North-East Frontier Railway beat East Central Railway

Patna, February 8, 2012: North-East Frontier Railway (NFR), Guwahati beat hosts East Central Railway (ECR) 1-0 in the group ‘D’ match of the 68th All India railway football championship at Moinul Haq Stadium here on Wednesday.

The first half ended without score.

Striker Sushant Mazumdar of NFR netted the match winner in the 70th minute.

Earlier, in the first match, Eastern Railway, Kolkata played out a goalless draw East Costs Railway, Bhubaneswar.

Photo caption: Eastern Railway and East Coast Railway players battle for the ball during their match in Patna on February 8, 2012.

Photo: Aftab Alam Siddiqui

North-East Frontier Railway crush North Western Railway

Patna, February 7, 2012: North-East Frontier Railway (NFR) thrashed North Western Railway (NWR) 4-0 in a cluster D match of the All India Railway Football Championship at the Moinul Haq Stadium here on Tuesday.

The match began on fast pace but remained confined to midfield as both the teams failed to make cohesive and well-planned moves on each other’s citadel. The first half ended goalless.

In the second half, NFR scored their first goal through Rabha in the 58th minute. NFR scored three more goals in the last 15 minutes of the match. In the process, Mazumdar struck a brilliant hat-trick. He netted the three-in-a-row, in the 76th, 80^th and 87th minutes.

Earlier, East Coast Railway (ECoR) and East Central Railway (ECR) played out a goalless draw. 

Photo caption: The match between East Coast Railway and East Central Railway in progress in Patna on February 7, 2012.

Photo: Aftab Alam Siddiqui

East Coast Railway trounce North Western Railway

PATNA, February 6, 2012: East Coast Railway (ECoR), Bhubaneshwar, trounced North Western Railway (NWR) 8-0 in the 68th All India Railway Football Championships at the Moinul Haq Stadium here on Monday.

In another match Eastern Railway held North-East Frontier Railway to a goalless draw.

In the first match, striker Sivram Sandil netted two important goals for EcoR. Bijay Baral opened the account for EcoR in the 22nd minute. ECoR opened the floodgates in the 28^th minute through Striker Sheikh Mustakim.

In the 36th min, left-winger Salkhan Soren scored the third goal. Striker Sivram Sandil took the tally to 4-0 in the 45th minute.

In the second half, EcoR scored four more goals. Medio Hemanta Das made it 5-0 in the 50^th minute. Blecy Lakra (69^th), Sandil (71^st) and substitute Maheswar Das (86^th) minutes completed tally (8-0).

Photo caption: Eastern Railway and North-East Frontier Railway players in action during their match in Patna on February 7, 2012.

Photo: Aftab Alam Siddiqui

ECR prove too good for NWR

Patna, February 5, 2012: Hosts East Central Railway (ECR), Hajipur, drubbed North West Railway (NWR), Jaipur, 3-0 in the inaugural group ‘D’ match of the 68th All India Railway football championships at Moinul Haq Stadium, here on Sunday.

ECR struck in the 30th minute through Sanjay Kumar and ended the first half with 1-0 lead.

Man Mohan Singh made it 2-0 in the 46th minute while Ranjan Ghosh increased the tally in the 88th minute (3-0).

Earlier, ECR general manager Varun Bharthuar and president of ECR, Mahila Kalyan Sangathan, Anita Bharthuar jointly inaugurated the tournament by releasing balloons. A hosts of Railway officials were present in the opening function.

Photo caption: ECR and NWR players in action during their match (top); ECR general manager Varun Bharthuar being introduced to players (middle) and Varun Bharthuar and Mrs Bharthuar inaugurating the All India Railway  football tournament in Patna on February 5, 2012.

Photo: Aftab Alam Siddiqui 

Daredevils happy with Jayawardene, Russell & Bracewell in their fold

BANGALORE, February 4, 2012: Delhi Daredevils said the addition of Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene and young all-rounders Andre Russell (West Indies) and Doug Bracewell (New Zealand) would help the team stay competitive throughout the coming Indian Premier League season.

“We are pleased with the acquisitions at the Player Auction here today and are confident we can be competitive through the season,” said Team Mentor TA Sekar. “Going into the auction, we were very clear that we would strengthen our middle-order batting and look for allrounders. We are happy to have found what we targeted.”

He said Jayawardene would be a source of strength for the Delhi Daredevils middle-order. “There can be no doubt that Mahela will make a difference to the team with his vast experience and his approach,” he said. “We are delighted that we could add a true blue professional of his stature to our roster.”

In 106 T20 matches, Jayawardene has scored 2631 runs with two centuries and 17 half-centuries. His strike-rate has been 136.81 runs. With 1136 runs in 49 IPL matches, he has been among the most prolific batsmen in the tournament since its inception in 2008.  He has had a stellar career for Sri Lanka, playing 128 Tests, 354 one-day internationals and 35 T20 internationals.

Sekar said that in Russell and Bracewell the Delhi Daredevils found the quality all-rounders it was looking for. “We wanted players who could bat explosively in the death overs and give the team four effective overs. We believe Andre and Doug are exciting talent and will live up to our expectations,” he said of the young all-rounders.

The 23-year-old Jamaican Russell has played one Test, 14 one-day internationals and five T20 internationals for the West Indies while Bracewell, 21, has played four Tests, three ODIs and two T20 internationals for New Zealand.

The addition of Kevin Pietersen to the side this season, on transfer from Deccan Chargers, and the recruitment of some exciting Indian talent like Pawan Negi, Manprit Juneja, Kuldeep Raval and Punit Bisht are all steps towards ensuring that Delhi Daredevils goes the distance in the coming IPL season,” Sekar said. “We have high quality fast bowling and efficient spinners and are confident that we have the combination we have been wanting.”

The team (as of February 4):

Indian players: Virender Sehwag (captain), Varun Aaron, Ajit Agarkar, Punit Bisht, Robin Bist, Unmukt Chand, Ashoke Dinda, Manprit Juneja, Vikas Mishra, Yogesh Nagar, Prashant Naik, Shahbaz Nadeem, Pawan Negi, Naman Ojha, Irfan Pathan, Venugopal Rao, Kuldeep Raval, Aavishkar Salvi, Tejaswi Yadav and Umesh Yadav.

Overseas players: Travis Birt, Doug Bracewell, Aaron Finch, James Hopes, Colin Ingram, Mahela Jayawardene, Morne Morkel, Kevin Pietersen, Andre Russell, David Warner and Roelof van der Merwe. 

Press release

. 

Army XI clinch Bihar Cup

Patna, January 29, 2012: Army XI, Kolkata beat Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) by a solitary first half goal to clinch the first All India Football Tournament for Bihar Cup at the Moinul Haq Stadium here.

Army XI striker Thyagarajan netted the all-important goal in the 24th minute. Earlier he wasted an easy chance in the 8th minute.

With this win, Army XI got the first prize of Rs 1 lakh and the winners' trophy.

The game began on fast pace as both the teams mounted pressure on rival citadels using their flanks. KSEB frittered away a number of scoring chances in either half of the match with Md Rasid fumbling an easy shot at the rival goal from close range in the very third minute of an enthralling final.

Another KSEB player Bineesh miffed another chance in the 33th minute, while Rakesh and Sugun Kumar were also guilty of missing opportunities in the first five minutes of the second half to revive the hopes of the Kerala team.

KSEB collected a cash prize of Rs 50,000 and runners-up trophy. Bihar Tourism Minister Sunil Kumar Pintu and Animal Resources and Fisheries Minister Girraj Singh gave away the prizes to the winners and runners up. Food and Consumer Protection Minister Shyam Rajak felicitated three former Bihar players including former Indian team captain and Arjuna awardee C Prasad, Badri Prasad Yadav and Prem Kumar on the occasion. 

Both the semifinalists - Tata Football Academy (TFA), Jamshedpur, and Punjab Police, Jalandhar got cash prizes of Rs. 25000 each. TFA also earned Rs 10,000 for fair play award. 

Photo caption: Top: Former Indian football team captain C Prasad and former Bihar player Badri Prasad Yadav were felicitated during the prize-distribution function of the Bihar Cup in Patna on January 29, 2012.

Top 2 to bottom: Army XI players pose for photographs with the Bihar Cup in Patna on January 29, 2012.

Photo: Adftab Alam Siddiqui

Amalraj, Poulami crowned champs in National TT

LUCKNOW, JANUARY 29: It was a fantastic and a well-deserved maiden title triumph for Petroleum Sports Promotion Board’s A. Amalraj over top-seed and reigning singles champion Achanta Sharath Kamal in the final of the 73rd Senior National and Inter-State Table Tennis Championships. But it also turned out to be a hugely controversial one for the new champion who, throwing all playing norms and discipline out of the window,  chose to celebrate his victory by first, jumping on to the table and then threw his racquet pumping his arms.

This warranted the umpire show him the yellow card, yet Amalraj without giving any heed or respect to the umpire’s reaction, went around the centre-court merrily. This forced the umpire pull out the red card. As if this was not enough, he didn’t shake hand with Sharath or the umpire until Amalraj’s coach S. Raman reminded him.

Now he stands to lose 25 per cent of his prize money, which is Rs 2.1 lakh. The punishment has been recommended to the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) by competition manager, N. Ganeshan.

Indeed, this was the only aberration in an otherwise thrilling final which had all the ingredients. Amalraj, thus dethroned the six-time national champion Sharath, beating 4-2 (11-8, 11-8, 12-10, 9-11, 7-11, 11-8). 

Amalraj, who had beaten Sharath in the inter-institutional championships for the title earlier this season, began not only confidently but showed his early aggressive intent.

The best thing about Amalraj was the never-say-die attitude. Every time he fell behind Sharath, he staged excellent comeback to outsmart his senior rival. Amalraj matched Sharath shot for shot and never was afraid to play his attacking game. He was down 6-8 in both the first and second games and showing glimpses of recovery took a comfortable lead at 2-0. In the third, Sharath got a lucky point to be 9-all and could have turned it around. But Amalraj was playing his best game and shut out the challenge at 12-10.

When somebody is up 3-0 the opponent almost always throws in the towel, but Sharath’s remarkable recovery in the next two games should have sent some warning singles to Amalraj because he had been a witness to what happened at the Kolkata nationals where Sharath clinched the title after being down 0-3 and 4-7 against Soumyadeep Roy.

Amalraj became cautious in the sixth game and points changed hands as quickly as the blistering shots the two had sent down. At 7-7, Amalraj picked up the momentum when Sharath sent the ball three times before managing to take a point to go 8-10. That was all he could manage as Amalraj’s close-to-the-net serve could not be returned across and that triggered the celebration for Amalraj.

“I had beaten Sharath before in the inter-institutional and my confidence was high. I wanted to continue in the same vein. My coach (S Raman) also motivated a lot today. My national level goal has been achieved and I now want to concentrate on even bigger goal. I am off the Germany to train for the Asian and world championships,” said Commonwealth doubles gold medallist.  

Asked for his reaction on the drama that followed his win, Amalraj said: “It was not intentional and I did it in excitement. Reminded about the fine, he said: “I don’t mind losing a portion of the money,” said the 25-year-old.

Earlier in the women’s final, Shamini was not in her elements and Poulami exploited it to the hilt winning 4-0 (11-9, 11-4, 11-8, 11-7). She was both attacking and countering well to lead from beginning to the end in spite of Shamini showing the gumption to stage a comeback in the third game. Shamini was leading 8-2 in the game, but a timely time-out suggestion by husband and coach Soumyadeep Roy did a good turn for Poulami. Not only did she equal the score at 8-8, but went on to win the next two games without any trouble.

Poulami attributed her seventh title to hard work and husband’s support. “My only aim before the final was to play well, knowing Shamini’s strength. I did exactly that and I am thankful to god I was able to regain the title which I lost to Shamini last year.”

Results

Men’s singles (final): Amal Raj A  (PSPB) bt Sharath Kamal (PSPB) (4-2) 11-8, 11-8, 12-10, 9-11, 7-11, 11-8; Semi-finals: Sharath Kamal (PSPB) bt Soumayajit Ghosh (NB) (4-1) 11-8, 8-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-6; Amal Raj A (PSPB) bt Subhajit Saha (PSPB) (4-0) 11-7, 11-4, 11-7, 11-8.

Doubles (final): Sanil Shetty-Amal Raj (PSPB) bt Harmit Desai-Devesh Karia (Guj) (3-2) 12-10, 8-11, 10-11, 11-6, 12-10.

Women’s singles (final): Poulami Ghatak (PSPB) bt Shamini K (PSPB) (4-0) 11-9, 11-4, 11-8, 11-7; Semi-finals: Poulami Ghatak (PSPB) bt Ankita Das (NB) (4-3) 11-3, 9-11, 11-9, 4-11, 10-12, 11-8, 11-8; Shamini K (PSPB) bt Mouma Das (PSPB) (4-1) 11-9, 11-4, 12-10, 13-15, 11-6.

Doubles (final): Shamini K-Mousami Paul (PSPB) bt Anindita Chakraborty-Pallavi Kundu (WB) (3-1) 5-11, 11-5, 11-6, 12-10.

Press release