Indian hockey squad named for Punjab Gold Cup

CHANDIGARH: Selectors on Thursday announced an 18-member Indian hockey team for the inaugural four-nation Punjab Gold Cup tournament to be played from Saturday.

The team, led by drag-flicker Sandeep Singh, will include Arjun Halappa and Ignace Tirkey. Midfielder Sardar Singh, who was also on the injury list with both these players, has not been included due to a hand injury.

The team was announced at the Sector 42 hockey stadium by selection committee chairman Ajit Pal Singh. Other selectors, Zafar Iqbal, Ashok Kumar and Dhanraj Pillay and coach in-charge Harendra Singh, were also present.

Besides India, Olympics champion Germany, European champion Holland and New Zealand are also participating in the tournament. The 10-day event is organised by the Punjab government.

All teams have arrived for the tournament.

Team:

Goalkeepers: Baljit Singh, Adrian D'Souza.

Fullbacks: Dilip Tirkey, Sandeep Singh, Raghu Nath.

Midfielders: Gurbaj Singh, VS Vinay, Vikram Pillay, Prabhod Tirkey, Ignace Tirkey.

Forwards: Deepak Thakur, Prabhjot Singh, Shivedra Singh, Rajpal Singh, Arjun Halappa, Tushar Khandekar, S.V. Sunil, Bharat Chhikara.

Stand-bye: Bharat Chetri, Ajitesh Roy, Sardar Singh, Sarwanjit Singh, Hari Prashad, Ravi Paul.

Officials: Harindra Singh (coach incharge), Ramandeep Singh (coach), Romeo James (coach), Mithai M.V. (trainer), Shrikant (physio) and Ashok Kumar (technical manager).

Source: http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Indian_hockey_squad_named_for_Punjab_Gold_Cup/articleshow/4048928.cms

Coventry City not interested in Chhetri anymore

KOLKATA: English Championship club Coventry City will not pursue their interest with Indian striker Sunil Chhetri, the club's manager Chris Coleman r evealed on Thursday.

Praising the East Bengal striker for his popularity in India, Coleman however said they cannot pursue their interest with Chhetri as he does not fit into their scheme of things.

"A lot was made of him coming over and I think he is going to go around a few clubs. He has had a few days with us but that is it," said Coleman.

"I understand he has a big reputation in India and he is a very nice young man but we won't be following up our initial interest," he was quoted.

It may be noted Chhetri was given a wide coverage in English media after he landed in Coventry for a weeklong trial.

After his first training session with the Sky Blues, he received a warm welcome by the Coventry players and the coaching staff.

"I am really optimistic and I am looking forward to the week. I just want to give 100 per cent. (Bhaichung) Bhutia has been an inspiration both on and off the field," Chhetri had said then.

"After him the flow of players has slowed down so hopefully more can start coming over to England. It would mean a lot to me and to players from India," he had said.

In fact, the national captain was also optimistic about Chhetri's chances.

Having had a stint with Bury FC, Bhutia had said, "I hope things work out for Sunil. It would interest youngsters in looking beyond India and ultimately if they manage it, they can contribute immensely to the national team set up."

Source: http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Coventry_City_not_interested_in_Chhetri_anymore/articleshow/4048749.cms

OILFC maul Assam Police Blues in Premier League

By our Sports Reporter source: sentinel assam

GUWAHATI, Jan 28: A fine hattrick from foreign recruit Ezekiel forced Assam Police Blues to suffer a shocking defeat against Oil India Limited Football Club (OILFC) in the State Premier League Soccer Tournament match held at the Nehru Stadium on Wednesday. The Duliajan outfit blanked Assam Police Blues 6-0.The best four teams of the State are taking part in the main round of the premier league but nobody expected that there would so much differences between the two teams which are among the top four in the State. Even the coach of OILFC, Subrata Bhattacharjee, admitted after the match that the result was beyond expectation.The Nehru Stadium today probably witnessed a tsunami of a sort on the field. The initial stage of the match didn’t give any sign that OILFC is going to play some magical soccer in the match. But once Subrata made a few tactical changes in the team combination, OILFC became tough to handle and the side pumped in five goals in a span of just 13 minutes. There is no doubt that all departments of OILFC showed some gusty performance in today’s match. But the name of the two foreign recruits—Stephen and Ezekiel—should be taken separately as both were instrumental to give their team the big win. All six goals were scored by this two foreign recruits.It was Stephen who opened the flood gates for OILFC in the 32nd minute and later he added another two in the 35th and 81st minutes. Ezekiel got his hattrick scoring three consecutive goals in the 38th, 42nd and 45th minutes. Ezekiel’s second goal was the best one in the match as he outpaced two opponent defenders with sheer speed and placed the ball into the net.Talking to The Sentinel after the match, the coach of OILFC Subrata Bhattacharjee admitted that they were expecting a win in the match but never thought that the difference would be so big. “They are a good side but on the basis of assessment of our earlier performance we were optimistic that we would be able to win the game. But frankly speaking, we never thought the margin to be so big.” On the other hand, the coach of Assam Police Blues Tosen Bora was speechless during the post match briefing. In a brief interaction with the press he said, “I could say only one thing and that is we let the opponents pump in too many goals.”There would be no match on Thursday. On Friday ASEBSC will play against Assam Police Blues.

Serena marches into fourth Australian Open final

MELBOURNE: Serena Williams continued her love affair with Melbourne by easing to an emphatic 6-3, 6-4 victory over an in-form Elena Dementieva to advance to a fourth Australian Open final on Thursday.

Williams's victory under the closed roof of Rod Laver Arena ended the fourth seeded Russian's 15-game unbeaten streak in 2009 after Dementieva had earlier won titles at Auckland and Sydney.

The second seeded American, who had to battle back from a 0-3 deficit in the second set after comfortably taking the first, will be hoping to continue her flawless record in Australian Open finals following her three wins from as many appearances.

The 27-year-old Williams will meet another Russian in the title match, taking on the winner of Thursday's second semi-final between third seed Dinara Safina and seventh seed Vera Zvonareva.

"I am just really excited to be in the final, I don't care who I play," Williams said in a courtside interview. "I am just so happy to get this far all my work has paid off."

When asked how she would prepare for Saturday's final, she quipped: "Hopefully I will be playing a doubles final on Friday."

"Obviously I want to win doubles, I have the best partner," she added, referring to sister Venus before praising the crowd.

"You guys are so awesome, come back on Saturday and cheer for me please."

CLOSED ROOF

With Melbourne in the middle of a once-in-a-century heat wave and the air temperature above 40 degrees Celsius for a second successive day, organisers invoked the extreme heat policy at 1100 (0000 GMT) and the match began under the closed roof.

The opening two games lasted eight minutes apiece with both players earning break points as they slugged it out from the baseline.

Despite the nervous start, Williams had to wait until the eighth game to assert her authority, breaking Dementieva to earn an opportunity to serve for the first set.

The nine-times grand slam champion rattled through the game and sealed the first set in 44 minutes when Dementieva's audacious backhand drop shot landed narrowly wide.

The start of the second set was as tense as the opener, with the first game lasting a staggering 14 minutes as Williams fashioned a string of break points only for Dementieva to snatch the advantage back and eventually hold after six deuces.

The Russian then broke Williams and jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the world number two began another of her characteristic fightbacks.

She held to love, then broke Dementieva in the fifth game, despite suffering a heavy fall when she was wrong-footed by a forehand drive from the Russian.

Williams then held to level it at 3-3 before neither could hold serve, with Dementieva breaking once while Williams broke twice to give her the opportunity to serve for the match.

She managed two massive aces, the second of which prompted a frustrated squeal from Dementieva and set up match point, then sealed victory after she ran the Russian around and smashed an overhand into the open court.
Source: http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Serena_marches_into_fourth_Open_final/articleshow/4045419.cms

Safina overpowers Zvonareva to set up Serena showdown

MELBOURNE: Dinara Safina overpowered her fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 7-6 on Thursday to join Serena Williams in the final of the Australian Open.

The combination of Safina's heavier shot-making and aggression proved too much for Zvonareva as the third seed closed out victory in one hour and 46 minutes under a closed roof at the Rod Laver Arena.

Safina won four games in a row to take the opening set after trailling 2-3 then broke Zvonareva's brittle serve to force the tiebreak after the seventh seed blew her chance to force a deciding third set.

The winner of Saturday's final will receive an added bonus of taking over the world number one ranking from Serbia's Jelena Jankovic, who was knocked out in the fourth round at Melbourne Park this year.

"Since I was growing up it has been my dream one day to be number one," Safina said in a courtside interview.

"To play against Serena and to fight for the number one is just going to be unbelievable.

"I just hope it will be a good match that we can all enjoy and whoever wins, we'll shake hands at the end of the match and say 'well you deserve to be number one'."

Safina is also trying to complete a unique family double in Australia by emulating her older brother Marat Safin, who won the men's singles title in 2005.

"I watched my brother on TV winning this tournament and even when I watch it now I have tears in my eyes," Safina said.

"It is great that I can follow his footsteps because he was my idol and he is still my idol. That I'm doing as well as him is just amazing.

"It was his birthday two days ago, maybe I have earned some money to buy him a gift."

Safina had struggled throughout the tournament, surviving two match points in an extraordinary comeback to beat French teenager Alize Cornet in the fourth round, but was at her best against Zvonareva.

She still committed a whopping 42 unforced errors but there was no repeat of the lapses in concentration that plagued her in the early rounds.

Zvonareva, who had won all her previous matches in straight sets, made a nervous start to her maiden Grand Slam semi-final, double-faulting on the second point of the match to concede her opening service game to love.

The 24-year-old Muscovite steadied herself to comfortably hold her next service game then started attacking Safina's serve, which was starting to show signs of vulnerability.

Zvonareva broke back to level at 2-2 then held again to lead 3-2 before Safina seized control, cutting down on her errors and putting the pressure back on her opponent.

Safina, who has shed seven kilogram's in the last year and showed off her new figure in a canary yellow shirt and black skirt, reeled off the next four games to wrap up the opening set in 39 minutes off a Zvonareva backhand error.

Zvonareva, dressed in a more conservative all-white dress, broke Safina's serve in the fifth game of the second set but failed to capitalise on her advantage.

She dropped her next service game and her frustrations started to boil over when she disputed a line call with American chair umpire Lynn Welch then slapped the ball away in anger.

Zvonareva had the chance to force a third set when she broke in the 11th game but failed to hold and lost the tiebreak and the match on a crosscourt forehand winner from Safina.

Source: http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4046274.cms

Federer beats Roddick to reach Open final

MELBOURNE: Switzerland's Roger Federer blasted Andy Roddick off-court in another fearsome display to reach the Australian Open final and stay on cour se for a record-tying 14th Grand Slam title on Thursday.

The second seed absorbed Roddick's serve and dominated the rallies to take it 6-2, 7-5, 7-5, with arch-rival Rafael Nadal playing Fernando Verdasco in the all-Spanish second semi-final on Friday.

Federer, now in his 18th Grand Slam final, has not lost any of his three previous Australian Open title matches and continues his unbeaten record against Roddick in Major tournaments.

"Andy's been playing really playing well so I knew I had a tough match ahead of me," Federer said.

"I thought I played really well tonight because Andy played good too, so it was fun."

Nadal is hot favourite for his semi with Verdasco, raising the prospect of a mouth-watering sixth Grand Slam final between the world's top two players and long-time rivals.

"People sort of forgot about him leading up to the Australian Open," Federer said of Nadal.

"But he's showing why he's the best player in the world. I would love to play him in the final, that's for sure."

It was demoralising for Roddick, who came into the match revitalised by a change in coach but got off to an appalling start and argued with the chair umpire as the first set slipped past in 32 minutes.

Federer had the seventh seed on a string and he reeled off 12 straight points to take the second, breaking for 6-5 and serving out with grim precision for the two-set lead.

Roddick tangled again with the umpire when he swore loudly and received a code violation, and was left staggered when Federer dug himself out of trouble with a brilliant drop shot, lob and stop-volley to hold for 5-5.

The American was then guilty of a howler as he patted the ball to Federer's feet with the court begging, gifting the crucial break point which the Swiss converted with an unstoppable forehand before calmly serving out the win.

Federer lost in the semis here last year and was beaten in the Roland Garros and Wimbledon finals by Nadal, who ended his record 237-week stint as world number one.

But he rescued his season by winning his fifth US Open title to move to 13 Grand Slam victories, one fewer than American great Pete Sampras.

Federer moves to 16-2 against Roddick, the former number one who won the 2003 US Open but has not reached a Grand Slam final since 2006.

He beat Andreas Seppi, Evgeny Korolev and 2005 champion Marat Safin in the early rounds before fighting back from two sets down against Tomas Berdych.

Federer then thrashed Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro in the quarter-finals, winning 6-3, 6-0, 6-0 in his most comprehensive victory in the last eight of a Grand Slam.

Federer also reached the semi-finals at the previous five Australian Opens, winning in 2004, 2006 and 2007, and last failed to make the last eight in 2003.

He can join Roy Emerson, Andre Agassi, Jack Crawford and Ken Rosewall as the only men to have won four or more titles here.

Roddick won against Bjorn Rehnquist, Xavier Malisse, Fabrice Santoro and Tommy Robredo to reach the quarter-finals, when defending champion Novak Djokovic retired with cramp in intense heat.

Source: http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4047741.cms