Chennai, Oct 8: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) snatched a dramatic 4-3 win over Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) to top Pool A with an unbeaten record in the 85th All-India MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament here on Thursday. ONGC, having won all their four league matches, finished with 12 points ahead of BPCL who have nine points from three wins. The result was of academic interest since both teams had already qualified for the semi-finals. ONGC take on Army XI (No 2 in Pool B) and BPCL face Indian Oil (No 1 in Pool B) in the semi-finals scheduled for Saturday after Friday’s rest. The game was a comedy of errors with the rival defenders seen in poor light as the teams took turns to dictate the exchanges. Jagwant (20th), Bikash (24th), Pramod (68th) and Diwakar Ram (70th) scored for ONGC who initially led 2-0 but trailed 3-4 before recovering to strike late goals to notch the win. For BPCL, Jarnail Singh (31st, 60th) and Prabhdeep Singh (55th) scored, capitalizing on some unforgiveable defensive lapses. The story was much the same at the other end where the BPCL defenders were rather cumbersome in their movements to allow ONGC forwards considerable freedom. It was another matter that the rival forwards missed several sitters. Later, in the concluding league fixture of no consequence, the Indian Railways steamed past Punjab National Bank 3-2 to finish third in pool B. Mahendra (2nd), Innocent Kullu (55th) and Kuldeep Singh (60th, penalty stroke) scored for the Railways while PNB replied through Damandeep Singh (13th) and Yudhvir Singh (43rd). The match was marred by boorish behaviour by the PNB players who first protested the penalty stroke against them and then claimed for one in the last minute. They jostled Umpire Gnanasambandham, but got away without even a warning, much less a yellow card suspension. After the game, a section of the crowd pelted the PNB bench with water bottles before peace was restored. (IANS)
Saturday, October 10, 2009
ICC suspends WADA’s whereabouts clause
JOHANNESBURG, Oct 8: The International Cricket Council has decided to “suspend” the ‘Whereabouts Clause’ of the World Anti-Doping Agency until the concerns of Indian players’ about it are resolved.
“We need to find a solution to the practical problem India is having, which is a constitutional issue of the country, which is why we decided to suspend the ‘whereabouts’ clause,” ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat was quoted as saying by ‘Cricinfo’ after an Executive meeting of the world body.
The ICC will soon discuss the code with WADA and in a Board meeting scheduled three months from now, it will decide whether to implement the code or not. Until then, the ICC will continue testing players without using the contentious clause.
The clause requires players to give their whereabout details a month in advance for out of competition testing and the Indian players have opposed it, saying it infringes on their privacy and poses a threat to their security.
“We need to find a solution to the practical problem India is having, which is a constitutional issue of the country, which is why we decided to suspend the ‘whereabouts’ clause,” ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat was quoted as saying by ‘Cricinfo’ after an Executive meeting of the world body.
The ICC will soon discuss the code with WADA and in a Board meeting scheduled three months from now, it will decide whether to implement the code or not. Until then, the ICC will continue testing players without using the contentious clause.
The clause requires players to give their whereabout details a month in advance for out of competition testing and the Indian players have opposed it, saying it infringes on their privacy and poses a threat to their security.
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