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14 SPORTS Jose banned for five matches � Jose Mourinho Berne: Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has been given a five-match touchline ban in European competition for his red card and verbal outburst at the Champions League semi-final first leg against Barcelona, Uefa said on Friday. Mourinho was also fined 50,000 euros ($72,650) for his behaviour by a Uefa disciplinary panel. Uefa said Mourinho’s ban included the second leg of the tie, which he has already served, while the final match would be suspended for a probationary three-year period. That means the Portuguese coach will be banned from the touchline for the first three European matches next season. Barcelona’s reserve goalkeeper Jose Pinto was suspended for three matches after being sent off in a scuffle on the touchline at halftime of the same game. He will miss the final against Manchester United at Wembley as a result. Mourinho, the former Chelsea and Inter Milan coach, was dismissed in the second half of the first leg against Barcelona for his protests over the sending-off of Real midfielder Pepe for a studs-up challenge on an opponent. After the match, Mourinho belittled the achievements of his counterpart Pep Guardiola and suggested there was a conspiracy among referees to favour the Catalan club, citing its links with Unicef. Real Madrid lost the match 2-0 at the Bernabeu and were eliminated after a 1-1 draw in this week’s return, when Mourinho’s place on the touchline was taken by assistant Aitor Karanka. Pinto also served the first match of his ban in this week’s second leg. Real were fined 20,000 euros ($29,060) for the improper conduct of their supporters. Uefa did not add to the minimum one-match ban for Pepe. — Reuters AIFF summons Pradeep Our Correspondent New Delhi: The All India Football Federation, on Friday, asked midfielder N P Pradeep to appear before the apex body while Dempo’s Joachim Abranches was let off with a warning after he apologised. “AIFF has asked national team midfielder N P Pardeep to show cause for abusing AIFF on a social networking Maidan Uncut East Bengal colts win Kolkata: East Bengal beat Mohun Bagan 2-0 in the U- 19 I-League at the Salt Lake stadium on Friday. Meanwhile, AIFF CEO Sunando Dhar has assured Mohun Bagan that they would probe into the club’s complaint that around 10 players in the East Bengal side have played for different clubs during the Calcutta Football League and take necessary action. Football talent hunt in Bengal Kolkata: A football talent hunt was launched in West Bengal under the aegis of Ideas Sports Management to spot young talents in the state. Under the project, 30 talented boys from different schools will be sent to I- League football clubs in the country for trial process. EB may sign two Churchill players Kolkata: Defender Robert Lalthalma and midfielder Khan Thang Paite of Churchill Brothers are likely to sign up with East Bengal for the season. Nandy to stay with Aryans Kolkata: Aryans coach Raghu Nandy has turned down Kalighat club’s offer and has decided to stay back with his present club this season. Alok Mukherjee will coach Port Trust this season, while Kalighat Club is likely to rope in Tamal Sen as their coach. Punjab Sports Club victorious Kolkata: Punjab Sports Club beat Police AC 4-0 in a Ist division match of Sahara Kolkata Hockey League.While, CC & FC drew 1-1 with ERSA. — Our Correspondent website. Pradeep has been asked to give a written explanation by May 11 and present himself at the Football House on May 16,” an AIFF statement said. Pradeep made derogatory comments on a social networking site while Abran - ches criticised AIFF in an interview to a Pune newspaper. They criticised the governing after India coach Bob Houghton was sacked. Istanbul: Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel gave his mechanics plenty of extra work after crashing heavily in a wet first free practice for the Turkish Grand Prix on Friday. The 23-year-old German, who has been on pole position at all three races so far this season, spun on a slippery track at the exit of the challenging triple apex turn eight and smashed front first into the barriers. The session was red flagged with 27 minutes remaining, with marshals clearing mud off the track while the battered Red Bull was hoisted onto a flatbed truck and brought back to the pitlane. “There was some water on Manchester: Manchester United are counting on their formidable home record to take them to a victory in the big game against Chelsea on Sunday that manager Alex Ferguson says will secure them the Premier League title. Ferguson’s side have dropped only two points at home all season and are in good spirits after reaching the Champions League final this week with a 6-1 aggregate win over Schalke 04 which was completed using a second-string team. Having rested first-choice players including striker Wayne Roo - ney, who has now recovered from a tight hamstring, Ferguson believes his team is in ideal shape for the huge game. “If we win, I think we should win the league,” Ferguson told a news conference on Friday. “Our home record is fantastic, it’s probably the best in Europe, and it has to be on Sunday, it’s a big game.” With three games left, United have 73 points to Chelsea’s 70 with both on the same goal difference, meaning the London side would go top with victory at Old Trafford while a win for United would leave them needing one more point for a record 19th title. United’s 0-1 defeat at Arsenal and Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur last weekend has set up this game as key for the title race, a notion that looked unlikely two months ago when the champions trailed the leaders by 15 points. The loss at Arsenal forced Ferguson into some drastic squad rotation against Schalke, making nine changes from the side that started the first leg, and he was glad his players would be as rested as Chelsea’s who did not play midweek. “That makes a difference at this time of the season. You’ve got two fresh teams and it should be a fantastic game,” Ferguson said. Chelsea were the last team to win at Old Trafford, more than a year ago, and their late charge to retain their league crown owes much to March’s victory over United at Stamford Bridge when they came from a goal behind to win 2-1. “The result against us was the change for them,” said Ferguson. “That gave them that lift from being out of the game to winning it and of course us losing to Arsenal on Sunday is going to open the door Kolkata Saturday May 7, 2011 www.thebengalpost.com Beat Chelsea & title is ours: Fergie Chelsea deserve praise for comeback Paul Hayward � Lewis Hamilton covers his ears during a practice session in Istanbul on Friday. — Reuters In November 2006, before Chelsea were due to face Manchester United in an earlier “Super Sunday” clash, Peter Kenyon, their then chief executive, delivered an infamous pledge. Describing Stamford Bridge as “a fairly soulless place” before Roman Abramovich’s takeover, Kenyon said: “By 2014 we want to be internationally recognised as the No. 1 club. Our revenue has grown dramatically and is now on a par with United. It’s a very ballsy vision but one that has captured the interest of the owner.” This corporate bombast made most Chelsea supporters wince. It was the price they paid for ending a 50-year wait for a second English championship and for Abramovich’s generosity. But the cost was higher than they thought. The shallowness of Kenyon’s proclamation rendered it harder for Chelsea to spread the word around the world because audiences in America and the Far East thought it presumptuous for a Russian oligarch to think he could buy their affections. the exit. There was nothing I could do,” the championship leader, whose Australian te - am mate Mark Webber en - ded the morning 11th qui cke - st, said over the team ra dio after his car skidded down the barriers to a halt. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was fastest in a session full of spins and spray with a best lap of one minute 38.670 seconds, although the times were alm - ost meaningless at a cold and gusty Istanbul Park circuit. Spain’s double world champion was followed on the timesheets by the Mercedes pairing of Nico Rosberg, 1.402 slower, and Michael Schumacher ahead of Renault’s Nick Heidfeld and Russian Vitaly Petrov. Istanbul: Boyhood memories of Michael Schumacher keeping calm under fire helped McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton to stay cool in a crisis and win in China last month. The 2008 world champion said ahead of Sunday’s Turkish Grand Prix how watching the great Ger man on television as a teenager had taught him the importance of holding his nerve. In Shanghai, with the McLaren mechanics swarming around his car and racing against time to fix a fuel problem and get the car out to the starting grid with seconds to spare, Hamilton stayed focused. “It was good experience for myself as well to see how I was able to maintain my nerves and remain calm,” said the 26-yearold, who won in Turkey last year after his Red Bull rivals had collided while leading. “I remember growing up watching Schumacher in Grands Prix — there was a race at the A1- Ring (the last Austrian Grand Prix in 2003) where his car caught fire in a pit stop. You could see his head just didn’t move, he stayed Chelsea are a “ballsy team” again, a fact that was in doubt before the 2-1 home win over United on March 1 started a run of eight wins in nine league games. Victory at Old Trafford this weekend would lift Carlo Ancelotti’s side to the summit, on goal difference, with two games left. As ever with Chelsea, the question is: would anyone outside Stamford Bridge feel anything grander than apathy should the blue bulldozer crash its way to a successful Premier League title defence? The question is asked neutrally. The hostility to Chelsea around the land is irrational, in part, because it is rooted in the old antipathy to the idea of “buying” trophies, which is a ludicrous allegation these days, because they almost all do: either through sugardaddyism (Chelsea, Manchester City) or debt (United, since the Glazers took charge). The lingering disgust at Abramovich’s spending is not so Ferrari’s Brazilian Felipe Massa, a three-time winner in Turkey, was seventh. McLaren propped up the rear, with last year’s Turkish GP winner Lewis Hamilton 24th and failing to set a timed lap while teammate Jenson Button did just four as the team opted to concentrate on practising their starts. A little piece of history was made at the slower end of the Istanbul pitlane, with India having two Formula One drivers setting a timed lap together for the first time at a Grand Prix weekend. Karun Chandhok, the Team Lotus reserve, was given time in the car instead of Finland’s Heikki Kovalainen while HRT’s regular racer calm. And that definitely helps the guys around you,” said Hamilton of that incident, where the German’s Ferrari suffered a brief flare-up while refuelling. “I just think from things you’ve learned from watching TV over the years, you try to apply that to your mentality and the way you approach things. Perhaps that experience from watching him, and some other experiences I saw from watching some others, I’ve tried to take that on board and I was able to apply it for that occasion.” Hamilton joked in Shanghai after the race that he would have to devise some new routines for his mechanics and engineers to keep their hearts racing as they had delivered some of their best ever pitstops that Sunday. He smiled when asked what he was planning now. “Maybe before the race I’ll say my pedals aren’t there or they aren’t working or something like that, make them panic and then see if it works again,” he said. Joking apart, Hamilton was cautious about his prospects for the sophisticated that it reveals our concern about the appropriation of public wealth by Russia’s oligarchs. Oh no, let’s not pretend it’s the hungry family in the Moscow tower block people care about when Chelsea go out and snatch Fernando Torres for £50m. But there is still a visceral resistance to the ostentation: the fleet of yachts and the ex-SAS bodyguards, not to mention the inscrutability of Abramovich himself, which can come across as a kind of rich man’s contempt. Even this is selective. There are corporate people who have damaged British society far more than Abramovich ever could or would, but are still allowed their larcenous bonus culture. In the football context, though, Chelsea players are still judged in relation to their owner. Each indiscretion becomes a display of “decadence” or “arrogance” — an image that is harder to dispel when John Terry misuses Hamilton learnt from Schumi’s calm under fire weekend in taking on the Red Bulls of world champion Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. McLaren were gifted a one-two by them last year but they cannot hope for lightning to strike twice — even though Hamilton said with a chuckle that “you never know what to expect with Sebastian, I guess.” He was speaking before Vettel crashed his car in a wet first practice. The German was unhurt. Hamilton and teammate Jenson Button, the 2009 world champion, must also make sure they do not put each other out of the running either. “We have to be faster than them and outpace them, which I’m not confident is going to happen,” said Hamilton. “I have confidence in terms of my driving ability. I have no worries about that. “We’re teammates, we want to finish as high up as we can for the team, and we have no problems racing together,” he added. “We proved that in the last race, and we proved here last year. We’re fair fighters, but of course aggressive in hopefully the right ways.” — Reuters Narain Karthikeyan was also out on track. Chandhok, who made his race debut with HRT last year before Karthikeyan made his comeback this season, had taken part only briefly in the first practice in the office of England captain or Ashley Cole shoots an intern with an air gun. Harder, too, when Abramovich fires managers the way Cole dispatches work experience staff. With his sackings, Abramovich has about a 50% success rate. Claudio Ranieri was popular and capable but it took Jose Mourinho to drive the team over the finishing line. Avram Grant was steady but out of his depth. Luiz Felipe Scolari was a bust, as several senior players told the owner. But both Guus Hiddink and Ancelotti have been solid bets. It is the instability that causes the damage, of course: the constant culture shifts, which this team has done well to assimilate over seven years. The global proselytising continues but with less chutzpah. This week Chelsea, who posted a loss of £70.9m in their most recent accounts, hired a firm called ECN Management to market players such as Torres and David Luiz in China. What does this really mean? Search me. But ECN says: “Chelsea players are some of the most prominent ambassadors of the world game.” Anyone whose love of the game Daniel Taylor � Wayne Rooney and Alex Ferguson Carlos Tevez has made a significant breakthro - ugh in his bid to play in the FA Cup final and will alm - ost certainly now be involved against Stoke City at Wem - bley on May 14, after defying medical opinion at Man ch - ester City to declare hi ms elf fit. Tevez has even to ld Ro be - rto Mancini that he can pl ay in Saturday’s game at Eve rt - on, after taking part in full tra - ining for the first time on Th - ursday and reporting no pr o - blems after a practice match. That is unlikely, with Mancini opting for a policy of better safe than sorry, but Tevez’s latest diagnosis is a consi derable boost for the club, coming a few days after their medical staff informed the club’s manag ement they had little hope of the striker’s being involved at Wembley. Tevez will undergo another scan to assess the hamstring inj ury that has kept him out of the past three games but there is clear evidence now Australia in March when he was first out of the pitlane and promptly crashed. Karthikeyan did not take part in that practice session due to problems with his car. Force India drivers had a for them. It’s a hard league to win, we know because we’ve been involved in championship races for almost 19 years.” — Reuters predates this new imperialism could tell these air-mile collectors that it is all about the team, results, trophies, the personality of the manager and the ethos around the club. These are the things neutrals warm to. Ancelotti and Hiddink have both been statesmen, and there are several Chelsea players you would enjoy having a drink with: Petr Cech, Frank Lampard, Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba, who, from personal experience, is charming company away from the combat zone. Their curse is to be associated with a style that has drawn more on power than finesse, and which elevated gamesmanship to a dark art during the Mourinho years, while their bosses frantically opened soccer schools in America and started websites in Mandarin, which is standard business practice these days in the crusading Premier League. But if Chelsea sneak up on United’s blindside with a £50m striker adding little, it would not be the usual win for mammon. It would be a victory for the powers of recovery. — The Guardian Tevez recovering fast for final that Mancini can be optimistic about a man who has scored 51 goals in 82 appearances for the club being involved in City’s first FA Cup final for 30 years. Mancini rated Tevez’s chances as only “50%” in a Press conference held before training session and said it would be “impossible” to consider picking his leading scorer if he were not involved in Tuesday’s match against Tottenham Hotspur. The Italian talked at length about the importance of his other players learning how to cope without Tevez and not being so reliant on his goals, a message delivered in part beca use of the feeling within the club that Tevez is considering trying to engineer a move at the end of the season. It sounded like Mancini was alre ady prep aring for the possibility of Tevez missing Wem bley, but the truth is that that City are encou raged by the player’s progress after two and a half weeks of rehabi - litation. — The Guardian Vettel crashes in wet Turkish Grand Prix practice � Sebastian Vettel (top) walks in the pits on Friday. He had spun on a slippery track at the exit of the challenging triple apex turn eight and smashed into the barriers on Thursday. His car (right) is being loaded onto a truck after the crash. — AFP good time at the practice ahead of Sunday’s Turkish Grand Prix with all three managing top-10 finishes in at least one of the sessions at Istanbul Park, here on Friday. — Reuters
Kolkata Saturday May 7, 2011 www.thebengalpost.com SPORTS 15 Short Takes Waqar, Afridi on collision course Karachi: Pakistan coach Waqar Younis and skipper Shahid Afridi are on collision course after it was revealed that latter isn’t too happy with the former’s interference in selection matters. Afridi is so upset with Waqar's behaviour that he was reluctant to play the last two ODIs against the West Indies and was persuaded by manager Intikhab Alam to lead the team. Sources aware of developments in the team also disclosed that Afridi had even left the team meeting held before the fifth and final ODI match because of his differences with the coach. SL coach calls for IPL window Colombo: Sri Lanka’s interim coach Stuart Law on Friday said cricket administrators should schedule a window for Indian Premier League fixtures to stop players choosing club over country. Law, who has stepped in to fill the job left by outgoing coach Trevor Bayliss, has a tough assignment ahead as Sri Lanka leave for a grueling tour of England on Tuesday. Mani surprised by ICC’s stance Karachi: The former ICC president Ehsan Mani has expressed his surprise over the response of the ICC and its anti-corruption and security unit (ACSU) over the allegations made by former Sri Lankan captain, Hashan Tilakaratne about fixing taking place in the Lankan team since 1992. Mani said he was a bit surprised at the way the ICC had maintained silence on the issue. Adhiban stuns Wesley So Mashhad (Iran): Grandmaster B Adhiban of India crashed through the defenses of ace Pilipino Wesley So in the fourth round to occupy the joint third position in the Asian Individual Chess championship here. Rai in joint lead in Malaysia Kajang (Malaysia): Himmat Rai went into shared lead at the midway stage of the PGM-ADT-CCM Impian Classic here on Friday. Rai shot an eight-under 64 in first round and added a fourunder 68 to go to 12-under after 36 holes to share the lead with Filipino Artemio Murakami. Jeev drops in second round Barcelona: Jeev Milkha Singh, who opened with a 67 in the first round, dropped down with a 74 in the second at the Open de España here. He was down to tied 10th but a fair bit of the field was yet to finish. Other Indian Shiv Kapur shot a 75 in first round and was six-over through nine holes in second. Atwal cards even par in 1st round Charlotte (North Carolina): Three birdies in a row at the end of the first round saw Arjun Atwal salvage himself from disaster and card an even par 72 in the first round of Wells Fargo Cham - pionships at Quail Hollow Club. He was tied 57th. Former champions down Bihar Sibsagar: Former champions Manipur started their San tosh Trophy campaign with a bang by thrashing Bihar 4-1 here on Friday. Striker Santosh Singh pumped in two goals in either half while W Kumar Singh and W Dini Singh netted a goal each. Sanjoy Bisnoi pulled one back for Bihar. Hosts Assam thrashed Puducherry 8-1. In another match, Chattishgarh beat Daman and Diu 9-0 while Uttar Pradesh beat Gujurat 3-1. — Agencies Rookie Pal fires India to victory Ipoh (Malaysia): Rookie dragflicker Rupinder Pal Singh fired in a hattrick as India made amends of their first match loss with a convincing 3-1 victory over Britain in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup here on Friday. Young Rupinder, who was included in the squad due to the absence of penalty corner specialist Sandeep Singh, struck in the 10th, 54th and 57th minutes to give the champions the upper hand against a strong Britain who had come here with a nearly full-strength side. With the win on Friday, India, who had come here without at least half a dozen senior players, bounced back into the tournament in style after going down to South Korea 2-3 in their campaign opener. India junior team regular member Rupinder, who had featured in a few internationals with the senior side last year, sent three low dragflicks to sound the board of the opposition goal. India, who dominated the midfield, converted three of the five penalty corners they earned in the match and led 3-0 before Britain pulled one goal back through James Tindall in the 62nd minute. After a couple of initial forays into rival territories by both teams, Rupinder opened Kuala Lumpur: Star Indian shuttler Sania Nehwal survived a scare from giantkiller Lin Wang before booking herself a place in the women's singles semifinals of the Malaysia Open Grand Prix here on Friday. The top seed and World No. 4 dug deep into her resources to edge past the Chinese qualifier 14-21, 21- 19, 21-19 in the intensely fought quarter-final, lasting 57 minutes. Lin had upset Japanese sixth seed Eriko Hirose in her the scoring for India in the 10th minute with a grounder that surprised Britain goalkeeper James Fair to sound the board. At the other end, Indian goalkeeper Bharat Chhetri padded away three penalty corner shots as the defenders Saina enters last-4 stage in Malaysia � Saina Nehwal previous outing. “I am happy with the way I played.I am happy with my recovery after that and I hope to go for the win in the tournament this time,” Saina said after the match. Saina will next take on the winner of the match between third seed Chinese Yanjiao Jiang and seventh seed Korean Ji Hyun Sung. Saina is the only Indian left in fray in the tournament after all her compatriots crashed out. – PTI rushed out to narrow the angle for the British strikers. Just before the breather, Indian striker Roshan Minz broke into the rival circle from the left flank, but found no support from other forwards. India increased the lead midway through the second session when Rupinder found the mark with a low push into the goal past the outstretched pads of the custodian in the 55th minute. Two minutes later Rupinder completed his hattrick, this time directing the drag-flick into the right side of the board as the goalkeeper moved to the other corner in anticipation of the shot. India then went into the defensive to hold the lead, allowing Britain mid-field space. Britain had a couple of cracks at the Indian citadel. Tindall found the target in the 62nd minute off a cross from the right. He also got another chance but shot wide past the bewildered Indian goalkeeper. Pakistan asserted their strength by scoring thrice in the final 10 minutes to edge past joint defending champions South Korea 4-2. Trailing 1-2 until the 60th minute, Pakistan went all out into the attack to create several openings and succeeded in breaching the Korean defense thrice for their second victory in the tournament. Hyun Hye-Sung converted two penalty corners in the 13th and 46th minutes for South Korea, while Rehan Butt scored for Pakistan in the 21st minute. Pakistan’s rally began in the 61st minute when Sohail Abbas scored his first goal of the tournament with a dragflick to restore parity. Then Abdul Haseem Khan managed to take a second strike in open play after picking up a long diagonal ball in the 63rd minute to put Pakistan in the lead. Pakistan strikers opened up a couple of more openings in the last two minutes and Waqas Akbar picked up Muhammed Zubair’s pass to sound the boards with eight seconds to go for the hooter. Meanwhile, the summit clash and the playoffs of the ongoing Sultan Azlan Shah Cup will be decided by shootout instead of usual penalty stroke tie-breakers, tournament director Dallas Riseley said. Riseley intimated to the participating teams in the seven-nation tournament that the trial rule will be used on May 15 in the playoffs for determining the tournament’s final standings. The shootout, which requires five players from each team to take on the goalkeeper oneon-one in case of deadlocked matches after extra-period, is under trial by FIH ahead of 2012 London Olympics, where it may be seen in action if converted into a rule later this year. In the shootout, the striker starts the one-on-one attack against the goalkeeper from 23 yards. The striker has eight seconds to enter the striking circle and score the goal. He is allowed to flick, push, drive or dribble past the custodian, who can come off the goalline to try and block the striker and deny him a goal. Like the penalty tie-breaker, if the deadlock persists after the five mandatory attempts by each team, the shootout will go into sudden-death. The FIH introduced the trial regulation last year. If the sport’s governing body converts the trial as a rule, it will be applied in the Champions Trophy in New Delhi, the Olympic qualifiers and then the London Olympics. Inter-Club meet in India? FIH president Leandro Nerge on Friday said that India has offered to host the inaugural edition of the World Inter-Club Champion ship in 2013. Negre said the FIH was considering making the proposed tournament an eightteam event for both men and women. “India has agreed to bear the cost of the World Inter- Club Championship, which will be a knock-out competition played over one weekend,” said Negre at a seminar for young umpires conducted jointly by the Asian Hockey Federation and the Malaysian Hockey Confederation. — PTI Colombo: Former Sri Lanka captain Hashan Tillakaratne urged the government to beef up his security before he reveals information on the match-fixing issue. “As an eyewitness to match-fixing, I will reveal the names of those involved, if my security is guaranteed,” Tillakaratne told reporters after the CID interrogated him for the second time this week. His wife Apsari said the family feared for their lives, as they have received several death threats warning against identifying those involved. Tillakaratne claimed last week that Sri Lanka players had been fixing matches since 1992 and said on Tuesday that he would reveal names to ICC. “I made the statements (about matchfixing) neither to get political mileage nor to put anyone in an awkward position.” “I made the comments in good faith and I will share the information with the ICC. The exercise was meant to protect the game and the players we all love so much.” Tillakaratne said he had kept quiet for so many years as he feared for his life. His allegations have raised a storm, with Kumar Sanga - kkara challenging him to prove his claims. — PTI Pak slump to quickfire defeat Providence: Pakistan’s batting was undermined by the West Indies’ three frontline seamers and their bowling upstaged by another blistering innings from Lendl Simmons in a 10-wicket loss in the fifth One-Day International on Thursday. A fluent 55 off 83 balls from Mohammad Hafeez failed to inspire the Pakistanis, and their batting crumbled for the first time in the series as they were all out for 139 in 41.2 overs after they chose to bat on an unpredictable Providence Stadium pitch. The visitors’ bowlers found it difficult to defend such a modest target as Simmons hit a career-best, unbeaten 77 from 73 deliveries, and fellow opener Kirk Edwards supported with 40 from 71 ball to guide the hosts to victory with 159 balls remaining. Pakistan, however, won the fivematch series 3-2, with comfortable victories in the first three matches, securing the result. “It is a disappointing end to the series for us because it was not a pitch on which we should have been dismissed for 139,” said Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi. “Our batting has been struggling for a long time, and I think we need someone to help us with situations like this. We all wanted to bat on this pitch and that is why the management and I decided to bat, but we did not play well. The thing that I always keep stressing — building partnerships — we did not build any partnerships and this is what was missing.” Afridi added: “The series victory is important for us. We are not playing any cricket at home, so winning this series is very important and will keep the morale high, and I think for the future it will be good for us.” — AFP Nadal advances to the semi-finals Madrid: Rafa Nadal cleared the latest hurdle on his quest for a third claycourt title in under a month when he overpowered Frenchman Michael Llodra 6-2, 6-2 on Friday to reach the Madrid Masters semi-finals. The Spaniard was joined in the last four by unseeded Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci, who caused another upset following Thursday’s thirdround victory over fourth seed Andy Murray when he knocked out Czech Tomas Berdych 7-6, 6-3. Bellucci, a stylish left-hander whose previous best at a Masters event was a fourthround berth in Miami in 2010, will play second seed Novak Djokovic or sixthseeded Spaniard David Ferrer for a place in Sunday’s final. Nadal, defending champion at the Magic Box arena in the Spanish capital, recorded back-to-back titles on his beloved clay at the Monte Carlo Masters and Barcelona Open in April, beating Davis Cup team mate Ferrer in both finals. The 24-year-old Spaniard’s win against the � Indian goalkeeper Bharat Chhetri padded away three penalty corners on Friday � Diego Forlan and his partner Zaira Nara during the match between Andy Murray and Thomaz Bellucci in Madrid on Thursday. — Reuters unseeded Llodra was his 36th consecutive victory on the red dirt since falling to Robin Soderling in the fourth round of the 2009 French Open. He reclaimed the title at Roland Garros last year and could face Soderling in the last four in Madrid if the Indians static in ODI rankings Dubai: Top rankings continued to elude Indian bowlers with the only change in the One-Day International positions coming in the form of Pakistan off-spinner Saeed Ajmal, who made a 16-point leap to rise to third spot. In the absence of any international exposure after the culmination of the World Cup on April 2, Indian players remained static in the latest ICC player rankings for ODI’s. While Virat Kohli continues to be the top Indian batsman at No. 8 with 733 points, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar follow the youngster at nine and ten respectively. Rankings Teams 1. Australia, 2. India, 3. Sri Lanka, 4 South Africa, 5. England Batsmen 1. H Amla, 2. A B de Villiers, 3. T Dilshan, 4. S Watson, 5. K Sangakkara, 6. M Hussey, 7. J Trott, 8. V Kohli, 9. M S Dhoni, 10. S Tendulkar Bowlers 1. D Vettori, 2. R Price, 3. S Ajmal, 4. G Swann, 5. D Steyn, 6. M Morkel, 7. M Johnson, 8. L Tsotsobe, 9. A Mendis, 10. N Kulasekara All-rounders 1. S Watson, 2. S Hasan, 3. S Afridi, 4. Y Singh, 5. J Ka l lis. — Agencies Swede beats Roger Federer later on Friday. Nadal moved into the last eight on Thursday without hitting a shot after resurgent former world number four Juan Martin Del Potro withdrew from the tournament due to a hip injury. Serb Djokovic has won 31 consecutive matches going back to December’s Davis Cup final and equalled the third-best start to the season when he secured his 29th victory of the year by beating Spaniard Guillermo Garcia- Lopez on Thursday. Julia Goerges continued her impressive run on clay Scoreboard Pakistan Md Hafeez b Sammy 55 T Umar c Baugh b Rampaul 3 A Shehzad b Sammy 9 U Salahuddin lbw Bishoo 8 M Haq lbw Sammy 1 U Akmal b Rampaul 24 S Afridi c Baugh b Rampaul 9 Md Salman not out 19 W Riaz c Sammy b Rampaul 0 S Ajmal lbw Bravo 5 J Khan lbw Bravo 1 Extras: (lb-1, w-4) 5 Total: (in 41.2 overs) 139 Fall of wkts: 1/16, 2/48, 3/67, 4/72, 5/93, 6/108, 7/113, 8/113, 9/127 Bowling: Rampaul 10-1-45-4, Martin 9-2-21-0, Sammy 10-1-30- 3, Bishoo 7-0-26-1, Bravo 5.2-0- 16-2 West Indies L Simmons not out 77 K Edwards not out 40 Extras: (b-2, lb-6, w-12, nb-3) 23 Total: (for no loss in 23.3 ovs) 140 Bowling: Afridi 6-0-31-0, Khan 3- 1-16-0, Riaz 5-0-38-0, Ajmal 7-0- 33-0, Hafeez 2-0-10-0, Shehzad 0.3-0-4-0 MoM: Lendl Simmons when she brushed aside Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-2 on Friday to claim a place in the last four of the Madrid Open. The rangy, big-serving German climbed to 27th in the rankings following her win against world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in the Stuttgart final last month. She followed that up by knocking the Dane out in the third round in Madrid on Thursday on her debut in the Spanish capital. A break of the Pavlyuchenkova serve in the first set and two in the second were enough to see Goerges through to the semi-finals, where she will play fourth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus or unseeded Czech Lucie Safarova. Goerges sealed victory against world No. 21 Pavlyuchenkova on her first match point with a forehand winner down the line before shrieking with delight and pumping a fist. Azarenka will attempt to maintain her blistering form at the Magic Box arena when she plays her quarter-final against Safarova. — Reuters Archers continue with poor show New Delhi: Jhano Hansdah and Bheigyabati Chanu were the only Indians to manage wins on yet another miserable day for the country’s archers at the World Cup (Stage I) in Porec, Croatia. Indian compound archers failed to lift the sagging spirits of the 21-member contingent with a trite display in the elimination round. Only veterans Jhano and Chanu won matches on a day when everybody else lost in the first round of action. Former national champion Jhano eased into the prequarter-finals where she was beaten by fourth seed American Erika Anschutz 140-144 points. Bheigyabati won her first round against Erika Anear of Australia but fell to 10th seed Marcella Tonioli of Italy, 134-139, in the next round. National champion Namita Yadav, ranked 19, failed to go past 46th-ranked Anne Lantee of Finland, losing 128-136 in the second round after getting a bye in the first round. Gagandeep Kaur, occupying the 26th position after Tillakaratne wants more security � West Indies’ Lendl Simmons in action during the fifth ODI at Providence, Guyana, on Thursday. — AFP the ranking round, got a first round bye but was stopped by 39th placed Viktoria Balzhanova of Russia, 132- 136. The men compound archers were even worse. Reigning Asian champion, Isaiah Rajender Sanam, ranked 60th, lost to 53rdranked Swiss Gregoire Fumeaux 137-139. Commonwealth Games team gold medallists, C Srither, Ch. Jignas and Ritul Chatterjee, all stumbled in the first round. Srither lost to much lower-ranked Croat Vladimir Bartol 141-143, Jignas fell to Italian Pieto Greco 138-139 and Chatterjee was upstaged by 42nd placed Belgian Sam Kyritsoglou 138-142. Even in the newly introduced mixed team events, the Indians failed to make a mark. Having qualified as fourth seeds, recurve archers Rahul Banerjee and Deepika Kumari were defeated by 13th-ranked Polish team of Piotr Piatek and Justyna Mospinek 137-140 in the first round of the 16-team knockout competition. — PTI
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