IPL prunes players’ auction list to 51

IPL commissioner Lalit Modi at a press conference in Mumbai last year. Photo: Vivek Bendre
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Pakistani all-rounder Shahid Afridi, Kiwi paceman Shane Bond and Caribbean batting sensation Keiron Pollard are among 51 cricketers, who have been shortlisted by the Indian Premier League for its January 19 player auction.

Ramnaresh Sarwan (West Indies), Nathan McCullum (New Zealand), Clint McKay and Doug Bollinger (Australia), Chanaka Welegedara and Nuwan Zoysa (Sri Lanka), rising Pakistani star Umar Akmal and Yusuf Abdulla and Rory Kleinveldt (South Africa) have also made the cut.

The list includes 11 Australians, nine South Africans, eight Sri Lankans, eight West Indians, seven Pakistanis and an assortment of players from across the Bangladesh, New Zealand and Zimbabwe.

The auction, to be held in Mumbai, will also feature for the first time players from Holland and Canada.

As per the guidelines set by the IPL Governing Council, each Franchisee will have a fresh purse of USD 750,000 to buy players.

“The IPL had received nearly 100 entries from international players, of which the eight franchisees had short listed 60 players for the auction on January 19th and out of which only 51 have been cleared for the auction. The remaining will be featured pending NOCs from the home boards,” a release from the organisers said.

The third edition of the highly popular Twenty20 event will begin on March 12.

Source:http://beta.thehindu.com/sport/cricket/article76922.ece

Owen’s recent Euro hat-trick fails to boost his World Cup hopes

London: Ace Manchester United forward Michael Owen’s recent Euro hat-trick has failed to boost his World Cup hopes, as England manager Fabio Capello shrugged off the striker’s superb treble against Wolfsburg, raising serious concerns over Owen’s fitness.

Capello admits a lack of regular first-team action is standing in the player’s way of making it on to the plane to South Africa.

United boss Alex Ferguson left Owen on the bench for the league clash against Aston Villa, which followed his Champions League super show in Germany, The Sun reports.

Capello said: “It is important for all players to play. Michael Owen is one of the best players in England. But if he does not play in every game, it is a problem for me and for him. It will be very important to be fit at the moment I choose the squad.”

“He scored three goals but then did not play the next game. He only played the second half. He is good but not so fit. I see Wayne Rooney always plays. But this is Alex Ferguson’s decision,” he said.

Owen is likely to be a sub again for tomorrow’s trip to Hull.

Ferguson wants a swift reverse of the form that has seen two defeats in three games by Villa and Fulham and a slide to four points behind Premier League leaders Chelsea.

“The Villa game was a big disappointment. We made enough chances to win it. It was the killer for us in December,” Ferguson said.

Source: http://www.zeenews.com/news590472.html

Cilic rallies past Granollers

Marin Cilic carved out a hard-fought three-set win over Marcel Grandollers at the Chennai Open. Photo: R. Ragu
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Defending champion Marin Cilic got his game together in time to keep alive his hopes of a title defence at the Chennai Open here on Wednesday.

The world number 14 trailed by a set and a break to Spain’s Marcel Granollers when he decided to amp his game up. Cilic had beaten Granollers in straight sets in last year’s semifinal here, but found the going way tougher this time round.

Not a single break materialised in the first set as the Spaniard matched the defending champion ground stroke for ground stroke, staying with the second seed and forcing a tie-break.

A couple of mini breaks later — one of which was neutralised by Cilic — Granollers found himself on 5-3, when a fortuitous net cord gifted him a set point.

A moment later, Cilic sliced his backhand into the net and was left staring a one-set deficit in the face.

Five breaks

Five breaks of serve punctuated the second set. Granollers broke Cilic in the third and seventh game, but Cilic got the better of his serve in the fourth, sixth and eighth game — a decisive difference in set parlance.

All through, both players struggled with their first serves — Cilic found the mark 50 per cent of the time, while Granollers stayed content with 54 per cent.

The players swapped breaks in the decider, before Cilic went one up in the seventh game and held on to his advantage for a 6-4 verdict.

“He (Granollers) played well today, but I was able to raise my level my game as the match went on; it wasn’t easy.

“I didn’t lose concentration, but some calls appeared suspicious; we have to accept it,” said Cilic later.

In other second round action, Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic failed to add on to his first round seed-killing act over Simon Greul.

He went down in straight sets to Colombian Santiago Giraldo in the second round.

Hajek drew first blood, breaking Giraldo in the third game of the first set, but surrendered his own serve in the eighth and 10th games.

Slugging it out

The Czech had a superior first serve percentage — 73 per cent against Santiago’s 58 — but was unable to match his adversary’s comfort in slugging it out from the baseline.

The second set went on serve before Giraldo stepped up the pace in the sixth game, breaking Hajek to go 4-2 up. Another break in the eighth game gave Santiago a deserved straight-set win.

Meanwhile, T. de Bakker of the Netherlands put it across compatriot R. Hasse in straight sets.

Bakker attained the solitary first set break in the eighth game, and then survived a break-fest in the second to emerge a 6-4 victor.

Dethroned

In doubles, top seeds and defending champions Eric Butorac and Rajeev Ram of the United States were beaten in the first round by Y. Allegro and Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland.

The results: Singles: Second Round: M. Cilic (Cro) bt M. Granollers (Esp) 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-4; T. de Bakker (Ned) bt R. Haase (Ned) 6-3, 6-4; S. Giraldo (Col) bt J. Hajek (Cze) 6-4, 6-2.

Doubles: Y. Allegro (Sui) & S. Wawrinka (Sui) bt E. Butorac (USA) & R. Ram (USA) 3-6, 6-4, 10-5.

Source:http://beta.thehindu.com/sport/tennis/article76837.ece

Dhoni blames loss to dew

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni blamed the team’s inability to defend a decent total to the dew factor and said the side might request the organisers for an early start of the remaining matches.

“It was always going to be difficult to defend a total like 280-285. Dew became a huge factor. We knew we had to pick early wickets. After the first 10 overs there was nothing for the bowlers,” Dhoni rued after Sri Lanka cruised to a five-wicket win with two overs to spare.

“We can make a request for an early start but if you have to play at the same time, you have to come up with something else,” Dhoni said.

Elaborating the point, Dhoni said he could not blame his bowlers for not being able to defend a 279-run total because it was difficult to grip the wet ball.

“It was difficult for the spinners to grip the ball. The ball kept slipping out. There was no yorkers, no reverse-swing and no spin for my bowlers,” he said.

His Sri Lankan counterpart Kumar Sangakkara was all smiles after the win and he profusely praised centurion Thilan Samaraweera and Thissara Perera whose unbeaten 15-ball 36 took the game away from India.

“All credit to Sammy for batting through, and Perera played superbly too. When we started out in the morning, it was like ‘here we go again’, but (Chanaka) Welegedara did well to bring us back in. Suraj Randiv bowled well, and I think our fielding was much better. The attitude of the players was brilliant, we were out there to win,” Sangakkara said.

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, were dealt another blow today with Sangakkara announcing that Muthumudalige Pushpakumara would be returning home because of a shoulder injury.

Samarweera thanked his teammates for the win and said his second ODI century was all the more memorable since it came for a winning cause.

“I knew it was a matter of having partnerships. At the top, I had one with Sangakkara and the Perera played a great knock down the order.

“My plan was to hang around till the 44th over and then take it from there. In the batting powerplay, I knew we can get 50-60 runs from 30 balls,” said the right-hander.

Source:http://beta.thehindu.com/sport/cricket/article76260.ece

Jayawardene, two others flown in to prop up Lanka

Three Sri Lankan cricketers, including former captain Mahela Jayawardene, were flown in today to prop up a side which is struggling to put 11 fit men together in the ongoing cricket tri-series.

Sri Lanka team manager Brendon Kuruppu said besides Jayawardene, who was part of the Sri Lankan team that played an ODI series in India last month, the other two players are uncapped wicket-keeper batsman Lokuge Dinesh Chandimal and left-handed batsman Mahela Udawatte.

Kuruppu said Chamara Silva and Muthumudalige Pushpakumara, who were injured during Sri Lanka’s opening match against Bangladesh, would return home while in-form opener Tillakaratne Dilshan would stay back despite the groin strain he suffered during his match-winning knock of 104 against the hosts.

“Jayawardene, Chandimal and Udawatte have arrived here, while Silva and Pushpakumara will return home. We are hoping that Dilshan will be okay and will play a part in some point of time in the tournament, which is why we have kept him here,” Kuruppu said.

“Dilshan though, is unlikely for our next game (against Bangladesh on January 8),” he added.

Source:http://beta.thehindu.com/sport/article76543.ece

MRF-National Supercross Championship final at Pune tomorrow

Participants practising for the MRF-National Supercross championship which is to be held on Saturday. Photo: Special Arrangement
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The MRF-National Supercross Championship (Round 6) is to be hosted on Saturday under floodlights by the city based Sportstrek with the patronage of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI). This event is the biggest off-road two wheeler event in the country.

Apart from the title sponsors-MRF- the others include Bharat Petroleum, TVS Motors and Sidvin Oil and Gas. MRF has been the principal supporter of the event for over a decade now.

Over 100 riders are expected to take part in the event, which include leading lights like Veet Patel, Eeshan Lokhande, Arviond KP, C.S.Santosh (TVS) for the prestigious Mayors Trophy.

Motorcycles in the various classes namely ‘Group B, C & D’ will range from the regular products that our Indian market offers. In some categories modification is permitted and these bikes will be fitted with Indian or foreign race factory made’ after market’ components to make them ‘Race Fit’.

The ‘Group A’ consist of foreign made Honda CR, Yamaha YZ, Suzuki RM and KTM. All these machines will differ from being a two or four stroke and with a cubic capacity of 125CC to 250CC.

The Track measures approximately 1200 meters and the circuit consists of a combination of eight double jumps, three triple jumps, one table top measuring approximately 100 ft, 8 Berms and a section of the Whoop de doos. Pratap Bhagwat and Ashok Yande - both Motocross veterans, are the track designers.

The preceding competitions in this year were held in Goa (May 24), Hyderabad (May 31), Coimbatore (June 14), Jaipur (November 15), Bangalore (November 29) and the final at Pune (December 6).
Source:http://beta.thehindu.com/sport/motorsport/article59944.ece

Australia to send 600-strong delegation for 2010 Commonwealth Games

Steve Hooker, of Australia, reacts after clearing

the bar to win the men's pole vault during the Boston

Indoor Games athletics meet in Boston. File photo: AP.

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In what would come as music to the ears of an embattled Organising Committee, Australia is planning to send its largest—ever delegation of over 600 athletes and officials, including Olympic and world champions, for next year’s Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

“Australia is planning to send a full team of over 600 athletes, coaches, managers, medicos and officials. The team will be the largest ever to compete in an overseas Commonwealth Games campaign with the first round of team nominations including the provisional selection of eight track and field athletes, including world champions Steve Hooker and Dani Samuels,” Australian Commonwealth Games Association (ACGA) said in a statement.

Pole vaulter Hooker is a gold medallist from the Beijing Olympics where he set an Olympic record of 6.06m. Samuels is the youngest ever female discus thrower to become a world champion.

ACGA CEO Perry Crosswhite, said not a single athlete has raised any security concerns about travelling to India.

“To date the questions have been about the weather predictions and the sports venues, and, of course, what the food and the village are going to be like,” he said.

Source:http://beta.thehindu.com/sport/article73447.ece