Mary Kom continues to shine at World Championships

BRIDGETOWN: MC Mary Kom (48kg) remained firmly on course for a historic fifth successive gold by advancing to the semifinals along with Kavita (+81kg) to assure India of two medals in the sixth Women's World Championships.

Mary Kom beat Lynsey Holdaway from Wales 9-2 in the quarter-final to set up a clash with Alice Appari of the Philippines, whom she had beaten in their only face off six years ago.

The mother-of-two from Manipur took a narrow 2-1 lead in the opening round and built on it in the next two rounds to be 6-2 ahead by the third round. In the final round, Mary Kom launched an all-out attack to seal the issue in her favour.

"It was not all that tough for me. I had never faced her before but didn't have to slog too much. So far so good," the 27-year-old said after the bout.

"Despite the increased competition, I think I can still dominate my category. I am not bragging but it hasn't been very tough for me despite the fact that I have already played three rounds. My body is also feeling great," she said.

Talking about her next-round opponent, Mary Kom, who was conferred the Khel Ratna award last year, said, "I know this girl. I beat her in 2004 and hopefully even this time I would win. I will try my best. I have my fingers crossed for a fifth consecutive gold."

Dubbed 'Magnificent Mary' by the International Boxing Association, the Indian has the unique feat of having won a medal in each of the previous World Championships. She was silver-medallist in the inaugural edition and has not settled for anything less then a gold after that.

Among other Indians, Kavita too advanced to the semifinals by beating Adriana Hosu of Romania 9-6. She will face Kateryna Kuzhel of the Ukraine in the last-four stage on Friday.

But there was disappointment as well, with Laxmi Padiya (81kg) losing 4-18 to Kazakh Marina Volnova on Wednesday night.

The current edition of the World Championship features 72 countries. The increased competition has hit 2006 overall champions India rather hard with just two medals assured this time.

TOI

Andrew Flintoff retires from all forms of cricket

LONDON: Andrew Flintoff announced on Thursday his retirement from all cricket in a statement released by the player's management company.

"It is with both disappointment and sadness that I am today (Thursday) announcing my retirement from all forms of cricket," former England captain Flintoff said in a statement released by International Sports Management.

"The decision to end my career came yesterday (Wednesday) after consultation with medical advisers," added the 32-year-old all-rounder, who quit the Test format after helping England regain the Ashes last year.

"I was told that the problems I have been trying to overcome in re-hab for the last year following the latest in a series of operations would not recover sufficiently to allow a comeback.

"Having been told that my body would no longer stand up to the rigours of cricket, I had no alternative but to retire.

"I would like to thank my family, Lancashire Cricket Club, England, all my sponsors, friends and advisers for all the help and support they have given me throughout my career.

"Last, but by no means least, I am indebted to the encouragement and support I have always received from England's magnificent supporters."

Flintoff, who has been widely tipped to follow the path of fellow ex-England skippers Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain and Michael Vaughan by pursuing a media career, added: "I will now be taking a break before deciding which future direction to take."

TOI

Desperate Mumbai face Guyana in must-win game

Stunned by two back-to-back defeats, Sachin Tendulkar-led Mumbai Indians will be desperate to find their winning ways when they take on a low-profile Guyana in a Champions League Group B match here on Thursday.

The IPL runner-up side had a forgettable start in the show-piece event as they first went down to Lions by just nine runs in the tournament-opener and then fell prey to South Australia, who comprehensively beat them by five wickets on Tuesday.

The two consecutive defeats has put the Mumbai team on the brink of an early elimination and it will now need an inspired effort from Tendulkar and his men to bounce back.

Their performance have only showed a downward graph and although Tendulkar tried his best to lead from the front, he is yet to instill the confidence among his teammates.

After a breezy 62-ball 69 in the first match, Tendulkar failed to deliver yesterday while the so-called strong batting order of Mumbai failed to provide much resistance against the South Australia attack.

lthough Guyana bowling department does not have any big names, Mumbai batting order, including South African J P Duminy and hard-hitting West Indian Kieron Pollard, have to show more consistency tomorrow and in their coming encounters as well.

Young batsman Sourav Tiwary cracked a brilliant 44 off 36 balls on Tuesday and the team would expect another good knock from the talented Jharkhand guy on Thursday.

In bowling department Mumbai's new-ball pair of Zaheer Khan and Sri Lankan Lasith Malinga have to live upto expectation.

Zaheer scalped one wicket in the last match but was too expensive, while his India teammate and seasoned off-spinner Harbhajan Singh also proved quite ineffective against South Australia.

Guyana have also lost their campaign-opener to another IPL side Royal Challenger Bangalore by nine wickets and will find Mumbai Indians a tough nut to crack.

Skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan is the only big name in their batting line-up which somehow managed to cross 100-run mark against RCB's mighty bowling attack.

But Mumbai is unlikely to take the West Indian side lightly because the players like Christopher Barnwell, who helped Guyana to cross 100-run mark with a 54-ball 30, and Sewnarine Chattergoon are capable of changing the equation of any match just in a few overs.

But support from the lower-middle order including Esuan Crandon, Jonathan Foo and Derwin Christian will also play crucial role.

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India take on Brazil to reclaim berth in Davis Cup

India will look to exploit a favourable surface, weather conditions and form of its players to reclaim a berth in the Davis Cup World Group as the hosts take on formidable Brazil in the play-off tie here from tomorrow.

India came to this tie after losing the World Group first round to Russia in March this year while Brazil whitewashed Uruguay 5-0 in the Americas Zone group I semifinals in May.

India have tasted success consistently in the Asia-Oceania Group and went on to break the World Group jinx after 11 years following a win over South Africa in 2009.

Brazil, a clay court specialist nation, last played in World Group in 2003 against Sweden and have been trying ever since to make it to the elite club.

September has been an unlucky month in the last few years for them as they lost to Ecuador, Croatia, Austria and Sweden in the play-off ties.

Traditionally India have chosen grass courts to host a Davis Cup tie but due to liking of Somdev Devvarman, its best singles players currently, it preferred hard courts for the tie, first at home in two years.

The last time India hosted a tie on a non-grass surface was in 1979 when it played against Australia on clay.

Comparing the two sides ranking wise, India do not have a single top-100 player with Somdev being the best at 113 and Rohan Bopanna a distant 479 but the doubles team Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi is undoubtedly a class apart, unbeaten in the last 23 ties. Paes will, infact, mark 20 years in the Davis Cup circuit when he takes the court on Saturday.

Brazil boast world number 27 Thomaz Belluci and 75th ranked Ricardo Mello and also have a solid doubles team in Bruno Soares and Marcelo Melo, who are ranked 16th.

Yet, a few things go in favour of India as its players, specially Somdev, have done exceedingly well on hard courts to turn the ties in his team’s favour while Brazil have not won a Davis Cup tie on hard court since 1991 and have played on the surface just eight times in its 62-year history.

The rankings may show a wide gulf between the players of the two nations, but Somdev and Bopanna have time and again proved their disdain for them.

Bopanna, despite concentrating more on doubles, has done well in Davis Cup singles of late. In India’s WG play-off win over South Africa, Bopanna had played an important role by beating Rik De Voest.

In the lost tie against Russia, the only singles win came from Bopanna when he beat Teimuraz Gabashvili.

His confidence, after a historic performance at the just concluded US Open will also be sky high.

Somdev on his day can beat any player in the world, hence despite having superiorly ranked players, Brazil will face a tough job.

Adding to their disadvantage would be the hot and humid conditions here.

In the end, it will be an intense tie in which both teams will go with equal chances to win. The losing team will play its respective Zone in 2011.

Source:http://www.indianexpress.com/