Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category
Guyana are aiming to replicate the performance that helped them win the Caribbean Twenty20 during their Champions League campaign in South Africa, their captain Ramnaresh Sarwan has said. The team arrived in South Africa yesterday and Sarwan said his players were determined to go a step further than Trinidad & Tobago did last year, when Darren Ganga’s team made the final of the inaugural Champions League but lost to New South Wales.
“It’s important that we should do the things we did that helped us to win the Caribbean competition,” Sarwan said. “We have lots of young, inexperienced players, but they are all very capable to springing surprises on the other teams.
“Trinidad & Tobago were the runners-up last time, and we hope to go one better. They did so well last year when they weren’t expected to, and we beat them in the Caribbean T20, so that gives us lots of ...
[ More ]
September 9th, 2010 11:06 |
Posted by Vijay Kumar in Cricket |
Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi inched closer to their maiden Grand Slam title together by advancing to the US Open finals.
Continuing with their message of ‘Stop War, Start Tennis’, 16th seeds Bopanna and Qureshi beat Argentines Eduardo Schwank and Horacio Zeballos 7-6 (5) 6-4 to set up a summit clash with top-seeded American brothers Bob and Mike Bryan in the finals.
“I mean, to win a Grand Slam you have to beat the best there is. That’s what Aisam and me keep telling (each other),” Bopanna said after the win on Wednesday night.
The Indo-Pak duo was cheered on from the stands by, among others, the United Nations ambassadors from their respective countries. India’s ambassador Harpreet Suri and his Pakistan counterpart Abdullah H Haroon even met the two players after the match.
Though there summit clash seems tough on paper against the Americans but Bopanna and Qureshi can draw confidence from the ...
[ More ]
September 9th, 2010 10:54 |
Posted by Vijay Kumar in Tennis |
The US Open Women’s semi-final ties pit Caroline Wozniacki against Vera Zvonareva while Venus Williams plays Kim Clijsters.
On Wednesday, Caroline Wozniacki beat the unseeded Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 7-5 in windy conditions.
“This felt like playing in a hurricane,” admitted Wozniacki, who lost in the final in New York 12 months ago to Belgium’s Kim Clijsters. “But it was the same for both players and I’m so happy to get through.
“When we were practising I thought ‘Oh, it’s not that windy today’ but when we came out here I knew it was about just surviving, getting as many balls back in the court as possible and just run.”
She now faces Vera Zvonareva in the semi-finals for a place in Saturday’s final.
Wozniacki said: “She’s on a winning streak, playing really well, really aggressively, so it’s going to be a really tough match.
“She made the finals of Wimbledon and is now in the ...
[ More ]
September 9th, 2010 10:09 |
Posted by Vijay Kumar in Tennis |
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic reached his fourth consecutive US Open semi-final over a typically inconsistent Gael Monfils.
Monfils led 4-2 in the opening set but then lost 17 of the next 21 games as Djokovic secured a 7-6 (7/2) 6-1 6-2 win on Arthur Ashe Stadium to set up a last-four showdown with either five-time champion Roger Federer or fifth seed Robin Soderling.
Djokovic has lost to Federer in each of the last three years in New York, in the final in 2007 and in the semi-finals in the last two years.
And the third seed is unlikely to receive as much help from the Swiss star if they meet again on Saturday as he did from Monfils today, the Frenchman turning in a performance to infuriate his coach and fans – including former France footballer Thierry Henry watching courtside.
Monfils had no idea how to cope with the swirling wind inside the stadium and ...
[ More ]
September 9th, 2010 10:03 |
Posted by Vijay Kumar in Tennis |
Indian Oil Corporation XI 268 for 8 (Pujara 83, Shukla 60, Patel 54, Yo Mahesh 3-37) beat India Cements 265 (Arun Karthik 49, Suresh 46, Mukund 45, Patel 2-43, Dani 2-34) by three runsScorecard
In a game of miniscule margins, Indian Oil Corporation prevailed thanks to a Cheteshwar Pujara special, and their nerveless bowlers who dismissed India Cements four runs short of the target of 269, to win the 2010 edition of the BCCI Corporate Trophy.
When India Cements lost Hemang Badani, their last noted batsman, with 78 required off 71, IOC would have believed they were on the threshold of victory. However, they made one blunder – captain Wasim Jaffer grassed Somasetty Suresh on 10 – and it nearly cost them the trophy.
Suresh responded by unleashing mayhem on the IOC attack, making the steep asking rate seem irrelevant for a while. He lost his partner and namesake Suresh Kumar with the ...
[ More ]
September 9th, 2010 04:25 |
Posted by Vijay Kumar in Cricket |
Sep 08 2010 – 20:01:16
LV= County Championship Division One leaders Nottinghamshire produced a valiant fightback against Yorkshire but will still face an uphill task to avoid a defeat that will throw the title race wide open.
After Andre Adams completed his third five-wicket haul in consecutive matches to bowl out Yorkshire for 264, half-centuries from Mark Wagh, Paul Franks and Adam Voges helped the hosts to reach 357 for six in their second innings.
Chris Wright and Tony Palladino produced their best figures of the season as relegation-haunted Essex carved out a first-innings lead of 91 against Durham at Chelmsford.
Wright claimed five for 70 and his new-ball colleague Palladino four for 57 as the visitors were bowled out for 177.
By the close Essex had moved to 103 for one in their second innings, thanks largely to an unbeaten 61 from Alastair Cook, ...
[ More ]
September 9th, 2010 04:08 |
Posted by Vijay Kumar in Cricket |
Denesh Ramdin, the Trinidad and Tobago wicketkeeper who was cut from the West Indies contract list, will get a chance to work on his batting flaws under the supervision of former West Indies opening batsman Gordon Greenidge.
Ramdin lost his central contract following “less than favourable” performances over the past year, prompting the T&T board to arrange for him to work with Greenidge. Ramdin averaged 15.75 in Tests during 2010, over seven runs below his career average, and his performances weren’t up to the mark in the shorter versions either.
T&T selector Rangy Nanan said Ramdin “needs some assistance at this point in time and they don’t want to forsake him. He has talent but something is not going right with his batting and the board thinks that he can play much better than what we are seeing at present.”
Lendl Simmons, the aggressive opener who has fallen out of favour with the ...
[ More ]
September 9th, 2010 00:17 |
Posted by Vijay Kumar in Cricket |
Sep 08 2010 – 14:00:48
Sussex were closing in on promotion from LV= County Championship Division Two as they reached 316 for two against Northamptonshire at Hove to lead by 191.
Fourth-placed Gloucestershire lost two quick wickets to Nadeem Malik before the break to go in on 117 for six at Leicester, where they are now 178 behind.
Glamorgan – who went into the penultimate round of County Championship matches in second place – were still struggling to finish off Surrey, who had made 343 for seven, after a delayed start due to bad light but did remove Gareth Batty for 34 just ahead of lunch.
At Lord’s, Middlesex trail Worcestershire by 236 runs having reached 77 for two off 23 overs with an unbeaten half-century from Scott Newman.
[ More ]
September 8th, 2010 22:34 |
Posted by Vijay Kumar in Cricket |
Shaun Tait, the South Australia fast bowler, has said quick bowlers will relish bowling on the fresh pitches in South Africa during the Champions League Twenty20. He has been in top form this year, reclaiming a regular place in Australia’s limited-overs sides this year and sending down one of the fastest deliveries in history – 161.1kmh at Lord’s in July.
“South Africa’s always traditionally been a good place to bowl quick,” Tait said. “I think the wickets usually offer quite a bit, and some of the grounds offer altitude, where the ball reportedly travels quicker through the air. I think the fast bowlers are licking their lips.”
Tait expected stiff competition in the Champions League, and didn’t think the cash-rich IPL teams will have an edge in the tournament. “It’s a good chance for all the countries to put their best teams on the park and see how they measure up against ...
[ More ]
September 8th, 2010 11:48 |
Posted by Vijay Kumar in Cricket |
Rafael Nadal, Fernando Verdasco, Stanislas Wawrinka and Mikhail Youzhny completed the quarter-final line-up at the US Open.
Top seed Nadal recorded a business-like victory over fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez at Flushing Meadows.
Nadal broke Lopez, ranked 23rd for the tournament, once in each of the three sets to record a 6-3 6-4 6-4 victory that showed him at his most professional rather than dominant.
The 24-year-old was quickly into his stride, breaking at the first attempt as he notched the first three games of the match.
Lopez did manage to halt the procession but Nadal was looking strong and even managed to defend four break points on his way to a 6-3 first-set win.
The Wimbledon champion was forced to work hard at the start of the second set, which followed serve for four games until Lopez capitulated with a weak third service game.
Click here for Gallery
That offered Nadal a chance to seal the set ...
[ More ]
September 8th, 2010 11:20 |
Posted by Vijay Kumar in Tennis |