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18 THE HINDU SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 2014
NOIDA/DELHI
SPORT
FATULLAH: Aminul Islams n-
est hour as a batsmancoincided
with a watershed moment in
Bangladesh cricket. His 145
against India at the Banga-
bandhu National Stadium in
Dhaka a knock that spanned
nearly nine hours in Bangla-
desh's inaugural Test match in
2010 is a singular reference-
point for cricket fans to re-
member himby.
Post-retirement, the former
Bangladesh captain has contin-
ued to be involved with the
game. For over six years now,
Islam has been involved in the
Asian Cricket Council (ACC) as
a development officer. Hes al-
so the tournament director of
the ongong Asia Cup. His spe-
cial focus in the ACC, though,
has been on Chinese cricket.
From the time the ACC ar-
rived in China, cricket has
spread to 100 educational in-
stitutions. Chinas womens
teamhas been runner-up in the
ACC Premier League for the
last three years. Seven regions
play cricket there, and each of
these is bigger than Bangladesh
and Sri Lanka, Islam told The
Hindu.
He said Chinas interest went
beyond merely playing the
sport. Their plan is to not only
play cricket, but also be a leader
in the business of cricket. They
want to organise [top-ight]
matches some day.
According to Islam, both the
ACCas well as the Internation-
al Cricket Council were keep-
ing a close watch on Chinas
progress.
Top performers
To develop cricket you need
three things: population, sound
economy, and sporting history.
China has everything. The Chi-
nese have been top performers
in the last three or four Olym-
pics. Their good hand-and-eye
coordination is ideal for
cricket.
The 46-year-old felt there
were limitations that ham-
strung the ACC in its efforts.
The Chinese dont get to
watch matches on local televi-
sion. To make a sport popular
in China, you have to go to the
Olympic Associationrst or the
sports ministry, and then the
local government. Because
cricket it isnt played in the
Olympics, they don't take it ve-
ry seriously.
The importance of watching
the sport to learn it, Islamsaid,
wasnt lost as the ACC distrib-
utes cricket videos and DVDs to
schools and universities.
Is China being treated as a
special case?
It was, until two years ago.
But ICC and ACC dont have
enough funds. Unless cricket
becomes an Olympic sport,
things will take time. But we
are grateful to India, Pakistan,
and Bangladesh for providing
equipment and assigning
coaches.
The ACC also monitors the
growth of teams such as Hong
Kong which has qualied for
the T20 World Cup Singa-
pore, Kuwait, and Chinese Tai-
pei. We help their head
coaches with coaching plans
and budgets. But our main job
is to help the high-performance
programmes.
On his role in the Asia Cup,
Islam said the highest level of
security was provided for both
the teams as well as the specta-
tors.
We get a daily report from
the hotel (on if theres any
bookie activity). The police has
an eye in the galleries as well as
the VIP areas. The main job is
done by ICCs Anti-Corruption
and Security Unit. Fortunately,
we havent received any nega-
tive report thus far, said Islam,
who lives in Melbourne.
CRICKET
Aminul Islams Chinese connection
Aminul Islam.
FILE PHOTO
Arun Venugopal
Both the ACC and the ICC are keeping a close
watch on Chinas progress
The China players' good hand-and-eye
coordination is ideal for cricket
KOLKATA: A 10-man Mohamme-
dan Sporting stemmed a series
of reverses by downing in-form
Sporting Clube de Goa 3-1 in a
19th round match of the I-
League here at the Salt Lake
Stadiumon Friday.
Brazilian Luciano Sabrosa
opened the scoring froma pen-
alty before his compatriot Josi-
mar da Silva doubled the lead
for the home side. Cajetan Fer-
nandes reduced the margin for
the Goa club before substitute
Nirmal Chetri came up with a
late goal to ensure the win for
Mohammedan Sporting.
Mohammedan Sporting,
which had lost its previous four
outings, managed to pull itself
out of the crisis despite defend-
er Mehrajuddin Wadoo being
was sent off in the 44th minute.
The host defended well with 10
men after the break and suc-
cessfully held off the visitors
attempt to make a comeback.
A penalty in the 12th minute
Josimar was brought down
inside the Sporting Clube box
gave an early chance for Mo-
hammedan Sporting. Central
defender Sabrosa stepped up to
the spot and scored.
Josimar then doubled the
lead in the 24th off a rebound
after Japanese Taro Hasegawa
saw his shot parried away by
Sporting Clube custodian Ravi
Kumar.
The Goan side briey came
back into the game when Fer-
nandes found the net off a low
cross from Mohan Raj and
made it 2-1 in the 39th.
Nirmal Chetri, an early sec-
ond half substitute, ensured
that Mohammedan would walk
away with full points when he
nodded home a corner in the
83rd. Mohammedan Sporting
now has 16 points from 16
matches while Sporting Clube,
currently second in the stand-
ings, remains on28 points from
16 outings.
The result: Mohammedan Sport-
ing 3 (Luciano Sabrosa 12-pen, Josi-
mar da Silva 24, Nirmal Chetri 83) bt
Sporting Clube de Goa 1 (Cajetan
Fernandes 39).
FOOTBALL
Mohd. Sporting downs Sporting Clube
Principal Correspondent
NEW DELHI: He is easily the best
shotgunmarksmanthe country
has ever seen. Former World
champion Manavjit Singh
Sandhu stamped his authority
yet again, clinching the Patiala
Cup for the overall gross score
in trap, double trap and skeet,
as the Indian Shotgun Open
came to a colourful end on
Friday.
Despite a bad stomach that
saw him shoot 23 in the third
round of trap, which was good
enough for him to lift the tro-
phy weighing 1.5 kgs of silver,
Manavjit battled the bleak
weather to shoot 24 in double
trap. In the nal calculations,
Manavjit pipped Kynan Chenai
163 to 162.
The duo outclassed the rest
of the shooters like Darius Che-
nai (138), Raninder Singh (136),
and G.S. Sharan (135).
Heavy rain in the afternoon
curtailed the double trap com-
petitionto one round instead of
three, and that perhaps helped
Manavjit, as Kynan had shot a
better round in double trap.
Six-time Olympian Randhir
Singh battled poor health to
clinch the trap honours on the
basis of nett score, with a total
of 83, four ahead of Laxman
Singh.
In double trap, Mohammed
Asabwas a class act as hetopped
the eld of 86 shooters, with a
score of 28 out of 30, two points
ahead of Chenai. However, with
the addition of handicap in the
nett score section, Karanjeet
Sandhu, Manavjits brother,
claimed the trophy with a score
of 31, one point ahead of Chenai
and Ahvar Rizvi.
Olympian Shagun Chowd-
hary (65) pipped Seema Tomar
(64), Varsha Tomar (62) and
Shreyasi Singh (61) to win the
womens trapevent.
Shagun and Seema were a
commendable sixth and sev-
enthintheopensection, behind
Zorawar Sandhu (69), Rayan
Rizvi (68) and Raninder Singh
(67). In womens double trap,
Shreyasi Singh (21) nished
ahead of Varsha Tomar (19),
Shagun Chowdhary (18) and
Seema Tomar (17).
Southern Superstars, con-
sisting of Chenai, Raja Tondai-
man and R.P. Tondaiman, won
the team trophy 184 to182,
ahead of Blast From the Past,
comprising Randhir Singh,
Gurbir Sandhuand Manavjit.
SHOOTING
Manavjit stamps his
authority again
MUMBAI: India is likely to make
its modern pentathlon debut at
the 17thAsianGames to be held
at Incheon (South Korea) in
September-October this year.
The sport which involves ve
disciplines fencing, horse
riding, swimming, running and
shooting is still at a nascent
stage in India.
We have applied to the
union sports ministry for rec-
ognition. Once we get it, we will
become eligible for grants. But,
we can also send athletes (four
men and women each for the
team and open events) for the
Asian Games at no cost to the
government, said Namdev
Shirgaonkar, secretary, Mod-
ern Pentathlon Federation of
India (MPFI).
A select group of athletes
have represented India in eight
international events in differ-
ent age groups in the last ve
years, and a few of them have
evenwonmedals. However, the
sport made its biggest break-
through when a rank outsider
like Shirgaonkar was elected
unopposed to the executive
council of the Indian Olympic
Association (IOA) recently. In-
cidentally, it was Shirgaonkar
who founded the MPFI ve
years ago.
We have held four National
championships and around 450
athletes took part in the 2013
Nationals at Panaji. The mod-
ern pentathlon federation of
Hungary has agreed to assist
our athletes prepare for the In-
cheon Asian Games. We are
planning to send them in the
last week of March, or in early
April, said Shirgaonkar here
on Friday. Special
Correspondent
India likely to
make modern
pentathlon
debut at
Incheon BHUBANESWAR: Keen to have a
representation in the ICCs
Elite panel of Umpires, the
BCCI is all set to start a Nation-
al Umpires Academy in the
country to improve the stan-
dard of officials.
The decisionwas takenat the
BCCIs umpires sub-commit-
tee, which is headed by Board
Treasurer Ravi Sawant.
Sawant rued that the existing
facilities to train umpires are
not being put to optimum use.
He also lamented the lack of
proper facilities to train match
referees.
BCCIs umpires sub-committee:
Ravi Sawant (Chairman), Sunil Dev
(North), Sudhakar Rao (South), Ra-
jesh Verma (East), Devendra Solanki
(West), Bhagvandas Sutar (Central),
S. Venkatraghavan (Director), A.V.
Jayaprakash (retd. Test umpire), An-
urag Thakur (Jt. Secretary). PTI
BCCI to set up
National
Umpires
Academy
LUCKNOW: Former world cham-
pion and professional snooker
player Pankaj Advani, defend-
ing champion Manan Chandra,
last years runner-up Brijesh
Damani, former champion
Alok Kumar, current National
billiards champion Sourav
Kothari and Rupesh Shah will
be the stars to watch out for in
the National snooker cham-
pionship commencing at the
Shubham hall, Mahanagar,
here fromSaturday.
Altogether 11 qualiers will
join 69 direct entrants in the
main draw.
The pre-quarternals will be
played on March 5 and the nal
on March 7. Special
Correspondent
Star-studded
eld for Natl.
snooker
NYON: Manchester City manag-
er Manuel Pellegrini has been
given a three-match ban, with
one suspended for now, follow-
ing his verbal assault ona refer-
ee in a recent Champions
League match against
Barcelona.
Banning the Chilean for
three European games, but
with one under probation for
two years, UEFA said, the
sanction is due to the coachs
press statements and violation
of the general principles of
conduct.
Pellegrini will therefore be
forced to follow the return leg
at the Camp Nou on March 12
fromthe stands, and will not be
allowed into the dressing room
before the game either. AFP
Three-match
ban for
Pellegrini
BHUBANESWAR: The structural
overhaul of the International
Cricket Council (ICC) is all set
to trigger a nancial windfall
for the already richBCCI which
is likely to earn an estimated
$600 million in the next eight
years, Board Secretary Sanjay
Patel has revealed.
According to my estimate,
within this period (2015 to
2023) of eight years we (BCCI)
will get around $600 million,
BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel
said.
Patel was here in connection
with the BCCI Working Com-
mittee meeting in the city. In-
cidentally, during this 2015-23
period, India would be a perma-
nent member of the three ma-
jor committees of the ICC.
On the substantial increase
in the BCCIs revenue sharing
with the ICC, he said, Since
the last somany years BCCI has
become one of the biggest con-
tributors towards ICCs earn-
ings.
BCCI is contributing about
68 per cent of the revenue and
getting only four per cent in
return, he said.
I am pleased to announce
instead of four per cent share,
BCCI will now get 21 per cent.
During 2015-23, BCCIs ex-
pected gross revenue will be
close to 2.75 to three billion
dollars, he said.
Under the existing provi-
sions, 75 per cent of the ICCs
earnings are divided equally
among the 10 full member
countries and the rest goes to
its associate members.
Again out of the remainder,
India will get another four per
cent, Patel added. PTI
BCCI to earn
$600 million
MANAMA: Mexicos Sergio Perez
took his Force India to top
place in pre-season testing at
Bahrains Sakhir circuit on
Thursday while world cham-
pions Red Bulls winter woes
continued.
As the nal four-day testing
period got underway, Perez
clocked a best time of 1min
35.290sec with Valtteri Bottas
continuing Williams early
promise with the second-best
time.
Kimi Raikkonen in a Ferrari,
Mercedes Nico Rosberg,
Adrian Sutil in a Sauber and
promising McLaren driver Ke-
vin Magnussen lled out the
top six.
We really needed a good day
to start this week and today we
had it, said Perez after com-
pleting a marathon 105 laps.
AFP
Perez fastest
At New Delhi
Basketball: National championship,
Thyagaraj Indoor Stadium, Shri
Ganganath Marg, INA Colony, 8 a.m.
Cricket: Vijay Hazare North Zone
one-day league, Delhi v Punjab (Kotla);
Haryana v Himachal Pradesh (Jamia),
J&K v Services (Palam), 9 a.m.
Golf: SAIL Open, nal day, Delhi
Golf Club, Zakir Hussain Marg, 9 a.m.
ENGAGEMENTS
NEW DELHI: Rashid Khansaw the
silver lining even in a thunder-
stormthat blew away his over-
night four-stroke lead and
forced suspension of play dur-
ing the third round of the
$300,000 SAIL-SBI Open golf
championship at the Delhi Golf
Club course here on Friday.
The leading group could only
complete seven holes during
which Rashid dropped a shot
on the fth hole to slip to 13-
under. Sri Lankas Mithun Per-
era birded thrice in eight holes
to join the Indian in the lead.
Both professionals are looking
for their maiden Asian Tour
title.
The third round will resume
at 7.30 a.m. followed by the
fourth round.
Should the rain stay away
and the course is found play-
able on Saturday, Rashid will
have to play 29 holes, one more
than Perera. But Rashid was
not complaining.
I think the rain came at the
right time. I was one-over and
the day wasnt going my way. A
lot of play left tomorrow. Im
hoping for a good day.
Perera, who birdied the rst,
second and sixth holes, was no
less optimistic.
Imwaiting to win a title on
the Asian Tour. Hopefully, it
will be tomorrow.
Its exciting but the key is to
keep under par. Ive got to play
good again. Hopefully I can
have a good start.
Defending champion Anir-
ban Lahiri, looking to become
the rst professional on the
Tour to wina title for three sea-
sons in succession, sank four
birdies - on the rst, third, fth
and eighth holes. However, he
was set a drop a shot on the
ninth where he missed a short
par-putt before the siren sig-
nalled the suspension of play.
Following the impending bo-
gey, Lahiri will be two strokes
behind the leaders.
Lahiri stayed positive. Imin
a good spot. It will be important
to conserve mental energy as
you have to focus so hard
around here. Imglad Implay-
ing with Mithun (Perera) as we
are great friends. We are joking
and kidding around, its a very
relaxed atmosphere out there.
Itll be good for the two of us.
Talking about Perera, Lahiri
said, Everything he touches
now seems to turn to gold. Hes
won the last three events in In-
dia. Hes on a juggernaut now.
The challenge will be on Siddi-
kur and me to pressure them. If
we can do that, it will be
interesting.
Third round scores: -13 - Mithun
Perera (Sri) through 8 holes, Rashid
Khan through 7 holes; -12 - Anirban
Lahiri through 8 holes, Siddikur Rah-
man (Ban) through 7 holes; -11 - Mar-
tin Rominger (Sui) through 8 holes; -10
- S.S.P Chowrasia through 9 holes; -9 -
Shamim Khan through 9 holes, Scott
Barr (Aus) through 9 holes; -8 Rikard
Karlberg (Swe) through 15 holes, An-
ura Rohana (Sri) through 12 holes,
Javi Colomo (Esp) through 9 holes,
Akinori Tani (Jpn) through 9 holes,
Steve Lewton (Eng) through 9 holes
and Unho Park (Aus) through 7 holes.
GOLF
Perera catches up with Rashid
Special Correspondent
KOLKATA: Mizoram halted the
winning run of Maharashtra
with a 2-0 victory in a Group A
league match of the 68th Na-
tional football championship
for the Santosh Trophy at Sili-
guri on Friday. Lalnunmawia
and Lalsakzuala, two rst half
substitutes, found the target
once each in the second session
to ensure full points for the
North-East side.
Maharashtra which had
moved to the top of group
standings winning its previous
two outings against Uttarak-
hand (3-2) and defending
champion Services (1-0), failed
to keep up the momentum
against Mizoram. The rst half
ended barrenfollowing a scrap-
py encounter as both teams
failed to nd the rhythm.
Mizoramcame back strongly
after the break and went ahead
in the 68th minute when Lal-
nunmawia found the Maha-
rashtra net back-heeling a cross
fromLalsakzuala.
Mizroam continued the
pressure looking to build onthe
lead and scored the second goal
in the 84th minute when Lal-
sakzuala shot home making the
most of a cross from Lalbiak-
hlua.
Mizoram now has six points
fromtwo wins and joined Mah-
arashtra, which has six points
fromthree matches, on the top
of the group league table.
Services posts win
Defending champion Servic-
es downed Uttarakhand by
three second-half goals to pick
up its rst win of the nal
phase. Jotin Singh, Arjun Tudu
and P.S. Sumesh scored for Ser-
vices. Services tallied three
points fromtwo matches while
Uttarakhand lost its third suc-
cessive match.
The results: Group-A: Mizoram 2
(Lalnunmawia 68, Lalsakzuala 84) bt
Maharashtra 0. Services 3 (Jotin
Singh 55, Arjun Tudu 66, P.S. Sumesh
70-pen) bt Uttarakhand 0.
Mizoram halts
Maharashtras run
Principal Correspondent
Delhi downs Kerala
LUCKNOW: Manish Sharma,
Shyambir, Abhishek, Praveen
Kumar scored a goal apiece as
Delhi, which had lost to
Vidarbha on Thursday,
defeated Kerala 4-1 in its
second Pool D match of the B
division National hockey
championship at the Dhyan
Chand Stadiumhere on
Friday.
The results:
Pool C: Puducherry 3 (N.
Sellamuthu, V. Karthikeyan, N.
Kamalakannan) bt Mizoram 1 (M.S.
Dawngliana); Hockey Gangpur-
Odisha 5 (Sashi Toppo, William
Xalxo, Bruno Hedrino Lugun, Ashish
Anmol Minz, Dillip Kerketta) bt Bengal
1 (Sunil Shah); Assam 2 (Mohammad
Salman Khan 2) drew with Tripura 2
(Mohammad Suhail, Mohammad
Khalil).
Pool D: Chhattisgarh 3 (Prince
Yadav, Shaheed Shaikh, Amulya
Minj) bt Vidarbha Hockey Association
1 (Mohammad Ajaz Qureshi); Delhi 4
(Manish Sharma, Shyambir,
Abhishek, Praveen Kumar) bt Kerala
1 (Sudheeh P.); Hockey Maharashtra
4 (Manpreet Singh, Navneet
Swarnkar, Kunal Jagdale, Nitin
Kamble) bt Central Reserve Police
Force 1 (Amaritvir Singh).
Jamia Millia rallies well
GWALIOR: Jamia Millia Islamia
(Delhi) rallied to beat D.B. Jain
College (Chennai) 2-1 in the
21st Nehru Champion
Colleges hockey tournament
here.
The results: Jamia Millia Islamia 2
(Deepak, Nitish) bt D.B. Jain College,
Chennai 1 (D. Surendar); Lyallpur
Khalsa College, Jalandhar, 8
(Gaganpreet Singh 3, Talwinder
Singh 2, Parvinder Singh, Major
Singh, Manjinder Singh) bt Municipal
College, Rourkela, 0.
REGIONAL ROUND-UP
MADRID: Belgian goalkeeper
Thibaut Courtois has said he is
wanted by both Atletico Ma-
drid and Chelsea, but has not
yet made a decision on where
he will play next season.
The 21-year-old is yet to play
a game for parent club Chelsea
as he has spent the last three
seasons on loan at Atletico.
However, Courtois has con-
sistently stated that he will not
gobacktoJose Mourinhos side
unless he is guaranteed rst
team football and with Petr
Cech enjoying a return to his
best formthis season, Courtois
would be open to another year
in the Spanish capital.
My agent handles that and
tells me what is important. At-
letico want me to stay and
Chelsea to return. We need to
see where I feel best, although I
am still not sure and therefore
have not taken a decision, he
told Spanish sports daily AS.
Rumours
Rumours in Spain have also
suggested that Real Madrid
could hijack any attempt by At-
letico to sign the player on a
permanent basis. AFP
Chelsea wants
me to return,
says Courtois
CAPE TOWN: Australian captain
Michael Clarke on Friday crit-
icised David Warner over com-
ments that earned the opening
batsman a ne from Interna-
tional Cricket Council match
referee Roshan Mahanama.
Warner was ned 15 per cent
of his match fee for inappro-
priate comments whenhe sug-
gested South African
wicketkeeper A.B. de Villiers
might have illegally altered the
condition of the ball to induce
reverse swing during South
Africas 231-run win in the sec-
ond Test at Port Elizabeth.
Speaking on the eve of the
decisive third Test starting at
Newlands on Saturday, Clarke
said the Australians had dealt
with the issue in house, in addi-
tion to Warner being ned by
the ICC.
Ive made it very clear to
David how disappointed I was,
and am, with his comments,
said Clarke.
At the appropriate time Ill
certainly catch up with (South
African captain) Graeme
(Smith) and make it clear how I
feel about it.
Clarke said the issue had
beendealt with. Now its about
playing cricket, he said.
Once we step on the eld Ill
back my teammates 100 per
cent. Daveys no different.
Hes a tough bugger, theres
no doubt about it, and hell love
the challenge he faces when he
walks out onto that ground.
Ive read and heard a num-
ber of the South Africans say
how disappointed they were
with him and I think hes as-
suming hes going to cop a bit of
stick on the eld. But thats no
different, he actually enjoys
that.
Smith earlier made no secret
of his annoyance at Warners
comments.
Hes becoming a bit of rent-
a-quote, said the South Afri-
can captain. My thoughts are
pretty strong and Ill probably
say something later but at the
moment my focus is on prepar-
ing for this game.
As the coach (Russell Dom-
ingo) said, it adds a bit of extra
motivation.
It is just sad that it took the
gloss off an extremely good win
and an extremely good spell of
fast bowling.
Both captains said they were
looking forward to a contest
which has attracted huge inter-
est. AFP
Clarke disappointed with Warner