THE ECHO OF INDIA� KOLKATAThursday� December 21, 2017 Sports 11

Bengaluru FC eyepole position in

clash of debutants

Bengaluru FC players during apractice session,

BENGALURU, Dec 20 /--/ Having suf-fered their first home defeat, BengaluruFC will look to bounce back and reclaimthe pole position in the ISL pecking order,when they face Jamshedpur FC in a clashof debutants on Thursday. The hosts arelocked with FC Goa and Chennaiyin with12 points each, but are placed second inthe points table after playing six games.The home team has so far registered fourvictories. The former I-League championsstarted off with a bang, but are beginningto show signs of weariness, and will beplaying their third match in seven days. Inthe current scenario, the onus will be oncoach Albert Roca and players such asskipper Sunil Chhetri, Miku and Udanta

Singh to seize the initiative with an earlygoal. The Spaniard would also like to takeremedial steps by learning from videofootages of how the opponents have beentrying to breach Bengaluru's defence. Af-ter missing Erik Paartalu in the last game,fans would be hoping for his return, whichwould lend solidity in the midfield. Mostlikely to benefit from this is Miku, who hasfound the net six times. Chhetri and com-pany have enough depth in their side tosurprise Jamshedpur. Steve Coppel's sidewould like to bank on solid defence beingprovided by Tiri and Andre Bikey. So far,Jamshedpur have conceded just one goaland scored one, which came from a setpiece.

Nehwal slams BWF for'crammed' calendar

NEW DELHI, DEC 20 /--/ Top Indian shuttler SainaNehwal today slammed the BWF for a "cramped" interna-tional calender, which hardly leaves any time for playersto recover from injuries or be at their best at important tour-naments. Badminton World Federation (BWF) has made itmandatory for top shuttlers to play at least 12 tournamentsin a revamped schedule for 2018. "Next year's scheduled byBWF is too crammed, it is not right for the top players. Ineed more time to get the best out of me. I can't play back-to-back events. I can just participate but can't win," saidNehwal on the sidelines of the inauguration of the PremierBadminton League (PBL). "After the PBL we have threetournaments. Again before the World Championship thereare three super series, so I am not understanding why BWFdecided to go for such a schedule. It will be too tiring, toochallenging. "I don't have any answers. It will come downto fitness and my priority will be fitness. I don't believe intournaments anymore, so no tournament, no titles, just fit-ness," added the Indian ace, who would play for AwadheWarriors for the third season. BWF has made it compulsoryfor the world's top 15 players in the singles events and top10 pairs in the doubles disciplines to play a minimum of12 tournaments or face a penalty. Nehwal said: "If BWF istrying to make badminton like tennis then they shouldhave just 4-5 tournaments like Grand Slams with moremoney and coverage. If I were BWF president that is whatI would have done. I am happy with more prize money butso many tournaments, I don't know." Asked if it would befair to expect players to play at the Senior Nationals nextyear, Nehwal said: "Nationals is nothing compared to thecrammed schedule that we have next year. It is somethingfor three days and it is fine. It hardly makes any difference.""But with Commonwealth Games, Asian games and WorldChampionship next year, you can't challenge yourselfmentally and physically every two weeks. There shouldbe lot more time given to players so that if someone is car-rying an injury that can be sorted but there is no time at all.""So if you have time you can work on these areas otherwiseit is challenging and so small injuries become big injuriesand it takes lot of time to come out of it." Olympic cham-pion and two-time World Championship gold medallistCarolina Marin also echoed similar voices. "The schedulenext year is going to be crazy. After PBL we will have threetournaments and during the season we will have so manytournaments, it would be tough for all the players," she said.Marin also termed the proposed service rule change as "stu-pid" which would be implemented from All England cham-pionship next year. "The problem would be for the doublesplayers, not so much for the singles. May be it is somethingbit of stupid to do it but lets see how it works. It will affectplayers who are very tall," she said. (PTI)

CHITTARANJAN, DEC 20/--/ 8th All India RailwayArchery Championshipgot under way inChittaranjan LocomotiveWorks (CLW) today. Thischampionship is beingorganized here from 20thto 22nd Dec. Ten teamscomprising of 44 mem-bers from E.Rly, ECR,SER, NR, MWR, NFR,DMW, SECR, SCR andCLW team are participat-ing in this championship.The opening ceremonywas held at Indoor Sta-dium Ground in CLW inwhich, Srikant Rai, prin-cipal chief material man-ager, CLW inauguratedthe championship as thechief guest and declaredthe Archery meet Open.Srikant Rai, principalchief material manager,CLW in his brief addressconveyed his best wishesfor the players during thechampionship. The teamswere introduced by their

8th All India Railway Archery Championship started at CLWrespective team leaders.Dr Alok Majumdar thepresident, CLW-SA &CMO of CLW along withsenior officers and mem-bers of CLW sports asso-ciation were present dur-ing the inauguration cer-emony. Star Olympiansand Arjun AwardeesArchers, like, DolaBanerjee, RahulBanerjee, Mangal SinghChampia, L.BombaylaDevi, Laxmi Rani Majhiare also participating inthis event. Dola Banerjee(ER), J Rama Rao (SECR)and Sushma (ER) are themembers of screeningcommittee. S. D. Ramolahas been nominated asobserver from RailwaySports PromotionBoard/ New Delhi. Thereare technical officialsfrom Archery Federationof India namely L. Murty,Subrata Das , HareshKumar and ArundhatiSil. (EOIC)

2013 Wimbledon champ Bartoli says she's coming back

Delhi youngster says 'I owe my life to Gautam Gambhir'

New Zealand beat West Indies by

five wicketsWHANGAREI, DEC 20 /--/ New Zealand cruised toa five-wicket win over theWest Indies in the firstone-day international onWednesday as the tour-ists` batting line-up failedto perform. The return ofChris Gayle could notspark the West Indies,with the short-form mas-ter managing only 22 ashis team struggled to 248-9 after losing the toss andbeing sent in to bat. TheBlack Caps always lookedcomfortable chasing themodest total, overhaulingit with four overs remain-ing at Whangarei`sCobham Oval. West Indiesskipper Jason Holder saidhis side needed to be "a lotbetter with the bat" asthey chase their first ODIseries win in New Zealandsince 1995. "It was tough,I didn`t think we hadenough runs," he said."We kept losing wickets atcrucial stages of the gameand never really gatheredmomentum. "That obvi-ously hampered us todayand we`ve just got to cor-rect it." There were somebright spots for theWindies, with opener EvinLewis notching a classy 76and Rovman Powell stag-ing a pugnacious rear-guard action to score 59off 50 balls. Gayle - freshfrom notching a record 18sixes in the BangladeshPremier League T20 final- had an uncharacteristi-cally subdued innings. Hefell victim to resurgentNew Zealand pacemanDoug Bracewell, who wasnamed 'Man of the Match'after celebrating the end ofa 15-month exile from thenational team by claimingfour wickets for 55.Bracewell had fallen outof favour with New Zea-land Cricket after a stringof off-field incidents, in-cluding a drink-drivingconviction earlier thisyear. The 27-year-old wascalled up as a last-minutereplacement for Colin deGrandhomme after the all-rounder ruled himself outof the series following hisfather`s death. "For himto come back and performthe way he did, takingsome big scalps for us,was outstanding," saidcaptain Kane Williamson.Spinner Todd Astle alsocontributed three for 33 inhis ODI debut as the BlackCaps attack maintainedconstant pressure withthe ball. New Zealandopening batsmen GeorgeWorker and Colin Munrolaid the foundation for thehosts` chase with a 108-run partnership. Workerfinished on 57 and Munro49 as New Zealand`s top or-der all made starts, withWilliamson contributing38 and Ross Taylor un-beaten on 49. The lossleaves the West Indies yetto register a win on theirNew Zealand tour after a2-0 whitewash in the Testseries. They are in a formslump that has seen themwin only three of 17 ODIscontested in 2017. Thenext fixture in the three-match ODI series is inChristchurch on Satur-day. Williamson andpaceman Tim Southee willbe rested for the secondand third matches.

Tim Southee troubled the West Indies openers in his first spell,New Zealand v West Indies, 1st ODI, Whangarei

PARIS, DEC 20 /--/ Marion Bartoli,the 2013 Wimbledon champion, saysshe is coming out of retirement andreturning to the tennis tour next sea-son. The 33-year-old Frenchwomanmade the announcement via aTwitter post yesterday. "Hi, guys.I have something to tell you: I amcoming back. ... It's going to be ahuge challenge," Bartoli said in avideo she put on Twitter. "I havestill a lot of practice ahead of me,but I am hoping to be ready forMarch and the Miami Open."Bartoli mentioned three eventsshe is particularly looking for-ward to: the French Open, the FedCup and, of course, Wimbledon.She surprisingly won her onlyGrand Slam title while seededNo. 15 at the All England Club fouryears ago. Less than two months later,after losing a match at another tourna-ment, she abruptly retired from pro-fessional tennis. Bartoli was an origi-nal player -- and personality -- during

her playing career. She hit two-fistedshots for forehands and backhands,just like her idol, Monica Seles.Bartoli was coached by her father, adoctor, and they came up with other

unique elements. She would cross herarms before serving, never bouncingthe ball before a toss. She would standwell inside the baseline to receive anopponent's serve. And she would hopin place or take practice swings be-

tween points. Her first big break-through came in 2007, reaching theWimbledon final before losing to Ve-nus Williams. Then came the magicaltwo-week run to the championship

there six years later. Bartoli neverdropped a set and capped her fort-night with a 6-1, 6-4 victory overSabine Lisicki in the final, closingthe match with an ace. A year later,Bartoli became the first woman in17 years who declined to try to de-fend her Wimbledon title. At a newsconference before the 2014 tourna-ment, Bartoli tugged at the collarof her white top to reveal strips ofblue tape providing support for herright shoulder and explained: "Lit-erally, I can't even lift my armevery morning." That, she said,

was why she harbored "definitely noregrets at all" about walking awayfrom tennis back then. She sincemoved on to other pursuits, includingTV commentary, launching a shoe lineand designing jewelry. (PTI)

PUNE, DEC 20 /--/ Soonafter his decimation ofBengal in the Ranji Trophysemifinal on Tuesday, Delhipacer Navdeep Saini saidhe owes his "life and suc-cess" to former India openerGautam Gambhir.

The young speedsterbowled one of the most dev-astating spells of recenttimes in Indian domesticcricket as Delhi humiliatedBengal by an innings and 26runs to enter the Ranji Tro-phy final. "I owe this life andmy success to GautamGambhir. I was a nobodyand Gautam bhaiya dideverything for me," Sainisaid. Saini was full of grati-tude for the veteran openerwho gave him a chance infirst-class cricket. Thepacer was supposed to go toSouth Africa as a net bowler,but Ankit Rajpoot of UP isbeing sent instead. "I washappy that I would go toSouth Africa but I called up

Gautam bhaiya. He saidDelhi needs you now for thesemifinal and if you dowell, you will be automati-cally in that Indian dressingroom. I didn't think twice,"said Saini. After taking Delhito the Ranji Trophy finalwith a career-best matchhaul of 7/79 against Bengal,the 25-year spoke about hislife, bowling and a proudgrandfather, who was partof the Azad Hind Fauj.

It was during the 2013-14season that former Delhicricketer Sumit Narwal sawa wiry-looking boy fromKarnal bowling yorkers atwill in a tennis ball tourna-ment. Saini was being paidRs 200 per match andNarwal immediately calledup Delhi captain Gambhirto check him out at the nets.What Gambhir saw at thenets was enough for him toget into a heated argumentwith the then Delhi and Dis-trict Cricket Association

vice-president ChetanChauhan, to get the playerfrom Haryana into the Delhiteam. "Gautam bhaiya,Ashish (Nehra) bhaiya,Mithun Manhas ralliedaround me. They said what'shappening in the peripheryshouldn't be my concern.We will take care of that,you only bowl," he said, re-calling the time whenDDCA officials were distrib-uting pamphlets to keephim out of the team. Term-ing the outing against Ben-gal his best performance,Saini said his time with In-dia A has been a turna-round of sorts, and he ismore aware about his skillsnow. "I can't build on mus-cles as I will lose out on thepace I generate due to myquick hand speed. This ismy USP from start. Since Icould bowl fuller deliverieswith the tennis ball, it helpswith the leather ball as itgenerates extra pace," Saini

explained. Coming from ahumble background, Saini,son of a former Haryanagovernment driver, has hisfeet firmly rooted to theground after 29 first-classgames and an IPL contractwith Delhi Daredevils. "Itwas difficult in the begin-ning but now things havechanged a bit. I stay withmy friends in a rented ac-commodation in KotlaMubarakpur. I still go backhome by Volvo bus. I haven'tbought a car," he said.

His grandfather, KaramSingh, was a driver inSubhas Chandra Bose'sAzad Hind Fauj. "Dadaji isnearly 100 years. He was inJapan with Netaji. I haveheard stories (from him) somany times that at times I(quietly) slip away," he saidcheekily. "But he loves meand is aware when mymatch is coming on televi-sion. Today he watched mebowl," he said.

Four-dayTests a boostfor smallernations :

Heath Streak

CAPE TOWN, DEC 20 /--/ Zimbabwecoach Heath Streak is unsure if four-day matches are the future of testcricket, but says they will help to levelthe playing field between the so-called bigger nations and the min-nows. South Africa host Zimbabwe inthe first official four-day Test at StGeorge’s Park in Port Elizabeth onBoxing Day, a fixture that will also beplayed as a day-night game. Therewill be 98 overs in a day, eight morethan in five-day matches, and the fol-low-on target has been reduced from

200 to 150. Streak believes the playingconditions will force teams to take morerisks to engineer a result, playing intothe hands of the underdogs. "In termsof higher and lower ranked (teams), itis much harder to bat a team out (of thegame) because in doing so you mightmake it harder to win the test,” Streaktold reporters. "It is a challenge, thoughthe 98 overs in a day does make it afour-and-a-half day test. It will be inter-esting and exciting to be part of, hope-fully it is something that does work outfor the future of test cricket."

S. Korea seeks

US military drill

delay for OlympicsSEOUL, DEC 20 /--/ SouthKorean President Moon Jae-In has proposed delaying ma-jor joint military exerciseswith the US that always infu-riate Pyongyang until afterthe Olympics, he said.It was the first confirmationthat Seoul is seeking to post-pone the annual Key Resolveand Foal Eagle drills, whichusually start in late Februaryor early March and run un-til the end of April. But SouthKorea will host the WinterOlympics in Pyeongchangfrom February 9 to 25 nextyear, with the Paralympicsscheduled to begin on March9. The host area is just 80 kilo-metres (50 miles) south of thetense border with nuclear-armed North Korea, and ten-sions tend to rise during thedrills, which Pyongyang con-demns as rehearsals for inva-sion. Moon told US televisionchannel NBC that the twoallies were considering post-poning the exercises. "I havemade such a proposal to theUS and the US is now review-ing it," he said on his way toPyeongchang to promote theGames. "However, it will alldepend upon how North Ko-rea will behave." He also ex-pressed hopes the Olympicsgames will help ease tensionrunning high over the North'srelentless nuclear and mis-sile tests. Games organisersand Seoul are both keen forthe North to take part in whatthey have proclaimed as a"peace Olympics", but theNorth's participation in sport-ing events in the South haslargely depended on the po-litical and military situationon the Korean peninsula.