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Sports News
New Delhi March 10:
Defending champions Germany outclassed New Zealand 5-2 to join England and Australia in the semi-finals of the men's field hockey World Cup.
The Germans led 2-0 at half-time through goals by Christophe Menke in the 15th minute and Florian Fuchs in the 28th. Philip Witte made it 3-0 soon after the interval, but New Zealand hit back with two goals in four minutes from Shea McAleese and Nicholas Wilson.
The powerful Germans sealed their supremacy over the Black Sticks when Moritz Furste and Matthias Witthaus scored twice in as many minutes, both goals coming from rebounds off penalty corners. Germany, looking for a hat-trick of World Cup titles to add to the Beijing Olympic gold medal, ended the league stage unbeaten in group A with three wins and two draws.
The second semi-final spot from the group will be decided after the match between the Netherlands and South Korea later. The Dutch, who have 10 points against Germany's 11, need a draw to advance to the knock-out rounds. The Koreans, Asia's lone survivor after India and Pakistan crashed out early, need a big win to move to 10 points and better the Dutch on goal difference. Favourites Australia and European champions England have already qualified for the semi-finals from group B. New Zealand finished with two wins and three losses.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
March 10,2
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New Delhi March 9:
After India failed yet again to finish in the top bracket at the Hockey World Cup, the experts have a simple panacea: Raise fitness levels or perish. They feel only a fit side that can play total hockey can survive internationally.
Master coaches Horst Wein, Roelant Oltmans and March Lammers and Olympian Ashok Kumar agree that the eight-time Olympic champions have a long way to go before they can match top teams Australia, Germany and the Netherlands. They all accept that Indians are skillful, but to play on synthetic turf, they feel, the players need more than skills to succeed.
India's chief hockey coach Jose Brasa, who led the Spanish women's team to gold in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, has conceded that India are not in the league of of world's top teams yet. "We are not yet ready to take on world's top teams. For us to rise to their level, we need to raise our fitness and then play them frequently," said Brasa.
Since taking over as chief coach last May, Brasa has tried to make the team adapt to the European style of play and to do that, Dutch drag-flicker Taeke Taekema feels, fitness is the key as only a fit team can play total hockey. "Today European hockey means total hockey, there is no positional play there. A defender should also be able to go up and score goals. That is how the European teams have been confusing the Asians," said the Dutch star.
"If fitness levels are high, it is easy to swap positions quickly. When we play India or Pakistan, we know their positions and it is easy for us," he said. Dutch legend Oltmans says a European coach with an Indian to assist can work wonders for Indian hockey. "Brasa is a good coach and he should stay here till the next Olympics with a competent Indian assisting him. Brasa is well aware of how things work in the European structure and given time, I am confident that he can surely improve the fitness levels of his players," he said.
German hockey and football guru Wein wants India to concentrate on a system that develops the youngsters mentally at the grassroots level. "Modern hockey is no more a physical game. Today teams have different plans for a given situation. Hockey is now a thinking game," he added. Ashok, son of legendary Dhyan Chand, thinks that Indian players should practice 8-10 hours daily on synthetic turf to improve their fitness. "We need more synthetic turfs in the country, if Indian hockey has to develop to be truly international," he said.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
March 9,20
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Kuala Lumpur March 9:
Aiming to make a second successive appearance at the British Open, young Indian golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar will join 72 players vying for four tickets to the prestigious event in the two-day International Final Qualifying (Asia) starting here tomorrow.
The winner of the season-opening Asian Tour International in Bangkok, made his Major debut last July and subsequently won his first Asian Tour title in Indonesia in the following week.
"The British Open is one of the most prestigious Majors in the history of golf and I definitely want to play in it again. I won the IFQ last year (in Singapore), so I have a lot of good memories and I'm very hopeful this week," he said.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
March 9,20
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New Delhi March 9:
A posse of gun-wielding policemen kept a tight vigil outside while over 40 pugilists exchanged blows inside.
This was the scene at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium where Indian boxers began the final stage of their preparation for the Commonwealth Championships starting March 12. In a session lasting over two hours, the 10 chosen boxers along with their sparring partners sweated it out at the newly-built dome-shaped arena, which will also be the main boxing venue for the Commonwealth Games this October.
Olympic and World Championship bronze medallist Vijender Singh (75kg) exercised a while before slugging it out inside the ring for an extended sparring session. "I am maintaining weight for now. Have to be in shape. Did some light exercises and some sparring," the world number one, in his category, said.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
March 9,20
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New Delhi March 8:
Olympic silver medallist Spain continued their domination over England in the Hockey World Cup, defeating the European Champions 2-0 in their last pool match at the 12th edition of the mega-event here on Monday.
With this win, Spain registered their fifth victory over England out of seven World Cup matches the two teams have played so far. The Englishmen finished on the winning side only once while one game ended without result.
Pau Quemada (35th minute) and Eduard Tubau (64th) scored the goals for Spain at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium and almost sealed their third position in the Pool B with nine points. The victory, however, came too late for Spain as it did very little to brighten their semi-final hopes.
England were already through to the last-four stage of the tournament prior to the match with four wins out of their five matches. Favourites Australia will join them as they have a better goal average than the Spaniards and also a game in hand. The victory, however, assured Spain a place in the fifth-sixth play-off match on Friday unless Pakistan beat Australia by a margin of 13 goals, which is highly unlikely.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
March 8,20
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New Delhi March 8:
Out of contention for a top-five finish after three consecutive defeats, India would be desperate to end their losing streak when they take on lowly but spirited South Africa in their last pool B match of the hockey World Cup on Monday.
A win against South Africa will not only give the ardent hockey fans something to cheer about but also secure India's place in the seventh-eighth place play-off match, which would definitely be a considerable improvement from their 11th place finish in the 2006 World Cup in Monchengladbach, Germany.
However, achieving it won't be a cake-walk as South Africa are on a high after registering their first-ever victory in the World Cup. After stunning Pakistan 4-3 in their last match, the Proteas would be looking for another upset and going by their performance in the last encounter, the possibility is not a distant dream. The Indians don't seem to have learnt from their past mistakes as for the third consecutive match, the home team committed the same blunders in the tournament.
The Indian defence yet again crumbled under pressure and on more than one occasion found itself in a hole. Like in the earlier two games, the home team was on the back-foot from the beginning after conceding early soft goals. The Indians left plenty of open spaces in the field, man-to-man marking seemed to have gone for a toss. To add to it, horrible trapping, mindless passing and unnecessary dribbling continued unabated. And if they continue the same, a rude shock may await them on Monday in the form of South Africa.
"We did not learn from the past mistakes against Spain. The first goal we conceded was similar to the one Spain scored against us. If you commit these kind of mistakes at the top level competitions you have to pay for it. "But all these cannot be changed in a short time. We need many more matches at the top level to rectify all these mistakes. We did not have that in the build-up to the World Cup. Seven months is too short to sort out those things and without playing international matches," India coach Jose Brasa had said.
However, there are some positives that India can draw from the England encounter. The Indian mid-field yet again dished out a fine performance with Gurbaz Singh being outstanding on the right and giving him due support were Arjun Halappa and Sardar Singh. The forward-line also picked up their pieces and looked menacing against the English but what they lacked was finishing. But the most notable thing, which the Indians have earned in this tournament, is their fighting spirit. "We are improving with every match. In every match, the boys fought till the last breath," Brasa said.
On the other hand, by virtue of their victory over Pakistan, South Africa on Saturday proved that they are not here just to add up the numbers. With the win against Pakistan, the South Africans have already achieved what they aimed for in this tournament. They have nothing to lose and only to gain from the India encounter, which would definitely be more than enough motivation for them to come out full throttle against the Indians.
India coach Brasa too admitted that the Proteas would be a tough team to compete against. "South Africa is a very good side. They played very well against Pakistan, Spain and England. It will not be an easy match for us against them," he said.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
March 8,20
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Imphal March 8:
Haryana inflicted a humiliating 10-0 defeat on Andhra Pradesh in the 18th Senior Women's National Football Championship at Mapal Kangeibung ground here today.
Deepa was the highest scorer for Haryana with three goals while Ruhi and Riyaraya contributed two goals each. Kabita Devi, Dipa and Joyti Dahiya chipped in with one goal each.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
March 8,20
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Moscow March 8:
Somdev Devvarman learnt a good tennis lesson from Mikhail Youzhny and was outclassed 2-6 1-6 3-6 in the first reverse singles, resulting in India's ouster from the elite World Group of the Davis Cup tournament here.
India were playing in the World Group for the first time since their 1998 appearance. With this win, Russia have taken a decisive 3-1 lead and secured a quarter-finals place while India would yet again compete in the play-offs to re-enter the 16-team World Group.
Russia have levelled the head-to-head scores 2-2 between the two nations. Somdev's defeat has rendered Rohan Bopanna's second reverse singles of the first round tie against Igor Kunitsyn inconsequential. It was first meeting between Somdev and Youzhny and the class difference between the two players was glaring. The Russian conceded just six games in the lop-sided match that lasted one hour and 55 minutes.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
March 8,20
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New Delhi March 8:
Bottom placed Argentina scored their first win of the tournament, edging past New Zealand with a solitary goal in their penultimate Pool A match of the Hero Honda Hockey World Cup here.
Facundo Callioni scored the all-important goal in the 55th minute of the match for Argentina, who are already out of semifinal race after losing their first three matches. New Zealand, who have six points from four matches, will have to beat defending champions Germany in their last match on March 9 for any hopes of qualifying for the semifinals.
Both sides could create very few scoring chances in the first half though Argentina were slightly better in ball possession. In the 25th minute, Argentine Matias Enrique Paredes got a chance from very close range, but his shot was blocked by the Kiwi goalkeeper Kyle Pontifex and Lucas Martin Vila missed the rebound.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
March 8,20
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New Delhi March 8:
The national team's failure to match top European teams is hardly a surprise to former captain Pargat Singh, who can pin-point a number of flaws in the team's technique and tactics but what worries him the most is the lack of a proper domestic structure in the country.
Pargat can speak at length about the areas where India has been found wanting in the World Cup so far where they lost three matches in a row after the resounding success against arch-rivals Pakistan. ''Tactically and technically, both the ways India has not performed in the tournament so far,'' the Olympian said. ''Whatever the tactics are, they are just beyond my imagination.
There's one fullback and he gives seven wrong passess, what can you make of it,'' he questioned. He said India could well manage to grab either the seventh or the eigth position in the World Cup which is much higher than their world rankings but that shouldn't be taken as the benchmark for years to come.
''If finishing eighth in the tournament was the goal then it's fine. But for how long will we continue to let the European teams dominate and not bother about our improvements. We need to focus on our game and find ways to improve it,'' he asserted. The former skipper claimed that a poor domestic structure is one of the most prominent reasons why India failed to assert it's superiority among the top nations.
He added that nobody knows where the players are picked from and demanded the formation of a proper structure and a channel to make the system more transparent. ''We have not had any domestic tournament or the Nationals for so long. Theses are some handful of players who are selected and continue to play for the country for years,'' he said.
Pargat, who led India at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics, was vocal about some of the tactics that India came up with during the World Cup. He also questioned the need to include an injured Deepak Thakur in the World Cup squad and his below par performance was something the Olympian took a dig at.
''There are lot many issues. Deepak was injured and he shouldn't have been picked. There is no point to play with an injured player. ''Sandeep's problem is that he usually flicks at the waist height which is very easy for the goalkeeper to handle,'' he noted.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
March 8,20
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Moscow March 7:
Mikhail Youzhny eased Russia into the Davis Cup quarter-finals on Sunday when he beat Somdev Devvarman of India in straight sets to give his side an unassailable 3-1 lead.
The 27-year-old Youzhny won 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 in one hour 54 minutes in what was his first ever meeting with Devvarman, who is 128th in the ATP rankings. "It wasn't as easy as the scoreline may suggest," Youzhny said. "It was much easier for me in the first two sets. I won many points with drop shots as he (Devvarman) was not running well.
"But in the third I got a bit tired and made too many mistakes. Luckily everything ended well for us." Youzhny, currently 13th in the world, looked in complete command from the start breaking his 25-year-old rival's serve twice to gain a one-set lead in 33 minutes. In the second Youzhny underlined his domination producing three more breaks to make it two sets to zero after one hour two minutes.
In the third Youzhny lost concentration and made several unforced errors but nevertheless managed to break once again to win the set and the match and clinch the last eight slot. On Friday, Russia took a comfortable 2-0 lead as Igor Kunitsyn battled back from a set down to beat Devvarman 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 6-4, while Youzhny beat Rohan Bopanna 6-4, 6-2, 6-3.
India reduced the arrears on Saturday, when veteran doubles pairing Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati won the doubles clash against Kunitsyn and Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-3, 6-2, 6-2. In July's quarter-finals Russia will take on either Argentina or Sweden.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
March 7,20
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New Delhi March 7:
Thanks to some attacking hockey by the 12 participating countries, the ongoing World Cup is heading towards becoming the most high-scoring one with a whopping 117 goals scored so far at the halfway stage here.
The 12th edition of hockey’s showpiece event at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium will have 38 matches, including the classification games. The ongoing World Cup has seen 117 goals so far being scored from 21 matches at an average of 5.57 per game.
The average of 4.98 goals per match in the 1998 edition was the highest before this World Cup, whereas the last two editions in 2002 and 2006 had seen average goals of 4.17 and 4.14, respectively. This edition has seen many high-scoring matches, the most goals coming from Australia’s 12-0 mauling of South Africa, which was a new record for the biggest win surpassing the 12-3 defeat of New Zealand by Pakistan in 1982.
The ongoing World Cup has also seen just one drawn match – a 2-2 result between South Korea and defending champions Germany in their campaign-opener on March 1. The least scoring matches in this World Cup so far were three 2-1 results – Pakistan beating Spain, Korea defeating Argentina and New Zealand’s victory over Korea.
This World Cup is also producing more goals from penalty corners as compared to the 2006 edition. After 21 matches, 46 out of 117 goals scored so far came from penalty corners (39.3 per cent), while only 46 goals (of a total of 174) came from penalty corners in the whole 2006 edition. The 46 came from 170 penalty corners, a conversion percentage of over 27.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
March 7,20
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Panchkula March 7:
Chandigarh pro Sujjan Singh outclassed Sri Lanka's Anura Rohana via playoff to lift his maiden professional title at the Aircel-PGTI Players Championship here today.
Both the golfers had ended the regulation 72 holes as joint leaders with identical scores of seven-under 281 at the Panchkula Golf Club. Sujjan lifted his maiden professional trophy after making par on the first play-off hole (18th). Rohana, on the other hand, missed a 10 feet putt for par in the play-off.
Sujjan rounded off an unbelievable week on Sunday. He was tied 12th at the halfway stage and had a nine-down on the par four seventh hole in round two. But the 29-year-old showed tremendous resilience by bouncing back with scores of 66 and 71 over the next two days. "This is like a dream come true. It will take time to sink in.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
March 7,20
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New Delhi March 7:
A 5-2 thrashing by the Australians may have drawn flak for the Indians but Mark Knowles, who led the Kukaburras in that match, today said the scoreline wasn't a true picture of how evenly matched the contest was.
India suffered back-to-back defeats against Australia and Spain by identical margins which virtually ended the road to the semi-finals for them. Star defender Knowles claimed that it was a hard-fought victory that the Australians earned against India who created a number of scoring opportunities to keep the visitors on their toes.
''A 5-2 scoreline would be a false reflection of how well the Indians played the other night,'' said Knowles. ''India created a number of scoring opportunities and were close on many occasions. From here on, we will take them as a very strong side,'' he added. Knowles made his international debut in 2004 and he conceded that this was the best ever Indian team that he has ever played against.
''I have been playing international hockey for some time now and I can say it with a lot of confidence that is the best ever Indian team that I have came across till now,'' he stated. He said the Australians have had a fantastic reception in India so far which would help to smoothen relations between the two countries as the violent attacks on Indian students Down Under have had a negative effect.
''We have been playing really well here and hope to come here for the Commonwealth Games in October and also for future international tournaments as well. ''We hope that sports can send a good message back home and the relations between the two countries get back to normal,'' he added.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
March 7,20
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Patiala March 7:
Five fencers from Punjab are part of the 26-member strong Indian Fencing contingent which is taking part in the ongoing Asian Fencing Championship in Pasig City, Philippines, which concludes on March 8.
The Punjab fencers include Komalpreet Shukla, Satish Kumar Garnaik, Notun, Sapna and Jasmine. The Indian team is accompanied by a foreign expert, Danylo Shchekotikhin, besides Hemjit Meetei (coach), Suranjoy Singh (Armour) and Ramesh Singh (Manager).
The secretary-general of Fencing Association of India (FAI), Arun Kumar Vij is the head of the contingent. ''We hope to do well in Philippines as our fencers are now quite experienced as a result of gaining foreign exposures at regular intervals,'' Vij told reporters before leaving for Philippines today.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
March 7,20
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New Delhi March 7:
Hosts India crashed out of the semi-final race with a 2-3 loss to England while four-time champions Pakistan suffered a shocking 3-4 loss to a lowly ranked South Africa in Pool B matches of the Hockey World Cup here.
Tournament favourites Australia remained on course for a semi-final spot with a 2-0 win over Beijing Games silver medallists Spain It was an improved performance by the Indians as they came back well in the second half after conceding three goals. Euro champions England moved into the semifinals, winning all their four matches.
England struck through James Tindall in the 16th minute as he deflected in a cross from Nick Catlin. Ashley Jackson (42nd minute, 47th)) first converted a penalty corner soon on resumption and scored again to make it 3-0. India scored from Gurwinder Singh Chandi (54th) and skipper Rajpal Singh (57th), but could not find the equaliser in the end.
The loss against South Africa came as a shocker for Pakistan since the African champions were blanked 0-12 against Australia in their last match. But at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, the Pakistanis were completely caught by surprise by the speed of the South Africans.
Pakistan led the first half from a Rehan Butt strike, but the South Africans came back well in the second half pumping in all the four goals. Gareth Carr converted a penalty corner while Ian Haley, Taine Paton and Marvin Harper also sounded the board. Muhammad Imran and Waseem Ahmed converted two penalty corners each on the final buzzer for Pakistan.
Earlier in the day, Australia scored through Luke Doerner's penalty corner conversion (20th minute) and Glenn Turner's field goal (60th) for their good win. For Australia it was their third consecutive victory and they now have nine points from four matches.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
March 7,20
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