Sports India

The star power of the Western & Southern Financial Group Women’s Open took another hit Sunday when third-seeded Daniela Hantuchova withdrew from the tournament with a right foot injury.

Hantuchova, ranked No. 17 in the world and the co-star of a new worldwide TV commercial for Tour sponsor Sony Ericsson, was injured while playing in the Fed Cup last week for Slovakia.

“I am very disappointed about not being able to come to Cincinnati after winning the Fed Cup match in Slovakia last week,” Hantuchova said in a release. “… I was looking forward to Cincinnati, as it is one of my favorite American cities.”

Hantuchova was a semifinalist in Cincinnati last year. The announcement comes one day after tournament officials learned that two of the event’s top names - Serena Williams and Anastasia Myskina - will face each other in the first round. Myskina and No. 8 Patty Schnyder are the only top 20 players left.

No. 5 seed Jelena Jankovic will take Hantuchova’s singles spot in the draw and could benefit from the new position.

Instead of playing 40th-ranked Sania Mirza in the first round, she’ll take on No. 101 Olga Savchuk. Mirza will play a qualifier. A “lucky loser” - the highest-ranked qualifier to lose in today’s final-round qualifying matches - will gain entrance into the main draw.

Tournament officials also announced Sunday that American Mashona Washington withdrew from the tournament because of a left knee injury, also sustained during Fed Cup play.

STAGE FRIGHT: Beating a player nearly 400 points better in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings wasn’t the thing that worried 17-year-old American Julia Cohen. It was playing in the 10,500-seat Center Court that got to her nerves.

“I’ve never played in such a big stadium, so I was nervous,” Cohen said. “But I tried not to look around and just focus on the court.”

Cohen, a high school senior from Philadelphia, unseated second-seeded qualifier Milagros Sequera 6-2, 6-0 Sunday in the second round of qualifying.

Cohen, the seventh-ranked juniors player in the world by the ITF, is ranked No. 521 on the WTA Tour.

Sequera is ranked No. 138.

Cohen advances to play American Abigail Spears today at 11 a.m. for one of four spots in this week’s main draw.

Despite Cohen’s awe at the stadium’s size, she said she’s used to playing higher ranked players. She’s twice played qualifiers at the Philadelphia Tier II event and this year was a Wimbledon junior doubles quarterfinalist.

She tours with her brother Josh Cohen, a University of Miami tennis player. “It’s so much fun for me to tour with my brother,” Cohen said. “He can teach me things because he’s been through this, too.”

OPPONENTS, TEAMMATES: Despite a crowd in her favor, former Thomas E. Price Metropolitan Amateur champion Tetiana Luzhanska dropped her second round qualifying match to Chin-Wei Chan 7-5, 2-6, 5-7 Sunday.

But fans of the Ukrainian-born player (whose mother has lived in the area) will get another chance to see her this week.

Luzhanska will team with Chan in the doubles main draw. The duo will face Carly Gullickson and Abigail Spears in the first round.

MORE CROWDS: A small crowd again gathered to watch Serena Williams and await her autograph during her morning and afternoon practice sessions, but Williams’ opponent Tuesday also had a few excited fans during the early practice.

Second-seeded Anastasia Myskina hit practice shots on the court next to Williams Sunday morning, drawing “Oh, it’s Myskina!” murmurs from those who peeked around the corner from the Williams’ camp.

FEELING HOT, HOT, HOT: The WTA’s extreme weather rule was in effect under Sunday’s blazing sun at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. That rule states that if a tournament’s heat stress monitor meets 82 degrees (or if the outdoor temperature is 90 degrees) a 10-minute break will be allowed between the second and third sets of a match, if requested by a player.

Mahesh Bhupathi will tell you that contrary to popular opinion, celebrity representation is not always a case of Jerry Maguire’s “show me the money".

It takes a lot to understand the athletes’ needs and market them properly.

After spending 10 years in the circuit, Mahesh Bhupathi is now combining his business and tennis skills to hunt for India’s future tennis stars.

Tennis academy

Bhupathi has 10 grand slam titles to his credit and he may not have had the best of facilities when he picked up his first tennis racquet, but he is trying to change all that for other kids.

The Mahesh Bhupathi Tennis Academy in Gurgaon’s Palm Greens is the sixth such initiative in the country and the parents don’t mind shelling out a fortune if it means their kids can follow in Mahesh’s footsteps.

“We spend about Rs 6,000-7,000 a month and then there are additional expenses on accessories. If he shows promise, we don’t mind spending more on him,” says a parent.

“Starting academies across the country has been at the back of my mind for a while. May be I could have done it after my retirement, but then I got Gaurav Natekar. A lot of kids are taking to the game, picking up the racquet, but not learning the right way. So I decided to get into it and give them the basics,” says Bhupathi.

Managing careers

This is not Mahesh’s only contribution to Indian sports. Four years back, he started a company called Globosport with the idea of managing the careers of budding sports professionals.

Today his client list includes names like Sania Mirza, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Narain Karthikeyan and Zaheer Khan.

Mahesh has also gone the Amritraj way by venturing into the entertainment business.

Globosport has already signed on stars like Saif Ali Khan, Soha Ali Khan, Kunal Kapoor and is now looking to veer into film production, as Bollywood brings big bucks.

“We are into organising events, celebrity management. Bollywood is a big part of our business. We are also building infrastructure like squash and tennis courts,” says Bhupathi.

Perhaps Bhupathi’s goodwill on court has also led to a business deal off it.

No wonder then that Martina Hingis will be one of the prime attractions for the Globosport organised Sunfeast Open in September this year.

But for all his business acumen, Bhupathi is a tennis player first. And so more than anything else, he wants to give an Olympic gold one last shot in Beijing. That will involve a partnership of a different kind with old pal, Leander Paes.

Sania Mirza remained steady at 40th place in the lastest WTA rankings despite opting to take rest in the week following Wimbledon Grand Slam.
Besides, the Indian, who has 501.50 points in her kitty, all the top 50 players maintained their positions on the chart released.

Sania will be seen in action among some top players in USD 175,000 Cincinnati Open WTA tour event at Ohia, USA beginning.

Sania will play a lucky loser in her singles opener, it was emerged after the draws were updated.

US-based Indian Shikha Uberoi slipped five places to 168 with 162 points to her credit. Delhi-girl Ankita Bhambri was the third highest ranked Indian at 347th with 55.25 points.

Sania also hung on to her 33rd place in the doubles while Shikha is placed 143rd.

All top Indian men including, Rohan Bopanna, Karan Rastogi and Prakash Amritraj recorded downslide with Bopanna going down 13 places to 293rd while Rastogi and Amritraj falling five places each to 339 and 344.

In the doubles, both Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi maintained their 14th and 24th ranks respectively.

Bopanna followed at 163rd after losing three places while Amritraj lost five places to be 221st.

The Cricket Regulatory Board has decided to introduce 20:20 cricket in India, reports CNBC-TV18.

But how different is this format of the game? After months of resistance the BCCI has finally given in to pressure from the ICC and agreed on playing 20:20 cricket in the country .

Fans will get to see the first domestic 20-20 match in April next year. While some believe this shortest version of the game will add speed and excitement, for some it’s just not cricket.

A 20:20 match lasts for just three hours. The duration of each innings is 75 minutes where fielding restrictions apply for the first 6 overs. Each bowler can bowl a maximum of four overs.

Each side must face five overs for the match to be counted. The Duckworth-Lewis method shall be applied in interrupted matches. A no-ball will be penalized by a free-hit next ball and a batsman cannot be out from a free-hit delivery unless he is run out.

With big hitters like Dhoni and Sehwag, 20:20 might just turn out to be the blockbuster that brings in fans to watch domestic matches in India. Most test playing nations that have already taken to this format have seen it gain popularity. So can 20:20 get the Indian cricket fan back to the deserted stadiums?

The five-match ODI series loss against West Indies left India with dented pride, admitted wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. But he was quick to add that the invaluable experience would come in handy when the team returns to the Caribbean for the World Cup next year.

“Of course it was very disappointing to lose the one-day series. Actually we heard so much about the wickets there — that it’s very fast and bouncy with lot of help for the pacers. But once we landed there, it turned out to be a complete different story. The pitches were slow, ball didn’t come on to the bat and the batsmen could not play their shot. It was in fact slower than some of the pitches in India. However, I still feel that it was a great experience, especially considering that we will be playing World Cup there next year. I think the series would help us then and we are hoping for the best,’’ he told reporters on Monday. Asked if he would like to open the innings in the one dayers, the stumper said that he would go by whatever the think-tank decides.

“Well, the batting order is something the management decides. Now you have Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag as openers. I mean, I think this is something for the captain and the entire management to decide. And if you ask about me, I’m comfortable everywhere,” he said.

Equally flamboyant behind and in front of the wickets, Dhoni also seemed quite at ease with his commercials. “I think it’s quite good and not very hectic. The shooting is generally for about two or three hours and you can relax. It’s a small group as you shoot for one-and-a-half or two minutes and you have time for yourself,’’ he added.

Jyoti Randhawa was placed at a commendable tied tenth after playing some terrific golf to card three-under 68 in the first round of Barclay`s Scottish Open.

Randhawa`s show gave the few Indian fans, who turned up at this lovely but remotely located Loch Lomond Golf Club, something to feel good on a lovely sunny day.

The other two Indians had a mixed day with Jeev Milkha Singh suffering a mid-round lapse with three successive bogeys to finish at one-under and in tied 37th place.

He was two-under with birdies on 13th and 14th before hitting a putting-block as it were and dropped three shots in a row before recovering with two birdies on his second nine.

Shiv Kapur, one of the only three Indians to have assured himself a start in next week`s prestigious British Open, looked fine at two-under after 15th before finishing with bogeys on 16th and 18th and an over-par card at one-over 72 at the par-71 course.

There is still hope of a British Open berth for Randhawa and Jeev as one place is yet to be decided. The top non-exempt finisher gets a berth into the open next week.

Jeev has twice missed the berth narrowly this season, once at Mizuno Open in Japan and then last week in European Open, where he was tied fourth and needed a birdie on last hole to make it, but made only a par.

“Never mind, I still have a chance,” said Jeev, who won Volvo China Open in April.

Indian golfers failed to make any significant headway in the latest official world rankings with three of them continuing to languish below the 150 mark.

Current leader on the Asian Tour’s order of merit, Jeev Milkha Singh suffered a minor slide in his ranking as he lost four places to 148th after failing to make the cut at the Barclay’s Scottish Open at Loch Lomond last week.

The Chandigarh golfer had earlier failed to qualify for the open championship starting at Royal Liverpool Golf Club on Thursday.

Jeev had enjoyed a massive 18 spot jump in the rankings last week after an excellent tied fourth finish at the Smurfit European Open in Ireland.

Jyoti Randhawa has the second highest ranking among Indians even as he dropped two places to 161st after missing out on the weekend action at loch Lomond.

Shiv Kapur, who finished tied 60th at the Scottish Open and would be the only Indian representative at the open championship, climbed one spot to 175th.

Arjun Atwal, who finished tied for 61st place at the John Deere Classic in Illinois, USA, continued his free-fall in rankings losing seven places to 184th. He had lost nine spots the previous week.

Swedish golfer of Indian origin, Daniel Chopra is placed 171st.

At the top end of the charts, Tiger Woods heads into the open as the undisputed number one followed by compatriot Phil Mickelson and Fijian Vijay Singh. South African Retief Goosen and American Jim Furyk round off the top five.

The Cricket Board has recommended the name of Indian captain Rahul Dravid for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the country’s highest sporting honour, for the year 2005-06.

The BCCI has also put forward the names of paceman Irfan Pathan and left-hand batsman Yuvraj Singh for the Arjuna Award for the same year, Secretary Niranjan Shah said today.

The Khel Ratna was started in 1991 and Sachin Tendulkar is the only cricketer so far to have received the honour (1997-98).

Dravid, who took over captaincy from Sourav Ganguly last year, is currently regarded as one of the finest batsmen and has been in the top three in the ICC Test batting rankings for quite some time.

Pathan has emerged as India’s pace spearhead and had a creditable performance in the period under review while Yuvraj has also been one of the consistent performers for the Indian team, particularly in the shorter version of the game.

The President confers the awards at a glittering function at Rashtrapati Bhawan on August 29 every year. The award carries a scroll of honour and a purse of Rs 5 lakhs.

Chess Grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand was the first recipient of the prestigious award. Geet Sethi, Karnam Malleswari, Dhanraj Pillay, Pullela Gopichand, Anju Bobby George and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore are among the top sportspersons who have received the honour.

Sourav Ganguly failed to make amends for his first innings flop, managing just two runs in the second essay for Northamptonshire, which is staring at defeat in a four-day division two county cricket championship match against Surrey.

Northants needed a big hearted display from its top-order batsmen after it was set a daunting target of 453, but none of the batsmen could stand up to the task, leaving the side tottering at 97 for six in the second innings at its home ground.

Elsewhere, Dinesh Mongia met with an almost similar fate, being out for his second consecutive duck. However, he did pick up two wickets for 62 for Leicestershire against Glamorgan in another four-day match

Sourav Ganguly is desperate to get back into Team India. He has targeted the 2007 World Cup and is currently playing in the English County circuit to boost his comeback chances.

Sourav might think he is on track but his scores have failed to inspire and if he continues in the same vein, his career would be all but over in the current season itself. It would be ironic too because it was in England at Lord’s in 1996 that Ganguly scripted his fairytale century and never looked back. Life, it seems, has come full circle for the former Indian captain.

Sourav Ganguly failed to make amends for his first innings flop, managing just two in the second essay for Northamptonshire in a four-day Division Two county cricket championship match against Surrey. Ganguly (1 for 29), though, could take some consolation from the fact that he got rid of JN Batty when he appeared unstoppable at 133. The former Indian captain had scored six while taking one wicket in the first innings.

The Bengal southpaw had earlier scored 23 off 23 balls in his previous outing during the Twenty-20 Cup against Gloucestershire, helping his team win by a thumping eight-wicket margin but it has not been all roses for the former captain.

On July 11, Ganguly had a stroke-filled 29 was not good enough as Northamptonshire went down to Warwickshire by 20 runs in a Twenty20 match at Edgbaston. Leading his side’s chase of a target of 188, the former Indian captain struck five fours in his 23-ball knock that broke a sequence of low scores. Before that knock, Ganguly had made 10 and 15 in the Twenty20 matches to begin on a shaky note.

Ganguly’s finest innings so far has been 71 against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge in the C&G Trophy limited-overs match. Despite Ganguly top-scoring for his club, Northants went down by two wickets against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge in a C&G Trophy limited-overs match. Ganguly opened the innings and in trademark style hit seven fours and a six in his knock which came off 106 balls.

The sundry runs notwithstanding, Ganguly has not been at his best and its showing. The former captain, who was once famous for brilliant knocks studded with boundaries and sixes, is now a shadow of his former self. His entry into the Indian team at the moment is more difficult than ever before because of the young guns - Raina, Uthappa and Gambhir who are in good ODI form. It is also no secret that Chappell prefers young legs who can not only bat but chase every ball in the field - something which Ganguly has never really warmed up to!

There is also the Rahul Dravid factor. Just after losing the ODI series in the West Indies, Dravid had said the team might be missing Ganguly but added without battling an eyelid that having experienced players was not the only criteria for success as fielding would suffer which is a key ingredient in ODIs.

Even if Ganguly shows a bit of form, it would be extremely difficult for him to break in because India’s philosophy has changed and they has moved beyond Ganguly

Dravid, who took over the captaincy from Ganguly in October 2005, has proved his worth in testing times. Ganguly was India’s most successful captain leading his team to a record 21 Test wins. Ganguly - who supposedly can’t move his feet and hence, is vulnerable to swinging or seaming deliveries - averages 41.18 with 5,066 runs and 12 centuries in Tests.

In One-dayers, even his harshest critics have to accept that with almost 10,000 runs, an average of 40.65 and 22 centuries, he has been one of the best in the last decade. But increasingly, Ganguly’s record seems to be working against him, his mammoth scores do not sit well with his current form It would be unfair to compare Dravid’s captaincy record against Ganguly because the Bengal tiger ruled the roost for six years as opposed to the ‘the Wall’ from Karnataka who has been on the job for less than twelve months. Even then, Dravid has made a promising start in the 17 Tests he has captained India. As captain, Dravid averages 51 with the bat in Tests which include three centuries and eight half-centuries. He has led from the front as well choosing to open the innings with Sehwag against Sri Lanka and Pakistan which earned him the respect of his team.

His win-loss record as captain is quite decent as well. In 17 Tests as captain, Dravid’s India has won five, drawn eight and lost four matches. His biggest victory was of course against the West Indies which India won after a gap of 35 years. In ODIs, Dravid has captained India forty-four times, winning 25, losing 18 with one match ending without any result.

Dravid averages 44 with the bat as captain in ODIs with two centuries and fifteen half-centuries which is more than his overall average. Captaincy definitely gives Dravid a boost which is not the case with his predecessor. Ganguly’s overall average in Tests was a decent 40 which plummeted to a low 37 as captain. In ODIs the story is the same with Ganguly’s average falling by two points to 38 against an overall average of 40 when he was not leading India.

Big scores and great average do not always mean a comeback.

It depends upon several factors - the role of a player, his contribution to the team against the present players, fitness and attitude. Chappell & Co. feel Ganguly does not come out on top when these scales are applied which makes the former captain’s comeback chances almost impossible