India Vs England.

The ongoing one day international match between India and England is in a critical situation.Winning the toss India decided to bat first but it backfired on them.Saurav Ganguly was the first person to go as he fell to Anderson caught by Bell.He scored 9.The next to follow was Karthik.Dravid too fell cheaply.Sachin and Yuvraj then steadied the Indian innings.Sachin scored 55 before being caught by Flintoff of the bowling of Pietersen.Yuvraj was the top scorer for India with score of 71.

Stuart Broad claimed career-best figures of 4 for 51, including the wicket of Yuvraj Singh, as India were bowled out for 212 at Old Trafford.Zaheer Khan and Piyush Chawla played some good cricket in the end and helped India to a respectable score.England are yet to bat.

India innings (50 overs maximum)

SC Ganguly c Bell b Anderson 9

SR Tendulkar c Flintoff b Pietersen 55

KD Karthik c Prior b Broad 4

R Dravid c Prior b Flintoff 1

Yuvraj Singh b Broad 71

MS Dhoni b Panesar 13

AB Agarkar c Prior b Broad 6

RR Powar c Bell b Broad 7

Piyush Chawla not out 13

Z Khan c Collingwood b Anderson 20

RP Singh c Bopara b Anderson 0runs

Extras(lb 4, w 8, nb 1)13

Total(10 wickets; 49.4 overs)
212

INDIA wins the Nehru Cup .

India played some excellent game and won the ONGC Nehru Cup Football tournament.It was a rare international football title for India.The other team was Syria.A packed house cheered the Indian team and its players.

The Indians matched the opponents in every aspect of the game.Indian striker Baichung Bhutia did not score but the paved the way for a priceless strike.N.P. Pradeep scored for India in the 44th minute.From Syria striker Maher Al Sayed and defender Ali Dyeb played some excellent game.But ultimately they conceded the match to India.

The visiting side played the second half with ten men as Wael Ayan felled Surkamar Singh in a moment of madness.The Indian defence was excellent and was well defended by the man of the match Mahesh Gawli .The victory fetched India $40,000 with the entire money to be distributed among the players.ONGC contributed a similiar amount to the victorious Indian team.

Maria Sharapova dazzles in U.S. Open

Maria Sharapova dazzled in her opening match of the U.S. Open showing some excellent play and completely overshadowed her Italian opponent Roberta Vinci.It was an easy game for the Russian as she took only 50 minutes to see off the Italian.Earlier Maria Sharapova had started her match with a dazzling attire.Sporting a flaming red dress with over 600 Swarovski crystals on the bodice she matched her game with her killing attire as she went for the kill from the very first set.

She was the winner of last year tournament and starting match really went well.She is second seeded in the tournament.In the first round though the World No.51 Roberta Vinci played well but Sharapova took the game with 6-0.The Italian could never pull up from there and lost the second set also by 6-1.

Anju disappoints in World long jump Championship.

Anju George managed ninth position in the long jump competition of the World Championship.She could only make a distance of 6.53 metre.It was a day for the Russians with their players getting gold and silver medal.The gold was captured by Tatyana Labedeva.She clinched the gold at 7.03 metres.Lyudmilla Kolchanova secured the silver medal with 6.92 metres.The bronze went to Tatyana Kotova who made 6.90 metres.

It was a disappointing day for the Indian jumper as she had earlier a season best of 6.65m. In her first round she managed a mere 6.10 m. She was put into disadvantage straight away.In the second round she made a foul,so it depended much on her third and final round to make it to top eight.Eventually she managed a 6.53 m in her third attempt and that put her in the ninth place.

Sania Mirza exits from Pilot Pen tennis tournament

Sania Mirza sizzled for a while before running out of steam as Ukranian Alona Bondarenko tamed the Indian in the second round of the $600,000 Pilot Pen tennis tournament at New Haven.The game lasted for one and half hours.She did not drop a single game in the second set but eventually crashed out of the game with a 3-6,6-0,3-6 defeat.

Bondarenko played well in the first set and easily took the game.However in the second set Sania hit back with vengeance and broke her opponent thrice in the second to force the decider.The third set however turned out in favour of Bondarenko as she displayed some excellent strokes and took early control of the game.She tightened her grip over the set by breaking the Indian twice to pocket the set and also the match.

However in doubles ,Sania and her partner Mara Sanagelo reached the quarter finals in women's double after they beat the American pair of Corina Morariu and Meghann Shaughnessy.They won the game by 6-4,7-5.

CRICKET

Cricket is a bat-and-ball sport contested by two teams, usually of eleven players each. A cricket match is played on a grass field, roughly oval in shape, in the centre of which is a flat strip of ground 22 yards (20.12 m) long, called a pitch. At each end of the pitch is a construction of three parallel wooden stakes (known as stumps) driven vertically into the ground, with two small crosspieces (known as bails) laid across the top of them. This wooden structure is called a wicket.
The bowler, a player from the fielding team, hurls a hard, fist-sized, cork-centred, leather-covered ball from the vicinity of one wicket towards the other. The ball usually bounces once before reaching the batsman, a player from the opposing team. In defence of the wicket, the batsman plays the ball with a wooden cricket bat. Meanwhile, the other members of the bowler's team stand in various positions around the field as fielders, players who retrieve the batted ball in an effort to stop the batsman scoring, and if possible to get him or her out. The batsman, if he or she does not get out (for example if the bowled ball hits the wicket, or if a fielder catches the ball off the bat before it bounces), may run between the wickets, exchanging ends with a second batsman (the non-striker), who has been waiting near the bowler's wicket. Each completed exchange of ends scores one run, and the match is won by the team that scores more runs.

Cricket has been an established team sport for hundreds of years. It originated in its modern form in England and is most popular in the present and former members of the Commonwealth. Cricket is the second most popular sport in the world.More than a hundred cricket-playing nations are recognised by the International Cricket Council.In the countries of South Asia, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, cricket is the most popular sport. It is also a major sport in England and Wales, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Zimbabwe and the English-speaking countries of the Caribbean, which are collectively known in cricketing parlance as the West Indies. There are also well-established amateur club competitions in countries as diverse as the Netherlands, Kenya, Nepal and Argentina, among others.

The sport is followed with passion in many different parts of the world. It has even occasionally given rise to diplomatic outrage, the most notorious being the Basil D'Oliveira affair which led to the banning of South Africa from sporting events. Other examples include the Bodyline series, played between England and Australia in the early 1930s, and the 1981 underarm bowling incident involving Australia and New Zealand.

CHAK DE-INDIAN HOCKEY.........

Hockey the national game of India is a forgotten sport in India.India had its share of glory in the hockey world in the past.It was a national passion.But sadly the present state of hockey is in tatters.

In the past India had produced great players like Dhyan chand who took the game to new heights.when he played hockey the opposition never had a chance to score.Seeing his game he even was offered citizenship of Germany by Adolf Hitler, provided he played for Germany.But the patriotic man Dhyan Chand rejected the offer and preferred to stay with India.

However in the present state hockey has lost its glory.India last won the gold medal in hockey in the olympics in the 80's.This degradation in the game occured because of the lack of intrest in people,lack of sponsers and the neglect by the sports authorities.

India really need films like Chakde India for the growth of hockey in India.