Saina crashes out of World Badminton Championships

HYDERABAD

HYDERABAD: It requires a diamond to cut another. On a day when the BWF World Championships moved into the semifinal stage, the packed Gachibowli Indoor stadium witnessed a clash of titans.

It was a fight between an ageing warrior, who lost his kingdom long back, and the reigning emperor. In the end, the 33-year-old Peter Hoeg Gade, who held the No.1 ranking for several months, bowed to the hegemony of Lin Dan, fondly called Super Dan by fans.

The defending World and Olympic champion withstood the stiff opposition of Gade and prevailed with a 22-20, 21-16 victory in the quarterfinals. Gade played as if he was fighting for survival and made the Chinese struggle hard for each point. The long rallies, power packed smashes and deft drops made it the best match of the tournament so far.

There were also two upsets and two heartbreaks. While the World No.1s in the men's and women's singles, Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei and Hong Kong's Zhou Mi, lost, India's challenge in the tournament ended too as Saina Nehwal and mixed doubles pair of V Diju and Jwala Gutta failed to progress.

But considering the reputations of the rivals, the upsets in the singles events shocked none. While Wei lost to the finalist of last World Championships, Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia 21-16, 14-21, 21-12, Zhou lost to two-time World champion Xie Xingfang 21-15, 21-18.

Saina, who became the first Indian to reach the quarters on Thursday, suffered a straight-game loss to Wang Lin of China 21-16, 21-19.

Before the Indian could get off the blocks, Wang surged ahead to a 9-2 lead in the first game. Saina, who fought back and reduced the deficit (11-11), failed to carry on the momentum and lost it rather meekly 21-16.

With the crowd rooting for her, Saina got off to a brilliant start in the second and was 10-2 before Wang began to catch up.

The Chinese girl, who lost to Saina in the final of Indonesian Super Series, defended well and frustrated Saina by pushing the dribbles back. Saina found it difficult to manage her backhand drive and conceded several unforced errors.

Saina complicated the situation by conceding eight points on the trot. and then, leading at 17-15, Saina failed to hold the nerve.

Wang collected two points and at 17-17 the net chord helped Wang take the lead. Once Wang surged ahead Saina lost her confidence and succumbed.

"She played a good match. When I beat her in Indonesia she confined herself to lifting the dribbles but now she has started pushing them. She defended very well. I am not too disappointed with the loss," Saina said.

Earlier in the day, Diju and Jwala proved no match for defending champions Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia. The Indian pair lost 21-16, 21-14.

"It was very disappointing. I don't know why but we played according to their plans," Jwala said later.

Former world champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia and World No.2 Chen Jin of China made it to the semifinals in men's singles, while Lu Lan of China and Pi Hongyan of France reached the last four stage in women's singles of the competition.

TOI

Jamaican Bolt sets new 100m world record

BERLIN

BERLIN: Jamaican Usain Bolt added the world crown to his Olympic title as he scorched to victory in a world record 9.58 seconds in the men's 100m final at the World Athletics Championships on Sunday.

Billed as the first of three potential Berlin duels between Bolt and American reigning world champion Tyson Gay, the 22-year-old show-boating Jamaican crushed the field and smashed his own record of 9.69sec set in similarly spectacular fashion at the Beijing Olympics final.

Gay claimed silver in 9.71sec, finishing a good couple of metres off Bolt, with former world record holder Asafa Powell of Jamaica clocking 9.84sec for bronze.

"I said anything could happen and it did," said Bolt. "It was a big target but I got 9.58sec and I'm really happy with myself. Now I plan to do even better in the future.

"I was ready, I was feeling good after the semi-finals. I came out and executed it in the final."

Gay was magnanimous in defeat.

"I'm really happy with my performance," said the 27-year-old. "I showed a lot of heart. I didn't complain about my groin injury. I blocked everything out in the final and put it together the best I could.

"I've been telling you someone can run 9.5sec. I'm really happy he did it.

"It shows a human being can take it to the next level. Unfortunately, I wasn't the one to do it but I still have confidence I will do it one day."

Bolt, who took the Beijing Games by storm last summer, winning all three Olympic sprint golds and all in world record times, had overcome a nervy semi-final in which he false started for the first-ever time in his career.

But when it came to the final, he enjoyed his normal start, his head staying down over the first 40 metres before slowly bringing his towering 6ft 5in frame fully upright and lengthening out his stride to attain maximum velocity.

After having enraptured the crowd with his trademark bow-and-arrow posing before starter's orders, his pull was exemplary and he was soon away from Gay - who had a marginally better reaction time - and his other rivals and celebrating another new world record.

In sultry conditions at the Olympic Stadium, with a temperature of 28C (82F), Bolt's training partner Daniel Bailey of Antigua finished in fourth at 9.93sec on a photo finish with Trinidad's Olympic silver medallist Richard Thompson.

Dwain Chambers, the world indoor 60m silver medallist who is competing here after having served a two-year doping ban, came in sixth with 10.00sec.

Trinidadian Marc Burns and American Darvis Patton, who finished seventh and eighth, in the Beijing Olympics repeated their places here in 10.00 and 10.34sec respectively.

Powell said: "To come here and get third place I feel very proud."

For Gay and the rest of the US team, there now lies in wait a highly-anticipated 200m run-off and a 4x100m relay against Bolt and his Jamaican team-mates over the coming week.

TOI

Dravid returns, Sehwag to miss tri-series and Champions Trophy

CHENNAI:

CHENNAI: Veteran Rahul Dravid, on Sunday, staged a comeback into India's 15-member One-day squad while Virender Sehwag was ruled out of next month's More Pictures
tri-series in Sri Lanka and the Champions Trophy in South Africa.

The 36-year-old Dravid, who last played an ODI back in October 2007, was included in the squad to bolster the batting line-up for the two tournaments, which will also see the return of Sachin Tendulkar.

Leg-spinner Amit Mishra was included in place of left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha in the squad, announced by BCCI secretary N Srinivasan.

There was no major surprises in the team which features eight batsmen, four pacers, two spinners and an all-rounder in Yusuf Pathan.

Mumbai left-hander Abhishek Nayar was retained in the side but his Ranji team-mate Rohit Sharma was axed to accommodate Suresh Raina, who had skipped the West Indies tour because of a thumb injury.

The selection committee, headed by Krishnamachari Srikkanth met at the Chidambaram Stadium, on Sunday, to pick the squad for the September 8-14 tri-series in Sri Lanka and the September 22-October 5 Champions Trophy and they went by the fitness level of the players and their performance in recent past.

Dravid's return was more or less certain after the Indian top and middle order's poor display against short-pitch deliveries in both the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa and during the West Indies tour.

Besides, Sehwag's shoulder injury which necessitated a surgery, weakened the Indian top order and the selectors felt Dravid's vast experience would strengthen the line-up.

In Sehwag's absence, Tendulkar is set to open with Gautam Gambhir, while Dravid and Raina will add beef to the top and middle order, which also include vice captain Yuvraj Singh and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Sehwag's absence allowed Dinesh Karthik to hung on to his place as a reserve opener.

In the bowling department, Mishra staged a comeback to the ODI format after six long years to join Harbhajan Singh in the spin unit.

A regular in the Test squad now, Mishra played the last of his three ODIs back in April 2003 against South Africa and was frustrated at being branded a Test specialist.

Squad: Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Dinesh Karthik, Abhishek Nayar, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar .

TOI

Bangladesh beat Zimbabwe by four wickets

Charles Coventry

Zimbabwe's Charles Coventry equalled the highest individual one-day international score on Sunday, but saw his big-hitting party gatecrashed by Tamim Iqbal as Bangladesh wrapped-up the one-day series here.

Coventry blasted an unbeaten 194 to equal former Pakistan opener Saeed Anwar's 12-year record, as Zimbabwe piled up 312-8 in their 50 overs, but Bangladesh opener Tamim then hit his country's highest individual score of 154 as the tourists took victory with 13 balls to spare.

"I was due for a big innings. I was getting good starts but not big hundreds. It would have felt better had I finished the innings," said Tamim.

Coventry praised the tourists for their battling response.

"Well done to the Bangladeshis for the way they chased. We'll be out there trying the hardest the next time," said the 26-year-old, who was playing in his 15th one-dayer.

He dominated Zimbabwe's innings with the next highest score a more modest 37.

Coventry hit seven sixes and accelerated from 129 in the 42nd over to 180 in the 47th as fans wondered if he would become the first player in history to hit a one-day international double century.

But he had to settle for a share of Anwar's record although Bangladesh could have dismissed him earlier when Mahmudullah dropped him at square leg on 137.

Coventry shared an 82-run stand for the second wicket with Hamilton Masakadza as the home side eyed levelling the five-match series at 2-2.

But they reckoned without 20-year-old left-hander Tamim who first of all made his third half-century of the series before going on to hit his highest score in his 60th international.

Tamim's 154 came off 138 balls with seven fours and six sixes.

Zimbabwe skipper Prosper Utseya looked for positives in defeat.

"The innings of 312 wasn't enough. But our game is improving. We're playing international cricket and we missed chances that should have been taken. 3-2 sounds better than 4-1 and we need to come back strong and play well for the fans."

Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan was overjoyed at another series win which followed their historic Test and ODI sweep in the West Indies.

"Tamim batted magnificently, can't get better than that. We played very good cricket against West Indies and this series too, everyone chipped in but we need to improve our fielding," said Shakib.

"Cricket is the most popular game in Bangladesh and we thank out fans for their support."

The final match of the series is here on Tuesday.

Scoreboad:

Zimbabwe

M Vermeulen c Siddique b Alam 5
H Masakadza c Hasan b Mohammad Ashraful 21
C Coventry not out 194
B Taylor lbw b Enamul Haque jnr 9
S Williams b Naeem Islam 4
S Matsikenyeri run out 37
E Chigumbura c Naeem Islam b Enamul Haque 15
M Waller b Alam 3
T Mupariwa lbw b Rasel 0
P Utseya not out 7
Extras (b1, lb3, w12, nb1) 17
Total (8 wkts: 50 overs) 312



Did not bat: R Price.

Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Vermeulen), 2-87 (Masakadza), 3-102 (Taylor), 4-111 (Williams), 5-218 (Matsikenyeri), 6-282 (Chigumbura), 7-302 (Waller), 8-303 (Mupariwa)

1-5, 2-87, 3-102, 4-111, 5-218, 6-282, 7-302, 8-303

Bowling:

Rasel 9-1-52-1 (2w)
Alam 8-0-63-2 (5w)
Shakib Al Hasan 9-0-70-0 (3w)
Enamul Haque jnr 9-0-51-2 (1nb)
Mahmudullah 6-0-32-0 (2w)
Mohammad Ashraful 4-1-11-1
Naeem Islam 5-0-29-1



Bangladesh

Tamim Iqbal c sub (Haji Jamil) b Price 154
Junaid Siddique c Williams b Masakadza 38
Mohammad Ashraful c Coventry b Price 10
Raqibul Hasan b Price 35
Shakib Al Hasan c Waller b Masakadza 19
Mushfiqur Rahim lbw b Utseya 15
Mahmudullah not out 21
Naeem Islam not out 4
Extras (lb1, w15, nb1) 17
Total (6 wickets; 47.5 overs) 313



Did not bat: Mahbubul Alam, Syed Rasel, Enamul Haque jnr

Fall of wickets: 1-68 (Junaid Siddique), 2-94 (Mohammad Ashraful), 3-213 (Raqibul Hasan), 4-246 (Shakib Al Hasan), 5-279 (Tamim Iqbal), 6-300 (Mushfiqur Rahim)

Bowling:

Mupariwa 8.5-0-65-0 (1nb, 2w)
Chigumbura 9-0 63-0 (2w)
Utseya 10-0-46-1 (2w)
Masakadza 7-0-52-2 (3w)
Price 10-0 60-3 (2w)
Waller 3-0-26-0 (2w)



Result: Bangladesh won by four wickets

Series: Bangladesh lead 3-1

Toss: Zimbabwe

Umpires: K Barbour and A Saheba

TV umpire: O Chirombe

Match referee: J Srinath

Source:cricbuzz

Kambli retires from international cricket

Vinod Kambli,

Vinod Kambli, has announced his retirement from international cricket. He will continue to make himself available for domestic selection. Kambli last played international cricket in 2000.

Kambli made the announcement at the inauguration of his sports academy, Khel Bharati, in the presence of Virender Sehwag, who inaugurated the academy, and Ramakant Acharekar, who coached Kambli and Sachin Tendulkar during their youth.

Kambli - who is Tendulkar's childhood friend - burst on to the scene with back-to-back double centuries in his third and fourth Tests, but unfortunately couldn't fulfill the promise showed then. A stop-start selectorial policy and a weakness against the short ball meant he played in only 17 Test matches, scoring 1084 runs at an average of 54.20.

He played 104 ODIs, scoring 2477 runs at an average of 32.59 and a strike rate of 71.94.

He made nine comebacks into the ODI team, but played his last Test in 1995, before he had turned 24. Since being out of the Indian team, he has tried his hand at movies and reality shows on the small screen.

© Cricbuzz

Tendulkar can continue as long as he wants: Ganguly

KOLKATA, Aug 14: Age might be catching up with Sachin Tendulkar but former India captain Sourav Ganguly feels the Mumbai veteran is the best cricketer in the world right now and can continue as long as he wants. The iconic left-hander said his 36-year-old former opening partner is a better batsman than him and can pick the time to call it quits. “To be honest, he is a bigger player than I am. He deserves to go whenever he wants to. He is probably the best in the world with (the retired) Brian Lara. He can play until anytime he wants and I am sure his performance will remain consistent,” Ganguly said in an interview on Friday. Ganguly said he enjoyed partnering Tendulkar at the top and doesn’t regret quitting earlier than him. “We have enjoyed a lot together at the top of the order and contributed thousands of runs. But I have taken a decision to quit. So, there is nothing to regret. I am sure he would also take the decision (to call it quits) at some stage,” the 37-year-old player said.

Xie stuns top seed Zhou to enter semis

Hyderabad, Aug 14: China’s Xie Xingfang knocked out top seed Zhou Mi of Hong Kong 21-15 21-18 to move into the semi-finals of the women’s singles at the the World Badminton Championships here on Friday.

It was a day of surprise results as women's seventh seed Lan Lu of China stunned third-seeded Dane Tine Rasmussen 21-15, 21-13 in 31 minutes to enter the semi-finals. Fifth seed Xie’s opponent in the semi-final is France's eighth seed Pi Hongyan, who defeated 11th seed Juliane Schenk of Germany 15-21, 21-15, 21-19 in an hour-long duel. Pi, who moved to France after failing to make it to the Chinese national team, said it was her best performance in the world championships. “I can’t say how happy I am today. This is my best performance in the World Championhips. I am having a good time here,” said Pi, who has been a quarter-finalist for three consecutive years between 2005-07 at the World Championships. In the men’s singles, Indonesian fourth seed and Athens Olympics gold medallist Taufiq Hidayat stopped the giant-killing run of unseeded Dane Jan O Jorgensen 21-19, 21-19, to enter the semi-finals. Jorgensen, 21, had upset South Korean eighth seed Park Sung-hwan and 16th seed Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand in the previous two rounds, and made it tough for Hidayat before bowing out. In the semi-final, Hidayat takes on Chinese second seed Chen Jin, who beat Indonesia's Simon Santoso 21-10, 21-13. (IANS)

Nehra wants to slip into Zaheer’s shoes

NEW DELHI, Aug 14: Back in reckoning after being on the sidelines for more than three years, injury-prone pacer Ashish Nehra said despite being short of match practice, he is ready to lead the Indian attack in the absence of regular spearhead Zaheer Khan. “In the absence of Zaheer Khan I am ready to be the lead bowler. I may have been out for over three years but people must realise I am a very experienced and have been playing cricket for the last 10 years. I am excited and hope there are no injuries,” Nehra said. Nehra made a comeback to the Indian Team after four years with a successful June ODI tour of West Indies where he took six wickets from three matches to be the leading wicket-taker of the series. “I was happy with my performance in the West Indies tour. I still feel I am bowling at about 80-85 percent of my capability. I am back in rhythm and will soon reach 100 per cent,” he said. Nehra said his stint with the Indian Premier League, where he played for Delhi Daredevils, was crucial in making his resurgence possible. “IPL gave an opportunity to make a comeback into the Indian team after more than three years. IPL is as good as international cricket. Every team has about eight-nine international cricketers so the standard is really high”, he said. “It is a good platform for anybody who has been out of the team and wants to make a comeback into the national squad,” Nehra said. (PTI)