JALANDHAR: India clinched the women's Kabaddi World Cup championship for the third time in a row, defeating debutant New Zealand 49-21 in the summit clash played at Guru Gobind Singh sports complex on Thursday.
The Indian eves led their New Zealand counterparts for most part of the
match and held out a strong challenge by the visitors in the second
half, on course to a resounding win.
The Indian team took home a first-place prize of Rs one crore.
Anu Rani was adjudged the best stopper while Ram Bateri was declared the best raider. Both received a Maruti Alto car each.
Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player to score nine goals in the group stage of the champions league as Real Madrid finished their campaign with a win at chilly Copenhagen.
Real, who finished top of Group B after five wins and a
draw, took the lead through Luka Modric who curled the ball into the
top-right corner.
Ronaldo scored his record goal when he latched on to Pepe's ball to fire in.
He should have added another but had his penalty saved by Johan Wiland.
Ronaldo was making his return to the side after three
games out through injury and suspension, while £85m-signing Gareth Bale
also started after he had missed Saturday's 0-0 draw away to minnows
Olimpic Xativa in the Copa del Ray because of illness.
Real went close on three other
occasions. France striker Karim Benzema's low drive was well saved by
Wiland before the goalkeeper pushed Ronaldo's effort around the post.
And late in the game, Bale failed to score his 10th goal of the season when he missed from three yards out.
Portugal forward Ronaldo, 28, passed a record jointly held by Ruud van Nistelrooy(2004-05), Filippo Inzaghi and Hernan Crespo (both 2002-03). Paris
St-Germain's Zlatan Ibrahimovic also equalled the record this season but
sat out matchday six.
LAUSANNE: Indian athletes have been cleared to compete in the Winter Games
in Sochi after the country complied with the IOC's ethics rules and
avoided becoming the first country expelled from the Olympics in more
than 40 years.
Still to be determined is whether the few Indian
athletes who have qualified for Sochi compete for their country or
under the Olympic flag.
The International Olympic Committee
gave a reprieve to India's suspended national Olympic body on Tuesday
after a long impasse that had threatened to lead to the expulsion of the
world's second most populous nation.
The move came two days
after the Indian Olympic Association amended its constitution to bar any
officials charged with a crime from running for election, as demanded
by the IOC.
"We think that is a major step in the right direction," IOC President Thomas Bach
said. "We are now looking forward to the implementation of the new
rules by transparent and open and democratic elections in the Indian
Olympic Association."'
Had India not fallen into line by Tuesday, it risked becoming the first country kicked out of the Olympic movement since South Africa was expelled in 1970 for its apartheid policies.
The Indian body was suspended by the IOC last December after electing
secretary-general Lalit Bhanot, who spent 10 months in jail on
corruption charges related to the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.
Bach said the IOA remains suspended pending the holding of elections under the new constitution.
Although the new elections will not take place until Feb. 9, two days
after the start of the Sochi Olympics, Bach said the IOC has "taken
precautions for the athletes and made sure the athletes will not suffer
from this procedure."
In that case, Bach said, Indians would
compete as "independent athletes" under the Olympic flag, with no Indian
flag or symbols allowed at the venues or opening ceremony.
If the elections can take place before the Sochi Olympics and satisfy
the IOC demands, the suspension would be lifted and the athletes could
compete with their national flag and anthem.
India is likely to send a three-member team to Sochi, led by luger Shiva Keshavan, who will be participating in his fifth Winter Olympics. Keshavan, who set a continental record at the Asia Cup in Nagano, Japan, last December, is hoping to become the first Indian to win a medal at a Winter Games.
India can also send one male and one female Alpine skier to the games.
PERTH: Coach Andy Flower insists England are not scared of firebrand pacer Mitchell Johnson and that the team's dismal record in Perth will have no bearing on the outcome of the pivotal third Ashes Test.
Johnson terrorised the England batsmen in Brisbane and Adelaide, taking
his side to the brink of reclaiming the Ashes after three consecutive
series defeats.
And the left-arm quick, who has taken 17
wickets with his 150 kilometre-an-hour (93 miles-an-hour) deliveries,
has been tipped to bowl even faster on his home ground, the WACA, in the
match starting on Friday.
Despite a dressing room full of
bruised and battered batsmen, Flower rejected claims that the players
were afraid of Johnson, saying they were used to pace at the top level
of the game.
"One thing I would say about playing fast bowling
is that our batsmen have to display the combination of skill and
determination to bat long periods against it," he said.
"Because if we do expose our lower order, they will struggle against
that sort of pace. So the responsibility lies with the batsmen in that
regard."
England have a dismal record in Perth, where their
only win in 12 attempts came in 1978 but must find a way to halt the
Australian juggernaut, for whom a victory would give them an unbeatable
3-0 lead in the five-Test series.
Flower is undaunted by his side's previous struggles at the WACA but he is hoping captain Alastair Cook wins the toss the team is able to bat first and post a big score on the board.
"I think past glories mean nothing in this context," Flower said on the England and Wales Cricket Board website.
"We've got a big challenge to stop the momentum of the opposition and
to get ahead in the game. We had Australia 130 for six in Brisbane, but
since then they've been ahead in both games."
England's
second-innings 312 at Adelaide was the first time they have passed 200
in the series, with a number of batsmen, including Cook, struggling for
form and Flower challenged his players to be more selective with their
strokes.
"The challenge at Perth will be to assess those
conditions accurately and have clarity on the risk/reward that you
always have to judge when you're batting," he said.
While Adelaide offered a pitch suitable for spinners, with Monty Panesar selected alongside Graeme Swann, Perth is more of a fast-bowlers track and Flower suggested there would be changes.
"We have taken some serious hits but we do have a squad full of people
who are determined to turn the ship around, and that's what we must do,"
he said. "We'll assess those conditions and see who will best be able
to help us take 20 wickets."
DURBAN: India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni
says an under-performing middle order was one of the main reasons for
his team's pathetic show against South Africa, where the home fast
bowlers have ruled the roost.
After being reduced to 34/4,
India were bowled out for 146 in 35.1 overs, chasing 281 runs in the
second one-dayer. No batsman crossed the 40-run mark.
"In the
last few series our middle order, to some extent, was a bit of a bother.
In this series we lost the top three quite early and our middle order
was exposed. So if you assess, then that's maybe why we haven't been
able to perform to our potential," he said.
Dhoni said he was surprised that Indian batsmen could not take advantage of a flat track.
"The wicket was on the flatter side and there wasn't much for the fast
bowlers in it, so I am disappointed with the batting. The kind of shots
we played, well, few of them were on. But the shot execution was not
great to some extent, as they went to the fielders," he said.
Dhoni though expressed his pleasure about the bowlers' performance.
"Compared to the last game, our bowling did a fantastic
job especially in the middle orders. Spinners bowled well and so did
the fast bowlers when they came back on, in the latter stages of the
South African innings. I am happy with the bowlers' performance because
280 runs on this pitch was a decent score."
South Africa were
put into bat by Dhoni and while his bowlers eventually finished on top,
early on they were once again defied by Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla, with the opening duo putting up 194 runs for the first wicket and smacking a hundred each in doing so.
"They have done really well for South Africa. They did so in the last series as well (versus Pakistan).
The way they were batting in the first 20 overs, I thought this may be
another 300-plus run chase but we came back into the game.
Dhoni said South Africa have good combination in both batting and
bowling and that has played a major role in their continuing success.
"In both matches in this series so far, they have done well and given a
really good start, but in this game we were able to get to the middle
order to some extent because they were not able to score 300-plus runs.
At the moment, South Africa have the right kind of bowlers and the right
batsmen."
To counter them, Dhoni had deployed spinners as
early as the 11th over, and brought on Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli as
well. This turned out to be a ploy in the end, as he was able to use his
bowling attack more effectively in the later stages of the South
African innings.
"The wicket was slowing a bit. So, using the
part-timers gives me a few more overs of specialist bowlers a bit later
on," said the skipper, explaining his move.
"It seemed at that
time that the batsmen were not really looking for the big strokes and I
thought I can get a few overs off the part timers and then look to
attack with the spinners. Or use the pace bowlers, if the pacers go for
runs."
"To some extent I didn't need them (spinners) in the
last few overs because fast bowlers did well apart from the couple of
overs that went for runs. So, overall as a bowling unit I think we
bowled well," he added.
Standing apart from the bowling unit, and indeed the entire team, was Mohammad Shami.
He took 3 for 48 here at Durban, to go along with 3 for 68 in the first
ODI. And Dhoni deemed him the one big positive of the tour so far.
"He bowls with the seam upright and he bowls the right line and length.
Even today (Sunday) when there was a bit of reverse swing he bowled the
right length, and that's something very crucial. I think he has adapted
very well. And the more he is playing the better he is getting, so
that's a big positive for us," said the skipper.
While the bowling may have worked on this day, owing to a slower pitch than in Johannesburg, it cannot be denied that 281 was a gettable target.
Even so, Dhoni looked to defend his batsmen and said that team India
will be looking to 'continue playing their best XI' in the third ODI at
Centurion on Wednesday, rather than experiment or give other squad
members a chance in the dead encounter.
"When we travel
outside India, people talk about short bowling because in the
subcontinent we are not used to that kind of bowling. So what we have
seen is that sometimes you play a few shots and it pays off, then the
opposition has to think where they need to bowl.
"This is what
happens in the Champions Trophy. At other times, you play those big
shots and end up losing wickets. It is a part and parcel of the cricket
and we will have to accept it," he opined.
The Men in Blue may
have won in England back in the summer, but it will quickly become a
distant memory if the tour continues to go this way. Yet, Dhoni sounded
confident that this ODI series is a 'one-off contest' and there is much
to learn ahead.
"You win a few and you lose a few. What's
important is that you keep learning. The bowlers learnt from the first
game and bowled better in this game. As a batting unit also, we need to
learn quite a few things and keep going onto the field," he signed off.
ADELAIDE: Michael Clarke says his Australia still have plenty to do if they want not only to win back the Ashes from England but also to become the world's top Test team.
Australia took a 2-0 lead in the five-Test series following a 218-run
trouncing of England in the second Adelaide Test on Monday and are
poised to retrieve the Ashes they lost in 2009 should they win the third
Test in Perth starting on Friday.
The Australians have proved
dominant on the usually pacy WACA wicket with victories against England
in their last six Tests there. England's only win in Perth came in 1978.
Captain Clarke urged his players to keep grounded as they look
for one more victory to seal the series in the remaining three Tests in
Perth, Melbourne and Sydney.
"I think we have to be realistic.
That's our second Test win the past 12 months and that is not
acceptable as an Australian Test team so our feet are certainly well and
truly cemented on the ground," he said.
"There's a lot of work for us to do to get back to being the number one team in the world and that's our goal."
Australia are currently ranked fifth on the International Cricket
Council rankings behind number one South Africa, with England third, and
Clarke cautioned against over-expectations in Perth.
"It's obviously exciting that we're going to a ground that we feel so comfortable playing at," he said.
"But in saying that I have also experienced some defeats in my career
in Perth so I'm more concerned about making sure we play the same brand
of cricket that we have played so far in this series.
"I don't think it matters the conditions we play in, if we continue to play the brand that we have played.
"The positive is, we know the conditions and guys like Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle
love bowling when there is a bit more pace and bounce, but I think the
main focus is making sure we play the same brand and we're as well
prepared as we were for this Test."
Clarke described Johnson, who has been man-of-the-match in both Test wins, as having the "X-factor".
Johnson took seven for 40 to destroy England in the first innings and has taken 17 wickets in the series at 12.70.
"He has always been an X-factor, with bat and ball. He's as good an athlete in the field as you'll see," Clarke said.
"Mitch has always had that. It's just about working out how to use him best in your team.
"Our attack right now really complements each other so it allows Mitch to be used the way I feel is best for our team.
"He's been our new-ball bowler, he's bowled first-change, he's bowled
12-over spells. Whatever's required, he can do that. He's been
outstanding."
Clarke said Australia's two comprehensive wins
had their origins in the last series in England in July-August, which
they lost 3-0.
"In our opinion it's not a fluke that we have
won the first two Test matches. It's hard work that we put in the UK and
we thought we were so close but we didn't get over the line and we were
disappointed not to have success in England," he said.
"So we as a team believe the work we have been putting in for a long period of time, now we're seeing some results."
England
are "in a dark place" after two "horrendous" Ashes thrashings but are
capable of achieving one of the greatest fightbacks ever, wicketkeeper Matt Prior said.
After losing to Australia by 218 runs in Adelaide to slip 2-0 behind in
the five-match series, a performance Prior labelled "embarrassing",
England's chances of retaining the Ashes are fading fast.
With team manager Andy Flower
calling for the squad's senior players to stand up, Prior said this
week's third Test in Perth will be the ultimate Test of their resolve.
"How tough are we?" Prior said in his column in the Daily Telegraph on
Tuesday. "We always ask those questions in the dressing room and in
meetings.
"Now we have to prove it in the real world. We cannot run away from what is ahead of us.
"We know what we are up against. We like doing it the hard way and it
does not come any harder for an English cricketer than having to go to
Perth and win. But if we manage to come back it will be one of the best
fightbacks ever."
Prior said some of the flak flying England's way has been hurtful, but admitted it was justified.
"People are questioning our desire and hunger and that really hurts
because it means we have been giving the wrong impression but nobody
wants to win the Ashes more than us," he said.
"The first innings collapse at Adelaide was as embarrassing a performance I've been involved in with England.
"We were horrendous and there have been honest chats and words spoken.
Everyone in this dressing room has been in a dark place and knows the
feeling of walking out to bat thinking: 'I don't know what is going on'.
"But you have to work hard and have faith it will change around."
Prior's fighting 69 and Kevin Pietersen's 53 in the second innings at
Adelaide were the kind of performances Flower wants more of from his
senior players.
"In these sorts of contests and series where
the intensity levels are high, you do need your more experienced
players, players who have been through similar situations in the past,
to come through tough periods and play match-defining innings or produce
pressure to create chances with the ball," Flower told reporters in
Adelaide.
Joe Root, who will turn 23 at the end of this month, currently averages the highest among batsmen while senior bowlers James Anderson and Graeme Swann have been largely off-colour in the first two Tests.
"We've been outplayed in these two Tests, very obviously, and the
Australians have outplayed us in all three facets," Flower said of the
crushing defeats in Brisbane and Adelaide.
"We haven't been skilful enough for long enough to get into better positions in the matches. That's the crux there."
England need a quick response in Perth where Australian paceman Mitchell Johnson will again be the dangerman, having ripped England's batting apart so far.
"I wouldn't say scared," Flower told reporters when asked about the effect that Johnson has had on the batsmen's minds.
"He's bowled at good pace but that's what you expect in Test cricket.
One thing I would say about playing fast bowling is that our batsmen
have to display the combination of skill and determination to bat long
periods against it."
Spinner Swann said Johnson had been the main difference between the sides so far.
"He has struck a purple patch and is bowling very fast," Swann told The
Sun. "He might not be the most skillful bowler with what he does with
the ball but he has that raw pace and is causing us problems."
JALANDHAR: India clinched the women's Kabaddi World Cup championship for the third time in a row, defeating debutant New Zealand 49-21 in the summit clash played at Guru Gobind Singh sports complex on Thursday.
