Sports

New Delhi, July 01: Still sore about the warning he received from the Sports Ministry last month, ace wrestler Sushil Kumar believes he has silenced his critics with the gold medal he won in last week’s German Grand Prix.

Sushil said he was hurt after the Steering Committee of the Sports Ministry censured him for being overweight and getting disqualified from the Asian Championship in Thailand.

The hurt grappler, however, took it in stride and bounced back in style, winning the gold in the 66kg freestyle category in the German Grand Prix in Dortmund.

St Lucia, July 01: In-form West Indies opener Runako Morton said the hosts will look to replicate their series-levelling show of Sabina Park when they take on India in the third ODI at the Beausejour Stadium here on Friday.

Aware that whoever wins the third ODI would be spared the ignominy of a series defeat, Morton said he personally would settle for nothing less than a win.

“The series is level 1-1. As always I will be looking to win,” he said.

London, July 01: Ricky Ponting has demanded his bowlers fix the no-ball problem that hampered them in the tour opener so it doesn’t cost them in next week’s first Ashes Test.

The attack registered 38 of the extras in the warm-up against Sussex and while Ponting was sympathetic to their concerns, he does not want a repeat.

London, July 01: England’s all-powerful women’s cricket team eased to a 55 run win at Chelmsford on Tuesday to go 2-0 up over Australia in their five-match one day international series.

England’s heroine was Sarah Taylor – who scored 68 in the opening match – as she scored her third ODI century with a run-a-ball 120 out of England’s total of 259-6 off their allotted 50 overs.

Despite the Australians getting off to a good opening partnership of 85 between Shelley Nitschke and Lisa Sthalekarm, they were unable to maintain their momentum and were eventually all out for 204.

Colombo, July 01: Sri Lanka has stepped up security for the visiting Pakistan team and slapped new restrictions at match venues, officials said Wednesday.

Fireworks, musical bands, glass bottles, tin cans, sharp objects, laser pointers and mirrors have all been banned from the grounds where the matches are slated to be played.

“Other than national flags of Sri Lanka and Pakistan, no banners, posters and discriminating slogans will be allowed,” Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said.

Washington, July 01: Cristiano Ronaldo’s world-record transfer to Real Madrid from Manchester United has been completed, the Barclays Premier League champions have confirmed.

An “unconditional £80m” fee was agreed between the clubs last month and then came an announcement last Friday that the deal had been finalised and the world player of the year would become a Real Madrid player today.

A statement on www.manutd.com this morning stated the transfer fee has been paid, prompting manager Sir Alex Ferguson to pay tribute to the Portugal winger.
–Agencies

London, July 01: The H1N1 influenza scare casts some dark clouds over the All England Club that even the retractable roof may not be able to keep out. There are reports emerging that three players featuring in this year’s grand slam have caught swine flu.

The news surfaced after four ball-boys and girls were told to stay away from the tournament as they were suffering ‘flu-like’ symptoms.

England, July 01: Andy Murray was in recovery mode yesterday after his heroics of the night before, but the 22-year-old Scot was far from satisfied. As he prepared to face Juan Carlos Ferrero here this afternoon, with a place in his first Wimbledon semi-final at stake, Murray made it clear that he regarded his five-set victory over Stanislas Wawrinka on Monday as a mere stepping stone on the route to greater glory.

New Delhi, July 01: BCCI have finalised the venues for the ODI series between India and Australia towards the end of this year. The seven-match series will be played between October 25 and November 11.

Australia, who are to tour India shortly after the ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa, would contest in the 7 ODIs to be held at Guwahati, Mumbai, Jaipur, Hyderabad, New Delhi, Mohali and Baroda.

London, July 01: As the Twenty20 juggernaut rumbles on, a report in the Daily Telegraph claims that the ECB is considering cutting the number of County Championship matches to accommodate the Champions League, which will take place in September 2010.

A proposal by Alan Fordham, the ECB’s head of cricket operations, includes several schemes such as reducing the number of Championship games from 16 to 12, and possibly splitting the tournament into three divisions.

New Delhi, July 01: West Indian pace surprise Ravi Rampaul has found an admirer in Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who has praised the right-armer for his ability to force mistakes from batsmen by consistently bowling in the right areas.

Rampaul returned career-best figures of 4-37 against India as West Indies beat India by eight wickets in Kingston to stay afloat in the four-match series currently tied 1-1.

“Rampaul swings the ball really well, bowls in the right area, he forces you to play a big shot like the cover drive,” Dhoni said ahead of the third one-dayer here on Friday.

Lahore, July 01: While Shoaib Akhtar’s future in the national team looks bleak with the emergence of bowlers like Umar Gul and Mohammad Aamer, former Test fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz believes the pacer still has a chance but only if he gets himslef in shape on time.

London, July 01: Ricky Ponting’s record may single him out as one of the most successful captains in Test cricket, but former fast bowler Jeff Thomson has unleashed a verbal assault on the Australian skipper’s captaincy skills, describing him as a ‘crap’ leader.

Thomson however, said Australia will win the Ashes series against Australia by a single Test but was too critial about Ponting whose captaincy, he thought, hasn’t improved one bit ever since he took over from Steve Waugh five years ago.

London, July 01: England captain Andrew Strauss has issued a stern warning to Andrew Flintoff after the allrounder was disciplined for missing the team bus during a trip to the World War I trenches in Ypres. Strauss said he would be strong enough to drop Flintoff from England’s Ashes team.

London, July 01: Former England skipper Nasser Hussain praised Michael Vaughan as “one of the very best England captains” Wednesday, the day after he announced he was retiring from the sport.

“To win more than half your games in charge is a phenomenal achievement, and while I do not like comparing people of different eras it is hard to think of anyone who could have been better,” Hussain wrote in the Daily Mail.

“He just ticked so many boxes, an excellent leader of men, a cool and calm captain who developed into an astute tactician.”

New Delhi, July 01: Sri Lanka Cricket’s Interim Committee is still not clear over India’s plans for the forthcoming triangular series also involving India and New Zealand.

The Sri Lankan cricket board recently announced the inclusion of India in an already finalised bilateral series with New Zealand.

When announced, BCCI secretary N Srinivasan had only mentioned that India had been invited to play in the triangular which would provide them with preparation for the Champions Trophy in late September.

London, July 01: England captain Andrew Strauss heaped praise on Michael Vaughan, who announced his retirement on Tuesday, saying his predecessor’s ability to outwit opponents set him apart from the crowd.

“I count Michael as a good friend as well as a team-mate and I know what a tough decision this will have been for him as he took so much pleasure and pride in representing his country,” said Strauss.

The 34-year-old Vaughan decided to cut short his career after failing to make the cut for the Ashes series against Australia.

London, July 01: Michael Atherton said the fact England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff was in the news for missing the team bus during a squad weekend away was an unwanted “distraction” ahead of the Ashes.

Ex-England captain Flintoff, 31, joining up with the squad for the first time after several months out with a knee injury, missed the team bus for Saturday’s visit to the World War One trenches at Ypres in Belgium.

Karachi, July 01: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is unhappy with the Future Tours Programme (FTP) drafted by its Indian counterpart BCCI since it does not include any bilateral series between the arch-rivals.

PCB sources said that the ICC had asked all Test playing nations to submit draft FTPs after consulting each other and the one proposed by India does not include any bilateral series with either Pakistan or Bangladesh.

London, July 01: West Indies captain Chris Gayle has signed up for Western Australia’s Retravision Warriors for this year’s domestic Twenty20 competition, officials said on Wednesday, hailing a major coup.

The left-hander, who is the world’s only international Twenty20 centurion, will play the ‘Big Bash’ competition between the Windies’ Test and one-day series here in November and December.

“With Chris we have secured one of the game’s best Twenty20 players,” said coach Tom Moody.

London, July 01: Roger Federer and Andy Murray are locked on collision course for a dream Wimbledon final, but a giant Croatian and a wily Spaniard stand in their quarter-final paths on Wednesday.

Federer will be playing his 25th Grand Slam quarter-final while 6ft 10in (2.08m) Ivo Karlovic has never before got this far in the majors.

But he still represents a huge barrier to Federer’s ambitions of winning a record 15th Grand Slam title having not faced a break point in four rounds so far.

Johanesburg, July 01: South African captain Graeme Smith’s inspirational leadership and prolific batting in the season gone by, fetched him the twin honours of ‘Cricketer of the Year’ and ‘Test Cricketer of the Year’ at the country’s annual cricket awards here.

In a glittering ceremony here last night, the other major winners were AB de Villiers (One-Day International Cricketer of the Year and Fans’ Cricketer of the Year) and JP Duminy (Pro20 Cricketer of the Year, SA Players’ Player of the Year, and KFC Taste the Action Performance winner).

London, July 01: Wimbledon braced itself for a fourth all-Williams singles final on Tuesday after Venus and Serena stormed into the semi-finals as their outclassed opponents melted in 33-degree heat.

Five-time champion Venus eased to a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska while Serena, a two-time champion, saw off Belarusian eighth seed Victoria Azarenka 6-2, 6-3.

The sisters have made 12 Wimbledon finals appearances and there were few signs today that the family monopoly is about to be broken.

New Delhi, July 01: The last time Yuki Bhambri visited the DLTA Complex, he was a spectator cheering his sisters on from the sidelines as they played their matches during a women’s ITF tournament, making sure his injured ankle wasn’t put under too much strain.

On Tuesday, during his own match at the $15,000 ITF Futures tournament, a mere onlooker was what his opponent Ashwin Kumar was reduced to as the 16-year-old gave away just two games in his first-round 6-2 6-0 win.

Edgbaston, June 30: Tired of battling poor form and a nagging knee injury, England’s most successful Test captain Michael Vaughan today announced his retirement
from all forms of professional cricket with immediate effect.

“After a great deal of consideration, I’ve decided that now is the right time to retire from cricket,” the 34-year-old Yorkshire batsman said in a statement.