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India puts forth its 'Asian
region' status for Games venue London, May 31: Cricket could return to the Commonwelth Games if Delhi succeeds in its bid to host the games in 2010, and football could feature for the first time if Delhi's rival, the Canadian city of Hamilton, gets the vote. The two contenders gave notice of their intentions when they lodged their bids, with due ceremony, at Marlborough House, the headquarters of the Commonwealth in London, on Friday. India's bid was presented by Diana Hayden, Miss World 1999, attired in a traditional bridal dress and escorted by a procession that walked to the rhythmic beat of drums. Hamilton gave the job to a five-year-old athlete, accompanied by competitors who had appeared at last year's games in Manchester. Delhi's case was argued by Sports Minister Vikram Verma and president of the Indian Olympic Association Suresh Kalmadi. They claimed that India's capital had the infrastructure to build on for the games (which would require a "village" for 15,000 athletes) and that it was in keeping with the spirit of the Commonwealth that the opportunity should be given to the Asian region, where only Kuala Lumpur, in 1998, had had the honour. (That was when cricket was last included in the competition.) Hamilton made much of the fact that it hosted the very first games in 1930, and stressed the record of Canadian athletes. Its delegation, led by the Canadian Minister for Amateur Sport Paul de Villiers, included Commonwealth and Olympic sprint gold medalist Bruny Surin and paralympic gold medallist Chantal Benoit. Boosting their case was a recent pledge by the Canadian government and the Ontario provincial government to contribute 500 million Canadian dollars towards the cost of the 2010 event. The vote on the bids will come in November, when the 72 member - countries of the CGF meet for their General Assembly in Kingston, Jamaica. Between now and then, the Federation's Evaluation Committee will analyse the technical aspects of the bids and take a look around the two contending cities, both of whom will be lobbying the sporting authorities of the voting countries. Delhi is thought to have a good chance, if only to redress the imbalance between White and non-White countries; all the venues to date have been in White countries, except for Kuala Lumpur in 1998 and Kingston in 1966. There are plenty of votes to be won in Africa and Asia, and the forthright backing of the Pakistan Olympic Association, announced this week, should go a long way to secure those. Here in London there could be a quid pro quo deal with the British authorities, because London could do with India's vote in its bid for the 1912 Olympics, in competition with New York and probably Paris. India presents bid to host 2010 C'wealth games (Go To Top) London, May 30: Buoyed by support from Pakistan and Bangladesh, India on Friday presented its bid to host the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. The bid was handed over to Prince Edward, who is president of the Commonwealth Games Federation. India faces stiff competition from Hamilton, Canada. The result will be announced in Jamaica this Novermber. Hunt on for full-time wicket-keeper: Ganguly (Go To Top) Kolkata, May 29: India skipper Saurav Ganguly has said the team management and selectors were looking for a full-time wicket-keeper to take the pressure off Rahul Dravid, but the possible replacement must prove his potential and match the vice- captain's performance behind the stumps. "Dravid was always a part-time option ... selectors are giving opportunity to others, but the wicketkeeper must stand up and perform as Dravid has done," Ganguly told newspersons here on Thursday. The selectors are trying to find out a suitable replacement for Dravid, but "there is no hurry" as the next season begins only in October," he said. On talented teenager Parthiv Patel, the skipper said, "The selectors have given him a chance to prove his worth in the coming England tour by India 'A'." But Patel "has to prove his batting potential" also to earn a place in the senior national side, he said. Patel was included in the 16-member India-A squad last week by the national selectors for the England tour beginning June 22. Asked to comment on veteran speedstar Javagal Srinath's retirement plan, Ganguly said he was yet to get any official intimation from the Karnataka speedstar. Bollywood's tribute to Sachin Tendulkar (Go To Top) Mumbai, May 29: This cricket crazy nation never seems to have enough of Sachin Tendulkar. Recently, Tendulkar's birthday was celebrated by the entire nation along with him and now another honour is coming his way. Director Keshav Rai will be shooting a video as a tribute to Tendulkar, the lyrics of which has been penned by Suraj. The video will be shot in Indore and Udvhav Ojha and Kavita Paudwal will lend their voice to the song. Buzz is that Tendulkar himself might make an appearance in the video. Aussies beat India 2-0 (Go To Top) Perth, May 29: India suffered a 0-2 loss to Australia in their second match in the three-nation hockey tournament here on Thursday. T Woodhouse scored the first goal for Australia in the third minute and M McCann added to the tally in the 44th minure. India had on Wednesday defeated Australia 'A' 2-0. India will take on Pakistan in their last league match Friday. Miandad set to become highest paid coach (Go To Top) Karachi, May 29: Pakistan's former captain Javed Miandad is set to become the highest paid coach in the country as the Board has agreed to pay him an estimated 10 million rupees annually. The News reported that although Miandad has not yet signed the contract, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has agreed to most of his demands, including a monthly fee of 8000 dollars. The Pakistan Board Chief Executive Rameez Raja said on Wednesday that Miandad will sign the contract before the team leaves for England. Details of his contract include a monthly salary of 8000 dollars (approximately 460,000 rupees), 3000 rupees daily allowance when working with the team at home in camps or during series and 150 dollars daily allowance for foreign tours. Besides, Miandad will also get other perks like a car from the Board. It is learnt that all this put together and his total package per year will cost the Board around 10 million rupees or more and this is more than the amount paid to the South African coach Richard Pybus who was with the team in the World Cup. Pybus was reportedly paid 5000 dollars per month plus other benefits like allowances which were the same as given to the players who get a daily allowance of 100 dollars. Before Pybus, Mudassar Nazar had netted Rs 8.6 million from the Board for his 18 months stint with the senior team. Pakistani cricketers have always complained that the Board is wasting money on paying hefty salaries and fees to foreign coaches and this amount is not paid to them. However, it is not known whether the financial terms with Miandad have been agreed to after or before tax deductions. Jadeja given new lease of life (Go To Top) New Delhi, May 28: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday allowed all-rounder Ajay Jadeja to play in domestic cricket matches. An ex-parte interim order to this effect was passed by a Division Bench comprising Justice BA Khan and Justice OP Dwibedi on an appeal filed by Jadeja against the May 26 order of a single judge turning down the cricketer's plea for his return to grade cricket. The Bench also issued notice to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) seeking reply to Jadeja's appeal by July 21. HC blocks Jadeja's return to cricket (Go To Top) New Delhi, May 26: Ajay Jadeja's plea for return to grade cricket has been turned down by the Delhi High Court. Monday's rejection follows BCCI's petition challenging Justice J K Mehra award setting aside the five-year ban imposed on him following the match-fixing controversy. Justice Manmohan Sarin, who had on May 16 issued notices to Jadeja, BCCI's Investigator K Madhavan and members of the Disciplinary Committee, agreed with BCCI counsel Kapil Sibal's submission that the cricketer's appeal cannot be entertained unless the objections to the award were decided. The court is scheduled to hear BCCI's objections to the award on July 8 after the respondents file their replies. India needs Srinath to tackle Aussie power, says Ganguly (Go To Top) Kolkata, May 23: Javagal Srinath may have hinted at saying goodbye to Test cricket but Saurav Ganguly is in no mood to accept it. According to the captain, the Karnataka cricketer is still valuable for the team and he would request the seasoned paceman to play in the December tour of Australia, currently the world's No.1 team and always a formidable rival. His services are needed, Ganguly said here on Friday. The bowling strength should be such as not to allow the Aussie score soar too much. In his opinion, two pacers and two spinners would be an ideal combination against Australia. Pak hockey players face tough battle against India (Go To Top) Karachi, May 21: Pakistan hockey manager Shahnaz Sheikh has predicted that his young team will go through a tough battle against old rivals India in the double-header Invitational tournament in Australia from May 28 to June 8. "The Indians are coming with a lot of senior players. It is good for us as they will help our youngsters in gaining vital exposure and experience," said Shahnaz whose 18-member squad is without key players, including former skipper Mohammad Nadeem and short corner specialist Sohail Abbas, reports the News. Pakistan will feature in back-to-back three-nation events in Perth and Sydney along with India, hosts Australia and Australia A. While Pakistan have banked on their youth, Indian hockey officials recalled a number of senior players in their 20-member squad for the Australian events. The Indian Hockey Federation once again reposed faith in three- time Olympian Dhanraj Pillay to lead the squad. Pillay, who last led the country to its second-ever gold medal victory at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games, will spearhead the Indian challenge in the tournament with the help of several seniors, who have made a dramatic return into the team. The team does not include any new face as even the green horns like Sandeep Michael, Tushar Khandekar and Arjun Hallapa have been part of the Indian squad in recent times. The selectors after trying many combinations and permutations, sprang up quiet a few surprises by recalling ageing former captains Baljit Singh Dhillon and Baljit Singh Saini along with three-time Olympian Mukesh Kumar. "There is no doubt that they are very experienced players," said Shahnaz about the inclusion of the veterans stars in the Indian outfit. "But there being in the team can be a blessing in disguise for us. With players like Pillay, Dillon and Saini in the side, the Indians will be quite an aging team. There will be a four to five year difference in the average age of the two squads. Ours will be a younger and fitter side which can give us a big advantage," felt Shahnaz. But the former Olympian pointed out that his youngsters will have to give their best to excel against the seasoned Indian and Australian sides. Pakistan captain Ahmed Alam agreed with his manager saying that his boys should live up to expectations in Australia. "We need the maximum from our players in Australia. We have won the last (international) tournament we competed in and it would be great if we are able to maintain the winning streak," said Ahmed who was a part of the Pakistan team that won the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup title in Ipoh by beating world champions Germany in the final. Former Olympic Shahid Ali Khan, the team's goal-keeping coach, was of the view that the performance of the experienced Ahmed will have a big impact on the overall showing of the team Down Under. The greenshirts will give final touches to their preparations for the Australian sojourn during the next couple of days before leaving for Perth on May 23. The squad will return home on June 10. PHF rules out resumption of ties with Indian federation (Go To Top) Karachi, May 15: Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has made it clear that they are not interested in holding any talks with their Indian counterparts for the revival of the much-awaited India-Pak hockey series without a prior approval from the Indian government. "It will be a futile exercise if we hold talks with the Indian officials because at the end of the day it is the approval of their government that can decide whether any series between the two countries can be played or not in the near future," said PHF Secretary Brigadier Musarratullah Khan while talking to the News on telephone from Lahore on Tuesday. There have been new hopes regarding the revival of a Test series between Pakistan and India on a home-and-away basis following Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali's recent statement regarding the resumption of sports exchanges between the two neighbours. The signals coming from the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) have also been very positive in recent weeks as the hockey officials and players on the other side of the border appear keen to resume the series against Pakistan. But Musarrat asserted that interest shown by the Indian players and officials alone was not enough to bring any substantial results. "They (Indian officials) have always been eager to revive the series. But they never managed to get permission from their government to play such an event," said Musarrat who has held a series of talks with his Indian counterparts during the past three years. Musarrat said that Pakistan have time and again shown their willingness to resume the series that was last played in 1998 but it is the Indian government which has always blocked the move in the past. "Now the only development that can bring the two parties back on the meeting table is a official permission from the Indian government," said Musarrat. A meeting, to discuss the resumption of regular Pak-India tour exchanges, between the two parties was expected to be held in Sydney next month but Musarrat ruled out the chances of any such moot. The PHF secretary said he will not go to Australia where Pakistan and India will join the hosts in two tri-nation tournaments in Perth and Sydney from May 29 to June 8. Musarrat has opted to stay in Lahore where he has a number of local commitments. "There is no use my going to Australia as just meeting the Indian officials there and talk about the series will not serve the purpose," he said. Dravid hosts a reception (Go To Top) Nagpur, May 11: Opening a new innings on the personal front, star cricketer Rahul Dravid hosted a reception here following his marriage with Vijeta, where friends and relatives came to bless the newly wedded couple. Watched by family members and close friends, the two exchanged vows at the podium where the couple posed for a photo-session. While Dravid refused to take any questions by the press, their short visit marked the occasion. They stood on a small dais in front of the hotel reception as the photographers clicked away. 84 Indians for Special Olympics in Dublin (Go To Top) Chennai, May 10: Eighty-four Indian athletes, one of them wheelchair-bound, will take part in the 11th Special Olympics to be held in Dublin, Ireland, from June 21 to 29. As many as 7,000 mentally challenged athletes from 166 nations will compete in 21 Olympic-type sports event being held outside US for the first time since the inaugural Games in 1968, according to an official of Special Olympics Bharat (SOB), the Indian chapter of the Special Olympics Inc. India has been one of the strongest and largest teams regularly competing in the Games, a global sports movement for mentally challenged started by Eunice Kennedy Shriver in 1968. This body headed by Shiriver, sister of the late American President, John F Kennedy, works in more than 170 countries. India earned Rs 11 crore in World Cup (Go To Top) New Delhi, May 9: Nine Indian cricketers, including skipper Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, earned over Rs 77 lakh each from logo money, tour fees and prize money during the World Cup in South Africa. The total earnings of the 15-member team and the support staff amounted to a whopping Rs 11.46 crore from the tournament, Sports Minister Vikram Verma told the Rajya Sabha on Friday quoting information from the Cricket Board. Other six players (Virender Sehwag, Mohammad Kaif, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Dinesh Mongia and Javagal Srinath) got Rs 77,29,862 each from these sources while spinner Harbhajan Singh made Rs 76,77,662. Left-arm seamer Ashish Nehra and leg spinner Anil Kumble's earnings were Rs 76,25,462 and Rs 73,12,262, respectively. Prasar Bharati, Ray Media to telecast tennis tourneys (Go To Top) New Delhi, May 9: Prasar Bharati has tied up with 'Ray Media' for the live telecast of Wimbledon and French Open semi- finals and finals on Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR), it was reported on Friday. The tie-up is on a revenue-sharing basis. The decision was taken at the two-day Prasar Bharti Board meeting which concluded on Friday. The live telecasts will be aired on DD-II and DD-Sports and when feasible on DD-I, sources at Prasar Bharti said. While the memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the French Open is for two years (2003-04), for the Wimbledon Tennis Championship it would be for five years (2003-07), they added. Cricket with Pak is coloured with politics, says Saurav (Go To Top) Kolkata, May 8: The resumption of cricket ties between India and Pakistan is, in Saurav Ganguly's opinion, a "political" issue to be decided by the government. "It is a totally political question and it will not be fair for me to comment," Ganguly said when asked if he favoured restoring of cricketing ties with Pakistan. The Indian skipper was informally speaking to newsmen at a press conference organised by the Indian Cricket Players' Association here on Thursday. He was cautious in his response when asked whether he missed playing a full-fledged series against Pakistan. "India-Pakistan is always a big game. If you win, you say you like to play and if you lose, you say you don't like to play. It is a very difficult question to answer. Whatever decision the government will take, we will abide by it," Ganguly affirmed. The captain's comments came on a day when Union Sports Minister Vikram Verma said the so-called resumption was under consideration by the government, but things would not happen overnight as it depended on "satisfactory" progress on the political and diplomatic fronts. India, Pakistan to play in Asia Cup next April (Go To Top) Kolkata, May 5: Pakistan and India are among the six countries that will play the Asia Cup Cricket Championship next April, according to a BCCI statement here on Monday. Although the venue has not yet been set, the other teams to play in the championship are Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates, BCCI chief Jagmohan Dalmiya said in an interview, adding that he's quite hopeful that bilateral cricket matches between India and Pakistan will resume. The two nations last played a one-day match during the World Cup in South Africa in March. Their last Test series was in 1999, when Pakistan's team toured India. Dalmiya said that the under-19 Asia Cup scheduled to start next January 17 in Singapore may be shifted to Karachi. No decision yet on Pak series, says Dalmiya (Go To Top) Dubai, May 3: During the talks BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya had with his Pakistani counterpart Tauqir Zia on Saturday here, no decision was taken on resumption of cricketing ties between the two countries. Dalmiya said the BCCI was in touch with the Indian government and had got positive signals for a series between the two countries. As India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan have their own commitments, the Asia Cup cannot be held this year, Dalmiya said. The BCCI president did hint that if the government gave the nod, India and Pakistan might play a few matches but not a full fledged series. Dalmiya was in Dubai to take part in the meeting of the Asian Cricket Foundation. The next edition of the Asia Cup will feature six nations, with UAE and Hong Kong being the new entrants. Asian wrestling tourney from June 5 (Go To Top) New Delhi, May 3: At least 15 countries are expected to participate in the 16th Asian Wrestling championship here from June 5 to 8 in what is billed as a precursor to the 2004 Olympics in Athens. The Asian championship would be held in free style and Greco- Roman disciplines for men. In the women's section competitions will be held only in free style. MS Malik, President of the Wrestling Federation of India, said here on Saturday that the services of two foreign coaches would be requisitioned. Dravid to play for Scottish national team (Go To Top) New Delhi, May 2: Cricketer Rahul Dravid will play for Scotland in its debut season in England's national league. India's vice-captain, who is getting married on Sunday, will leave for Scotland by the end of this month for a three-month stint with the Scottish national team which is trying for a berth in the 2007 World Cup. He is expected to play 11 games with the side in the one-day competition, his last match being on August 28. India has no tournaments scheduled until the home series against New Zealand in October. -ANI |
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