Main Page «
Front Page «
Metro «
Business «
International «
National «
Editorial «
Op-Ed «
Home «
Timeout «
Letters «

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

Overcoming all the restrictions and the complicacies, the Palestine football team plays the game for the love of their country. Md Sabbah, the coach of Palestine, termed his team as the favourites along with Bangladesh, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
   Palestine does not have any international standard football ground and they played their
   Asian Cup qualifier against Singapore in Jordan winning 1-0. Earlier they played against China in Beijing losing 0-2. That proves their class. The players probably have the best physique in the tournament and the coach said the temperature does not bother them as it is almost same in Palestine. But he admitted players are not accustomed with the level of humidity.
   ‘Compared to the other teams, I can say Palestine are a good team and have a strong chance of winning the title. Bangladesh, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are the other teams who are also trophy contenders,’ said Sabbah.
   Sabbah has taken over the job just two weeks ago as coach Azmi Nasar fell sick but the team has been training for the last few months for the Asian Cup qualifiers. Before their arrival in Dhaka they stayed in Egypt for three days.
   ‘Playing football is not easy in occupied Palestine as the league is often delayed. We play six matches in three months and often it is interrupted by curfews and other complicacies. Also two of our players were barred by the authority from coming here,’ said Sabbah.
   However, Sabbah wants to use this meet as a launching pad for Palestine to play in higher standard events if they can win it.
   ‘The champions should be promoted to upper level but I admit that it has opened a new horizon for many countries. We would have never come to Bangladesh if the tournament was not introduced.
   ‘The last time Palestine met Cambodia was in 1967 and the current manager played in that match. After the occupation of the country so many things have changed. A football player was shot dead while he was playing a few years back, that’s the reality in Palestine,’ said Sabbah.

National coach Diego Andres Cruciani hopes his team will be able to play according to his strategy and if it is implemented then it would certainly present Bangladesh the coveted title.
   Bangladesh team had a practice session on Thursday and Cruciani revealed all the aspirations ahead of the inaugural game on Saturday. He was shocked to rule out Shujon from his squad as the defender felt terrible pain in his leg muscles on Wednesday. He will need another fifteen days to recover. Midfielder Rintu was inserted in the squad.
   Cruciani was a worried man with his defence. Rajani, Parvez Babu, Nazrul and Faisal Ahmed now will start as the first choice defenders. Moreover, he still thinks he has not found any competent scorer. ‘I will rely on the combination of Kanchan and Emily up front and Alfaz playing behind them. If Kanchan is not there then Alfaz will charge ahead,’ said Cruciani.
   After six months of coaching Cruciani has different thoughts. ‘It is very difficult to place a new style among the players and it requires time. Bangladesh players have played under George Kottan in a style they are more accustomed to. I have tried my strategies that was not familiar to them. Also now I think they struggled to cope with my extensive fitness programmes,’ said Cruciani.
   But Cruciani is not afraid to take the challenges. ‘There is no pressure and we are looking ahead to play good football, Bangladesh is certainly the favorites and the players are boosted to give their best in their home’ said Cruciani. ’

Considered as one of the strongest teams in South Asia, Bangladesh will be counting on home advantage for the silverware in the AFC Challenge Cup.
   Their Argentine coach Diego Cruciani first concentrated on improving the players’ physical fitness and later worked on improving their style of play. Though, his efforts failed to pay dividends after Bangladesh lost in their bid to retain the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship crown, following their solitary goal defeat to India. They won the two-legged AFC Asian Cup 2007 pre-qualifier against Pakistan 1-0 on aggregate and are now aiming for glory on the home turf.
   Apart from the formidable combination of Rokanuzzaman Kanchan, Aminul Haque and Ariful Kabir, who helped them in the regional event, a few young faces would also be in contention to grab the spotlight. They are in Group C with Palestine, Cambodia and Guam.
   Cambodia
   The ravages of civil war led to the disintegration of football in Cambodia in the mid-seventies. Before this the game was in sound shape and the team reached the semifinals of the AFC Asian Cup in 1972, finishing fourth.
   The country’s footballers had to endure a long wait before playing their next international at the South East Asian Games in Thailand in 1995. They lost their first match 0-10 to Indonesia and suffered more heavy losses but slowly improved their standings.
   In this year’s SEA Games, Cambodia lost all their games.
   The team is currently ranked 188th in the FIFA world ranking.
   Guam
   At 204th, Guam are the lowest ranked AFC team in the FIFA world list. Their exposure has been severely limited to the South Pacific Games for many years and they started participating only recently in AFC tournaments.
   The last tournament they played in was the EAFF Championship in which they suffered heavy losses in the group stage games.
   They participated in the AFC Asian Cup preliminary round 2004 but lost to Bhutan and Mongolia. Guam have not won a single international match so far since 1996.
   Palestine
   Palestine are one of the weaker teams in the West Asian region. They have always struggled to compete against the more developed and stronger regional teams, often being eliminated from the group stages of any major competition.
   For five years the Palestine Football Federation could not organise a league and this also badly affected the national team. But things are looking up now with a new league format in place.
   Palestine, ranked 137th in the FIFA world ranking, are preparing under Hungarian Tomas Fisko after head coach Azmi Nassar suffered a stroke.
   www.theafc. com

Scott O’Donnell, the football pundit of ESPN-Star Sports, is now in Dhaka as the technical director of the Cambodian team. The stout Aussie has an in-depth knowledge of the subcontinent’s football and thinks tournaments like the AFC Challenge Cup will have a positive effect on the development process of the participating teams.
   O’Donnell, who was appointed by ESPN seven months ago, has not been in front of the cameras for the last two months. But he will be back soon. ‘Cambodia are in the rebuilding process and a lot of work has to be done in the upcoming days. This competition will help the team to gain experience,’ he said.
   He coached Singapore side Geylang United in the AFC Cup 2003 and played against East Bengal at the Salt Lake stadium. He has already watched two matches of Bangladesh in the Asian Cup qualifiers and is ready to apply his observations when his team faces Bangladesh on Saturday.
   The Cambodia team is composed of mainly Under-23 players and the friendly Australian thinks they will prove their worth in the April 1-16 meet.
   A central defender in his playing days, O’Donnell believes Australian soccer is coming of age especially after the national team reached the World Cup after 32 years. ‘Feuding among the federation officials affected the game in Australia. But now it is forging ahead. The last league final was witnessed by 40,000 fans and football is now played in all strata of society,’ said O’Donnell.

Promising off-spinner Dan Cullen has been added to the Australian one-day cricket squad to tour Bangladesh in April.
   Cullen replaces medium pacer Mick Lewis in the 14-man squad in the only change to the team that lost the fifth and deciding one-day match against South Africa.
   The selectors have retained the same 14-man Test squad currently in South Africa.
   Australia’s chairman of selectors, Trevor Hohns, said Lewis was unlucky to lose his spot but the panel wanted to give Cullen his chance with the need for an extra spinner for Bangladesh.
   Test squad: Ricky Ponting (captain), Adam Gilchrist, Stuart Clark, Michael Clarke, Matthew Hayden, Mike Hussey, Michael Kasprowicz, Justin Langer, Brett Lee, Stuart MacGill, Damien Martyn, Andrew Symonds, Shaun Tait, Shane Warne.
   One-day squad: Ricky Ponting (captain), Adam Gilchris, Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark, Michael Clarke, Daniel Cullen, Brad Hogg, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Simon Katich, Brett Lee, Damien Martyn, Shane Watson, Andrew Symonds.

Pakistan (176 & 337/4) drew with Sri Lanka (185 & 448/5 dec)
   Shoaib Malik ground out a big maiden Test century under pressure to help Pakistan draw the opening match against Sri Lanka after being set a mammoth target to win.
   The 24-year-old opener scored a patient 148 not out as the tourists reached 337-4 in their second innings at stumps on the last day while chasing an improbable 458 runs.
   Pakistan made no serious attempt to reach 458, which would have smashed the world-record run chase of 418 by the West Indies against Australia at Antigua in 2003.
   Malik showed the way in a marathon, 369-ball innings as the visitors batted to save the match rather than win on a fifth-day pitch.
   Malik, 30 overnight, impressed with his temperament and shot-selection as he batted more than a day to thwart Sri Lanka. He hit two sixes and 21 fours in his 369-ball innings.
   ‘Malik played a fantastic innings under pressure, but the pitch was good to bat on,’ said Sri Lankan vice-captain Kumar Sangakkara, who was named man of the match for his second-innings 185.
   The Pakistani opener, whose previous Test-best was 64 against the West Indies at Jamaica last year, completed his hundred in style when he drove spinner Sanath Jayasuriya for a four in the last session.
   Malik put Pakistan on the right track, adding 115 for the third wicket with Faisal Iaqbal (60) and 81 for the next with skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq (48).
   ‘Malik played very well and took the pressure off us. It is good that junior players also contributed. It was a team effort,’ said Inzamam.
   Sri Lanka’s hopes of winning the match depended on ace off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, the only bowler to capture 1,000 Test and one-day international wickets.
   But the spinner had a rare off-day, claiming just one wicket in 28 overs.
   When Muralitharan struck, Pakistan had virtually saved the match. His lone success came in the last session when he had Inzamam caught bat-pad by Tillakaratne Dilshan at silly-point.
   Pakistan began impressively when they denied the hosts success in the rain-curtailed morning session after resuming at 89-2, thanks to Malik and Faisal.
   With Muralitharan going wicketless in the first session, Sri Lanka took the second new ball immediately after it was due in the afternoon session and tasted instant success.
   Seamer Farveez Maharoof provided the breakthrough in his first over when he trapped Faisal leg-before, but not before the batsman had frustrated the hosts for more than a session.
   Faisal, nephew of former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad, hit six fours in his fourth Test half-century.
   Sri Lanka continued to struggle for wickets as Malik and Inzamam batted steadily. The Pakistani captain hit eight fours in his 89-ball knock.
   All-rounder Abdul Razzaq made merry in pressure-free conditions late on, hitting four boundaries in his unbeaten 31-ball 20.

A 20-year-old express paceman from a humble background in troubled Indian Kashmir is aiming to become the first from the Himalayan outpost to play international cricket.
   Abid Nabi, a tall and well-built bowler, has already caught the eye of the selectors and team management, who hope to have found an answer to fiery pace bowlers Shoaib Akhtar of Pakistan and Australian Brett Lee.
   Nabi was asked to bowl at the national team’s nets during the second Test against England in Mohali earlier this month after impressing selector Bhupinder Singh, a former India seamer.
   Skipper Rahul Dravid, coach Greg Chappell and other senior players too have had a look at him.
   ‘Everyone was impressed with my bowling. Venkatsai Laxman, who I bowled to a lot, praised my speed and swing,’ said Nabi, who has grabbed 40 wickets in 10 first-class matches so far.
   Nabi, picked for a Cricket Club of India (CCI) XI in England’s opening practice game in Mumbai last month, bristles with confidence and loves to intimidate.
   ‘I have always wanted to be a fast bowler and love to see fear in the eyes of batsmen I bowl at,’ said Nabi, who is reported to have touched a speed of 147 kilometres per hour.
   ‘My aim is to bowl at 150 but also use skills like reverse-swing to get wickets.’
   Nabi wants to follow in the footsteps of the legendary Kapil Dev.
   ‘He (Dev) is my idol. I want to become like him, swing the ball the way he used to,’ the Kashmiri cricketer said.
   Dev, known for vicious out-swingers, retired in 1994 with a then world record of 434 Test wickets.
   ‘I am confident I will play for India sooner rather than later,’ asserted Nabi, positive after seeing the selectors back pacemen Shantakumaran Sreesanth and Munaf Patel in recent Tests.
   ‘Their inclusion (in the England Tests) makes me optimistic. I may be part of the Indian team this year itself.’
   Noone from Kashmir has represented the country and it has little presence in domestic cricket even though the game is very popular in India’s northern most state. The population is just 10 million out of the national total of 1.1 billion.
   ‘If I can make it, it will send a positive signal to players back home,’ said Nabi about Kashmir, which is in the grip of a 16-year-old insurgency against Indian rule that has claimed more than 44,000 lives.
   Nabi, who has had stints at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore and the Madras Rubber Factory (MRF) Pace Foundation in Chennai, has a steely resolve.
   ‘I always urged him to study hard and try to get a government job,’ said his father Ghulam Nabi Ahangar, a mason by profession.

England coach Duncan Fletcher has warned his side against overzealous use of the sweep shot in the second one-dayer against India today.
   Five English batsmen fell after attempting the risky shot in Tuesday’s 39-run loss when England had looked on-course for the victory.
   ‘They’ve got to be just more selective sweeping,’ Fletcher told reporters on Thursday.
   ‘It’s an effective shot, lot of sides in the sub-continent do it. We saw (India captain) Rahul Dravid, he is a great batter who plays it effectively.
   ‘It’s like any shot, you make sure your decision-making is good.’
   Fletcher said the absence of experience was a significant factor in the loss.
   Captain Michael Vaughan, fast bowlers Simon Jones and Steve Harmison and spinner Ashley Giles are injured while opening batsman Marcus Trescothick pulled out of the tour due to personal reasons.
   ‘We were caught napping a bit with inexperience,’ Fletcher said. ‘They still need to learn how to play in certain situations in one-day cricket.’

German champions Bayern Munich said Thursday that their German Under-21 goalkeeper Michael Rensing will take over from veteran Oliver Kahn when he hangs up his gloves in 2008.
   The 21-year-old Rensing has impressed in his nine league outings for Bayern and the club say he is the long-term replacement for German international Kahn.
   ‘We have decided that he will take over from Oliver Kahn,’ club chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge told Bild daily.
   ‘He has a contract until 2007 and we want to extend it to reward his progress.’

Bangladesh A are replying well to the huge total of their Sri Lankan opponents as they finished the second day of the second four-day match on 174-2 at the Bogra Shaheed Chandu Stadium on Thursday.
   After restricting the opponents to 466 in the first innings, the home side rode on a 119-run opening stand that involved three players – Nazmus Sadat, Nafees Iqbal and Tushar Imran.
   Sadat received a serious blow on his nose off a bouncer from Sri Lankan pacer Amrasinghe that compelled the opener to retire hurt on eight in the third over of the innings and rush to the local Mohammad Ali Medical College and Hospital for treatment.
   Upon joining with other opener Nafees Iqbal, skipper Tushar Imran gave the team a solid foundation before both of them fell in quick succession. Nafees scored highest 62 while Tushar made 57. At stumps, local hero Mushfiqur Rahim was batting on 22 with Sakib Al Hasan, who not out on 18.
   Earlier, the visitors added 124 runs to their overnight 342-5 before being all out. Chamara Silva scored 81 runs while left-arm spinner Enamul Haque (junior) returned with figures of 4-117 for the hosts. Off-spinner Jamaluddin also grabbed three wickets for 67 runs.

Justin Langer will join Shane Warne and Ricky Ponting as the only members of Australia’s current squad to win 100 caps when the third Test against South Africa starts in Johannesburg today.
   Australia hold an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-mach series after winning the second Test by 112 runs in Durban on Tuesday.
   Langer was 22 when he made his debut in the fourth Test against the West Indies in Adelaide in January, 1993, scoring 20 and 54. But his debut will be remembered for the crunching blow he took on the helmet from a bouncer bowled by Ian Bishop.
   ‘I hardly knew any of the guys I was playing with, and the guys I was playing against I had just seen them on TV,’ Langer told a news conference in Johannesburg.
   ‘I was like a little kid and to face that baptism of fire, I wondered if I would ever recover from that.’

FIFA president Sepp Blatter revealed Wednesday that he intends to run for re-election in 2007, providing he is still in good health.
   The 70-year-old Blatter took over the FIFA presidency from Brazilian Joao Havelange in 1998 and feels he can carry on until 2011.
   ‘Yes I will make myself available again in 2007,’ Blatter said. ‘The only question is how my health will be then.’
   Swiss-born Blatter was expected to step down in 2007 but there are no obvious candidates to replace him.

Stand-in England skipper Andrew Flintoff has captivated cricket-loving India with his exceptional all-round talent and down-to-earth attitude like no other tourist in recent times.
   Flintoff arrived last month at best third-in-line for the captaincy and still remembered as a wild youngster who waved his shirt over his head to reveal a flabby midriff during his first visit to India in 2002.
   He will leave in April as the first England captain to win a Test match in India in 21 years. And he takes with him the absolute respect of his peers and the masses of Indian fans who revere top cricketers.
   Plain-speaking ‘Fred’ Flintoff from Preston, Lancashire, is also the first foreign cricketer to be granted a benefit dinner in India, and not just one.
   India offers the biggest bucks in world cricket and his promoters cannily extended to Mumbai and Delhi the glittering fund-raisers for Flintoff’s favourite charities.
   ‘To come to India, a country where people are so knowledgeable about cricket, to play in front of such crowds, receive the hospitality, it’s been amazing,’ Flintoff said on Wednesday night.
   He said he wanted to raise a million pounds this just for the Leukaemia Research Fund in Britain, and that he was confident there would be no problem.
   When he and some team-mates asked to go to Agra to see the Taj Mahal on Wednesday, a local businessman readily offered his executive jet to fly them down.
   Flintoff is as natural a socialiser as he is cricketer and spent most of the evening revelling in the small talk of hordes of Indian admirers.
   But there was serious business to be done among the 250 guests, rich businessmen and politicians invited to open their bulging wallets for charity. In Mumbai last week and Delhi, the guests stumped up some six million rupees (136,000 dollars) at auctions of memorabilia from Flintoff’s personal collection – signed bats, helmets, shirts.
   India’s captain Rahul Dravid and team-mates turned out too to pay homage to the 2005 International Cricket Council Player of the Year.
   Flintoff treads in the footsteps of his boyhood hero Ian Botham, as well as Geoffrey Boycott and David Gower, all highly-regarded regulars on the Indian cricket circuit. But none ever earned a benefit dinner.
   Praise has poured out for Fred.
   ‘He proved he is the best all-rounder in the world at the moment,’ said Dravid after Flintoff was awarded man of the Test series and man of the final match.
   In the official rankings Flintoff is second, but he has shown India none of the downside associated with touring English cricketers, moaning about the stifling weather, the dust, the spicy food.
   ‘He came, he saw, he conquered,’ said the Hindustan Times. ‘As fine a demonstration of how to lead from the front as one could expect to see in the annals of the game,’ added The Times of India. The Hindu dubbed him ‘Fantastic’.
   Even when Flintoff led his team on a lap of honour, each man swigging from a beer bottle in hand, no complaints were heard in conservative, sober India.
   No Indian cricketer would dream of such a public display at home, but it came as no surprise from a man with a notorious penchant for partying.
   Flintoff has also entered every Indian home which owns a television, joining the pantheon of India’s cricket heroes with lucrative advertising endorsements.
   ‘Fred’ is selling a leading brand of beer. Officially, the ad promotes water but no one is fooled.
   Flintoff plays the clown to Michael Vaughan, the injured captain he replaced. I like the Indian weather, Flintoff says, because you can drink more beer in the heat.
   Media hailed as inspirational Flintoff’s decision to play Johnny Cash’s song ‘Ring of Fire’ in the last-day dressing room in Mumbai. No one explained the joke of which red-faced English visitors with Delhi belly are only too painfully aware.
   Indians may be slightly bemused by his boozing and either missed the point or chose to ignore some British toilet humour.
   But they have warmed generously to the cricketer and character.
   Flintoff may be riding some incredible luck and says he is looking forward to giving the captaincy back to Vaughan. Yet his achievements on one of the most difficult tours have led to calls for his long-term appointment if any doubts remain about the Yorkshireman’s fitness.

Brian Lara sees his future role in the West Indies team as much as preparing the emerging, young players for the challenge of international cricket as compiling big scores.
   ‘The youngsters have the ability but, at the international level, it’s going to take more than ability,’ Test cricket’s highest scorer and oldest contemporary player said after West Indies’ tour of New Zealand ended with the abandonment of the rain-ruined third and final Test on Wednesday.
   ‘The mental strength is important and that is really where I feel I come in as an experienced player, someone who has played in a winning team and now plays in a team that’s not doing too well.
   ‘The mental side of the team needs to be a lot stronger,’ he added. ‘The mental side of every individual needs to be a lot stronger and that is where they are going to benefit.’
   Lara, who turns 37 on May 2, carries the accumulated knowledge of 123 Tests and 255 one-day internationals over 15 years, along with his Test records of 11,253 runs and the highest score 400 not-out.
   The five players under 25 on the New Zealand tour – Dwayne Bravo, Fidel Edwards, Denesh Ramdin, Dwayne Smith and Jerome Taylor – have 63 Tests and 93 ODIs between them. All have been less than three years in the international game.
   ‘These are the young guys we’re banking on and the more experience they get at this level, the better it will be for us,’ Lara said. But he pointed out that it was not an ideal scenario for them to have to virtually learn the game at the highest level. ‘Ten or 15 years ago, that wasn’t the situation,’ he said.
   ‘It’s not the situation at present with the best team in the world (Australia) which has guys like Mike Hussey and (Brad) Hodge who played numerous first-class games before getting onto the international scene.’
   Lara noted that the ‘potential is there’ among the young West Indians and was confident that most ‘belong here or will eventually belong on this stage’.
   He was even enthused by fast bowler Taylor’s brief appearance in the series, restricted to nine overs in the first Test before he strained his left hamstring. ‘Just to see him bowl a few overs in Auckland and you know the guy’s got something to him.’
   Taylor and Edwards were both picked in the Test team when Lara was captain in the 2003 home series against Sri Lanka. Taylor was 18 and in his first season of first-class cricket, Edwards 21 with a solitary first-class match to his name.
   Both have been stricken by injuries. Edwards has had 23 Tests in the intervening three years, Taylor just four. Lara was mainly responsible for Edwards’ original selection, based on his bowling at the West Indies during net practice in Barbados the previous year.
   The 24-year-old Barbadian was impressive in both ODIs and Tests in New Zealand. Generating pace close to and often above 90 miles an hour, he was a constant threat and was rewarded with his third take of five wickets in a Test innings in Wellington.
   ‘I still believe in him and believe he’s got the potential to go far but he’s got to keep working hard,’ Lara said. ‘He’s still young and still learning.’
   Lara endured a sequence of low scores in the first two Tests, a disappointment for the cricketing public here on what he confirmed was the last of his three tours of New Zealand.
   Although he signed off with an innings of 83 in the rain-ruined final Test, following scores of 5, 0, 1 and 1, he was more concerned with the team’s 2-0 loss in the series.
   ‘Personally, things didn’t work out but I’ve been through these series before and I’ve said that it doesn’t matter what I score, to come out with a series win is the most important thing,’ he said. ‘To falter in both departments is not a great feeling.’
   He cited the damaging effect of the manner of the defeat in the first Test as leading to the resounding loss in the second.
   ‘Auckland was definitely a big blow,’ he said. ‘We were in the game all the way. We played good cricket. We matched then stride for stride and, in the last furlong, you would say we were two lengths clear at 140-odd without loss.’
   He noted that confidence was ‘a bit dented’ for the second Test in Wellington three days later and it was difficult for the players to pick themselves up from the shock of Auckland.
   ‘We’ve been in those situations before where we normally spiral downwards and it was every evident in Wellington,’ he said. Echoing coach Bennett King’s earlier assessment, Lara maintained that the first Test showed that the West Indies are capable of winning but that they didn’t grasp the opportunities when they came along.

Tight security measures will be taken at the Osmany Cricket Stadium at Fatullah during the Test and ODI matches between Bangladesh and Australia, to be played next month.
   An additional ticket booth will be set up at the Shahid Zia Hall, Chashara, so that the spectators can procure the tickets easily.
   The officials of Bangladesh Cricket Board and the Narayanganj DSA officials met at the DC office to discuss about the preparations for the matches on Thursday.

The Sourav Ganguly issue was blown out of proportion and it’s not end of all roads for the southpaw who can make a comeback before the World Cup if he continues to perform well in domestic cricket, said Team India skipper Rahul Dravid.
   In an interview with CNN-IBN channel, Dravid was of the view that the public outcry over his predecessor’s axing was blown out of proportion but he did not rule out a comeback for Ganguly.
   ‘I mean as long as you are playing well in domestic cricket, you always have a place for you,’ he said.
   ‘We love our cricketers (in India) be it Dravid, Ganguly or (Anil) Kumble. We develop a personal relationship with them,’ he explained.

Sachin Tendulkar has been discharged from hospital after making a good recovery from his shoulder surgery in London.
   ‘The operation was a complete success and when I visited Sachin yesterday afternoon I was pleased to see that he has made a good recovery,’ Dr Andrew Wallace told PTI.
   He said Tendulkar was beginning to be more comfortable wearing a sling and was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday evening.

India’s cricket board is looking for at least $3 million for two days’ worth of sponsorship for a series with Pakistan.
   The deal will cover all in-stadium branding and on-air promotion for next month’s two one-dayers in Abu Dhabi, which are being played to raise funds for the October 2005 Kashmir quake victims.
   ‘The minimum bid for the ground rights tender package is $3 million and participation is open to any company or agency with a net worth of $5 million,’ the cricket board said in a news release.
   Sealed bids will be accepted until 1630 local time (1100 GMT) on March 31 in Mumbai and will be opened the same day.

Inter 2 Villarreal 1
   Inter Milan recovered from the shock of going a goal down inside the first minute to beat Spanish side Villarreal 2-1 in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal on Wednesday.
   Uruguayan striker Diego Forlan put the visitors ahead only for Adriano, who was unsure of his place in the starting line-up due to an alarming loss of form, to equalise six minutes later.
   Nigerian international Obafemi Martins, a first-half substitute for Alvaro Recoba, netted Inter’s second goal nine minutes into the second half to complete the turnaround for the two-time European champions.
   Villarreal’s mercurial Argentine midfielder Juan Roman Riquelme hit the bar in the 63rd minute, but Inter held on for a precious victory.
   Competing in the Champions League for the first time, Villarreal will be kicking themselves for throwing away their early advantage, but their away goal means they are still very much in the tie.
   The second leg takes place next Tuesday and the winners will meet either Juventus or Arsenal in the semifinals.
   Inter coach Roberto Mancini was proud of his team for recovering from their early setback.
   ‘We paid for a lapse in concentration and it could have been disastrous,’ he said.
   ‘But the players deserve a lot of credit for the way they came back immediately.
   ‘With a bit more luck we might have scored a third goal, which would have made life a little easier in the second leg.
   ‘But having come back from an extremely difficult situation, I’m more than happy with the result.’
   Mancini opted to play Recoba up front alongside Adriano, while Cesar replaced the injured Luis Figo in midfield.
   Villarreal were decimated by suspensions with Alessio Tacchinardi, who moved to Spain last summer after 11 years with Italian giants Juventus, Josico and Rodolfo Arruabarrena all ruled out.
   Inter were caught cold with just 45 seconds on the clock.
   Jose Mari burst in between Pierre Wome and Walter Samuel and his low shot was palmed away by Francesco Toldo. The loose ball ran kindly for Forlan, who tucked home his second goal of the competition.
   The home side came close to levelling the score 60 seconds later.
   Adriano broke the offside trap to race after Dejan Stankovic’s chipped pass, before lobbing the ball over Villarreal keeper Sebastian Viera.
   Javi Venta sped to reach the Brazilian’s goal-bound effort, and managed to hook the ball clear just before it crossed the line.
   Adriano cursed his luck, but fortune soon smiled upon him.
   The powerfully-built South American had his back to goal when Juan Manuel Pena’s attempted clearance fell at his feet, and with a quick turn he slammed a left-footed shot into the net from six yards.
   Recoba’s tested Viera from distance with a low drive, before limping off with an injury and making way for Martins.
   Adriano curled two identical 20-yard free-kicks over the bar and sent a free header inches wide as Inter ended the half in complete control.
   The break failed to interrupt Inter’s momentum and they took the lead in the 54th minute. Juan Sebastian Veron fed Stankovic down the right touchline and he flicked the ball over Juan Pablo Sorin’s head and went haring towards the box.
   The creative Serbian international looked up and delivered a low cross which Martins diverted past Viera with his knee.
   Riquelme was thwarted by the woodwoork before Viera’s reflex save kept out Martins’ powerful header.
   Sorin gave Inter a fright seven minutes from time when, under pressure from Ivan Cordoba, he side-footed wide with the goal at his mercy and Villarreal fell to their first defeat in the competition.

Lyon 0 AC Milan 0
   Six-time winners AC Milan held Olympique Lyon to a 0-0 draw in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal at Stade Gerland on Wednesday.
   The result makes the Italians favourites to go through after next Tuesday’s second leg at the San Siro.
   ‘We had a great second half, creating two or three clear chances to find the net and it’s a shame it ended in a draw,’ Lyon coach Gerard Houllier told reporters.
   ‘It was the sort of match we expected. The guys showed great will and were patient, even though it failed to pay off.’
   Milan gave a typically strong defensive performance as Ligue 1 leaders Lyon failed to score for only the third time in 45 matches. The French side kept up their unbeaten run in this season’s competition despite not finding the net for the first time.
   Lyon, without Brazilian playmaker Juninho due to suspension, took a while to find their rhythm as Milan dominated thanks to the inspirational Andrea Pirlo and the tireless Gennaro Gattuso.
   Goalkeeper Gregory Coupet made two fine saves to deny former European Footballer of the Year Andriy Shevchenko early on.
   Lyon eventually lifted their game and created their first chance, Brazilian keeper Dida saving well after John Carew had deflected a free-kick from Benoit Pedretti in the 26th minute.
   Technically superior and better organised, Milan left little room for Lyon’s forwards with defenders Alessandro Nesta and Kakha Kaladze outstanding.
   Coupet again thwarted Shevchenko in the last minute of the first half.
   ‘We showed them too much respect in the first 20 minutes and we can consider ourselves lucky we reached the interval level,’ said Coupet.
   ‘We played much better in the second half.’
   Lyon definitely moved up a gear after the interval to increase the pressure on Milan’s defence.
   Portugal midfielder Tiago, who scored twice in the 4-0 rout of PSV Eindhoven in the previous round, had a 56th-minute shot deflected by Kaladze’s back with Dida beaten.
   Tiago will miss the second leg through suspension after he was booked for a foul on Kaka in stoppage time.

Arsenal skipper Thierry Henry has hailed ‘amazing’ Cesc Fabregas, the Spanish teenager instrumental in plotting Juventus’ downfall at Highbury on Tuesday.
   The 18-year-old scored one goal and set Henry up for the second in the Gunners’ 2-0 quarterfinal first leg tie to utterly eclipse the homecoming of Patrick Vieira, his predecessor in the midfield slot.
   His starring performance has inevitably led to the prodigious youngster plucked from Barcelona’s youth ranks by Wenger two years ago being rated the natural successor to Vieira.
   And Henry, earmarked for greatness as a teenager himself, insists Fabregas is one of the finest talents he has ever seen.
   ‘The whole team played well but you cannot fail to mention Cesc. The way he is playing at the moment is amazing.
   ‘You have players like Wayne Rooney, Patrick Vieira or Ronaldinho who were just like that when they were young. But there are not a lot of them. I just hope he has the same career.’
   Fabregas was anxious to play down comparisons with Vieira who had a wretched return to the club he helped guide to three Premiership titles – the Frenchman picking up a yellow card which rules him out of next week’s return leg in Turin.
   Fabregas said, ‘I don’t know and I don’t like it. I have always tried my best. I work hard in every training session and I always give my best.
   ‘In the last few weeks we have won games and done well and it reflects well on a player individually, but I don’t think that’s fair. It’s the team.
   ‘I am getting better. I feel stronger in training and I am playing better but it is also because the team is playing well. We are young and improving a lot as a team.’
   He says helping Arsenal to the brink of what would be a first ever Champions League semifinal was vindication for his gamble to leave home at 16 and move to London.
   ‘It was the right decision, definitely. I am really happy to have made that decision when I was so young. So many people have believed in me so it’s great.’
   Henry said he’d always believed Fabregas’ talent would shine through even when things weren’t going as smoothly as they did on Tuesday night.
   ‘I had faith in Cesc but, at the beginning of the season, he wasn’t playing that well and people were having a go at him.
   ‘Suddenly you play well and people say “What a genius”. In a year’s time if he isn’t playing well they will say ‘What has happened?’
   ‘He has to cope with this now but he can take it. That’s why he is where he is. Some players just drop if you have a go at them but Cesc can handle it.
   ‘He is already old in his head. You can see from the way he plays. I just hope he can carry on like that for a long time.
   ‘He is doing extremely well but, for now, let the guy grow.’
   Fabregas grew up in the coastal town of Arenys del Mar near Barcelona and had his first introduction to the game playing in the five-a-side league his father set up especially for him.
   That must seem a world away now, especially with the prospect of a place on Spain’s World Cup team hardly damaged by this week’s performance.
   ‘I would love to be at the finals. I have only played one game (for Spain) but it helps if I am playing well,’ he said.

Chelsea have provisionally agreed a four-year deal with AC Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko, according to the Daily Mail.
   Stamford Bridge owner Roman Abramovich has tried three times to sign the 29-year-old frontman and now finally appears to have got his man.
   The Blues have reportedly struck a deal with the Ukrainian that will net him at least £110,000 a week and are said to be willing to match Milan’s valuation, with Hernan Crespo earmarked to return to the San Siro as part of a blockbusting £35 million deal after his loan spell in Milan last season.
   Meanwhile, the super hit man has rejected newspaper reports that he has agreed a move to English club Chelsea.
   But the Ukrainian striker told the Italian news agency ANSA: ‘I don’t know of any offer and I am calm. I don’t need to deny anything, it is all clear. It is just that others keep talking about this story,’ he said.
   Shevchenko, who is in his seventh season with Milan after joining them from Dynamo Kiev, recently said that he hoped to emulate captain Paolo Maldini and stay with the club until the end of his career.

It was only a fleeting engagement but model Daniella Cicarelli quite literally left her mark on Brazilian football star Ronaldo. Now he’s got rid of it.
   In a gesture of love for former fiancee Cicarelli at the start of their whirlwind relationship, Real Madrid star Ronaldo had the initials ‘D’ and ‘R’ tattooed either side of a love heart inside his left fist.
   Ronaldo had got into the habit of brandishing his discreet piece of body art every time he scored a goal.
   But now that he has broken up with Cicarelli, Ronaldo has had the ‘D’ changed to an ‘R’ as a gesture of affection towards his six-year-old son Ronald, a product of his first marriage, Brazilian media reported.
   Ronaldo and Cicarelli announced they had separated on May 11 last year, less than three months since they celebrated their engagement in a lavish party held at the French chateau of Chantilly on Valentine’s Day.

Manchester United consolidated second place in the Premier League on Wednesday, the recalled Ruud van Nistelrooy scoring in a 1-0 home win over West Ham United.
   The Dutch striker, back in the starting line-up after three substitute appearances, struck a typical close-range goal in first-half injury time to secure a deserved victory at Old Trafford.
   On a night when former Old Trafford employees Juan Sebastian Veron and Diego Forlan were going head to head in the Champions League quarterfinal between Inter Milan and Villarreal, Man Utd’s fans had to settle for less exciting fare.
   Ferguson, absent from the knockout phase of Europe’s top competition for the first time in 10 years, recalled Van Nistelrooy to a below-strength team and left the prolific Louis Saha on the bench.
   Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra and Gerard Pique also started as Ferguson rotated his squad with an eye on forthcoming games against Bolton Wanderers and Arsenal. The visitors made a positive start and had plenty of possession but Man Utd looked dangerous on the break.
   West Ham goalkeeper Shaka Hislop saved well from Pique and Van Nistelrooy hit a post before United got the breakthrough.
   South Korean midfielder Park Ji-sung did well to find Van Nistelrooy in the box and the Dutchman finished cleanly.
   West Ham appeared to run out of ideas in the second half and Van Nistelrooy set up a good chance for Saha in the last minute that the French substitute missed.

Sir Alex Ferguson hailed Ruud van Nistelrooy ‘the best in Europe’ and admitted the Holland striker had presented him with a major dilemma after marking his return to Manchester United’s starting line-up with a winning goal.
   In doing so, van Nistelrooy became the first player to score 20 Premiership goals this season, yet his place in the starting line-up at Bolton Wanderers on Saturday is by no means guaranteed.
   ‘Ruud’s the best in Europe for doing that (scoring),’ said Ferguson, as his side powered five points clear of third-placed Liverpool in the race to qualify automatically for next season’s Champions League.
   ‘It was Ruud’s first game for a few weeks. He needed that game and scored a most important goal for us, a vital goal.
   ‘That’s the kind of response we want to see. I have a tough choice to make but that’s what I want.’

Barca magical attacker Ronaldinho is not only a superstar on the pitch but also shows his class off or near the football field. The Brazilian international and Barca star is always one of the most charismatic members of any Barcelona appearance, especially when children are involved. He has got his heart on the right place and often cheers children up that have less luck in life and have a disadvantage.
   Before going off to get changed, Ronaldinho went over to a deaf and dumb girl that had been watching the session and gave her a warm hug. The girl’s father asked the Brazilian international if he could do his daughter a very special favour - if he scores against Real Madrid could he dedicate the goal to the girl by making the sign of happiness that is typical of people with this particular disability.
   Now we all want that Ronaldinho scores against the Merengues!

Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira wants his team to play with a smile on their faces at this year’s World Cup—so has ruled out imposing a sex ban.
   While Parreira’s predecessor Luis Felipe Scolari ran a famously strict regime during the 2002 finals, a more relaxed mood will prevail in Germany—and that includes as much sex as his players want.
   ‘I don’t think that sex one day before the game will have any harm on the player. Just sex, no problem,’ Parreira told Maxim magazine. ‘The problem is, they don’t eat, they don’t sleep, they smoke and they drink. That is the problem. Sex? No, sex is always very good—always welcome.’
   Parreira also gave an insight into the methods his team uses to maintain spirit during tournaments.
   Ronaldinho is a keen player of the samba drums—and the world champions will be packing their instruments once again when they head to Germany.
   ‘Psychologists say it is very important in the dressing room and coming from the hotel to the stadium that you do something with your hands, with your mouth,’ Parreira said.
   ‘If you just sit there worrying? Clutching your hands? That does not help. If you play something it helps relax. That is why we give them the drums and things.
   ‘Since 1970 we have done this. We buy instruments for them, and they play on the bus—instead of saying, ‘Oh my God, we are going to play Germany or England in a World Cup game.’ That does not help.’
   Parreira also said there was no chance that Brazil would play more conservatively in Germany.
   ‘We have to give a good impression and keep our style. We don’t have to change that because we are going to play a World Cup.’
   ‘We have to defend, as well, otherwise we go nowhere. But we can’t deny our roots—we play a happy game.’

Brazil and Barcelona forward Ronaldinho is the most commercially valuable soccer player in the world, followed by England internationals David Beckham and Wayne Rooney, a study of brand value said on Thursday.
   Consultancy BBDO Germany estimated Ronaldinho’s brand was worth 47 million euros (32.6 million pounds) followed by Beckham’s at 44.9 million euros and Rooney’s at 43.7 million euros.
   Two other Barcelona players, Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o and Argentina’s young forward Lionel Messi, completed the top five, both brands being worth just over 30 million euros.
   While Real Madrid midfielder Beckham still had the best-known face in soccer, Ronaldinho’s comparative youth and recent achievements with Barcelona made him a more attractive marketing prospect, the consultancy said.
   Having just turned 26, the Brazilian is nearly five years younger than Beckham and was voted FIFA World Player of the Year the past two years.
   ‘Beckham owes his second place in the ranking to his status as the ‘metrosexual’ prototype and the lucrative contracts this generated for him,’ BBDO said. Striker Rooney, 20, plays for Manchester United.
   Beckham’s Brazilian team mate, Ronaldo, came seventh in the list while Chelsea’s Frank Lampard placed 8th.
   Arsenal striker Thierry Henry was ninth and Germany playmaker Michael Ballack 10th.
   Former European Footballer of the Year Andriy Shevchenko of AC Milan was placed 20th, three places behind the youngest European player on the list, Ajax Amsterdam’s Ryan Babel.

Paolo Maldini is back from a long injury lay-off and notes he is finding a new lease of life in an unusual right-back role.
   ‘It feels odd to me as well! Of all the defensive roles this is the one that suits me the least, but it’s just good to be playing again after four months and to give my contribution to the team,’ said the 37-year-old who made his career as a left-back.
   ‘Over the last few years I have given my best in the centre, but I still like to attack and every now and then enjoy playing as left-back. I am right-footed, but perhaps my biggest problem is that I’m so accustomed to being pushed on the left, so it takes a little getting used to.’
   The Milan captain was fielded on the right in both of his recent substitute appearances against Fiorentina and Lyon, as he is trying to find his form after almost four months out with a knee condition.
   ‘I have recovered from my injury and am still looking for match fitness, so we’ll see how much I can play against Lecce.’
   He gave his view on last night’s 0-0 Champions League quarterfinal draw at the Stade Gerland and the change in Milan’s defensive performances.
   ‘We’re certainly not lacking in experience and you saw Lyon were a little worried at the beginning, so we should probably have taken a bit more advantage of that.
   ‘Milan always try to take the game to their opponents, whether at home or away, and with a few clean sheets we have gained confidence that we were perhaps missing at the start of the season.’
   However, Maldini denied newspaper reports that Italy boss Marcello Lippi has been pestering him with calls to come out of international retirement for the World Cup.
   ‘Lippi called me once, straight after he took the Italy job, but I told him the same thing that I said to Giovanni Trapattoni. That part of my career is over with now.’
   Pippo Inzaghi also came on as a substitute against Lyon and insisted Milan were the better team in this stalemate.
   ‘I think it was a great performance and if there’s a team who should’ve scored, it was Milan,’ said the striker.
   ‘We know we have to win at San Siro and aim to repeat the game we played against Bayern Munich in the last round. Our season is in the balance and we’ll try to take our chances.’
   The Rossoneri drew 1-1 in Germany for the first leg of that second round tie and went on to win 4-1 at San Siro.

Players who dive to win penalties or simulate injury in a bid to get opponents booked could soon face disciplinary action based on video reviews of their actions, it emerged on Thursday.
   England’s Football Association (FA), pressed into action by a string of flagrant examples of players attempting to con referees, has begun discussions with FIFA aimed at getting the laws of the game revised to facilitate a clampdown.
   As things stand, national football authorities cannot act retrospectively if a referee is deemed to have dealt with an incident during a game, but the FA believes it is now time for change.
   ‘We are in discussions with FIFA on retrospective disciplinary action and we have raised diving as a priority area where video evidence could be used,’ said the governing body’s chief executive, Brian Barwick.
   ‘We also stressed the need to tackle the issue by insisting that clamping down on diving should be a priority at this summer’s World Cup.’
   The issue of ‘simulation’ has risen to the top of the FA’s agenda following a series of controversies, the most recent of which concerned Chelsea winger Shaun Wright-Phillips, whose tumble in last week’s FA Cup tie with Newcastle resulted in Magpies defender Robbie Elliott being sent off for a second bookable offence.
   Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has led calls for action.
   ‘The problem has been there for quite a few years and it is obvious it has got worse,’ Ferguson said earlier this week. ‘The difficult thing is, how do you stop it?
   ‘The players diving have an advantage over the ones making a tackle because a lad going to make an honest tackle can receive a red card, yet referees can only give the guy who cheats to win a penalty or get someone sent off a yellow, which is an amazing thing.
   ‘You could give someone two yellows, I suppose, but that is not going to have any impact. It is a discrepancy which is always going to cause controversy.’

Samba boss Carlos Parreira has admitted, ‘God, I wish Steven Gerrard was a Brazilian.’
   Parreira’s boys are favourites to triumph in Germany this summer with a star-studded squad which is the envy of every other country.
   He can call on the likes of Ronaldinho, Kaka and Robinho – but there is one Englishman he would love to have in the line-up as well.
   And while the rest of the world jealously looks at the riches at Brazil’s beck and call, Parreira himself is doing likewise – at Liverpool skipper Gerrard.
   When asked which foreign players he has thought ‘God, I wish he was a Brazilian’, Parreira replied, ‘Andriy Shevchenko of Milan is a wonderful striker, who can do so many things inside the box, while centre-back
   ‘Alessandro Nesta is among the best in the world. But of the English squad, Gerrard is a wonderful midfield player. He can really play.’
   

Football’s governing body FIFA has decided to introduce a strict betting ban for all players at this summer’s World Cup finals in Germany.
   FIFA president Sepp Blatter revealed Wednesday that players for the 32 competing nations must sign a statement before
   the finals, running from June 9 until July 9, saying that
   neither they nor their family members would bet on World Cup games.
   The move comes following the recent match-fixing scandal in host nation Germany where tainted referee
   Robert Hoyzer, 26, was sentenced to two years and five month in jail after being found guilty of fixing matches for financial gain.
   FIFA has already promised to monitor dubious betting at this summer’s finals and all future World Cups and has founded its own company ‘Early Warning’ to do just that.

Chelsea have signed a ground-breaking deal with an American sports conglomerate that they hope will help them become the most popular European football club in the United States.
   The Premiership champions said the alliance with AEG, who run four Major League Soccer teams as well as several
   sports venues, would see them involved in all levels of football in the United States from grassroots up.
   The deal will see Chelsea forge close links with Los Angeles Galaxy, and commits the London club to playing in an exhibition tournament against an MLS side every two years.
   ‘Chelsea is absolutely delighted to be partnering with AEG, the leading backer of soccer in the US,’ Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon said in a statement on the club’s website.
   ‘This is a unique, ground-breaking relationship that not only demonstrates our commitment to the development of US soccer, but will also help Chelsea work towards its aim of becoming the most popular European club in the US, one of our key target markets.’
   The statement said the alliance with LA Galaxy would eventually involve exchange programmes with young players, as well as the pooling of ideas on sports medicine and coaching.
   Chelsea business affairs director Paul Smith insisted the deal would involve more than just exhibition matches.
   ‘Chelsea’s involvement in US football will be from top to bottom. We will not just fly in and fly out for the tournaments,’ Smith said.
   ‘We will seek to develop a programme of activity that will also cover the huge interest in soccer at youth level, as well as the professional game.’
   Although hailed by Chelsea as the first of its kind, the deal echoes the strategic partnership set up between Manchester United and baseball giants the New York Yankees in 2001. .’

Boost Double Cricket is going on in full swing in Rajshahi and Sylhet region. Eight school champions will play for inter-school format to become a regional champion after the SSC exam.
   Name of the schools from Rajshahi are Shahid Mamun Mahmud Police School, Rajshahi Cantonment Board High School, Govt Laboratory High School, Riverview High School, Rajshahi Biswabiddalya School, Sorkari Madrasa School Rajshahi, Rajshahi Collegiate School, and Scroll School.
   Teams qualified for the next round in Sylhet are, Police Line High School, Rasmoy Memorial School, Blue Bird School, The Aided School Sylhet, Raja Jiei High School, Shahjalal High School and Syed Hatim Ali High School.

Pavel Nedved fears Juventus’ 2-0 defeat away to Arsenal in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final may have left them with too much to do to reach the last four.
   The teams meet for the second leg next Wednesday at the Delle Alpi stadium where Nedved will return for the Turin giants after serving a one-match suspension.
   ‘It will be very difficult, maybe it’s already over,’ said Nedved, whose side will be depleted for the return match because of suspensions for Mauro Camoranesi, Jonathan Zebina and Patrick Vieira.
   ‘If you don’t score in away legs then you can’t expect to go far in this competition. Unfortunately we hardly threatened Arsenal.
   ‘To be honest I’d rather not think about the second leg because we won’t be at full strength.’
   Juve striker Alessandro Del Piero, who missed the Highbury match with a left hamstring strain, said they could not afford to play like they did in London if they wanted to clinch a semi-final place.
   ‘On Wednesday we have no other choice - we have to give absolutely everything, and a little bit more,’ he said.