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WEDNESDAY
31 DECEMBER
2008 |
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sports
Asom
cricketers fail to impress Kolkata
Knight Riders
By our Sports Reporter
GUWAHATI, Dec 30: There is sad
news for the cricket lovers
of the State as no cricketers
from Asom will be seen in the
Kolkata Knight Riders team in
the forthcoming Indian Premier
League (IPL). The first edition
of IPL also did not feature
any cricketers of Asom.
The story was completely different
last year as Kolkata Knight
Riders didn’t take any
initiative to scan the performance
of cricketers from outside West
Bengal during the formation
of the team. But this time they
have changed their earlier stand
and decided to scout for talent
in the NE region.
However, 14 State cricketers,
who were invited by the Assam
Cricket Association to appear
for the trials of the Kolkata
Knight Riders at the Nehru Stadium
here today failed to impress
the officials of the outfit
whose boss is no other then
superstar Shahrukh Khan.
Talking to the mediapersons
after the trials, the cricket
manager of Kolkata Knight Riders
team Joydeep Mukharjee said,
“ There is good talent
in Asom and in the coming days
your State team could be a force
to reckon with.”
Meanwhile, Mukherjee added that
this time Kolkata Knight Riders
would constitute three teams.
“Apart from our main team,
we will also form two new teams
this season which are Kolkata
Knight Riders ‘A’
and Kolkata Knight Riders Academy.
You would be glad to know that
one of your cricketer Dhiraj
Goswami has already been selected
for the academy side and we
may take a couple of cricketers
from your State in the coming
days.”
Mukherjee, who played for Bengal
in the Ranji Trophy, also said
that the final trial camp of
the probables would be held
in Kolkata from January 5.
Both coach John Buchanan and
captain Saurav Ganguly will
be present in this camp and
select the new players for the
team.”
OILFC
in semis of ID soccer:
Maintaining consistency in their
game, Oil India Limited Football
Club (OILFC) rushed into the
semifinal of the Independence
Cup Soccer Tournament thrashing
Burnpur United 6-0 in the last
quarterfinal held at Nagaon
on Tuesday. The match was completely
one sided and if OILFC, who
recently won 57th Bordoloi Trophy
title defeating ASEBSC in the
final, didn’t miss some
easy opportunities, then the
team could have won the game
by a much bigger margin. Prasanta
Choudhury opened the account
for OILFC in the 8th minute
of the game and he also added
another one in the 39th minute.
N Stephern Njoh too scored twice
while Ezekiel and H L Routa
were the other scorers. The
first semifinal of the tournament
will be held between BSF, Jalandhar
and Sporting United.
NCA, SCCC win in Challenge Cricket:
Noonmati Cricket Academy (NCA)
and Star Cricket Coaching Centre
(SCCC) won their respective
matches in the Challenge Trophy
All Assam Prize Money Cricket
Tournament held at the Latasil
ground on Tuesday. In the first
match of the day, NCA defeated
Friends Club by 7 wickets while
in the second match of the game
SCCC beat Royal Star Club by
25 runs.
Brief scores: First match -
Friends Club 128-6, Anjan Sil
36, Manoj Das 3-9; NCA 129-3,
Pradyut Hazarika 39, Gautam
Bhattacharyya 35. Second match-
SCCC 156-5, Binod Pandey 37no,
Meer Mazhav Hussain 36, Ranjit
Verma 3-24; Royal Star Club
131, Dipak Pandey 29, Raaj Ramchiary
3-4, Binod Pandey 3-30.
Thulunga bags bronze in rural
meet:
Upcoming archer Thulunga Musahary
bagged the bronze medal in the
archery event of the first All
India Rural meet under PYKKA
held at Coimbatore recently.
Thulunga scored 601 points in
the 30 mtre event to win the
bronze medal and his medal winning
performance helped the archer
to get a selection call from
the Sports Authority of India.
Three more archers from Asom,
Jayanta Boro, Frensisca Soren
and Fulshree Narzary also got
a call from Sports Authority
of India on the basis of their
performance in the same tournament.
Meanwhile, Asom pair Moumita
Talukdar and Sushmita Bora,
won the bronze medal in the
doubles event of the badminton
in All India Womens Sports Festival
held at Hamirpur in Himachal
Pradesh recently.
Kokrajhar collect best team
title:
Kokrajhar bagged the championship
title for the third consecutive
time in the 15th Bodoland Taekwondo
Championship which concluded
at the Sikhnajha Taekwondo Gymnasium
on Monday. Bikram Basumatari
and Sanju Boro, both representing
Udalguri district in the championship,
collected the best male and
female fighter award respectively.
It may be mentioned here that
altogether 280 players from
ten districts took part in the
championship. (From our Correspondent,
Kokrajhar).
All Assam Muaythai concludes:
The Second All Assam Amateur
Muaythai Championship concluded
at Sivasagar on Sunday. Around
130 players from the different
parts of the State participated
in the championship which was
organized by the Muaythai Association
of Nazira under the aegis of
Muaythai Association of Assam. |
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Sania’s security withdrawn
as she fails to pay charges
Hyderabad, Dec
30: The security provided to
ace tennis star Sania Mirza
has been withdrawn by Andhra
Pradesh police for “failing”
to pay user fee for the security
she had obtained.
Hyderabad City Commissioner
of Police B Prasada Rao told
reporters here today that notices
were issued to Sania and others
asking them to make necessary
payments for the security obtained
from City Security Wing (CSW).
Refusing to divulge further
details on the number of defaulters,
he said “police have certain
guidelines to recover the charges
for security provided to different
personalities.” “They
are supposed to make advance
payments. If anybody fails to
make payment of the service,
we issue notices to them”,
the commissioner said.
Sania was given a gunman each
in two shifts. Her security
was withdrawn after she “failed”
to pay security charges even
after repeated notices, sources
said. (PTI)
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Proteas
decimate Oz to clinch series
Melbourne, Dec 30: South Africa
skipper Graeme Smith (75) led
from the front as the Proteas
register their first series
victory in Australia defeating
the hosts by nine-wickets in
the Boxing Day Test here today.
With this win, South Africa
took the 2-0 unassailable lead
in the three match Test series
against Australia.
Australia last lost a series
at home in 1992-93 against the
West Indies. If Australia succumb
again in the third and last
Test in Sydney starting from
January 9, Proteas will become
the number one Test team in
world cricket.
Chasing a modest target of 183
runs to win, two overnight openers
Smith and Neil McKenzie started
the proceedings in the morning
with full of confidence. Smith
in particular was brutal against
the world champions. He quickly
attacked the wilting bowling
attack and added 121-runs for
the opening wicket with the
right-handed batsman McKenzie,
who survived some torrid moments
to post a timely 59.
Smith took 94 balls to hit a
strokeful 75 with the help of
ten boundaries before succumbing
lbw to the off-spinner Nathan
Hauritz.
After the fall of Smith, the
right-handed batsman Hashim
Amla joined McKenzie and the
right-handed duo defied Australians
of making any other breakthrough.
McKenzie and Amla added unbeaten
62-run partnership for the first
wicket and sealed the success
for the visitors after lunch.
Amla flicked left-arm spinner
Michael Clarke for two behind
square leg to clinch the history
defying series. McKenzi, who
got a reprive from Matthew Hayden
at first slip, when he was batting
on 49, was remain unbeaten on
59-run in which he hit three
fours and a huge six while Amla
took 62-balls to score 30-runs
equipped with two boundaries.
South African pace spearhead
Daly Styen was named man of
the match for his fine all-round
performance with bat and ball.
Styen grabbed five-wickets each
in both the innings and also
scored a crucial 76-run in the
Proteas first innings and added
a historical 180-runs for the
ninth wicket to bail out the
visitors from a precarious position.
For Australia, on a day when
all the bowlers looked like
mediocre against the South African
batsman, Hauritz was the only
successful bowler, claiming
Smith’s wicket for 41
run in his ten overs.
Scoreboard : Australia (Ist
innings) 394 all out South Africa
(Ist innings) 459 all out Australia
(IInd innings) 247 all out South
Africa (IInd innings) Grame
Smith lbw b Hauritz 75 Neil
McKenzie not out 59 Hashim Amla
not out 30 Extras: (lb 9, w
2, nb 8) 19 Total: (in 48 overs)
183 for one FoWs : 1-121 Bowling:
Brett Lee 10-0-49-0, Peter Siddle
14-5-34-0, Mitchell Johnson
11-1-36-0, Nathan Hauritz 10-0-41-1,
Michael Clarke 3-0-14-0. (UNI)
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Hayden
retains his spot for Sydney
Test
Melbourne, Dec 30: Struggling
opener Matthew Hayden today
retained his spot, while victoria
all-rounder Andrew McDonald
was the surprise inclusion
in the 12-man Australian squad
for the third and last Test
against South Africa starting
from January 3 in Sydney.
All-rounder Andrew Symonds
and Shane Watson was ruled
out from the squad due to
injury. Hayden held on to
his spot despite a disastrous
summer, while McDonald was
brought in alongside Doug
Bollinger to replace Watson
and Brett Lee. Watson will
be unable to bowl for up to
six months due to back stress
fractures and Lee is suffering
from foot surgery after hurting
himself in the Boxing day
Test in which South Africa
register a nine-wicket victory
over the world champions to
took an unassasaible 2-0 lead
in the three match Test series.
(Agencies)
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We'll
dominate again: Ponting
Melbourne: Virtually admitting
that the days of their absolute
domination is over, Australia
captain Ricky Ponting today
said it would take a few years
before the side returns as
the same ruthless force which
ruled world cricket with an
iron fist. “We’ve
had an amazing run as a team
. We have dominated world
cricket for a long period
of time,” Ponting said
after his side went down to
South Africa in the second
Test here today. “I’m
still very positive and very
sure that with some of these
younger guys coming on that
in a few years time we can
get back up there and be dominating
world cricket once again.”
“It’s going to
take a little while, there
is no doubt about that. You
can not expect young guys
to come in and have sustain
success. The young guys are
the ones who generally lack
consistency,” Ponting
said. “The gap between
our best cricket and our worst
cricket has been too big and
we have to make that smaller
if we want to win the next
Test and if we want to stay
in that top group of Test-playing
nations,” added Ponting.
(PTI.
Warne
wants Dar sacked
Melbourne: Spin wizard Shane
Warne wants Elite Panel umpire
Aleem Dar sacked after the
Pakistani committed a blunder
in dismissing Mike Hussey
during the second Test against
South Africa at the Melbourne
Cricket Ground (MCG). “To
me Aleem Dar makes too many
mistakes and needs a break.
Umpire standards are pretty
poor,” Warne was quoted
as saying by The Daily Telegraph.
Dar incorrectly ruled Hussey
caught out by Hashim Amla
off Morne Morkel on the fourth
day on Monday. But television
replays showed that the ball
hit Hussey's helmet - and
nothing else - when it ballooned
into the air to Amla, who
took the simplest of catches.
Dar has already apologised
during the First Test for
his glaring error in giving
beleaguered Aussie opener
Matthew Hayden out caught
and bowled to a delivery his
bat was nowhere near. Channel
9 commentators Richie Benaud
and Ian Healy were also shocked
with Dar’s decision.
“That didn’t seem
to be anywhere near Hussey’s
glove. It was certainly near
his helmet. There was a fair
clunk,” Benaud said.
Healy said: “There was
a clear case for a referral
which could have been used.
The umpire could have referred
that to the third umpire.
About now he (Dar) is becoming
aware that it could have been
an error. Hussey showed his
displeasure but handled it
well.”
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