Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category
Abhinav Bindra wins gold medal in Men’s 10m Air Rifle
(BEIJING, August 11) – India’s Abhinav Bindra won the gold medal in the Men’s 10m Air Rifle in Beijing on August 11 with an incredible performance in the final. Bindra shot a total score of 700.5.
India’a First Gold Medalist
China’s Zhu Qinan, gold medalist at Athens 2004, won the silver medal with a total score of 699.7.
The bronze medal was won by Finland’s Henri Hakkinen, who was leading the field after the qualification round, but was unable to hold off Bindra and Zhu in the final.
Source: en.beijing2008.cn
Mighty Aussies in their third consecutive Cricket World Cup triumph ….
Australia were worthy winners of Cricket’s World Cup – but it was an appalling tournament in almost every way
In 2003 Australia won the Cricket World Cup winning all their 11 matches. In 2007 they did the same again and they were even more convincing – not once in this year’s run of 11 wins did they even look remotely in trouble.
But the tournament left a sour taste in the mouth for most cricket fans due to its ill-conceived structure and the greed of its administrators – the International Cricket Council.
Australia’s success based on supreme self-confidence
That the Aussies had a squad of very technically proficient players goes without saying – but arguably no more proficient than any of the other fully professional squads at the tournament. True they have in Ponting a batsman of the highest class – but India had Tendulkar, Pakistan Yousuf, England Pietersen, South Africa Gibbs, West Indies Lara… all players of comparable talent. True Ponting is a good Captain – but arguably no smarter than Dravid, Vaughan, Fleming or Jayawardene. True Australia has a well-balanced bowling attack – but was it really that much more capable than those of the other top sides? I think not. What Australia had and most of the other sides only fitfully, was self-belief.
Leaving the Caribbean with pride
Whilst only Australia can leave the Caribbean with total satisfaction there were some other performances of note and Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Ireland can look back with pleasure on the tournament. The Lankans, well coached by Tom Moody and well led by Mahela Jayawardene, were deserved runners-up. Bangladesh, again with a skilful coach in Dav Whatmore, did more than could have been expected of them in reaching the final stages and getting the scalps of India and South Africa along the way. And Ireland, a team comprised mostly of good amateurs rather than elite professionals, pulled off the shock of the tournament in beating Pakistan and also did exceptionally well in their tie against Zimbabwe and their later win against Bangladesh. For the rest of the combatants in this year’s tournament it was a tale of failure, farce, frustration and tragedy.
Pakistan were vanquished and battered
The ghastly death of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer was a tragedy that cast a dark shadow over the whole tournament and it is no surprise that we have had to wait until after the World Cup was over for the truth about this horrific happening to begin to emerge in detail. For the confused and knavish morass that is Pakistan cricket Woolmer’s death, and the ineptitude of their team’s perfomance, must surely be the ultimate wake-up call. They now need a new coach and a new captain who will assert themselves in the right way – first by breaking up the introspective and sanctimonious cabal of players over which Inzamam so dominantly presided.
India, South Africa, New Zealand and the West Indies all blinked at the wrong moments
The only real explanation for a team as talented as India to have performed so abysmally is that they were so scared of losing vital matches that they forgot how to win. The Bangladeshis had nothing to lose – and so they won. The same with Sri Lanka who were through to the Super Eights already when they played India. The South Africans also suffered from Bangladeshi brio and bravado and continued to let the Aussies lord it over them – two humiliating losses to their old foe. The Kiwis did well – until the prize of the final glinted in their eyes and they were then comprehensively demolished by Australia and Sri Lanka in the Super Eight games and delivered a blow-par and spineless performance in the Semi-final. The Windies qualified comfortably but then subsided losing the last five of their final stage matches. All four teams had the talent to win this tournament, but the pressure was just too much for them in some of the must win games.
England were inept, ill-lead, ill-disciplined and a bungling embarrassment
In September 2004 England got to the final of the “Champions Trophy”, beating World Champions Australia along the way. They should have won that final but took their eyes of the ball at a vital moment and let the West Indies in. In 2005 there was more steel and determination, matched with talent, as England under Michael Vaughan’s inspired leadership and Duncan Fletcher’s canny coaching regained the Ashes in a summer to remember. This win gave the team fame and fortune – three of them (Vaughan, Flintoff and Trescothick) bought million dollar homes on an exclusive Barbados golf course and they all, quite reasonably, cashed in on their success. That team has now fallen apart both literally and metaphorically. Injury and illness removed key players for some or all of the time. But the real failure was the absolute lack of a plan B when the going got tough. The contrast with the Australians is revealing. They too lost players through retirement, loss of form or fitness but at all times there was the leadership of Ponting and the sometimes unfairly belittled coaching of John Buchanan to rely upon. This continuity, combined with belief in themselves and a ruthless determination to win led not just to the green and goldwash of a 5-0 Ashes win but the retention of the Cricket World Cup in brilliant fashion.
Whilst Australia was showing the way England descended into a slough of despond with players of true class like Strauss, Vaughan and Harmison failing comprehensively and with the iconic Andrew Flintoff totally losing the plot. Flintoff was an inept Captain in Australia and his personal performances there, and later in the World Cup as well, were nothing like those of a world-class all-rounder. His behaviour off the field was hardly setting a good example either. But the feeble England leadership had no idea how to cope either with the fall into dysfunctionality of Flintoff and some others or with the loss of form of key players. England’s World Cup performance was nervous, tactically naïve and utterly lacking in confidence. When they scored 15 runs off ten overs (with fielding restrictions in place) at the beginning of their innings in the “must-win” match against South Africa it made one wonder whether anyone in the England camp had the foggiest idea how to play One Day cricket.
Overblown, over-hyped and over-sold
But of all the failures of this appalling 2007 Cricket World Cup it is the failure of the International Cricket Council (ICC) that stands out. The money wasted on new half-empty stadiums that nobody wanted to visit. The ticket prices that made the matches unaffordable for locals. And above all the ludicrous commercially driven seven-week schedule. After the 2003 tournament commentators were unanimous that the competition had gone on for far too long and had included far too many matches. Here is what Wisden said at the time, ” [The tournament] suffered profound structural and organisational faults. It was simply too big and too long.” The 2003 event had lasted 43 days and included 54 matches but the ICC (as is their wont) ignored all the criticism and arranged for the 2007 World Cup to be even longer at 47 days (albeit with a slight reduction in matches to 51). So ignore the opportunistic weasel words of ICC Chief executive Malcolm Speed who has just said about this year’s tournament “We listen to criticism, and there has been a lot of it from people saying it’s been too long, so we’ll look to make it shorter.” They didn’t listen last time and, unless forced to, I doubt that they will this time either.
Cricket at the crossroads
World Cricket is at the crossroads. The commercial and sporting failure of the 2007 Cricket World Cup will concentrate the minds – not least in the financial powerhouse of the game in India. The Indian Board of Control will wonder why they need a tournament that gave them nothing and they will be unlikely to agree to a similar format again. The ICC will be forced to sit up and take notice – their otiose, aureate edifice is under real threat at last.
D-day is here
Saturday, April 28, 2007
April 28 is all set to reach a coveted plane where only 8 others belong. Ever since the inception of the game of cricket, only 8 other days in the calendar have stood up to measure. And today, the 28th, will join that select club as the day of only the ninth World Cup Final.
Today the Sri Lankans and the Aussies will gather themselves and muster their best shot at immortality. Forget the contest for a while, Sri Lanka and Australia take a bow before getting into the heat of battle.
Australia is attempting an unprecedented treble, an audacious dream that even the mighty West Indies failed to realise.
But, “I wouldn’t start jumping to conclusions, We’ve got a game to play here – we’ll worry about three world cups in a row and that sort of stuff if we happen to play well,” said skipper Ricky Ponting on Friday (April 27) at the presser. “We haven’t even spoken about those achievements, not once in the last seven and a half weeks has this unbeaten run come up amongst the team,” he added.
Ricky Ponting, Matthew Hayden, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist – all of them have been there and done that. Following losses in the Commonwealth Banka series and the Chappell-Hadlee series, the world was finding fault and the outcome of the World Cup was suddenly anyone’s guess.
But they came roaring back, getting to the final without blemish. However this is something that many say might just be their undoing in the final.
Ponting begs to differ. “I don’t think that matters at all because we have tested ourselves in every game we’ve played. That’s the main thing that I will be interested in this whole tournament. Whenever we have got our noses out in front we haven’t just sat back and waited for things to happen, we have put our foot down and really gone in for the kill and finished teams off.”
Meanwhile revelling in their new-found status as challenger to the Aussie throne, the Sri Lankans have a chance to win another one for their mantelpiece. They have the credentials to create an upset – a varied and potent bowling line-up full of experience and bite.
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“I think the most important thing for us is to play the brand of cricket that we have been playing. That is the best way to beat any side in the world. Because if you go out of your zone and try and do something which is not yours, you’ll end up not knowing what’s best that would work for you,” says Mahela Jayawardene.
Jayasuriya, Vaas and know exactly how it feels to beat Australia in a World Cup final. Notably the Lankans risked a defeat against Ponting’s men in this tournament, choosing to conceal their main weapons Vaas and Murali.
Will Moody’s strategy work, or will the gold and green juggernaut remain as unstoppable as ever? Perhaps the Barbados pitch holds the answer. But then, perhaps it doesn’t.
Beating the odds
The match today has all the ingredients to become a classic encounter. The last face-off between the two teams was a dampener, devoid of the battle within. But today it’s a different story. If both teams play to their potential, this contest could give us the classic World Cup final we’ve all dreamed of watching for more than 10 years.
Australia
From Ponting’s camp, this is Pigeon’s last international game and the old warhouse that he is, Glenn McGrath will not let his moment of glory slip by. Mcgrath has dismissed Jayasuriya 12 times in international cricket.
One win today and Australia will create sporting history. The six veterans of the past finals will look to end their career on a high.
Mathew Hayden has been the leading run-getter, but has no century versus Lanka. He will look to add that one on his list.
Sri Lanka
But here is one team who are all set to take on defending champions head on. The Sri Lankan lions are charged up for a fight. Sanath Jayasuriya is averaging over 50 in this World Cup with an amazing strike rate of 110. A world cup winner, this is his last World Cup game.
This team boasts nothing less than the perfect blend of bowling attack. While this is the second World Cup final for Murali and Chaminda Vaas, this is Malinga’s first one-dayer against Australia.
The combination of Tharanga-Jaysuriya has been very effective before the World Cup, but they are yet to post a hundred plus in the tournament.
MY verdict
We could expect a perfect final from a World Cup that had its share of controversies and criticisms – but Australia look just too good to be stopped in their tracks:
Conditions:
30% chance of rain
Temperature: 30/25° C
Humidity: 85%
Pitch: Fast and true pitch
Chances to win:
Australia 65%
Sri Lanka- 35%
Email me at : kapoorachal@gmail.com
