SUNDAY, JUNE 19, 2016 SAILING
S P O R S
Zimbabwe shock India in T20 game Elton Chigumbura
EYEING RECORD: Sultanate of Oman MOD70 trimaran skippered by Sidney Gavignet (France) with team mates Damian Foxall (Ireland) and Fahad Al Hasni (Oman), Jean Luc Nelias (France) at the start of Volvo Round Ireland Race at Wicklow, Ireland. - Supplied photo
Hopes riding high for Oman Sail crew MUSCAT: A forecast for brisk winds further down the course has raised levels of anticipation for the crew on Oman’s flagship MOD70 Musandam-Oman Sail as they crossed the start line of the Volvo Round Ireland Race on Sunday Their race against the clock last year, which led to them knocking four hours off the 22-year-old Round Ireland record, looks set to be replayed over the next couple of days. But it is the prospect of competing against the two other MOD70s Phaedo 3 and Concise 10 — and winning — that is spurring on French skipper Sidney Gavignet and his team, which includes Oman’s three leading offshore sailors Fahad Al Hasni, Yasir Al Rahbi and Sami Al Shukaili. “The record would be the icing on the cake but we are up against two other really good boats who have been sailing really well so we will have to have a great race,” said Damian Foxall, Ireland’s foremost offshore sailor who, remarkably is making his debut in the Round Ireland race. “It would be fun to break our record but not so much fun if someone else breaks it. I am very excited to finally be doing this
race because this is my home yet this is a new challenge.” “We have some great conditions. A light upwind start then reaching round Cork and Kerry then some heavy stuff down the west coast which could give us a record breaking time.” This is the first time multihulls have raced in the Volvo Round Ireland Race and followers are in for a real treat as they watch the three 70 foot multi one design speed machines hurtle round the Emerald Isle leading a fleet that is bigger than ever before in the race’s 36-year history. But with the strong currents, rocks and sandbanks to add to the mix, the route poses a series of technical challenges and Musandam-Oman Sail will have to be on top form to come out ahead and set a new record, which will require them to cross the finish line within one day, 16 hours, 51 minutes and 57 seconds. “We will be taking it very seriously,” said Fahad Al Hasni. “There is a great team spirit on board and of course we hold the record so if we can achieve our aim to sail well and not make any mistakes, we will be very happy. It should be a very close contest.”
pummelled seven sixes as he took Zimbabwe to 170 for six in their 20 overs having been sent into bat by the tourists
HARARE: Elton Chigumbura smashed an unbeaten 54 from 26 balls as Zimbabwe stunned India with a two run win in the first Twenty20 International at the Harare Sports Club on Saturday. Chigumbura pummelled seven sixes as he took Zimbabwe to 170 for six in their 20 overs having been sent into bat by the tourists. India lost opener Lokesh Rahul on his Twenty20 debut in the first ball of their reply, but they went into the final over from seamer Neville Madziva needing eight to win. That was reduced to four off the last ball with Mahendra Singh Dhoni on strike, but he could only bludgeon the ball to deep point and Zimbabwe celebrated a second consecutive victory over India in the 20-over format. Aside from Chigumbura, Malcolm Waller (30 from 21 balls) and opener Hamilton Masakadza (25 from 15 balls) gave Zimbabwe their highest score against India in Twenty20 cricket. India were behind the run-rate for much of their innings, but Manish Pandey (48 from 35 balls) kept them in the hunt until the last over. With Dhoni on strike it looked like advantage to the tourists, but
shot as Indian wicketkeeper MS Dhoni looks on. – AP/PTI
Madziva bowled a succession of excellent yorkers to limit India to five runs. Aside from Rahul, the visitors handed 20-over debuts to batsman Mandeep Singh, seamer Jaydev Unadkat, all-rounder Rishi Dhawan and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. Dhoni, who has taken his side past the finishing line with his assured batting in crunch situtaions, found the last delivery bowled by Zimbabwe paceman Neville Madziva to be a “brilliant” one. India needed four runs off the last ball to win the first T20 match but Dhoni could manage only one run with Madziva bowling one outside the off stump, not giving Dhoni any scope to score a boundary. “Ultimately, the contest is between the bat and ball. I felt the last ball was brilliant,” said Dhoni at the post match presenatation ceremony after India suffered a close two-run defeat. In fact such was the shock among everybody that former India seamer Atul Wassan conducting the post-match duties called Graeme Cremer as the “losing captain” and could only manage an embarrassing smile when he saw Dhoni walk up. Dhoni said it was a learning curve for his young inexepeienced
batsmen, who made a lot of mistakes. “We did not play to potential. A lot of wickets were not fullfledged shots, more like catching practice. You may be doing well in the domestic circuit but there is more pressure when you go from India A to India. It’s good learning curve for them. There were a lots of errors committed by the batsmen. We were not playing with out first XI in the bowling department. Our lengths were not right,” Dhoni said making it clear that Rishi Dhawan and Jaydev Unadkat were not upto the mark. Zimbabwe captain Graeme Cremer said the inspiring victory has taken a big monkey off his back and warned the visitors of even better performance in the remaining matches. “Excellent to comeback from the losses in ODI series. A lot of pressure off me. We are not going to stop here,” he said. Cremer was effusive in his praise for Elton Chigumbura, who played a sensational knock of unbeaten 55 off 26 balls for them. “We know Elton can always be dangerous. He is one innings away from doing something special again. India are a tough side, today it could have gone either way and luckily it went our way.” — Reuters, PTI
O LY M P I C S
FORMULA ONE
Rosberg on pole in Baku after Hamilton hits wall BAKU: Championship leader Nico Rosberg took pole position for Azerbaijan’s first Formula One Grand Prix on Saturday after Mercedes team mate and title rival Lewis Hamilton hit a wall and qualified only 10th. Mexican Sergio Perez qualified second for Force India but will drop five places due to an unscheduled gearbox change after he crashed in final practice on the Baku street circuit. That demotion lifted Red Bull’s Australian Daniel Ricciardo to the front row for Sunday’s European
MAN OF THE MATCH: Zimbabwe’s Elton Chigumbura, left, plays a
Grand Prix with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel third and the German’s Finnish team mate Kimi Raikkonen fourth. “They’ve done a great job up to now, with the track especially,” said Rosberg, who had been slower than triple world champion Hamilton in practice but may yet have the last laugh. It was an exciting qualifying. It’s one of the easiest places to overtake so it should be an exciting race.” The pole was the 25th of Rosberg’s career and first since Russia in April when Hamilton also quali-
fied 10th after an engine failure. The German won that race with Hamilton second. Saturday’s pole will have been all the sweeter for the German after Hamilton criticised rivals, including Rosberg, for ‘moaning’ about details of the street circuit whose layout winds around ancient city walls but also has long straights. The final phase of qualifying was halted with two minutes remaining after Hamilton, winner of the previous two races and nine points adrift of Rosberg in the standings, misjudged Turn 10 and smashed his
front right suspension. Rosberg was out of his car by the time the session resumed but, with Hamilton no longer a threat, his pole time of one minute 42.758 seconds was safe. “I can’t really say yet what possibilities there are but obviously I have to try and get up as high as possible tomorrow. It is damage limitation from here and I will do what I can,” said Hamilton. “I had a fantastic rhythm yesterday but zero today. Sometimes it happens,” added the Briton, who was fastest in all three practice sessions. - Reuters
IOC unlikely to overturn Russia ban, says Coates MELBOURNE: The International Olympic Committee is unlikely to overturn world athletics’ ban on the Russian track and field team at the Rio de Janeiro Games, IOC Vice-President John Coates said on Saturday. The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) on Friday unanimously upheld its ban on Russian athletes competing at international competitions due to state-sponsored doping. Russia has cried foul over the ban
and President Vladimir Putin said he hoped for an “appropriate response” from the IOC. Coates said he would be “very, very surprised” if the IOC moved to overturn the ban at a summit on Tuesday in Lausanne. “It’s an international federation’s right to suspend a national federation and I don’t think we would overturn that at all,” Coates, one of the IOC’s most powerful officials, told reporters in Melbourne. — Reuters