Pak, Australia look forward to ICC World Twenty20 2009

Dubai, May 07: Pakistan cricket captain Younus Khan and his Australian counterpart Brad Haddin moved into Twenty20 mode by saying that they were looking forward to the face-off. They also said they were looking forward to next month’s Twenty20 World Cup in England.

“We’re looking forward to the event in England and we’d definitely like to take the trophy home with us. We had a good tournament in 2007 in South Africa, reaching the final but losing to India. This time around we want to go all the way and win it,” Younus said.

“We’re excited about playing in England and being in a group with them and the Netherlands will provide its own challenges. It’s always tough playing the hosts but I’m confident my side will do well,” he added.
Haddin, standing in as captain of the Australia side for tomorrow’s T20I against Pakistan said: “I’m really looking forward to taking part in the summer’s ICC World Twenty20 in England, the country where this format of the game was created.

“We’ve got a tough group stage with the West Indies and Sri Lanka in our pool but I’m confident we’ll make it through. It would be great to be part of a team that adds the ICC World Twenty20 trophy to Australia’s existing trophy cabinet.

“It’s an impressive looking trophy and one we’d definitely like to lift in England this summer.”

Karthikeyan to race for Team Kolles in Le Mans series

New Delhi, May 07: Team Kolles has roped in Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan for the Le Mans 24-hour race as well as the European Le Mans series after he impressed the owners during tests in the Audi R10 TDI LMP1 Sportscar.

Karthikeyan, the only Indian to race in Formula One, will take part in the 24-hour endurance race at Le Mans on June 13 and 14 while his first race for Team Kolles will be at European Le Mans Series in Spa on Sunday.

"I am very excited and happy to be racing in the Le Mans 24-hour race with Team Kolles and would like to thank Dr Kolles very much for this opportunity," Karthikeyan said in a statement.

"I really enjoyed the recent endurance test at Paul Ricard which gave me a good idea of the performance of the car and the difficulties I will be faced with, all I can say is I cannot wait to get behind the wheel. I am also really looking forward to racing on Sunday at Spa in Belgium, in the LMS series and this is a 1000km endurance race."

Colin Kolles, owner of Team Kolles said, "I am happy to have Narain on board and looking forward to this weekend at Spa.

Amritraj bows out of ATP Challenger event in Israel

New Delhi, May 07: Nursing a leg injury, Prakash Amritraj bowed out of the ATP Challenger event in Ramat Hasharon, Israel after giving a walkover to local Harel Levy.

Amritraj picked up the injury at last week's Challenger event in Greece.

The Indian had beaten Bulgarian wildcard Grigor Dimitrov in the first round of the tournament in Israel.

Kuznetsova ends Jankovic's reign in Italy

Rome, May 07: Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova ended Jelena Jankovic's two-year reign as Italian Open champion when she beat the Serbian 6-1 7-6 on Thursday to go through to the semi-finals.

Jankovic, who beat Kuznetsova in the 2007 final for the first of her two Rome titles, could find no answer to the venom in her seventh seeded opponent's forehands in the first set.

She fared better in the second set, twice pulling back dropped serves and forcing two break points on set points in the 12th game.

But former U.S. Open champion Kuznetsova, in fine fettle after ending a title drought stretching back to 2007 at last week's Stuttgart Grand Prix, saved them both before sealing victory in the tiebreak.

World number one Dinara Safina meets Spain's Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez and American fourth seed Venus Williams will battle with Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska for a place in the last four later on Thursday.

Three Indian-origin boys selected for Chelsea Academy trials

London, May 07: Three youngsters of Indian origin will get a shot at playing for Chelsea Academy side after they were selected for a initiative by the London-based English Premier League club to rope in young Asian-origin players.

Jai Singh Dhillon, Jordan Sadhu and Aameer Kstantin Murphy will appear for trials in August to test whether they can be part of the Chelsea Academy.

Dhillon from Hitchin was selected in Under-14 category while Sadhu of Ilford and London's Murphy won the Under-12 and Under-13 competitions respectively after three days of intense competition among more than 350 young boys.

The selection of the trio under 'Search for an Asian Soccer Star' initiative is designed to give a much needed kick-start to greater Asian representation within the sport by uncovering potential future professional footballers from a so far under-represented community.

The initiative was launched by Chelsea Chief Executive Peter Kenyon on May 2 and the boys battled it out over three days of tests, matches and competitions.

It was joined by a host of Chelsea first team stars keen to lend their support including Nicolas Anelka, Petr Cech, Florent Malouda, Salomon Kalou and Deco.

Assistant Manager Ray Wilkins also led a couple of training sessions for the players.

The boys underwent a a series of individual tests developed by the Chelsea Academy to evaluate core skill levels and allowed trialists to be measured against boys already in the Academy. They were followed by coaching sessions with the Academy staff and competitive matches in the afternoon.

An elated Dhillon said, "I'd tell anyone who is thinking about taking part to try it even if you don’t think you are the best player. It is good fun."

Twelve-year-old Aameer Murphy finished top of the tests and asked how did he feel to have won the opportunity of a lifetime.

Referee smuggled out of Eng following death threats

London, May 07: According to various reports in the British press, the referee from the Champions League semi-final second leg between Chelsea and Barcelona at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday has been smuggled out of England after receiving death threats.

Tom Henning Ovrebo was confronted by several Blues players, most notably Didier Drogba and Michael Ballack, following the game after the west London club were dumped out of the competition thanks to a late Andres Iniesta equaliser which sent La Blaugrana through on away goals.

Having failed to award Chelsea a penalty during the match, of which there were around three or four separate claims, the Norwegian has apparently become a target of a hate campaign from the club's supporters.

Fearing for his safety, it is said that police changed Ovrebo's hotel before finally smuggling him out of the country.

Police in the 42-year-old's home city, Oslo, have revealed that they are investigating death threats issued via the internet.

An Oslo police spokesperson said, "We are watching closely what is being posted on the internet. Anything we believe would threaten his personal safety will be taken seriously."

Meanwhile, former international referee Graham Poll has had his say on the matter.

"This morning he's being smuggled out of our country under police escort - this is a referee of a football match. That is a disgrace," Poll told a Radio.

"When he booked in a hotel they had to change the hotel he was staying at because of the fear that maybe fans would find him.”

"When you see players acting like that, fans are called fans because they are fanatics - they may feel it's time to take action themselves.

India U-14 Girls excel in AFC football fest

New Delhi, May 07: Indian Under-14 Girls' team produced a commendable performance in the just concluded AFC Football Festival for South and Central Asia by winning six matches, losing and drawing once each in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The Indian girls started their campaign in the April 30-May 5 tournament with a thumping 9-0 victory over Bhutan, whom they again spanked 15-0 in their second meeting.

This was followed by a 3-1 win over Iran though they drew goal-less with the same opponents in the second match.

Indian girls also beat Sri Lanka 8-0 and then spanked 6-0 when they clashed again.

They suffered their only defeat when India went down to Jordan by a solitary goal, but took the sweet revenge by taming them 8-3 in the reverse encounter.

The Indians scored highest number of goals with Tanvi Bhargava producing 10 goals followed by Ronnie, Oshin and Prerna who found the net on nine occasions each.

The Indian team earned 21 Green Cards -- the maximum by any side -- which was given by taking into account the number of wins, draws and losses, number of goals scored for and against, fairplay points and skill level of players.

Chelsea rally behind Drogba over referee rant

London, May 07: Chelsea captain John Terry and manager Guus Hiddink have rallied behind Didier Drogba as the Ivory Coast striker faces potentially severe punishment by UEFA over his furious confrontation with the referee after the club's Champions League exit.

A stoppage time goal from Andres Iniesta earned Barcelona a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday and put the Catalans into a Rome final with Manchester United.

Chelsea's players were left incensed over referee Tom Henning Ovrebo's performance and Drogba, who had been substituted late in the game, stormed on to the pitch at the final whistle to harangue the official, who had to be escorted down the tunnel by a group of stewards.

Drogba then aggravated his extremely intimidating behaviour by screaming obscenities into a television camera, forcing some broadcasters who were carrying the match live to apologise to viewers.

"Are you watching this? It is a disgrace," Drogba shouted.

Hiddink, who attempted to restrain Drogba, acknowledged that the striker's conduct was close to the limit of what is acceptable but said he fully understood his frustration over what he described as the worst refereeing performance he had seen in his long career.

"Of course I can fully understand his reaction - full of adrenaline and emotion," said Hiddink. "People say he should be in control. The moment a player starts hitting then he is going beyond where he should go.”

"I can understand his emotion and his behaviour after the game. I will protect that."

Hiddink felt Chelsea might have had as many as four penalties, so found it hard to understand why Ovrebo had failed to award at least two of them, and questioned why the Norwegian had been given such a big match.

"In big games like this you need top-notch referees who have had big experience in leagues like Spain, Italy, England and Germany," he said.

"There is an overall feeling of being robbed, of there having been an injustice. That's why they were so hot and angry.”

"Of course the players make mistakes, coaches make mistakes and referees can make mistakes that are why we talk about giving the benefit of the doubt.” "But if you have seen three or four situations waved away, then it's the worst I have seen."

Terry put the penalty count at six or seven and appeared to suggest that Ovrebo's handling of the match was influenced by a perceived desire by UEFA to avoid another all-English final.

"Not one player made one mistake in the two legs," Terry said. "The referee has made four or five or six big errors and now we're out of the competition.” "The word conspiracy is maybe the wrong one. It's difficult when players are so high on emotion after a game. People are saying we should not have reacted the way we did but the fact is that six decisions went against us. For the ref not to give one of them is unusual."

Injured Zaheer ruled out of Deccan encounter

Centurion, May 06: A shoulder injury will prevent Zaheer Khan from being a part of Mumbai Indians’ clash against Deccan Chargers on Wednesday.

Zaheer incurred the injury during his previous match against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Zaheer attempted to stop a drive from Robin Uthappa, but fell on his bowling shoulder instead. He had to leave the ground then and there itself.

Both the Mumbai Indians and Team India could breathe a sigh of relief after subsequent scan reports claimed that the injury was not that serious and the pacer will be seen back in action soon. Zaheer had been picked for the Twenty20 World Cup to be played in England later in next month.

“He [Zaheer] had a scan on his injured shoulder today (on Tuesday). We had feared the worst but it’s not as bad as we thought it could be originally. There is a little bit of inflammation. We will be taking it day by day. But he will not be playing against Hyderabad (Deccan) and that’s for sure,” Shaun Pollock, Mumbai’s mentor-cum-coach, told the media after the team practice session, which Zaheer did not attend.

The Mumbai Indians are currently placed at the second last position in the points table of the Indian Premier League season 2. The team managed to emerge triumphant in only 3 of the 7 encounters they have faced.

Coach Pollock however said that he would not pressurise Zaheer to join the team soon, even though it was important for him to return as soon as possible; the reason being it is more important for the fast-bowler to be completely fit for the mega-event in June, rather than playing the cash-rich IPL.

“We understand that in the bigger picture there is the World Twenty20. We need to understand that so we don’t want him back in action before he is really ready. He has a huge career ahead of him and we don’t want to be stupid,” Pollock said.

When asked if Zaheer would be missing more games, Pollock refused to comment and said, “I am sure that at the earliest possibility we will want him back.”

Pollock said either Dhawal Kulkarni or Rahil Shaikh will replace Zaheer in the match against the Deccan. Kulkarni has played only one game this season while Shaikh, the left-arm fast bowler, is yet to make his IPL debut.

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London, May 06: England cricket captain Andrew Strauss has said the ongoing second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has undermined his side’s preparation for the Test series against the West Indies.

“The important thing is that Test cricket gets the attention it deserves. That means that people prepare themselves properly. You don’t want Test cricket to be devalued in any shape or form. Certainly we wouldn’t want our players arriving two days before,” Strauss was quoted as saying.

John Dyson, the West Indies coach, admitted: “It’s not time for an ideal preparation for a Test match but we have to work with it.”

Strauss added: “None of us want a situation where international cricket is competing against IPL cricket. That is unhealthy for the game, it is unhealthy for the IPL and most important of all it is unhealthy for the future of Test cricket.”

It is difficult for England to stake out the moral high ground on this issue since two of their own IPL players, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood, arrived home only on Friday and the coach, Andy Flower, admitted that both players would go into Wednesday Test ‘under-prepared’.

Gayle reacted to the issue with a shrug and a smile. “I was due to come here a day earlier, on Sunday, but we had a game and I got permission to stay. But we all knew the situation. We discussed it with board members and we got permission to get back at a particular time. I got permission. No one is bigger than the game. There was a debate about it. It was clarified and sorted out.”

It is clear, though, that the West Indies board gave Gayle permission to return late only reluctantly, just as the England and Wales Cricket Board had serious misgivings about the involvement of Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff in the IPL.