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Indo American News • Friday, June 18 , 2010
sports
Houston India Cricket Club Trounces Houston Tigers Cricket Club by 96 Runs
STAFFORD: Another hot and humid day at Stafford Park. Vice Captain of Houston Tigers Cricke Club Pankaj Riwari, lost the toss and HICC decided to bat first. HICC lost the first wicket when the score was only 13 on board. Things were looking OK for HTCC But Nilesh (26) and Krishna (69) gave a good partnership and with other HICC members playing sensibly HICC reached a comfortable score of 215. Amrish Ghodasar was the best bowler of HTCC bowling line up, he took 4 for 34. Tigers were comfortable with chasing 215
but batting second when heat index reaching 100F is never easy. Opener Dhaval Patel started the innings with some classy shots but could not keep up and got out when he was on 24. And after that all HTCC batters were in a hurry to go home as most of them could not even reach in double figures. Raju Nair, the captain of HTCC scored (20) the second highest of HTCC innings. Vasant took 3 for 19 and Sirish took 4 for 27 from HICC bowling. Contributed by Raheel Khan www.cricketusamag.com
online edition: www.indoamerican-news.com
Saina Nehwal Fights Back to Win India Bandminton Open Grand Prix Title CHENNAI: Top seed Saina Nehwal, looking a tad rusty following a long break, bounced back in style to beat Malaysia’s Mew Choo Wong 20-22, 21-14, 21-12 in the women’s final of the Yonex-Sunrise India Open Grand Prix badminton tournament on Sunday. World No.6 Saina’s victory compensated for the disappointing show by seventh seeded RMV Guru Sai Dutt who went down 1321, 18-21, to unheralded Indonesian Yunus
Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir Guide India to 6-Wicket Win Over Bangladesh DAMBULLA: India’s quest for the Asia an injured Ashish Nehra (2 for 28), Sehwag Cup got easy as they steam rolled Bangla- struck successive blows to decimate a listdesh by six wickets in a lop-sided match and less Bangladesh. also pocketing a bonus point on WednesHe had Mushfiqur Rahim caught behind day. by Dhoni before picking up the Virender Sehwag emerged scalps of Suhrawadi Shuvo, as India’s unlikely bowlShafiul Islam and Syed Rasel. ing hero with his first fourHis brilliant figures read 2.5-0 wicket haul, while his Delhi -6-4. teammate Gautam Gambhir Sitting pretty at 59 for one (82) struck his 20th ODI in 10 overs, they inexplicably half-century as India cruised lost nine wickets in 24.4 overs, to a facile win at a strikingly barely adding 98 runs during empty Rangiri Dambulla Intheir struggle at the square. ternational Stadium. Opting to bat, Bangladesh got Having skittled out Banglaoff to a brisk start with Tamim desh for a meagre 167 inside Iqbal (22) and Imrul Kayes 35 overs, India had a modest (37) producing 35 runs in 17 total to chase and they overballs. But once Tamim perwhelmed the target with 19.2 ished to a low catch by Suresh overs to spare. Raina at short extra covers off The Indians will have to Praveen Kumar, they just could Virender Sehwag beat either Pakistan (June 19) not force the pace against a disor defending champions Sri ciplined Indian attack. Lanka (June 22) by a convincing margin to Zaheer Khan the left-arm fast bowler qualify for the June 24 final. conceded 16 runs in his first over but had India injected artificial life into the lop- the batsmen in spot in the rest of his fivesided match when Virat Kohli (11) and Ro- over spell. hit Sharma (0) fell to successive deliveries Nehra struck twice in four overs before he from Shakib Al Hasan in the 15th over. limped off the field after four overs. IntriguHowever, Gautam Gambhir (82), who en- ingly, there was no clarification from the joyed a reprieve at 48 off Shafiul Islam, and Indian team management about Nehra’s fitskipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (38 not out) ness. Harbhajan and Jadeja too bowled imensured that four-time champions sailed pressively in conditions that suited them but home without much ado. it was part-time tweaker Sehwag who stole Sehwag (11 off 14 balls) failed to fire as a the bowling honours. batsman on his return to international from Kayes, who mishit Nehra to Sehwag at injury but amply showed that he could be short square, top-scored with 37. There employed as an off-break bowler when ei- were contributions from Mushfiqur Rather Harbhajan Singh or Ravindra Jadeja him (30) and Mahmudullah (23) but they have a lean day. weren’t substantial enough to augment BanGiven the ball as Dhoni desperately galdesh’s total, which India devoured withneeded a part-time bowler to cover up for out plenty to spare. - Samachar
Alamsyah in the men’s singles final, with the visitor clinching his first major international title. Both the singles winners picked up 7,000 points that should see them move up the world rankings. Saina, playing her first tournament in two months, was rather patchy as she blew a 2018 lead in the first game, but kept her nerves to take the next two games, capitalising on a desperate Mew’s errors. It was not the best of matches and the conditions inside the hall were tricky. The raucous crowd that kept up a din even when a rally was in progress, irritating flies, and the sideways air drift due to air-conditioning, put a premium on concentration and judgment. However, Saina took these irritants in her stride and after the initial tentative approach, changed her stance in the second game when she turned aggressive and maintained the momentum in the decider when she opened up a 10-point lead early on to seal the match. “I was nervous at the start and committed too many errors. In the normal course,
I should have won in two games, but this being my first tournament in two months, I was nervous. In the second and third games, I played aggressively,” said Saina after the 56-minute match. “I am happy winning the tournament and that too at home, and yes, it’s a good preparation for the two Super Series events (Singapore and Indonesia) I am participating in this month. In fact, I am playing Mew in the first round at Singapore!” she added. On her part, Mew admitted that Saina was just too good for her. “I have played her before and I tried my best, but today, she was too good for me, especially in the second and third games,” Mew, ranked No.22, said through an interpreter. In contrast, Sai Dutt hardly got going against the highly defensive Alamsyah, who benefitted largely on the mistakes committed by the 20-year old Indian rather than doing anything out of the ordinary. Undoubtedly, Alamsyah is one of the better retrievers around, but there is little else in his game besides a fairly sharp smash that surprisingly he uses sparingly. Under the circumstances, Gurusaidutt needed to be patient and await a clear opening before going for the kill, something he failed to. “I was anxious to finish off the rallies quickly and made mistakes. I will now have to work harder on my game and fitness to reach the next level,” said Guru who is currently ranked 66 as against 125 of the Indonesian, who Saturday night took out top seeded Indian Chetan Anand. Quite the best thing about Alamsyah was his creativity at the net, marked by wristy dribbles some of which sent Guru Sai Dutt the wrong way. The Indian would have been better off to keep Alamsyah in the backcourt rather than match him at the net. In both the games, the 23-year old Alamsyah took early leads and then kept Guru Sai Dutt, playing in his maiden international final, under pressure that eventually cracked his defense wide open. - Times of India
INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, june 18 , 2010 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM