Royals beat Knights for first victory in IPL 3

Royals beat Knights for first victory in IPL 3

Rajasthan Royals logged their first points in the Indian Premier League (IPL) with a convincing 34-run victory over Kolkata Knight Riders here Saturday.
Electing to bat, Rajasthan Royals scored 168 for seven and restricted Knight Riders to 134 for five in their 20 overs.
For Rajasthan Royals, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala made 45 off 36 balls while Naman Ojha (27), Faiz Fazal (31) and Adam Voges (37 not out) chipped in with useful contributions.
The bowlers were up to the task right from the start, not allowing Knight Riders to get off to a flier and then checking the run flow with regular wickets.
Yusuf Pathan (2-23) removed both the openers Manoj Tiwary (11) and Brad Hodge (36) while Munaf Patel and Siddharth Trivedi picked one wicket each. Australian Shaun Tait and Munaf kept it tight towards the end as Knight Riders could never accelerate despite having wickets in hand.
It was the first victory for the Royals in four matches. The winners of the inaugural edition were lagging behind with losses against Mumbai Indians, Delhi Daredevils and Bangalore Royal Challengers.
Knight Riders, on the other hand, after beginning their campaign this season with impressive wins against defending champions Deccan Chargers and runners-up Royal Challengers recorded their second loss, having lost to Super Kings at home four days back.
It was a bit of surprise that Knight Riders did not field Chris Gayle who was available for the match.
Knight Riders got off to a good start with Ashok Dinda (2-28) trapping Michael Lumb lbw with the first ball of the innings. Ojha and Fazal steadied the ship with a 42-run stand before Shane Bond (2-32) dismissed the latter. Fazal hit six boundaries in his 23-ball stay.
Ojha added 30 runs with former Indian Cricket League player Jhunjhunwala, before being run out.
Royals’ star batsman Pathan did not stay for long and Jhunjhunwala, who made 36-ball 45 with five fours, fell to Ishant Sharma (2-33).
Voges gave the late charge with two fours and two sixes in his 22-ball innings.
Knight Riders were too cautious at the start and after losing Tiwary off Pathan in the third over, Hodge and Cheteshwar Pujara (29) took their time in building up the innings without taking any risk.
They reached 65 for one in 10 overs and Pujara was out in the next over. With the asking rate going up and the slow nature of wicket making it difficult for the new batsmen, Knight Riders failed to accelerate.
Skipper Sourav Ganguly was out of sorts in his 29-ball 33 as Royals paceman used the short ball to good effect against the left-hander.
When Pathan rattled the stumps of Hodge, Knight Riders required 74 off 36 balls. Ganguly and Owais Shah (19 not out) looked to play the big shots but were tied down by some good bowling by the Rajasthan Royals with wily Shane Warne rotating them well.

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Symonds breaks Chargers jinx against Kings XI

Symonds breaks Chargers jinx against Kings XI

An all-round show by Andrew Symonds helped defending champions Deccan Chargers beat Kings XI Punjab for the first time in the Indian Premier League (IPL) by six wickets at their new found home base here Friday.
Symonds struck a brisk 53 off 38 balls as Deccan Chargers scored 170 for seven in 20 overs. The burly Queenslander, who was also adjudged as the Man of the Match, picked up one for 22 and also took an important catch to dismiss Irfan Pathan, who tried to steal a win with his brilliant 60, but still Kings XI Punjab fell short of the total and could muster 164 for eight in 20 overs.
For Deccan Chargers it was their first win at their home base of Cuttack, after IPL matches were moved out of Hyderabad due to security situations. It was also their maiden win against the Kings XI Punjab in fifth face-off.
Skipper Adam Gilchrist took the Chargers to a flying start with his 33 off 12 balls hitting four fours and two sixes and by the time he departed, they had 43 runs on board in the third over. V.V.S. Laxman (10) also made his way back to the pavilion soon after he was hit on the forearm by Shalabh Srivastav’s wayward throw.
Symonds and Herschelle Gibbs (23) then took the Kings XI bowlers to all parts of the ground with their 55-run stand for the second wicket. Symonds smashed three fours and three sixes during his whirlwind knock. Tirumalasetti Suman also contributed 26 valuable runs at the end as the Chargers put on a challenging total.
Kings XI made a poor start but opener Ravi Bopara (38) continued his good form. Pathan tried to pull off a sensational win with his 29-ball knock hitting five sixes and three fours, but by then the Chargers were on course to deserving victory.

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Kallis stars in Royal Challengers seven-wicket win

Kallis stars in Royal Challengers seven-wicket win

Jacques Kallis struck a fine unbeaten 66 as Royal Challengers Bangalore romped home to a convincing seven-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL) here Saturday.
Royal Challengers made 155 for three in 19.1 overs after their bowlers did a decent job by restricting Mumbai Indians to 151 for nine in 20 overs at the Brabourne Stadium.
For Royal Challengers it was their third consecutive win from four matches while Mumbai Indians suffered their first loss in three matches.
Chasing 152, Kallis and young Manish Pandey (40) gave the Royal Challengers a great start with their 85-run partnership for the fist wicket. Pandey completely dominated the proceedings during his 27-ball stay, hitting three fours and two sixes.
Kallis on the other end played a composed knock as his 66 came off 55 balls and was studded with 10 fours. Kallis was also adjudged as the Man of the Match.
With Robin Uthappa (23), Kallis added 31 runs for the second wicket, and took Royal Challengers on the threshold of a win. The veteran South African all-rounder added another 20 runs with Virat Kohli (17) and with Eoin Morgan (7 not out) took the Bangalore team to home.
Earlier, fast bowler R.Vinay Kumar (3/25) struck thrice in an over, picking up the important wickets of Ambati Rayudu (3), Sachin Tendulkar (25) and Dwayne Bravo (1), to restrict Mumbai Indians to a modest total. South African fast bowler Dale Steyn also picked up three for 26.
Mumbai Indians batsmen failed to put up a decent partnership despite getting good starts. Saurabh Tiwary (25), Rajagopal Satish (24) and Keiron Pollar (21) came up with useful contributions while Zaheer Khan struck a quickfire 23 off just nine balls as Mumbai Indians got to a decent total.

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Soderling beats Murray to semi spot

Soderling beats Murray to semi spot

Robin Soderling upset Australian Open finalist Andy Murray in straight sets on Friday to book a semi-final showdown with Andy Roddick at the Indian Wells Masters 1000.
Soderling overpowered Murray in a 6-1 7-6 (7-4) victory, his booming serves and powerful groundstrokes giving the Briton no way into the match.
Roddick, seeded seventh, continued his dominance of Tommy Robredo, advancing 6-3, 7-5 as he notched his 11th victory over the Spaniard in as many meetings.
Soderling steamed through the first set in 36 minutes, taking a 5-0 lead before an out-of-sorts seeming Murray managed to hold serve.
"He played very well to start, and I didn't," Murray said.
"I didn't move particularly well. I was hitting the ball really short, and he's obviously got a big game and he was able to dictate all of the points.
"So from my side it was poor, but he hit the ball really big from the back of the court and served well when he needed to."
Soderling was on his way with a break for a 2-1 lead in the second set. But Murray fought off three match points against his own serve in the ninth game - two of them with service winners and one with a backhand drop shot that the Swede couldn't handle.
Serving for the match in the next game, Soderling instead surrendered the break as Murray belted a backhand winner down the line.
That seemed to give Murray new life and he fired three of his 10 aces in the next game to hold serve.
In the tiebreaker, however, Soderling took control quickly, taking a 3-1 lead. He gave himself a fourth match point with a backhand down the line for 6-4 and Murray netted a service return to end it.
Soderling, who stunned four-time defending champion Rafael Nadal to reach the final of the French Open last year, has reached the semi-finals of a prestigious Masters 1000 event for the first time.
Roddick, meanwhile, reached the semi-finals for the fourth time, having lost to eventual champion Nadal in the semis last year.
The American has made it to the quarter-finals or better in five events this season, opening the year by winning the title in Brisbane, making the quarters at the Australian Open and reaching the final of the ATP event in San Jose, California, last month.
Roddick broke Robredo in the penultimate game of each set and served out each with a love game.
Five of his six aces came in the second set and he didn't face a break point in the entire match.
The semi-finalists in the other half of the draw were decided on Thursday, as third-seeded Nadal and Croatian veteran Ivan Ljubicic advanced with quarter-final wins.

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Saina breaks into top-five of world badminton rankings

Saina breaks into top-five of world badminton rankings

India’s top badminton player Saina Nehwal cracked into the top-five of world rankings with her semi-final finish at the All England Championships.
Saina jumped two places to be at the world no.5, surpassing her previous best of No.6 that she achieved in 2009. Saina surprised everyone this month by becoming the first Indian woman to qualify for the All England semi-finals where she lost to Tine Rasmussen of Denmark.
Saina has had a great run since making the quarterfinals at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Last year, she became the first Indian woman to win a Super Series event at the Indonesian Open. She followed it up by winning the Syed Modi Grand Prix event in Lucknow.
In the men’s rankings, Chetan Anand slipped one spot to 10th but P. Kashyap gained one spot to be 29th. Arvind Bhat remained at 36th while Anup Sridhar slipped one place to 40th.
In the mixed doubles rankings, Jwala Gutta and V. Diju slipped one spot to 10th.

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Roddick into last four

Roddick into last four

Andy Roddick moved into the semi-finals of the BNP Paribas Open with a 6-3 7-5 win over Spain's Tommy Robredo.
In the early afternoon sunshine at Indian Wells, American Roddick took an hour and 17 minutes to beat 18th seed Robredo.
The seventh seed broke Robredo once in each set as the European failed to put up much of a fight, unable to set up even one break point.
I felt pretty good, said Roddick.
I feel like I'm playing really well on my own serve. I think I've been broken once, but I don't know that I've had that many break points against me throughout the week.
That's always a good thing in that holding that easily makes my returns better.
Robin Soderling awaits in the semi-finals after the Swede posted a convincing victory over an out-of-sorts Andy Murray.
Murray never got going against the sixth seed and two costly breaks in the opening set put Soderling firmly in the driving seat.
The fourth-seeded Scot rallied briefly in the second set to force a tie-breaker but Soderling had enough in the tank to close out for a 6-1 7-6 (7-4) win in one hour and 34 minutes.
I started really well, I was moving well. I knew it was impossible to out-power Andy so I knew I had to wait for my opportunity, and I did that today, Soderling told Sky Sports.
Soderling suffered a scare when he was broken by Murray after squandering a 30-0 lead when serving for the match at 5-4, but was adamant that blip was more the result of Murray's efforts rather than any shortcomings in his own game.
When I was going to serve for the match I was nervous, but that's normal, he said.
I got to 30-0 and I don't think I did anything wrong - he just played a couple of great passing shots.
Soderling has won his two previous matches with Roddick but the 25-year-old refused to read anything into that statistic.
We played two times but it was indoors, he said. The margins are going to be really small.
Defending champion Rafael Nadal and Ivan Ljubicic meet in the other semi-final.

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Dope testing compulsory at Kabaddi World Cup

Dope testing compulsory at Kabaddi World Cup

Dope testing has been made compulsory at the Kabaddi World Cup to be held across Punjab next month, the organising committee said Friday.
Munish Chander, convener of the medical and anti-doping committee of the event, informed Punjab Sports Director Pargat Singh that dope tests will be mandatory for all the players.
“In accordance with the anti-doping code, tests will be done during the competition as well as outside the competition. The players can be tested anytime and anywhere. The programme will be implemented in compliance with World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) code,” Chander said.
The samples will be sent to National Dope Testing Laboratory in New Delhi.
Ten countries, including hosts India, will compete in the event, beginning at Patiala April 3. Britain, the United States, Canada, Pakistan, Iran, Australia, Italy, Spain have already confirmed their participation.
The matches will be held in Patiala (April 3-4 ), Sangrur (April 5), Muktsar (April 7 ), Bathinda (April 8 ), Amritsar (April 10), Hoshiarpur (April 11 ), Jalandhar (April 12) and the final and closing ceremony at Ludhiana April 15.
The winner will take home a prize purse of Rs. 10 million (1 crore) while the runners-up will get Rs.5.1 million (51 lakh) and Rs. 2.5 million (25 lakh) respectively.

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IPL to stay in India: CEO

IPL to stay in India: CEO

Indian Premier League (IPL) chief executive Sundar Raman Friday said that the Twenty20 tournament is going nowhere and statying in India, while the franchises are free to play abroad.
Raman dismissed media reports saying that the IPL commissioner Lalit Modi was mulling the hosting a second IPL abroad.
“This is the Indian Premier League and it will be played in India. But if the IPL franchises want to play matches abroad, then it is upto them. We did have host the last edition in South Africa, which was a blessing in disguise for us as the tournament was exposed to a new market, but the IPL would take place in India,” said Raman, on the sidelines of IPL’s tie-up with Topps, global leader in sports and entertainment collectibles.
“We are happy to be back in India this year. People are filling the stadiums and there are no plans to have IPL abroad,” said Raman.
On the growing list of injured playes, Raman said that it would not jeopardise their prospect in next month’s Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies.
“Injuries are part and parcel of any game and it’s always a concern. Professional players have to face injuries but you cannot blame the first few days of IPL for their injuries. And we are talking about professional players who know their body well,” he added.

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Indian archers bag 4 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze medals

Indian archers bag 4 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze medals

India had a rich haul of four gold, two silver and two bronze medals on the third day of the four-day second Asian archery Grand Prix at Bangkok Thursday.
Rahul Banerjee and Deepika Kumari won the individual gold medals in the recurve section defeating Nader Ghadam Manoochehlrimo (Iran) 106-102 and Hee-jung Kim (Korea) 106-104 respectively in the final, according to information reaching here.
Former World Junior champion Palton Hansda won the men’s compound gold medal overcoming compatriot C. Srither in the tie-breaker after the two tied at 115-115. The tie was resolved in the third shot after both hit 10 and 9 in the first two rounds. In the third, Hansda shot a nine as against Srither’s 8.
India annexed the mixed recurve team gold medal beating Chinese Taipei also in tie-breaker. The two teams tied at 148-148. Both the teams tied again after two rounds at 18 and 19 points each but in the third round, the Indian duo shot 19 to Chinese Taipei’s 18.
The other silver medal came India’s way in the mixed compound team event and the two bronze medals were won by Ritul Chatterjee (compound men) and Gagandeep Bawa (compound women).
Having qualified as the top seed, Mangal Singh Champia, disappointingly lost in the pre-quarterfinals and Jayanta Talukdar went out in quarterfinals. Tarundeep Rai lost in the second round.
Dola Banerjee and L. Bombayla Devi stumbled in the quarterfinals of the women’s recurve section and Rimil Buriuly was ousted in the pre-quarterfinals.
Jayantilal Ninamo was eliminated in the quarterfinals by compatriot Hansda while national champion Srither picked up the silver and Chatterjee the bronze medal in the men’s compound section.
In the women’s section, Bheigyabati Chanu, Jhano Hansdah and Srikonda Jayalakshmi failed to advance to semifinals.
All the four Indian teams are in the fray in the team championship to be played Friday.

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