Eight time Olympic medallists India finally got their act together as they beat Canada 3-1 in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. India, who had earlier lost 3-4 to New Zealand and 1-5 to Argentina, came up with an improved performance to win the game 3-1 despite conceding the lead to the Canadians.
The last two meetings between these two sides had both gone in favour of the Black Sticks-a 4-1 win in China in 2006 ( World Cup qualifiers) and a 1-0 loss in Madrid in 2004 ( Olympic qualifiers). And it was for this precise reason that Sarjit Singh and his boys were confident, but a bit jittery nevertheless on the eve of their second game in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup against New Zealand.
Here is the list of fixtures at the 2008 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup being held in Ipoh, Malaysia.
Day 1 (May 
Pakistan 3-2 Malaysia
Argentina 2-1 Belgium
New Zealand 4-3 India
Day 2 ( May 9)
Canada 1-0 Belgium
Pakistan 6-3 New Zealand
Argentina 5-1 India
India’s recent hockey woes continued as they were thrashed 5-1 by Argentina in their second match of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. The eight time Olympic gold medallists, who lost 3-4 to New Zealand in their first game, looked hopelessly out of place against the South Americans, whose pace was too hot to handle for the young Asian team.
This list will be updated regularly, and the current rankings are after the Malaysia vs New Zealand game on day 4.
Rehan Butt ( Pak) -5
Sandeep Singh ( Ind)-4
Belgium suffered their second defeat in a row as they went down 0-1 to Canada in the opening match of the second day of the 17th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. Canada, who are in Group B in the Beijing Olympics, had Matthew Guest to thank for their 1-0 win over the Belgians, who are ranked higher than them in the FIH rankings.
After their opening day 3-2 win over hosts Malaysia , Pakistan asserted their status as favourites to win the 17th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup when they thrashed New Zealand 6-3 in Ipoh.
Pakistan began their quest for a fourth Sultan Azlan Shah Cup with a 3-2 win over hosts Malaysia in the opening match of the 2008 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.
The hosts took the lead as early as the first minute through Kevinder Singh. Muhammad Ateeq equalised for Pakistan from a penalty corner, but Malaysia took the lead a minute later, with Mohd Amin Rahim converting a penalty corner.
Rehan Butt levelled the scores in the 28th minute, and Mohammad Saqlain scored on the hour mark to give Pakistan a 3-2 win.
In another game, Argentina beat Belgium 2-1. Martin Sosa and Tomas Innocente scored for the South Americans, while Jerome Truyens scored the sole goal of the game for the Belgians.
Pakistan take on New Zealand tomorrow, while Argentina take on India. The Belgians will play Canada in their second game, also to be played tomorrow.
Olympic participants New Zealand, without Ryan Archibald, began their Sultan Azlan Shah Cup campaign on a winning note when they beat India 4-3.
The Indians, who have finished third in the last two editions of the tournament, started off brightly, taking a two goal advantage in the first twenty minutes.
The 17th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup kicks off in Ipoh today. It concludes on May 18.
Defending champions Australia are not participating in the tournament.
Malaysia, of course are the hosts, and will be keen to prove a point after failing to qualify for the Beijing Olympics. The other teams taking part in the tournament are :-
Canada
Belgium
Argentina
Pakistan
India
New Zealand
Pakistan, New Zealand, Belgium and Canada have all qualified for the Olympics.
Malaysia will be without skipper Shanmugham Kuhan, Mohd Shahrun Nabil and Mohd Razie Abdul Rehman.
There are wholesale changes in the Indian side, after the Asians failed to make it to the Olympics for the first time in eighty years. They also performed poorly in the four nations tournament in Australia, and an Indian T.V. channel ran an operation that claimed that the hockey federation secretary allegedly demanded money for selecting players.
No Prabhjot Singh, Tushar Khandekar, William Xalco, Samir Baxla, Baljit Singh and Ignace Turkey in the Indian lineup.
The schedule for the tournament can be seen here.
On paper, the Deccan Chargers, owned by the Deccan Chronicle, happen to be one of the most balanced teams in the tournament. Yet, for some reason, they seem to be unable to produce results. All they have to show for their campaign so far, is a solitary 10 wicket win over fellow strugglers Mumbai, which was a world record in itself. And yesterday, at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, VVS Laxman’s side went down to the Royal Bangalore Challengers by three runs to make it five defeats out of six games in the IPL.
If Danish legend Peter Schmeichel is to be believed, his son Kasper will not be at the City of Manchester Stadium next season. The 21 year old is below Joe Hart and Andreas Isaksson in Sven Goran Eriksson’s goalkeeper list, and with Eriksson unable to guarantee him a regular starting place, Kasper is set to leave City.
Here are the results from the first leg of the third round games of the African Champions League. Teams indicated in bold were the home teams. This is the round of 16
Zamalek 3-0 InterClube ( Amr Al Safti, Mohamed Shikabala, Mohamed Ibrahim)
Coton Sport 3-0 JS Kabylie ( Daouda Kamilou *2, Zoua Dagouri)
According to this BBC report, Barcelona vice chairman Ferran Soriano has stated that former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry is not going to leave the Catalan giants.
While lots of people would like to see the prolific forward back in the Premiership, one wonders which club he would join. He had said that he would not leave Arsenal, and then departed for Spain.
Chelsea are an option too.
Here is the draw for the Davis Cup World Group Playoff games. The teams will be competing to return to the elite World Group.
Australia vs Chile ( Choice of ground - Chile)
Belgium vs Switzerland ( Choice of ground- Switzerland)
According to news reports coming in, Brazilian playmaker forward Ronaldinho and Italian giants A.C. Milan have agreed initial terms for the player to move to Italy. Ronaldinho’s agent, his brother Roberto, reportedly told Gazzetta dello Sport that ” In general, Ronaldinho and Milan are in agreement”.
There has been a lot of talk about Ronaldinho leaving Barcelona. Once the darling of fans at the Nou Camp and rated the best player on the planet, the Brazilian has struggled to rekindle the form that endeared him to one and all in the La Liga. Injuries have not helped his cause either, with a leg injury ensuring that he will take no further part in Barcelona’s campaing this season.
This means that Milan have to now reach an agreement with Barcelona.
I agree that this question can be difficult to answer and depends on
1.) The club with which you are playing- Obviously Thierry Henry is not going to come to Asia/ Latin America.
2.) The time ( year) in which you are playing.
3.) The budget given to you by your board ( Wages + transfer fees).
4.) The database with which you are playing ( Small/Medium/Large)
South African midfielder Steven Pienaar is unsure whether he will don an Everton jersey next season. Pienaar, who has impressed on the left side of midfield, is currently on loan at Goodison Park from Borussia Dortmund. There is an option in his contract that allows him to leave Signal Iduna Park for 2.2 million pounds, but Everton must do so before April 30.
Pienaar joined Dortmund from Ajax, but failed to adapt at the German club and was shipped off to Everton on a year long loan in July 2007. The Johannesburg born player has enjoyed his stint at Goodison Park and has stated his intent in the past to convert his move into a permanent one.
Will Peter Crouch stay at Anfield ? If reports like this one are to be believed, then fans at Anfield may not be seeing the lanky striker at the club next season. With Fernando Torres in outstanding form, and with Kuyt and Voronin also to be considered, Crouch has made just seven Premiership starts this season. Although Benitez has preferred to play Kuyt on the right wing in recent times, that is not a position where he can play Crouch, whose strength lies in his heading ability. Crouch has also demonstrated that he is not crippled for ideas when the ball is on his feet, with some decent goals in the recent past.
Here are the results from the second leg of the CAF Champions League Second Round games.
Africa Sports 2-0 Zamalek ( Jean Michel Sery *2)
Zamalek win 5-4 on penalties. ( Aggregate 2-2)
AS Douanes 3-0 Etoile Du Sahel ( Fadio Diao *2, Babacar Mbengue)
Etoile du Sahel progress to the third round ( Aggregate 5-3)
Arsene Wenger will be livid at Pieter Vink. And has right reason for being so. Despite being in perfect view of Dirk Kuyt dragging Aliaksandr Hleb by the arm in the penalty box, the Dutch referee waved away desperate Arsenal appeals for a penalty.
And that decision may come to haunt Wenger as his side travels to Anfield for the second leg of this quarterfinal tie a week from now. Liverpool are one of the toughest teams to beat at home, and the Anfield crowd will not help Arsenal’s cause at well. It is the Reds that hold the advantage going into the second leg as they came out of the Emirates stadium with a draw and an away goal to their name.
Here is some good news for all fans of David Robert Joseph Beckham. Tonight, Beckham will become the fifth Englishman to win 100 caps for the Three Lions. Coach Fabio Capello has reportedly refused to comment on whether or not Beckham would start, but the LA Galaxy midfielder will definitely play in the game. When he steps onto the pitch, Beckham will become the fifth English player to be capped 100 times after Peter Shilton, Bobby Moore, Bobby Charlton and Luke Wright.
An early kickoff on Easter weekend saw Portsmouth travel to White Hart Lane to play Spurs. With Jermain Defoe forced to watch the match from the stands due to a ruling that prevents on loan players from appearing against their former club until the transfer is officially registered, Redknapp chose to start with Utaka and Kanu, with Milan Baros on the bench.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said that he is confident that French midfielder Mathieu Flamini will sign an extension to his contract and will stay with the Gunners.
You have a talented left handed batsman, who specialises in the one position that you have struggled to fill over the years. He can bat at No.3 as well. He helps you win the T20 World Cup, a tournament where you had been written off even before the first ball was bowled. He is the highest run getter in an ODI tri series which also includes the current World Champions and two time World Cup runners up. He plays a pivotal part in you winning the series, and then the time comes to select a squad for the next home test series. What you do ? Drop him. Inexplicable as it seems, that is precisely what India have done with Gautam Gambhir.
Do you have a player who has excellent stats on paper but seems to have tons of injury problems ? Many a time, I have bought excellent players to the club only for them to suddenly face tons of injury problems. The length of the injury would vary- anything between 2 and 8 eight months, and once the player recovered, it would happen again.
It serves as a waste of money, for the player continues to earn his wages.
Do one thing- once the player gets an injury, click on his profile and ” Get a Physio Report “.
Bill Brown, the first batsman in the history of test cricket to be out ” Mankaded ” has passed away at the age of 95 in Brisbane.
Arsenal vs Liverpool.
That is the tie that everyone will keep their eyes focussed on. Wenger vs Rafa, Gerrard against Fabregas and Torres vs Adebayor. It is also the first time that two teams from the same country are meeting each other in a Champions League quarterfinal since Milan played Inter in the last eight during the 2004-2005 Champions League. Curiously enough, the last meeting between two English sides at this stage also featured Arsenal- when the Gunners played Chelsea in the 03-04 quarters.
After seeing Tottenham and Everton being penalised on penalties, Bolton and Rangers were the only British clubs with any hope of making it to the last eight.
A late goal from Bruno Pereirinha saw the Trotters lose 1-0 away at Sporting Lisbon. The Portuguese side won the tie 2-1 on aggregate, after having drawn the first leg at the Reebok stadium.
The 2008 Formula One season is set to get underway in Melbourne on March 16. Valencia and Singapore will the new circuits this year. Here is the list of drivers for each team. Plenty of existing drivers have switched teams, new drivers have also been inducted. If you didn’t know this information, read it before switching on your television sets.
Ferrari- Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa
McLaren - Lewis Hamilton, Heikki Kovalainen
Renault- Fernando Alonso, Nelson Piquet Jr.
Sauber- Nick Heidfeld, Robert Kubica
Prior to this game, Derby had gone 25 games without a win in all competitions. Yesterday night, 25 became 26 at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea put six past Paul Jewell’s hapless side.
The win sees Chelsea move to 61 points, five behind leaders Arsenal. The Blues do have a game in hand, and so do Manchester United, who are on 64.
Derby have scored only 10 points all season, and relegation to the Championship looks all but guaranteed for the Rams. They simply do not have the resources to compete successfully at the highest level, not in this season at least.
Frank Lampard scored four, with Joe Cole and Salomon Kalou contributing one each. David Jones scored a consolation goal for the visitors.
The penalty shootout is probably one of the cruelest ways to determine the winner of a football match, for it never guarantees that the best team wins in the end. And much to their agony, Carling Cup champions Tottenham Hotspur and David Moyes’ Everton were knocked out of the UEFA cup by PSV Eindhoven and Fiorentina respectively. The two losses leave Bolton and Rangers as the only British sides with a chance of progressing to the last eight.
The South African duo of Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie have broken Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy’s record opening stand of 413, made against New Zealand in Chennai over four decades ago, in Chittagong. The Proteas are in Bangladesh to play two tests, and this record came in the first innings of the second test.
Their men might have been denied by Joe Cole in the League Cup semifinal, but Everton’s ladies did their club proud by shocking nine time winners Arsenal 1-0 in the final of the 2008 League Cup at the Matchroom Stadium.
Amy Kane scored the only goal of the game. This was Everton’s first ever final since 1999, when they lost 1-3 to the Gunners.
Every sport has characters who are immensely talented, but also make news for reasons other than their displays in that particular sport. It is often said that genius is accompanied by eccentricity in an individual. That is how most people would regard Robert ” Bobby” Fischer- a brilliant, but eccentric individual. With his death at the age of 64, chess has lost one of its legends- a person who brought home America’s only World Championship, and spent the last decade and a half away from the country because he violated sanctions imposed by the USA by playing Boris Spassky in Yugoslavia.
This was not on my list of posts to write today, but a look at my blog stats revealed that three people came to this blog searching for this. This blog did not have any such article, but I’ll put it up now. Lescott has established himself as a defender at Everton, and has also been capped at national level.
Lescott was born on August 16, 1982 and shares his birthday with Stefan Klos, Stan Lazaridis, Didier Agathe, Ivan Hurtado, Jonatan Johansson and cricketer Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
At the age of 5, Lescott was coming out of his primary school when he was struck by a car. He suffered severe head injuries, and was in hospital for several months. Doctors had to operate on him, and he finally recovered, with only a scar to show for the accident.
Source - The Independent
For all practical purposes, Queens Park Rangers could be considered as one of the best clubs to manager in England, given the high profile names that have an interest in the club - F-1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, Renault boss Flavio Briatore and the Mittal family ( who control Mittal Arcelor ). QPR seem to be quite active in the winter transfer window for a Championship side. Here is a look at the transfers made by the Hoops.
Queens Park Rangers
In : Matt Connolly ( Arsenal), Read the rest of this entry »
It is something that one would never have thought possible a decade back. But David Beckham, former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder, may train with United’s fierce domestic rivals, Arsenal, as he attempts to become the fifth English player to win 100 caps for country.
Manchester City are reportedly planning to move for Inter Milan’s Brazilian striker Adriano, if reports in the BBC are to be believed. City’s current strike force includes Giorgios Samaras, Emile Mpenza, Valeri Bojinov, Darius Vassell and Rolando Bianchi. While all these players are decent in their own right, they are not the strikers you would want to launch a serious attempt at Europe. Bojinov has been bogged by injuries, and the rest have been decent at best.
The ongoing Champions Trophy in Kuala Lumpur has seen each of the participating teams play six matches each. Germany are through to Sunday’s final clash, but their opponents are yet to be decided. Korea have 11 points from six games, while Australia are on third with 10, followed by the Netherlands with nine.
I can’t believe this. The BBC reports that the women’s football team earned a £40 a day for the five weeks that they spent in China.
If you work for eight hours a day in England, you can easily earn that sum even if you are given minimum wages. Is that the way to treat our girls ?
I do not watch women’s football that much, but was definitely shocked after reading the BBC article.
The battle for the F-1 drivers Championship will be decided in the last race of the season after British rookie Lewis Hamilton was forced to retire from the race due to tyre problems. Hamilton, who started on pole, missed his chance to clinch the title, and now has his lead cut to 4 points. Prior to the race, Hamilton was on 107, with Alonso on 103, and Raikkonen on 90. With Hamilton not garnering any points, and Raikkonen and Alonso finishing 1-2, Alonso is now four points behind his McLaren teammate, while Ferrari’s Raikkonen is seven points behind.
The twenty twenty format of the game was introduced to draw more crowds to cricket, and to make inroads into newer markets. And the T-20 final did exactly that. It was a great advertisement for the game, and has put to rest any doubts that 20-20 would not be successful Read the rest of this entry »
Yuvraj Singh has now joined the likes of Ravi Shastri, Gary Sobers and Herschelle Gibbs in the elite list of those who have managed to clear the ropes six times in the same over. As I write this, India have qualified for the semifinals, and the Proteas have committed harakiri on home soil yet again. How difficult is it to get 125 in 20 overs ? In 2003, it was a mistaken interpretation of the D/L system. In 2007, well…….. Read the rest of this entry »
When Graeme Smith decided to send the West Indies in yesterday night at the Bull Ring, he would have not hoped for a repeat of the opening game of the 2003 World Cup. Although that was at Newlands, both the games had a lot in common. Both were
1.) The opening games of a major international cricket event
2.) Featuring South Africa and West Indies
3.) Both had West Indies taking first guard.
In that game, it was Brian Lara who caused Smith’s predecessor Shaun Pollock a headache. This time around, it was another left hander who again gave the South African captain a headache, but it wasn’t Lara. It was a tall Jamaican named Christopher Gayle. Read the rest of this entry »
Many of you would have seen Wigan Athletic’s Emile Heskey partner Michael Owen upfront in the Euro 2008 qualifier against Israel yesterday. For a normal soccer fan, it would probably have meant nothing more than a striker playing for a country. But yesterday’s game was a landmark of sorts for Heskey. If you strain your memory a bit, remember his last appearance. It was against France in Euro 2004. Read the rest of this entry »
Former Zimbabwean captain Heath Streak has announced that this will be his last season of county cricket. Streak currently plays with the Bears, and has no plans to continue after this season. Read the rest of this entry »
American athlete Tyson Gay became the third man in history to complete the sprint double at the World Championships when he won the 200 m in a record time of 19.76 seconds. The 200m victory came four days after he had won the 100m event. Gay’s time of 19.76 beat Michael Johnson’s 19.79 at the ‘95 World Championships. Read the rest of this entry »
Group engagements have been completed at the FIFA 2007 World Cup currently being held in South Korea. The tournament started on the 18th. Given below is the list of fixtures for the round of sixteen. Read the rest of this entry »
South African all rounder Jacques Kallis has resigned as his country’s vice captain after not being named in the squad for the inaugural twenty twenty World Cup to be held in the country next month. Read the rest of this entry »
