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Sports News
Bhatinda September 5:
With Indian boxing at an all time high, close to 350 pugilists will aim for national glory in what promises to be an electrifying senior Men's Championship in the backdrop of Vijender Singh, Akhil Kumar and Jitender Kumar's glorious Olympic performance in Beijing.
Vijender, the Olympic bronze winner in the middle weight category, Akhil (54kg) and Jitender (51kg) will, however, skip the meet as they recover from the aftermath of a euphoric but draining Olympics, landing a major blow to defending champions Railways' hopes of retaining the title.
Vijender, in fact, has ended his Railways stint by taking over as a DSP in Haryana Police. Akhil and Jitender, however, are yet to decide on whether to stay with Railways or take over as DSPs in Haryana Poilce. The trio is expected to make an appearance at tomorrow's opening ceremony where they will be felicitated yet again for their Beijing performance.
"This year's Nationals are happening at a time when Indian boxing is on a high and that makes the atmosphere is charged up. Hopefully a lot of people will turn up to watch these guys who are our future hopes," said chief National coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu, who will be here throughout the tournament to spot fresh talent.
"Though I don't expect the standard of competition to go up dramatically but certainly the boys would be bubbling with energy after what Vijender, Akhil and Jitender did in Beijing," he added. Inside the ring, it will be a familiar story of one-upmanship between Railways and Services.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
September
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New York September 5:
Indian tennis’ Golden boy Leander Paes raced to his career ninth Grand Slam title when he, along with Clara Black of Zimbabwe, clinched the US Open mixed doubles title defeating Liezel Huber of the US and Jamie Murray of Britain 7-6, 6-4 in straight sets in the finals here.
The fifth seeds saved two set points in the first-set tiebreak before breaking once in the second to clinch their first grand slam title together. Black hit a crucial volley to save the first set point and Murray, who won the mixed doubles at Wimbledon in 2007 with Jelena Jankovic, netted a volley on the second.
Murray was the only man to lose his serve, in the fifth game of the second, and Paes served out for his eighth grand-slam title, while Black has now won seven, including three mixed. Black and Huber will join up in the final of the women's doubles when they play American Lisa Raymond and Australian Sam Stosur, the 10th seeds.
It all boiled down to a battle of nerves where the Indo-Zimbabwean pair manage to edge out their opponents during the crunch situations Though Murray and Liezel Huber fought well throughout the match, the unforced errors committed in the crunch situations, sealed their fate. This win comes nine years after his twin crowns at Wimbledon, and Leander Paes would be hoping history to repeat itself at the US Open.
Now having clinched the mixed doubles finals, and with the men’s double yet to be played for, Paes is recalling the 1999 Wimbledon and reckons this is going to be special for him. "I think 2008 in New York is going to be special," said the Indian ace. In 1999, Paes had partnered Mahesh Bhupathi and Lisa Raymonds to win the men's doubles and mixed doubles crowns at Wimbledon.
"I was much younger back then," said Paes, recalling the feat. "As you get older, I push my body to new limits and try to raise the bar a few more times," he said. Earlier, he and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy had thumped Argentine pair Maximo Gonzales and Juan Monaco 6-2, 6-0 in just 46 minutes to storm into the men's doubles final.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
September
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Guwahati September 4:
Weightlifter Monika Devi, who finds herself in a doping controversy alleged that the Central Government was neglecting budding sportsmen of the northeastern region.
"The Centre had always failed to cater to the sporting needs of the region, that is why northeast was lagging behind," alleged Monika, who missed Beijing Olympics on dope charges. She was later cleared by a review panel appointed by the Indian Weightlifting Federation. The Sports Ministry also instituted a one-man committee of former Chief Election Commissioner of TS Krishnamurthy to probe into the doping controversy.
The Manipuri lifter was speaking after flagging off the Abhiruchi Sports Day Run in honour of Arjuna awardee from Assam, Bhogeswar Baruah, in Guwahati. "It is a conspiracy and it is really unfortunate," she said on her missing the Olympics as she broke down in front of a mammoth crowd of school children who participated in the run.
Monika said she was yet to decide whether or not to participate in national championships. She had last month stated that she would not take part in any national or international event until the officials who "wrongly" accused her of failing the dope test were punished. Thousands of school children braving intermittent rain participated in the run from Chandmari area of the city to the Nehru stadium.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
September
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Bilbao September 3:
World Champion Viswanathan Anand settled for a draw with Ukrainian Vassily Ivanchuk after finding himself in time trouble in the first round of the Bilbao Grand Slam Final chess tournament.
Anand could not make the most of the advantage of having the white pieces and faced considerable difficulties before salvaging a draw against Ivanchuk, who played the Marshall attack by sacrificing a pawn against the Indian's Spanish opening. Anand has an enviable record against the Marshall but he could not find a satisfactory reply to Ivanchuk's opening play and soon drifted into a difficult position.
The Indian lost back his pawn and his king was exposed to attack. The adverse turn taken by the opening served as a wake up call for Anand. He defended an inferior position with consummate ease and gave up a pawn to centralise his queen and rook. The World Champion ensured that there was excellent coordination between his major pieces, preventing Ivanchuk from making inroads into his territory.
Ivanchuk conceded a draw when he was unable to make any progress against Anand's stubborn defence. Meanwhile, Norwegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen shot into the lead with a victory over Grandmaster Levon Aronian of Armenia. Carlsen played the symmetrical variation against the English opening and accepted a pawn sacrifice by his opponent.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
September
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New York September 3:
The Indian campaingn soared high on Wednesday at the Flushing Meadows as Leander Paes continued with his forward charge as he advanced into the finals of the mixed doubles event. In the mixed doubles semifinals, fifth seeded Paes and Cara Black of Zimbabwe pipped the Swede-Russian pair of Jonas Bjorkman and Nadia Petrova 6-4, 6-4.
In the summit clash of the mixed doubles Paes-Black face off against Liezel Huber of the United States and Briton Andy Murray, who beat American pair of Jill Craybas and Eric Butorac 6-3, 6-4 in their semifinal encounter.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
September
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New York September 2:
Leander Paes continued his winning run to advance to the mixed doubles' semifinals but it was curtains for Mahesh Bhupathi at the US Open here.
Paes, already through to the men's doubles quarterfinals with partner Czech Lukas Dlouhy, teamed up with Zimbabwean Cara Black in the mixed doubles competition. The fifth-seeded duo defeated the Czech pair of Martin Damm and Vladimira Uhlirova 7-5 6-2. Paes and Black will now take on the Swedish-Russian team of Jonas Bjorkman and Nadia Petrova in the last-four stage.
Bhupathi, who was earlier ousted from the mixed doubles competition, crashed out of the men's doubles with a stunning third-round loss. The Indian and his Bahamian partner Mark Knowles, seeded fourth, squandered a set's advantage to go down 6-2 4-6 4-6 to unseeded Argentines Maximo Gonzalez and Juan Monaco in the third round of the season's last Grand Slam.
There was further disappointment in the junior section where fifth seeds Yuki Bhambri and Serbian partner Filip Krajinovic lost 1-6 6-5 7-10 to Zimbabwe's Takanyi Garanganga and Egyptian Karim-Mohamed Maamoun in the first round.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
September
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Bhiwani September 2:
Beijing gave Vijender Singh the most cherished moments of his fledgling career but the one thing the Olympic bronze medallist missed out there was a chance to meet American boxing legend Evander Holyfield, who came looking for him after his semifinal bout.
"Holyfield came looking for me after my semifinal loss (to Cuban Emilio Correa Bayeaux) but I had left the arena by then," Vijender, India's first Olympic medallist in boxing, told reporters here. "Later I was told that he praised my performance, which was very nice of him and a great honour for me," the middle weight pugilist added.
A former world heavyweight champion, Holyfield, who was also seen at bantam weight boxer Akhil Kumar's quarterfinal bout against Moldovan Veaceslav Gojan, is now a recruiter for professional boxing in the USA. Vijender, however, is not keen on turning professional.
"I did give it a thought some time back but I am not interested anymore. I am focused on amateur boxing and I have no plans to turn pro," he said. The 22-year-old said he would cut down on his appearances in the National Championships to be in shape for international events.
"Since I have become a DSP with the Haryana government, I can't participate in the Nationals this year but even otherwise, I would not be seen very often in the national events," he revealed.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
September
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New Delhi September 2:
In a major policy decision, the All India Tennis Association (AITA) has decided to bar private players from holding an ATP/WTA event on their own in the country.
The decision means that private entrepreneurs like Mahesh Bhupathi's Globosport, which has been conducting ATP Kingfisher Open and WTA Sunfeast Open, will have to go through the AITA in future if they intend to organise such big events.
The decision was taken at AITA's executive committee, held yesterday in Mumbai, after the game's governing body in the country learnt that a private promoter-- Big Live -- wrote to the ATP that they were cancelling the proposed Bangalore Open due to security concerns in the city.
Sunfeast Open, the WTA Event, which was to be held in Mumbai in October has already been cancelled by Globosport as the company in an e-mail to AITA said that they had sold out their sanction to some other party. The AITA took exception to the reason cited for the cancellation of the ATP tournament in Bangalore and even said they were referring the matter to the Government of India as it tarnished the image of the country.
"The AITA Committee unanimously approved that henceforth AITA would not permit private entrepreneurs to take up any WTA or ATP events as their interest is only to make profits and in case they are unable to find sponsors, they are quite capable of putting the image of nation at risk and not honour the commitment of the nation to international events of such magnitude," Anil Khanna, Secretary General of AITA, said.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
September
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New York August 31:
Mahesh Bhupathi and his Australian partner Samantha Stosur lost the plot towards the end and crashed out of US Open mixed doubles event after a see-saw second round battle here.
The Indo-Australian pair began in the right earnest before finishing on the wrong side of the one-hour battle that saw Swede Robert Lindstedt and his Australian teammate Rennae Stubbs win it 2-6, 6-3, 12-10 in tie-breaker. Things looked rosy for Bhupathi and Stosur who broke their opponents twice to bag the first set to take early advantage.
The second set, however, witnessed a fightback by their opponents who saved a break point and converted another to draw parity and stay afloat. In the super tie-break, the Indo-Australian pair went neck-and-neck before their opponents cut loose to run away with the match.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
August 31,
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New Delhi August 30:
Suresh Kalmadi, IOA president and Chairman of the ad-hoc committee to run hockey in India, will soon meet the state associations here to discuss the "blue print" for the sport's future in the country.
"I shall be calling a meeting in Delhi shortly to chart out a blue print for streamlining the future of Indian hockey," Kalmadi said in a letter to the state associations.
In a show of defiance, Gill has called an AGM here on September 17. The agenda includes adoption of accounts of three financial years, appointment of an auditor, nomination of representatives to the IOA and pending legal cases and IOA's action against the IHF following the bribery scam involving its secretary general K Jothikumaran.
Kalmadi also said a four-nation double leg hockey tournament involving hosts India, Germany, the Netherlands and Pakistan will be held in Chandigarh and Jalandhar in February next year.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
August 30,
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New Delhi August 30:
The prestigious All-India MCC Murugappa Cup hockey tournament stages a comeback after a two-year absence with nine teams in the fray at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here Sep 4-14.
'The event was not held last year due to tight schedule of domestic events and the busy programme of the Indian teams. The Murugappa Group of Companies has increased the prize money to Rs. 1.5 lakh for the winners and Rs. 1 lakh for runners-up,' said Arun Murugappan, managing director of the group firm Parry Enterprises India Limited.
In all, 10 teams, including defending champions BPCL, have been invited. Murugappan said the tournament has been categorised as a Grade A competition. The 10 teams have been divided into two pools of five for the preliminary league. The top two finishers in each pool will advance to the semifinals.
Pool A: Indian Oil Corporation, Karnataka XI, Mumbai XI, Indian Railways and Indian Overseas Bank.
Pool B: Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Air India, Namdhari XI, Sports Hostel (Orissa) and Army XI.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
August 30,
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Karachi August 28:
Pakistan hockey team's disastrous performance in the Beijing Olympics has taken another toll with coach Naved Alam following chief coach Khawaja Zakauddin in stepping down from his post.
Announcing his resignation, Alam said the Olympic debacle was a collective failure and the federation should not start a witch hunt of senior players. "I wouldn't get into any blame game but the bottom line is we didn't perform well at all and I owned my responsibilty. But I am still hopeful for the future and the federation should avoid starting a witch hunt against senior players," he said at a press conference.
Pakistan gave one of its worst performances in Olympic Games finishing eighth and this has already led to chief coach and manager, Khawaja Zakauddin stepping down owning responsibilty for the poor show by the team. Alam also strongly spoke out against the appointment of a foreign coach and said the federation just needed to take concrete and long term measures to put the sport back on the right track.
"In the past we have had problems with foreign coaches as our style of hockey is different I would suggest depending on a local coach to get us out of our present position," he said. Pakistan hockey Federation secretary, Asif Bajwa who was appointed by the sports ministry just two weeks before the Olympics, has already said the team that went to Beijing was not his and he had no responsibility for its performance. Bajwa is expected to announce major changes in the team and federation's management this week.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
August 28,
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Patiala August 28:
Punjabi University is to be awarded the prestigious Maulana Abdul Kalam trophy for 2006-07. An official confirmation, signed by Joe Sebastian, director (sports), Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, was received by university authorities here today afternoon.
The second place has been bagged by GNDU, Amritsar, while the third spot has gone to Delhi University. The trophy, considered to be the symbol of supremacy in all-India inter-university sport, will be given away by the President Pratibha DeviSingh Patil on August 29 at the Ashoka Hall in Rashtrapati Bhawan on the occasion of the National Sports Day.
The university will be represented by vice-chancellor Dr Jaspal Singh and director (sports) Raj Kumar Sharma. They will be accompanied by ace cyclist Abhishek Rana and international handballer Sarup Kaur. Punjabi University pulled the rug from under the feet of 19-time winner and hot contender Guru Nanak Dev University by a staggering margin of 1000 points.
For 2006-07, Punjabi University won top positions in cycling (both men and women), canoeing (men), kayaking (women), football (men), handball (women), air rifle shooting (women), rowing (women), yachting (men and women). University sportspersons won a total of 103 individual gold, 47 silver and 44 bronze medals.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
August 28,
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