CMYK

ND-ND

14 THE HINDU FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 2015

NOIDA/DELHI

SPORT

BENGALURU: Agostini, who has beenwell prepared, is expected to score inthe Chief Minister’s Trophy (2,000m),the chief event of the races to be heldhere on Friday (Jan. 2).

False rails (width about 2.5m from1,600m to the winning post) will be inposition.

1 B.A.R.I PLATE (Div. II),(1,200m), rated 00 to 25, 5-y-o &over, 2-15 pm: 1. Hostess (9) K.G.Steyn 61.5, 2. Byronic (6) P.S. Chou-han 58.5, 3. Silhouette (11) Vivek58.5, 4. Arthur (12) Rajesh Kumar57.5, 5. Glamour Boy (4) Ashok Ku-mar 57.5, 6. Prince Academy (5) A.Sandesh 57.5, 7. Private Party (10)Christopher 57.5, 8. Astonishing (7)T.S. Jodha 56.5, 9. Tic Tac Toe (8)Arshad Alam 55.5, 10. Dream Neo (1)Nitin Singh 54.5, 11. La Isle Bonita(2) B. Nayak 54.5 and 12. Apollo Gal-axy (3) Ajeet Kumar 51.5.1. Byronic, 2. Dream Neo, 3.Hostess

2 JANUARY PLATE (1,400m),maiden 3-y-o only, (Terms), 2-45: 1.Authoritarian (8) Suraj Narredu 55,2. Cato’s Call (3) K.G. Steyn 55, 3.Ignition (4) Vaibhav 55, 4. J Gatsby(11) Arshad Alam 55, 5. Reverber-ating (9) Shobhan 55, 6. Saptajit (10)T.S. Jodha 55, 7. Sir Majestic (1) N.Rajesh 55, 8. Angel Dust (2) P. Trevor53.5, 9. Eternal Flame (5) A. Sandesh53.5, 10. Festive Cheer (12) R. Mar-shall 53.5, 11. Iceglow (7) David Allan53.5 and 12. Multi App (6) Vivek 53.5.1. Iceglow, 2. Angel Dust, 3.Authoritarian

3 B.A.R.I PLATE (Div. I),(1,200m), rated 00 to 25, 5-y-o &over, 3-15: 1. Balas Dream (11) P. Ra-mesh 62.5, 2. Cheddar Face (2) IrvanSingh 62.5, 3. Luc Divine (3) A. Im-ran Khan 62.5, 4. Super Saloni (12)Shobhan 62.5, 5. Woodridge (5) A.Qureshi 62.5, 6. Big Copper Penny(1) Chetan Kalay 62, 7. Super Silver(10) Rajesh Babu 62, 8. Youre Gor-geous (4) B. Harish 62, 9. Balance OfNature (6) Shinde 59.5, 10. Hard ToGet (8) S. Shiva Kumar 58.5, 11. Mag-netize (7) Christopher 58.5 and 12.Star Of Desire (9) T.S. Jodha 58.5.1. Magnetize, 2. Star Of Desire, 3.Luc Divine

4 K. RAMA RAO MEMORIALTROPHY (1,200m), rated 40 to 65,3-45: 1. Hillsboro (3) Chetan Kalay61, 2. Super Force (7) A. Imran Khan59, 3. Cattleya (8) A. Ramu 58, 4.Country’s Pride (9) Ajeet Kumar 58,5. Mountain High (11) R. Anand 58, 6.Anfield (10) Sai Vamshi 56.5, 7. Scar-let Emperor (1) David Allan 56, 8.Volcano (12) T.S. Jodha 56, 9. Baz-inga (2) Rajesh Kumar 55, 10.Blitzschnelle (4) K.G. Steyn 55, 11.

Jersey Bride (5) Suraj Narredu 54and 12. Temujin (6) P.S. Chouhan53.5.1. Scarlet Emperor, 2. Blitzsch-nelle, 3. Jersey Bride

5 CHIEF MINISTER’S TROPHY(2,000m), 4-y-o & over, (Terms), 4-15: 1. Borsalino (2) David Allan 61.5,2. Agostini (4) P. Trevor 59.5, 3. Pur-suit Of Fame (5) A. Imran Khan 59.5,4. Wind Stream (3) Suraj Narredu59.5, 5. Scarlet O’ Hara (6) R. Mar-shall 56, 6. Ambitious Reward (1)Christopher 55.5 and 7. BookerJones (7) D.K. Ashish 51.5.1. Agostini, 2. Wind Stream, 3.Booker Jones

6 DASHMESH STUD PLATE(Div. I), (1,200m), rated 60 & above,5-y-o & over, 4-45: 1. Secret Punch(3) R. Pradeep 64.5, 2. Absolute Ma-jority (12) Mark 63, 3. Chul Bul Pan-dy (6) A. Qureshi 63, 4. Sun Divine(4) A. Imran Khan 63, 5. Cape Ferrat(11) David Allan 62.5, 6. Talisker (8)Chetan Kalay 62, 7. Will Star (10)T.S. Jodha 61.5, 8. Smile Stone (7)Nitin Singh 58, 9. Cool Hand (1) A.Ramu 56, 10. Icelander (5) Chethana56, 11. Loveofmylife (9) Suraj Narre-du 55 and 12. Spiritual Star (2) AnjarAlam 55.1. Loveofmylife, 2. Cool Hand, 3.Smile Stone

7 GOMOS PLATE (1,400m),rated 20 to 45, 5-15: 1. Black Areca(10) Ashok Kumar 60.5, 2. Arthurian(9) A. Imran Khan 59, 3. SecretPrayer (5) B. Harish 57, 4. Whole-lottalove (6) Irvan Singh 56, 5. AsianStar (7) A. Ramu 54, 6. King Glorieux(3) N. Rajesh 54, 7. Precious Glitter(8) T.S. Jodha 54, 8. Prize Finder (11)Christopher 53.5, 9. Central Park (2)Vaibhav 52.5, 10. New Victor (4) Ni-tin Singh 52, 11. Red Angel (1) M.A.Roushan 50.5 and 12. Secret Launch(12) Arshad Alam 50.5.1. Arthurian, 2. Prize Finder, 3.Wholelottalove

8 DASHMESH STUD PLATE(Div. II), (1,200m), rated 60 & above,5-y-o & over, 5-45: 1. Solitaire Royale(3) Prabhakaran 60, 2. Sweet Secret(7) A. Ramu 58, 3. Valerian (9) P.S.Chouhan 57.5, 4. Ice Cutter (6) SurajNarredu 57, 5. Amazing Redd (5) B.Harish 56.5, 6. Sunstone (10) Shinde56, 7. King Julien (8) R. Marshall 55,8. Valahak (4) Anjar Alam 55, 9. AtlasPower (11) Nitin Singh 53.5, 10. IgahIgah Igah (12) T.S. Jodha 53, 11. Shin-necock Hills (2) P. Trevor 53 and 12.Scenic Blast (1) M.A. Roushan 52.1. Ice Cutter, 2. Valerian, 3. KingJulienDay’s best: Scarlet EmperorDouble: Agostini – Ice CutterJkt: 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8; Tr (i): 3, 4 and 5;(ii): 6, 7 and 8.

Agostini fancied

MUMBAI: Mr. M.A.M. Ramaswamy’sSpirited Touch piloted by C.S.Jodhawon the New Year’s Cup, the mainevent of the races held here on Thurs-day. The winner is trained by KarthikG.

1. THUNDER BIRD PLATE(1,200m), Cl. V, rated 01 to 26: GoodMemory (Mosin) 1, Mighty Splen-dour (Kavraj) 2, Mahima (D.K.Ashish)3 and Snow King (Prasad) 4. 1, 2-3/4,1/2. 1m 14.40s. Rs. 29 (w), 15, 13 and 15(p). SHP: Rs. 35, FP: Rs. 46, Q: Rs. 24,Tanala: Rs. 115 and Rs. 76. Favourite:Mighty Splendour. Owner & trainer:Mr. S.S.Shah.

2. T.M.GOCULDAS PLATE(1,000m), Cl. II, rated 60 to 86: Solo-mon (D.K.Ashish) 1, In The Limelight(S.J.Sunil) 2, Celsius (C.S.Jodha) 3and Wild Waves (P.Naidu) 4. 3, Nk,1-1/4. 59.08s. Rs. 10 (w), 10, 16 and 15(p). SHP: Rs. 39, FP: Rs. 21, Q: Rs. 24,Tanala: Rs. 88 and Rs. 33. Favourite:Solomon. Owners: Mr. & Mrs. VijayMallya rep. Utd Rac & BloodstockBreeders Ltd. Trainer: P.Shroff.

3. LITTLE CAESAR PLATE DI-V.I (1,200m), Maiden, 4-y-o only:Gold Bag (Kavraj) 1, Soul Speak(Dashrath) 2, Hoshiyaar (Zervan) 3and Indus Prince (S.Nayak) 4. 1-1/2,3-1/2, 1. 1m 12.12s. Rs. 54 (w), 13, 21and 12 (p). SHP: Rs. 66, FP: Rs. 298, Q:Rs. 189, Tanala: Rs. 531 and Rs. 156.Favourite: Hoshiyaar. Owners: M/s.Kunal N.Sharma, Gautam Rijhsengha-ni & John M.Beard. Trainer: Adhirajs-ingh Jodha.

4. NEW YEAR’S CUP (1,400m),Maiden, 3-y-o only: Spirited Touch(C.S.Jodha) 1, Jeena (Mosin) 2, Alibox-er (Dashrath) 3 and Ireland (D.K.Ash-ish) 4. 9, 4-1/4, 3/4. 1m 25.24s. 22 (w),10, 51 and14 (p). SHP: Rs. 137, FP: Rs.734, Q: Rs. 325, Tanala: Rs. 706 and Rs.164. Favourite: Spirited Touch. Own-er: Mr. M.A.M.Ramaswamy. Trainer:Karthik G.

5. WARSAW PACT PLATE(1,200m), Cl. IV, rated 20 to 46: Rash-un (T.S.Jodha) 1, Cold Play (Mer-chant) 2, National Pride (Zervan) 3and Magic Vision (Ashad Asbar) 4. 1/2,3-1/2, 3-1/2. 1m 13.16s. Rs. 98 (w), 23,15 and 15 (p). SHP: Rs. 31, FP: Rs. 2,378,Q: Rs. 412, Tanala: Rs. 4,302 and Rs.1,844. Favourite: Millenium Falcon.Owners: Mrs. Suvarna K.Khatu & Mr.Kiran S.Khatu. Trainer: HimmatSingh.

6. KUSUMBEN DHIRUBHAISHAH TROPHY (1,600m), Cl. III,rated 40 to 66: La Femme Fleur(Zervan) 1, Vixen (Pasha) 2, HelpingHand (Dashrath) 3 and Lorelei (Ajin-kya) 4. 1, Hd, 5-1/4. 1m 38.26s. Rs. 25(w), 12, 37 and 10 (p). SHP: Rs. 167, FP:Rs. 727, Q: Rs. 1,359, Tanala: Rs. 646and Rs. 179. Favourite: Helping Hand.Owners: Mr. & Mrs. K.N.Dhunjibhoyand Mr. Z.K.Dhunjibhoy rep. FiveStars Shipping Co Pvt Ltd. Trainer:Janardhan.

7. RAO SAHEB D.K.PARKARTROPHY DIV.II (1,400m), Cl. IV,rated 20 to 46: La Traviata (YashNarredu) 1, Flash Drive (S.Sunil) 2,

The Other Song (Zervan) 3 and Target-master (Dashrath) 4. 10, Hd, 3/4. 1m24.48s. Rs. 36 (w), 18, 36 and 32 (p).SHP: Rs. 92, FP: Rs. 848, Q: Rs. 1,066,Tanala: Rs. 5,199 and Rs. 1,782. Favou-rite: Targetmaster. Owner: Mr. KapilBahl. Trainer: Faisal Abbas.

8. LITTLE CAESAR PLATE DI-V.II (1,200m), Maiden, 4-y- only: Gol-dilocks (Zervan) 1, Spanish Saga(Dashrath) 2, Ensign (S.Nayal) 3 andEarl Grey (C.S.Jodha) 4. 3-1/4, 3/4, 4-1/2. 1m 13.72s. Rs. 19 (w), 15, 16 and 34(p). SHP: Rs. 44, FP: Rs. 48, Q: Rs. 43,Tanala: Rs. 400 and Rs. 245. Favourite:Goldilocks. Owners: Mr. & Mrs. Me-hernosh H.Deboo & Mr. ZavarayS.Poonawalla & Mrs. Behroze Z.Poo-nawalla rep. Poonawalla Racing &Brdg Ltd. Trainer: P.Shroff.

9. RAO SAHEB D.K.PARKARTROPHY DIV.I (1,400m), Cl. IV,rated 20 to 46: Penny Lane (Srinath)1, Glorious Reward (Zervan) 2, Savan-nah Sound (Yash Narredu) 4. 3/4, 3/4,1-1/4. 1m 26.52s. Rs. 108 (w), 30, 22 and35 (p). SHP: Rs. 48, FP: Rs. 460, Q: Rs.229, Tanala: Rs. 2,451 and Rs. 1,575.Favourite: Wish Upon A Star. Owners:Mr. Jaydev M.Modyrep. J.M.Lives-tock Pvt Ltd. Trainer: Bezan Chenoy.

Jackpot (i) 70 per cent: Rs. 85, 159 (2tkts), 30 per cent: Rs. 4,866 (15 tkts).(ii) 70 per cent: Rs. 55,848 (8 tkts), 30per cent: Rs. 921 (208 tkts). Treble (i)Rs. 190 (24 tkts), (ii) Rs. 186 (66 tkts),(iii) Rs. 544 (43 tkts). Super Jackpot 70per cent: Rs. 88, 809 (1 tkt), 30 per cent:Rs. 810 (47 tkts).

Spirited Touch wins main event

CAPE TOWN: West Indies captainDenesh Ramdin said on Thurs-day that the main benefit ofplaying in South Africa was theopportunity for his young sideto absorb some of the lessonsthat have made the host thenumber one team in the world.

Speaking ahead of the thirdand final Test starting at New-lands on Friday, Ramdin saidhe hoped the West Indieswould continue the improve-ment it had shown in the rain-hit drawn second Test, after be-ing beaten by an innings and220 runs in the first contest.

“We made a slow start to thetour. Now we are gaining mo-mentum,” he said.

“Going into the third game, itis going to be a different atmo-sphere here, we can really enjoyit. It is a new year; hopefully wecan change some things. We areplaying against the number oneteam in the world. If we cantake some of the things they do,we can probably move up in therankings.”

Asked to identify specific ar-eas where they could learnfrom South Africa, Ramdinsaid: “Their bowlers do notbowl a lot of bad balls. Our bow-lers bowl too many bad balls.Their batsmen do not givemany chances. You cannot givethem opportunities becausethey score big hundreds. Some-times our batsmen play toofreely.”

Ramdin said there was a goodchance the West Indies wouldgo into the Test with an un-changed team, which wouldmean having only six specialistbatsmen, together with fourseam bowlers and spinner Su-lieman Benn.

“Playing six batsmen hasworked for us,” said Ramdin.“It puts a bit more pressure onthe batsmen. It did work for a

bit because Marlon (Samuels)and Kraigg (Brathwaite) had abig partnership. UnfortunatelyShiv (Chanderpaul) and I didnot get runs. It could have beendifferent. If Shiv and I scoreruns, and the lower order chipin, we can get 350.”

Philander excited

One change Ramdin is likelyto make, if he wins the toss, is tobat first. In the first two Testshe sent South Africa in, but hesaid he expected a good pitch.

“The last time we played here(in 2007/08) a lot of runs werescored, so if we get the opportu-nity we will try to bat first.”

South Africa opening bowlerVernon Philander said the hostwas looking forward to playingat an iconic venue where it hashad much success. “It is a placewe like to play. The boys are allgeared up. Newlands alwayshas something in it for the bow-lers on days one and two. It isalways a good cricket wicket,and will have a bit more paceand bounce than Port Eliza-beth.” — AFP

Ramdin seeks tomake amends

Denesh Ramdin.

CAPE TOWN: South Africa will lit-erally be trying to make up forlost time when it takes on theWest Indies in the third andfinal Test at Newlands onFriday.

Although the West Indiesput up an improved perform-ance, South Africa captainHashim Amla stopped short ofacknowledging its credentialsin his post-match comments af-ter the rain-hit second Test inPort Elizabeth ended in a draw.

Amla suggested that SouthAfrica’s first innings total of 417for eight could have been biggerhad his team not been trying toforce the pace after most of thesecond day’s play was washedout.

He also pointed out that theWest Indian reply of 275 fornine was largely due to a third-wicket partnership of 176 be-tween Kraigg Brathwaite andMarlon Samuels, who both hitcenturies. The next highestWest Indian score was 22 byDevon Smith.

According to Amla, the SouthAfrican bowlers performedwell on an unresponsive pitchin Port Elizabeth.

“I think on a different sur-face we may have picked up alot more wickets a lot quicker.We did very well to take sevenwickets in 35 overs (on dayfour) so we have a lot of posi-tives to take into the nextgame,” he said.

Amla clearly felt that SouthAfrica would have been favou-rite to win if the weather hadnot cut more than half the play-ing time from the second Test.

The South African bowlerscan expect more pace, bounceand possibly seam movementat Newlands.

South Africa, which leads theseries 1-0 after an innings win

in the first Test in Centurion,added uncapped off-spinner Si-mon Harmer to the squad forNewlands.

“We would like to have theoption of a second spinner,”said selection convener An-drew Hudson.

It would be unusual forSouth Africa to include twospin bowlers in the same teambut Harmer, from the EasternCape Warriors franchise, is alsoa useful batsman.

If he plays he could possiblyreplace one of the seven spe-cialist batsmen who played inPort Elizabeth if he is notpicked ahead of leg-spinnerImran Tahir, who took threewickets but was expensive at St.George’s Park.

The West Indies will have tochoose between bolstering afragile batting line-up or go inwith the same bowling line-upthat played in Port Elizabeth.

After Centurion, it droppedbatsman Jermaine Blackwoodand picked all-rounder JasonHolder. It led to an improvedbowling performance but thelower-order batsmen, includ-ing Holder, crumbled againstthe pace of Morne Morkel andthe spin of Tahir.

The teams (from):South Africa: Hashim Amla

(capt.), Alviro Petersen, Dean Elgar,Faf du Plessis, A.B. de Villiers (wk),Stiaan van Zyl, Temba Bavuma, Ver-non Philander, Dale Steyn, MorneMorkel, Imran Tahir and SimonHarmer.

West Indies: Denesh Ramdin(captain, wkt), Kraigg Brathwaite, De-von Smith, Leon Johnson, Marlon Sa-muels, Shivnarine Chanderpaul,Jermaine Blackwood, Jerome Taylor,Sulieman Benn, Sheldon Cottrell, Ja-son Holder, Shannon Gabriel, Nars-ingh Deonarine, Kenroy Peters andChadwick Walton. — AFP

South Africa seeks series winCRICKET / Newlands pitch likely to provide more pace, bounce

HOPING TO GET THE NOD: Off-spinner Simon Harmercould possibly replace one of the seven specialistbatsmen who played in the second Test. — PHOTO: IAN HITCHCOCK/GETTY IMAGES

HYDERABAD: Pallavi Bharad-waj’s four for 18 helped MadhyaPradesh score an eight-wicketwin over Tamil Nadu in thequarterfinals of the BCCI wom-en’s senior one-day tourna-ment here.

The scores (quarterfinals):Tamil Nadu 87 in 42.4 overs (Palla-

vi Bharadwaj four for 18) lost to Mad-hya Pradesh 88 for two in 34 overs(Nuzhat Parween 34 n.o., Neha Bad-waik 32).

Himachal 120 in 34 overs lost toKarnataka 124 for three in 33.2 overs(V.R. Vanitha 49 n.o., Veda Krish-namurthy 33 n.o.).

Pallavibowls MPto victory

SYDNEY: Former US Open win-ner Juan Martin del Potro haswithdrawn from the BrisbaneInternational, officials said onThursday, further delaying hisreturn to the court from an in-jury-blighted 2014.

The Argentine had beenscheduled to play in the Janu-ary 4-11 Brisbane event, aheadof defending his title in the Syd-ney International from Janu-ary 11-17 in the lead-up to theAustralian Open.

But Brisbane Internationalofficials said del Potro “wasforced to withdraw with a per-sistent left wrist injury”.

After winning the US Open in2009, del Potro’s career washampered by surgery on hisright wrist in 2010 before hefought his way back into the top10 again.

Pain in his left wrist firstflared up at the AustralianOpen last January.

He retired from his openingmatch in Dubai the followingmonth, and then withdrewfrom tournaments in IndianWells and Miami, undergoingsurgery in late March. He hasnot played since.

del Potro’s withdrawal fromBrisbane follows that of 2014US Open winner Marin Cilic,who was forced to pull out ear-lier this week with a shoulderinjury. — AFP

Injury woes fordel Potro

del Potro. — PHOTO: AFP

LONDON: Tony Pulis has beenappointed as the new headcoach of West Bromwich Al-bion on a two and a half yearcontract, the Premier Leagueclub announced on Thursday.

The 56-year old formerStoke City and Crystal Palacemanager replaces Alan Irvine— who was sacked on Monday,after a run of seven defeats innine matches that left the clubjust a point above the relega-tion zone.

“I am absolutely delighted toaccept the job, and I do so witha simple but important mess-age for the Albion fans, andeveryone at the club,” theWelshman said in a statementon the club website.

“Every successful club isbuilt on unity and that is what Ishall strive to help bring to Al-bion. We need everyone to-gether from top to bottom —the supporters, the staff, theplayers, and everyone who hasan interest in the club’s wel-fare.

“With that, we can go for-ward together, and hopefullytake this club up the PremierLeague.”

Pulis was named the Pre-mier League’s Manager of theYear for steering Palace awayfrom relegation last season,but he left the club on the eveof the current campaign afterfalling out with chairmanSteve Parish.

He is due to watch WestBrom’s away game at WestHam United later on Thursdayfrom the stands, with assistanthead coach Rob Kelly takingcharge of the first team.

His first game in charge willbe Saturday’s FA Cup third

round tie at home to fifth-tierGateshead.

Sherwood misses outWest Brom reportedly held

talks with Pulis and formerTottenham Hotspur managerTim Sherwood, but Pulis’s re-cord of having never been rele-gated as a manager gave himthe edge.

“We are delighted to securea man of Tony’s calibre andproven ability,” West Bromtechnical director Terry Bur-ton said.

“He made it clear that thisposition excited him and thathe was eager to get back intothe business of winning Pre-mier League points — andthere are few who know how todo it better.”

Irvine, 56, was the secondPremier League manager to besacked this season, followingNeil Warnock’s dismissal by

Palace last Saturday.

Pulis made his name duringtwo spells at Stoke, guiding theclub to promotion from theChampionship in 2008. Heturned Stoke into an establish-ed Premier League side with areputation for rugged, uncom-promising football and, guidedit to five consecutive top 14 fin-ishes before stepping down in2013.

Palace was six points fromsafety at the foot of the tablewhen he took over in Novem-ber 2013, but he engineered avast improvement in its per-formances that saw it finishthe season in 11th place.

However, despite receivingmany end-of-season plaudits,a disagreement with the Palacehierarchy over the club’srecruitment strategy saw himleave Selhurst Park by “mutualconsent” in August. — AFP

FOOTBALL

Pulis is West Brom manager

The new West Brom manager Tony Pulis. — PHOTO: ALEX LIVESEY/GETTY IMAGES

VASCO: Mohun Bagan and PuneFC shared the spoils in a 1-1draw in a Group B match of theHero Federation Cup footballchampionship on Thursday.

If the first half belonged tothe Kolkata giant, Pune FCruled the roost in the second. Bagan took the lead through aPierre Boya header in the 26thminute only to see the goal can-celled out by Pune FC’s Japa-nese recruit Ryuji Sueoka, whonetted from the spot in the66th.

Bagan now has two pointsfrom as many matches whilePune FC has four.

Other result: Dempo 4 (Tolgay Oz-bey 11, 37-pen, 53-pen, Romeo Fer-nandes 83) bt Sporting Clube de Goa1 (Beevan D'Mello75).

Pune FC andBagan sharepoints

CHENNAI: Yuki Bhambri began2014 ranked inside thetop-200. As a nod to his im-provement, he was offered awildcard to the Aircel ChennaiOpen where he went on tomake the quarterfinals.

A year later, Bhambri findshimself ranked 249. And, withhis ranking well outside thecut-off for the main draw, hewill have to work his waythrough the qualifiers this time.

“I expected to be in the maindraw this year considering myperformance here last year. Butits three rounds of qualifying,”said Bhambri, who had his firsthit of the year on the Thursdaygoing into the tournament.

Part of the reason for this dipin ranking has been his fitness.A lengthy spell on the sidelinesdue to a heel injury meant allthe hard work at the start (hereached a career-high 143 lastFebruary) came undone.

“[The year] was up and down.I had a great start here, and wona Challenger too. I would have

liked to have played more,”Bhambri said.

In the year gone by, one of the22-year-old’s main focus areaswas his volleying.

But in the modern-day game,having a huge serve is a prereq-uisite for that. Even Davis Cup

captain Anand Amritraj saidBhambri has to serve at 200kphconsistently to harbour anyhopes of making his way up.

“It [having a big serve] is veryimportant in men’s tennis,”said Bhambri. “It makes yourlife a lot easier and often bailsyou out of trouble. I worked inCalifornia (with former playerTaylor Dent) recently, and it’sstill in progress. I hope it getsbetter.”

But the constantly changingconditions, the nature of sur-faces and opponents’ varyingstrengths mean that adding alot of variety to one’s game isalso becoming a necessity.

“I have been working on dif-ferent things. It keeps chang-ing. I need to be a bit moreaggressive,” he said.

“And, this year, the balls aremuch bigger. So I have to beprepared for longer rallies. Ineed to basically mix it up.”

Does having to play in thequalifying event add to thepressure?

“It’s actually less pressure,”he said. “Being in the main

draw, you are expected to dowell. It’s a bit more responsib-ility because the organisers be-lieve in you. But, here, it’s justme and myself.”

“It always tough because youhave to beat one or two verygood players.

“It’s start of the year, and theplayers are shaky. So it’s good tohave played a decent number ofmatches before the main draw.”

“If I go through, [playing thequalifiers] could be an addedadvantage,”

“Tennis is perhaps the onlysport where you get season re-views and season previews onyour timeline at the same time,”said a top writer recently.

For a sport which is playedthrough almost 85 per cent ofthe year, and the off-season ispretty much non-existent.

But an assessment of one’sperformance through a yearneeds a proper demarcation.And for Bhambri, it could wellbe the start of the year.

“This year my goal is to stayhealthy,” said Bhambri.

“It’s a new start.”

TENNIS

‘My goal this year is to stay healthy’

Yuki Bhambri.

N. Sudarshan

NEW DELHI: Mohin Chavan andManalisha Sonowal grabbed agold medal each in the 17thAsian Youth (Boys & Girls) and22nd junior women weightlift-ing championships in Doha,Qatar, on Thursday.

Competing in the 44kg youthgirls’ event, Mohin managed atotal lift of 131 kg (58+73) to wingold.

Manalisha won the top prizein the 48kg junior women cate-gory by lifting a total of 154kg(66+88), according to an IndianWeightlifting Federation pressrelease. — PTI

India winstwo goldsLONDON: Athletes convicted of

doping will face a minimumfour-year ban under new ruleswhich came into effect on Ja-nuary 1.

Changes to the World Anti-Doping Code increased the sus-pension for doping from twoyears. Other changes includeless leniency for missed testsbut possible reduced bans forhelping investigators.

The revised code was agreedto by the World Anti-DopingAgency (WADA) in November,2014.

UK Sports Minister HelenGrant said the changes would“better protect clean athletesaround the world.

“Successful implementationwill mean an innovative and ro-bust anti-doping programmethat reaches further than everbefore,” she was quoted as say-ing by bbc.com on Thursday. —IANS

WADA raisesminimum banfor doping

DR.J.PITCHAIAMMAL, M.D., D.G.O.,Retd. Sr.Civil Surgeon W/o. Dr.R.Jothiramalingam, M.S., F.R.C.S.,Retd. HOD of Surgery & EndocrineSurgeon, Madurai Medical College−Passed away on 01−01−2015. Jey PeePoly Clinic, Plot No: 381. K.K Na-gar, Madurai− 625020. Ph:0452−2587869, 9442587869

DEATH

DELHI

ROUND-UP

Kalkal shocks Chauhan,clinches titleSaurav Kalkal survived a fewanxious moments beforebeating top-seeded ChinmayaDev Chauhan 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(9)in the boys’ final of the 10thRam Lal Cup AITA Talentseries under-18 tennistournament at the Vasant KunjSports Complex here onThursday.In the girls’ final, top-seededMuskan Gupta cruised to astraight-set victory over thesecond seed, Radhika Yadav.The results (finals):Boys: Saurav Kalkal bt ChinmayaDev Chauhan 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(9).Girls: Muskan Gupta bt RadhikaYadav 6-3, 6-3.

Guru Gobind SinghCollege in semifinalsHost Guru Gobind SinghCollege registered a 21-runvictory over Telefunken Clubto enter the semifinals of the19th Sahibzada Ajit Singhcricket tournament here onThursday.Chetanya Bishnoi picked upfive wickets and Saurabh Passitop-scored with 40 runs for thewinner. For the losing side,Jerry Stephen’s 53-run knockwent in vain.The scores: Guru Gobind SinghCollege 204 in 36.5 overs (SaurabhPassi 40, Mayank Dagar four for 24,Pawal Suyal three for 36) btTelefunken Club 183 in 34.5 overs(Jerry Stephen 53, Chetanya Bishnoifive for 40).

Anish keeps Lodhiin the huntLodhi Athletic Club rode onAnish’s hat-trick to register acrucial 3-1 victory overBuddhist Blue Stars and stay incontention for a spot in thesuper-league stage of theONGC-Delhi SoccerAssociation ‘B’ divisionfootball championship at theCommonwealth Games Villagesports complex here onThursday.Lodhi has 14 points from sixmatches while Dwarka FC has16 and Real-Jaguar FC 13. Thesuper-league qualifier will bedecided after the matchbetween Lodhi and Real-Jaguar. In another match, GoansSports Club drew 1-1 withUnion FC.The results:Lodhi Athletic Club 3 (Anish 3) btBuddhist Blue Stars 1 (Pradeep). Goans SC 1 (Piyush) drew with UnionFC 1 (Sumit).

MUMBAI: Dutch internationalWim Kovermans, a renownedUEFA Pro Licence Instructorand ex-India coach, cleared fiveIndians at the professionalcoaches pool of the Asian Foot-ball Confederation Pro Diplo-ma coaching course.

Former internationals San-tosh Kashyap, Khalid Jamil andChurchill Brothers head coachMariano Dias are the three newfaces in the list of ProfessionalCoaching Diploma holders,along with Hilal Parray andThangboi Singto.

Stanley Rozario got a Pro-Pass (he has to appear for onemore practical exam). Thecourse was conducted for thefirst time ever from July 2013-November 2014 by Kovermans(member of Netherlands 1988Euro champion team) for 12participants.

Foreigners Scott O’Donnell,Karim Bencherifa and ArthurPapas also passed.

Pro-Licence coaches list: San-tosh Kashyap, Khalid Jamil, MarianoDias, Hilal Parray, Thangboi Singto,Karim Bencherifa, Scott O’Donell andArthur Papas. Pro-Pass: StanleyRozario.

Goalkeeping Level II passedcoaches: Tanumoy Basu; SandeepSingh; Virender Singh and HameedKK. Pro-Pass: Fysal K.B. and TapanChakraborty.

GK Level I: Nongthonbam PuthibaMetei; Thatheus Khyriem; SiddiqueAbdul Azim; Shaikh Mohammed Qa-deer; Parshuram Salwadi; Shafi Kala-vath Ali; Gavin Elias Araujo; A.Cleofas; Bobby L. Nongbet; SubrataDas Gupta; Gumpe Rime; M. ZakeerHussain; Kishore Chavan Shivaji Raoand Kaushik Paul. Pro-Pass: RonibalaChanu.

Five Indiansadded to procoaches pool