local 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.

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)

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)