finished last in her race having jumped on to what British team officials said they thought was an underwater camera while warming up in the main pool 35 minutes before her race. The British team appealed unsuccessfully to have the schedule changed to give Price time to recover.
— Reuters |
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Key guides England to series victory London, August 16 The fourth and final test starts at the Oval in London on Thursday with England looking for their second clean sweep in two series after beating New Zealand 3-0. West Indies (Ist innings): 395-9 dec England (Ist innings): 330 West Indies (2nd innings): Gayle c Hoggard b Giles 42 Joseph c Vaughan Sarwan c Trescothick Lara c Strauss b Flintoff 7 Chanderpaul c Vaughan Bravo c Flintoff b Giles 6 Baugh c sub b Harmison 3 Mohammed c Key b Giles 9 Collins b Harmison 8 Collymore not out 5 Edwards c Flintoff Extras: (b-2 lb-4 Total: (all out, Fall of wickets:
1-41, 2-88, 3-95, 4-99, 5-110, 6-121, 7-146, 8-152, 9-161, 10-165 Bowling:
Hoggard 7-0-21-0, Harmison 13.4-3-44-4, Flintoff 12-1-26-3, Giles 22-6-46-3, Anderson 5-1-22-0 England (2nd innings): Trescothick b Collymore 12 Strauss c Chanderpaul b Collins 12 Key not out 93 Vaughan c Lara b Gayle 33 Flintoff not out 57 Extras
(b-7 lb-3 nb-14) 24 Total (3 wkts, 65.4 overs)231 FoW:
1-15 2-27 3-111 Bowling: Edwards 11-0-51-0 (nb-6), Collymore 16-7-33-1 (nb-3), Collins 8-2-24-1 (nb-5), Bravo 12-3-41-0,Mohammed 6-0-25-0, Gayle 8.4-0-32-1, Sarwan 4-0-15-0.
—Reuters
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Wright gets
extension Kolkata, August 16 The working committee also decided to turn down the request of Maharashtra cricketer Abhijit Kale to reduce the ban on him by a month. Kale was banned from all levels of cricket till December 31, 2004, for trying to bribe his way into the Indian team for the tour of Australia in 2003-04. The committee also decided to convene a special general meeting of the board on September 12 in Chennai to consider the amendment of rules to facilitate the affiliation of new associations and bring about some changes in the tenure of office-bearers.— PTI |
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Kolkata, August 16 “As proposed by the players, the new grades will be Rs 50 lakh, Rs 35 lakh and Rs 20 lakh for the players who will be graded in three categories under the new contract system,” BCCI President Jagmohan Dalmiya said after a meeting of the working committee here. Dalmiya, however, said the board turned down the players’ request to raise the match fee of non-playing members of the team from 50 to 70 per cent of that money payable to playing members. “The non-playing members will get 50 percent of the match fee,” Dalmiya said. — PTI
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Jayasuria aims to reach 10,000 runs in ODIs New Delhi, August 16 Jayasuria said he had not thought of the next World Cup. “World Cup is almost three years away. I haven’t thought of that. I go series by series”, he observed, adding that “I still have a few more years in international cricket”. Jayasuria said he had enjoyed his stint as captain for five years, and abdicated the throne to give chance to somebody else. “I did my best as captain for five years. I led the team in the World Cup, and gave it up after that, thinking that somebody else should do it for the next World Cup. It’s purely a personal decision, and nothing else”, Jayasuriya explained. The devastating all-rounder said he was “a little worried” about his poor performance during the last 15 months. “But I knew I could come back. I worked hard in the nets. Confidence is the key”, he added (Jayasuriya had been adjudged as the man of the series in the recently-concluded Asia Cup, in which he has scored two centuries—against Bangladesh and India. Jayasuria said to begin with, he was a left-arm bowler, and used to bat at No 7. “The idea of scoring quickly in the beginning was thought of by Arjuna (Ranatunga), Duleep (Mendis) and Dave. They wanted to capitalise on the fact that there were only two fielders outside the 30-yard circle in the first 15 overs. They asked me to open. I was told that I should just go out and hit and not worry about getting out. I got the opportunity in Colombo against Pakistan, and in three ODIs, I scored three fifties,” explained the master blaster. |
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Bobby Fischer to marry supporter
Fischer has also appealed to US Secretary of State Colin Powell and the US Embassy in Tokyo to accept the renunciation of his US citizenship, Masako Suzuki said in a statement. “Fischer and Miyoko Watai, acting president of the Japan Chess Association, have been living together since 2000 and are in a state of common-law marriage. They have decided to take steps to legally marry,” said the statement. The couple have already signed by the documents necessary to marry, and they would submit them to the authorities, Suzuki said, without giving details of where the marriage would be registered. Little is known about Watai, although she claims to have been a friend of Fischer for over 30 years and maintains an Internet website supporting him. The announcement said Watai would explain details later. Neither Watai nor Suzuki could be reached for comment. The announcement came as Fischer, 61, remained in detention. He has been held by immigration authorities since July 13 while Japan decides whether to deport him to the USA. Fischer, who was last week moved to a long-term detention center in eastern Japan, was detained after trying to board a flight to the Philippines using a passport which US officials said had been revoked. — AFP
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India at Athens today
Archery:
Women's individual events - Reena Kumari v Tohering Chhoden (Bhutan); Sumangala Sharma v Jean Kirstin (USA) Badminton: Men's 2nd round - Nikhil Kanetkar v Peter Gade (Denmark). Boxing: Fly weight (51 kg) - Akhil Kumar v Jerome Thomas (France). Bantam Weight (54 kg) - Diwakar Prasad v Hamid Ait Bighrade (Morocco) Hockey (Men): India v South Africa Tennis: Men's Doubles - Leander Paes/Mahesh Bhupathi v Roger Federer/Yves Allegro (Switzerland) Sailing: Double Handed Dinghy 49er - Malav Shroff and Sumeet Patel Shooting: Men's Double Trap Rajyavardhan Singh
Rathore.— PTI
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Tokyo, August 16