Daniel Chopra was edged out in the play-off by Australian star Aaron Baddeley, who won his first Australian Masters title on the fourth hole of a playoff at Huntingdale Golf Club.
The Australian Masters is a joint-sanctioned event between Australian and European PGA Tours.Chopra, who father is Indian and mother Swedish, started the day with a one shot lead. He seemed to have an edge till the 16th where he had a second birdie after one a little earlier on the 15th.
When Baddeley birdied 17th and Chopra slipped, they were both 13-under and Chopra needed an eight-foot putt for a par at the last to force the playoff with both players locked on 13-under.
The final day saw no less than five players shared the lead at one stage. Then Stuart Appleby moved clear with a few holes remaining before Chopra's two birdies gave him the edge but he faltered again and missed out on his maiden European Tour title.
Baddeley could have won on the first playoff hole but he missed an eight-footer for birdie. The two parred it the second time around and then Chopra made a difficult par putt on the third occasion to get into the fourth hole.
This time Baddeley got a par despite getting into trouble but Chopra three-putted and gave the title to Baddeley. Neither Chopra nor Baddeley were at their best and but Appleby seemed fine till the 18th.
Appleby looked to have his first Australian Masters in his pocket after going into lead with a birdie at the 12th. Then his challenge faltered with a double bogey and he ended on 11-under, two shots off the pace.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Chopra out of Australian Masters golf
Jyoti and Ghei finish 17th, Scots win World Cup of golf
Jyoti Randhawa and Gaurav Ghei ended their Omega Mission Hills World Cup campaign with a modest one-under 71 that saw them finish tied 17th place after the four-day tournament.
The final round showing was way off their first and third round performances, but their second-round three-over 75 pulled them down badly.
The Scots, who started the final round one stroke back of the unheralded American duo, won the US$5 million team event with a par on the third hole of a sudden-death shoot-out at Mission Hills Golf Club. Victory was sweet for Scotland as it made up for last year's disappointment of finishing runner-up to Germany.
China enjoyed their best finish in the World Cup with trailblazers Zhang Lian-wei and Liang Wen-chong shooting a four-under-par 68 in the foursomes to finish tied 11th on a 17-under-par 271, eight shots behind winners Scotland.
They were the joint best Asian team alongside Korea's Lee Sung and Lee Seung-ho in the 28-team competition that will stay in Mission Hills for the next 12 years.
Montgomerie, 44, paid a tribute to 18-years younger Warren after the latter pulled off a pressure-packed 12-foot par save in the first extra hole to keep the Scots firmly in the tournament. Warren had also holed an eight-foot eagle putt on the 15th hole that propelled them to the top of the leaderboard.
Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin and Gregory Havret shot a flawless 67 to finish third, one shot shy of the play-off teams while England's Justin Rose and Ian Poulter, the pre-tournament favourites, settled for fourth place, also after a 67.
ICL races against time to put up cricket show
The Tau Devi Lal sports complex cricket stadium in Panchkula, a satellite town of Chandigarh located in Haryana, is nothing less than a battlefield these days.
There is a frenzy of activity at the cricket stadium of the imposing sports complex, located 15 km from here, named after Haryana's political patriarch and former deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal.
Except for the lush green outfield of the cricket ground and the square in the middle, there is a war-like atmosphere everywhere in this new stadium. The organisers are fighting against time to get things in order as the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) prepares for its maiden cricketing show from Nov 30.
An excited ICL chairman, the legendary Kapil Dev knows that a lot needs to be done as the day of the first Twenty-20 tournament nears.
"In a short span of time the ICL has undertaken significant revamping of the stadium. It has made various additions to the stadium to ensure an atmosphere of immensely enjoyable cricket carnival," said Kapil Dev, who broke into the international cricketing arena from this city in 1978.
New stands are being put up to increase the seating capacity of the ground to 6,000. Floodlights are being installed for day-night encounters. The pavilion building is being upgraded to include individual lockers and dressing rooms for players, umpires and match officials. A hi-tech broadcast studio is also being readied.
The production facilities will include 30-camera units with high technical specifications like hawk eye, zoomer, snickometer, speedgun and replays for third umpire.
The ICL - an Essel (Zee) group event - has taken the stadium here on a 10-year lease from the Haryana government. "We will provide world-class facilities here," ICL chief executive Ashish Kaul told IANS.
The organizers want to make the event a fun tournament. Ticket sales - Rs 100 for a single match and Rs 150 for two matches on the same day - have started here.
The state government is extending full cooperation to the ICL event with the state's sports minister Kiran Chaudhary stating that the event would be made a success.
All matches of the T-20 tournament, played between six teams, will be in the afternoon and evening. Five international players will feature in each team named after Indian cities. The remaining players in each team will be young cricketers who have signed up with ICL.
The teams are Chandigarh Lions, Mumbai Champs, Delhi Jets, Chennai Superstars, Hyderabad Heroes and Kolkata Tigers.
The matches will be telecast live on Zee Sports channel and Tony Greig, Dean Jones, Pat Symcox and Jeffery Thomson will be expert commentators.
National Football League becomes I-League
The premier club football league of the country, the National Football League (NFL) has taken another step towards putting Indian football on the rails of 'professionalism', and has assumed a new name called I-League.
The Oil and Natural Gas Cooperation (ONGC) sponsored league kicked off with a match between defending champion Dempo Sports Club and Salgaocar Sports Club at the Nehru Stadium in Margao.
Bollywood actor John Abraham, who stars in recently released Bollywood film "Dhan Dhana Dan Goal" with the game of football as its theme, started the event by kicking a football.
"Unfortunately, football has not picked up the way cricket has in the country. But I am sure that with the league and with all the promotion campaigns, football is going to pick up in the country," said John.
All India Football Federation (AIFF) President Priyaranjan Dasmusi said that football already pulls more crowds in West Bengal than cricket.
"In an international cricket match when India-Pakistan play, 60-70 thousand people gather at the Eden Gardens, but during the domestic football match of the Federation Cup and during the local league match of the East Bengal and Mohun Bagan around 100,000 people gather in Calcutta stadium," said Dasmunsi.
The I-League will retain the NFL home-away format but there will be a greater reward -- Rs. 50 lakh for the winner and Rs. 28 lakh for the runner-up -- to fight for. (ANI)
India to grassp the Delhi's Test required more 32 runs
India, chasing 203 to win the first Test against Pakistan, had scored 171 for three wickets in their second innings on the fourth day here Sunday, needing 32 more to win on the fifth and final day.
At the close of play, Sachin Tendulkar was batting on 32 (86 balls, 5x4s) and Sourav Ganguly was on 48 (61 balls, 8x4s). Both batted with assurance and authority and have so far added 78 for the fourth wicket.
Earlier, India bowled out Pakistan for 247 in their second innings, with Salman Butt being the top scorer with 67 and Anil Kumble taking three wickets at his favourite Ferozeshah Kotla.
Pakistan, who made 231 in the first innings, ended up with a lead of 202. India had made 276 in their first innings.
India's chase began inauspiciously as they lost Dinesh Karthik quickly for the second time in the match. He made nine in the first innings and one in the second and was caught behind both the times. Wasim Jaffer (53, 81 balls, 8x4s) and Rahul Dravid (34, 96 balls, 5x4s) did not let the early dismissal affect them as the duo contributed 82 for the second wicket.
But Jaffer and Dravid departed within nine runs of each other. Fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar took all three wickets. His exceptional second spell, during which he dismissed Jaffer and Dravid, read 7-2-16-2.
Tendulkar and Ganguly then took charge. Unmindful of the fading light, Ganguly square cut leg-spinner Danish Kaneria for two successive fours to the delight of the packed stadium. And in the next over from pacer Mohammed Sami, Tendulkar flicked and Ganguly drove to bring up two more boundaries and that sent the spectators into ecstasy.
The day began with Pakistan at 212 for five. But Kamran Akmal, who was batting on 21 along with Misbah-ul-Haq (29) overnight, was out without any addition to his score.
Akmal, who is going through a poor run, tried to drive Zaheer Khan through the covers, but the angle of the delivery saw him slicing it to substitute Yuvraj Singh for straightforward catch at point. The sixth-wicket stand was broken after 52 runs.
Sohail Tanvir, the next batsman, who is left-hander did not last long as fell into the trap laid by Khan, mishooking into the hands of Harbhajan Singh at backward square leg.
Ganguly, in whom Kumble seemed to have a lot of faith, made it worse for Pakistan as he struck twice in three balls to dismiss Misbah-ul-Haq and Sami.
With first delivery with the second new ball, Ganguly got rid of the danger man Misbah-ul-Haq (45, 87 balls 2x4s, 2x6s). Misbah attempted his favourite lofted ondrive, but Dinesh Karthik ran backwards some ten metres from mid on to mid-wicket to take a brilliantly judged catch.
Misbah, despite not being well, played his role to perfection and emerged as the second highest scorer after Salman Butt's 67.
Off the next ball, Sami flicked a four off the military medium pacer, but Ganguly had his revenge the next delivery as the dogged batsman top-edged, going for massive drive, and was caught by Wasim Jaffer at mid-wicket.
Like in India's first innings, the last two wickets in the Pakistani innings fell to successive balls as Kaneria also was run out. Sachin Tendulkar's slightly off-target throw to wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni who smartly broke the stumps with his back to them.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
PAES and DAMM make Masters cut
Status quo for Indians
All the top Indian players clung on to their positions in the latest WTA and ATP ranking lists released on Monday. While SANIA MIRZA maintained her 32nd position, Sunitha Rao did not see any change in her rank of 182nd on the WTA singles ranking chart.