TESTR

SPORT
NOIDA/DELHI
18 THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015
TV LISTINGS
Australian Open, Sony Six
& Sony Six HD, 5.30 a.m.
& 1.30 p.m. ; Ranji Trophy,
Tamil Nadu vs Mumbai,
STAR Sports2 & HD2, 9.20
a.m.; South Africa vs West
Indies, third ODI, TEN
Cricket & TEN HD, 5 p.m.
Bengal downs
Karnataka
by 13 runs
KOLKATA: Host Bengal continued
its winning run downing a
strong Karnataka side by 13
runs in a senior women’s T20
plate group knock-out match
here at the Eden Gardens on
Tuesday.
Bengal posted 101 after opting
to bat and Karnataka could
manage 88 runs losing nine
wickets in reply.
The scores:
Bengal 101 in 20 overs (Dipali
Shaw 29, K. Rakshita three for 14,
Rajeshwari three for 20) bt Karnataka
88 for nine in 20 overs (V. Karuna Jain
36, Gayatri Mal three for 13).
Assam 62 in 19.4 overs (Shikha
Pandey three for 14) lost to Goa 63 for
six in 19.1 overs (Shikha Pandey 26).
Lalu wins title
YAMUNA NAGAR: Lalu Taku
staved off a strong challenge
from Deepak Lather to claim
the boys' 62kg title in the National
junior weightlifting
championship here on Tuesday.
Lather set a new snatch record
by lifting 117kg and taking
a lead of seven kg.
However, Lalu fought back to
a hoist 142kg in clean and jerk
and beat Lather by an overall
margin of one kg.
The results:
Boys: 56kg: 1. Jamjang Deru
snatch 100kg, clean and jerk 137kg,
total 237kg; 2. M. Manoj Kumar 97kg,
128kg, 225kg; 3. Aruna Santa 96kg,
127kg, 223kg.
62kg: 1. Lalu Taku 110kg, 142kg,
252kg; 2. Deepak Lather 117kg,
134kg, 251kg; 3. T. Sudheer 109kg,
136kg, 245kg.
Girls: 48kg: 1. Poonam Dalal 71kg,
84kg, 155kg; 2. Dipali Gursale 68kg,
80kg, 148kg; 3. Reema Devi 63kg,
84kg, 147kg.
Shrivastava
slams 124
KOLKATA: Sanket Shrivastava
slammed an unbeaten 124 to
help Madhya Pradesh take a
massive first innings lead
against Maharashtra on the
second day of the semifinals of
the Vijay Merchant Trophy at
Cuttack.
75-run lead for Punjab
Punjab took a 75-run first innings
lead against Bengal in the
other semifinal.
The scores:
Maharashtra 155 & one for no loss
vs Madhya Pradesh 303 in 107.2
overs (Sanket Shrivastava 124 n.o.;
Soumitra Joshi four for 42, Shubham
Harpale three for 121).
Bengal 102 & 149 for two in 58
overs (Sudip Gharami 71 batting, A.
Chauhan 33 batting) vs Punjab 177 in
71.1 overs (Shubman Gill 109; Roshan
Singh three for 39, Souvik Paul four
for 42).
RANJI
SCHEDULE
Group A
Railways vs Jammu and
Kashmir: New Delhi
Karnataka vs Baroda:
Mysuru
Tamil Nadu vs Mumbai:
Chennai
Uttar Pradesh vs Bengal:
Ghaziabad
Group B
Gujarat vs Vidarbha: Surat
Maharashtra vs Delhi: Pune
Odisha vs Rajasthan:
Balangir
Saurashtra vs Haryana:
Rajkot
Group C
Goa vs Assam: Porvorim
Himachal Pradesh vs
Andhra: Dharamsala
Jharkhand vs Hyderabad:
Ranchi
Tripura vs Kerala: Agartala
ENGAGEMENTS
At New Delhi
Cricket: Ranji Trophy, Railways vs
Jammu & Kashmir, Karnail Singh
Stadium, 9.30 a.m.
At Ghaziabad
Ranji Trophy, Uttar Pradesh vs
Bengal, Mohan Meakin ground, 9.30
a.m.
DEATH
D. BALASUBRAMANIAN (76), Retired
Deputy Personnel Officer, The Hindu,
Chennai, passed away on 20.01.
2015. Address: Plot No.46, Mohanapuri,
4th Street, Adambakkam,
Chennai − 600 088 Phone: 044−
22532090.
CM
YK
MELBOURNE: Novak Djokovic led
a trail of the top men’s seeds
into the second round at the
Australian Open on a Tuesday
that saw Stan Wawrinka make a
successful return to the venue
that witnessed his life-changing
moment.
World No.1 Djokovic beat
World No.116 Aljaz Bedene 6-3,
6-2, 6-4 as he begun his quest
for a fifth title at Melbourne
Park.
Djokovic has been dogged by
illness in the lead-up to the
year’s first major tournament.
But after encountering early
problems from Bedene he went
on to secure passage into the
next round. “It’s fading away. It
hasn’t been an ideal couple of
weeks in terms of health and
preparation,” Djokovic said.
“But I fought my way through.
Now it’s behind me. I’m only
looking forward.”
Djokovic broke Bedene four
times and only had three breakpoints
against his serve in the
match.
“For a first
round performance
it was pretty good, obviously
I still need to work on a
few things, I’m still developing
my game,” Djokovic said.
Wawrinka returned to Rod
Laver Arena to begin his title
defence. The Swiss fourth seed,
who upset Rafael Nadal in the
2014 final, waltzed past Turkey’s
Marsel Ilhan 6-1, 6-4, 6-2
to safely negotiate the first
hurdle.
“It was great to be back on
Rod Laver Arena again, it
brings back so many memories
from last year,” Wawrinka said.
“It was such an amazing two
weeks so it was great to come
back here and I am pleased with
my game in general and I'm excited
to start again.”
Nishikori began with a hardfought
opener against Spaniard
Nicolas Almagro, winning a
two-hour dogfight 6-4, 7-6(1),
6-2 on Margaret Court Arena.
“I'm getting close to the next
level. Obviously, it was a really
tough first match,” he said. “Nicolas
could be seeded player,
Djokovic and Wawrinka begin smoothly
Serena sails; former No.1s Wozniacki and Azarenka set up an intriguing second-round clash
AUSTRALIAN OPEN
and I know he was injured, but I
was getting more balls, especially
third set, and I played a
much better third set.”
Other seeded winners included
Milos Raonic, David
Ferrer, Feliciano Lopez, Gilles
Simon and John Isner.
Lleyton Hewitt, playing in
his 19th straight national open,
also advanced beating China's
Zhang Ze in four sets.
On the women’s side, Serena
Williams showed she was back
to her Grand Slam best, and former
World No.1s Caroline
Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka
set up an enticing second-round
clash.
Serena swept into the second
round demolishing Alison van
Uytvanck of Belgium 6-0, 6-4.
Petra Kvitova, seeded four,
Agnieszka Radwanska (6),
Wozniacki (8), last year’s finalist
Dominika Cibulkova (11),
and Venus Williams (18) were
among the other seeds to
advance.
The upsets of
the day involved
Jelena
Jankovic (15), Andrea Petkovic
(13) and Flavia Pennetta (12).
Wozniacki, who downed US
teenager Taylor Townsend 7-6
(1), 6-2, said she and Azarenka
were good friends on tour although
the Belarussian was
more focused on beating her
rival.
“I know she’s very dangerous
and we always had some tough
matches. I’d like to just focus
on myself and what I can do to
build my game and prepare,”
said Azarenka, who defeated
America’s Sloane Stephens 6-3,
6-2.
Radwanska cruised past Kurumi
Nara 6-3, 6-0 and Venus
Williams dispatched Spain’s
Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor 6-2,
6-2.
“I love the game, I love the
thrill, I love the ‘Go Venus’,”
said Venus Williams.
“It takes a lot of work to get
to this level, so while I can play
I’m going to play, when I can’t,
I’m going to watch it on TV.” —
AFP
LONDON: International Cricket
Council chief executive David
Richardson said on Tuesday
the global governing body
would come down hard on
players who ‘sledged’ or verbally
abused their opponents
at the upcoming World Cup.
During the course of an extensive
interview on the ICC
website, former South Africa
wicketkeeper Richardson also
said officials were determined
to continue their campaign
against illegal bowling actions
and added he was confident
the World Cup would not be
blighted by match or
spot-fixing.
Several high-profile incidents
in recent months have
led former Australia captain
Ian Chappell to say he fears it
can only be a matter of time
before things get so heated
that a physical clash ensues.
Meanwhile, New Zealand
great Martin Crowe has called
for the introduction of a yellow
and red card system common
to many other sports in a
bid to punish poor on-field behaviour
in cricket, which has
traditionally prided itself on
being a “gentlemen’s game”.
Unusual step
India’s ongoing tour of Australia
has been marred by numerous
verbal spats, with
Cricket Australia chief executive
James Sutherland taking
the unusual step of publicly
telling David Warner to “stop
looking for trouble” after the
opener’s latest flare-up saw
FLASH AND SUBSTANCE: The ever-colourful Gael Monfils clawed his way back from two sets down to survive his opener against Lucas
Pouille. — PHOTO: AFP
First round: Men: 1-Novak Djokovic
(Srb) bt Aljaz Bedene (Slo) 6-3, 6-2,
6-4; 4-Stan Wawrinka (Sui) bt Marsel
Ilhan (Tur) 6-1, 6-4, 6-2; 5-Kei Nishikori
(Jpn) bt Nicolas Almagro (Esp) 6-4,
7-6(1), 6-2; 8-Milos Raonic (Can) bt
Illya Marchenko (Ukr) 7-6(3), 7-6(3),
6-3; 9-David Ferrer (Esp) bt Thomaz
Bellucci (Bra) 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-0, 6-3;
12-Feliciano Lopez (Esp) bt Denis Kudla
(USA) 3-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 10-8;
13-Roberto Bautista Agut (Esp) bt Dominic
Thiem (Aut) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-6(5);
Alejandro Gonzalez (Col) bt 16-Fabio
Fognini (Ita) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4; 17-Gael
Monfils (Fra) bt Lucas Pouille (Fra)
him demand India’s Rohit
Sharma “speak English” during
a One-Day International
in Melbourne on Sunday.
Richardson said he was confident
the existing system,
whereby match referees oversee
disciplinary punishments
at major international fixtures,
could cope with “disrespectful
behaviour”.
However, he insisted the
ICC had been stressing to onfield
umpires the need to stop
such conduct at its source,
with the World Cup in Australia
and New Zealand now less
6-7(3), 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4; 18-Gilles
Simon (Fra) bt Robin Haase (Ned) 6-1,
6-3, 6-4; 19-John Isner (USA) bt Jimmy
Wang (Tpe) 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-4; Paolo
Lorenzi (Ita) bt 21-Alexandr Dolgopolov
(Ukr) 6-4, 6-3, 6-2; Benjamin Becker
(Ger) bt 25-Julien Benneteau (Fra)
7-5, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4; Matthias Bachinger
(Ger) bt 27-Pablo Cuevas (Uru) 7-6
(1), 6-3, 6-1; 30-Santiago Giraldo (Col)
bt Jan Hernych (Cze) 6-3, 6-2, 6-2;
31-Fernando Verdasco (Esp) bt
James Ward (Gbr) 2-6, 6-0, 7-6(6),
6-3; Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) bt Ze Zhang
(Chn) 6-3, 1-6, 6-0, 6-4; Jerzy Janowicz
(Pol) bt Hiroki Moriya (Jpn) 7-6(5),
CRICKET
ICC to crackdown on ‘sledgers’ at WC
Over the last six months, or even going back
further to the last Ashes series, there have
been too many examples of player
behaviour going too far and overstepping the
boundaries of acceptability
— DAVID RICHARDSON,
ICC chief executive
Weather might play
spoilsport
Principal Correspondent
GHAZIABAD: With its undulating
outfield and patchy grass, the
Mohan Meakin cricket stadium
seems markedly different from
a regular First Class cricket
venue. No stands for spectators
and battered sightscreens only
further the venue’s distance
from cricket’s elite.
Yet, the Ranji Trophy group
A encounter between Uttar
Pradesh and Bengal that begins
here on Wednesday is by no
means a landmark event. This
was where the final of the 1977-
78 season, when Karnataka
reigned over UP, was played.
For UP, and indeed Bengal, a
group round elimination is a
veritable threat now.
After five group games, the
host has won one match while
the visiting side is still looking
for its opening win. Compare
this to last season when Bengal
reached the semis while Uttar
Pradesh lost to eventual champion
Karnataka in the last
eight. Since a draw helps neither
side, the sight of a resultoriented
trace must have come
as a relief.
However, Bengal skipper
Laxmi Shukla has ruled out the
possibility of playing an extra
seamer. Despite a stiff calf,
Shukla is expected to function
as third medium pacer for the
visitor. For UP, R.P. Singh has
missed out on the squad after
picking up an injury against Tamil
Nadu in the previous round.
However, it’s the host’s batting
that has been the problem area
for the team management.
UP’s highest score this season
is just 307, although it did
declare at 299 for five against
Jammu and Kashmir in another
match. Only Tanmay Srivastava
has scored a hundred in his
side’s ongoing campaign, and
even his tournament average is
an uninspiring 36.44.
Lying bottom of the table on
seven points, UP trails Bengal
by three.
Considering there’s a distinct
possibility of inclement weather
in the coming days, it’s unlikely
that enough play will be
possible for either side to post a
win.
The squads (from):
Uttar Pradesh: Piyush Chawla
(captain), Praveen Kumar, Tanmay
Srivastava, Parvinder Singh, Arish
Alam, Mukul Dagar, Eklavya Dwivedi,
Amit Mishra, Imtiyaz Ahmed, Ankit
Rajpoot, Kuldeep Yadav, Akashdeep
Nath, Umang Sharma, Himanshu Asnora
and Israr Khan.
Bengal: Laxmi Shukla (captain),
Manoj Tiwary, Wriddhiman Saha, Arindam
Das, Sudip Chatterjee, Abhimanyu
Easwaran, Shreevats Goswami,
Saurasish Lahiri, Writtick Chatterjee,
Veer Pratap Singh, Ashoke Dinda,
Amitava Banerjee, Pritam Chakraborty,
Iresh Saxena and Sourav Sarkar.
PUNE: Pradeep Sangwan last
played for Delhi, against Vidarbha
at Nagpur, in the last
week of December 2012.
Banned for 18 months for a
dope-offence in the IPL 2013,
the BCCI informed him last
November that he was eligible
to play again.
However, coach Vijay Dahiya
put an end to all speculations of
Sangwan being in the scheme of
things against Maharashtra,
which is placed third in the
group and will look for a “big
breakthrough match” in order
to advance to the knock-out
stage.
Sangwan, who replaced the
injured medium pace Navdeep
Saini in the team for the Ranji
trophy group ‘B’ league match
against Maharashtra to start
here on Wednesday, took part
in group warm up sessions at
the Gahunje village stadium,
did upper-body drills with a
medicine ball, bowled and batted,
but Dahiya was categorical.
“We have played five bowlers
so far, and we will continue
with this policy; but Pradeep
(Sangwan) will not be in the
eleven,” he said.
Topping the table with 30
points, Delhi’s good run so far
has been due to the terrific
work of its bowling unit comprising
seamers Saini (16 wkts),
than a month away.
Players going too far
“Over the last six months,
or even going back further to
the last Ashes series, there
have been too many examples
of player behaviour going too
far and overstepping the
boundaries of acceptability,”
Richardson
told
icc-cricket.com.
“The amount of sledging
and disrespect shown by players
to each other was bad.
“Since then, we have done a
lot of work with our umpires
and match referees to ensure
they are much more pro-active
in terms of policing behaviour
on the field and — when
players do overstep the mark
— taking appropriate action.”
The past year has also seen
a significant increase in the
number of bowlers banned for
suspect actions, with Pakistan
off-spinner Saeed Ajmal the
most high-profile case. — AFP
Sumit Narwal (12), Parvinder
Awana (10), Rajat Bhatia (8),
off-spinner spinner Shivam
Sharma (13) and left-arm spinner
Varun Sood (19); the second
left arm spinner Manan Sharma
played one match and took
eight wickets.
“There is not a single Delhi
bowler in the top 19 in the
league’s bowling honours; we
have taken 89 wickets and
many bowlers have shared it.
We have not been dependent
on one or two,” said Dahiya.
Maharashtra’s bowlers have
as many as Delhi’s (89), but
IMPORTANT RESULTS
2-6, 6-3, 7-5; Guillermo Garcia-Lopez
(Esp) bt Peter Gojowczyk (Ger) 6-7(1),
7-5, 6-4, 1-0 retired; Marcel Granollers
(Esp) bt Stephane Robert (Fra) 6-3,
6-4, 6-4; Gilles Muller (Lux) bt Pablo
Carreno Busta (Esp) 6-4, 7-6(5), 7-6
(3); Jarkko Nieminen (Fin) bt Andrey
Golubev (Kaz) 6-1, 6-2, 7-6(6); Sergiy
Stakhovsky (Ukr) bt Dusan Lajovic
(Srb) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-4.
Women: 1-Serena Williams (USA)
bt Alison van Uytvanck (Bel) 6-0, 6-4;
4-Petra Kvitova (Cze) bt Richel Hogenkamp
(Ned) 6-1, 6-4; 6-Agnieszka
Radwanska (Pol) bt Kurumi Nara
(Jpn) 6-3, 6-0; 8-Caroline Wozniacki
Delhi will look to build
on its success
Special Correspondent
Sumit Narwal.
— FILE PHOTO
Rajput beats Zaveri
CHANDIGARH: Local lad
Shashikant Rajput bounced
back strongly to beat the
seventh-seeded Aaryan Mehul
Zaveri of Gujarat 6-7(4), 6-4,
6-3 in the boys’ second round
of the HSBC Road to
Wimbledon AITA National
series under-14 tennis
tournament on the grass
courts of the Chandigarh Club
here on Tuesday.
The results (second round): Boys:
Himanshu Mor bt Akash Reddy 6-0,
6-0; Dev Javia bt Sammar Raina 6-3,
3-6, 6-2; Bhupender Dahiya bt
Kanishk Pal 4-6, 6-3, 7-5; Rithwik
Choudary bt Sanskar Jeswani 6-2,
6-1; Divesh Gahlot bt S. Boopathy
2-6, 6-3, 6-4; Shashikant Rajput bt
Aaryan Mehul Zaveri 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-3;
Kevin Patel bt Shubham Saini 6-0,
6-1; Sandesh Kantimahanti bt
Sundari Arvind 6-1, 6-3; Dhrumil
Thakkar bt Tribhuvan Reddy 6-1, 7-5;
Mann Shah bt Nishant Dabas 6-1,
4-6, 6-4; Rhythm Malhotra bt Ajay
Malik 6-2, 6-0; Sacchitt Sharrma bt
Lanka Suhit Reddy 6-0, 6-1.
Girls: Mubashira Anjum Shaik bt
they have come at the cost of
2,244 runs as against Delhi’s
1,537.
“The wicket here does not
support the spinners, and it’s
not flat; it offers bounce. We
will not try and play safe,” said
Maharashtra captain Rohit
Motwani, knowing that the
odds are stacked against his
team.
However, Sangwan will have
to wait a while to add to his tally
of 123 First Class wickets. His
inclusion will now hinge on a
range of circumstances the Delhi
think-tank and captain Gautam
Gambhir may act upon,
from favourable pitch conditions
to injury to other performing
bowlers.
Clearly Delhi does not want
anything to get in the way of
Saini’s return to the XI once he
is declared fit.
The teams (from): Maharashtra:
Rohit Motwani (captain), Harshad
Khadiwale, Shrikant Mundhe, Swapnil
Gugale, Chirag Khurana, Kedar Jadhav,
Rahul Tripathi, Ankit Bawne,
Sangram Attitkar, Akshay Darekar,
Dominic Muthuswamy, Anupam Sanklecha,
Samad Fallah,Nikit Dhumal,
Naushad Shaikh.
Delhi: Gautam Gambhir (captain),
Virender Sehwag, Unmukt Chand,
Mithun Manhas, Varun Sood, Rajat
Bhatia, Vaibhav Rawal, Puneet Bisht,
Pradeep Sangwan, Parvinder Awana,
Sumit Narwal, Shivam Sharma, Milind
Kumar, Vikas Tokas, Manan Sharma.
(Den) bt Taylor Townsend (USA) 7-6
(1), 6-2; 11-Dominika Cibulkova (Svk)
bt Kirsten Flipkens (Bel) 3-6, 6-3, 6-1;
Camila Giorgi (Ita) bt 12-Flavia Pennetta
(Ita) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3; Madison Brengle
(USA) bt 13-Andrea Petkovic (Ger)
5-7, 7-6(4), 6-3; Timea Bacsinszky
(Sui) bt 15-Jelena Jankovic (Srb) 6-1,
6-4; 18-Venus Williams (USA) bt Maria-Teresa
Torro-Flor (Esp) 6-2, 6-2;
19-Alize Cornet (Fra) bt Zhang Shuai
(Chn) 6-3, 6-2; 20-Samantha Stosur
(Aus) bt Monica Niculescu (Rou) 6-4,
6-1; 24-Garbine Muguruza (Esp) bt
Marina Erakovic (Nzl) 7-5, 6-0; 25-
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (Cze) bt
REGIONAL ROUND-UP
Kaavya Sawhney 6-2, 1-6, 6-3; Aesha
Hiten Patel bt Alisha Menon 4-6, 6-3,
7-5; Tanisha Kashyap bt Dharana
Anand 6-2, 6-3; Kiran Kalkal w/o
Shaikh Humera; Chetna Kumari bt
Ashpreet Kaur Bajwa 6-1, 6-2; Richa
Chougule bt Anu Verma 6-0, 6-4;
Rashmikaa Shrivalli bt Diya Chauhan
6-2, 6-0; Shreya Gulia bt Vanshika
Choudhary 6-1, 6-0; Rachana Reddy
bt Smriti Singh 6-4, 6-1; Sai Dedeepya
bt Princy Panchal 6-3, 6-2; Muskan
Gupta bt Shambhavi Tiwari 6-3, 6-1;
Reetika Grewal bt Sanya Singh 6-2,
7-6(3); Shivani Amineni bt Sandeepti
Singh Rao 6-2, 6-3.
St. Stephen’s
retains title
NEW DELHI: Defending
champion St. Stephen’s College
beat Hansraj College 3-0 to
retain the crown in the Delhi
University inter-collegiate
squash tournament. This was
St. Stephen's sixth successive
title.
The result (final): St. Stephen’s
College 3 (Kunj Bansal bt Arjun
Minocha 3-1, Anshul Jain bt Harshit
Muchhal 3-1, Utkarsh Kumar bt
Abhishek Kumar 3-1) bt Hansraj
NEW DELHI: Railways and Jammu
& Kashmir are praying to
beat the rain forecast in the
next two days and have a fulllength
Ranji Trophy Group A
match, starting at the Karnail
Singh Stadium here from
Wednesday.
Seven teams are placed within
seven points between second
and eighth spots. With the
league stage entering the decisive
phase, Railways and Jammu
& Kashmir, which managed
a point each from their last engagements,
are desperate to
break the mid-table logjam.
Jammu & Kashmir, which
impressed in its win over multiple
champion Mumbai and
first-innings lead against Baroda,
is fifth with 11 points from
six matches. Railways, which
drew four of its five matches to
be slotted at seventh with 10
points, is not far behind.
According to Jammu &
Kashmir skipper and prominent
all-rounder Pervez Rasool
his team was not a pushover
anymore with the season’s
fourth best run-getter Ian Dev
Singh, Adil Reshi, Rasool and
Bandeep Singh providing depth
to the batting line-up.
Seamer Ram Dayal, with 20
wickets from five matches, is a
potent weapon in the Jammu &
Kashmir attack. Besides, a battery
of faster bowlers — such as
Samiullah Beigh, Umar Nazir
and Mohammed Mudhasir —
and some effective spinners —
Timea Babos (Hun) 6-4, 6-4; 26-Elina
Svitolina (Ukr) bt Yulia Putintseva
(Kaz) 6-3, 7-5; 29-Casey Dellacqua
(Aus) bt Yvonne Meusburger (Aut)
6-4, 6-0; 30-Varvara Lepchenko
(USA) bt Vitalia Diatchenko (Rus) 6-3,
6-3; Vera Zvonareva (Rus) bt Ons
Jabeur (Tun) 6-2, 6-3; Anna Tatishvili
(USA) bt Kimiko Date-Krumm (Jpn)
7-5, 6-4; Kai-Chen Chang (Tpe) bt
Zheng Jie (Chn) 6-1, 6-2; Daniela
Hantuchova (Svk) bt Zheng Saisai
(Chn) 6-4, 6-4; Victoria Azarenka (Brs)
bt Sloane Stephens (USA) 6-3, 6-2;
Coco Vandeweghe (USA) bt Francesca
Schiavone (Ita) 6-2, 6-2.
Desperate for points
Special Correspondent
College 0.
Punjab varsity
triumphs
MANGALURU: Punjab University,
Patiala emerged overall
champion of the 75th all-India
inter-university athletics
championship at Moodbidri
near here on Tuesday.
Mangalore University was
runner-up.
Fourteen records were rewritten
during the meet.
List of new record-holders: Men:
Sreenith Mohan (Mangalore
University, high jump); Vijay Singh
Malik (Calicut University, 400m
hurdles); Jadhav Sanjivini (Punjab
University, 5000m & 10,000m); Lalith
Mathur (University of Delhi, 400m);
Wagh Suresh (Savithribai Phule
University, 1500m); K.M. Rachana
(Punjab University, hammer); M.
Naresh (Hyderabad University,
steeplechase); University of Kerala
(4x100m relay, men).
Women: Anilda Thomas (M.G.
University, 400m); Navjeet Kaur
(GNDU Amritsar, shot put); Khushbir
Kaur (Punjab University, 5000m walk);
M.G. University team (4x400m relay).
including off-break bowler Rasool
and left-arm spinner Waseem
Raza — offer a lot of
variety.
Floods in Kashmir might
have denied the team any home
match, but coach Sunil Joshi
felt that it was a blessing in disguise
for the players as they now
played away from their comfort
zone and had gathered valuable
experience.
The team looked ready for
the challenge of playing on a wet
pitch with a thick cover of green
grass.
Railways has regained some
strength after the return of allrounder
Karn Sharma from the
tour of Australia. On a track that
holds some promise for the pacers,
Karn’s inclusion will give
the host the flexibility to add an
additional seamer and press
hard for an outright win.
“We just hope to have a full
match and go for the kill,” said
Railways coach Harvinder
Singh.
The teams (from): Railways: Mahesh
Rawat (capt., wk.), Arindam
Ghosh, Anustup Majumdar, Nitin
Bhille, Anureet Singh, Amit Paunikar,
Arnab Nandi, Amit Mishra, Abhishek
Kaushik, Ranjit Mali, Ashish Yadav,
Karn Sharma, Krishna Kant Upadhyay,
Rohan Bhosale, Prashant Awasthi.
Jammu & Kashmir: Pervez Rasool
(capt.), Ram Dayal (vice-capt.), Ian
Dev Singh, Bandeep Singh, Shumbham
Punir, Imran Haroon, Ubaid Haroon
(wk.), Umar Nazir, Mohammaed
Mudhasir, Mahzoor Ali, Aditya Pratap
Singh, Paras Sharma, Waseem Raza,
Vimansh Kaw, Rouf Bisati.
ND-ND