Couldn't connect, we lost our players during Indian Premier League: Coach

The Indian team arrived in London two weeks ago, punch drunk on success and the confidence that comes with it. Riding on 39 days of manic Indian Premier League action, they were the men in form, the side that had figured this format out. So what went wrong for Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his team? Bad form? Bad planning? Bad luck?

Coach Gary Kirsten had one answer today: the IPL.

He was quite clear that the scheduling of the IPL, squeezed in between the New Zealand tour and the world Twenty20 championships, had a lot to do with the team’s disappointing showing. “We came into a tournament without being able to connect with the players at all. We got two days with the players,” Kirsten said this evening.

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Delhi girl Tanya, 15, makes history on a Texas golf course

In a sport proud of its “Stay Quiet” placards, there is not much scope for making too much noise. But then Tanya Wadhwa anyway doesn’t quite fit into the outspoken, brash mould of India’s new, young sports stars. It’s the teenager’s strides on the golf course that are making people sit up take notice.

Last week, Tanya trumped a field of professionals, and the pressures of a last-hole playoff-like situation to chalk up the biggest win of her cub career. Tanya sank a last-hole birdie, as playing partner Adrienne McDonald missed hers, to claim the Texas Women’s Open, an event on the Northern Texas PGA, a section of the PGA of America. The 15-year-old is the youngest winner in the history of the tournament.

She doesn’t sound much like it though, her talk as much of a pro as her game. “I knew that if I just focus on one shot at a time, and not the outcome, I would be fine. In situations like that you can’t get ahead of yourself. You just have to stay in the moment and give your 100 per cent on every shot,” she says, describing that last hole in an email interview.

But she has always been a child prodigy. Having begun with chasing birdies in the Delhi Golf Club shadows, she won herself a scholarship to sunny stateside at the rather tender age of eight. She started at the David Lead better Academy in Texas, that her father Ravi had just looked up on the internet, her family moving along with her, but has now changed base to Florida.

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Malaysia probes charge its players tanked India match

Unnamed Malaysian hockey players have been accused by their own governing body of fixing a match against India in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup at Ipoh last month.

The Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) has lodged a police complaint after Malay Mail published a report that several players had placed online bets on Malaysia losing the last round-robin game against India on May 17. India won the match 2-1 on their way to the final of the tournament where they lost to Argentina. Since October 2003, India have played Malaysia ten times, winning seven matches and drawing one.

The Malay Mail report has also been taken note of by the International Hockey Federation (FIH).

The Indians have strongly denied any involvement of their players in the alleged match fixing episode. Mohammad Aslam, convenor of the Indian Olympic Association ad-hoc committee running Indian hockey, said it was Malaysia’s internal matter.

“As far as we are concerned, neither our players nor our officials are involved. Our boys won the game playing good hockey. The allegations are against the Malaysian players and their federation has ordered a probe,” Aslam told The Indian Express from Hyderabad where India is preparing for the Asia Cup junior hockey tournament.

Indian coach A K Bansal said he felt the Malaysians had “played their hearts out” in the match. “From what I recall, the body language of the Malaysian players didn’t indicate that they were playing to lose the match. We dominated the proceedings and were leading 2-0 before conceding a late penalty-corner goal when the match was almost over,” Bansal said.

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